domestic (un)bliss || 18+

the kitchen

Wook cannot come.

No matter how hard he tries, no matter what he does, he is left curled up under his mattress in frustration. He knows he doesn't love Gaeun like that anymore. He thinks he knows. But three days ago, in the bathtub, she whispered not yet in his ear and it is as if his body is waiting for her next command.

They've also been sleeping apart so there is no way for him to accuse her and make her take responsibility for his bodily frustrations. He can't, for the life of him, imagine how that conversation would go.

Wook can't stop himself from replaying that evening in the bath either. He doesn't remember how drunk he was, just that he had seen Gaeun in that stupid, stupid towel and ended up tossing all logic out of the window. Had he been sober, he would have bolted out of the compound and spent the night in Chwiseonru or until he was sure Gaeun was dressed.

He doesn't know what to do. Never in his life has his stellar plan gone so awry.

His body is still so...so restricted that he can't even bring himself to enjoy the Lunar New Year festivities. The entire fortress has come alive with preparations but Wook doesn't want to step outside of the compound. Danggu invites him and Yul to go fishing by Lake Gyeongcheondaeho and it is one of the rare occasions that Wook declines.

Wook doesn't even want to stay inside. At home, he sees Gaeun everywhere. She's in the kitchens, taking note of the inventory. She's out in the courtyard, watching over the new lanterns being hung in the trees. She's in the solar, discussing household affairs with Kim Dojoo. And if she's not around, Wook can still smell her sweet perfume everywhere in the house.

This is new, he realizes because so far the house smelled of wood and stone and whatever flowers Kim Dojoo placed in the vases. But now it feels like Min Gaeun is all around him simply because of that intoxicating perfume of hers.

He is embarrassed to admit that every time he catches a glimpse of her, his mind paints a portrait of her sitting half-naked across from him in the bath. He remembers the lascivious way he squirmed and melted and made a delighted fool of himself under her.

A part of him wouldn't have minded it at all if he just knew what Gaeun really thought of him. A bigger part of him wants her to finish what she started and free him from the torment she pushed him in.

Wook moves to scratch his neck and immediately turns to stone.

All he can feel is Gaeun dragging her tongue up his throat. His skin prickles at the ghost of her deft fingers dancing down his chest, from his shoulders to his abdomen.

"No," he groans, grabbing the ends of his hair because the memory has begun to stir up the tension in his body again. "No, no, no, no! You pervert—!" Wook curls into himself. He kicks his feet, wrestles with his bed covers, and rolls across his mattress in a frenzy. He throws a mini tantrum but nothing helps.

Wook can't come because of Gaeun and the sheer agony of it is enough to make him want to drown.

♕

He smells her perfume before he runs into her in the empty kitchen.

It's the middle of the night and the kitchens are dark. He yelps in fright, startling Gaeun whose hands burst into flames.

"What are you doing!?" They exclaim at the same time. She eyes him irritatedly and extinguishes her hands with a simple wave. Somehow, Wook has always been aware that she is much more powerful than him. He just likes living in denial.

"Madam Kim locked away the wine," Gaeun grumbles, "I was looking for the keys."

He frowns, "I didn't think you drank all by yourself."