The first London sky he encountered was filled with dark clouds, looking like rain would pour down at any moment.
The flight from Incheon to London, over 12 hours, was truly torture.
Before boarding, he received a strong suppressant injection at the Incheon Airport hospital. Thanks to that, a severe headache that felt like his head would split began.
Perhaps because he took tranquilizers on an empty stomach, his stomach churned and his insides ached.
Naturally, he couldn’t sleep a wink.
He barely managed to drink just one cup of water, let alone the in-flight meal, but because he vomited even that water along with his stomach acid, his esophagus stung as if burned.
The fortunate thing in his misfortune was that a middle-aged man willingly gave up his seat in front of the flight attendant seat that was fully booked, and that all the surrounding passengers were betas, so he could feel somewhat relieved.
After much difficulty, the plane arrived at London Heathrow Airport around 4:10 AM. Since there weren’t many flights arriving at the same time, immigration was quickly finished.
It was just past 6 o’clock when he arrived at Holland Park in the Kensington area where Lee Seohee resided.
‘So this is… where that person lives……’
Because it was still early, there were hardly any people or cars on the street. The gray streets even had a desolate atmosphere.
It wasn’t his first time traveling abroad, but Hyowoo had never traveled alone even domestically.
Nervous about possibly getting lost, he walked the unfamiliar streets while looking at the map app on his cell phone.
‘Is this the house……?’
After walking for a while checking the map, Hyowoo stopped in front of a Victorian-style three-story house.
Overwhelmed by the antique building that couldn’t be seen in Korea, he unconsciously took a step back.
‘Is this right? All the surrounding houses look the same too……’
According to the map, it was here, but he wasn’t certain.
‘Right, Taeseo said there’s a large flowerpot next to the entrance.’
He compared the appearance with the photo his friend had sent.
As she had said, there was a fountain-shaped white flowerpot next to the entrance. The number on the entrance wall and the model and license plate of the black SUV parked in front of the garage all matched.
It was definitely Lee Seohee’s house.
He opened the low iron gate and climbed the stairs.
Hyowoo’s current physical condition was the worst. Because he had exhausted all his energy on the plane, even climbing just five stairs was difficult. Gradually losing strength in his legs, he grabbed the railing and barely managed to reach the entrance.
Standing in front of the sturdy blue door, he swallowed dry saliva.
‘Coming to visit at this crack of dawn isn’t proper etiquette……’
He gently raised his head and looked up at the upper floor. Beyond the second-floor window, faint light leaked through the curtains.
His wake-up time was 5:30 AM. He was clearly already awake.
Relieved that he wouldn’t be waking him from a deep sleep, Hyowoo stared at the doorbell.
‘Now if I just press this doorbell… I can meet Seohee-ssi.’
His heart swelled at the thought of meeting him whom he had missed so much.
Calming his trembling heart, he carefully brought his finger to the doorbell.
However, before his fingertip could even touch the button, Hyowoo’s hand stopped in mid-air.
‘What am I… doing right now?’
Taeseo’s words suddenly came to mind.
‘Great-aunt was especially persistent, saying he absolutely had to meet this arranged marriage partner.’
Normally, Taeseo wouldn’t have said such discouraging things either, but it meant that if this arranged meeting went through, who knows what demands his great-aunt would make next, so he should hurry and meet him.
It was probably her way of trying to push the hesitating Hyowoo forward. But those words instead made Hyowoo hesitate even more.
‘She said she almost cried and begged… so it must have been a bride from such a good family with perfect conditions……’
Lee Seohee had walked a completely different path from other chaebol heirs until now.
He hadn’t gone to university or majored in business administration or business.
After graduating high school, he had devoted himself entirely to soccer, spending each day intensely as a Premier League player, pouring all his energy into physical management, game strategy, and teamwork.
He didn’t know how much successor education he had received, but there was a high possibility that his professional education and experience were lacking compared to other corporate successors.
In leading Korea’s number one conglomerate, that was a very big obstacle.
‘At a time like this, what Seohee-ssi needs… wouldn’t it be a spouse and in-laws who can be a source of strength?’
