"If something urgent came up, it can’t be helped. And it’s not like you stood me up pitifully—you sent such a cute secretary in your place, I can hardly complain. Then let’s just have a comfortable meal, the two of us. Is that all right?"
Contrary to Eunwon’s expectation that the man would leave as soon as he heard the story, he slid naturally into the seat across from Eunwon and started perusing the menu.
"Honestly, I’ve been so nervous about my parents nagging me that I’ve been starving since yesterday. This actually worked out. The food here is a bit too good to eat while putting on airs for a blind date."
His breezy tone loosened the atmosphere, and he was kind even to the staff; watching him, Eunwon thought without thinking, He’d suit Muyoung-hyung well—and then wounded himself with his own thought.
Pressing down on his stinging heart, he clinked his glass against the wine glass the other man held out first, and the man smiled brightly and threw him an unexpected question.
"Are you a beta, Eunwon-ssi?"
"Ah… yes, that’s right."
"And how old are you?"
"Twenty-five."
"Wow, I thought so! You look young just at a glance. When I mistook you for CEO Cha earlier I was so surprised—I thought, ‘He looks that soft and adorable?’"
Was that a compliment…
Eunwon tilted his head inwardly at the embarrassing modifiers, but just smiled, nodded, and answered with his best effort. Armed with "consideration and manners" per PurPle’s advice, his clumsy fumbling was luckily smoothed over by the other man’s seasoned social skills and conversational finesse.
But just as the delicious food and friendly conversation were warming the mood, the man’s next question froze Eunwon solid where he sat poking at his salad.
"Are you seeing anyone?"
"Our CEO? Of course—"
"Oh my, I mean you, Eunwon-ssi."
"…Uh, no. I’m… not."
"Have you ever thought of an omega as a dating prospect?"
"An omega… me?"
At Eunwon, who could only roll his eyes in panic, the man smiled, curving his lips, and drove the wedge in.
"It’s because I like you, Eunwon-ssi. Meeting like this must be fate… how about it? Forget the man who isn’t here—want to give it a try, just us?"
"….Uh…."
"Honestly, I think you’d be more fun than CEO Cha." He added it with a bright smile, and sirens started wailing in Eunwon’s head.
Was he really just expressing interest in me? Seeing me as a romantic prospect? Why…?
This wasn’t in the script. He’d never even imagined it. He’d felt drawn to the man, sure—but not as the target himself. And besides, he was only pretending to be a beta; he was actually an omega.
Of course he should refuse, but he had to consider Muyoung’s dignity too. He had no idea how to refuse properly. He wanted to pull out his phone under the table right then and ask PurPle, who had become his auxiliary brain.
This is bad. I think I actually charmed an omega… But checking his phone now would be rude too.
Rude words and actions strictly forbidden~♪
His blanked-out mind could only replay the lyrics PurPle had drilled into him like brainwashing. He was about to force his lips to move and say something, anything, when—
A small commotion broke out near the entrance of the restaurant, where soft classical music had been playing. He turned naturally toward it, and there—striding toward them—was Cha Muyoung himself, the true star of this occasion, for whose dignity Eunwon had been desperately making excuses.
"Oh my, did your urgent business wrap up early?" At the date’s pointed remark, Eunwon’s face flushed hot. As he scrambled awkwardly to his feet, Muyoung reached him and roughly snatched his wrist. He had the menacing air of a man come to catch a cheating lover.
"Uh… CEO?"
Before Eunwon could even ask what he was doing here, Muyoung’s ragged breathing brushed his ear. Startled, he checked Muyoung’s complexion—and no, it wasn’t his imagination. Tousled hair, a deathly pale face. And the big hand gripping his wrist was ice cold.
In that instant, Eunwon’s body moved on its own. The Cha-Muyoung-only caretaking instinct, carved into him over long years, kicked in. He quickly slipped under Muyoung’s arm, half-embracing him to support him, and asked urgently,
"Since when have you been sick?" The answer came without hesitation.
"Don’t know. Since you weren’t there…."
His voice was so pitifully wretched that the date, who had been watching Muyoung’s face the whole time Eunwon bustled about, let out an incredulous laugh. He hadn’t looked remotely like a patient until a second ago.
Now he was even staggering, clinging harder to Eunwon and rubbing his lips against Eunwon’s ear, groaning feebly as if frail.
"Are you okay?"
"No. Hyung’s sick, baby. Not okay at all."
At Muyoung’s rough, sunken voice, Eunwon’s mind went completely blank. Forgetting the situation entirely, he was seized by the solemn mission of getting Muyoung somewhere safe.
Shamelessly leaning his full weight on Eunwon—who was barely half his size—and accepting the conscienceless support, Muyoung turned to go. Even as he nuzzled his chin into the crown of Eunwon’s straining head and faked groans of pain, he didn’t forget a final farewell to the man being left alone at their table.
Meeting the eyes of the omega, still frozen from the sudden turn of events, he mouthed something—silently, but crisply enunciated.
