“We’ll be able to go home together today.”
As Jaehyuk started the car and shared his schedule like their morning routine, Junghyun habitually asked while fastening his seatbelt.
“What time?”
“Around 7.”
“Please call me when you’re leaving.”
Jaehyuk glanced at Junghyun who was wearing two t-shirts, a hoodie, and a winter military jacket on top, with a scarf wrapped around his neck and the jacket hood pulled over his head.
It was certainly cold outside, but his outfit seemed excessive for inside the car.
“I turned on the heated seats, so it’ll warm up soon.”
“Okay.”
That was Jaehyuk’s way of suggesting Junghyun could take off at least the hood, but Junghyun showed no signs of doing so.
Instead, he curled up his body as if cold.
“Are you cold?”
“A little.”
At that response, Jaehyuk checked the temperature on the center display. It was 8 degrees outside but 12 degrees inside.
Not cold enough to justify wearing a hood.
“…Really, are you coming down with something?”
“No. But I don’t want to catch anything.”
Seeing Junghyun with his hands shoved deep into his pockets and head lowered, Jaehyuk casually asked as he started driving.
“When you do get sick, does it hit you hard?”
“…Pardon?”
“That’s what I heard. From Director Han Juwon. That you’re generally healthy and don’t get sick easily, but because of that, you don’t recognize symptoms and push through until it hits you all at once. Usually once every 2-3 years.”
“…Uncle told you that?”
The information was accurate, but Junghyun blinked in surprise, wondering when they’d had such a conversation. Jaehyuk replied nonchalantly.
“When we talked at the hotel.”
Junghyun was puzzled, wondering which hotel, before remembering their honeymoon three months ago.
When he had suddenly gone into heat, Jaehyuk had mentioned talking to his uncle.
“You’ve been like this for several days. Shouldn’t you just go to the hospital?”
“I’m fine. It’s actually more like once every 4 years, not 2-3. Once when I was 9, once at 14, then at 18, and 23. And at 23, it was lymphadenitis. It might have been viral because Yongwoo hyung caught it too. I went to the emergency room and recovered in a day, but Yongwoo hyung was hospitalized for a week.”
Junghyun mumbled, recalling the old memory.
Beyond just being sick, that incident had reinforced one of his prejudices about Alphas.
That despite their massive builds, they were too fragile.
He’d never particularly liked Alphas, but after that, he began to look down on them completely.
They seemed utterly useless.
“Come to think of it, I guess I’m due. It’s been a full cycle, so I should be careful.”
“Then all the more reason to get checked out early, don’t you think?”
“I don’t have any specific symptoms.”
“I can’t trust that. You seem insensitive to pain.”
“…Maybe so?”
Now that he thought about it, Junghyun acknowledged this was true. He might be perceptive, but that was limited to external stimuli.
He definitely seemed dull when it came to his own physical condition. As he slowly nodded in agreement, the car stopped at a traffic light.
Suddenly, Jaehyuk spoke.
“Hold on.”
At this unexpected remark, Junghyun turned only his eyes toward him from under his hood. Jaehyuk reached out his right hand and placed the back of it against Junghyun’s forehead.
A few seconds passed.
Before Junghyun could even be surprised, Jaehyuk removed his hand from his forehead and looked forward again, straightening his posture.
“You don’t seem to have a fever, at least.”
While Jaehyuk nodded with relief, Junghyun hunched his shoulders and buried his face in his tightly wrapped scarf.
He was worried his face might appear flushed from the heat suddenly rushing to it. Feeling awkward, he changed the subject.
“You don’t exactly have the disposition to judge these things well either, do you?”
“Better than you, I’d say. What about lunch today? I don’t think Yongwoo is coming in.”
He was asking if Junghyun would be eating alone.
Normally, he was fine eating by himself, but today was different.
“I have plans today.”
“With whom?”
“Uncle.”
“Director Han Juwon?”
“Yes. He’s still feeling profound doubt, anxiety, and fear about the lack of divorce talk. So I agreed to have lunch with him to report and reassure him that everything’s fine.”
“His doubt is completely justified. I’d feel the same way.”
As Jaehyuk lifted his foot off the brake at the changing light, he remarked that any intelligent person would have a normal reaction like that, then suddenly chuckled.
At that strange laugh, Junghyun asked, “What?”
“I can’t help thinking how similar you two are. When I spoke with him, it felt like I was talking to you.”
