Running to You | Park Han + JL + Steven | Haneulz + Stejay AU

Chapter 72: The Ones Who Kissed

His lips -- swollen. His chest -- heaving like he'd run a mile uphill.

His whole body still hummed like a chord had been plucked inside him and hadn't stopped vibrating.

He had walked away.

Why did I stop?

He pushed off the door and walked to the bathroom, flicking on the light. The mirror didn't lie.

Hair mussed. Mouth red. Collar askew. A faint mark under his jaw that hadn't been there before -- a secret bruise blooming in the shape of Han's mouth.

His fingers touched it. He flinched.

Not from pain.

From memory.

Han's hands, steady. Han's breath against his throat. That moment where the world had vanished, narrowed to heat and heartbeat and hunger.

JL gripped the sink.

I wanted him. I wanted all of it.

And he still did.

His body ached with it. Not just desire -- but absence. Like Han had become oxygen, and now he was drowning.

He hadn't lied.

He had wanted it too much.

Because Han wasn't a crush. He wasn't just a what-if.

Han was the fight. The fire. The impossible belief in him, even when JL couldn't believe in himself. Han was the only one who ever looked at him and saw something more -- and still loved him for what he already was.

JL had run because that kind of love was too big to hold in his hands. Too dangerous to fall into without losing himself.

But the moment Han had kissed him, he hadn't cared.

He hadn't wanted to stop.

Not until he remembered Steven's face.

Not until guilt wrapped around his ribs like wire.

Steven.

His first kiss. His comfort. His quiet.

The one person who had never pushed. Who gave space, and softness, and a kind of love that didn't burn -- it held.

How could I do this to him?

JL pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes, his throat thick.

Because the truth was, he hadn't kissed Han instead of loving Steven.

He had kissed Han and still loved Steven.

He loved them both.

Not the same way. Not for the same reasons.

But real.

What kind of person does that make me?

He didn't know.

All he knew was Han's mouth was still on his skin, and Steven's voice was still in his head.

And he wanted -- more than anything -- to stop wanting anything at all.

But he couldn't.

Because somewhere inside him, something whispered:

If you let Han go this time, you might never get him back.