“……Do you really think I can’t find you?”
Leo stood in the middle of the narrow studio apartment and slowly looked around. He had rushed here this afternoon after suddenly receiving a call from Choi Junseok that Hyedam was moving out his things. In the space where the bed that had been on one side of the room, the nightstand beside it, the wall-mounted TV, and even the small table had all disappeared, there was no trace of Hyedam to be found.
The space, now devoid of even the subtle pheromone scent that had been present every time he entered his house, was only empty and dreary.
Saying he wanted to rest. Saying he’d only take a week’s vacation.
Even after a week passed and he didn’t return, Leo didn’t get anxious. Since the vacation officially given to him was 45 days, as long as he returned within that time, he wouldn’t say anything. If it exceeded 45 days, he could just go find him directly.
As if he was really planning to run away, taking advantage of when he went on an overseas business trip, Hyedam submitted a vacation request to Robert, changed his phone number, and left the country. Because he left behind traces that were too clear as he moved, at first Leo even suspected, “Does he want me to follow and find him?”
But seeing how leisurely and well he was living, that didn’t seem to be it either.
But he’s not secretly trying to move, right?
Recalling that Choi Junseok had been looking at houses in the provinces lately, Leo nodded and slowly turned his body. Since there was no reason to stay long in a place that was no longer Hyedam’s home. Leo, who had been about to slowly go outside, looked at the bag roughly packed with garbage with narrowed eyes.
Leo, who had been staring at the small box that had fallen beside the bag, picked up the box covered in dust and tried to put it back in the bag. However, at the rattling sound indicating it wasn’t an empty box but contained something, wrinkles formed between Leo’s brows as he opened the box.
Relying on the light coming in from outside, Leo’s jawline became prominent as he looked inside the box. The cold metal object touching his fingertips. The characteristic heaviness and cool texture stole the warmth as it touched his skin. A sigh flowed from Leo’s mouth after checking the back.
“You still had this?”
If he hadn’t remembered, it was an object sufficient to cause misunderstanding. After meeting Hyedam, he had been flustered more than once or twice by the image of Hyedam, much younger than now, that kept popping up unexpectedly.
Christmas. That night. Various scenes came to mind disorderly, from the word “Ondal” that came to him unknowingly to the image of Hyedam calling him “Ondal” in his sleep.
The incident that suddenly occurred while he was enjoying university life had completely shaken his life. He was dumbfounded when an omega, whom he knew was a student in the same department but had only spoken to a few times, said they were carrying his child. But when witnesses appeared who had seen that omega coming out of the room where he had been sleeping, the situation turned unfavorably for him.
Time passed, and after the baby was born, genetic testing was attempted five times. The omega used every possible method to interfere with the genetic testing. Eventually, Leo accompanied a lawyer to the genetic testing laboratory and had the researcher who would directly conduct the test collect hair from himself, the omega, and the child.
The omega, who denied even the accurate test results and insisted until the end that the child was his, finally left smiling after receiving several billion won.
After all that was over, what he needed was rest. What he chose to escape the excessive attention of people was traveling Korea alone. He couldn’t figure out why he had collapsed in his house or why he had lost his memory.
Anyway, what was important now wasn’t those things.
Evidence appeared that his fantasy was real. It wasn’t an illusion, a hallucination, or a misunderstanding—all of it had really happened. Then…… Hyedam.
Veins stood out prominently on the back of Leo’s hand clutching the watch. Wrinkles formed between his brows and strength unknowingly filled his body.
It was Hyedam who had helped the person who lost his memory, fed him, and even offered him a warm embrace. He had left him alone. He had turned his back on him more rudely than when he had suddenly appeared. His heart, which had been beating regularly, ran wild at will. No matter how deeply he inhaled, his breath wouldn’t fill, and even when he tried to exhale deeply, he couldn’t release the things piling up complicatedly in his chest.
Leo’s eyes shut tightly as he suffered from the maddening emotions and the approaching hyperventilation, hitting his chest hard.
Curses toward himself poured out wildly with rough breaths. Though he tried to hide it with a businesslike appearance, he knew that Hyedam’s gaze toward him was not kind, and that his emotions changed moment by moment like a storm when looking at him.
