She had gotten the fire crackling. The fire wasn't big, but the flame was slow and steady, and warm. She had munched on a little bit of beef jerky.
It was then that Hak emerged from the mouth of the cave, wet from the rain, and clean.
Wearing nothing but his loincloth.
She turned away quickly, but not before noticing that the thick band around his waist set over his flat, washboard stomach. His legs were long and powerful. The wet piece of cloth around his waist couldn't hide the faint bulge between his legs.
Yona's heart stopped for a second. Her cheeks reddened a little.
She was being overly self-conscious. She needed to calm down.
She had seen her a man's undergarments before. She had bathed with her father when she was little, vacationing with him at one of Kouka's finest hot springs in Saika. She remembered thinking they looked funny when he wore them, especially since the cloth tended to disappear into the rolls of his belly fat, and all she could see was a waving silk flag hanging loose in the wind. Even more, she would always try not to laugh when her father turned around to bend and pick his washcloth from the ground, because the thong behind him would barely peek from his behind.
She had no idea they could be worn in a way that was so ... provocative.
When he moved, it was graceful, but his stride was powerful, like that of a panther. Yona found the description of the word was 'manly'.
Yona sighed again. There were just too many things she was admitting to herself today.
Why did Hak have to have such a nice body anyway? Yona grumbled. It probably raised his standards for choosing women. He would want women who were tall, just like him. And he could definitely choose the most mature women, with voluptuous figures and large, buxom bodies...
It's not of your business, she thought. He doesn't want you, remember?
He strode past her, carrying his bulky blue and black robes and her garments, all freshly washed. Her gaze unconsciously followed after him as she as she watched him easily carry their clothes and his glaive on one hand, while carrying his washcloth and Yoon's lye soap with the other.
"Enjoying the view, Hime?"
Her heart skipped a beat. Yona reddened even more.
"H-Hak... you meanie...!" Yona glared, her eyes lingering on the well-toned butt cheeks a second too long before pouting and turning her head away. Her cheeks were burning. As I thought, he has eyes at the back of his head?
He draped their clothes over some rocks, so that they could at least dry a little before morning. He walked over to her and sat beside her before the fire. Yona could feel the slight tension in the air still.
"Hak ...?"
"I'm fine, Hime." Hak smiled. His mood seemed contemplative again.
Yona tried not to look too closely at him, since his muscles were still slick and gleaming in the fire. The shadows contouring his form made his body more appealing, to say the least. But there was no way she would ever admit that to her childhood friend.
He leaned over the fire, warming his hands. Yona wanted to act casual, but she didn't know what casual was, in this kind of situation. She was too aware of him. He was the one most unclothed, yet she was the one most embarrassed.
The tension in the air was making her more restless. She was close enough to reach out to him, but unable to do so. It made her chest hurt all over again. It hurt, it really hurt. She was being selfish for wanting him to notice her. Always, always, she depended on him, but he never depended on her. And why? Because she was an unreliable, demanding –
