NOT 30

“You have a sweet tooth, sunbae.”

Though he said it teasingly, it was inwardly a reproach—why didn’t you order a balanced meal?

“Not really.”

But Cha Jeong-won’s reply was something else.

“Then why did you order all this? Is there more coming? Nothing else? I heard the ramen ordered at hotels is crazy expensive……”

At this point, shouldn’t you eat it even if it’s expensive?

Perhaps annoyed by the endless stream of questions, Cha Jeong-won held out a fork to Haon instead of answering.

“I ordered it to feed you.”

Haon paused for a moment.

“You mean I have to eat all of this?”

He muttered as he scanned the lineup of desserts before him once more. Thinking they were all his portion, his mouth already felt sweet.

And what about the blood sugar spike?

Watching Haon’s disgusted expression, Cha Jeong-won asked,

“Don’t you like sweet things?”

“Do I like sweet things?”

“I thought you did.”

Cha Jeong-won’s gaze swept over the table once before returning to Haon. His eyes, which rarely revealed emotion, looked as if they were hiding some clue.

Their conversation continued, their words failing to meet at a single point, merely skimming the surface.

‘Just why is there this parade of sweets?’

Haon’s gaze clung to him persistently, as if urging him.

Had he seen him buying bread at the convenience store at school? Or had Kim Hyun-gyu or Cha Seo-jun unnecessarily blabbered?

“Pheromones.”

At Cha Jeong-won’s words, thrown out without further explanation, Haon blinked.

“Because my pheromones are sweet? You’re not saying you thought I liked sweet things because of that, are you?”

Even as he said it himself, Haon found it absurd and let out a laugh. Unable to help it, he shook his head vigorously.

“No, then……”

He exhaled a breath as if exasperated.

“Are you some kind of honest fountain where if you eat marshmallows, marshmallow pheromones come out, and if you eat kimchi, kimchi pheromones waft out? A pheromone fountain?”

He continued, his mind still reeling from the absurdity.

“Then what about you, sunbae? What exactly do you have to eat for your pheromones to come out? Do you eat dirt or wood? Or burnt wood?”

His pheromones were like a woody scent, but when intense, closer to smoky wood. Yet they also carried an earthy, bitter note, making it hard to describe them with a single term.

Wait, why am I even arguing about this?

Suppressing the urge to laugh, his voice rose slightly.

If he ordered sweet things because my pheromones are sweet, then at the very least, I’ve had that much influence on him.

“Still……”

Haon subtly snatched the fork from Cha Jeong-won and tapped the surface of the crème brûlée.

He scooped a bit and put it in his mouth. Ugh, sweet.

Sweet from the sugar, sweet from his pheromones, sweet from Cha Jeong-won’s cute behavior.

“Not bad.”

Its sweetness made him miss kimchi even more. Instead, Haon inhaled Cha Jeong-won’s pheromones.

While the sweet cream slowly melted on his tongue, the Alpha’s scent, subtly penetrating, thickly filled Haon’s nostrils.

＊ ＊ ＊

Having eaten until his tongue felt sweet, his blood sugar spike rose.

His body grew languid, tension easing. At some point, Haon’s head leaned against the back of the sofa, then began to tilt gently toward his shoulder.

“Sunbae.”

“What now.”

“Can I borrow this for a bit?”

Though his words asked for permission, his actions, already leaning against Cha Jeong-won, seemed to have decided the answer.

Cha Jeong-won let out a sound—whether a sigh or a breath—and let it be.

A head rested on his shoulder. Disheveled hair brushed against Cha Jeong-won’s shoulder and arm. The distance between them narrowed a little more.

The pheromones grew thicker.

The Alpha’s scent seemed to move with his pulse. Haon felt it fully.

‘He’s not running away. Really.’

There had been several opportunities to refuse, but Cha Jeong-won hadn’t chosen any of them. That fact strangely stirred Haon’s heart.

Haon leaned a little more against Cha Jeong-won. Now, his nape lightly touched his arm. Warmth spread between skin and fabric.

