PO 29

Woojeong and Lee Doyoung entered a bar and they were guided to the table at the very back of the hall. The hall had tables arranged with generous spacing, and the furniture and potted plants naturally blocked the line of sight between tables.

“I wanted to come here once, but I only came now.”

“……”

“This place runs as a membership system, so not everyone can enter.” Lee Doyoung leaned into the chair and looked around as if he liked the atmosphere here.

Then he met Woojeong’s eyes, and he laughed.

“I don’t know why I’m sitting with you in a place like this. You must be happy? Someone like you even comes to a place like this.”

Lee Doyoung propped his chin and looked at Woojeong. Woojeong, whom he met outside, felt different from the one he had seen standing inside the house. The dark and gloomy aura had disappeared, and his lively expression pricked at his nerves.

“How did you end up joining the two people’s meeting?”

“The director said he would treat me to a meal as a celebration for finishing the class well. I said it was fine and I was going to just go home, but he held me back saying you would come too……”

“That damn class. I feel relieved now that it’s over.”

Lee Doyoung muttered in a small voice, and he rolled his eyes. Then he hit the table with his clenched fist.

“Wait. Don’t tell me Yoon Hyunjun……”

Lee Doyoung unwittingly let the words out in a loud voice, and he hurriedly checked the entrance door and cleared his throat.

Something seemed strange. If he thought over the past, there were more than one or two strange points. Yoon Hyunjun showed Woojeong a specially kind attitude from the villa. He invited to the gallery party and begged to bring Woojeong, he put Woojeong in the workshop class, and he dragged Woojeong into today’s meal too.

Lee Doyoung knew well how Woojeong would look in the eyes of other alphas. That pure appearance which resembled his mother must have naturally caught their eyes. To Lee Doyoung, the gaze that only looked pitiful, and the quiet and gloomy personality that grew under scolding, could have stirred an alpha’s protective instinct and curiosity.

On top of that, that pheromone scent……

Lee Doyoung bit his lower lip. Woojeong had a seductive scent that matched him. It was something Lee Doyoung could never have, no matter how much he desired, because it wasn’t something acquired.

Lee Doyoung, who hated Woojeong terribly, was breaking his spirit and stopping him from stepping forward in front of people. Even after he quit high school, he opposed everything Woojeong tried to do and kept him stuck in the house for the same reason.

He bit at his fingernail as he worried that maybe Yoon Hyunjun might have Woojeong in his heart, and he forced himself to shake off that thought.

“No. What useless thought am I having? A person like that, what would he see in someone like you?”

Lee Doyoung looked at Woojeong, who bowed his head silently, and he laughed out loud as if it was amusing. At that moment, they heard a sound, and the two people who came in smoking cigarettes found their seats.

“What’s so funny?”

“Ah, Woojeong was telling me about what happened at the gallery. He chattered like he really enjoyed it, and it was so cute that I laughed.”

Lee Doyoung’s didn’t change, and he glossed over calmly. He closely observed Yoon Hyunjun, who sat in his seat and spoke to Woojeong.

Han Jaegang quietly watched such Lee Doyoung. He played the role of a caring brother quite convincingly, but he failed to control the glances he threw at Woojeong from time to time.

Anyway, right now Lee Doyoung was a useful existence to him. He needed a certain method to move Lee Woojeong, and no one fit that role better than Lee Doyoung.

During the time he completely lost contact with Lee Woojeong, Han Jaegang felt frustrated because he could not find out the reason, and he chose to continue his relationship with Lee Doyoung for the time being.

•••

The fragrance drifting inside the bar and the strong scent of whiskey mixed, and it felt as if the air became sticky.

Woojeong tried to take off his outer garment, but he remembered the bruise left on his neck, and he quietly lowered his hand.

A glass of non-alcoholic cocktail sat in front of Woojeong. Even that tasted bitter to him, so his hand didn’t reach for it.

The bottles of alcohol on the table emptied quickly. The two alphas showed no change except that their posture became more relaxed, but Lee Doyoung’s voice grew louder little by little.

“My friend is seeing someone these days. As far as I know, they didn’t even meet many times, but already there is talk of marriage.”

Lee Doyoung sometimes confessed to Kang Eonju that he felt distressed because his relationship with Han Jaegang hardly progressed. Kang Eonju tried several methods to somehow resolve it, but in the end the will of the person involved was important, so there was no real outcome.

“Was marriage urgent?”

“I think so. They are a couple with some age difference. When I saw my friend start preparing for marriage, I felt strange for no reason. They say marriage has its time, but I think doing it quickly is not so bad.”

