CHDY 45

That was true. While the people he had seen before had a feeling of being somewhat strained, the person he was meeting now looked natural and at ease, starting with his expression. He looked like someone who could elicit favorable feelings from anyone.

“Oh, really?”

Seongju pursed his lips and made a face as if holding back laughter. After fiddling with the bar snacks with his fingertips and pausing for a moment, he spoke as if making a confession.

“Actually…… this hyung is a Beta.”

“……Pardon?”

Jaeon thought he had misheard.

“He’s a Beta, a Beta. Not even a Recessive Alpha, just a Beta.”

“Ah……”

It was Seongju who had always only talked about Alphas. It was even more surprising because he had spoken as if he would not settle for anyone who was not an Alpha, a Dominant Alpha at that.

“I never thought I’d date a Beta either. I guess this is why they say you have to live long to see things.”

Seongju let out a hollow laugh and then explained how he had met his current boyfriend. It seemed they had met by chance at a gathering as an acquaintance of an acquaintance and became close.

“Out of all the people I’ve dated, he’s the most compatible. To a surprising degree. It’s not like I’m crazy with excitement and sparks are flying from my eyes, but it’s just comfortable and nice…… I guess you could say it feels familiar.”

“……That’s surprising.”

“Right? I’m so surprised at myself that it’s giving me goosebumps. I really didn’t even see Betas as men, how did things turn out this way.”

Even though he said that, it was plain to see that he was happy. Jaeon smiled along with him.

“I’ll introduce you next time. He’s two years older than me, so that’s a three-year difference with you.”

“Ah, yes. Please introduce me next time.”

Jaeon replied with an expectant heart and picked up his glass. One sip, two sips, he drank consecutively and then hesitated before parting his lips.

“By the way……”

“Yeah?”

“That……, that Dominant Alpha from back then……”

He asked without being able to look him straight in the eye.

“Who?”

Seongju raised his eyebrows with a face that showed he had no idea. Only after furrowing his brow did he clap his hands with a face that showed he realized who he was talking about.

“Ah ah, that super handsome Dominant from back then? Hey, he’s just like a celebrity. Honestly, there was no chance from the beginning.”

Seongju, reminiscing, twisted the corner of his mouth.

“And he ignored the note I sent him the next day, you know? It wasn’t like I asked him to date me, I just said we should get to know each other casually, let’s grab a meal sometime. Honestly, I wanted to stay as friends, but when he ignored my note, I lost all interest immediately.”

“……”

Hearing Seongju’s words, Jaeon was lost in thought. Jaeon was genuinely surprised because he had thought Inha was interested in Seongju. And he was also confused because Seongju’s feelings seemed much lighter than he had thought.

Why had he been so sure that the two of them would end up dating? It was bewildering to see how there seemed to be no emotional exchange whatsoever between the two.

“Oh, but don’t mention this when you meet hyung, okay? My hyung is a bit timid. He gets all pouty if I talk about other guys. Yesterday, too, the topic of my ex-boyfriend came up by chance and he got jealous and his face turned red, it’s really funny.”

“……Yes.”

Jaeon gave a faint smile and picked up his glass.

Come to think of it, how long had it been since he drank alcohol? The last memory was buying soju and forcing himself to drink it to fall asleep due to severe insomnia, which had made him sick. Jaeon gulped down the cold beer without hesitation. It was strange how the alcohol tasted sweet today.

“But what about you? Anything new?”

“Me, well……. I’m always the same.”

“Hey, don’t you think you’re a bit much? I’m always the only one talking and you just keep your mouth shut.”

Seongju furrowed his brow and expressed his dissatisfaction.

“……You’re right. I’m a bit…… frustrating, aren’t I.”

Jaeon lowered his eyes with a bitter expression.

Even as he fiddled with the dewy glass, his chest felt stuffy as if something was lodged there. Before he could even identify the source of that stuffiness, a lump formed in his strained throat.

“……That……, this isn’t about me, it’s about my friend……”

It was purely the alcohol that made him bring it up. It was a small impulse to get these stuffy things out of his chest.

“Your friend? Uh-huh, what is it?”

Jaeon ruffled his hair once before speaking.

“……My friend is a Beta…… and I think he had a one-sided crush on, uh, a certain Alpha.”

