By Zephyria 
“Sunbae, Sunbae.”
Jeong-min, lying limp, opened his eyes to the sound of a voice calling him anxiously. However, his throat was too dry for a sound to easily come out.
“Are you thirsty?”
Jeong-min nodded at the kind voice laced with amusement. Ju-hwan took a sip of water from the bedside table and pressed his lips against Jeong-min’s. Water flowed through the gap of his parted lips, wetting his throat.
“Want more?”
When Jeong-min nodded again, the man kissed him again as if he had been waiting. Even after the water had been swallowed, the man’s lips did not pull away; instead, feeling a tongue cautiously enter, Jeong-min bit the man’s lip.
“Ouch.”
Jeong-min frowned as he looked at the man pretending to be in pain when it didn’t hurt at all. Ju-hwan then pressed and smoothed out the crease between Jeong-min’s brows.
“You’ll get wrinkles. Don’t do that.”
“Let’s… rest… for a bit…”
As Jeong-min spoke in an exhausted voice, Kim Ju-hwan smiled and lay down beside him, hugging him from behind.
“Let’s rest…”
It was understandable why he said that. From last night until now, Kim Ju-hwan had continuously held and taken Jeong-min. The traces of Yu Shin-woo inside his body had long since disappeared. He had covered them all.
Seeing that Jeong-min’s pheromones had weakened significantly, it seemed the rut was coming to an end, which left Kim Ju-hwan feeling a bit regretful. He buried his nose in the nape of Jeong-min’s neck and inhaled. As expected, it was a sweet… and clean pheromone. It was truly marvelous that a pheromone that fit him so perfectly existed in the world.
“Hey…”
Jeong-min spoke up irritably. It was because Kim Ju-hwan’s member had become erect. Since it was pressed between his buttocks, there was no way he wouldn’t feel it. Kim Ju-hwan pretended not to notice and kissed Jeong-min’s shoulder. Why was he acting so flirtatiously? He seemed like a mischievous prankster, or perhaps a boy full of laughter.
In just one day of rut, Kim Ju-hwan had shown Jeong-min a great deal. He spent a long time stroking his hair and kissed him until his lips were swollen. He kissed every inch of his body and performed insertion slowly and meticulously so it wouldn’t hurt. Thanks to that, despite being an ‘Alpha’ and even in the midst of a ‘rut,’ Jeong-min was able to accept Kim Ju-hwan softly.
Through several ejaculations, Kim Ju-hwan targeted only the spots that made Jeong-min feel pleasure, causing him to sob uncontrollably. He screamed from the pleasure and felt as if he might die, hugging him and biting his ear. His voice was hoarse, and Kim Ju-hwan’s body was a mess with scabs here and there, but both had spent a night so satisfying that it could be called the first time in their lives they had experienced such sex. They simply didn’t say those words to each other.
It was because Kim Ju-hwan feared Jeong-min might run away, and Jeong-min felt that since they were nothing to each other, such talk was unnecessary.
“Aren’t you… going to?”
Jeong-min asked Kim Ju-hwan, who remained still without inserting despite being erect.
“No, I’m not.”
“Why?”
“You said let’s rest.”
“You’re a good listener.”
“Then give me some praise.”
Watching Kim Ju-hwan grumble and nuzzle against him, Jeong-min sighed and raised his hand to stroke Kim Ju-hwan’s hair. Startled by the touch, Kim Ju-hwan lifted his head, and Jeong-min looked back at him with a bewildered expression.
“What?”
“Ah, no. It’s nothing. Just keep stroking me.”
As Kim Ju-hwan poked his head out like a puppy who had waited long for its owner’s praise, Jeong-min continued to stroke him as if he had no choice.
“Kim Ju-hwan.”
“Yes.”
“Do you think I could become an Omega?”
At Jeong-min’s question, Kim Ju-hwan felt the feeling of floating in the air like a piece of lint settle back down. The hope that this relationship might change, even slightly, seemed to vanish again. He was a cruel person.
“I told you I’d make it happen.”
“From what I can see, your company can’t make the drug.”
“Uh, that’s a bit of a blow to my pride.”
“Isn’t it true? Seeing that it doesn’t work despite all this effort… either the drug is weird, or I’m weird. Or maybe both. I can feel that my body is quite broken. My eyesight has dropped a lot. No, what’s the point of saying this now. I’m the one who decided this. But… there’s a reason I feel a sense of emptiness…”
“Sunbae.”
