Beep—, beep—.
Hyowoo opened his eyes with difficulty and stared at an unfamiliar white ceiling.
He could tell without needing to look around.
The smell of disinfectant, the regular sound of machines, the faint pain on the inside of his elbow.
A space he disliked but was familiar with—the hospital.
‘Why am I… in the hospital?’
It was clear up until the moment he met Lee Seohee. But the memories after that were covered by hazy fog, and nothing came to mind.
“Are you conscious?”
He slowly turned his head toward where the voice came from.
“How do you feel?”
He didn’t know where his glasses had gone, and his vision was blurry. His focus wasn’t properly set, but he could faintly see Lee Seohee’s silhouette. Still in his workout clothes, he smiled as if relieved to see Hyowoo.
“I’m… okay……”
“Is there anywhere uncomfortable? Does anything hurt?”
“My head… a little……”
The headache he felt on the plane still remained. Just in time, a nurse entered the hospital room.
“Oh my, you’re awake. That’s such a relief. You don’t know how worried your friend was.”
To her who said she was glad he woke up and asked how he was feeling, Lee Seohee conveyed the headache on his behalf. The nurse nodded and brought painkillers and a paper cup filled with water.
“I told the doctor in charge that you woke up. He’ll be here soon, so please wait a moment.”
After checking his blood pressure and the remaining IV amount, the nurse left the hospital room with the words that the doctor would come soon.
“Can you sit up?”
He tried to move his body, but he couldn’t budge even a finger.
“…I don’t think I can. I have no strength in my body……”
“Then don’t push yourself and just stay lying down.”
Even though he tried to stop him with worried eyes, when Hyowoo forcibly tried to raise his body, Lee Seohee picked up the electric bed remote control.
He pressed the button to slowly raise the upper body and also handed him the painkiller, but Hyowoo didn’t even have the strength left to hold the medicine in his hand.
In the end, he personally put the medicine and water into his mouth.
Just as he tilted his head back a little so he could swallow well, cough—!
Perhaps because it had been a while since he had drunk water, let alone eaten food, he choked on the water that suddenly entered and a harsh cough burst out.
Lee Seohee immediately rubbed Hyowoo’s precarious back and wiped the water he had spilled everywhere.
Only after pouring out coughs continuously for a while could Hyowoo barely come to his senses.
“…What… happened? Why am I in the hospital……”
“Hyowoo-ssi collapsed in front of my house.”
“…What……?”
“You don’t remember?”
“Not… at all……”
It was no wonder. The amount of food Hyowoo had consumed over the past few days was close to zero. Moreover, he had been awake for over 24 hours without being able to drink even a sip of water properly while riding a plane for a long time.
He had barely made it to his house by willpower, but the moment he met Lee Seohee, the tension was released and he ended up fainting.
“I was so surprised. When I came home after my dawn workout, Hyowoo-ssi was standing in front of my house, so I doubted my eyes. You suddenly fell into my arms and collapsed right away… I really thought my heart would drop.”
“…I’m… sorry……”
How surprised he must have been when someone who hadn’t contacted him for over two months appeared without notice and collapsed before his eyes.
He originally had a weak body, but it wasn’t to this extent… he couldn’t lift his face.
‘I fall asleep at the drop of a hat, collapse when I’m bored… how absurd and annoying must I look in Seohee-ssi’s eyes?’
Unlike Hyowoo who didn’t know what to do with his apology, he quietly opened his mouth while looking at the IV needle stuck in his gaunt, thin arm.
“The doctor said your body is in a very weakened state. You’re severely dehydrated, and because you’re seriously underweight, malnutrition is also suspected.”
Since Hyowoo himself had heard the same thing at the hospital a few days ago, he wasn’t surprised at all, but Lee Seohee’s face darkened.
“How sick were you during this time for your face to look this haggard?”
When he raised his head, his bitter expression came into view.
He was clearly blaming himself for becoming so gaunt.
“I’ll just make one phone call and come back.”
