The memory of Bulgom playing dumb and pretending not to know his own friend surfaced in his mind. It was almost insulting that he’d felt even a moment of guilt toward the guy for running all over the place because of a perfume.
He had the nerve to go around bragging that he’s best friends with the boss of the Gangho faction? Ha, the audacity. Should I just blow the whole thing wide open? A surge of irritation rose in him for a moment, but he managed to hold it back — because if he told the truth, he couldn’t guarantee what would happen to Bulgom’s life. Ha, damn. What kind of boss is this considerate? That Bulgom bastard. Doesn’t know how good he has it.
“I never told anyone to deceive you…… Deputy Han must have lied on his own. My Gang doesn’t like being lied to. Right?”
For a moment, he almost nodded without thinking. If it had been his past self, nodding wouldn’t have been enough — he would have been jumping up and down screaming he could kill someone. But he knew better now. He knew exactly how far-reaching a single word from him could be in front of the boss of the Gangho faction.
Of course, they were nothing to each other now — but something strongly told him he shouldn’t go there. He dodged the question and changed the subject.
“Why did you do it.”
It couldn’t be that Bulgom had gone to this man and pestered him for clothes.
“Do what?”
“Why would someone as busy as you personally pick out only expensive clothes and send them to me every single day.”
“Because I was worried. Gang didn’t take anything with him. At least take some clothes.”
Ah, so he’s telling me to pack up and get out of the house, just in a roundabout way. How would anyone without sharp instincts be able to read between the lines when it was said in such a gentle voice? It’s only because it’s me that I catch it perfectly. Well, fair enough. They’d broken up, and he’d left with nothing but himself — that must have been awkward from this man’s side too.
But even so — sending a bomb of shopping bags! Truly the kind of protest only someone with serious money could pull off.
Still, most of what was in that house had been given to him by this man, so taking it out would feel shameless in its own way. New-season clothes, shoes, and bags as a matter of course. And contradicting the word limited edition, the limited edition watches and jewelry the man had given him were more than plentiful. Because of that, he’d spent a long while too afraid to sleep deeply — worried someone might break in — and even when he did sleep, he’d wake up at the slightest thing.
On top of that, because of a man who gave him cars whenever he got bored, he’d had enough car keys to decorate a Christmas tree with. Truly the most absurdly expensive and glittering ornaments imaginable.
There was no way to carry out this endless mountain of things, and even if he could, he had nowhere to put them. The office, which had already turned into a graveyard of shopping bags, was proof enough of that.
Once he was discharged, he’d sort through them and take only a few of the less extravagant ones. But he’d definitely grab two or three of the watches. That would be more than enough to secure a place of his own. Let people call him materialistic — he didn’t care. Consider it alimony. Oh right, the island the man had given him — he’d just have to deal with that himself, wouldn’t he?
“Don’t worry. I’ll come get everything soon!”
“Did the clothes I sent suit your taste?”
Taste — what a funny word. What taste did he have? This man was the one who had given him everything — hobbies, food preferences, likes and dislikes — when he’d been a blank slate with nothing. The only taste he’d had from the very beginning was…… this man’s face.
He was still seated between the man’s legs, and he studied that face — a face that was flawless from every angle — in silence.
“They fit so well it’s a problem.”
The thought that even his job had passed through this man’s hands was dizzying.
“I’m glad.”
The man didn’t catch the deeper meaning behind his words and just kept kneading at him. He patted down and wiped off the soles of his feet — which had stepped bare on the hospital floor without so much as socks — and then massaged the cold feet in his hands without the slightest awkwardness. If anything, it was him who flinched and curled his feet away from the ticklish sensation. He chewed on his lip in confusion.
“Even if you’re hungry, don’t bite your lips. You’ll get sores.”
The man reached past his back and over his arm to stop him from biting down on his lip.
Ever since he’d opened his eyes in this hospital room — no, if he was being honest, ever since he’d burst into this hospital room where the man had been lying — he’d been in a constant state of confusion.
Why was the man so consistently kind to him even though he was with someone else? Why did he wipe down his dirty feet without a second thought? Why did he keep worrying about him after he’d left, and personally bring him to the hospital? And why was he still treating him right now like he was glass that would shatter if dropped? He couldn’t make sense of the man’s inner workings, and it left him feeling trapped in a maze.
He sat in silence, staring at the feet being massaged, and the man asked quietly.
“Are you worried?”
“About what.”
His head was too muddled to think straight, so he answered with an edge to his voice. Then he stretched out the legs he’d had bent and pushed the man’s hand away from his feet. In the brief moment between, the blood had returned to his cold feet and a warmth had seeped in. It felt exactly as if the warmth had transferred from the man’s hands into his feet.
