Chapter 18
While living with Moon Do-heon, I never saw that guy take a vacation. I thought being the Executive Director of JT Electronics meant you couldn’t even take personal days, but what the hell.
Shit. This is ridiculous. So he could have made time all along, but just chose not to spend it with me?
Cheong-yeon fumed internally as he scraped up the remaining food on his tray. He briefly wondered why Secretary Shim would share such information with him, but the question quickly evaporated amid his bubbling anger.
“I should have brought more food. Would you like me to get more now?”
“No, this is enough.”
Cheong-yeon emptied his tray completely and pushed away all thoughts of Do-heon.
“Excuse me. You’re playing the super grandma’s grandson, right?”
Just then, a staff member urgently approached Cheong-yeon.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Please change into these pants. Another actor needs the outfit you’re wearing now. Immediately, please.”
The staff member abruptly handed Cheong-yeon the pants and urged him to change as quickly as possible.
“Understood.”
“After changing, please bring them to the gray van over there!”
Cheong-yeon obediently stood up and took the pants. Before he could even respond, the staff member had already hastily left the waiting room.
“Mr. Cheong-yeon. Let’s go to the car to change.”
Just as Cheong-yeon was about to say there was no need to be so attentive to him, he noticed Secretary Shim returning with a large umbrella from somewhere, and he forgot what he was going to say.
“…Where did that come from?”
“I thought it might be necessary, so I took it out of the car earlier. Shall we go? I’ll escort you to the parking lot.”
After glancing at the steady rain falling outside, Cheong-yeon stepped toward Secretary Shim. The secretary added that there were spare toothbrush sets and fabric freshener in the car if needed.
Honestly, despite feeling burdened, it was convenient having him take care of all these little things. Cheong-yeon thought to himself that this level of attentiveness and sensibility must be essential for being the secretary to the Executive Director of JT Electronics.
Cheong-yeon used the umbrella held by Secretary Shim and returned to the car to quickly change clothes. When he came out, fortunately, the rain had almost stopped in those few minutes. Although dark clouds still hung heavily overhead, it was light enough that an umbrella wasn’t necessary.
Cheong-yeon neatly folded the pants and turned his head to see where the van the staff had mentioned was located. Just then, a female staff member passing by with a box accidentally dropped one of the props on the ground.
“Excuse me, you dropped this.”
Looking closer, it wasn’t a prop but a shoe. The staff member didn’t seem to notice she had dropped anything, so Cheong-yeon picked it up and handed it to her.
“Oh! When did that fall? Thank you. I’m sorry, but could you put it in the box? My hands are full…”
The staff member made a pitiful face and gestured with her eyes toward the inside of the box she was carrying. The weight of the box seemed too much for her.
“Where are you going? I’ll help you carry it.”
Since he had nothing else to do anyway, Cheong-yeon readily offered to help. Secretary Shim stepped in and tried to dissuade Cheong-yeon, saying he should do it instead.
“Oh, no! I can do it myself!”
“Then let’s split it. I’ll carry just the bulkier items from the box.”
“Oh… I’m really sorry… Thank you.”
“Secretary Shim, could you please take these clothes to the van for me?”
Cheong-yeon took out a few metal rods that looked heaviest from the box. Upon closer inspection, they were parts of a collapsible clothing rack.
“Where should I take these?”
“Over there. The truck at the very end…”
“That’s quite far.”
“…”
The staff member bowed her head in thanks, then looked up and glanced at Cheong-yeon. Then she lowered her gaze to the ground again, and after a moment, she glanced at Cheong-yeon again, repeating this behavior a couple more times.
Walking quickly over the damp ground, the staff member seemed to be contemplating something, and then she took a deep breath as if she had made a decision. She turned her head completely toward Cheong-yeon.
“Um, excuse me. Are you perhaps Yoo Cheong-yeon oppa?”
“What? Do you know me?”
When his name came from her lips, Cheong-yeon stopped in surprise.
“It is you, right? DEX’s Yoo Cheong-yeon! Wow, this is amazing. Oh my goodness…!”
Still holding the box, the staff member suddenly started jumping up and down and screamed.
Cheong-yeon was bewildered as it had been a very long time since someone had recognized him in public. While struggling to find an appropriate response, she stared at him intensely, to the point of making him uncomfortable.
