Moreover, it was obvious this car couldn’t reach Hae-wan’s house in the narrow alley. Of course, Kang-hyun seemed unaware of such circumstances and drove without saying much. Hae-wan made a mental note to ask him to stop at an appropriate place.

“You can drop me off here.”

After the short drive, when Hae-wan asked to be dropped off on the main road where the alley leading to his house began, Kang-hyun looked puzzled. However, when Hae-wan pointed to the narrow, steep alley that cars couldn’t enter, he seemed to understand why he had asked to stop here and closed his mouth.

Seeing that face made Hae-wan wonder if Kang-hyun had ever visited such a shabby neighborhood. However, he wasn’t ashamed of living here, so Hae-wan didn’t feel particularly flustered and quietly thanked him for the ride.

That was what Hae-wan had “decided” to do. While Yu-jun using him as an excuse to deceive Kang-hyun and borrow money without properly paying it back made Hae-wan ashamed, he didn’t want to feel ashamed about things he couldn’t receive from birth regardless of his own choices.

Hae-wan, who had declined Kang-hyun’s offer to take him to his front door and was walking into the alley, suddenly stopped in shock when he realized something.

Hae-wan was still wearing Kang-hyun’s coat.

He immediately turned around and headed back to the main road with quick steps while calling Kang-hyun.

“Yes, Mr. Yoon Bori.”

Kang-hyun answered the phone almost immediately. Hae-wan spoke urgently:

“I forgot I need to return your coat. If you haven’t gone far, can you come back here for a moment?”

“Oh, it’s fine, so just wear it home. I gave it to you because I wanted you to wear my clothes from the beginning.”

Hae-wan frowned.

“What do you mean…”

“Remember when I said pheromone scents are influenced by emotions?”

Hae-wan recalled the words he had heard when visiting Kang-hyun’s workshop and answered in a reluctant voice:

“…Yes. But why is that…”

“Your scent becomes especially sweet when you’re flustered, Mr. Yoon Bori.”

At the still incomprehensible words, Hae-wan couldn’t respond at all. Regardless of Hae-wan’s confusion, Kang-hyun finished speaking in a leisurely voice:

“So don’t get flustered in front of just anyone.”

With those words, the call ended with a light goodbye. At Kang-hyun’s puzzling words, Hae-wan could only stand there staring at his phone displaying Kang-hyun’s number.

* * *

When he opened the door, he saw Yu-jun lying on the electric heating pad in the living room, covered with both his padded jacket and blanket. Yu-jun, who had been sniffling and coughing while playing a mobile game, raised his hand carelessly in greeting. Then, noticing that Hae-wan was wearing different clothes from when he left, he put down his phone and widened his eyes.

“What? That’s clothes I’ve never seen before. Did you buy it?”

“No, someone just lent it to me.”

“Who? Kang-hyun?”

Though he knew he couldn’t hide it anyway, Hae-wan just closed his mouth at the direct hit. Yu-jun, his face full of interest, suddenly sat up and approached Hae-wan, stroking the sleeve and exclaiming in admiration:

“Wow, damn, the texture feels amazing. It’s obviously crazy expensive, right?”

When Hae-wan entered his room without responding, Yu-jun followed behind and asked:

“Can’t I try this on just once?”

“No. It obviously won’t fit you anyway.”

The coat that was already quite oversized on Hae-wan couldn’t possibly fit Yu-jun, who had a slighter build and was shorter. Yu-jun pouted, but as soon as Hae-wan took off the coat and hung it on the wall hanger, he started checking the brand and material tags first.

As soon as he took off his outer coat, Hae-wan shivered at the cold air and hurriedly found and put on a lightweight padded jacket for early winter.

A deep sigh welled up, but Hae-wan didn’t want to show Yu-jun his worry, so he swallowed it down.

The boiler, which had only had hot water problems, finally started having heating issues yesterday morning. Even when set to 50 degrees, only the floor became subtly warm, but it wasn’t enough to heat the air, making the inside of the house unbearably cold.