“When people are young, they want to marry quickly. Now I don’t know anymore. Do I really have to marry? Can’t I just live alone for life?”

“Why would Hyunjun-ssi live alone. Marriage is, how should I put it? The start of a new life. You also gain stability from it. What about Jaegang-ssi, how do you think about marriage?”

Since entering the whiskey bar, Han Jaegang spoke little, so most of Lee Doyoung’s words were answered by Yoon Hyunjun.

At Lee Doyoung’s question, Han Jaegang leaned back in his chair while holding his glass, and he smiled as he filled Lee Doyoung’s glass.

“Well. Honestly, I don’t expect much, but when the right time comes, maybe I will. What about you, Woojeong-ssi, do you have something like a dream about marriage?”

Woojeong, who didn’t expect the question about marriage would return to him, felt flustered. At that sight, Lee Doyoung touched Han Jaegang’s tapped and laughed.

“Jaegang-ssi, really. You need to ask the right person. Our Woojeong hasn’t even held anyone’s hand yet. He probably doesn’t even know what it feels like to like someone. Right?”

“….Is that so?”

Han Jaegang spoke and turned to Woojeong. He blinked a couple of times while he met Woojeong’s eyes, then he slowly turned his head.

“……”

Woojeong rubbed the water drops formed on the surface of his glass with his fingertip.

Han Jaegang kept proper courtesy toward Woojeong, and he showed friendliness just enough so it didn’t look strange in the eyes of others.

He faced him who acted according to his request, but strangely he didn’t feel that good. He felt disappointment and sorrow.

“Ah. Woojeong-ssi. Can you show me the keyring you made back then?” Yoon Hyunjun, who emptied his glass, suddenly reached his hand to Woojeong

Woojeong detached the keyring he had hung on his bag and handed it to him, and he hooked it on his finger and showed it to Lee Doyoung.

“It’s well made, right?”

“What is this? A keyring?”

Yoon Hyunjun placed the keyring Woojeong made on Lee Doyoung’s palm. Lee Doyoung looked down at the bird-shaped keyring indifferently, and then, conscious of the two people’s gaze, he quickly changed his face and started to praise it.

“Woojeong, did you make this yourself?”

“……Yeah.”

“Well made. Looks convincing.”

“So it is. From what I see, Woojeong-ssi has a natural talent with his hands.”

Han Jaegang leaned back on his chair, and he silently watched the two who continued their talk.

At Yoon Hyunjun’s joking remark, Lee Doyoung burst into laughter, and he put the keyring he was fiddling with on the table with a tap.

The keyring that was barely hanging at the edge of the table soon slipped by Lee Doyoung’s arm and fell to the floor.

Lee Doyoung glanced at it as if he noticed, but instead of picking it up, he indifferently turned his head away.

“What should I do? I feel like I keep owing Hyunjun-ssi.”

“I do it because I like it, so you don’t have to care. Isn’t that fine with you too, Woojeong-ssi?”

Han Jaegang stretched his hand under the table and picked up the fallen keyring. Instead of returning the item to Woojeong, he slipped it into the pocket of his jacket.

At that moment, Yoon Hyunjun, who had just emptied his glass and put it down, signaled toward Lee Doyoung with his eyes. Han Jaegang raised his head slightly to say he understood, and he straightened his upper body.

“Your complexion doesn’t look good. How is your headache?”

“A little. Honestly, I couldn’t sleep properly since yesterday because of the headache.” When Han Jaegang offered cold water and asked, Lee Doyoung grabbed his arm as if he had waited for him to notice, and he let out a long sigh.

From the time he appeared at the Japanese restaurant, Lee Doyoung’s face was visibly pale. Even after moving their seats to the whiskey bar, while drinking and talking, he occasionally pressed his forehead and showed signs of discomfort.

Han Jaegang didn’t particularly want to know why, but he already guessed the reason.

Though it lacked scent, Lee Doyoung was also an omega. It seemed to be in a controllable state still, but the waves of pheromones were growing stronger.

Right now, Lee Doyoung was entering a heat cycle. Han Jaegang instinctively felt the subtle change, but he didn’t bother to show he knew.

However, even Yoon Hyunjun noticed his condition and hinted with his eyes to do something, so they couldn’t just leave it as it was.

“If you were unwell, you should have told me earlier. I didn’t even know you were sick, and I pushed you to drink.”

“No. I drank because I wanted to.”

“Then let’s stop here and get up, shall we?”

As the two tried to rise after hearing Han Jaegang’s words to Lee Doyoung, he lifted his hand toward them.

