“…….”
Unable to so much as lift a finger, Haejin lay stretched out. His arms were free. For some whim of Lyle’s, they had been untied the moment the rut ended. From the shower room came a familiar sound.
Judging from the fragments of Lyle’s phone conversation, it seemed two days had passed. A throbbing pain pulsed along one side of Haejin’s neck, and he frowned. His lower body was simply numb. Lyle had never done that before—yet this time, once, he had sunk his teeth into the nape of Haejin’s neck.
He was always left sore from the heavy thrusting, but this time, with the knotting as well, his already overstimulated body had been thoroughly overworked. The thought that he should hurry back to his room scattered uselessly in his mind.
It felt as if Lyle might come out at any moment and tell him to get lost. Of course, there was no reason for Lyle to return to this room again, yet Haejin shifted uneasily at the baseless anxiety.
Why had he knotted him?
The absurdity of it left Haejin without even the strength to be angry. It seemed destined to pass as a trivial anomaly.
Until another knock sounded.
Strangely, it felt as though the person outside had knocked directly against Haejin’s heart. It had never felt like this before, and he looked toward the door in confusion. At that moment, Lyle—who Haejin had assumed would shower and leave immediately—suddenly stepped back into the room.
“Ah….”
The blindfold had slipped down at some point, and for the first time in a long while, Haejin saw Lyle’s firmly muscled body. And beneath it, the organ that had so brutally invaded him. Before their eyes could meet, Haejin quickly lowered his head.
Even if there was a knock, why had Lyle returned here?
After staring indifferently at the back of Haejin’s head, Lyle pulled on his robe. It seemed something urgent had come up at the company; he was about to open the door as he was.
He had barely taken two steps before turning back to the bed. Roughly, he grabbed the blanket and pulled it over Haejin’s head.
“……?”
At the bewildered expression beneath it, Lyle swallowed a curse. The rut had resolved all pheromones—so what pointless impulse was this?
He needed to redirect his thoughts. Shut up in this room saturated with pheromones, he must still be affected. With that rationalization, he opened the door sharply.
Unexpectedly, it was not his secretary standing outside, but the butler. His expression was dark.
“What.”
“M-Master.”
“Speak.”
Even with permission granted, the butler fidgeted anxiously. It was then that Haejin, cautiously peeking his head out from under the blanket, looked toward him.
The butler met Haejin’s eyes for a split second before averting them. In a heavy voice, he addressed Lyle.
“It is said that Mr. Bright’s adoptive parents passed away last night.”
“…What?”
The words did not register at first. Haejin lifted his head blankly, staring at the butler’s mouth as if trying to see through it. He must have heard wrong from exhaustion.
Lyle frowned at the unexpected news. Then something struck him as odd.
“Last night?”
It was broad daylight. Why was news of a death from last night only being reported now?
Under his cold scrutiny, the butler hurriedly offered an excuse—an explanation so absurd that even Lyle found himself incredulous.
“A-Actually, before you began, when I came urgently, I had received word that they were in critical condition…”
“And?”
Lyle recalled the butler who had rushed in before binding Haejin’s hands. Thinking back, no matter how busy company matters were, the butler would never have dared open the door without permission. He must have already received notice that Haejin’s parents were critical and hurried over because of it.
Then why had he simply left?
“Y-You told me not to disturb you.”
At the ridiculous excuse, Lyle stared at him in disbelief. No matter how arrogant he might be, there was no reason to bind an Omega whose parents were dying and proceed through a rut.
And that was not even the end of it. Once news of the death came, it should have been reported immediately. Instead, the butler appeared only after everything was finished, as if waiting for his business to conclude. Lyle seriously wondered whether the man he had trusted had lost his mind.
This has become troublesome.
Intending to explain the inconvenient situation, Lyle turned unconsciously toward Haejin behind him. Haejin, who had collapsed on the bed like something with a screw missing, slowly lifted his head to meet his gaze.
