Chapter 6: Late

Seol came at the second bell, an hour and a half late.

Jae-ryeong heard him on the roof, and this time he was at the window before the third tile shifted.

Seol dropped over the sill, and Jae-ryeong caught him.

He did not decide to.

His arms simply closed, and Seol's box hit the floor, and he held on.

"You're late," Jae-ryeong said into his hair.

"I know."

"You said the hour of the rat."

"I was held up."

"By whom?"

"A watchman on the north ridge. I had to go around."

Seol was trying to pull back, and Jae-ryeong wasn't letting him. "Jae-ryeong, the cup. Let me give you the cup."

"I thought you'd gone."

Seol went still.

"Gone where?"

"Back." Jae-ryeong's voice cracked, and he hated it. "To your hall."

"I sat here for an hour with the cold coming up, and I thought, he's had enough, he's gone."

"I thought you'd walked away from me."

"Idiot," Seol said, very softly.

"I'm not."

"Idiot." Seol's bare hand came up and touched his face.

It trembled.

"I came back."

"You were an hour and a half late."

"Then punish me."

It took Jae-ryeong a moment to understand that Seol was not joking.

Seol's eyes were dark, with the pupils wide.

And Jae-ryeong, who had gone cold for ninety minutes imagining him gone, did not feel like being gentle.

"Cup first," he said, and his voice was rough.

Seol gave it.

Jae-ryeong drank every drop and set the cup down.

Then he took Seol by the front of his robe.

He walked Seol backward across the room until Seol's shoulders hit the bedpost.

The whole bed shook.

Seol gasped.

"Say it," Jae-ryeong said. "Say you came back."

"I came back."

"Say you'll come back tomorrow."

"I will."

"Say it like you mean it."

"I'll come every night, Jae-ryeong." Seol's head tipped back against the wood. "Do you hear? Every night, for as long as I can."

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