16
It would have been better if there had been red pepper powder, but there was nothing to be done about it. After washing the rice and putting it in the rice cooker, Junghyun pressed the cook button. Even a large rice cooker takes about 30 minutes to cook rice, he realized. Having never cooked more than a single portion of rice before, Junghyun blinked in surprise.
While he was opening a window for ventilation as the smell of kimchi stew spread throughout the house, Seunghyeok emerged, having finished his shower.
Come to think of it, the kimchi stew was the only side dish he had prepared. Wondering if he should at least make a fried egg, Junghyun was opening the refrigerator when Seunghyeok stopped him.
“That one dish is enough. Why are you trying to make something else?”
“But…”
“You’re not here to cook, so don’t worry about it too much. I’m grateful just for the stew.”
With such insistence, Junghyun couldn’t be stubborn any further. He nodded.
Seunghyeok glanced inside the refrigerator once before closing the door. Now that he thought about it, he had put the leftover lunchbox in the refrigerator. Belatedly remembering this, Junghyun wondered what to say if Seunghyeok asked about the lunchbox, but Seunghyeok didn’t bring it up.
“Weren’t you surprised to see someone outside the front door?”
“What? Oh. No, not really.”
Junghyun rolled his eyes.
“But I have something to ask you.”
“What is it?”
He struggled with how to phrase his question. Throughout this time, Seunghyeok waited patiently for Junghyun to speak.
“Am I being confined here?”
“…Pfft.”
A barely contained sound escaped from Seunghyeok’s mouth. Worried that his question might have been inappropriate after all, Junghyun closed his mouth firmly in confusion.
“No. I just didn’t expect you to ask that question so directly.”
Seunghyeok waved his hand.
“Do you think I’m holding you captive?”
“Captive…”
The word “captive” felt much more vivid than simply saying he was confined.
Junghyun thought carefully once more. Looking at it from any angle, it didn’t seem to be the case. Yes, let’s say it was captivity. But what kind of person would hold someone captive without taking away their phone?
As Junghyun was lost in thought, he came to his senses when he heard a low chuckle from Seunghyeok.
“Is that a habit of yours?”
“What? What is?”
“It really must be a habit.”
“What is it?”
To Junghyun, who kept asking questions without a clue, Seunghyeok said:
“You’re tilting your head from side to side.”
At Seunghyeok’s observation, Junghyun blinked. Wondering if he really had been doing that, he furrowed his brow, and unconsciously, his head tilted to one side.
“Oh.”
He figured this must be what Seunghyeok was referring to.
Now Seunghyeok was laughing audibly. His soft laughter was pleasant to hear. That was a separate matter from Junghyun feeling embarrassed, though.
“Well…! So, I don’t think I’m being c-captive.”
Returning to the briefly interrupted topic, Junghyun raised his voice. Hearing Junghyun’s words, Seunghyeok pulled up the corners of his mouth.
“Is that so? Then that’s correct. And I’ll make sure it stays that way.”
It was a puzzling answer.
Just as Junghyun thought Seunghyeok’s eyes seemed to curve a bit more gently, he heard the sound indicating that the rice was done cooking. As he was dishing out the rice and kimchi stew, Seunghyeok naturally picked up the bowls and went to the dining table. He looked at Junghyun, who had the food in front of him but showed no signs of eating.
“I’ll eat a little later. Please try it first.”
“It’s delicious.”
After putting a spoonful of stew in his mouth, Seunghyeok’s taste evaluation made Junghyun sigh with relief.
“Does it suit your taste? That’s a relief. I usually can’t taste the food properly right after I make it. This is my first time cooking for someone else.”
Junghyun smiled slightly and only then leaned back comfortably.
“Actually, I said I would make dinner, but I only know how to cook enough for myself. I was a bit tense, wondering what if it didn’t taste good.”
“Have you cooked a lot?”
“Just a bit. I got tired of eating delivery food.”
Junghyun answered with a smile.
Seunghyeok gazed at him steadily.
“Did you eat that much of it?”
“What?”
Unable to grasp the context of this sudden topic shift, Junghyun asked back.
“Delivery food.”
At Seunghyeok’s follow-up, Junghyun’s lips parted. Despite it being a casual remark, Seunghyeok had keenly noticed the context hidden within it and asked.
Junghyun sat up straight from his position leaning against the backrest.
“You’re saying you ate enough of it to get tired and cook for yourself. That doesn’t seem like something someone your age would say.”
“That’s not it… It’s nothing special. Just…”
Unable to find an appropriate response, Junghyun lowered his head and rubbed his cheek.
Seunghyeok spoke to him in a much softer voice.
“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. The stew is getting cold, shall we eat?”
