“…Do I really have to take it off?”
Being suddenly told to remove my mask made me uncomfortable, so I asked warily while keeping my guard up against the security guard.
“I need to confirm your face. It’s a villa rule, so there’s nothing I can do about it.”
I couldn’t help but feel discouraged by the security guard’s polite explanation. Having to show my face to a stranger so suddenly like this. I was flustered since I wasn’t mentally prepared for it at all.
I stood stiffly for a few seconds as if blocked by a wall, then soon came to the conclusion that it was impossible.
I should just call Kwon Yujin and ask him to explain to the security guard that I’m not a suspicious person. I felt bad about bothering him, but there was no other choice.
With that decision made, I took out my phone. However, my hand hesitated over the call button.
Because I suddenly remembered what the doctor had said.
‘Representative symptoms include impaired daily functioning when separated from the imprinted partner, or reactions such as finding the pheromones of people other than the imprinted subject unpleasant or nauseating.’
Then I also recalled the article about Kwon Yujin’s poor records.
[Kwon Yujin ahead of World Swimming Championships, records not as good as before… Concerns raised about his condition]
Right. Kwon Yujin wasn’t just in poor physical condition because of the imprinting—it was also affecting his records. And I had decided to help him with that.
Compared to the problems Kwon Yujin was experiencing, coldly speaking, briefly showing my face to someone else wasn’t a big deal. It would be ridiculous to call Kwon Yujin and whine about something like this.
“Excuse me, sir?”
The security guard looked at me questioningly as I stood still for a while.
Having made my decision, I had no choice but to remove my hat and mask.
I felt the other person’s gaze landing on my face. At the same time, my heart started pounding rapidly. Since it had been so long since I’d shown my face to someone else, even in this brief moment my mouth went completely dry from tension.
“Wow, you’re handsome. Yes, go ahead in.”
After those hellish few seconds passed, the security guard nodded and gestured for me to enter. Then he spoke into some device to relay something.
He seemed to be notifying Kwon Yujin that a guest had arrived, but my heartbeat was pounding so loudly in my ears that I couldn’t hear exactly what the security guard was saying.
“Haa, haa….”
When I took the elevator up to the 3rd floor, I saw a single door. The security was so thorough I thought it might be a sports center or something, but it seemed to just be a regular residential villa.
When I pressed the doorbell, I could faintly hear signs of movement from inside. Not even a few seconds passed before Kwon Yujin opened the door while drying his wet hair with a towel.
“Come in.”
He seemed to have just returned from swimming practice and showered. Right in front of the entrance was a duffel bag containing a swimsuit, goggles, and a water bottle.
Because we’d done something like a kiss at the movie theater, it was awkward to face Kwon Yujin directly. I tried to act as nonchalant as possible and spoke first while pointing at the bag.
“You went swimming at dawn, I see.”
“Yeah.”
“Is your body okay now?”
“I practice every day regardless of my condition.”
“I see.”
Even though his recent records have been poor, he’s still doing his basic practice every day. I felt secretly relieved as I cautiously stepped inside.
Even though I was wearing a mask, I could smell Kwon Yujin’s scent throughout the house. I could even clearly sense his pheromones. I rolled my eyes around energetically while feeling my mood lift slightly.
Floor-to-ceiling windows in a spacious living room, sunlight flooding throughout the house, bright marble tiles softly contrasting with natural wood furniture. It was as if they’d perfectly recreated the interior of a luxury villa seen only in dramas. It seemed like a place where he lived alone after moving out of his family home.
On the living room wall, medals and trophies received for swimming records were displayed. Everything was clean, comfortable, and orderly at the same time.
It was a place that contrasted with our dingy house with its yellowed linoleum flooring. To the point where I wondered if it was okay for someone like me to be here.
“Sit there for now.”
Kwon Yujin carelessly threw the towel he’d been drying his hair with onto the table, then gestured with his chin for me to sit on the sofa. I nodded and was the first to speak.
“I’ve been thinking.”
“About what.”
“About the discomfort you’re experiencing because of the imprinting.”
