"Heh," Eugene chuckled, recalling that day at the bar. "Honestly, I almost freaked out when you called me 'Gin' back then. I thought you actually knew my real name and were about to scam me or something."
"Shouldn't I avoid using it if I actually wanted to scam you?" Arthur tilted his head.
"Oh, you're right!"
They laughed and shook their head. It was all tension last night, but once the truth--even if it was only a half one--came out, it was easy to get rid of the irritation. They made mistakes to each other, so all they had to do was apologize to each other. They were adult, after all.
As they were also of the same age, it was easy for them to connect, just like back then. After his pregnancy, Eugene stopped communicating with almost all of his friends. Sophie became his only friend, but they barely shared similar interests, so he missed talking to a like-minded acquaintance.
Even if the guy had a pretty privileged background.
Well, Arthur also seemed to have a rough life on his own, so...
Maybe they weren't that different in the end.
"Ah, this is satisfying," Eugene stretched his arms and patted his stomach, a satisfied smile on his face. "I always avoided making instant noodles at home."
Arthur looked up from the pot. "Because of your daughter?"
Eugene froze--the strawberry almost fell from his hand.
This friendly and relaxed atmosphere almost made him forget that he still had one big secret he did not want to divulge to the alpha.
As Eugene's mind stopped for a second, Arthur was gasping as if he suddenly recalled something. "Oh, my God!" he widened his eyes at Eugene, making the omega's heart lurching to the stomach in fright. "I...I kept you here! Your child--"
"It's fine. Tobias held a pajama party last night," Eugene quickly cut the alpha, wanting to end any topic regarding Hannah.
Arthur thought back to last night and finally understood why Eugene was there in Sophie's place. He exhaled in relief, finding out that he didn't accidentally let a little girl become fatherless for one night.
"Still...I shouldn't do that..." Arthur sighed in introspection.
"Yeah, you shouldn't," Eugene replied dryly.
"Sorry..." Arthur grimaced at his own stupidity, promising himself never to drink excessively again. He looked at the omega and asked cautiously. "Umm...is she alright, now?"
Eugene arched his brow. Why were they still talking about Hannah?
Sensing Eugene's displeasure, Arthur added quickly. "I mean...about the sensitivity and everything..."
"Oh, yeah..." Eugene nodded. If it was about his daughter's well-being, he couldn't just shut the alpha off. "As long as I'm there to calm her, she'll be alright."
"That's a relief," a sigh escaped Arthur's smiling lips. "I didn't have that when I was a child."
Eugene raised his brows. "What about your mother?"
If Eugene's pheromone managed to soothe both Hannah and Arthur, couldn't Arthur's parents do the same? The alpha even mentioned his mother last night.
Arthur, however, chuckled bitterly. "We're not living together anyway," he shrugged. "Besides, she's an alpha."
Eugene arched his brow.
"So does my father," Arthur gave a self-deprecating smirk. "Their pheromone only irritated me."
"Huh..."
So...it was because they were alphas? Did that mean Hannah would manifest into an alpha? If that was the case, did Eugene's pheromone soothe Arthur and Hannah because he was an omega, or was it just because he had a weak pheromone?
All kinds of questions stirred inside Eugene's mind, but everything stopped when he heard Arthur's question.
"Oh, does that mean your daughter is the same age as Toby?" Arthur asked with wide eyes as if he gained some enlightenment.
And that halted all kinds of thoughts inside Eugene's head. As if a bucket of ice had been poured over his head, he froze again. This time, even his expression turned cold.
Sensing the shift in the atmosphere, Arthur looked at the omega in confusion. "Eugene...?"
The glass of lemonade in Eugene's hand returned to the table with a stern sound; the clacking against the surface was loud within the silence. "Arthur,"
"Y-yes?"
The green eyes flicked up sharply. "If you don't want me to call you Crowley again, please refrain from asking anything about my daughter."
"Yes!"
Arthur swallowed hard and pressed his lips tightly. For a second, he thought Eugene would storm out of the apartment like those times he got angry and left him in the cafes.
"Finish your noodle because they bloat," Eugene said after a few seconds, and Arthur nodded obediently, grabbing his utensil quickly.
Well...at least it was only ended with a warning? Eugene was still there, silently drinking the lemonade and eating the strawberries while Arthur quickly finished his big pot of noodles.
