By Zephyria 
“You only drank coffee earlier, and if you only drink alcohol now, it’ll upset your stomach.”
Cha Jeong-won didn’t seem particularly interested. Haon picked up the spoon again and held it to his lips.
“Here, have some.”
“This is…”
Just as Cha Jeong-won seemed to remember something and opened his lips to speak, Haon pushed the spoon right in.
Although he seemed to refuse, he eventually opened his mouth, and it went in cleanly.
Cha Jeong-won’s brow furrowed again as he ate it. The effort to chew and swallow what had entered his mouth was evident in his diligently moving lips.
His lips are pretty.
The taste of those lips was really good too.
“You’re doing that on purpose.”
“Doing what?”
After his Adam’s apple moved noticeably, the red tongue inside his parted lips looked mischievous.
But Haon asked as if he knew nothing.
“You don’t think I’d just send back the sweet things ordered through room service, do you?”
The answer was already clear from Cha Jeong-won’s expression.
“I’m not that kind of person.”
Haon very nonchalantly brushed it off. Of course, his pained expression was amusing, but he wasn’t a pervert who got a thrill from tormenting him.
“By the way, your expression has improved a lot.”
Cha Jeong-won looked at Haon, wondering what he meant. Haon added, pouring only beer into his glass.
“You looked a bit sharp when you entered the cafe earlier.”
“Ah…”
Cha Jeong-won made a face as if wondering if he had been like that, then shook his head.
“I’m always like that, but today was just… like that.”
From the word ‘just,’ it was clear that his day had been tough again.
If he didn’t know at all, maybe it would be different. Feeling sorry for him, Haon picked up the soju bottle and poured some for him too.
“Drink. Keep drinking and forget everything.”
If Cha Jeong-won got drunk, Haon was willing to gladly carry him on his back and take him home.
“Come to think of it…”
Cha Jeong-won mumbled, fiddling with his glass as he remembered something.
“Last week seemed quite comfortable too.”
At the same time Haon looked at him in surprise, Cha Jeong-won raised his glass and drank.
Even though it probably wasn’t a deliberate remark, Haon felt unsettled.
While Cha Jeong-won drank, Haon also turned his head and gulped down his drink to calm his startled heart.
‘What if he starts talking about the Omega Amulet or something again?’
He wished Cha Jeong-won no longer needed any talisman, Omega or otherwise. But if that topic had to be discussed, he’d rather it be with him alone.
He swallowed the thought, which he couldn’t even clearly define himself, down his throat along with the alcohol.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Ah, but I really felt it today.”
As soon as the alcohol went down in sips, one team member began to voice his true feelings.
“Felt what?”
“It’s so good.”
“Suddenly?”
Kim Pilsu urged him on, asking what he meant. Then, the team member, with a perfectly sober face as if not drunk at all, pointed alternately at Cha Jeong-won and Haon.
“Because, you see. I wanted to get close to Senior Jeong-won like Haon does too.”
At those words, Haon’s hand holding the soju bottle froze completely.
“Why bring me into it? How close am I with the senior anyway.”
Haon spoke first. Perhaps because his throat was a bit dry, his voice cracked slightly.
Haon felt his ears burning hot. He couldn’t tell if it was because of the alcohol or the words.
But he couldn’t just admit it. Even though they had met every day since the day he fell down the stairs, he couldn’t bring himself to say that was the case.
No. Why can’t I admit it?
If it’s not with any particular meaning, but just being close on a simple level, wouldn’t that be okay?
He could act nonchalant about other things, pretend to accept everything. Why does he only get stiff like this at times like these?
Haon busily racked his brain for a retort. Then, he inadvertently looked at Cha Jeong-won and closed his mouth.
He was lifting the corners of his mouth.
“Why are you smiling?”
It was a smile that, to anyone watching, could lend credence to the statement that they were close.
While Haon was looking at Cha Jeong-won, the arrow of conversation finally shifted.
“What about you, Senior? Aren’t you close with Haon?”
“Close with Yoon Haon?”
Cha Jeong-won’s answer was a bundle of ambiguity.
“He’s the only person I’ve been meeting almost every day since I returned to school. If this isn’t being close, then I guess I’m alone.”
With each syllable he emphasized, Haon’s shoulders hunched.
It wasn’t like he had deliberately wanted to meet him either, but hearing Cha Jeong-won say that made it seem like he was drawing a line again. Haon felt newly sorry.
