By Zephyria When Koi woke up, he was alone. As always, Ashley had already left for work and was nowhere to be seen.
“……Ah.”
A groan involuntarily escaped his lips as he got out of bed. His lower body was particularly sore today. He tilted his head, wondering why it was so strange even though Ashley hadn’t been particularly rough, when suddenly a wave of dizziness washed over him. Koi frowned, closed his eyes, and slumped back onto the bed.
*Is my body not feeling well……?*
He felt uneasy because this was the first time this had happened. After sitting there for a while and taking deep breaths, he calmed his dizziness and carefully got up.
The house was as quiet as ever. Loneliness visited him once again. Koi slowly moved his feet towards the kitchen. As always, Ashley had left a note in the same spot.
*Koi, you don’t have to clean today, so just rest.*
Below it were the documents needed for the health checkup. Judging by Koi’s name written at the top, it seemed he was supposed to fill in the necessary information.
He was relieved that he didn’t have to clean. He really just wanted to rest today. After asking for his meal to be brought up, Koi filled out the documents in the meantime. The questions were nothing special. He thought for a moment about the questions asking if he had ever had surgery or if there was a family history of illness, and then marked ‘Unknown.’ He didn’t know anything other than his Father’s history of cancer. He wrote that his parents’ type was Beta.
When he was halfway through filling out the documents, he changed his mind. He decided to go downstairs for his meal, called the front desk to cancel the delivery, and then got on the elevator.
“Hello, Mr. Niles.”
Koi greeted the employee who greeted him kindly, and walked to the window seat as he was guided.
*Hoo.*
As he let out a short sigh, an employee soon handed him the menu book.
“We have a nice tea that just came in, would you like some?”
Koi nodded, saying he would, to the question asked with a smile. It didn’t matter since he couldn’t feel much of a difference anyway.
While waiting for his meal to come out, he drank the tea that had come out first and stared blankly out the window for a while. His constantly languid body wasn’t getting any better. The weather was nice and he had slept enough, so why was he like this? Just as he was thinking it was strange and bringing the teacup to his lips.
Suddenly, he felt a presence and someone brushed past Koi and pulled out the chair across from him. Koi was surprised by his actions of readily sitting down without asking for Koi’s understanding, and turned his head and widened his eyes.
The person sitting across from him was so beautiful that he wondered if he was dreaming. The neck, surrounded by somewhat long silver hair that brushed his shoulders, was long and elegant, and the eyes that were directed at Koi were a deep green. His neat nose, naturally raised cheekbones, and soft jawline, as well as his red lips like ripe cherries, were definitely enough to steal his gaze. His long eyelashes were the same color as his hair, and his transparent and white skin had not a single blemish.
He couldn’t believe that such a person existed in the world, but Koi knew this man. He was the very angel who had fearlessly come out onto the balcony naked and sat there smoking. He was sitting in front of him now, so was this a dream?
*He really was a person.*
As he reaffirmed what was perhaps an obvious fact, Koi looked at his face again. Even though he had clearly seen his naked body, he felt strangely awkward about defining his gender. Perhaps it was because angels had no gender.
He knew he was definitely a person, but Koi still felt dazed. On top of that, he felt a strange sense of intimacy even though he was only seeing him for the second time. He felt at ease and even felt a sense of joy as if he had met an old friend, which made Koi even more embarrassed. What on earth was this feeling?
As Koi stared blankly, he narrowed his long eyes and greeted him first.
“Hello.”
Contrary to what he had expected, his voice was low and husky. Koi was startled by the chilling voice, and he continued.
“You’re hiding it well. You’re a commendable child.”
Koi didn’t understand what he was saying. On top of that, he was even more puzzled by the way he spoke as if he were much older. He looked to be about the same age, so was he perhaps the type to look young?
“Um…… Excuse me, how old are you?”
He realized after he spoke that it might have been a rude question. He quickly closed his mouth, but the other person smiled and asked a question in return.
“How old do I look?”
“Uh…….”