“Yeah?”
“What is there left to hide from me at this point? So tell me everything. I’m your secret room, aren’t I?”
Kim Ju-hwan said, hugging Jeong-min tighter.
“Earlier… before you came, I asked Shin-woo hyung. If he loved me. If he wanted to hold me because he loved me. I know it’s childish. I’m too old to be talking about love… and our relationship is twisted. But people… hearts don’t always work that way. Still, I wanted to hear those words, those childish words. I felt like if I heard them, I could endure everything.”
He couldn’t tell Kim Ju-hwan, but… Jeong-min hadn’t wanted to be held by Yu Shin-woo. In that moment, he truly didn’t want to be held by him, so he resisted however he could. In a way, it was no different from being raped by Yu Shin-woo. However, since it was all something he had brought upon himself, he couldn’t tell anyone, and he especially didn’t want to tell Kim Ju-hwan how he felt then. He feared Ju-hwan might do something drastic. And… that he would be hurt…
“…….”
Jeong-min fell silent for a moment. Jeong-min wouldn’t know how terrified Kim Ju-hwan was during that short silence. How would Yu Shin-woo have answered that word, the one Jeong-min couldn’t bring himself to utter?
“But hyung asked why that was necessary in the current situation.”
Jeong-min’s voice trembled. He didn’t cry, but his heart had likely already been torn to shreds and wept. He remembered Jeong-min’s face as he stared blankly at the ceiling while being held by Yu Shin-woo. It was a face of total resignation. Since it was after hearing that answer, it would be no exaggeration to say he had died.
But why? It was a truly terrible thought, but Kim Ju-hwan felt joy alongside his anger. He was relieved that Yu Shin-woo was exactly the kind of person he thought he was. He does not love Shin Jeong-min. He has never once shown the actions or words that one shows to a loved one. Though Jeong-min would be hurt by this confirmation, Kim Ju-hwan was happy. Now you… will fall into my arms.
“I keep wondering what those words meant.”
“Sunbae.”
“What.”
“Shall I make it so you can’t think of anything?”
“How— Ah!”
Kim Ju-hwan’s member drove straight into Jeong-min’s body. As Jeong-min’s body curled from the sudden impact, Kim Ju-hwan quickly hugged him tight, touching his chest and slowly releasing pheromones. In response, Jeong-min’s pheromones flowed out, pushing back Kim Ju-hwan’s pheromones like an Alpha, but it was not enough.
Kim Ju-hwan moved his hips, thrusting deep into Jeong-min’s body. Soon, the position changed from lying on their sides to missionary, and Jeong-min let out a moan and chuckled as he looked up at Kim Ju-hwan, who was diligently shaking his hips atop him.
“Why are you laughing?”
“I’m just wondering why a fellow Alpha tastes so good that you’re working so hard.”
“Wow, Sunbae, you taste fucking great, and I’m the only one who knows it.”
He was annoying. But why was he comforted by those words? Jeong-min thought that it wasn’t just that anyone would do, but that he was glad it was this guy, and he wrapped his long legs around Kim Ju-hwan’s waist.
“Can I knot?”
He had covered all of Yu Shin-woo’s traces. However, the only thing he hadn’t done was knot. It was because he didn’t know what kind of wounds Jeong-min’s body might have sustained. But he grew greedy. It couldn’t be helped. He wanted to completely erase the traces of another bastard.
“…Do it.”
“Don’t give permission so easily, Sunbae. What if you end up pregnant with my baby?”
“Haha. If that happens, I’ll give birth, but you do the raising.”
Jeong-min spoke playfully. He expected Kim Ju-hwan to retort that no such thing was possible and joke back, but instead, he was quiet. Flustered by the silence, Jeong-min looked at him and saw that his pupils were shaking more than he had ever seen before.
“I can’t stop.”
“What?”
“I said I can’t stop. I’ll pour everything in until you get pregnant. Be prepared.”
Kim Ju-hwan released his pheromones. However, he didn’t release them to suppress him. He did it to hold him tenderly, approaching carefully to mix and harmonize with Jeong-min’s pheromones.
Though they had mixed their bodies countless times, this was the first time they had sex so comfortably and softly while sober, without the help of drugs. Even the knotting was so tender that it almost brought tears to his eyes. Jeong-min held them back and, for the first time, opened his body for Kim Ju-hwan.