Chapter 53: An Invitation for Tea

Seeing the sign that said the first round was free, Euigeon confidently walked in and requested a food ticket instead of a prize.

Unlike Chaewoo, who automatically shrank whenever he lacked money, Euigeon seemed to think nothing of making such a request.

“Are you a couple? My, it reminds me of when I was young.”

They weren’t a couple, but instead of correcting the fact, both remained silent.

The middle-aged man accepted the proposal with a smile.

Saying it wasn’t a loss anyway since the prize was more expensive than the food ticket.

Once the game started, every ball Euigeon threw went into the hoop, just like before.

Just as expected, in less than five minutes, Euigeon managed to win two food tickets after two attempts.

With those, they could buy sweet and sour chicken and drinks.

Chaewoo felt embarrassed when the food was placed solely in his hands.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“It’s bearable.”

“…I’ll enjoy it.”

The two sat on a bench slightly away from the performance venue.

Beom Euigeon today felt exceptionally unfamiliar, to the point where he wondered if he had always been this kind of guy.

No, rather than him being unfamiliar, perhaps it was just because the location and the situation made him feel that way.

Chaewoo put his drink down on the bench, hiding his awkwardness, and ate the sweet and sour chicken piece by piece.

Perhaps because it had been obtained without spending a single penny, he felt a bit regretful as each piece disappeared.

At some point, sensing a steady gaze fixed on him, Chaewoo looked at Euigeon awkwardly.

“Want to try some?”

“Is it good?”

“Yeah.”

Euigeon shook his head, saying he was fine.

The two sat side-by-side like that without talking for a few more minutes.

They watched the people passing by, and when fireworks went off, they looked up at the sky briefly to stare at the colorful lights.

Watching Euigeon kill time by humming softly while eating, he felt that for this moment at least, they seemed like an ordinary senior and junior rather than partners tied by a contract.

It was strange.

To be left completely alone with Euigeon in a place so far from school.

Especially at a noisy festival like this.

Every situation before his eyes gave him a sense of detachment from reality.

‘Did the professor go back to Seoul?’

‘Did Kim Yunso and Jeong Taehyun arrive safely?’

‘Is my uncle too busy working until this hour to reply?’

Even in this unrealistic moment, various stray thoughts tangled with reality drifted endlessly through his mind.

“It sounds nice.”

At the low, sudden voice, Chaewoo looked at Euigeon.

“The performance.”

“Ah.”

From the distant concert stage, the guitar playing and gentle singing of an unnamed singer could be heard.

Chaewoo dismissed his many rising thoughts and closed his eyes to focus on the sounds around them.

“It’s not that great.”

Regrettably, the song was not to Chaewoo’s taste.

Chaewoo, opening his eyes immediately, ate the remaining chicken with an expressionless face.

Popular music was best when bright and fast, but this was too bland.

It was also a problem that the voice didn’t carry well because of the distance.

“The song from the basketball game machine was actually better.”

Euigeon, whose artistic sensibilities had been severely violated, stiffened his face.

“Why make a comparison like that? Your ears are seriously lacking.”

“Who listens to this kind of song at a festival? You can just listen to it alone at home.”

“Don’t you know anything about sensibility and mood?”

“Now that I look at you, you really like lyrical things.”

“No wonder your song selection for the competition was weird.”

Chaewoo felt stung by that.

Since he had already received harsh criticism from the professor, he took a bit of a hit this time.

‘Let’s change the subject.’

“그건 그렇고 너 대체 뭐가 달라졌다는 거야.”

“Hmm.”

“Are you not going to tell me until the very end?”

“I guess you are curious.”

Chaewoo narrowed his eyes and scrutinized Euigeon thoroughly.

As if enjoying his gaze, Euigeon leaned his head forward so Chaewoo could observe him in more detail.

Since it had come to this, Chaewoo decided to examine him part by part to find what had changed.

His hairstyle was the same, his neat forehead slightly protruding, his moderately thick and clean eyebrows, the sharp bridge of his nose in between, his firm jaw, and his neatly closed lips….

“Did you get a mole removed by any chance?”

For an Alpha, his face was clean without a single blemish or mole, which caught his attention.

Strictly speaking, that was closer to a dermatological procedure than a natural change.

‘Did he get intensive care at a dermatology clinic?’

“No, I didn’t.”

Euigeon denied it firmly.

‘Getting so serious.’

“Can an Omega be this dense? Especially a dominant one.”

Since disappointment was clear on his face, Chaewoo suffered from an unknown sense of guilt.

Was it really that important?

Did he absolutely have to notice?

“What does you being slightly different have to do with me being an Omega?”

“It does matter, that’s why I’m bringing it up.”

“Ah, what is it then? Can’t you just tell me?”

“Well…”

Euigeon tilted his head as if contemplating.

By this point, Chaewoo was also annoyed.

“Forget it, don’t tell me. Just don’t say a word. I’d rather not guess at all. You’ve been acting weird since yesterday anyway…”

Something soft touched his lips without warning.

Chaewoo, who was in the middle of speaking, froze with his mouth open.