“We will leave first, so you two stay longer and then come out slowly. Later, you can take Lee Woojeong home. Would that be fine?” Han Jaegang supported Lee Doyoung, who was rising, and he asked Woojeong politely.

“I don’t mind. Hyung, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry for leaving first. I’ll see you later at home.”

Lee Doyoung looked sorry to leave Woojeong behind, when Han Jaegang said “Let’s go now,” he turned away without regret

Woojeong could not take his eyes off the two as they walked side by side. Lee Doyoung, who was walking arm in arm, lightly leaned his head on Han Jaegang’s shoulder.

Whenever a heat cycle came, Lee Doyoung suffered severe headaches. Then his face turned noticeably pale, heat rose to his eyelids, and the whites of his eyes became bloodshot red.

……That was how Lee Doyoung looked now as he went with Han Jaegang.

Woojeong already realized that his heat cycle had begun. He must have prepared medicine, but seeing him empty glasses without restraint in a place like this worried him.

So Woojeong cautiously asked if it was a heat cycle, but the answer he received was nothing but a cold reply telling him not to meddle and to stay quiet.

“Woojeong-ssi, if you don’t want to drink, should we also get up now?” When Woojeong agreed, Yoon Hyunjun said he would call a driver and walked toward the bar counter.

Left alone at the table, Woojeong quietly looked at the seat where Han Jaegang had sat.

There was no way Han Jaegang had not known of Lee Doyoung’s state, which he too had noticed. Woojeong shook his head as he recalled the sight of the two leaving the whiskey bar together.

It was something that had nothing to do with him anyway. Whatever they did and wherever they went…….

“What about hyung?”

“He hasn’t come back yet. How about inner?”

“I ate. I will go take a rest.”

Lee Doyoung, who left the whiskey bar first, still didn’t return home. Woojeong, who finished showering in warm water, lay down on the bed right after he tidied his room roughly.

It was an unusually hard day. When he lay on the bed, he felt his body sink down heavily. He thought he would fall asleep right away, but even though he closed his eyes and kept waiting, sleep wouldn’t come.

Since he had no phone, there was nothing else to do in the dark room. As Woojeong lay still facing the wall, all kinds of thoughts surged in his head like waves.

“When did he know…….”

Han Jaegang once asked why he lived with wounds on his face. Every time, Woojeong glossed over, and he passed it off like it was nothing too.

So when he brought up the bruise on his neck and asked if he wanted to leave home, saying to tell him anything he wanted, Woojeong felt his heart drop.

Almost no one knew how Woojeong lived at home, and even if someone guessed a little, no one asked him so directly like that.

He couldn’t know how much Han Jaegang knew, or what he meant he would do for him. Every time something happened with Han Jaegang, Lee Doyoung inevitably came to mind, and guilt always followed.

At that time, he thought he had to keep distance from him no matter what. So he asked him not to interfere, but when he saw his look that seemed hurt by those words, he soon regretted it.

Woojeong spent a long time with open eyes. There was still no sign of Lee Doyoung coming in. Woojeong, who leaned his back against the head of the bed and looked outside the window, pushed the blanket aside and rose.

When he opened the window, damp air rushed in. The lawn in the garden was soaked with rain that had fallen who knew since when. Woojeong stretched his hand outside the window to check how much it was raining, and he quickly pulled his hand back in surprise at the pouring rain.

Then light spread in the alley in front of the house, and a black appeared. Because it was a dark night and rain was falling, he couldn’t make out the model, but the silhouette felt familiar.

The car, which slowed down little by little, stopped in front of Woojeong’s house. The black vehicle stayed there with the hazard lights on.

“…….”

Woojeong, who looked down at the car in front of the house for a long time, realized that it was Han Jaegang’s car. It seemed that he came early at dawn to drop off Lee Doyoung.

When the thin lines of rain grew thicker, the driver’s door finally opened. Woojeong stepped closer to the window.

Someone got out from the driver’s seat, but since he unfolded an umbrella right away, his face wasn’t visible.

He walked slowly around the hood to the other side of the car, and he opened the passenger door.

Lee Doyoung came out from inside. When Woojeong looked away for a moment because of a noise outside the door and then returned to the window, the driver’s door was just closing.

He didn’t get to see him properly. Only Lee Doyoung, holding a large umbrella, remained in the alley as he saw the car off.

“…….”

Woojeong quietly closed the window and stepped back. He burrowed into the blanket on the bed and closed his eyes. He wanted to think nothing and just fall asleep like that.