When Lee Seohee stroked Hyowoo’s pale cheek once and tried to get up from his seat, Hyowoo grabbed his sleeve.
“I-it’s not Seohee-ssi’s fault……!”
Where did that strength come from when just moments ago he couldn’t even take medicine with his own hands? Lee Seohee looked at Hyowoo, who was desperately holding onto him, with surprised eyes.
“It’s… because of me…. I, I have… a Peculiar Constitution……”
“Peculiar Constitution?”
When he sat back down in the chair and murmured, Hyowoo continued his explanation stammering.
“My… body secretes pheromones all year round…. So I have to take suppressants every day……”
Omegas who didn’t produce pheromones weren’t rare. But secreting them all year round. The impression ‘hearing this for the first time’ was clearly revealed on his face.
“There’s such a constitution?”
“It’s an extremely rare constitution…. I’m probably the only one in Korea. The doctors said they’d never seen it before either…. My heat cycle is also irregular, and it can’t be controlled unless it’s an injection… the intensity of the pheromones secreted during heat and… uh, um, w-well……”
Hyowoo, who had been hesitating, barely continued.
“M-my sexual desire… is also much stronger than other omegas. So alphas react much more intensely to my pheromones too…. The reason I was sick enough to be hospitalized was also because the heat aftereffects were particularly severe……”
If it had been someone else saying this, he would have dismissed it as nonsense, but Lee Seohee, who had directly experienced those pheromones, couldn’t help but believe it.
“Everything happened because of my strange constitution…. It’s not Seohee-ssi’s fault, so don’t blame yourself……”
Lee Seohee, who had been looking pitifully at him desperately appealing with tears that it wasn’t his fault, gently clasped Hyowoo’s hand.
“Thank you for being honest with me. Even so… I can’t say I’m completely without fault.”
He spoke calmly, but his voice still contained faint guilt.
“Even if it was a coincidence that Hyowoo-ssi’s heat started, if I had only taken suppressants then… you wouldn’t have experienced such a scary thing.”
“B-but……”
“I promised I wouldn’t hurt you, that I wouldn’t scare you… I’m sorry for not keeping that promise.”
Toward him who apologized while carefully stroking his bloodless hand, Hyowoo shook his head vigorously.
“I-it’s true that day was scary but…. I was scared of the situation when heat came, not scared of Seohee-ssi……”
“Hyowoo-ssi……”
“Seohee-ssi isn’t scary…. Really. So……”
How desperate was he that even saying those few words, Hyowoo gasped for breath.
“So please……”
Over the past few years, Lee Seohee was the only alpha who wasn’t scary.
Far from being scary, an alpha he wanted to be with. And now, the person he had come to love.
His heart ached thinking that his precious person had spent agonizing days blaming himself all this time. He had to free him from guilt even now.
“Don’t say you’re sorry. I’m begging you……”
Did that earnest feeling get through? Lee Seohee’s stiff lips softened gently.
“Alright. I’ll stop apologizing now.”
At those words, Hyowoo also barely let out a sigh. However, soon, an anxious expression appeared on his face.
“Wh-what… time is it now?”
He looked around with weak eyes, searching for a clock.
“It’s a little past 8.”
Then did he lose consciousness for about two hours?
But the scenery outside the window, no matter how cloudy, was hard to see as morning.
“Don’t tell me… it’s evening……?”
“Yes.”
“Wh-what about the arranged meeting?”
To the flustered Hyowoo, Lee Seohee asked if he knew about it and smiled awkwardly.
“I didn’t go.”
It was true that he was shocked to hear about the arranged meeting, but he only came because he missed him so much. He had no intention of stopping the arranged meeting from the start.
‘It must have been an important occasion arranged by a family elder, but because of me for no reason……’
Putting aside getting severely scolded, worry flooded in that things might escalate.
Lee Seohee, who noticed that feeling, affectionately stroked Hyowoo’s head.
“I resolved it well, so don’t worry.”
“B-but……”
“There won’t be any problem.”
Looking at him smiling as if to trust him, Hyowoo quietly lowered his head.
