His gaze fell to my ring. Do Jihoon lowered his eyes.
Just like that, he quietly turned around and left the café.
“Damn… it feels like a storm just passed through….”
It felt like something huge had just happened, yet it was only twelve o’clock. With a sigh, a throbbing headache began to set in.
Even after Do Jihoon disappeared, I remained lost in my thoughts.
First of all, I had to decide how I was going to act from now on.
First, Do Jihoon.
If he really did have feelings for me, then me seeing another alpha would clearly be cheating. Well, maybe if things followed the original story and we mutually agreed to see other people it’d be different. But if I looked at the current situation while excluding the original plot… I’d be nothing but a total bastard who deserved a kimchi slap.
But wait, during our first meeting Do Jihoon was the one who acted like a jerk first—just as that thought crossed my mind, I realized something else instead.
Do Jihoon had never actually agreed to the idea of seeing other people.
I had another moment of harsh self-realization.
“Wow… am I seriously trash…?”
I had a fiancé, yet I gave someone else my number, got carried home by another alpha, and on top of that I even got mad first, acting like what did I do wrong?
Still, if we were pointing out faults, Do Jihoon had done things wrong too. Acting like an asshole, and…
“……”
At the very least, he still hadn’t turned his eyes toward another omega.
By the time my thoughts reached that point, I came to a conclusion.
Keeping in contact with Ki Tae-young would be deceiving Do Jihoon.
If someday he started throwing a fit saying he had feelings for Ha Min-young, then maybe that would be the time for me to see another alpha too. At the very least, I didn’t want to be the one to betray him first.
Because Do Jihoon was a good guy.
I sent a KakaoTalk message to Ki Tae-young.
[Sunbae. It’s Yuri. I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can keep staying in contact with you. I’m really sorry. But I swear I never once had bad intentions toward you. Thank you for liking me, and I hope you meet someone good.]
After sending that message, I blocked Ki Tae-young.
Fuck, what a great thing I’ve done. Stirring up trouble for an innocent person.
Even if Ki Tae-young ended up hating me for this, I wouldn’t have anything to say in my defense. The memories of that drunken night were way too vivid—there was no excuse I could make.
Anyway, once I reached my conclusion, my mind felt a little clearer.
From now on, I resolved to focus as much as possible on my relationship with Do Jihoon.
***
“…Why are you here, sunbae?”
Whoever said God doesn’t enjoy playing dice games?
Fuck, that’s all a lie.
I stared blankly at Ki Tae-young sitting inside the cramped lecture hall. Since we shared the same College of Engineering building, I’d expected we might run into each other occasionally—but this?
This was too much.
Why! Are! You! In a freshman General Chemistry class?!
You weren’t here last week!
As if sensing my confusion, Ki Tae-young scratched his cheek and spoke.
“I went to the military in April the year before last. So I’m still technically a freshman.”
“…I see.”
Plastering on the most awkward smile imaginable, I walked past Ki Tae-young and headed toward Lee Daeju. As I went, I noticed a few unfamiliar faces—probably upperclassmen who had dropped or switched classes during the course adjustment period.
“Life is a sewer.”
“I don’t know why it’s a sewer, but even sewers get sunny days. Hang in there.”
Lee Daeju really was a good guy.
I asked him how things turned out with his boyfriend. Thankfully, after sleeping over at Kwon Jisoo’s place, he’d called his boyfriend early in the morning and somehow worked things out.
Yeah.
I’m the only one with problems. Just me.
Bitterly, I listened to the lecture. I was extremely conscious of Ki Tae-young sitting somewhere behind me, but fortunately, because of the nature of the College of Engineering, there weren’t many team projects.
Just imagining being paired with Ki Tae-young for a team project felt like a modern-day Ice Age.
But then why—
“……”
Why are we meeting again in lab class?
Lab classes were one of the few places with team projects.
And we were in the same group.
Two people per group.
Fuck.
I was paired with Ki Tae-young.
This had to be fate playing a joke on me.
Ki Tae-young also looked awkward, moistening his lips with his tongue as he looked at me. Before the class started, he spoke.
“Um… I figured if I didn’t say something first, you’d probably stay quiet too. So I’ll speak first.”
Surprisingly, Ki Tae-young didn’t look angry.
He continued calmly.
“I hope you won’t feel too awkward.”
“……”
Holy shit, I was seeing an angel.
Was Ki Tae-young a pushover or something?
