He wasn’t an omega. He took out his phone and searched for Ocean again.
It clearly said beta in the profile.
Suddenly his chest felt stuffy. It was sadness. Beneath it, very faintly, joy and gladness were hidden, but what spread the most was grief-stained sadness.
Since his right hand was held by him, Siwoo awkwardly pressed his left chest with his left hand. Then he turned his head and stared at Evan.
This emotion isn’t mine, is it? It’s yours, right?
He wanted to ask that, but all he could do was bite the soft flesh inside his lower lip.
If it had been a few hours ago, he would have confidently asked and known the answer, but now he couldn’t.
The scent that had been gently permeating the air gradually grew thicker. Evan’s fingertips holding the steering wheel moved to a steady rhythm. In the space filled only with silence, tapping sounds echoed.
“Coco.”
Evan’s firmly closed lips moved and brought out a word too familiar to Siwoo in a voice too familiar to him.
Afraid the tangled words would burst out on their own, Siwoo quickly turned his head to look out the window.
“I’m tired. Is there somewhere with nice scenery where I can leisurely look around and eat something delicious?”
The heavy emotion pressing on his chest disappeared. At the same time, the thick scent dispersed.
There must be a reason. There must be a reason why he could feel these things.
What kind of time would we need to be able to ask such questions again?
Since he’d turned his head toward the window, Siwoo, who could hide his expression, stuck out the tip of his tongue and ran it over his dry lips.
“Wasn’t it first class? Ah. Should I have just chartered a private plane?”
“The flight was comfortable. I just want to rest a bit.”
He couldn’t say it was because of him, because he’d suddenly regressed.
“Rest aside, you want something delicious. Is there anything in particular you want to eat?”
At Siwoo’s words, Evan first let out a long sigh. Then when he soon asked what he wanted to eat, Siwoo just shrugged his shoulders.
“This is my first time in England. You take care of everything.”
Watching the scenery different from Seoul pass by, Siwoo answered halfheartedly.
I’ll just be like this for a bit. I still need time.
I’m having a hard time comforting and taking care of you.
What could he do? That he’d regressed again. Then this life too had to be lived diligently and faithfully.
Evan didn’t give any answer. Siwoo, who had been continuously looking out the window, sneakily rolled only his eyes to steal a glance at Evan.
His profile as he drove looking only ahead was too familiar. Because it was like this just a few days ago too.
The two were the same.
What had changed was the situation.
Since adapting to the changed situation came first now, the two had no time to look back at each other.
So neither Siwoo who obediently followed Evan, nor Evan who moved with Siwoo obediently following him, felt anything strange.
Since autonomous driving started, the two hadn’t unlocked their interlaced fingers. When Evan released autonomous driving and drove himself, they briefly separated, but when entering autonomous driving mode, the two found each other’s hands without saying who went first.
“Evan.”
“Yeah.”
“Evan.”
“Yeah.”
“Evan.”
“What?”
Siwoo kept calling him, and Evan’s gaze, which had given the same answer several times, briefly touched Siwoo then turned to the front again.
He just wanted to call him. Hearing the short answer felt like his breathing cleared.
“Where are we going?”
Since he couldn’t keep just calling his name, Siwoo asked a question. But this time what came back wasn’t an answer but a faint smile.
“What. I’m asking where we’re going?”
Once again, what came back instead of an answer was still a smiling face.
“Hey! Evan Lewis!”
“Will you know if I tell you?”
At the playful voice, Siwoo’s eyebrows moved slightly.
“What?”
With the words that he’d know when they got there, Evan didn’t tell him the destination.
Stopped at a signal, Evan kept his gaze on Siwoo.
The faint smile that had been lightly spread on Evan’s face as he watched Siwoo looking at the unfamiliar streets without paying him any attention slowly lifted.
Soon his jawline stood out as he became expressionless. He’d bitten down hard on his molars.
His jumbled mood from before seeing Siwoo was now heading toward the worst. He was anxious that the regression point had changed. The changed situation was also unsettling.
And the moment the arrival gate door opened and he saw Siwoo walking toward him, he knew clearly what had made him so anxious and uneasy.
It had disappeared.
The fresh and sweet plum scent that always circled around Siwoo. His pheromones that revealed his mood without hiding it at all had disappeared.
He approached close but couldn’t feel it at all.
Now he couldn’t feel Siwoo. He couldn’t feel his emotions, his pheromones at all. Along with that came fear.
He’d read his emotions, watched his atmosphere, and matched himself to him.
Everything had returned to nothing. From their relationship to everything.
And he didn’t know.
