Chapter 37: A Feeling He Couldn’t Ignore

“Sorry, the announcement was too loud so I couldn’t hear you well.”

As Shin Joowon adjusted his posture to sit upright and turned his gaze toward the announcer’s platform, Seo Eun-seok bit his lip.

However, soon spotting his father, Chairman Seo, Eun-seok smiled brightly and raised his hand.

Chairman Seo approached the table where Shin Joowon was, but because the announcer’s comment that the wedding would begin shortly continued to echo through the hall, he only exchanged light greetings with Choi Hwa-yeon and took a seat next to Seo Eun-seok.

Shin Joowon also offered him a polite nod.

By the time the noisy atmosphere inside the hall was gradually settling, Shin Joowon turned around and looked at the wedding arch.

To someone, it might look pretty and beautiful, but to Shin Joowon, it was an ornament of meaningless significance.

It was merely a formality anyway, and once the moments of entrance and march passed, it was something no one would look at ever again; he wondered if it was really necessary to put so much effort into it.

“Joowon, your free time…….”

“Looks like the ceremony is starting soon.”

Seo Eun-seok, who wanted to draw Shin Joowon’s gaze back, spoke to him once more.

However, Shin Joowon smiled brightly again, cutting off Seo Eun-seok’s words, and gestured with his eyes toward the wedding altar.

Every time Seo Eun-seok moved, a fishy smell was felt, making Joowon’s mood foul.

As expected, Omega pheromones were revolting.

Particularly, the pheromones of Dominant Omegas, which were unique and carried strong individual characteristics, without exception made his stomach churn and his mood unpleasant.

The pheromones with the fishy watery scent were like that, the ones with the excessively bitter scent were like that, and the ones that smelled like some nameless, pungent spice were also like that.

There had been no Dominant Omega who had ever made Shin Joowon waver in a positive way.

Shin Joowon, subtly widening the distance between himself and Seo Eun-seok, slightly loosened his tie, which had been tightly constricting his neck, and took a light breath.

When he closed his eyes deeply and opened them, he saw a floral arrangement similar to a boutonniere sitting on the napkin placed on his plate.

He didn’t know what kind of flower it was, but for some reason, it was a pure white flower that brought Jin Yooha to mind.

Shin Joowon, who had been merely staring at the floral arrangement in silence, carefully picked it up and smelled it.

The fragrance wasn’t particularly bad, but it didn’t quite please him either.

He felt Jin Yooha’s pheromones had smelled much better than this….

Feeling disappointed, he brought the flower under his nose once more and took a deep breath.

However, as if betraying Shin Joowon’s expectations, only a flower scent inferior to Jin Yooha’s pheromones filled his lungs.

Shin Joowon, thinking he had done something pointless, placed the flower back on the napkin.

“Did you like flowers?”

“Well… it hasn’t been long.”

He had never liked flowers and still held no great interest in them, but if it were a flower that resembled Jin Yooha’s pheromones, he wanted to savor its scent at least once.

Shin Joowon, who answered Seo Eun-seok’s interest-laced question vaguely, turned his gaze to the flowers placed in the middle of the table, lost in thought.

‘Does that flower smell similar to Jin Yooha’s pheromones?’

He suddenly became curious, but because it wasn’t placed in front of him, he couldn’t check.

In the meantime, the interior lights changed, and the ceremony began.

While the mothers of the couple made their entrance first, Shin Joowon reached into his suit jacket pocket, playing with his phone.

Seeing the white flower that seemed like it would smell of Jin Yooha’s pheromones, the flower that reminded him of Jin Yooha, made him want to see the real Jin Yooha.

Since he was a person who had to do immediately what he wanted to do, and hesitated even less when it came to his own amusement, it was a natural sequence of events that Shin Joowon decided to contact Yooha.

While clapping mindlessly along with the people, he subtly took out his phone around the time of the candle lighting.

[Yooha, what are you doing after tutoring today? Do you have plans? ^^]

Recalling the day they had gone to Baekonjeong together, it seemed Yooha finished around four o’clock, but because he didn’t know exactly when, he asked.

Shin Joowon placed his phone on his thigh for a moment and clapped along with the people, waiting for a reply.

Around the time the groom made his entrance, the phone vibrated shortly once.

[Jin Yooha: I promised to have dinner with my brother. He said he wants to eat chicken.]

As always, today’s message was a dry text without a single emoticon, but Shin Joowon no longer thought of this as a concept.

Shin Joowon, suppressing a laugh that threatened to leak out, took in their previous conversation once more.

Just how flustered must Jin Yooha have been when he realized he had made a typo like “the 23rd floor”?

Although he hadn’t seen it firsthand, he could imagine it.

He would have bitten his lower lip tightly while letting his eyes dart around.

Maybe his ears had turned red, or his cheeks had flushed.

As the image of Yooha was clearly painted before his eyes, he felt a slight regret for not having seen that flustered appearance himself.

Scrolling to the very bottom to check Yooha’s reply again, Shin Joowon was lost in thought for a moment.

