Siwoo, who had been faintly smiling, suddenly widened his eyes and laughed out loud, as if he had heard something absurd. It was a pure laugh that didn’t fit at all in the dirty, narrow alley.
“Ah, it’s just… it’s annoying. You.”
“Don’t joke around—Aaaah!!!”
The sound of a crack echoed sharply through the air. With one shoulder caught by Siwoo, Joo-cheol lifted his distorted face, his shoulder sagging. Could it be that a clavicle could break just from a grip? But the pain he felt in his shoulder was definitely not ordinary. Siwoo looked at Joo-cheol, who was rolling his eyes and screaming, with an indifferent expression.
“It wouldn’t be hard to cut off all your limbs… but it would be better to pull out your tongue. Like you said, I can do just about anything I want.”
“What, what?”
“Yeah, not now, but next time.”
When you show up in front of me… no, in front of Sanho again. As Siwoo’s smile slowly faded, his lips formed a stiff line. The fact that Joo-cheol’s vile threat had scratched the softest part of Siwoo’s heart should not be revealed. After looking down at Joo-cheol, who was writhing with his sagging shoulder, Siwoo turned away.
***
It was later than expected. When Siwoo pushed open the hotel door, he first thought the TV was on. Some voices were murmuring, but they stopped abruptly as Siwoo entered. Tilting his head slightly, Siwoo stepped inside. Sanho, who had been sitting on the sofa, jumped up with a slightly flushed face.
“Senior.”
It seemed he had been waiting for Siwoo late into the night. Siwoo approached Sanho with a faint smile.
“What are you doing up so late?”
Even with Siwoo’s question, Sanho just stared at him silently without opening his mouth.
“Uh, it’s not time to sleep yet. Dinner….”
Siwoo frowned as he looked at the tray on the table covered with a dome lid.
“Why didn’t you eat dinner?”
Siwoo looked at Sanho reproachfully.
“You’re still not feeling well, and you even got hurt today—”
“Senior, you smell like another Omega.”
At Sanho’s sudden remark, Siwoo’s voice, which was about to get angry, stopped abruptly. The roles had reversed in an instant. Pheromones… Ah, it was just for a moment. The time spent in the P Club was indeed very short. But perhaps because it was a place thick with pheromones, the dominant Omega Sanho picked up on it sensitively. Siwoo awkwardly wrinkled his nose.
“Ah… I guess my messed-up feelings are because of this pheromone.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s something I had to wear.”
Sanho looked at Siwoo, who was grumbling like a child, with a sulky expression. Siwoo smiled brightly.
“I guess I have to stick close to you.”
“Y-Yeah?”
“Um, like a disinfectant.”
Thinking his own joke was quite funny, Siwoo giggled like a child. Sanho looked at Siwoo, who was smiling brightly with a slightly tilted head, with a somewhat strange gaze. Then he slowly opened his mouth.
“Hey, Senior.”
“Yeah?”
“Why don’t you hug me?”
The corners of Siwoo’s mouth, which had been smiling, slowly straightened. He was taken aback by his own interpretation of the word ‘hug’ as something sexual. Even if it was a momentary reaction… a raw desire surged up unexpectedly, contrary to his intentions. Sanho opened his mouth again.
“Alphas… hugging an Omega is nothing, right?”
A self-deprecating murmur. And it was surprisingly similar to what Siwoo had said a few hours ago. He briefly recalled the dirty, narrow alley behind the club, but Siwoo deliberately shook off the memory. Instead, he smiled mischievously.
“Yeah, it’s not hard. So, Sanho.”
“…What?”
“I want to hug you right now.”
Sanho’s ears turned bright red in an instant at Siwoo’s sudden declaration. The gap was incredibly cute. Siwoo laughed out loud. His eyes crinkled with joy. In a playful voice, he spoke.
“Sanho, your ears are red. What were you thinking?”
“Ah, no… I was….”
“Not that. Like a hug of friendship.”
Ah. Sanho, feeling embarrassed, slightly lowered his head. Siwoo, still in a good mood, chuckled and stretched out his arms.
“I can’t touch you, or I’ll get scolded again… so you have to hug me.”
“…….”
“Um, if you don’t want to be hugged, you can hug me back….”
Before Siwoo could finish his sentence, Sanho suddenly threw himself into Siwoo’s arms. Caught off guard by Sanho’s unexpected embrace, Siwoo’s body swayed lightly. Siwoo’s eyes widened in surprise, not having anticipated Sanho would hug him. For a moment, he blinked in astonishment, but soon he began to smile slowly. He gently brought his outstretched arms together and embraced Sanho’s back.
“It really feels like disinfecting.”
“…What’s disinfecting? That’s weird.”
“Then how about purification?”
“That’s even weirder.”
Siwoo chuckled and lightly patted Sanho’s back. His hand, as if wanting to pull Sanho’s head closer, hovered in the air for a moment before hesitantly rising again to Sanho’s back. It was a hand that barely touched, as if it might not even apply pressure. Unlike Siwoo, Sanho buried his cheek into Siwoo’s chest. His tightly clenched fist grasped Siwoo’s jacket. He rubbed his cheek against Siwoo’s chest like a child.
“…….”
Siwoo bit his lip with a troubled expression. Ah, this is a bit… difficult. It was because the raw desire that had surged up at Sanho’s words about hugging was rising again. Biting his lip a little harder, Siwoo blinked.
“Senior.”
But as much as he was troubled, he also wanted to spend a long time holding this child like this.
“Your heart is beating really fast right now….”
“…Ah.”
“And it’s beating really hard….”
Siwoo, feeling a bit flustered, pulled away slightly to look down at Sanho. Reluctantly, Sanho leaned his cheek against Siwoo’s shoulder but then stepped back helplessly. Siwoo’s flustered face was reflected in Sanho’s dark eyes looking up at him. Siwoo feigned a nonchalant voice.
“Do I not smell like another Omega anymore?”
“……Almost.”
Siwoo exaggeratedly sighed in relief, as if he were glad. He then shrugged lightly and spoke.
“I’ll ask for dinner again.”
“It’s okay. I don’t have any thoughts—”
“No. I’ll ask for something simple, so just eat.”
Siwoo lightly brushed the hair that had fallen over Sanho’s eyebrows with his fingertips and smiled brightly.
“You have to finish it before I come out of the shower. Got it?”
Sanho mumbled in a dissatisfied voice, “Okay.” Siwoo found it adorable that Sanho was obedient, and he laughed cheerfully.
The sound of water continued in the large bathroom. Sanho was staring intently at the dinner that had just arrived. A delicious smell wafted from the finely blended vegetable stew. Letting out a shallow breath, Sanho soon turned his gaze to the phone placed on the table. The sound wave pattern of a voice message was frozen on the phone’s screen. After staring at the screen for a moment, Sanho checked the account that had sent the voice message once again.
“…….”
The account that had contacted him through an illegal messenger, like a virus, was very familiar to Sanho. A single voice message sent without any text. The sound quality was quite poor, as if it had been secretly recorded, but he could distinguish the voices of the two people conversing. Sanho pressed the arrow-shaped button. It was the end of a voice message that lasted about five minutes. The voice, which he couldn’t tell how many times he had heard, flowed out of the phone speaker once again.
– I think you’re mistaken about something.
– Wh-what do you mean…
– I think you’ve misjudged my weakness for a long time.
– ……
– Why do you think an Omega would mean anything to me?
– ……
– Hugging an Omega is nothing to me.
The malicious voice ended there.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
