#7
When Tae-geon wore it, the hem that used to fall neatly at the waist of the pants now reached down to his knees. The sleeves covered his entire hand and still had plenty left over.
The blazer he wore was filled with Tae-geon’s scent. A hint of sweet pheromones was mixed in with his body odor.
“Let’s go back to the mansion now.”
“Yes…”
The teacher looked at Tae-geon’s back as he walked ahead, trying to compose her reddened face.
The head butler, who had been anxiously waiting for the young master at the entrance of the mansion, sighed with relief when he saw the two figures appear in the distance before sunset.
The teacher’s personal feelings towards the young master were clearly visible to the experienced butler’s eyes.
Although it seemed unlikely, he wanted to avoid any situation that might cause a headache, so he breathed a sigh of relief at their uneventful return. But then he suddenly gasped in surprise.
The butler’s eyes widened as he scanned the teacher’s attire.
The young master’s coat… why…
…Surely not… with another omega while having an imprint nearby… No, it can’t be.
The butler looked at Tae-geon’s face with confused eyes. However, Tae-geon’s face was too expressionless towards the teacher to harbor such suspicions. His uninterested gaze was also cold and heartless, as if looking at an inanimate object.
“Go to the reception room. I’ll bring you a change of clothes.”
At Tae-geon’s words, the butler finally noticed that the teacher’s clothes under the young master’s blazer were wet. It seemed she had fallen into a stream. Knowing how cold the water in Neungra Mountain’s streams was, the butler understood Tae-geon’s consideration, but his heart couldn’t accept it.
No matter what, giving away your clothes is too much.
Thinking this to himself, the butler bowed politely to Jerome’s teacher.
“I’ll escort you to the reception room.”
“Oh, no! I’m really fine!”
As she refused, Tae-geon spoke in a somewhat harsh voice.
“If you catch a cold, won’t it affect Jerome too?”
“I, I hadn’t thought of that. If that’s the case… Thank you for your kindness.”
The teacher, not knowing what kind of person Tae-geon was, thought he was very considerate. He must have anticipated the refusal and insisted so strongly by mentioning Jerome. However, the butler was thinking something entirely different.
Tae-geon’s last words completely dispelled even the slightest uneasiness that had remained in the butler’s heart.
“This way, please.”
As the butler spoke cheerfully, Tae-geon asked briefly,
“Where’s Jerome?”
“He’s with Okhee.”
“With Okhee?”
“Yes, a new custom-made dinosaur figurine arrived, and he’s been excited about it since morning. They’re playing together in Jerome’s room.”
After finishing his explanation, the butler took care of the teacher and headed to the reception room.
Looking at the sky as the sun set, Tae-geon took out his phone from his pocket to check the time. It was almost 7 o’clock, when Hyeon-woo was supposed to return.
[I’ll send a car, so give me the address.]
He sent the message, but there was no reply even after a while. He tried calling, but there was no answer either.
Standing slightly askew, Tae-geon sighed and ran his hand through his hair, his face full of displeasure.
*
How much time had passed? As evening came, the once-quiet barbecue restaurant became fully packed. The place was deafeningly loud with raucous laughter and conversations bordering on shouting.
Hyeon-woo’s cheeks were red as he dozed off, nodding his head, unaware that his phone was ringing in his pocket. There were already six empty soju bottles on the table where five people sat. Going along with the atmosphere, he had gradually tilted his glass and ended up drinking this much.
“Did you hear the news? Those two got married. You liked that drama, didn’t you?”
“I knew it a long time ago. Even the fans knew but pretended not to. Wishing them well.”
“I find those pheromones fascinating. How can you tell if someone’s your destined partner just by smell? It’s just a scent, like perfume.”
Coincidentally, everyone gathered there was a beta, so they were extremely curious about alpha and omega romances. Despite his drowsy state, Hyeon-woo’s ears perked up at their conversation.
“They say it’s more than just a scent. You can tell the other person’s emotions, mood, and such. Whether they like you, hate you, are happy, or angry.”
“But can’t you tell that without pheromones, just by intuition?”
“True, but with pheromones added, it’s not just a sixth sense, it’s like a seventh sense. It becomes more precise.”
“You’re talking nonsense.”
Everyone burst into laughter and told him to stop talking nonsense. However, unlike the reactions around him, Hyeon-woo was quietly nodding to himself.
He thought that if there was one more sensory organ, he might be able to understand more delicately what feelings the other person harbored for him. If that were the case, would he be able to easily resolve the anxiety lurking inside Tae-geon?
