[Come to think of it, Mr. Siwoo hasn’t said anything. Where did you go? Didn’t you say you’re in the car right now? No. What is this. The chat window is going crazy right now. A question came in asking if you two are really dating.]
At Hyunsu’s question about whether they’re dating, Siwoo covered his mouth with his hand. A brief silence flowed. Asking so openly on a broadcast like this? Plus with Yechan right now, the situation was going strangely out of control.
Siwoo looked at Evan, rolling his large eyes around. What should he say at times like this? Should he just smile appropriately and say no? Should he just say they’re friends?
In that short time, numerous words floated through Siwoo’s mind.
If no words went out for more than 3 seconds, it was obvious it would lead to a broadcast accident.
“Our relationship… please check it out on the broadcast.”
Evan, more skilled at broadcasting than Siwoo, deflected Hyunsu’s question while naturally promoting the show at the same time.
[Ah, Mr. Evan. Are you promoting the ‘Journey’ program this way? If you’re going to promote it, please appear once before it airs. Sightings are being posted right now, saying they saw Mr. Yechan and Mr. Siwoo at a rooftop yesterday. Let Mr. Yechan answer this one.]
Like mountain beyond mountain, as soon as Evan skillfully handled the question about his relationship with him, what immediately followed was the story with Yechan. They say stars have no privacy—what happened just yesterday evening was already being talked about.
[Hyunsu hyung, you shouldn’t say it like that. We all filmed together yesterday and people without schedules ate dinner together. The four of us—Hyunsu hyung, Siwoo hyung, Phantom’s Ian and I—ate dinner. Hyunsu hyung went to do radio, and Ian left saying he had another schedule. So the remaining two of us, Siwoo hyung and I, went for drinks.]
[Hmm. Let’s all have drinks together next time. So Mr. Evan and Mr. Siwoo, what’s your dinner menu today? I have to eat after the broadcast too, so I’ll use it as a reference.]
“Why are you so curious about our dinner menu? It seems like you keep asking only about that. We haven’t decided on the dinner menu yet.”
Listening to Yechan smoothly deflect the conversation, Siwoo answered carefully, only rolling his eyes. Since it was a situation where only his voice went out, he was more nervous than usual. He didn’t want to become gossip fodder because of a careless slip of the tongue.
[Was that so? Personally, I recommend gopchang. At this point, I’ll ask. This is a question that keeps coming up. Mr. Siwoo, do you like Mr. Yechan? Or do you like Mr. Evan?]
Along with Hyunsu’s question full of laughter, Yechan’s laughter burst out. Yechan continued, saying there really are people who keep asking this. The road coinciding with rush hour led to congestion, and when the car stopped due to the traffic, Evan’s gaze pierced into Siwoo.
It felt like he was really asking with his eyes, is it Yechan? Is it me?
“Through the ‘Journey’ filming, I met many people including Mr. Hyunsu who’s on the phone right now. Everyone is good people and they treated me so well that we became close. How could there be someone I like more?”
It’s not like ‘do you like mom or dad?’ Siwoo, who turned his head slightly to avoid Evan’s gaze, found the most mainstream answer.
[So you went to the rooftop because you like Yechan?]
When Hyunsu spoke playfully as if interrogating, Siwoo ended up laughing.
“I also went to the rooftop. Everyone.”
It wasn’t a secret that he went to the rooftop with Yechan, so Siwoo, who was about to laugh it off and gloss over it, looked at Evan who suddenly chimed in from the side.
[Then Mr. Yechan, Mr. Evan, and Mr. Siwoo were all together.]
[Ah!! I just got a message from Louis. He says he couldn’t go when we went to eat meat, so let’s go eat again. And he says he’s listening to the radio right now.]
Yechan read the message from Louis.
For whatever reason he connected the call to Evan, the conclusion of the call with rambling questions without such reason ended with asking Siwoo and Evan to appear on the radio broadcast sometime.
At the same time, both their cell phones rang. It was calls from their managers who had just confirmed the phone connection.
“You don’t have to answer. We didn’t say anything special, but they’re calling right away.”
At Evan’s words, Siwoo turned over his cell phone and didn’t answer Jinwook hyung’s call. He slowly recalled the conversation they just had. It seemed like he hadn’t made any particularly problematic comments.
“Me? Or Yechan?”
Siwoo, who had been opening the search bar and typing Evan’s name, didn’t understand his words right away. He was thinking of buying dinner and trying to find food he liked.
“Coco. Me? Or Yechan?”
“Huh? What?”
Having confirmed that Evan likes meat and searching for a decent meat restaurant, Siwoo stopped his searching hand.
