#29
It was someone he hadn’t seen in a long time. Eunsol desperately clenched his teeth and stepped back to avoid showing his surprise. His body moved instinctively. Because nothing good had ever happened when he met the man before him.
‘Is this your brother? He looks incredibly pathetic.’
The man was Lee Joo-young’s childhood friend, Eunsol’s stepbrother. As someone who frequently visited Eunsol’s house since childhood, despite being an outsider to the mansion, he lived more comfortably there than Eunsol did.
He had visited frequently until high school, but after Eunsol manifested as an omega, he rarely visited the mansion. According to Joo-young, the man’s family fortune had severely declined despite once being prosperous enough to associate with Eunsol’s family.
They hadn’t been a family with a solid business foundation to begin with. Eunsol knew that his grandfather had been a four-term congressman who wielded considerable political influence.
Eunsol didn’t know exactly how the man’s family had fallen into financial trouble. He only knew what Joo-young had casually told him. The fact that Eunsol’s life was difficult enough that he couldn’t spare concern for someone who had never treated him well also played a part.
‘He was so arrogant about becoming a high-grade omega, serves him right.’
Even when his old friend’s family had problems, Joo-young wasn’t sympathetic. Instead, the way he had raised the corner of his mouth crookedly as if it was a good thing was still vivid in Eunsol’s memory.
“Ah, hello… It’s been a long time, Hyunjun hyung.”
“You’re still the same, pretending to be close without any sincerity, aren’t you?”
Kim Hyunjun laughed, his eye corners curving into half-moon shapes, as if amused. Despite them not being close enough for friendly greetings, Eunsol addressed him by first name with “hyung” just like before, which Hyunjun found ridiculous.
“Then I’ll be going now.”
Eunsol decided to quickly leave the place. Not just because of Kim Hyunjun, but because the middle-aged man standing with his arms crossed had been staring at Eunsol piercingly.
Goosebumps rose on his arms due to the gaze that lingered not just on his face but also traced the lines of his body beneath his clothes. Though it sounded absurd, Eunsol felt that the man wanted to see his naked body. It was the kind of gaze he never wanted to experience again.
“I should introduce you too. After all, we’ve become family now.”
Eunsol, who was trying to walk past Kim Hyunjun, suddenly stopped at the word ‘family.’ Eunsol raised his eyes, which he had been avoiding doing, and examined the middle-aged man’s face in detail.
The man had neatly swept his graying hair behind his forehead, not bothering to hide it. There were fine wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, but his smooth skin made it difficult to guess his actual age.
Though his appearance and aura were clearly different, Eunsol couldn’t help but think of one person when he saw the man’s intense gaze.
“Ah, come to think of it… Eunsol, I heard you got married recently? I heard it was originally a marriage planned with my dear’s father.”
Kim Hyunjun leaned against the arm of the man who looked at least twenty years older than him and gave a suggestive smile.
Eunsol’s eyelashes trembled, unable to hide his inner turmoil. He had vaguely guessed from the moment the two appeared together, but it seemed Kim Hyunjun was indeed in a special relationship with this person.
Eunsol’s mind was a mess as he tried to figure out how to respond to Kim Hyunjun’s words. It was the middle-aged man who approached the motionless Eunsol.
“Even when I asked to bring you to family dinners, he kept you hidden away. It seems there was a good reason for that.”
The man was large in build. So large that Eunsol’s slender body would need to be combined with another to match him.
Though shorter than Hyun-oh, he was still tall enough that Eunsol had to tilt his head back to look at him.
“Hnngh…”
Eunsol’s eyes widened. It was because the man suddenly released his pheromones. Unlike Hyun-oh’s cool and refreshing pine scent, an acrid smell similar to cigarette smoke enveloped Eunsol’s entire body.
“Darling, why are you suddenly releasing pheromones…”
“You be quiet.”
Eunsol couldn’t withstand it and ended up bending his knees. A dull pain spread from his knees hitting the floor, but even that felt numb as the omega’s body responded helplessly to the alpha’s pheromones.
Sensing that the situation was turning strange, Kim Hyunjun grabbed Han Hyunyong’s arm, but he coldly shook off Kim Hyunjun’s hand. He bent down in front of Eunsol and knelt on one knee.
“Hmm… A scent I seem to have smelled somewhere before.”
