NOT 31

Haon pressed his lips against his, then his hand slid from his shoulder down to the nape of his neck. As his fingers brushed the skin at the back of his neck, Cha Jeong-won felt his pheromones surge violently once more.

Something seemed to be boiling up from deep within, spreading across his skin, the heat filling the space between them through the air.

“Hmm…”

He had thought he wouldn’t get excited by pheromones he’d been smelling all along, but perhaps because Cha Jeong-won was now caressing his skin, Haon felt helplessly aroused.

Haon’s stomach tightened, and his hips twitched. It was as if he were facing a blinding light, making it difficult to even keep his eyes open properly.

“Haon.”

A low voice escaped as their lips parted for just a moment.

“Yeah.”

His reply came almost without their lips separating. Even though Haon had only tilted his head back slightly, Cha Jeong-won’s breath swept hotly past his chin.

The Alpha’s scent was too intense.

It felt like it was seeping all the way to the back of his palate. His mood felt strangely floaty and dizzy, as if intoxicated by the pheromones.

In that state, they came together again.

This time, their kiss continued deeply to the end, as if they had entrusted their breath somewhere for much longer than before.

Their lips parted, and hot tongues tangled. Sticky, red tongues moved from mouth to mouth, both eagerly swallowing each other’s saliva.

The air in the room felt increasingly humid.

The sofa suddenly felt narrow. With their bodies half-overlapping as they lay on it, it felt strangely insufficient.

“Let’s not do this here…”

The words barely escaped between breaths. Their lips hadn’t even fully separated yet.

Before Haon’s murmured words could even finish, Cha Jeong-won raised his body.

Haon was pulled up by Cha Jeong-won’s touch. As they both sat up, their chests brushed, and their collars rubbed together faintly, making a small sound.

Even from that brief contact, the pheromones surged strongly again. The Alpha’s scent and his own scent rising in response tangled chaotically, seeming to move with them with each step they took.

The distance to the bed was actually short, barely a few steps.

Yet, with each step Haon took, his heart beat louder. With each footfall on the carpet, it felt like a warning that something irreversible was about to happen.

Haon was the first to sit on the edge of the bed.

Cha Jeong-won, who had been standing before him, leaned forward slightly and added a single word with a short breath.

“Back.”

With that concise word, his hand moved.

It gently wrapped around his shoulder and pushed him back. As Haon’s body naturally fell backward, the soft mattress met his back.

At first, he saw the ornate ceiling, but soon Cha Jeong-won’s face appeared as if parting it.

Cha Jeong-won was looking down at him. The gaze from above felt closer, thicker, than anything he had felt throughout the day.

His lips descended again. This time, even the speed of their descent was different.

The tongue that plunged directly in swept through Haon’s mouth without hesitation.

Haon accepted the pleasure Cha Jeong-won gave him. That alone was a sufficient answer.

The kiss naturally deepened. His mouth quickly grew hot.

Their breaths continued without a chance to subside. Small moans mixed in intermittently, but it was impossible to tell from whom they originated first. The boundary between where his own breath ended and the other’s began blurred.

The pheromones seemed almost at their peak.

As the Alpha’s scent swirled thickly, as if about to drip from the ceiling, his own scent, rising in response, swelled along with it. The air in the room itself felt as if it were made of their combined scents.

Just then, a loud sound suddenly erupted from the video playing on the etflix screen.

At the sound of gunfire, both of them flinched and turned their heads simultaneously.

Their minds, which had seemed about to melt from the stimulating sound, returned to reality.

After locking eyes, they smiled as if by agreement.

“…Senior.”

Haon called out very cautiously. His voice still carried the heat from the kiss moments before.

He slowly raised his hand and cupped Cha Jeong-won’s cheek.

It was hot.

Heat transmitted distinctly wherever his palm touched.

Carefully moving his thumb, he gently caressed Cha Jeong-won. Through his fingertips, he could feel the jawline and body temperature intact.

“Now we’re in big trouble.”

The words, whispered as if falling, sounded like both a joke and a declaration.

Haon’s pupils grew hazy, but somehow the resolve contained within them seemed serious.

Cha Jeong-won half-lowered his eyes at Haon’s hand caressing his cheek. Then he turned his head and buried his lips in the palm.

