W-Was that the wrong thing to do?
Seo Yi Kyung could tell from Han Seung Jae’s expression as he pulled him by the arm that he was displeased. Yi Kyung had only offered polite smiles to the people whose eyes met his.
Yet he had the distinct feeling that something had gone terribly wrong. Avoiding Seung Jae’s piercing gaze, Yi Kyung brought the wine to his lips. His throat moved slowly as he swallowed.
The banquet continued late into the night.
Seo Yi Kyung opened the second-floor terrace door and stepped outside. No one else was visible on the U-shaped terrace. The night breeze felt cool against his feverish face.
He had sent Butler Do home ahead of him. This had not turned out to be a simple occasion where he would merely meet Seung Jae’s parents and share a meal with them.
He would be leaving with Han Seung Jae, so there was nothing to worry about.
“Whew……”
Yi Kyung released a long breath. Now that he was alone, it felt as though he were finally exhaling after holding his breath for hours.
He had smiled among strangers and sipped wine whenever his throat grew dry. Had he drunk more than he realized? His flushed body felt hot.
Hooking a finger beneath the knot, Yi Kyung tugged his tie down.
He had been with Han Seung Jae until moments ago. When Seung Jae noticed Yi Kyung’s cheeks growing pink, however, he suggested that Yi Kyung get some air. Han Ye Chan had called to Seung Jae as they headed for the second floor together. When Seung Jae seemed unwilling to go, Yi Kyung had urged him on and said that he would go upstairs first.
I should be fine if I rest here for a while.
Yi Kyung repeatedly scrubbed his face with both hands before touching his reddened cheeks. His palms were hot. He had simply been too nervous and drunk a little too much wine. That was all.
“Haa…… Haa……”
Yi Kyung pulled his tie lower and undid a couple of shirt buttons. Something about his body felt strange, too strange to blame on the wine.
More than anything, a pleasant scent had been drifting to him on the night breeze for some time.
Roses……?
Was he imagining that the scent was coming from his own body? Perhaps because he had been drinking, he could not contain his pheromones at all.
What do I do……?
Yi Kyung’s knees slowly buckled. His thighs trembled faintly. As though trying to keep himself conscious, he bit down repeatedly on his lower lip.
Just then, the glass door opened and approaching footsteps sounded across the terrace. A large hand grasped Yi Kyung’s shoulder as he sank to the floor.
Yi Kyung slowly turned his head. Backlit by the light, the person’s face seemed to waver as though seen underwater.
“Haa…… Ah……”
Labored breaths spilled from his parted lips. Bright blood beaded on the lower lip Yi Kyung had bitten several times in his struggle to remain conscious.
“Seung Jae……”
His feverish eyes kept him from seeing the other man’s face clearly. Even so, the white agarwood pheromones reaching his nose told him it was Han Seung Jae.
Seung Jae was not actively releasing them. The scent merely clung to the hand gripping Yi Kyung’s shoulder and to his suit. Yet even that made his pheromones seem more potent than usual. Yi Kyung was suddenly seized by an urge to cling to him and rub his body against his. But that could not happen. He barely managed to suppress the impulse as he panted.
“I think…… I drank too much wine……”
“Can you stand?”
Curled up on the floor, Yi Kyung nodded. Or at least, he thought he did. In reality, his head barely moved. Instead, his breathing grew even more ragged between his parted lips.
“Haa…… Haa……”
When Yi Kyung remained nearly motionless, Seung Jae wrapped a long arm around his waist and pulled him to his feet. With every breath Yi Kyung drew of the surging pheromones, his sides trembled shallowly.
“This isn’t because of the wine. You’re……”
Seung Jae’s words reached him in broken fragments.
If it isn’t the wine……?
But Yi Kyung’s tongue would not obey him, and his feet tangled whenever he tried to walk, making it difficult even to ask.
When Han Seung Jae emerged from the terrace, he saw Secretary Park ascending the stairs. Secretary Park had come to tell him that Chairman Han Ye Chan was asking for him again.
Seeing Yi Kyung stumble, Secretary Park hurried over.
“Has he had too much to drink? Shall I help support him?”
“Mm……!”
Han Seung Jae tightened the arm around Yi Kyung’s waist. Yi Kyung’s body was turned roughly, and his face was abruptly buried against Seung Jae’s firm chest.
“No. Go and bring suppressants.”
Seung Jae’s eyes narrowed. His gaze was razor-sharp, and his face brimmed with displeasure.
With his face pressed against Seung Jae’s chest, Yi Kyung’s lips moved soundlessly. His knees kept buckling. The white agarwood pheromones flooding his nose and mouth made his mind grow hazy. His chest swelled slightly, and the deep hollow of his collarbones rose and fell without pause.
The pheromones radiating from Han Seung Jae seemed to turn Yi Kyung’s brain thick and soft until it was nearly melting. His entire body felt as though it might dissolve, but the solid arm around his waist held him upright and prevented that disaster.
Secretary Park belatedly stepped back. He was a dominant alpha.
“Understood.”
He had arrived in too much of a hurry to notice immediately, but an excessive amount of pheromones was pouring from Seo Yi Kyung’s body.
