TATMFL - 10 

“Do you have a recommended menu?”

The man, smiling brightly, asked while blatantly staring at Raon.

At the gaze, Changwoo, who had been pushed aside, leaned against the island table and began watching the situation unfold. His expression looked quite intrigued, and Raon could tell even without confirming it. She sighed inwardly and responded.

“...Our signature menu is the Einspänner. Would you like to try it?”

“Why not.”

The man responded cheerfully and handed Raon his card.

As she took it, their fingertips brushed.

At that moment.

“Pheromones...?”

The man’s eyes narrowed slightly, and his gaze became intense as he studied Raon.

“Excuse me...?”

Pheromones? Raon frowned at the word he muttered, and instinctively tightened her grip on the card. However, the force from the other side of the card was so strong that it didn’t budge.

“Excuse me, sir?”

Unable to scowl in front of a customer, Raon awkwardly smiled and gently shook her hand.

Only then did the man loosen his grip and tilt his head slightly.

Then, unexpectedly, he asked:

“Are you feeling unwell?”

“...What?”

Raon stared at him, bewildered, and the man, crossing his arms, looked down at her. After a moment, he shrugged.

“Guess not.”

He spoke cryptically, then returned to his previous cheerful demeanor.

“Thanks to you, I arrived on time.”

Raon, who had been about to swipe the card, looked up at him.

His eyes, particularly dark compared to others, made Raon feel an inexplicable discomfort, but she nodded.

She knew he was referring to the directions he’d given earlier.

“Glad to hear that.”

With the calm tone typical of someone in customer service, the man exaggerated a sigh and put on a pitiful expression. With such a handsome face, his expression gave off a vibe that suggested he had some kind of story, making Raon feel inexplicably uneasy.

The man dropped his eyebrows in a dramatic fashion.

“I would have been more grateful if you hadn’t abandoned me halfway without any loyalty.”

“....”

There was nothing that could even be called loyalty.

Raon swallowed the words she couldn’t bring herself to say and handed him the card.

She only processed his words selectively.

“I’ll notify you when it’s ready with a vibrating bell.”

With that, Raon turned away, subtly signaling that she didn’t want to continue the conversation.

Just as she walked away, the man called after her.

“Should I make it extra delicious?!”

“....”

At the man’s shout, Changwoo, who had been about to grab the milk, subtly let go of it and stepped back, causing Raon to sigh.

For some reason, as time passed, the fear and intimidation she had felt when she first saw him seemed distant, like something she had experienced in a dream. Perhaps it was because of his feather-light words. Instead, what replaced it was, without a second thought, annoyance.

‘I wish he’d just leave.’

Feeling the gaze on her back, Raon, uncomfortable, bit the tip of her tongue.

The man, who hadn’t taken his eyes off her while she prepared the Dutch coffee and topped it with cream, spoke as soon as she placed the Einspänner on the tray, as if he had been waiting for it.

“Which year are you in?”

“...Excuse me?”

Raon, who had reached out to exchange the vibrating bell for the tray, looked at him with a half-resigned expression. What was he about to say this time? The man smiled brightly, raising one corner of his mouth. Her gaze was momentarily drawn to the deep dimple on his left cheek.

“Ah, maybe I should ask your age, since you might have taken a leave of absence?”

“...”

“How old are you?”

For a moment, Raon wondered why this man was acting like this toward her. Could it be that he was trying to keep an eye on her? And that’s why they kept running into each other by chance?

However... Raon looked at his polished face with a somewhat skeptical gaze.

The theory seemed plausible, but his questions were so trivial that it didn’t seem like he was spying on her. With a sigh, Raon responded.

“I’m 23.”

It wasn’t something as personal as asking if her organs were healthy or if she was in pain; just asking her age. If the man really wanted to know, he could find out easily, so there was no need to hide it. It wasn’t important anyway, so she had no intention of making it a big deal.

“Ah, 23.”

The man nodded with satisfaction at her honest answer, then took the tray.

Without explaining why he had asked her age, he turned and walked away.

“Enjoy your drink?”

He didn’t forget to say goodbye, though.

...Despite his appearance, he was surprisingly polite, like a loan shark with manners.

Raon watched the man as he sat down with the tray, but her attention was soon drawn to the piercing gaze from the side. Changwoo, with an expression full of expectations, was staring at her uncomfortably.

Raon sighed and preemptively spoke.

“We’re not close.”

“Really? But he’s acting so friendly? Hmm? What’s going on, is it already spring here?”

