Wow, this guy’s got a nose like a dog.
Dawoon covered his mouth with his hand. The Esper suppressant with strong ingredients left a strong bitter taste even if only a little melted, and the scent lingered in his mouth just as long.
Yeoul, who’d pressed his nose against the back of Dawoon’s hand covering his mouth, breathed in deeply. Dawoon’s pheromone scent, which had almost no presence, passed very faintly into his lungs. Along with a bitter, artificial smell.
Yeoul, who swallowed it as if clutching it, couldn’t hide his crumpled mood.
“Why are you eating that crap when you have me?”
Gripping both of Dawoon’s slender wrists, he grumbled accusingly.
“Suppressants are bad for your body. Isn’t the whole point of having a partner so you don’t have to take them?”
Yeoul looked hurt, as if asking whether he wasn’t trustworthy. Dawoon immediately lowered his hands and explained while grabbing the dejected Yeoul’s shoulders.
“I didn’t take it because I had symptoms, but just in case, I took it in advance. If my body had felt strange…”
Dawoon stopped speaking and turned his gaze away with an awkward expression.
“Then, I would have called you.”
Though it wasn’t even that significant a statement, he felt unnecessarily embarrassed. It was a very unfamiliar expression for Dawoon, who’d never relied on others. It was even more so because he’d lived a life solving everything alone.
He scratched his perfectly fine ear for no reason and glanced at Yeoul, who’d become quiet.
“…What. Why are you smiling?”
Is this bastard teasing me? A smile bloomed on the lips of Yeoul, whose mouth corners had been drooping like a dog soaked in rain, as if asking when he’d ever been gloomy.
“You’re not just saying that, right? If you feel unwell, you’ll call me right away, right?”
So that’s why he suddenly smiled like that. Those words must have been pleasing to hear.
“Yeah, I’ll call you. You’re my, you know. That thing.”
Yeoul, who’d been grinning, silently mouthed ‘sex partner?’ with his lips. Dawoon roughly nodded and glared at the smirking Yeoul.
“Why do you keep smiling? What’s so funny?”
“I’m smiling because I like hyung. Hyung is the only thing that makes me smile.”
The strength left Dawoon’s eyes as he’d been glaring at Yeoul. His frivolous words somehow didn’t sound light. That he had nothing to smile about except himself. It felt like he had no fun in life, making Dawoon’s insides feel bitter too.
“Still, don’t take suppressants anymore. They say the side effects are severe if you suddenly take them often after not taking them.”
Yeoul warned him while hugging Dawoon like a cushion again.
“They say your heat cycle can suddenly get longer and your body can weaken.”
He’s already weak, and to get even weaker from here. Dawoon grimaced and nodded his head vigorously. Yeoul, who’d tapped Dawoon’s forehead with the back of his hand, grumbled sullenly.
“See. Your fever hasn’t even gone down.”
“My fever already went down though. I’m fine right now.”
Dawoon touched his own forehead and blinked his eyes wide. If anything, his fever had dropped early, so today he’d even taken a long half-bath.
“Hyung, your body is hot right now.”
“No, uh… is it…?”
Dawoon, who’d touched his own forehead, tilted his head and stroked his neck. Listening to Yeoul’s words, it did seem like his body really had a fever.
“Isn’t it because your body is cold?”
“Let me see.”
A cold, large hand wrapped around the back of Dawoon’s neck. With a serious face, Yeoul touched and felt the slender neck this way and that for quite a while.
Then Yeoul’s pinky finger slipped and dropped into his clothes.
At the same time, Dawoon, who’d flinched his neck slightly, narrowed his eyes. He tried to let it pass thinking it was a mistake, but was dumbfounded by Yeoul’s following action and opened his mouth.
“…What are you doing?”
“Taking hyung’s temperature.”
Following his pinky finger, Yeoul’s entire hand invaded inside his clothes. He expanded the range of intrusion, gently pressing the hollow collarbone with his thumb.
Dawoon, who’d flinched at the cool sensation, immediately tried to shake off his hand. He’d definitely decided to do that, but…
“Like hyung said, my body is cold so I can’t tell well. But you are hot.”
