Chapter Text
The air in the deputy director's office was always immaculate: faint notes of expensive wood, fresh paper, and the barely noticeable, perfectly controlled sweetness of ripe peach. Jinyoung, a twenty-six-year-old omega, liked that. There was order here. His order.
At twenty-six, he was the director's right hand, and whenever the director was away, the entire department relied on him. The respect of his colleagues, ambition, a clear career path - Jinyoung had everything he wanted. As for his personal life, he was not dissatisfied. Dinners with friends, weekend climbing sessions, good wine, books. He was not waiting for just any alpha. He wanted an equal. So far, he had not met one.
Jinyoung disliked change.
So when Director Han returned from yet another vacation and informed him that the intern would be joining the department permanently, Jinyoung merely nodded politely through clenched teeth.
Yugyeom. Alpha. Twenty-three years old. Smelled like roses.
And that was the most irritating change of all. A soft, floral, entirely unobtrusive scent that nevertheless lingered wherever Yugyeom went, as though constantly reminding everyone: something here has changed.
Yugyeom was… different. Not arrogant, not forceful. He smiled easily and worked diligently, though at times his gentleness bordered on hesitation. Jinyoung noticed how the other omegas in the department softened around him, how they rushed to help him, pour him coffee, or start lighthearted conversations. Yugyeom always thanked them politely, though with visible embarrassment, as if he was unaccustomed to that sort of attention.
Later, one of the department's talkative beta employees informed Jinyoung that Yugyeom didn't have an omega at the moment. All of his previous relationships had begun because someone bolder had made the first move.
That strategy did not work with Jinyoung.
"Yugyeom-ssi." Jinyoung's even, slightly cold voice would sound the moment the alpha lingered near his desk a second longer than necessary. "Do you need something?"
"Ah, Jinyoung-ssi, excuse me. I wanted to ask about Manager Kim's report…" Yugyeom always spoke formally, lowering his gaze slightly as he talked. His rose scent subtly deepened, betraying mild nervousness.
"The report is with me. I'll review it by the end of the day. Is that all?" Jinyoung's attention returned to the monitor.
He was never rude. Never. He was flawlessly professional. Entirely unreachable. No indulgent smiles, no leniency.
One day, Yugyeom made a mistake. Not a serious one, but enough to create an extra hour of work for Jinyoung. When Jinyoung explained the issue to him - without raising his voice, but with icy precision - Yugyeom visibly paled.
"I sincerely apologize, Jinyoung-ssi. This is entirely my fault. I'll correct it. I can stay late if necessary."
"It will be necessary," Jinyoung stated dryly. "And in the future, please be more careful."
He saw the alpha's lashes tremble, saw the scent of roses mingle with the bitter edge of shame. For a fleeting second, something strange tightened in Jinyoung's chest. Something dangerously close to sympathy. He suppressed it immediately.
That evening, after staying late himself, Jinyoung stepped out of his office and noticed a light still on in the open workspace. Yugyeom sat alone at his desk, hunched over his laptop. He looked exhausted and almost pathetically miserable. Beside him sat a mug of long-cold tea.
Jinyoung walked past on his way to the elevator. His hand had already reached for the button when he stopped. He sighed. Then turned around.
"You're still here, Yugyeom-ssi?" His voice echoed through the quiet office.
Yugyeom startled and looked up. "Yes. I'm reviewing the correct process so I won't make the same mistake again."
"It's late. The subway will stop running soon," Jinyoung remarked as he approached. His peach scent brushed against Yugyeom's roses. "Show me what you corrected."
They spent another half hour there. Relentless and exacting as ever, Jinyoung pointed out flaws and inconsistencies. Yugyeom listened carefully, nodding as his fingers moved rapidly across the keyboard.
But something had changed. The ice in Jinyoung's tone had cracked. He no longer sounded like a superior reprimanding a subordinate, but like a senior colleague guiding someone younger.
"Here. See this? If you handle it this way, it'll save time in the future."
"I understand. Thank you, Deputy Director Park." Yugyeom's gratitude sounded sincere. His embarrassment faded into concentration. And in that moment, without any trace of nervousness or uncertainty, his scent bloomed - warm, deep, unexpectedly lingering. Not merely roses, but an entire garden after rain.
Jinyoung looked away abruptly, suddenly aware of heat spreading across his cheeks. That scent… was not unpleasant. Quite the opposite.
"That's enough for today," he said as he stood. "Finish the rest tomorrow."
"Understood. And again, I apologize for troubling you, Jinyoung-ssi." Yugyeom rose as well. He was slightly taller. And in his eyes, usually uncertain, there was now a quiet determination. "And thank you. For helping me."
"There's no need. It's my job." Jinyoung adjusted the sleeve of his suit jacket, avoiding direct eye contact. His own peach scent, usually restrained and refined, had become sweeter somehow, as though responding to the storm of roses surrounding him.
They rode downstairs in silence. At the entrance, Yugyeom bowed politely once again. Jinyoung returned the gesture with a slight nod.
