SPW 49

His voice, expression, and tone were the same as usual. However, Florian quietly gazed at Sarang until the jet-black eyes sought him out. A moment of silence passed. Finally, Sarang raised his gaze and met Florian’s.

“Once.”

Florian pulled his upper body back and leaned against the chair.

“Good job, Sarang.”

If he had used the service, there was no way a report wouldn’t have come in. Was it recent? When I went into heat. But hadn’t he spent this heat with the young alpha in front of him?

“I didn’t use it, Rian.”

“Those are two conflicting statements, Sarang. Did you use it, or did you not?”

Somehow it had turned into an interrogation, but neither of them noticed and continued their conversation. Sarang, wanting to comply with Florian’s demand for a precise answer, searched for the right words. But Sarang didn’t know how to say things like the right words yet. So he told it as it was.

“Neil applied for it, and I met the partner at a restaurant and had a meal.”

“Are you saying you didn’t know Neil applied for it?”

After asking the question, Florian frowned. Do I really need to know things like this…. But strangely, he couldn’t stop. Even though he could very well quit. He waited for and focused on Sarang’s answer.

“I knew Neil was going to apply. I know well that it’s something I need, and I know it’s not a bad thing.”

Florian found Sarang’s demeanor, lowering his voice when it threatened to rise and slowing down when his pace threatened to quicken, a little unfamiliar. They say he’s a superstar in his home country, did he take lessons in interview skills or something?

“So I tried to use it, too.”

“When?”

“What?”

“When did you try to use it, Sarang?”

“……”

Florian’s blue eyes, like glass beads, suddenly felt cold. Flustered, Sarang could only stare blankly at those eyes.

“If you had used the partner service, a report would have come to me, Sarang.”

“…Yes.”

He had guessed, and it was something he already knew. Because Allen and the people around him didn’t bother trying to hide it from Sarang.

“Does it displease you that I’m meddling too deeply in your private life, for a mere guardian? Sarang.”

“No, Rian. Why… I don’t know why you’re saying that.”

Sarang shook his head, unable to hide his disappointment.

“I was happy. That you still have an interest in me, no, that you care about me… That I could still feel you’re my guardian.”

From the way he changed his words several times, his desire not to hurt Florian’s feelings in the slightest was evident. Florian felt his mood lighten at that, yet he also wondered what he had to be lightening up about in the first place.

It was at that moment. The upset Sarang suddenly caught his eye. Only then did Florian realize he was in a bad mood, that he was angry, and his fingertips, tap, touched the table. Sarang’s gaze fell on Florian’s fingertips tapping the table. Perhaps feeling that it was a prompt or an interrogation, he repeatedly moved his red lips.

“I was relieved that the connection between you and me wasn’t broken.”

“Was it the day you entered my bedroom while I was in heat?”

It took Sarang a moment to understand the question.

“The day you used the partner service.”

“…Yes.”

“Which came first, Bailey’s call or your decision, Sarang?”

Finally understanding the intent of the question, Sarang bit his lip. His wide-open eyes were trembling. But Sarang did not avoid it and met Florian’s gaze straight on.

“My decision came first.”

Sarang’s eyes, which looked deeper because of his dark eyelashes, were a little red around the rims.

“My decision came first, and… I never weighed that person against you, Rian.”

Finally letting a tear fall, Sarang wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. Seeing Sarang, who was no longer a minor and whose frame was now much larger than his own, trying so hard to hold back tears, Florian’s heart felt uneasy. Sarang is still the same. Though he looked mature, he was just like that seventeen-year-old kid, who had only been young, who had lost his guardian and couldn’t hide his anxiety.

Florian, who had been watching his tear-stricken Sarang fixedly without comforting or apologizing to him, stopped his fingertips.

“I know this isn’t the right moment, Sarang.”

“……”

Hiccup, Sarang’s black eyes, which looked at Florian even while swallowing his tears, sparkled more brightly than jewels.

“Will you marry me?”

It was the kind of timing where he wouldn’t have a word to say even if he were slapped.

