* * *
After that evening meal, a different kind of awkwardness settled between Yoonwoo and Dojin.
While Yoonwoo was grateful for Dojin’s sincere words and consideration, he built an even sharper wall in the face of his pure belief.
Dojin, saddened by Yoonwoo’s demeanor, could only silently worry, hovering around him without daring to approach rashly.
As time flowed slowly, the two spent their time in the same guesthouse, maintaining an invisible distance.
Yoonwoo spent most of his time in his room or quietly with Gaeul, who had significantly regained his strength.
Then, one afternoon, as Yoonwoo was spending quiet time with Gaeul on the porch bench, his phone rang for the first time in a very long while.
The number on the screen was not saved, but somehow not unfamiliar.
It was a call from Seoul.
He hesitated for a moment but answered the call, just in case.
“Hello?”
[Ah! Team Leader! It’s Minji, Minji! Kim Minji! Do you remember me?]
A highly excited voice came through the phone.
It was Kim Minji, a junior designer he had worked with at CS Design.
She wasn’t a bad person, but she was a little tactless and gossipy, which sometimes caused him trouble.
“…Ah, Minji. It’s been a long time. What’s going on?”
Yoonwoo tried to maintain a professional tone.
[Team Leader! How have you been? Well, I’m sorry to bother you, but you know that final results report file for Project B that you finished up a while ago? It’s on the server, but it’s strangely not opening on my end. It’s all error messages and broken files! If you have a personal backup, could you possibly email the file to me? Something urgent needs checking from upstairs, and I’m looking for it quickly… it’s a total disaster! If you’re busy, please send it whenever you can check!]
She rattled off the words quickly, without taking a breath.
Yoonwoo thought for a moment before replying.
“…I don’t think I have a personal backup… but I understand. I’ll check.”
[Wow! Really? There’s truly no one like the Team Leader! You’re an angel! A savior! Thank you, Team Leader!]
Kim Minji gushed her thanks dramatically, then, as if she had been waiting, started pouring out company talk.
It was her characteristic way of speaking—not malicious, but grating on the listener’s nerves.
[Sigh, the company is in total chaos since you left, Team Leader! We barely finished Project A, but the client complained that the design quality wasn’t what it used to be… other projects keep running into problems, and now overtime is the default! People are quitting, and the atmosphere is seriously hostile. Everyone says they miss when you were here. They really miss you a lot! Why did you quit, seriously!]
Kim Minji whined and complained for a long time about how difficult the company was and how much the remaining people were struggling.
Even through her exaggerated tone, it was clear that the company was indeed facing difficulties.
Yoonwoo just listened in silence.
CS Design.
It was a place of love and hatred for him.
A place where he had dedicated his youth and passion, but also where his ex-lover, who had given him terrible betrayal and wounds, was located.
Hearing news from there was still not comfortable for him.
[So, a new designer came in as your replacement, Team Leader? His name is Han Jiwoon. He’s young and pretty, but… maybe because he’s a newbie, it feels like he has a long way to go to fill your shoes. Honestly, he can’t even hold a candle to you! How should I put it, his design is pretty but lacks depth? But well… the CEO is completely smitten, so no one can say anything.]
‘Han Jiwoon’.
It was an unfamiliar name.
The words that followed from Kim Minji froze Yoonwoo’s heart.
[Oh, but Team Leader, did you hear? They say that Han Jiwoon and the CEO are dating! The rumor has spread throughout the company. The people involved don’t talk about it openly and try to keep it quiet, but everyone can tell they’re dating, so we’re all just desperately pretending not to know. Honestly, Jiwoon is making it pretty obvious… when people subtly ask what their relationship is or when they met, he acts shy and proudly tells them they met fatefully at a hotel when the CEO was in rut. Ugh, you really never know what life will bring. You dated the Team Leader for eight years… and just like that… Well, I guess they say Alphas and Betas don’t last long, right?]
Kim Minji probably thought Yoonwoo already knew, or perhaps she simply blabbered the gossip without much thought.
But those words became sharp blades, piercing the deepest part of Yoonwoo’s heart.
He felt the blood in his entire body turn ice cold.
