The friend who had accompanied Jinwoo came from a relatively modest family compared to her husband’s, so she had to get his permission for everything. If she hadn’t contacted him the day before to say she was free, Jinwoo would have come out alone today.
“It’s an exhibition I’ve been looking forward to, and I thought you’d enjoy it too. Your family deals in artwork as well, doesn’t it.”
“Yeah. On a small scale, though.”
He had always loved exhibitions and performances, regularly going out of his way to find things to see — and this was an exhibition he had discovered while browsing online shortly after first coming back to Korea. It was a short-run special exhibition, and he was certain that if he missed this opportunity, he would never get to see it again.
When else would a special exhibition of a late businessman’s personal collection — a man who had died two years ago — ever be held?
“Apparently his villa was basically a vault.”
The rumor that the villa was filled with rare pieces that couldn’t be found anywhere else turned out to be true. Otherwise, there was no way people would be saying that even after filling this sprawling exhibition hall, there was still plenty that hadn’t made it into the show.
This was a personal collection that could only be seen here, in Korea. It was said that the businessman’s family had been so possessive that it had taken over a year just to persuade them — that said everything.
“Ah! I’m so excited!”
The excitement carried on even after they entered the venue. Not a single thread of worry about the awkward, unfamiliar cohabitation with Yuhan, or about the heat cycle that was fast approaching. Although being surrounded by crowds meant an onslaught of pheromones that made it hard to breathe deeply without a twinge of discomfort, she could forget all of that once she lost herself in the artwork.
Getting swept along in the crowd, Jinwoo ended up separated from the friend he’d come with. He figured he’d just reach out after leaving, so he didn’t think much of it — but in the press of people, he accidentally stepped on a stranger’s foot.
“I’m sorry.”
Startled, he pulled his foot back and quickly apologized. A brush of alpha pheromones grazed the tip of his nose. They felt somehow familiar… Before he could quite put his finger on it, the scent scattered in an instant, and he found himself looking up at the face of the foot’s owner.
“Oh…”
He looks really familiar. Just as that thought crossed his mind, the other person called Jinwoo’s name.
“Hey — are you Hyeon Jinwoo, by any chance?”
“Pardon?”
It wasn’t as if he was wearing a school uniform with a name tag, so how did this person know his name. It had to be connected to why the face seemed familiar, but no matter how hard he searched his memory, he was certain this man was a complete stranger.
“Who are you?”
So the question was only fair.
“Ah. I guess we haven’t met. I’m Do Hajin.”
Only then did he understand why the man had felt so familiar. Do Hajin — he was Yuhan’s half-brother.
That family was a strange one. Yuhan had been born to a mother who was never legally registered as a wife, and it was clear he would never have existed in the world at all if not for the distinction of being a dominant alpha. His father had loved Yuhan’s mother; Hajin’s mother, much like Jinwoo himself, had been brought into the family through a transaction of interests between households.
There was a reason Yuhan, despite being the eldest son, was so determined to settle the matter of succession decisively. His younger brother was also dominant — it made sense that he would feel the ground unsteady beneath him.
“Ah… hello. Fancy running into you here.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to the wedding.”
“It happens. Don’t worry about it.”
A conversation had suddenly sprung up between them, and it was more than a little awkward. This was an exhibition hall, and there were plenty of other visitors around. It wasn’t exactly the right place to have a comfortable talk.
Perhaps noticing the awkwardness, Hajin held out his phone with a look. Jinwoo knew well enough what the gesture meant — he was asking for his contact information. He hesitated for a moment, then typed in his number on the unlocked screen and handed it back. It wasn’t as though Hajin was someone he needed to hide his number from, and he decided this was simply the better option for now.
Hajin gave a quick wink, as if to say he’d be in touch soon, and disappeared into the crowd.
“Hey! Where did you go!”
His friend, who had vanished somewhere, gave him a thump on the shoulder, and Jinwoo turned around on instinct.
“Oh? Where did you go?”
“I thought you were following right behind me and just kept walking ahead.”
