Don't You Need an Omega Lucky Charm - Chapter 21.2
While he was feeling awkward because there was nothing more to say, the tteokbokki came out just in time.
The pot came up to the middle of the table. The stainless steel pot clattered on top of the gas stove.
Rice cakes, fish cakes, and vegetables were submerged in red seasoning. When the fire was turned on, it began to bubble and boil starting from the edges.
Ha-on gently stirred it with a ladle so that the rice cakes wouldn’t stick.
“By the way.”
Ahem, after clearing his throat once, he read Cha Jeongwon’s countenance.
“Are you releasing that pheromone on purpose?”
One of his eyebrows went up. It was an expression as if Ha-on’s words didn’t make sense to him at all.
“No, I mean, I have pheromones too, but yours, Senior, are especially… Well, I’m not saying it’s strange to use it like perfume, but I was just curious.”
It wasn’t once or twice that he had smelled his pheromones.
It was like that inside the elevator too, and even now, a cool fragrance settled over the smell of tteokbokki, seeping into his nostrils every time he took a breath.
The air inside the restaurant was hot, but it felt like cold air continuously hovered at the tip of his nose.
It was a strangely addictive combination.
“I’ve never used it like perfume.”
His answer was as short as that.
If it’s not perfume, I wonder why it keeps smelling, he was going to ask, but stopped himself.
Pheromones are strictly an individual’s freedom.
Just like a person who wears a collared shirt all year round, Cha Jeongwon was probably just doing as he pleased.
“It’s all done. Please eat.”
He scooped a variety onto Cha Jeongwon’s front plate, set it down, and filled his own front plate as well.
When he picked up a rice cake and ate it, hot steam burst inside his mouth.
“Ugh, hot… Delicious.”
Even though it felt like his tongue would get burned, he couldn’t stop his chopsticks. The spicy and chewy taste was just as it was in his memory. Ha-on ate while blowing cool air with his breath.
While eating frantically, he absentmindedly looked ahead.
Cha Jeongwon was eating ramen noodles. Even as he sucked in the noodles, not a single sound came out.
Although he was eating cleanly, there was no change in his expression, so it was impossible to tell if it was delicious.
“Um… eat the quail eggs too, and also eat the fish cakes.”
Ha-on, unable to just watch, pointed at the rice cakes and fish cakes contained in Cha Jeongwon’s bowl. He thought that if even one of these suited Cha Jeongwon’s palate, his expression might loosen up a bit.
However, Cha Jeongwon’s reaction went beyond Ha-on’s expectations.
Because Cha Jeongwon stopped his chopsticks while looking at him.
“Why?”
“I have something to say.”
“All of a sudden?”
In the middle of eating tteokbokki, what on earth did he have to say…
Cha Jeongwon set down his chopsticks altogether and created a serious atmosphere.
I mean, in the middle of eating tteokbokki, why…
“I came to apologize.”
Ha-on stared at him while keeping his chopsticks suspended in mid-air along with him, before lowering his hand belatedly.
Because it seemed like a solemn atmosphere, he couldn’t bring himself to eat anything more.
“I misunderstood.”
“…”
“…”
Ha-on, who was waiting expecting some next words to follow, suppressed the urge to thump his frustrating chest hard.
“You seem to speak pretty well when necessary, so why are you stopping halfway now? So, what did you misunderstand?”
Even while making a face showing he really didn’t want to speak, Cha Jeongwon ended up answering in the end.
“That you’re an Omega.”
“I am an Omega, though.”
The corners of his mouth closed tightly. Should he have listened quietly?
“Ah, did you perhaps think I was playing cheap tricks with an ulterior motive?”
Cha Jeongwon scowled.
“Did I say it was playing cheap tricks?”
“No, but piecing together all the words you’ve said so far, it doesn’t lead to any other conclusion.”
Otherwise, he would have to recite it word for word, but isn’t this better? The meaning was roughly aligned, anyway.
“Yes, that’s right. You’re just an Omega, but I misunderstood you as an Omega playing tricks. It was suspicious because you kept appearing under the guise of coincidence, but if those were really coincidences, then what you said is right.”
He finally dragged a long answer out of him.
Ha-on glanced at the voucher placed on the table that hadn’t been put away yet. He felt like he could picture what kind of situation this was.
“Did you give it to me because you felt sorry?”
“…Similar to that.”
“Now I get it.”
With a face that had relaxed considerably, Ha-on picked his chopsticks back up.
And as he poked each ingredient contained in the dish, he fit the context before and after together like solving a puzzle.
“You tried to give me the voucher because you felt sorry for saying mean things to me all this time. And either Hyeongyu or Seojun must have told you that I was here.”
Cha Jeongwon denied none of it.
“So that’s what it was.”
Earlier, when he asked him to ease his heart a bit, he cut him off flatly, yet he makes an apology at his own timing like this. Feeling that it was so like him again, a dry laugh came out for no reason.
“I really don’t have any ulterior motives toward you, Senior. So you don’t need to be so on guard against me like that.”
Cha Jeongwon nudged a rice cake with his chopsticks.
“Then can I ask just one more thing?”
“No.”
“Your house is so spacious, so why did you sleep in the same room as me?”
Before he knew it, the upper hand had shifted to the opposite side.
