[Book II] On my Own [ENGLISH]

Chapter 16: [January 2X21] Burning Burning Jalousie

No TW

This happens during the New Year's Eve party in At my on pace

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Chan was showing him a new meme he'd found on social media, but Seungmin wasn't listening. The only thing he could see right now was Jeongin flirting with Hyunjin next to the buffet.

It was almost midnight on New Year's Eve. The party was in full swing. Changbin and Felix were dancing in the lobby. Minho and Jisung were sitting on the couch, half draped over each other, talking in low voices. Disgusting.

And Jeongin was flirting with Hyunjin, so conspicuous and not subtle that he was sure that Hyunjin had seen him arrive miles away.

He kept a low grunt, trying to focus on what Chan told him next to him. However, his mind could only think of what he had just seen. The burning of jealousy had arrived far too quickly to his liking.

He closed his eyes quickly, taking a breath. He had no right to feel jealous. Hyunjin wasn't his own, even though his inner wolf cried for it. If Jeongin wanted to try to seduce him, he had every right to do so. Hyunjin wasn't an object and made his own choices.

He expired, feeling more in peace with himself. He opened his eyes.

Peace broke when he heard Hyunjin laugh at something the alpha must have told him. He could not help to stare at them, the eyes burning holes through the youngest of their pack.

Chan coughed next to him, bringing Seungmin back to reality. He met the gentle look, but nevertheless full of worry of his pack leader.

"Seungmin..."

"No, hyung... I really don't want to hear what you have to say to me right now..."

Chan sighed before he lowered his voice.

"I never dealt with what was going on with the two of you because you seemed to have solved it... Isn't that the case? Seungmin, it's almost been a year since this story began..."

"I know..."

Chan pouted. He and Hyunjin had agreed to act as if nothing had happened. They had not told anyone about their deal, and they had simply returned to what they knew best, to being close and sticky. The rest of the pack had doubts at first, especially Minho, but they had finally given up, accepting that everything had returned to normal.

"You should go to talk to him." Chan said.

"No. You can see that Jeongin is trying his luck." Seungmin replied, as he began to stare at them again.

His gaze must have been quite powerful, since it attracted Jeongin's attention. The younger looked up at him as he listened to Hyunjin talk about something. He looked clearly destabilized and surprised by the look that Seungmin was throwing at him. The beta looked away.

"Shit, I got caught."

"Jeongin will be asking questions now."

"I hope not. I'll get some air..."

"Minnie..."

"That's okay. I'll be back in five minutes."

He left his glass with Chan before going to the kitchen. He went through the door to sit on the picnic tables. He took five minutes to take deep breaths before rubbing his eyes, already feeling the tears rising.

He could only blame himself.

Jeongin was sitting next to Hyunjin on his bed. It had been almost half an hour since they had gone up to the brothers' room to be able to discuss calmly.

Hyunjin had just finished telling him an anecdote about the dance lessons he had done with Minho when Jeongin thought about what had happened earlier.

"Hey, Hyunjinie-hyung."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"It might be weird to ask, but... is there something going on between you and Seungmin-hyung?"

Hyunjin certainly shouldn't have expected this question, since he looked at him with surprise.

"Why do you ask?"

"He was looking at me like he was trying to rip my throat out earlier. So I thought maybe I was stepping on his toes..."

"You are not stepping." Hyunjin replied in a hurry. "N-Nothing is going on between us." He added, with his head down."

Jeongin may have been the youngest in the pack, but he knew clearly when someone was lying to him in the most visible way possible.

"Hyung, I'm not gonna lie to you, I like you. I see you're lying, so spit the tea."

Hyunjin hesitated a little, but eventually yielded to Jeongin's insistence. He told him the whole story. His feelings for Seungmin, those he had for him, his presentation and also what had followed.

This left Jeongin thinking.

"Oh, that's a lot to take... It'll be a year next month, won't it?"

"Yeah..."

"Do you want me to back off? I mean, I like you a lot, but I don't want to impose myself. I prefer that you have the choice to do what you want."

"No, I... I'm lost, Jeongin. I don't know what to do... I love Seungmin a lot, but I started to like you too... I don't want to hurt anyone...." He whispered.

Jeongin could feel the distress emanating from Hyunjin by wave.

"Hyung, it's late and we're not sober enough to slip into this discussion area... We should go to sleep and talk about it tomorrow... Or whenever you feel like it, okay?"

The oldest nodded his head.

"You're the most responsible of both of us, Innie."

"I am also clearly the sober one." The younger one laughed. "Do you want me to help you go down to your room?"

"No, I'm fine. Don't worry." Hyunjin said, rising. "Good night, Innie."

"Good night hyung."

The older one left the other with a smile, closing the door behind him.

It should never have entered into this deal...

Hyunjin went down the steps gently, taking care not to miss one. He went to his room when he passed in front of Seungmin's one. He stopped, looking at the door.

He had proposed this deal, thinking that he wouldn't meet an alpha that would draw his attention more than Seungmin. He knew what he was doing at the time. All the terms of the agreement were for him and Seungmin to try to be together.

However, Jeongin had come into the equation and now he wasn't so sure what he wanted. Besides, if what the alpha said was true and Seungmin saw that Jeongin was flirting with him tonight, the deal became obsolete. Seungmin would deliberately refuse to try anything knowing that he and Jeongin might be something.

He was so fucked up.