Left in the Rain: Betrayed by Love and Friendship

Haeyoon fiddled with the empty bottle alone for a moment, then slowly stood up.
Having drunk without any snacks, there was nothing to clear away except the bottle and the small paper cup.
As he stepped out from under the parasol that had been shielding the table, raindrops began soaking his whole body.
Haeyoon didn’t even think about buying an umbrella and just started walking down the rainy street.

His phone kept buzzing in his pocket.
He had been ignoring all the calls since earlier, but the caller didn’t know how to give up.
He didn’t need to look to know who it was.
Sumin, Sua, and Woojin were taking turns calling him out of worry.
They were good friends.
Almost too good for someone like him.

The rain grew heavier.
He had entered the first convenience store he saw, so it was quite a distance to get home.
Haeyoon didn’t care.

As he walked the wettening path, Haeyoon just thought.
What kind of friend had Ahn Seonwoo been?
Was he a good friend?
He once thought so, but now he wasn’t sure.

He thought he knew Seonwoo better than anyone, but now it seemed Haeyoon hadn’t known Ahn Seonwoo at all.

‘If you had really been that important to me, things wouldn’t have come this far.’

What happened between them wasn’t a mistake.
It was clearly deliberate, intentional.
But if it wasn’t a mistake, when did they start feeling that way?

Haeyoon met Jaeyeol when he was 17.
And during the eight years he was with Jaeyeol, Seonwoo was also always by his side.
If he had wanted to steal Jaeyeol, there would have been countless opportunities before.

So why now, so cruelly?
Why go this far?

The rain had now turned into a downpour.
People passing by under umbrellas glanced at Haeyoon, drenched to the bone.
As if there had been a weather forecast, Haeyoon was the only one getting soaked in the pouring rain.

Once, a high school friend had warned Haeyoon.
‘Haeyoon-ah, don’t trust Ahn Seonwoo too much.’
Back then, Haeyoon felt uncomfortable, as if he had wronged Seonwoo just by hearing that.
And he never spoke alone with that friend who gave the warning again.

Was that when it really started?
At the moment distant thunder rumbled, a bolt of realization struck him.
Should he have listened more carefully to that warning back then?
Was it because he ignored it, because he chose to trust Ahn Seonwoo, that Seo Haeyoon was now miserably standing alone in the rain?

His vision spun.
Whether it was from downing a bottle of liquor he couldn’t handle on an empty stomach, or from the cold rain, his body began to burn with fever.

‘You should have done better.’

Seonwoo’s words circled in his ear like tinnitus.

‘I should have done better.’
‘I should have known better.’
‘I shouldn’t have trusted blindly.’
‘I shouldn’t have trusted and relied on Oh Jaeyeol and Ahn Seonwoo like that.’
If he had, he might not have had to feel such wretched, terrible despair, such pain as if tens of thousands of sharp needles were piercing his chest and tearing apart all his blood vessels.

A regret and self-loathing he had never felt in his life swept over him.
And he was angry.
All he had done was his best for his lover and friend, so why was he the only one who had to feel this humiliation?

“Huh, huff….”
Even though he hadn’t been running, he was out of breath, unable to breathe properly.
Stopping in his tracks, Haeyoon clutched his chest with one hand, panting, and soon slumped to the ground.

‘I like you. I want you to smile because of me, Haeyoon-ah.’
‘Thanks, Haeyoon-ah. There’s no other friend like you, really. You’ll really be my friend forever, right?’
Words that were once happiness now mercilessly tore at Haeyoon’s heart.

“Hey, are you okay?!”
He sensed commotion around him, but everything in front of him was dark.
When had he closed his eyes? His thoughts wouldn’t connect properly.
At the end of the wretched, despairing, painful sensations, Haeyoon finally lost consciousness.

*  *  *  *

“You seem to be in a good mood today?”
Seonwoo, who was changing clothes after coming home from dinner with Jaeyeol, turned around at the question and smiled at Jaeyeol, who was hugging him from behind and asking.

“Huh? Did I?”
“Yeah. You were humming.”
“Was I?”
“I told you, I was. So, any good news?”
As he said that, Jaeyeol buried his nose in the nape of Seonwoo’s neck and took a deep breath.
Seonwoo laughed and subtly released a wave of pheromones.
It was about time to get used to it, but Jaeyeol still lost his composure at Seonwoo’s scent.
Well, having been born an Alpha and only dated Betas his whole life, the new world he encountered later in life must be dazzling.

‘Good news? Every day is good news.’
“Really?”
“Yeah. Hyung is by my side, and soon we’ll be getting married…”
And I gave Seo Haeyoon a wedding invitation today.
That was the real reason Seonwoo was in such a good mood today.

