Ian had stepped outside for some air and was on his way back to his mother’s room when he stopped short at the sight of a man standing in front of it.
“Kang Yunhui.”
The name slipped quietly from his lips.
There was no way Yunhui could have heard him, but perhaps he sensed someone approaching, because he turned his head and looked at Ian.
Their eyes met.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Ian didn’t know what to say either.
Ten years, he realized, was a greater distance than he had thought.
When they were seventeen, Kang Yunhui had been the person closest to Ian. It wouldn’t have been an exaggeration to say Ian had been even closer to him than to Yudam.
There were vulnerable sides of himself that Ian could never show Yudam, yet he had never felt the need to hide them from Yunhui.
They had once been that comfortable with each other.
Now the distance between them felt impossibly vast.
The face before him undoubtedly belonged to the Kang Yunhui he remembered, but everything about the man himself felt overwhelmingly commanding, almost oppressive.
“What are you doing here?”
The question sounded ridiculous the moment it left Ian’s mouth.
If they were still friends, there was nothing strange about Yunhui coming to visit when Ian’s mother was in the hospital.
“I had business at the hospital.”
A low sound escaped Ian at the answer.
So Yunhui hadn’t come because he was worried about Ian or his mother. It sounded as though he had simply happened to be here for something else and stopped by because they crossed his mind.
“Did you want to say something to me?”
In the past, Ian would never have asked such a question.
There had never needed to be a reason for him and Kang Yunhui to occupy the same space.
One of them could sit reading while the other listened to music. An hour could pass, then two, without either of them saying a word, and it had never felt awkward.
Instead of answering, Yunhui jerked his chin toward the exit, indicating that Ian should follow him outside.
He didn’t even wait for Ian’s response before turning and walking away.
Ian swallowed a quiet sigh and followed.
They walked through the park outside the hospital for a while before Yunhui finally turned to face him.
“You heard, didn’t you?”
He didn’t ask the customary question of how Ian had been over the past ten years.
Nor was he referring to the destruction of Ian’s family.
The news Yunhui meant could only be his arranged marriage to Yudam.
Ian couldn’t tell what kind of answer Yunhui wanted, so he remained silent and simply looked at him.
“No private meetings with Han Yudam. No contact either.”
Ian finally lost his composure.
A hollow laugh escaped him.
“And who are you to tell me that?”
His emotions had already been tangled enough as it was, and the words came out sharper than he intended.
He was hurt.
When Yudam’s mother had drawn a clear line over the hospital bills, Ian hadn’t even felt hurt by it.
But Kang Yunhui had reappeared after ten years only to immediately start dictating Ian’s relationship with Yudam.
The disappointment made Ian’s stomach churn.
“You’re not asking because you don’t know, are you?”
Yunhui answered his question with another question.
It was somehow worse than simply saying that a marriage arrangement was being discussed between him and Han Yudam.
“You’re really planning to go through with the engagement?”
Ian still couldn’t believe it.
This couldn’t truly be Yunhui’s decision.
Maybe their parents were pushing it through against his wishes.
“Is there any reason I shouldn’t?”
There was no emotion whatsoever in Yunhui’s voice.
Perhaps that was why talking to him felt like talking to a wall.
“This was your decision? Why?”
Why?
The question loomed larger and larger in Ian’s mind, refusing to disappear.
He could understand Yunhui returning after ten years without so much as a phone call.
But suddenly appearing and declaring that he would take Yudam away from him made no sense.
Especially now, of all times.
I heard your mother’s in the hospital again.
She always is.
Stay for dinner. I’ll go to the hospital with you afterward.
Even back in school, Ian’s mother had often ended up hospitalized.
Whenever that happened, Yunhui never offered empty reassurance like She’ll be fine or Don’t worry.
He would simply tell Ian to come eat.
Yunhui had always noticed when Ian was falling apart inside, no matter how well Ian hid it.
And instead of forcing awkward words of comfort on him, he would sit beside him, share a meal, and stay.
That had helped Ian far more than any clumsy consolation ever could.
That same Kang Yunhui now stood before Ian when he was already teetering at the edge of a cliff.
And instead of reaching out a hand, he was pushing him closer to the drop.
“An omega from the Han family. Do I really need a better reason than that?”
The words landed on Ian’s chest like a massive stone.
It was shocking to hear Kang Yunhui speak of Han Yudam as though he were nothing more than a means of producing an alpha heir.
“What happened to you over the last ten years?”
For the first time, Yunhui’s brow twitched at Ian’s question.
“You weren’t like this before. I’d rather you just told me you were in love with Yudam. At least that would make some sense.”
Yunhui let out a faint, incredulous laugh.
