Ch.222222. How Far Is Touching Allowed?

“Should we apply sunscreen on each other first?”

Sunscreen, an essential cosmetic at the beach. It protects the skin from the beating ultraviolet rays.

Especially in a country with such strong sunlight, you need to reapply sunscreen constantly or your skin will burn quickly. Without it, your skin would become so painful that you couldn’t go about your daily life properly.

Yes, I know that. But I hesitated to readily agree. It’s not that I’m uncomfortable touching Hwa Nabi’s body even though we’re married, but there’s something suspicious about her eyes.

It’s like she has some hidden agenda, with that slight smile curling at the corners of her mouth as she suggests it.

“We have a parasol anyway. Can’t we just apply it ourselves under there?”

“You can’t reach your back, and we can’t just leave it unprotected. If your back burns, it’ll hurt too much to even wear clothes.”

“Ah, well… that’s true.”

Given human anatomy, reaching your back isn’t easy. Even I can’t reach behind my shoulder blades at all.

So basically, both Nabi and I need each other’s help to apply sunscreen thoroughly.

But what’s this uneasy feeling? As I hesitated to answer due to an indescribable anxiety, Hwa Nabi stepped closer.

She tapped the sunscreen bottle and said:

“Siwoo. Do you know how important sunscreen is for pregnant women?”

“Umm, not really.”

“During pregnancy, skin cells become sensitive due to hormonal changes. Something about melanin cells overreacting? Even a little sun exposure causes spots and blemishes that don’t disappear after childbirth, so sunscreen is extremely important.”

“Ah… really?”

“If I get spots from the sun, I’ll be stressed. And a pregnant woman and her baby are practically one body.”

“You mean if you’re stressed, it’ll negatively affect Wooa?”

“Well, I suppose so? That’s why they say managing a pregnant woman’s mental health is an important part of prenatal care.”

I can’t say there’s no exaggeration here. But it’s not completely nonsense either. As Nabi says, it’s scientifically proven that a pregnant woman’s mental state affects the fetus, and vice versa.

Mother and fetus continuously influence each other, so it’s natural to care for both sides for a healthy birth.

“……”

Somehow this seems to be leading to one conclusion. After all that talk, is she saying that if I don’t apply sunscreen on her back, it could affect Wooa and lead to bad results?

Maybe I could ignore just Nabi, but not Wooa—actually, I can’t ignore Nabi either. Both she and Wooa are equally precious family members to me.

…Ah, whatever. I pushed aside my concerns. This isn’t important enough to overthink.

It’s just applying sunscreen on my wife’s body, why am I making such a fuss? Having decided, I reached out my hand, intending to take the sunscreen bottle.

“Heh.”

But suddenly, Hwa Nabi grabbed my right hand. I flinched in surprise and tried to pull away, but she pulled me forward first.

“Good, our Siwoo is being obedient. Wouldn’t it have been better if you were like this from the start?”

“No….”

I hadn’t intended to hold hands, but now I couldn’t refuse. I started to say something but gave up, quietly following Hwa Nabi’s lead along the beach.

With each step on the golden sand, it crumbles beneath our feet. The only noticeable things are occasional pebbles.

There’s not a speck of trash on the sand, befitting a strictly controlled private beach. There’s no sign of anyone else—this vast shoreline really is just for the two of us.

That realization finally sank in as I looked at the sea, when Hwa Nabi suddenly stopped. Lost in thought, we had already arrived under the parasol.

“Now, lie down.”

“Hmm, you want me to lie down?”

I thought I was going to apply it on her. When I cautiously asked, she shook her head as if I’d said something absurd.

“No, I said we should apply it on each other, right? You need sunscreen on your back too.”

“Ah. You want to do me first?”

“Yes. So, here.”

She patted the picnic mat she had already spread out.

“Lie down and show me your back. I’ll apply it thoroughly and meticulously.”

“‘Back’ sounds so crude… someone who’s about to be a mother shouldn’t talk like that…”

“…Ugh, there you go nagging again. Stop talking and lie down quickly.”

Shuddering, Hwa Nabi grabbed my wrist firmly. I could resist if I wanted to, but it seemed pointless, so I just obediently sat down.

Then, I changed position and lay face down, showing my back. Hwa Nabi sat beside my waist and squeezed out some sunscreen.

“Now. Customer. Where should I touch first?”

“I didn’t lie down to be touched, I lay down for sunscreen. You know that…?”

“Come on, I was just joking. You don’t think I don’t know that?”

