“It was ordinary. I went grocery shopping with Iseul and Mother-in-law, prepared meals, ate, and ah, I also visited an art gallery. And I had to help create an extracurricular activity schedule for Noeul’s spec-building? Right. Tomorrow we’re planning to go to a kids cafe.”
“Sounds ordinarily fulfilling.”
“You think so? How about you?”
“Me? I just breathed and worked, that’s all.”
Actually, even now I shouldn’t be hanging out like this; I need to restart my research from the beginning. It would be intense to finish all the presentation preparations over the weekend.
“Do you have a lot of company work? Is it hard?”
“It’s not that I have a lot of work as a new employee, but the work never ends.”
“Isn’t that a lot?”
“It’s not a lot, it just never ends.”
Isn’t that what having a lot means? Pyeonghwa couldn’t understand.
“Ah. Something ridiculous happened today.”
“What was it?”
“People seemed to think I was you. They asked me why my surname wasn’t Gong.”
“That’s fucking rude. What if you had some secret about your birth? How dare they ask such a thing?”
Pyeonghwa, who had doubted his own birth after his alpha manifestation, was outraged.
“So what did you say? Did you tell them your husband is a Taekang blue blood?”
“I didn’t go that far, just said we’re soon to be family. I’m on a 3-month contract, so I wasn’t sure if I should even mention it.”
“That makes sense. Yeah, yeah.”
In three months, he would quit anyway. There was no need to share personal information, but Pyeonghwa still wished Saebyeok had made it clear he was married. He tried to respond a bit coolly, but Saebyeok didn’t seem to notice his coolness and continued.
“It was just ordinary. Working, eating, working more. Worried I might not be able to leave work on time. We were supposed to go see a movie today, remember.”
“Right! I’m seriously so upset! They say even monkeys fall from trees, but Gong Pyeonghwa doesn’t fall! Ah, maybe I lacked bounce today? Was I too tired from doing yoga too hard?”
“What…?”
Pyeonghwa even stomped his foot in frustration.
“…Anyway, so then what?”
Calming his inexplicable anger, Pyeonghwa listened attentively to Saebyeok’s story.
“We were supposed to watch a movie, but since we couldn’t, I came to see you like this. Missing the movie is no big deal, but not seeing this face is hard.”
I should go to an aesthetician with Mother-in-law tomorrow instead of the kids cafe. I need to take serious care of my face.
“Heeng.”
Pyeonghwa melted at Shin Saebyeok’s sweet words.
Saebyeok wasn’t oblivious to this reaction, and they both paused their walk. In a deserted alley, under a streetlight, they kissed softly.
As the plump, warm flesh tickled them, they both couldn’t resist the ticklish feeling and reluctantly parted lips while laughing.
“Hah… what comes next would be rated R.”
“Seriously, what are you saying?”
Maybe even the Cowherd and Weaver Girl, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, would first passionately embrace and kiss each other fiercely? At least that’s what Pyeonghwa thought. And then, well, well, well. What are you looking at? A person can have a lewd smile sometimes.
But it didn’t seem like the Cowherd and Weaver Girl would have sex just because they finally met. Time together is precious, and having sex makes time go by too quickly.
He felt like he understood Cinderella’s feelings.
Cinderella, since it was their first meeting, just danced together and went home without regrets, but I’m not like that. I want to do this and that. Iseul might ask for a sibling as a Christmas gift. It’s right to prepare in advance, isn’t it?
“Ah, I really wish time would stop.”
“Then I wouldn’t have to go to work.”
“…”
You do have a lot of work. For Saebyeok, who usually doesn’t complain, to unconsciously say something like that means he’s stressed.
“Is it really hard?”
“No, it’s really not hard. I just have to do my regular work while preparing for a presentation, and there are a lot of people trying to have personal conversations, so I’m a bit tired, that’s all.”
That’s what being hard means. How can I help?
“I think I prefer the Team Manager who does things his own way.”
Saebyeok smirked remembering Team Manager Dok asking if he was being ostracized. It was also a bit embarrassing.
