The atmosphere between the two of them wasn’t great. The examination room fell momentarily silent. Even Chae Yuno’s eyes darted around as though he wasn’t quite sure what to do.
“For today, we’ll just do an IV drip and send you on your way. I’ll prescribe some vitamins, so just rest and don’t push yourself.”
The doctor added, wrapping things up.
“And…… Yuno, stay back a moment. I need to see you.”
***
When they stepped out of the hospital building, the sun had dropped a little lower in the sky. Chae Yuno climbed into the jeep and handed Siyeon a cold bottled drink. He must have gone and bought it while waiting during Siyeon’s IV drip — the clear plastic bottle was so cold that condensation had already beaded on the outside.
Just what I needed — I was getting thirsty. Siyeon twisted off the cap and tipped the bottle back. A slightly bitter liquid slid down his throat, and his head began to clear a little.
“Is there anywhere you want to go?”
“Aren’t we going home?”
“We still have a date to finish. You’re not actually hoping to head straight back, are you?”
He’d said they were going on a date — and apparently that hadn’t just been an excuse to go to the hospital. He’d actually meant it.
“If there’s nowhere you want to go, how about here? There’s a good restaurant nearby too.”
Fortunately, Chae Yuno picked their next destination on his own. The place must have been familiar enough that he didn’t even need to enter it into the GPS — the jeep skirted around the busy main streets and turned toward the riverside. Siyeon didn’t know exactly where they were, but it was clearly somewhere on the outskirts.
He cracked the window down a little and a cool breeze drifted in. Just this short drive was enough to lift his mood — ridiculous as it was, he felt a little like he was actually going somewhere for fun. About ten minutes of driving later, Chae Yuno pulled the car to a stop near the riverbank.
“Here……”
“If you’re not hungry yet, want to walk a bit? The restaurant is close by.”
There was a neatly kept walking path along the river. He was a well-known celebrity — was it really alright to be out and about in broad daylight like this? The thought nagged at Siyeon and he looked around, but thankfully it was a weekday afternoon and the area was mostly empty. Just an elderly couple doing light exercise and a child cycling somewhere in the distance.
While Siyeon was glancing around, Chae Yuno had already gotten out and come around to open the passenger door. He didn’t particularly want to, but Chae Yuno clearly liked opening doors for people — so Siyeon let him.
Once Siyeon stepped out, Chae Yuno tugged his mask down below his chin. He exhaled briefly, as though he’d been finding it stuffy. They walked side by side along the path. Close enough that their hands might brush — but not quite. Chae Yuno glanced sideways and spoke.
“You’re not going to ask who that person was?”
He seemed to mean the doctor who had treated him. Siyeon had figured that pressing the issue would only make him clam up, so he’d left it alone — and sure enough, Chae Yuno brought it up himself. Siyeon jumped on it right away.
“So who is he?”
“Someone like a relative.”
A relative-like person instead of just a relative — what was that supposed to mean. Siyeon chewed on it for a moment before speaking again.
“He seemed really surprised earlier. He must not know I’m the omega who’s going to carry your couple’s child.”
“I told him you were my partner. So from now on, if you go there for treatment, just go along with it and say you’re my partner too.”
“……Your partner?”
“It’s better to be careful about anything related to our contract.”
It was a little surprising, but Chae Yuno wasn’t wrong. They were a famous celebrity and a prominent CEO — if details leaked out for no good reason, Siyeon was the one who’d take the damage. He went along with it without argument.
“Alright, partner is fine, but…… what do we do about the three-month pregnancy restriction?”
“Don’t worry about that. Since we agreed to start as pheromone partners first anyway, I’ll work that part out with hyung.”
Chae Yuno was unexpectedly cooperative. There was honestly nothing in this for him — if anything it was an inconvenient nuisance — and yet Siyeon couldn’t figure out why he kept shielding him from Beom Yisu.
Whatever it was, he doubted it was coming from a purely innocent place, so he was less grateful than curious about the reason behind it.
“You……”
Siyeon started to speak as they walked through the park, but this time it was Chae Yuno who cut in.
“Babe, I told you my name.”
“……Right, you did.”
“Then why do you keep calling me that? I’m not your manager.”
“Then what do I call you?”
“Yuno.”
“……”
“Or babe?”
That wasn’t necessary — Siyeon cut it off immediately.
“That one’s a no.”
“Aw, why. You said you’d be my fan. You know what parasocial dating is? I’ll give you the full experience.”
The stiff atmosphere that had hung over them since the appointment was lifting with his ridiculous joke. Seen like this, he didn’t seem like such a bad person — so what on earth was going to push him to the point of turning dark?
Or maybe all of this was just performance. Either way, it didn’t really matter. He had no intention of ever taking Chae Yuno’s feelings at face value.
