Only after an epic journey of two and a half hours was Hyowoo finally able to arrive home.
If he had come straight by taxi, it wouldn’t have taken that long, but because he went through the department store and took the subway in a roundabout way, his return home was unnecessarily delayed.
When he opened the front door, warm air welcomed Hyowoo, but he couldn’t sense anyone’s presence. His mother, who had left the house with him saying she had a lunch appointment, seemed not to have returned yet.
He took off his shoes and headed straight to his room. He didn’t even have the energy to lift a finger. He wanted to collapse on the bed right away, but he couldn’t do that before changing out of the clothes covered in outside dust.
‘I need to hurry and change, then go take a shower…’
Unlike his desire to wash up and lie down quickly, his body soaked in heavy fatigue wouldn’t cooperate. He slumped in his chair with his eyes closed and dry-washed his face.
‘What happened… I don’t understand anything at all…’
At the department store, the subway station, and even inside the subway, no one was conscious of Hyowoo. In other words, it meant pheromones weren’t being secreted.
‘It’s not even heat, so how did that person smell my pheromones…?’
No matter how many times he searched on the way home, there was no story anywhere about an Alpha who could smell the pheromone scent of an Omega not in heat. To be able to smell a scent that wasn’t being secreted. That was impossible even for a Dominant Alpha with the most superior DNA.
For final confirmation, he took his temperature again. The result was 36.6 degrees. It was slightly lower than when he’d measured in the taxi. At this temperature, pheromones would absolutely not come out. If his constitution had changed, someone at the department store or subway where many people were gathered should have noticed.
There was still the method of checking his blood hormone level with a tester like he’d done in the morning, but he reached the conclusion that at this point, further reconfirmation was meaningless. More than anything, right now he was too tired to want to do anything.
‘Forget the bed, let me just rest like this for a moment…’
If he just closed his eyes for exactly 10 minutes, he felt like he’d be able to change clothes and shower.
But his attempt to sleep was short-lived. Hyowoo opened his eyes again and took out his phone from his coat pocket. In his messenger app, Lee Seohee had been automatically added as a friend.
This is Hyowoo
I arrived home safely
He sent a short message as promised, and also sent a message to Taeseo saying the blind date went well. Then, less than a minute later, the phone rang.
“Hello?”
—Are you just getting home now?
It was Taeseo.
—Oppa said you left a long time ago, did something happen?
“No, I just stopped by somewhere on the way.”
—Why does your voice sound like that?
It took a long time to arrive, and having exhausted his energy with various worries, Hyowoo’s voice was a bit hoarse.
“I’m just a bit tired. There was a lot of traffic.”
—Even if there’s traffic, still, your voice is completely gone… Was it that hard and burdensome?
Worried that he might have gotten sick from being forced to go on a blind date he didn’t want, Taeseo felt very sorry.
“Well. It was burdensome, but it wasn’t hard.”
—Are you really okay? You didn’t hate it? You don’t have to be considerate of me, you can be honest.
“No. I’m really just tired. I originally have a weak constitution and poor stamina.”
Only after hearing that the homebody who only stays in his warm house had gone on a distant outing and become exhausted did Taeseo seem relieved and laugh.
—You’re not even a grandmother, why are you using a word like ‘outing’?
“Didn’t I tell you? My younger sibling and I were mostly raised by our maternal grandmother, so old-fashioned words and dialect often slip out.”
While chatting with his friend, Hyowoo slowly got up from his chair. He switched the phone to speaker mode and gently placed it on the desk, then took off his coat wet with snow and hung it on a hanger.
—So, how was meeting our oppa? Was he okay?
At the cautious question, Hyowoo answered that he was okay.
“Incredibly okay. Isn’t it obvious? World-class superstar Lee Seohee showed up, someone you might see once in a lifetime.”
—Stop joking around. Tell me properly.
“Yeah. Your cousin oppa was cool. Good personality too, and kind.”
It wasn’t an empty compliment made up to avoid hurting his friend’s feelings. He conveyed honestly the emotions he felt, without adding a single lie.
