22 – AC

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Perhaps because the tension had broken from crying, a sweet pheromone scent was subtly drifting out. Watching the tears fall down Eun-won’s cheeks, Cha Se-jin slowly moved his tongue inside his mouth. Because of the scent, he felt as if sucking those tears and licking that white nape would taste sweet.

Unable to resist the impulse, Cha Se-jin raised his hand and rubbed the tips of his fingers against Eun-won’s pale nape. He could feel the skin, warm from the heat of crying.

Startled by the sudden physical contact, Eun-won sniffled and looked up at Cha Se-jin. Perhaps because of the surprise, or because he had cried his fill, he seemed more stable than before.

“Are you done crying? You can cry more if you want.”

Eun-won, whose eyes had become puffy like boiled dumplings from crying for so long, finally felt a surge of embarrassment and pressed a tissue against the corners of his eyes to wipe them. He hadn’t checked the time, so he didn’t know exactly how long it had been, but he felt completely drained, as if he had been crying for an hour.

“You were pretty while crying, and you’re fucking pretty after crying too, Darling.”

Cha Se-jin, who hadn’t scolded him once while he cried and had waited for him to finish while helping him breathe every now and then, spoke with a mock seriousness.

Eun-won pressed the damp, soaked tissue against his eyes again before looking at Cha Se-jin, who was sitting beside him. He was sure Cha Se-jin had been opposite him a moment ago; he wondered when he had moved, as he was now looking at him from very close range.

“Please stop teasing me….”

Now he’s finally back to how he was at the convenience store. With a smirk, Cha Se-jin picked up the frappe in front of Eun-won, which had melted to a drinkable consistency, and stirred it. Then, he pressed the thick straw against Eun-won’s closed lips.

“Hurry.”

At the urge devoid of laughter, Eun-won sniffled and opened his lips. The straw slid in between them. As he lightly bit and sucked, the moderately melted drink flowed smoothly up the straw.

The drink entering his mouth was cold, sweet, and smooth. Since his throat was dry from crying and his body was completely drained, the sweetness felt welcoming, and Eun-won took a few more gulps.

“Does your family know? That you came to see me today.”

“No…. I haven’t told them yet.”

“So you came to see me before even letting your family know? Because you wanted to propose quickly?”

“Propose…?”

“You told me to marry you earlier.”

It was true, but for some reason, it sounded a bit strange. However, since it was literally true, he couldn’t explain it away or refute it.

“…I’ll tell them properly when I go home today.”

“Yeah. Tell them well, and think about everything I mentioned earlier. Where you want to live after we marry, where you want to go for the honeymoon. I’ll do whatever you want.”

“Yes…. But is it okay for me to decide such important things…?”

“If you don’t decide, then who will?”

“…I thought it would be right to just do whatever you decide for me….”

Cha Se-jin wondered just how much of a nightmare the other side had made things for him to be this intimidated. There were things he had seen, and there was a certain level of expectation based on that, but he felt it might be even worse than he imagined.

“Can you do everything exactly as I say?”

“Yes…. As long as it’s… not too… strange….”

“Do you think I’d ask you to do something strange? Darling, what do you take me for?”

“It’s not that… just in case…. Because last time at the convenience store, with the candy… you did that….”

Looking at Eun-won mentioning the incident at the convenience store, Cha Se-jin laughed and toyed with Eun-won’s hair, winding a long finger through a strand before letting it go.

“Was that so strange?”

“…A little….”

“Actually, I wanted to suck your tongue back then.”

“…What?”

It was the biggest reaction he had seen so far. Startled, Eun-won whipped his body around to look at Cha Se-jin. His eyes were wide, as if confirming whether he had heard correctly.

“You smell good, and seeing you stay still without getting angry even when I rubbed your tongue with candy… it turned me on. What the fuck is this scent. It’s fucking sweet.”

Leaning in closer, Cha Se-jin tilted his head and buried his face in the hollow where Eun-won’s shoulder met his nape. When he gently gripped and pressed the nape that tried to pull away in surprise, Eun-won’s shoulders hunched.

