In the past, Taeon might have sneered that Sunjeong could do that simply because he was Sunjeong, because he was a person who had everything that allowed Sunjeong to be Sunjeong.
But Taeon now knew. Just as he considered it natural to be sitting on the ground like this, Sunjeong could also have just naturally accepted his life.
Except that Sunjeong chose not to do so.
Taeon, who was reaching for his cigarette pack to smoke another cigarette after finishing one, soon stopped.
Even without the time to smoke one more cigarette, Taeon could know.
The choice Taeon should make at this moment, the path Taeon should walk, he already knew.
***
Sunjeong, who had carefully examined his face reflected on his phone screen from various angles, entered Cafe Sentence with a fresh expression.
“Boss.”
“Our Sunjeong, it’s been a while. I thought I’d forget your face.”
Looking at Juseong who welcomed him as always, Sunjeong also smiled brightly.
Yet his two eyes sharply scanned the inside of the store.
It was now 6 PM. It was the time when Taeon should be guarding the counter as always. But Taeon was not visible.
“What about Taeon?”
When he asked since it didn’t seem like he’d just stepped away briefly, Juseong asked with an even more surprised face.
“Taeon only works from 9 AM to 6 PM now. He said he has things to do in the evening.”
“Ah, really?”
“There are things you two don’t know about each other. Ah, Sunjeong. There are two pieces left from the plum tart I made yesterday, want to take some?”
“That would be great.”
Juseong really made desserts well. Even though Taeon wasn’t there, Sunjeong smiled proudly, having gotten a piece of plum tart thanks to his diligent steps.
But a faint shadow fell on Sunjeong’s face as he quietly watched Juseong packaging the dessert.
Lately, Taeon had been contacting him on his own without Sunjeong having to contact him first. Even that was trivial content no different from messages Sunjeong’s maternal grandfather sent to Sunjeong, like whether he ate, what the weather was like, how to dress, but it didn’t matter at all.
Yesterday too, they definitely had a brief message conversation about dinner, but naturally there was no news that his part-time work hours had changed.
Sunjeong smiled and thanked Juseong, who packaged the leftover dessert prettily even though he was just giving it away.
After receiving the small cake box, Sunjeong also ordered one cup of coffee to drink together and another coffee to drink later.
The sound of grinding beans rang loudly from the bean machine. At the same time, Sunjeong’s head also spun round and round.
Yoon Taeon, what the hell?
He could have asked Juseong, who was handing over two cups of coffee, but he didn’t particularly want to. What Sunjeong wanted wasn’t each of Taeon’s whereabouts, but Taeon who would tell him those whereabouts himself.
For now, he didn’t want to think deeply or anything. Transferring to the College of Education required quite high grades. The grades for the Department of Education were okay with relatively lower grades than other departments in the College of Education, but even that was very high grades for Sunjeong.
Sunjeong had wasted his college freshman year and sophomore year all because of Taeon.
It wasn’t that he didn’t attend lectures or miss exams, but because he did everything half-heartedly as he pleased, his grades were extremely average. If he was going to graduate as is, it didn’t matter, but if he transferred departments, it became a problem.
If he did well enough on this semester’s exams to plaster them with A+s, it would be somewhat okay. If not, he’d have to prepare even until next year. Since an extended semester enrollment was as good as confirmed anyway, Sunjeong was even thinking about taking the college entrance exam again.
If only that incident with Taeon hadn’t happened…
It was certain that Sunjeong would have had no reason to be immersed in studying to this extent.
Starting with Sunjeong’s father, who was the fourth son of the former chairman and had no significant presence. He formally operated one chemical fiber company he inherited and also worked hard to take care of the family.
If there was a difference between Sunjeong’s father, who was like an ordinary head of household, and other heads of households, it was probably the fact that he possessed assets more than enough to give even to his youngest son like Sunjeong and still have leftovers.
Moreover, because of what Sunjeong experienced in his teens, his parents had no particular expectations for Sunjeong. They just wished “Please just grow up healthy,” so he believed that just living and breathing day by day, living healthily, was being filial.
So he had planned to completely turn Taeon’s heart toward him and play around thoughtlessly and lavishly like before.
