“Damn it.”
After cursing, Seunghyun hesitated briefly before finding “Cha Yunhyun’s” contact information and forwarding it to his own number. After sending it, he deleted the message notification to hide any trace of his action.
A part of his mind briefly thought that he shouldn’t be doing this, but Seunghyun’s actions were unapologetic. Instead, he even started to think that his behavior was justified.
Soon, he pocketed the phone with a casual expression. Then he finished cleaning the living room and returned to the bedroom where Suhwan was sleeping.
***
When Suhwan woke up again, everything had returned to how it was a week ago. The only thing that had changed was his body. After opening his eyes, Suhwan had to remain motionless in bed for about half a day more.
“Have some porridge.”
“Yeah.”
Slowly rising from the bed, Suhwan looked at Seunghyun who had brought a bowl of porridge. Seunghyun even brought a folding table and placed it on Suhwan’s lap, setting the porridge bowl on top.
“Thank you.”
“It’s nothing.”
“Have you eaten?”
“Yes.”
As their eyes met, Seunghyun smiled brightly. However, for some reason, Suhwan couldn’t smile back at that smile. He kept recalling how, during the heat cycle, Seunghyun had been satisfied with consuming something other than food.
“Well, I’ll eat well.”
Trying hard not to recall that memory, he put the spoon in his mouth. While eating the savory porridge, he thought about what lay ahead.
Unexpectedly spending a week at home with Seunghyun during his heat cycle, Suhwan was vague about what day or what day of the week it was.
After finishing the porridge, he asked Seunghyun who was cleaning up the bowl and table:
“Where’s my phone?”
For a moment, Seunghyun’s face stiffened slightly, but Suhwan didn’t notice at all. Soon, smiling as if nothing was wrong, Seunghyun took the phone out of his pocket.
“It was lying in the living room.”
“Ah, I see.”
The living room… On the first day, he had lost consciousness while kissing Seunghyun there. He probably dropped his phone at that time. And since then, he hadn’t been able to check his phone at all. The feel of the phone Seunghyun handed to him felt unfamiliar, as he hadn’t touched it even once during the entire week.
“Hmm, hmm-hmm.”
He cleared his throat unnecessarily and tapped the screen. That’s when he noticed the battery was nearly depleted. Even though he hadn’t used it for a week, it was surprising that the battery still had some life left, considering it had been on the whole time.
Suhwan quickly put it on charge and checked his messages. While reviewing worried messages from Hwalyeon and apologetic ones from Dowun, Suhwan’s eyes widened.
“Huh?”
[Cha Yunhyun]
Suhwan’s finger paused at this unexpected name. He quickly scanned the message with his eyes. Then he let out a long sigh.
“Phew.”
“What is it?”
“Ah.”
Seunghyun, who had approached to ask, had a curiously raised eyebrow. But Suhwan, still checking his messages, didn’t notice as he answered.
“Just that I have to go to work starting next week.”
As soon as Suhwan had manifested and opened his eyes here, he had to report to the Hwamyeong headquarters where he was interning. At first, not knowing he had to go to work, he had been idling at the hotel until he received Dowun’s message and finally managed to search for the company’s location.
It was unclear how Jin Suhwan had been behaving there, but when the intern said he couldn’t come to work because he was sick, the company people just accepted it. No one reprimanded Suhwan for his unexcused absence.
It was a truly awkward situation. Moreover, no one assigned him any work. Of course, if he, knowing nothing and being completely clueless, had tried to do something, he might have messed everything up terribly, but still, sitting at the company without doing anything was quite embarrassing.
And it was during that time that he became acquainted with Assistant Manager Cha Yunhyun at the company.
Though not part of the royal family, Cha Yunhyun came from a quite wealthy background. His parents were a judge and a lawyer respectively, and Yunhyun’s older hyung was a prosecutor. He would joke that in such a family, merely working at a large corporation wasn’t considered much of an achievement.
At first, Suhwan felt extremely uncomfortable around him. Whatever Jin Suhwan had done, Yunhyun, his supervisor and manager, had treated Suhwan coldly the entire time. So he couldn’t even properly approach him.
Then, by chance, Suhwan was able to get closer to Yunhyun. Although they only had conversations for a short time since there wasn’t much left of the internship period, fortunately, judging from the message, it seemed Yunhyun still had quite a bit of goodwill toward him.
“The assistant manager from work is asking if I’m really coming in next week.”
“Assistant manager…?”
“Yeah, he was my supervisor during my internship.”
Suhwan smiled as he recalled Yunhyun, who would freak out and give him a cold look even when offered a cup of coffee. Of course, there was a dramatic change in temperature after they became closer. As Suhwan chuckled while reading Yunhyun’s message, Seunghyun moved closer.
“Is that person an omega?”
“Huh? No, there aren’t many omegas at our company.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, the assistant manager is an alpha.”
“I see.”
A look of relief flashed across Seunghyun’s face, but Suhwan didn’t notice it as he fell into different thoughts.
What if Seunghyun thinks Hwamyeong is a conservative company that discriminates against omegas?
Perhaps because the chairman, Jin Gilnyeong, was a conservative person, the company’s policies were similar. The company strictly adhered to the government-mandated minimum quota for omega employees. Moreover, there was a higher proportion of omegas in contract positions. Suhwan worried that Seunghyun might view this negatively. He hastily added:
“But, um… it’s not like there are none at all, and there are quite a few omega employees in other departments. It’s just particularly like that in our department.”
“…?”
“Ah, I just thought you might think badly of it. My grandfather is a bit rigid, that’s why.”
Things would probably change a lot when Hwalyeon became chairman. The affiliated companies under her leadership reportedly had a higher proportion of omegas and better employee benefits. The entire Hwamyeong Group would gradually change that way. Suhwan said this while gauging Seunghyun’s reaction.
“It’s fine. I don’t mind that.”
“Really?”
“Yes, rather…”
“Hmm?”
“It’s nothing.”
Seunghyun smiled brightly with an unconcerned face. Suhwan looked at him curiously, but then jumped in surprise when the phone rang and looked down at it.
[Noona Hwalyeon]
It was a call from Hwalyeon. Suhwan quickly answered.
“Hello.”
—Suhwan.
“Yes, noona.”
—Finally… it seems to be over.
“Ah, yes…”
—…
An awkward silence typical of alphas hung in the air for a while. Then Hwalyeon spoke first and asked:
—How are you feeling?
“Both Seunghyun and I are fine.”
—I see.
“Yes.”
—…
Somehow, Hwalyeon seemed to hesitate. Although Suhwan wasn’t usually perceptive, at this moment, he somehow knew what she wanted to ask. He cleared his throat and continued.
“Um… there’s nothing to worry about.”
—…Is that so?
“Yes, we… handled it well.”
It was debatable whether it could truly be called “handling it well,” but there was no choice. What Hwalyeon wanted to know was whether they used protection during Seunghyun’s heat cycle, but they had spent the heat in a way that didn’t require contraception to begin with. So even if there was some misalignment, the end goal was the same. In conclusion, nothing bad would happen to Seunghyun.
—Whew, I was worried, but that’s a relief.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
