‘Why is he suddenly acting like this?’
I couldn’t understand why he was suddenly going berserk at just me saying I wanted to try dating a bit.
This was the first time I’d seen Baek Seolheon this angry.
The person in front of me felt unfamiliar, like a man I’d never met before, not my younger brother.
“……What will you do by knowing?”
“I’m going to go and tell them for you.”
“Tell them? Tell them what?”
As I was responding as indifferently as possible, feigning composure, Baek Seolheon suddenly reached out and pressed his hands on the table.
I ended up half-leaning against the table, trapped between Baek Seolheon’s arms.
When I subtly pulled my touching legs back because they bothered me, Baek Seolheon got even closer.
“Our hyung wants to try getting along well with that person, but the truth is he’s a half-baked alpha who can’t even handle his own pheromones.”
“……”
“That person’s pheromones make him nauseous, as if they were rotten food waste.”
With his brow furrowed, pouring out emotions as if vomiting them……
I finally figured out the cause of the unfamiliarity.
“And yet, would that be okay?”
Baek Seolheon was criticizing me.
My younger brother had never once reproached me in such a way.
So I……
“Baek Seolheon.”
“He’ll be treated like filth for the rest of his life, so does he have the confidence to endure it……!”
“Seolheon-ah.”
I became worried.
I reached my hand toward Baek Seolheon’s head.
When I smoothed down his side hair, his fine black hair tickled each joint of my fingers.
“Are you angry?”
“……”
At my action, Baek Seolheon’s eyes widened, then he closed his mouth.
“What made you so angry?”
Honestly, it would be a lie to say I had no idea why Baek Seolheon was this agitated.
“Because I collapsed again? Are you worried I’ll collapse at someone else’s pheromones?”
He’s just worried something might happen to me. Baek Seolheon is.
As the culprit who angered such a good kid, ten mouths wouldn’t be enough.
This is all the fault of my frail self who carelessly keeps collapsing.
“I’m sorry for breaking my promise and getting sick again.”
But I couldn’t say now, ‘Ta-da! Actually, everything I said earlier was a lie, and I’m practicing pheromone discharge with Lee Haram because I might die soon. Forgive me~’
Who knows what might happen if I raised my younger brother’s blood pressure further from here.
“You were really startled, right? I understand that you spoke harshly because you were shocked.”
“……”
“Still, it’s difficult to have a conversation when you just pour out your emotions.”
I moved my hand that had been stroking Baek Seolheon’s head behind his shoulder and lightly patted his back.
“I understand your feelings well, so let’s calm down a bit and talk again.”
“……”
“I’ll listen to everything.”
Baek Seolheon looked at me silently, then stepped back.
Thanks to that, I was finally able to escape from the table corner.
Baek Seolheon kept his gaze on the floor for a moment, then opened his mouth.
“Then…… keep your promise. You said you’d do everything I tell you.”
Ahem. A cough came out.
I recalled when Baek Seolheon once demanded that I not meet Lee Haram and all other alphas and omegas.
“Seolheon-ah. As you know, realistically it’s difficult to live without any contact with other people. Even the convenience store owner in front of our house is an omega, and also our parents……”
“Don’t meet omegas.”
“Huh? Omegas?”
“That person.”
Baek Seolheon kept his gaze unnecessarily on the floor and continued speaking.
“The person…… that hyung said you liked.”
His voice was small.
“Don’t try to look good to that omega bastard. Don’t think about meeting. Don’t think about dating. Just don’t do any of it.”
Baek Seolheon made eye contact with me again.
“It’s irritating.”
……Irritating?
I opened my eyes wide at the unexpected answer.
“I just can’t meet that person? That’s all?”
“No. Don’t meet any omegas.”
“Then who’s going to go to the convenience store in front of our house instead?”
“I’ll go.”
Aha. I get it.
I finally figured out what that kid’s true feelings are.
“Seolheon, you. Don’t tell me……”
Baek Seolheon waited for my answer with a stiff face for a moment.
“You’re irritated because I’m going off dating by myself!”
“……”
Whether I hit the mark, Baek Seolheon’s body swayed.
“Your younger brother is studying hard, but hyung alone is enjoying his youth. Even if I’m clueless, I was too clueless.”
That’s right.
This one word explains everything.
‘College entrance exam stress!’
Baek Seolheon is a pitiful senior in high school in the Republic of Korea, trapped in the prison called school, wearing the prisoner’s uniform called a school uniform, deprived of freedom.
