As soon as the broadcast ended, Hyunsu came and they moved to a second location, but even then Evan didn’t come. Even as it approached midnight, he didn’t come. Because of their schedule starting tomorrow morning, Ian and Louis were dragged away by their manager while getting scolded, and Yechan and Luca were having a serious conversation about something that seemed so important.
No matter how you looked at it, they both seemed drunk and were repeating what they had already said, but either way, the two were truly serious.
“Siwoo. Did you drink some? You don’t seem very drunk though.”
At Hyunsu’s words, Siwoo smiled and filled his glass with alcohol. I don’t get drunk easily unless it’s a somaek bomb. On top of that, they had been chattering noisily the whole time, and they had filled their stomachs heartily with eel, so he was in a pleasantly tipsy state.
“I drank enough to feel good. But hyung, you’re just starting, what should we do? It would be good if Evan at least came quickly.”
“That guy’s schedule is really a killer schedule. I don’t know how he lives like that. They say Alphas have good stamina, but he’s always beyond that.”
When he picked up a piece of fruit and emptied his glass, Siwoo filled his glass again.
“You drink some too.”
“I’ll rest a bit first, I’m really unsightly when I’m drunk.”
“It’s not that bad. If worse comes to worst, we can just call the manager, what’s the problem?”
“I’m telling you it’s a nuisance.”
Siwoo picked up one round rice puff. This is perfect. My mouth is bored, and it’s low in calories too.
“So did you eat the plums?”
At Hyunsu’s words, Siwoo let out a chuckle. Why does everyone only talk about plums? That became a problem because it even made it onto the radio. Honestly speaking, I don’t really like plums that much. It would be awkward to say that Evan had just given him one earlier and he ate it, so he just nodded.
“You two ate sushi well together?”
“How do you know that, hyung?”
“You think there are secrets in what you guys do? SNS is scary, man. So you need to say something to Evan. In this situation, if a scandal breaks out, only you’ll die. He won’t take even a single hit to his image.”
“We’re just kind of close. I guess I looked pitiful to him.”
Reality is reality. Just as Evan’s manager said, what wasn’t right wasn’t right. It was really too big to tackle relying on just one regression. He felt so ridiculous for getting excited over a single plum. What’s the big deal about that? What’s the big deal about a plum?
“At least since you’re a Beta and he’s an Alpha, people think that’s why. It’ll be a bit noisy when it airs on broadcast. PD Lee is a good person but really. He’s like a ghost when it comes to knowing what makes money and becomes an issue. You honestly thought all your stuff would be cut today, right?”
Bitterness washed over him and Siwoo nodded. He knew what it meant that his interview, which he thought would be edited out, came out first. After Siwoo’s came Evan’s interview. After the seven members’ interviews ended, sure enough Siwoo’s airport appearance came out first, and again he was paired with Evan. It was really amazing editing skills.
He was going to stop drinking, but muttering quietly, Siwoo didn’t refuse the glass Hyunsu offered and drank it.
“If you don’t have any other thoughts, appear on some broadcasts and stuff. I’m saying this because sometimes when I see you, you really seem like a kid who’s transcended the whole world. Doesn’t the company say anything?”
“Hyung. I’m going to the military.”
Fiddling with the glass with his fingertips, Siwoo blurted it out as if talking about someone else. Was he drunk? The words he had kept pressed down in his heart came out. Everyone said that. You have to grab the opportunity when it comes.
He didn’t know that story, which only the agency knew, would come out so futilely like this.
“What?”
When Hyunsu suddenly shouted, Luca and Yechan’s gazes turned toward them.
“Shh. Nobody knows this. It’s been discussed with the company, so just pretend you don’t know.”
Whispering in a small voice, he firmly grasped one of Hyunsu’s hands under the table.
“Are you crazy? Did you get shot in the head? Or has the company gone mad?”
Hyunsu, who had emptied his glass, spoke rapidly as if shooting. Well, it is a surprising story. Twenty-three years old, soon to be twenty-four. Not such an old age, yet going to the military at a time when he was about to gain popularity.
“Hyung. If you do this, it feels like I told you for nothing. You have to keep the secret. It’s all been arranged to announce it on the day I enlist. If word gets out before then, it’s one hundred percent you, hyung, who leaked it.”
It was his own words. So because he had to clean it up somehow, Siwoo continued speaking quickly.
“I really want to go inside your head and look. Why are you doing this? Really.”
Siwoo’s eyes were calm as he watched Hyunsu, who felt more sorry than him even though it was his own matter, and drank alcohol repeatedly. At first it was an impulsive choice. But now he thought it was a good choice. Even now there are so many moments when his heart flutters like this, he didn’t have the confidence to stay next to Evan for long under the name of friend.
“Why are you acting like you’re the one going? Going to the military was the original plan, ‘Journey’ was the variable in my life.”
Crunch crunch, he liked the texture of the rice puff that made noise, so he picked up one more. Looking at the round thing, he wet his fingertip with a bit of saliva and poked a hole in the middle for no reason.
