“Am I being ostracized in our team?”
“What?”
I nearly dropped the dessert box from the unexpected question.
“Are you being nice to me because I look pitiful?”
Team Manager Dok’s fiery misunderstanding was spiraling out of control.
“I can tell I’m being excluded from the team, even though I haven’t been here long. Otherwise, there’s no reason for you to be nice to me. Right? I may not look it, but I’m very perceptive and sharp.”
You’re not perceptive; you have no perception at all.
“Especially these past few days, it’s been very suspicious. The glances at me when they think I’m not looking aren’t friendly. As if they’re hoping I’ll go to a meeting or on a business trip.”
Well, that’s because it’s easier to hold a gift selection meeting when you’re not around.
“I’m being ostracized, right? Just be honest. I won’t report you as a whistleblower.”
“What kind of ostracism…”
The words came out unfiltered due to my bewilderment. Realizing what I’d just said, I bit my tongue.
“It’s not like that… anyway, it’s not that.”
“Why are you avoiding my eyes?”
“Because it’s impossible to make eye contact in this situation.”
You’re driving right now. You’re looking straight ahead.
“Why can’t you speak with certainty?”
“I think I did clearly say it’s not true.”
“How logical.”
There was no logic to this conversation.
“Now let me say something.”
Saebyeok carefully chose his words.
“I think it might be your personal style, but I feel very uncomfortable when you make physical contact.”
“Is it because I’m an alpha?”
“It’s because you’re a person. I wouldn’t mind if you were a dog or a cat.”
At least they’re cute.
“And frankly, when you smeared pheromones on me while I was briefly dozing, it wasn’t pleasant. Why did you do that?”
I cushioned my words to express how extremely unpleasant it was.
“Intern Shin, you’re an omega. The deputy manager of Haeying Team 2 is an alpha with a loose mouth. With rumors about you being a parachute hire already circulating…”
That part is true.
“If the fact that you’re a male omega spread too, you’d be surrounded by dirty rumors, so I covered it with my pheromones. People don’t know I’m an alpha.”
“I appreciate the consideration, but you should have told me beforehand so I could have used a deodorizer or taken some action. That’s just bad manners no matter how you look at it. Thanks to you, my…”
There’s no need to specifically say husband, right?
“I almost had a fight with my partner.”
“You have a partner?”
I also have a child, you jerk.
“Yes.”
Saebyeok proudly showed off his wedding ring.
“We’ve been dating for 10 years. We’re getting married soon.”
Actually, we’re already married, but we’re going to have a proper wedding with both families’ blessings. In two months, we’ll be recognized and live together. We even had plans to get a good property in Cheongdam or Hannam if one became available. Looking for real estate listings had become a hobby.
“Well, our company does give good loans.”
I can buy without loans.
“So you’re on your way to meet your partner now?”
“Yes. But their parents are strict, so I probably won’t even get to see their face.”
“It’s tiresome when your partner’s parents are strict.”
It’s my parents who are strict. No, I guess my father-in-law is strict too?
“…Please keep it a secret at the company.”
“I’m being ostracized, so there’s no one for me to tell.”
“I told you, you’re not being ostracized.”
The team members, excluding me, are voluntarily pooling money to buy you a birthday present, you fool.
“Then what is it? Is it my birthday or something? Are they all staring at me to figure out what I like? Is that why I hear keyboard sounds whenever I move, as everyone watches me? That’s ridiculous. What era do you think this is for such surprises?”
That’s exactly it. Sharp but with no social awareness—so this is what happens. Living with such abilities must be exhausting, I thought.
But it wasn’t Saebyeok’s concern, and what mattered was that Team Manager Dok had driving skills along with these other abilities. Thanks to that, they arrived at the destination comfortably.
“We’ve arrived, but does your partner live here?”
“Yes, well. Thank you.”
Since I’m living with my in-laws, that’s about right.
“I’ll see you at the company tomorrow.”
“Get home safely. See you tomorrow.”
Now that I’ve sent off Team Manager Dok, hmm, the question is how to deliver this cake.
Of course, I could tell the security guards and the dessert would be delivered without a problem, but it would only be a matter of time before my parents found out, and it would soon reach my in-laws, so that wasn’t a good option.
Is there no other way than calling Noeul and asking her to come out and receive it?
Can you come out for a bit?
Since I’ve come all this way, I want to at least see my husband’s face, so I asked just in case.
♥MyHusband♥
?
???????????????????????????
Really??????????????????????????????????????????
I took off my clothes
No what am I saying I put them back on w8
His intense reaction was cute.
Come downstairs. I’ll wait.
***
“Noeul is here too.”
