"Not enough."
Doh Yihyun clenched his teeth, barely suppressing the urge to push his fingers in deeper.
This kind of halfhearted masturbation wasn’t enough. He needed something longer, thicker—something hot and hard. Like a fully erect man’s cock.
He silently chewed down a curse he almost never used. Once he had tasted that pleasure, he couldn’t forget it. It was vivid enough to torment him, almost absurd considering how completely he had forgotten it until now.
"Ah, haah, ngh."
Thinking of the sex with the man whose face he didn’t even know, Doh Yihyun gripped himself hard. The sensation hovered right at the edge of release, an ambiguous, frustrating torment that refused to resolve.
After a moment of hesitation, Doh Yihyun grabbed his own chest, just as the man had done before. His well-shaped pectoral muscle sank softly under the rough grip.
"Huh—ugh!"
At first, there had been no sensation at all. But the moment he brushed near his nipple, a sharp shiver shot down his spine. Without realizing it, Doh Yihyun arched his back.
"Haah."
He let out a heated breath and looked down at his own chest.
His nipples, too, were far from the pale tone typical of Omegas. His skin had turned unnaturally white from suppressants, making the contrast even more pronounced.
'Why here…'
He had always known, in theory, that his chest could be an erogenous zone, but he had never actually felt it before. Chasing the rising pleasure, Doh Yihyun rubbed over his slightly swollen areola and pressed down on his nipple.
"Hngh, ah…"
A desperate moan slipped from his lips. Even as a dull, throbbing pleasure spread through him and twisted his waist, he unconsciously sought stronger stimulation, raking his nails over the sensitive skin. He always kept his nails neatly trimmed, so he didn’t break the skin.
The more he touched places he had never touched before, the more the pleasure gradually intensified. His skin grew so sensitive that even the brush of the bedsheets against it sent a shiver of sensation through him.
"Relax. Spread your legs more."
A voice, slightly roughened with excessive excitement. Gentle hands coaxing his thighs apart. Soft lips swallowing down his ragged breaths.
"Hngh…!"
The fragmented memory of the man surfaced, and at the same moment, Doh Yihyun reached climax. White fluid spilled over his hand.
'What the hell did I just do…'
Coming back to his senses too late, Doh Yihyun stared blankly at his own hand.
"I’m going to eat!"
Monday lunchtime. The team members left the office with bright expressions, almost as cheerful as if it were the end of the workday.
As he had done all last week, Doh Yihyun slowly finished what he was doing and headed upstairs. He hadn’t eaten anything from Friday evening until Sunday, when he finally received a pheromone prescription, so his energy was low.
"Yihyun, you didn’t come after all."
The moment he stepped into the executive office, Seo Jungwoon—who had been sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed—grumbled with a sulky expression.
Seo Jungwoon was wearing a pale sky blue suit. It was impossible not to notice a color like that. Recently, there hadn’t been a single day when he wore anything ordinary. It seemed he truly enjoyed being the center of attention.
"Hello."
Ignoring the incomprehensible complaint, Doh Yihyun greeted him with polite restraint.
When it became clear that Doh Yihyun had no intention of indulging his grumbling, Seo Jungwoon let out a short laugh and approached.
As the distance between them closed, the smile disappeared from Seo Jungwoon’s face. When he reached right in front of Doh Yihyun, his gaze sharpened—fixing not on his face, but on his neck.
Doh Yihyun blinked slowly. With that cold expression layered over him, Seo Jungwoon suddenly felt like a completely different person.
"That’s harsh. You said you’re a workaholic, but looks like you’re addicted to other things too. How do you manage to have someone different every week—"
Crunch. Seo Jungwoon cut himself off mid-sentence, grinding his teeth.
"I don’t understand what you mean."
"I can’t tell if you’re shameless or just indifferent. I’ve gone this far—can’t you give me one more chance? Honestly, this hurts my pride. Are you just playing with me?"
Despite Doh Yihyun’s question, Seo Jungwoon continued speaking as he pleased.
From Doh Yihyun’s perspective, it was impossible to tell what exactly had twisted Seo Jungwoon’s mood like this. If anything, it was Seo Jungwoon who had been toying with others, not him.
Normally, Doh Yihyun would have ignored whatever fault Seo Jungwoon tried to pick. But today, for some reason, he found himself curious.
'Why is he only like this with me?'
The Seo Jungwoon people talked about was always smiling, always composed. Kind to everyone, never unfair, never losing his temper no matter how big a mistake a subordinate made.
That was very different from the Seo Jungwoon Doh Yihyun knew.
It was rare for Doh Yihyun to take an interest in other people. And yet, of all people, it had to be Seo Jungwoon. For someone as socially inept as him, Seo Jungwoon was not an easy person to read.
Watching Seo Jungwoon, who was clearly worked up, Doh Yihyun glanced toward the wide-open conference room.
He wasn’t good at steering conversations naturally. More often than not, the more he spoke, the worse things became.
Maybe it would be better to talk while eating and ask what Seo Jungwoon meant. People tended to get irritable when they were hungry.
But at that single glance, Seo Jungwoon’s expression hardened even further.
"Eat. I have something to take care of, so I need to head out."
Without looking at Doh Yihyun, Seo Jungwoon spoke coldly, grabbed the coat draped over the chair, and left.
Left alone in an instant, Doh Yihyun looked back at the tightly closed office door.
It didn’t seem like Seo Jungwoon had really left because he was busy. If he were, he wouldn’t have been sitting around waiting for him like that.
'Did I do something wrong?'
His friend Junahye often warned him not to act in ways that caused misunderstandings. But if anything, it wasn’t that Doh Yihyun did things that led to misunderstandings—he simply didn’t feel the need to build connections with others.
Was hinting that they should eat first during lunch really such a big mistake?
If that were the case, then Seo Jungwoon was also at fault for suddenly blowing up without any clear reason.
Doh Yihyun slowly stepped into the conference room. A bowl of milky dumpling soup and tender braised ribs were waiting for him, steam rising gently from both.
'…It tastes bad.'
After a few bites, he put his chopsticks down. It wasn’t that his stomach was upset, but he had no appetite. The dumpling filling felt gritty like sand, and the braised ribs felt like chewing paper.
There was no way the food Seo Jungwoon prepared would taste bad. It seemed his morning sickness was acting up again. Still, the fact that he could eat at all was fortunate.
Doh Yihyun mechanically chewed and swallowed.
But he couldn’t pick up speed, and it took nearly twice as long as usual to finish a single bowl of rice. Seo Jungwoon did not return by the time he was done.
After cleaning up, Doh Yihyun took a slow look around the executive office before leaving.
'Was it always this empty?'
He had known it was spacious, but with just Seo Jungwoon absent, the place felt desolate. Seo Jungwoon definitely had a strong presence.
Click.
Doh Yihyun left the office without hesitation. Despite all his complaints, he had quietly hoped that at least weekday lunches would remain normal. The disappointment lingered, weighing down his steps as he returned to the office.