Damn it. Memories should fly away at times like this! Why do memories that flew away well during my first heat stick like they’re glued with adhesive and won’t fall off at times like this? I groaned and rolled around on the bed hugging the pillow.
Then I suddenly discovered a strange mark remaining on my wrist. Not the round hickeys commonly left after sex, but marks from being tied, crossing my skin lengthwise. Seeing that, memories of last night vividly came to mind again and my face flushed hot once more.
I ground my teeth while rubbing the tied spot. Seriously crazy bastard. To think he’d do something like this. What do you mean it won’t leave marks? It’ll last at least two or three days. Just wait till you show up. For a few months, I won’t let you even mention the letter S in sex….
“……”
I stopped grumbling and sat down with a sigh. Honestly, to openly get angry at Jukyung and confront him for doing strange things, I had… gotten a bit too excited yesterday. If he said didn’t I like it too, I actually had nothing to say.
I’ll just tie him up next time. I racked my brain. He should experience it too to know how absurd and embarrassing this is. And in that bathroom… No, let’s forget this. Let’s cleanly erase it from memory. Nothing happened. We only had sex in the bathroom.
Anyway, this isn’t what’s important.
What’s important is that Kwon Jukyung is now clearly an alpha. If by any chance Kwon Jukyung manifested for the first time yesterday and it was his first rut like me….
“Kwon Jukyung’s memory didn’t fly away like mine, right?”
At my own muttered words, I got goosebumps and froze like ice on the bed for a moment.
No way.
I kept my hunched body fixed and only moved my creaking neck to look around. Kwon Jukyung wasn’t beside me. Or at least he didn’t seem to be in the room or bathroom. I felt no sign of anyone, and the room was neatly cleaned up. The clothes Kwon Jukyung had shed like molting skin yesterday and things like bath towels had also disappeared without a trace.
A cleanly organized room. A bed where I lay alone with a body bearing traces of violent sex.
It was a quite unsettling déjà vu.
Did Kwon Jukyung also get shocked and run away?
I don’t know what state Kwon Jukyung was in when he woke from his rut. Even if his memory flew away like mine before, seeing the room and me with traces of violent lovemaking still intact, he would have realized what happened last night. Sleeping with me wouldn’t be newly shocking. If there was shock, it would be the fact that he manifested as an alpha. Would the fact that I was an omega also be shocking?
“Mmm….”
I tousled my already disheveled hair more and sat up again.
So where is this bastard now?
I sighed and scanned around again.
The bedroom was vibrating with all kinds of scents. Above all, my pheromone scent and Jukyung’s pheromone scent were heavily tangled together and settled.
Kwon Jukyung’s smell. To think I mistook this for cologne smell.
“Ridiculous….”
I sighed. I felt so stupid.
It was actually too faint to be pheromones and I didn’t feel any intent. Even so, how could I not know to that extent? If Kwon Jukyung didn’t know he was an alpha himself, he wouldn’t have leaked it deliberately, and it was probably a precursor to manifestation. I was firmly convinced Kwon Jukyung was a beta anyway, plus since Jukyung didn’t intentionally leak it, I didn’t think of it as pheromones at all….
Anyway, even though I didn’t particularly like cologne, maybe I was drawn to that scent because it was an alpha’s pheromones. But they say not all alpha pheromones feel good—they have to be compatible to feel good. Then does that mean at least Kwon Jukyung and I are compatible? Like fated partners or something like that.
“Crazy, what am I thinking right now?”
I grabbed my face where blood was rushing. I couldn’t control my thoughts running wild like an unbridled colt. If we’re talking like that, what about the alpha I was drawn to during my first heat? Are there that many fated partners in the world? I can just live with several, Kang Doyun.
Besides.
There was also that person called Seo Jehyun. Kwon Jukyung’s one-sided love interest.
When the image of the two standing together like models came to mind, idle thoughts like being compatible or fated partners rapidly shriveled inside me like a deflated balloon.
Would Kwon Jukyung’s full manifestation as an alpha affect his relationship with that person? Is Seo Jehyun an omega? From appearance, he didn’t seem that way at all, but that’s something you can’t know unless you ask.
I glanced at the phone on the bedside table.
I wanted to call Yukyung and ask if Seo Jehyun was a beta or omega. He’d definitely think it was a rude and strange question. Whether he did or not, if there was no particular reason to hide it, he seemed like he’d answer.
But I couldn’t carelessly reach out. The phone sleeping in silent black screen state looked like a dangerous object about to explode any moment. If I turned on the screen, Kwon Jukyung seemed to have sent some message. What did he send? If he mentioned yesterday’s events, how should I answer? I couldn’t bring myself to open the phone for fear of being put in an awkward situation.
No, what if he didn’t send anything as if nothing happened? Then what? If he sent something, I’d feel flustered about how to answer, and if he didn’t send anything, I’d feel hurt.
Ugh, Kang Doyun, seriously. What am I supposed to do?
Bzzzzt!
“Uwah, I’m startled!”
As I clutched my head again, the phone suddenly rang and I was so shocked I jumped up. If someone was secretly watching on camera, they would have laughed loudly at how unsightly I looked. Inwardly relieved that I was alone, I crawled on my knees and looked at the phone screen. My heart pounded.
“Ah, what.”
Disappointed, my energy completely drained. The number on the screen was hyung. I regretted giving him my number for nothing.
“What, hyung.”
– What’s with you? You don’t even check messages, what are you doing?
Scolding as soon as he answered.
“Why messages?”
I replied languidly.
– Didn’t I say I’d stop by the hospital this morning and go home around lunch? Since you didn’t show up anywhere, I called but your phone was completely silent. Where the hell are you and what are you doing?
Ah….
I’d completely forgotten.
I’d thought of going to father’s house briefly this weekend to organize my thoughts about Kwon Jukyung, to quickly separate him from Seo Jehyun and make him return home, but because of yesterday’s chaos I’d been asleep as if knocked out all day.
– From your voice it sounds like you just woke up, did you drink or something?
“Something happened yesterday. I’ll get ready now and go straight to the hospital then home.”
– …Got it. What time will you arrive at the hospital? I need to let Secretary Choi-nim know.
While scratching my head wondering what to say if he pried more, fortunately hyung just confirmed the schedule and hung up. What’s this? Is it my imagination that hyung and I seem to be communicating somehow these days? It’s not even a year, there’s no way a person changed.
Well, it’s good if we communicate. Even if temporary.
I sighed and looked down at the phone in my hand. There wasn’t a single message from Kwon Jukyung. As hyung said, there were only a couple messages from hyung and missed calls.
***
<Continued in Volume 3>
