-“Are you putting on an act right now?”
-“What’s going on?”
The moment the front door opened, Jae-kyung sensed his pheromones. The nausea and dizziness that had been making him feel sick suddenly eased, and his foggy mind cleared.
Could it be because they’re an Alpha’s pheromones?
But why had this man come at this hour? It wasn’t even eight in the evening yet…
-“Han Tae-seok, you come here, too.”
Director Ji might have been cold toward Jae-kyung, but she was affectionate toward her son. Still, she was clearly furious, because she called Han Tae-seok over and made him stand in front of her as well.
-“You two told me before that you had imprinted, but I received the test results saying that you haven’t imprinted. Is that true?”
The moment Director Ji finished speaking, Han Tae-seok let out an ambiguous sigh.
Whether he was looking at Jae-kyung with exasperation or simply couldn’t believe the situation was happening at all, Jae-kyung couldn’t tell.
-“It’s true.”
-“Han Tae-seok.”
-“Auntie, take this man to his room.”
The housekeeper approached hesitantly, carefully helped Jae-kyung to his feet, and led him into the bedroom.
Director Ji continued shouting behind them, but to Jae-kyung’s ears, her voice was nothing more than a sharp, grating noise—nothing more, nothing less.
-“You have a fever…”
The housekeeper placed a hand against Jae-kyung’s forehead, confirmed that he had a fever, and brought him some fever medicine.
After taking the medicine, Jae-kyung lay down in bed and pulled the covers tightly around himself. Sleep soon began to creep over him.
When he opened his eyes again, it was because he heard the soft click of the door opening.
No one ever opens this door except me.
And yet, the door was opening.
…Am I dreaming?
-“I’ve spoken to my mother. I told her that the matter concerning imprinting was something we had agreed upon beforehand. I also told her that I have no intention of imprinting for the time being and that I want to focus on work, so we won’t be having a child for the next two years.”
A rustling sound followed, and Jae-kyung heard something thin being placed on the table beside the door.
-“So I don’t think she’ll bother you about this anymore, at least for the time being. And…”
-“I heard from the housekeeper that you hardly ever go out except to visit the gallery. Use the card to go shopping at a department store or take a trip.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the door closed.
Jae-kyung couldn’t see him, but he knew.
The man had only opened the door. He hadn’t even stepped across the threshold.
He had said everything he wanted to say, things that made life easier for himself, and then simply closed the door.
Isn’t that ridiculous?
Instead of all those long-winded explanations, if he had just crossed the threshold, hugged him once, and talked to him, Jae-kyung’s heart would have softened. His hurt feelings would have melted away, too.
Isn’t that what being married means?
Isn’t that what it means to live together?
Jae-kyung pulled the covers over his head and cried.
And the next morning…
He quietly approached the man who was having breakfast, placed the card beside him, and returned to his room.
*******
The pheromones that had been pressing heavily against Jae-kyung finally disappeared.
Jae-kyung lowered the blanket that had been wrapped tightly around his body and slowly sat up. Taking care not to make a sound, he quietly approached the door.
It was quiet outside.
The commotion had disappeared, and more than anything, there was no sign of anyone nearby.
Gathering his courage, he opened the door.
There wasn’t a single person in a suit in sight. The manager was the only one there, busy arranging the merchandise.
The manager looked over at Jae-kyung when he heard the door open.
-“What have you been doing in there all this time?”
“Ah, I must have fallen asleep while I was organizing things. I’m sorry.”
Jae-kyung stepped out and looked around.
They were gone.
Outside, there wasn’t even a single car. Everything was perfectly peaceful.
-“What are you looking around for?” This story is hosted at g.com.
“Ah… what about the people from that company?”
-“They left. About five minutes ago.”
“Five minutes?”
How much time had passed?
Jae-kyung looked up at the clock. Judging by the time, it seemed as though at least an hour had passed.
“They didn’t say anything?”
-“Hm? What was there to say? They just made the usual formal remarks. They said they knew this store had the highest sales in the district and that we were running it well, and asked us to keep up the good work. I said we would.”
“Ah… um, is NI acquiring the store?”
-“You didn’t know? You really need to pay a little more attention, Jae-kyung.”
“I’m sorry. I haven’t been watching the news or anything lately. I’m not interested in economics, either.”
No.
The truth was, economics had always been what interested him most. But it was true that ever since his divorce, he hadn’t watched the news or read the newspapers at all.
Maybe I just wanted to distance myself from their world, even if only for a little while?
-“I heard about it at the store managers’ meeting this time, too. Apparently, there had been a lot of talk about whether NI was going to acquire the place. It must’ve dragged on for about a year. But then, all of a sudden, the deal was finalized in a hurry.”
“I see.”
A year…
If it had been a year ago, that would have been before the divorce. His memories were hazy.
Oh, now that I think about it, my headache is gone. It was hurting until just a little while ago.
That man really isn’t good for me in any way. Just seeing his face once is enough to give me a headache.
“Are they going to come back?”
-“Why would those busy people come back?”
“I suppose not.”
-“Oh, Jae-kyung, why were you so frightened?”
“Frightened?”
-“Yeah. Your face had gone completely pale.”
But I’m feeling much better than I was earlier…
Jae-kyung couldn’t understand why the manager would say that.