“It’s true that I like you, but I’m not such a scoundrel that I’d keep pushing someone who already directly told me they weren’t interested.”
“…Ah.”
“What, did I seem like that kind of person?”
Ki Tae-young asked playfully.
Startled, I quickly shook my head.
“No…”
“That’s a relief. Since we share some classes, let’s not be too awkward around each other.”
Just as Ki Tae-young finished speaking, the teaching assistant walked in with perfect timing.
We both closed our mouths and proceeded with the general chemistry lab together.
***
As soon as class ended, I dragged Lee Daeju out of Building 312 and bolted. I didn’t want to be left behind in that awkward atmosphere with Ki Tae-young.
“Ugh… hey, Daeju. I still feel like my body smells like vinegar.”
“We’re chemical engineering majors. Let’s sound fancy and call it the smell of acetic acid.”
“You lunatic bastard….”
I stared at him with cold, unimpressed eyes.
But only for a moment.
As soon as I thought about my precarious team-project life with Ki Tae-young, tears blurred my vision.
Filled with sorrow and fear, I called out to Lee Daeju.
“Daeju… Daeju…”
“What? What is it, Yuri?”
“So… would you listen to something?”
Lee Daeju nodded willingly. Unlike that bastard Kim Bo-jin who claimed to have been Yeon Yuri’s friend for thirteen years.
I laid some groundwork first, saying it was a story about a friend whether he believed it or not.
I replaced Do Jihoon with Omega A, Ki Tae-young with Omega B, and myself with an Alpha friend, then told Lee Daeju about the situation I was in.
Omega A and the alpha friend had been in a sort of a some relationship (some relationship is the stage right before becoming an official couple).
Then Omega B appeared and asked the alpha friend for their number, and the alpha friend gave it.
“You were already in a some relationship and still gave your number?”
Lee Daeju looked like he was staring at the biggest piece of trash alive.
“…Just hear me out until the end.”
The Alpha friend only thought of Omega A as a friend. Then one day Omega A said, “I’m an omega too,” and only then did the Alpha friend realize that they had actually been in a some relationship with Omega A.
So the Alpha friend told Omega B they were sorry but couldn’t keep in contact, sent a message explaining that, and then blocked them.
“But then it just so happens that Omega B and the Alpha friend have the same class.”
“That’s a total nightmare.”
Even Lee Daeju described my situation as a hellish battlefield.
“Describe a solution to this situation.”
“There isn’t one.”
“……”
“First of all, your Alpha friend is one of two things.”
“What?”
“Either an idiot or a complete asshole.”
“……”
“You should cut someone like that off as soon as possible.”
At those words, I looked down at the ground gloomily.
Yeah.
I’m the asshole.
It’s all my karma.
Lee Daeju stared at me intently.
Trying not to reveal that the ‘friend’ in question was actually me, I forced myself to agree bitterly with his words.
“Yeah. He’s an asshole.”
“Wait.”
Lee Daeju suddenly looked serious.
When I looked at him curiously, his face turned white, then blue. It was like watching a color-changing sketchbook.
“What?”
“Wait… no. It’s nothing.”
“There are two ways to piss someone off. The first is stopping in the middle of what you’re saying, and the second is—”
“……”
Lee Daeju didn’t react to my joke at all. The look in his eyes was like someone who’d just been terrorized by a walking sack of shit.
After frowning as if deep in thought for a moment, he finally spoke.
“I’m asking just in case…”
“Yeah what?! Just say it already instead of being so frustrating.”
“That Alpha… it’s not Do Jihoon… right?”
That was such a wild miss.
I stared at him with my mouth hanging open, letting out a hollow laugh.
“What kind of bullshit is that….”
But the pitying look in Lee Daeju’s eyes didn’t disappear. This bastard wasn’t joking.
He patted my shoulder like he was comforting a pitiful stray puppy.
“You must’ve had a hard time….”
“Fuck’s sake. I told you it’s not.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. That kind of thing happens a lot in chaebol engagement relationships, right?”
“For the love of God, open your ears. I said it’s not.”
“Poor guy.”
Lee Daeju clearly didn’t believe a single word of my protests. Eventually, I gave up trying to convince him.
“Whatever, damn it. I clearly said it’s not me.”
“Yeah, yeah…”
I’d tried to get rid of a bump but ended up adding another instead. After that conversation, completely drained, I trudged back toward my apartment.
Ah No