บท 24: Alpha Friend 3

Sangcheol looks at his watch, noting the time for the end of lecture. Haneul should be out any minute now.

It took his dumb mind some time but he realized Haneul is famous. Even without Taeyong, all he needed to do to get information on the omega is ask a few people. Just doing so, he knows everything from Haneul's class schedule to his room number.

Sangcheol knows the man is well-known, but it never occurred to him to what extent. The amount of information people know about him is impressive, and yet it is also disturbing how easily they gave it away to basically, just anyone. It feels like a breach of privacy but nevertheless, he has gotten this far, he should go through with it.

A wave of students makes their way out of the main door, signifying the end of the lecture. Recognizing one of the faces - the omega who gave him Haneul's schedule, Sangcheol stands up, ready to greet the long-haired man. It takes quite a while, he almost thinks the man didn't show up before he appears, alone with earphones attached to his ears. Waving his hand, Sangcheol mouths a "hey" before walking towards the unimpressed-looking Haneul.

"Owh. Ryuu…" Haneul looks around, obviously a bit weirded out about his presence because there is no reason why an engineering student would even be at their department in the first place. Judging from his face, the omega seems a bit uncomfortable but he is not trying to run away. More like, he is preparing to argue - his jaw is clenched. A little too defensive but that doesn't surprise Sangcheol. Every time they meet, there is always a reason why Haneul would act like that, he probably does it automatically right not.

Albeit knowing it isn't a good thought, it does makes him wonder whether what happened to Haneul is because of his own bitter personality, or if he became like this because of what had been happening to him. Not, his childhood, obviously; the incidents with all the other alphas the last months.

Ignoring the unwelcoming reaction, Sangcheol hands Haneul a plastic bag containing some ointment and cream he bought from the drugstore for the pain. He came to apologize, sure, but he cannot just do so and pretend he doesn't notice the obvious swell Haneul somehow successfully hid. The man even has his hair down to help cover it up.

With the omega just looking at the bag, refusing to accept it, Sangcheol makes a gesture with his hand up and down in front of his face, adding, "for your cheek. And lips."

Haneul is hesitant, he is staring at the alpha hard.

"Owh yeah. You don't owe me. It's uh, an apology, for what I said." Sangcheol remembers to add.

The soft smirk on the omega's face, showing his lowered defense makes Sangcheol smile as well, as if he just achieved something really good. "Okay... But, what did you say?"

"Huh?"

"Why're you sorry?" Haneul's question confuses him. He swore the former was offended about him not liking man enough to leave without any word. It was a misunderstanding he is determined to explain. Could it be… that the same thing has been said to Haneul many times that he doesn't care about it anymore? Even if that is the case, Sangcheol cannot just let it be because, Haneul was clearly hurt about it that time. And Sangcheol is not okay with hurting people.

"I said I like girls."

"Pffttt." The smaller of the two blows, amused at the answer. Again, the reaction confuses the alpha. "Why do you need to apologize for that? You can like grandmas for all I care…"

"I don't hate males. I just prefer girls." He doesn't know whether Haneul said that to ease the tension, but he still thinks he has to make things clear. Because he rejected the man before, he basically told him he disagreed with his choice of sleeping partner, and then, he told the man he likes females. Maybe he is overthinking things but to Sangcheol, this is important. It is important for him to let Haneul know that he doesn't hate him, and his life choices.

He is not judging the omega.

"Gosh, you're a sorry one, aren't you?" Haneul comments, to which the alpha only lifts both shoulders and smiles. Sangcheol admits he is an apologetic person; he always has been. That never hurt anyone before, so he doesn't see the need to fix it.

Walking alongside the omega who leads them to a nearby bench, he sits, not knowing what else to say. He didn't prepare for a conversation, he only wanted to apologize, pass Haneul the cream and leave.

"So," Haneul starts, facing him, his eyes bright in anticipation, "you've tried man before?"

Shit, this topic again. Now that he said his sorry, Sangcheol knows he will need to proceed real careful. Shit, can't he find some excuse to go? "N-no."

