“Please answer your phone.”
“It’s fine. It’s not an urgent call.”
As he said this, he immediately pressed the reject button and put his phone back in his pocket. Hunching my body, I asked him:
“If Yeonwoo hyung is calling, wouldn’t it be something urgent?”
“If it were truly urgent, someone else would call too.”
He meant either his brother or Junyoung.
That made sense. Since they were all connected, if it wasn’t a personal matter, someone other than Yeonwoo hyung would call, and if it was a personal matter, it was right not to answer right now.
“Surprisingly, you’re good at maintaining boundaries?”
“I told you, didn’t I? Right now, you’re my top priority.”
Those heart-fluttering words made me feel strange somehow, and I forced a smile while joking:
“Even if I’m a Chihuahua from hell with a terrifying mouth?”
“Even if you were a Megalodon.”
His answer, which was beyond normal to the point of being ideal, made me feel very strange again.
“This makes me…”
I was about to mutter that I felt like such a bad person, but I closed my mouth. He asked again:
“Hmm?”
“…Nothing. Nothing at all. Let’s quickly drop off our luggage and go eat ramen. It suddenly got cold, and I want something warm.”
“It’s not that cold, is it?”
“No? Then why do I feel so chilly?”
“Are you coming down with something?”
“It doesn’t feel like that… Maybe because I didn’t dry my hair properly?”
Since I had just roughly dried my hair out of laziness and pulled my hood over it, I looked up to check my hair. He suddenly stopped walking, grabbed my arm, and said:
“Give me your bag and go wait at the store first.”
“No, it’s not that serious.”
“Give it.”
With an attitude suggesting he would take my bag by force if necessary, I stared at him blankly and asked:
“Hyung, are you the self-sacrificing type?”
“…What?”
At his reaction questioning why I suddenly brought up self-sacrifice, I deliberately adjusted the bag on my shoulder and said bluntly:
“Hyung, you seem more self-sacrificing than you think. Don’t be like that. If you sacrifice too much, you’ll end up like a worn-out shoe.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Exactly what I said. Even if you’re too nice, you’ll become a pushover. Let’s go quickly.”
“…Are you saying I’m a pushover?”
At Jaehyuk’s reaction – still not fully understanding himself and telling me to make sense – I smiled playfully as always and quickly walked ahead.
“I’m saying this because you’re a more decent person than I thought. Excessive kindness confuses people. We should maintain our loyalty to each other, but wouldn’t it be troublesome if one of us mistakenly developed even small feelings?”
As I indirectly suggested we should maintain boundaries, Jaehyuk frowned.
“…Feelings?”
“Like mutual affection, fondness, camaraderie, or… romantic feelings.”
When I pointed out that this was what he was most concerned about when we first wrote the contract, he looked like he didn’t readily understand.
“This level of consideration is just basic manners.”
“With a face and specs like yours, being too mannerly will make people misunderstand. In that sense, it would be better if you were less kind. To avoid creating people with delusions.”
“People with delusions?”
“People who think you’re interested in them.”
“I’ve never had that happen.”
“You might not know, but I bet there have been quite a few. People who had one-sided crushes on you.”
At those words, which seemed to point to someone specific, Jaehyuk fell into thought briefly before nodding.
“…I suppose that’s possible. I’ll be careful from now on.”
“To Omegas, your mere existence is like forbidden fruit. So it’s better not to show reactions that might suggest you’re interested.”
He smiled at my advice not to unnecessarily hurt multiple people’s feelings.
He seemed quite pleased with those words.
“I didn’t know you held me in such high regard.”
“I’m still an Omega, so my pheromone responsiveness might be weak, but it’s not non-existent. If I react to this extent, other Omegas probably react much more strongly.”
“…So you do react?”
“To some degree.”
When I said I could feel it to some extent, though not enough to interfere with daily life, he casually asked as we headed to the board storage area:
“Then I’m curious about something…”
“What is it?”
“Since I don’t know my own pheromones, I’m asking… What do they feel like?”
Come to think of it, he might be curious about that. After all, I don’t know my own scent well either…
“Well… If I had to describe it…”
As I carefully chose my words to describe what it felt like, I eventually came up with a term:
“Winter rain?”
“…Winter rain?”
“Not snow, but like cold misty rain at dawn in winter? Or like frost. It’s also similar to a winter sea… but with a sweeter, softer scent?”