“Don’t worry. Since you became an omega because of me, I suppose I’ll have to take responsibility for the rest of your life……”
Said with a calm smile, the words could almost sound like self-deprecation at first glance. But to his ears, it came across like charity — and his pride bristled and his stomach turned. The words take responsibility for the rest of your life didn’t register as sincere to him.
You haven’t sorted things out with your fiancée. So what — you’re going to install the superior dominant omega as your proper wife and keep a mediocre recessive omega like me on the side?! Ah, so the fact that I turned into an omega against the odds has made things complicated and inconvenient for you. And you’re being nice to me just in case I get worked up and go cause a scene with your fiancée. That’s it! That’s exactly it!
His sharpness, which he usually prided himself on, was nothing but a source of resentment right now. The man patted at him as he trembled with boiling anger. It was time to push him away.
“No! I’m fine! So move! I’m going home!”
He struggled with everything he had, shoved the man off, and stood back on the bare floor. The cold he hadn’t felt earlier crept up through the soles of his feet and into his whole body.
“Is that so? If the hospital is uncomfortable, let’s go to my place. We can eat your favorite side dishes and sleep comfortably. What do you say?”
He pressed both hands over his ears against the man’s attempt to lure him with everything he’d been unable to do at the office, and found his slippers in the corner and put them on.
Ha! He’s saying he’ll take responsibility because I became an omega because of him? That meant if he hadn’t become an omega, there would have been no taking responsibility. They probably wouldn’t even have been looking each other in the face right now. Maybe the man felt sorry for him — for having had his secondary gender changed because of him. But pity wasn’t love.
He turned his back to the hospital room door and looked at the man still perched on the edge of the bed.
“Don’t you remember me telling you we’re broken up?”
It seemed like this man might have partial amnesia, having completely forgotten what had happened that day — so he’d have to remind him.
“Then I’ll say it again. Let’s break up.”
So stop being kind to me in front of my face and go to that precious fiancée of yours. The words he couldn’t bring himself to say dangled precariously at the back of his throat.
Even at this second declaration of a breakup, the man was unfazed.
“But I don’t want to break up with Gang.”
“I want to break up.”
It was a truly absurd situation. That he was the one saying they should break up, and that man was the one trying to hold on. But even now it felt like he was the one having an affair with a taken man. He had clearly come first — before that omega. An inexplicable, twisted sense of guilt gnawed at him and put him in a foul mood.
“For your health alone, you’re going to need my pheromones for a while.”
Rationally, the words made sense — but they weren’t enough to change his heart.
“Ha — I’m fine without your pheromones. Any dominant alpha’s pheromones would do, right? So it doesn’t have to be Director Kang specifically…… No matter how rare dominant alphas are, surely finding just one wouldn’t be that hard?”
He looked down unnecessarily and tapped the floor with the toe of his slipper as he continued.
“I may be recessive, but I’m decent-looking, so if I asked a suitable alpha——urk!”
In the middle of murmuring his way toward pushing the man away, his body suddenly left the ground. The man had closed the distance without him noticing and hoisted him up over his shoulder like a piece of luggage.
He was so startled that not even a sound came out. His body, suspended in the air, was tossed down onto the bed a few steps away. The impact sent one of his slippers flying off and skidding under the bed. Landing back-first onto a hospital bed with almost no spring to it made his eyes clench shut involuntarily.
“Ow — what are you doing all of a sudden?!”
When he opened his eyes again, the man was on top of him with a contorted expression. Trapped between those broad shoulders and firm arms, he couldn’t hide the way his eyes wavered. Because this was nothing like the reaction he’d anticipated.
His scenario had been this: he’d calmly say he’d ask another dominant alpha, and this man would maturely respect his wishes and let him go. Because this man didn’t love him after all.
But why is this going in a completely different direction? And why is this man so angry……?
“Don’t say things like that.”
For some reason, he wore the face of someone issuing a firm reprimand. He hadn’t even batted an eye when he’d said they should break up.
“Say things like what?!”
His shoulders instinctively drew in, but he couldn’t afford to back down here. No — this man was the one who’d lied to him and had an affair. Why was he the one acting angry?
“Spit it out.”
He was treating him as if he’d picked up and eaten something he shouldn’t have.
“I don’t want to……”
The man gripped his chin and pressed down, forcing his mouth open. It was a quiet, insistent demand to take back what he’d said.
“Not going to spit it out?”
“I said, I won’t — mmph!”
He looked away from the eyes gazing down at him — and immediately, lips came crashing down. There was none of the lightness from before. As if cleaning out a filthy mouth, lips parted his at once, and a tongue slipped in.
