“Yes.”
Seunghyun answered without a second thought and turned his head.
“I’ll wear these out.”
“Sure!”
The staff member who had been watching the affectionate couple with a smile quickly approached and removed the tags from the sneakers. Then they went to the register and skillfully placed the loafers Seunghyun had been wearing into the box.
“Thank you!”
“Yes, thank you.”
Having completed the purchase, Suhwan pressed his fingers against his still-warm cheeks. How did we look to the employee? Like a normal alpha-omega couple?
As he turned around, trying to calm his racing heart, Seunghyun had already approached and taken his hand.
“Thank you, senior.”
“Mmhm.”
Seunghyun made no attempt to hide his joy as he released his fragrant pheromones. Suhwan liked it but felt embarrassed. As he averted his gaze slightly while responding, he immediately felt something soft touch his cheek and then pull away.
Smooch.
“…!”
Startled, Suhwan looked at Seunghyun, who was smiling with crescent-shaped eyes. Seeing that he might go for the lips next, Suhwan pushed him away with a grimace.
“You’re doing it outside again…”
“Then can I do it freely at home?”
“Mmph.”
Suhwan thought it was a strange statement. They were already doing it uninhibitedly at home. But too embarrassed to say so, he just glared slightly at Seunghyun’s flower-like, beautiful face.
Click.
“…?”
Just then, his sensitive alpha hearing caught a faint sound. Though very small, it sounded like a camera shutter. Surprised, Suhwan looked around.
However, perhaps because the place was so crowded and spacious, he couldn’t locate the source of the sound. Seeing Suhwan suddenly scanning their surroundings, Seunghyun asked in a puzzled voice:
“What’s wrong?”
“Huh? Nothing.”
Was it my imagination? Suhwan tilted his head. Then he turned to look at Seunghyun again.
“It’s nothing.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I thought I heard a strange sound. Must have been my imagination.”
“Hmm.”
After making a curious sound at Suhwan’s words, Seunghyun changed his expression and asked:
“Are you hungry? Shall we go eat?”
“Food?”
Now that he thought about it, it was already mealtime. Feeling hungry, Suhwan began considering menu options.
“Hmm… what should we eat?”
“Whatever you want, senior.”
“Then…”
While Suhwan, who took eating seriously, was recalling his options one by one, Seunghyun looked somewhere with cold eyes. A few people who noticed his gaze gasped and quickly left, almost as if fleeing. Seunghyun’s eyes narrowed at them.
“Ah, how about malatang? Can you eat that?”
“Yes, I like it too.”
Instantly changing his expression, Seunghyun smiled gently at the excited Suhwan. Suhwan took out his phone and busily searched for good malatang restaurants.
***
“Ah, that was delicious.”
Having enjoyed his malatang, Suhwan muttered happily like a child. Where does all that food go? Seunghyun looked at Suhwan with slightly bemused eyes before moving closer.
“Let’s go home now.”
“Yeah, let’s.”
They had spent almost the entire day together. Was this what they call a date… yes, it must be a date? The time had passed so quickly that he felt a bit regretful.
“Senior?”
“Yes?”
As they neared home, Suhwan, lost in thought, hadn’t heard Seunghyun clearly. Seeing Suhwan’s round eyes, Seunghyun smiled slightly.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing, just…”
Suhwan couldn’t casually say that he felt the date ended too quickly and he was disappointed. So he mumbled vaguely and turned his head.
“I wish you wouldn’t hesitate and would just say everything you want to say.”
“Huh?”
“You always say it’s nothing… Don’t you have something you want to tell me?”
“Ah…”
Seunghyun, who had seen right through Suhwan, continued in measured tones. Suhwan realized that all his trivial thoughts were plainly visible to Seunghyun.
How did he know? That I find it difficult to speak my mind.
He wondered if Seunghyun was just quick to notice such things, unlike himself who had trouble verbalizing his thoughts. He thought he should try to change this frustrating aspect of his personality if he was going to date Seunghyun.
Gathering his courage, Suhwan opened his mouth.
“Just that the time today seemed to pass too quickly.”
“Are you reluctant to go home?”
“Not to that extent.”
“We’ll go on another date. We have plenty of time.”
“Yeah.”
“Senior, is there anywhere you’d like to go?”
“…”
“Senior?”
At Seunghyun’s question, Suhwan pressed his lips together. There was actually one more thing he had wanted to say for a while but couldn’t.
It was about how Seunghyun addressed him.
Though he no longer called him “senior” with excessive formality like before… Suhwan couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed that Seunghyun still consistently called him “senior.”
“But, um… we’re now in a… relationship.”
“…?”
“And… hmm, when you keep calling me ‘senior,’ it feels like… we’re distant.”
