Pink Flavor Omega

#40

The banknotes in his pocket felt heavy. Eunhong hesitated for a moment before agreeing.

The hastily eaten meal felt like it would give him indigestion. As he trudged towards the annex, Jaeha wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Although shoulder hugs had always been a natural gesture between them, Eunhong lifted his head slightly to look around. Jaeha pinched his nose, telling him not to be so conscious of others.

“Seeing your personality, your mother must have a hard time, doesn’t she?”

“…Yeah, that’s true.”

“When we go back, let’s clean up the house and live together. Hm? I’ll give you the biggest bedroom.”

“Easy for you to say.”

What’s so difficult about it? Jaeha added playfully, leaning his head against Eunhong’s. He subtly tightened his arm around Eunhong’s neck. Asking him to prepare seaweed soup for An Woohyun. Giving him that pitiful small change… Jaeha’s smooth forehead creased with displeasure. His expression soured quickly, as if even imagining it was unpleasant.

“I’ll have someone take care of that bastard’s birthday. You stay out of it.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Then why are you doing it?”

Eunhong scratched his cheek with an embarrassed expression.

“Strictly speaking, he’s like my mom’s work superior… He’s the manager here… Both grandma and when we moved down to Busan, mom received a lot of help from him…”

Jaeha’s expression darkened at the mention of moving to Busan. The time when Eunhong had fled to Korea after manifesting was a topic both Jaeha and Eunhong avoided. Jaeha felt a sense of responsibility for Eunhong’s life falling apart at that time, even if Eunhong didn’t see it that way.

“And he’s very sick. Mom has developed a complicated relationship with his wife, so she’s trying to handle things smoothly and not make a big deal out of it…”

“That’s not a reason for you to be considerate of that bastard.”

“I don’t want mom to be uncomfortable.”

“Eunhong…”

“Still, it’s because of him that mom and Sunhong could stay here, and I could escape to Seoul. I deliberately went to university there. Selfish, right?”

“…How are you selfish?”

“After dad passed away, I didn’t want to become the head of the family.”

He tried to speak calmly, but it was actually complicated. Eunhong disliked Busan. After Jaeha left like that and he lost everything he had enjoyed, Busan, where they moved down to, was like a prison to Eunhong. There were probably people who couldn’t understand why he had fled back to Seoul, leaving his mom and younger brother behind.

Jaeha silently looked down at Eunhong. Eunhong cast his gaze far away and spoke with a sigh.

“With Woohyun too… it’s just complicated.”

There were many stories to tell if he were to explain. Eunhong deliberately didn’t bring up the times when Woohyun’s feelings were hurt. He didn’t want to explain, but he also disliked the idea of Jaeha getting to know Woohyun deeply and becoming entangled with him.

It’s natural for a friend to make new friends, but he didn’t like it when Jaeha did so. He disliked Jaeha getting to know other people. It was a strange possessiveness, hard to explain, but that’s how he felt. So when Jaeha firmly cut off connections with others, Eunhong felt an indescribable, dark joy.

“Let’s go to the room and eat some sweet potatoes.”

Eunhong tugged on Jaeha’s arm.

***

On the last night of their stay at the family home, a drinking party broke out. They decided to have the year-end party a day early because Jaeha suggested they head back up on the morning of the 31st.

Sunhong, who had disappeared, only showed up a day later and received a severe scolding from Eunhong. Sunhong teased Eunhong, saying he was going to Seoul with his girlfriend and that his brother should find a partner too by then.

A grand feast was prepared for the family to catch up after a long time. The Korean beef Jaeha had brought as a gift was put on the grill, and soju, beer, wild ginseng liquor, and even the black raspberry wine that mom had made came out. It felt almost inappropriate to be doing this in a corner of the temple with Buddha enshrined right next to them.

Jaeha sat next to Eunhong, wrapping meat in lettuce for him. As Eunhong chewed the food, he felt a bit conflicted. It was both embarrassing and cute to see Jaeha folding his long legs to sit on the narrow living room floor.

After the usual talk about being happier in the coming year and several rounds of drinks, the atmosphere became increasingly lively. Eunhong, finding the sweet black raspberry wine to his taste, drank it like juice and quickly became drunk. Being at home and letting his guard down, he hadn’t considered his alcohol tolerance.

Meanwhile, Sunhong’s military stories seemed endless. Kyunghee shook her head, saying if she heard them one more time, it would be the tenth. Eunhong laughed, saying you’d have to hear them ninety-nine times before you could say you’ve heard them a lot. That’s when Sunhong suddenly looked at Eunhong seriously.

“Bro, but aren’t you resentful?”

“What’s there to resent?”

“If you had become an omega just a few years earlier, you wouldn’t have had to go to the military.”

Eunhong’s mouth fell open. Come to think of it, that was true. He turned to Jaeha and asked,

“You were exempted because you’re an alpha, right? Not because of nationality or anything?”

Jaeha nodded.

