“I’m almost done. I just need to dish out the soup, so if you sit down for a moment… it’ll be ready soon.”
“Next time, I guess I should call ahead whenever I’m eating dinner at home.”
“If you do that… I’d appreciate it.”
Go Igyeol mumbled the words against the back of his hand where he’d pressed his lips. Seo Dohyeon, who had been about to sit at the table, paused and turned back with a faintly suspicious look.
He strode over and grabbed Go Igyeol’s hand.
“It’s not serious. Sauce splattered while I was stir-frying the meat…”
“Go Igyeol, you really can’t do anything properly.”
Seo Dohyeon rubbed at the reddening burn, pulled him away from the induction stove, then wrapped an arm around him from behind and held his hand beneath cold running water for a long while.
After carefully drying even his damp fingers, he jerked his chin toward the table as if telling him to sit down and began plating the food himself.
Seo Dohyeon placed two bowls of rice, two bowls of soup, and the meat onto a tray before setting Go Igyeol’s portion in front of him and taking his own seat.
“Thank you for the meal…”
“Eat a lot.”
The meal continued quietly.
Unable to touch the heaping bowl of rice he’d been served, Go Igyeol only picked at the meat little by little.
His stomach, which had finally settled earlier, was beginning to churn again.
“You haven’t been eating very well lately.”
“I ate a lot at lunch.”
“A lot?”
Seo Dohyeon rarely believed anything Go Igyeol said about food.
Not once since their marriage had he ever seen him eat much, and now suddenly he was claiming he’d eaten a lot?
“I had udon. There’s a place near Seonwoo’s office.”
“Oh. There.”
“You know it?”
“If it’s the restaurant on the second floor, I’ve been there before.”
Go Igyeol’s eyes widened at the answer.
The way his mouth parted in genuine surprise looked unexpectedly cute.
Lately, Go Igyeol kept showing him expressions he’d never seen before, and Seo Dohyeon found it oddly entertaining enough to let out a soft laugh under his breath.
“That’s the one. We went there.”
“Funny that you managed to eat a lot there. I didn’t think it was very good.”
He’d probably gone there with Na Seunghee.
Trying not to show any disappointment or bitterness, Go Igyeol lowered his head and spooned soup into his mouth.
He still didn’t want rice, so he focused mostly on the side dishes, though he stirred at the rice a little so it wouldn’t look too obvious.
In his own mind, he thought he was being careful.
But even so, he couldn’t stop picturing Seo Dohyeon and Na Seunghee sitting side by side eating together.
“So did you go there with him?”
“Seunghee?”
“…Your company’s in the opposite direction, isn’t it? So when you said you’d been there…”
“I remember going with Seunghee, but I don’t remember why. It probably wasn’t anything important.”
Ah.
Go Igyeol knew perfectly well these were feelings he wasn’t supposed to show, but lately he couldn’t suppress them properly anymore.
“I’m done eating, but it looks like you still have a while to go. Eat slowly and go to bed first.”
“…Okay.”
Seo Dohyeon left the table.
The sound of his slippers dragging faintly across the floor gradually faded until the room went completely quiet again.
Lately, Go Igyeol had been sighing more and more often.
Still, he considered himself fortunate that Seo Dohyeon was the kind of indifferent person who never paid much attention to anything.
***
Go Igyeol spent most of the time Seo Dohyeon was away asleep.
He would lock himself inside the bedroom, find one or two pieces of Seo Dohyeon’s clothing that still carried lingering pheromones, clutch them tightly, and drift off. Before he knew it, it would already be time for Seo Dohyeon to come home.
There were so many clothes hanging in the dressing room that Seo Dohyeon probably wouldn’t notice a few disappearing, but it still made Go Igyeol uneasy.
Several shirts Seo Dohyeon hadn’t even worn yet had already ended up in the laundry basket.
Maybe I should just beg him for a pheromone shower instead.
But the inevitable consequences that would follow didn’t appeal to him at all.
Standing before the bathroom mirror, Go Igyeol looked over his body, which had noticeably lost weight after days of barely eating properly.
His stomach still hadn’t begun to show.
But eventually there would come a moment when he could no longer hide it.
Droplets of water slid down strands of his damp hair.
The shadows beneath his eyes had darkened, and his cheeks looked thinner too.
His dry fingers rubbed lightly against his cheek.
Even hiding the morning sickness was reaching its limit now.
The more emotionally exhausted he became, the more desperately he craved a pheromone shower.
That was when—
Tap, tap.
Someone knocked on the bathroom door.
“Go Igyeol.”
“…I’m in here.”
“Finished showering?”
“I’m done… You can come in.”
The unlocked door slowly opened.
Wearing nothing but a loose pajama top that hung oversized on his frame, Go Igyeol appeared before him.
Seo Dohyeon had been about to ask what he’d been doing in there this whole time, but the words vanished the moment he saw him.
His omega looked so fragile it seemed he might crumble into dust.