Fidgeting with his fingers, Suhwan barely continued. Some might say he was being overly sensitive about such things, but wasn’t how you address each other important in a relationship? Suhwan thought this while staring at Seunghyun.
“I see. Then what would you like me to call you?”
“Uh…”
“Hyung? Suhwan hyung?”
Hyung. It seemed like a good, neutral term of address. After all, he was older, and it was much better than “senior.”
Just as Suhwan was about to nod, Seunghyun smiled and spoke again.
“Or…”
“…?”
“Honey?”
“…!”
Honey, honey, honey…
Seunghyun’s words kept floating in Suhwan’s mind. His face quickly turned as red as if it might burst.
“What are you…”
“You don’t like ‘honey’? I think it’s nice.”
“Um…”
“Honey.”
“…!”
The whispered word in his ear made his waist tremble. His fingers involuntarily tightened around Seunghyun’s.
“Hmm? Don’t you like it?”
“…Stop it.”
“I don’t want to.”
Lifting their interlaced hands, Seunghyun smiled with crescent eyes and kissed the back of Suhwan’s hand with small pecks. Suhwan’s eyes widened watching this.
“Honey.”
“Ngh.”
His mind became hazy. A dizzying scent emanating from Seunghyun enveloped him.
Forgetting they were outside, Suhwan squeezed his eyes shut. A warm hand cupped one of his cheeks.
With a soft smooch, he felt a gentle sensation on his lips. When he slightly opened his eyes, Seunghyun was looking at him with an expression of utter adoration.
“I’m joking. I’ll call you hyung.”
“Mmhm.”
“Unless you prefer honey…”
“No, no way.”
It was too much for his heart, which felt like it might explode. As Suhwan desperately shook his head, Seunghyun chuckled softly.
“Let’s go home now.”
“Okay.”
The whispered invitation to go home somehow sounded like something suggestive. Suhwan tried to deny this thought. But the warm heat from their joined hands kept making his heart race.
“Can we stop by the convenience store?”
“Huh? Convenience store?”
“Yes.”
Suhwan nodded without much thought at Seunghyun’s suggestion to visit the convenience store in front of their building. He liked snacks and often went to that store. Besides, he just remembered he had run out of chips and needed to buy more.
“I’ll buy some snacks.”
“I’ll look at something else.”
“Okay.”
Suhwan immediately headed to the snack aisle. His eyes scanned the row of displayed snacks.
Oh? This is a new flavor. Intestine flavor? I wonder if it’s good? I haven’t tried intestines since manifesting here, I wonder if I can eat them…
Suhwan filled his basket while contemplating with such seriousness that his brow furrowed. Only when the basket was full to his satisfaction did he turn around.
Then he looked for Seunghyun, from whom he had separated in the store. Is he still choosing? What is he buying anyway? Curious, Suhwan spotted Seunghyun in another aisle and approached him.
“Seunghyun, have you finished choosing?”
“Ah.”
“…?”
Seunghyun was closely examining a small box. What is he looking at? As Suhwan approached, he realized what the small box was and his eyes widened.
“You, that’s.”
What Seunghyun was holding was a condom. Seunghyun, who had been intently looking at the condom box, turned his head and stared at the flustered Suhwan.
“You get stomachaches when I can’t clean everything out properly. So I was thinking maybe we should use this…”
“Mmph.”
At these explicit words, Suhwan’s face turned red like a well-ripened apple again.
Through their many intimate encounters, Suhwan always collapsed and fell asleep right after, exhausted. Seunghyun always took care of the cleanup afterward.
But it seemed difficult to clean everything perfectly, and occasionally Suhwan would wake up in the morning with stomach pains. Given his robust constitution, Suhwan hadn’t paid much attention to it, but Seunghyun had apparently been concerned.
“Hyung?”
“Ah.”
Startled, Suhwan stared at Seunghyun with a reddened face. Meeting the strange heat in his eyes, Suhwan swallowed hard.
“Are you going to buy that?”
“I don’t know. Should I?”
“…”
“…Should I not?”
It was too awkward to answer. It would be better to just tell him to do as he pleases and turn away, pretending not to know, but somehow Suhwan’s body remained frozen in place.
If Seunghyun buys that… does it mean he’ll never finish inside again? Then I’ll never feel that sensation again.
The thought that suddenly crossed his mind made Suhwan extremely embarrassed. I’m crazy. Crazy. Why am I having such shameless thoughts?
“Hyung?”
“Ah, well.”
At the seemingly urgent call, Suhwan’s pupils trembled. His eyes darted between Seunghyun’s face and the condom box.
Finally, Suhwan reached out with a trembling hand.
“Let’s… not buy it.”