“I! I used to write you handwritten letters when you were active. You even replied to me once, don’t you remember? Min Hye-rin…”
“Ah. Oh, really? I do remember. You came to fan signing events too, right?”
The contents of the letter he had read recently flashed vividly through his mind. When Cheong-yeon nodded vigorously, Min Hye-rin made a sound close to a dolphin’s squeal.
“Oh my! Yes, yes!”
“I think you said you were a college student back then.”
“That’s right. I was a fan while going to school. You really remember… Oh my goodness. I must be going crazy.”
“Hye-rin. What are you doing here? We need to get all this stuff inside quickly.”
As Min Hye-rin was hesitating, overcome with emotion, her colleague approached and snapped at her. Only then did she come to her senses and readjusted the load in her arms.
“Oh, senior. I’m sorry.”
“Everyone’s waiting for you to organize things… Sigh. If it was too heavy to carry alone, you should have called someone.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll go right now. Oppa, I can carry this now. Thank you for helping me this far. It was so amazing and wonderful to meet you here. I hope we can meet again sometime!”
Before Cheong-yeon could respond, Min Hye-rin took the clothing rack from his hands as if snatching it and followed her senior colleague. Even as she left, she turned back several times with a flushed face to give Cheong-yeon an excited look.
Cheong-yeon stood frozen in place until she completely disappeared into the crowd. It was surprising to find someone who still remembered him from before.
Even though it happened so quickly, the dazed feeling lingered for quite some time.
The filming finally ended the next morning. In the end, Cheong-yeon’s actual time performing in front of the camera was less than thirty minutes, but waiting for other shooting schedules to be completed took a full day.
Since this was something he had often experienced during his idol days, Cheong-yeon was somewhat prepared, but he felt sorry for Secretary Shim, who couldn’t return home and had to spend the entire night in this remote location because of him.
Like Do-heon, Secretary Shim was also a Dominant Alpha, which might explain his impressive stamina. He drove Cheong-yeon all the way back to his home in Seoul without showing any signs of fatigue, despite not having slept at all.
After spending a whole day with Secretary Shim, even if they hadn’t become close, much of the awkwardness had disappeared. Cheong-yeon had thought he would be uncomfortable due to the secretary’s Alpha trait, but it was more bearable than expected. It was even more comfortable than being with Do-heon.
Cheong-yeon couldn’t understand his own inconsistent, fluctuating pheromones. How strange that he felt more at peace with Do-heon’s secretary than with Moon Do-heon, who had once been his husband.
Cheong-yeon had always been a Recessive Omega and was clumsy with pheromone control, but the fluctuations reached their peak in front of Do-heon. Whenever he was close to him or their bodies touched, his pheromones would overflow regardless of his will.
Others called it sexual tension, but rather than physical excitement, Cheong-yeon was consistently anxious and distressed, worrying about what Do-heon thought of him.
Do-heon, who had always been surrounded by either Dominant traits or Betas, couldn’t understand Recessives. The first Recessive Omega he had closely encountered was Yoo Cheong-yeon—himself. Conversely, the first Dominant Alpha Cheong-yeon had closely encountered was Do-heon.
Was that why they always clashed when they met? Then why was he fine when he was with Secretary Shim?
The unanswered questions kept coming one after another. As he lay on his bed pondering, Cheong-yeon decided to stop these unproductive thoughts.
What was the point of being curious about this now? It was all in the past. He and Do-heon were now strangers, and there was no need to forcibly act like the Omega Do-heon wanted, begging for affection.
Cheong-yeon quickly erased these thoughts and focused on what he needed to do now. Along with preparing for the move, he looked at furniture he would need, and he also took profile photos at his newly contracted agency. He also attended acting classes whenever he had time.
Before he knew it, moving day was just around the corner.
There was no need to panic; the move went more smoothly than he had worried it would. Since he had so few possessions, all he needed to do was walk in. The suitcase he had brought from Do-heon’s house and a bank account in his name were all Cheong-yeon owned.
Surprisingly, what made it difficult for Cheong-yeon was the task of filling the empty house with household items. It was only then that he realized for the first time that he needed to buy things like detergent, towels, blankets, pillows, and a laundry drying rack individually.
