"Hyung."

I let out a small sigh and looked at Cha Taewoo with a tired face.

"You realize you're showing your true colors right now, don't you?"

I knew better than anyone how deeply his inferiority complex had been building since birth. Family, company, assets, all of it could be taken away with one word from Cha Seonwoo. He didn't really have anything that was fully his own, so it made sense he would be angry that even the Beta he had thought belonged to him had come back smelling like Cha Seonwoo's pheromones.

Seeing me speak mockingly, Cha Taewoo's face twisted hard.

"I'm not saying this because I'm insecure. He can't. He's no good."

I still looked at him with a sneer. Like I didn't already know that? I had seen plenty of bad Alphas until now. Among them, Cha Seonwoo stood at the very top. I knew better than anyone that getting involved with him could never end well.

"You can't handle him."

"I know. Even Cha Seonwoo's own parents can't handle him. Who could?"

"Cha Seonwoo's going back to the United States soon anyway. Until then, be careful that nothing happens. I'm saying this sincerely."

"Hyung. I'll be sincere too."

"..."

"Please stop worrying about my business. I'm exactly the kind of person you said isn't worth caring about."

Cha Taewoo looked at me with his mouth shut tightly, as if he had lost his words. He seemed angry, but also hollow.

I left him there, turned around, and went back to my room. But I couldn't stay still, because the anger and unease in me had nowhere to go, so I paced the room.

"Ha..."

Why was I so angry? Because Cha Seonwoo had given me a pheromone shower? Because Cha Seonwoo's mother and Cha Taewoo had both noticed it? Or because of what Cha Taewoo had said?

Without realizing it, I had bitten my lip so hard that it tasted bloody.

In the end, I couldn't hold back anymore. I left the room again and headed straight for the bathroom. I had already washed several times since yesterday, but I still couldn't stand it.

I stripped off my clothes and stepped into the shower stall. Cold water poured over my head hard enough to snap my foggy mind wide awake, and I squeezed body wash over my skin, rubbing hard enough it felt like I was scraping the skin off.

Even knowing that no matter what I did, the pheromones wrapped all over me wouldn't disappear so easily, I couldn't bear it.

And for the first time, I waited for Cha Seonwoo.

I wanted to confront him.

But Cha Seonwoo didn't show up, not even past ten o'clock, no matter where he had gone.

"...Why isn't he coming back?"

Had he gone out drinking again? Cha Seonwoo could definitely do that. But my mood sank even lower.

I knew very well that he had bad quality. Cha Seonwoo was absolutely not the kind of person I should get involved with or like. He already looked down on me that way, and if he found out that I was paying him too much attention...

I had to let it stop at mere interest. It was just that I had been curious about the first dominant Alpha I'd ever met.

Deep in the early morning, while everyone else was asleep, I lay still with my eyes closed.

From far away, I heard faint footsteps. Then the footsteps drew closer, stopped in the next room, and were followed by the sound of Cha Seonwoo's door opening and closing.

Only then did I open my eyes and sit up from where I had been leaning. Fortunately, Cha Seonwoo opened his door again and came back out not long after. I followed him out of the room too and strode straight toward him.

The mansion had already been swallowed by darkness, and only the dining room was lit by a soft glow.

"...Cha Seonwoo."

After hesitating for a moment, I stepped up to him and asked in a sharp voice.

"Did you pheromone shower me?"

Cha Seonwoo only glanced at me as he passed by and gave no answer. That was different from usual. Watching him make coffee in silence with a tired face, I grabbed his arm with an irritated expression.

"I'm asking you. Did you go and pheromone shower me without permission?"

Only then did Cha Seonwoo turn fully toward me. I had been scowling hard, but the moment I met his face, I froze.

"Why is your face like that?"

"Who knows."

Cha Seonwoo answered vaguely and rubbed his cheek. His left cheek was red and swollen, as if someone had hit him.

But who could have hit Cha Seonwoo?

For a second, Cha Taewoo's angry face flashed through my mind, but that probably wasn't it. There was no way Cha Seonwoo would just stand there and take a beating, and Cha Taewoo wasn't the type to pick a pointless fight with Cha Seonwoo over me alone.

Only then did his clothes register properly in my head. For someone who had gone out, he was dressed too comfortably, and I couldn't smell alcohol or perfume on him either.

Had he stayed home the whole time? Then where had he been... At the same time, an Alpha face that looked like him, yet didn't, flashed through my mind.