He continued speaking, feigning calmness in the tone of someone telling another person’s story.

“Whoa, this is already getting exciting. And then?”

“But……, that Beta friend, because he’s a Beta, and the other person is an Alpha, and they met while he was working part-time and the other person was a customer…… so he was just liking him all by himself……”

“Uh-huh.”

“……He was almost giving up…… but he wanted to have a memory, even for just one day, so a drug that makes you go into heat like an Omega…… ah, no. Something else happened before that.”

Jaeon, speaking incoherently, lifted his head.

“He…… somehow got closer and closer to the person he likes…… and they decided to see a movie together. But the day before that, a certain unfortunate misunderstanding happened……”

“What kind of misunderstanding?”

“Something that would make the other person hate my friend……”

“What was it?”

Jaeon looked around at Seongju and the surrounding objects with an anxious gaze before opening his mouth.

“……The Beta friend, after work, was almost…… ra…ped by some strangers, I think.”

“What?”

“But then, the person he likes, by chance, happened to be passing by and saw it. Truly by chance……. But those rapists, they pulled out a knife behind my friend’s back, they threatened him by holding something like a knife to him…… so my friend, in case the Alpha got hurt if a physical fight broke out…… I think he lied.”

“……What kind of lie?”

“That…… as if he was doing it willingly…… like he enjoys doing that kind of thing with men outdoors…… I think that’s what he said. In case he got hurt trying to help, he just wanted to send him away……”

“Are you serious? He really said that there?”

“……Yes. But he wasn’t fooled, so, to, to trick him, he had no choice, so he, he even kissed him……”

“Kissed? Don’t tell me, with that rapist?”

Seongju asked back with a look of astonishment.

“……Hey. Is your friend out of his mind? That’s not right, no matter how much they held a knife to him.”

Jaeon pressed his lips firmly together.

“Honestly, the knife was probably just for threats. They wouldn’t have been able to stab him. If it were me, I would have yelled for someone to go and call the police. I’m sorry, but it sounds like your friend is a little slow, you know? Why is he so frustrating?”

“……You’re right. It would have been better if he had done that……. That friend is a bit…… very frustrating……”

He laughed with a small sigh. He felt like his mind was more at ease hearing someone openly curse and point it out like this.

“So what happened then? And what was that about a drug that makes you go into heat like an Omega?”

Jaeon ruffled his hair awkwardly. Pausing as if he could not bring himself to say it, he cautiously began to speak.

“Because the person he likes is an Alpha, and he heard that person only dates Omegas……. So, he wondered if there might be a chance if he approached him pretending to be an Omega…… He wanted to make a memory even just once, so he, for Betas…… I think he bought a heat-inducing drug……”

As he spoke, Jaeon realized anew just how absurd his actions had been.

While feeling a sense of shame, Jaeon confessed everything as if he were talking about someone else. Falteringly, he recounted the events of the past one by one.

When he finished telling the story up to the point where he had left to go to the factory he was introduced to, only to be caught at a rest stop and brought back, Seongju showed a reaction different from what Jaeon had expected. He touched his head as if feeling a headache, sighed deeply, and made a strange expression.

“Hey, Jaeon. You know I’m not the kind of person to go around spreading a friend’s story, right?”

“……Yes.”

“Then, can’t you just tell me honestly?”

“……”

“This is your story, isn’t it, Jaeon……?”

Jaeon felt the strength drain from his shoulders and rubbed his face.

“Was it obvious?”

At the question he asked while covering his face, Seongju collapsed onto the table and muttered that he knew it. He let out a groan as if he had heard a shocking story, then suddenly raised his head. He widened his eyes and covered his mouth with his hand.

“Hey, wait a minute……. Don’t tell me that friend, no no, the person you like is……”

He stared at Jaeon with wide eyes as if to pierce through him.

“Is it him? Is it really that Dominant Alpha I tried to get the number of, that person?”

Jaeon lowered his eyes. As he quietly affirmed with his silence, Seongju’s voice grew louder in an instant.

“Wow, goose-bumps. This is crazy. This is the most goosebump-inducing story I’ve ever heard in my life.”

People started looking at them at the sound of Seongju’s shock. The flustered Jaeon raised his hand to calm him down.

“Wow, so that’s why your expression was like that whenever we talked about that Alpha…… wow……”