And just like Hae-wan had worried, Yu-jun’s condition, which had started showing signs of a cold a few days ago, began turning into severe coughing since yesterday.

Despite leaving several missed calls and texts, the landlord hadn’t responded. Just when Hae-wan was deciding to visit the owner’s house if there was no contact by tomorrow morning, Yu-jun, who had been looking at his phone, suddenly shouted:

“Crazy, this coat costs twelve million won!”

At those words, Hae-wan’s eyes widened like they might pop out as he stared at the coat. Though he knew it would be expensive, he had never even thought that clothes costing over ten million won could exist.

“Hyung, let’s sell this. If we sell this, we can leave this shitty house and move somewhere else!”

Hae-wan came to his senses at Yu-jun’s voice and spoke with sharp eyes:

“Don’t you dare think anything weird.”

Yu-jun threw down the coat sleeve he had been touching and grumbled:

“It’s a joke, a joke! Seriously, you can’t take any jokes.”

Just when Hae-wan thought he had finally diverted his attention, Yu-jun continued with a voice that couldn’t shake off his curiosity:

“But why did he lend you clothes?”

“Well… I went straight there after my part-time job, so I guess my padded jacket picked up a strange smell. So he told me to wear this instead.”

Yu-jun asked like he couldn’t understand:

“Then what did Kang-hyun wear?”

“He bought new clothes right there and wore them.”

“No, then he should have given you new clothes to wear, so why did he give you what he was wearing?”

Since there was no way to know what he was thinking, Hae-wan just shrugged. However, Yu-jun persistently questioned the circumstances, and eventually Hae-wan had no choice but to tell him the rough story from the man who had followed him to when Kang-hyun dragged him into the clothing store.

“…Are you clueless, hyung, or are you pretending not to know?”

“What?”

At Hae-wan’s bewildered voice, Yu-jun beat his chest like he was frustrated:

“Ah… someone who’s never dated really has no hope. Anyone can see he scent-mixed with you, you idiot!”

Hearing the term that popped out of Yu-jun’s mouth, Hae-wan stammered:

“Wh-what? It’s not like that.”

“What do you mean it’s not like that? At first he said there was no strange smell, then suddenly changed his story after that guy followed you. And why would someone who wears ten-million-won clothes buy and wear a coat worth just a few hundred thousand won while making you wear clothes reeking of his alpha scent?”

At Yu-jun’s unexpected explanation, Hae-wan forgot his words for a moment with his mouth half open.

Unlike regular scents, pheromone scents were s*xual markers in themselves, so carrying objects or wearing clothes infused with a lover’s scent to “mix” each other’s scents and prevent unwanted approaches from the opposite s*x was a very common expression of affection in alpha-omega society.

And naturally, Hae-wan, who had no dating experience, had only seen such things in dramas or movies but never experienced them in real life.

‘Your scent becomes especially sweet when you’re flustered, Mr. Yoon Bori.’

‘So don’t get flustered in front of just anyone.’

Recalling even his phone conversation with Kang-hyun before coming home, Hae-wan’s face turned bright red like it might burst. Seeing Hae-wan’s reddened face just gaping, Yu-jun’s eyes sparkled:

“You said you’d just go there to work no matter what, but you’ve been flirting all along? I knew something was suspicious.”

“It’s not… it’s not like that. Stop saying ridiculous things.”

His mouth went dry and his heart pounded, so Hae-wan just muttered the same words like a parrot. Yu-jun snorted like it was absurd:

“What’s ridiculous about it? Look at today. Going to a nice place to eat and watching a movie together – that’s a date. What else would be a date? And if you’re dating, isn’t that flirting?”

When Hae-wan couldn’t answer with his flushed face, Yu-jun’s excited voice grew louder:

“At first I wondered what that bastard Yoon Hae-eon was scheming, but things turned out like this?”

However, the moment he heard Hae-eon’s name from Yu-jun’s mouth, it felt like his blood instantly ran cold.

“Hyung, you absolutely have to catch Kang-hyun. From what I can see, he’s already halfway there, so no matter what happens, you have to catch him. This is really bigger than winning the lottery.”