Koi hesitated, flustered, and opened his mouth. Just as he was about to speak, the other person gave an answer first.
“Definitely ten years older than you.”
An awkward silence flowed. He didn’t know what was going on, so he just watched, and he smiled. He continued to speak kindly to Koi, who was mesmerized by his sweet face.
“It’s true, we said we could recognize each other, but I didn’t believe it. I’ve never seen another of my kind besides myself. You must feel the same way, right? We’re really, very rare, you know. I never thought I’d ever run into one…….”
He was talking about things that only he knew and took something out of his pocket. Koi was about to tell him that he couldn’t smoke when he saw him put a cigarette in his mouth, but an employee approached and politely stopped him.
“I’m sorry, smoking is prohibited in all seats.”
The man raised his head with a cigarette in his mouth. When Koi was inwardly nervous, the man opened his mouth.
“It’s okay if I don’t light it, right?”
The man, with a cigarette between his fingers, smiled brightly. Then, unexpectedly, the employee softened his expression and answered yes. On top of that, Koi blinked in bewilderment at the sight of him even going so far as to check if he needed anything else before turning around and leaving. He said nonchalantly to Koi, who was like that.
“People are kind to ‘us’.”
It was as if this situation was very natural. But what caught Koi’s attention was something else.
“‘Us’?”
When he repeated what the man had said, he gave a faint smile.
“You know, if you just release a little Pheromone, anyone will fall for you.”
He was only saying things he didn’t understand at all. Koi was just staring blankly, and then the man frowned as if he had noticed something was wrong.
“What’s wrong? It’s like you don’t understand anything I’m saying. We don’t need to do that between us.”
Again, he used the expression ‘us.’ Koi couldn’t understand at all. How could he be grouped with such an angelic person?
The smile slowly disappeared from his face at Koi’s expression, who was not convinced at all. Koi hesitated and opened his mouth with difficulty.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about at all…… What do you mean that you and I are the same kind, what does ‘us’ mean?”
He stared at Koi silently with a cigarette in his mouth. Koi became uncomfortable and restless at his reaction, who didn’t even blink his eyes, let alone make a small movement. After staring at Koi silently for a while, the other person suddenly frowned and leaned back in his chair.
“I just showed you that I’m the same as you, there’s no need to be wary. We’re on the same side, so you don’t have to be so wary.”
“Pheromones?”
It was even more nonsense. He knew from the nuance that he had released Pheromones to him, but that was it. Koi had no idea why this man was doing this to him.
“I’m a Beta, what do you mean by Pheromones…….”
At Koi’s words, the man opened his mouth with a dumbfounded expression.
“There’s no need to hide it even in front of me.”
He didn’t believe Koi at all. Unable to stand it, Koi asked again.
“You keep saying us, us, but what relationship do you and I have? Please tell me properly, I don’t know at all.”
The man stared at Koi without saying a word. Koi met his gaze without avoiding it. Silence flowed for a while, and the man, who had been half-doubtful, closed his mouth with a serious face. He stared intently at Koi and let out a short exclamation.
“……Oh my god, are you serious?”
He muttered to himself, sucked on the cigarette, realized that no smoke was coming out, and then frowned. Instead, the man, who sighed, opened his mouth.
“I thought I had finally met someone of my kind, but it turns out he’s an idiot who doesn’t even know what he is.”
“Excuse me?”
Koi frowned and asked. The intimacy he had felt at first gradually faded, and little by little, a sense of displeasure at the man’s rudeness began to take its place. How could he say such a thing to his face?
But as if he didn’t care about Koi’s reaction at all, the man still spoke with an indifferent face.
“So you’ve been believing you’re a Beta your whole life?”
“I am a Beta. That’s what the test said too…….”
“Ignore those crappy tests. We don’t show up even if we get tested anyway.”
The man, who had used the expression ‘us’ again, raised his head with a short sigh. And then he made a bombshell declaration to Koi.
“You’re not a Beta, you’re an Extreme Omega, like me.”
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