JADE 9

“…”

Kwon Joowan’s eyes widened as he remained in the same position he was in while fastening Jin Sejun’s seatbelt.

The scent of a peach, fully ripened and as if soaked in honey. It was a smell often described as the scent of a true omega among omegas. It had no artificial feel and was softly enveloping, clearly the body odor of a person.

Of course, Jin Sejun was also crazy about omega pheromones, but now he felt he could understand why the omega employee hated smelling other people’s pheromones.

Looking at it this way, it was certain that Jin Sejun was a defective product as an alpha.

“But do you also meet omegas? A beta who likes omegas is unusual, and an omega who likes betas is unusual, too.”

He was aware that his eyes were not smiling at all, but there was nothing he could do. It was the first time it was not easy to act cool.

However, Kwon Joowan chuckled as if it were not a serious matter at all and returned to his seat.

“Ah, a friend. I came out for a drink with the omega friend I mentioned before… His cycle suddenly started, so I dropped him off at home.”

“So you’ve already had a few drinks and didn’t want to go home, and I’m the replacement?”

“You’re really cute, Mr. Sejun.”

“What?”

When he turned his head sharply, the corners of Kwon Joowan’s mouth were slightly raised. It looked a little different from his usual smile.

‘Is it because of the alcohol? Looking at him like this, he does seem older…’

That being said, it wasn’t very pleasant for an alpha to be called cute by a mere beta.

Kwon Joowan’s smile changed to one that looked slightly embarrassed.

“I haven’t been drinking. I drove here, after all.”

Aha? So you brought out your expensive car to escort your omega friend. He had looked so pretty usually, but today he was so unappetizing. It was even more annoying that he was attracted to that conceited brat.

‘Right, at this rate, he’s probably just a slut who works out. But for a slut, he doesn’t meet many people.’

He didn’t seem to have much confidence in his appearance either, so it was clear that he would be easy to win over with a few compliments, just as he had been doing.

Having made up his mind, Jin Sejun stroked the side of Kwon Joowan’s head lingeringly. Feeling him flinch under his hand instantly made him feel better.

Jin Sejun then pushed his head forward, as if sweeping his hair back, turning it away.

“Let’s go. But if the drinks there are bad, I’m going home.”

“Don’t worry about that.”

He had said it was in the neighborhood, but the bar Kwon Joowan took him to only appeared after driving on a quiet road for about 15 minutes. The prevailing impression was that the night view at a glance was not much different from the view from his living room, but it wasn’t bad for a change of pace.

It’s not like he was looking for a marriage partner when all he wanted was to lose his virginity to a handsome beta who didn’t even know about pheromones.

Thinking that, the anger he had felt towards Kwon Joowan and the pheromones clinging to him became as distant as yesterday’s news.

“I was going to ask you to pay if it was bad, but it’s good. I guess I’ll have to pay.”

“Ah, of course I came here to treat you.”

“What kind of alpha gets a drink bought for him by a guy he’s seeing?”

As he said it playfully, Kwon Joowan’s eyes widened.

As he always thought, looking into Kwon Joowan’s eyes made him feel strange. The calm, gray irises, which looked like they were under a storm cloud even in the sunlight, shone sharply under the bar’s lighting.

Kwon Joowan, who seemed a little surprised, immediately poured him a drink. Then he wrapped a nut in a piece of cheese from the platter and pushed it towards Jin Sejun’s mouth.

“The drinks will dry up while we bicker about who’s paying. Shall we eat first and talk?”

“Sounds good.”

As he accepted the snack, he playfully licked his fingers, and Kwon Joowan’s eyes darkened even more. Jin Sejun realized that he was slowly getting back into his own rhythm and, feeling even better, downed his drink.

He was told it was good whiskey, and although he didn’t know how to drink it, he liked the aroma. Kwon Joowan might not be the type of person he had thought (he had hoped he was more naive and less well-off than himself), but he still liked him.

A few dozen minutes after downing his drink, Jin Sejun was resting his chin on the table, putting all his weight on his elbows.

“So… I have an allergy to love triangles, you see?”

It was the first time he had had such an intimate drinking session since his mid-twenties, so he had been a little nervous. But once the alcohol kicked in, his whole body became excessively relaxed.

He looked up at Kwon Joowan with a slightly defiant tone due to his posture.

“The person I like never really likes me back, and only the person the person I like likes, likes me. No, I’m not saying I was courted by an alpha! Just in a human way.”

When was this memory from? Jin Sejun had also, in his own way, liked someone purely before.

Before he had fallen so low as to covet a beta’s ass like now, he had also had a romantic dream of meeting an omega, dating for a long time, and finally getting married.

But he had a strange jinx, and the people Jin Sejun liked often ended up hating him.

The last time he had his heart broken, he had screamed that he couldn’t live like this and was going to go to seminary, and had been kicked by his older brother.

Of course, that was just a phase, and there had been a time when he had wanted to meet omegas of his type, according to his own personality. But unfortunately, by that point, he already had a problem with his pheromones.

Yes, he had once wanted pure love, but now he only wanted the body. No, he wanted at least the body.

It was a very shabby and shameful desire, but it was true. He was very envious of those who did not want people, who lived alone without knowing loneliness.

When he suddenly looked up, Kwon Joowan’s expression was peculiar. Then again, it wasn’t often that this man’s expression was easy to read.

“Did I talk for too long about something you weren’t curious about?”

As he said it, slightly sarcastically, Kwon Joowan cut him off.

“No, I’m curious.”

“You were thinking I don’t live up to my looks while listening, right?”

“No. I thought you would never have experienced that kind of heartache, Mr. Sejun, so it’s unexpected.”

“Have you never experienced that?”

