Chaeho pleaded with Soohyun as he handed him the lunch box, just like yesterday. The fact that Soohyun, whose body and mind weren’t yet well, was working registered at something like the Omega Home Care Service Center itself didn’t sit well with him.
“No matter how much… you need work, the center thing… bothers me, hyung.”
“It’s fine. Anyway, there aren’t any people while I’m working.”
Soohyun thought he should keep what happened today a secret from Chaeho forever. Each time he looked at him with clear eyes like a large dog, though he was like a younger brother, Soohyun felt ashamed. No matter what, he was eight years older, yet when facing Chaeho who spoke to him as if treating a small child left by the water’s edge, Soohyun felt self-loathing rush in. He hated himself, whose body and mind weren’t well.
“Since hyung says it’s good… but if it gets hard, you have to quit right away.”
“Okay. I understand. Anyway, if it’s hard, I won’t be able to work. Like you said, my body isn’t good.”
At Soohyun’s bitter smile, Chaeho seemed to realize his mistake and grasped his hand firmly. Seeing how Chaeho’s hands, which had been smaller than his own when he was young, were now much larger and thicker, Soohyun smiled wordlessly.
“Hyung, I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m just worried about you.”
“Okay. I know. Chaeho-ya. I’ve been at home only for quite a long time. I’m turning thirty soon. It’s already been five years. I’m taking my medicine well too… so don’t worry too much.”
“…You still can’t take buses and subways. Hyung.”
Hearing Chaeho’s words, Soohyun closed his mouth. For five years now, Soohyun had been suffering from panic disorder. Though he’d been able to go outside recently by controlling it with medication, he still couldn’t go to places where many people gathered or that were enclosed on all sides. Because of this, Soohyun walked or rode a bicycle to Seojun’s house.
Soohyun, who had been holed up at home writing until now, found the Omega Home Care Service Center when his income was gradually decreasing and he thought he should start social life before turning thirty. He had barely graduated high school, hadn’t attended university, and had no special certifications.
Moreover, because of what happened five years ago, he hadn’t been able to work properly until turning twenty-nine. With no one to take care of him and having to live alone, Soohyun came outside with his ailing body to survive. But unable to do part-time work that required endlessly meeting people, the center was Soohyun’s only option.
When he said he was registering at the Omega Home Care Service Center, Chaeho got furiously angry and said absolutely not, but Soohyun’s will was firm. The center work was something he could do alone without meeting others, without devoting much time, and without special skills or experience.
“…It’s only been a month since I started working. I’ll get better gradually.”
“Hyung, by any chance that… that is.”
Chaeho wanted to ask if he also did pheromone care while working at the center, but swallowed his words. Just the thought of Soohyun being held by someone else, precisely another alpha, and moaning made his head heat up.
The year he turned seventeen, Chaeho manifested as an alpha, and he was happier than anyone. Because a small hope arose that he and the hyung he liked might be able to be together.
“What?”
“N-nothing. You’re hungry, right? Let’s go to my place and eat.”
“I can eat when I get home. You have to go to work…”
“It’s fine. Hyung, please do that.”
Soohyun was weak to Chaeho’s kindness. Looking at his kind face gazing at him with eyebrows deeply lowered and ears drooping, he had no choice but to say okay. At Soohyun’s agreement, a smile bloomed on Chaeho’s face.
“I wish hyung would just live with me. The house is spacious anyway.”
“……”
Chaeho always begged Soohyun to live together, as if joking but not joking, but each time Soohyun smiled wordlessly.
Chaeho’s house was a quite impressive apartment located about 5 minutes from the rooftop room where Soohyun lived. It was spacious and clean, a place where you could stay cool in summer and warm in winter. A space that gave a warm feeling, exuding the same scent as Chaeho, the complete opposite of the rooftop room where Soohyun lived. Each time he came here, Soohyun’s heart felt at ease.
“You still organize well even while living alone.”
“Of course. You must be hungry, let’s eat quickly. Us.”
“Didn’t you eat lunch?”
“This is just a snack. Something like this.”
The quite fancy lunch box filled with bulgogi and vegetable side dishes had cooled a bit, but looked very appetizing. Soohyun picked up his chopsticks and continued eating slowly, alternating between putting rice and side dishes in his mouth.
Staring blankly at him eating, the moment their eyes met, Chaeho covered his flushed cheeks with the back of his hand and averted his gaze.
“You should eat too, Chaeho-ya.”
“Yeah, I’ll eat. Is it good?”
“Yeah, it’s good. Thank you.”
