#82
“I need to go abroad on business during the holiday, but I want to go with you. It makes sense to send your mother and Sunhong separately.”
“What kind of calculation is that…?”
Though Eunhong understood the plan Jaeha explained, it wasn’t the kind of proposal that would normally come up. What’s the big deal about a holiday? If you want to take me, just take me, why are you trying to send my family abroad too…? What was more puzzling was that his mother had accepted it, and with his mother on board, Eunhong lost any grounds for refusal.
“By the way, Woohyun’s grandmother caused a huge fight with your mom demanding money, and your mom and the aunt had a terrible argument.”
Eunhong, who had been lying on the sofa half-listening to Sunhong, suddenly sat up.
“What? How did that happen? How? How is mom now?”
“I don’t know. Anyway, the aunt was crying hysterically. She collapsed like the world was ending, so I took her to the hospital. It’s extremely complicated. Mom is fine. She’s sleeping now, so call her tomorrow. Bye.”
After the call with Sunhong ended, Eunhong stared at the darkened screen of his phone and anxiously checked the time again. It was definitely mom’s bedtime now, and calling would only disturb her sleep unnecessarily. He couldn’t wake his mother at this hour just to ease his own mind.
He felt a slight resentment that his mother hadn’t called to tell him about the incident. Eunhong rubbed his face with his dry hands as if to brush away his worries and went downstairs to the living room.
Jaeha, who was reading a book on the living room sofa, looked up when Eunhong appeared. Besides the soft sound of his footsteps, there was an optical illusion where the area around Eunhong seemed warmer whenever he moved around, making him impossible to miss.
Jaeha approached Eunhong as he sat at the dining table with freshly brewed coffee. He had approached with discontent, wondering why Eunhong hadn’t come to him instead, but when Eunhong immediately wrapped his arms around Jaeha’s waist, Jaeha was left speechless. Instead, he offered an affectionate complaint.
“It’s almost midnight, and you made coffee again?”
“…Mmm…”
Eunhong made a soft moan as Jaeha’s hand stroked and ruffled his hair. He had been thinking for a while that Jaeha must have learned massage techniques somewhere. Otherwise, how could every spot he touched turn so soft and relaxed?
Eunhong buried his face against Jaeha’s stomach and took a deep breath, then looked up to meet his eyes. Resting his chin in the hollow spot near Jaeha’s navel felt quite stable.
“Release a bit more pheromone.”
“……”
Jaeha, who had been smiling gently, frowned at Eunhong’s request. He thought Eunhong was definitely eager to devour him. Jaeha tilted his head awkwardly a couple of times, then gently released his pheromones as his master wished… as gently as possible.
“…Hm…”
“…You like it?”
“Ah, really… it really feels good. This is so addictive.”
Eunhong buried his face in Jaeha’s embrace and leaned against him. His arms around Jaeha’s waist tightened involuntarily. After inhaling his scent again and again, he even felt a frightening urge to take a bite and swallow. He felt the strength draining from his body as a melting sensation poured down from the crown of his head.
With a moaning sigh, his mumbling voice flowed to Jaeha.
“How can it feel like this… It’s so good.”
Looking down at the round crown of Eunhong’s head burrowing into his embrace, Jaeha firmly pressed and massaged his shoulders. Although he always enjoyed hearing that his pheromones were good, he actually hoped for other words too. Even though every gesture of Eunhong’s showed that he liked him, Jaeha couldn’t help feeling a sense of longing.
Human hearts are truly fickle. Despite having many issues still unresolved, once they overcame one hurdle, he immediately desired something else. Jaeha exhaled a long breath through his nose, making sure Eunhong wouldn’t notice.
“You create too much work for yourself. Your shoulders are really tense.”
“But I finished three things.”
“…Really? Then don’t drink coffee, let’s go to bed now.”
Whatever the situation, Lee Jaeha never missed an opportunity.
***
With Eunhong’s bold step forward completely breaking down the wall of friendship, the two diligently built up their dating record as learned from books. Even with his busy schedule, Eunhong happily participated in the date courses that Jaeha had researched somewhere. During this time, several implicit couple rules quickly emerged between them. Befitting a couple who had transitioned from longtime friends to lovers, they instantly negotiated incompatible aspects and quickly noticed what each other liked.
And finally, the holiday approached.
Eunhong reluctantly took two days off after the Lunar New Year holiday. With weekends on both sides, it was an extraordinarily long vacation.
Jaeha must have planned to go together well in advance, because by the time he broached the subject with him, he had already prepared everything from plane tickets to other arrangements. Thanks to having completed all preparations for the Busan family as well behind his back, by the time Eunhong found out, it was already too late to back out. It was truly Jaeha-like determination. What a rejection.
