Should I Watch—or Step In?

Contacting Jeongha last night was a highly impulsive act.
He was clearly affected by the nightmare.
Being mentally and physically exhausted from the rushed wedding preparations also played a part.

Even though he himself was the one rushing the marriage, he felt a suffocating sense of digging his own grave.
With a tangled mess of longing, defiance, lingering attachment, and despair, Seonwoo contacted Baek Jeongha.

If the person by his side now were Jeongha, not Jaeyeol, he probably wouldn’t be feeling this turmoil before marriage.
If only Baek Jeongha were by his side, he wouldn’t have even glanced at the man Seo Haeyoon had.

However, he hadn’t truly expected a reply from Jeongha.
He had sent countless heart-wrenching messages to Jeongha over time, but he had never once received a reply.
He expected this time to be the same.
That’s why he had sent the message, resigning himself to giving up.

But then.
But after sending the message, giving up on hope…

“Hey, Ahn Seonwoo. What’s really wrong with you?”
At that moment, Jaeyeol’s lowered voice reached his ears.
Realizing his mistake, Seonwoo hurriedly pushed his phone aside, put on a sullen expression, and approached Jaeyeol, slipping into his embrace.

“…Sorry, hyung. It’s not that, it’s just… I think I’ve been stressed from the wedding prep without realizing it. All the calls and preparations here and there are overwhelming…”
“Ah… I see. Yeah, that makes sense. It must be tough doing it in a rush.”
Jaeyeol agreed readily.
Though flustered by Seonwoo’s sharp reaction, upon hearing the explanation, it was understandable.
Literally, they had set the wedding date in a hurry, so there were many things to prepare and handle quickly.
Moreover, with the time to send out invitations approaching, he understood Seonwoo becoming sensitive.

Jaeyeol was the same, but most people Seonwoo needed to send invitations to were also people who knew Seo Haeyoon.
Thus, they were inevitably people who knew the messy history between the three of them.
No matter how much he had braced himself from the start, being human, it couldn’t be without any impact.

Jaeyeol hugged Seonwoo, gently patting his back, and subtly released pheromones to calm him.
He could feel Seonwoo relaxing and letting go of his tension.
A faint smile touched Jaeyeol’s lips.
This was good.
As an Alpha, the satisfaction of being able to excite and calm his lover with pheromones was fulfilling.
It was a satisfaction he had never felt during his long relationship with Haeyoon, a Beta.

…Seo Haeyoon.

But the moment Haeyoon’s name surfaced, beyond the satisfaction of finding an Omega perfectly suited for him, an inexplicably bitter sensation pricked at his heart.

There were moments when the good things began to feel boring one by one.
The mostly unchanging expressions, the monotonous, unremarkable displays of affection.
There was a time when he definitely liked that, but it began to feel tedious.

Then, dislikes emerged.
Not being able to sense any scent even in bed, the fact that he couldn’t perceive his pheromones, not being able to have a child that other Alphas could have.
Things that weren’t problems before became sources of dissatisfaction.
The prospect of having to live with an unsolvable issue for a lifetime also felt daunting.
And Jaeyeol remembered exactly when that feeling began to explode.

Ahn Seonwoo.
The moment that Omega, Haeyoon’s closest friend and also his own friend, released pheromones in front of him.
That very moment, with the unsensing Seo Haeyoon by his side, sending pheromones with clear intent.
Jaeyeol discovered a desire he hadn’t known he had.

“There’s not much time left now, so let’s hang in there a little longer. Okay?”
“Yeah. Okay.”

Seonwoo naturally responded to Jaeyeol’s pheromones, likewise releasing his scent.
It was a dazzling scent, as if buried in a heap of flowers.
Stimulating, luxurious.
Jaeyeol hurriedly erased Seo Haeyoon from his mind—the Haeyoon from whom he could feel nothing but body odor no matter how much he buried his nose in his skin and inhaled.

He had already made an irreversible choice, and in the long run, this was the right choice.
That’s what Jaeyeol believed.

* * * *

“Seo Haeyoon. Isn’t your high school class reunion next week?”
Haeyoon, who had just taken a big bite of a cheese-filled pork cutlet, froze completely at Sumin’s unexpected question.

After blinking in surprise, he glanced diagonally across the table, and Woojin subtly averted his gaze.
He was clearly the culprit.
Woojin and Haeyoon were in the same class in their senior year of high school.
Since Seonwoo was also in the same class, they weren’t particularly close back then, but they became friends after entering the same university and department.
Their class was unusually close and continued to hold annual reunions even after graduation.
In other words, Woojin was also someone who would inevitably know about the reunion.

