Chapter 20. So, We (4)
Had he been dreaming? Dohyeong thought for a moment whether this was when you’d use the phrase “a spring dream in one night.”
When he opened his eyes, Haesung had left, and Yuchan and Wootae were sitting in the living room with quite serious expressions.
Wootae was fine since he was a beta, but Yuchan was an alpha. Anxious that his pheromones might affect him, he couldn’t move at all, but Yuchan smiled brightly and shook his head.
“I took suppressants. It’s okay, Dohyeong-ah.”
So sit here. At the following small voice, he smiled awkwardly and took a seat next to Wootae.
He could see disappointment in Yuchan’s expression, but that too couldn’t be helped. No matter how much suppressants he had taken, there weren’t many people who could easily overcome and defeat their instincts.
After Dohyeong sat down, a suffocating silence flowed. No one spoke first, and no one could open their mouth first.
“Nothing happened with Jung Haesung, right?”
When Wootae, who had been pondering for a while, spoke first, Dohyeong fidgeted with his clasped hands.
“…Yeah. Nothing happened.”
“Ha… Right, if you say so, then that’s how it is. But still.”
“Hyung, don’t worry so much. I said nothing happened.”
“I’m sorry, Dohyeong-ah.”
“No, hyung. Really, nothing happened.”
“I should have answered the phone. What’s so important about sleep? Stupid bastard, I should die, Ji Wootae….”
The more Wootae’s self-reproach continued, the heavier Dohyeong’s heart became.
He should have informed him that Haesung was there, even if late. That was his mistake.
No matter how accustomed Haesung had become to his pheromones, they were an alpha and an omega. Moreover, an omega in heat cycle and an alpha with the possibility of rut.
“Don’t the suppressants work? Should we go to the hospital again?”
Dohyeong shook his head at Wootae’s worried question. He didn’t forget to smile as well.
“No, it’s not that…. Yesterday when I came home and tried to take medicine, it didn’t work well. I was dizzy and my body….”
In the middle of speaking, he realized Yuchan’s presence and shut his mouth tight.
How could he say it here? The story that his body was burning up and he had tried to comfort himself while thinking of Haesung.
That it was a night when he desperately missed the touch that searched every corner. That it was particularly difficult to satisfy that desire since they had met for the first time in several years.
‘…I absolutely can’t say it in front of Yuchan.’
At Dohyeong gently shaking his head, Yuchan coughed briefly. He seemed to understand without needing to say it. Of course, he wouldn’t know that Dohyeong had thought of Haesung.
Wootae also seemed to catch the meaning and let out a rough sigh without asking further.
“…Dohyeong-ah, I’m asking just in case. No, it’s not that you did anything wrong. But just… really just in case, did you call Jung Haesung?”
“No!”
They say the one who farted gets angry, but he was genuinely wronged and shouted without realizing it.
“Absolutely not.”
At Dohyeong’s firm words, Wootae and Yuchan’s expressions were colored with puzzlement.
“…That person suddenly came to find me. To our house.”
“Jung Haesung came?”
He could see Yuchan’s eyebrows twitch. Wootae’s face also seemed to gradually distort, so Dohyeong quickly added a word.
“I sent a text saying thank you. Because he knew about my heat cycle first and woke me up. I thanked him for that.”
At Dohyeong’s words, Wootae nodded.
That could be. No, it was certainly something that should be done. Aside from being a divorced couple, they were clearly seniors and juniors in the same industry.
However, this sigh was also valid. The fact that he couldn’t check despite being a manager weighed on his heart.
“That was all. After that….”
Though nothing more was said, if it was Jung Haesung.
Not Jung Haesung who had been married to Kim Dohyeong, but Jung Haesung who had been the kind hyung next door.
“He said he was worried about me and came to check. He knew exactly how I go through heat cycles, and he was worried I wouldn’t properly take my medicine.”
That would have been obvious. There had been several such incidents in childhood. Whenever Haesung’s rest period and his heat cycle overlapped, he would always come to the house and check multiple times.
