Saebyeok deliberately pressed his lips tightly to create a walnut on his chin.
“No, shit. Just forget it. It’s a surprise.”
“W-what did you say? I couldn’t, couldn’t hear you well.”
Saebyeok calmly lied while biting down on his rising lips.
He hadn’t even had his first kiss yet, so marriage was out of the question. Gong Pyeonghwa was a funny guy.
“Anyway, I’m really serious… Let’s date in secret until I inherit my shares.”
Shares.
Who would have thought he’d talk about inheriting property rather than social status or others’ perspectives.
Gong Pyeonghwa seemed ashamed of what he was saying, his face turning bright red with tears welling up in his eyes.
Since Saebyeok had never even imagined dating publicly, he couldn’t gauge how Pyeonghwa felt. Was it something to get teary-eyed about?
“Fuck… Why can’t people just live on love alone!”
Gong Pyeonghwa wailed, pounding the ground as if heartbroken. Just how far did Pyeonghwa’s sensitivity go? Saebyeok patted Pyeonghwa’s shoulder and handed him a handkerchief.
Sniffling, Pyeonghwa recited the blueprint he had drawn up.
“When we turn twenty, both of us will study abroad, right? We’ll go to college together, live together there, be campus couples, and date openly.”
“Sure.”
“Fuck… We’re not even celebrities, yet we have to date in secret…”
“That’s sad indeed.”
Honestly, Saebyeok wasn’t sad at all, but he said he was, squeezing out extreme empathy.
“We’ll make a lovey-dovey social media account, go for drives every day, and come up with new pet names. I don’t like ‘Love Chicken’ and ‘Kim Min-ji from Class 1-1’ anymore.”
Gong Pyeonghwa was saved in Shin Saebyeok’s phone as “Kim Min-ji.”
Thanks to parents who had no interest in their child’s private life, Pyeonghwa had changed Shin Saebyeok from “Spicy Chicken” to “♡Beloved Chicken♡” half a year ago.
But in Shin Saebyeok’s phone, Pyeonghwa was still “Kim Min-ji.”
“Well, I don’t eat out much… And our conversations and stuff… It’s better to have a girl’s name than a boy’s name…”
“Then at least add a heart. No, no. Don’t add one.”
Gong Pyeonghwa agonized, pulling at his hair.
“I’m the one dating you, but it feels like some fictional character named Kim Min-ji is involved. Ugh! I am Kim Min-ji.”
“…I-I’m sorry.”
Having a boyfriend who was too emotional was tiring—no, touching.
Gong Pyeonghwa, a master of cramming, must have spent his regular study time mapping out relationship blueprints instead, as he endlessly talked about his plans for their relationship.
“I’d like to have a swimming pool in the yard. It would be nice if pizza could be delivered there, and I want it to be a bit far from the university. I think there would be too many nosy people visiting our newlywed home otherwise.”
“Shouldn’t we first get into university?”
Saebyeok brought in a dose of reality.
“…”
“No, I, I be-believe. I believe.”
Saebyeok dodged the crisis with some casual skinship.
“Sometimes I feel like you’re only with me for my pheromones.”
Just when he thought he’d completely avoided danger, a new crisis emerged.
“That’s not true…”
“What’s not true?”
“I’m with you because I love you. Those pheromones? I’m not that weak. I can just man up and take five suppressants a day and eight supplements to survive.”
“No, don’t do that.”
Saebyeok continued to express his sincere feelings.
“I… your pheromones are good, of course! I absolutely can’t say they’re not! Anyway, I would have liked you even if you were a beta or an omega! My heart flutters every time you smile.”
“…!”
He added one last line to touch Pyeonghwa’s heartstrings.
“Ma-maybe we were destined soulmates in a past life!”
“I didn’t know you felt that way about me…!”
Successfully drifting at the edge of a cliff, Saebyeok wiped away his cold sweat internally.
They occasionally had their squabbles, but they quickly made up and had a smooth, lovey-dovey relationship.
Though extremely secretive, they steadily maintained a perfectly ordinary love.
After ten years of deceiving everyone with their sweet love, Gong Pyeonghwa and Shin Saebyeok became a married couple.
A married couple so secret that even their parents didn’t know about it.
▶▶▶
“Ah… I see. Um, but can I ask which part of that was ordinary?”
Wouldn’t a drama be more ordinary than this? The drama-loving classmate asked with a blank face.
As if they had been waiting for this question, Gong Pyeonghwa and Shin Saebyeok simultaneously took off their tops.
Underneath, they revealed couple t-shirts printed with “I❤U.”
‘These crazy bastards…’
‘They would have been disappointed if we hadn’t asked.’
‘I thought Shin Saebyeok would be embarrassed, but he’s enjoying it.’
The fluorescent t-shirts, recognizable from 2km away, showed their presence even more clearly at night.
“O-okay, I get that you’re like Romeo and Juliet. With money involved, I guess it makes sense.”
“Not sure if I should call that impressive…”
“A marriage opposed by both families.”
“But even if they oppose, what can they do when you already have a child?”