The sensation of his lips pressed dully into Haon’s palm below.

Each time the short breath from his parted lips brushed past his palm, Haon’s heart fluttered.

“If you date me, you’ll be happy every day.”

It was a confident tone, but closer to a promise to truly make it happen rather than baseless self-assurance.

“You’re saying something I can’t tell if it’s a warning or a promise.”

Cha Jeong-won’s voice tickled Haon’s palm. Haon grinned and pulled him into an embrace.

“It’ll really be good. Because…”

He willingly took a deep breath of Cha Jeong-won’s pheromones.

If he could prevent his and Cha Jeong-won’s misfortune, this person would truly live days different from before.

“I’m really fun.”

But Haon hid his true feelings behind a joke. Cha Jeong-won buried his face in Haon’s embrace.

Just the act of snuggling into his arms and leaning his head made the air between them distinctly denser.

“A fun relationship… I’m looking forward to it.”

Cha Jeong-won took a short breath. The corners of his mouth rose and fell very subtly.

“Then…”

Cha Jeong-won lifted his head slightly and looked up at Haon.

“Shall we finish watching etflix?”

“Carry me back in your arms.”

Haon spread his arms. Cha Jeong-won didn’t decline.

As Cha Jeong-won lifted his body, Haon’s legs naturally wrapped around his waist.

While walking back toward the sofa, Haon quietly caught his breath in that embrace.

The heartbeat against his chest, the temperature of the breath brushing his nape—his body gradually grew more accustomed to the pheromones.

Then Cha Jeong-won muttered a belated thought.

“Don’t you plan to check out the sweet room more?”

Compared to how he had desperately insisted on wanting to go to the sweet room, the time spent looking around was short.

“Ah, was that so.”

Haon laughed awkwardly.

“We’ll look at the room while watching that, or something.”

It was an insincere remark.

And in their disheveled state of mind, neither of them noticed at that moment that they hadn’t bumped into anything while navigating the sweet room.

The taxi cut smoothly across the road.

Haon, sitting side by side in the back seat, gazed blankly outside.

The afterimages of the passing lights stretched long outside the window.

Perhaps because he had drunk a little wine, his body felt comfortably relaxed.

“Didn’t you want to sleep in the sweet room?”

Haon rolled only his eyes to meet Cha Jeong-won’s reflected in the window.

Perhaps because they had drunk wine together and watched etflix until they were languid, his face also seemed a bit more relaxed than usual.

Just briefly, but the bed was really plush. Maybe we should have just slept and left.

“If we slept there…”

Haon honestly revealed his thoughts.

“I think I’d end up devouring you, or something?”

It felt like he would purely succumb to his instincts and either seduce or pounce on Cha Jeong-won.

“Me, not you?”

When Cha Jeong-won retorted as if it were absurd, Haon let out a deep sigh and nodded.

“Yes. Not you, me. Because you’re emitting such good pheromones, and you’re shoving that face in front of me that looks like it was meticulously sculpted, so I get impulsive, or something?”

“Why don’t you think about the opposite case?”

“If you had the same thought, I’d feel regretful too. But anyway, today isn’t our only day.”

One week.

There was already an agreement between them to date for a week.

Rather than using everything up all at once in the sweet room today, he wanted to take it slow, divide it up, and use it very thoroughly, even if it felt a bit regrettable.

He pretended to understand Cha Jeong-won, but in truth, he lacked the courage to boldly advance. He skillfully hid his own inadequate heart.

It was a bit regrettable, but this was a strategic retreat for a greater advance.

‘Let’s use it without regret.’

Soon the taxi stopped, and Cha Jeong-won and Haon got out together.

“Living in the same building is good for things like this.”

At Cha Jeong-won’s muttering, Haon lightly grabbed his arm and then let go.

“You’re glad you don’t have to take me home separately?”

“No, because we get to see each other longer.”

At his words, Haon blinked as if caught off guard.

“Senior, looking at you now, you weren’t a bear but a fox. You’re someone who says embarrassing things without batting an eye.”

As if admitting defeat, Haon waved his hand and pressed the elevator button.

With a ding*, the doors opened.