At the voice coming from the direction of the utility room door, Shin-Yeon startled and looked up.
Kyo-Shin stood there in a perfectly tailored suit, leaning against the doorway, smiling at him.
“Looks like baby’s embarrassed about showing his heat cycle.”
The moment he saw him, shame and something like hurt welled up again, and Shin-Yeon’s eyes filled with tears. Kyo-Shin reached out, slid his hands under Shin-Yeon’s arms, and pulled him to his feet.
“Did your legs cramp again? Want me to massage them?”
“N-no… I’m just… I’m really sorry. I didn’t know my heat would hit like that. I didn’t mean to cause trouble… sniff—!”
Without even realizing he had ended up in Kyo-Shin’s arms, Shin-Yeon lifted his head to apologize, but the embarrassment and guilt overwhelmed him, and he broke into tears.
“I-I won’t contact you anymore… sniff! I won’t bother you again. Thank you for… taking care of me… hngh… th-thank you…”
“So you were that embarrassed you wanted to run away.”
Kyo-Shin gently wiped at the reddened corners of Shin-Yeon’s eyes as tears spilled down, soothing him, then carried him out into the living room.
“I’m sorry for ruining your blind date… sniff… I’m sorry. I won’t ask you to marry me anymore. I won’t flirt either…”
Who decided that?
After wiping his face for him, Kyo-Shin sat down on the sofa with Shin-Yeon still clinging to him, arms wrapped tightly around himself.
“Baby, let’s take your clothes off first. You need your shot.”
As Kyo-Shin removed his coat and set it aside, Shin-Yeon instinctively started to roll up his sleeve.
“The pheromone stabilizer shot goes in the hip, right? I should take my pants off.”
“…Y-yeah…”
“I’ve already seen every inch of you, baby, so it’s fine. Or do you want me to take them off for you?”
Kyo-Shin pushed his hair back and smiled with his eyes. Shin-Yeon’s face flushed even deeper.
Lowering his gaze in a panic, Shin-Yeon began to awkwardly wriggle his pants down while still sitting in his arms.
What he timidly lowered just a little was quickly stripped away completely by Kyo-Shin’s hands, revealing pale thighs mottled with bruises.
“Sniff…”
His ears and face burned red with embarrassment. Tugging the hem of his sweater down, Shin-Yeon glanced nervously at him.
“Shin-Yeon.”
“…Yes?”
“Are you really not going to contact me anymore? Not going to flirt either?”
Kyo-Shin’s voice was soft—almost sweet. He easily pulled the sweater hem out of Shin-Yeon’s grasp and lifted it.
“Are you really going to stop proposing too?”
As he spoke, he took a syringe from the case on the table and removed the cap from the needle.
Shin-Yeon’s eyes wavered. He stayed silent for a moment, then lowered his head.
“Looks like baby’s made up his mind.”
“You’re… going on blind dates.”
Kyo-Shin glanced down, slipping off even his white underwear, his gaze flicking briefly over the faint bite marks left on his hip.
“Even I have situations I can’t avoid sometimes. I did meet someone that day—but I rejected them and came home holding you in my arms. Don’t you remember?”
As Shin-Yeon looked up at him in shock, Kyo-Shin pushed the needle straight into his hip.
“Ah—!”
“You take shots well. When the pheromone gland doesn’t develop properly, heat cycles can be rough. This is a pheromone stabilizer—it works like a supplement too.”
He dropped the used syringe back into the case, then rubbed the spot with his large hand, leaning in close.
Tap—
“Ah…”
Their foreheads touched. Already reacting to his touch, Shin-Yeon didn’t even think to pull away.
Meeting his eyes—Shin-Yeon flushed softly, like a blooming camellia—Kyo-Shin asked quietly,
“Baby, how much do you remember? Do you remember grabbing me, getting mad that I went on a blind date without properly answering your proposal?”
“…W-why are you calling yourself that? You’re not an old man, Executive Director Seo.”
Startled, Shin-Yeon leaned back as he answered hesitantly. Kyo-Shin laughed.
“If I were nine years younger, you’d be calling me ‘hyung.’ But I’m ten years older, so I’m an old man. Baby, do you remember biting me because you didn’t like me?”
…I bit him?!
Shin-Yeon froze in shock. Kyo-Shin calmly loosened his tie and unbuttoned his shirt, revealing faint bite marks along his collarbone and chest.
“Hic—!”
They were light, barely-there impressions from a small mouth, but more than enough to count as proof.
“I—I’m so sorry! Did it hurt a lot? I’m really sorry…”
Shin-Yeon reached out toward the marks, then flinched and hesitated. Kyo-Shin caught his hand and draped it over his shoulder.
