MORE 20

It was a day off for a change. For Siyul, his way of spending a holiday wasn’t going out to play, but lounging at home playing mobile games. Since he didn’t really have anyone to contact other than Kwon Yuwon, he was lying down comfortably, phone in hand, pouring his energy into breaking blocks. It was then that a message popped up at the top of the screen with a ding-dong.

Isn’t today your day off?

What are you doing?

I have to correct myself. Lately, the number of people Siyul exchanges texts with has increased by one.

“I’m at home, playing,” he said aloud in a stiff tone as he typed the reply. As if Woo Hyunse were standing right next to him.

Are you bored?

No, I’m in the middle of a game.

Shall we see each other this evening?

Here, Siyul hesitated to reply. The fact that Woo Hyunse was a Dominant Alpha weighed on his mind. He recalled the face of the man who had laughed mischievously, saying, “Let’s just say I’m Recessive,” and it hovered before his eyes.

No matter how much he thought about it, meeting Woo Hyunse was dangerous. Even though he’d spouted that he was Recessive, Siyul didn’t believe it. Woo Hyunse was a Dominant. If he were actually Recessive, he would have been the type of person to laugh and say, “I’m Recessive, so don’t worry,” from the start. He hadn’t known him long, but judging by the personality he’d seen so far, he didn’t seem like the type to hide things.

But then, did life ever flow exactly as one wanted? For starters, his workplace was a place Woo Hyunse had introduced to him. He still had a debt to repay. He knew his phone number, and even his identification card, which he had briefly forgotten, was in Woo Hyunse’s hands.

“That’s right, my ID.”

He hadn’t felt much inconvenience without it, so he had been putting off getting it reissued. Taking a new ID photo, going to the welfare center, and getting it issued was nothing short of a huge hassle. He had to avoid Woo Hyunse as much as possible, but to get his ID back, he had no choice.

What time is it?

With that, Siyul sent a reply to the text Woo Hyunse had sent. Siyul repeatedly emphasized to himself, ‘It’s to get my ID back,’ and there was no other reason.

He lay face down, flicking his toes. A kind reply arrived: What time is good for you? Siyul glanced at the clock. 5:00 PM. It was getting to be dinner time. Fighting the urge, he tapped on his phone, determined that this time, he would definitely be the one to pay.

Is 7:00 okay? I’ll come pick you up.

“He says he’ll pick me up and drop me off every single day. What a strange man…”

Siyul muttered, letting out a small, dry laugh. Then, startled by his own laughter, he straightened his face and tapped on the keyboard. To the somewhat formal text saying, ‘I will go there myself,’ only two ‘ㅋㅋㅋ’ characters came back. Kwon Yuwon usually sent so many ‘ㅋ’s that he had to scroll down the screen.

There was plenty of time until the appointment, but for some reason, it felt short. If he wanted to wash up, comb his hair, and choose clothes, it might be tight. Siyul plugged his phone into the charger and hurriedly shed his clothes.

He had hurried out, so he arrived earlier than expected. Bored with standing on the side of the road, he went into a nearby drugstore. He wasn’t intending to buy anything in particular; it was just to kill time. As he looked around, what caught his eye was the expansive perfume section that took up an entire wall.

As if someone were beckoning him from there, Siyul walked over hesitantly. They were all types he was seeing for the first time. Well, neither Kwon Yuwon nor he had any distance to travel with perfume. Kwon Yuwon was of the faction that thought pheromones alone were terrible enough, so why add perfume on top of that? And as for him, he wasn’t particularly interested in scents. The fabric softener that was on the biggest discount that month at the mart was the only scent Siyul possessed.

“Customer, is there something you’re looking for?”

Just as he picked up the nearest perfume to bring to the tip of his nose, a clerk who had been watching him intently approached with a beaming smile, acting friendly. Siyul started in surprise and glanced around. He had no immunity to such excessive kindness.

“No. I’ll take a look on my own.”

“Yes. Then please call me whenever you need something.”

Seeing the back of the clerk moving away, Siyul turned his eyes back to the perfume display. Blue glass bottles, bottles wrapped in straw, bottles with large flower models on the caps—each had a strong personality.

Siyul browsed through them and picked up the most inoffensive-looking one. It was labeled as Wisteria scent. Observing what others did, he sprayed the scent on a testing strip and smelled it.

Like wisteria hanging in clusters, the scent was sweet. It was a fragrance that brought light purple to mind. He had wanted to find a scent similar to birch trees, but his interest had wandered off-track.

Siyul carefully rubbed the moist testing strip onto his bare wrist. Glancing at the person next to him, he wiped his wrist against the back of his ear like he was washing his face. He brought it close to his nose one more time to smell it, then crinkled his eyes until they were half-closed and grinned widely. He fell in love with the sweet yet light fragrance.

He was taking his phone out of his pocket to check how much time had passed when there was a knock-knock sound on the front glass window. When he looked up, he made eye contact with Woo Hyunse.

