Juheon, who had been continuously watching Eunwoo sleeping deeply on the sofa, suddenly checked the time. Juheon’s eyes, which had been looking at the clock for a moment, grew wide in bewilderment upon sensing something strange, then narrowed.
This is really strange. An hour has passed since he laid Eunwoo down? Isn’t it too strange that an hour has passed when he only glanced at his sleeping face for a moment?
Only after checking the time on both his wristwatch and phone to see if the clock was wrong did he realize there was nothing wrong with the clock. The time had simply passed like that. The clock was fine and time had flowed according to its natural course.
He just hadn’t been aware of the passing time because he was absentmindedly looking at Eunwoo. He only looked for a moment because his sleeping face was pretty, but it feels exactly like being bewitched by something. Time flew by without him even knowing—can watching someone sleep really be this entertaining? It’s absurd.
“…But well, looking at this, it’s not strange at all. Anyone would have done the same…”
Right. There’s nothing strange about it. When someone sleeps this prettily, anyone would have acted the same way. Actually, he wanted to talk a bit more, but Eunwoo fell asleep in his arms. It would be more accurate to say he fell asleep intoxicated by Juheon’s pheromones, which had been released more strongly than usual.
After realizing Eunwoo had fallen asleep, Juheon held him for a while without any thought of putting him down, enjoying the feeling of Eunwoo’s breath on his neck and shoulders.
He liked the sound of his heartbeat felt against his chest, and he liked Eunwoo’s warm temperature. Juheon voluntarily attempted physical contact with another person for the first time in his life. No, this would be an embrace, wouldn’t it? After all, since he held him like that, it would be a stretch to simply express it as closeness. Without time to think about this or that, his body moved first, and at some point, he was touching and holding Eunwoo.
He didn’t even think I’ve gone crazy. He just wanted to touch and hold him. For Juheon, who hadn’t even kept his parents by his side, Eunwoo was the first person in his entire life that he touched first. After feeling his soft hair, he wanted to touch his skin. And he wanted to hold him.
The temperature of Eunwoo that he touched for the first time was very warm, and his skin was surprisingly soft. He could only be inwardly amazed, never imagining that human skin could give such a pleasant feeling. His heart pounded and his body heated up the entire time he was touching him.
Fortunately, Eunwoo didn’t reject Juheon either. Since Eunwoo’s usual attitude toward him was quite favorable, Juheon could also muster up courage. He approached with the guess that perhaps they might feel the same way.
Although he hasn’t yet specifically defined what that same feeling is, he knows it’s a positive feeling. It’s too much of a stretch now to insist that these emotions and feelings are because of pheromones and the contracted baby. These feelings aren’t simply pheromone tricks.
Juheon knows well that emotions aren’t created because of pheromones. It doesn’t make sense that this desire to touch, to make contact, to keep in touch is because of pheromones. The sense of responsibility from the contract can’t be an excuse.
It’s also true that his unreasonable possessiveness and obsession toward Eunwoo has grown stronger lately. His eyes kept going to him and he kept worrying about him, and he even ended up thinking my omega carrying my baby. This possessiveness arose all too naturally.
If someone says this obsession is an alpha’s instinct toward an omega carrying his baby, Juheon could confidently say that it wouldn’t have worked without fondness.
If it were simply a contractor concept, he wouldn’t have let Eunwoo into his space in the first place. To be honest now, it was actually Juheon’s side that gained stability when Eunwoo entered the house. The start of cohabitation was ostensibly to help Eunwoo, but instead, Juheon ended up feeling stable.
Even without people, the lights were on in the house, and so he had no interest in or curiosity about the atmosphere of a house with human warmth. He’d lived like that his whole life, so perhaps that was natural. But now he knows. He’s learned all too clearly what it feels like to have someone waiting for you and welcoming you in your own space called home.
It’s not simply that it feels good—he’s come to anticipate it every moment. Today too, they’ll smile and welcome me like that, right? From those words standing at the door asking “Welcome home,” Juheon felt a full sense of satisfaction. So he always anticipated it, and his greed grew stronger.
“…But today I didn’t get to hear that?”
Juheon, who had been recalling the warm greeting he’d received from Eunwoo, stared at the laptop on the table with a cold expression. He’d received a report that Eunwoo, who had been sitting in the living room working on his laptop, had gone to his room with a darkened complexion. He even heard that Eunwoo, who went straight up to his room, had fallen asleep, possibly due to sudden fatigue from pregnancy. He has a lot of sleep lately, so he thought that was it, but it seems that wasn’t the case after all.
He was just going to organize the laptop that was left open with the screen on. He had no intention of reading the email content. Until he discovered that name. That Kang Gyuho who keeps appearing annoyingly and bothering him.
The content of the email, written so familiarly, said he would be entering Korea sooner than expected, so let’s meet soon. At a glance, it seemed like content exchanged between close people, but to Juheon, who knew their relationship, there was a lot that bothered him.
