Chapter 6: The Unforgettable Scent

“You enjoy tormenting me, don’t you?”

Do-ha clicked his tongue, looking down at Jia, who had linked her arm through his.

“Oh, why! If I let you go alone, you’d just buy a bunch of weird stuff.”

After a pleasant dinner, they had settled in the living room to watch a movie when Jia began lamenting the lack of beer.

They played rock-paper-scissors to decide who would go to the convenience store, and Jia lost.

She started muttering about how it was improper to send a woman out alone late at night, and how men had no manners. Do-ha, deciding it was easier, threw a jacket over his homewear and offered to go by himself.

But then she insisted she needed to pick out what she liked. Do-ha couldn’t fathom her logic, but they ended up leaving the house together for the convenience store. He had told her to just stay home, it was cold.

“You could just tell me what you want to eat.”

He mumbled to himself, but all he received in return was a glare from Jia.

“What are you grumbling about by yourself, you big man?”

“My, you two always seem to get along so well. Having a beer tonight?”

As Jia placed her heavily laden basket on the counter, Do-ha offered an awkward smile in response to the cashier auntie’s comment.

They occasionally came down together at night to buy beer or snacks, leading to such misunderstandings. Neither Jia nor Do-ha bothered to correct them.

It was simply more convenient to let people assume whatever they wanted, rather than trying to convince them that two unrelated adults were merely co-tenants, one paying rent and the other receiving it.

Explaining that both of them were Omegas, a rarity making up less than 0.1% of the population, was even more troublesome. They also wanted to avoid the strange looks from others.

“But why didn’t you say anything to the auntie?”

Do-ha, his hands full with recycling bags brimming with beer and snacks, merely shrugged at Jia’s whispered jab to his side.

‘Why didn’t you make an excuse then?’

“You… you don’t actually like me, do you?”

“Stop talking nonsense.”

“Oh, Seo Do-ha. You’re really angry. Your ears are red, how cute.”

“Take your hand off my head while I’m being nice.”

Tae-jun stopped in his tracks, his gaze fixed on the man and woman dressed in matching couple homewear pants, one in navy and the other in light pink.

The man held heavy bags, chatting intimately with the woman whose arm was linked through his.

After exchanging a few words, the man took off his thick jacket and handed it to the woman.

It was November, and the night had grown considerably colder.

The man, standing in only a thin short-sleeved T-shirt, was someone Tae-jun knew.

Tae-jun pulled his baseball cap lower, then removed his own jacket and draped it over the man’s shoulders.

“Oh!”

Do-ha, who had been about to step into the elevator as its doors opened, paused when a sudden weight settled on his shoulders, and the goosebump-inducing chill vanished.

“Aren’t you getting in?”

Hearing the familiar voice, Do-ha looked up, blinking at Tae-jun, who was already inside the elevator.

“No, well…”

Since the elevator doors were open, Do-ha stepped inside. He then looked down at the jacket draped over him, then back up at Tae-jun, who was dressed in a short-sleeved T-shirt and comfortable sweatpants.

“You live here?”

“On the 28th floor…”

Do-ha, answering Tae-jun’s question, gathered the bags he was holding in both hands into one, then quickly tried to take off the jacket.

“Keep it on.”

A large hand stopped Do-ha’s clumsy attempt to remove the jacket with one hand, instead pulling together the open front of the garment.

As the elevator doors opened on the 28th floor, a gentle push on his back made Do-ha absentmindedly step out. He then watched the doors close and the elevator ascend.

“Who was that?”

“My team leader.”

Do-ha, startled by Jia’s sudden voice, finally tore his gaze from the elevator and stumbled towards their apartment.

****

“So you confessed to your team leader and got rejected?”

Do-ha nodded, chugging his beer. Now that Jia knew, there was no point in hiding it.

“Wow. He’s super handsome, an Alpha, and a team leader, so he’s capable. Why did you get rejected?”

“He said he doesn’t date colleagues.”

Do-ha quickly finished his can of beer and reached for another beside him.

“So he doesn’t have a girlfriend, then. And since you’ll never be a full-time employee anyway, that’s not an issue. Seo Do-ha, of all people, with a crush? But what do you even like about your team leader?”

The movie was still playing, but neither Do-ha nor Jia was paying it any mind.

“Because he’s handsome.”

“Hey, you crazy bastard! You face-obsessed idiot! Would you like him even if he smeared crap on his face, just because he’s handsome?”

Do-ha, in the midst of opening his third can of beer, flailed his arms as a sudden, sharp pain struck his back. Jia was known for hitting hard, but he’d never been hit this painfully before.

“Ow! You just said he was super handsome too!”

Do-ha set down his beer can, flailing his hand to reach his back where it still hurt, a frustrated groan escaping him.

“Wait a minute. Then what about that? Your birthday, at the club, that!”

“That was him.”

It wasn’t something he could keep hidden, and Jia’s persistent badgering would eventually lead him to confess, so Do-ha spoke honestly.

“What? Hey, you crazy bastard. Bring him here right now, damn it. That team leader, I was going to give him a pass because he’s good-looking, but he’s a total piece of trash. A hit-and-run? Wow! He takes a virgin and then clams up?”

