MW 20

It seems too expensive here.

That was the sentence he quickly wrote on his palm, feeling restless. Jaeha clenched his fist at the words that continued to tickle his palm. For a moment, Yijae, having run out of space to write, looked up with a flustered expression.

“It’s okay.”

“But still…”

“You’re the first person to worry about how much money I spend.”

At those words, Yijae let out an “Ah” without realizing it. It was true, judging by the house he lived in and the car he had just been in, he was probably incomparably wealthier than him. Was he offended that someone like him was worried about him? Yijae, whose eyelashes trembled as he opened his eyes, met Jaeha’s gaze, who was looking at him with an interested expression.

Ah, there it is again. That strange fluttering feeling in my chest.

Yijae quickly turned his head and gulped down the tea placed in front of him.

“This is sushi with smoked Spanish mackerel and pickled onions.”

“So they say. Try it, Yijae.”

Yijae looked at the sushi placed in front of him and Jaeha, then slowly picked it up with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth.

The soft texture of the fish flesh swirled on his tongue. It was a taste he had never experienced before in his life, and Yijae moved his mouth diligently. But in that moment, a stinging and electrifying sensation in his nose made his body tremble.

“Ugh!”

Jaeha, who had been eating quietly beside him, burst out laughing as if he couldn’t hold it in anymore and cupped Yijae’s cheeks.

“Let me see.”

“Ugh.”

It felt similar to eating a large amount of wasabi. Yijae, attacked by a spiciness from an unexpected place, looked up at Jaeha with teary eyes.

“Does it still hurt?”

How could this plain white sushi be so spicy? The stinging sensation gradually subsided with the gentle tapping on the bridge of his nose. After the unfamiliar feeling disappeared, what followed was embarrassment. Yijae bit his lip hard at the fact that he had shown such an embarrassing side of himself to Jaeha.

How could he always be like this. Just as Dohae said, he was utterly stupid. His toes curled inside his sneakers in shame.

“Cute.”

Yijae, whose gaze had been on his feet, blankly raised his head at the words coming from above.

Did I mishear?

But he didn’t know why his gaze kept landing on Jaeha’s reddened neck. Yijae secretly scratched his chest with his fingernails and continued his meal.

“Today was fun.”

“Me too.”

It was the first time he realized that playing with a friend could be this enjoyable. Yijae slowly retraced the memories of the day, eating with him, watching a movie, and eating something called a brownie bingsu at a cafe. And then he felt a sense of disappointment that it was already evening.

“Yijae.”

“Yes.”

At his suddenly lowered voice, Yijae became tense. He instinctively sensed that Jaeha had something to say to him.

It was okay if this memory was the last one he had with him. Yijae resolved to himself several times that he wouldn’t cry even if he said they should stop being friends, and he lifted his head.

“The person who did this to you. Is it someone I know?”

However, the words that came out of Jaeha’s mouth were not what he had expected. Yijae gently rubbed his injured forehead, and his gaze wavered at his eyes that were looking straight at him.

“The person who locked you in the warehouse and hit you, was it Gu Dohae?”

‘…How on earth did Jaeha sunbae know that?’

“Does Gu Dohae bully you?”

Yijae couldn’t easily nod at the question that followed. Seeing him frozen as if terrified, Jaeha closed and opened his eyes slowly.

Although he hadn’t heard the answer in Yijae’s voice, it was certain that the culprit who had done this to him was Gu Dohae. Jaeha, clenching his fist lightly, slowly removed his hand from Yijae’s forehead.

“I’ll wait for your answer. But I hope you’ll be honest with me.”

“……”

“So that I can help you.”

‘Help me?’

Yijae lifted the eyelids he had squeezed shut in fear and looked up at Jaeha.

Yijae’s mind became a tangled mess of confusion.

‘What will happen if I ask for help. My mom… and Dohae.’

Yijae bit the inside of his cheek hard, and at the familiar pain that slowly spread, he let out the breath he had been holding.

⁺₊❆₊⋆

Yijae, who hadn’t been able to sleep all night because of what happened yesterday, slowly got up as he saw the sun rising outside the window. He filled the bathtub with water, got in, and let out a long sigh as he curled up in the warm water.

“He said he’d help me.”

He was a kind person from the moment they first met. According to Dohae, he had a nature of not being able to pass by pitiful people since he was young, so it made sense. He looked at his reflection in the mirror and then turned his gaze away as if to avoid it. Just as it was time to leave for the hospital, Yijae hurriedly finished getting ready and came down to the first floor, greeting Mrs. Lee.

“Hello.”

She, whom he was facing for the first time since moving into the main house, crossed her arms as if displeased and averted her gaze, pretending not to see Yijae.

After Yijae had been standing there for a while, Mrs. Lee, who had placed her coffee cup on the table, looked at Yijae with a sharp gaze and spoke.

“You. Even if you’ve moved into the main house, you know what your job is, right?”

“Yes, I know. Don’t worry.”

“Haa. What on earth is the Chairman thinking.”

Was the reason she hadn’t been around because he had moved into the main house? Yijae rolled his tongue in his bitter-tasting mouth and, at her words to wait in the car first, he went out the front door.

“So, was it good?”

As soon as he got in the car, Dohae, who was already there, said something incomprehensible. The moment Yijae saw him, he pressed down on his throbbing forehead for some reason and waited for Dohae’s next words.

“I heard you hung out with Jaeha hyung yesterday. Was it good?”

“……”

“But I’m telling you this because you still don’t seem to know. I’m getting engaged to Jaeha hyung soon.”

Engaged? Yijae blinked his eyes repeatedly, wondering if he had misheard. His hands and feet trembled, and his mind went blank.

“It was promised before Jaeha hyung and I were even born. So there’s no room for you to butt in.”

He couldn’t breathe.

Yijae was so deeply shocked that he forgot how to breathe, his lips trembling. Dohae, who sneered slightly at him, continued speaking with eyes glittering with jealousy.

“So stop harboring useless feelings and end it here. I don’t know how much longer I can put up with it.”

⁺₊❆₊⋆

“It’s strange. It seems the heat cycle will come earlier than usual. Have you had frequent contact with Alphas recently?”

At Dr. Yang’s words, Mrs. Lee, who was standing behind Yijae, spoke up on his behalf.

“He recently started college. A place with no distinction between Alphas, Omegas, and Betas.”

“Ah. I see, so that’s it. To be frank, Seo Yijae’s condition is a bit unstable right now.”

Dr. Yang pointed to a graph showing hormone levels.

“Usually, reaching this point is considered the most stable, but looking at recent graphs, the levels have been fluctuating like a roller coaster. In this state, there’s a possibility of side effects after the procedure, and it can also strain the patient’s body, so it would be best to perform the procedure after the heat cycle ends and the levels have stabilized.”

“Then, won’t Dohae’s pheromone levels drop even further? Is it completely impossible to extract the pheromone fluid as it is?”

Mrs. Lee, who was anxiously biting her red-lipsticked lips, asked the doctor.

“It’s not completely impossible, but as I mentioned earlier, Seo Yijae’s condition might worsen a bit. There’s no need to take the risk…”

“If that’s the case, it doesn’t matter. Please proceed as originally scheduled. Seo Yijae, you’re fine with that, right?”

Her hand, which was gripping Yijae’s shoulder, was full of strength. The hand clutching Yijae’s shoulder trembled, as if in desperation, or perhaps in anxiety.

“Yes…”