If even I feel this disgusted, how much more must Eunwoo have felt? It was clear that Eunwoo’s condition suddenly worsened because of this email. He was extremely bothered by the person who made Eunwoo’s mood hit rock bottom and prevented him from even seeing the greeting he’d been looking forward to most during the day. It was unpleasant that someone who is now neither friend nor anything else suddenly appears out of nowhere and influences his omega’s mood at every turn.
“…Right. If he’s carrying my baby, then he’s my omega. What Eunwoo is carrying now is my child, so of course Eunwoo is also my omega. That’s a fact no matter what anyone says, so Eunwoo is definitely my omega.”
Baek Eunwoo is my omega. Juheon’s possessiveness grew stronger, blazing like fire, to the point of saying those words out loud. The existence called Kang Gyuho ignited this indescribable emotion.
No one besides himself can mention Eunwoo’s name, nor can he tolerate it. Especially if it’s an alpha. Juheon can’t stand this insignificant, pathetic greenhorn alpha being so irritating. So now he needs to get rid of this.
***
The man who had been sitting motionless in front of the computer, staring intently at his inbox, glanced at his phone when a message arrived, then turned his head back to the monitor. However, as the alarm continued to ring incessantly, the man pressed the call button with a somewhat annoyed expression. Then, before the bell could even ring twice, the other party answered the phone as if they’d been waiting.
—Kang Gyuho! You don’t answer messages and I contacted you several times, and you’re only calling now?
“I was busy. Lots of exams. I was going to talk about the message reply during the call. So what’s so urgent, hyung? Hyung, you weren’t even interested in Eunwoo.”
As soon as Gyuho finished speaking, a sigh was heard over the phone.
—This isn’t about whether I’m interested in him or not. It’s a matter of pride. You probably don’t get it because you’re only reading about it in text, but the humiliation I suffered that day… No, let’s say that’s that. I’m worried about you.
“…Me? What about me.”
Gyuho, who kept staring at the inbox without any reply, answered half-heartedly. He definitely checked the email though…
—What do you mean what about you! You firmly believed Eunwoo would wait for you. Whether you told him about going abroad or not, you went there boasting that Baek Eunwoo waiting was a given!
“That’s right.”
—That’s right? Now’s not the time to answer so leisurely, he’s got another alpha now! I sent you a message, it’s the Executive Director of Chasung Group no less!
“Hyung. You’re mistaken about something. There’s no way Eunwoo would do that leaving me aside. I was absolute to Eunwoo.”
The voice saying that priority was always himself to Eunwoo was full of confidence.
—Haah… You don’t know what’s going on because you’re not here. Is the situation now the same as back then? Do you know how much that Chasung Executive Director protected Eunwoo? It was behavior that could absolutely only come from lovers.
“Don’t add flesh to uncertain stories. You must have been mistaken, hyung. And even if that’s not a mistake… it’ll change again when I return. Eunwoo is more than capable of that. He was always weak when it came to me.”
—That’s what I’m saying, you don’t know the atmosphere because you haven’t seen it? Eunwoo is different from back then. He drew a line with me in a strange way and showed clear signs of discomfort. You don’t even need to look at anything else; just that shows he’s changed. I’m giving you a heads-up in advance because I’m worried you’ll do something pointless when you come to Korea. Bluntly speaking, you and Eunwoo never officially dated, and it’s not like he directly told you he liked you either.
Irritation began to spread across Gyuho’s face as he quietly listened to Gyumin’s story. His mind was already uncomfortable hearing uncertain stories coming from his hyung’s mouth, and now he’s even kindly providing confirmation.
“Hyung. There are things in the world that are understood without words. There are things you know just by looking at expressions and eyes.”
Eunwoo’s blunt face was different only when looking at Gyuho. Sometimes when he was annoyed and his schedule was busy, even when he often forgot his appointments with Eunwoo, and even when his priority was pushed back, Eunwoo always smiled it off and adjusted everything to Gyuho. Gyuho naturally accepted such behavior from Eunwoo. Because that was truly natural.
But that Eunwoo gave his heart to another alpha? That can’t be. Even if that were true, when he returns, he’ll turn his heart around like always. He knows that’s the kind of existence he is to Baek Eunwoo. No matter how angry he got, even though he came to America without a word and cut off contact for several years, Eunwoo will eventually come back.
“Because he was always like that… I’m his one and only friend and the person he can rely on. I was always absolute. This time won’t be different either. I’ll show you directly that all of hyung’s words are needless worries.”
But that does bother him a bit. He must have been disappointed that I came to America without saying anything—did I cut off contact for too long? I should have contacted him a little sooner. If it hadn’t been for Gyumin’s contact, even that would have been late, but it seems it’s time to reaffirm his existence to Eunwoo.
However, contrary to his confident tone, Gyuho’s eyes looking at the inbox with no reply after read confirmation were extremely anxious.
