TSG 107

“What happens to the main character?”

“…Huh?”

Lost in thought, Se-hyun belatedly looked up. Meeting Shin Tae-oh’s eyes, he quickly glanced at the screen.

“Uh… I’m not sure.”

“Didn’t you look it up?”

“No.”

Usually, he would look up spoilers before watching a movie, but this time he hadn’t. More accurately, he hadn’t had the presence of mind to do so.

The movie was just an excuse; he had been thinking about the heat cycle.

“I’ll look it up now.”

Se-hyun said as he searched for his phone nearby. He had briefly seen what it was about earlier, but it would be better to read the entire plot summary…

“Se-hyun-ah.”

That’s when it happened. Shin Tae-oh’s sweet voice captured Se-hyun’s attention.

As Se-hyun turned to look at Shin Tae-oh, a shadow covered his eyes.

Suddenly pinned down by Shin Tae-oh, Se-hyun braced himself against the floor to prevent falling backward. This wasn’t why he had sat on the floor leaning against the sofa.

As he blankly stared at Shin Tae-oh’s smirking lips right in front of him, Shin Tae-oh pulled back.

“How about watching without spoilers this time?”

Noticing his phone now in Shin Tae-oh’s hand, Se-hyun slowly sat up. Realizing why Shin Tae-oh had suddenly leaned in, Se-hyun pointlessly dusted off his empty hands. As he fixed his eyes on the screen indifferently, some of the playfulness disappeared from Shin Tae-oh’s face.

“Why the long face?”

Because you played a trick on me.

“Don’t tell me you’re sulking because you thought I was going to kiss you but didn’t?”

That’s why I’m telling you, stop playing around.

“Should I kiss you now?”

“Ah, stop it!”

At Se-hyun’s outburst, Shin Tae-oh pretended to be startled and covered his mouth, but it was useless. If he was going to cover something, he should have covered his whole face.

Shin Tae-oh’s eyes were full of mischief and laughter.

“If you want to watch without spoilers, you could just say so. Why take someone else’s phone?”

“Obviously because I wanted to tease Se-hyun.”

“You’re not even hiding it.”

“It’s no fun if I hide it.”

Shin Tae-oh waved Se-hyun’s phone teasingly before placing it on the table, clearly out of reach. Se-hyun silently watched him from a distance where he’d have to stretch his arm across Shin Tae-oh to grab the phone.

“You’re not taking it.”

Though he had suggested watching without spoilers, a hint of disappointment crossed Shin Tae-oh’s face, who had been preparing for Se-hyun to try and take the phone.

“As you said, let’s really watch without anything this time, Mr. CEO.”

At Se-hyun’s indifferent tone, Shin Tae-oh raised his eyebrows and then lowered them again. Something about it must have bothered him, as his smile disappeared. Se-hyun turned his head.

“You know I don’t like that title, right?”

“Yes.”

“Are you doing it on purpose?”

“Yes.”

It was payback for taking his phone. Se-hyun ignored Shin Tae-oh’s roughening breath and focused on the movie.

The story was about a protagonist who had to give up the instrument they had played their whole life due to an accident, and how they would live from now on. Another main character was helping them find a new job, but it was hard to predict the outcome.

It had been a long time since Se-hyun had watched a movie without knowing the ending.

The uncertainty stirred a subtle anxiety within him. It seemed trivial to worry about not knowing what happened next, but breaking his usual habit made it difficult to act unaffected.

“Should I give you the phone? Or should I look up the ending and tell you?”

It seemed Shin Tae-oh, who had been watching Se-hyun intently, had noticed his anxiety. Seeing him about to search on his own phone, Se-hyun grabbed Shin Tae-oh’s hand.

“It’s fine.”

When Shin Tae-oh looked up and met his gaze, Se-hyun forced a smile.

“We should enjoy this moment.”

Shin Tae-oh had given up his habit of drinking two cups of coffee a day. He didn’t want to be tied down by habits and miss out on something more precious.

Was he doing the same?

He had pushed Shin Tae-oh away, bound by the original story, and ignored the sound of his heart for the sake of his own stability.

But now, he wanted to change. Like when he rushed to save Yoo Jin-ha despite knowing it would disrupt the original story, he wanted to anticipate an unpredictable future.

“Do you want to bet on what the protagonist will choose?”

At Shin Tae-oh’s undisguisable bright smile, Se-hyun let out a relaxed laugh. Yeah, what’s wrong with being a little anxious?

Now Shin Tae-oh was by his side.

“The loser buys dinner.”

“Sounds good.”

As Se-hyun, having regained his smile, focused on the movie, Shin Tae-oh was looking at his phone.

“Aren’t you watching the movie?”

This time, when Se-hyun asked why Shin Tae-oh wasn’t watching, he suddenly held the phone up to Se-hyun’s face.

“We’re dating, but ‘Mr. CEO’ is too much, don’t you think?”

“…”

Wasn’t the discussion about the ‘Mr. CEO’ title over?

As Se-hyun just blinked, Shin Tae-oh even brought out his own phone.

“Let’s change the names.”

As if to demonstrate, Shin Tae-oh erased Se-hyun’s name saved in his phone.

“What should I use?”

“Hmm… Since your pheromones are so sweet, how about ‘Sugar’? Or ‘Cotton Candy’?”

“Use whatever you want.”

That’s something Shin Tae-oh should change to whatever nickname he wants to see.