Only after his thoughts extended to Tae-geon did Hyeon-woo snap to attention, startled, and fumbled for his pocket.
He remembered his promise to return by 7 o’clock. Tae-geon would be waiting. He also needed to bathe Jerome and put him to bed soon…
Checking his phone, he found a message from Tae-geon that he didn’t know when it had arrived.
[I’ll send a car, so give me the address.]
Sending a car…? Why isn’t he coming himself…?
“…Where is this place again?”
When he asked the guy next to him wearing a black beanie, sensing that Hyeon-woo was about to leave, he complained.
“Ah, hyung, are you leaving already? That’s mean.”
“…Yeah, I need to go now.”
“Why~? Stay and play more~.”
“That’s right, hyung! Stay a bit longer!”
“I can’t. Jerome is waiting for me.”
At those words, the mood that had been clinging to Hyeon-woo suddenly changed.
“Ah~ If that’s the case, we have to let you go.”
“We can’t keep our cute little Jerome waiting.”
Earlier, when they persistently questioned him after discovering Jerome in Hyeon-woo’s phone wallpaper, he had ended up confessing about his son’s existence. He even showed them his photo album and acted uncharacteristically sentimental for a while. It seems the effects of alcohol had started to kick in from that point.
“This place is…”
As the guy with the beanie pulled up the map app and read out the address, he saw Hyeon-woo’s clumsy hand movements and said, “Wow, look at those typos. Let me do it,” and replied to the text message on his behalf.
Trying to force himself to stay alert, Hyeon-woo felt like the world was spinning.
Someone tapped Hyeon-woo’s shoulder as he was dozing off with his chin propped up.
Opening his drowsy eyes and looking ahead, he saw a familiar face.
“Oh? Driver Yoon…!”
Hyeon-woo smiled brightly and greeted the middle-aged man dressed in a suit, who bowed politely to Hyeon-woo in return.
“I’m here to pick you up, sir.”
Curiosity and interest flickered across the faces of those sitting around Hyeon-woo. As Driver Yoon supported Hyeon-woo and headed outside, everyone at the table stood up together and followed behind. Driver Yoon tried to dissuade them, looking embarrassed.
“You don’t need to come out.”
“Come on, how can we not? We need to see with our own eyes that he gets in safely.”
“That’s right, that’s right.”
The eyes of those who followed Driver Yoon out of the restaurant soon widened in surprise. Right there in this rural area—no, even if it wasn’t rural, it was still a rare sight—an expensive foreign car was parked in front of them.
Driver Yoon opened the back door and helped Hyeon-woo into the seat.
“…Mister, why did you come instead of Tae-geon?” Hyeon-woo asked with slurred speech, reeking of alcohol.
“The young master has a guest at the mansion right now…”
“…A guest? Who?”
“Jerome’s kindergarten teacher.”
“…Ah.”
Hyeon-woo, who had been tilting his head, nodded as if remembering something he had forgotten. The conversation with Tae-geon about inviting Jerome’s kindergarten friends and their parents to the mansion flashed through his mind. It seemed the teacher had visited the mansion for a preliminary survey because of that.
“Hyung, get home safely!”
“Let’s hang out again sometime!”
“It was fun~. See you later!”
The faces of those watching the car carrying Hyeon-woo drive away looked dazed.
“Wow… Damn… He even has a personal driver.”
One of the group exhaled, as if sighing.
“See? I told you I wasn’t seeing things. Did you see the starlight on the car ceiling earlier?”
“This is the first time I’ve seen that car in real life.”
“That person from before must be his husband, right? He looked like an alpha. A dominant alpha.”
“The one who came with the kid? We’ve been hearing about him all week. Ah, why did I have to be absent that day? I should’ve seen his face. I’m dying of curiosity.”
“Doesn’t this seem like something out of a drama? You know, an omega marrying into a chaebol family.”
“…But wasn’t the baby in Hyeon-woo hyung’s phone blue-eyed?”
“……”
A heavy silence fell around the three who were standing together. Just as their minds were starting to jumble with wild thoughts, one of them shouted, as if to put a lid on it:
“It could be adopted! In this day and age! Or who cares? Whether there are two alphas or three, that’s an achievement too.”
“Right! Whatever it is, I’m so jealous.”
“Why is he even going to college? With that much money.”
“If it were me, I’d quit this crappy academy right away and become a building owner.”
As they were spouting nonsense, they shouted at someone standing particularly far from the group:
“What have you been doing there alone? Come over here!”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
