Someone Else Touched What Was Mine

Haeyoon blinked slowly.
Layered within his memory was the vivid image of Seonwoo wailing that he would die if he couldn’t have Baek Jeongha.
Despite loving him so desperately, Ahn Seonwoo was nothing to Baek Jeongha.
He left nothing behind.
Well, the love between Oh Jaeyeol and Seo Haeyoon, who were so passionately devoted to each other, also ended up like this, so what’s a mere one-sided crush.

For the first time in his life, Haeyoon felt doubt about the emotion called ‘love.’

“So, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t misunderstand needlessly.”
With those words, Jeongha released Haeyoon’s hand and smiled with his usual playful expression.
Haeyoon lowered his gaze, briefly looked at the back of his own hand, and opened his mouth.

“Yeah, got it.
I won’t misunderstand.”
“…Are you just being straightforward, or do you just have no interest in me?”
“It’s late.
Go in quickly.”
He lightly brushed off Jeongha’s grumbling.
Baek Jeongha himself probably didn’t mean it seriously.
Haeyoon was gradually figuring him out.

Indeed, Jeongha also didn’t seem to attach much meaning to his words, waving both hands nonchalantly.

“Alright, I’ll go.
Contact me.”
“Okay.”
“Don’t just think of using me for the wedding and then discarding me.
You have to take good care of me.”
Jeongha pointed at his own face with his long, bony fingers and grinned.
Judging by the atmosphere, it sounded like nonsense, but there was logic to it.
It was only natural to show sincerity from the position of making a request.

“Sure.”
The immediate, nonchalant answer made Jeongha stifle another laugh about to burst out.
Seo Haeyoon, standing there expressionless, probably had no idea that precisely this point made him unbearably amusing to Jeongha.

“Get home safely.”
After speaking, Jeongha turned and moved away first.
Judging by Haeyoon’s personality from his experiences so far, he would absolutely not move before him.
Jeongha took a few slow steps, gauging the situation behind him, then turned around again.
As expected, he saw Haeyoon’s back already quite far away.
He probably wasn’t the least bit curious about the situation behind him.
The chance of him looking back was close to zero.

“Fun…”
Staring at the rapidly shrinking figure, Jeongha chewed over the answer he had given moments earlier.
To be honest, it wasn’t a completely wrong answer, but it wasn’t the exact answer either.
It was merely the best answer he could give at the moment.

Haeyoon’s question was off.
He asked as if only Ahn Seonwoo and Oh Jaeyeol were at the center of this drama.
The most important person was missing from his question.
Seo Haeyoon.
Himself.

For Jeongha, the core of this matter wasn’t Ahn Seonwoo, whose memory was already faint, or Oh Jaeyeol, who held no meaning in his life.
Every choice and reason Jeongha made stemmed solely from Seo Haeyoon.

‘Why do you dislike me? There are countless people who want to meet me! Why! Why is it only you!’
Suddenly, the voice of Ahn Seonwoo, who had once shown up drunk and clung to him desperately, came to mind.

What answer Baek Jeongha gave then, and what result that answer brought—Seo Haeyoon probably couldn’t even guess.
So he must be searching for reasons while thoroughly excluding himself.

Jeongha lowered his head and looked at his own hand.
The moment he held Haeyoon’s hand, Jeongha had left his scent on him.
It was an instinctive action as a manifestor.
It wasn’t as blatant as claiming ownership over an Omega.
But it was enough for Haeyoon to notice if he were a manifestor.

Originally, Baek Jeongha didn’t do things like leaving his scent first.
It was an unnecessary action.
With people already clinging to him over every little thing, he didn’t need to create more trouble.
But why did he do such a thing to Haeyoon today?
Especially since Haeyoon was a Beta and wouldn’t even notice his pheromones.
Leaving scent on a non-manifestor without their knowledge was even more mannerless behavior.

“Did I really want to mark him…”
Muttering in a low voice, Jeongha carefully pondered his own words, then shook his head and turned away, resuming his halted steps.

He had never once in his life felt a sense of possessiveness towards a person.
It was true he was interested in Haeyoon, but it still wasn’t to the extent of feeling possessiveness.
That night, Jeongha thought so.

* * * *

Fate is cruel.
When Jaeyeol spotted the person walking towards him from a distance, he felt that fact acutely.
It was the person he least wanted to see right now—Seo Haeyoon.
Damn it.
Jaeyeol silently cursed between his lips.

His mood was already shit because of that bastard Choi Hyeon-tae, and of all places, why did he have to run into Seo Haeyoon here?
The voice of that unfriendly bastard, who had cursed at him asking why they had to cut ties with Haeyoon because of him, buzzed in his ears like tinnitus.

