By Zephyria 
The day I first met him.
We ended up going to the hospital together because we tumbled down the stairs together. After that, Cha Jeong-won was suspicious of Yoon Haon, who kept trying to cling to him.
So he asked if it was an Omega Amulet.
At that, Yoon Haon did jump in surprise, but…
Seeing Cha Jeong-won’s grimace, Cha Aeri continued speaking one-sidedly.
“I know you hated it every time I forced someone on you. So this time, I prepared someone you wouldn’t be able to refuse. Isn’t that enough?”
It was a trap question.
He knew all too well that the moment he answered, he would be led to a predetermined conclusion.
“Mother.”
Cha Jeong-won called out briefly but couldn’t continue.
The moment he uttered Haon’s name, he was afraid his suspicion would become real.
“Please go.”
In the end, Cha Jeong-won pushed the question down inside himself.
Having finished what she had to say, Cha Aeri didn’t linger any longer.
Only after the sound of her heels in the hallway had completely disappeared did Cha Jeong-won close the door.
It was a long while later that Cha Jeong-won finally let out a long sigh. Not that it made the pain in his chest disappear.
—’He said he’d give me money if I hung out with your brother.’
—’I’ll be your Omega Amulet.’
—’They said if I sleep with you, we can get married?’
Moments when those who had naturally shared daily life with him had made confessions bordering on shocking came to mind. Each time, Cha Jeong-won had been in pain.
Even if he met someone else, his mother would soon find out. Rather, she would try to meet that person and manipulate them to her liking.
—’Didn’t I tell you? I met him separately because you two seemed to get along well. Don’t worry about it and keep hanging out like before.’
His mother already knew everything.
It wasn’t just that she knew; she was a step ahead.
Whether it was someone his mother sent or someone she didn’t, the result was similar.
That’s when it started.
Even if someone approached him first, Cha Jeong-won would respond with a cold heart. If they were an Omega, he was sure they were under his mother’s influence.
‘If I’m with them, I either get caught up in an accident, or I get caught up in Mother’s schemes.’
Cha Jeong-won pressed his forehead with his finger.
The smiling face on the bed, the shaman’s hand holding the talisman, and his mother’s words all mixed together, jumbling his mind.
“Yoon Haon, you…”
Yoon Haon’s face, utterly disheveled and clumsily reaching out toward him, was transparent and honest, so he let his guard down.
It wasn’t the look of someone lying, calculating, or trying to gain something.
—’So you’re watching me too, sunbae. You’re judging what I’m really like when I’m determined to push forward.’
It was the condition Haon had set when he asked Cha Jeong-won to date him.
And before he could properly feel that, he had fallen into the time spent with him.
When he was in Yoon Haon’s embrace, he strangely felt it was easier to breathe.
It was a kind of peace he had never felt anywhere else.
He thought his mother might find out…
Omega Amulet, someone you can’t refuse.
He couldn’t tell if it was another one of her tasteless pranks, or if she had really prepared something this time too.
Was he a step behind again?
Cha Jeong-won closed his eyes and slowly took a breath.
＊ ＊ ＊
Saturday. The playground on a weekend afternoon was filled with the laughter of children.
Haon usually just passed by such places, but today he had no choice but to stop by.
“Oppa, push me quickly.”
Yoon Seul, who was on the swing, kicked her feet vigorously, urging Haon on.
“Hold on tight so you don’t fall off the swing.”
Haon pushed her back as his younger sister wanted. Still, he didn’t take his eyes off her, in case she might fly off the swing.
Meanwhile, Yoon Byeol, who had been sliding down the slide repeatedly, ran over and climbed onto the swing next to her.
“Me too, me too. Push me.”
“Don’t stand on it.”
Even though they were twins, their personalities were very different. Haon played with them, cautioning each according to their nature.
“Hyung, I’ll push one of them.”
Cha Seo-jun, who had been sitting on the bench, scurried over.
Cha Seo-jun had come to find Haon again today, saying he would help look after the kids.
Does he like children?
“You could have just stayed sitting. Why did you come over?”
“If I just sat there, why did I even follow you here?”
Cha Seo-jun grabbed Yoon Byeol’s swing.
“Byeol-ah, hold on tight.”
As Cha Seo-jun pushed with all his might, Yoon Byeol’s laughter spread loudly.
Haon and Cha Seo-jun stood side by side, pushing the swings, while Yoon Seul and Yoon Byeol laughed excitedly, going ‘kyah-rurur’.
An elderly woman who saw this smiled contentedly and spoke to them.
“You look like a lovely family.”
Cha Seo-jun, who was about to help Yoon Byeol off the swing, paused.
“Family?”
“Yes, you look very happy, a couple with your children.”
The grandmother looked back and forth between Cha Seo-jun and Haon. Then she smiled contentedly as if finding the children very cute too.