Perhaps reassured by Hyowoo’s reaction, Taeseo subtly began bragging about her cousin oppa.
—I told you. Our oppa is a really great person.
“Right. I got a gift too. Handmade chocolate.”
—I heard. Even if you like chocolate, I don’t know how he bought a 60-piece set weighing over 1kg. So excessive…
“The more the better for me.”
—Well, yeah. Won’t you finish that in three days anyway?
“…Even if I eat a lot, it’s not quite that much.”
Such ordinary conversation continued for a few minutes.
—Anyway, thanks for doing me this favor today. You worked hard.
“What work? I got treated to an expensive and delicious meal.”
—Thanks for the text too. I’ll tell oppa you arrived safely.
“Ah, it’s fine. I already sent one.”
Suddenly, Taeseo’s tone changed.
—You gave oppa your phone number?
“Huh? Oh, well… somehow it happened…”
—You remember it took forever for you to give me, Dongho, and Mina your number, right?
“Did… did it…?”
—Don’t tell me oppa insisted and begged you for your phone number?
“No, nothing like that.”
As Taeseo’s voice turned cold, Hyowoo answered hastily. Because if any misunderstanding arose, she would definitely go to him and strongly confront him.
—Then you voluntarily gave it to him?
He couldn’t bring himself to say he didn’t want to give it but ended up telling him by accident.
‘Even if I tell her that, knowing full well I hate Alphas… she won’t believe me.’
In fact, even he found it hard to believe.
No matter that it was a slip of the tongue, to give his phone number to an Alpha he’d just met.
‘Normally… I wouldn’t have given it no matter what excuse I had to make…’
Most incomprehensible of all was himself, not regretting that incident one bit.
“Ah… so, that is… he’s your cousin oppa…”
Unable to think of how to explain, he vaguely dodged.
—Hmm… really? Just because he’s your friend’s cousin oppa?
A tone that didn’t believe him at all. Regret washed over him for having mentioned it.
Before she could throw a more difficult question, he hurriedly changed the topic.
“Y-your aunt’s wedding is coming up soon, right? You must be really busy and hectic, is it okay to talk to me like this?”
—What do I have to do? It’s a small wedding just inviting close relatives for dinner. I just have to wear formal clothes, sit quietly, eat, and leave.
When formal wear was mentioned, Lee Seohee’s attire suddenly came to mind.
“Your cousin oppa came out wearing a suit. A three-piece suit with a vest and everything.”
When he said he felt a bit embarrassed since he’d gone dressed casually, Taeseo burst out laughing.
—He dressed up with so much care to make a good impression on you. The first impression is most important, right? Oppa has lots of clothes here at the main house too, but he even brought a suit newly tailored in London.
“Hey, why would that be because of me? He must have brought it for your aunt’s wedding.”
To Hyowoo who said it made no sense, she replied even with a serious expression.
—He said he’d wear clothes from the main house to youngest aunt’s wedding.
“Huh?”
—Oppa wore a dark gray suit, right? He deliberately brought that from England to wear when meeting you.
“Really…?”
The doubt he’d briefly forgotten due to the pheromone problem resurfaced in his mind again.
‘Why exactly is that person paying this much attention to me?’
Perhaps sensing Hyowoo was about to fall into thought, this time Taeseo changed the subject.
—You must be tired, you should rest well now.
“Ah, yeah…”
With a farewell saying they should see each other once before the semester starts, the call with Taeseo ended.
Thanks to talking with his friend, he’d regained some energy. He was gathering clothes to shower before he got even more sluggish, when a message notification sounded from his phone.
Lee Seohee
I’m glad you got home safely
It was nice meeting you today
See you again
The message included a moving emoticon of a cute rabbit character waving its hand. If someone else, especially another man, had sent an emoticon like this, he would have been disgusted asking what creepy thing they were doing, but recalling Lee Seohee’s bright smile, he didn’t feel that bad. At the same time, he was flustered at himself for thinking that way.
‘See you again… Does that mean there’s a next time…?’
While pondering whether to send a reply and fidgeting with his phone for quite a while, Hyowoo eventually put the phone down and headed to the bathroom.