The Omega who was present at that horrible scene of betrayal was… Joowon’s new lover.
It wasn’t entirely unexpected, but having it confirmed so directly made the strength drain from his body.
He barely managed to keep from dropping his phone as his hand went slack.
“…Ah… yes. I see. I understand.”
Yoonwoo managed to hide the tremor in his voice.
“I’m going to hang up now. I have something I need to do.”
[Huh? Oh, yes! Team Leader! Sorry to bother you when you’re busy! Thank you for taking my call! Please don’t forget the file!]
Kim Minji’s final words were barely audible.
As soon as he hung up, Yoonwoo clutched his chest.
He couldn’t breathe properly.
Jealousy?
Anger? It was a more profound, desperate wretchedness surging up from deep within.
In the end, he had been ousted by that Omega in every position.
Not just as his lover, but even as his colleague and business partner.
Eight years of time, the trust they built, and even his talent were all useless.
Joowon had ultimately abandoned him and chosen that Omega.
That harsh reality tightened its grip around Yoonwoo’s throat once more.
His vision was beginning to blur when—
“Meow.”
Gaeul, who had been sleeping on his lap, woke up and rubbed his small head against Yoonwoo’s stiff hand.
The texture of the fine, soft fur and the small but warm heat.
Yoonwoo slowly bowed his head to look down at Gaeul.
The small creature, whose bandage was now off and whose legs were much sturdier, was kneading his lap.
An animal found on the brink of death, miraculously surviving.
Gaeul’s warm body temperature and rhythmic purring seemed to seep into Yoonwoo’s frozen heart.
A small life that was cooling on the asphalt.
Gaeul’s condition had been so precarious that it wouldn’t have been surprising if he died at any moment.
But this little one somehow survived.
He stood up on his own power, and now he was nestled in Yoonwoo’s arms, sharing his warmth.
‘How long am I going to remain shattered like this?’
Yoonwoo asked himself.
‘Am I going to live as if my entire life is mortgaged to those three syllables, Cha Joowon?’
Joowon’s cruel words and callous actions returned, causing his chest to ache, but a different feeling began to bloom alongside the pain.
Anger?
No, rather… a sense of futility and a kind of liberation.
Dojin’s words from a few days ago flashed through his mind.
‘The true self of that person beyond their secondary gender… I believe that if you recognize and respect their unique garden, you won’t be easily swept away by the raging waves of instinct….’
It was true. Joowon was swept away by the wave of instinct.
For whatever reason, he ultimately abandoned him and chose that Omega.
That was his choice, not his own failure.
Joowon had thrown away his eight years, his sincerity.
If that was the case… then why should he waste his precious time and emotions on him any longer?
It would hurt.
This wound wouldn’t heal easily right away.
The memory of the heartbreaking betrayal might follow him for the rest of his life.
But he couldn’t just sink down here.
He couldn’t suffocate in Joowon’s shadow, in the wounds of the past.
He was himself, even without him.
He still had… a life to protect.
Hadn’t he felt the passion for design, which he thought he had completely lost, stir again, even if only a little?
Gaeul’s clear, amber eyes looked up at him.
There was no resentment or sorrow in that gaze.
Only the pure joy of being alive sparkled.
‘Let’s survive. And… let’s move forward, little by little. Just like this small creature did. Let’s not… hurt over Joowon anymore.’
He made a decision.
He didn’t know what to do immediately.
He didn’t know where to go.
But at least, he would no longer be consumed by the ghost of the past and destroy himself.
Instead of sinking down to cry, he would somehow rise again.
He turned his gaze toward the end of the yard, in the direction of the sea.
The surging waves and the endless horizon.
In front of that daunting landscape, he was, for the first time, gathering the courage to face it instead of running away.
He slowly drew a deep breath and exhaled. Jeju’s clear, cool air filled his lungs.
It was a proper, living breath, one he hadn’t felt in a very long time.
The stone pressing down on his chest felt a little lighter.
He lifted Gaeul and hugged him tightly.
Amid the comfort provided by the small life, the seed of thought planted by Dojin, and the resolution he had made for himself, he was preparing, slowly but surely, to move forward again.
* * *
