These days. One minute feels like a year.
My first sibling quarrel in 18 years,
The VivaPlay CEO’s love call,
My first rut cycle, recruiting a sex partner,
And even the contact between Baek Jeongwoo and Baek Seolheon.
My head ached. There were too many things to worry about.
“Wait a moment, Gunho-ya.”
Only after leaving the restaurant and stepping into the parking lot did I notice that Lee Yeongwoo had chased after me.
“That weakness Baek Jeongwoo was holding…… is it related to your younger brother?”
“……”
My words caught for a moment at the fastball question.
Somehow interpreting my silence, Lee Yeongwoo hurriedly waved his hands.
“You don’t have to tell me! I wasn’t trying to pry. I’m just concerned about what you talked about with Baek Jeongwoo earlier……”
Lee Yeongwoo clasped his own hands and continued with an anxious look.
“Separate from that, there’s something I need to tell you. Related to your younger brother.”
“Seolheon……?”
At my words, he nodded.
“I’ve been agonizing over it…… but I think telling you is the right thing to do for you, Gunho.”
Lee Yeongwoo gulped, then carefully parted his lips.
“In elementary school. After you manifested as an Alpha, do you remember how I avoided you?”
“……That’s right.”
I couldn’t forget the memories with Lee Yeongwoo.
It was shocking to learn that a kid I thought was an ordinary same-sex friend was a dominant Omega,
The Omega pheromones I smelled for the first time after becoming an Alpha were a second shock,
And though I tried to remain friends despite all that, it was shocking when Lee Yeongwoo suddenly cut off all contact unilaterally.
“Back then, keeping my distance considering your physical condition was right, but I didn’t intend to become completely distant. You told me, didn’t you? To wait……”
At those words, a conversation I’d forgotten surfaced in my mind.
‘Wait until then.’
‘……’
‘So we can laugh together, play soccer, and game again.’
Come to think of it, I said that.
I didn’t know he’d been remembering this.
“I wanted to keep being friends, but……”
Lee Yeongwoo looked at me with resolute eyes as if having steeled his determination.
“Your younger brother came to find me.”
“……Seolheon did?”
“Yeah, saying he had something to say.”
It was strange.
In my memory, Lee Yeongwoo and Baek Seolheon had no connection.
Lee Yeongwoo just knew I had a younger brother, and Baek Seolheon just knew I had a classmate friend—that was the extent of it.
So how could Baek Seolheon have sought him out first?
“It was a long time ago, but I still remember what he said.”
Lee Yeongwoo rolled his hands into fists then opened them.
After wetting his lips, he spoke in a small voice.
“He told me not to approach you.”
“……”
“Not to bother his hyung with my one-sided selfishness.”
Lee Yeongwoo gathered both hands and squeezed them tight.
His hands were trembling slightly.
“He talked so frighteningly, like you’d really die soon because of me…… After that, I had no choice but to avoid you. All the way until graduation and going to a different middle school.”
“……”
“Back then I was young too, so I was just scared something would happen to you…… But thinking about it now, it’s chilling. That was, he was a much younger kid than us, your younger brother.”
Seeing him so tense, I could tell.
Unlike Baek Jeongwoo who habitually lied, Lee Yeongwoo was sincere throughout.
“It didn’t feel like talking to a five or six-year-old child, but rather like talking to an adult……”
At those words, various voices circled in my ears.
‘Earlier you acted all friendly with me, but you completely ignored Lee Yeongwoo?’
Words Kim Jaewook had said to me when we were young.
‘You should have seen your younger brother’s eyes glaring at Lee Yeongwoo then. I almost pissed myself from fear. Did you two fight or something?’
‘……No, it was our first meeting.’
Then, middle school days came to mind.
‘Y-your younger brother, threatened me so terrifyingly that I did it without realizing!’
Words the guy who stole my medicine had appealed.
‘Eyes blazing, suddenly grabbing my arm and threatening me—I was so scared……!’
Those voices I’d brushed off casually at the time settled heavily in my chest.
‘Seolheon was a smart kid from way back, and his worry for me was exceptional. So it’s possible.’
A voice of defense naturally sprang up from deep in my heart.
But to brush it off that way now…… testimonies were piling up.
My temples throbbed.
“Whether something like that can be called normal……”
“……So.”
In my confusion, I inadvertently shot back coldly.
“So. What do you want to say? That he’s abnormal? Baek Seolheon?”
“N-no! I don’t mean that! It’s just……”
Lee Yeongwoo shook his head hurriedly.
“Your younger brother, I know you care about him, Gunho.”
