(BL) Into The Rose Garden

CHAPTER 4

Once he decided to live, he couldn’t stay like this. If asked why he couldn’t stay like this, he wouldn’t have anything to say, but he wanted to get ready like a widow who puts out yellow flowers by the window today for her husband who will return tomorrow.

He went down to the river to avoid people’s eyes. The river, immersed in darkness, reflected light from somewhere and flowed like a black snake with white scales. The petal sent away a while ago must have already flowed into the sea with the flow. It may have already met in the sea with the two petals that had been sent away before.

He washed his face and hair with the cloudy water that he could not see the bottom of. He also washed clothes that were covered with filth all over. It was difficult to knead the wet, tough cloth with his weak and dry fingers. No matter how many times he splashed and rubbed the stain in the water, it did not come off properly. It was probably because he had never really done his laundry.

I should have learned it beforehand.

Regret seeped in even the smallest things.

For now, it was important to clean his clothes somehow, so he dipped himself naked into the cold river until his fingertips were wrinkled. He wasn’t used to washing his body in cold running water without soap or a brush. He tripped several times on the jagged rocks underneath. He drank some water, too. But he washed himself for as long as he could.

Oh, God. This is a disaster.

It was good to wash at night, avoiding people’s eyes, but it was too cold to wear wet clothes at dawn. Aelock rummaged through a pile of trash in a sequestered place to find something to warm his shivering body. But he couldn’t find anything to cover himself with.

If he were to stay like this, his body temperature would drop to a dangerous level. It was suicidal to endure the night with a body that had reached the extreme and had no fat left to burn. How long had it been since he made up his mind to live? After hesitating, Aelock left his hiding place and headed for another alley.

“Hey, wake up. You have to pay for your meal.”

Aelock opened his eyes to a wild kick in his leg. He woke up in a shabby shed that could shield him from the night dew, even though it was full of nasty odors. The old, dusty blanket covering him was soaked with the semen Aelock had received all night. When he woke up and moved, the man who kicked him immediately left the shed. The clothes thrown by the head side were almost parched.

Before putting them on, Aelock ran his fingers up his anus to scrape out the semen and wiped it between his legs on the blanket. He ignored the pain and forced his legs which were about to cramp to stand up and went outside. The man who had asked for three rounds of sex the previous night in return for giving him a warm blanket and a place to hide from the night-dew offered him something to eat this time.

“How many times?”

“You pigged out on everything my balls had to offer, so there’s nothing to feed. Do the work instead.”

The man pointed at the sack of flour with his thick, hairy hand. Aelock looked at it blankly, not knowing what it meant. The man said bluntly.

“Move that over there. Keep in mind that if you drop it and it tears open, making it of no use, I will twist your neck. Never come into a kitchen with a brazier. Because I don’t want anything to be infected with germs.”