Perhaps due to the circumstances, his friends made sure to have meals with Haeyoon, both on weekdays and weekends.
Even the great Seo Haeyoon would find it hard to spend time alone in such a situation, and he was grateful for his friends’ consideration.

But he hadn’t expected an unexpected interrogation.
It was Haeyoon’s mistake. He should have sworn them to secrecy beforehand.

Having already put the piece of meat in his mouth, Haeyoon chewed it thoroughly and nodded.
With Woojin there, there was no other way to handle it.

Sumin narrowed her eyes and asked again.

“You’re not thinking of not going, are you?”
Haeyoon avoided answering, diligently chewing only the meat.
Of course, he wasn’t planning to go.

He always attended class reunions with Jaeyeol.
Though they were never in the same class due to the age difference, among those who knew Seo Haeyoon, no one didn’t know Oh Jaeyeol.
They were the school’s famous couple, even known to the teachers.

Sumin persistently waited for Haeyoon’s answer.
Haeyoon chewed the nearly finished meat hard, sending pleading looks to Sua and Woojin for help.
But Sua was on Sumin’s side from the start, and Woojin was powerless.
Finally, after swallowing the last of the meat, Haeyoon quietly spoke.

“This year… do I really have to go?”
“I knew you’d be like this!”
As expected, Sumin’s roar immediately followed.
The force was so tiger-like that Haeyoon unconsciously hunched his shoulders.

Haeyoon’s thoughts were thus.
Their classmates naturally included Ahn Seonwoo.
He was certain Ahn Seonwoo would definitely bring Oh Jaeyeol to that gathering.
Given how shamelessly he showed his true colors by giving him a wedding invitation, he didn’t seem the type to avoid it out of consideration.
Haeyoon didn’t want to play the miserable role of witnessing their spectacle firsthand.

Of course, such talk was useless with Sumin.

“Don’t even dream about it. You’re going. Make sure to look damn good and pretty, from head to toe. Got it?”
“Sumin-ah, I just…”
“Did you do anything wrong? Why should you hide? They’re the bastards who stabbed their friend and lover in the back and had an affair! If anyone should hide, it’s them!”
“But still, if Haeyoon thinks it’ll be too hard for him, don’t force him…”
Woojin tried to somehow stop the fire-breathing Sumin.
But Sumin wasn’t someone to be persuaded by such soft words.

“Woojin-ah. You can’t live like that. You should only endure what should be endured. I really hope those two come together. Everyone needs to see the state they’re in.”
“Ah, okay. I get it, so calm down.”
Woojin surrendered without even getting to speak.
Honestly, emotionally, Woojin agreed with Sumin too.
He was just worried about pushing Haeyoon, who was already struggling, unnecessarily.

“Seo Haeyoon. Aren’t you going to answer?”
Having conquered Choi Woojin, Sumin targeted the main force again.
Haeyoon, spearing another pork cutlet with his fork, answered meekly.

“Okay. I’ll think about it a little more.”
“You promise? Don’t just say it, really mean it, huh?”
“Yeah, yeah.”

He even nodded his head vigorously.
Sumin also calmed down and started eating again.
If Haeyoon said he’d think about it, he really would think about it.
He was rarely one to say empty words.

In fact, Haeyoon intended to seriously consider attending the reunion.
One moment he thought not going was right, but he also felt a sense of curiosity.
Would Ahn Seonwoo really bring Oh Jaeyeol as he believed?
At a place where Seo Haeyoon might show up, would Oh Jaeyeol really appear arm-in-arm with Ahn Seonwoo?
Would the man who said he was leaving because he liked Ahn Seonwoo so much shamelessly appear before Seo Haeyoon this time too?
Haeyoon was curious.

‘Just… because it seemed fun?’

At that moment, Baek Jeongha’s voice strangely surfaced.
Amusingly, he understood why he had said that.
Truly, there was nothing more dramatic than this; how thrilling must it seem in others’ eyes?

It was ironic.
Haeyoon’s life had been so ordinary it could have been used as a sleep-inducing video, but when he came to his senses, he was in the eye of a storm of jealousy and passion.
Did he want to return to a quiet life, or did he want to see it through since he was already swept up?
Honestly, Haeyoon thought he still didn’t know his own heart.

After losing the two most precious people in his life, Haeyoon found life incredibly difficult.