“Thank you for listening. As someone who grew up thanks to the full support of TH Gifted Center, this ‘Night of Sponsorship’ holds special meaning for me. I hope today becomes a beautiful night for everyone. Thank you.”
Lee Seoha, who finished his final greeting from the center of the platform, descended from the stage under escort. And naturally, Wooyeon’s gaze that had followed him stopped awkwardly.
As if there had never been any performance, between the people mingling again and the brightened lighting, and the melody of strings filling the banquet hall, Lee Seoha was having what seemed like a pleasant conversation with someone. Because he was wearing a black half-mask and it wasn’t a close distance, he couldn’t be certain, but Wooyeon could instinctively tell who Lee Seoha was conversing with.
Kwon Jeonghan…
It wasn’t that he had any particular thoughts. But as if it was natural, Wooyeon stepped backward. The gaze beneath the half-mask slowly turned, and it felt as if that gaze was directed at Wooyeon.
Forgetting even what his purpose for coming to the banquet hall was, Wooyeon pushed through people and walked quickly to the edge.
“Ah!”
And when he thought he’d escaped from the center of the banquet hall, Wooyeon ended up bumping into someone. The sound of a glass falling and breaking between Wooyeon and him rang through the banquet hall, and with the sensation of colliding so hard his shoulder felt like it would dislocate, Wooyeon grabbed his shoulder. When Wooyeon turned around with startled eyes, a middle-aged man wearing a half-mask was brushing off his clothes.
“I’m, I’m sorry.”
The man’s clothes were stained with alcohol. Wooyeon’s face turned deathly pale. The man’s eyes revealed beneath the half-mask weren’t angry but instead were gazing intently at Wooyeon. Whether it was learned courtesy or innate goodness, Wooyeon didn’t know, but still he felt relieved inside.
“It’s alright. Still, since this happened, it seems some grooming is necessary.”
Slightly wrinkled eyes slowly scanned from Wooyeon’s face to his toes.
“If you go to that lounge and groom yourself, it should be fine.”
No, it wasn’t learned courtesy or innate goodness or anything of the sort. The man was simply moving according to the manual within this banquet hall.
For a moment, goosebumps rose all over Wooyeon’s body. As if it were natural procedure, the gazes of people who had been watching Wooyeon and the middle-aged gentleman were also withdrawn. Even Wooyeon, who had come to the ‘Night of Sponsorship’ for the first time, knew what it meant for an alpha to go to an omega’s lounge.
“Ah, fortunately I have new medicine left that hasn’t been given to anyone else yet. I’m glad there’s something left to give as thanks for letting me use the lounge.”
Of course, that’s not all. He added in a gentle voice.
The man didn’t rush. He simply smiled while looking at Wooyeon who had turned pale. He instinctively knew that even without being hasty, he would eventually get what he wanted.
Wooyeon’s eyes wavered as they alternately looked at the stain on the man’s clothes and his eyes. It was natural within here. No, rather, other people might think Wooyeon had deliberately bumped into this gentleman.
Wooyeon thought for a moment about why he was trying to reject this natural procedure so proudly. If he just endured for a bit, he could achieve the purpose for which he’d come here in the first place. Perhaps he might even be able to end the day-to-day life that sometimes felt only painful.
“Ah.”
And at that moment, someone grabbed Wooyeon’s wrist. At the strong scent, Wooyeon withdrew his gaze that had been directed at the middle-aged man and turned his head. It was a threatening body with a tall height that seemed to easily exceed 190 centimeters. Even without bothering to check the face, he could tell who it was. As if his crime had been discovered, Wooyeon’s heart plummeted downward.
Wooyeon couldn’t even look at him and bowed his head deeply. The grabbed wrist felt hot as if it was burning up, but he couldn’t even pull it out due to the strong grip. He slowly smiled at the middle-aged man.
“Excuse me.”
Surprisingly, it was the middle-aged man who spoke those words. Taking out a handkerchief, he pressed down on what was probably the stain Wooyeon had made and left. A sense of shame he’d never felt before rushed in all at once.
Wooyeon felt like his cheeks would burst from the rising heat. When Wooyeon raised his ungrabbed hand to cover his mouth, the person holding Wooyeon’s wrist moved locations. Wooyeon couldn’t even respond and was simply dragged along by his strength.
He didn’t bother to speak to Wooyeon, and Wooyeon didn’t say anything either. He felt that if he uttered even one word, the fact that he was Seo Wooyeon and that he knew he was Kwon Jeonghan would be discovered.
The place Jeonghan took Wooyeon was in front of the stairs going up to the lounge. Because several security guards were standing in front of the stairs, he could have asked for help, but Wooyeon didn’t. Perhaps he instinctively knew that would be ineffective against Jeonghan.