“Ah. Hyung, really your radio. It’s more like that because you asked weird questions then. What’s Eco? Are you dating? Yechan? Evan? Those kinds of questions are the problem.”
Because it was dangerous to keep talking about the military with Hyunsu, Siwoo quickly brought up a different topic.
“If you had seen our radio chatroom then, you couldn’t say that. It was really out of control. I’ve never seen messages go up that fast while doing radio. On top of that, it was filled with those kinds of questions.”
He playfully patted Hyunsu’s shoulder as he was about to get excited again. On top of that, the comment was added that it was because of you and Evan, who can’t even be booked. Whether his serious talk with Luca had ended, Yechan came to the side. Then he leaned on Siwoo with his big build.
“Hyunsu-hyung. If you say anything to Siwoo-hyung, Evan-hyung will scold you.”
Reeking of alcohol while hugging him and rubbing against him, Yechan seemed like a big retriever, so Siwoo raised his hand and smoothly stroked his head.
“Scold me for what? I’m the older hyung.”
“Hey, move.”
“Huh? You’re here?”
Yechan was startled by the action of someone tapping his leg and raised his head. Along with him, Hyunsu smiled slightly and looked up at the man standing there creating a shadow over them.
At the same time as Yechan, who was stuck to Siwoo, separated, Evan filled that spot.
“Hand.”
“I don’t want to.”
The tipsy alcohol made Siwoo bold.
“Give me your hand.”
“I said I don’t want to.”
“Please give me your hand.”
“I said I don’t want to.”
Both Evan saying these words and Siwoo had the corners of their mouths slowly rising. Saying it’s because he’s not drunk, Hyunsu emptied several glasses in succession.
“Will you give me your hand, or will you open your mouth?”
“I don’t want either?”
“You really don’t listen.”
With those words, Evan’s large fist opened in front of Siwoo’s eyes, and one ripe plum appeared.
“Hey! Don’t seduce with plums.”
“At least you know I’m seducing you.”
“You think I’ll fall for plums?”
“Then. What should I do to make you fall?”
Contrary to the bickering words, Siwoo’s small hand quickly took the plum. Flushed cheeks and slightly unfocused pupils. He probably thinks he’s speaking clearly, but at the slurred pronunciation, Evan let out a small sigh.
Would it have been better when he was completely drunk? This had nothing to do with being drunk. It’s just because it’s Siwoo. Because it’s Kim Siwoo. Only Coco.
“Have your lovers’ quarrel somewhere else. Isn’t the concept of having to hide or be careful not installed in your brain at all?”
Hyunsu sighed and held out a new glass to Evan.
“Does it look like that?”
Looking at that cheeky smiling face, Hyunsu filled the glass full with alcohol. Siwoo, who had been bickering with Evan who had just appeared, pulled his body back and leaned comfortably against the sofa. Then he nibbled on the plum that had come into his hand. Siwoo’s eyelids blinked languidly as he tasted the sweet flavor.
“I’m glad it looked like that, I really like Coco a lot. What about Coco?”
After clinking glasses with Hyunsu and drinking, Evan took the plum from Siwoo’s hand as he struggled to open his heavy eyelids. He had eaten about half of the juicy plum. Picking up a wet tissue next to him and wiping Siwoo’s wet hand, he said,
“I like you too.”
Like a doll that spits out programmed words when pressed, a murmur softly emerged from Siwoo’s mouth. Along with it, his small head tilted to the side with a tap.
Evan let the sleeping Siwoo lean on his shoulder and talked with the members. When they met, the stories they told were similar. Concert preparations, album preparations, gossiping about broadcasting station PDs, and stories heard here and there.
When Siwoo’s head, sleeping while drooling, wobbled with a nod, Evan simply wrapped his arm around his shoulder and pulled him more into his embrace.
“You act carefully.”
Unless they were idiots, they wouldn’t be unaware of that subtlety between the two. They weren’t just anyone, they were people who had watched their meeting from the beginning. Even before that, they had already known Evan for several years. They didn’t know about Siwoo, but they thought they knew quite a bit about Evan.
“Hyung. Don’t cross the line.”
The moment he said something, a warning came. Tsk, this was Evan. Those kinds of actions he had just done toward Siwoo were things you couldn’t expect from him.
In a fit of anger, Hyunsu was about to say that Siwoo was going to the military, but he stood up from his seat. I’ll go outside, get some fresh air, and smoke a cigarette. Either way, no words would work on an Alpha whose eyes had rolled back. He felt sorry for Siwoo who had to endure that.
Either way, the media would work hard to cover this as deep friendship, bromance. Unless it was Alpha*Alpha or Alpha*Omega, it wasn’t treated as a scandal. Moreover, Evan, the representative Alpha, and a Beta? That wasn’t the path the media wanted. Absurdly, these two would be covered up by those around them until they stepped forward and openly held a press conference saying, “We’re dating.”
The problem was that Evan was the type who would openly hold a press conference saying, “We’re dating.”