“Everyone says that. That I seem more like his actual son than his actual son. It’s partly because Uncle raised me, but also because our personalities are similar.”
“Yes, that’s how it seemed. But does he have an aversion to Alphas, by any chance?”
At this abrupt change of topic, Junghyun turned to him with a “what are you talking about” look.
“Uncle? Not at all. He might look down on Alphas like I do, but he doesn’t have any aversion to them.”
“When I mentioned wanting to greet him properly, he seemed quite reluctant.”
Jaehyuk was bothered by how blatantly uncomfortable the older man had seemed, flatly stating they weren’t on those terms yet.
Seeing Jaehyuk’s concern, Junghyun gave a bitter smile, understanding the situation.
From Juwon’s perspective, everything about this marriage was awkward, uncomfortable, and suspicious.
Everything was too unnatural.
“I told you we have similar personalities. He probably just dislikes formal greetings when there’s no comfortable relationship yet.”
“Still, if he’s that worried, wouldn’t it be good to greet him at least once?”
“…Next time…”
As he was muttering “someday, when there’s time” under his breath, a familiar building came into view.
Shortly after, the car naturally stopped in front of the building, and Junghyun unfastened his seatbelt and said goodbye.
“Well then, you should go.”
“Call me right away if you start feeling unwell.”
“I will.”
“Go on.”
After this awkwardly affectionate farewell, Junghyun got out of the car, closed the door, and looked toward the driver’s seat. Jaehyuk nodded at him through the window, gesturing for him to go ahead.
His arrogant attitude of communicating with gestures rather than words remained unchanged, but his eyes were different from before.
No, they weren’t just softer.
While they appeared gentle at first glance, what dwelled in those eyes was clearly heat.
At that gaze filled with undisguisable affection, Junghyun’s heart, which had been warm until just moments ago, suddenly turned cold.
It felt like he had done something terribly wrong.
Feeling strangely unsettled, he stood rooted to the spot as the car slowly moved off to join the traffic lane.
But even as he watched the car disappear into the distance, he couldn’t bring himself to move.
His thoughts had stopped.
And it seemed his body had stopped too.
* * *
Falling in love felt similar to being suddenly struck by lightning.
It was like a disaster that struck unexpectedly, at an unexpected time, with an unexpected person, regardless of one’s own will—that was love.
“Why are you coming to a sick person’s house to hold a memorial service?”
Yongwoo emerged from the bathroom wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt and shorts, drying his hair with a towel, and kicked Junghyun’s knee as he sat at the dining table.
After lying around groaning, drinking the hangover remedy Junghyun had brought, throwing up everything he’d eaten, he finally felt alive again.
Thanks to that, he was no longer nauseous or dizzy, so he’d taken a shower. But now Junghyun was the one looking like death.
Making the whole apartment gloomy.
“Why are you so down? You were full of energy this morning.”
“Shut up. Just eat your porridge and go to work.”
Junghyun gestured with his chin toward the bowl on the table, as if even speaking was troublesome.
Despite everything, Yongwoo still had an appetite and immediately sat down at the table, wolfing down the porridge.
After confirming this, Junghyun looked down at the floor with both hands in his hoodie pockets.
Seeing his dejected profile, Yongwoo glanced at him.
“What happened in the span of a few hours?”
“I should be asking you that question.”
Junghyun gave him a look that said, ‘Why else would I be here at this hour with porridge and medicine if not for you? Hurry up and confess about last night.’ Yongwoo had no defense, so he continued with a pitiful excuse.
“I got played too. Now that I think about it, I’ve had drinks with that guy a few times before. He knows I talk a lot when I’m drunk, so he deliberately got me drinking on an empty stomach.”
“If you know your own drinking habits, you shouldn’t have drunk at all.”
Again, Yongwoo had no rebuttal.
If you have bad drinking habits, you shouldn’t drink. But yesterday’s atmosphere had been impossible to endure without alcohol.
“That was my mistake… but I didn’t mention anything about your condition or pregnancy.”
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. Even when drunk, I can distinguish that much.”
If that’s the case, it’s fine, Junghyun nodded.
He had already been exposed to him, so the rest didn’t matter if it was revealed.
“Well then, eat. I’m going back to the office.”
He’d come over worried that Yongwoo might still be half-dead, but today he looked okay.
As long as he was alive, that was enough. Just as Junghyun was about to get up, Yongwoo tapped his spoon.
“Wait a minute.”
“Can’t you even eat by yourself now?”
“It’s not that. I have something to tell you.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