“Good thing you only bit me. You even grabbed me and kissed me.”
In reality, he had been the one devouring him, but Kyo-Shin shamelessly shifted the blame.
“That’s—no, that can’t be true! I’ve never kissed anyone before! I’ve never even— I mean, I’ve never even pecked anyone!”
Flustered, Shin-Yeon blurted out that he’d been single his whole life and had never done anything, then covered his face with both hands.
“…Did I really kiss you?”
His voice trembled. Suppressing a smile, Kyo-Shin answered firmly,
“Yeah. You stole my first kiss.”
“That’s a lie! That’s totally a lie! You’re an adult, you can’t lie!”
Shin-Yeon snapped his head up, shouting in disbelief. Kyo-Shin laughed openly.
“Hahaha! It’s true. I don’t like kissing. You never know what someone’s had in their mouth before.”
They might smoke. They might be a junkie. They might have had someone else’s cock in their mouth.
People who used kisses to slip drugs or hallucinogens to others—those kinds in particular—were the worst. That was why he had grown to hate it.
“I lived overseas when I was younger. Saw too many things. I just don’t like kissing.”
He didn’t go into detail—just mentioned that some people used kisses to drug others.
“…Oh. Then yeah… I guess that would make you hate it.”
“Right? And yet baby stole my first kiss.”
“I’m sorry! It was my first kiss too… I’m really sorry!”
Shin-Yeon clasped his hands together politely, apologizing over and over, still sniffling.
He’s so cute I could just swallow him whole.
Hiding the darkness in his gaze, Kyo-Shin pulled him in tightly.
“Baby, you did something wrong, didn’t you?”
“…Yes…”
“Can you just cut contact after pouncing on me?”
“N-no…”
“Can you stop proposing after working so hard to seduce me?”
At the question, Shin-Yeon looked at him with trembling eyes, lips parting slightly.
After blinking away tears, he quickly lowered his head and mumbled,
“Executive Director Seo… you like my brother, don’t you? That’s why you went on a blind date with someone who looks like him.”
“Ha.”
“Even when I propose, you keep rejecting me or not answering at all… so what do you mean, telling me to keep proposing?”
Fidgeting with the hem of his sweater, sneaking glances at him, Shin-Yeon looked completely lost. Kyo-Shin found it almost absurd.
I’ve made it that obvious, and he still doesn’t get it.
Is it because he doesn’t remember what happened when he was drunk—or during his heat?
“People don’t bring someone home if they’re not interested in them.”
“…Then… does that mean you like me?”
Shin-Yeon lifted his head as he asked. Kyo-Shin met his gaze, something unreadable in his eyes.
“Maybe you’ll find out if we kiss one more time.”
At that distance—close enough to feel each other’s breath—Shin-Yeon trembled, then slowly leaned closer.
Gripping Kyo-Shin’s shoulders with both hands, he squeezed his eyes shut and carefully pressed his lips against his—just for a moment—then pulled back and opened his eyes.
A faint freesia scent brushed past.
Kyo-Shin slowly licked his lips, watching him with that shy, expectant expression.
“What you just did wasn’t a kiss—”
He cupped the back of Shin-Yeon’s head, pulled him back in, and sealed their lips. As Shin-Yeon’s mouth fell open in shock, Kyo-Shin pushed his tongue deep inside.
Caught completely off guard, Shin-Yeon froze, but as he slowly realized what was happening, Kyo-Shin’s tongue swept through his mouth, exploring every corner.
Chuup—
Deliberately letting the wet sound echo, he chased after the soft, retreating tongue, caught it, tangled it, and sucked deeply.
“Mm… ngh—!”
Their lips locked fully, tongues twisting together as saliva slipped between them.
“Ha—!”
Shin-Yeon, unable to regulate his breathing during his first conscious kiss, forced his head back, gasping for air.
Kyo-Shin pulled him right back into his palm, biting his lips lightly before sucking them slow and deep.
“This is a kiss.”
“…Ah…”
Faced with the hot tongue licking at his lips and mouth—and those dark, almost frightening eyes—Shin-Yeon felt himself growing wet again without meaning to.
“Ah—!”
Even though his heat cycle had ended, his body reacted helplessly to the kiss of an extremely dominant alpha, soaking even Kyo-Shin’s pants.
“Until I feel like accepting you, baby, you keep proposing. Keep flirting too. Got it?”
Kyo-Shin stood, lifting the trembling, tearful kitten sitting on his lap into his arms.
“I’m not as easy as you think. Work hard, baby.”
“…Okay…”
Something about this felt strange, but Shin-Yeon was too overwhelmed by embarrassment to think any further.
“Good. That’s my baby.”
And just like that, Seo Kyo-Shin swallowed the little kitten whole.