When the meat was placed on the appropriately heated grill, the pleasant sizzling sound and the appetizing aroma of grilling meat that could revive even a lost appetite filled the yard.
“After eating like this, you can’t go back to meat cooked in a frying pan.”
After neatly arranging mushrooms and onions alongside the meat, Hyedam glanced at the house and slipped his hand into his pocket with the envelope. Though they hadn’t spent much time together or shared deep conversations, he didn’t seem like such a bad guy.
Except for that incident last night.
Hyedam’s fingertips touched his lips. He hadn’t thought about it, but that was his first kiss. If it could even be called a kiss.
It was soft and moist, and warm too, and above all, as that scent and strange sensations that had flowed through his entire body came alive again, Hyedam slowly removed his hand from his lips.
With his lips tightly pressed together, Hyedam removed one of the two soju glasses on the table. As he flipped the properly cooked meat, the meat juices and fat fell onto the firewood, creating a loud noise and smoke.
Priding himself on being excellent at grilling meat, Hyedam was humming while moving to avoid the smoke when he suddenly lifted his head. He had always thought it strange, but he hadn’t had time to think deeply about this aspect.
The coffee scent that permeated between the mouthwatering meat smell overlapped with Ondal coming out, shaking the moisture from his hair. It’s him. Whenever that guy was nearby, the coffee scent naturally appeared.
‘He’s not an Alpha. He’s an Alpha, but he said he’s not an Alpha.’
If he’s not an Alpha, why does this scent come from him? No, I’m not an Omega, so why can I smell this?
Rather than Ondal, who was an Alpha but not an Alpha, Hyedam felt stranger about himself.
They said he was an Omega when he was born. And bread. The smell of freshly baked bread. The words of his mother, whom he could barely remember now without looking at photos, came to mind.
She had said it was a very delicious and cozy bread smell. That even when he grew up, she wouldn’t give her son to anyone. She jokingly told him to always get her permission first.
The voice of his mother, who had hugged him tightly enough to take his breath away, and the fresh lemon scent, swirled in Hyedam’s mind.
He had lost his parents in a car accident when he was young. Even the doctors couldn’t properly explain it, but after that, Hyedam was no longer an Omega. All his levels resembled a Beta’s, and even the bread smell disappeared.
And so he had lived as a Beta for over 15 years.
But why now? Why do you say I smell like bread, and why do I smell coffee from you?
“You said you’re not an Alpha.”
“Yes, I’m not.”
The scissors and tongs that Hyedam was holding loosely were taken over by Ondal. Has he done this before too? Hyedam couldn’t think properly as he watched Ondal skillfully cutting the meat and removing the slightly burnt parts.
“Then why do you smell like coffee?”
“Because my pheromone scent is coffee.”
“But you said you’re not an Alpha!”
“Are you an Omega then?”
The questions continued like a chain with no answers to be found, and what Hyedam faced was Ondal’s handsome face.
“Alpha, Omega, Beta. Those things aren’t important. Daddy and Co-mom were like that too. Doctors and scientists can’t explain everything in the world. Beyond traits, the most important thing is that you’re ugly.”
Ondal bent his upper body to match eye level, and after listening to the end of his explanation, which sounded like he was comforting a child, the ends of Hyedam’s eyebrows rose.
“Your eyes are ugly, your nose is ugly, your mouth is ugly. And those dimples that occasionally appear.”
What kind of crazy person is this? Not only his incomprehensible random words and actions, but how can he look someone straight in the face and blatantly call them ugly one by one?
Even if you’re crazy, why are you smiling while calling someone ugly? Ask everyone in the world. Objectively speaking, you’re the one who’s unrealistically handsome. He was ordinary. His was the kind of face you could commonly see anywhere, rather than one people would call handsome or ugly.
“What?”
“Ugly. You’ll look even uglier if you get angry, so let’s eat. I’ll enjoy the meat.”
“I’m not ugly!”
“Who said what?”
“This is crazy. You just called me ugly. You said my eyes, nose, and mouth are all ugly!”
“Yes, you’re ugly, and I like that.”
Ondal’s voice was calm as he moved the grilled meat to a plate, placed it on the table, and sat down on the platform first.
“…Do you know the dictionary meaning of ‘ugly’?”
“Ugly? It means below average, right?”
“How can you say that to me when I’m feeding you, clothing you, and letting you sleep here? What would you do if I told you to get out right now?”
“You won’t do that.”
Huh.
With his hand on his waist, letting out a hollow laugh, Hyedam first chewed the wrap that had suddenly entered his mouth. What is this, really? Tasting the perfect wrap neatly filled with lettuce, rice, ssamjang, meat, and even roasted garlic, Hyedam watched Ondal eating.
