In high school, Seunggeon was already living alone. Even then, he had no intention of prying since there might be family matters he couldn’t talk about. He was just a little curious.
Chaehun, who had been making various guesses while rubbing his cheeks, saw that outside the window was bluish and quickly checked the time. The digital clock on the nightstand pointed to 6:32.
“I’m late.”
Chaehun recalled the route from the hotel to the officetel, and from the officetel to the hospital. He had to be at work by 7:50. Even if he moved right now, it would be close.
If he gave up changing clothes and went straight to work at the hospital from the hotel, he’d have some leeway. But it felt uncomfortable somehow.
“I’ll have to take a taxi.”
Regretting that he should have gone home at dawn if this was the case, Chaehun was getting off the floor when he suddenly staggered. From his thighs to his entire legs ached and had no strength, so he almost fell.
“Damn.”
Chaehun, who barely maintained his balance, clicked his tongue at the result of intense sex.
This was only the second time, but both times were like this, so he was worried about next time. Both Seunggeon’s dick size and stamina seemed to exceed average.
Is it because he’s an Alpha?
That Alphas had exceptional stamina was a rumor that had hardened into almost fact. While having the frivolous thought that he might die from this, Chaehun moved quickly.
He washed his face with just water and found his clothes in the powder room. He was putting on his pants and buttoning his shirt when Seunggeon opened the door and appeared. He was wearing a bathrobe, not naked.
“You’re leaving?”
“Yeah.”
Chaehun, who had tucked his shirt into his pants, skipped the tie and immediately put on his knit vest.
“Did Grandmother scold you? For staying out?”
When he asked just in case, Seunggeon, who had been sitting on the bed, frowned.
“It’s not like that.”
“Grandmother seems to cherish you a lot.”
“I think she still thinks I’m a kid.”
Seunggeon grumbled in a way unlike him. Chaehun appropriately went along with it.
“Well, it is a bit much for a grown grandson to get a call in the morning for staying out.”
“……”
“But to a grandmother, you’ll always be a baby.”
Seunggeon’s expression changed subtly as if he’d heard something strange. Certainly the word “baby” didn’t suit a large man like Seunggeon, but still, to a grandmother, a grandson could only ever be a grandson.
As Chaehun, who skipped the explanation, fastened his belt and put on his jacket, Seunggeon asked.
“Why are you in such a hurry?”
“Because I’m late.”
“It’s 30 minutes to the hospital.”
“I’m going to stop by home. I need to change clothes too.”
“There’s probably a suit rental service. No, buy a new one. Along with underwear.”
“No. I don’t want to do that.”
Chaehun firmly refused. Both borrowing and buying clothes were bothersome. Besides, it was obvious Seunggeon would pay for everything. Rather than awkwardly looking at Seunggeon’s face, it was better to go home quickly and wear his own clothes. When Chaehun repeatedly refused various services, Seunggeon offered another alternative.
“At least use the limousine service. They’ll take you right to your door.”
“That’s good.”
When he said the limousine service was good, Seunggeon immediately requested the service through the internal phone. He was told the hotel car would arrive in front of the bungalow within 5 minutes.
Chaehun, who had put on even his coat and gone out to the living room without delay, stopped walking. Something suddenly came to mind, so he turned to look at Seunggeon following him.
“Hey.”
“What?”
“There’s something we didn’t talk about last night.”
“Tell me.”
The place where Seunggeon stopped was exquisite. Seunggeon, leaning against the bedroom doorframe with his arms crossed, acted leisurely. Even though he had just woken up and was only wearing a bathrobe, the guy looked very relaxed. He was almost envious of how he could be like that.
“Paying off the debt is good, but still, it’ll be troublesome if 2 billion won suddenly appears. My family will be curious about the source. I can’t mention your name. Right?”
“Right. That won’t do.”
“So let’s think together about how to handle it.”
“Got it. But you…?”
Seunggeon, who had said he understood, suddenly stopped talking mid-sentence. Chaehun stared blankly at Seunggeon. He was about to ask what, when Seunggeon came close and bent down. He didn’t embrace him, but sniffed above his head as if smelling something, making Chaehun freeze. He wondered why this guy was doing this.
“Seunggeon-ah?”
“You smell like me.”
“…?!”
“My pheromone scent. Are you really a Beta?”
Seunggeon, who straightened his body, furrowed his brow ambiguously. Common sense dictated that it was strange for Seunggeon’s scent to come from Chaehun, who was a Beta. Phenotype pheromone scents couldn’t be felt by or affect anyone other than Alphas and Omegas. But for Chaehun, it was an ordinary occurrence.
He had showered before sleeping. But it seemed the scent had rubbed off since they slept naked in the same bed.
“I’m originally like that.”
“Originally like that?”
“Phenotype pheromones rubbing off on me. You know that too. You asked me if I was an Omega before because of my younger sibling’s pheromone scent. Remember? Don’t you remember?”
Seunggeon didn’t answer. Instead, his furrowed brow just deepened.
“I’ve never heard of a case like that.”
“Neither have I.”
“I think there would have been people who wanted to study it.”
“The doctor who’s in charge of my younger sibling did take my blood once, but they said it was normal. They also said there’s no one with a similar constitution.”
It wasn’t that Chaehun hadn’t been tested. But they said there was nothing unusual.
“That’s strange.”
“Well, I guess there are cases like this.”
To Seunggeon who called him strange to his face, Chaehun shrugged as if it was nothing. Just then, the doorbell rang. It was the limousine service.
“I’m leaving. Contact me if you think of a method. I’ll contact you too.”
Chaehun greeted Seunggeon and hurried to move. He told the driver who came to meet him at the door his officetel address and got in the back seat of the car. The car started smoothly. Chaehun leaned his heavy body deep into the backrest and closed his eyes.
As his tension released, fatigue rushed in. But there were still mountains of things to resolve. He had to find a way to avoid being questioned about the source of the 2 billion won, and he had to confirm whether President Yoon had really backed off.
“Haa.”
Chaehun let out a long sigh. The morning after having sex for the first time, Seunggeon had left and wasn’t there. At that time, he thought he was a bit disappointed, but actually facing him, it wasn’t that.
Even while treating him casually, he couldn’t help but be conscious of Seunggeon. He had to maintain balance at some boundary between classmate and first love, sex partner, and contractor.
He said he didn’t need to use honorifics or humor him, but what Seunggeon demanded was clear. Even if it was a bit unfair and difficult, he had to grant what he wanted. It wasn’t for nothing that he offered 2 billion won while saying emotions shouldn’t get tangled.
Sex itself was nothing. But when dealing with people, various conflicts were bound to arise. Sometimes when Seunggeon said something irritating, he wanted to strangle him. That too was definitely an emotion.
Seunggeon had definitely changed from how he was in his memories. Ten years had passed, so he couldn’t have stayed the same. Still, the sight of him casually saying that ruining a person wasn’t difficult was so unfamiliar it was even frightening. It seemed like prejudice would form that people from chaebol families with power and money were like that.
He was treating Seunggeon comfortably based on past memories and connections, but his instincts warned him that he should actually be careful.
“This is complicated.”
Chaehun pressed his closed eyes firmly with his hands. Everything was tangled up in a complicated mess. He couldn’t know what would happen if he lost even a little balance.
There was no need to worry ahead of time. Focusing on solving the problem right in front of him came first.
First, it was important to get to work without being late.
* * *
It was good that he took a sedan with good ride comfort through the hotel service. But due to rush hour traffic on the road, the time to shower was ambiguous. In the end, Chaehun had no choice but to give up showering and go to work after only changing clothes.
