Hae-yul’s footsteps were heavy on the way back to Kwon Gyo-eon’s house. Before they parted ways, Lee San-ha had asked whether it was uncomfortable living in the same space as an alpha and had offered for Hae-yul to come stay at his place instead. He had told him he’d think about it — but he wasn’t really inclined to.
Strangely enough, Kwon Gyo-eon, who he’d known for far less time than Lee San-ha or Yun U-jae, felt more comfortable to be around. Even though Kwon Gyo-eon’s looks and general air were about as far from comfortable as you could get, and he constantly found ways to poke at Hae-yul’s nerves and get a rise out of him. It was something like — maybe it was because Kwon Gyo-eon was someone he could show himself to without filtering anything out.
Hae-yul let out a sigh as he turned into the neighborhood lined with expensive buildings. Lee San-ha’s words kept circling in his ears.
Hyung, I think the reason you couldn’t feel the alpha pheromones is because you’ve gotten so used to them. Kind of like how if you’re in a space with a particular smell for a long time, you adapt and stop noticing it as much — even if it’s not a pheromone.
To think he had gradually grown accustomed to Kwon Gyo-eon’s pheromones without even realizing it. Of course, it was good to know that there was nothing physically wrong with him because of it — but it wasn’t exactly a welcome discovery. Maybe it was because, despite the difference in atmosphere, things were starting to align with the original story in certain ways.
He just felt a vague, undefined resistance to it.
And it was also puzzling why he had grown accustomed to Kwon Gyo-eon’s pheromones specifically, and so quickly at that. There had been alphas at the orphanage where Hae-yul grew up. Of course their main shared spaces had naturally been separate — but they had played together fairly often.
Not only that, but hadn’t he also sat in class alongside alphas all through middle school and high school? It had all been possible because he had barely been aware of himself as an omega.
So if anything, logic would dictate he should have grown more accustomed to those alphas’ pheromones than to Kwon Gyo-eon’s. But what Hae-yul had actually gotten better at wasn’t growing accustomed to their pheromones — it was getting better at pretending to be accustomed to them and ignoring them. The same way you force yourself to walk past the distinct smell of ginkgo trees in autumn without reacting.
Even so, he couldn’t have spent an entire day in the same space as those alphas. Had he tried, he surely would have collapsed before he had any chance to adapt.
In that sense, his pheromone compatibility with Kwon Gyo-eon seemed to be fairly decent. Otherwise, there was no way spending time in a space saturated with Kwon Gyo-eon’s pheromones could feel anything but unpleasant.
Hae-yul clicked his tongue and came to a stop in front of the gate of the house — already familiar after only a handful of visits. His hand, reaching out to unlock the door lock, floated uselessly in the air.
“Oh, I don’t know the passcode here.”
Kwon Gyo-eon had never told him the door passcode in the first place. Hae-yul glared at the door lock for a while with a troubled expression, then eventually pulled out his phone. He couldn’t stand in front of the door like this indefinitely. Someone in the neighborhood might think he was a burglar and call it in.
Hae-yul found Kwon Gyo-eon’s name in his contacts and typed out a message.
16:52 What’s the house passcode?
The number 1 floating next to the message bubble disappeared in an instant. Was Kwon Gyo-eon just sitting at the office staring at his phone? How does he check messages this fast?
Hae-yul stayed in the chat, waiting for a reply — but instead of a message, his phone started ringing, and he stared at it with a flustered look.
“Why is he calling instead…”
Hae-yul muttered quietly and answered.
“Yes. Are you not busy? You could have just replied — why are you calling?”
— You’re back earlier than I expected.
Kwon Gyo-eon sidestepped giving a direct answer and brought up something else instead.
“It’s not that early, is it?”
— I thought you might stay for dinner too.
“…Well, if I had, I would’ve let you know.”
Hae-yul replied bluntly and pushed him along.
“Anyway — what’s the passcode?”
Kwon Gyo-eon was silent for a moment. There was a faint noise through the phone — and then, all of a sudden, the front gate opened. Through the slowly swinging gate, a familiar figure came into view.
Hae-yul stared at Kwon Gyo-eon standing right in front of him and went completely blank.
“…What. Why are you home?”
“Because it’s my home?”
“No, I mean — isn’t it still working hours for most people?”
“I made use of one of the perks of being in a senior position.”
Kwon Gyo-eon replied as if it were nothing and ended the still-connected call.
“I’ll tell you the passcode on the way in. Come inside for now.”
Hae-yul, who had been standing in front of the gate in a daze, scratched the back of his head and stepped inside. The large gate swung shut quietly, as if swallowing the two figures whole.
