Chapter 7. Cursed Night (7)

Translator: Lili

The moment he arrived at the cafe, he received a reprimand once he sat down.

“Exactly one hour later? Really?”

“I wasn’t that late.”

Though he had left the restaurant quickly, an accident between two cars on the way had delayed him. It was clearly one of those unlucky days.

“Here.”

Kim Moran handed him his wallet, which she’d taken out of her bag. Saying thanks, he took it and stuffed it securely into his back pocket, this time making sure it went in deep.

“Aren’t you going to check it?”

“Why bother?”

“What if I took something out?”

“There’s nothing worth stealing in it.”

Kim Moran brushed her hair aside and nodded in agreement.

“… By the way.”

“Yeah?”

She hesitated, as if wanting to say something, but instead changed the subject.

“Why do you carry so little in your wallet? I almost thought it was a discarded one.”

“I don’t carry much cash.”

“But you carry condoms?”

“Hey!”

“Strawberry-flavored ones, no less. Is that your thing?”

“… Shut up.”

There was no doubt—it was an unlucky day. Maybe he needed to perform an exorcism. Groaning internally, he stood up, but Kim Moran quickly asked,

“Where are you going?”

“To get coffee.”

“Grab me a chocolate muffin while you’re at it.”

“You’ll gain weight.”

“Do you want to die?”

Moments later, the tray arrived with a mug of coffee and a plate holding a muffin. Kim Moran picked up a fork enthusiastically. After she ate a little, she asked suspiciously as he took a sip of his Americano.

“Are you hanging out with Lee Cha-dog these days?”

‘Lee Cha-dog’ was the private nickname they had among themselves for Lee Chayoung. It was short for ‘Lee Chayoung, the bastard’.

“No. We just bump into each other at the club sometimes.”

Unlike Gyuha, who frequented the club, Chayoung only appeared a couple of times a month. Occasionally, they went upstairs with a beta, but that wasn’t something he could say in front of Moran.

Kim Moran and Lee Chayoung were cousins and sworn rivals. Whether it was familial competition or just mutual dislike, they clashed on almost everything. As two dominant alphas of the same generation, their upbringing often compared them against one another.

From what Gyuha could see, Moran cared a lot more than Chayoung, who barely seemed to notice. Of course, he’d never voice this observation to Moran.

“If you run into him, pretend you don’t know him. He’s a bad influence.”

Sipping his coffee, Gyuha avoided commenting. Good thing he didn’t mention the threesomes they occasionally had; he’d probably be smacked across the head if he did.

His mood sank as he thought about their most recent encounter—the time they had been alone together.

“Are you still working at the cafe?”

Kim Moran’s question broke the silence. Looking up, he replied belatedly,

“Yeah.”

Then he took another sip of coffee.

His family was well-off, and he could have studied abroad like his brothers. However, he had despised schoolwork since childhood. While he wasn’t dumb, anything academic triggered an instinctive aversion in him.

Throughout his school years, Seo Gyuha had always competed for last place, but thanks to the mighty power of money, he managed to graduate college somehow. Then came a turning point in his life. Succumbing to his father’s relentless pressure, he entered one of the subsidiary companies as an intern right after graduation.

The outcome was dismal. On his third day at work, the team leader—a man who had rubbed him the wrong way from the start—tapped him on the head with a file and hurled insults. Unable to hold back his temper, Gyuha punched him. That marked the abrupt and inglorious end of his first and only corporate job.

Becoming a cafe manager wasn’t his dream either. But his mother, unable to bear to watch her son waste away, had set it up for him.

“How about you? Doing well?”

“I’m always busy. Just finished a big project and didn’t even have time to take a proper break for two months.”

“Do you have to use those disgusting metaphors?”

“That’s how busy I was. It wrapped up yesterday, so I finally got some sleep. Went shopping today to de-stress, and that’s when I stumbled across your wallet.”

Kim Moran set her fork down and met his gaze.

“So.”

“What?”

“When are you going to thank me for returning your wallet?”

Her radiant smile could have captivated any man or omega, but Seo Gyuha, both a man and an omega, didn’t blink. He knew her too well to be charmed by appearances.

For a moment, someone else’s face flashed in his mind. As expected of cousins, they both had the same knack for peeling people’s layers away.

“Are you deaf? I asked when you’re going to thank me.”

He sighed lightly, feeling like a bug caught in a spider’s web, before finally replying.

“How about lunch tomorrow?”

Her response was sharp,

“A meal? Don’t be stingy. A new Chanel bag has just come out. Get me that instead.”

“… Just keep the wallet. Consider it yours.”

“Even with your card?”

She smiled smugly, never missing a beat, and it gave him chills. He couldn’t help but think it would’ve been better if a pickpocket had taken his wallet. Masking his bitterness, he finished the rest of his coffee.

***