Do-ha, listening to the torrent of curses erupting from an agitated Jia, merely rolled his large eyes, a satisfied smile playing on his lips as he agreed with every word.

‘Why is she so worked up again, calling him a piece of trash and a hit-and-run?’

All of it seemed true, yet since it ultimately amounted to insulting Tae-jun, Do-ha felt subtly annoyed.

“He lives in the same building, after all. On a floor above us, actually. You stay right here. I’m going down to check the CCTV and see what apartment number he’s in.”

“I don’t remember.”

Jia, naturally hot-blooded and further agitated by the alcohol, shot to her feet. Do-ha, grabbing the hem of her pants to calm her, squeezed his eyes shut and yelled.

“Let go of me. I’m going to kill that trash today, and I’ll… What?”

“The team leader doesn’t know *I* was the one he had a one-night stand with.”

Having spoken the truth, a suffocating feeling welled up in his chest. Do-ha sprang up and rushed into the bathroom. This was the truth.

He had fallen in love at first sight and slept with a stranger, only for that person not to remember him. He wasn’t sure if he’d fallen for him then or how it happened, but he was suffering alone.

And hadn’t he even confessed and been coolly rejected?

He couldn’t tell if it was from the alcohol or the agitation, but seeing his flushed cheeks, reddened eyes, and pathetic face, Do-ha filled the sink with water and plunged his face into it.

‘Why do you even live, Seo Do-ha? Pathetically nursing a crush.’

The problem was, the more he talked about it, the more he thought about it, the more he liked Tae-jun. That was the absolute worst.

****

The alarm he had set rang, but Do-ha buried his face deeper into his pillow.

Tae-jun had explicitly told him he didn’t need to call in the mornings, yet Do-ha still called every day, and every day he heard Tae-jun’s “Yes, I understand.”

It was a detached, business-like tone, neither warm nor cold, but simply hearing his voice was enough to make Do-ha happy.

However, after restraining an agitated Jia last night and listening to her rant about what a terrible person he was, Do-ha couldn’t muster the courage to call him.

“That’s a player, a total player. Damn it, if he’s not dating you, why’s he debone your meat? And why did he take off his jacket for you today? Wow, my heart fluttered too! He’s just toying with you, 100%.”

One minute, two minutes. Do-ha, now fully awake, sighed as he stared at his phone screen.

It was long past 6:30. Soon it would be 7:00.

Do-ha, who had decided that at seven o’clock he would get up, wash, and prepare for work, was about to put down his phone when he froze at the sudden ring.

[Team Leader Kang Tae-jun]

Thinking he might have misread it, he rubbed his eyes and looked again. The name was still clearly displayed. Do-ha swallowed a gulp of saliva.

He had called Tae-jun countless times, but this was the first time Tae-jun had ever called him.

“H-hello?”

While he hesitated in disbelief.

Fearing the call would disconnect, Do-ha answered hastily, his voice coming out a little rough. He paused, then managed to speak properly.

“Are you awake?”

“Ah, yes, yes.”

Unaware of Do-ha’s trembling heart, Tae-jun’s voice was as calm as ever. Do-ha knelt, holding his phone with both hands.

“8 o’clock, basement parking level 2, Section A. Come there.”

“Huh? Where… Why?”

“See you later.”

Do-ha stared at the disconnected call, then slowly uncoiled his stiff body and collapsed face-down onto the bed.

‘I’m going crazy. What should I do?’

“Hey, just forget him entirely. I’ll find you a super handsome, dominant Alpha no matter what, so forget that trash.”

Do-ha sighed softly, watching Jia follow him out of the house, still repeating the same words from last night.

‘If it were that easy, there wouldn’t be a single person suffering from love in this world.’

“Give him this back, and don’t confess to him again. Just treat him like ‘Team Leader-nim,’ okay? Like that. Understand?”

Do-ha, taking the jacket Tae-jun had given him yesterday, simply nodded and left the house. He felt Jia would scold him if he told her he was going down to the basement to meet Tae-jun now.

Hesitating, Do-ha subtly brought the jacket to his nose.

As expected. He buried his face in the unforgettable scent of plum blossoms.

Only after the elevator announced its arrival in the basement did Do-ha straighten his clothes and stand ready.

As the automatic doors opened and Do-ha stepped into basement Section A, his expression subtly hardened at the sight of Tae-jun standing directly in front of him.

There was no need to go far; Tae-jun’s car was right there, and Tae-jun himself stood before the passenger seat.

Do-ha trudged towards him, extending the jacket he held. Once Tae-jun took it, Do-ha turned to leave.

“Where are you going?”

“I have to go to work.”

“Then why are you going that way?”

Do-ha turned back at Tae-jun’s words, biting the inside of his lower lip.

Seeing Tae-jun standing with the passenger door open, Jia’s words came back to him.

‘Confessing is spilled milk now, so don’t cling to him like some pathetic, desperate fool. You need to act cool, like, ‘Oh, really? Understood.’ Got it? No lingering regrets or showing any weakness.’

Casually, as if nothing were amiss. Do-ha walked past Tae-jun and sat in the open passenger seat, watching him settle into the driver’s side.

He wondered when Tae-jun had started the engine, for the interior was warm, and the seat heater radiated comfort.

He truly wanted to know Tae-jun’s feelings. Why was he doing this to him?