#25
Yet Eunsol’s eyes remained tightly closed. His eyelashes trembled faintly as if he were trying to open his eyes, but no matter how long Hyun-oh waited, those pitch-black eyes didn’t appear.
“Really… you’re quite a handful.”
It was thanks to Hyun-oh’s quick movement that Eunsol’s body, falling backward, didn’t hit the floor. His face, visible up close, was clear and innocent, unaware of Hyun-oh’s feelings.
A ticklish sensation bloomed on his face as Eunsol’s wheezing breath reached it. Without realizing it, Hyun-oh was staring down at Eunsol’s face.
In his defenseless sleeping state, Eunsol’s pheromones flowed more distinctly than when he was awake. Even so, they were fainter than those of the omegas Hyun-oh had met at business gatherings.
An omega’s pheromones usually gave Hyun-oh an unpleasant sensation whenever he perceived them. But Eunsol’s scent made him thirstier the more he smelled it.
“Mmm…”
At the sound of Eunsol’s moan, Hyun-oh lifted his head. His sharp nose tip gently brushed against the slender neckline. If Eunsol hadn’t made a sound from the ticklish sensation, Hyun-oh might have continued smelling Eunsol’s scent indefinitely.
His own actions just now were incomprehensible to him. Hyun-oh’s expression grew serious. The sensation of his body moving instinctively, swayed by unintended emotions, was more than just unfamiliar.
Instinct… in Hyun-oh’s view, was the intersection that made it impossible to distinguish humans from beasts. Especially those with manifestations were more strongly swayed by instinct than ordinary people due to the influence of pheromones.
The higher the grade, the more adept at controlling pheromones, but there were cases where they lost reason and collapsed more completely when rut cycles or heat cycles came.
Hyun-oh had lived clinging to reason so that he would not become such a being. Until now, it hadn’t required much effort. But because of the person he had casually kept by his side, he had a premonition that something that had penetrated his entire life until now might go awry.
Moreover, right now was a crucial time when he was competing with his half-brother for the company’s interests. Being swayed by emotions was certainly not a good sign. Hyun-oh clenched his fist tightly as if to compose himself.
“Let’s maintain an appropriate relationship like now.”
Hyun-oh laid Eunsol down on the bed. Despite his slightly furrowed brow, as if missing the retreating warmth, Eunsol still looked gentle.
It wasn’t as if Hyun-oh didn’t know how Eunsol had been treated by his family. But the moment he saw Eunsol actually suffering at their hands, he had to feel extremely displeased.
Eunsol was his person. He was also in a position to represent Hyun-oh in places where he wasn’t present.
That’s why the relationship between Eunsol and himself had to stop at the current level. Without the emotion of love, but like colleagues in the same boat who could trust each other to some extent. That was the appropriate distance Hyun-oh had drawn between Eunsol and himself.
Hyun-oh stood up, leaving Eunsol on the bed. Eunsol’s body scent and pheromones had subtly permeated the space that Hyun-oh had once used alone.
Even just that seemed enough to dispel the insomnia that had tormented him throughout his time apart from Eunsol.
After roughly removing the clothes he was wearing and placing them on the sofa, he headed straight for the bathroom. Even after taking off his clothes, the omega’s pheromones that he could still sense on his body grated on his nerves.
* * *
“Mr. Hyun-oh…?”
Eunsol opened his eyes at the faint sound of water. After waiting for Hyun-oh in the room, when it passed midnight, he had headed toward the entrance.
He sat quietly on the cold floor, holding his breath. The entrance light, which had initially turned on upon recognizing Eunsol’s presence, had gone out, leaving a silent darkness settled in the space.
Though the darkness pervading his surroundings was frightening, the thought of Hyun-oh not returning weighed more heavily on his mind.
Then at some point, he had no memory.
He was certainly at the entrance, but when he came to his senses, he was on the bed. Eunsol rubbed his eyes and started to get up from his spot but flinched.
In a place where only his and Hyun-oh’s pheromones had been present, a foreign pheromone now knocked at his senses.
With a feeling of disbelief, he turned toward where the pheromones were coming from. Fortunately, there was no person there. Only what appeared to be Hyun-oh’s suit was hanging.
Like someone entranced, Eunsol rose from his place. With the sofa one step away, his outstretched fingertips caressed the surface of the suit.
Eunsol had consciously tried not to touch Hyun-oh’s belongings. It was a habit ingrained in him because his family had so disliked him touching their things.
But now, his body moved before the thought that he shouldn’t do this.
Eunsol carefully lifted Hyun-oh’s suit jacket. The soft fabric touched the tip of his nose. At the same time, Eunsol’s fingertips holding the suit turned deathly pale.
“Pheromones… huh.”
They were omega pheromones. Not just one. At least two or more different pheromones were deeply embedded in Hyun-oh’s suit jacket.