Yeoul’s hand, which had crawled down like a snake, headed for Dawoon’s chest. His rough palm, full of scars, broadly wrapped around Dawoon’s left chest that had no flesh.
“……”
Instead of words reproaching him, the sound of a thumping heartbeat was transmitted through his palm. As if wanting to hear this more closely, Yeoul touched Dawoon’s chest even more persistently.
Why did the atmosphere suddenly become like this?
Dawoon couldn’t push Yeoul away while dazed. In his head, he imagined kicking him outright and yelling at him for touching so carelessly, but it only remained a thought. Even that thought gradually began to lose focus to the hand subtly caressing his chest.
“Ah—”
Hot breath burst out at the sensation of his chest being firmly grasped.
Along with it, all words to stop Yeoul sank beneath his tongue. Dawoon’s hand, which had only been gripping Yeoul’s wrist, also slipped down.
“…This is a side effect of the medicine.”
Yeoul, who’d been looking at Dawoon as if engraving him in his pupils, whispered softly.
“Reacting even to an alpha’s touch that you’re not interested in.”
His cool palm narrowly grazed Dawoon’s most sensitive area.
“It’s because you suddenly artificially suppressed the pheromones you were managing well. That’s why you have a fever too.”
Yeoul’s head tilted over Dawoon’s thin shoulder. He wrapped his arms around Dawoon’s slender waist and leaned his face against his shoulder again.
“You, you son of a…”
Only after the cold hand completely fell away did Dawoon, who’d let out his suppressed breath, fiercely struck his broad back.
“Ow.”
“Be grateful I’m letting you off with one hit. If you suddenly pull this shit again, know that my fist will come out next time. Got it?”
“I was trying to inform you though.”
Yeoul, who’d turned his head, looked at him while leaning his cheek against Dawoon’s shoulder.
“You didn’t seem to know how dangerous suppressant side effects are.”
Dawoon, who’d been about to pinch Yeoul’s cheek, hesitated. To think the reason his body had briefly escaped his will was because of suppressant side effects.
“No, then why even take suppressants? Aren’t the pills useless?”
Suppressants were supposed to be taken to maintain rationality, so how does it make sense to have such side effects? Then wouldn’t taking the pills be meaningless?
“If you take them for a long time, you become desensitized. If you find medicine that suits your body well, there are no side effects. But hyung didn’t take them at all and then suddenly took them during this heat.”
Yeoul warned that for the first few months of starting suppressant use, he’d suffer from these annoying side effects. At the terrible news, Dawoon, who’d been despairing inside, suddenly looked up at Yeoul.
“But how do you know this so well?”
“I know because I’ve taken suppressants for a long time.”
Ah…
Because Yeoul felt so young, he’d forgotten that he too had lived long years as an alpha.
The time when traits manifested varied for each person, but he remembered reading an explanation that Yeoul had manifested at a young age.
“I’ve eaten suppressants more than food, so I know pretty much everything.”
Yeoul shrugged his shoulders lightly as if talking about something trivial and kneaded Dawoon’s hand. Toward him touching his hand as if giving a massage again, Dawoon asked subtly.
“If it’s bad for your body, why did you take so much?”
“Because I didn’t have a partner like hyung does. I had no intention of making one either.”
Right, since he manifested when young, he had no choice but to take medicine often.
Just as Dawoon was nodding, Yeoul checked the living room clock and let out a light sigh. It must be time to return to the scene.
“Rest well. Don’t think about working until the guiding problem is resolved.”
Instead of answering, Dawoon awkwardly averted his gaze. It was no different from when Ryu Taeha earnestly pleaded for him to just stay at the dormitory for a while.
“Go to work quickly. You’ll get a call.”
“Dawoon hyung. You won’t work, right? You’ll keep resting, right?”
No, I will.
Though he felt sorry for them worrying about him, Dawoon actually planned to rest only this week and go straight to the scene.
“Answer properly. I won’t leave until you answer.”
