Why Does It Hurt This Much?

“Hoo… Haa….”

Jaeyeol gripped the sink with both hands, letting out ragged breaths.

He barely stopped himself from splashing cold water on his fully made-up face.

He felt suffocated and dizzy.

After Haeyoon left to greet Seonwoo, Jaeyeol literally couldn’t collect himself.

He had no idea how many mistakes he made while greeting arriving guests.

His father, unable to watch, had finally pushed him away, telling him to go pull himself together.

It was Oh Jaeyeol’s wedding.

He knew the groom shouldn’t be away from his post for long.

Yet, Jaeyeol couldn’t easily calm his mind.

‘Congratulations on your wedding, Hyung.’

Haeyoon’s calm voice echoed in his ears like tinnitus.

This shouldn’t have happened.

Seo Haeyoon should not have come to Oh Jaeyeol’s wedding and offered congratulations so composedly.

“Damn it… Damn it….”

A belated curse burst out.

But that wasn’t the only problem.

The shameless face of Baek Jeongha, standing by Haeyoon’s side as if he were somebody, holding his hand and calling himself his ‘boyfriend,’ churned Jaeyeol’s insides.

“That scent… was that bastard’s?”

The moment Haeyoon greeted him, Jaeyeol had detected a faint pheromone on him.

It was a scent he had encountered before.

The scent of the Alpha that had set all his nerves on edge the day they’d met by chance on the street.

There was no mistake.

Since when had he been meeting Baek Jeongha?

How could Seo Haeyoon even meet Baek Jeongha?

Jaeyeol knew Seo Haeyoon better than anyone.

He wasn’t the type to meet another Alpha less than half a year after breaking up with his boyfriend.

Then, did that mean he had known Baek Jeongha even before they broke up?

That made even less sense.

Haeyoon didn’t like Baek Jeongha.

He had stepped away to sort his thoughts, but his mind only grew more chaotic.

“Hey, are you okay? What are you doing here!”

At that moment, a friend rushed in, calling for him urgently.

It seemed his father had sent him to fetch the absent groom.

“Just a minute. Give me a minute.”

“Hey, a minute or not, the wedding’s starting soon. Come on, hurry.”

Right.

This was Jaeyeol’s wedding now.

It had to be Oh Jaeyeol’s wedding—without Seo Haeyoon, where Seo Haeyoon shouldn’t be, where Seo Haeyoon wasn’t the main character.

Originally, at this moment, Haeyoon should have been suffering alone in loneliness.

‘Congratulations on your wedding, Hyung.’

‘The suit looks good on you.’

But the Seo Haeyoon he had just met here didn’t look lonely or in pain.

His heart kept constricting.

Even though he was the one who had discarded Haeyoon a long time ago, he strangely felt like the one who had been abandoned.

* * * *

“Haeyoon!”

The sharp voice halted Haeyoon’s steps as he was about to enter the hall.

Haeyoon reflexively turned, his expression hardening.

The person who had approached him threateningly, dressed in elegant hanbok, was Ahn Seonwoo’s mother.

“Auntie….”

No matter what he felt inside, Haeyoon’s face, which had remained composed on the surface until now, crumbled for the first time.

Seonwoo and Haeyoon had frequented each other’s homes since their school days and were naturally well-acquainted with each other’s parents.

Hearing the term of address from Haeyoon, Jeongha immediately understood who the woman was.

He instinctively stepped forward to shield Haeyoon, who had taken a step back in shock.

Despite her graceful attire, the force with which she approached was formidable, making him feel he had to protect Haeyoon.

The mother’s eyebrows rose fiercely as she looked up at Jeongha’s face blocking her path.

She immediately addressed Haeyoon.

“Haeyoon. What are you doing here, of all places?”

“…….”

“Don’t tell me you came to cause a scene at your friend’s wedding? Huh?”

Haeyoon stood there, processing her words with a sense of unreality.

He never imagined such words would come from Ahn Seonwoo’s mother, of all people.

She knew exactly what the relationship between Jaeyeol and Haeyoon had been.

Even if a parent’s arm bends inward and there’s nothing they wouldn’t do for their child, how could they be this shameless?

How dare she talk about ‘friend’ to Haeyoon?

Haeyoon’s heart pounded.

He felt suffocated, his mind going blank.

The feelings of betrayal, bitterness, and emptiness he had been suppressing burst forth all at once, silencing him.

“We were invited.”

At that moment, Jeongha, who had wrapped his arm around Haeyoon’s waist and pulled him a little closer, spoke.

“He was given an invitation, so he came. I don’t understand why you’re so angry.”

Only Baek Jeongha’s voice reached Haeyoon’s ears, which felt muffled as if submerged in water.

“What?”

“As you said, Seonwoo ‘friend’ personally invited Haeyoon by giving him the invitation. So if you have any complaints, I think it’s better to take it up with your son.”

Seonwoo’s mother blinked, at a loss.

