“Haah… haah….”

Hyunjin exhaled roughly.

His trembling pupils cautiously scanned his surroundings.

The dim room was a very familiar sight.

It was exactly the same as the place in the dream he just had.

But now, Hyunwoo was nowhere to be seen.

“Was it… a dream?”

Hyunjin muttered quietly, his eyes still unable to find stability.

Rough breaths kept spilling out of his mouth.

As he sat blankly, an uncomfortable feeling made him glance down.

“…….”

As expected, it was damp below.

He wasn’t some hormonal middle-schooler, yet he had a wet dream.

And the person in that dream was his own older brother.

Hyunjin bit his lip hard enough to draw blood.

“Crazy bastard….”

He muttered in a voice stained with self-loathing.

The feelings he had tried so desperately to hide had overflowed all at once, impossible to contain.

Hyunjin buried his face in his palms and let out a long breath.

“Haah….”

How was he supposed to look Hyunwoo in the eye now?

Every time he saw him, he would remember the dream.

Worse, he had a bad feeling that he might dream about him again.

‘Hyung… will only ever see me as a younger brother.’

Even after they learned they weren’t actually related by blood, Hyunwoo insisted that he would still think of Hyunjin as his real little brother.

At the time, those words made him happy.

But now, they only hurt.

No matter what he did, he would never be anything more.

If Hyunwoo ever learned how he felt, he might not even be allowed to stay beside him as a brother.

The cold gaze Hyunwoo once had toward him flashed through Hyunjin’s mind.

He wouldn’t survive being hated again.

“No… I don’t want that… I just want to stay by his side….”

Hyunjin whispered with tears brimming in his eyes.

Maybe because of his past wounds, being hated by Hyunwoo was more painful than anything else.

And Hyunwoo currently liked someone else.

The moment he imagined Seunghyuk’s irritated face, his chest tightened even more.

He never planned to confess his feelings, but just watching Hyunwoo like someone who wasn’t him made his heart feel like it was being torn apart.

Lying face-down on his bed, Hyunjin cried alone through the night, holding onto a heart no one else could ever know.

But regardless of Hyunjin’s feelings, the world around them continued to move forward.

Especially Hyunwoo and Seunghyuk — their relationship only seemed to deepen.

Even if it was a one-sided pursuit, Hyunwoo was someone who could do anything once he set his mind to it.

Hyunjin knew that better than anyone.

Seunghyuk grew more irritable by the day, and eventually stopped asking Hyunjin to stop Hyunwoo.

He looked miserable, yet Hyunjin could only envy him for receiving Hyunwoo’s attention.

He, himself, would have been happy.

He would have gladly accepted Hyunwoo’s affection, would never have rejected it.

He hated and envied Seunghyuk for despising the love Hyunjin couldn’t even receive in his dreams.

“Haah….”

While working at the café, Hyunjin let out a deep sigh.

Because the café was located near Munseong headquarters, it became quieter around the time office workers got off work.

After the rush passed and he could finally breathe, Hyunjin wiped the sweat off his forehead.

Ding-ling.

“Welcome— huh?”

Hyunjin turned automatically at the sound of the door opening.

His eyes widened when he saw who entered.

“Hyung… and Lee Seunghyuk?”

“Hey.”

“…….”

Hyunwoo and Seunghyuk stepped into the café.

Hyunjin, startled, forced a smile.

“I’m going to talk with Seunghyuk in the back. Bring us two iced americanos.”

“Ah, yeah. Okay, hyung.”

Hyunjin nodded and hurried to the counter.

Even as he made the coffee, all of his attention was on the two of them.

Why meet at this hour?

And why at the café where he worked?

Hyunwoo never met Seunghyuk anywhere near Hyunjin — probably because he found it awkward for his younger brother to see.

Hyunjin strained his ears, trying to hear their conversation.

“So about what I said before… just forget it.”

“…What?”

“I’ve been… sorry. I won’t… bother you anymore.”

But their table was too far from the counter, so it was hard to hear.

Even though there were barely any customers, their voices still didn’t reach clearly.

