JADE 53

Morning sunlight streamed in through the slits of the shutters, and the sound of birds that had come to the densely planted garden trees was melodious. Jin Sejun, who had woken up comfortably after one of the best nights of sleep he could count on one hand, fumbled for the empty space next to him.

“……”

He’s gone! The man he had dragged into bed with all sorts of excuses had disappeared.

‘Did that bastard run away?’

Awakening in an instant, Jin Sejun shot up from his spot and flung the door open. At that moment, a savory smell wafted to the tip of his nose. The living room was filled with the smell of baking bread and the aroma of brewing coffee.

“Ah, you woke up just in time.”

Kwon Joowan, dressed comfortably, wiped his hands on a kitchen cloth and brought out some bread that had been toasted with tomato sauce.

“That looks delicious.”

“It’s called pan con tomate. I thought it would be nice to have something light since we’re in Spain.”

“You said you don’t cook much.”

“If you call this cooking, then making instant noodles is cooking too.”

Instant noodles are cooking too… As Jin Sejun muttered and sat down, a bowl of vegetable soup, pickled olives, and hot coffee were soon placed before him.

“You said you don’t like olives, Mr. Sejun, but we’re in the land of olives, so.”

“You remember that…”

Ah, this is nice. The tension that had gripped his whole body upon seeing Kwon Joowan gone as soon as he opened his eyes slowly melted away. The tomato-something dish was salty and simple and quite good, the olives were just salty but not bad, and the coffee was delicious too. Kwon Joowan started munching on the pickled olives first.

“Mr. Sejun, our flight back to Korea is tonight, so I think we can just grab a simple dinner at the airport.”

“Aha.”

He was going back safely, but it was a bit of a shame. Before he could even ponder what he was disappointed about, Kwon Joowan asked.

“We woke up early, so we have some time. Should we do some sightseeing in the city before going to the airport? Like the plaza or something.”

Nod, nod, nod. Seeing Jin Sejun, with his cheeks puffed out, nodding vigorously, Kwon Joowan let out a small laugh and poured him a little more coffee. Only then did he start chewing on his own toast, and he flinched noticeably.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, no.”

“Did you bite a rock or something?”

“Um… I think I need to go to the dentist when I get back to Korea.”

“Did a filling come out? If it’s serious, maybe a hospital today…”

What was the Spanish healthcare system like again? What could possibly make the man who had remained so blank-faced even after chewing up both of his arms look so unwell? As concern appeared on Jin Sejun’s face, Kwon Joowan smiled again.

“It’s nothing. I can go when I get back to Korea.”

“Then dip it in some soup before you eat. Here, this one’s dipped in soup. And show your arms to a doctor, too. It’s hot out, so I’m scared they’ll get infected.”

“Yes, thank you. It’s not a humid day, so it should be fine.”

The atmosphere was strangely gentle from start to finish. Jin Sejun, for no reason, kept glancing at Kwon Joowan as he tore off pieces of toast and soaked them in the soup several times. And Kwon Joowan accepted and ate them obediently.

He felt like there were many things to talk about after getting some sleep, but he wasn’t in the mood to bring them up. It’s the magic of being in a travel destination, after all, where one can naturally let things slide that would not be permissible in daily life.

Also, thinking back, it was so good to have done some of the things he had been looking forward to since Kwon Joowan’s hotel-run incident at the end of last year. To say they had completely had sex, they had held back quite a bit without penetration, but it seemed that making each other come by touching could also fall into the category of sex.

‘I wish I could remember everything.’

He only had spotty memories of the beginning or the more intense moments, and everything before and after they moved accommodations was completely wiped from his mind. As he tried to sit still, he found himself staring at Kwon Joowan’s lips again, so Jin Sejun 괜히 touched his foot under the table.

“Ah~ You didn’t sneakily do anything more perverted while I can’t remember, did you?”

“Me?”

He looked like he had almost choked but had barely managed to calm himself. Well, Jin Sejun himself only remembered things in bits and pieces, so it didn’t seem likely that Kwon Joowan could recall everything either. And judging by the size of Kwon Joowan’s penis, he was certain his own body wouldn’t be this intact if they had actually done the deed.

Kwon Joowan’s expression, as he sipped his coffee looking unconfident, became more and more like a dying old tree. It was funny, but he felt he should stop teasing him.

“I was just kidding. I’ll keep it a secret, so don’t be like that.”

“What is it…?”

“The secret? That you’re not a beta, Mr. Joowan. And since I’m embarrassed too, we can just pretend the ambiguous stuff we did never happened.”

Hmm? That wasn’t what he had intended to say, but he went too far in his attempt to be considerate. How could they pretend something that had already happened never did? In fact, he didn’t want to.

“…Thank you.”

But seeing Kwon Joowan’s expression lighten a little, he felt both crappy and happy. Jin Sejun tossed back the remaining coffee down his throat and playfully touched Kwon Joowan’s toes again. The weather was nice and breakfast was delicious, so he wasn’t even annoyed.

He had been angry throughout the whole trip, so let’s at least enjoy today like a normal person. As he thought about why he had been so angry a few days ago, a part of the conversation he had with Kwon Joowan right before his rut fully hit came to mind. Jin Sejun leaned back in his chair and asked.

“It just occurred to me. You said Eun Garam liked me, so you stuck around for the jealousy ploy, but you also wanted to separate me from him? I don’t get it.”

Even as he asked, he thought Kwon Joowan would probably hedge, but an answer that was unexpectedly refreshing yet ambiguous came back.

“Unlike me, you’re attractive no matter how you look at it, Mr. Sejun…”

“Hmm?”

