By Zephyria 
Quiet days had continued for several days. Even if the heart was tormented and struggling, time continued to flow without stopping. Shin-woo, realizing belatedly that he had to endure daily life to that extent, decided to face that silence.
“Ah, fuck… I’ve lost my appetite.”
A friend put his spoon down with a clatter and looked toward the cafeteria door.
“Why?”
As Shin-woo’s gaze shifted toward his friend and then to the side, the friend grabbed Shin-woo’s face with his hand and forced him to look out the window.
“Don’t look, man.”
“Why are you doing this?”
Despite his friend’s attempts to stop him, Shin-woo turned his head out of curiosity. At the entrance of the cafeteria, like a queen bee—a beautiful queen bee who led around Betas and the rare few Alphas… no, a butterfly—entered with a smile. The lovely Omega who, until very recently, had been his fiancé.
He thought he would be okay by now, but he couldn’t help the way his chest tightened and ached every time he saw her.
“Hey, I told you not to look.”
The friend eventually pulled Shin-woo’s neck, dragging his gaze back to the food tray. However, Shin-woo’s spoon movements became slower than before, and the smile that had lingered on his lips vanished. At that sight, Shin-woo’s friends each let out deep sighs.
“Hey, don’t be so down. Fuck… what did you even do wrong?!”
To the friends who knew that not only was the engagement broken, but they had broken up as well, Young-min seemed to have been firmly marked as the villain.
They said he had done nothing wrong, but Shin-woo thought otherwise. He was at fault. He couldn’t give Young-min the one thing she wanted most. That was why he had been abandoned. It was a natural conclusion.
“Don’t say that. Young-min isn’t a bad person.”
“This guy is still a long way off. There are plenty of pretty Omegas in the world. So don’t be so hung up on someone like that. Only you get hurt. That brat is living just fine.”
Watching his friends shovel food into their mouths, claiming they needed to eat more during times like this, Shin-woo was finally able to smile.
Shin-woo’s house and the twins’ house were close. Because of that, they could run into each other while passing by, and even if they didn’t, he could see their front gate.
Shin-woo stopped by the study hall and trudged home around the time the sunset glowed. There had always been the twins around him. On his right, the pretty Young-min would walk with her arm linked in his, and on his left, Jeong-min would walk along, grumbling.
Realizing that the three shadows had at some point become one, Shin-woo’s heart grew gloomy.
Come to think of it, I wonder if Jeong-min’s awakening fever has gotten better. Seeing as he couldn’t come to school today, he must still be at the hospital… He was worried that the awakening was taking too long. Since it consumes a lot of physical strength, dehydration symptoms would likely occur….
He saw the crosswalk. That was the place where Jeong-min had stopped him when he was heading back, hurt by something Young-min had said.
There, Jeong-min had said he would become Shin-woo’s Omega. He told him to look forward to it. He thought it was very typical of Jeong-min to speak so confidently and then enter awakening fever the very next day.
Because he had always thought while looking at the twins that Young-min would become an Omega and Jeong-min an Alpha, he had never imagined Jeong-min becoming an Omega.
With that personality, if he became an Omega, he’d be a cool, refreshing Omega. Well, he’s already popular regardless of whether he’s an Omega, Alpha, or Beta, so he’d be even more popular after awakening.
“Phew….”
Suddenly thinking of Jeong-min as an Omega, Shin-woo smiled while waiting for the crosswalk signal, feeling a complex mix of it seeming to suit him, feeling expectant, and feeling somewhat awkward. Then, catching a sweet Omega scent riding the gentle breeze, he looked up and saw Young-min on the opposite side.
He stared blankly at Young-min, who was chatting and laughing like a bluebird with her arm linked in the arm of an Alpha he had never seen before. Young-min also noticed the familiar Alpha scent and saw Shin-woo across from her, but she didn’t avoid him.
The only unfortunate thing was that she had to part with her Alpha at that moment. Why on earth did he have something urgent and have to leave first today? Young-min clicked her tongue and let the Alpha go as the signal changed.
Then, with a bright smile, she approached Shin-woo, who hadn’t moved an inch.
“Hyung, it’s been a while.”
“…Yeah.”
The same relationship as before—hyung and dongsaeng, a relationship that was nothing. That was what Young-min wanted, and that was how she acted. If so, he had no choice but to act the same way.
“Let’s go.”
“Are you walking me home?”
“Yeah.”
“Sure, I’d like that. I was bored on the way home. I’m bored to death without Jeong-min. I wonder when he’ll awaken.”
“…Still no news?”
“Nope.”
They walked together, talking about daily things. It was a conversation so mundane that one wouldn’t know they had been lovers sharing sweet conversations until recently. After a few words, they arrived at the twins’ house. The moment he said goodbye to Young-min and turned around, the twins’ car stopped in front of the gate, and the twins’ mother stepped out in a flurry.
“Young-min!”
She ran over and grabbed Young-min’s shoulders.
“Yes, Mom. What’s wrong?”
“Have you seen Jeong-min by any chance?”
“Huh? Why are you looking for Jeong-min here? Isn’t he at the hospital?”
“They say the boy left the hospital! But I don’t know where he is. What should I do?”
“What?!”
Both Young-min and Shin-woo were speechless and looked at each other. Escaping the hospital during awakening fever—is he insane? After hearing the mother’s story, Shin-woo told Young-min to take her inside.
“What about you, Hyung?”
“I’ll… look for Jeong-min.”
As someone who knew where the twins liked to go and where they went often, it was better for Shin-woo to move than for Young-min to do so.
‘Shin Jeong-min, where on earth did you go?’
What problem could there be with the awakening fever he wanted so much that he disappeared in that state? He ran around diligently searching for Jeong-min, but he couldn’t find so much as a single strand of hair.
“Huff, huff.”
The last place he thought of, after circling back, was the crosswalk he had passed earlier. But as expected, there was no one there. Only silence lingered. As he wiped away the dripping sweat, his phone in his pocket rang, and he quickly answered.
“Yeah, Young-min.”
─ Hyung, I found Jeong-min.
“What? Really? Where is he?”
─ He’s at the hospital. He said he went back. Mom and I are going to the hospital; what about you?
“I’ll head to the hospital right away.”
Shin-woo quickly hung up, hailed a passing taxi, and arrived at the hospital after about a 30-minute drive. Shin-woo ran without hesitation to the room Young-min had told him about, but he found himself unable to enter further at the door. It was because of the pheromones—Alpha pheromones—leaking faintly from inside.
“Oh? Shin-woo hyung! You’re here?”
While he was standing outside for a long time unable to enter, he happened to run into Young-min who was coming out.
“Shin-woo, you worked hard. Thank you for looking for Jeong-min.”
The twins’ mother expressed her gratitude to Shin-woo.
“Jeong-min! Do you know how worried Shin-woo was? Hurry up and thank him.”
“Hyung, Mom and I haven’t had dinner. We’ll go quickly, eat something, and come back.”
“Alright…. I’ll keep an eye on Jeong-min.”
After the two left, Shin-woo stood outside the door for a long time before taking a step inside. Jeong-min was burying his head between his gathered knees.
“Jeong-min.”
Seeing that sight, his throat tightened for some reason. Shin-woo cleared his throat and carefully approached Jeong-min.
“Jeong-min. Where did you go? I was so worried.”
He wasn’t trying to blame him. He wasn’t angry. He was simply curious about where he had wandered off to. He just wanted to hear the story.
“I’m sorry….”
He spoke with a voice full of tears. Just like Shin-woo had been on a certain day.
“I’m sorry…. I… I became an Alpha.”
Ah… so this pheromone was yours. The repulsion and clash felt between Alpha and Alpha. This belongs to you.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry….”
Shin-woo hugged Jeong-min. It felt like hugging his own wounded self. That’s how he knew. How much Jeong-min’s heart was hurting right now.
Knowing better than anyone how sad the misery is when you cannot give the person you love the one thing they want, Shin-woo hugged Jeong-min tighter and stroked his back.
But that was as far as it went….
Shin-woo could not give him any answer beyond that.
“Why are you sorry? It’s not something to be sorry for.”
“I couldn’t keep my promise. I’m sorry….”
Jeong-min apologized. He kept apologizing. He apologized for becoming an Alpha and waited for Shin-woo’s answer.
Shin-woo said nothing, only hugging and stroking Jeong-min. Only then did Jeong-min realize.
It wasn’t that he wanted to apologize to Shin-woo.
He wanted to hear the words, ‘It’s okay.’
Feeling sorry for his selfish… disgusting self… and for Shin-woo, who ultimately did not give him that answer, Jeong-min continued to cry.