Hands off. He’s mine.
The date, belatedly deciphering the lip movements after the two had vanished, burst out laughing in disbelief.
"Wow, Cha Muyoung… he’s way crazier than I’d heard." It was a childishly possessive declaration, absurd beyond words.
***
Luckily a car and driver were waiting in front of the hotel. Only after carefully pushing the huge alpha—who was leaning his whole body on him and groaning—into the back seat could Eunwon finally wipe the sweat from his brow.
His body temperature, ice-cold until moments ago, was now radiating a pitiably feverish heat.
Knowing Muyoung was in the middle of wrestling with the agonizing memories of his childhood, Eunwon found these strange symptoms more heartbreaking than bewildering.
Just as he tried to step back so Muyoung could rest comfortably, Muyoung’s big hand seized his elbow. Not overpowering, but heavy—and a whisper so desperate it was impossible to refuse pulled Eunwon in.
"Don’t go. Stay next to me."
In the end, Eunwon ended up plastered to Muyoung’s side, limp.
Muyoung pulled him in as if tucking him under his arm and buried his face deep in Eunwon’s pale nape. At the hot breath tickling his skin, Eunwon struggled to keep his wits.
When was the last time this had happened?
The day he’d first learned to drink from him. That was New Year’s Day when he turned twenty—more than five years ago now. After that, Muyoung had said he’d found a "good treatment" and proposed a daily sixty-second hug routine. Eunwon had been skeptical at first, but after that he’d truly never had another episode, so he’d let himself relax a little.
Could something have happened today to make him anxious all of a sudden?
Eunwon tried to magnify his worry for Muyoung to tune out the alpha pheromones filling the car, but it was no use. He was used to Muyoung’s free-spirited pheromones, but this was… different. Today’s scent was far heavier, wrapping blatantly around Eunwon’s body.
This feels like… a pheromone shower. His instincts were warning him.
That an alpha was seducing him right now. Trying to cover him completely in his pheromones and stake his claim.
Had his episodes always been like this? It was the first time he’d experienced one since becoming an omega, so he couldn’t even be sure of that. Even five years ago, Eunwon had been a beta—he wouldn’t have noticed if Muyoung had shown symptoms like these.
Should he avoid him?
Should he run?
He even twisted slightly in instinctive fear, but the arms holding him only grew firmer, never loosening. Eunwon finally changed his mind, letting the tension drain obediently from his stiff body.
Surely hyung wouldn’t do this on purpose.
He just couldn’t control it because he was sick.
He couldn’t exactly scold someone trembling with anxiety, so he told himself he’d just have to keep his own head on straight, and raised a hand to pat Muyoung’s shoulder—thump, thump—as if soothing someone pitiful.
That’s when Eunwon spotted the pile of pale-green candies. They were the "Green Apple Candy" Muyoung had taken to enjoying at some point. From the dainty little basket—utterly unsuited to the luxury sedan—Eunwon picked up one candy, crinkled off the wrapper, and tapped the round candy against Muyoung’s lips.
"It’s the apple candy you like. You’ll feel better if you have one." At his soft coaxing, like soothing a feverish child, Muyoung slowly lifted his head.
But his gaze, drifting slowly over, landed not on the candy held before his nose but on Eunwon’s eyes.
Eunwon froze—stiff. The hot breath washing over him, the sticky, suggestive look in his eyes—no matter how he thought about it, these weren’t the eyes of a patient suffering from childhood trauma.
When Eunwon tensed without realizing it and turned his head to avoid him, Muyoung’s big hand gripped his chin hard and twisted it back. To Eunwon, stiff as a board like prey before a hunter’s jaws, Muyoung whispered as if sharing a secret.
"Can I eat it?"
"Can I really… eat it?"
A low resonance that pierced somewhere in his chest made Eunwon draw a breath and lower his gaze.
He’s talking about the candy… right? Of course that’s… right?
Telling himself not to get the wrong idea, he nodded hurriedly. One beat late, that awkward permission had barely been granted when Muyoung’s face tilted toward him. Eunwon swallowed dryly, squeezed his eyes shut, and pressed his lips together hard.
But the sensation he felt—someone else’s soft, warm, moist lips pressing firmly—landed somewhere completely unexpected. Not on the lips he’d half-expected despite telling himself not to imagine things, not on the fingers holding the candy, but on the inside of his wrist, where his pulse thumped.
Eunwon’s eyes flew open, and as he stared at his face, Muyoung’s lips traveled—sucking kisses from Eunwon’s wrist to his palm, then here and there along his fingers—until they reached the fingertip holding the candy. But then, the motion of taking the candy lightly between his teeth was surprisingly chaste.
With a soft clack, Cha Muyoung shifted the candy to his inner cheek, and after gazing at Eunwon a moment with a languid look that said he’d gotten everything he wanted, he hooked Eunwon’s still-stiff leg and lifted it onto his thigh. Then, resettling Eunwon’s body in his arms, he asked pleadingly,
"Eunwon."
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