“And?”
I sat on the sofa and looked up at Kwon Yujin as I spoke.
“How about trying something like this? While we’re together, we could sit back-to-back, or it might be good to exercise together.”
“Want something to drink? Juice?”
“Huh? No, I’m fine.”
Kwon Yujin walked to the refrigerator, half-listening to what I was saying. Then he opened a 1-liter bottle of ion drink and gulped it down right there.
Watching his thick Adam’s apple bob up and down greatly, I stopped talking for a moment. Whenever I see how different he is from the past when he was like a little fairy, I unconsciously feel a sense of incongruity.
To begin with, Kwon Yujin and I are in a relationship where we can’t be close, yet I feel incongruity. What a ridiculous sentiment.
I pushed away the stray thoughts and explained again the solutions I’d earnestly thought of over the past few days.
“If we do somewhat breathless activities like basketball or soccer, pheromones naturally come out, so wouldn’t that be better than just sitting still? Or instead of a movie theater, we could just watch movies or dramas together at home.”
Kwon Yujin came out of the kitchen, approached the sofa, and sat across from me. Then he propped his chin and fiddled with the drink bottle.
But why does he keep looking at me? There’s no way something is on my masked face.
At the stare that was burdensome in its intensity, I stopped talking for a moment and habitually checked if my mask was on properly.
“…Or how about sports massage? Even if not at a professional level, you can learn the basics quickly. That also involves some physical contact, so I think it would help.”
Kwon Yujin, who had been listening half-heartedly, tilted his head from side to side and sighed.
“You think I called you all the way here to play around with stuff like that?”
“Then.”
Kwon Yujin put the drink bottle on the table and spoke with his arms crossed.
“It was effective.”
“What effect?”
“We kissed last week, right? My condition was pretty good for several days after that.”
“…Huh?”
Kwon Yujin leaned toward me abruptly and said.
“My practice records came out decent all this week, and I didn’t skip weight training either.”
As his well-defined features suddenly got closer, I unconsciously leaned back. At the same time, Kwon Yujin’s pheromones became stronger.
“So if possible, I’d like to keep trying the same method.”
“The same… method, you mean.”
Does he mean kissing like we did at the movie theater last week? Just as I was about to ask that, Kwon Yujin lowered his head toward my nape.
“What are you doing right now?”
“Stay still for a bit.”
Warm breath touched my neck. I could feel him deeply inhaling my scent without any filter. Shocked by his uninhibited actions, I stiffened like a statue.
“Kwon Yujin.”
“Honestly, I thought doing this with you would be disgusting.”
“Wait a minute….”
“But it’s not bothering me at all. Absurdly so.”
“No, don’t do this—talk to me instead.”
I wonder if he could even hear me—Kwon Yujin showed no signs of pulling back at all. Every time he spoke, the breath he exhaled landed on my skin, and along with the ticklish sensation, a strange feeling rose up, causing my lower back to tense involuntarily.
“Stop teasing me and release your pheromones more intensely.”
“…….”
He said doing that kind of thing with me wasn’t disgusting? And that he wants to keep trying the same method?
There wasn’t a single thing about what Kwon Yujin was doing or saying that wasn’t shocking. So I had absolutely no idea how to react.
Unfortunately, from the moment I heard the news that he’d imprinted on me until now, I had never once—not for even one second—thought about helping Kwon Yujin in this way.
“I can’t do it like that….”
“Why.”
“I don’t know how.”
“You did it last week.”
“Move, Kwon Yujin.”
I pushed away Kwon Yujin, who was getting closer and closer to me, with all my strength. Then I stood up from the sofa and gasped for breath.
But because of the mask, there was a limit to how much oxygen I could inhale. So unlike me, I found myself thinking that the mask was stuffy.
“And I haven’t… thought about this kind of contact with you. It’s not right either.”
“Then what is right?”
Kwon Yujin tilted his head with his arms crossed.
“There are many other methods besides this, this abnormal thing. The massage I mentioned earlier is one of those methods too.”