What on earth had Seo Haeyoon been expecting when he came to that meeting?
Could it be that he thought Seonwoo would get down on his knees and apologize now?
He really was a pitiful and laughable guy.
To still not know Ahn Seonwoo even after being treated like that.
Can’t be helped. That’s what you get for being so stupid and pathetic.

‘You should have done better.’
‘It’s your fault for not being able to hold onto his heart even after dating him for so long… Why are you blaming me?’
They were words said to make Haeyoon even more miserable, but they were also honest feelings.
His foolishness in blindly trusting his lover and friend, his pathetic belief that a Beta could satisfy an Alpha to the end—that’s what led Seo Haeyoon to this wretched state.
And yet, acting as if all his misfortune stemmed from Ahn Seonwoo, wouldn’t that be a little unfair from this side too?

Meanwhile, Jaeyeol kept pressing his lips against the nape of his neck and even bit him.
Seonwoo, giggling flirtatiously and saying it tickled, soon turned around to face Jaeyeol, wrapped his arms around his neck, and spoke.

“It’s true. I’m really happy lately, thanks to you, hyung.”
At the word ‘hyung,’ Jaeyeol’s pupils deepened.
They had already graduated, but Seonwoo still occasionally called Jaeyeol ‘hyung.’
He remembered the time Jaeyeol made a sort-of confession, saying he felt a bit strange every time Seonwoo called him that.

In truth, the title didn’t matter.
It was just a pitiful excuse Jaeyeol made up for his own heart, which kept being drawn to Seonwoo.
The two had enjoyed a long, ambiguous tug-of-war behind Haeyoon’s back like that.

Staring into Seonwoo’s eyes, which were already beginning to heat up, Jaeyeol lowered his head, pressed a soft kiss on his lips, and whispered.

“Me too. I’ve never been as happy as I am these days, Seonwoo-yah.”
The moment he heard that, Seonwoo felt his heart swell with an indescribable fullness.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t because of Jaeyeol’s earnest confession.
Seonwoo was now intoxicated not with excitement, but with a sense of victory.
The joy of having defeated the devotion of Seo Haeyoon, who dated Oh Jaeyeol for eight years, who had Jaeyeol’s first love and gave him his own—that was the source of the pleasure Seonwoo felt now.

“Me too… me too. I never thought such a happy day would come for me.”
At the same time, Seonwoo released the pheromones he had been subtly controlling in a sudden, explosive burst.

Jaeyeol’s pheromones, erupting in response, satisfied Seonwoo even more.
Jaeyeol, crumbling under a stimulation Seo Haeyoon could never have given, was Seonwoo’s unfailing pleasure.

“W-wait… I haven’t showered yet, ah…!”
Jaeyeol picked Seonwoo up and pushed him against the wall.
Jaeyeol’s lower half, already hard, settled naturally between Seonwoo’s parted legs.
Ahn Seonwoo could excite Oh Jaeyeol like this with scent alone.

“Seonwoo-yah, I love you….”
A confession like a moan flowed into Seonwoo’s ear, carrying a hot passion.

The long and tedious relationship was now completely over.
Seonwoo would use Seo Haeyoon’s blood and tears as a stepping stone to advance toward a happier tomorrow.

“…I love you too, hyung.”
Nothing could stop Ahn Seonwoo’s happiness now.

* * * *

“Ugh…”
“Haeyoon-ah! Hey, are you coming to?!”

As he struggled to lift his heavy eyelids, a familiar voice sounded along with a frantic grip on his shoulders.
What was I doing? Groping for elusive memories, he opened his eyes to see familiar faces gradually coming into focus.

“What are you guys doing here?”
Haeyoon asked blankly.
Sumin’s face immediately scrunched up in frustration.

“Is that what you’re supposed to say right now? Do you even know where you are?”
“Ah….”
Only then did Haeyoon blink and look around.
He saw an IV needle in his arm and an unfamiliar ceiling.

“It’s a hospital.”
Sumin clicked her tongue as if she’d expected this, seeing Haeyoon mutter nonchalantly without a hint of surprise.

“You collapsed on the street and were brought to the hospital. You weren’t answering your calls, what were you doing alone?”
Woojin said, gently smoothing Haeyoon’s hair.
Following the words Woojin uttered, Haeyoon slowly pieced together his memories.
Not answering calls, alone, what was he doing on the street?
Ah, I went to meet Ahn Seonwoo.

The terrible memory surfaced without much difficulty.
His heart responded immediately, throbbing with pain.

“You know.”
Haeyoon opened his mouth in a low voice.
The three of them listened to Haeyoon’s words with serious expressions.