The other man laughed brightly and tapped the glass with his index finger. As Siyul stood there staring blankly, forgetting even to blink, he tilted his head sideways and held up his own phone. Soon, the phone in Siyul’s hand rang loudly.

Huck! Siyul tossed his phone up like he’d touched a hot stone and caught it in a hurry. Everyone’s attention turned to him. Someone looked out the window and whispered to the person next to them. Since he had been a supporting actor at best and never a protagonist—nor had he ever wished to be—Siyul scurried out of the shop as if fleeing.

“Why call me? You saw me perfectly well inside.”

He had rushed out, but Woo Hyunse was just wearing a sleek smile, as if it were all so amusing. Siyul felt a surge of frustration and grabbed the hem of the other’s coat, pulling on it.

“You were standing so still, Mr. Kwon Siyul. I thought you didn’t recognize me.”

Huh, Siyul let out a dry laugh in disbelief. Even if they were over 100 meters apart, he could recognize Woo Hyunse instantly. Wasn’t he a head taller than others, and weren’t his shoulders a span wider? He would know him even by the back of his head, and even if he covered his face with paper, revealing only his eyebrows, forehead, and hair, he would recognize him.

“There’s no way…”

He was about to say that, but realizing there were onlookers inside the glass window watching them, he quickly let go of the coat. He was reluctant to be exposed to the gaze of others, so Siyul quickened his pace. He figured he would be fine once they got out of here.

Woo Hyunse followed such a Siyul. Walking side by side, he seemed to notice something and leaned his head toward the nape of Siyul’s neck. The tip of his high nose brushed Siyul’s earlobe. The low breath tickled his cheek. The soft, fair fuzz that had been lying flat there all stood on end at once.

“Did you put on perfume?”

Siyul jumped in surprise, covered his ear with his palm, and retreated sharply. His face turned as red as if it had been dipped in ripe cherry liqueur. It went without saying for the earlobe Woo Hyunse’s nose tip had touched.

“Why are you smelling me all of a sudden? Are you a dog?”

“I just smelled it because it smelled good. ‘A dog,’ isn’t that a bit harsh?”

Woo Hyunse pouted his lips, pretending to be hurt. With a frame that large and being older than him, making such an expression was a foul. Siyul let out a deep sigh and rubbed his heated face vigorously with both hands.

“The scent suits you well.”

“Don’t you dislike sweet scents, Mister CEO? You didn’t like that drink last time.”

“I don’t like it. But…”

Woo Hyunse pressed his nose close to the nape of Siyul’s neck and took another deep breath. This time, Siyul didn’t avoid him. Feeling awkward, he just rubbed the other side of his neck with his hand.

“It suits you well, Mr. Kwon Siyul.”

“….”

Siyul bit his lip, trying hard to pull down the corners of his mouth that kept wanting to turn up. Even so, his lips twitched. Didn’t he spray the perfume at such a perfect time? At the very least, he had heard a compliment.

Siyul scratched the skin where the other’s breath seemed to still linger. He didn’t have the courage to press his nose to the other’s neck and smell him like Woo Hyunse had, so he pretended to sigh and took a deep breath of air. Since he wasn’t buried deep in the other’s clothes like that night when he was drunk, the scent didn’t soak deeply into his nose. Still, it was similar to the scent he had smelled before. The scent of a cold winter sea.

It didn’t feel like the scent of a birch forest buried in snow that Kwon Yuwon had described. Siyul felt a little, just a tiny bit, bitter about that.

Once again, Siyul couldn’t buy the meal. The place Woo Hyunse took him was a fine-dining restaurant with a price point much higher than Siyul had anticipated. He had never even thought about crossing the threshold of such a restaurant, let alone going inside, so Siyul stood there blinking like a country bumpkin who had come to the city for the first time, stealing glances at Woo Hyunse’s fingertips.

He fumbled with his utensils, imitating how he had seen others test scents at the drugstore. Fortunately, the food came in small pieces, and the chef had come out personally to explain how to eat it, so it wasn’t as difficult as he had been nervous about.

“Is it to your taste?”

“Yes. It’s delicious.”

In truth, he didn’t even know if the food was going into his mouth or his nose. It was certainly delicious, but he wasn’t in his right mind enough to feel it. A storm cloud of worry bloomed, wondering how much the bill would come out to.

“I’ll go to the restroom for a moment.”

He stopped by the counter on that excuse. He intended to pay for it beforehand without Woo Hyunse knowing. Wasn’t it said that a man’s word is as heavy as a thousand pounds? The director had always emphasized that if you were born with balls, you must keep your word once spoken. Siyul waited for the clerk to open their mouth, hoping against hope that he had extra money in his bank account, and determined that if not, he would have to work a part-time job.

“Your companion has already paid.”

Even though Siyul asked repeatedly if that was really true and if it was for his table, the clerk’s answer didn’t change. Siyul returned with his cheeks puffed out. No matter how difficult his situation was, he had truly wanted to buy Woo Hyunse a meal. Now, he even felt a sense of stubbornness that he would somehow put food he’d bought with his own money into Woo Hyunse’s mouth.