Contrary to his inner resolution, Hyowoo had made another promise to meet Lee Seohee.
But today was a bit special.
It wasn’t just the two of them—it was a double date. It was finally the day he would be introduced to Taeseo’s boyfriend.
His excitement about meeting the man he’d only heard about was short-lived when the location was decided to be Yongsan to match his work hours. It was a time when the ‘hell train’ was unavoidable.
The subway with no room to even stand was too much for Hyowoo.
But if he took a taxi, the roads would obviously be jammed and the fare wouldn’t be cheap either.
He could go early and wait, but the unusually hot weather made that seem daunting.
In the end, Hyowoo didn’t decline Lee Seohee’s kind offer to pick him up this time.
The time he was scheduled to arrive was 5:30. There were still three hours left.
‘I showered this morning, so starting to get ready at 4 should be enough, right?’
He was leisurely watching a movie in the living room with Gyeonwoo when his mother, who had just finished preparing to go out, emerged from the master bedroom.
“Hyowoo, you said you have dinner plans, right?”
As if on cue, two identically mirror-like faces simultaneously turned to look at their mother.
“Dad said he’ll be late too, and Mom will be late as well, so what should we do? Gyeonwoo will have to be home alone.”
After retiring from her university teaching position, their mother had devoted herself solely to staying by her sick son’s side. However, she decided to start teaching art again, using Hyowoo’s successful completion of his exams as an opportunity.
Instead of the university she’d grown weary of, she chose an adult art class at a cultural center. Among the once-a-week classes, today was the first day.
“Oh my, our dear mother. Are you worried someone will kidnap your youngest son if he’s home alone? Have a safe trip~”
Despite the youngest’s face full of aegyo, their mother’s expression was still filled with worry.
“You hurt your hand, after all. Will you really be okay alone?”
Two days ago, Gyeonwoo had injured his right hand quite severely doing who knows what.
Being right-handed, it was inconvenient for him to stay alone at his officetel, so he had no choice but to stay with his family until the wound healed.
“Are you really okay being alone?”
“Yes, I’m fine, really. So please go now. The students are waiting eagerly.”
Despite Gyeonwoo’s reassurance that he was fine, their mother couldn’t let go of her worry until the very end. Even while putting on her shoes at the entrance, she reminded him several times to definitely call their father if it hurt too much.
“Oh, right. Can one of you pick up Dad’s suit from the dry cleaners? Dad needs to wear it tomorrow. The dry cleaners will be closed by the time Mom gets back.”
Only after asking for this simple errand did their mother leave the house.
The dry cleaners was inside the apartment complex, so close you could reach it if you fell forward, but errands were always bothersome and something you didn’t want to do.
“Ow ow ow. Why does my hand suddenly hurt so much? I can’t go out.”
Gyeonwoo was the first to make his move. He’d been perfectly fine, but suddenly claimed it hurt and sprawled out on the sofa.
“I know you don’t hurt because you took painkillers.”
Though he felt sorry for his injured brother, he had no intention of accepting such transparent exaggeration.
“No. I really hurt~”
“Just go yourself. I have to go out in a bit, and if I go out now, I’ll have to shower again.”
“Your boyfriend is coming at 5:30. There’s still plenty of time. It’s hot weather, so just shower one more time, what’s the big deal.”
“H-He’s not my boyfriend…”
He got flustered and his words got tangled. Gyeonwoo, who wouldn’t miss that opportunity, hugged a sofa cushion and started acting cheeky.
“Fine. Sure, I’ll say he’s not your boyfriend. So hyung, you go. It’ll be terrible if Gyeonwoo goes out and his wound gets worse~”
After being quiet for a while, here he went again.
The youngest’s characteristic whining combined with that disgusting third-person speech. His build had grown mountain-like, but when things were unfavorable, he’d act cute just like when he was little.
Hyowoo resignedly went to his room, changed clothes, and grabbed his wallet. No matter what, the whole family was weak to the baby of the family.
“Since I’m going to the dry cleaners anyway, I’ll stop by the mart briefly. Do you need anything? You have to feed yourself dinner alone.”
“It’s fine, I’ll just order delivery or something. Oh, if they have those new OO potato chips, buy me some.”
“Those are really popular these days, they’re sold out everywhere nearby.”
“That’s why I said ‘if they have them.’ And so…”
“I’m not buying you soju. What’s a guy who’s injured doing drinking?”
Hyowoo immediately knew what his brother was going to say just from hearing the syllable “so.”
Soju, when the guy had gotten several stitches in the emergency room and even been prescribed painkillers. It was absurd.
Even though he knew the refusal came from a place of concern, perhaps finding his firm hyung cold-hearted, Gyeonwoo pouted.
“You don’t drink so you probably don’t know well, but the soju that comes out these days has such low alcohol content it’s basically like water…”
Before he could even finish his sentence, click— the sound of the front door closing was heard. Without listening any further, Hyowoo had left.
“It’s not like I had surgery, really so over the top…”
Gyeonwoo grumbled toward the entrance by himself.
