‘They said it was a popular restaurant…’
It had only just passed 11 o’clock, but the restaurant inside was already fully booked.
Hamburgers with grilled onions and thick patties, lobster rolls generously filled with large chunks of lobster meat. Though appetite-stimulating food was placed on the table just looking at it, Hyowoo had been chewing on a single piece of side french fries for 5 minutes.
He had no desire to eat anything at all. It was because of the blatant gaze he felt from the front.
‘I wasn’t even this nervous during my final interview at the accounting firm…’
Hyowoo, who barely swallowed the french fries he was chewing or not chewing that he couldn’t even taste, glanced at the person across from him.
At the end of that gaze was a man.
Like Hyowoo, he wasn’t touching his food either and was quietly drinking only wine.
Light eyes with a tinge of sky blue turned toward him.
It was a beautiful color enough to elicit admiration, but that gaze was cold and calm.
As if evaluating him, the name of this man observing Hyowoo with a cool gaze was Leif Erikson.
He was the Premier League’s first omega player. As a striker who reached the top, pushing aside alphas and betas on a stage dominated by them, among omegas dreaming of becoming professional players, he was an almost god-like existence.
Additionally, he was also a teammate who had played together for 6 years at FCC, the club Lee Seohee belonged to.
‘Could it be… he doesn’t like me? Why isn’t he saying a word?’
The gaze was one thing, but more than anything, Hyowoo was even more nervous because of his appearance.
‘Live-action elf.’ It was the nickname people gave Leif.
Though British-born, with Northern European blood flowing through him, he was a handsome man with blue eyes and pale cream-colored blonde hair. His perfect features were like a game character rendered in CG.
‘Why are only unrealistically handsome and pretty people gathered around Seohee-ssi…’
A solid build that didn’t match his innocent face. That unbalanced combination rather made Leif appear more attractive.
Hyowoo was fairly confident about his own appearance too, but he couldn’t help but feel intimidated in front of such a high-level handsome man.
He finally opened his mouth toward Hyowoo, who was unnecessarily intimidated and fidgeting with his fingers under the table.
“Were you surprised I asked to meet?”
Not avoiding his gaze staring directly at him, Hyowoo nodded once.
“Yes, a little.”
At the honest answer, Leif said he thought so and put down his empty wine glass.
“Even if you’re my lover’s friend, anyone would be surprised if someone they just met a few days ago suddenly asked to have lunch together.”
Leif was Lee Seohee’s best friend of over 20 years before being his colleague.
The two first met when Lee Seohee was 12 and Leif was 14. It was at a football academy of a professional club in London.
Though they were different ages, lived in different areas, and went to different schools, the two built a solid friendship through soccer.
“Leif and I fought a lot even from when we were young, and caused a lot of trouble together too. I’m so sick of him now that I want to stop seeing him, but what is this thing called affection? We’re still like this.”
This was how Lee Seohee introduced him to Hyowoo.
Around Lee Seohee, who had a good personality, there were always people around him constantly. But they were only acquaintances at most; Lee Seohee drew his own ‘line’ and only let precious connections inside it.
Leif was a friend inside that ‘line’ with whom he could open up his heart.
As his closest friend, Lee Seohee introduced Hyowoo to Leif and his husband Winston first among the people around him.
It had only been two days ago that he invited the couple to his house for a meal together. But yesterday evening, Leif suddenly contacted him asking to have lunch together today.
“Actually, I didn’t have high expectations. Since I asked to meet just the two of us, I thought you’d refuse.”
“To be honest… I did think about doing that too.”
At the sudden proposal, Hyowoo had no choice but to hesitate.
No matter how much he was Lee Seohee’s best friend, for Hyowoo who had anthropophobia, having a meal alone with someone he’d only met once was close to torture.
Most of all, the biggest problem was language.
Hyowoo had studied English quite diligently since high school. Thanks to that, he had no major problems with simple conversation or listening, but it was difficult to speak as naturally as Lee Seohee, who grew up in England.