“In love with Han Yudam… If I said I was, would you quietly step aside?”
His tone and expression made it clear that he already knew the answer.
That only made Ian angrier.
“Think whatever you want. Either way, you and Han Yudam are over. Don’t contact him again.”
At the cold answer, Ian clenched his fists.
He had spent all of yesterday thinking.
He knew he was in no position to hold on to Yudam.
From Yudam’s parents’ perspective, he even understood why Kang Yunhui was a far better choice for their son than Ian was.
His thoughts had gone around and around until he had even wondered whether Yunhui might secretly have loved Yudam since they were children.
And if that were true, perhaps stepping aside would be best for both of them.
But this was different.
Yunhui wasn’t even trying to pretend he felt any affection for Yudam.
And yet he was still standing there warning Ian not to contact him privately.
“Yudam was my friend before he was ever my lover. Whatever happens between us, there’s no reason we can’t still be friends.”
In truth, part of Ian had wondered whether, if he had to break up with Yudam, it would be better to cut things off cleanly.
Knowing Yudam, he wouldn’t give Ian up easily.
Perhaps Ian would have to be the one to push him away first.
It wasn’t as though the thought had never crossed his mind.
But every word out of Yunhui’s mouth grated on him so badly that Ian found himself insisting on something even he knew was unreasonable, simply out of spite.
“You still don’t understand the situation you’re in.”
Yunhui murmured the words in a low voice.
“Then I suppose you’ll have to experience a little more of it before you do.”
With that, Kang Yunhui turned away.
“Kang Yunhui!”
Ian called after him loudly.
Yunhui never looked back.
Only after his figure had completely disappeared from sight did Ian collapse onto a nearby bench.
He didn’t understand anything anymore.
How had things between him and Kang Yunhui become this strained?
Why had Yunhui changed into someone Ian barely recognized?
“You bastard. You could’ve at least asked if I was okay.”
Forget everything else.
Ian was going through the worst time of his life, and Yunhui didn’t seem to understand that at all.
That was what hurt.
Because it was Kang Yunhui.
The relationship between Ian, Yunhui, and Yudam had begun to change after their secondary-gender examinations.
The tests were conducted just before they graduated from elementary school, and the results came as little surprise.
Ian and Yunhui were classified as alphas.
Yudam was classified as an omega.
The three of you shouldn’t spend so much time together anymore. Especially Yudam. He can’t keep staying around Ian and Yunhui.
All the adults tried to separate Yudam from the other two.
He was an omega, and no one knew when his first heat cycle might begin. Having two alpha boys constantly at his side was considered dangerous.
No! Why am I the only one who has to stay away? I don’t want to! I’m staying with Ian!
A young Yudam clung tightly to Ian’s arm and refused to let go.
He cried and threw such a tantrum that the adults were left at a loss.
I’ll be careful. I’ll make sure I always have rut suppressants with me, and I’ll make sure Yudam takes his heat suppressants too.
Ian tried to persuade them.
Yudam was absentminded enough that the adults didn’t trust him to manage himself, but calm, intelligent Ian making a promise was another matter.
They began to waver.
I’ll stay with them too. It would be more dangerous if they were alone together, but if there are two of us, then even if either Ian or I gets pushed into rut by Yudam’s heat, the other one can stop him.
Yunhui backed Ian up.
Both Yunhui and Ian were more mature than other children their age and exemplary students who never caused trouble.
In the end, the adults trusted the two boys enough to surrender to Yudam’s stubbornness.
Yudam’s first heat came when he was fifteen.
Even though they had always known it would happen eventually and thought they were prepared, the sudden onset still threw them into a panic.
Ian hurried to find his rut suppressant, but by then Yudam’s heat was already beginning to cloud his mind.
Seo Ian! Get a grip!
Yunhui was the one who grabbed him.
Ian tried to focus at the sound of his voice, but it wasn’t easy.
When Ian tried to bite down on his own arm, Yunhui stopped him.
Bite me instead.
There had been no time to think.
Yunhui thrust his arm in front of Ian’s face, and Ian sank his teeth into it, using the pain to hold himself together.
Yunhui frantically searched Ian’s bag, found the rut suppressant, and injected it into Ian’s thigh.
Then he pulled a mask over Ian’s face.
Only when Yudam’s sweet hormonal scent began to fade and the suppressant took effect did Ian realize just how badly he had bitten Yunhui.
Does your arm hurt?
Yes.
I’m sorry.
Apologize later. First, let’s get Yudam to the nurse’s office.
For all the confidence Ian had shown the adults, when the moment actually came, he had panicked just like any other boy his age.
Yunhui, however, had remained calm and rational from beginning to end.
Thanks to him, Yudam’s first heat passed without any serious incident.