“Are those pajamas mine?”
“…No. They’re mine.”
“Then why do they look even bigger now?”
Seo Dohyeon stepped closer and neatly adjusted the collar that had slipped down his shoulder.
All the while, Go Igyeol’s gaze remained fixed on the man radiating restrained austerity in front of him.
Without realizing it, he placed his own hand over the fingers buttoning the pajama top beneath his chest.
“Seo Dohyeon… I want a pheromone shower.”
There was nothing seductive about the plea.
If anything, his voice sounded pitiful rather than tempting.
But it was the first time Go Igyeol had ever asked for pheromones, and the request stirred something in Seo Dohyeon instantly.
His eyes changed.
“What?”
“…Your pheromones.”
Now that the very person capable of satisfying this desperate craving stood directly in front of him, Go Igyeol couldn’t endure it anymore.
“Are you trying to seduce me?”
“…I didn’t know you were the kind of person who’d actually fall for it.”
The faint trace of amusement in his answer softened the atmosphere immediately.
Seo Dohyeon lowered his head while lifting the thinner cheek that had visibly lost weight even to his own eyes.
“This is better than I expected.”
“……”
“Do it more often. I’ll fall for it as many times as you want.”
The slow gaze tracing upward like a line being drawn finally met Seo Dohyeon’s eyes.
Though they weren’t wet with tears, Go Igyeol’s eyes gleamed unusually brightly.
The moment Seo Dohyeon tilted his head slightly, Go Igyeol closed his eyes as though he’d been waiting for it.
Long lashes fell over his pale face, casting soft shadows.
Lately, Seo Dohyeon had been increasingly unable to understand what exactly had changed about Go Igyeol, and the uncertainty irritated him.
But tonight, he liked this version of him enough not to press further.
“Haah…”
Seo Dohyeon released his pheromones.
Unlike omega pheromones, his were difficult to describe as any single scent. They poured down like heavy rain and seeped into Go Igyeol’s body.
A heated breath escaped through parted lips almost immediately.
Their lips had barely touched, yet Go Igyeol’s entire body trembled from overwhelming pleasure.
“You like it that much?”
At the amused question, Go Igyeol nodded openly, his flushed face impossible to hide.
Even the way he rose onto his toes just to get a little closer made Seo Dohyeon’s mood lift.
“What’s gotten into you today?”
“…Do you dislike it?”
“I don’t dislike it.”
“Then… give me a little more.”
Go Igyeol had felt as though he’d been standing alone in the middle of a storm-tossed sea, struggling to keep his footing.
Only now did he finally realize the ground beneath him would not collapse.
Seo Dohyeon’s face, which had seemed distorted and unstable no matter how still he stayed, finally came into focus.
“My body… feels strange.”
“Heat cycle? Come to think of it, it’s been a while.”
“I’m not… sure. Maybe that’s why…”
“Why are your pheromones so faint? Usually they get stronger during heat.”
Seo Dohyeon buried his nose against the nape of his neck and inhaled deeply before pressing a firm kiss against the soft skin there.
“Because I’m recessive… I don’t really understand my own body either… ngh…”
“You realize all I can smell from you is me, right?”
“……”
Seo Dohyeon lifted his head from where he’d been buried against his neck and asked quietly.
Go Igyeol almost pretended ignorance and shook his head, but instead chose honesty.
“I know.”
“When you walk around looking this innocent while drenched in alpha pheromones, do you know what people imagine about you?”
“……”
“How much did that omega cry underneath his alpha all night? What kind of face does he make in bed? Do you realize how much you provoke people’s imaginations?”
Go Igyeol’s face turned scarlet.
Unable to answer, he squeezed his eyes shut.
As though he’d been waiting for exactly that, Seo Dohyeon deepened the kiss.
With an irritated motion, he yanked off his tie and tossed it aside before easily lifting Go Igyeol into his arms.
After a brief hesitation, Go Igyeol’s hands slowly wrapped around his neck.
The moment his back touched the soft cushions, the pajama top was stripped away.
The loose garment slid soundlessly onto the floor without even needing the buttons undone.
Seo Dohyeon immediately lowered his lips to the bare chest revealed underneath.
“Hngh…! Ah— ngh…”
While soothing the trembling body in his arms, he slowly stroked the warm skin.
Then Seo Dohyeon fully released the pheromones he had only been letting out gradually before.
Tears gathered between Go Igyeol’s lashes, soaking them completely.
Every time he tried to open his eyes, they fluttered shut again weakly.
“Gentler…”
“Why.”
“It hurts… if you’re too rough… my belly hurts.”
Lately, Go Igyeol’s requests in bed had all sounded the same.
Please be gentle.
Please go slower.
Even those fragmented pleas alone were enough to make Seo Dohyeon feel like he was losing control.
Go Igyeol rarely initiated sex first like this, and that alone made him precious enough that Seo Dohyeon had no patience left for taking his time with foreplay properly.