Chapter 290: BACK TO NORMAL?

HANEUL paused, blinking in confusion. Why would Taeyang suddenly ask if he was afraid of him? But when he saw the pain flicker in Taeyang’s eyes, he realized the other must have misinterpreted his awkward behavior. Taeyang thought he was scared of him. Guilt washed over him. He hadn’t meant to make Taeyang feel that way.

"No, of course not," he said quickly. "There’s no way I’d be afraid of you. I’m just..." He trailed off, unsure how to put his feelings into words. All he could manage was, "I’m shy."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt his whole face heat up. Admitting something like that was embarrassing, especially right in front of Taeyang. He suddenly felt foolish for being so awkward around him, for letting what had happened make him act so strange. It wasn’t like Taeyang had done anything wrong. He’d only been trying to help when he agreed to give him a temporary mark. And what had Haneul done in return? He’d made him think he was scared of him.

Haneul turned to face Taeyang, holding his gaze so the other could see the sincerity in his eyes. Then he said, louder and clearer this time, "I’m not afraid of you, Taeyang."

Taeyang couldn’t tear his eyes away from Haneul. It wasn’t because of what Haneul had said, but because of how he looked when he said it. His face was flushed, a soft pink spreading across his cheeks, and his light brown eyes caught the light like amber. Taeyang wanted to capture the moment, but he felt that even moving to reach for his phone would break the spell. So he just stared, the grievance he’d been holding onto slowly fading from his chest.

"Taeyang?" Haneul called out when the other didn’t respond. Had he really hurt him that badly? The thought made his stomach twist.

Taeyang seemed to snap out of his trance at the sound of his name, finally processing what Haneul had said. Haneul wasn’t afraid of him, he was just shy. The words slowly registered in his brain, and now it was his turn to feel heat creep up his neck. Shy? Haneul was just... shy?

"Uhm, okay. I see. Th-that’s good," he said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

They locked eyes for a second, then both turned away at the same time, their faces flushed with shyness.

Kyungho, sitting behind them, felt second-hand embarrassment just from listening to their conversation. It was painful to witness, like watching two awkward teenagers stumble through a scene straight out of a youth romance drama. He kept his face carefully neutral and did his best not to groan, pretending he hadn’t seen or heard a thing. The effort it took to do that was embarrassing in itself.

Ah, youth.

Eunji, sitting in the front, had also caught the conversation between her son and Taeyang. She nearly slapped her forehead when Taeyang asked if Haneul was afraid of him. Then when Haneul went red and admitted he was just shy, she had to hold back a wince. When the silence that followed grew thick with awkwardness, she almost closed her eyes. On the bright side, at least they’d cleared up the misunderstanding quickly. That was a good sign. She also had to give Taeyang credit for addressing the issue head on instead of letting it fester. At least she didn’t have to worry about miscommunication between the two of them.

"Ah, so, are you feeling alright now?" Taeyang asked after a long pause.

He wanted to talk about something else, like how they should handle the next month or reassure Haneul that Jeon Hyunsik would pay for what he did. But those weren’t conversations to have with the PD and Haneul’s mother sitting nearby. They needed to figure out how to act around the other contestants without raising suspicion. And he still had to tell Haneul about his role in what happened to Jeon Hyunsik. This wasn’t the right time for any of that. He’d already embarrassed himself enough by asking if Haneul was afraid of him in front of the PD and Haneul’s mother.

Haneul cleared his throat and tried his best to sound normal. "Yes."

"That’s good," Taeyang said, then paused. "Um, are you looking forward to going back to the ship?"

"Yes, I do," Haneul said, a small smile finally tugging at his lips. "I actually can’t wait to see Robin hyung and talk to him."

Taeyang felt a brief pang of jealousy at that. He quickly scolded himself for it. What kind of childish reaction was that? Robin was Haneul’s closest friend on the ship, and an Omega at that. There was no reason for him to feel this way. Was this another side effect of the temporary mark? The doctor did say he’d be more territorial. He wanted to curse under his breath. He honestly didn’t know how he was going to get through this entire month like this. He shook his head slightly. No, this wasn’t the time to think about that. He needed to focus on the conversation at hand. Especially since Haneul was finally talking to him normally.

"I’m sure Robin’s been worried sick," Taeyang said. "He probably has no idea what happened to you."

Haneul’s expression dimmed slightly as he nodded. "Yeah."

The staff probably hadn’t told the other contestants what really happened. But with Jeon Hyunsik’s arrest and his sudden absence, the others must have already started forming their own conclusions. Taeyang’s absence on the ship would definitely only add to their speculation.

Just as Taeyang had said, Robin was probably worried out of his mind. Haneul wanted to tell the other everything that had happened, but he wasn’t sure the PD would allow it. Maybe he could ask him later? If he guilt tripped the PD a bit, maybe he would agree.

After that, the conversation between them started to flow more naturally. Little by little, the awkwardness began to fade. And they were slowly finding their way back to how they usually talked to each other.

Finally, the van pulled up to the airport.