Eunhong clutched his head. A newfound sense of injustice washed over him. Due to factors like rut and heat that were beyond rational control, 2nd gender individuals were exempted from military service. Having manifested at such a late age and even experiencing an unspeakable incident, the thought of having served in the military on top of that filled him with frustration.

Seeing Eunhong’s eyes turn red, Jaeha raised an eyebrow. Judging by the vibrating pheromones, it seemed Eunhong was imagining something again. As Jaeha tried to calm him down, not knowing what it was, Kyunghee threw another comment at Eunhong.

“You, if you end up giving birth later, you’ll have experienced everything. Things that others find difficult even doing just one of.”

“Are you crazy? Mom!”

Who knew the word ‘childbirth’ could feel so embarrassing? And it seemed there was nothing his mom wouldn’t say in front of Jaeha. As Eunhong jumped up in shock, Sunhong burst into loud, mischievous laughter.

Regardless of his brother’s dismayed expression, Sunhong, as if proving that siblings are enemies from birth, started teasing relentlessly.

“Bro, you really have a tough fate. Even when you manifested, you had to be an omega. Alphas don’t give birth, you know.”

Eunhong’s mouth fell open. That annoying brat was really excited because it wasn’t happening to him. Why did it have to be omega, indeed? His insides were boiling with anger. As Eunhong’s excitement level rose, his pheromones became increasingly intense. The alcohol made it even harder to control. Jaeha bit his lip, looking troubled. He pressed Eunhong’s thigh firmly, examining his face, trying to calm him down.

“Being an omega doesn’t mean you have to do all that. It’s your choice. …Just be careful with contraception.”

“But since our bro was born with a fate to do everything others don’t, he might end up having a baby someday, right bro?”

Eunhong’s expression turned to one of near tears. Jaeha’s words weren’t comforting. He had lived his whole life in the position of impregnating, not being impregnated. The sudden realization of this fact brought a wave of fear and resentment.

“But if bro has a baby, would I be the maternal uncle or the paternal uncle?”

Who cares! You crazy brat, really! Eunhong glared at him.

“Is that important right now, you disrespectful brat? Is pregnancy a joke? Do you know how big the morning-after pill is? Do you know how miserable I felt when I had to take it alone? After being assaulted by someone I didn’t even know…”

“…Morning-after what?”

“What are you talking about?”

Jaeha covered Eunhong’s mouth, but it was too late. Kyunghee’s face instantly turned pale. Sunhong blinked in confusion. The effects of alcohol quickly dissipated.

***

Eunhong sat in the passenger seat with a haggard face, fastening his seatbelt. His soul seemed to have left his body. Despite having drunk the hangover remedy and taken the medicine Sunhong had prepared for him, he was worried about getting carsick on the way back.

“Take it easy and rest on the way up. You know I wasn’t just saying it when I said you could take time off work and come down, right? Mom thinks it would be good for you to rest a bit, so please seriously consider it. Okay?”

Kyunghee reached through the window to stroke Eunhong’s face. As he tried to reassure her with an awkward smile, saying he was fine, Eunhong felt tears welling up again at the touch of his mother’s rough hand. His back, which had probably been hit a hundred times last night, still ached.

After the bombshell statement, the atmosphere had quickly turned icy. Eunhong had been dragged into the main room and interrogated for hours. In the end, he confessed everything from start to finish. Kyunghee cried when he said he couldn’t remember.

Are you physically okay? Are there any side effects? How is the investigation going? After questioning him fiercely, Kyunghee hugged Eunhong and comforted him. After the initial shock and confusion, Eunhong’s tears suddenly burst forth, and he hugged Kyunghee tightly, crying for hours.

Even a heart that had been holding up strongly was bound to crumble when prodded by a mother. Crying like that, he hugged his mom and slept together for the first time in over a decade. When he woke up in the morning, he saw the living room had been cleaned up, with hangover soup prepared. Sunhong and Jaeha had taken care of everything.

Despite drinking so much, Jaeha showed no signs of being affected. He must be producing aspartic acid in his liver. Or maybe alphas had an extra special organ… Eunhong unwrapped another candy and popped it into his mouth, lost in idle thoughts.

He saw Kyunghee hugging Jaeha, asking him to take good care of Eunhong. The complex expression on her face as she looked at Jaeha seemed to be all his fault, leaving a bitter taste in Eunhong’s mouth. Sunhong held onto Kyunghee, who kept repeating the same words to the departing Jaeha. The seemingly endless farewell finally came to an end.

“I’ll come down again for Lunar New Year, Mom.”

Kyunghee’s expression was gloomy as she looked at Eunhong. Eunhong gripped his mom’s hand tightly through the window.

“It’s okay, so don’t cry.”

Jaeha exchanged a few last words with Sunhong before getting into the driver’s seat. Judging by the brat’s expression, it seemed Jaeha had slipped him some pocket money again. Sunhong’s face, as he put an arm around mom’s shoulders and stepped back waving, looked annoying. Eunhong narrowed his eyes but still waved back in farewell.