Cha Seo-jun stiffened for a moment, then spoke with a flustered expression.
“Our family…”
“Thank you.”
Haon cut in just as Cha Seo-jun was about to say they weren’t family. Cha Seo-jun looked at Haon in surprise.
Haon paid no heed to Cha Seo-jun’s gaze.
“We’ll continue to live happily like this in the future too.”
The grandmother nodded her head a couple of times and left the playground.
“Wh-what was that? What do you mean, us being family and a couple?”
Cha Seo-jun openly showed his flustered expression. His reddened face wouldn’t cool down.
“There’s no need to deny what a passerby said just because it looked nice.”
Haon tried to brush it off, saying it was fine to let it be, without taking his eyes off the twins. Cha Seo-jun didn’t think so.
“What if we meet them next time?”
“Then just answer well then too.”
“What if we meet them again?”
“Then we become a couple again.”
“What if we meet them every day?”
Finally, at Cha Seo-jun’s obsessive questioning, Haon cut him off with a serious expression.
“That won’t happen.”
As Haon walked off to follow Yoon Byeol, who was running off somewhere again, Cha Seo-jun followed behind.
“But why did you just accept it?”
“Because this kind of thing happens often.”
“Really? You could have just said they’re your younger siblings.”
Yoon Seul had already run off after Yoon Byeol and started playing. Only then did Haon finally come to the bench and let out a sigh.
“We’ll play a little more and then go home.”
Haon, who had roughly quenched his thirst with a lukewarm drink, shouted to the kids.
The twins seemed to have already made new friends, as they were now playing excitedly with unfamiliar children too and didn’t seem to properly hear Haon’s words.
Cha Seo-jun followed Haon and sat down beside him.
“At first, I said they were my younger siblings, but I’ve heard that enough too. At some point, you end up saying, ‘Yes, they’re my kids.'”
Haon waved his hand as if telling him to stop talking.
“The moment you get good at fastening a baby carrier, you become a dad.”
“Don’t your parents look after them?”
“They were busy. And my older brother and sister weren’t very interested either, so I pretty much raised them.”
He was almost like a parent. Haon was used to looking after his younger siblings and being treated as a parent.
“So that’s why you said it was useless to take them to your brother and sister.”
Cha Seo-jun, who had been listening from behind to Haon and Kim Hyun-gyu’s conversation when they were flustered seeing the kids, pieced the puzzle together.
“You don’t have siblings?”
At Haon’s question, Cha Seo-jun shook his head.
“Jeong-won hyung is the only one around my age. Maybe because of the age difference, I feel a bit distant from him too.”
“I see.”
Unlike Haon, who answered only that far and closed his mouth, Cha Seo-jun started determinedly telling his own story.
“My parents were busy working, and my grandmother, who visited occasionally, had almost no time to look after me because she was watching Jeong-won hyung.”
“I see.”
“But it was okay because I had many friends. And I have a good personality, you know.”
“I see.”
Haon kept his gaze on the kids and gave appropriate responses.
Still, Cha Seo-jun, for some reason, seemed excited and continued talking.
“You probably already know, but I was quite popular.”
“You seem like it.”
“I got quite a few confessions too…”
“You seem like it.”
He didn’t know why the conversation was flowing this way, but if the guy wanted to brag, he didn’t bother stopping him.
“But I’ve never accepted a confession even once.”
“Oh?”
Now that was a bit intriguing.
Seeing Haon’s reaction was different from before, Cha Seo-jun also perked up.
“Then you…?”
Are you a fellow single like me?
Just as Haon, with a face full of camaraderie, was about to set the tone toward Cha Seo-jun, Yoon Byeol fell.
“Yoon Byeol!”
Haon quickly ran over and helped Yoon Byeol up. Cha Seo-jun, who followed belatedly, examined Yoon Byeol’s knee.
“It’s scraped.”
It was just a slight scrape on his knee from the fall.
“That’s enough playing for now. Let’s go home.”
“Hyung, I’m hungry.”
Yoon Byeol clung to Haon’s leg.
Yoon Seul also stretched out her arms and hugged Haon.
“I knew it.”
As if used to it, Haon walked off carrying Yoon Seul, with Yoon Byeol still hanging on. Seeing that, the mothers around them burst into laughter.
Cha Seo-jun took Yoon Byeol from among them and carried him.
“Up we go, I’ll carry you, hyung-style.”
“Wow, so high!”
Yoon Byeol, now riding on Cha Seo-jun’s shoulders, was happy again as if he had never been hurt and sulky.
Haon stroked Yoon Seul’s hair.
“What do you want for dinner?”
“Pizza.”
“Hamburger.”
“Pork cutlet.”
“Ice cream.”
At the words the kids spat out in turn, Haon seemed to think for a moment, then soon decided on one.
“Let’s have fried tofu rice balls.”
55 – NOT 55