章 12: Minding Their Own 2

Sipping his hot coffee while looking over at the man in front of him, Haneul hums lightly to get his attention. With such big hat covering almost all his face and the mask hiding the lower part, he really cannot see how the alpha is doing. All he knows is the man nervous, based on the fidgeting hands which is very unlike him. The guy always exerts a confident aura, be it when he is relaxing, working, even during sex. Needless to say, this side of Sunwoo is very new.

"Hannie," he frowns at the nickname. Haneul does not like to be called that, preferring his full name as it shows distance. The man knows it, they have been sex friends for almost three years with no private outing whatsoever. The only reason why he even agreed to meet up in the first place is because the model seemed nervous when he called last night, which can only mean one thing – their relationship is somehow exposed. He personally doesn't care about it but he knows it will affect the other greatly. "We've known each othe-"

"You bitch!!!" The sound of a man screaming shocked both males, causing them to turn towards the angry couple who are fighting a few tables away. Catching his breath to calm his violent heartbeat and relaxing his clenched fists, Haneul rolls his eyes at the drama and turns back towards his partner whom he realizes, has been staring at him for a while. "I didn't catch you…"

"Haneul, I-"

"YAAAH!" Now the woman is screaming towards the man causing other guests to murmur their complaints to each other. Closing his eyes to relief himself from annoyance, the omega forces a smile as he, again, clenches both his hands in fists. He really hates drama, moreover those occurring in public, obviously with hope to garner other peoples' attention. Feeling a hand on his left, he opens his eyes to see the alpha, his mask lowered to reveal his handsome face.

"Relax. The staff's stopping them." Haneul nods his head a few times, appreciating the gesture. Being his regular sex partner for a while, Sunwoo knows what triggers his trauma and how to control it, which is why he keeps the man around. The model points to his right and Haneul traces it towards the couple, now covered by an employee of the café.

Haneul's face twitches at the recognition.

What in the world... out of all the people in the whole Seoul who could be working in this café right now, it just has to be none other than Sangcheol. If not for his rejection, Haneul wouldn't have been pushed to make the mistake of sleeping with that other annoying alpha who keeps pestering him non-stop, thinking they are supposed to have a relationship now that they slept together.

Great. Just great.

Although, seeing all the other staffs working right now, somehow it does make sense that he is the one to stop the argument. All the other staffs look small and frail. From what happened at the orientation party, it seems Sangcheol really have a knack of getting in between fights. Maybe he got into them a lot which would explain why his readily interrupt others people's arguments.

But oh… how he would love to see the angry man punch that dimple alpha in the face, just because.

"I'm cool." He retorts at his partner, pulling his hand towards himself, still annoyed from the all the ruckus. Haneul really wants to get away from here right now, not enjoying the place. Hearing the bickering couple refusing to leave is already irritating enough, Sangcheol is now really close to him and he doesn't want to have to acknowledge the guy if he is spotted. Who knows, maybe the alpha will tell his annoying friend he is here and Taeyong will come and make a big deal out of things… he can imagine that happening and he is not going to stick around to find out if it will.

The day really can't get any worse than this. And it's only three in the evening.

"What did you say? I couldn't hear you." He tries to get back on the main subject, wishing Sunwoo can just muster up the courage and say it to him quickly. He cannot think of anything, but there must be something important that the man is willing to risk exposing himself by meeting in broad daylight in a café instead of their normal hotel room. He really doubts it will be good, but there is no harm in hoping right?

"Let's be mates."

"Huh?" Haneul turns his face slightly, placing a hand behind his ears. He thought he heard wrong, the people around them are still a bit loud. He thought he heard Sunwoo asking him to be his omega, which is impossible. They made the arrangements when he decided to keep seeing the man, and a few other alphas to satisfy his urges; not having feelings is on top of the list followed by being strangers outside of sex. Their intimacies are merely physical, and that of 'friends' when Haneul has his episodes. He cannot digest where that possibly came from, if, he was not mistaken about what he heard, that is.

"Mates." Sunwoo maintains, causing the other's face to fall.

"Mates?" Haneul repeats, tasting bitterness as the word left his mouth. So, he wasn't mistaken. Which means, this is the end for them. He had hoped it will not come to this, things were going so well with Sunwoo he thought they might be able to continue their relationship a few years more.

Such a pity.

Sunwoo has been his main sex partner, taking care of his needs whenever the former is available. Now he will have to find someone else to fill in the hole the jerk will leave. Haneul dreads doing that the most. He hates those egoistic alphas, especially the confident ones thinking they deserve all the omegas in the world just because they naturally able to dominate their counterpart physically and emotionally. It took months, years for him to filter all those fucking alphas to get the few good ones. He thought he really hit a jackpot with Sunwoo when he knows the man has a career which prevents him from having relationships, but apparently, that isn't stop him now which makes this situation all the more shame. And annoying.

"Great," he cynically remarks, letting out a sigh to control himself from getting up and leave. He wants a reason; he wants something that he can use to fix this. Not many people can handle his breakdowns like the alpha, he doesn't want this to end. "Why are you doing this? You can do better. What if people find out?"

"Technically you're also a celebrity and you're already an adult so…"

"So?" Yes, he is finally an adult but what has that got to do with anything? It is not as if people won't know that their relationship started when he is a minor, he fucking wrote about it in his book that he seeks comfort in older alphas. People are not stupid; they can obviously put two and two together. What a fucking idiot. "We're fuck buddies, Sunwoo. We started fucking a few years ago?"

"Come on, Hannie… Who cares?" I fucking care, he wants to retort but holds it in. "There's obviously something more. I mean something to you right?"

"Fuck buddies." He emphasizes, now really wanting to end the conversation. "Nothing more. Seriously Sunwoo? What did you think I was gonna say? We have fun together, that's about it."

"You think I was playing? Why do you think I see you so much? I don't want you fucking other alphas-"

"I think we're done." Haneul interrupts the man to announce his leave. It is obvious this is beyond repair. What is with the confession? All these years with Sunwoo, he never thought the man is as disgusting as the others. He is such a good liar Haneul fell for his trap. "I fucking trusted you."

"Yah, stop." The alpha grabs Haneul's left hand, an action to which the latter reacts by twisting it and pulling his hand towards himself. He needs to let the man know he is really pissed so he will consider stopping all this nonsense. Sunwoo is smart, he will catch on.

"Yoo Haneul stop!" Haneul shudders as his whole body stops moving from the growl. He cannot believe it, the fucking guy dares use that tone with him, in fucking public, and mentioned his full name. This is going too far! How dare he? Who- Why? He knows how this will affect him, how-

He won't tolerate this anymore. They are fucking over. He can ruin the man's career.

"You're gonna regret that." Haneul hisses, staring deadly into his eyes. He can see Sunwoo staring back, determined to make him stay and listen. The jerk probably thinks his reasoning will be good enough of an excuse to do this to him. Fucking alpha.

"Sit the hell down. I'm not done talking." Again, that authoritative growl. If he is to report this to the police, the man will be prosecuted. He has the whole café as witnesses. Sunwoo's going to hell. "Your answer's no. And do that one more time-"

"Or what? Haneul? You can't live without me! Why can't you-" Haneul frowns at the distressed male. What in the world is wrong with him??

"Customer, we need you to calm down-" the familiar voice he thought he hates comes right on time, breaking his attention from the crazed alpha.

This is his cue to leave.