The gazes of guests who roughly knew the situation were already on them.

Jeongha, tightening his arm around Haeyoon, looked directly into Seonwoo’s mother’s eyes and gave a slight smile.

“Well, if you want to make a public scene here confirming whether Seonwoo really gave an invitation to the friend he stole a lover from, that’s your choice.”

In that instant, a chilly aura emanated from Jeongha.

Even though he couldn’t properly see Jeongha’s face from being held, Haeyoon could sense the atmosphere.

It was a pressure he had never felt when they were alone.

“You, you really…!”

In the end, Seonwoo’s mother couldn’t say more and turned away.

If Seonwoo really had given Haeyoon the invitation, making a scene here would only backfire.

There was already plenty of gossip about stealing a friend’s fiancé; if it got out that he had personally given the friend an invitation, she would lose face in front of the guests.

She couldn’t believe Seonwoo would go that far, but considering her son’s temperament, it was entirely possible, so she couldn’t be bold.

“Getting nothing in return…”

Jeongha shrugged as he watched Seonwoo’s mother’s retreating back, walking away faster than she had arrived.

His voice was perfectly calm, unbelievable for someone who had just practically threatened a person.

Only then did Haeyoon step out of Jeongha’s embrace and look up at him blankly.

Jeongha wore a playful expression, as if asking when he had ever exuded such a chilling aura.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Jeongha asked.

Haeyoon blinked slowly and then spoke.

“It’s just… I finally feel like I’m seeing the Baek Jeongha from my memories.”

The Jeongha in Haeyoon’s memory was always cold and indifferent.

But after meeting again, he had always been playful, cheerful, and even acted coy at times, making Haeyoon wonder if his personality had changed a lot.

But the side he showed now was unmistakably the Baek Jeongha from his memories.

“Hmm, isn’t that a bad thing?”

Jeongha replied gloomily.

It seemed like just an act; he didn’t actually look upset.

Haeyoon pondered Jeongha’s question.

In the past, he had definitely disliked that side of Baek Jeongha.

He found it callous.

Because it had always hurt Seonwoo.

But if asked how he felt about it now…

“…It’s not bad.”

Haeyoon answered honestly.

It wasn’t bad.

Even though it felt intimidatingly cold, rather than being scared, he felt reassured.

He found himself amusing.

“Thank you. For stepping in.”

He put more sincerity into his next words.

If Jeongha hadn’t intervened then, Haeyoon would have struggled to endure the humiliation from Seonwoo’s mother.

Hearing that, Jeongha smiled with an expression only Haeyoon could see.

“That’s why I came here. Just trust me.”

Once again, those words felt incredibly reassuring, and Haeyoon grew confident that he could get through this wedding ceremony just fine.

* * * *

“What the hell, how is this possible?!”

“S-sir, p-please calm down…”

“Seo Haeyoon… How could Seo Haeyoon do this to me!”

There was a commotion in the waiting room.

After Haeyoon finished his greetings and left, Seonwoo had literally thrown a tantrum.

The staff, unaware of the reason, struggled to calm the groom.

“How could Baek Jeongha… how could he be with someone like Seo Haeyoon…! Argh!”

The small bouquet arranged for photos was crushed in Seonwoo’s hand.

The atmosphere was so violent that the staff could do nothing but close the waiting room door.

After a long while, Seonwoo slumped back onto the sofa, still seething with anger.

He had been unable to do anything when the two were actually there.

He had been so shocked he’d almost forgotten to breathe.

In the end, they had calmly taken photos and left, ignoring Seonwoo.

He had never been humiliated like this in his life.

“How… how can this be…?”

Seonwoo bit his nails anxiously.

No matter how he thought about it, the situation made no sense.

His phone still held the affectionate message Baek Jeongha had sent not long ago.

Seonwoo had looked at it just before entering the wedding venue.

Imagining the moment Baek Jeongha would appear.

Dreaming of him, willing to get his hands dirty for his sake.

But the Jeongha who appeared with Haeyoon moments ago acted as if he had never given Seonwoo a single thought.

His attitude was so composed that Seonwoo wondered if receiving the message had been his own delusion.

“What is going on…”

No matter how he racked his brain, no satisfying answer emerged.

“Um, excuse me, Sir… It’s time to prepare for the entrance…”

The approaching staff member thought, ‘Why did this troublemaker have to be the groom?’ He was also nervous, worried Seonwoo might take his anger out on him.

“Haa…”

But fortunately, the word ‘groom’ snapped Seonwoo back to his senses.

That’s right.

He was the groom.

This was the wedding he had so eagerly awaited.

Seonwoo had already ruined today enough.

He couldn’t ruin the wedding ceremony itself.

Whatever was going on between Baek Jeongha and Seo Haeyoon was something he could investigate step by step later.

Seonwoo adjusted his disheveled attire and took a deep breath.

Swearing to himself he would never show a pathetic side in front of Seo Haeyoon.