At the natural invitation to eat, Junghyun picked up his spoon. The man sitting across from him began eating without saying anything else.
Junghyun followed suit and tried a spoonful of the stew.
The stew in his mouth was more palatable than when he had tasted it earlier and found it just spicy and salty. The spicy broth went down his throat refreshingly. No matter how much others might praise it, if it didn’t taste good when he actually ate it, the anxiety wouldn’t be completely resolved, so Junghyun could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
It was fortunate that the dish had turned out to be decent enough to eat, even if it wasn’t exceptionally delicious.
“How is it? It’s good, right?”
“What? …Oh, yes. It’s decent…”
Questioned, Junghyun momentarily had the illusion that Seunghyeok might have been the one who made the food. With a dazed feeling, he nodded, and Seunghyeok stated firmly:
“Not just decent, it’s very delicious.”
“Yes…”
It was kind of him to say so.
The two began their meal sitting across from each other.
The freshly made rice and stew were delicious in themselves. Since Junghyun usually couldn’t taste his food right after making it and ate it roughly, if it weren’t for Seunghyeok, he probably wouldn’t have known this flavor. Exchanging occasional conversation, Junghyun diligently emptied his rice bowl.
The man complimented the food as delicious a couple more times, and Junghyun just smiled weakly. That day, for the first time, Junghyun realized that there was another joy to be found in cooking beyond just preparing food for himself to eat.
* * *
After the meal, Seunghyeok sat and exchanged a few words with him.
It was rather trivial conversation. Junghyun was talkative again today. But it was certainly not because he had much to say. Seunghyeok had no intention whatsoever of telling Junghyun to be quiet as he struggled to break the tense atmosphere.
Eating at someone else’s pace willingly outside of a business setting, and sitting leisurely to talk after a meal were both firsts for Seunghyeok. Seunghyeok disliked doing unnecessary things, but what he was doing now was certainly not unpleasant. It was amusing.
Looking at the chattering Junghyun, Seunghyeok recalled the incident with the lunchbox.
Even during their phone call, he had sensed something was off. It didn’t make sense for someone with Junghyun’s personality to leave a freshly bought lunchbox untouched and instead eat chicken that had been abandoned in the refrigerator.
The moment he saw the lunchbox in the refrigerator, Seunghyeok realized what had happened today.
Lee Youngsun had not delivered the lunchbox to Junghyun on time, as Seunghyeok had instructed.
Considering Lee Youngsun’s usual behavior of doing his job precisely and efficiently, it was impossible for him to have missed it. Seunghyeok didn’t trust people who acted vaguely. That’s why he had revealed his home address to Lee Youngsun and entrusted him with guarding it.
The only reason Lee Youngsun would not deliver the lunchbox to Junghyun was deliberate intention.
But Junghyun hadn’t mentioned this fact to him. He even went as far as to eat the lunchbox bit by bit to hide the fact that he had received it late.
He could talk well enough about everything else, but he completely omitted this particular story. Junghyun’s intention was clear. He was probably being considerate of Lee Youngsun stationed at the door.
Because of that naive and soft consideration, Seunghyeok decided to pretend he didn’t know.
Junghyun smiled broadly at Seunghyeok’s responsive nodding and engagement. Seunghyeok enjoyed watching Junghyun’s cheeks rise roundly when he smiled.
Finding someone’s smile pleasing to see—this was a strange sensation he was experiencing for the first time.
Perhaps because of what Taejun had said to Junghyun about pheromones earlier, Junghyun was now even more tightly containing his already neatly managed pheromones. The sight of him checking his pheromone state repeatedly was even cute.
He didn’t have to do that because Seunghyeok already knew what Junghyun’s pheromones were like. On that day when Junghyun had bought lunch for him, he had been intrigued by this uncommon type of person and cast a “lure.”
A lure was one of the abilities that only the extremely dominant could use—the ability to unilaterally draw out another’s pheromones. Since the numbers of extremely dominant alphas or extremely dominant omegas were so few, not much research had been done, and the concept of a lure was not well known to the general public.
The pheromones released when casting a lure were very similar to the commonly known alpha or omega pheromones, but it had been discovered that their characteristics differed. However, exactly how this process worked remained veiled in mystery.
Seunghyeok had used this ability to understand Junghyun’s pheromones. He also learned how Junghyun reacted when exposed to his pheromones, and what the combination of their pheromones was like. And throughout all of this, Junghyun had responded without even realizing that his own pheromones were being released.
From that moment after using the lure, Seunghyeok had been captivated by the scent of Junghyun’s pheromones. The moment he realized that a dark possessiveness had consumed his mind, Seunghyeok decided to bring Junghyun into this house.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
