Chapter 22

The rest of their time in Guam passed without incident.

At night, Yi-seon ate snacks and hung out with Yi-jeong hyung. When he asked how things were going in Mugyeol’s room, he learned that the brothers had apparently taken a vow of mutual silence. On the first night, they had even dragged a large potted plant between the beds to serve as a wall…

Snorkeling was similarly uneventful, except for one important fact: it was the first time Yi-seon had entered the ocean since “that day.”

The crystal-clear ocean still frightened him more than the pool had. Instead of diving, he stayed on the surface and let his life vest support him.

At Mugyeol’s suggestion, he tried floating on his back with a small swim ring under his head like a pillow. Once he relaxed, it was surprisingly comfortable—mostly because Mugyeol remained beside him the entire time.

After one dive, Mugyeol surfaced with an odd-looking stone and handed it over. When Yi-seon rested it on his chest, Mugyeol called him a sea otter and told him to start cracking clams.

After splashing around with Yi-seon for a long while, Mugyeol suggested they try diving lessons in the ocean next time. “Learn from me and you’ll be freediving before you know it. Then you can go to Jeju and harvest abalone.”

“All right. If I catch the biggest abalone, I’ll give it to you.”

“Promise?”

Mugyeol kept himself busy after that, bringing Yi-seon stones and starfish to examine and diving down to photograph sea turtles. It was obvious what he was doing: giving Yi-seon reasons to associate the ocean with something other than fear.

He even rescued Yeon Hangyeol.

“Hold still, damn it!”

“If you’re gonna grab me, grab somewhere else! Why the hell are you pulling my hair?!”

“I don’t want to touch a single inch of you for a single second!”

“Same goes for me!”

“Then don’t drown in the first place!”

Yi-seon sat on the boat steps, turning Mugyeol’s stone over in his hands while the brothers bickered. Their matching tempers were almost comical.

Hangyeol had been swimming without any gear when a cramp seized his leg and left him flailing. Mugyeol had thrown him a life vest, then hauled him toward the boat by the hair while Hangyeol floated on his back.

“Ah, let go! Grab the strap on the life vest instead!” Yeon Hangyeol yelled in fury as his hair was yanked.

Ryu Yi-jeong called out from the boat, “Mugyeol-ah! Just knock that bastard out! Knock him cold and bring him over quietly!”

Only then did Yeon Hangyeol shut his mouth.

Once safely aboard, Hangyeol massaged his cramped leg and complained to Yi-jeong.

“Yi-jeong-ah, I swear I almost died. My legs gave out completely.”

“Did you really almost die?”

“Yeah! And yet that bastard Yeon Mugyeol dragged me by my hair! He has zero respect for his elder brother, none at all! He doesn’t even greet me half the time!”

“Then Mugyeol is your savior. Go over and say thank you.”

“…You always take Mugyeol’s side.”

Yeon Hangyeol hung his head with a sullen pout.

Meanwhile, Mugyeol swam over to Yi-seon, still breathing hard. “What the hell did that bastard eat to get so huge? I thought I’d drop dead from the weight.”

Mugyeol was hardly one to talk, Yi-seon thought, but he kept that to himself and praised him for the rescue instead. Yi-seon sat on the yacht ladder with his feet in the sea while Mugyeol remained in the water beside him.

“You’re not scared of the sea anymore?”

“Yeah. It’s totally fine. Strange, really.”

It’s all thanks to you, Yeon Mugyeol.

“What’s strange about it? It’s a good thing.”

It was strange. They were in the open sea, yet fear barely touched him. Hangyeol’s brief panic had tightened Yi-seon’s body, but watching Mugyeol bring him safely back to the boat had calmed him almost at once. Yesterday’s experience seemed to have loosened something inside him.

Mugyeol suddenly lunged forward and playfully nipped his knee. Yi-seon kicked water at him, then told him it was time to climb back aboard.

The two climbed onto the deck and immediately encountered a sight they could have done without: Yi-jeong and Hangyeol were making out. With the difference in their builds, Hangyeol looked as though he were trying to swallow Yi-jeong whole. Neither noticed the boys behind them.

“Ah, fu—”

Before Mugyeol could finish cursing, Yi-seon clapped a hand over his mouth and dragged him toward the stern. “Calm down. Calm down.”

“How am I supposed to calm down? Could you stay calm if you were me?”

“Yeah. Look at me, I’m totally calm.”

“I should’ve just let that bastard drown when he fell in.”

After stewing for a while, Mugyeol watched Yi-seon’s parents swim back toward the boat, then called out as casually as if the thought had just occurred to him, “Hey, Ryu Yi-seon.”

“What, Yeon Mugyeol?”

“Have you ever kissed anyone?”

“Out of nowhere?”

The question was so abrupt that Yi-seon could only assume Mugyeol was still traumatized by what they had just witnessed. When Yi-seon looked him up and down in disbelief, Mugyeol, still visibly agitated, barked again, “Did you have a girlfriend in Jeju or not?”

“What girlfriend? Of course not.”

Something shifted in Mugyeol’s face—half smirk, half smile—and annoyance prickled through Yi-seon. It felt suspiciously like Mugyeol was looking down on him.