Did you take your medicine? Are the suppressants working well? Is it okay to keep going to the same hospital?
Back then, Dohyeong had fallen into a misconception. That Haesung also had similar feelings to his, which was why he showed such great interest.
If he had awakened to reality even a little back then, he wouldn’t have come this far.
“It’s a habit. That hyung. He’s been like that since childhood.”
“Then he should have just given you medicine and left. Why, why did he have to stay… I can’t understand it.”
Wootae, still negative toward Haesung, shook his head.
Was it that hard to just leave? Did he have to be here? When he clearly knew about the heat cycle.
As Wootae’s inner thoughts were clearly revealed, Dohyeong carefully added a word.
“He made porridge for me. Because I couldn’t eat anything.”
“…You’re not taking Jung Haesung’s side, are you?”
“I’m not taking sides… Let’s just end it as something to be grateful for. Why get worked up and worry about it for nothing? It’s not like he did anything bad.”
While speaking calmly, he was also watching their reactions. Because he himself felt how complacent his words were.
“I’m sorry.”
It was something he should apologize for. How much worry had they felt from receiving Haesung’s contact until coming here? They might have been anxious, trapped in countless thoughts.
For an omega actor in heat cycle, nothing was more dangerous than the presence of an alpha.
“I was too complacent.”
At Dohyeong’s dejected words, Wootae shook his head just as much.
“No, hyung is sorry. I’ll be more careful from now on. I’ll definitely answer the phone too.”
Let’s turn the volume to maximum. No, should I attach a speaker?
Though it was ridiculous content, Wootae’s expression as he continued speaking was more serious than ever.
“From next time, hyung will take care of you every cycle, but you take care of yourself too. Don’t receive this kind of help again….”
Wootae, who was about to say something, swallowed his breath again. He seemed to think for a moment, then patted Dohyeong’s hand a couple of times and let out a scratching sigh.
“Don’t receive this kind of help. It hurts your pride.”
Dohyeong nodded silently.
At that moment, he should keep secret the fact that his heart became comfortable just from Haesung taking care of him. Or that various questions and thoughts circled in his head from the fact that he had rushed here out of worry for him.
It was an emotion that didn’t need to be shown.
At least not to Wootae, who cheered for him, encouraged him, and supported him.
“Yeah, I understand, hyung.”
He forced a smile, then turned his head to look at Yuchan. He was still looking down at the floor with a stiffly hardened expression throughout.
During the entire conversation, he had been concerned about Yuchan and couldn’t turn around, but he could instinctively sense that his gaze wasn’t directed toward him.
“…Right, as long as nothing happened.”
Wootae sighed and nodded, then glanced at Yuchan and got up from his seat. Then he looked at Dohyeong sitting beside him and asked casually.
“The bedding needs to be organized, right?”
“I’ll do it.”
“Forget it, man. You’ll take forever again. It’s obvious you’ll just leave it as is.”
“No, I said I’ll do it.”
“Where are the new blankets? Are they in the dress room?”
Wootae half-listened to Dohyeong’s words and walked toward the dress room.
In the end, only Yuchan and Dohyeong remained in the living room. Just the two of them.
It was strange. Yuchan, who usually felt so comfortable, felt uncomfortable today. The alpha’s pheromones would be suppressed by suppressants. The discomfort wouldn’t go away, so he was just pressing his fingertips firmly with his fingers for no reason.
“Yuchan-ah. Are you angry?”
After Wootae, Yuchan was most sensitive about contact with Haesung. That was the same even before being cast in <Glass Holding Stars>.
Even when someone brought up articles about things that were already past, or when posts appeared on SNS or communities, Yuchan would react most intensely.
‘What do they know to write like this? Did they see it directly? Do they know you? Do they know how Jung Haesung acted, how you lived?’
At some point, those words were very grateful.
And at other moments, he would ruminate on the past because of Yuchan’s words. Conclusively, he was sometimes hurt by those words, but he knew they were emotions being vomited out instead of him who didn’t get angry.