“I…”

Kwon Joowan thought for a long time before answering simply.

“I had never even heard of such a peculiar jinx until just now.”

“Huh? Are you saying I lied? Can you persecute people like this just because you’re handsome?”

“Haha… No.”

Kwon Joowan’s hand slowly stroked Jin Sejun’s back as if to calm him down. As his fingertips passed the middle of his back and pressed on the erector spinae muscles by his waist, his firm waist flinched.

“…”

As soon as Jin Sejun grabbed his glass, pretending not to notice, Kwon Joowan replaced it with a glass of water.

“In case you drink too much and don’t remember.”

“If I say I’m not drunk at all, I’ll sound like a drunk person, right?”

“You know it well. Just like how you texted strangely last time, you’re cute when you’re drunk, too.”

Look at this? He’s been looking down on me since earlier? Whether Jin Sejun’s face hardened or not, Kwon Joowan’s thoughtless remarks continued.

“You’re also cute when you seem to lack confidence, Mr. Sejun.”

Oh oh oh? He called me cute again? Isn’t this guy a complete lunatic?

Besides, lacking confidence? In his 31 years of life, Jin Sejun had never been that. If you exclude pheromones and relationship experience, he was always full of confidence in himself, that was Jin Sejun.

Did he think that if a seemingly clueless academy teacher drove an expensive car and bought him expensive alcohol, he would be all, “Wow! So cool~” and fall for him head over heels?

Jin Sejun frowned and grabbed Kwon Joowan’s shoulder.

“You think I’m cute? Do you know my age?”

“Thirty-one. You told me before.”

“Then how many years apart are we?”

“Two years.”

Kwon Joowan was the same age as Jin Sejun’s second older brother. It was only two years, but when someone was the same age as a sibling, the age difference became more conscious.

“Were you speaking informally just now? Are you showing off over a mere two-year difference?”

“Haha.”

“You were about to call me cute again, weren’t you.”

“You caught me. But you are cute.”

At least try to be a little flustered. Does the world look so happy just because he finished losing weight? Or is he always like this when he’s had a little to drink?

At this point, he was getting stubborn. Jin Sejun licked his lower lip and then fiddled with Kwon Joowan’s hand that was in the middle of the table. But Kwon Joowan casually held his hand back and gently rubbed the soft flesh between his fingers.

It was a reaction he could never have imagined considering his first impression of Kwon Joowan.

‘Is he saying he has some experience? Coming to meet an alpha while smelling of omega pheromones, pretending to know nothing. Is he just showing off, saying he has omegas who are crazy about him?’

Though since he’s a beta, it’s possible he really doesn’t know. It would be too much of a novel to say he put it on intentionally to arouse me, right? Since the result wasn’t that, for now.

Now, an inferiority complex of unknown origin was blooming from deep within him. Jin Sejun slowly intertwined his fingers with Kwon Joowan’s and made eye contact.

“How do you do it, Mr. Joowan? I’m curious.”

“Do what?”

“Masturbate. You said you upload videos.”

It was a word he had spat out as a decisive blow in his own way, but Kwon Joowan was not flustered at all. Instead, didn’t he lean his upper body forward and whisper in his ear?

“Aren’t you curious about sex?”

“Um…”

Maybe I am curious.

Many beta males are reluctant to sleep with men, but he seemed different, probably because he was a slut.

Right, two sluts who live up to their looks can have a one-night stand.

If not… then let’s just date.

If he were to date Kwon Joowan, he could start anew as if the jinx related to relationships and the pheromone problem never existed.

Jin Sejun blew away his bad mood in an instant and answered plainly.

“I’m glad you’re a beta, Mr. Joowan.”

“Ah.”

“At first, I wondered if you were an alpha, but I’m really glad. I really can’t do alphas. Omegas, betas, they’re all fine, but not alphas.”

Though if he were an alpha, it would be difficult for this side, but the other side would go crazy for it. The time he had spent obsessed with his own ‘alpha-ness’ all his life could not just disappear because of a mere pheromone problem.

Also, Jin Sejun was really confident he could treat him well. He had no actual experience, but he had read many testimonials of omegas’ first experiences while browsing various internet forums.

Because he had obsessively read books that would be helpful in cultivating bedroom manners as an alpha, such as 100 Kinds of Foreplay Alphas Want, The Conditions for an Alpha to be Loved by an Omega, and To My Alpha Partner, he could be considered the self-proclaimed local number one in lip-service relationships and lip-service sex.

‘I’ll make sure it doesn’t hurt…’

He could hold back his own ejaculation until Kwon Joowan came. While showering first, he even came up with several scenarios to help Kwon Joowan prepare and melt him.

Once he swiftly lifted the panting and limp him in his arms and carried him to the bed, everything would unfold naturally.

Why? Because Jin Sejun was an alpha born to please the one in his arms.

After drying his body, he also lightly sprayed on some cologne. By that point, he had prepared a repertoire to relax Kwon Joowan and had established countermeasures for every situation, including the order of positions according to his reactions.

Jin Sejun, a charming alpha with little experience but a strong sense of pride, a lot of useless trivia, and strong self-conviction, opened the bathroom door and walked out with confident steps.

A masculine scent mixed with the warm steam spread throughout the room with his steps.

“Mr. Joowan, let’s wash up together… hmm?”

Of course, he had expected Kwon Joowan to be shyly… no, he didn’t seem like the type to be shy, but anyway, he had thought Kwon Joowan would be ready to shower. However, there was no one in the room.

“Mr. Joowan? Ah, right. I get to play hide-and-seek because I booked such a nice room, hahaha.”

Jin Sejun still maintained a relaxed attitude as he walked past the bedroom connected to the bathroom and into the reception room. But there too, only a cold wind blew.