“Well, speaking as an omega with acquired infertility.”
My heart pounded unnecessarily at the professor’s words as he casually mentioned his own weakness.
“Having even a 1 percent chance of pregnancy is tremendous.”
“Is… that so?”
“It’s not zero, right? That’s huge. Compared to 99, 1 is an incredibly small number, but compared to 0, 1 is a tremendously large number. You have that.”
“I know this isn’t something I should say in front of you, Professor, but I don’t really have expectations. And I shouldn’t.”
“Why shouldn’t you have expectations?”
“Seonjae hates it. Having kids.”
Professor Yeonwoo’s expression hardened slightly.
“That’s probably from before you got married, right?”
“…Even after getting married, there doesn’t seem to be any change in his thinking.”
“Yeoul, you don’t know that for sure.”
Taking off his glasses, Professor Yeonwoo rubbed his eye sockets as if tired.
“Yoo Seonjae wouldn’t even knot you because you might get hurt—what about now?”
“…”
“You’re loving it when he knots you, aren’t you?”
Is it because he’s an adult…? The professor says embarrassing things like it’s nothing.
“This is just me talking as a close hyung, but people’s thoughts are always bound to change. There’s no such thing as eternal and unchanging.”
“Do you… think so?”
“Have you ever asked Seonjae why he dislikes children?”
“No.”
Come to think of it, I haven’t. Why he dislikes children, whether he’d maintain that contract even if I happened to get pregnant, whether he truly doesn’t want a child that’s ours.
“You two need to talk more.”
“Hey— we talk from when we open our eyes in the morning until we close them at night. We’re such chatterboxes.”
“Not that kind of trivial talk.”
“Huh?”
“Seriously. I mean talk about your lives.”
Talk about our lives…
“When misunderstandings deepen, you eventually lose things. I hope you don’t end up like me, Yeoul.”
“Like you, Professor?”
“…Something like that.”
Professor Yeonwoo smiled faintly and said to see me at the next appointment. His face looked somehow sad, making me want to ask what was wrong, but in the end I couldn’t ask anything.
“Huh? Han Yeoul?”
I turned around at the voice I heard as I was leaving the hospital to see a familiar face standing there.
“Kim Yeonghyo?”
It was Kim Yeonghyo. Since we met at school back then, this was the first time I was seeing him, so had it been about four years?
“Wow— it’s really been so long. You’ve been well, right?”
“I’ve been well. But are you sick or something?”
“No? Oh, regular checkup.”
“I see.”
“What brings you here?”
“Ah, I came to make a delivery.”
“A delivery?”
“I just finished work too, and we shouldn’t just stand here—want to grab a coffee and catch up since it’s been so long?”
At Kim Yeonghyo’s words, we moved locations. The cafe on a weekday afternoon was quiet. Usually office workers would be crowding in at this time, but today for some reason there wasn’t a soul in sight. Did they all go somewhere as a group…
“Why are you alone today?”
I understood what Kim Yeonghyo’s words meant and chuckled without knowing it.
“What, you think I’m attached to Yoo Seonjae 24 hours a day?”
“You pretty much were.”
There were thorns in Kim Yeonghyo’s words as he took a sip of coffee. What is it? Did Yoo Seonjae do something behind my back again?
“I heard you got married.”
“Ah, yeah. We just did it simply.”
“For something done simply, that ring looks nice.”
At Kim Yeonghyo’s words as he looked at my finger, I lowered my gaze to the ring without knowing it. I guess so. It was a ring Yoo Seonjae had designed to match my taste. Since it’s the only one in the world, yeah, it is a nice ring.
“Thanks.”
When I smiled and spoke, Kim Yeonghyo’s face flushed. That’s just like him in high school. Really, he just got bigger…
“You look like you’re living well. It’s nice to see.”
“You too. But what are you delivering?”
“Ah. I make bread.”
“Bread?”
“Yeah. I make bread, and also goods shaped like bread and stuff.”
Kim Yeonghyo went “Ah!” and took out a croissant-shaped bookmark from his bag and handed it to me.
“A bookmark? It’s cute. But why is the croissant white?”
“Hold that in your palm for just a minute.”