I thought I was going to receive something like a confession attack, but suddenly he asks about being ostracized.
“Isn’t that the guy who put his pheromones on you?”
“Ah, yeah. That’s right, but I spoke clearly to him today. He doesn’t seem like that bad a person. He even drove me home despite it being in the opposite direction.”
Of course, he drove me because he wanted to ask if he was being ostracized, but still, he did give me a ride.
But seriously, how do you bring up the topic of ostracism at that timing? Like Gong Pyeonghwa?
Even before dating, Saebyeok had felt that Pyeonghwa had quirky aspects.
His eccentricities included asking questions with no apparent correlation or giving unexpected reactions. Like when they first met as children and he suddenly started talking about dinosaurs out of nowhere.
My Pyeonghwa has had unique and cute sides since he was young.
“He drove you?”
“Huh? Yes.”
“Why?”
“Just, well, he saw me on the way? He said he had something to ask me…”
Why is he taking this so seriously?
“You’re saying you got a ride from the sexual harasser who put pheromones on you while you were sleeping?”
“No, don’t say it like that… Nothing happened. He just offered to drive me, and I also needed to make some things clear, so it was killing two birds with one stone. He is a strange person, but he doesn’t seem like a bad person.”
He just seemed like someone without tact who was sharp only in weird ways.
“Then why did he put pheromones on you? Did he say he just did it because he was bored?”
“…”
Is that so important? Why not just talk about something nice, why get so angry…?
“How could you ride with someone you don’t even know well? What if something had happened?”
“Come on, I’m a man too, what could have happened…”
“He could have overpowered you with pheromones.”
“That’s why I opened the window first.”
I had my own thoughts on this, so why is he talking like that? His unusual tone and voice made me feel hurt for no reason.
“You could have chosen not to ride.”
“It would have been awkward not to. I’m going to see him again tomorrow anyway, and how could I refuse when my workplace superior asks me to get in?”
There’s no reason to make a big deal out of it, right? I wasn’t drunk, and I’m not a woman, so what could have happened? Even if something did happen, I could have handled it somehow. I can also overpower with pheromones.
I felt angry for no reason. No, I felt hurt.
In this precious time we have together, why talk like that? Why interrogate me as if I did something wrong?
“Still, there were ways to avoid it. You’re smart. You must have known it wasn’t a prudent action, right?”
That’s not how it works with a workplace superior. Even as a contract worker, when you approach work with a newcomer’s mindset, it’s not easy to break existing frameworks. You try going to work like I do! See if it’s easy!
And anyway, now I know he doesn’t have ulterior motives toward me, so isn’t that enough? I don’t understand why we need to talk about this to this extent. As Saebyeok talked, he got angry and forgot to mention that the Team Manager had no ulterior motives toward him.
“Sigh… Okay. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again next time. Let’s stop talking about this. I’m tired.”
“Are you tired of talking with me?”
“That’s not it. I’m tired of nitpicking over trivial matters like this. Honestly, why are you and I even talking about this…”
“Trivial matters? Nitpicking?”
I’m so tired.
With the sudden wave of fatigue, Saebyeok tightly closed his eyes and pressed his temples firmly.
Is this my fault?
Shin Saebyeok was tired and didn’t want to continue a conversation that wasn’t particularly pleasant.
Pyeonghwa wanted Saebyeok to be more cautious. Saebyeok was subtly careless. And which alpha in the world would like their omega to be alone with another alpha in an enclosed car? Especially if that alpha had previously shown interest in their omega?
If the roles were reversed, if a workplace superior omega who had been hitting on him offered him a ride home, and he accepted, wouldn’t Saebyeok also be upset?
Isn’t it right to say what needs to be said? Tired? Apologizing without even knowing what he did wrong? Making a hollow apology just to get through the moment?
In the end, they argued, mocking each other until Noeul said it was time to go home.
Only after parting did they think, “Why did I act like that?” but it was already too late to regret.
Their footsteps home were heavier than usual, and they regretted their actions.
‘I shouldn’t have done that.’
To be continued in Volume 3
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
