“What are you talking about all of a sudden? I never did that. Are you sure you didn’t just see it wrong because you were drunk?”
Won-hyeok said it after taking a beat to smooth out his voice. His words and manner were as relaxed as ever, as though his expression had never hardened at all.
“Is that so?”
“If I’d known, of course I would’ve reported him.”
Won-hyeok winked as he smiled, and as if responding to that, Han-gyeom slowly nodded.
“Keep eating. I’m going to the bathroom for a second.”
“Okay.”
While Won-hyeok took his phone and headed toward the corner of the restaurant, Han-gyeom carefully ate the pasta Won-hyeok had personally served onto his plate as though it were something precious. He could’ve sworn he’d heard something in the alley that time about a name, but maybe not.
Well, if sunbae says it wasn’t like that, then it probably wasn’t. The savory richness of the pasta melting softly in his mouth quickly eased Han-gyeom’s expression.
“The guy at the second table from the back?”
“Yeah, did you see him?”
Just then, voices drifted over from a table a little farther away. If it was the second table from the back, it sounded like they meant the one he was sitting at, so he naturally turned his head. Two women were talking with flushed faces.
“I think he’s seriously the most handsome guy I’ve seen lately.”
“Go ask for his number.”
“Ah, he probably has a girlfriend. With a face like that.”
“Hey, you’ve got nothing to lose. Go ask before he leaves.”
“Should I?” The woman smiled shyly. Long black straight hair, porcelain-pale skin, big eyes, and even a beauty mark just beneath her right eye. Even to Han-gyeom, she looked remarkably pretty.
They taught you in elementary school not to judge someone’s trait by their appearance, but in truth, traits tended to show pretty clearly through outward features like looks or physique. Just like how ten out of ten people would take one look at Won-hyeok and assume he was an alpha.
That woman was probably, in all likelihood, an omega. Han-gyeom idly touched his own plain, unimpressive face and lowered his head back toward his plate. In their eyes, he probably didn’t look like Won-hyeok’s lover at all, even though he was eating with him right now. Well, of course not. Next to someone who shone like that, someone dull and achromatic like him wouldn’t stand out in the slightest.
And according to a fairly well-known idea, alphas supposedly had an instinctive attraction toward omegas. It hadn’t been scientifically proven, but psychologically it was considered a fairly meaningful hypothesis, so there were quite a lot of related books and research papers out there.
Thinking about himself—someone who got mistaken for an omega all the time just because of his slight build, even though he was beta inside—left him feeling strangely down.
“Why aren’t you eating?”
“I-I was eating.”
Soon enough, Won-hyeok came back, and the meal resumed. Since they were in the same club and shared the same department, it wasn’t hard to find things to talk about. So the conversation didn’t break off, and things went along fairly smoothly. Of course, there were a few times in the middle when Won-hyeok looked behind them and furrowed his brow, but well, there wasn’t really any problem.
“I’m full. Thanks to Han-gyeom, I got to eat something delicious.”
“It’s nothing compared to what you’ve done for me, sunbae.”
As if he were about to get up, Won-hyeok started tidying things around them. Come to think of it, maybe now that female customer who had been talking about being interested in him would come over to ask for his number. He thought he could hear the sound of a chair scraping behind him.
“Han-gyeom.”
“Yes?”
Won-hyeok would give her his number, maybe? Or should he get out of the way first? While Han-gyeom was worrying about that, Won-hyeok suddenly called his name.
“Can you take off your glasses and come sit next to me for a second?”
“Ah, my glasses?”
“Yeah.”
Han-gyeom carefully set the glasses Won-hyeok had bought him today on the table, then went and sat in the seat beside him. He had no idea what this was about, but it felt like he should just do as he was told for now.
The awkwardness of suddenly sitting next to him had barely even had time to settle in before Won-hyeok abruptly reached out and swept Han-gyeom’s bangs up, pushing them back.
“Uh……”
His field of vision opened instantly, and the bright lights of the restaurant shone directly onto Han-gyeom’s face. And it didn’t stop there. With his other hand, Won-hyeok lightly brushed Han-gyeom’s cheek. Han-gyeom’s heart lurched like crazy. His vision even spun, as though he were walking on a rubber floor. Right when he was in complete confusion over what on earth was happening, his eyes met those of the female customer who had been approaching their table.
Without his glasses on, he couldn’t see her clearly, but judging by the silhouette, it had to be that pretty woman from earlier, the one who had smiled shyly while talking about asking for a number.
The instant the woman saw Han-gyeom’s face in Won-hyeok’s hand, her expression shifted from anticipation to disappointment. It even looked like she mouthed, “Ah, what the hell.” Then, instead of lingering, she turned around and left without hesitation.
“S-sunbae, why are you doing this?”
“There was sauce here.”
Won-hyeok glanced toward the spot where the woman had gone back, then grinned as if satisfied.
“That takes care of it. Shall we go?”
“Ah, yes!”
Still, when had sauce gotten on him? To think he’d been talking to Won-hyeok face-to-face in that state. Feeling embarrassed for no reason, Han-gyeom habitually dropped his bangs back down in a rush, put his glasses back on, and stood to follow Won-hyeok. Still, he had really been startled. So that was it—something had gotten on him, and Won-hyeok had just been trying to wipe it off. But then why had he pushed up his bangs too?
Worrying pointlessly that maybe he’d had something on his forehead too, Han-gyeom finished paying and left the restaurant with Won-hyeok.
“Hey, why’d you just come back?”
