40
The face in the rearview mirror didn’t look human. Walking around with that face would make it all too easy for someone to report him as a victim of domestic violence or dating abuse. Cha Sukyung’s delicate face and small build made the effect even more miserable and horrific.
The suit, which had gotten wet and then been hastily dried with the car heater, was disheveled. I should have changed clothes before coming. With hunched shoulders, he walked through the hotel lobby where the lighting felt unusually bright today, and Kwon Yikang, who had moved close beside him, took off the cardigan he was wearing and wrapped it around his shoulders.
“What’s with your face, and why do you look like that?”
While waiting for the elevator, Kwon Yikang finally couldn’t hold back and asked. I told him I’d explain when we got to the room, but he’s so impatient. As the elevator arrived with a ding and we got in, I answered lightly.
“I got drenched.”
“And your face?”
“I was hit with hands.”
“But why…”
Unsatisfied with the answer, he suddenly raised his voice but quickly stopped and caught his breath. The other people in the elevator gradually moved away, pressing themselves against the wall, then hurriedly pressed the buttons for the nearest floors and rushed out as soon as the doors opened, despite the buttons for their original destinations still glowing.
“Is my face that hideous? People seem to be avoiding us.”
Are they so disgusted they don’t even want to share an elevator? I pretended to be hurt and whined, and Kwon Yikang irritably ran his fingers through his hair.
“It’s because of me. My emotions have turned aggressive.”
His deeply furrowed brow and the bulging veins in his neck showed just how intense his emotions had become. Every time he took a deep breath, the alpha scent, stronger than usual, tickled my nose. I don’t like him being irritated, but this is quite nice. I closed my eyes, expanded my chest, and inhaled the man’s scent.
“Who was it?”
“…”
“Who did that to you? Hm? Sukyung?”
As if he hadn’t raised his voice just moments ago, he instantly changed his tone, asking softly as if coaxing a child. His voice was affectionate and gentle, as if I should spill everything I knew without any hesitation. Hearing my name, I stared at Kwon Yikang. A darkness like an abyss was churning in his black pupils.
“I think that’s the first time you’ve called me by name.”
“That’s not what’s important right now.”
“Your pheromones are so sweet right now, almost intoxicatingly so. And you’re not even in heat. You’re releasing this intentionally, aren’t you? Are you trying to seduce me?”
“This is… me being… angry. No, it’s me… controlling my anger.”
I grabbed the hem of Kwon Yikang’s shirt, fidgeting with it, and panted briefly as I tried to suppress my rising breath. Unlike me, he had cooled down completely and spoke through gritted teeth, emphasizing each word.
“Tell me who did it.”
“I want to kiss you. I want to have sex with you.”
I want to embrace your body, get drunk on your pheromones, and be penetrated by your sex until you cum. As I whispered this, leaning closely against Kwon Yikang’s body, he let out a hollow laugh and rubbed his lips against my forehead.
“This isn’t the time for that. Get a hold of yourself, Cha Sukyung.”
“It isn’t?”
Even though you’re releasing such a sweet scent. Even though your pheromones are wrapping around me and exciting me. I don’t understand what I’ve misunderstood.
“Tell me who it was, and I’ll hold you. I’ll kiss you, have sex with you. I’ll thrust inside you and fill you up completely.”
He whispered slowly, moving his lips right against my ear. His hot breath moistened my earlobe, and his tongue licked along the curved contour.
“If I tell you? Will you go and punish them?”
“I could go and punish them, or I could help you punish them yourself.”
Looking at him as he promised perfect impiety, I couldn’t decide whether to laugh or cry and ended up making a strange expression.
The elevator arrived, and Kwon Yikang grabbed my wrist and strode toward the room. With a slightly hurried air, he opened the door, entered, and pulled me inside.
“Now tell me. Who did what and why?”
“Aren’t we going to have sex?”
“That’s for later.”
“Can’t I wash up first? My mind is foggy. I can’t think of anything.”
When I stared at him with blurry eyes, he let out a short sigh and led me to the bathroom. With a click, he closed the door and disappeared, and with him went the scent that had been clouding my head, gradually bringing back my dazed consciousness.
Why did my body suddenly heat up like this? Like a thief who learns late and doesn’t know when dawn comes, every time I touched Kwon Yikang’s body, every time I felt his pheromones, my body would helplessly become excited.
I turned on the water, put my hands in, and caught my breath for a moment.
The face in the mirror was swollen and already bruising. The area under my nose, which I hadn’t wiped properly and had dried, was stained with blood that had run down. Cha Sukyung’s once faint image had become tremendously colorful.
