Chapter One #2
I throw my hands up because I genuinely don’t have a satisfying answer to that question.
“I don’t know! It just disappears. I pay my phone bill and buy groceries and put gas in my car, and then suddenly there’s nothing left.
” I pause, then add in a quieter, more sheepish mutter, “I also maybe lost a couple hundred two weeks ago on that virtual exchange coin startup thing.”
Hyunwoo whips his head around, his expression a mix of disbelief and exasperation. “Yuggie. Again? Really? After what happened last time with that NFT scam?”
“It sounded like a good investment this time!” I say defensively, shoving my phone back into my pocket like hiding the evidence will make the problem go away.
“The guy I met on stream was super convincing. He already had the app built and everything, he showed me screenshots and a whole presentation. He said early investors were going to see a ten-times return within six months.”
“He showed you screenshots,” Hyunwoo repeats slowly, like he’s trying to process the sheer depth of my gullibility. “Screenshots.”
“They looked really professional!”
Hyunwoo shakes his head, pressing his lips together in a thin line that I can tell is him physically restraining himself from saying something worse.
“Someone should really limit your access to your bank account for your own good before you end up homeless. Or selling a kidney to cover your debts. Actually, at this rate, both kidneys.”
I sling my gym bag over my shoulder and pout, which I’m aware is not a particularly dignified look on a six-foot omega, but I don’t care. “You don’t need to kick me while I’m down. I feel bad enough already.”
Hyunwoo’s expression softens, the hard line of his mouth easing into his usual smirk. He throws an arm around my shoulders and pulls me into his side in a half-hug as we walk toward the locker room door.
“Alright, bud, come on,” he says, steering me through the doorway. “I’m sure it sounded legit at the time. These scammers are getting pretty sophisticated, they know exactly how to target people who—” He stops himself, clearly rethinking the end of that sentence.
“People who what?” I ask, frowning up at him.
“People who are trusting,” he finishes diplomatically.
His expensive cologne washes over me as we walk, the cedar and bergamot scent that he buys from some boutique that only sells twelve bottles a year or whatever ridiculous thing he told me once.
Underneath it, just barely, I catch the faint edge of his alpha scent.
Warm and spicy, with notes of sandalwood that I’ve known since we were kids, back when neither of us understood what scents meant or why they mattered.
It’s so familiar to me now that most of my own clothes carry traces of it from all the time we spend together.
My coworkers at the gym have commented on it before, asked me if I have an alpha at home, and I always have to explain that no, it’s just my best friend who doesn’t understand the concept of personal space.
Hyunwoo rarely lets out his pheromones around me.
Years of being friends have made the caution automatic between us, a habit neither of us ever had to discuss out loud.
He knows I’m an omega even if most people don’t clock it right away, and he’s always been careful about that, keeping himself reined in when it’s just the two of us.
Which is almost funny, because everywhere else Hyunwoo likes to flood the whole room with his pheromones the second he walks in.
He’s a showoff through and through, likes to make his presence known, likes the way heads turn and people straighten up when they catch his scent rolling off him.
I see it in action the second we round the corner into the main gym floor.
Hyunwoo slips out from under my arm as we approach the front counter, and I toss my gym bag behind the desk where I always stash it during shifts, bending down to dig out my employee badge from the side pocket.
When I straighten up, Hyunwoo has already drifted around to the other side of the counter and is leaning his elbows on the surface, his posture relaxed, settling in to be seen.
Two women are walking past on their way toward the cardio section, both in matching yoga pants and sports bras that show off lean, toned arms and flat stomachs, their ponytails swinging as they move.
Hyunwoo catches their eye and flashes them a grin.
I feel his pheromones roll out in a deliberate wave, warm and spiced, filling the air around the counter with enough alpha presence to make me stiffen where I’m standing.
The two women slow their pace noticeably, one of them letting out a breathy giggle as she nudges her friend, both of them stealing appreciative glances back at Hyunwoo over their shoulders as they pass.
Ye-eun, who’s stationed a couple of feet away by the check-in kiosk with a tablet balanced against her hip, rolls her eyes. But she’s smirking, the corner of her mouth twitching upward.
I turn to the computer behind the counter to clock in, pulling up the scheduling system and typing in my employee ID.
Hyunwoo’s pheromones are still hanging in the air, thick enough that I have to consciously unclench my jaw.
He’s not doing it on purpose, not aimed at me anyway, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying when I’m trying to focus on logging into a system that takes four separate clicks just to get to the time clock screen.
“What time are you off today?” Hyunwoo asks, still draped over the counter, his chin propped in one hand.
I glance at the clock mounted on the wall behind me. “Seven. Why?”
He taps the countertop with his long fingers, his gold rings clicking against the laminate surface. “We should get dinner. I’ll swing by and pick you up when your shift ends.”
I snort, turning back to the computer as the system finally lets me clock in. “We literally just had dinner together two nights ago. Don’t you have other friends you could bother?”
Hyunwoo shrugs. “Of course I have other friends. I’d just rather hang out with you.” He tilts his head, one eyebrow lifting. “Plus, I did say I’d make it up to you for bailing on game night, didn’t I? I’ll pay for dinner, obviously.”
“Of course you’ll pay, you don’t have a choice since I’m broke, remember?” I say, but there’s no real bite behind it. I sigh and close out of the scheduling screen. “Fine. We can get dinner.”
Hyunwoo grins. “Perfect. I’ll see you at seven.
” He points at me with a wink, pushes himself off the counter, and turns to flash another charming smile at Ye-eun as he passes her.
Then he’s striding toward the front doors confidently, back straight, shoulders loose, his leather duffel slung over one shoulder.
I watch a couple of heads turn to follow him as he goes, the way they always do.
I shake my head and clip my employee badge to the front of my hoodie, pulling up my training schedule on the computer to see who I’ve got lined up for the day.
Ye-eun looks over her shoulder at Hyunwoo’s retreating form as the glass doors swing shut behind him, then turns back to me with a look that’s equal parts amused and exasperated.