The noise flowing from Etflix grew distant. The air between them began to flow at a subtly different pace.

Before they knew it, their hands were overlapping. Cha Jeong-won was the first to move his fingers.

Cha Jeong-won’s thumb, though blunt, rubbed the back of Haon’s hand clearly.

Once, and after a very short interval, once more.

It felt more unconscious than a deliberate action. But for Haon, it was impossible not to be aware.

It was time to check now. Cha Jeong-won’s misfortune, and what effect it had when in contact with him.

“Sunbae.”

Haon’s voice trembled slightly.

“Can I kiss you again?”

Though he asked in a deliberately playful tone, his eyes were not light at all. Expectation and anxiety were both evident.

“No.”

This time, the answer came immediately. A retort that sprang out quickly, as if prepared.

“Why.”

Haon shot back as if returning the serve.

“Because I don’t know how far it’ll go.”

Haon knew the meaning behind those words, which only made him more frustrated.

Their hands were still touching, and his face was right before him. At a distance where their breaths would mix with just a slightly deeper inhale, forbidding even a kiss was too much.

“Yoon Haon.”

Their eyes met.

It wasn’t a dull collision but a feeling of properly meeting each other’s gaze for the first time in a while. The distance between them narrowed again.

Haon thought he had leaned in first, but at some point, Cha Jeong-won’s shoulder had also tilted slightly forward.

Hot breaths mingled. The air in the room grew heavier, and pheromones surged as if exploding.

The Alpha’s scent seemed to rise all the way to the back of his ears. In response, Haon’s scent naturally heightened.

“Can it end there?”

Cha Jeong-won didn’t beat around the bush. Haon looked into Cha Jeong-won’s eyes, then pulled him closer.

“Why think about that?”

With those words, the distance that had existed between them completely vanished.

Cha Jeong-won’s lips met Haon’s. This time, it wasn’t a playful, light touch.

Exhaling hot breaths, they pressed their lips together, tilting their heads slightly from both sides until the shapes of their lips aligned. At first, they pressed cautiously, then as their breathing grew rapid, the pressure deepened.

The hands holding each other naturally tightened.

Breathing together at a distance where their chests seemed to touch, breaths passed between lips and cheeks.

Their mouths gradually grew hot. Breath and temperature mixed, dry lips colliding and softening.

Several breaths seemed to circulate within each other’s bodies and return. Along with the sensation of tongues meeting as if melding together, his mind went blank.

It was a long, deep kiss, enough to blur the sense of time.

Only when they felt short of breath did their lips finally part. Their foreheads naturally touched.

Breaths still rose and fell rapidly, their exhalations brushing against the tips of their noses and cheeks.

The room seemed filled with pheromones.

The Alpha’s scent and the scent blooming in response intertwined together. It felt as if his vision was covered in colors he’d never seen before.

“Yoon Haon.”

His voice was slightly hoarse. It sounded as if he was surprised at himself.

Haon barely managed a smile. The area around his lips was still hot and tingling, making even smiling feel cautious.

“You’re not going to stop here, are you?”

Though he asked as if joking, Haon’s eyes were serious.

Swept away by instinct, he had forgotten why he had asked Cha Jeong-won to date him in the first place.

This time, as if by some unspoken agreement, their lips collided again without anyone taking the lead.

Perhaps because they had already matched once, the moment their breaths met, Haon’s tongue was immediately drawn into the inside of Cha Jeong-won’s mouth.

A faint sound, as if of collision, seeped out. They continued kissing until it felt like they’d run out of breath, and when Cha Jeong-won pulled his lips away, Haon gasped roughly for air.

But what actually entered wasn’t oxygen but the Alpha’s pheromones. His mind only grew duller and dizzier.

“Mmm…… More.”

Instead of his dulled mind, his body moved on its own. Pushing aside calculations, reading the situation, and anxieties about the future for a moment, he pressed closer, guided by instinct.

As the knee draped over the sofa armrest slid down, Cha Jeong-won’s body completely enveloped Haon.