Asked that way, Na Seunghee had no answer.
It wasn’t that he wanted to have an affair. He just wanted to eat with Seo Dohyeon again like before, drink together like before. He had liked him for a long time, and they had originally been close. Shameless thoughts filled his head, insisting that surely something like that should still be allowed.
“It’s not like that. I just… wanted things to be like before. We used to be closer.”
“There’s no such thing as ‘like before’ with a married person. What kind of stupid thing is that to say?”
“Then what about you? Why do you keep asking Mr. Go to meet you and eat with you? Isn’t that hypocritical? Why is it okay for you but not for me?”
Na Seunghee glared at Na Seonwoo with raised brows, even pointing a finger at him as if demanding an answer immediately.
The younger man constantly lecturing him about everything irritated him more than he wanted to admit. If they were talking about intelligence, then he was obviously smarter. And earlier too, Na Seonwoo had embarrassed him in front of Seo Dohyeon.
The more he thought about it, the more unfair it felt.
“Yeah. Honestly, I don’t even know what I’m doing right now.”
“See! You don’t even know them properly, and you still make people uncomfortable like that…! What’s so wrong with just eating together—”
“I’m leaving first.”
“What? Hey! No, you’re not!”
Na Seunghee hurriedly grabbed hold of Na Seonwoo as he immediately started moving.
“Why?”
“I told you I came with Seo Dohyeon. What am I supposed to do if you leave me here?”
Seeing Na Seunghee’s troubled face, Na Seonwoo let out a long sigh. Acting as though he truly hated this but had no choice, he reluctantly brought him downstairs.
The rain that had started late in the afternoon still hadn’t stopped.
While waiting for Na Seunghee, who had gone to the bathroom, Na Seonwoo stood outside the restaurant beneath the long eaves, staring blankly at the now-empty parking lot.
***
Even though Seo Dohyeon had held the umbrella over him to keep him from getting wet, Go Igyeol’s hair was still damp.
Every time his small hand brushed through his bangs, droplets scattered lightly.
“Are you cold?”
“…No. I’m not cold. I think you should use this instead, Seo Dohyeon.”
The hand offering back the handkerchief Seo Dohyeon had given him looked pale.
Pale enough that it almost seemed bloodless, like wax.
Without thinking, Seo Dohyeon reached over from the steering wheel and grabbed Go Igyeol’s hand.
He had expected it to feel cold.
Instead, it was warmer than expected.
That was why.
Why he ended up exposing emotions he should have concealed.
“Are you going to keep seeing that friend from earlier?”
“…Ah, Seonwoo…?”
“He’s an alpha. You probably don’t realize it, but I can smell the pheromones Na Seunghee’s cousin left on you.”
At the sharp remark, Go Igyeol instinctively lifted the wrist Na Seonwoo had grabbed before they entered the restaurant and sniffed it.
He couldn’t smell anything at all.
Had pheromones really gotten on him?
As confusion spread across his face, Seo Dohyeon answered coldly.
“You’re recessive, Go Igyeol. Of course you wouldn’t notice.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“He probably didn’t realize it either. He could smell my pheromones on you, so his instincts reacted automatically. Rejection.”
Watching Go Igyeol nod obediently, Seo Dohyeon continued.
“But I feel the same rejection. Back then too. And today again. If this keeps happening, it’s going to be difficult for me to feel positively about you continuing to see him. Alpha or omega, pheromones affect people easily whether they want them to or not.”
“…I’m sorry. I’ll ask Seonwoo to be more careful.”
“That sounds like you plan to keep seeing him.”
Go Igyeol was just as flustered.
Seo Dohyeon had never once told him not to meet someone before.
But even now, Go Igyeol could not bring himself to say he would stop seeing Na Seonwoo altogether. He only blinked silently.
Watching him do that made something inside Seo Dohyeon burn violently.
Still, openly showing it would make him look narrow-minded. Seo Dohyeon forcibly suppressed his emotions, though irritation roughened his voice anyway.
“You’re going to cry.”
“I’ll make sure it doesn’t bother you.”
“That’s not really something you can control.”
“…Even so… I’ll be careful.”
At the tiny trembling voice, Seo Dohyeon merely nodded.
The thoughts repeatedly surfacing in his head made his nerves sharper and sharper.
The way Na Seonwoo looked at Go Igyeol was not friendship.
The more he replayed it, the farther his imagination spiraled.
The engine that had remained running after arriving.
The umbrella naturally tilted toward him.
Go Igyeol acting completely comfortable with those things.
The cardigan draped over him. The arm wrapped around his shoulders, pulling them close.
Go Igyeol looking back up at him beneath that gaze. Smiling.
The strangely softened atmosphere between them. The way his lips had parted gently.
The images remained vivid enough to feel almost firsthand.
“…Are you okay?”