From their first meeting, yesterday, and today, up to this moment, he had shown truly diverse sides of himself. At first, he was taciturn and barely spoke, lost in his own thoughts, but now, whether his memory had returned or he had finished thinking, he was talking like a normal peer. Like a moderately close friend.
“Hey! Lee. You don’t eat.”
After thoroughly chewing and swallowing what was in his mouth, Hyedam naturally opened the soju bottle, filled the only soju glass, and snatched it from Ondal’s hand as he was bringing it to his mouth, downing it in one go.
“You. Tell me honestly. You remember, don’t you! You’ve been talking about Daddy, Co-mom, and such. Daddy clearly seems to refer to a father, and I don’t know what Co-mom is, but anyway, that too is a term referring to someone. And your behavior now is so different from the beginning.”
“Answers come out unconsciously to the questions you ask. I don’t remember who Daddy is, who Co-mom is, or what they look like. At least what’s certain is that this place is safe, and nothing around poses a threat to me. I’m concerned about the wild boar wandering around the hillside, but I don’t think it will come up to the house.”
“Then. This money. Why are you giving this to me?”
“Because I was told to earn my keep wherever I am.”
“By whom?”
“I don’t know.”
In a situation where the conversation seemed to be going somewhere but then returned to square one, Hyedam clenched both fists and took a deep breath. A delicately crazy guy.
Amid their squabble, seeing that the once-plentiful meat had considerably diminished, Hyedam sat down in front of him. Before Hyedam could respond, Ondal poured soju into the glass, drank it, and put a piece of meat in his mouth, chewing noisily.
“So there’s nothing here that could put you in danger, I’m easy to deal with, and I’m ugly, so you’ll do whatever you want?”
There was no answer, and as Ondal pushed the meat plate slightly toward him and picked up the empty soju glass, Hyedam quickly grabbed his wrist.
“Ah, you can’t drink alcohol. Bluntly speaking, if you’re underage, this is a criminal act, you know? And do you remember what you did yesterday, being a lightweight?”
“What did I do?”
“I was right. You can’t drink alcohol. You were going on about strange bread.”
Unable to bring himself to say ‘you put your mouth on my body,’ Hyedam spoke vaguely.
“At least I know that the bread is you.”
“Neither of us is an Alpha or Omega, so what the hell is this smell!”
Pushing away Ondal’s hand, Hyedam took another sip of soju. As soon as he put the soju glass down on the table with a bang, it was refilled with soju.
When Ondal lay down on the platform, seemingly having finished eating, Hyedam was about to say that you shouldn’t lie down right after eating, but instead just emptied the filled glass.
“No aurora visible.”
“If you could see the aurora from here, that would be the day of Earth’s end.”
“There are many stars.”
When a small groan came from Ondal’s mouth as he was about to lie down with his arm as a pillow, Hyedam clicked his tongue and stood up. Today too, after rummaging through the old medicine box, he held circular-shaped patches in his hand. Fortunately, thanks to his grandmother who always used them, the patches had plenty of time before their expiration date.
“Ondal. Lie on your stomach.”
Though it seemed like he might object, Ondal obediently lay on his stomach, and Hyedam, who cleared his back, momentarily pressed his lips together and stared at the perfect inverted triangle of his upper body.
Soon, the circular patches stuck thickly to Ondal’s firm and warm back. Not knowing anything about pressure points or how much which part hurt, Hyedam just stuck them wherever his hands reached.
“Are these muscles just for show? They’re completely soft muscles.”
As if stimulated by the comment about soft muscles, the back muscles twitched.
“It seems like I haven’t done this kind of work before.”
“That’s why you shouldn’t volunteer for work you’ve never done. This will last for days.”
After sticking all the patches he had brought, Hyedam pulled down the t-shirt that he had lifted. Ondal, who promptly straightened his body, silently gazed at the sky, and Hyedam drank, using the remaining meat as a snack.
As the night deepened and the firewood that had been lit for grilling meat died down, feeling the chill, Hyedam nudged Ondal with the tip of his foot.
The gaze that had been looking at the sky just a moment ago fell upon him. Moonlight and starlight created shadows on his face, and his green eyes emitted a mysterious light in the darkness.
“It’s okay.”
As his lips moved and the words reached his ears, Hyedam bit down hard on his molars. He remained still even when Ondal’s hand touched his cheek.
He couldn’t take his eyes off those mystical light-filled eyes. He could barely breathe from the warmth felt from his large hand, full of the warm coffee scent he liked. Just as he was quietly looking at his face and Ondal’s lips gently lifted, Hyedam abruptly stood up.
“Ondal, you clean this up.”
Without properly looking at him, who still seemed to have no intention of getting up from the platform, Hyedam blurted out grumpily and hurriedly went inside the house.
