Chapter 39: Kiss him again.

This time he kissed Eoin until he was nearly out of breath before letting go. Eoin gasped for air and looked at him with wide, disbelieving eyes, a thin layer of moisture shining in them.

Cian looked at him calmly. "I don’t want to hear this, Mr. Brennan. First, tell me how this is supposed to work."

Eoin: "..."

He said nothing.

"Now you’re silent? Speak up." Cian pinched his chin. "Didn’t you want to please me? Tell me what would please me."

Eoin stayed silent.

He stayed silent for so long that Cian began to wonder if he had teased him too much, and he hesitated over whether to let go and comfort him. After all, Eoin had meant well and ended up pinned down and scolded, which was understandably upsetting.

But before he could let go, Eoin suddenly raised his arms, wrapped them around Cian’s neck, and hugged him.

Cian had been propped up on his hands, and the hug caught him off guard. He tumbled onto the bed and pressed tightly against Eoin.

Eoin put his arms around Cian’s back and pressed his cheek to his shoulder. "...Like this?"

He was like a top student carefully trying out the right answer to a question.

Cian lay down on his side, casually tousled Eoin’s hair, and sighed. "It’s hard to explain right now, Eoin, but I swear, I never meant to hurt you, with a whip or anything else."

The ear piece he had worn for the plot, Cian hadn’t even let Eoin pierce his ear for it.

From the first moment Cian saw Eoin, he had never thought of harming the young man in front of him. He couldn’t bear to leave a single mark on that skin, as fine as china. Beautiful china should be kept safe in a glass case, wrapped in velvet, not smashed to pieces.

Cian gave him a light kiss on the forehead. "Really, hurting you wouldn’t make me happy. Quite the opposite, it would make me very sad. So please look after yourself, and don’t make jokes like this with me."

"...Okay."

It was truly an attitude of care and respect, with no trace of contempt.

Eoin vaguely remembered that, apart from the first contract full of insults, Cian had always been like this, always gentle and calm. It was Eoin himself who had overthought everything and almost missed out.

The crude, overbearing Cian of the contract and the carefree Cian holding him now seemed like two different people.

With the matter half settled, Cian breathed out. Playing a foolish playboy every day was quite tiring, so he was in a good mood, and as he faced Eoin, another question came to mind.

He asked softly, "Mr. Brennan, the Teaching Assistant, can you tell me why you like me?"

Cian was completely baffled about this. He had treated the whole thing like a game, following the script step by step and passing 60% smoothly. But somehow the plot had started veering off in a strange direction that nothing could pull back. More than once, Cian had thought the System would have a stroke. The lead who was supposed to hate him to death was now nursing him and crying over him, and had almost become his partner.

Cian had never been in love before. A male partner had certainly been unexpected, but Eoin was so good looking that he didn’t need anything else.

Eoin hesitated.

If he was honest, he had liked Cian for five years.

The first half of Eoin’s life had been a constant grind, like a screw wound tight that couldn’t afford a single slip. His family was too poor, and he had a sick granny. Every step felt like walking a tightrope over a cliff. One wrong move and everything would come crashing down.

In primary school, while other kids played or went to after school clubs, Eoin was buried in maths Olympiad problems, because only by ranking in the top few in the school could he get a scholarship to secondary school. The money, which might just cover a weekend trip for his classmates, covered several months of living costs for him.

In secondary school, he studied as if his life depended on it, because only by acing the entrance exam and getting into the top class could he get his fees waived. If he couldn’t, he wouldn’t be able to go on to the senior cycle.

University was no different. The scholarship, which only one percent of students could win, was something other students could go for with piano competitions and extracurricular achievements. Eoin had nothing like that. To compete, he had to push himself to the limit.

No child is born loving exams and competition, and Eoin was no different. He had felt like throwing up from staring at experiment data, but he had no choice but to push through.

He was a string stretched to its limit. If he hadn’t been so tough, he would have snapped long ago.