The moment their eyes met, Lyle drew in a breath without meaning to.
For the first time since they met, Haejin looked at him straight on. A fierce resentment pierced into him. They had shared bodies for five years, yet Lyle suddenly realized this was the first time their eyes had properly met.
Resentment poured over him like heavy rain. The intensity of it pierced through his body, raising a chill along his skin. It felt as though enormous rainwater rose to his throat, soaking him completely. At the tip of his nose brushed Haejin’s faint pheromones.
The thoughts stirred by the butler’s absurd handling shattered under the dark downpour in Haejin’s eyes.
And for some reason, it felt as though his throat were being tightly constricted.
“…Have the car prepared.”
That was all Lyle managed to say.
***
At the funeral, a lavish condolence wreath sent by the Vermouth Family arrived.
Heavy rain fell relentlessly from the sky.
And Lyle did not come.
***
After finishing his parents’ funeral, Haejin boarded the car with an expressionless face. Sitting in the back seat of a vehicle far too extravagant for someone of his standing—sent by the Vermouth Family—he stared at the sky pouring out rain in melancholy silence.
Heavy rain had fallen throughout the funeral. In Heavy Rain City at this time of year, it was common enough, but Haejin decided to think that the sky was weeping in his stead.
Strangely, no tears came. He had simply crouched alone in the cold funeral hall, without a single mourner.
At his brother’s funeral, many people had come. The Bright couple had been like sunlight in this gloomy city. Naturally, people pitied the couple who had fallen into a coma and the son who left too early. There had been no end to the visitors then. The donations received had even been enough to pay the first hospital bill.
But a long illness rendered even sunlight powerless. A few people had contacted him again this time, yet none had made it to the funeral hall. Haejin understood them all. In the early days of hospitalization, they had at least visited occasionally. To expect more warmth than that would be luxury.
Watching his parents turn to smoke under the heavy rain, Haejin simply stood there getting soaked.
Still, no tears came.
It struck him anew how exhausted he truly was.
“Ahem. Mr. Bright.”
“……”
Haejin cast an indifferent glance at the driver calling him. It suddenly felt real that he was now the only Bright left in this city.
“About before…”
“……”
Coincidentally, the driver the Vermouth Family had assigned to him was the same man who had refused to take him to the hospital not long ago.
Thinking about it now, that had been Haejin’s last chance to see his parents alive.
“Th-That is…”
Their eyes met briefly in the rearview mirror. The driver looked uncomfortable. Haejin silently recalled the insults the man had thrown at him, yet strangely, he felt no anger. It was as though all the blood had drained from his body, leaving behind nothing but an empty doll.
It was this driver who had taken him to the hospital where his parents died and to the funeral hall. There was no way he had failed to understand the situation. Having grown up in an orphanage, Haejin had become perceptive early; he knew exactly what that uneasy expression wanted.
But there was not a single reason for Haejin to concern himself with it.
So he simply turned his gaze back to the window. Even if the driver were to curse at him now, it would hold no meaning.
Unexpectedly, the driver remained silent, and the car soon entered the Vermouth Family’s main estate.
“……”
Yes. Haejin had to return here. He had nowhere else to go.
He sat blankly in the parked car for a long while before finally stepping out. The driver, fidgeting and watching him, quickly got out to open his door. If the door had not opened, he might have remained seated there endlessly, lost.
Once his feet touched the ground, he moved on his own. The driver hurried to hold out an umbrella, but Haejin ignored even that and walked. Step by dragging step, he moved toward his room.
The warm home he had grown up in had long since been sold to pay hospital bills. Still, it had been bearable. When his heart felt worn down, his parents were at least at the hospital.
But now, there was nowhere left to return to.
Haejin stopped in front of his door without even opening it. In the short distance from the car to the estate, his body had become completely soaked. Cold rainwater ran down his ankles, dripping onto the floor.
Within that endlessly damp sensation, Haejin realized—
He was alone.