HWAMB — Chapter 3
by Brie“…Got something to give you.”
“What is it? Hey, Shim Hyun-woo!”
He didn’t answer and just walked off to his own class.
All I could do was stare blankly at his retreating back. Then, with a blink, I quietly stepped into the dusty classroom alone.
The tips of Hyun-woo’s ears had been red.
“….”
A strange feeling pierced my chest. Even after the door closed behind me, I stood there for a long time, unable to move.
“Two.”
A clear voice read out the small letters printed on white paper, and the pointer dropped down.
Smaller letters.
I heard the faint sound of pale pink petals fluttering down outside the window.
After a brief silence, I read aloud again.
“Umbrella, on the right.”
“Whoa.”
I lowered the occluder covering my left eye and returned it to the teacher’s desk. Around me, voices of admiration broke out.
They were obviously exaggerating on purpose so I’d hear it.
I’d smack each of them later.
As soon as I sat down, Seo Young-ho, sitting behind me, pulled on my shoulder.
“Hey, it’s 2.0! This bastard’s got good eyes.”
“It’s your turn. Just get up there.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
I bit back the urge to hit him as I watched Young-ho lazily head up. Jae-ho, sitting nearby, poked my arm.
Then, in a voice just soft enough for me to catch, he whispered,
“Hey, Eun-jae. Want to go to karaoke after school? We should have some fun before midterms.”
“Ah, sorry. I already promised someone… You guys go ahead without me.”
I forced a smile as I turned him down, and Jae-ho grumbled in disappointment.
“Again? With who this time?”
“Hyun-woo.”
“Shim Hyun-woo? That kid from Class 6?”
“What, you know him?”
“Well… not really know him, but…”
His voice dropped flat, as if the very mention left a bad taste. I gave him a questioning look.
He clearly didn’t want to talk about it, but after a sigh he said,
“He’s kind of… famous.”
“Him? Is he?”
It sounded odd, but I could understand.
His face was well-known, after all. It had been that way even in elementary school.
I remembered kids in kindergarten crying and clinging, insisting they wanted Hyun-woo.
And the troubled expression on Hyun-woo’s face every time.
The memory slipped out, making me smile. I thought of his bun-like face, tearful eyes, clutching at his collar.
God, he’d been so cute back then.
“Yeah, his face is kind of cheating.”
I shrugged and answered without much thought, which only made Jae-ho’s expression twist even more strangely.
It was a look of dislike. While most people had no strong opinion about Hyun-woo—or even liked him—Jae-ho clearly didn’t.
For some reason, he didn’t seem to like Hyun-woo at all.
“Hey, Kang Eun-jae. Are you dating Shim Hyun-woo?”
“What? No.”
“Don’t ‘no’ me. Even if you’re childhood friends, nobody else is that disgustingly close.”
“Hey!”
My heart jumped. My voice rose higher than I meant, startling even myself. I quickly shut my mouth.
Young-ho, in the middle of his eye test, the homeroom teacher, and the rest of the class all turned to look at me.
Awkwardly, I smiled, apologized to the teacher, and sat back down.
Beside me, I heard Jae-ho click his tongue.
As soon as I sat, I grabbed his ear and hissed just low enough for him to hear.
“W-what kind of nonsense are you spouting! He’s just a friend! Just friends!”
“You’re overreacting way too much. Suspicious as hell…”
“I said we’re not. We’re not!”
Flailing in silence, I eventually got Jae-ho to shut up. His face still held doubt, but whenever I glared at him, he clicked his tongue and looked away.
After that, he didn’t bring up me and Hyun-woo again.
“And even if I were dating him… what’s so weird about that that you make that kind of face?”
“Ugh… Just imagining it makes me sick.”
“Bullshit. It’s not even like we’re both alphas. What’s so gross about it?”
“That’s not it, I just… forget it. Besides, you said you weren’t dating anyway, right? Then no point talking about ‘what ifs.’”
Realizing the conversation could turn against him, Jae-ho quickly backed out. If he pushed too far, his words might be taken as discrimination against alpha-alpha couples.
After a long pause, he spoke again, almost like advice.
“…And besides, you’re not an omega, you’re a beta. From what I’ve seen, alpha-beta couples don’t usually end well.”
I glared at him. The only person who knew I was an omega was Hyun-woo.
It wasn’t that I had intentionally kept it secret, but I had no reason to announce it either.
I took my suppressants regularly, and unlike most dominant omegas, I wasn’t particularly delicate-looking or striking.
So unless I said it outright, most people assumed I was a beta.
“It’s not like I’m gonna date someone until I die or get married tomorrow. Why take it so seriously? And I said I’m not dating Hyun-woo.”