Having unexpectedly returned home together with Kwon Gyo-eon, Hae-yul noted down the passcode he was given into his phone and headed to the bedroom. After washing up quickly and changing his clothes, he came out to find Kwon Gyo-eon already sitting on the living room sofa in his loungewear, who then asked,
“Did you have fun with your classmates?”
“Yeah, more or less…”
“You meet up outside of the semester too, so they must be close friends?”
“Yeah. They’re both just very easy to get along with.”
“I see.”
Despite being the one who had asked, Kwon Gyo-eon responded dryly and moved straight on to something else.
“How are you feeling?”
At the out-of-nowhere question, Hae-yul’s eyes went wide. Kwon Gyo-eon slowly looked him over, then added a beat later,
“It looked like you didn’t sleep well.”
“…I slept fine.”
“You were awake early this morning, though.”
“H-how would you know that? Wait — you knew?”
Hae-yul was so startled by Kwon Gyo-eon’s words that he forgot he was supposed to deny it.
“I could hear you moving around.”
Hae-yul was left completely at a loss. All that effort he had put in that morning had come to nothing. Despite his resolve to be careful with every word and action in front of Kwon Gyo-eon, Hae-yul had been found out entirely.
Kwon Gyo-eon looked up at Hae-yul standing there rigid and blank, and tilted his head to one side.
“Should I pretend not to know, even when I do, from now on?”
“…Forget it. That would feel even worse, so just keep doing what you’ve been doing.”
Hae-yul replied with an irritated edge to his voice and sat down on the sofa, putting some distance between himself and Kwon Gyo-eon. Since he had told Kwon Gyo-eon to carry on as usual, it was probably better for him to just act normal too. The results of going to all that trouble to be careful since the crack of dawn had turned out this dismal anyway.
The thought came to him belatedly that being overly jumpy might actually be fueling Kwon Gyo-eon’s suspicion more.
Hae-yul deliberately avoided Kwon Gyo-eon’s gaze fixed on him, fidgeting aimlessly with his phone, and then opened his mouth.
“So — about the bedroom.”
He felt like he had to bring something up. And if he was going to bring something up, the bedroom seemed like the right topic.
For two days now, Kwon Gyo-eon had been giving his own bedroom to Hae-yul. He was going to be staying here until he found a suitable place to move to, and he couldn’t keep borrowing Kwon Gyo-eon’s bedroom all that time.
“The room I’ve been using is originally yours, right?”
“Yes.”
“I think you should take it back. A guest room or any spare room would be perfectly fine for me. That’s what makes sense.”
“Is the bedroom uncomfortable for you?”
“Not physically — more like mentally. Honestly, it feels like I’ve taken your bedroom from you.”
“Hmm.”
It wasn’t even a bad suggestion for Kwon Gyo-eon — it was an entirely reasonable thing to say — and yet Kwon Gyo-eon had a look of someone mulling it over. Hae-yul had expected a ready nod and found the hesitation puzzling.
No matter how he thought about it, there was no reason for Kwon Gyo-eon to have to deliberate on this.
“Alright. If it genuinely makes you uncomfortable, then let’s do that.”
“Oh, and there’s one more thing I didn’t mention.”
At Hae-yul’s words, Kwon Gyo-eon’s eyebrow lifted. His expression was unhurried, as if to say — go on, I’m listening.
“I changed the way your name is saved in my phone.”
“What did you save it as?”
“…Just normally.”
It was saved normally, yes — but Kwon Gyo-eon was older than him. Simply saving him by his full name might rub Kwon Gyo-eon the wrong way. Hae-yul quietly avoided Kwon Gyo-eon’s steady gaze and mumbled as an addition,
“…I just saved it as ‘Kwon Gyo-eon.’ Don’t read into it. That’s just how I do things.”
At that, the corner of Kwon Gyo-eon’s mouth lifted slightly. He nodded with a faint trace of a smile on his face.
“Sure. It’s your phone, so saving it however is most practical for you makes sense. Good.”
“I didn’t save it that way to get a compliment from you.”
Hae-yul replied with a slight frown.
“By the way.”
Kwon Gyo-eon called to him quietly. What is he going to say now? Hae-yul looked at him with weary eyes.
“Your pheromones are unstable. Are you sure you’re feeling alright?”
“Me? I’m completely fine. Maybe it’s you that’s off again, like last time?”
How many times had pheromones come up today alone? And as far as Hae-yul could tell, it was Kwon Gyo-eon’s pheromones that were more unstable than his. Hadn’t he been showing pre-rut symptoms last time? Hae-yul recalled Kwon Gyo-eon acting unlike himself in front of the study café and clicked his tongue.