The only people who could hit Cha Seonwoo were his parents, right? Had he been scolded? Why? They clearly seemed to care about him a lot...

I stared blankly at his cheek until Cha Seonwoo turned his head away again, and only then did I come to my senses.

"Anyway... why did you do that? Don't do it next time."

"I'll think about it."

"I'm not asking you to think about it, I'm telling you not to do it."

Unlike how I had braced myself to demand an explanation from Cha Seonwoo, my tone had already softened. Part of that was because he looked different from usual, exhausted somehow. For some reason, it felt strange. I had definitely been angry enough to boil over, but seeing him like that made the anger quiet down a little.

Cha Seonwoo said nothing for a moment and just looked down at me. Then, with a hand that carried almost no strength, he poked my cheek.

"Are you really this mad just because of that?"

"Just because? You pheromone showered me without permission, and you expect me not to say anything?"

"Then I think I'm going to have a lot of things to make you angry about from now on. Won't that be tiring?"

I glared again. But instead of arguing further, Cha Seonwoo took his coffee and headed for the living room.

He never once admitted he was wrong, right to the end. I should have been angry at that, but seeing how he looked like he had no intention of fighting at all, I lost my own battle spirit too.

I hesitated while looking at him leaning back on the sofa with his head tipped back and his eyes closed. In the end, I sighed, opened the refrigerator, and took out an ice pack. Then I walked over to Cha Seonwoo.

"Use this."

Cha Seonwoo had been keeping his eyes closed even as I approached, but this time he opened them and looked up at me. His gaze was puzzled, as if asking what this was supposed to be.

"...Your eye is swollen."

Saying that his eye was swollen in the middle of the night was nonsense, I knew. My hand, still awkwardly held out to him, hovered in midair.

But Cha Seonwoo clearly didn't want to talk about his cheek, so I couldn't exactly tell him to put it on his face.

"I mean... it's a shame to waste a face like that."

I casually set the ice pack down beside him and looked away from his eyes. Then I fled back to my room.

I had no business giving it to him. That was meddling. Cha Seonwoo and I weren't that close anyway. Who was I to worry about someone else like that... My cheek burned.

"I shouldn't have done that."

The second I got back to my room, I flopped down on the sofa in front of the table. Thinking about what I had just done and Cha Seonwoo's strange expression, I nervously chewed on my lip. Maybe my action had wounded Cha Seonwoo's pride even more. I should have just left him alone.

"Idiot..."

Then the door burst open. Startled, I looked up and saw Cha Seonwoo. He had the ice pack I gave him pressed to his cheek.

While I stared dumbly at him with an "uh..." sound, Cha Seonwoo came into my room as if it were the most natural thing in the world and sat on the edge of my bed.

I had been biting my lip until a moment ago and not knowing what to do with myself, but I had already forgotten that and was now scowling.

"Why do you keep barging into my room without asking?"

Cha Seonwoo looked up at me with the ice pack pressed firmly to his cheek.

"Wasn't that you telling me to follow you?"

"Are you crazy? No, I wasn't."

"I haven't even gone out these days because of hyung. I've just been staying home, so hyung has to take responsibility and make sure I don't get bored."

Unlike before, his expression had softened a little. Without meaning to, I ran my eyes over Cha Seonwoo's face and felt a little relieved.

"Why is it because of me? I didn't stop you from going out."

"You said it was disgusting, the smell of alcohol."

That hadn't meant I was telling him not to drink, just that he shouldn't talk to me. Cha Seonwoo couldn't have not known that.

"...You went out today too."

"Did you mistake me for Cha Taewoo? I've been home the whole time."

So his cheek had been like that because of his parents. I remembered something my mother had once said in passing, that the chairman and Cha Seonwoo looked similar. Surely they wouldn't raise a hand even to an employee. As I searched my memory for any time my mother had had marks like that on her face, Cha Seonwoo, who had been staring at me, asked,

"Where's your younger sibling?"

Only then did I snap out of my thoughts.

"...Sleeping in another room."

Maybe he had only asked to get my attention. Cha Seonwoo gave a careless nod and patted the bed.

"Want to come here?"

I almost laughed at how obvious he was being.

"No. And don't go climbing into someone else's bed without permission."

"Why is this someone else's bed? This is my house."

"Even so, it's my room right now too."

"You really don't give in even a little, do you..."

"You're one to talk. Did you forget that I'm a year older than you?"