On the way home, Jinyoung found himself thinking neither about the report nor his career. He thought about the steady gaze that had replaced Yugyeom's usual hesitation, and about the warm, confident scent of roses that stubbornly lingered in his thoughts.
He still disliked change. And this change named Yugyeom still felt inconvenient, disruptive to the perfect order of his life. But for the first time in a long while, something deep inside him - inside the disciplined, self-sufficient omega he had always been - stirred with interest. And the peach scent he controlled so carefully lingered sweetly inside the car for the entire drive home, persistent and shameless, as though confessing feelings Jinyoung himself had no intention of admitting yet.
Workdays continued as usual, yet the invisible thread between the deputy director's office and the junior specialist's desk had become impossible to ignore. Yugyeom still addressed Jinyoung respectfully. He remained impeccably polite. There was a subtle attentiveness in everything he did now, though he never crossed professional boundaries.
Jinyoung's real discovery came near the smoking room and the coffee machine. That was where the alphas gathered, including employees from other departments. Whenever Jinyoung passed by, he always quickened his pace, ignoring the loud jokes and conversations. Their coarse humor - often reducing omegas to categories rather than people - filled him with quiet irritation.
One afternoon, returning from a briefing meeting, he heard familiar voices. "Come on, he's just playing hard to get. Omegas are all like that. You just have to be more persistent…" The voice drifted out from the smoking room. One of the alpha managers.
Jinyoung frowned and was about to walk past when he noticed Yugyeom. The younger alpha stood slightly apart from the others, leaning against the wall with an unopened bottle of water in his hand. He was not laughing. His face, usually open and kind, looked tense, brows faintly furrowed. He stared at the floor in obvious discomfort, occasionally grimacing as though reacting to a foul smell. Not the cigarettes. The conversation.
"Yugyeom, what's with you anyway? You don't even have an omega. What, you don't like omegas?" another alpha teased.
Yugyeom looked up. And for once, Jinyoung saw something rare in his eyes: firmness mixed with unease. "I don't like generalizations," Yugyeom said quietly, but clearly. "And I don't like conversations like this." He pushed himself away from the wall. "I should get back to work."
He stepped out of the room and nearly collided with Jinyoung in the hallway. For a split second, panic flashed across Yugyeom's face - not because he had caught his superior overhearing them, but because Jinyoung had witnessed the unpleasant scene at all. His rose scent sharpened with anxious bitterness.
"Jinyoung-ssi, I…"
"You'll be late for the project meeting," Jinyoung remarked coolly, glancing at his watch. Yet something inside him tightened unexpectedly. An alpha irritated by vulgar bravado from other alphas. Thoughtful. Principled.
"Yes, of course. I'm heading there now." Yugyeom bowed his head slightly and hurried off, though his shoulders remained faintly slumped, as if embarrassed by words that had not even been his own.
Later that day, Jinyoung called Yugyeom into his office to discuss a contract draft. The work was flawless. Jinyoung made corrections while Yugyeom listened attentively, revising the document on his tablet. When they finished, an awkward silence settled between them. Yugyeom looked as though he was gathering his thoughts.
"Jinyoung-ssi… about this morning…"
"There is no corporate policy requiring participation in smoking room conversations," Jinyoung said dryly as he rearranged the papers on his desk. "Your break time is your own business, provided it does not affect your work."
"It doesn't," Yugyeom answered quickly. Then he looked up, meeting Jinyoung's gaze directly. "It's just… unpleasant when people talk about others that way. Omegas, or anyone else."
He was not saying it to impress him. It was simply the truth. His rose scent, usually so light and delicate, felt denser now - warm, protective somehow, like a barrier shielding his inner self from the ugliness he rejected.
Jinyoung studied him carefully. This young, gentle alpha who was unafraid of seeming "not alpha enough" in front of others. Who preferred isolation over mindless cruelty.
"That's a reasonable attitude," Jinyoung said at last, and the sharp frost in his voice softened slightly. "Professionalism should come first. Regardless of secondary gender."
He nearly added, I'm glad you think that way. But stopped himself in time. That would have been too personal.
"Thank you, Deputy Director Park." Yugyeom smiled faintly, and his scent softened again, sweet and floral once more. "Then, if everything's in order, I'll continue revising the contract."
After he left, a faint trail of roses lingered behind him.
Jinyoung leaned back in his chair. In his perfectly organized world - where work, ambition, and personal boundaries all remained neatly separated - a new variable had appeared. A variable named Yugyeom. Not merely gentle. Not merely hesitant. Principled. Thoughtful. And his quiet, unassuming kindness, his refusal to follow the ugly behavior of others, proved stronger than any aggressive confidence.
Jinyoung closed his eyes. The peach scent filling the office now mingled with faint, persistent traces of damask rose that clung stubbornly to his memory. And he could no longer convince himself that it irritated him. It unsettled him. And Jinyoung hated anything capable of disrupting his composure. But perhaps that was precisely why he was beginning to like it more and more.