He had completely forgotten that he had asked Hyung Yoonho for suppressants and contraceptives.
In this embarrassing situation, Junghyun hurriedly accepted the shopping bag.
“I forgot that I ordered these.”
“If you needed surfing equipment, you could have told me. We could have gone shopping together.”
“An acquaintance runs a shop nearby, so I asked them. I was too lazy to go out.”
“An acquaintance?”
Immediately after saying it, Junghyun frowned, realizing a beat too late that he was in trouble.
In his panic, he had blurted out whatever came to mind.
“Just a hyung I met while surfing.”
“If it’s Surf-acation, I know that shop too. I often surf with the owner. Do you know him? His name should be Yoonho? Or was it Yuho?”
So he didn’t know the name precisely. It seemed they only met briefly at the beach, surfing together—the kind of relationship where they would only recognize each other by face.
Perhaps it would be better to say that person was the college senior he had mentioned before, but unfortunately, now wasn’t the right time for that.
Doing so might also put Hyung Yoonho in an awkward position.
“…I don’t really know his name. I only knew him from working part-time there, so I just called him ‘boss’…”
“Part-time?”
“Yes. I did it occasionally.”
Jaehyuk brightened at this unexpected information.
“Then we might have crossed paths a few times.”
“…If you were a regular customer, maybe?”
“Come to think of it, how is the owner doing? I haven’t seen him recently. He doesn’t seem to come to the shop often either. Has he expanded the business again?”
“…We’re not that close.”
“Well, I don’t know what he usually does either. I just know he runs a few businesses. Anyway, rest now. I’m going to order dessert. What would you like to drink?”
“…A cold ade, please.”
“And for dessert?”
“I’ll have whatever you’re having.”
“…I’ll order it myself.”
Seeing Junghyun’s extremely awkward reactions, Jaehyuk said he would handle it and left the reception room with his phone. Left alone, Junghyun stared at the shopping bag Jaehyuk had handed him for a moment, then opened it to check inside.
On top of the box inside the shopping bag was written “Center Fin.”
The plausible-looking box contained something wrapped thoroughly in bubble wrap—just like his hyung’s style.
It would be difficult to unwrap and check at this point.
Though he knew what was inside, just to be safe, Junghyun got up with the shopping bag and headed to the bathroom.
His body still creaked and ached, but he had no time to think about that.
Compelled to deal with this shopping bag quickly, he entered the bathroom, locked the door, and unwrapped the bubble wrap.
When he opened the box immediately after, two sealed envelopes fell onto the sink.
Next, he opened the envelopes and took out the fins, revealing silver pill packaging inside.
It was labeled “suppressant.”
After confirming this, he opened the other envelope, and again with the fin came a small box of pills.
This box was labeled “oral contraceptive.”
It seemed they were easily available medications that had been purchased directly from a pharmacy.
As he visually confirmed the medications, his thoughts suddenly became complicated.
It was already quite late. If pregnancy was going to happen, it probably already had.
No, in fact, the likelihood of pregnancy was high.
But at the same time, there was also a high probability that implantation itself would be impossible, meaning pregnancy might not occur.
In any case, hormones would still be circulating in his body…
Suppressants are medications with ingredients that inhibit the hormones necessary for pregnancy in order to prevent the heat state. So theoretically, they could lower the chance of pregnancy.
But he couldn’t be certain either way yet.
And if he couldn’t be certain, it made sense to take the medication to be sure.
This was his mistake. So he should take responsibility.
Recalling the terms of his contract with Jaehyuk, Junghyun opened the box and took out the silver packaging inside. Just as he was about to remove the pill from its packaging and put it in his mouth, his hand paused.
He didn’t know why.
Clearly, he had asked for the contraceptive first, and he needed to take it.
If by any chance—even the slimmest possibility—a child were conceived, things would become extremely complicated.
All the lies he had built up could collapse.
All those tricks he had carefully and delicately created would become meaningless.
No, actually, none of that mattered.
What he feared most right now was…
While momentarily lost in other thoughts, the pill in his palm slipped between his fingers.
“Ah…”
Seeing the pill that had escaped between his fingers fall into the sink drain, Junghyun was momentarily flustered and let out a small sound.
At that sound, there was an immediate knock on the door.
“Is something wrong?”
It was Jaehyuk.
It seemed he had returned to the reception room and, not finding Junghyun there, had come to the bathroom.
“…It’s nothing. I just dropped something.”
“What?”
“…Soap.”
“Soap?”
