Your Lies Are Showing

“Is that… what is that?”

“Huh…?”

Seonwoo, who had been eating with his mind elsewhere, looking like he didn’t know if the food was going in his mouth or his nose, replied blankly to Jaeyeol’s question.

Jaeyeol furrowed his brow deeply.
Seonwoo’s attitude, acting like a loose screw, was uncomfortable, but right now, something else was catching his eye.
“I asked what that is on your clothes.”
“Clothes…?”
“You don’t mean that… that’s paint, is it?”

Seonwoo snapped back to reality at that moment.
He quickly looked down at himself.
A dark green paint stain was on the front of his t-shirt.

His heart sank.
When he was causing a scene at Haeyoon’s studio, paint must have splattered on him.
He had been so out of it even after coming home that he hadn’t noticed.
Cold sweat trickled down his spine.
“P-paint? What? What is this? How did this… get on me?”

He stammered, despite trying not to show his fluster.
Seonwoo desperately hoped Jaeyeol would just let it go.
“…It’s paint. Oil paint.”

But there was no way Jaeyeol, Seo Haeyoon’s long-time lover, wouldn’t recognize oil paint.
Jaeyeol set his spoon down with a clatter and spoke with a cool expression.
“You… went to Seo Haeyoon’s studio?”

His voice was so chilling that even the audacious Ahn Seonwoo instinctively shrank back.
“Th-that’s… that’s, hyung….”

Normally, he would have come up with some plausible excuse, but having already been through such a shock today, his mind wasn’t working.
“Why did you go there again?”

Jaeyeol’s irritation flared up.
Every day since the wedding had been exhausting.
Rumors had spread even among his colleagues at the company who didn’t know the details, all because of what happened at the ceremony.
While some knew Jaeyeol had broken up with his long-time lover and was marrying someone new, most didn’t know that new person was his ex’s friend, so his reputation at the company was rapidly deteriorating.
For Jaeyeol, who had consistently received good evaluations and built a solid career since joining, this was a troublesome blow.
Of course, the most important thing at work was ability, but in the end, people made judgments, so such a scandal could be used against him in some way later.
Between working hard and dealing with the stares of people whispering whenever they saw him, exhaustion was piling up day by day.
Yet his own spouse, amidst this chaos, had gone to see Seo Haeyoon.
He didn’t even want to guess what kind of state of mind that indicated.
“Are you really going to keep acting like this?”
“…Acting like this?”

Seonwoo, who had been staying low because he was guilty, suddenly had a vicious glint in his eyes.
He hadn’t gone anywhere he shouldn’t have, and Jaeyeol’s harsh words were even more absurd.
“You’re really funny, hyung? What business is it of yours whether I go to Seo Haeyoon’s studio or not? If I want to go on my own two feet, I will!”
“What?”
“Do you have some kind of hobby controlling people, hyung? Do I need your permission for every little thing I do, everywhere I go, everyone I meet?”
“That’s not what I’m saying!”
“Then what is it?! I said it wasn’t paint! Why are you making a false accusation?!”

Seonwoo himself felt like his head was about to explode.
With his eyes closed, the image of Seo Haeyoon saying, ‘So you had nothing to do with Baek Jeongha, right?’ and Baek Jeongha’s voice calling him ‘Seonwoo’ in a tone he’d never heard before tormented him alternately.
Was Baek Jeongha really dating Seo Haeyoon?
If so, did he really love him?
If not, was there another intention?
Just thinking about it made him so complicated he could die, and now Oh Jaeyeol was gripping him like a mouse over something so trivial—it was maddening.
On the other hand, he also calculated that if he came on this strong, Jaeyeol would back down.
He couldn’t be pushed back here.
If he was, he’d have to acknowledge the situation and apologize, so the priority was to raise his voice.
Jaeyeol didn’t like loud arguments.
Just like always, if Seonwoo got angry, Jaeyeol would say he was being sensitive and back down appropriately to soothe him.
As he always had.
“Ahn Seonwoo. While I’m still speaking nicely… have some sense.”

But today’s Oh Jaeyeol was different.
A startled Seonwoo was speechless.
Jaeyeol gritted out his words, his expression still seething.
“Enough is enough. Stop harassing Seo Haeyoon.”
“Wh-what…?”
“How much more are you going to do to him? He’s already hurt because of us.”

Seonwoo forgot his anger and blinked blankly.
He couldn’t understand a single word Jaeyeol was saying.
Was Oh Jaeyeol, right in front of him, defending Seo Haeyoon?
“Hyung is… are you serious right now?”

His voice barely came out, he was so flabbergasted.
He could feel, to the bone, what it meant for blood to run cold.
“How… how can you, hyung….”