Se-hyun responded indifferently and sneakily retrieved his own phone to change it too. Unlike Shin Tae-oh who hadn’t entered a name yet, Se-hyun entered it right away as if he had no need to think.

“What did you use?”

“Honey.”

“Looks like I’m quite a sweet lover, huh?”

Seeing Shin Tae-oh smile with pleasure, Se-hyun pretended not to notice and turned his head.

“I want to live a very peaceful life from now on. I want to spend my life sucking honey through a straw from Mr. CEO until the end.”

Se-hyun had said those words while distracted, long before he had grabbed hold of Shin Tae-oh’s most private part, so he probably didn’t even remember.

“And I’m not number three anymore, right? Can’t you make me number one—or better yet, zero?”

Shin Tae-oh hadn’t forgotten that Se-hyun had once ranked him by how much he liked him.

Alright… Shin Tae-oh, I’ll let you have your honey bread. Do as you please.

“What nickname should I use then? Should I go with ‘Dalgona’? Or is that a bit old-fashioned?”

Unlike Shin Tae-oh who couldn’t focus on the movie because he was coming up with nicknames, Se-hyun watched quite diligently. He watched like a student in class for the first time in a while, but… he lost the bet.

Shin Tae-oh’s sense was one step ahead.

⍣⍣⍣

After the bid, they returned to their usual daily routine. Se-hyun faithfully fulfilled his role as a secretary, and Shin Tae-oh worked as he always had.

On a boringly peaceful Thursday, the cat-like Shin Tae-oh came out of the CEO’s office looking for Se-hyun.

“What are you doing?”

At Shin Tae-oh’s question, Chief Secretary Lee Jin-ho, who was in a meeting with the secretarial staff, turned his head.

It seemed like he had come out with something to say, but it was too obvious that he was looking for Se-hyun. The very Se-hyun who wasn’t there.

“We were in a brief meeting about the changed schedule.”

Instead of saying where Se-hyun had gone, he held out a tablet. Shin Tae-oh, not finding Se-hyun among the secretarial staff, indifferently lowered his eyes to scan the screen.

“What’s changed?”

“Secretary Ahn took a leave.”

Seeing the deep furrow form on Shin Tae-oh’s forehead, Director Lee Jin-ho swallowed a sigh. His reactions were always so obvious.

“A leave?”

“Yes.”

Shin Tae-oh knew that the day off, which he used to think was for meeting parents, was being used for a different reason, but nothing changed.

Since Se-hyun hadn’t revealed that he was an Omega, only Shin Tae-oh and Lee Jin-ho knew the circumstances.

The funny thing was that even though the secretarial staff knew Se-hyun and Shin Tae-oh were dating, they didn’t consider their dynamics at all.

Perhaps that was a testament to how peculiar Shin Tae-oh’s behavior was on a regular basis…

Anyway, Se-hyun had taken leave as usual, and Lee Jin-ho had planned to cover for his absence.

“When is it?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I want to take a day off together.”

At Shin Tae-oh’s bold answer, Lee Jin-ho and all the secretarial staff looked dumbfounded.

“Of course, I should be by my lover’s side.”

He didn’t even hide that Se-hyun was his lover. Well, they hadn’t been dating in secret, but they hadn’t openly declared they were dating either, yet he revealed it so easily.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Shin Tae-oh suddenly dropped his polite speech. He had maintained some level of respect for Lee Jin-ho because of the secretarial staff, but he quickly revealed his true self.

At this point, Lee Jin-ho didn’t need to just listen quietly anymore.

“You need to work, Sir.”

“Chief Secretary Lee. I’ll handle my own work. You can just email me the documents for approval, right?”

No matter how Lee Jin-ho responded, Shin Tae-oh brazenly insisted.

I want to rest too.

It felt as though those words were stamped across Shin Tae-oh’s forehead. Just as Lee Jin-ho was about to lose his composure, Shin Tae-oh made an offer.

“I’ll treat those who help me to a meal from my own pocket.”

That was a powerful move.

“If I couldn’t see my lover, I don’t think I could focus on work either.”

A deputy who had been quietly listening to the conversation preemptively empathized while acknowledging Shin Tae-oh and Ahn Se-hyun’s relationship.

“I’ll guard the CEO office while you’re gone.”

“Why don’t you just go in now?”

Looking at the secretarial staff who were each saying something as if they were traitors, Chief Secretary Lee Jin-ho said with a resigned face:

“Since I’ll be doing the most work, buy me two meals.”

“Alright.”

Shin Tae-oh smiled and took out a card from his wallet. It was a generous finish, implying they could use it for meals or team dinners as they saw fit.

“I’m ba…ck?”

Se-hyun, returning from an external appointment, trailed off his greeting uncomfortably as he noticed all eyes on him.

Why was the atmosphere like this?

“We were just talking about you. Oh, and I almost forgot.”

Shin Tae-oh chattered with an excited face.

“If ‘Honey’ shows up on Se-hyun’s phone, that’s me.”

Shin Tae-oh’s smile was so bright as he mentioned the new nickname. The fact that it came from “living a life sucking honey” would have to be kept secret until death.

“What did CEO save him as?”

Chief Secretary Lee Jin-ho asked with a strange expression as if he didn’t want to hear but couldn’t help asking.

“Sweetness.”

As soon as Shin Tae-oh answered, Se-hyun covered his face.

After considering sugar, candy, and so on, the nickname that was decided on as essentially the same taste was proudly announced without any embarrassment.

Well, Se-hyun guessed the embarrassment was his to bear.