Having no more words to explain beyond that, I reached the board storage area and deposited my board. He smiled.
Looking pleased, and so purely.
Making my heart flutter unnecessarily.
“Why are you smiling?”
“I thought you didn’t react at all because you were so calm. Honestly, my pride was almost hurt.”
After hearing that he was curious because despite not only Omegas but also Betas, even male Betas, occasionally showing reactions to him, I showed almost none, I took the key after depositing my board and laughed at the impossibility.
“How could that be? I’m still an Omega, you know.”
“Right, that’s true. I keep forgetting. Now when I look at you, I only think of a Chihuahua.”
As we left the storage area and headed to the parking lot, Jaehyuk made this odd comment, and I fired back:
“That’s fine. When I look at you, I only think of wild ginseng.”
“Wild ginseng?”
“In the selection market, they call S-rankers wild ginseng. Because they’re harder to find than wild ginseng. By the way, I’m a unicorn, which is even rarer than wild ginseng.”
As I pointed to myself, saying I was the legendary F-rank Omega, a unicorn that has never existed and should not exist, Jaehyuk laughed in amazement.
“You being a unicorn makes me think you’ll stab someone with your horn.”
Laughing that I would definitely do so and more, Jaehyuk went directly to the parking lot behind the storage area and opened the trunk of his car. He put his luggage in and naturally took mine and placed it inside as well.
Just as he closed the trunk, someone tapped Jaehyuk’s back. Reflexively turning around at the touch, my gaze naturally followed to behind him.
At that moment, Jaehyuk’s expression became extremely unpleasant.
“Hey…”
“Surprise!”
Seeing exactly five men with dazzling appearances that screamed Alpha even if you just glanced at them from a passing jet, making a commotion, Jaehyuk mercilessly cut them off:
“Get lost.”
“Get lost? We came to surf too.”
“On Sunday night?”
“That’s what annual leave and vacation days are for.”
“If you came to surf, then surf and hang out among yourselves. Don’t even think about joining our trip.”
“Our? Ooh~ Our?”
As one of the men whistled and looked at me while picking at Jaehyuk’s words, the entire group’s gaze turned to me simultaneously.
Under that uncomfortable stare, I shrugged my shoulders, and the man immediately addressed me:
“You’re Junghyun, right? Jeonghoo’s brother. Hey, Lee Jeonghoo, aren’t you going to greet your brother?”
At the man’s call, Jeonghoo, standing among the dazzling men, smiled awkwardly, and I immediately threw cold water on the situation:
“We’re not that close.”
Having heard they were a high school friend group, I understood the situation and told the truth.
There was too much emotion between us for pretending to be close to be possible, and neither of us had that kind of personality. Besides, pretending to be close would only be troublesome to explain later, so it was better to draw the line from the start.
And that prediction was exactly right.
“Well, it’s rare in this world for siblings to get along… Anyway, nice to meet you. We only saw each other last week, right?”
“Yes.”
“Since we’re here, do you mind if we join you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. You, get in the car for a moment. I’ll deal with these guys and come back.”
At his instruction to get in the car since it was cold outside, I glanced at Jeonghoo and then spoke to the man standing at the front:
“Let’s have dinner together.”
“Oh, great!”
At my straightforward dinner invitation, Jaehyuk looked down at me in surprise.
I immediately informed him who would be paying today:
“Hyung agreed to pay for dinner tonight.”
“Ohhh, are we lucky enough to get a meal?”
As the men got excited at the atmosphere that was going better than expected, Jaehyuk declared:
“Cup ramen.”
“Seafood ramen, right?”
“Cup ramen.”
“We made a bet, so you should keep your promise.”
At the sudden mention of a bet, the man standing in front asked:
“What bet?”
“Surfing time. I won.”
At my information that he had to buy ramen because I won, the man was so surprised that he stumbled over his words:
“So, you beat him at surfing? You… did?”
When the man, who unconsciously tried to speak informally, awkwardly switched to formal speech at the end, I nodded while crossing my arms as if cold:
“I’m good at sports.”
“You just ate and surfed… right?”
“In arts and physical education, it’s not about effort but talent.”
Just as I smiled, implying that I was extremely talented, Jaehyuk sighed.
“That bet was between you and me, these guys have nothing to do with it.”
“The bet was that you would buy dinner. There was no condition that you would only buy it for me.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
