In a three-piece suit, Baek Kanghyeon was, to anyone’s eye, the Alpha of Alphas. The natural poise and hauteur flowing off him were, by far, the finest Kwon Haeil had ever seen on anyone, and his looks were no different.
Fine, soft hair; long lashes that cast shadows when his gaze dropped; deep eyes you could fall into; a high bridge with a small, pretty nose tip; a clean, sharp jawline without any excess; lips as red as if that intense sweet note had been poured into them whole.
Sketching Baek Kanghyeon’s face in his mind with delicate care, Haeil’s expression turned solemn all over again.
Right, Mr. Baek really is beautiful.
Haeil nodded to himself, and General Manager Park gave him another strange look.
Unaware of what was going through Haeil’s head, Park tossed in a needling remark.
“Flipping day and night isn’t easy. You should’ve called for an Omega early. Aren’t you the type who sleeps like a baby only after a nice, good sweat?”
At Park’s words, Haeil sagged back into the chair with a sigh.
“It’s been ten days and I haven’t shed a drop of that damned sweat, you punk.”
“Why? Couldn’t find an Omega you liked?”
Haeil cocked his head.
“Mm… maybe. Sort of feels like that… I don’t know. I just didn’t want to.”
No other sweet note could match Kanghyeon’s.
Maybe that was why sleeping with an Omega didn’t appeal to him much lately.
“Don’t tell me… you finally went limp?”
When Park asked, looking horrified, Haeil showed him a tightly clenched fist.
“Finally? Limp? You want to be the one who goes limp?”
There was genuine killing intent in his voice.
Park’s hands flew to cover the vital area below, as if that, at least, must never be risked.
“I’m joking, sir. Don’t you know a joke?”
Forcing a smile, Park hurried to change the subject.
“Then how about a Beta?”
“I’m not interested in people who smell like nothing but skin.”
“Then an Alpha… ah, right, you’re an Alpha.”
Scratching his cheek, Park made a face like he was worrying on Haeil’s behalf.
Hearing it, Haeil actually thought it over.
“An Alpha…”
It wasn’t like there were no Alphas around. Among the club’s guards, managers, and MDs, there were Alphas. About twenty percent of the clients he met were Alphas, too.
So what.
Alphas were just as excluded from one-nighters as Betas.
Kwon Haeil loved the Omega-specific sweet note. Getting drunk on that scent calmed his body and mind and let him sleep well. He had a sweet tooth to begin with.
So Betas, who reeked of either artificial perfume or nothing but skin, weren’t in the running.
Alphas were basically a higher-spec version of Betas.
They smelled similar to Betas, and on top of that, their pheromones clashed in an unpleasant way. If they were Dominant Alphas with outstanding control, they might keep it from being unpleasant, but the odds of a Dominant meeting a Dominant in daily life were almost nil.
So Alphas were even more excluded than Betas—yet Baek Kanghyeon popped into his head again.
If it’s an Alpha like him, it might be okay.
Or… maybe not just okay.
Baek Kanghyeon was a Dominant Alpha who handled pheromones as well as he did. And what a beauty. From head to toe there wasn’t a trace of cheapness to be found—nothing but luxury and elegance.
Crucially, he had that highly addictive sweet note that was driving Haeil half-insane.
Just thinking about it makes me dizzy again.
Coolly assessing Kanghyeon, Haeil pressed a hand to his forehead.
Bloody withdrawal.
He had no idea what that man had done with a sweet note he wasn’t even aware of, to shake people around like this.
“Haah… I’m dying to smell it.”
At his sighing confession, Park jumped.
“Gasp… Are you talking about me? I didn’t even put on cologne today, ahem.”
Blank-faced, Haeil scrunched up at him with a glare.
“As if I’d be talking about you, you crazy bastard. And have some manners—put on some cologne. You smell like sweat.”
“My apologies.”
Park visibly wilted.
Ignoring him, Haeil sprang to his feet and headed for the door.
“We’ve got time before the meeting, right? I’m going to get some air.”
