Kiss Me Like You’re Not Married.

They didn't text.

They didn't call each other that day.

They didn't have to.

Joon-won adjusted the collar of his black button-up shirt, sleeves casually rolled halfway, a slim Cartier watch on his wrist. His platinum ring caught the low light as he turned his wrist, checking the time. His hair was neatly styled, not slicked back like usual, just enough to look softened, accessible. The thinnest silver chain around his neck barely peeked out, intentional.

Ha-eun peeked from the bathroom. "You're really dressing up."

Joon-won met her eyes in the mirror, then smiled. "I'm trying."

Meanwhile, in another apartment across the city, Tae-hyun was fixing his cuffs. Navy shirt tucked into tapered dark trousers, top three buttons undone, purposely for Joon-won eyes, a slight wave in his hair that made him look younger but the look in his eyes wasn't youthful. He ran a hand down the hem of his shirt slowly, then reached for the cologne Joon-won had once complimented in a passing remark. The one he'd never worn again, until tonight.

"You're nervous?" Seo-yeon teased, walking in behind him.

"No." He glanced at her, then shrugged. "He's just… a lot."

"He's kind of fun when he's tipsy, though."

Tae-hyun's mouth twitched. He knew. He fucking knew.

⸻

All of four of them had arrived a few minutes apart.

The restaurant was sleek, with warm wooden tones and low-hung pendant lights. A curved booth wrapped around a round table set for four.

When they arrived, the wives hugged first, squealing about how good they looked. Joon-won and Tae-hyun exchanged a nod that bordered on disdain but their eyes lingered too long, mapped every inch of the other's outfit, noted every subtle choice.

"You clean up nice," Tae-hyun muttered under his breath as they sat.

"You clean up slow," Joon-won replied. "Almost thought you'd bail."

Ha-eun and Seo-yeon laughed as they pulled the men in tighter around the booth, sitting opposite each other. Seo-yeon linked her fingers with Tae-hyun's. Ha-eun leaned into Joon-won's side, playing with the hem of his sleeve.

It was intimate. Too intimate.

Too close for comfort.

Which is exactly why they did it.

⸻

Three cocktails and one mocktail in, the table was glowing with soft laughter. Ha-eun reached for her drink, smirking.

"Okay, wait. Let's make this fun," she said. "Let's play something."

"Oh no," Joon-won muttered.

"Truth or dare," Seo-yeon chimed, leaning in.

Tae-hyun raised a brow. "We're not twelve."

"Exactly. So let's make it adult."

The game began harmlessly. Favorite childhood memory. Most embarrassing date story. Weirdest food. But soon the questions turned sharper, less innocent.

"Tae-hyun since you chosen truth," Seo-yeon said, grinning. "Have you ever been attracted to someone close to you?"

Tae-hyun's eyes glinted with mischief and flicked toward Joon-won for half a second. "Depends on how close we're talking."

Joon-won didn't blink and stared at him intensely he was also curious. "Answer the question."

Tae-hyun tilted his head with a slight playful innocent smile as if he didn't see the way Joon-won gaze shifted. "Yes."

Ha-eun laughed. "Like who?"

He took a sip of his drink. "No no baby, no follow-up questions. That wasn't part of the deal."

Joon-won's hand under the table clenched slowly, but he smiled through it and scoffed. "Coward."

"Jealous?" Tae-hyun replied, just low enough.

Their wives were laughing too loud to notice the real heat between the words.

The game eventually dissolved into more laughter, swirled away by the arrival of more cocktails, food and the dimming lights around them. The restaurant's ambiance was soft, flush with golden tones that turned skin into something cinematic. Their booth tucked them in like a secret, and for a moment, it almost felt safe.

Almost.

"So, Joon-won," Seo-yeon said, stirring her drink with the tip of her straw, her elbow grazing Tae-hyun's arm. "Ha-eun tells me you're the one who actually cooks in the house sometimes?"

Ha-eun leaned in, mock-proud. "Chef husband. I do the cleaning and aesthetic; he does the flavor when he's not too busy with work."

Joon-won lifted his glass modestly. "I like control over what ends up on my plate. And in my mouth."

Tae-hyun hummed low in his throat and sipped his whiskey, eyes fixed over the rim of his glass. "Control freaks make interesting lovers."