The white, beautiful hands holding chopsticks, the black hair that seemed like it would fall softly and smoothly if pushed back, even the gentle eyes that were long sideways and slightly drooping—Chaeho liked everything about Soohyun too much. He’d liked him since he first met him at age 11. Even knowing well that he only treated him as a younger brother he’d known since childhood, he wanted to believe that someday he would know his heart.
“I’ll go home now. I have work that came in.”
“Ah, really? Then together…”
“No. I’ll go alone. It’s quick on foot. You have to go to work. Your father won’t like it.”
“My father, well… it’s not like I do this once or twice. It’s really fine.”
“I’m not fine. Let’s go.”
Soohyun appeased Chaeho with a faint smile. Wanting to spend more time with Soohyun, Chaeho pouted, but Soohyun pulled his hand.
“Can I come over tonight?”
“Don’t just come to see me, you should go out and play too. Go on dates and stuff.”
“Hyung! I… I…”
“Let’s go.”
Soohyun headed home, leaving Chaeho behind. Perhaps because he’d come resting comfortably in the car and eaten heartily at Chaeho’s house, his body was much better than when he’d left Seojun’s house.
Bzzzz—
The cell phone he’d put in his pocket rang briefly. Soohyun took the cell phone from his pocket, checked the contents, and let out a sigh of relief.
—This is Kim Jinwoo. Thank you again for tomorrow.
It was a message from Seojun’s manager.
* * *
When Seojun finished showering and came out to the living room, Soohyun was gone. Opening the bathroom door that he must have used and checking inside, Seojun looked around the interior with a strange expression and shook his head.
‘What on earth did I do…’
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t believe what he’d done. Though he was disgusted by omegas, the image of Soohyun’s neat face disheveled and moaning beneath him flickered before his eyes. Were all omegas from the center like that? Skilled at both housework and what happens on the bed… Seojun picked up the cell phone he’d left on the table and called his manager Jinwoo.
“Jinwoo hyung, it’s me.”
[Seojun-ah? What’s… up?]
“Hyung, don’t you have something to tell me?”
[What… are you talking about?]
“…I heard Lee Soohyun-ssi came from the center.”
[Seojun-ah, that’s…]
Seojun planned to listen silently to whatever excuse Jinwoo would make. For Jinwoo, who knew well that he was uncomfortable with omegas, to send an omega to his house. It was something difficult for Seojun to understand.
[Seojun-ah, it was supposed to be that Lee Soohyun-ssi would only come during times when you weren’t there. Actually, I hesitated a bit too… but after Lee Soohyun-ssi came, you said you liked both the cleaning and meals, so I just left it. It’s not easy to find people…]
“Even so, hyung!”
[…Did Lee Soohyun-ssi do something wrong? He didn’t seem like that kind of person…]
Seojun knew all too well that Soohyun hadn’t done anything wrong. The cleaning condition, the meals, even the pheromone care—everything was satisfactory. Having released pheromones after a long time, his condition was quite good too.
“It’s not that, anyway I was just surprised.”
[Okay. I’m sorry. Seojun-ah.]
Hearing Jinwoo apologize in a powerless voice, Seojun hung up. Only traces of having rolled around with Soohyun until just moments ago remained on the bed, and not a single trace of Soohyun’s stay remained in the kitchen or living room.
‘What is it… something… seemed a bit different…’
Besides having unusually pale skin and being a neat beauty, there was something else that bothered him… Seojun couldn’t figure out what that sense of difference was. After struggling for a while trying to recall that something that bothered him like a thorn stuck between his toenails, Seojun soon erased Soohyun from his mind. Today was just a case of running into him due to Jinwoo’s mistake and ending up doing pheromone care. The probability of running into him again in the future would be almost none.
* * *
After receiving the message from Kim Jinwoo, Soohyun slowly moved his steps toward the rooftop room with a somewhat deflated expression. Recalling how he’d pretended to be calm and answered that he would, worried he might have to quit work, Soohyun’s cheeks flushed. Though it wasn’t that he wasn’t miserable, there was only one option.
“Hah…”
To ventilate the rooftop room that had heated up with the early heat, Soohyun opened wide both the front door and all the windows. Though Chaeho always nagged asking if he shouldn’t live in a better environment, for Soohyun who found enclosed spaces stuffy, he didn’t dislike this house that was open on all sides that much. Though it was hot in summer and very cold in winter, and far from clean, for Soohyun who had poor earnings and few possessions, the rooftop room with cheap monthly rent was a grateful existence.