Growing anxious, Hyunjin brought them the coffee but couldn’t stay still afterward.

While pacing around the counter, he noticed Seunghyuk walking out of the café.

“Um, hyung… are you okay?”

“Ah.”

Hyunjin approached Hyunwoo.

Hyunwoo looked strangely tired as he turned toward him, though he managed a smile.

“I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

“…Really?”

“Yeah.”

“…….”

Hyunwoo simply shook his head.

It looked like they had been discussing something serious.

Feeling down, Hyunjin followed when Hyunwoo offered to drive him home.

Once inside the car, Hyunjin clenched his seatbelt tightly.

“Hey, hyung….”

“Yeah?”

“Are you and Lee Seunghyuk… going to get married?”

“……!”

Hyunjin finally couldn’t hold back the question.

He hadn’t heard the whole conversation, but he had heard the word “proposal.”

Hyunwoo’s eyes widened in surprise.

Then he gave a bitter smile and shook his head.

“…Don’t worry. I’m not going to marry Seunghyuk.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“…….”

That wasn’t the answer Hyunjin expected.

He thought for sure Hyunwoo would say yes.

But in an instant, Hyunwoo seemed to have lost interest in Seunghyuk altogether — as if something inside him had changed.

Hyunjin stared at him.

When he was younger, Hyunwoo’s mood would swing dramatically multiple times a day, and he often grew bored of things quickly.

The Hyunwoo he reunited with acted gentle and mature, but no one fully escapes their nature.

Hyunjin silently felt relieved.

Hyunwoo’s feelings toward Seunghyuk must not have been that deep.

That night, Hyunjin finally slept peacefully for the first time in a while.

“If you don’t want Hyunwoo hyung to find out how you feel, you’d better keep quiet.”

“……!”

Seunghyuk’s threat made Hyunjin tremble.

Despite Hyunjin’s hopes, Hyunwoo and Seunghyuk did not drift apart.

In fact, after the stalker incident, Seunghyuk practically moved into the house Hyunwoo shared with Hyunjin.

He was openly clinging to him.

Not long ago, Hyunwoo used to do that — now Seunghyuk was the one refusing to leave him alone.

The only comfort was that, like before, Hyunwoo seemed to avoid him.

But the real problem was that Seunghyuk somehow knew his feelings.

How?

Hyunjin had told no one.

He never showed it.

Hyunjin suffered alone.

His mind was already a mess, and now that Seunghyuk had fallen for Hyunwoo too — and openly showed it — Hyunjin felt a fierce jealousy he’d never experienced.

His own feelings for Hyunwoo grew even stronger in response.

At this rate, he felt like he might explode and confess everything.

Even when Hyunwoo discovered that Hyunjin wanted to leave Chairman Joo’s family registry and live independently, Hyunjin almost let everything spill.

“You’re seriously saying that right now?”

“…….”

Hyunwoo had been furious.

Because he saw Hyunjin only as “family,” he felt deeply betrayed.

And still, Hyunjin had no idea how to stop loving him.

If he stayed by his side long enough… someday… maybe someday…

Clinging to that hopeless dream, he stayed.

Then one day, after Seunghyuk finally moved out—

“The patient is currently pregnant.”

“…What?”

Hyunjin widened his eyes.

He had rushed to the hospital after hearing that Hyunwoo collapsed at work.

As his guardian, he listened to the doctor explain his condition.

Pregnant? Pregnant?

Who?

Hyunwoo?

His brother?

Confused, Hyunjin asked again.

“Pregnant? My hyung?”

“Yes, and to stabilize the patient, we’ll need the pheromones of the alpha who impregnated him.”

“Alpha’s pheromones….”

Hyunjin immediately thought of Seunghyuk.

Incredibly, Hyunwoo — an alpha — was pregnant and had even shifted to omega physiology.

The culprit was obvious.

Hyunjin clenched his teeth.

“But… we can’t contact him right now.”

“Hm… that’s troublesome. For now, we’ll keep monitoring him.”

“Yes….”

Hyunjin nodded weakly and returned to Hyunwoo’s room.

There, he heard a faint groan from the hospital bed.

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