Chapter 1. Love, Jail, Prison (1)

Translator: River

Green leaves, thorny, hairy stems.

Shushu looked fondly at his perfectly specimen tomato seedlings. The sight of the healthy plant was, to put it mildly, heartwarming.

The transformation was almost magical, even for him. What was once the size of the palm of my hand is now almost half its height, and the stems, which were once so fragile they looked like they might break at any moment, are as thick as my thumb. If it continues to grow at this rate, it is not impossible that it will bear fruit before the end of the year.

Shushu tended the seedling eagerly every day.

“No, whatever, it’s still growing too fast. It’s a bit unpleasant…..”

When the inmates saw the saplings for the first time, they muttered reluctantly, but Shushu didn’t care. ”You’re offended, you don’t know what you’re saying.”

The tomatoes must have recognized his care and love because they grew very well. The tomato seedling was the only thing in this harsh prison that she could give affection to and not be taken advantage of, so his affection for her was extraordinary.

“What are you doing?”

She was feeling the farmer’s heart that had been instilled in her during her kindergarten years, but in the middle of her afternoon free time, a presence interrupted her and the sapling.

“…Don’t you see? I’m watering Mickey.”

Mickey. Shushu snorted at the tomato sapling’s carefully chosen name, as if she was amused to hear it again. Shushu’s mood dropped even lower at the sound of laughter, to which she responded sharply, not caring that she was the one who had ruined her lovely gardening time.

“You’ve been watering for twenty minutes. You didn’t know tomatoes were hydroponic plants.”

The sarcasm in her tone made me feel even worse. Just as I contemplated ignoring him, the man behind me leaned forward as if impatient. Resting his cheek on the crouching crown of Shushu’s head, his long hair peeked out from the wide collar of his prison uniform.

Glistening in the sun, the hair was the color of the quartz he had eagerly sought as a child, mistaking it for crystal. Shiny, white and straight. If you followed the hair upward, you would see a face with a bored expression.

The image of that face made my left rib cage rattle. Despite his mean words and ruthless behavior, my heart still thundered in my chest every time he pulled such pranks from time to time.

I regretted it as soon as I looked sideways, exasperated. A beautiful, trembling face was looking at Shushu with a serious expression. I felt my heart leap again as my eyes roamed the long white lashes like frosted bushes and the winter sunrise beneath them until they reached the pale lips.

I knew that inside those lips, like a picture that must have been painted over a century ago, were pearly teeth, a full, wet tongue, and even a small piercing in the center of that tongue. It was so erotic to feel that black piercing in his mouth, so prominent in contrast to his noble appearance.

Thinking about it made him blush, and he shook his head in deliberate annoyance.

“…What are you talking about, get away from there. Your hair tickles me.”

I’m running out of free time and haven’t seen you, so I came looking for you, worried that you’d gone off somewhere to get another thrashing.

My heart, which had been pounding, surprisingly calmed at the lack of concern in his voice. I felt silly even thinking about it. Her callous way of speaking, without a millimeter of concern for the feelings of others, disqualified both her noble face and her pierced tongue.

Shushu deliberately kept her mouth shut, showing that she didn’t think it was worth responding. He didn’t seem to expect a response, so he continued.

“So you’ve been flirting with that Mickey guy behind my back.”

“What a way to talk to a barely grown tomato seedling, that one.”

“You sound jealous of your gardening-crazy wife.”

Really annoyed, Shushu gaped at the word “wife”. Whether he realized it or not, the hair on the sides of his face moved to the front of his face this time. His tongue poked out between his teeth, with a tomato seedling behind it, and his eyes glittered seductively.

“I want to kiss you.”