SPW 41

“Kim. The boss has collapsed.”

Sarang, who had been sitting alone passing the time after finishing his call with Neil, checked the message.

Tell me where you are and I will send someone immediately. No, you can just come with Allen, Kim…

Sarang didn’t hate Bailey for being so certain he would come. After all, it was Sarang who had nodded to Bailey’s request that was like a threat that day.

‘Bailey, the world calls a relationship without the other party’s consent rape.’

‘What do you think about being treated like a sex doll while unconscious and suffering unimaginable humiliation? Kim.’

‘The boss has already been treated that way against his will far too many times. Now, no one respects ‘Omega Florian’ when he’s entered his heat.’

‘We tried to post guards. We even thought of installing security cameras. But we couldn’t even suggest it to the boss. Kim. Have you ever seen a secondary gender who has lost control of their reason during heat? It’s horrific. It was such a horrific sight. Knowing that, I couldn’t ask the boss to reveal a scene where his dignity as a human being was being trampled.’

‘Emotionally, that’s how it was, and there are practical problems as well. Facts you want to hide leak out one way or another. The moment records appear is when those footless rumors gain a basis. A security camera becomes a fatal record the instant it leaks. Miller, being of the same secondary gender, cannot be in the same space as an alpha and omega in heat. That means we have to post other guards, but in the current situation, who can we easily trust? Above all, Kim. A beta cannot withstand the pheromones of an omega in heat.’

‘I didn’t seek you out just for secrecy. The boss needs an alpha to spend his heats with steadily from now on. The higher the chance of settling down with one person and the higher his matching rate with that person, the more stable his heat cycle and pheromones will become.’

‘Why do you think I will keep it a secret, Bailey?’

‘How long do you think you can deceive Rian?’

‘If Rian finds out later, he’ll definitely be angry. He might not even treat me like a person and try to punish me using every method possible. Then I would lose Florian forever. Even our nominal relationship as guardian and ward will be severed.’

‘Kim….’

‘Bailey. I don’t want to lose Rian.’

Suddenly, Sarang felt a tightness in his chest, as if it were completely blocked.

‘This is why they say you shouldn’t take in a dark-haired beast, Kim.’

He recalled Bailey’s gaze, full of resentment and scorn.

‘If I do nothing, I can lose nothing.’

‘If you’re more afraid of the boss hating you than of him getting hurt, if you’re more scared of losing the boss than of him getting hurt while being violated by trash-like men, Kim. Fine, I understand. I did something stupid….’

‘But Bailey.’

He could read a sudden flash of lingering hope in those eyes full of resentment and scorn. Sarang was relieved that someone as smart and good as Bailey was by Florian’s side.

‘I also know the fact that if I do nothing, I can protect nothing.’

He couldn’t lose Florian by doing nothing.

‘It’s fine if Rian hates me. It’s fine if I lose Rian.’

It was better to lose the Florian who was always graceful, who wasn’t hurt or humiliated. Losing a Florian who was cold and no longer breathing was far more terrifying than losing a living Florian. Just the thought of it made Sarang feel like his heart was collapsing.

‘Don’t send any other alphas to Rian from now on.’

Bailey’s brown eyes wavered. Maybe it looked that way because Sarang was crying.

‘Why did you come so late? Why….’

Florian, who must have suffered for two years, made Sarang’s heart ache.

‘Why did you only come now.’

Sarang couldn’t tell if what was pattering down to the floor was the rainwater clinging to Bailey’s collar, or his own tears.

I’m on my way now.

After replying, Sarang looked at Allen, who was sitting in the driver’s seat.

“Allen.”

“Shall I take you to the young master?”

Perhaps Sarang was the only one who didn’t know.

“…….

This, too, was a given. Because Sarang wasn’t an aide. Because he was nothing to Florian.

“Yes. As fast as possible, please.”

“Okay, kid.”

The moment he finished speaking, Allen sped up, driving so aggressively that it was impossible to tell if he was in the best of moods or the worst.

“He showed signs of heat during a video conference.”

“His body’s in that state and he was working? Anyway, there’s not a single sane person in this household.”

Easily ignoring Allen’s rough voice, Bailey quickly went up the second-floor staircase. Sarang, who was following quietly behind him, unwittingly passed Bailey and reached the hallway first.

“Kim, just a moment.”

The first room around the stairs. From the moment he entered the mansion, which he could picture vividly in his mind even after two years, Sarang kept his lips firmly sealed. Allen, too, frowned. Florian’s pheromones were violently swirling inside the mansion. Bailey didn’t seem to have noticed, but if it went past the critical point, Bailey, being a beta, would be the first one to be affected.

And yet he must have stayed by Florian’s side every time.

If only he were a stone in the back garden, or one of Florian’s many watches.

Sarang, who was about to grab the doorknob, looked back at Bailey.

“Not yet.”

It meant that Florian hadn’t completely lost his senses yet.

“Wait a little longer, Kim.”

The other staff had already been sent away from the mansion, which was built like a fortress to avoid the eyes of the paparazzi and protect his privacy. Only Miller, who was in charge of Florian’s security, Bailey, Allen, and Sarang remained in the mansion.

A pained sound could be heard from inside the room. The heat fever began not so much with pain as with unfulfilled lust. No, unfulfilled lust was pain. Florian, who had taken in an alpha for every heat, was stubbornly refusing this time.

His body was exhausted from the heats that came at any time. Florian’s peripheral nerves had become as sharp as they could be, and he couldn’t stand the pheromones of alphas. Just smelling them made him dry-heave and his entire body tremble. It was a clear abnormal symptom. The alphas who witnessed those abnormal symptoms up close were quick on the uptake and considered their despicable nature a source of pride, not shame.

Three or four hours after the heat began, Florian’s mind would function solely as an omega. And after completely erasing all the time he functioned solely as an omega, Florian’s reason would be brought back. Those three or four hours, as his reason faded away, were the most painful time for Florian.

He had to show the moment his reason and his dignity as a human being collapsed to an alpha he didn’t even know. Even in such moments, the alphas didn’t hide their rudeness and vulgarity, and if Florian were left defenseless, functioning only as an omega, they would not hide their cruelty as alphas either. They would not spare the time they had to legally commit every possible act that could be done to an omega, to Florian.

Giving up the doorknob at Bailey’s firm dissuasion, Sarang headed to the second-floor drawing room. Allen, unable to bear it any longer, had already leaped out of the second-floor window.

“Go in when he loses his reason.”

“How will I know he’s lost his reason?”

“You will know naturally, Kim.”

The second-floor drawing room was filled with nothing but Florian’s moans. His heart pounding from the pheromones spreading aggressively from just a room away, Sarang clenched his clasped hands tightly. