By Zephyria 
At this rate, it felt like they might even end up kissing.
Honestly, what could be better than a kiss to soothe his misfortune? But the current situation wasn’t ideal.
‘I shouldn’t crash into him while sober.’
That’s something you absolutely shouldn’t do to someone you’ve broken up with.
So why was he getting so close?
Even as he thought about pushing him away, Haon clasped his hands behind his back and his eyes fluttered shut.
If they stayed like this just a little longer, their lips would touch…
Ding-dong.
At the sudden sound of the bell, Haon reflexively pushed Cha Jeong-won away.
Then, swallowing once, he straightened up with a face that said nothing had happened. Only then did he properly see who had entered.
“Ah! Boss.”
The time he’d said he’d return was a bit later, but it seemed he’d come back sooner than expected. Woo Sun-woo smiled awkwardly, looking back and forth between Haon and Cha Jeong-won.
Even though he hadn’t done anything yet, Haon felt his neck burning for some reason.
Woo Sun-woo smiled and spoke to Haon.
“You can leave for today.”
“Huh? Ah, yes. Thank you.”
Before the words even finished, Haon hurriedly untied his apron strings. As his hands moved clumsily, Woo Sun-woo took a step closer and lightly tapped near Haon’s shoulder.
“Good work.”
“Thank you.”
“How’s it been after a few days of work? Not too hard? By the way, when do you eat dinner? Looking at you now, your face seems…”
Just as Woo Sun-woo leaned in to get a closer look at Haon’s face, Cha Jeong-won naturally stepped forward in between. It didn’t seem like he was deliberately blocking the way, but effectively, he positioned himself so Woo Sun-woo’s gaze could no longer linger on Haon.
Cha Jeong-won only bowed his head slightly in greeting. His tone and expression were polite, yet strangely distant.
“Thank you for your concern.”
Woo Sun-woo blinked for a moment.
Cha Jeong-won had intervened in his conversation with Haon far too naturally.
As if he and Haon were very close.
“Then, I’ll be leaving now.”
This was the same.
He naturally announced Haon’s departure.
Cha Jeong-won lightly placed a hand on Haon’s back. It was just a touch that landed and then lifted, yet Haon distinctly felt where that hand had been.
Haon quickly nodded and turned his body toward the door.
“Boss, I’ll head out first. See you tomorrow.”
“Sure. Take care.”
Woo Sun-woo’s voice was still affectionate.
As they stepped outside the cafe, the cold air brushed against their cheeks. That chill actually helped clear his head a bit. Haon took a deep breath in, then slowly exhaled.
Cha Jeong-won stood beside Haon. Then, very briefly, as if glancing back inside the cafe, he checked the direction where Woo Sun-woo was once more.
“How long are you planning to work here?”
“Well, since it’s a temporary replacement, until they find a new part-timer, right?”
“They should find one quickly.”
Cha Jeong-won’s words trailed off subtly.
＊ ＊ ＊
The atmosphere inside the pojangmacha was completely different from the cafe.
The moment they opened the glass door, not only the smells of oil, grilled meat, and slightly burnt cheese, but also the loud laughter of people washed over them.
“Over here!”
A team member who had arrived earlier waved his arm toward Haon and Cha Jeong-won. It was the seat right next to the heater, inside the plastic-covered tent. On the table, basic side dishes and drinks were already appropriately laid out.
“You ordered more than I expected.”
Instead of praising or scolding, Cha Jeong-won simply stated what he observed and felt.
“We ordered a lot to keep you, sunbaenim, here for a long, long time.”
The team member laughed and scooted over. His gesture seemed to say, “Sit here.”
Cha Jeong-won looked for a moment, then pulled a nearby chair and sat down. The team member who had given up his seat laughed somewhat awkwardly and immediately eyed the spot next to Cha Jeong-won.
Haon crossed his arms. They came in together, but compared to Cha Jeong-won, he felt practically ignored.
“Seems like I’m invisible.”
At Haon’s words, the team member eyeing the spot next to Cha Jeong-won, Kim Pilsu, let out a dry laugh.
“How could that be?”
“Then why is no one paying attention to me, huh? Do you know how busy I was rushing to get here? I made all your drinks.”
Haon complained to the team members while plopping down on the seat next to Cha Jeong-won. Kim Pilsu made a regretful expression, but Haon kept talking.
“How could you be invisible? You’re so visible it’s a problem.”
Kim Pilsu looked at Haon’s chair.
Haon, who had draped his arm over the backrest, turned his body toward Kim Pilsu.
This guy was the first to share in the chat room that Cha Jeong-won was coming at the start of the semester.
Sending all sorts of excited emoticons, saying he couldn’t wait and wanted to become friends. But when Cha Jeong-won actually appeared, all he did was hover around.
And Cha Jeong-won wasn’t the type to warmly accept just anyone, so it made sense.
‘Still, being ignored by him hurts.’
So he deliberately planted himself right between them.
“Pilsu-yah, now that it’s come to this, tell me how the coffee I made tasted.”
Kim Pilsu pouted his lips.
“That place’s coffee is originally good.”
“But I made it.”
“So their beans are… Fine. Sunbaenim, sunbae, soju? Or beer?”
Kim Pilsu asked, holding a bottle in each hand. He was trying to seize an opportunity to talk to Cha Jeong-won, skipping over Haon.
But this time, too, it wasn’t easy. Haon removed his arm from the backrest and leaned forward. Using his own body to block Cha Jeong-won, he pointed alternately at the two bottles.
“Pour both.”
“You… why do you keep butting in?”
“Because you want to get close to Jeong-won sunbaenim, so I want to interfere.”
At Haon’s mischief, Kim Pilsu’s expression turned serious as he shook the liquor bottles. Then he outright poured soju into a beer glass, as if planning to get Haon drunk and send him off.
Seeing that, Haon’s eyes narrowed.
‘Look at these guys.’
He knew very well that all his peers’ attention was focused on one person, but they shouldn’t do this to him.
‘It just makes me want to interfere more.’
A mischievous urge rose, but…
Haon sighed and leaned back against the chair. He decided to stop obstructing Kim Pilsu.
‘If you put it that way, he doesn’t seem like the only unfortunate person either…’
The original Cha Jeong-won was incredibly unlucky, the type to get caught up in trouble even while standing still. So while it was pitiful, seeing so many people who liked him like this also made him think that maybe his life wasn’t all bad.
That was just his personal thought.
‘Actually, it’s good.’
Thanks to that, he too could look at Cha Jeong-won as one of those people.
Cha Jeong-won’s Alpha-unique eye shape was still sharp. But the hand that had wiped his own eyes was gentle. That sensation still seemed to linger on his skin.
“Alright, everyone take a glass.”
Kim Pilsu held up a glass. For Haon, it was somaek with a particularly high ratio of soju.
Looking at that glass, Haon thought about obstructing that troublemaker Kim Pilsu again, but from beside him, Cha Jeong-won’s hand reached in and swapped Haon’s somaek glass with his own. It was so natural that no one except Haon noticed.
When Haon looked back, Cha Jeong-won shook his head.
That action was all. No special words, no particular gaze.
When Haon stared blankly for a while without drinking, only then did Cha Jeong-won speak.
“You absolutely must not get drunk.”
“Sounds more like it’s for your sake than mine, sunbaenim.”
Cha Jeong-won didn’t answer.
Next, Kim Pilsu asked if Cha Jeong-won would like to give a toast, and being immediately refused, he gladly stood up himself.
“To commemorate our project’s first meeting and the successful completion of our assignment!”
“Cheers!”
The sound of clinking glasses spread inside the tent.
Haon also slightly raised his glass and drank. As the cold liquor went straight down his throat, his gaze subtly shifted to the side.
Cha Jeong-won’s expression hardly changed even as he drank.
Haon found himself staring only at Cha Jeong-won’s bobbing Adam’s apple. It was the same when he drank latte at the cafe. Even though it was a natural thing for a living person, he couldn’t tear his eyes away.
Cha Jeong-won, who had neatly emptied his glass, let out a long breath instead of eating a side dish. Unable to watch, Haon used a spoon to put a side dish on his plate instead.
“It’s cheese butter corn.”
He could clearly see the cheese stretching long over the golden-brown pressed corn.
63 – NOT 63