The paper cups clinked in midair.
Seo Jeong-won gulped down the soju that swirled in the cup.
“Ugh, it tastes bad because it’s lukewarm.”
“This soju is sweet—really sweet. Wow, it’s going down easy today.”
“Should’ve bought some cups with ice.”
“Want me to go get some now? I’ll grab ice cream and proper soju glasses while I’m out.”
Seeing Seo Jeong-won’s furrowed brow, Kang Da-hyun asked as if he was ready to get up right away.
It looked like he’d rush out of the flower shop the moment Jeong-won said the word.
“Let’s just drink it quickly before it gets even more lukewarm.”
Yeah, might as well get it over with quickly—just like pulling off a bandage.
He wasn’t sure that expression applied here, but now that he’d decided to talk, it felt better to get drunk fast.
Seo Jeong-won downed the remaining sip in his cup and grabbed the soju bottle.
“Trying to drink yourself to death?”
“Don’t say stuff like that.”
“Just joking.”
“No, I seriously need to get drunk fast.”
His lips, wet with alcohol, curled faintly.
Seo Jeong-won stopped Kang Da-hyun from drinking at his own pace and emptied several paper cups in quick succession.
His pale face began to flush.
He could feel the alcohol kicking in.
His vision wasn’t spinning, but his mind definitely was.
“Still, don’t you think you’re rushing this?”
“I… found my brother.”
“What?”
With the sudden hit of alcohol, Seo Jeong-won’s cheeks turned red.
He slowly looked up from the table and met Kang Da-hyun’s gaze.
He bit his wet lips, then let out a sigh that carried his confession.
“But… he’s in a coma.”
“Shit.”
Seo Jeong-won filled his cup to the brim again and downed it in one go.
The bottle disappeared as if it had never existed.
He wiped his damp lips with the back of his hand and shuddered.
“Then…”
“I’ve been busy trying to come up with hospital fees. I really needed… a lot of money.”
“What? What happened that he ended up in a coma? Who contacted you? Was it an accident? A car accident?”
“I got the call earlier this year.”
Kang Da-hyun’s mouth hung open as he listened to the situation Seo Jeong-won had been hiding for over six months.
His lips parted in shock and wouldn’t close.
He was frustrated by the lack of details.
“Tell me everything properly. Stop drinking.”
“So… early this year, I got a call from my brother’s number.”
The alcohol had hit hard and fast.
Seo Jeong-won’s body leaned forward.
His voice was starting to slur.
He blinked his big eyes before squeezing them shut.
“He was in a coma…”
“What the hell. Just dropping that like it’s nothing.”
Seo Jeong-won spoke intermittently.
Sometimes he paused, lost in thought as he tried to untangle his jumbled words, but he managed to explain the current situation before too much time passed.
While he spoke, Kang Da-hyun took a swig straight from the soju bottle.
Seo Jeong-won thought about stopping him, but let him be.
“My brother fell from somewhere and was critically injured. He’s been hovering between life and death for a year, and now… the hospital says he won’t wake up. They suggested removing the ventilator. But… they need family consent to do that.”
“Who made that call? Huh? The person who caused the accident? The police? The hospital?”
“His fiancée… or, the person who used to be.”
“What do you mean, ‘used to be’? You’re saying they’re not together anymore?”
“Yeah. They’re nothing now.”
It sounded like he was trying to convince himself.
Emphasizing something that didn’t need to be emphasized, trying to ease the guilt that weighed on him.
Seo Jeong-won let out a hollow laugh at himself.
“He knew he wasn’t in contact with family… so he had been taking care of him instead.”
His throat burned as he explained.
His head was clouded like a fog had settled over everything.
“My brother was going to get married? And he still didn’t contact you? Damn… Seo Gyu-won’s cold as hell. Then again, I guess I can’t really blame him.”
Kang Da-hyun mumbled in a drunken voice.
He nodded his head as if to confirm his own thoughts.
“If he really wanted to cut all ties, then yeah… it’s possible. Honestly, I kinda get it.”
“Yeah. He had his reasons.”
“But still… how could he not reach out to you even once? Huh? Isn’t that too much? Damn. He just disappeared while you were stuck here, struggling to get by, and he probably had no idea what your life was like. Living well, eating well by himself…”
Kang Da-hyun kept switching between resentment and understanding like a looping chorus.
He’d try to see it from Seo Gyu-won’s point of view, then curse and get angry all over again.
Watching him, Seo Jeong-won couldn’t tell what he was really trying to say.
He stayed quiet, waiting until Da-hyun stopped talking before he spoke again.
“Anyway, that’s why I needed money. It felt wrong to keep asking someone else to take care of my brother. That person… wasn’t obligated to do that.”