Therefore, later on, there were times when his words felt refreshing.
He could assert that there would never be awkwardness with Yuchan like back then. Though it was useless to say now.
“Yuchan-ah.”
“Yeah, I’m angry.”
Dohyeong’s gaze turned toward the floor at the heavily sunken voice.
How should he say this? When he was briefly thinking.
“I’m too angry at myself.”
Surprised by Yuchan’s unexpected answer, Dohyeong raised his head.
“I prided myself on being closest to you, but I didn’t even know your heat cycle period.”
“Friends don’t necessarily know everything like that in detail.”
“I’m not a friend.”
The stinging feeling in his heart was brief. At Yuchan’s gaze that raised his head to face him directly, his whole body stiffened.
“I said I liked you.”
When had he become this resolute? No, when had he started looking at him with such eyes?
It was Yuchan who had always been kind, warm, and established himself as the second person in this world who completely understood him.
He was looking at him with emotions he had never faced even once. It was a gaze that made him recall whether Haesung had ever looked at him this way.
“…Yuchan-ah, that’s.”
“You didn’t answer. You know that too.”
“….”
Dohyeong couldn’t say anything and slightly avoided his gaze.
He couldn’t grasp what to answer to Yuchan who casually said he liked him.
“While saying you liked me, you were busy being wary of Jung Haesung, but you didn’t think to take care of me.”
“You’re already taking care of me enough, so don’t think like that. This is a problem that happened because I didn’t mention it, so why are you blaming yourself?”
“What if… what if it had been me who rushed over instead of Jung Haesung?”
Dohyeong couldn’t say anything for a moment at Yuchan’s words.
If that had been the case, could Yuchan have endured like Haesung? That question came to mind first. Perhaps the situation Wootae had been worried about might have occurred.
He was about to say that wouldn’t be right, but kept his mouth tightly shut. While he was floundering about what words to find and give, Wootae’s phone placed on the sofa vibrated loudly.
Startled, he turned his head and saw a familiar name on the screen.
[**CEO Yoon Seri**]
“CEO-nim?”
Normally, he would have called Wootae and handed him the phone, but his feelings were strange. Somehow, he had a strong intuition that he should answer first.
“Yuchan-ah, sorry. Just a moment. It’s CEO-nim’s call.”
“Isn’t that Wootae hyung’s phone?”
“Yeah, that’s right. But it’s CEO-nim anyway, so what.”
Dohyeong shrugged his shoulders casually and pressed the call button as is. Hmm, he cleared his throat briefly.
“Yes, CEO-nim. This is Dohyeong.”
[…Are you with Wootae?]
“Yes, we’re together… What’s the matter?”
The CEO’s voice was trembling. At the suddenly surging anxiety, he could only press his lower lip repeatedly.
[Ha, this is really….]
The CEO’s voice, hesitating for a moment, was somehow ominous.
“What is it? Whose call is it?”
Soon Wootae, who had come out of the room after removing all the blankets and sheets, looked back and forth between Yuchan and Dohyeong in surprise.
“He said it was CEO-nim.”
At Yuchan’s answer, Wootae sat next to Dohyeong with wide eyes. Then he snatched the phone and switched it to speakerphone.
“Yes, CEO-nim. This is me. What’s the matter?”
[Ji Wootae. What on earth are you doing? Are you properly taking care of Dohyeong?]
At the clear voice, Wootae straightened his back in surprise.
Though they had been together for a long time, it was always difficult to get used to the CEO’s scolding voice.
“CEO-nim… You need to tell us what’s going on….”
[Kim Dohyeong will have an article published tomorrow.]
The CEO’s resigned voice carried emotions of suppressed anger. Wootae jumped up from his seat in panic, and Dohyeong also looked up at him with wide eyes.
“Ar, article? What article? What kind of article is being published!”
[You, ha…. Ji Wootae!]
Once again, the CEO’s voice rang out loudly. Startled, Dohyeong blinked and clenched his fists tightly again.
An unpleasant premonition that something serious was happening struck him.