"But you said you don't hate guys… Don't tell me, you never tried but you already made your decision."

"-but, not because I don't like it! I mean, people have preference, right? Just because I never tried dru-" Sangcheol bites his tongue, merely seconds from killing himself. Obviously, drugs are not a good comparison to sleeping with guys. Nor is alcohol. Breathing in slowly, thinking of a good reply, he restarts, "I mean, like, I like basketball, and I never tried jungle trekking before, but I don't plan to. Both are sports but I just, prefer sports with balls."

"You prefer… sports with balls?" Haneul repeats really slowly, and Sangcheol nods, letting him process the weird analogy. It may seem to be unrelated, but it is. Right? Should be easy enough to be understood.

"Wait. You prefer sports with… balls?" Sangcheol nods again, trying to encourage the man to understand. Maybe he needs to transla-

Wait. Sangcheol realizes that Haneul doesn't seem confused. In fact, the weird movement of the omega's mouth obviously holding in something, laughter maybe, which makes Sangcheol realize what he just said - a really embarrassing sexual innuendo. And worse, even one that implies the exact opposite of his preference.

Fuck.

At this moment, he knows it is showing - his ears are getting warmer. And Haneul notices it too, suddenly bursting into laughter with his head thrown back. "I don't mean-"

"Balls?"

"Yaah!"

"Did I convert you?" The attacks just keep coming to his dismay, but somehow Sangcheol is not offended. Rather, he feels warm. Why?

Owh, Haneul's laughter. This is his first time seeing this side of the omega, and honestly, he looks really beautiful laughing - his eyes squint a bit, his mouth opened wide to reveal his perfect set of teeth, and he has a pretty laughter, unlike Sangcheol's own which consists of him furrowing his brows and revealing his gums. "Ahhk!"

Scoffing at the sudden weird noise, the teased victim shakes his head, taking the cream he bought from the plastic and passes it to the now whining man. Haneul takes it from him, but passes it back while rubbing the tears from his eyes. "How do you use this? Inside the mouth?"

Sangcheol breaks the seal and squirts it out a bit, revealing a gel-like consistency before reading what is written. Confirming the question, he passes it back to the hurting male, "Safe to consume."

"I can eat it?"

"Haha." He sarcastically laughs, earning a polite smile from the other. Haneul applies the gel on his lips, and when he is done, looks around for something. Taking out some tissue from his bag, Sangcheol offers it to the man. "So? How's the wound?"

"It's cold. Still hurts though, a bit." Sangcheol nods, not surprised. After all, he didn't buy a pain relief. "Thanks."

"No probs." The omega takes out the ointment and starts reading the information, and Sangcheol finding himself doing the same with the cream. Stopping halfway, not knowing why he does so in the first place as he already read the label when he bought it, he starts to recall that laughter a few moments ago. And a certain comment from his friend.

He knows it is too early to judge but he just cannot see any similarity between this guy and his ex-lover. It might be his hatred-clouded judgement but over the years, he realized it is harder to get any sincere reaction from Gyuri which was why he started to appreciate it more when she did. On the other hand, Yoo Haneul seems genuine? He gets mad when he wants to, leaves whenever he feels like it, heck, he even challenged alphas when he felt threatened. Haneul makes it really clear when he feels attraction, and laughs, when he wants. Sangcheol might not know the man long enough to know everything about him, but he feels like he can, know the real Haneul.

Because unlike Gyuri with whom he always had to be careful with his words and actions because she never spoke her real mind, he knows the male omega in front of him will.

So no, he doesn't think Yoo Haneul is like Gyuri. Or the other way around.

Although… he never read the man's book until the end so Taeyong might actually know what he is talking about. He doubts it but, there is a slight chance that he might be wrong about his judgment. Maybe, just like his ex, Haneul knows how to push the right button to make people crazy over him.

Maybe, that is what Taeyong meant when he said Haneul's a male Gyuri.

"Hey Ryuu," Haneul's voice breaks him from his thought and Sangcheol realized he had been staring. Turning his face away from the man, he responds, waiting for an answer.

"Wanna be my alpha friend?"