By Zephyria 
Koi didn’t react at all. After freezing for a while, he slowly lowered the hands covering his face and looked down at Ariel. His expression was filled with shock and bewilderment.
“……What?”
To his question, whispered in a cracked voice, Ariel confessed honestly.
“I went to ask that guy what his intentions were, knowing I’d meet you again. That’s when Ash told me directly. He said wishing for your happiness was to make you that unhappy. ……To be precise, he said this.”
Ariel took a deep breath and repeated his words exactly.
“The higher you climb, the greater the impact when you fall.”
Koi’s shallow breath stopped altogether. Seeing his frozen friend with wide-open eyes, Ariel poured out the words he had held in his heart.
“Koi, that guy told me he loved you too. But I believe that if you truly love someone, you can never think of making them unhappy. That’s not love.”
Koi still showed no reaction. Looking at his dazed face, struck by shock, Ariel coldly presented the reality.
“You might still have an obsession with me, Koi, but obsession doesn’t always stem from love. People obsess over those they hate too.”
Silence fell. Waiting for Koi’s reaction, Ariel cautiously spoke.
“Um, Koi. If I hurt you……”
“Th-the person you were engaged to, what are they like? Do you know?”
Koi interrupted Ariel, spitting out the question rapidly. Ariel hesitated before answering.
“Not much……”
She paused, as if gathering her thoughts, and finally let out a sigh.
“I heard they were an Omega. But they say they have almost no scent, so they’re practically a Beta.”
That makes sense. He has seizures when he smells Omega pheromones.
As Koi mechanically recalled this, Ariel continued.
“My father runs a perfume company, so he’s incredibly wealthy. He dotes on her because she’s his only daughter. Ash’s family probably saw that a lot. People like them arrange marriages among themselves.”
The look Ash’s father had given her in high school suddenly came to mind, and Ariel unconsciously scowled.
“You can date anyone, but you marry someone of your standing.”
She had said it without much thought, but it was too late. Flustered, Ariel tried to backtrack, but no words came to mind.
“……I understand your thoughts.”
After a long pause, Koi finally spoke in a voice heavy with dejection.
“I need some rest. Thank you for telling me.”
“Koi……”
Ariel called his name, but Koi didn’t answer and went into his room. Left alone, Ariel sighed, then roughly scratched his head.
Closing the door and lying on the bed, Koi stared blankly at a corner of the dark room for a long time.
“The higher you climb, the greater the impact when you fall.”
“People obsess over those they hate too.”
“You can date anyone, but you marry someone of your standing.”
Ariel’s words continued to echo in his ears. Mixed with Ash’s whispered voice saying he loved him, his mind was a mess. Not knowing what to do, he simply closed his eyes. He spent the night in a state of utter helplessness, and by the time he finally began to think, dawn was breaking.
\ \ *
He waited impatiently for time to pass, and around the time most people would have left for work, he picked up his phone and called Ash. He had held onto a sliver of hope, but as expected, no one answered. Finally making up his mind, he went to Ash’s house, only to be blocked at the entrance.
“Mr. Miller is not here at the moment.”
As fate would have it, the doorman who always let Koi in was on his day off. Blocked by the man looking at him with a stern face, Koi couldn’t get inside. He pleaded and begged for a long time, but he couldn’t even step into the hallway, let alone get into the elevator.
Accepting the bleak reality, Koi resorted to his last option, squeezing his memory to dial Bernice’s number. He couldn’t believe he could rely on a number he’d only seen once, but when he heard her cold voice on the other end, he almost collapsed with relief.
– Yes, Bernice speaking.
Hoo, he let out a trembling breath and struggled to speak.
“Hello, um, this is Connor Niles.”
His voice cracked, so he quickly cleared his throat and continued.
“I, I wanted to ask about Ash’s condition. No one is home… When will he be back?”
Bernice didn’t answer immediately. It was unlikely, but he felt as if she were choosing her words, and then she spoke.
– I can’t say yet. He’s undergoing tests.
“Tests?”
He asked in surprise without realizing it. Bernice replied in her usual business-like tone.
– Yes. Didn’t I tell you? There are errors in his memory. You don’t know what that means, do you? It means there’s a problem with his brain.
Koi felt his shoulders tense involuntarily and asked cautiously.
“Is it… serious…?”
Are extreme Omega pheromones that fatal to extreme Alphas? he wondered anxiously. Bernice said to him.
– We need to run more tests. I can’t tell you anything right now.
He wanted to ask which hospital it was, but she wouldn’t answer. He bit his lip hard. After a short pause, Bernice added.
– You should be prepared. Junior might be very different from the person you knew.
“……How so?”
Koi asked, but Bernice evaded the question with a shrug.
– In any case, I warned you.
Koi retorted in a stiff voice to her cold tone.
“This time, no matter what, I won’t break up with Ash.”
As he voiced the resolve he had been repeating, his whole body trembled with tension. As Koi held his breath unconsciously, she said to him.
– I don’t intend to stop you. Nor do I have the right to.
To her indifferent response, so contrasting with his firm determination, Koi felt a pang of emptiness. He let out a short breath, and Bernice’s voice reached his ears.
– Whether you break up again or not depends on your will. If you have nothing else to say, then…
“W-wait a moment!”
Koi urgently stopped her. Confirming the call hadn’t ended, he quickly added.
“When Ash wakes up, please contact me. Please.”
– ……I will.
After a brief farewell, she hung up. For a while, Koi stared down at his phone, then noticed his clenched fist and slowly uncurled his fingers. Cold sweat had soaked his palm.
Haa, he let out a trembling sigh, finally relaxing his tension, and turned his head. He went back to the doorman who had turned him away and earnestly asked him to contact him when Ash returned, giving him a crumpled $10 bill as a tip. The doorman, with a smile like a mask, said he would. He politely refused the tip.
That evening, Koi thanked Ariel and returned to the basement room where he had lived before. Fortunately, because he had paid his rent on time, the room was still available.
He cleaned the dusty room thoroughly, took a shower, and then fell asleep. The next day, he immediately started working part-time and immersed himself in his work.
In the meantime, the test results from the hospital he had visited with Ariel came out, and as expected, his trait was Beta. His pheromones had never leaked out either.
It doesn’t matter, whatever my trait is.
Koi thought as he worked diligently. It’s even better if I’m a Beta. Ash has seizures from Omega pheromones. He tried to think positively.
Time continued to flow. It had been almost two weeks since he had seen Ash.
When I see him again, this time I’ll propose first.*
Even while working, his thoughts were filled with Ash.
They were in love, and it didn’t matter who proposed first. In any case, Ash hadn’t proposed yet, so he would have no grounds to complain about losing the opportunity. He thought it was fortunate, as it gave him time to save money for a ring, and every night, Koi fell asleep clutching his phone, waiting for a call.