Eunsol quietly put the suit back down as it had been. His gaze at the wrinkled spot where he had tightly gripped the jacket was a complete mess.
Hyun-oh might have passed by an omega who happened to be in heat. In that case, the omega couldn’t control their pheromones.
But the pheromones on the suit had a strongly sexual scent.
“Don’t give your heart too much, Eunsol. It’ll only make things harder for you.”
It was coincidental that Ryu Jeong-woo’s words from some time ago came to his ears. Jeong-woo’s expression when saying those words, though smiling, had looked sad like someone crying.
He had said it was common in this world. Since many marriages were without love, loyalty to one’s spouse was equally rare.
Especially for those with manifestations who could sense pheromones, it was impossible to have a secret affair. Unless the spouse met with a beta who had no pheromones, if they met with another manifested person, traces would remain clearly like this.
Even if pheromone neutralizer was sprayed, it couldn’t completely eliminate the traces. Judging by the amount of pheromones he could sense, Hyun-oh didn’t seem to have even sprayed pheromone neutralizer. As if he didn’t care if Eunsol sensed traces of others.
Realizing this fact, his chest tightened.
“…It’s okay. I expected all this.”
Eunsol whispered in a small voice. The faint sound of water could still be heard from the bathroom. Suddenly, he thought that Hyun-oh might be washing away traces of being with someone.
Hyun-oh sometimes looked at Eunsol as if he were a child. Given their significant age difference, it wasn’t strange.
Was that why? Hyun-oh didn’t touch Eunsol more than necessary. Pheromones too… since he didn’t consciously release them, Eunsol would desperately search for the pheromones floating in the space after he left.
Even in romantic relationships founded on love, one’s partner having physical relationships with others is more common than one might think.
Let alone between him and Hyun-oh…
His gaze, sinking gloomily, turned toward the bathroom. He felt jealousy toward someone whose name he didn’t even know. Just imagining how deeply that person, he or she, had burrowed into Hyun-oh’s pheromones and body, which Eunsol himself hadn’t properly experienced, made his heart feel crushed.
It was at the moment when tears that had been reddening his eyes finally flowed down his dry cheeks. The sound of water stopped.
Eunsol rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and returned to his original place. He lay down exactly where Hyun-oh had placed him and curled up.
It was a position with his back turned to Hyun-oh when he would lie down, as if he had naturally shifted in his sleep.
The sound of the door opening was heard, and a cool, refreshing scent filled the room. Hyun-oh even had his body products custom-made to be similar to his pheromone scent.
Not long after, one side of the bed was heavily pressed down. Instead of leaving the room, Hyun-oh lay down beside Eunsol.
Eunsol consciously breathed to make his breathing sound as even as possible. If he wasn’t mistaken, Hyun-oh’s gaze seemed to be stuck on his back.
That gaze sent shivers down his spine, but only briefly.
The lights illuminating the room went completely out. In the space where only wheezing breaths had been flowing, Hyun-oh’s deep breathing now interlocked.
He listened carefully. Even as the bed sheet became damp with tears, Hyun-oh’s breathing continued evenly.
Eunsol turned his body toward Hyun-oh, careful not to make a sound.
Even in the darkness, Hyun-oh’s features were distinct. Seeing his high nose bridge and the lips that followed below, tears that had temporarily stopped began to flow again.
“…Hold me too, please.”
It was something he couldn’t say while facing Hyun-oh.
Hyun-oh was a light sleeper. But perhaps due to accumulated fatigue, his even breathing didn’t waver.
Even if it was a relationship without love, it was fine. He also knew that Hyun-oh didn’t want children.
But Eunsol was someone who had nothing to give to Hyun-oh. All he had was a worthless body.
He had given Eunsol a peaceful haven and money that he couldn’t spend in a lifetime. He had even saved Eunsol from his family.
And… Eunsol was aware that as time passed, his feelings toward Hyun-oh were growing.
Perhaps this had been destined from the moment he first entered that hotel room. Even knowing that Hyun-oh had no feelings for him, Eunsol was glad that the person who had proposed this contract marriage to him was none other than him.
He wanted to continue being with Hyun-oh.
Until he found someone he truly loved… though it was more than he deserved, his wish was to protect the place beside him.
After all, Eunsol knew better than anyone that he couldn’t be the person Hyun-oh would love.
Eunsol gathered his courage once more. Today, he burrowed closer to the unusually motionless Hyun-oh.
Even so, there was still about a finger’s width of space between the two of them.
Watching the chest that rose and fell steadily, Eunsol also quietly closed his eyes. Sleep, once awoken, hardly returned.
Whenever he sensed unfamiliar pheromones wafting from afar, Eunsol consciously focused all his senses on Hyun-oh’s pheromones beside him.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