It didn’t feel like something serious enough for the atmosphere to freeze this completely.
Startled by the sudden change, Go Igyeol shivered.
The oppressive pheromones made his shoulders curl inward.
Clasping his own hands tightly together over his thighs, Go Igyeol gasped for breath.
“The pheromones are irritating me.”
“…What?”
“Maybe it’s because of those clothes earlier. He wrapped you up so you wouldn’t get wet. And when you arrived, why didn’t you get out of the car immediately?”
The smoothly moving car slowly drifted to the roadside and stopped.
Seo Dohyeon let out a low breath.
Driving like this was becoming difficult.
He shifted the car into park and fully turned toward Go Igyeol.
Inside the silence, Seo Dohyeon’s voice dropped another degree lower.
“You said you weren’t that close.”
“…Seonwoo? We weren’t really that close.”
“Is it easy for you to suddenly grow close to someone? You’re shy around people, Go Igyeol.”
“Why… why are you acting like this?”
Unable to endure the steady gaze fixed on him, Go Igyeol finally turned his head away. Covering his mouth and nose with the back of his hand, he trembled visibly.
“P-Pheromones…”
“But you like them. Lately you’ve been desperate to receive my pheromones.”
“Right now… hnng…”
“Na Seunghee’s cousin seemed interested in you. Did you really not notice?”
At the heavy voice sinking over him, Go Igyeol quickly shook his head.
Interested?
He had heard that Na Seonwoo used to like him, but he had said that was no longer the case.
Seo Dohyeon’s excessive reaction left even Go Igyeol confused.
He felt frightened, yet his body heated strangely anyway. He accidentally held his breath before hurriedly inhaling again, afraid it might be bad for the baby.
“Is it because of him?”
“…What? I-I don’t know what you mean.”
The hand brushing across his damp eyes made Go Igyeol’s flushed body tremble harder.
The deliberately overwhelming pheromones made his entire body itch.
Every time he blinked, lukewarm tears dampened Seo Dohyeon’s fingers.
Seo Dohyeon studied the face that looked like it was hiding something while arranging dates in his head.
The timing of when Go Igyeol had suddenly mentioned wanting a divorce overlapped too neatly with the timing of meeting Na Seonwoo, souring his mood further.
“Seo Dohyeon… please stop now…”
Maybe they had already been meeting before.
And maybe the feelings had grown too large to hide, until Na Seonwoo had started leaving his own pheromones on Go Igyeol hoping to get caught.
“Stop… ngh…”
Despite the deeply furrowed face, the trembling voice still sounded like it wanted Seo Dohyeon to do something about it.
Seo Dohyeon wondered whether that young alpha also knew the version of Go Igyeol only he himself knew.
Then he flooded him with pheromones again.
Go Igyeol’s startled eyes widened so much he could barely blink. Only his fingers clawed desperately at the denim over his thighs.
Under the overwhelming flood of Seo Dohyeon’s pheromones, even the faint traces of that young alpha disappeared completely.
“P-Please… stop… ah…!”
Go Igyeol did not want to collapse helplessly inside the car on the way home.
He did not want to lose himself and cling desperately to Seo Dohyeon.
At the broken sobbing, Seo Dohyeon finally began slowly withdrawing his pheromones.
As the scent faded, Go Igyeol shut his eyes and trembled weakly.
His underwear was damp.
The humiliation was unbearable.
“Go Igyeol.”
“Hngh… y-yes, yes…”
“Don’t see him again.”
“…I-I won’t. I won’t see him anymore.”
The gaze fixed on Go Igyeol as he panted out the answer overflowed with possessiveness.
It was too intense to be explained by emotions tied only to a single sheet of contract paper.
Seo Dohyeon searched for a word to describe what he was feeling as he reached toward the small face drenched in sweat.
Go Igyeol, who barely had a will of his own.
That obedient little face blinking sleepily up at him.
Those pale brown eyes that he wanted filled with no one except himself.
Could wanting someone to move only according to his own intentions really be called affection?
Go Igyeol’s cheek leaned warmly into the large palm touching him.
The lips he had bitten endlessly were swollen and glossy with saliva.
As Seo Dohyeon leaned closer, Go Igyeol closed his eyes in quiet resignation.
The kiss that invaded his burning mouth made him anxious.
He was afraid the pheromones would pour over him again.
His nose was blocked from crying, forcing him to breathe clumsily through parted lips while carefully trying not to upset Seo Dohyeon.
If he pushed him away even slightly, he had no idea what might happen to him here.
“Hold me properly.”
Go Igyeol slowly lifted the hand resting on his thigh and wrapped it around Seo Dohyeon’s neck.
The trembling hand held onto him tightly enough to seem pitiful.
Moisture shimmered along his lowered lashes.
“Keep your promise.”
At the words slipping between their pressed lips, Go Igyeol answered only by nodding.