If there’s a child, what can you do? The classmates all nodded.
“That’s one of the reasons you need to come to the first birthday party. With many witnesses, the elders will be more cautious. Common folk might not understand, but in wealthy families, people sometimes die over these things.”
“That’s right!”
It was just a casual remark, but the drama-loving classmate responded intensely.
“You don’t have to pay, just come eat and watch Iseul’s doljabi ceremony. You can even turn on BX-vlog or YX-tube to review the buffet, or invite celebrities and reporters you know.”
Where’s the buffet for the first birthday party? Is it delicious?! Only Seonwoo Jeong seemed interested.
“What do I need to prepare for subway or bus advertisements? Anyway, I look forward to seeing you all at Iseul’s first birthday. Looking forward to it.”
Gong Pyeonghwa handed out invitations to all the classmates like a salesperson distributing business cards.
For the sin of carelessly distributing invitations, Pyeonghwa’s glass was never empty.
Even for an alpha, drinking over eight bottles of mixed soju and beer in just over an hour was abusive, which is why Pyeonghwa staggered.
Alpha pride is supposedly a thing, and if it truly exists, Pyeonghwa pretended to be fine until the reunion ended, but as soon as he got into the taxi, he collapsed.
His stiff tongue was so twisted that almost nothing he said was comprehensible.
Occasionally, he would say something understandable like:
“I see two of my honey. Won’t let you sleep tonight. Jackpot…”
“I seriously can’t deal with this.”
It would have been better not to understand.
Iseul slapped her daddy Pyeonghwa’s cheeks. Pyeonghwa still grinned happily. Munching on Iseul’s hands while giggling, Pyeonghwa looked truly… happy, even without the alcohol.
Saebyeok actually had many concerns.
While they were completely happy in America, once they returned to Korea, worries and anxieties followed every sigh of relief.
‘Is this right…’
He was sent abroad to study, but instead, he set up house and even had a child.
Saebyeok was 28 years old and an adult who had even given birth to Iseul, but in front of his parents, he still felt like a child.
Was it really right to hold the first birthday party before informing his parents, to create public pressure?
Iseul, who was precious beyond words to him, he had no idea how his parents would view her.
‘What if they tell us to break up?’
Divorce from Pyeonghwa, separation from Iseul, marriage to a strange woman, living according to his parents’ plans…
Just as all kinds of worries and concerns flooded in, a warm presence enveloped Saebyeok.
“Tomorrow, let’s leave Iseul with someone and go to the amusement park, just the two of us. Should we visit the place of our first kiss after 10 years and take a trip down memory lane?”
It was Gong Pyeonghwa.
“Our anniversary is coming up, should we go? Just the two of us for once.”
No matter how drunk he was, if he couldn’t sense his partner’s anxiety, he might as well have his dick cut off. The extreme romantic Pyeonghwa gently released his pheromones to comfort Saebyeok.
“After the amusement park, let’s go see the night ocean.”
Saying they should make the most of returning a week earlier than planned, Pyeonghwa tickled Saebyeok’s hand.
Instead of worrying, Saebyeok laughed at the pheromones and fingers that tickled him as if flirting.
Iseul followed, beaming with a smile.
He had returned to Korea with his lovable daughter, who was more precious than his own eyes, and his husband.
He had married his first love and returned.
He had returned to his hometown, where he had shared his first kiss, first love, school days—all his firsts and thrills.
Saebyeok interlaced his fingers with Pyeonghwa’s.
“We should just hold hands when we sleep. If we interlock fingers, Iseul might get a sibling.”
“What are you even saying?”
“What are you sayiiing?”
Iseul tapped the back of Pyeonghwa daddy’s hand. Pyeonghwa put his lips on her soft hand and blew, making a fluttering sound.
Hearing her giggling laughter, a vague confidence grew that somehow, everything would work out.
***
As soon as they arrived at the hotel, Pyeonghwa, who sobered up remarkably well, got up, put Iseul to bed, and got under the covers with Saebyeok.
Today, should we do it today?
“It’s kind of amazing.”
“What is?”
“Just that we’ve been in love all this time, but that’s how the kids saw us. I guess they remembered everything we had forgotten.”
Using Pyeonghwa’s arm as a pillow and burrowing into his embrace, Saebyeok inhaled his husband’s scent and replied.
“It makes sense. You might not have noticed, but whenever you and I just brushed past each other, the kids were really watching us closely.”
“Really?”
“Like that time when you tripped me…”
“No, that really wasn’t on purpose, it was because my legs are so long! It happened without me realizing.”
“You didn’t help me up.”
Pyeonghwa, who had been dreaming of an intimate night with his spouse, felt sweat beading on his back.
“I was really hurt then.”
“You knelt down on the rooftop.”
“I don’t remember that…”
Suffering from selective amnesia, Saebyeok turned his back. Pyeonghwa’s head, which had been filled with thoughts of a hot night since the taxi ride—no, since talking with Seonwoo Jeong at the reunion—cooled down rapidly.
“Why, why are you like this, honey…”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