“Ah, I don’t even know. But… now that you explain it, I kind of get it.”
“Yeah.”
At Seo Jeong-won’s quiet reply, Kang Da-hyun suddenly raised his voice again, like a burst of emotion.
“Then you should’ve said something earlier. Damn it! Do you know how much I looked for you? No—wait, even if you had contacted me earlier… a year ago we were just twenty. We would’ve been useless. Maybe I should be thankful? Shit, what kind of situation is this? Seriously, man.”
“If something like this happened, you should’ve told me. I didn’t know anything. I misunderstood everything. I even thought I could feel some kind of alpha pheromone from you.”
He added that the scent was so strong it was practically repulsive, his face flushed bright red.
“Even loan sharks came looking for you. You’re too naïve, I thought maybe you’d been scammed by someone or something… God. I thought about every possible bad scenario. So, it wasn’t any of that bad stuff, right? Huh?”
At the barrage of questions, Seo Jeong-won shrugged.
He didn’t answer and gave an awkward smile.
Not those bad things… though what I’m doing now might be something just as bad.
If Kang Da-hyun had been even one year older than him, maybe he would’ve confided in him first.
But Kang Da-hyun was also twenty-one—just like him.
And though his life may not have been without hardships, it had been shaped very differently.
That’s why Seo Jeong-won couldn’t even bring himself to talk to him.
“Anyway, that’s what happened. It wasn’t anything good, so I didn’t tell you. I’ll pay you back soon.”
“Take your time. I don’t need it to live. Anyway… I ended up meeting your brother after all.”
Kang Da-hyun tilted the soju bottle and filled Seo Jeong-won’s cup.
Unlike earlier, he didn’t even fill it halfway.
“Take it easy with the drinking. So… the hospital bills? Are they covered now?”
“Yeah, I’m… getting some help.”
“Oh, like those programs in medical dramas? The hospital assistance stuff?”
“Something like that. More than that, I’m just worried because the flower shop has barely any customers these days.”
Seo Jeong-won didn’t want to explain the situation in detail anymore and changed the subject.
It was fortunate that Kang Da-hyun was drunk.
He didn’t ask any more about how the hospital bills were being covered and just gave a big nod.
“There really weren’t any customers. How can not a single person come in?”
“That time, when the loan shark trashed the place. Maybe because there were a lot of witnesses.”
With weak hands, Seo Jeong-won picked up his cup and took a long drink, lowering his eyes with a gloomy expression.
In a muffled voice, he lamented that business was so bad he was worried about making a living.
“Still, there were people coming in for repotting, and even some plants sold—really rarely though. Honestly, there’s barely anything worth buying here, right? Even to you, it must look… like there’s really nothing, right?”
“Yeah, the place is kind of cramped, cluttered, and the variety of plants isn’t great. And… well, a lot of them are dead. If you were me, would you want to buy—uh, yeah, you’d want to buy. Sure. This much variety is… fine.”
He let the brutally honest words slip out without thinking.
Noticing Seo Jeong-won’s eyes brimming as if about to cry, Kang Da-hyun looked away and tried to mumble his way out of it.
He must be too drunk.
Seeing those pale cheeks, flushed just a little, and those dewy eyes—suddenly, they looked unexpectedly pretty.
No, Seo Jeong-won had always been good-looking.
From childhood till now, always.
“It’ll get better. When I come by to pick apples this time, I’ll promote your shop to my aunts a lot.”
“Thanks, really.”
“Have some food too. You’re drunk, right?”
“Am I? I’m not sure. I guess I feel a little dizzy.”
At Seo Jeong-won’s murmuring, Kang Da-hyun picked up some chicken and brought it to his mouth.
“You’re drinking without eating anything, of course you’re drunk.”
At the urging, Seo Jeong-won opened his small mouth a little and took a bite of the crispy chicken.
“…It’s good.”
Watching Seo Jeong-won nibble on the chicken so pitifully, Kang Da-hyun muttered something he usually only said in his head.
“If you were an Omega, we could’ve at least gotten married. Then in a situation like this… I could’ve helped you.”
“…What?”
Seo Jeong-won’s glossy, wet eyes turned toward Kang Da-hyun.
Not noticing the confusion in them, Da-hyun scratched the back of his head and continued.
“I mean… it’s true, isn’t it? We’ve been stuck together our whole lives—nothing weird about it. You’ve got the flower shop, I’ve got the orchard, right? You… you don’t think I’m a bad option, do you?”
“What are you even talking about… all of a sudden?”
“Just say you’re an Omega and… want to stir up some trouble?”
“Why would I…?”