Yi-seon had never dated or kissed anyone, but he had received plenty of confessions. Saying so now would sound defensive, though, especially to Mugyeol, who collected confessions as easily as breathing. Yi-seon kept quiet.

“What about you? Have you done it?”

Mugyeol did not answer. He only grinned, and the answer was obvious from his confidence.

He’s probably done it until his lips were worn raw.

Yi-seon’s mood soured further. Mugyeol’s smile only made the jealousy worse. Yi-seon hated the thought that rose with it: wanting, just once, something he knew could never belong to him.

Other people have tasted those lips, so why can’t I try just once?

Greed and jealousy really were ugly things.

“I don’t mess around with just anyone. I’m only doing that with the person I’m going to marry—someone I know is really mine.”

“Look at the virtuous martyr over here.”

“Better than being a slut. Live modestly, Yeon Mugyeol. Modestly.”

Mugyeol burst out laughing at Yi-seon’s solemn lecture. He had been laughing unusually easily all day, Yi-seon thought.

As they talked, Hangyeol approached from behind, dripping wet from another swim. Without explanation, he rummaged through his bag and thrust something at Mugyeol.

“Hey. Want some?”

“What is it?”

“Bread. It’s a little wet, though.”

“…”

Mugyeol stared at the pastry in Hangyeol’s hand. It was half soggy from wet fingers and crushed badly enough that cream oozed from one side.

Mugyeol snatched the stone Yi-seon had been holding and handed it to Yeon Hangyeol.

“Do you want to eat this instead, hyung? It’s a bit hard, though.”

“…I try to look out for you and you still throw a fit.”

Looking slightly wounded, Hangyeol trudged off while stuffing the cream bread into his mouth. A moment later, Yi-jeong smacked him on the back. Snatches of their conversation drifted over: Would you eat something like that if someone handed it to you? It looks like food waste.

“What’s his problem?”

Mugyeol looked baffled, and Yi-seon was no less confused. Hangyeol hyung usually picked fights with his younger brother rather than looking after him. What had gotten into him?

“Hey. Could it be that Hangyeol hyung is doing that because he’s grateful? You did save him, after all.”

“Did you even see that cream bread before saying that? It looked like a waterlogged rag.”

“Yeah, guess not.”

Given how Mugyeol’s older twin brothers usually treated him, Yi-seon quickly abandoned the charitable interpretation. This was probably some new form of harassment.

After Yi-seon’s parents returned, the yacht picked up speed. The dolphin-watching was over, and they were heading back to shore. Yi-seon settled beside Mugyeol against the hull while clusters of light shimmered across the water.

“By the way, Yeon Mugyeol, are you only allowed to date women chosen by your family?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Your father got married as soon as he graduated from high school, didn’t he?”

As far as Yi-seon knew, Mugyeol’s grandfather was deeply patriarchal. Mugyeol was also an Extreme Dominant Alpha whose pheromones would be easier to manage with a compatible partner; relying on medication alone had limits. An early marriage therefore seemed almost inevitable.

“They don’t arrange formal meetings openly, but whenever there are gatherings, there are people they push my way so we can get close.”

“Really? Rich families really are different.”

“Your family has plenty of money too.”

“Not compared to Chairman Yeon, obviously…”

Besides, there’s no need for me to care about this family’s fortune anyway.

His brother was a Beta, and Yi-seon was an Omega who was not their biological son. He doubted his parents would ever try to engineer either of their marriages so carefully.

“Come to think of it, Father brought up arranged blind dates with Yeon Hangyeol once.”

“Really? Well, Hangyeol hyung is an Alpha too.”

“Back then, that bastard said he was already seeing someone just fine on his own, but I had no idea it was your brother.”

“Ah… hypothetically, if Hangyeol hyung and my hyung got married, would that make us in-laws?”

Mugyeol turned and stared at Yi-seon. After a long silence, he tapped his fingers against the deck and shook his head. “They won’t go as far as marriage. His partner is a male Beta.”

“Why? They get along so well… and doesn’t Hangyeol hyung seem to really like my brother?”

“Seems that way.”

“Then why?”

“Marriage isn’t a game. Feelings alone aren’t enough.”

The answer was cool and matter-of-fact.

Wow… How brutally realistic. And he’s only a student.

Su-ah’s words suddenly came back to Yi-seon. She had said that despite his age, Mugyeol held remarkably rigid ideas about marriage—that he could tell everyone he liked her and still have no intention of actually dating her.

Those values had probably been shaped by his childhood.

Now Yi-seon understood what she had meant. The contradiction Su-ah had described was suddenly impossible to miss.

Even though Su-ah had already told him, Yi-seon asked again to make sure, “What’s your ideal type, Yeon Mugyeol?”

Mugyeol’s answer was identical, as expected.

“A dominant female Omega with a compatibility rate of ninety percent or higher with me. An extreme dominant would be even better.”

“That won’t be easy.”

“She’s bound to be out there somewhere.”

“Good luck with that.”

Yi-seon looked toward the approaching shore. As the yacht cut through the waves, a nightscape of scattered light emerged beyond the dark horizon.

It looked like a field of flowers blooming from light, beautiful enough to steal his breath. Yet as the lights rose above the waves, something bright inside Yi-seon seemed to dim.

His feelings for Mugyeol were something he did not dare let shine.

❖ ❖ ❖