Chapter 121
*
“Ah…!”
The red protrusion visible through the open shirt was excessively erotic. Every time the calloused hand, marked with calluses from holding hockey sticks, grazed sensitive areas as it moved from the solar plexus to the ribs, groans escaped Hyeon-woo’s lips.
When McRae flicked one of Hyeon-woo’s nipples, already swollen from repeated teasing, with his fingertip, Hyeon-woo curled up like a shrimp, hunching his waist. McRae buried his face roughly in Hyeon-woo’s chest, strongly sucking on the nipple in his mouth.
“Aah…!”
As Hyeon-woo reflexively arched his back, McRae supported it, pulling him into his embrace, and skillfully removed Hyeon-woo’s shirt completely.
In response to Hyeon-woo’s desperate plea to do anything if he could forget, McRae had suggested changing locations first. As he was trying to figure out how to handle the situation while heading to where the car was parked, Hyeon-woo quickly climbed into the back seat of his car and started taking off his coat, leaving McRae conflicted.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t right. This wasn’t the kind of physical relationship he had wanted with Hyeon-woo.
As if urging the conflicted McRae, Hyeon-woo reached out and pulled him into the back seat where he was sitting. Though he knew he should refuse, McRae ultimately couldn’t push away Hyeon-woo, who was clinging to him seductively.
Even as he fondled Hyeon-woo’s body that he had longed for so much, every time he came to his senses and tried to withdraw his hand, Hyeon-woo would catch it again. Hyeon-woo took McRae’s hand and placed it on his chest. To prevent him from escaping, he placed his palm firmly on top of McRae’s large hand, with its prominent bones and veins, and began to rub. Blood rushed to McRae’s cheeks.
The fact alone that the usually ascetic Hyeon-woo was seducing him in an unimaginable way excited McRae more than ever before. He could feel Hyeon-woo’s nipples hardening under his shirt with the continued friction.
McRae’s fingers, teasing the discovered protrusion, showed no sign of retreating even after Hyeon-woo’s hand fell away. Once the fire was lit, it was difficult to extinguish. In an instant, Hyeon-woo’s shirt front was completely undone.
“…Hnng!”
He bit the protrusion several times with his front teeth before spitting it out. The swollen red fruit glistened with saliva. The windows fogged up with the heat filling the interior.
McRae buried his face in Hyeon-woo’s nape as he panted. He pressed his nose against the soft skin and inhaled, but could sense nothing but body heat.
“Hah, are you deliberately hiding your pheromones? Planning a surprise later?”
When McRae asked in a voice still filled with excitement, Hyeon-woo, his eyes hazy, responded with a dumb “Huh?”
“I mean your pheromones. Your pheromones.”
“Ah….”
Only then understanding what he meant, Hyeon-woo swallowed hard, visibly flustered. It was at this moment that McRae clearly realized what had caused the strange sense of dissonance he had felt while caressing Hyeon-woo.
There were no pheromones from Hyeon-woo in the heat-filled interior.
Even his own question about whether Hyeon-woo was deliberately not releasing pheromones seemed odd. How could such a question be appropriate in this situation, with an alpha and omega sexually excited and pressed against each other?
Pheromones belonged to the realm of instinct, not reason. Weren’t pheromones supposed to burst out uncontrollably when overcome by impulse, even if one tried to control them?
Like someone doused with cold water, the heat in McRae’s mind dissipated instantly. As McRae, having regained his composure, tried to rise and distance himself, Hyeon-woo urgently held him back.
“Now…?”
“……”
“Try, try smelling again.”
When there was still no response, Hyeon-woo gripped McRae’s cheeks strongly and pulled him to his neck. In an instant, McRae’s nose was pressed against Hyeon-woo’s neck, and a sweet scent he hadn’t noticed before flooded his senses. As if mocking the rationality he had just regained, his lower abdomen instantly hardened.
“…How about now?”
“……”
“How is it now?”
Like a child hoping their reworked math problem is finally correct, Hyeon-woo’s eyes held a desperate look as he gazed at McRae.