Nevertheless, setting aside all other reasons, Eunhong also didn’t want to be separated from him. On the contrary, he would have been disappointed if Jaeha had said he was going far away without him for those long days. The book had said so too. One of the things you should never do in the early stages of a relationship is “leaving your partner alone with the excuse of being busy.”
Eunhong packed his luggage thoroughly with his laptop and tablet, thinking he might find time to work there. Doing so allowed him to feel at least mentally at ease, despite going on a long trip with deadlines approaching.
The news that Eunhong was going abroad with Jaeha during the Lunar New Year holiday reached Woohyun’s ears via the family home in Busan. What should have been a pleasant departure became a gloomy face for Eunhong. It was because he had received nasty messages from Woohyun. After ignoring his calls repeatedly, he had sent messages. Eunhong’s mistake was pressing the notification thinking it was from his mother, and then seeing the messages.
[This is why people should bite rich alphas. Lucky you.]
[Going abroad for sex, huh? I heard there are drugs in foreign countries that make you feel like an omega, is that why you’re going?]
[I guess even betas can manage if they have enough money.]
He was about to reply “shut up” to the first message. But no sooner had the notification disappeared than the second and third messages attacked. In some ways, Woohyun had an uncanny understanding of Eunhong’s behavioral patterns. He was an expert at ruining his mood. As Eunhong was sighing, a hand suddenly entered his field of vision and snatched his phone.
“This guy is hopeless.”
The car, which had been driving along with the signal, stopped just at that moment. Jaeha narrowed his eyes and read the messages Woohyun had sent one by one. Eunhong’s face burned hot with embarrassment at showing him such vulgar content. Jaeha, with an expressionless face, moved his fingers to block Woohyun and then placed the phone back on Eunhong’s thigh. He also brushed Eunhong’s flushed face once with the back of his hand.
“How do we get rid of him? I should talk to mother about this, Bunhong.”
“I’m handling it. You don’t need to worry about it.”
Looking at Jaeha’s tightly closed lips, Eunhong recalled his conversation with his mother a few days ago. When his mother brought up what was going on with Woohyun, she said she had money saved up, so not to worry. The words came out so readily that Eunhong was taken aback. His mother said she had planned to save more until Sunhong’s graduation, but since things were already difficult, it had worked out well. She asked why Eunhong hadn’t mentioned it earlier instead of trying to shoulder everything alone.
Eunhong felt choked up by his mother’s supportive heart. He also felt stupid for unhealthily keeping everything to himself. Jaeha suddenly reached out and tousled Eunhong’s hair.
“Tell your mother to sort things out there and live comfortably afterward. It’s okay for me to help your mother in our relationship, as long as you don’t stand in the way.”
“……”
That’s not exactly within the normal range… Eunhong was at a loss for words.
“Since your mother has her own way of living, I’ll speak to her respectfully. Don’t worry. I’ll consider Sunhong’s thoughts too.”
“It’s not that I’m worried about how you’ll handle it…”
“I understand why you’ve endured all this time. And why you didn’t tell me. But that doesn’t mean I should tolerate this guy even though I know everything now.”
“……”
“How did you endure it all this time?”
The yellow sun followed the moving car across the long bridge leading to the airport. Jaeha had one hand casually on the steering wheel and the other holding Eunhong. Except for a slight furrowing of his brow, his expression was peaceful. Eunhong somehow felt like a child standing before an adult and hunched his shoulders. He felt good yet powerless, and also embarrassed.
After parking the car in the long-term parking lot, the two headed to the meeting place. Jaeha called out from behind to Eunhong, who was looking around. As soon as he turned around, Jaeha cupped his cheeks with his large hands.
“Ah! That hurts…”
While he was complaining through pursed lips that resembled a duck’s bill, Jaeha gave him a quick kiss.
“Don’t overthink it. Keep it simple, Bunhong. Okay?”
“Eek!”
It was effective at clearing his mind. His cheeks instantly turned red. He quickly looked around, then let out a sigh of relief when he saw no one was watching. Eunhong poked Jaeha’s back with his fist. Jaeha said “ouch,” but his expression was just all smiles.
As they were waiting for about ten minutes while bickering, they saw the airport limousine approaching from a distance. In Eunhong’s sparkling eyes, he caught sight of his mother and Sunhong getting off the limousine bus.
“Mom, Sunhong!”
The faces of the two, tired from coming all the way from Busan, brightened when they recognized Eunhong and Jaeha.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