But the bastard called hyung collapses while making a fuss about trying to date once with his frail body, and he had to take care of the entire aftermath, wasting a whole day. He couldn’t help but be heated up.
Bringing back the smell of meat, making clueless remarks about wanting to date.
‘It’s fortunate Baek Seolheon is kind and gentle……’
If he were any other ordinary senior in high school, I might already be buried in the back mountain.
So I said boldly.
“Fine! Watch me date an omega for the rest of my life.”
“……Really?”
“When Seolheon says this much, of course I have to listen.”
I never had the slightest intention of dating some unfamiliar alien gender like an omega from the start.
I was chilled to the bone wondering if I’d be confined in some sterile facility as the price for breaking my promise, but this is practically getting it for free.
“That person, you’ll really give them up?”
“Of course.”
Give up or whatever, it’s a person who didn’t exist from the start anyway.
‘I do feel guilty about lying, but……’
It’s all for Baek Seolheon’s sake, so it can’t be helped.
“For me, Seolheon comes first.”
“I do……?”
“Yeah. You’re the most important in my life.”
This much isn’t a lie.
“Because you’re my beloved younger brother.”
Is there anyone else in this world who cares about me as much as that kid?
My adoptive parents also cherished me with love and devotion, but Baek Seolheon is special.
Lee Jiyoung. Without any connection to that person called his birth mother, he was family who relied on and cherished me from the start.
“……Liar.”
Baek Seolheon answered sulkily.
He had clenched his fists and turned his head as if to hide his face.
However, he couldn’t hide his cheeks and ears heating up to a pale pink color.
“You……”
So I couldn’t hold back.
“Why are you so cute, really!”
“Ugh, let go.”
“Are you really a senior in high school? Your build is huge like a beanpole but you act like a kid.”
I tucked Baek Seolheon under my arm again and roughly tousled his hair.
Baek Seolheon resisted, but it was weak as expected. I don’t know where he sold the strength he had when he easily lifted his hyung before.
Being startled by Baek Seolheon’s uncharacteristic sudden action was only brief. Baek Seolheon was still Baek Seolheon.
“Hyung. Will you…… really listen to what I say?”
“Don’t worry. Actually, I didn’t really want to date that much anyway.”
When just taking care of myself is overwhelming, what dating would I do?
“Don’t do reckless things like pheromone practice either.”
“I won’t. Taking away your study time can only happen once or twice.”
Sorry. This is a lie.
Since my survival is at stake, the lessons with Lee Haram must continue.
“Even if hyung can’t date, Seolheon, when you enter university, make as many lovers as you want and have fun. With you, anyone would be happy.”
Baek Seolheon’s lover…… Lee Haram from the novel momentarily came to mind, but I shook my head.
Here he’s a beta male, so if he dates, naturally the probability of it being a woman would be high. Maybe he’ll marry earlier than me and show me nieces or nephews.
“In this life, make sure you have a proper romance.”
Unlike that bizarre novel that was rampant with kidnapping, confinement, and rape, I hoped this time he’d have an ordinary and happy romance.
After saying that, I turned around.
I was bothered by the glass shards scattered throughout the living room, so I thought I should clean them up.
But,
“……”
Baek Seolheon suddenly grabbed my hand and stopped me.
“……This life?”
Crack, his grip strength intensified.
“What do you mean. What is ‘this life’?”
This damn mouth of mine.
I hid my flustered feelings as much as possible and answered nonchalantly.
“This life is this life. Why?”
I shrugged my shoulders and continued.
“Going to university is the start of a new life. So is it that strange that I said this life?”
“It sounds like there’s a previous life.”
At those words, my breath stopped for a moment, but I barely maintained my expression and joked around.
“What, like reincarnation or the idea of samsara? Haha, I’m non-religious so I don’t know much about Buddhism.”
“……”
“Stop nitpicking and go inside and sleep. You stayed up all night because of me.”
I walked quickly as if running away from Baek Seolheon.
“Come to think of it, what should I do about the entrance? Where did I put the dustpan?”
The gaze piercing my back showed no signs of falling away, but I pretended not to notice and rummaged through the drawer.
Then I heard the sound of a door closing, as if Baek Seolheon had returned to his room.
“Previous life……”
I let out a deep sigh alone in the living room and looked at the sky where dawn was breaking.
