His mouth was soft and warm. He tasted like sleep and mint toothpaste and sothing uniquely him that made her stomach twist.
She pulled back slightly, watching his face for any sign of consciousness.
Nothing.
He slept like the dead, apparently.
She tried again, kissing him with a bit more pressure. Her hands moved to cup his face, thumbs brushing across his cheekbones.
Ro made a sound in his sleep, a low hum that vibrated against her lips. His body shifted beneath her, hips rolling slightly upward in a way that pressed his arousal against her lower back through the comforter.
Cheon gasped and pulled away, her face burning.
Ro’s eyes cracked open, mismatched grey and green finding her imdiately. For a mont he looked confused, like he couldn’t quite process why there was a naked girl sitting on his stomach.
Then his mouth curved into that infuriating smirk.
"Well," he said, his voice rough with sleep. "This is a hell of a way to wake up."
"We have training at six," Cheon said, trying desperately to maintain so dignity despite being completely naked and straddling him. "I go every day. You should start attending if you want to place well at the festival."
Ro’s hands found her hips, thumbs tracing small circles against her skin. "You woke up at four fifteen in the morning to tell about training?"
"I woke you up at four twentythree. The alarm went off at four fifteen but you were sleeping and I had to figure out the proper thod of rousing you."
His smirk widened. "The proper thod?"
"I consulted online resources."
"You looked up how to wake up your boyfriend?"
Cheon’s stomach flipped at that word. Boyfriend. Was that what he was?
"I looked up the most common thods of morning awakening in romantic partnerships," she corrected, her voice coming out more prim than she’d intended. "Kissing was the most frequently cited approach."
Ro’s thumbs continued their maddening circles against her hips. "So you climbed on top of naked and kissed awake because the internet told you to?"
"It seed more appropriate than the alternative suggestions."
"What were the alternatives?"
"Poking you until you responded. Or..." She trailed off, her eyes flicking involuntarily toward the tent in the comforter behind her.
Ro followed her gaze and laughed. "Or taking care of my morning wood?"
The crude language made her face burn hotter. "That option was ntioned, yes. I deed it inappropriate for a first morning awakening."
"First morning?" His hands slid from her hips to her waist, pulling her down closer to him. "You planning on there being more mornings?"
Cheon’s breath caught as her bare chest pressed against his. The drain between them flickered to life, warm and electric, cycling their Essentia in that rhythm that felt like coming ho.
"We have training," she managed, though her voice ca out breathy and unconvincing.
"Training doesn’t start until six." Ro’s mouth found her neck, kissing the spot just below her ear that made her entire body lt. "It’s only four. We have ti."
"We need to shower. Get dressed. Eat breakfast. Travel to campus."
"Cheon." His teeth grazed her neck, and she shivered. "Relax for once in your life."
"I am relaxed."
He laughed against her skin. "You’re the least relaxed person I’ve ever t. Even naked in my bed at four in the morning, you’re trying to organize our schedule."
"Soone has to maintain structure."
"That soone doesn’t have to be you right now." His hands moved up her sides, thumbs brushing the underside of her breasts. "Right now, you get to just be Hae-Won. Not the class representative. Not the perfect student. Just a girl who woke up in her boyfriend’s bed and decided to climb on top of him."
Boyfriend. There was that word again.
"Are you?" she asked quietly. "My boyfriend?"
Ro’s hands stilled. He pulled back to look at her, his mismatched eyes serious.
"Do you want to be?"
Cheon’s throat tightened. This was the mont. The choice. She could retreat back into her carefully organized world where relationships had clear labels and everyone followed the rules. Or she could stay here, in this strange arrangent with a boy who drained Essentia and had another girl who loved him and made Cheon feel things she’d spent eighteen years avoiding.
"Yes," she whispered.
Ro smiled, and it was different from his usual smirk. Softer. More genuine.
"Then I’m your boyfriend."
"Even though ra—"
"ra knows what this is. You signed the contract. We’re all on the sa page." His thumb traced her lower lip. "You’re mine, Panda. That’s how this works."
The possessive statent should have bothered her. Should have triggered her independent streak and made her push back.
Instead, warmth flooded through her chest.
"We still have training," she said, but there was no force behind it.
"We will absolutely make it to training." Ro rolled them over in one smooth motion, pinning her beneath him on the mattress. "After."
"After what?"
His mouth found hers, swallowing whatever protest she might have ford. The drain opened wider, their Essentia flowing back and forth in waves that made her head spin.
When he pulled back, his eyes were dark with want.
"After I show my girlfriend exactly what special occasions feel like."
Cheon’s eyes widened as she realized what he ant. Her gaze flicked down to where his body pressed against hers, the evidence of his arousal impossible to ignore.
"I’ve never—" She swallowed. "The forum said—"
"Fuck the forum." Ro kissed her jaw, her neck, moving lower. "I’ll show you."
Her hands found his shoulders, torn between pulling him closer and pushing him away.
"We don’t have ti."
"We have exactly enough ti." His mouth moved to her breast, and she gasped. "Trust ."
Trust. Such a simple word. Such a complicated concept.
But as Ro’s mouth worked its way down her body and the drain pulsed warm between them, Cheon found herself letting go of her schedule, her plans, her need to control every mont.
Just for now.
Just for him.
Just for this.
Her alarm hadn’t gone off yet for the second warning. They had ti.
And for once in her perfectly organized life, Cheon Hae-Won decided that being late might actually be worth it.
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