At that moment, he made eye contact with Haeyoon, who was walking towards him with no time to avoid it.
He could tell Haeyoon recognized him too.
It was an alley before reaching the main road, so the sidewalk was narrow and there were few passersby.
Unless one of them deliberately turned away like they were running, it was inevitable they would pass close by.
And Haeyoon, who didn’t stop walking, seemed to have no intention of turning away.

The distance closed quickly.
Jaeyeol let go of the lip he had been biting slightly and did his best to put on a nonchalant expression.
If Seo Haeyoon wasn’t running away, there was no reason for him to avoid it.
Jaeyeol didn’t want to act like a sinner in front of Haeyoon.

Should he stop when he gets right in front of me?
He’ll probably grab me.
What should I do if he says he wants to talk?
He didn’t think there was anything to say now, but for some reason, he also wanted to hear what Haeyoon had to say.
Probably because the sight of Haeyoon at the reunion had left an oddly unpleasant feeling.

He expected him to be a little more struggling, a little more broken, but the Haeyoon he met then seemed more intact than expected.
That part had been stuck in his throat like a thorn, making him uncomfortable ever since.
So he wanted to confirm.
Confirm that he still hadn’t gotten over Oh Jaeyeol.

If Seo Haeyoon was still suffering miserably from Oh Jaeyeol and Ahn Seonwoo’s betrayal, he felt he could shake off this shitty mood he was in now.
Though it was also a bit shocking to feel such lowly emotions towards someone he once wanted to spend his life with, he had no room for immediate reflection.

Just as Jaeyeol was reluctantly resolving to listen to what Haeyoon had to say at least once, their bodies passed so close they almost touched.

“…Seo Haeyoon, you…!”
And the one who stood rooted to the spot and called out to the other first was Oh Jaeyeol, who had sworn not to acknowledge Haeyoon.

Haeyoon’s gaze, which had been about to pass by, slowly turned towards Jaeyeol.
It was an indifferent gaze.
Jaeyeol’s heart began to race violently.

It wasn’t simply because Haeyoon just passed him by.
He was also shocked that Haeyoon didn’t even give him a glance as if he were a stranger, and by his eyes that only seemed cool.
But that too wasn’t the reason Jaeyeol had urgently stopped him.

What was most disconcerting to Jaeyeol right now was the faint Alpha pheromones he could sense from Haeyoon.
It felt like being hit on the back of the head.
Because Jaeyeol had been Haeyoon’s Alpha for so long, he knew.
He knew the intent behind the scent left on him.
It wasn’t strong, but it was clearly an Alpha’s marking with purpose.
What kind of crazy bastard had left their pheromones on Seo Haeyoon, who couldn’t even smell them?
In an instant, a massive heat began to consume Jaeyeol.

Was he seeing an Alpha?
How long has it been since they broke up?
How long has it been since he broke up with the lover he considered marrying?
Could Seo Haeyoon already be seeing another Alpha, moving on from Oh Jaeyeol?
But at the same time, Jaeyeol knew.
He knew he had no right to say such things.

Facing Jaeyeol, who had called him out and then firmly shut his mouth, Haeyoon was the first to speak.

“You called me because you have something to say?”
“……”
Jaeyeol bit his lip.
After pushing aside the things he shouldn’t say, there was nothing he could say.
But he couldn’t just call him out and then pretend nothing happened.

“That day…”
“……?”
“…At the class gathering. I really, only went because I heard you weren’t coming.”

Jaeyeol was taken aback by his own words.
In his anxiety to say something quickly before it got even more awkward, words just spilled out without thought.
Probably because, upon seeing Haeyoon, he kept recalling the image from the reunion.
He realized in an instant that it sounded too much like an excuse, but it was already too late.

At Jaeyeol’s abrupt statement, Haeyoon made a hollow expression.
It was literally beyond belief.
He should have just kept quiet.
It was even laughable to think this was an excuse now.

The memory of the mature and affectionate Oh Jaeyeol flickered over the man before his eyes.
Amid the overwhelming sense of incongruity washing over him like a tidal wave, Haeyoon spoke.

“Would it have been okay if I hadn’t gone?”
“…What?”
“Going to a place where all my friends are, holding Ahn Seonwoo’s hand and announcing your marriage… was that something with no problems at all, as long as I wasn’t there?”

Haeyoon’s voice was so calm it sounded sharp instead.
In truth, Haeyoon wasn’t being particularly emotional.
The absurd attitude Jaeyeol had just shown now served to calm Haeyoon, who still carried the wound of their breakup.

“So you’re saying it would have been fine if only I weren’t there, is that it, hyung?”