It wasn’t because of his reaction, different from others who generally showed goodwill, that he tried to keep him close. He felt he had to keep him by his side somehow. Just the thought of losing him like this and not being able to see him made him suffocate.
When Hyedam wasn’t visible, he was anxious, and even if he got angry at him or fully showed uncomfortable emotions, he felt comfortable when he was by his side. The hunger and desire he felt every time he saw him couldn’t be explained in words.
Could he be a hidden omega, his mate as a golden alpha? Only that thought filled his head.
Leo, who slowly unclenched his fist holding the watch, removed the watch he was wearing, put it in his pocket, and wore the watch Hyedam had kept.
He had tried to let him rest comfortably and wait until he returned, but it seemed he could no longer give him time.
Leo, who was about to close the empty box, felt around the inner wall with his fingertips. It seemed like something like paper was stuck to the wall inside. Leo, who took out the paper hidden inside the box, examined what came into his hand for quite a while.
It was a photo of young Hyedam sitting under a small tree on a low hill. And on the back of that photo, a four-leaf clover was attached.
* * *
Leo, holding the four-leaf clover that Komom had found for him, diligently walked up the low hill. He was following the smell of bread coming from the top of the hill. If it smelled this good, it would definitely taste good too.
His heart beat faster than when he waited for bread to come out of the kitchen every morning. What Leo, who had set out on an adventure to find the most delicious bread in the world, found was a boy slightly bigger than Leo, crouched under a tree.
“Hyung.”
The bread smell continued, but since there was only hyung there, he had no choice but to ask hyung. If hyung was the owner of this bread, he wanted to ask if he could share a little.
“Hyung.”
Not knowing if his voice was being heard well, Leo approached the unmoving hyung’s side, lightly touched his shoulder, and called hyung once more.
“……Mm.”
The hyung who raised his head had red eyes, a red nose, and red lips. At the sight of him hurriedly wiping his face with his sleeve, Leo crouched down in front of hyung.
“Hyung, are you crying?”
“Uh-uh. No, I’m not crying.”
His heart pounded because hyung who answered was so pretty. And this delicious smell also seemed to come from hyung. They say alphas and omegas have scents—is hyung like that too? He hoped so. But no matter how he looked, it seemed hyung had been crying. When you cry, your eyes, nose, and lips all turn red, and tears get on your face.
“Should I hug you?”
Worried that hyung might be embarrassed if he asked if he had cried again, Leo asked carefully. When he cried, Komom, Daddy, and the nannies always hugged him. Then the sad and painful things became okay.
When Leo spread both arms and approached, hyung also spread his arms, so Leo quickly embraced him. He laughed because he felt like he was falling deeply into the most delicious bread smell in the world.
“Hyung.”
“Mm.”
“Are you sad?”
He asked carefully of hyung who hugged him so tightly it was suffocating. He recalled how Komom had been sad while coming here. Komom’s mother, mother…… they said Grandma Koko had gone to heaven…… Unlike himself who was laughing from meeting such a pretty hyung, hyung looked so sad.
He wanted to hug hyung tightly in his arms like with Komom, but little Leo couldn’t hug hyung who was bigger than him. Leo patted hyung’s back with his palm like Komom did.
“It’s okay.”
“Did hyung’s Grandma Koko also go to heaven?”
“Hyung’s mom and dad, not Grandma Koko.”
“If they go to heaven, you can’t meet them!”
“Yeah, they say I can’t meet them anymore.”
After talking that far, hyung cried again, and Leo cried along with him.
“Why are you crying?”
“Sob…… Hyung is sad……”
At first hyung cried, but later I cried more, so hyung comforted me. Because he was more like an angel than Komom, I gave hyung the four-leaf clover that Komom found.
“Are you giving this to me?”
“Yeah. Hyung, marry me.”
When he heard his name being called from afar, Leo, who became urgent, quickly brought out what he wanted to say.
“What?”
“Since I gave you this, marry me when we grow up. I’ll make you happy. I’ll make sure hyung doesn’t cry.”
“Um, marriage is……”
“I’ll give you a ring later. So marry me.”