As Kim Yeonghyo said, I placed the bookmark on my palm and waited a minute with my hands together as if in prayer. When he nodded, I opened my palms.
“Wow!”
“Fun, right? What was raw dough changes color when it touches heat, like bread that’s been baked well. That bookmark, if you smell it, does it smell like bread?”
“Really? Let me… wow! It really does?”
Amazing. I stared at the bookmark for a long time. Kim Yeonghyo watched me silently, then let out a faint sigh.
“As expected. He didn’t give it to you?”
“Didn’t give me what?”
“A while back, remember I said I met Yoo Seonjae a few times? Back then, I asked him to give this to you. It was a much cruder version than now though.”
“Really? Did he forget to give it to me?”
“I’d be relieved if that were the case.”
Kim Yeonghyo smiled bitterly.
“Ah! Right, Yeonghyo. I’m a patent attorney. Did you register the rights for this?”
“What rights registration?”
“Like copyright or design or patent… something like that?”
“Ah, I just give these as promotional gifts when I deliver bread…”
“Huh? But that’s such a waste.”
I looked at the bookmark again.
“Do you have more things like this?”
“Things like this? Well, lots. I like making all sorts of things.”
“Then, come to our company sometime. Have a consultation with me.”
“Consultation?”
“What are friends for? I think I can really help you out—come by sometime.”
I was sincere. Just like a gleaming pearl is useless if it’s buried in mud, he needed someone who could recognize that “pearl.” It would be even better if that someone was me.
“You know what? I get excited when I see things like this. Interesting things other people have made, sparkling ideas, original techniques… I see that in you.”
“You’re… still the same, Yeoul.”
Kim Yeonghyo smiled with his eyes crinkling. Still the same? What is?
“Still kind and warm.”
“Hm?”
“That’s what I wanted to say back then, but I’m finally saying it now.”
Kim Yeonghyo took another sip of coffee and said.
“Thank you.”
“What are you thanking me for?”
“In high school, if it weren’t for you, I probably never would have escaped being a bread shuttle.”
“Ah, that…”
It wasn’t me, it was Yoo Seonjae who did that. I just bought bread for him…
“Back then, just looking at bread made me want to throw up. But thanks to you, I came to like bread.”
“Yeonghyo…”
“So now look, I’m making a living with bread like this.”
His laughter was cheerful. Seeing his genuinely smiling face made me feel good too. Whatever the reason, I was glad he’d overcome his trauma. Since it was thanks to Yoo Seonjae that he escaped being a bread shuttle, I thought I should pass along the thanks to Yoo Seonjae even though I was the one receiving it.
“I’m grateful to Yoo Seonjae.”
Huh? What, did I just say what I was thinking out loud? But I didn’t?
“Hm?”
“In college, I went looking for you again. But I could never see you even once. I found out later it was because of Yoo Seonjae, but I’m actually grateful for that.”
“Haha…”
Right, that happened. Well, I didn’t know Yoo Seonjae was doing such things either until I became famous at work as an “omega reeking of alpha scent.” But still, it’s all in the past.
After we got married and entered our late twenties, Yoo Seonjae became much more lenient. He doesn’t prevent people from approaching me like before. Of course, there were numerous trials and errors before reaching that point.
“Now we can talk more. Who knows, we might even work together.”
Kim Yeonghyo smiled while looking at the business card I’d given him.
“Cool, Yeoul. Patent attorney… Right. I should really come for a consultation sometime.”
“Yeah. Come anytime. Since we’re friends, I’ll treat you especially well.”
“Yeah. Thanks for calling me a friend, Yeoul.”
“How can you say such a thing? If we went to the same school, we’re all friends.”
Kim Yeonghyo laughed watching me reply while crunching on the ice in my glass. It was a peaceful afternoon, happy to see an old friend after a long time.
“Yeah, Seonjae. The checkup’s done. Are you done with work?”
[Yeah. I came home a while ago and have been waiting. I didn’t come pick you up since we’d arrive around the same time—where are you?]
“Ah, I’m at the bakery in front of our place.”
[Bakery?]
“Yeah. Maybe because I smelled bread earlier, I’m craving it like crazy.”
[What’s this, Han Yeoul actually wanting to eat something?]