Kim Siwoo. He’d been certain he was his pair, a hidden omega.
But now…
As if bored, Siwoo yawned small. Then watching him smile sheepishly, Evan’s pheromones surged on their own.
When alone with Siwoo, Evan didn’t control his pheromones. It would have been greed wanting him to recognize his pheromones. And being disappointed at him not noticing at all was also his share.
“Evan.”
Siwoo’s gaze, which had been looking out the window and yawning just moments ago, reached him.
And Evan hid his raging pheromones. It was a reflexive action that came out unconsciously.
Because they were alphas and omegas thoroughly educated to hide their pheromones…
The moment he withdrew his pheromones, Siwoo’s gaze turned back outside the window.
Siwoo was rubbing his nose and chin with one hand.
Siwoo’s appearance had changed. His black hair that had seemed so innocent as if he’d never dyed or permed it once had changed to light brown.
And it was curly as if permed. It felt like looking at a very cute brown poodle.
Evan’s gaze, which had been watching that round, round back of his head that looked curly soft and fluffy and made him want to touch it, now reached his ears.
Seeing the flashy earrings dangling in clusters, the anxiety and nervousness that had been wrapping around him slowly disappeared.
Siwoo was Siwoo.
He was the Coco he knew.
His liking for accessories, the clothes he was wearing now, everything was explaining that he was the Siwoo he knew. That nothing had changed.
“What, Coco?”
At the belated question, Siwoo didn’t answer. The signal happened to change, so Evan slowly lifted his foot from the brake and stepped on the accelerator.
The way Siwoo treated him hadn’t changed at all. As Yechan said, whether the flight was difficult, he looked tired at first, but soon showed his usual self.
Even just now, the two had conversed as they usually did.
Just because the pheromones disappeared, even if Siwoo wasn’t a hidden omega, nothing had changed.
He was his pair.
Evan’s stiff face slowly relaxed. There was no need to rush.
He didn’t know when he might regress again, but it wouldn’t be right now.
Then that was enough.
It was enough to have time to be with Siwoo.
“When you come to England, is there anything you wanted to see or try?”
“I do want to go to places like old castles once.”
Siwoo now answered without looking at him. His gaze was on the rapidly changing street scenery. He wasn’t hurt by such things.
A faint smile hung on Evan’s face that had been close to expressionless until now.
“Old castles?”
“Yeah. But right now, I think anywhere quiet would be fine.”
“Somewhere quiet like an old castle with delicious food?”
Evan reorganized Siwoo’s words and asked back, and heard the small answer ‘yeah’. The faint smile soon changed to a mischievous expression. But Siwoo, who was only looking out the window, didn’t notice Evan’s change.
Honestly, Evan also didn’t know where to go right now. He’d had to get away from the airport first, and since he said he was hungry, he’d been heading toward the downtown area. But from the conversation just now, a clear destination of where to go had formed.
“Coco.”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t be surprised.”
“At what?”
“Whatever it is.”
“Evan. I think you’re underestimating me, I don’t get surprised by most things now. There are so many surprising things. Really, if you make me surprised, well… we can even make a bet. What should I do for you?”
Siwoo said with a laugh. Was regular regression boring so they added this kind of event?
Did they feel sorry for him? So they let him be in the same group as Evan to gain some popularity, get close and make some memories? Siwoo was thinking about such things.
“A kiss.”
At the words bet and the words about doing something, one word burst from Evan’s mouth.
“What are you saying?”
Only after hearing the word kiss did Siwoo look at Evan.
“You said a bet.”
“Hey! You do that kind of thing with a lover. Why would you and I do that?”
The faces of those having this frivolous conversation had smiles hanging on them. What was important about regression? What was important about complicated emotions? We just need to be together like this. If we’re in a relationship having this nonsensical conversation, then…
Siwoo, answering Evan’s words matter-of-factly, clenched and unclenched his fist. Let’s not think hard. Let’s think comfortably. In the end, he would be the one hiding it, but one person suffering was enough.
“We can just be lovers.”
The moment he heard Evan’s words, Siwoo laughed out loud. He laughed really loudly.
How could a person be so consistent? This conversation, they’d had it before. Also in a car.
That day when they’d unexpectedly gotten a phone connection to the radio Hyunsu hyung did came to mind.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Just because.”
What had he answered back then? He seemed to have ignored his words or changed the subject to something else.
Evan back then seemed to have gotten quite angry, but this time the conversation just didn’t continue beyond those words. A pop song came on the radio, and Siwoo again put his gaze on the unfamiliar scenery.
But even until then, Siwoo had no idea.
About the tremendous thing that would soon befall him.