“Understood, sir. Please don’t be late.”
“Yeah.”
Stepping out, Haeil walked down the corridor laid with white marble. He intended to make for the terrace at the lounge by the Business Center entrance.
There was no one in the lounge besides staff. He’d heard the only team who had booked a meeting room at this hour was the one from BC Holdings, which explained the lull.
When he stepped onto the well-appointed terrace, a cool breeze blew pleasantly.
Leaning against the terrace railing in the wind, Haeil looked at the clock by the entrance with a bored face.
The current time was 1:50 p.m.
There were about ten minutes left until the meeting.
I want a smoke.
In the past, if he had a gap this awkward, he would have smoked.
Should I start again?
It had been two years since heavy-chain-smoker Kwon Haeil had successfully quit.
Because Haeil had clawed his way through the withdrawal, he wasn’t actually thinking of starting again.
The problem was a certain someone’s sweet note that, once it came to mind, simply would not leave.
To forget that scent even for a moment, he felt like he had to stuff his nose with some other smell.
Ha… maybe I shouldn’t have run into him yesterday.
He found himself regretting it.
Because he’d met Baek Kanghyeon yesterday and smelled that sweet note again, his instincts kept screaming for more. The power of a sweet note tasted after a long famine was, truly, tremendous.
No—if he hadn’t asked for a pheromone shower in the first place, he might not have gotten addicted to that sweet note.
Lost in thought, Haeil let out a small laugh.
What’s the point of regretting it. It would’ve ended up the same.
Whatever he chose, with Baek Kanghyeon living next door, things would have come to this anyway. From the moment he sensed that faint sweet note of Kanghyeon’s, he’d had a feeling.
It was only a question of whether the addiction came sooner or later.
If you can’t dodge it, enjoy it.
The corners of his mouth lifted with determination.
Given the way things are, I need to stop being a “simple next-door neighbor” fast.
Then he could see him as much as he wanted, when he wanted.
The easiest angle is friendship… but I’ve never been friends with that type.
What did you need to become friends with a stranger?
Building common ground was clearly priority one.
But no matter how he thought about it, Haeil couldn’t pin down any common ground with Kanghyeon. Aside from both being Dominant Alphas, their personalities and styles, their working hours and work methods—everything was completely different. Even the way they held an Omega in bed was probably different.
Should I ask what his hobbies are? That guy’s hobbies sound like they’d be truly boring.
As he leaned on the railing, mulling it over, a shadow at the Business Center entrance caught his eye.
That’s…
His eyes widened, wider and wider as he looked that way. He even blinked several times in disbelief.
A hollow laugh slipped out of him.
The one who appeared at the entrance was none other than Baek Kanghyeon.
“What are the odds. Unreal.”
Stepping off the terrace, Haeil watched the three men walking through the lounge past the entrance. The distance was close, but a decorative plaster column hid Haeil’s body, keeping them from running into each other.
Did he come for work too? But I heard we’re the only ones using a meeting room at this hour…
Into his ears came the voice of the young man who looked like a secretary among the three.
“Division Head, Executive Director Park from Baekcheong Construction says tomorrow evening won’t work for a meeting. He’s asking if the day after is okay, and your schedule happens to be open. What shall we do?”
At the word Division Head, Haeil flinched and poked his head out beyond the column. Right then, he saw Kanghyeon speaking to the secretary.
“If it doesn’t conflict with anything else, let’s do that. We only need to meet within this week anyway.”
“Understood.”
The secretary answered politely.
They seemed to exchange a few more words, but by then the distance had grown and he couldn’t make them out clearly.
Only after Kanghyeon’s party fully entered the corridor where the meeting rooms were did Haeil step out from behind the column.
Division Head?
Even then, he didn’t take his eyes off Kanghyeon’s back, receding in the distance.
Soon, the group stopped in one spot in the corridor—more precisely, in front of a meeting room.
“Wow…”
The room they entered was the very one where Haeil’s party had been waiting.
A voice of awed amazement slipped from his mouth.
“At this point, isn’t it just fate?”