Following that, the Alpha’s pheromones settled low around him like a mist, and Euigeon’s face drew close right in front of him.

He became aware of those things one by one.

“Hey, mph… You.”

Chaewoo opened his eyes wide and looked at Euigeon.

Closing his eyes as he began the kiss, he touched his tongue very softly and carefully, unlike on the road earlier.

Chaewoo couldn’t think of pushing him away, swept along by the atmosphere as he accepted Euigeon.

It was merely lips meeting and tangling, but his fingertips tingled.

It was ticklish and frustratingly suffocating somewhere….

The people passing nearby occasionally glanced at Euigeon and Chaewoo kissing, but that was all.

No one here treated the two as peculiar.

The two were simply an ordinary Alpha and Omega participating in a festival.

The occasional passing glances were burdensome at first, but leaning into the brief anonymity granted to them, Chaewoo soon focused deeply on Euigeon.

A slow kiss continued for several minutes.

Euigeon gave him plenty of time to breathe, sweeping every corner of his mouth with his tongue and breathing into him.

When the kiss ended and their lips parted, his mind was dazed.

Somehow, he even felt a lingering regret.

Chaewoo carefully touched his lips.

He tasted sweetness in a kiss for the first time.

Was it due to Euigeon’s pheromones?

Staring at Euigeon’s face as he pulled back slowly blinking his eyes, the man smirked.

“Do you still not know what changed?”

“…….”

A low whisper.

Only then did Chaewoo realize.

“You’re in rut.”

An answer like a monologue popped out.

But he was confused.

The Alpha’s rut that Chaewoo knew of felt closer to a beastly state.

Since it was a mating season, it was only natural, and the recessive Alphas he had occasionally seen from afar who suddenly went into rut couldn’t restrain their surging excitement.

They had only looked like objects of avoidance to stay far away from.

…Not something so ticklish and soft like this.

‘So a dominant Alpha’s rut could be like this.’

Chaewoo observed Euigeon blankly.

The lingering, ticklish feelings that made his eyes wander toward him and made him want to touch him for no reason when close.

Thinking about it, it was natural.

If Chaewoo could control his heat cycle as a dominant type, then a dominant Alpha could easily control his pheromones during a rut as well.

“I thought you wouldn’t be able to guess until the end.”

Euigeon leaned over and bit Chaewoo’s ear.

“Ah!”

“Good job.”

“What do you mean… good job? You could have just told me in words from the start.”

“If you’re finished eating, stand up. We should go back to Seoul.”

Euigeon rose from the bench and walked toward the parking lot.

Chaewoo, who had been holding his bitten ear with a baffled face for a few seconds, scrambled to pack the trash and followed behind Euigeon.

Even though it wasn’t bitten hard, his ear somehow continued to tingle.

The inside of the car heading to Seoul was quiet.

Without a single word of conversation passing between them, only the sound of music drifted gently and slowly between the two.

Since the day had been so long, he was exhausted, and from the moment he learned Euigeon was in rut, Chaewoo was even more on edge, making it difficult to open his mouth.

He wanted to ask Euigeon, who was only driving without any expression, ‘Where are we going?’

Although the studio address he had entered last time would still be on the navigation, it was uncertain whether Euigeon would actually drop him off safely in front of his studio.

Glancing at the driver’s seat, he turned his head toward the window again.

Staring at the lights scattered and active in the city and his own reflection faintly showing on the car window, Chaewoo widened his eyes a while later as he discovered a familiar alley.

It was the path leading to his studio apartment.

“This is it, right?”

Euigeon asked, stopping the car in a somewhat spacious area at the end of the narrow alley.

“Where Senior Seol lives on his own.”

“Yeah.”

He was dazed since he hadn’t expected to be dropped off right in front of his studio.

He had many thoughts in the few seconds spent packing his belongings before getting out.

‘Should I tell him to come inside briefly for some tea out of politeness?’

If he had to pick the person who suffered the most since morning among the four of them, it was undoubtedly Euigeon.

If it hadn’t been for his rut, he might have invited him to his room immediately without hesitation.

Yes, that was exactly what held him back.

Inviting an Alpha in the late night was already a cautious matter, and of all Alphas, he was in rut.

Even though he was meticulously hiding the characteristic Alpha pheromones emitted during a rut, a rut was still a rut.

During the s*x education class he had taken in middle school, the teacher had emphasized that Alphas in rut lose their reason, so you must avoid them at all costs.

But Beom Euigeon looked perfectly fine.

‘…Should I just pretend not to know, say thank you, and get out?’

Chaewoo struggled while gripping his seatbelt tightly.

There were far too many points of concern to act shamelessly.

It was Euigeon who had waited for him in Cheongju until his lesson ended, and driving him all the way here afterward was also by no means an easy task.

Had he even been served tea at Euigeon’s studio apartment last time?

“Aren’t you getting out?”

Seeing Chaewoo frozen for a few seconds, Euigeon asked as if nudging him.

Only then did Chaewoo unbuckle his seatbelt and roll his eyes awkwardly.

“Beom Euigeon.”

Euigeon tilted his head as if asking what was wrong.

“Do you want to come inside… and have some tea before you go?”

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