Ha-eun laughed. "He's not a control freak. He's just organized."

"No, I'm very much a control freak," Joon-won replied, still looking at Tae-hyun, a challenge quietly blooming behind his polite tone. "But I'm aware of it. That makes it tolerable."

Seo-yeon tapped her glass against Tae-hyun's. "Sounds like someone you know?"

Tae-hyun smiled crookedly. "Yeah. I can think of someone just like that."

The words hovered. The wives didn't catch the spark but it caught flame between them anyway. Joon-won's knee shifted slightly under the table, and Tae-hyun's foot stretched just a bit. Casual. Testing. The tip of his dress shoe brushed against Joon-won's ankle. Light contact. Teasing.

Joon-won paused. Didn't flinch. Didn't move away.

He leaned back slightly, one arm stretching across the back of the booth behind Ha-eun, gaze dropping to the glass in his hand.

"You've always liked people who take charge, haven't you?" he asked, voice low, conversational, yet sharp enough for only Tae-hyun to bleed from it.

"Only if they don't mind being challenged," Tae-hyun murmured. "Otherwise, it gets boring."

Their feet connected again. Not an accident this time.

Across the table, Ha-eun was reapplying her lip tint. Seo-yeon checked a message on her phone, cheeks still pink from the alcohol.

"So, what do you both do when the kids aren't around?" Ha-eun asked, clearly tipsy, her head tilted toward Seo-yeon. "Like—what do you really do?"

"Sleep," Seo-yeon said. "Or laundry. Or watch trashy dramas with subtitles on because we're too tired to focus."

Joon-won chuckled. "She makes me watch the kind where everyone's crying for twenty minutes straight."

"And you cry too!" Ha-eun added, smacking his thigh playfully.

Tae-hyun raised an eyebrow. "Didn't peg you for the emotional type."

"I'm not. Just… observant." Joon-won's gaze dipped for a fraction of a second to Tae-hyun's lips. "Some emotions are contagious."

Tae-hyun let the silence stretch. Then he reached under the table again, this time more boldly. His foot pressed up the side of Joon-won's calf.. light, teasing. Joon-won exhaled slowly through his nose, his posture never shifting, except for the way his jaw tightened, then relaxed.

"What about you two?" Ha-eun asked, waving her finger between Seo-yeon and Tae-hyun. "Any alone time rituals?"

Seo-yeon laughed. "He gets moody when the apartment's too quiet. He'll clean the house top to bottom like a man possessed."

"I like control too," Tae-hyun said smoothly, staring at Joon-won. "But only in certain rooms."

Joon-won's mouth twitched. He shifted his leg under the table and gently, slowly, trapped Tae-hyun's foot in place with his own, a small victorious move. He didn't look at him when he did it.

Seo-yeon sipped her cocktail again, eyes wide. "Honestly, I don't want to go home yet. It's been too long since we just went out and had fun like this."

"Agreed," Ha-eun chimed, already a little buzzed and glowing. "Wait. Why don't you guys crash at ours tonight? Seriously. No kids, no alarms. We've got the space."

Seo-yeon turned to Tae-hyun. "Should we?"

Tae-hyun hesitated, then glanced toward Joon-won, just a flick of the eye. Joon-won didn't answer with words. He didn't have to. His leg pressed harder under the table.

"Sure," Tae-hyun said, tone casual, as if nothing about this was layered. "We've got no early plans tomorrow."

Ha-eun clapped her hands. "Yes! More drinks. We've got gin, wine, whiskey, even that stupid honey tequila you liked once."

"Regretted that," Joon-won muttered.

"You'll regret it again," she winked.

They paid the bill, splitting it evenly, and stood together outside the restaurant under the halo of a warm streetlamp. The city buzzed around them, but in their little circle, it felt like a world suspended, just the four of them.

As they wives each went to the cars, Joon-won lit a cigarette by the car. Eyes staring down at his feet as he slide back the lighter and the pack into his pocket. Tae-hyun didn't smoke, but he watched the way Joon-won's fingers curled around the filter, the way he tilted his head slightly while exhaling, like a man in a film who knew exactly what part he was playing as he stood by his own car still not getting in.

Joon-won glanced at him once through the smoke.

Tae-hyun stared back, just long enough to feel it.

Just long enough to know it would only get worse from here.

And both knew.. neither of them would stop it.