“God, even when people tell you…”
Muttering and shaking his fist, Jae-ho grumbled. I ignored him and opened my math workbook.
The formulas I was scribbling slowed to a halt. Hyun-woo’s dry, humorless voice echoed in my ears.
I pressed hard at the bridge of my nose and set my pencil down.
“What’s this?”
I looked down at the heavy box in my hands, then back at Hyun-woo.
The gift box was neatly wrapped, sealed tight with glue.
Hyun-woo sat wherever he pleased, giving a light nod as if to say I could do whatever I wanted with the gift.
As he walked off to wash his hands in the bathroom, I sat on the edge of the bed in his room, staring at it.
“A gift? But my birthday’s still far off…”
Muttering to myself, I carefully tore open the top of the wrapping. My eyes widened the moment I saw what was inside.
It was the limited-edition Love Pink merchandise set I had missed out on last time.
I froze, mouth hanging open. My hands shook like I’d seen a ghost, and then I screamed before setting it gently down on the bed.
“You’re gonna burst my eardrums.”
Hyun-woo walked back in, frowning, though I hadn’t even noticed when he came.
I backed away from the gift like it might explode.
“You, you, you! How… How the hell did you even get this?!”
“Ah… I just happened to come across it. Didn’t need it myself.”
“Uh… uh, wha…”
They say people lose the ability to speak when they’re too shocked—it was true.
Whether it looked like joy or fear, my trembling seemed amusing to Hyun-woo; he let out a short laugh.
This wasn’t the kind of thing you “just happened to come across,” and yet he was completely calm.
Still, I couldn’t imagine Hyun-woo desperately trawling through online communities, eyes glued to the screen, hunting for it.
And even if he did, it wasn’t something you could just find right away.
‘Did he get it from someone as a gift? Or… did he actually remember and go out of his way to get it for me?’
The corners of my lips itched, ready to shoot up.
Either way, a wave of emotion for Hyun-woo pounded against my chest.
Carefully, I crept back toward the bed, hugged the box to me, and grinned with happiness.
“Seriously, thank you. I’ve been searching everywhere for this…”
“Glad it worked out.”
As I rubbed my cheek against the box, Hyun-woo gave a small laugh.
Had he remembered when we’d gone out for pork cutlet the other day?
Either way, whoever had sold or given him this treasure, I owed them deep gratitude.
“Can I transfer the money tomorrow?”
“Money? What money.”
“For the merch, of course.”
At that, Hyun-woo frowned. Then with a short “ah,” he turned his head aside as if it were nothing.
“Forget it. Just buy me a meal sometime instead.”
“Huh. Will that really be enough?”
“Obviously, it’d better be something worth the price. Don’t think you’re getting off easy.”
Clicking his tongue, he gave me that look. I nodded quickly.
“Then… can I split it up and treat you a few times? I can’t afford something expensive all at once.”
“That’s even better for me.”
“…? Really? Okay then.”
I didn’t quite understand why splitting it up was better for him, but I let it go.
Later, while eating snacks, we sat at his computer and watched the music video included in the merchandise set.
The overwhelming grandeur made my chest tighten with excitement.
Unlike me, glowing with joy, Hyun-woo sat unimpressed, chewing on cookies.
Watching me gush and squeal, “Isn’t my baby the cutest,” he crossed his arms and pointed at my favorite character on screen.
“That one?”
“Hm? What?”
“The one you said was cute.”
“Yeah. That’s right.”
I nodded. Hyun-woo’s expression turned oddly conflicted.
“Hm…”
“What?”
“Nothing. Just… it hit me again that you must really like my face.”
“Of course! My favorite’s just so cute…”
“….”
“…?”
I trailed off mid-sentence, realizing something was off, and clamped my mouth shut.
Flustered, I turned to look at him instead of the screen. Hyun-woo, on the other hand, kept his eyes fixed on my “favorite.”
“What did you just say…”
“He looks like me.”
As I waited for him to finish, I nearly spit out my drink.
My face went pale as I looked back and forth between my bias and Hyun-woo.
For some reason, his smug, confident face was even more irritating today.
“Uh… I guess… if you squint and blur your eyes, maybe a little?”
I gave a dry laugh. Clearly, Shim Hyun-woo had lost his mind from the heat.
Even if it was still too early to call it summer, that had to be it.
Either way, at least for today, Shim Hyun-woo was no less than an angel for managing to get me this limited-edition set.
Clicking his tongue, he seemed displeased with my half-hearted answer.
Finally, unable to stand the chilled atmosphere, I shouted,
“Ah! What! What’s supposed to look alike! Look closely, he’s got a cute face, cute!”
“The fuck, I’m not cute?”
“….”
Did this guy have no shame at all?