I took off the expensive suit that was now garbage. After removing the jacket, untying the tie, and taking off the dress shirt, I could see red and purple bruises in the shape of footprints from my shoulder to my chest. I felt it then too, but an old man’s strength shouldn’t be underestimated.
I slowly examined my completely naked body in the mirror. My skinny, bruised body didn’t look good. It was small, fragile, and insignificant. Was cheap, base blood flowing through this body? Is that why my Omega father and Cha Sukyung had to be treated that way?
As I stared blankly at the body beyond the mirror, Kwon Yikang appeared through the quietly opened bathroom door. He let out a soft sigh as he looked over my naked back and the reflection of my front in the mirror.
“I came in because it was quiet… You’ll catch a cold like that.”
“I need to wash, but I don’t have the strength. I don’t even have the motivation. The me I see in the mirror looks too unfamiliar.”
“No wonder.”
Rolling up his sleeves, he came into the bathroom, carefully helped me sit on the edge of the bathtub, adjusted the water temperature with the shower head, and directed a gentle stream onto my shoulders. His touch was gentle as he stroked my shoulders and back.
“It’s your fault.”
As his hands dampened and rubbed various parts of my body, I suddenly blamed him.
“Until just now, I was really full of energy. I was thinking I should ask you to join me in cursing when we meet. If only you hadn’t stimulated me in the elevator, it would have been fine. Making a perfectly fine person’s legs go weak for nothing.”
“You’re the strange one. When someone gets that angry, a hundred out of a hundred people would be terrified and run away; no one gets excited and rushes in. Didn’t you see how those guys in the elevator tucked their tails and ran?”
“You were pouring out pheromones. I couldn’t help it.”
“The pheromones released when you’re excited and when your emotions run high should feel different.”
“How are they different? They felt the same to me. Anyway, that was really your fault.”
I mumbled, and he quietly laughed and replied with a “sure,” but it felt more like he was just letting me win.
“Close your eyes.”
Before I could say anything else, he whispered and brought the shower head near my face. When I tightly closed my eyes, warm water cascaded down from the top of my head to my forehead.
“Tell me if it hurts.”
His large hands began gently wiping my face, which was wet with water. His fingers moved cautiously, barely applying pressure as if afraid it would hurt, cleaning off the dried blood under my nose and washing away sweat and tears.
After washing my hair and rinsing my body several times to make sure no soap remained, he wrapped a large towel around me with a gentle touch and moved me to the bed.
Even though I had just been sitting, I’d had my face washed, showered, my hair washed, and been dried until I was fluffy. It was premium service, even among all the services I’d ever received.
“Get under the covers and lie down. You’re going to get sick.”
“What kind of curse is that?”
“I can tell just by looking at your dazed state. You’ll have body aches when you wake up tomorrow.”
Kwon Yikang, who had briefly left when the bell rang, approached me with a reprimand. On the tray in his hand were wine and a hot pack.
“Oh right, I got permission to stay out tonight. I’m going to sleep here. You don’t have someone else coming, do you?”
“You can’t leave anyway because you don’t have clothes to wear. If you want to leave, you’ll have to go naked.”
“I have the clothes I came in.”
“I threw them away. I’ll prepare clothes for you to wear tomorrow, so stop changing the subject.”
He handed me a glass filled about a third of the way with wine and urged me with a quiet gaze. I received the wine with bright eyes, downed it in one shot, and smiled proudly. As if this wasn’t the reaction he wanted, a crease appeared between Kwon Yikang’s brows.
“Now… tell me so I can curse with you. When, where, and what kind of bastard hit you like that.”
As if he was trying very hard to be patient, he quickly spoke through pursed lips and poured me more wine.
“To explain this, I have to start from when I left home. Initially, it wasn’t so bad. Father’s expression…”
“Just tell me briefly: who, when, where, and why someone hit you.”
“Then you won’t understand.”
“…I’ll listen to the details.”
He spoke as if half giving up and swallowed a sigh while waving his hand. I couldn’t help but laugh at his cute expression that suggested he would reluctantly listen. There was no need to listen to something he disliked so much.
I just wanted to leave home and go somewhere else. Kwon Yikang was the only person I knew, and it didn’t really matter if he didn’t care about my messed-up face. It would be nice if he accepted me and spent the night with me, and I wouldn’t be hurt if he refused because I wasn’t in a state to have sex.
But this man was concerned about me and wanted to hear what had happened. He faced me and listened to me. He paid attention to every word that came out of my mouth and worried about my bruised wounds.
As if he cared about me. As if… we were lovers.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