“Senior!”
Haon grabbed Cha Jeong-won’s hand.
He held it tightly with both hands, pulling it toward his own chest so Cha Jeong-won couldn’t pull away.
“I didn’t know you felt that way. Then, it’s okay if I go around saying I’m close with you, right?”
This way, he could naturally exchange greetings with Cha Jeong-won in front of others, and even sneakily hold his hand on this occasion.
He thought he was quite clever.
Why had he said he wasn’t close with Cha Jeong-won? It was such a quick change of stance that his earlier attempt to retract his words seemed pointless.
Haon unnecessarily squeezed Cha Jeong-won’s fingers once more and held on without letting go.
Cha Jeong-won didn’t pull away either. He only turned his face slightly to the side, but his hand remained.
Just then, Kim Pilsu suddenly stood up, holding his phone high.
“It says tomorrow’s first period Project Management class is canceled!”
“We can drink comfortably today.”
Amid the delighted team members, the owner brought something over.
“Complimentary.”
It was fish cake soup. White steam rose puffily from the earthenware pot placed in the middle of the table.
Thinly sliced green onions floated on the clear broth. Radish, well-steamed inside, showed slightly transparently at the edge of the pot. Just seeing the fish cake skewers half-submerged in the broth seemed to soothe the stomach.
“Is today some special day?”
At Kim Pilsu’s muttering while tilting his head, Haon glanced at Cha Jeong-won’s hand.
It had worked after all.
He was about to let go now…
‘My hand won’t come free.’
This wasn’t him holding on.
Flustered, Haon looked at Cha Jeong-won.
Without changing his expression at all, he was gripping Haon’s hand firmly.
“If we’re a close pair, then we are.”
He echoed Haon’s words flatly.
Suddenly, the surroundings grew quiet. The team members, sensing an unusual atmosphere, wisely kept their mouths tightly shut.
“That’s why I want to get even closer, to know more.”
“We’re close enough already.”
So, I’d like you to let go of my hand.
The corners of Cha Jeong-won’s mouth parted. Did a flower bloom on his face?
He was smiling brightly, incomparably more so than before.
Haon drew in a surprised breath. Whether startled by Cha Jeong-won’s smile or not, his heart throbbed unusually.
“Then I guess I need to find out.”
At the words that followed, Haon blinked. What did he mean by ‘find out’ now? He tried to guess with reasonable intuition, but it was useless.
Then Cha Jeong-won spoke in a very small voice. So small that only Haon right next to him could barely hear.
“I’ve become curious about the reason I’m so fixated on my own body.”
Haon felt as if his heart had dropped.
Under his gaze that seemed to have noticed something, Haon couldn’t look him straight in the eye.
Rolling his eyes aimlessly, he inadvertently turned his head slightly to the side and felt Cha Jeong-won’s gaze on his profile. The pheromones that seemed to subtly seep into his skin stirred.
‘His pheromones are so good I can’t even speak.’
For someone to be emitting pheromones also meant that person was in a rather good mood.
The problem was that, from Haon’s perspective, this was not good at all.
His pheromones were good. No, they were too good, that was the problem.
He felt embarrassed, as if that feeling had been discovered.
‘How did he find out?’
Did I do something suspicious?
Even though he had told him to watch over him, now that Cha Jeong-won was acting as if he knew something, he felt so tense he thought he might go crazy.
‘Honestly, I feel wronged too.’
Even if he explained his whole situation now, it would surely sound like nonsense.
Remembering the original work, trying to avoid him but constantly getting entangled with Cha Jeong-won, the real reason he had asked him out first… All of it was his own secret that he couldn’t explain to anyone.
While Haon was inwardly groaning, the air among the team members slowly relaxed. Someone cleared their throat, someone else picked up and put down their beer glass, trying to shift the atmosphere.
“Wow, really… How should I put it, I wonder if we should even be between you two.”
Kim Pilsu said with a laugh, half-joking, half-serious.
Amid the laughter of the other team members, Cha Jeong-won’s hand still held onto the back of Haon’s hand.
“No, it’s not like that.”
Haon tried to pull his hand away hastily, but it was no use. He tried pulling slightly, but it didn’t budge.
Then Cha Jeong-won spoke in a very calm voice.
“You grabbed my hand first. Trying to pull back now isn’t polite.”
64 – NOT 64