Giving a vague reply, Jinwoo turned it over in his mind. He’d only thought the pheromones were similar, but there was a physical resemblance too. It seemed the father’s genes ran strong — if you didn’t know they were half-brothers, you’d easily take them for full brothers.
“Running into all sorts of people here.”
“Who?”
“My husband’s brother.”
He hadn’t even seen the man at the wedding, so running into him somewhere like this had left him a little dazed. He knew almost nothing about him, but the man hadn’t seemed like a bad sort.
That was why he’d brought it up to Yuhan without much thought. But the reaction was decidedly not good.
“Try not to respond to his messages, if you can help it.”
“What? Why?”
“He’s not a good person.”
His assessment of his own brother was blunt.
From the way Yuhan habitually looked out for others, it didn’t seem like he and his brother were on particularly bad terms — so this was unexpected. Was it alright to ask for more details?
He was still weighing it when Yuhan, perhaps reading his expression, let out a quiet sigh and opened his mouth.
“He’s greedy. When he can’t get what he wants, he can turn vicious.”
It wasn’t the voice of someone who had watched from a distance — it was the voice of someone who had experienced it firsthand. Jinwoo had only spent around five minutes with Hajin, so he was in no position to make a judgment about the man. Yuhan, who had lived alongside him for far longer, would know him far better. He could dimly imagine what the two brothers’ childhood must have looked like.
To hear more than this would be overstepping, an invasion of privacy — so Jinwoo just nodded and changed the subject.
“You know my heat cycle is in a few days.”
“Of course.”
Sitting side by side on the living room sofa like this, talking — it was a new rule they had made. Even without affection for each other, treating each other as though the other person didn’t exist was too bleak — it had started with that suggestion from Yuhan. Jinwoo, who had thought that kind of distance was perfectly fine between them, had nonetheless agreed in part, and so these little moments had come to exist.
Thanks to that, Jinwoo had managed to learn a few things about Yuhan.
That he occasionally drank whiskey or traditional liquor before going to sleep. That he never attended company dinners. Truly, a dependable and thoroughly uninteresting man.
“My cycle is almost always on schedule, but I’ve never spent this long in the same space as an alpha before. There might be variables.”
“Yes, I’ve noted that. I’ll keep it in mind.”
His demeanor had loosened quite a bit since the early days, but Yuhan’s way of speaking remained what it was. Did executives at major corporations have some kind of affliction that made it impossible to speak without stiff, formal language? No matter how much time passed, he didn’t think he’d ever get used to that speech pattern.
With that, everything that needed to be said had been said. Now, sharing a bed with him was truly just around the corner.
“If the pain gets too bad to manage, just take one of the milder suppressants.”
This kind of consideration did more harm than good. He understood the intent, but at the very least, Jinwoo found the words far from welcome.
“You’re aware they can also act as contraceptives, depending on the type.”
“It varies by the medication.”
Was he possibly thinking of going out and buying the medication himself?
“I’ll have my secretary prepare something. Don’t push through it unnecessarily.”
He’d half-suspected it, and there it was. His goodwill extended exactly that far and no further. It was obviously a matter of keeping the omega who would bear his child in good condition — managing it in advance so nothing went wrong. What was I even expecting — Jinwoo was startled to find himself feeling hurt. There was a limit to how much a person could like someone.
“Sure, let’s do that.”
A sulky answer slipped out, but he didn’t particularly feel like reining it in. Either way, it was obvious Yuhan would maintain that same even voice and composure no matter how Jinwoo reacted. How can someone be so entirely driven by self-interest.
As he lifted himself from where he’d sunk into the sofa, a look followed him — where are you going?
“That’s enough of today’s delightful little tea party. I’ll be heading off to bed now.”
If he’d had any will to soften his words, the sarcasm from a moment ago wouldn’t have come out either. Part of it was that with the heat cycle drawing so close, keeping his emotions in check was harder than usual — but more than that, to keep himself from building pointless expectations toward Yuhan, who could be warm one moment and stiff the next, this was the best he could do.