Cha Se-jin obsessively inhaled the sweet scent of milk and sugar emanating from Eun-won. Perhaps because he was flustered and couldn’t control it, the scent was leaking out even more intensely, and it was so good it made his head spin.

Since he had made him cry once, there was no reason he couldn’t do it twice; he felt an impulse to bury his face even deeper. If his nape smelled like this, what kind of scent would come from the places where his natural body scent was even stronger? Just imagining it felt like he was about to get an erection.

“Wait… wa-wait, just a moment….”

Just as his reason blurred for a moment and he opened his lips to take the fragile, soft skin into his mouth, Eun-won’s voice poured into his ear. Only then did his focus return, and after confirming their location, Cha Se-jin released the pressure from his hand and let Eun-won go.

“Is this kind of thing strange too?”

“…Yes….”

Observing Eun-won, whose face, ears, and neck had turned a reddish hue, Cha Se-jin subtly released his pheromones. He was curious to see how he would react, and just as he had become conscious of Eun-won’s pheromones, he wanted Eun-won to be conscious of his scent as well.

“…….”

At first, there was no reaction, almost as if he couldn’t feel it, but then a strange change began to occur. Perhaps he felt hot, as he unconsciously fanned himself with his hand, and after taking a few more sips of the drink, he pressed his flushed cheeks with his hand, which had grown cold from holding the cup. And reacting to the pheromones, his sweet scent began to leak out profusely.

“Are you hot?”

“…A little…. I wasn’t, but suddenly….”

“Why do you keep looking at me like that?”

Since he was an omega, it was natural to react to his pheromones, but Eun-won’s reaction was slightly different from other omegas. Other kids would dive in blatantly, as if they were ready to strip right then and there, but Eun-won kept glancing at his face. He acted as if he was flustered that his gaze kept drifting despite not wanting it to, yet he couldn’t stop looking.

Of course, it would have been a turn-on if he had dived in with that face, but the way he fidgeted with his hands and stole glances with a face that looked like he could never do such a thing truly drove him crazy.

“I’m really doing all sorts of things because of you.”

Enduring the urge to have sex, and even suppressing his own pheromones so that he wouldn’t be the one getting turned on instead of the other.

As he cleanly withdrew his pheromones, he felt Eun-won’s breathing, which had been heavy, gradually become easier. Watching the flushed face calmly settle down, Cha Se-jin slowly tilted his head.

“It’s a bit early, but shall we have dinner together? Or do you want to go home today?”

“Um…. I think I should go home today. I have to tell them about the… marriage, and also, my mother-in-law is unwell….”

“Where is she sick? Isn’t she just pretending and lying down?”

“She can’t eat well, and I think she can’t sleep well either….”

“Why?”

“Because of me…. I should have made a decision quickly, but I couldn’t….”

Seeing the sadness etched on Eun-won’s face, Cha Se-jin, feeling irritated on his behalf, stood up and spoke crookedly.

“Did you see it yourself? That she can’t eat or sleep? If you didn’t see it personally, don’t believe it so easily. There are so many things you see with your own eyes that aren’t even true, so why do you believe something you haven’t seen and blame yourself?”

“…The situation is… such that she can’t help it.”

“I’m asking what you saw that makes you think her situation is the same as yours…. No. Let’s take it slow, slow. Once you say you’re getting married, that ‘situation’ will all be resolved, right?”

Shaking his head, Cha Se-jin dropped his gaze to the crown of Eun-won’s head as he stood up. For some reason, Eun-won’s hair was pretty, and even the top of his head was pretty.

“I’ll take you home.”

“Don’t you… have to go back into the office?”

“Yeah, I don’t have to. Let’s go.”

Eun-won, who was about to say it was okay and that he didn’t need to be dropped off, decided to just follow Cha Se-jin’s lead. Unless some problem arose, this was the person he would be marrying, so he felt it would be better to spend a little more time together, talk, and get to know even one more thing about him.

It was an arranged marriage, but… still, rather than marrying without knowing anything, it would be better to marry after knowing a bit more and becoming closer.

It was still too vague, so he didn’t know what ‘marriage’ meant or how they would live after marrying, but for now, he wanted to do the things he could, one by one. Among the many vague things, Cha Se-jin was at least not that vague of an existence.