Changwoo dragged out his words, speaking in a playful tone, but Raon turned her back to him and started cleaning up.

“An alpha like him with a beta like me? That’s not possible.”

Raon replied matter-of-factly, not with skepticism, but as if stating the obvious.

She had considered the possibility that the man might be interested in her, but such doubts were discarded as soon as they formed. It was a theory that only held weight when she was an alpha, and as a beta, it was inconceivable to entertain that thought.

After all, the immutable truth was that alphas were meant to be with omegas, and omegas with alphas. Occasionally, there were cases where betas were involved, but these relationships were usually short-lived, stemming from a brief curiosity rather than any genuine connection, especially since betas couldn’t even experience pheromone exchanges.

Just like her parents had once been.

“...”

Raon’s gaze darkened as she thought about her long-divorced parents.

Thus, the idea that the man might be interested in her, or that spring might come for them, was nothing more than a ridiculous notion, given that she was a beta.

The idea of an alpha being interested in a beta was absurd. Raon laughed, almost as if sighing, as she thought about it.

She could hear Changwoo babbling beside her, but her attention had already shifted away from the man.

And then, just in time, the familiar sound of the doorbell rang, signaling the start of another busy day.

That night, Raon’s phone rang loudly.

‘...What now?’

Raon frowned as she picked up the phone, still groggy.

“...?!”

Her eyes widened, fully awake now, as she quickly sat up. The sleep instantly left her face, and she pressed the call button.

And then.

“Ra... Raon, Raon...”

A faint, almost broken breath came through the phone.

Ji Hyesung had manifested as an omega.

“Are you okay?”

Raon asked, her eyes narrowing with concern as she looked at the exhausted, pale-faced Hyesung.

Having just returned from the hospital, Hyesung, looking worse for wear, was sitting on the bed with an awkward smile.

“I still have a bit of a fever, but I took some medicine, so it should get better. What about Jian?”

“Jian is at home.”

Jian, currently under a sort of no-contact order from Hyesung, was quietly waiting for Raon to return at home.

Raon, aware of the theory that “an omega’s mating heat is irresistibly alluring and dangerously captivating to an alpha,” knew well the importance of keeping Jian away from Hyesung until his pheromones stabilized. Jian, being an alpha, couldn’t meet with or even see Hyesung until then.

Raon recalled how Jian, upon approaching Hyesung’s house earlier, had immediately turned red and quickly left after being overwhelmed by his pheromones. She added,

“Even though he was asleep, I got a message asking if you were okay. I explained everything.”

“Really?”

Despite looking pale and weak, Hyesung smiled brightly, and Raon sighed.

“They said it was a fever. Have you heard?”

As Raon spoke about the genetic results she had heard from the doctor while Hyesung was asleep, he nodded calmly, showing little emotion.

“Yeah. Normally, the pheromone gland should have stopped functioning, but in my case, the pheromone gland is still weakly functioning, so that’s how I manifested.”

Raon, who hadn’t heard the full explanation from the doctor, murmured,

“So, it’s a congenital manifestation?”

“I don’t have anything that could manifest later, Raon.”

Hyesung laughed softly, as if amused by her question.

Manifestation.

It usually occurred between the ages of 9 and 16, during puberty.

While it was rare for it to happen after high school graduation, it was almost unheard of for it to occur after reaching adulthood.

But in the case of acquired manifestation, the situation was different.

Acquired manifestation happened due to some external stimulus, and that stimulus was typically the pheromones of another person.

In other words, the pheromone gland, which had lost its function, temporarily tricked the body into thinking it was working, leading to the manifestation.

When Raon first found out that Hyesung had manifested, she briefly wondered if it was an acquired manifestation. After all, it was impossible for someone at the age of 23 to experience a congenital manifestation.

However, Hyesung had defied the odds and manifested congenitally.

And, as a recessive omega.

“I wish he were an alpha instead.”

When it comes to dominant and recessive traits, dominant was naturally preferable, but even if someone were recessive, if their trait was alpha, they would generally be treated better than an omega in all aspects. After all, alphas, though sometimes chaotic during their mating periods, were still preferred over omegas, who had the reputation of being treated poorly, to the point where rumors circulated about them engaging in intercourse with anything from stray dogs to humans during their heat.

But, of all things, Hyesung had manifested as an omega, and a recessive one at that.

Raon sighed as she brought over a glass of water, steering the conversation away from that uncomfortable topic. Of course, it was a natural question given that someone who should have been in the house was missing.

“Where’s your uncle?”