Han Dowon
I’ll just park and go.
Where are you right now?
Dowon’s messages arrived in succession. Muyoung sent his location by text and stood up. He wondered if he should have told him the attending physician’s name instead. They’d receive the examination together anyway, so he worried whether he’d made it unnecessarily troublesome.
“You were here.”
While he was hesitating like that, Dowon arrived quickly. Though he was dressed lightly, probably because he’d come out after working, today too he was wearing a suit.
“You came.”
“Yes. I’m not late, am I?”
Muyoung shook his head saying no and exchanged light greetings. He entered the hospital together with Dowon who walked matching his steps beside him.
The examination didn’t take long. The procedure hadn’t changed either. Although Muyoung was receiving the examination he always got without much resistance, his side kept bothering him.
Except for when they had to separate briefly, they were together. But words didn’t pass between them. Even while drawing blood together and lying side by side on beds receiving various examinations, he kept his mouth shut without anything particular to say. If it was a reason, the people who came and went as needed during the examination bothered him too. There was an atmosphere between the two that was difficult to express, but he couldn’t tell exactly what it was. It was on the way to the examination room together after finishing the examination like that.
“Were you nervous?”
Until Dowon asked, he’d only felt that strange feeling and didn’t know how to interpret it, but as soon as he heard it he realized he was nervous. He looked at Dowon’s face who’d asked, but since it was ambiguous to honestly say yes, he shook his head.
“Or do you dislike the hospital? You’ve been especially quiet today, Muyoung-ssi.”
“…Well, it’s a bit novel having you next to me while receiving the examination, CEO-nim.”
It had always been a place where he sat alone waiting for something or looking at the bland floor while smelling the faint scent of disinfectant. Even though he’d come a few times recently, the hospital really wasn’t a place that gave a very good temperature.
“Then you’ll have to get used to it.”
“…Coming to the hospital?”
“No.”
As if Muyoung’s puzzled words were funny, Dowon let out a small laugh. Then, grabbing the examination room doorknob, he whispered softly in Muyoung’s ear with a voice tinged with laughter.
“You’ll have to get used to me.”
Was it a joke? A joke… right? Muyoung, who momentarily forgot to respond, stared at Dowon blankly before walking together through the opened door. The feeling that his ear where the voice had brushed past was heating up wasn’t just his imagination, that was certain.
Even while sitting together with Dowon for the examination, the voice that had just whispered felt like it was humming and echoing. He barely came to his senses after Lim Hyunsu, who’d been examining the screen in front of him, spoke to him.
“Lee Muyoung-ssi’s levels have improved a lot. Right, you said someone came with you.”
“Yes, for now it seems like we should take the examination together… and I wanted to know if there’s anything to be careful about.”
After that, Dowon and Lim Hyunsu talked briefly. It was a Q&A not much different from when Muyoung first visited. While a few questions that would only have the trait changed to alpha were exchanged, Muyoung just quietly listened. Even though it was a medical interview he’d experienced, it felt like hearing something new. The words Dowon had whispered before entering also came to mind for no reason. Even though it was obvious it wouldn’t show on the outside, he only rubbed his earlobe repeatedly at the ticklish feeling along his outer ear.
“Currently, the trend is better than expected. However, the fact that it hasn’t returned to a normal cycle yet is a concerning point. That’s why I prescribed the medication weakly, but you said there was an accident?”
“Yes, I still can’t sense pheromones well. But another alpha spread pheromones on me and something like heat suddenly came.”
“Hmm…”
At Muyoung’s words, Lim Hyunsu furrowed his brow and looked at the screen again. The monitor light reflected on his glasses lenses and even flickered, making him look a bit solemn. Lim Hyunsu, who’d been examining something on the screen for a moment, looked at Muyoung again and asked.
“You’re saying they deliberately spread pheromones on Muyoung-ssi?”
“…Yes. It happened without me knowing. I got an emergency suppressant shot and also received an IV.”
“For now, currently it didn’t become a big problem. I think it was fortunate that the measures were quick. It doesn’t seem like it went as far as shock… You’re still only taking the prescribed suppressants after that, right?”
“Yes. There’s nothing else.”
“This alpha here…”
“At that time, I briefly went into rut from the influence of the heat that came to him…”
The moment Muyoung urgently added an explanation in case there might be a misunderstanding about Dowon, Dowon gently grabbed Muyoung’s thigh. When he turned his head to him, Dowon smiled making an expression that he would explain himself. Lim Hyunsu seemed to have seen that too, as his gaze that had been on Muyoung changed direction.
“I received treatment from my attending physician. There were no abnormalities in my body that day.”