Wooyeon couldn’t even look at Jeonghan and trembled. His body temperature seemed to be rising, but the feeling of having chills couldn’t be explained.
Jeonghan’s hand leisurely dug into Wooyeon’s pocket. At the touch reaching his thigh beyond the thin fabric, heat rose as if it were natural. And with just a couple of hand movements, Wooyeon’s lounge key was in Jeonghan’s hand.
“If you don’t want to, say so.”
It was clearly Kwon Jeonghan’s voice. The voice was kind, but even Wooyeon knew it wasn’t truly asking for his consent.
With his wrist held by Jeonghan, Wooyeon climbed the stairs. The security guards who saw them bowed respectfully in greeting. Before he knew it, they were in front of Diamond 7 lounge. If he could, he might have run away or screamed, but perhaps because of the instinctive sense of intimidation he felt from him, Wooyeon couldn’t do anything.
With a click, the key entered the doorknob and opened, and the lounge background he’d seen earlier unfolded before Wooyeon’s eyes again.
“You smell good.”
As soon as the door closed, Jeonghan pushed Wooyeon against the wall. Unlike his soft voice, Wooyeon felt like he couldn’t breathe from the strong pheromones. No, should this kind of thing be expressed differently from such a sensation?
Strength entered the fingers leaning against the wall. Naturally, the face wearing a half-mask soon approached Wooyeon. With instinctive excitement and fear, Wooyeon felt like tears would pour out. When the lips that had been brought to his nape as if to check his pheromones headed toward his own lips, Wooyeon ended up screaming.
“Don’t.”
The hand pushing away Jeonghan’s shoulder trembled, and Wooyeon’s voice was locked somewhere as if soaked in tears. The lips that had come close enough to touch at any moment regrettably pulled away.
“I thought you’d pretend not to know until the end, but you’re speaking.”
Jeonghan straightened his back that he’d bent to kiss and removed the half-mask he’d worn on his face. Even though he knew who it was, Wooyeon looked up at him to confirm his face. As expected, it was Kwon Jeonghan.
Having confirmed his face, Wooyeon’s eyelashes trembled with an emotion that might have been relief or might have been despair. Even at this moment, Jeonghan was enjoying it like a prank. The leisurely smile hanging on his lips as always proved it. When would he acknowledge knowing him? Jeonghan seemed to have been waiting for that moment.
“I didn’t expect to see sunbae here.”
If he hadn’t acknowledged knowing him until the end, if he had pretended not to recognize him, would Jeonghan have eventually kissed him? Even knowing it was natural for a dominant alpha with power to toy with a recessive omega, Wooyeon somehow even felt sorrowful. Even though Wooyeon was told he had a shitty temper by Choi Seokwoo, at this moment for some reason he couldn’t hold back his tears. Tears fell across his face that was pretty like a peony.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to make excuses to me that you didn’t know what kind of place this was?”
Whether he didn’t see the tears or was pretending not to see them, Jeonghan was calm. And with that gentle attitude, he was calmly cornering Wooyeon. Jeonghan fiddled with Wooyeon’s lounge key and carelessly threw his half-mask onto the table.
What kind of place. He wasn’t a ten-year-old child, so he couldn’t shamelessly say he didn’t know what kind of place the ‘Night of Sponsorship’ was. Wooyeon cleared his choking throat.
“Don’t misunderstand. I…”
“I’m not misunderstanding.”
Jeonghan’s answer was quick as if cutting off his words. What did his words about not misunderstanding mean? From the beginning, it felt like Jeonghan had no intention of listening to Wooyeon’s excuses. He could have explained that he came because of the new medicine, that there was no other reason… But whether Jeonghan would believe that was a different matter. It was inevitably Wooyeon who felt anxious at his relaxed attitude.
“At school, I believe sunbae said you were a beta.”
His heart pounded once again. There was no room for doubt. If Jeonghan, who was clearly a dominant alpha, mentioned even in passing about Wooyeon’s trait at school, it was obvious that the rampant rumors and debates at school would be settled at once.
On top of that, if he said he saw him at the ‘Night of Sponsorship.’ No, if he embellished even a little about what happened earlier.
Wooyeon’s gaze was fixed on Jeonghan as if nailed there. Tears fell again beneath Wooyeon’s large eyes.
“Do you want me to keep my mouth shut about what I saw today?”
When Wooyeon couldn’t even answer and only nodded his head, Jeonghan smiled as if truly pleased. The threatening pheromones that made Wooyeon unable to move remained the same, but to a beta who knew nothing, it would have been a face that looked nothing but kind.
“Then try at least kissing me or something. Then I think I might forget everything.”