When Secretary Park descended the stairs and appeared on the first floor, Han Ye Chan asked him a question.
“Why are you alone?”
Han Ye Chan glanced toward the staircase. No matter how long he waited, however, Han Seung Jae did not appear. Secretary Park answered evenly.
“Director Han said he has a headache and intends to rest for a while.”
As the person who served closest to Han Seung Jae, Secretary Park understood his intentions and dealt with matters faster than anyone else. He was discreet and cautious by nature. This time as well, he had astutely avoided mentioning Seo Yi Kyung’s name in front of so many people.
Chairman Han Ye Chan’s eyes glinted. He was likely thinking of Yi Kyung, who had also disappeared with Seung Jae.
Han Ye Chan soon turned back to the guests with a practiced smile.
“You’ve all traveled so far, yet this is the welcome I give you. Everything I touch becomes mine, but children are the one thing that never goes according to plan.”
“How can you say that? Director Han is an exceptional man. When I look at my own child, I realize I still have a long way to go.”
“Well, I was like that when I was young too.”
Hearty laughter spread around Chairman Han. Secretary Park slowly withdrew from the crowd.
Upon reaching the sedan, he opened the front passenger door. The driver, who had been waiting inside the car, looked in the same direction.
Secretary Park opened a silver case and stared down at the syringe of suppressants inside. These, however, belonged to Han Seung Jae. Alphas and omegas used different suppressants.
Of all times, they had sent Butler Do home. If he were still there, this would have been easy to resolve. With no other choice, Secretary Park climbed into the passenger seat. A moment later, the stationary sedan’s headlights came on, and it sped away as though cutting through the darkness.
Click.
Han Seung Jae reached behind him to close the door while looking down at Seo Yi Kyung, who stood with his face nearly buried against Seung Jae’s chest. Yi Kyung could barely keep his balance. Lightly supporting his slender waist, Seung Jae guided him forward.
The spacious guest room contained a bed, a sofa, and a table, while expensive liquors were displayed in a cabinet. The mansion, decorated by his mother, Yeon So Jeong, had an almost Scandinavian style. Even the cushions on the sofa each had a different pattern.
Han Seung Jae’s old bedroom was another floor above, but he could not take Yi Kyung that far. The pheromones flowing from his body were growing richer and denser by the moment. They might encounter someone along the way.
An omega entering heat released pheromones that traveled a considerable distance. Alphas who reacted to them would inevitably gather.
“H-Haa……”
After laying Yi Kyung on the cream-colored sofa, Han Seung Jae frowned. He tugged at his tie with one long hand, blue veins standing out along its back.
He looked down at Yi Kyung, sprawled across the long sofa that could have accommodated two people. His entire face was flushed with heat.
His tie had been dragged loose haphazardly, and his shirt buttons looked as though they had been undone in haste. The shallow hollows of Yi Kyung’s exposed collarbones heaved with each breath.
Han Seung Jae had watched Yi Kyung drink wine beside him while he spoke with the guests. Although Yi Kyung looked away whenever their eyes met, he never set down his glass.
At first, Seung Jae had assumed his face was reddening because he had drunk too much. That was why he had suggested that Yi Kyung get some air. Even then, Yi Kyung had drained the wine remaining in his glass before leaving.
“Seo Yi Kyung.”
His low voice reverberated through the room, but Yi Kyung’s eyes remained unfocused. He merely looked toward the source of the sound.
Had Seung Jae arrived even slightly later, the situation could have become dangerous.
When he found Yi Kyung on the terrace, he had been on the verge of losing consciousness. Loosening his tie, Seung Jae fixed his gaze on Yi Kyung’s saliva-slick lips. Blood had welled on the lower one. It seemed Yi Kyung had been trying to keep himself conscious.
But heat was not something that could be suppressed through willpower. It was an instinctive need that drove the body to writhe in search of release from the fever consuming it.
Yi Kyung continued drawing labored breaths through his parted lips. His disheveled hair, white suit, loosely hanging tie, unbuttoned shirt, and the pale, sharp lines of his rapidly heaving collarbones were all in disarray.
With one finger still hooked beneath his tie, Han Seung Jae extended his other arm. He rubbed the pad of his thumb across Yi Kyung’s lower lip. The bead of blood followed his finger, painting a fresh streak over the lip.
Just then, a vivid red tongue licked his long finger.
Han Seung Jae stared down at him. The slick flesh sucked at his finger again and again. The corners of Yi Kyung’s eyes were red, and his gaze remained unfocused. It was most likely nothing more than his body reacting.
His temperature was so high that even his tongue was hot. It stoked the urge to seize him by the hair, force a cock into his mouth, and fuck it into him. The rose-scented pheromones streaming from Yi Kyung’s body had already been gnawing ceaselessly at Seung Jae’s patience.
In truth, he had no patience to begin with.
He merely pretended that he did.
Han Seung Jae thrust his finger into Yi Kyung’s mouth, allowing him to suck it more easily. His tongue, slicker than before, curled around the finger and sucked with wet sounds.