When Eugene stood up to bring his bowl to the sink, Arthur almost ran to his side with the pot, telling the omega he would be the one washing the dishes. He asked the omega to simply rest and digest his food while he did so, and Arthur did not reject the offer.
Eugene walked back to the couch they used to sleep on last night and sank into it. Damn...he did not hate his own couch, but this one was damn comfortable to laze on. Perfectly plush without making him sink too deep.
No wonder he managed to sleep through the night, even in that uncomfortable position.
Snacking on a whole container of strawberries, Eugene cast his gaze around the apartment. It was easy to see everything since it was an open space. The only room with a door was what Eugene assumed to be the studio where Arthur worked to make his music and sound samples. Next to that room was the open bedroom, and there was a short flight of stairs leading there from the living room where he was.
Eugene could hardly see any decorations, aside from some paintings--which probably came with the apartment--and some game character figurines on a shelf. The wall was industrial gray, and the furniture was monochrome. The room freshener smelled of coffee.
Eugene couldn't help but chuckle because...it was just like his old place. Well, his wasn't this big, obviously, but the simplicity and the lack of color were just the same.
The epitome of a single man's cave.
For a man's cave, however, the place was pretty neat. There were no clothes strewn around, no crumpled paper or snack wrappers stuck somewhere, and all the figurines and model kits were lined up perfectly. Even the kitchen, which had a lot of stuff, was kept very neat and clean with everything labeled and placed properly. That was why Eugene managed to find ingredients easily.
The only thing that seemed rather disorganized was the books on the coffee table in front of the couch. Although rather than disorganized, it seemed like Arthur was in the middle of studying them--probably before the party--and since he meant to continue reading them, didn't bother to tidy up.
But when Eugene read the books' titles — curious about what kind of books someone like Arthur would read — he found they were familiar.
This is...the book I've translated? Eugene grabbed one of them and checked the copyright page, finding his name listed as the translator. Hmm? This one also, and this--wait, all of them are...
"Oh!" Arthur, who had finished washing dishes and was approaching the couch with a plate of warmed brownies, almost stumbled when he saw Eugene holding the books. "Uhh..."
Red quickly spread along his cheeks and his neck, as if someone found his secret love letter in his school locker. Not to mention, the one who found it was his crush.
While he bought the books when he was merely a 'fan', he read them when he was struggling with the idea of having a crush on a married man, trying to justify it as nothing but admiration. It was evidence of his disturbing thought, and the target of it was holding the 'evidence' in his hands, staring at him with unreadable green eyes.
"M-my grandmother has those...in their original languages," Arthur explained in a stutter.
"I see..." Eugene nodded, for some reason feeling a bit embarrassed.
If it were only one book, that explanation would suffice. But there were four of them, and Eugene could see annotations filled with question marks and personal opinions that showed that Arthur wasn't really the target reader of those books. Why, then, would he have four of them?
Eugene could tell the reason. Unlike him, Arthur tended to let emotions show. But it had been a while since he felt what it was like to be desired by someone, so it felt a bit awkward and...embarrassing.
Arthur cleared his throat to break the awkward silence while taking a seat on an armchair and placing the brownies on the table. "You...are good," he commented while fixing his gaze on the books instead of Eugene. "It's easy to understand."
Is it? Why were there so many question marks, then? Eugene chuckled and replied tersely, and put the books back on the table. "Thank you."
Taking a piece of brownie as his dessert, Arthur asked curiously. "How many languages do you actually know?"
Since he had seen the original books in his grandmother's library, he knew they were written in different languages. Two of them were from the same sources, but it meant Eugene was at least fluent in three foreign languages.
Eugene, however, merely smirked. "Not telling."
"Oh, come on!"
Arthur whined in protest, but since Eugene didn't look like he would answer it, he just stuffed his mouth with brownies in disappointment.
"Fine," he grumbled lightly. "Oh, by the way...what does your pen name mean?"
"Huh?"
"That Y.J. Gabriel," Arthur pointed at the books. "I'm just curious."
Eugene replied with a nonchalant shrug. "It's my name."
"...huh?"
Eugene smiled awkwardly, with a bit of a mischievous chuckle. "My government name is Gabriel Yujin Kim."