章節 21: The Reason to Frown 4

Sangcheol sighs, noting the omega's reluctance to talk about the bruise. He can guess what happened, and he knows it is not an easy thing to admit - being hit by your lover. Still, he wonders why Haneul still continues to be with the man. He thought the omega wanted to change his life, at least, that was what he heard from Taeyong about the book's ending; not having the stomach to read it through himself. But he is not seeing any attempts on doing so as Haneul apparently is still keeping his bad life choices. Not that, it is any of his business to begin with.

The least he can do is not push the man away. Even though they have nothing to do with each other, they talked a few times, so they are no strangers. If anything bad is to happen to Haneul because he is too proud to be his buddy and lend an ear, Sangcheol knows he will regret it all his life.

A little kindness never hurt anyone, right?

And so, he decides to amuse the man with his story instead. Maybe Haneul needs it more than a concern over his bruised face. Recalling what happened just a few minutes ago, Sangcheol lets out a long breath before starting, "everyone's too busy to take my shift tonight."

"Café?" He nods at the guess. Haneul was there once, it is not surprising that he knows it.

"…and you're frowning cuz…?" the prettier male continues, his face really expectant. Sangcheol cannot help but wonder if that one statement is not enough. Obviously he has something he wanted to do which is why he wanted someone to take his place, and since nobody is available, he ended up not being able to do said something. Does he really need to explain all that?

Seeing Haneul's interested face though, Sangcheol reluctantly continues, not wanting to disappoint the omega, "I… kinda have date… group date tonight."

He swears he sees the other rolls his eyes which somehow makes him feel ashamed of what he just said. To be honest, he initially thought it was an embarrassing activity, but his senior's convincing coax made him all excited about it enough to forget that feeling. Now that he knows he can no longer do it, all the negative perception of the activity came back to him, making him thankful that he has to work tonight.

Silver linings.

"Oh…so, what happened to your girlfriend?" Haneul asks, surprising Sangcheol because he never told the other he had-

Oh wait. He did. The night they wer-

Sangcheol pretends a cough to wash away the embarrassing memory. Oh god, this is so awkward. He can't believe they almost slept together. What the hell was he thinking?

Avoiding the other's gaze, Sangcheol stares at the tree behind the man, trying to calm himself. He has no idea how Haneul is being so casual about it because he is screaming inside, just wanting to run away and bury himself in the ground.

On the other hand, Haneul takes the long silence and reluctance to answer as a sign that the alpha refuses to talk about it. And the only reason why one would do that is because, they don't give a shit about relationships but don't want to make it obvious that they are jerks. "Oh, you're that kind of guy, huh?"

Sangcheol almost nods his head, wanting to move past the topic but that statement confuses him. Exactly what kind of guy is Haneul referring to? Because there he can sense a displeased undertone coming from the omega.

"Wait, what?" He inquires, not wanting a misunderstanding between them about his character. He knows that Haneul already has a bad image about him with him screaming at the café, the rejection, the night cruising… And just now it sounded like the omega thinks he is a disgusting guy. Why-

Oh yeah. That's right. Haneul doesn't know. He didn't tell the man they broke up the night they almos-

"I-uh, we broke up." Sangcheol finally confesses, noting the slight raise of the eyebrows on the other. Haneul closes his eyes slowly a few times, his whole expression bored. Smiling bitterly, reminded by his old lover once again, he is about to recall all the shitty things she did to him before hearing the omega hums; as if he is thinking of something interesting.

"So, the group date." The omega's voice fills his ears who is now used to the silence. Sangcheol only replies with a sight head tilt, showing his attention.

"Ladies?" Haneul asks to which he nods in agreement, softly chuckling. Now back at the subject, he feels even more embarrassed for even considering the idea, to get over his break-up.

Really? Trying to move on by meeting a group of girls who are eager to find partners as well? That is a weird way to rebound. He feels really stupid right now.

"So, you like girls?" Haneul suddenly asks.

"I uh…" This is the second time Sangcheol was asked about it and again, he doesn't know. He never thought about being with males, and he really like females so the answer is yes. But at the same time, no. Because he doesn't prefer one over the other, he just never thought about it in the first place.

"Explains why you pushed me away that night." Haneul smirks, breathing loudly just enough that Sangcheol turns to notice his unreadable expression.

And the alpha feels bad. Haneul must be thinking that he rejected him because he was disgusted. Which was not the case. He was just in a bad place, he was not appalled by Haneul or anything like that, "No, that was…"

"It's fine. To each their own." Haneul gets up from his seat, panicking the alpha who now desperate to explain himself. He doesn't know whether to stop Haneul or let him leave because he doesn't know if he can justify his answer clearly without sounding offensive or desperate. Because then he will have to explain about Gyuri and then he will sound like a pathetic alpha played by an omega, and it will turn into the story of his heartbreak and still it won't explain his preference-

Shit. Haneul is gone. He screwed up.

He should apologize…