It sounded vaguely like a love confession, but falling for this would be a huge mistake. He couldn’t even count the number of months he had been panting alone after falling for Kwon Joowan’s strange attitude. Jin Sejun stopped himself from snapping something like, ‘So, does my charm work on you or not?’

“Haha, it sounds like you separated Mr. Garam from me because you like me, Mr. Joowan. When you just hate seeing me get friendly with an omega right in front of you.”

He hadn’t snapped, but he had subtly let his wishful thinking slip. However, Kwon Joowan, as he often did, just stared at Jin Sejun with extremely dazed eyes. His attitude was as if he had just picked up trash with his ears, making only the person who spoke feel embarrassed.

“…It was a joke.”

Fuck. He swallowed the curse that was about to come out, and his mouth tasted bitter.

Anyway, whatever scheme he had pulled with Eun Garam, in Jin Sejun’s eyes, Eun Garam clearly liked Kwon Joowan. He wasn’t a fool; he could tell, no matter how inexperienced he was.

In conclusion, it seemed Kwon Joowan was the fool.

“You’re a bit naive, Mr. Joowan… Or your eyes are just knots in a board.”

“My eyes? Knots in a board?”

“Never mind.”

“…Why do I feel so racially discriminated against.”

“Ha, honestly. One minute you say you’re not a Korean-American. I’ll bring you a book of proverbs for lower graders that Yiseo was reading later.”

Why does he seem like he has a screw loose? What was Kwon Joowan’s charm that made Ahn Saeha and Eun Garam like him? Then again, his appearance alone would be appealing regardless of trait, so it was rather ridiculous to even be pondering this.

From Jin Sejun’s perspective, he thought it was cute when he acted like a blockhead sometimes…

Whatever it was, he was sorry for getting in between them. He had never actively tried to interfere, but in the end, the current situation was that he had caught Kwon Joowan by the ankle and was monopolizing him.

No, considering the jinx, it was also possible that Eun Garam had targeted Jin Sejun while Kwon Joowan had feelings for Eun Garam.

“Aren’t you going to see Mr. Garam again when you get back to Korea?”

“No? I told you, I was just really trying to get him away from you, Mr. Sejun.”

“Because you hate alphas who hit on omegas?”

Kwon Joowan’s cheeks turned slightly red.

“…It’s just, I didn’t think that type of person suited you, Mr. Sejun.”

Doesn’t suit me? They suit me damn well. As long as they were small and slim, Jin Sejun had killer chemistry with any type of omega.

“You said you don’t like Eun Garam.”

“That’s right.”

It was a Q&A session like a game of twenty questions that went nowhere…

‘Huh, this bastard… does he really like me?’

Isn’t that why he was being so difficult? There were many times when he acted annoyingly, but things he had previously thought were directed at Jin Sejun for being an alpha could now be interpreted as being directed solely at Kwon Joowan himself.

“Do you like me?”

The question he couldn’t dare to ask, the one he had repeatedly thrown out as a joke and hastily taken back, popped out again. He thought Kwon Joowan would just brush it off blankly again, but he answered easily.

“Would there be anyone who knows you, Mr. Sejun, and doesn’t have a favorable impression of you?”

“Well, I know that much myself.”

This didn’t seem like a conversation that was supposed to flow so lightly… But he didn’t want to set a mood in a situation with nowhere to run, so even though there was a lot he wanted to ask, his lips wouldn’t move.

Right, knowing Kwon Joowan’s personality, if he had really wanted to get serious with Jin Sejun, wouldn’t he have crossed the line by mutual consent long ago, or, no, even without crossing the line, wouldn’t he have offered to take responsibility for just what the two of them did last night?

Let’s think positively. He had always thought it was a curse to have a constitution that seduces alphas while being an alpha himself, but this time, it had been a help.

That being said, an alpha who can endure in the midst of an omega’s heat pheromones… shouldn’t Kwon Joowan be in the Guinness Book of World Records? Then again, since Jin Sejun wasn’t a real omega, it might be different.

But from the perspective of someone who had seen the disgusting sight of an alpha brat’s crotch suddenly bulging during a past altercation, Kwon Joowan’s attitude felt inconsistent. Pheromones would have been released when the two of them fought in the past, but the Kwon Joowan of that time didn’t seem at all like an alpha who had encountered omega pheromones.

Of course, Jin Sejun might have controlled them well, but that was unlikely, and if they had leaked in that situation, it would have been difficult for Kwon Joowan, an alpha, to mistake them for not being Jin Sejun’s.

Even after learning one big secret, why were there still so many things he couldn’t understand?

After a moment of silence, Jin Sejun asked impulsively.

“I’m not unaware of how this might sound, but by any chance, am I unattractive?”

“Pardon?”

“You endured it too well. Are you sure you’re an alpha?”

“Mr. Sejun, please…”

It was obvious that Kwon Joowan regarded the person before him as a physically grown man who needed sex education from square one.

“That was a joke too.”

It was half-serious, but since Kwon Joowan seemed to be of the faction that thinks ‘being alpha-like’ is lame, let’s just back down for now. Come to think of it, did Kwon Joowan come to hate ‘alphas’ because he, too, had the flaw of having no scent, the opposite of Jin Sejun?

“You’re always just joking, Mr. Sejun.”

“…You have to live cheerfully. So why do you go around hiding your trait? Is it okay to ask something like this first thing in the morning?”

“What about you, Mr. Sejun?”

“Me? What about…”

Ah, this guy thinks I’m an omega pretending to be an alpha right now. Jin Sejun found both this situation and his own circumstances funny, and since Kwon Joowan seemed to feel a sense of kinship, he just mumbled something vaguely.

“It’s too long to explain.”

“Same for me.”

“……”

I don’t think this bastard likes me very much.