After the two of them left, at the table where they had been showing interest in Won-hyeok, the woman who had returned empty-handed was being scolded by her friend.
“You said he probably didn’t have a girlfriend. You said you had nothing to lose. But the person who came with him was his girlfriend!”
“Really? That person with the bangs hanging all the way down to here was his girlfriend?”
At her friend’s baffled tone, the woman curled one corner of her mouth in mockery.
“Didn’t you see? His girlfriend was crazy pretty. What kind of guy is that pretty? It’s so unfair. Is this why people say people date within their own league?”
And without even getting the chance to try asking for Won-hyeok’s number, she let out a long sigh while taking several pointed jabs at the problems of lookism.
***
These days, Han-gyeom had been living with the feeling that he’d won the lottery.
Not once since elementary school had he ever looked forward to going to school. School was just a place you went to study, a mere investment in the future, and maybe that was exactly why he had always felt that way.
But after entering university, for the first time in his life, going to school was fun. Because he might run into Won-hyeok. Of course, even so, actually getting to see his face was only possible if he got lucky, so there had been countless weeks when he hadn’t run into him even once.
But not anymore.
“Kang Han-gyeom, hi.”
“Yeah, hi.”
Taking a short breath, he opened the club room door, and sure enough, Baek Woo-jin was the first to greet him. Inside, he could see a few other upperclassmen too, including Bae Seok-woo.
“Hi, Han-gyeom. Did your class just end?”
And among them was Won-hyeok. Sitting on the worn-out sofa with his chin propped on one hand, he looked like a model from a pictorial—like a beautiful rose blooming upright from a shabby roadside.
“Yeah.”
Han-gyeom smiled faintly and nodded vigorously. As a result, his shaggy hair fluttered all over the place again today.
In the past, he had drifted from the student cafeteria to the lounge and all over the place just to somehow catch a glimpse of Won-hyeok’s face, but he didn’t have to do that anymore. Because Won-hyeok showed up in the club room often. And that wasn’t all.
A few days ago, he had even bought him glasses himself because he said he felt sorry, and they’d eaten together too. Since then, whenever they happened to run into each other around campus, Won-hyeok would often warmly speak to him first. They had also ordered lunch together in the club room many times. Of course, there were also times when other club members were there too, but Han-gyeom didn’t really mind that.
When he had to go get the wound on his ear disinfected, Won-hyeok had even gone with him. That time too, after the hospital visit, they even had lunch together.
In other words, if someone asked, “Are you close with Do Won-hyeok sunbae?” it would no longer be unreasonable to answer, “Yeah, a little.” He had effectively risen in status—from the days of timidly looking at him from behind while trying not to be noticed, to “a junior he’d become just a little close to.”
“Hey, why are you just standing there blankly?”
“Ah, uh……”
At Woo-jin’s jab, Han-gyeom looked around inside the room. There were plenty of empty seats on the sofa, but the place he wanted to sit was next to Won-hyeok. After staring at that spot, Han-gyeom soon gave a small shake of his head and went to sit beside Woo-jin instead.
“……”
Won-hyeok kept his chin propped up as he stared fixedly at Han-gyeom while he set his bag down and took a seat elsewhere.
“What’d you have for lunch?”
“I just had cafeteria food.”
“I’m not that into our school cafeteria food, but you really eat it well.”
Woo-jin pressed himself right up against Han-gyeom as he took books and his laptop out of his bag.
“This is that new release that just came out, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right. I’ll lend it to you when I’m done.”
Recognizing the author of the book Han-gyeom had taken out, Woo-jin let out an impressed “Oh.” Riding the momentum, he slung an arm around Han-gyeom’s shoulders and started flipping through the book.
“Are you two close?”
Won-hyeok, who had been silently watching the scene, finally spoke.
“Huh?”
“You’re not even in the same department, but you seem really close.”
“Ah, we are. I’ve known Kang Han-gyeom since freshman year.”
“Right?” Woo-jin asked, and Han-gyeom slowly nodded. Like a puppy answering its owner.
Won-hyeok’s eyes narrowed a little more.
“We met through this club, but Kang Han-gyeom here is so shy around people. If it weren’t for me, he probably would’ve been a total loner in this club too.”
Woo-jin laughed playfully as he rubbed Han-gyeom’s hair roughly. Because of that, his hair got mussed up in every direction, and his big eyes peeked into view a little.
“Even without you, he’d have been fine because of Hyun-ah.”
Han-gyeom didn’t complain about Woo-jin’s teasing. Rather, he just let it pass as though it were perfectly natural and no big deal.
“……Han-gyeom, how are the glasses I bought you? They’re not uncomfortable, are they?”
“Ah, yes!”
At the mention of the glasses, Han-gyeom unconsciously touched them. Then his messy hair settled back into place too.
Come to think of it, hadn’t he asked that same question when they came out of the optical shop last time? It seemed Won-hyeok must have forgotten.
“You bought them for him, sunbae? His glasses?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
Woo-jin asked, his eyes brimming with curiosity.
“There were some circumstances.”
Though he was answering Woo-jin, his gaze was directed at Han-gyeom. When Won-hyeok smiled softly, Han-gyeom bit down lightly on his lips and lowered his head. It felt a little like that—like the two of them shared some meaningful situation that only they knew about.
If this kept going, the strain on his heart might get so bad he’d collapse at any moment.
And a little while later, Woo-jin, who still had afternoon classes, along with a few other club members, left the club room. The others also seemed to have things to do and disappeared one by one.
In the end, only Han-gyeom and Won-hyeok were left in the club room.