But knowing Yeoul’s persistent personality of not letting go once he latched on, he couldn’t just brush it off. If it were Ryu Taeha, he would have brushed it off saying they’d talk about it next time.
According to the researcher, ‘guiding rejection’ needed three months to naturally heal.
Since Dawoon had already been in the novel for a month, it meant he had to wait two more months for the symptoms to disappear.
At first, he thought two months was a short time, but it was different if he had to be stuck at the dormitory taking forced rest.
He couldn’t laze around like this for two whole months. Dawoon wanted to do something, even if just to relieve his restlessness.
“I’ll return next week. I won’t do as much as before, just a little bit.”
“No. It’s dangerous.”
Yeoul, whose expression had hardened, recited firmly.
“What if hyung overexerts yourself and vomits blood again? You can’t even lower your wavelength with guiding.”
“I’ll just do it to the extent I don’t vomit blood. I can’t be the only one who keeps resting.”
“Why not? No one will say anything about hyung resting.”
He made fierce eyes, saying to tell him if there was anyone. Dawoon, who’d swallowed a sigh at the murderous intent reflected in his blue eyes, made a V-shape with his fingers and pretended to poke his eyes.
“Open your eyes prettily while I’m being nice.”
“Just poke them. Poke them and I’ll stick by your side to nurse you.”
Yeoul suddenly leaned his head forward. Before his fingers could actually touch his eyes, Dawoon quickly withdrew his hand.
Ah, I keep forgetting this bastard is crazy. I let my guard down because he’s been acting like a cute younger brother these past few days.
“Yeoul.”
“No. I don’t want to. Absolutely not. I can’t watch hyung become endangered.”
“Close your mouth and listen.”
Dawoon released Yeoul’s arms that were hugging him as if to devour his waist and grabbed both his hands.
The situation seemed too bad to leisurely wait for his body to get better. Though Dawoon didn’t know the details since Ryu Taeha had even confiscated his pager so he wouldn’t know the scene situation, he could gauge it just by watching them work.
Yeoul’s fatigue grew darker day by day, and Ryu Jin even volunteered for night duty in the guiding room today.
Moreover, that Ryu Taeha who constantly bothered him had become hard to even see these past few days. How busy must he be to only call without even being able to come to the dormitory?
“The amount I rest, someone else will work more, right? I don’t like that. It’s uncomfortable.”
“I’ll just work more to make up for hyung’s vacancy. Don’t worry about that crap.”
“I’m saying I don’t like that. Can I rest comfortably when you’re working?”
“……”
Yeoul, who’d suddenly closed his mouth, became quiet. Dawoon, who’d been examining Yeoul’s expression like that, gleamed his eyes like someone who’d discovered a microscopic gap.
“I… don’t like you having a hard time. Even if it’s hard, it’s better to have a hard time together with you.”
“……”
“Just as you worry about me, I worry you’ll get hurt too.”
With each word Dawoon added, the corners of stiff Yeoul’s mouth faintly twitched. This simple bastard.
Watching Yeoul whose willing heart was fully revealed on his face, Dawoon continued to say things he’d like to hear. Of course, some sincerity was included.
“Let’s go to the scene together. Until my guiding problem is resolved, I’ll go around with you.”
“But, no, you can’t…”
“What do you mean I can’t? You don’t want to go around with me?”
“How could that be?”
Yeoul covered his mouth and rubbed his risen mouth corners as if to tear them. Dawoon, who immediately grabbed and pulled down his arm, gripped his large hand even more firmly.
“Then let’s go around together. What’s the problem? We just have to protect each other.”
“……”
“I want to be with you, Yeoul.”
When he spoke while looking straight into his eyes, Yeoul, who’d been frozen for several seconds, suddenly lowered his head deeply.
At the same time, his white ears and the back of his neck gradually began to redden as if a drop of red paint had fallen.
Could Jeong Dawoon really be this pleasing?
The corners of Dawoon’s mouth, who’d perfectly mastered the method of handling him, also rose helplessly. Yeoul, who’d hidden his face, was smiling like a child with his eyes squeezed shut.
Among them, only one creature—the cat’s expression—hardened blankly.
