MW 49

Jaeha, who had been listening quietly to see if Gu Dohae had any more of Yijae’s weaknesses, felt his compassion for Yijae deepen with every word that came out of Dohae’s mouth.

“He can’t abandon his mom anyway. That’s why he foolishly clings to that trash, just because she’s his blood.”

From the moment of Yijae’s birth, looking back at his life, there was not a single moment that could be considered happy, even from an objective point of view.

Having lived in his parents’ neglect since birth, he learned to live alone before he was even 10, between his alcoholic father and his mother who repeatedly ran away from home.

It was an incredibly harsh life, being used by Gu Dohae, another blood relative, just to pay off the debts left by his father and to afford the treatment to save his mother.

“So you forced him to do something like that?”

If Dohae’s words were meant to provoke his anger, they had succeeded. Jaeha could no longer just stand there and listen to that trashy mouth badmouthing the man he loved. Jaw clenched tightly, Jaeha looked down at Dohae with a cold gaze and continued.

“That position wasn’t originally yours, was it? And the omega fluid flowing here, didn’t you get that from Yijae? By receiving pity from the blood relative you find so despicable.”

Jaeha jabbed his fingers into the nape of Dohae’s neck, where the omega gland was located, and spat out in a voice filled with fury.

“He told you that too? Shit. That fucking bastard, I won’t let him be, I’m going to kill him.”

Dohae’s movements turned ferocious, as if he would charge into the shop at any moment. Jaeha, staring at him with a frigid face, released his pheromones.

“I don’t know how it’s been until now.”

“Ugh!”

At that moment, with a face contorted in pain, Dohae collapsed to the floor and began to claw at his own neck. He let out unpleasant moans, a choked gasp, hkk, as if his throat were being squeezed and crushed, making it impossible to breathe, and glared at Jaeha.

“Just try laying a single finger on Yijae.”

He had never wanted to smell Kang Jaeha’s pheromones like this. The reason he had endured by his side his whole life wasn’t for something like this. Dohae bit the inside of his cheek against the pheromones that pressed down on him threateningly.

“Remember this well. Next time, it won’t end with just this.”

The Sejin Group, which the founder had worked so hard to build, was now in a state where its stability was being eaten away after being inherited by his eldest son, Chairman Gu. It was so fragile that it could easily collapse if even one part was touched. While it wasn’t easy to ruin a corporation in one fell swoop, it wasn’t entirely impossible either.

“So if you want to keep living like you are now, stay still. Don’t do anything, just live quietly and breathe.”

Even though he was too drunk to think straight, Dohae tasted a kind of fear he had never felt before from the pheromones suppressing his body and Jaeha’s gaze directed at him.

He couldn’t breathe as he looked at Jaeha, who was revealing his angry pheromones as if to say he had been going easy on him until now. Instinctively realizing that this was a time to back down, he chewed on his lips, his fists trembling slightly.

Then, not much time passed before a police car approached them with its siren wailing.

“Mr. Gu Dohae, we received a report of drunk driving. We ask for your cooperation with a breathalyzer test.”

Startled by the sudden appearance of the police officers, Dohae got up and shouted.

“What are you! Do you know who I am?”

The police officer held out a non-contact alcohol detector, and when Dohae continued to cause a scene, he brought out a breathalyzer.

“We will now conduct a breathalyzer test. Please blow hard into it.”

“Shit, let go of me, you bastard!”

“Please don’t swear. Refusing a breathalyzer test can lead to your arrest as a current offender.”

“I said let go! Hey, you think I’m just going to stand here? How dare you, to me!”

Dohae glared at the police officers grabbing his arms and resisted forcefully. After giving a few warnings, one of the officers, seemingly deciding this wasn’t working, said to him.

“Despite being warned four times, you have refused the test. Mr. Gu Dohae, you are under arrest as a current offender.”

As the police tried to drag him by the arm and put him in the car, Dohae twisted his body and tensed his legs, continuing to resist, but in the end, he failed.

Jaeha watched for a long time as his retreating figure, after causing a huge commotion, finally disappeared into a dot. Then, spotting Yijae running toward him from a distance, he put on a smile as if nothing had happened.

“Sunbae-nim! Did you really come to pick me up? I could have gone home alone, how long have you been waiting?”

Pouting his lips apologetically with his big eyes scrunched up, Yijae seemed unaware that Jaeha had been waiting for him here the whole time.

Not wanting to worry him unnecessarily, Jaeha smiled gently and stroked Yijae’s hair.

“I just got here a moment ago. Was today tough?”

“No, it was fun! There weren’t any weird people, I just worked in the kitchen with the hyungs. They take really good care of me.”

“…Is that so?”

For a very brief moment, Jaeha’s eyebrows shot up. Yijae was able to notice his displeased expression.

“You must be tired, let’s go home.”

“Yes…”

Though it was a very brief instant, Yijae couldn’t forget that expression and began to search for the reason during the car ride.

Why was he like that? Does he really not like me working?

With the atmosphere having grown heavier, Yijae, lost in thought with a somber expression, looked at Jaeha, who was holding the steering wheel, and slowly opened his mouth.

“When we get home, would you like to have a beer with me?”

“Tonight?”

“Well, I-I do have to study, and it is late… But tomorrow is the weekend, and I think I’m a-a little hungry…”

Yijae seemed flustered, judging by the way he was trailing off his sentences. Jaeha, whose gaze was lowered, took in the sight of Yijae’s reddened earlobes and reached out to fiddle with his hair.

“Okay. But I don’t think we have any beer. Should we buy some?”

“Then… should we wash up and go out to eat?”

The weather had been nice lately, and he wanted to experience a scene he had seen on television. But maybe that was asking too much. Just as Yijae turned his head, feeling like he shouldn’t have said anything…

“I’d like that.”

“Okay.”

Seeing Jaeha’s expression, smiling brightly, yet somehow blushing and rubbing the corner of his mouth, Yijae felt the worry that had been weighing on his chest wash away completely.

⁺₊❆₊⋆

“I think it’s gotten a lot warmer now.”

Yijae said, looking down at the ground where cherry blossom petals had fallen.

“It’s a shame we didn’t get to see the flowers at all this spring. Let’s go see them a lot together next year.”

Since Yijae resembles spring, he would look good even standing in a field of flowers. Jaeha, imagining the scene, smiled as if in anticipation.

It also felt nice walking in the early dawn, thick with the smell of impending rain. Yijae strolled along, keeping a distance where his fingertips would almost, but not quite, touch Jaeha’s.