“For now, both of you currently have no major problems. In Lee Muyoung-ssi’s case, there are still points that need to recover, but compared to when you first came, your current state is unbelievably improved, so I think you just need to manage it like this going forward. Same for Han Dowon-ssi.”
At Lim Hyunsu’s conclusion, Muyoung let out a short breath as if relieved. It was something he’d heard from Dowon and also from his attending physician Kim Youngseok, but still faint concern and worry had remained.
“I’m more worried about this person than myself.”
“Yes, you must be worried. You’ll have to pay a bit of attention. Just keep doing as you are now.”
But Dowon seemed to think differently. And that wasn’t much different for Lim Hyunsu either. For Muyoung, he wondered if it wasn’t a pointless question since currently nothing was wrong, but he just quietly listened. Even though it was his own story, it didn’t feel very real.
“For those who have trait abnormalities, the symptoms, prescriptions, and recovery speed are all different for each person. Overall, treatment must be tailored to the individual, but for Lee Muyoung-ssi, since the immediately confirmed damage is more bodily function abnormality than the trait itself, treatment must be tailored to that. You’ll understand quickly if you think of it as a kind of complication.”
“Then being okay right now means…”
“Since trait abnormalities serious enough to worry about right away aren’t showing, your physical condition has also improved. Suppressants are like a barrier to keep the trait from suddenly running wild. Right now, I prescribed them weakly to see the stabilizing trend. Since the heat cycle needs to come naturally so we can predict the next cycle too.”
Lim Hyunsu’s gaze, showing the chart and explaining point by point for easy understanding, went back and forth between Dowon and Muyoung. Muyoung stared at the chart blankly before carefully asking at the words that the trait abnormality wasn’t completely healing.
“Then does the trait just keep being maintained in a bad state?”
“No. That’s also gradually recovering. What I said last time about the damaged place at least settling down thanks to the pheromones is also like that. Of course, it can work favorably, but if the currently sensitive area receives excessive stimulation, we don’t know where or how it will react.”
That’s why you’re receiving treatment steadily while also taking medication. Muyoung nodded while following the long explanation. But the conversation didn’t stop there. It was because Dowon continued with questions.
“…Does recovery normally take this long when trait abnormalities occur?”
“Lee Muyoung-ssi’s case was trait abnormality due to imprint removal that acutely worsened. That’s why we have to check various variables. What’s fortunate is that there’s someone close by with whom you can continuously share pheromones.”
“Sharing pheromones means… simple contact seems like it wouldn’t be enough.”
“That’s right. A periodic relationship like going through cycles together helps. I heard you’re in that kind of relationship, aren’t you?”
Lim Hyunsu’s gaze alternating between both sides was plainly matter-of-fact, but since Muyoung had never had a conversation with another person on this subject, his gaze gradually turned downward. Even though it was actually Dowon and Lim Hyunsu who were having the conversation.
It might have been better if Muyoung had come into the examination room alone instead. Muyoung already knew in his head what method the alpha and omega traits were related to each other and where the most sensitive part was. He’d also anticipated that similar talk would come up if he received an examination like today. And yet, when actually facing it, it was an unfamiliar and embarrassing matter.
“No, that’s correct. That kind of relationship.”
What forcibly caught Muyoung’s wandering gaze was Dowon’s finger. The touch that tapped his thigh then quietly covered it touched and fell away, slowly yet quickly. When he noticed it and raised his gaze, Lim Hyunsu was looking at Muyoung.
“Both of you are trait-holders, but alphas and omegas take different damage when trait abnormalities occur. Lee Muyoung-ssi is also different even among omegas. It’s not something I should or can intervene in regarding what degree of relationship you are, but if we focus only on recovery, for Lee Muyoung-ssi, a partner with whom mutual imprinting is possible is most ideal.”
“Ah… that’s.”
When an embarrassing conclusion flowed out, Muyoung first stopped Lim Hyunsu’s words. It was a reflexive reaction. Muyoung thought it was still too early for talk about imprinting in his relationship with Dowon. He’d had to show the past when he’d made a foolish choice, but somehow he felt that way. He understood Lim Hyunsu’s position as a doctor. He would try to convey all the methods Muyoung and Dowon could take. However, Muyoung didn’t want to think about that method.
“Please don’t consider that method.”
When Muyoung’s firm words rang through the examination room, Dowon’s and Lim Hyunsu’s gazes simultaneously fixed on Muyoung.
When the gazes of the two people looking at him became unusual, Muyoung ended up tensing lightly. With such persistent eyes, neither of them asked first. Nothing about what Muyoung was thinking or why he was saying such things. Missing even the timing to continue speaking, Muyoung, who felt stifled by the long silence, opened his mouth first.