“……”
“But wouldn’t it be better to be a little wary?”
Then he ruffled his hair roughly and let out a deep sigh.
“Sorry. Just forget it. I didn’t mean to speak badly of him. Ah shit, why am I doing something like Baek Jeongwoo……!”
“No, I’m the one who should be sorry.”
My head cooled down a bit seeing Lee Yeongwoo looking just as confused as me.
“I guess my nerves got a bit sharp because of Baek Jeongwoo.”
“Gunho……”
“Thanks for telling me. It must have been very uncomfortable for you to say.”
While saying that, inwardly I thought of Baek Seolheon.
From when he was very young…… has he been concerned about my condition? That kid.
‘I don’t intend to meddle in hyung’s private life anymore. I understand well that it’s presumptuous.’
Seolheon, who said that, said those things.
“Haah……”
The Baek Seolheon I don’t know bothers me.
The Baek Seolheon who said it was presumptuous also bothers me.
There were too many things bothering me.
I couldn’t even grasp what to prioritize.
I felt like I’d been thrown in the middle of a room so messy I could hardly step.
“……”
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
Rather, because it was such a mess, my head seemed to clear instead.
It was the same in my previous life.
Suddenly sitting on a pile of debt, not knowing what to do first or what to deal with, I’d stand there dazed for a long time.
And I realized.
Thinking alone about unsolvable problems was a waste of energy, a waste of time.
“Yeongwoo-ya. Your phone.”
“Huh? Uh-huh.”
Therefore, if I didn’t know anything.
It was best to look at what was right in front of me first.
“Here, my number.”
“Huh……?”
“For helping at the party before. I want to do something as thanks.”
What’s in front of me now is Lee Yeongwoo.
“Coffee or a meal won’t fully repay everything. But will you let me treat you?”
“……”
“Though it’s late……”
Repaying the debt to my benefactor,
Returning it twofold was proper courtesy.
No matter how chaotic my head was, I couldn’t push things like this to the back burner.
“Thank you for remembering the childhood memories, for remembering my name. Yeongwoo-ya.”
Putting miscellaneous thoughts aside for now,
I smiled at Lee Yeongwoo with sincerity.
“Let’s see each other often. Us.”
* * *
“To celebrate the complete reunion of Haram’s family!”
“Cheers!”
The glasses clinked with a cheerful sound.
“I wondered who Haram took after, and he’s the spitting image of Alec-ssi!”
My adoptive father, Park Jaeseo, whose face had reddened, laughed heartily and drank his glass.
“Our Gunho, you see, is this cute, smart, and cool because he takes after me. Hahaha!”
Watching the Omega ahjussi who still maintained a flower-like appearance in his twenties even in his forties, I narrowed my eyes.
“Who fed him like that?”
“Jaeseo was excited today for some reason and opened two bottles of wine by himself……”
Lee Haram’s pretty father smiled awkwardly.
He was a homemaker like my adoptive father and a neighbor friend, having spent nearly 20 years together and reaching the point of calling each other by first names.
“Jaeseo-ya. That’s enough now.”
“Why, noona. Things are just getting good!”
“Tsk. Enough.”
When my stepmother glared while snatching away his glass, only then did my adoptive father squeak and move the bottle away. Like a dog trainer.
Today, celebrating Alejandro-ssi’s safe return home, the two households from Seoul Noble Prestige units 2801 and 2802 gathered together.
Looking at the main family apartment I’d visited after a long time, memories bloomed fresh.
However, one of the protagonists of those memories did not attend.
“……”
It was Baek Seolheon.
Using being an examinee as a reason, he didn’t participate, saying he had to study.
But somehow, I couldn’t shake the thought that I bore some responsibility for that absence.
“Haram-ah. You haven’t even touched the chicken you like. Have you lost your appetite?”
Lee Haram’s pretty father’s voice came.
Naturally, I also turned my gaze to Lee Haram…….
“Hyung. Is this the time to be enjoying a family party?”
The guy whose expression had been stiff throughout the gathering suddenly spoke to me.
“When are you going to find a partner?”
“Partner?”
People all looked at me in unison and tilted their heads.
I immediately covered Lee Haram’s mouth with my palm and smiled.
“Group project, team member, partner.”
“Ahh. That partner? Gunho’s having a hard time.”
“Haha……”
Then I spoke in a voice small enough for only Lee Haram to hear.
“This isn’t the place for that talk.”
“……”
As if drunk, Lee Haram’s face was flushed redder than usual.
Somehow he looked more troubled than me, the person in question.