But Florian felt that it had to be now or never. If it weren’t for this situation right now, he would never propose to a child like this. Florian, who had steeled himself for at least a slap for what he himself thought was a rude proposal, showed a look of bewilderment.

“Sarang?”

Sarang neither slapped Florian’s cheek nor stormed out, kicking his chair like last time. Sarang’s reaction did not fall into any of the categories Florian had expected.

“Okay, Rian.”

Sarang, who had pressed his eyes firmly to wipe them, nodded.

“Marry me.”

Instead, it was Florian who was at a loss for words. In the meantime, Sarang, his tears dried and his heart calmed, seemed like his usual self. Sincere, diligent, healthy, and quick to smile.

Come to think of it, Sarang didn’t smile much in front of Florian. He would be nervous and hesitant, just stare blankly, and the few times he did smile were when he was troubled or flustered, or when he had to answer with a smile.

“Sarang. Do you still like me, who makes you cry like this every time and does not love you?”

“…I don’t love Florian either.”

It was an obvious lie. He even got the way he said the name wrong. I can see Sarang in the eyes that look at Florian. It was so obvious that no one could miss it.

“Alright. We don’t love each other, but are you still okay with marrying me?”

“Yes… I am.”

“You’ll need an omega’s pheromones too, I suppose.”

Sarang, who reacted as if he had heard something completely unexpected, soon nodded. He hadn’t accepted the marriage because of the omega’s pheromones, but Sarang swallowed his words. Just as he had done many times until now.

“Yes. I need them, Rian.”

“I need an alpha’s pheromones too, Sarang. To be precise, I need your pheromones. The pheromones of other alphas make me feel ill.”

Sarang, who had lived alone with his single father in the slums since he was young, was unnecessarily quick on the uptake. It could have been the manifestation of experience accumulated naturally to survive in the world of soccer as a mutant alpha and an Asian. So he could guess, at least similarly, the answer Florian wanted.

“Why don’t you use the partner service, Sarang?”

Sarang, who quietly blinked his long eyelashes, answered obediently.

“I don’t like meeting a stranger just for that purpose and spending my heat with them.”

It wasn’t a lie. It was just that he hadn’t given the second answer. Florian didn’t probe deeply. Sarang didn’t want to spend his heat with someone he didn’t love. That was the biggest reason he didn’t use the partner service. Since he already knew, Florian had no reason to press the matter and torment Sarang. Because he had already tormented him more than enough, and would continue to do so in the future.

“I see.”

Sarang’s trembling was palpable. It wasn’t excitement, but anxiety. Fear that Florian would call off the marriage as easily as flipping his palm.

“Sarang. If you marry me, many things will be different from how they’ve been until now.”

First and foremost, Sarang would become a target for the media. Instead of attacking Florian, they would attack Sarang. Sarang, a mutant beta and an Asian professional athlete, was an easy-to-hunt, sensational, and high-demand prey for them. Even now, after every match, after just one poor performance, all sorts of ridicule and criticism were packaged as critique and loudly proclaimed.

“It could become a major obstacle in your athletic career.”

Sarang had said that such things didn’t stress him. If his performance was poor, he would be angry with himself and sorry to the fans, but soccer doesn’t end with one game. That no one knows how long he will be able to continue playing soccer. So he wanted to do his best in each and every game, and he would be happy if that helped the team, and sad if it didn’t, he had said with a faint smile.

When Sarang smiled brightly, the corners of his eyes crinkled and dimples appeared on his cheeks. He was like the young sunlight that first illuminates a blade of grass in the morning. Florian had mostly only seen this side of him in the media.

“There’s also the option of just being heat partners without getting married. I have a special talent for keeping secrets, so you don’t have to worry about rumors leaking out.”

“Rian.”

“Yes, Sarang.”

“In the end, the biggest obstacle in my athletic career is myself. I have a clear goal. So I won’t be shaken.”

Even more so if you are by my side, Rian.

Sarang, who had managed to swallow the last part of his sentence, smiled. Florian could naturally tell that it was one of those moments when a smile was used in place of words.