Sunjeong realized once again that this was his own dream, separate from Taeon.
When Sunjeong arrived home holding a plum tart and two cups of coffee in both hands, he was relieved that Jinhyeok and Yoonwoo weren’t home.
The reason Jinhyeok’s face became full of fresh bruises that even Taeon was shocked to see not long ago was because his relationship with Yoonwoo, whom he’d lied to his father about breaking up with several times, was discovered.
Yet because he ultimately didn’t say he’d break up with Yoonwoo, his face was in that state.
Even though several months had passed, his face didn’t brighten as easily as before.
Instead, Sunjeong had to witness Jinhyeok and Yoonwoo’s conversations and displays of affection that were even deeper than before.
He didn’t want to see that sight, so he usually studied at the library, but he’d inevitably moved his steps home because of the cake and coffee.
Sunjeong transferred the coffee to a tumbler, moved the plum tart to a plate, changed clothes, and washed his hands.
Even why Taeon changed his part-time hours was a later problem.
When Sunjeong, who had psyched up his easily distracted mind, was about to bury his face in the lecture textbook again, his inconsiderate phone rang noisily.
[Go Sunjeong]
It was Jinhyeok.
[There’s a shitty fact and a somewhat better fact]
[Which do you want to hear first]
Jinhyeok was the type with too long a preamble before getting to the point.
Sunjeong, who furrowed his brow, was already slightly annoyed and quickly typed content on the screen.
[Summarize both in one line and send at once]
[Okie]
Unlike the quick reply, Jinhyeok didn’t quickly send a message again. An indication kept appearing as if he was typing and erasing something. As Jinhyeok said, the shitty fact seemed to be a really shitty fact and the somewhat better fact seemed to be only a somewhat better fact.
[Shitty thing: came to see a movie with Yoonwoo but Yoon Taeon is sitting at a cafe with one omega the whole time Better thing: when we made eye contact with Yoonwoo and me he casually waved hello]
Sunjeong, who quietly looked into the message window, soon chuckled.
I guess there are things that even suppressants can’t solve.
Even an omega could simply be a friend.
Or, is it someone whose number he got at Sentence?
Various thoughts soon floated around messily in Sunjeong’s head and began to confuse him.
He hadn’t really thought about this kind of case. That is, Taeon spending time with other omegas instead of Sunjeong.
How many omegas had Taeon spent nights with so far? No, the expression “how many” was as good as reducing the facts. Probably even Taeon himself couldn’t properly gauge it.
But that was truly a matter of the body. Sunjeong knew. He knew the fact that even though Taeon could spend nights with certain omegas, he wasn’t the type to share daytime with them.
Thinking this made him annoyed. The fact that the Taeon Sunjeong liked was this kind of person.
Sunjeong unconsciously pouted his lips.
“I’m going to be promiscuous too.”
He’d said such words to Taeon once. It was words he’d poured out in rising sadness, but he’d also tried to put it into action once.
If Taeon hadn’t stopped him from sleeping with that strangely bleached man at that time, what would Sunjeong be like now?
Well, what would really happen anyway? He’d just feel a bit bad probably.
Anyway, since Sunjeong was always taking suppressants regularly, relationships with others inevitably had to involve love rather than instinctive acts, or rather, could only be something he wanted to be that way.
The reason Sunjeong endured Taeon was because of the one emotion Sunjeong wanted that wasn’t permeated in the acts Taeon committed. But Taeon’s heart, sitting across from an omega in a cafe in broad daylight, was now something Sunjeong couldn’t properly read.
After becoming dazed for a while with a heavy heart, Sunjeong soon let out a big sigh.
Never interpret it alone in my head.
This was one of the lessons he’d learned countless times while liking Taeon, who clearly had never fully expressed his heart outside his mouth even once.
That’s why Sunjeong had firmly told Taeon several times that you like me. Each time, Taeon, who was much more prickly than now, denied it even using harsh words, but clearly didn’t notice that his pupils wavered and couldn’t hide the truth.
Rather than falling into all sorts of delusional thoughts alone, it was better to face the real Taeon.
Studying today was ruined anyway. Well, he’d been studying like crazy lately, so it seemed okay to give himself freedom.