“You should obviously say me.”
Is he doing this over that thing Hyunsu hyung asked as a joke just now? Siwoo looked at Evan with an incredulous expression. His handsome side profile looking ahead and driving didn’t match at all with what he was saying.
Exaggerating a bit, Evan was grumbling with looks like he was filming a car commercial. With this kind of behavior and words, what Yechan said yesterday felt like the truth. It seemed like Evan was jealous because he liked him.
“How could I say that on a broadcast? Really, even if it were you, I absolutely couldn’t say it like that on a broadcast.”
“Just say it. Why can’t you?”
“People will misunderstand. Even so, during filming, you only posted my photos and stuff on SNS and didn’t post photos of other members. Everyone’s saying it’s strange. So rather than saying to check our relationship through the broadcast, it would have been better to clearly say we’re friends, something like that.”
“We could be dating.”
“Huh?”
Siwoo, who had been calmly bringing up the part he hadn’t clearly stated earlier, blinked rapidly. We’re friends. We’re friends. Why is he suddenly talking about dating?
“Do you hate me?”
“When did I say I hate you? I said it just now too.”
I don’t hate you. Rather, I like you. Strangely, whenever he had a long conversation with Evan, the atmosphere always became weird. By nature, Siwoo didn’t want problems with anyone. So he always took a step back.
And now was the time for him to keep his mouth shut.
Evan, who seemed like he would say more, also chose to stop the conversation and let out a long sigh. The atmosphere in the car became heavy again.
Even before the phone connection with Hyunsu’s radio just now, they’d bickered about the same topic. With his gaze on the window, Siwoo slightly took off his cap, ran his hand through his hair, and put it back on.
“Evan.”
Siwoo spoke first, but no answer came back.
“You’re handsome, talented, popular, and on top of that, you’re an alpha. Anyway. Um, you’re really really cool. But it seems like we keep having problems over the same topic. So I’ll say it clearly. I like you. As a friend, I want to stay by your side and continue to be close. And I know you think well of me too. We can get along well, right?”
The person who couldn’t stand this uncomfortable situation had to give in. Do I really have to say this so openly? Siwoo’s gaze as he spoke in a mumble was still on the window.
“I know I’m the problem. Isn’t it about time you figured it out?”
At Evan’s lowered voice, Siwoo frowned. He just said let’s get along well, but his tone still had an edge. He had no idea what he was supposed to figure out.
“You know my pheromones.”
Siwoo, who couldn’t understand easily, turned his gaze to him at Evan’s added words. How would I know your pheromones? As a beta, he couldn’t smell his pheromones even if he died and woke up. This kind of thing related to traits wasn’t something Siwoo could do anything about.
If he was asking this much, it seemed like he should answer as Yechan had explained. That refreshing and chilly scent. Since he’d explained it that way, that’s what he knew. He wondered if he should add on the explanation that pheromones can’t be defined by one scent anyway.
“Never mind. Let’s pretend I didn’t say that just now. And I’m sorry for acting weird. We’ll be able to get along well. I’ll try harder.”
While he was choosing an appropriate answer, Evan ended the conversation. The scent he’d felt very briefly at the filming set earlier came to mind, and Siwoo rubbed under his nose with his index finger.
He wanted to read his emotions from his expression, but he couldn’t tell anything from the side profile concentrating on driving. Only the heavy energy that had settled in the car disappeared. On the radio that was still on, Yechan and Hyunsu were still laughing and chatting.
“Want to eat meat?”
Siwoo asked while searching for meat restaurants on his cell phone again. It was a way to resolve the subtle situation. Bringing up the most ordinary topic casually.
“How about sushi?”
He’d said it meaning to eat meat, but what came back was sushi. Evan’s voice, which had been edgy, also contained its usual soft warmth.
“Why? You like meat.”
While questioning the unexpected sushi menu, Siwoo typed the word sushi into the search bar.
“You ate beef yesterday.”
“Evan. I really don’t understand you. It’s like you’re being considerate of me the way you would a lover?”
Because I ate beef yesterday, so sushi today—shaking his head side to side, Siwoo made an offhand remark. Even so, he didn’t stop searching.
“Maybe?”
As soon as Siwoo’s potentially embarrassing words ended, Evan’s answer was heard, and the sound of Siwoo’s small laugh rang through the car.
“So you want to eat sushi? How about here?”
“What? You were looking for restaurants?”
Siwoo, who had been looking at his cell phone the whole time, showed him the search window at Evan’s words.
“It’s fine. Would I have asked to go eat without thinking? We’re almost there.”