“I’ll call you Yuno. That’s fine, isn’t it?”
That was what the original story had used too — so sticking with it seemed right. Chae Yuno looked vaguely dissatisfied with the formal distance in the address, but thankfully he didn’t push further.
Then, a flicker of unease passed through Siyeon’s mind.
Isn’t it dangerous to follow too closely in the original protagonist’s footsteps?
What was it exactly that had driven Chae Yuno to his breaking point? Most of the parts Siyeon had skimmed were the more explicit scenes. It was likely that emotions had built gradually before the cracks appeared…… but right now, there was no way to know for sure.
Click—
Lost in thought, Siyeon turned his head at the sudden shutter sound. Sure enough, Chae Yuno was pointing his phone at Siyeon with a grin.
“What are you doing.”
“It’s technically our first date. For the memory.”
The screen he turned to show Siyeon had a photo on it that could have gone straight into a magazine editorial. A face that looked lost in quiet melancholy against a sun-drenched backdrop. Long lashes casting deep shadows, and a soft jawline that curved with just the right gentle roundness.
Was Chae Yuno just that good at taking photos? Or was it the subject? It was hard to believe this had been snapped casually with a phone camera.
“……That actually came out really well.”
Siyeon murmured it almost to himself, in something close to self-praise. Of course, it came naturally because he thought of himself and the omega Hong Siyeon’s body as two separate things — but to an outside observer, it might read as severe narcissism.
“You think so too, right?”
But Chae Yuno nodded along in wholehearted agreement. He seemed genuinely taken by it, which made Siyeon instinctively reach out.
“No, delete it.”
“I won’t.”
Chae Yuno pulled the phone back out of reach. It wasn’t just a height difference — their arm lengths were considerably different too, which made getting the phone from him next to impossible.
“What are you planning to do with it.”
“It’s pretty. I want to use it as my wallpaper.”
“That’s a violation of portrait rights.”
“It’s fine, only I’ll see it.”
That’s exactly the problem — you seeing it. He didn’t want to make a big fuss over one photo, but it left him vaguely unsettled. It would probably be better for him, as a matter of self-preservation, to leave no traces behind until the contract was over. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that — but if things went the way of the original story, he might end up having to run. And then having evidence lying around would be a problem.
“Why? Do you want a photo of us together?”
“No, I just——”
“I didn’t even think of that. You’d probably want a photo of me too.”
He suddenly caught himself. In his focus on trying to get Chae Yuno’s phone, he hadn’t noticed how close the two of them had gotten. Siyeon quickly stepped back — but this time Chae Yuno was faster. Before he knew it, Chae Yuno had pulled his mask all the way down to his chin, looped an arm around Siyeon’s waist, and pulled him in close.
“Come on, look here.”
“No, I don’t want to. I’m not taking a photo!”
“Babe, if you squirm around like that out here, you’re putting me in a difficult position.”
Siyeon writhed trying to break free, but there was no chance against an alpha’s grip — it was hopeless. In the middle of their small scuffle, Chae Yuno tickled his waist and Siyeon burst out laughing against his will, while Chae Yuno gleefully snapped photo after photo of him in that state.
His joke about Siyeon’s waist being an erogenous zone apparently hadn’t been entirely baseless — because just from that, all the strength drained out of him. He was so flustered he didn’t even register that a string of photos had been taken of him looking like he was laughing and playing around.
“Ha — hh…… hh, god, stop! It really is an erogenous zone so just stop!”
He finally shouted it, unable to hold back any longer, and only then did Chae Yuno step back. Sorry, sorry. His mouth said all the right things, but his face was nothing but smugness and amusement.
Siyeon gasped for breath and glared up at him. His waist still felt hot where it had been held, and the indignation was making his temperature rise further. He was holding back a colorful string of profanity through sheer force of will — but to Chae Yuno’s eyes, it apparently read as nothing more than a bit of a sulk.
“Sorry, sorry. I’ll stop. That was a bit much this time.”
Chae Yuno, looking not the least bit sorry, slipped his phone into his pocket. Having gotten what he wanted, he looked thoroughly pleased with himself as he gave Siyeon a little wink. Damn him.
That relentless little — I knew it. He was hiding his real colors all along.
Siyeon didn’t even have the presence of mind to reply. He was still huffing and catching his breath when, before he could say anything, he felt a sharp prickling sensation on the inside of his eye.
A tear had beaded at the corner, and it seemed one of his lashes had come loose and was sitting at the edge of his eyelid. When Siyeon blinked without thinking, the thin hair slid further inward.
“Ah, my eye——”
He lifted his hand toward it, stinging — but Chae Yuno reached out first. After everything that had just happened, Siyeon reflexively pulled away.
“Don’t touch me!”