Hae-wan didn’t respond and just stared blankly at the floor. Then Yu-jun whined like he was frustrated:

“Ah, why aren’t you saying anything?”

Hae-wan looked up and met Yu-jun’s eyes, speaking quietly:

“Mr. Yeo Kang-hyun… isn’t doing this because he likes me. He’s mistaking me for Hae-eon because of the scent.”

“…”

“So… nothing like that will happen. And it shouldn’t.”

“Why is that Yoon Hae-eon’s scent?”

At Yu-jun’s rebellious response, Hae-wan rarely hardened his expression and asked:

“What?”

“I don’t understand why you still think the scent coming from you is Yoon Hae-eon’s. Yoon Hae-eon was the one who wanted to transplant his pheromone glands to you. And…”

Yu-jun hesitated for a moment like he didn’t know how to finish.

“And… Hae-eon isn’t in this world anymore.”

Even though he finished with an unusually careful tone unlike Yu-jun, something inevitably surged up inside him. Hae-wan unconsciously opened his mouth in a rough voice:

“So what should I say?”

“…”

“Should I tell him that the Yoon Hae-eon you waited for eight years is no longer in this world, but there’s someone who has that scent instead, so now you can like me?”

At Hae-wan’s pointed criticism, Yu-jun seemed at a loss for words, just moving his lips silently.

“…I’m going to wash up.”

Hae-wan quickly spoke in the suddenly awkward atmosphere, got up abruptly, went into the bathroom, closed the door, and stood leaning against the wall with his eyes closed.

The cold air flowing from the unheated wall made goosebumps rise on the back of his neck, but nothing made him feel reality more than the words he had just spoken with his own mouth.

Even knowing it wasn’t really directed at him, all those moments when his heart raced and fluttered unbearably over the time spent with Kang-hyun and his actions felt so embarrassing.

The same went for the contradiction of saying it would end in a month while inevitably feeling happy during this time when Kang-hyun was mistaking him for Hae-eon.

Nevertheless, there was also a part of his heart that defended himself, asking if that was really so wrong.

Kang-hyun was the most handsome and attractive alpha Hae-wan had ever seen, and his first love. Facing the man he had fallen in love with so easily without even exchanging a word, he felt lost about how to harden his heart.

A storm raged in his mind. Hae-wan squeezed his eyes shut and repeated to himself like casting a spell:

Even if something like that happens, it’ll be okay if I keep it to myself.

I’ve been through this once before, so doing it again won’t be that difficult.

Hae-wan gently rubbed his chest with his hand, which was inevitably starting to ache.

* * *

After spending time in the bathroom calming his mind and coming out, Yu-jun had dragged the electric heating pad into the room and fallen asleep.

Hae-wan quietly entered the room, pulled Yu-jun’s blanket up to his neck as he coughed even in his sleep, and carefully touched his forehead with the back of his hand. He didn’t seem to have a fever, but he was slightly warm, which made Hae-wan worry.

Hae-wan’s hand stopped while he was hanging a wet towel in the room to raise the humidity even a little in the dry space. It was because Kang-hyun’s coat hanging on the wall caught his eye.

When he approached the coat, Kang-hyun’s scent was still distinctly present. Amazed that the scent remained so strong even after several hours, Hae-wan touched the coat here and there.

Then he felt something in the inner pocket. When Hae-wan carefully reached in and pulled it out, a gentle smile spread across his lips.

It was a small sachet. Naturally, it was made to imitate Kang-hyun’s scent, and whether intentional or not, the almond note that could only be detected when concentrating on Kang-hyun’s scent seemed slightly more emphasized than usual.

‘…Sensitive.’

Feeling like he could hear Kang-hyun’s voice from some time ago, Hae-wan unconsciously placed his hand near his ear.

A strange desire burned hotly in his chest.

Half impulsively, instead of putting the sachet back in the coat’s inner pocket, Hae-wan opened his drawer and tucked it inside the precious clothes he only wore for important occasions.

He thought it would be okay to keep just this small piece as a small comfort given to himself.