With my face resting on my folded arms, I turned slightly to look at Hwa Nabi. She was rubbing the sunscreen between her hands and smiling.

This doesn’t inspire confidence at all, but since we’re outside, she probably won’t do anything inappropriate.

“I can do the rest myself, so just help with my back.”

“Oh, starting with the legs? Got it. I’ll apply it well.”

“……”

If that’s what she was going to do, why did she ask where to start? I let out a deep sigh welling up inside me. Well, if she’s going to do my legs too, that saves me the trouble. So I’ll just let her be.

Rationalizing to myself, I waited for Hwa Nabi’s hands. Soon, with a sticky sound, I felt a strange viscosity on my thigh. She had started with my thigh despite saying she’d do my legs.

“That’s not my leg, that’s my thigh.”

“Isn’t a thigh part of the leg?”

Well, she’s not wrong… but when people say “leg,” they usually think of the calf, not the thigh. Especially in this situation.

Just then, her slender fingers touched the inside of my thigh. Startled by the unfamiliar sensation, I flinched.

“Hey, stay still. What if the sunscreen doesn’t get applied properly?”

“No, that’s because you’re touching a strange place.”

“How is the inside of the thigh a strange place? That area can get burned too. Don’t you know that seawater causes reflection that reaches everywhere?”

She’s good with words. The way excuses pop out so readily suggests she planned this. Giving up on arguing, I just closed my eyes politely.

She probably won’t touch anywhere more inappropriate anyway. So I thought nothing serious would happen.

“Fine, do whatever you want.”

…That was my mistake.

***

This might be an obvious confession, but suggesting we apply sunscreen on each other was definitely just an excuse. My real goal was to freely touch his body.

He’s quite generous in every other aspect and prioritizes my opinions, but strangely, he seems reluctant when it comes to physical touch.

How should I put it? He gives in because I want it, but it doesn’t feel like he enjoys it himself. He likes touching me here and there, but he’s uncomfortable being touched himself.

Of course, he’s never expressed it verbally, but it comes across implicitly. So I’ve been trying to avoid touching his body directly unless absolutely necessary.

“Fine, do whatever you want.”

Surprisingly, he told me to do whatever I want. Hearing his words, my ears perked up, but I pretended to be nonchalant and responded coolly.

“…Can I really do whatever I want?”

My parents always said that jumping at a good offer too eagerly shows inexperience. There’s no such thing as a free lunch, and deals that seem too favorable usually hide traps.

When you don’t know the other person’s intentions, it’s best to probe a bit first.

Following that advice, I played hard to get, and he slightly opened his eyes to look at me, then smiled.

“Yeah, do whatever you want.”

“Really… hmm, you really don’t mind if I do whatever I want?”

“That’s what I said.”

“Really, really?”

“I already said yes. Why, don’t you want to?”

“No, no! I’ll do it. I want to.”

I shouted loudly in my urgency, and he buried his face in his arms and chuckled.

…Why is this man laughing? I don’t know why, but somehow it feels like he has me in the palm of his hand, which is slightly annoying.

So I slipped my fingers to the inside of his thigh, right at the boundary between his swimsuit and skin, and squeezed firmly. His laughter stopped, and I heard him gasp.

“Hey, wait. Nabi. Why are you touching there?”

“We need to apply sunscreen to the inside of the thigh too. I just said that. Because of reflection, we need to apply it under the clothes too.”

“You don’t need to apply it under the swimsuit, you know? It’s not like you’re going to be naked, that part is covered so it’s fine.”

“Why, how do you know if I’ll undress or not?”

“That sounds like you’re definitely planning to undress me…?”

Detecting something inappropriate in my words, his hand slowly came down to grip his swimsuit. What does this man take me for? Does he think I’m some shameless woman who would undress him outdoors?

“…What are you saying? I’m not a pervert, I wouldn’t do that outside.”

How did he know? His intuition is annoyingly sharp—I was planning to quickly pull off his swimsuit and throw it far away if he wasn’t paying attention. Too bad.

Hiding those thoughts, I finished applying sunscreen to his lower body. The legs seem done now. Next is the back.

“…Siwoo.”

It felt like I was just doing him a favor. Think about it. Because of his clever talking, I couldn’t fulfill my selfish desires and ended up just applying sunscreen for real.

This won’t do. I need some special measure. With that thought, I patted his butt to signal I was done. Then I added briefly:

“Turn over. I’ll apply some on your front too.”