To think that merely having dinner with his cousin counted as a plan; a question about Jin Yooha’s social circle naturally came to his mind.

Jin Yooha, who only repeated the routine of school and home, and rushed back home as soon as tutoring ended even on weekends, seemed to have nothing left in his life if family was excluded.

‘Though that’s why he can always accept without a word even when I arrange plans on my own.’

[What time does tutoring end?]

[Jin Yooha: It ends at four o’clock.]

[Then we can hang out for two or three hours before dinner ^^ Let’s hang out.]

[I’ll drop you off so you can arrive home around seven, is that okay? ^^]

Shin Joowon held a conviction that Yooha would never be able to reject his proposal.

If it was Jin Yooha, who had been at a loss at a single touch from him yet couldn’t resist and had released his pheromones.

[Jin Yooha: Where should I go?]

As expected, a reply closer to acceptance than rejection came back.

Shin Joowon couldn’t hide his satisfied smile.

[I’ll pick you up at the time ^^ Just tell me where the tutoring is.]

[It’s not troublesome at all and I love driving, so don’t decline ^^]

If it was Jin Yooha, who excessively thought of other people’s safety and comfort first, there was a high possibility that he would take a step back, saying there was no need to pick him up.

Shin Joowon, having set the stage in advance so Yooha absolutely couldn’t reject, waited for the reply with a highly excited mind.

Soon, the number next to his message disappeared.

[Jin Yooha: It’s Gyoyeon-dong Greenview Apartment, Building 301.]

[Okay ^^ I’ll be there on time. See you later ㅎㅎ]

[Jin Yooha: Yes, thank you.]

Only then, with a relieved mind, did Shin Joowon tuck his phone into his jacket pocket and look away.

Before he knew it, the groom and bride standing before the wedding altar were reading their marriage vows, promising eternal love.

Although it was merely a boring time for Shin Joowon, he took in the couple, who looked happier than anyone else in the world, for a moment, and clapped heartily as soon as the reading ended.

Filled with the amusement and excitement that had just found him.

****

“Teacher, goodbye!”

Yooha, who smiled at Jungbin as he brightly waved his hand, offered a polite greeting to Jungbin’s mother as well before leaving the house.

As soon as the door closed, he quickly pressed the elevator button and checked his phone, which he had turned to silent during the tutoring.

It was because of the thought that Shin Joowon, who said he would pick him up on time, might have contacted him.

Sure enough, there was a message that had arrived about five minutes ago.

[Shin Joowon: I’ve arrived. Come down slowly ^^]

To soothe his heart, which was racing at a single message, Yooha consciously took several deep breaths.

His hand, pressing the first-floor button as he boarded the elevator, was trembling weakly; Yooha found his own inability to find composure unfamiliar.

However, Yooha knew very well why he was acting like this.

Because if he went down to the first floor, if he stepped outside, he would be able to see Shin Joowon, who would be waiting for him.

It was his first time seeing Shin Joowon since the day they had met at the library.

Although only two days had passed, perhaps because he hadn’t seen him at all yesterday, his heart was so excited it felt as if it would burst.

“Haa…….”

Yooha was helpless against the overwhelming emotion that had thoroughly drenched his entire body for the first time in his life.

Even when his heart had trembled at Joowon’s kindness, he hadn’t been able to easily calm it down, but now that he had found out the reason, calming it down was even more difficult.

Yooha knew.

No matter how much it was an emotion he harbored alone, a person’s heart was so cunning that it would find meaning in every single minor thing, and the selfish desire to interpret the other person’s actions to his own liking would grow.

He had to cut off his heart before it harbored useless expectations.

Before he thought that Shin Joowon’s touch carried affection for him.

Before he believed that the reason he contacted him first every time was because a deeper emotion, not simple favor, was melted inside.

Only then would he be able to brush it off as if nothing had happened, no matter what occurred in the future.

Although it wasn’t a light emotion that would fade in an instant, he had to suppress it tightly so that at least Shin Joowon would never notice.

Yooha tightly clenched his fists to steady his mind once more, and before getting out of the elevator, he looked in the mirror and patted his cheeks hard enough to hurt.

As a stinging pain spread, his eyes snapped open and his reason seemed to return.

The moment he stepped out of the apartment entrance, what caught his eye was Shin Joowon’s white car.

Seeing the white car, which he had never seen at school, every time they met outside of school made him feel a little strange.

Yooha adjusted his bag strap and quickened his steps toward his car.

“Get in quickly.”

As he approached, the passenger window rolled down, revealing Shin Joowon’s face peeking out.

Yooha bowed his head and got into the car, only to freeze and stiffen his body immediately.

“Is it a bit unfamiliar?”

Shin Joowon, who looked completely different from when they met at school, was sitting in the driver’s seat.

He was dressed in perfect formality, wearing a white shirt, a navy suit, and a neatly tied, non-flashy tie.

His hair, which was usually swept back softly by his hand, was also styled today to expose half of his forehead, making him look far more dignified than usual.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

The Villain Caught Between Two Magical Girls

DramaFantasy

Read Now →
Not interested