The manager told him to take the day off, but Jae-kyung insisted he was fine and stayed until the end of his shift. He left work in the early morning and returned home.
“Whew…”
The moment he lay down on the bed, a wave of exhaustion suddenly washed over him.
He couldn’t even be bothered to shower. He took off his clothes while lying there, pulled the blanket over himself, and closed his eyes.
Even though he tried not to think about it, the moment he lay there, Han Tae-seok’s face came to mind.
It was exactly as he had looked when they parted at the courthouse.
A cold, detached face…
Always the same, no matter when Jae-kyung saw him…
Even when they had lived together, Jae-kyung had wondered about him. He had often wondered how someone with that expression could possibly function in society.
Then again, even at parties and social gatherings where Jae-kyung attended as his partner, Tae-seok had always worn that same cold expression.
It seemed as though everyone found him difficult to approach…
“Ah…”
The headache that had started earlier still hadn’t gone away.
Overcoming his reluctance to move, Jae-kyung got out of bed, took some painkillers, and lay back down.
Come to think of it, there was something he hadn’t considered earlier.
If the convenience store becomes part of NI, won’t I have to quit?
He might have been able to keep it hidden if no one had seen him, but he was certain he had made eye contact with Secretary Oh. He had no idea what would happen now.
For the time being, I guess I’ll just pretend I don’t know anything.
There was no need to go out of his way to avoid them. He liked both the manager and his job right now, and he didn’t want to leave.
Today had been such a long day.
*****
A month had passed since that day.
Contrary to his worries, nothing had happened. The manager had stopped by several times, but no one from NI had even come near the convenience store.
Thanks to that, Jae-kyung had been able to live his ordinary, everyday life.
He worked hard, ate his meals, and on his days off, he watched movies or read books by himself. Sometimes, he even took solo subway trips out to the suburbs.
And yesterday, he had received his second paycheck.
He was wondering whether he should buy something for his mother with the money when the little bell above the door jingled.
Jae-kyung, who had been organizing inventory, hurried out of the stockroom, looked toward the door, and greeted the customer—only to freeze in surprise.
-“Hello, Mr. Jae-kyung.”
“Oh… Secretary Oh.”
At the sight of someone he had almost forgotten about, Jae-kyung felt the strength drain from his body.
He had hoped things would simply pass quietly without anything happening, but apparently that had been too much to hope for.
-“Do you have a moment?”
“…As you can see, I’m the only one working at the convenience store right now. I can’t leave, but if you don’t mind sitting over there at the table…”
Jae-kyung pointed toward a small folding table in the corner of the convenience store.
He had recently squeezed it into the limited space because he felt sorry for students who had to stand around eating their cup noodles.
It was ridiculously cramped for two adults, but Secretary Oh nodded and went over to sit down.
Jae-kyung finished putting away the items he had been organizing, then got up and sat across from the secretary, who was waiting for him.
“I assumed you would come looking for me once you saw me.”
-“Yes.”
“Is this because I violated the divorce agreement? I never imagined this convenience store would end up belonging to NI, but it was my fault, so I’ll do whatever you ask me to do.”
-“Hmm… Please don’t worry. That’s not why I came.”
Secretary Oh reassured Jae-kyung, then took some documents out of the bag he had brought and handed them to him.
“What are these?”
-“Executive Director Han asked me to deliver them to you.”
“…He did?”
That can’t be right.
-“Please take a look.”
The documents Secretary Oh handed him were convenience store lease agreements. Not for one store, but two.
Both were in excellent locations with heavy foot traffic and came with favorable terms.
The moment Jae-kyung saw them, he frowned and set the documents down on the table.
“Why are you giving these to me?”
-“Executive Director Han told me to deliver them to you.”
“You want me to operate two convenience stores… Two stores with monthly rents of seventy million won each… So am I supposed to be grateful for this?”
-“Mr. Jae-kyung.”
“I have no reason to accept them. I’ve already finished dividing our assets, and I received a reasonable amount of alimony—everything I was entitled to. But giving me this…”
Jae-kyung’s expression hardened.
“Isn’t this just him taking pity on me because I’m working at a convenience store? It’s insulting. Give them back to him. No, let me correct that. Secretary Oh, take them back yourself. Don’t use him as an excuse.”
Secretary Oh stared at Jae-kyung in surprise.
“You don’t think I knew, do you? This whole thing was something you arranged to make it look like he cared about me, wasn’t it, Secretary Oh? Executive Director Han… There’s no way that man would care this much about me.”
If he really had cared about me this much, then our relationship would have changed, even just a little. At the very least, things would never have ended in such a complete disaster.
“I might as well say this now. Every year, on our wedding anniversary and on my birthday, you always gave me flowers and a cake, Secretary Oh. You said he was too busy to come himself, so he had asked you to deliver them in his place.”
Jae-kyung’s voice grew quieter.
“That was all you, too, wasn’t it, Secretary Oh?”
Even then, he had pretended not to know.
He had accepted them happily and thanked him.
Because even if it was a lie, he had been grateful for the thought behind it—the feeling that someone cared about him.
But even what Secretary Oh had done hadn’t really been for Jae-kyung.
It had simply been a way of taking one more thing off the hands of the man he served, Han Tae-seok.