Without hesitation, he lowered his head to Eunsol’s neck, which was trembling, and took a deep breath. The not-so-strong but delicate and fragrant flower scent lingered around his nose before spreading throughout his body.
Deep wrinkles formed between the man’s brows as he concentrated on remembering the name of the scent. As it seemed like he might remember, he released another wave of pheromones to draw out more of the scent.
“Please, stop…”
Tears that had gathered at Eunsol’s reddened eye corners flowed down his clear cheeks. A clear light of lust passed through Han Hyunyong’s eyes. Just as he buried his head in Eunsol’s neck so deeply that his nose might get crushed, and moved his hand to grasp Eunsol’s face as well, something happened.
“Gasp, are you okay?”
Kim Hyunjun crouched next to Han Hyunyong and gently smoothed out the wrinkles in his suit jacket with his palm. But Han Hyunyong’s eyes wouldn’t leave the back of the small figure who had pushed him away and was now fleeing.
* * *
“Bathroom, where is…”
Eunsol desperately searched for a restroom, wiping his forehead, which was seeping with cold sweat, with the back of his hand.
It was common for omega male restrooms to have CCTV at the entrance. Because of this, omega males who felt threatened usually sought out dedicated restrooms nearby.
The place where the restaurant where Eunsol had dined with Hyun-oh was located was frequently visited by the wealthy. Accordingly, there was at least one omega male restroom on each floor.
“Hng, ah…”
Having found the restroom, Eunsol entered a stall with a toilet, closed the door, and breathed heavily.
“This is the worst…”
He didn’t know when he was confined in the mansion his father had created. How an omega’s body could be swayed by instincts that even reason couldn’t suppress.
He only wanted to respond to Hyun-oh. But today, his body had helplessly collapsed before his half-brother. If it had been a sealed space, he might have unknowingly submitted to him.
The thought of this made his body continue to tremble.
Even now, Hyun-oh doesn’t try to touch Eunsol’s body. If he found out that his half-brother had touched him… Eunsol gasped heavily as he imagined how coldly Hyun-oh’s eyes would harden.
“Are you okay? If something’s wrong, should I call the police?”
Due to his anxious state, the restroom was now faintly permeated with Eunsol’s pheromones. When soft sobbing sounds were also heard, an omega male who had just entered the restroom worriedly knocked on the door of the stall where Eunsol was hiding.
Sex crimes targeting omega males were a staple topic that appeared in the news whenever it was about to be forgotten. The omega male became restless at the sound of Eunsol’s voice crying quietly in the stall.
“I’m, I’m fine… Thank you for your concern…”
Eunsol rubbed his eyes until they were flushed red. Although his face wasn’t widely known yet, one never knew. Desperately suppressing his tears at the thought that the person outside might recognize him.
After lingering outside the door for a while, the person eventually had to leave the restroom, leaving Eunsol alone, as their appointment time approached.
Eunsol, who had been listening at the door, finally pressed his palm against his heaving chest. His heart was beating so fast it felt like it might burst through his clothes.
It was then that a vibration rang from Eunsol’s pocket. He held his breath at the sudden sensation.
He quickly took out the phone from his pocket and checked the screen. His pupils, which had dilated, immediately relaxed and began to tremble, blurred with tears.
For a moment, he had been hopeful. Since Hyun-oh had suddenly gone to the company after spending time with him, he might have called to check if Eunsol was getting home properly.
But the name that appeared on the phone screen wasn’t Hyun-oh, but the person Hyun-oh had assigned to him.
The vibration resonated in his palm for a long time. But instead of pressing the call button, Eunsol just waited for the call to end.
[I’m still at the restaurant. My stomach hurts. I’m about to take a taxi home now.]
Eunsol moved his trembling fingers to quickly compose the message. After sending the text to Secretary Song, he realized his tears had already stopped.
Fortunately, the heat between his legs had also disappeared. Though there was a strange sensation down there, after checking his clothes, it wasn’t noticeable.
Eunsol opened the door and went to the sink to quickly wash his disheveled face with cold water.
This time, before leaving the restroom, he called a taxi and had it wait at the first floor of the building. Even as he left the restroom and headed to the first floor, he walked in a tense state, afraid he might encounter Han Hyunyong again. The moment he got into the taxi, a dull pain rose from his shoulder.
“Please start driving.”
“Yes, sir.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