Seonwoo’s voice trembled pathetically.
But Jaeyeol, who under normal circumstances would have soothed Seonwoo regardless of the reason, remained cold.
“This is an unhealthy obsession. Do you realize that? Just how long are you going to keep dwelling on Seo Haeyoon?”

He was truly sick of it.
The beautiful, lovely Omega for whom Jaeyeol had even betrayed his long-time lover had vanished somewhere.
Now, all that sat before him was a vicious person filled with inexplicable stubbornness.
He couldn’t tell where things had gone wrong.
After the wedding, Ahn Seonwoo seemed to have become a different person.
“Don’t tell me you’re still hung up on Baek Jeongha…!”

Finally, a name they had mutually avoided uttering slipped from Jaeyeol’s lips.
Jaeyeol quickly closed his mouth, but he couldn’t take back what he’d already said.
At the mention of Baek Jeongha, Seonwoo’s eyes shook even more violently.
Tired of even guessing what that reaction meant, Jaeyeol rose from the table.
“Where are you going, leaving in the middle of a meal!”

Seonwoo, who had been silent until now, screamed spasmodically at Jaeyeol’s dismissive behavior.
Ignoring him, Jaeyeol put on his coat, grabbed his car keys, and headed for the door.
“I’m going to get some fresh air. You should take some time to calm down and sort out your thoughts too.”

Without waiting for Seonwoo’s answer, Jaeyeol opened the door and went out.
“To me… how could you do this to me…!”

Left alone at the table with the mostly uneaten food, Seonwoo trembled with humiliation.
Before the wedding, Jaeyeol had practically worshiped Seonwoo.
It was natural, since he had been so infatuated with Seonwoo that he’d even thrown away the lover he’d promised to marry.
He had given Seonwoo whatever he wanted, and never once blamed him for his mistakes.
Even when he was upset, if Seonwoo subtly released his pheromones, Jaeyeol would immediately soften and press close to him.
That was the kind of person Oh Jaeyeol was.
He couldn’t accept that such a person had walked out on him, leaving him behind, just to defend Seo Haeyoon.
“f*ck… f*ck!!”

Unable to contain his surging rage, Seonwoo finally swept the dishes off the table, screaming.
It was all Seo Haeyoon’s fault.
That guy who had always clung to him, parasitically, was now trying to ruin his marriage too.
“I won’t let this slide…. I won’t let this slide!”

Oh Jaeyeol, Seo Haeyoon, and Baek Jeongha.
Without even realizing where this rage was directed, Seonwoo screamed for a long time.
A pointless outburst that no one paid attention to.

* * * *

“Are you feeling a bit better?”

Jeongha asked Haeyoon, who sighed after drinking his coffee, his face looking slightly paler than usual.
His voice was full of amusement, and Haeyoon answered with an awkward expression.
“Why wouldn’t I be fine?”
“You looked completely pale when we came out of the theater earlier.”

At the teasing tone, Haeyoon didn’t argue and just took another sip of coffee.
The two had just come out of a movie together.

The movie they saw today was a thriller that had been gaining late popularity through word of mouth.
It was a well-made film praised by critics, but as an R-rated movie, it was said to be quite violent.
This film was to Jeongha’s taste.
Whether there was violence or not, he didn’t mind, but he enjoyed well-crafted thrillers.
Haeyoon, on the other hand, rarely enjoyed thrillers.
He preferred sci-fi, fantasy, or heavy dramas about life.
“I was just… a bit surprised. I didn’t expect it to be that violent.”
“That’s why I said you didn’t have to watch it… You won’t have trouble sleeping, will you?”
“…It’s not that bad.”

Haeyoon replied with a slight pout at Jeongha’s words, unsure if he was worried or teasing.
Seeing that expression, Jeongha let out a light laugh.
At first, he thought Haeyoon was just expressionless, but as they grew closer, he realized he was actually quite expressive.
“But it was fun.”

Having taken another sip of coffee, perhaps thirsty, Haeyoon spoke with a fairly satisfied expression.
Even though enduring the violent scenes was a bit tough, he was engaged enough to enjoy it.
Surprisingly, it was Haeyoon, not Jeongha, who had chosen today’s movie.
When Jeongha suggested they watch a movie since they’d met early, Haeyoon asked what Jeongha would pick from the current releases.
The movie Jeongha chose was one Haeyoon would never have picked himself.
That meant it was also a film Jaeyeol likely wouldn’t have chosen.
In all the long years with Jaeyeol, Haeyoon could count the times they watched a thriller together on one hand.

So Haeyoon chose this.
He wanted to watch a movie that, before, if he had been with Oh Jaeyeol, he would never have seen.
He was curious if he might discover an unexpected appeal in it for himself.