No matter how much they liked each other, Hyowoo himself couldn’t be of any help to him. No, rather, it was obvious he would ruin his future and make him unhappy.
‘If my past is revealed, Seohee-ssi will suffer a huge blow. In the end, I can only be a stumbling block in that person’s life……’
Knowing all that, was it really right to hold onto his ankles with just feelings of affection?
‘And after not contacting him for the past two months, what am I going to do by shamelessly appearing… Seohee-ssi might have already sorted out his feelings……’
It was funny to be agonizing like this after coming all this way, but even now wasn’t too late.
If he truly cared for him, even for his future, it was right for a useless omega like himself to step back.
It was a relationship that hadn’t even started anyway.
If he disappeared from his sight like this, he would meet a good partner and get married. With strong supporters at his back, he would stably inherit the family business.
‘Then he can have children normally and build a happy family… what I can’t give him, someone else can……’
As his thoughts reached that point, Hyowoo slowly withdrew the hand he had been about to press the doorbell with.
‘…What should I do? What’s truly… the right path for that person?’
With his head lowered, Hyowoo fell into deep thought.
Should he press the doorbell, or turn back and return to the airport…….
After agonizing dozens, hundreds of times, Hyowoo finally raised his head.
‘I don’t know what the right choice is, but… at least right now, I want to meet Seohee-ssi……’
Hyowoo had always made the best choices for his family and for him. Those choices had no consideration for himself.
But just for this moment, he wanted to make a choice only for himself.
He didn’t care if he was cursed as selfish. No matter what anyone said, he only had one feeling—wanting to see him.
It was just as Hyowoo was squeezing out his remaining courage and reaching his hand toward the doorbell button again.
“…Could it be, Hyowoo-ssi?”
A familiar voice called his name.
Startled, he turned around to see a man in athletic wear standing at the bottom of the stairs.
“It is Hyowoo-ssi, right?”
The person he had missed like crazy. It was Lee Seohee.
With a surprised face, he ran up the stairs in one breath. As if he had just returned from jogging, beads of sweat were on his forehead, and a subtle warmth could be felt from his body.
“What are you doing here?”
His surprised face was quickly colored with delight. Lee Seohee wore a bright smile on his lips and looked at Hyowoo with gentle eyes.
“When did you arrive? No, more than that… how did you come?”
It was a natural question, but Hyowoo only looked at him without saying anything.
In fact, on one hand, he was afraid to face him.
Because after going through that night, there was an anxiety weighing on a corner of his heart that Lee Seohee might have gotten sick of his pheromones.
He was inwardly anxious about being rejected by him.
But he was smiling unchangingly. With a warm voice, he called Hyowoo’s name affectionately.
Every small expression, every breath, every strand of hair.
It was exactly the appearance Hyowoo had loved.
Lee Seohee, whom he had thought he could never meet again, was before his eyes.
He should answer. He wanted to say something, but his lips wouldn’t part. His mind went blank and no thoughts came up.
Instead of his blank head, his body moved on its own.
Hyowoo unhesitatingly embraced him as he asked what had happened.
He stood on his tiptoes and wrapped both arms around his neck. When he buried his face in his broad shoulders, the warmth he had missed permeated deep throughout his body.
‘It’s Seohee-ssi…. Really… it’s Seohee-ssi……’
Perhaps because it was Hyowoo who first embraced him when he used to be shy even at the slightest touch of fingertips.
Lee Seohee seemed more flustered than when he had discovered Hyowoo moments ago, but soon returned to a familiar expression. He wrapped one arm around Hyowoo’s waist and carefully stroked his head with the other hand.
“What’s really going on?”
At his voice reaching his ear, tears flowed on their own.
“Why is someone who should be in Seoul in London?”
He asked several times, but Hyowoo never answered in the end.
He was just holding him tightly, as if he never wanted to let go again.
‘…I missed you so much…. I finally met you……’
However, the joy of reunion didn’t last long either.
Before long, strength slowly drained from Hyowoo’s body, and he began to slowly sink toward the floor.