“Yes. While washing my hands… It’s fine, don’t worry.”
Hearing the concern in his tone, as if worried Junghyun might have collapsed in the bathroom, Junghyun quickly turned on the water.
Then after roughly washing his hands and drying them on a towel, he stuffed the fins and pills back into the envelopes and sealed them again.
After putting them back in the shopping bag, he looked in the mirror and muttered to himself, as if in self-hypnosis:
It’s okay. Nothing happened.
You’re just washing your hands and going out.
Continuously reassuring himself this way, Junghyun finally relaxed his expression, picked up the shopping bag, and pushed open the door.
As expected, he saw Jaehyuk standing in front of the opening door with a worried expression.
He was definitely an overprotective person.
In the past, Junghyun had envied that quality, but not anymore.
It was too troublesome now.
“I just went in to check this. Since I bought a new center fin…”
As Junghyun held up the shopping bag as if he had been checking the coating condition, Jaehyuk looked inside the bag with a surprised expression.
“The board fin looked in good condition though?”
“I always prepare extras, but I forgot this time. I thought I’d be surfing for the remaining two days, so I ordered it in advance to get it ready.”
From Jaehyuk’s perspective, it was a plausible excuse, but he still looked at Junghyun with a skeptical face.
It made sense—even to Junghyun, the idea that he had gone all the way to the bathroom just to check the fin’s condition in his current physical state didn’t make sense.
But it seemed awkward for Jaehyuk to press the issue, so he just looked down at Junghyun silently. Ignoring his gaze, Junghyun moved first and changed the subject to something appropriate.
“What about dessert?”
“It’ll be here soon.”
“Then I’ll go to the bedroom and put this away. I need to check my phone too.”
“Alright.”
As Junghyun hurried to the bedroom to put away the pills, Jaehyuk followed right behind him. When Junghyun had said he was going to the bedroom, he had meant for Jaehyuk to wait in the reception room, but Jaehyuk seemed to have taken it as simply an announcement that he was heading to the bedroom.
Since it would be strange to tell him not to follow, Junghyun entered the dressing room adjacent to the main bedroom. Then, after putting the entire shopping bag into his carrier, he returned to the bedroom and picked up his phone that was neatly placed on the side table.
“I charged it for you.”
“That’s a relief. It would have been completely dead by now.”
Honestly, thinking about the flood of messages that would come in the moment he turned on his phone, he didn’t want to turn it on at all until he had to go to work. But he had no choice because Uncle and Hyung Yoonho would be worried.
Planning to check only those two people’s messages and ignore all other contacts, he turned on the power, and as expected, message notifications started pouring in at an incredible speed.
At the sound of notifications slapping him relentlessly, Junghyun moved away, pretending not to hear.
“It’s noisy.”
“Yeah. It’s not like it’s unusual for me to be unreachable.”
“Fortunately, it seems you have good people in your life despite how you act.”
“That’s why I’ve been living earnestly but carelessly until now. Otherwise, I would have really lived carelessly.”
“You seem to have lived more earnestly than I thought. A customer service part-time job with your temperament… It’s amusing to think what kind of face you put on.”
At that topic coming up again, Junghyun managed his expression and responded as nonchalantly as possible.
“You have to do whatever it takes to make a living. I didn’t want to rely too much on my uncle for support…”
“Parents have an obligation to support their children, regardless.”
“Only until they’re minors.”
But Junghyun’s principle was that from the moment one becomes an adult, one should take responsibility for one’s own life.
And Jaehyuk seemed to agree with that thought.
“It is right to become independent once you’re an adult.”
“And economic independence is the beginning of that independence. Alphas and Betas are the same, but I was taught that Omegas in particular need to be more independent.”
“By Director Han Juwon?”
“No. That was actually from my mom. She said that since Omegas tend to be dependent on Alphas, we shouldn’t develop habits of relying on others from a young age.”
Hearing the term “mom” coming from Junghyun’s mouth for the first time, Jaehyuk was momentarily taken aback, but soon responded casually as he left the room.
“That’s not wrong.”
“Mom was always right. That’s why it was sometimes disappointing.”
“Your mother…”
About to ask if he kept in contact with her, Jaehyuk immediately stopped.
That wasn’t his territory to interfere in.
So he appropriately changed the direction of the conversation.
“Earlier, when it came up, I remembered… If you worked part-time at Surf-acation, was that during college?”
“Yes.”
“Then roughly 4 to 7 years ago?”
“About that.”
“By any chance, do you know an employee named Jang Jaehi?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
