By Zephyria Ariel paced the living room with an anxious expression. Her home was surprisingly filled with the scent of pheromones. After circling the living room a few times, her gaze always stopped in one direction: the source of the pheromone scent. Staring at the room where Koi was holed up, suffering from his first heat cycle, Ariel let out another stifled sigh.
What in the world is happening?
She pressed her feverish-feeling forehead and closed her eyes. When Koi suddenly contacted her, she had just finished and was updating an article. She had happily answered her friend’s call with a sense of relief, but the voice that reached her ears was unexpected. Startled by Koi’s terrified, trembling voice, Ariel had rushed out of her company, wandered the streets, and finally found him when his heat cycle was already well underway.
This is definitely an Omega’s pheromone scent.
She recalled, as if for the first time. She knew it well because she had smelled it before. There was no way she was mistaken. But the reason it was hard to believe was different.
How could Koi be an Omega?
Until now, he had undoubtedly been a Beta. If not, it meant he had been taking medication to mask his scent, but Ariel was certain that wasn’t the case. Koi would never deceive her, and she was confident about that.
But then how has he not emitted any scent until now? Could he be a mutant? Did that bastard Ash mutate Koi?
I don’t know.
Her head throbbing, Ariel eventually took headache medicine and anxiously looked at Koi’s room again. Since she had given him the emergency medication, it should subside soon. She would be able to hear his story then. She closed her eyes and rubbed her brow, where deep wrinkles had formed.
*
Experiencing the heat for the first time, Koi couldn’t help but let out groans. His insides itched, and he desperately wanted to scratch them, but it was impossible. Helplessly, he could only moan and writhe his entire body.
Ash, Ash, Ash.
He kept repeating the same name in his mouth. If Ashley were here, he would give him what he wanted immediately. He would have filled his insides and thrust into him. Would that have made this heat disappear? He didn’t know. His thoughts weren’t functioning properly; only desire surfaced. It was the first time his entire body had been consumed by such longing. Finally, he burst into tears and tore at the sheets on the bed.
* * *
It was a full day later when Koi finally managed to calm the heat and regain his senses. Waking from a deep sleep, perhaps due to the medication, he was met by Ariel’s serious expression. Instead of asking questions, she first gave him warm soup and waited for him to calm down.
“Are you feeling a bit better?”
To her gentle question, Koi nodded with difficulty.
“Thanks, Al.”
As he greeted her with a hoarse voice, Ariel patted his arm silently. Meeting her steady gaze, Koi drank some water and finally opened his mouth.
“I don’t really know what happened either.”
“Just tell me what you remember, it’s okay.”
Encouraged by Ariel, Koi hesitated for a moment before speaking intermittently. As he recounted meeting the Angel and the topic of a hyper-Omega, Ariel seemed surprised but listened quietly to the rest of his story. When he finished, mentioning Ashley fainting after smelling an Omega’s pheromones, Ariel, who had only been listening until then, spoke.
“So, is that Angel person gone now?”
“Yes,” Koi nodded.
“I don’t know where he went. He just disappeared.”
“I see.”
Ariel, lost in thought for a moment, changed the subject.
“Were you okay? Did anything happen?”
“Uh… yes.”
Koi nodded hesitantly. It was natural for Ariel to worry, given that his heat cycle had suddenly erupted on the street. He fumbled through his remaining memories and spoke.
“A few people tried to approach me, but I managed to get away. I’m taller now and my body has gotten quite decent, you know. If it were like before, I would have been completely trapped.”
Seeing Koi show off his arm and laugh, Ariel smiled back.
“Yes, that’s a relief.”
She said it kindly, but her expression soon turned serious. Koi’s smile also vanished, and they remained silent for a while.
“I still don’t know, Koi.”
Ariel spoke first.
“You thought you were a Beta until now, right? Isn’t it a bit strange to believe everything that person, the Angel, said? I don’t know how much I should trust the words of someone I’ve never met. Of course, if what he said is true, it does make sense.”
Ariel was just as confused by the unexpected situation. However, she thought that no matter how flustered she was, she couldn’t be as much as Koi, the person directly involved, and steeled herself.
“You can stay here for a while. The room is still available, and I haven’t found anyone to live with yet.”
“Thank you.”
Koi replied with his still hoarse voice. It would have been best if he could afford the rent himself, but unfortunately, he couldn’t. Ariel squeezed Koi’s hand as if to encourage him and then spoke.
“Ash still doesn’t know you’re an Omega, right?”
“Uh… probably.”
Koi mumbled unconfidently.
“I might have emitted pheromones, but… if Ash had known, he would have told me.”
Would he, though?
Ariel inwardly doubted it and recalled her thoughts. Ashley, as she knew him, was not such an honest and upright person. He used to be, but not at least now. He was sly, and it was impossible to know what he was thinking.
What if he hasn’t changed his mind about Koi yet…
The possibility was certainly there. But Koi’s next words shook her conviction.
“Besides, Ash has a seizure when he smells Omega pheromones. If I had emitted that scent, wouldn’t he have shown abnormal symptoms immediately? But Ash never did.”
There was no argument against that. Ariel reluctantly said, “I see,” but the sense of unease remained. Unable to shake off the unsettling feeling, she fell into deep thought. Deciding that stabilizing Koi was the priority, she asked if he needed anything else and then stood up.
“Rest for a bit, Koi. We can think about it when you feel better.”
“…Okay.”
Koi managed a difficult smile and lay down on the bed. After confirming her friend had fallen asleep again, Ariel quietly left the room.
Koi is right. If Ash reacted so strongly to pheromone scents, everything would have been revealed long ago. At least when the two of them were intimate, he would have smelled the pheromones.
Even though it was rational to think so, Ariel still couldn’t shake off her doubts.
But what if.
What if Koi is truly a hyper-Omega, and Ash knew it and hid it?
Something irreversible might happen. Even as she shook her head, telling herself it couldn’t be, Ariel felt a chill run down her spine.
* * *
It was the following afternoon when Koi had somewhat stabilized. After Ariel left for work, he woke up late and moved his still-lethargic body towards the kitchen. A faint smile naturally appeared on his lips as he took down and read the memo Ariel had attached to the refrigerator.
Eat anything from the fridge. I’ll be back by 7. L.
Following the instructions in her memo, Koi made a sandwich with some ingredients he found. He decided to make dinner in preparation for her return. While he was washing up and brewing coffee, he suddenly heard a message notification.
Ash?
Startled, he quickly checked his phone, and a sigh of disappointment escaped his lips. The sender was an unexpected person. After reading the message, he stood there for a while, replaying it in his mind.
*
“You got a message from Julie?”
Ariel asked in surprise, sitting opposite Koi at the dining table, eating the dinner he had prepared. Koi nodded with a troubled expression.
“It’s nothing much. Just asking how I’m doing, a simple greeting.”
“So, what did you reply?”
To Ariel’s question, Koi answered hesitantly, “Just that I’m doing well.”
You dense fool.
Ariel stared intently at his face without a word.