“Yeah. I told them I was taking brother-in-law for a walk, I mean, that I was going for a walk. They said not to let him act alone, and I’m better than the security guards anyway.”
That’s true, but weren’t you about to say you were taking your brother-in-law for a walk?
“Saebyeok!”
Gong Pyeonghwa hugged Saebyeok and sniffled.
“I thought I wouldn’t see you today and was so upshet.”
“It’s ‘upset.’ ‘Upset.'”
Iseul corrected him, saying it’s “upset,” not “upshet.”
“Who does our daughter take after to be so smart?”
“Probably me.”
“High chance it’s me.”
“Whatever.”
Caught between the couple wrapped in overflowing self-love, Noeul awkwardly held Iseul.
“I’ll look after Iseul, so you two go on a short date.”
Gong Pyeonghwa was shocked. How could siblings be so different?
Why is my sister Satan in human skin, a creature between a pig and an orangutan, while this house’s sister is an angel?
“Is the feng shui in your house good? Is something special flowing there?”
“What are you talking about…”
Gong Pyeonghwa and Shin Saebyeok held hands tightly as they walked down the alley.
“There aren’t many good places to walk around here.”
“It’s inconvenient to get around on foot. You’ve lived here your whole life and you’re saying that? Don’t you think so?”
The neighborhood he had lived in for half his life, which unlike other areas hadn’t changed much, felt different today. Is it because he had nothing? No money? No car?
The walls were quite high. If they had been just 10 centimeters lower, he wouldn’t have been caught. Sigh…
“I know. I thought I wouldn’t be able to see you today because I couldn’t get a taxi. Here, take this.”
When Saebyeok handed over the carefully chosen dessert box, he got the intense reaction he’d expected.
“Wow! I’m so happy! What is it? What is it? A present? A present? Food? Food? Is it a tart? I like tarts! I like cakes!”
That’s fulfilling.
Saebyeok’s lips curled upward endlessly with a sense of satisfaction.
“It must have been expensive to take a taxi from work, and you must be tired! And you don’t have money. Oh, I did give you a card. Did you use it? Good, good. Still, even getting a taxi is tiring, so you should just go home and rest. Why did you buy something like this? Oh my god! I’m so touched! So touched! Waah! Am I crying? I’m crying! I’m going to cry!”
Gong Pyeonghwa, the personification of reaction, please calm down. Though pleased, Saebyeok needlessly tried to soothe him.
“No, it’s not tiring. Really. …Being with you is healing.”
Hehe… a bit embarrassing and quite cheesy.
But Shin Saebyeok could now handle moderate cheesiness. If he could endure that 0.02 seconds of embarrassment, just look at how happy it made Gong Pyeonghwa.
“Sniff. I’m touched.”
Ah, I’ve moved him again. Saebyeok felt as if he were some amazing being. Gong Pyeonghwa was always like that.
Cute, handsome, beautiful—making him feel a sense of elevation he never experienced at school, home, or work.
“Then let’s eat this together. Even if cake is hard to eat outside, we can eat tarts together. Yes. Possible. Totally possible.”
Gong Pyeonghwa excitedly opened the box carefully. He took out a tart topped with luscious strawberries and handed it to Saebyeok. Saebyeok took a big bite.
The fragrant strawberry flesh and tangy yogurt filling were excellent. Knowing Gong Pyeonghwa would love this taste, Saebyeok handed the tart back with a satisfied smile.
“How is it? How is it?”
“It’s a taste you’d like.”
At a glance, it might look like a palace lady-in-waiting or seem miserly, but Gong Pyeonghwa always gave Saebyeok what looked delicious to him, and Saebyeok couldn’t eat a whole tart alone because it was too sweet.
Gong Pyeonghwa put the bitten tart in his mouth. The tangy yogurt filling, the sweetness and moisture from the high-sugar, high-water content strawberries, and the soft yet crispy, not dry but chewy pie dough were excellent.
“Mmm, delicious. Sniff. Seems even more delicious because someone bought it for me.”
“Oh, who bought it for you? Really.”
“Someone. A guy named Shin Saebyeok, my husband.”
The playful atmosphere was quite nice. Both Saebyeok and Gong Pyeonghwa laughed mindlessly, making unfunny jokes. As if those unfunny jokes were the funniest things in the world, smiles never left their faces.
“How was your day?”
Saebyeok asked first.
For the past few days, Saebyeok only remembered going to work and working. The flood of emails, documents, and the phone that rang whenever he had a moment to breathe…
His day was a tiring one he didn’t really want to think about, but he was curious about Gong Pyeonghwa’s day. Sharing each other’s daily lives was precious.
“Nothing special for me. Just…”
Except for almost getting caught as a thief.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