McRae felt indignant. He was furious at Hyeon-woo for trying to seduce him by pretending to want him and desire him, emitting sweet moans when it wasn’t true. And he felt deep shame for helplessly becoming aroused despite knowing this.
Thoroughly annoyed with Hyeon-woo, McRae roughly pinched Hyeon-woo’s nipple, still wet with his saliva.
“Ahk!”
A moan burst from Hyeon-woo’s lips as he arched his back at the sudden stimulation, but that was all. It was merely a reflex to the stimulation; McRae was certain there was no sexual arousal, tension, or anticipation in this act.
McRae reached out and felt Hyeon-woo’s front. As expected, he wasn’t aroused at all. Only McRae’s pheromones were raging wildly in the enclosed space.
He felt deflated.
It felt like facing an innocent child. This wasn’t about inexperience in physical relationships. There was something more fundamental in Hyeon-woo, beyond ignorance, almost like a deficiency.
He could have stimulated that and manipulated Hyeon-woo as he wished, but McRae first considered whether he could fill that emptiness in Hyeon-woo himself. However, it was difficult to judge. He didn’t have the confidence to boldly claim he could fill all of Hyeon-woo’s deficiency, which seemed as deep as an abyss with no visible bottom.
“…This doesn’t seem right.”
In this current state where nothing could be certain, it felt wrong to take Hyeon-woo. That much was clear.
“It feels like committing a sin.”
“……”
McRae withdrew from Hyeon-woo, opened the car door, and stepped outside. The cold night air felt like it was washing away the muddled heat in his mind.
He habitually reached for his pocket for a cigarette, then remembered he had smoked them all down to the filters while waiting for Hyeon-woo in front of Blue Door earlier. It had been a while since he’d chain-smoked so much, as he’d been unusually practicing quitting after Hyeon-woo’s scolding to stop smoking.
He looked up at the dark sky. A crescent moon, as small as a fingernail, had risen next to a tall palm tree.
Clack-.
At the sound of the car door closing, he lowered his head to see Hyeon-woo approaching, his clothes neatly arranged.
“…I’m going.”
“Okay.”
With that final exchange, Hyeon-woo passed by indifferently, leaving a trail of sweet scent behind him. McRae’s own pheromones were mixed with Hyeon-woo’s scent.
McRae took a deep breath, trying to catch that trace left in the air. But the lingering scent disappeared in an instant. He felt disappointed.
And a little resentful.
It seemed unfair that while he would clearly remember this scent for a long time, his own pheromones would not be remembered by Hyeon-woo in any form.
After that day, McRae never visited Blue Door again. Hyeon-woo thought it was for the best. He didn’t know how to face McRae either.
It was fortunate, if you could call it that, that there was no time to feel McRae’s absence thanks to Jamie and Jerome, who had started visiting the store almost daily recently.
After giving birth, Jamie suffered from severe insomnia for a while. She couldn’t let go of Jerome even when going to the bathroom. Knowing the source of Jamie’s anxiety, Hyeon-woo and Maya were heartbroken.
Hadn’t everyone unanimously said about Jamie’s child, that Jamie wasn’t qualified and adoption would be the best option? Although Jamie’s cognitive abilities were somewhat lacking, she couldn’t have failed to read the unfavorable atmosphere surrounding Jerome.
‘Whenever you want to see me and Ian, tell the center to get you a car. Show the driver the address written on the back of this card, and they’ll bring you to where Ian and I are.’
Since the day Maya’s debit card came into her possession, Jamie and Jerome had been visiting Blue Door almost daily.
They brought a cot and a baby bouncer into the back room for the two. They even did construction to add a small window and ventilation in one wall to let in light and air. When Jamie fell into a deep sleep on the makeshift bed, Ashley, who had three younger siblings, took care of Jerome with outstanding skill. Watching and learning from Ashley, Hyeon-woo also became quite adept at caring for Jerome.
“He’s so beautiful.”
Ashley entered the back room during a lull when all the customers had left. Looking at Jerome sleeping soundly in the bouncer, Ashley murmured quietly to herself.
“I’ve heard mixed-race children are beautiful, but how can he be so angelic?”
Hyeon-woo nodded in full agreement.