But Cian was different. He had a natural ease about him. When Eoin was in his arms, he felt shielded, with a comforting sense of safety, as if all the weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

Cian had taken Eoin on motorbike rides and the river cruise, and strolled with him along Trinity’s beech avenue and the busy commercial street. He showed him the sights Eoin had overlooked in the seven years he’d been there, and let him drink the bubble tea he had seen countless times but never tried. It was like splashing bright colours into a black and white world. For the first time in over twenty years, Eoin felt truly alive.

In fact, both before he met Cian and after they parted, Eoin had always had mild insomnia. Before, it was because of pressure at home. Later, it was the complexity of company business. He was used to being wound up tight, even at night, and found it hard to relax and sleep.

But with Cian beside him, maybe because of that ease, or the feeling of safety, he always slept soundly.

The day Cian came back to Dublin, Eoin had his first good dream in five years.

Eoin had been quiet for a while. Cian had no idea he was lost in thought. He patted Eoin’s shoulder. "Come on, what’s on your mind? I’m really curious."

"..."

It felt too awkward to say it out loud. Eoin was embarrassed and a little irritated. "I like you because I like you. Do I need a reason?"

"All right." Cian shrugged, knowing Eoin was shy. "Tell me when you’re ready."

The two of them snuggled for a while. Both were young and full of energy, and since they had never been intimate before, it was hard to hold back. They hadn’t fully opened their hearts today, but they had come halfway, and as they snuggled, they found themselves kissing again.

Cian played with Eoin’s hair and began kissing from his forehead, moving down along his temple, his sideburn, his cheek, and finally the earlobe.

The earlobe wasn’t completely smooth. Near the edge there was a small hard bump, cold to the touch, like some kind of metal.

Eoin’s hair was styled oddly, with one side left a bit longer so that it just covered the earlobe. He was already dazed from the kisses, but when the kiss reached his ear, he paused and wanted to turn his head away. But after closing his eyes, he bravely offered his ear back and let Cian kiss it.

Cian stopped and played with the hair. "What are you wearing?"

He drew the round, pretty earlobe out from the hair and raised an eyebrow. There was a tiny piece of jewellery on it, the "C" he had given him.

When Cian picked it, he had only been going through the motions of the plot and didn’t want anyone to see it, so he had deliberately chosen the smallest one. It was shiny silver but only the size of a grain of rice, hidden in the hair and invisible.

"Have you been wearing it all along?"

Cian tugged at it and found it was on quite tight. He turned Eoin’s earlobe over. Originally it had been an ear cuff, but now it was an earring. The piece was the same, but the style had been changed.

Eoin had pierced his ear.

Cian muttered, "I didn’t want to pierce your ear, in case it hurt, and you went and did it anyway."

The little piece hanging from his ear looked really nice. Cian kissed the earlobe and bit the tiny thing. "Why not use the ear cuff? Wasn’t it good?"

Eoin didn’t know why, but his ears were burning hot, even though there were hardly any nerves there. Still, they were very sensitive and swelled up at the slightest touch. He nudged Cian away. "The original clip broke."

Cian kissed him softly and lingeringly. "Just get a new clip, then."

Eoin: "It fell on the floor, and it’s too tiny to find easily. I was afraid it might fall again and be lost forever, so I switched to an earring. It’s less likely to fall off."

Cian: "It’s no big deal if it gets lost. It’s just a small trinket."

He hadn’t put much thought into buying it, but Eoin had worn it with such care.

Cian noticed this little detail and was very pleased. He mumbled, "Why have you been wearing it all this time? Do you really like the design?"

Wearing it had nothing to do with the design. Eoin opened his mouth, and something Cian’s question reminded him of made him suddenly blush and turn his head away.

Cian: "Speak up. Why have you been wearing it? If you like it, we can go and pick out a few more."

He still had millions in his account. It was time to buy some matching rings or something.

This was originally a very ordinary question. Eoin only needed to give a routine answer, like or dislike. But he hesitated for a long time, then suddenly reached out and hugged Cian.

What he was about to say, Eoin would never have dared say before. But they had just opened up to each other, and Eoin knew that Cian only respected and cared for him, without any contempt. So those slightly shameful, absolutely unspeakable words he had seen on websites turned into just the right amount of flirting.

He tilted his head down and said in a voice barely above a whisper, "It was a gift from the young master. I wouldn’t dare take it off."