‘What if I go out and can’t understand what he’s saying properly, or can’t answer and just sit there blankly?’
When he couldn’t readily answer due to anxiety, Lee Seohee told him to decide comfortably.
“If you don’t feel like it, tell me. I’ll tell Leif.”
Lee Seohee smiled reassuringly, saying he would speak well so neither would be uncomfortable, but in the end, Hyowoo decided to meet Leif.
‘He’s probably just curious since his best friend got a lover. There’s no bad intention.’
He didn’t want to leave a bad impression on his lover’s closest friend over just one meal.
Leif wouldn’t bring up difficult topics with his friend’s lover, and since he was also an omega, there was no need to worry much.
And, in one corner of his heart, there was also a small expectation.
‘I might hear stories about Seohee-ssi that I don’t know yet.’
Hyowoo took a sip of the water placed in front of him and carefully continued.
“I’m not that good at English and I’m also very shy. I don’t speak well with people I’m not close to. I was worried it might be rude to Leif.”
“Connor told me about that. He said Hyowoo is a very shy person, so don’t bring up uncomfortable topics.”
“Seohee… I mean, did Connor say that too?”
‘Connor’ was Lee Seohee’s English name. Since he always used his Korean name, calling him ‘Connor’ felt a bit unfamiliar yet new.
“I also got nagged to relax my face a bit and soften my tone. I originally don’t have much expression and my voice is on the cold side, so I get misunderstood a lot.”
“I see…”
“So don’t misunderstand. I’m not angry, and I’m not in a bad mood at all.”
It was truly exactly as he said.
Leif was skilled at ‘poker face,’ not showing emotions on his face. Even Hyowoo had been worried until just now whether he didn’t like him.
‘Thank goodness. It’s not that Leif dislikes me…’
Perhaps because of his trauma, Hyowoo had become particularly sensitive to reading people.
Though he had always been delicate and sensitive by nature and observed his surroundings well, the intensity had become much worse since that day.
Why is that person looking at me like that? Could they have noticed there’s something wrong with me? Am I uncomfortable to them… and disliked?
He knew it was overthinking even to himself, but it wasn’t easily fixed.
However, at least he knew for certain now that he wasn’t hated by him. That fact alone somehow gave Hyowoo a strange sense of comfort.
“You’re similar to me. I also often hear that I look cold because I’m expressionless all the time.”
“Really? You don’t look like that at all to me.”
“I’m a bit nervous right now. Normally I’m quite blank-faced.”
Watching Hyowoo scratch his cheek as if embarrassed, Leif tilted his head slightly.
“People’s eyes must be strange.”
“Pardon?”
“To my eyes, you look gentle. Like you’d be easy to talk to because you’re kind.”
At the unexpected compliment, Hyowoo was momentarily dazed.
Lately, he often heard that his atmosphere had softened considerably. Thanks to that, both people who approached him first and those who carefully confessed their feelings increased.
All of it was a change that occurred after meeting Lee Seohee.
“Even knowing you’re shy, calling you out like this… was rude. But I wanted to have a quiet conversation just between us. I was really curious who Connor’s lover was.”
After calling a restaurant staff member to order new wine, Leif continued.
“On the outside, Connor grins with an innocent face, but inside he’s more cold-headed and rational than anyone. On the field, he’s calculating like a machine, and his movements are sharp as a knife. He doesn’t bat an eye at most things. How could I not be curious about who the person is that made such a guy fall so hard he can’t keep his wits about him?”
At the words ‘fall so hard,’ Hyowoo’s face instantly heated up.
‘What on earth did Seohee-ssi say to his friend to make him say such embarrassing things?’
Leif, who had been watching Hyowoo fidgeting with his glass to hide his embarrassment, quietly added.
“Moreover, ‘strange words’ that would absolutely never come out of that guy’s mouth also came out.”
