Vows and Bullets
Chapter 33: Practice

Chapter 33: Practice

[Music Recommendation: "In the Middle of the Night" by Alley Duhe]

Agent Helios rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Stop playing deaf. You’re not the only one who doesn’t like this, but we have to do this for the mission. We should leave no room for doubt and act with perfection."

"Practice kissing? What the heck? Do we really need to go that far?"

He started walking around the room and towards a cabinet.

"I don’t know about you, but you should know by now that I’m a perfectionist. Anything that can risk the mission is a big NO for me."

Then, he took out a video camera from inside and set it up on the side of the bed where I was lying down.

"Hey! What are you doing? Why did you put a video camera there? Don’t even think of doing anything funny, or I’ll kill you!"

Raising his eyebrows and smirking at me, he replied, "Ha-ha-ha. You’re making me laugh. Do you really think that I would do something that gross with you? Don’t think too highly of yourself."

"Hah. Right."

"We need this to see how others see it when we kiss. Until I am satisfied with the result, we won’t stop practicing."

He sat on the side of the bed and gestured through his forefinger, telling me to come closer.

"Get up and come here."

I glared at him for a moment, but I didn’t really have much choice. He was right. We couldn’t let something as simple as kissing properly risk our disguise and endanger the mission. Sighing, I got up and crawled towards him.

And so, our kissing practice started...

We did all sorts of kisses we knew and categorized them into different types. This was so we could easily agree on an approach we would take depending on the scenario before us. As much as I hated to admit it, the video camera did help in showing us our mistakes more clearly.

Category one—Greeting Kiss. It’s the easiest of them all, where we simply need our lips to touch briefly and smile at each other. As the term suggests, we would use this when greeting each other, like when we part ways for a moment, then come back and meet again.

Category two—Casual Kiss. It was a kiss that was like that of a greeting, except it was a bit longer and involved a few pecks or pressing our lips together. It may also involve hugging or light touching. It’s the kind of kiss we decided to use for publicity stunts since it’s the most normal of all—not too cold towards each other, and not too hot as well.

Category three—Sweet Kiss. Ugh... this one. Well, as the term suggests... it’s really sweet... like how we kissed in front of Yoon-Ah. When we saw the recording of ourselves kissing in this way, we finally understood why my friend used the term "hungry for each other" when she saw us kissing. It’s a little passionate and sensual, given the slow kisses and how that slowness only made me feel more of his lips on mine. Yup. Every single movement.

If the sweet kiss was enough to make my face so red, what more of the next one?

"Uhmm... Ahhhh..." I couldn’t help but softly moan as Agent Helios kissed me so deeply.

Category four—Wild Kiss.

"I—I don’t think there would be a scenario where we need to do this," I said to him while I panted from the wildness of the kiss.

It felt like all my blood rushed to my face. My body started to feel hot as well.

"Haaah... I think we’ve kissed enough for tonight. Can we sleep now?"

"Not yet," his deep voice whispered to my ears.

What the—why did he have to whisper to my ears. Now it feels so tingly, it’s weird!

He lifted my chin up, caressed my lips, and continued kissing. This time, he even slid his tongue inside.

’Not this again! Waaaahh! The last time we kissed like this in the parking lot at Mythos, my legs gave in for a moment.’

"Ahhh... stop—uhmm."

I could barely breathe. We were only kissing, but why was I out of breath? There’s nothing exhausting about this, right? We’re just moving our mouths and jaws, so it shouldn’t be exhausting, but why am I...

Ba-dump! Ba-dump! Ba-dump!

It was only then that I remembered a few topics discussed in the Art of Seduction lesson during training.

"One of the main goals of seduction is to ensnare your target. Acts like kissing intimately, touching, and teasing are the best way to arouse the opposite sex. Once aroused, a person will find it hard to get out of it until their desire is satisfied. Therefore..."

And the instructor also said...

"Signs of arousal are... heavy breathing, heightened heartbeat, increased pulse rate, swelling of...."

Weren’t those the things that I’m experiencing right now? Then... does that mean I’m... no way! I know it’s a normal physical reaction, especially when prolonged kissing is involved, but I refuse to believe that I... NO WAY! Not with him!

"Stop! Ahh... haah... haah...."

I pushed him away, and our lips finally parted. I breathed heavily and bit my lips. For some reason, my eyes were a bit teary. As I panted hard, I looked up at him and said...

"Please... I can’t... haah... anymore."

Our lips had already separated, but the sensation remained.

Agent Helios bit his lips as well. Wow. That looked hot. Wait. NO! It didn’t!

’What’s wrong with me? Am I at that age already where I’m showing signs of sexual frustration? Wait a minute, I’m still young! It’s definitely not the case!’

While I argued with myself in my mind, Agent Helios pulled me close again. He cupped my face and continued kissing me!

"I said, not yet," he whispered.

He slid his tongue inside again and kissed me deeply. He was only kissing my lips, but it felt like he was devouring my entire being. What’s worse, my body wouldn’t coordinate with me and lost its strength.

That night, I discovered I had yet another weakness—his kiss.

I’m not even in love with him, but why was it making me feel so weak?