Actually, it was the expected reaction. There was no way his hyung, who nagged more than their mother about drinking too much lately, would buy him soju.
‘When Hyowoo goes out, I’ll go to the convenience store in front of the house and buy some to drink.’
Lying on the sofa, he started playing a mobile game with his unfamiliar left hand.
After about 20 minutes had passed, he heard a small bell sound.
Since the house was on the first floor, various sounds could often be heard from outside the window, but this sound was much closer than that.
Gyeonwoo stopped his game and listened carefully to the sound.
‘…This seems to be coming from Hyowoo’s room?’
He got up and headed to his hyung’s room. When he opened the door, the bell sound became even clearer.
He spotted a phone rolling around on the bed.
Though Hyowoo was usually meticulous, occasionally he’d leave important items behind like this when going out.
‘Even if it’s just going out briefly near the house, what if there’s an emergency and he left his phone behind? When his health isn’t even good…’
He picked up the phone ringing alone in the ownerless room. The moment he saw the caller’s name displayed on the screen, Gyeonwoo’s eyes sparkled.
“Lee Seohee?”
He had no intention of answering the call. He simply planned to just change it to silent mode.
However, the person calling was none other than Lee Seohee.
The only person that Hyowoo, who was extremely afraid of Alphas, hadn’t been scared of from their first meeting despite his past trauma. And probably, the person his hyung currently liked.
Gyeonwoo wanted to have a direct conversation with him.
Unlike Hyowoo who had no eye for people, Gyeonwoo was fairly accurate. Even to him, Lee Seohee seemed like a decent person, but it was too early to be reassured by that.
He wanted to verify it directly. No, he absolutely had to verify it.
‘Hyowoo has only just pulled himself together, I can’t let him get hurt again.’
To do that, he needed to have a conversation with him at least once.
Ah—, aah—.
Clearing his voice, Gyeonwoo finally pressed the green call button on the screen.
“Hello?”
What came out of his mouth wasn’t his usual bright and energetic voice, but Hyowoo’s calm and gentle voice.
Though the twins basically had the same voice, their speech patterns, tones, and atmosphere were distinctly different. Thanks to this, distinguishing between the two by voice alone without seeing their faces wasn’t difficult.
However, while Hyowoo couldn’t even imitate his brother’s speech, Gyeonwoo could perfectly execute his hyung’s speech pattern and intonation.
—Ah, Hyowoo-ssi. Is now a good time to talk?
As expected, thinking Hyowoo had answered, Lee Seohee naturally started speaking.
His voice, heard for the first time, was a soft and wonderful voice that perfectly matched his face.
‘To think such a sound can come from a human vocal cord…’
Hiding his admiration, Gyeonwoo cheekily continued his Hyowoo imitation.
“Yes, it’s fine. Please go ahead.”
But suddenly there was no response from the other end of the line.
“Hello?”
Wondering if the call had been disconnected, he cautiously spoke again, and he said,
—Is this Gyeonwoo-ssi?
For a moment he was so startled he pulled the receiver away from his ear.
When Gyeonwoo deliberately used Hyowoo’s voice, not only people around them but even their parents would be fooled.
The only ones who could accurately distinguish between them were their noona and Woosung.
‘How on earth did he know it wasn’t Hyowoo?’
Since he’d been caught, there was no point in acting like his hyung. He brought the receiver back to his ear and answered in his own original voice.
“Yes, correct. Hello?”
To Gyeonwoo’s bright greeting, Lee Seohee responded gently as if returning the greeting.
—I knew it was Gyeonwoo-ssi. I’m late with my greeting. I’m Lee Seohee.
Even though someone he’d never met had answered the phone without permission and even tried to deceive him by imitating his hyung, there was no trace of displeasure in his voice. Rather, he was courteous to Gyeonwoo, who was nine years younger.
“How did you know it wasn’t hyung? Usually when I pretend to be hyung, most people are fooled.”
—Well, you know. The voices are identical, so I almost got fooled too.
“But how did you know?”
—Though they’re identical, how should I put it… The texture of the speech was subtly different. I could tell right away.
To notice that minute difference in just one or two sentences.
It might be excellent observational skills, but he could feel sincere feelings toward Hyowoo.
“Hyung had something to do so he went out briefly. He left his phone behind, so I answered instead.”
—I see. Then, could you tell him to call or message me when hyung gets back?
He’d definitely heard he’d pick him up at 5:30, but seeing the call came earlier than the promised time, it seemed there was a problem with the schedule.
“If it’s urgent, I’ll tell hyung right away. He went to the mart in front of the house, so I can find him quickly.”
—Ah, no. The dinner plans got cancelled, and I happened to be near Hyowoo-ssi’s house. I was calling to see if we could meet earlier.
He’d heard they were eating dinner together with his cousin who had arranged the blind date. It seemed something had come up with her.
‘If it was going to be like this, I should have gone to the dry cleaners.’
Just as he was starting to feel unnecessarily sorry toward the two of them, a good idea suddenly popped into his head.
“You said you’re near here, right? Then, would you like to come to our house instead?”
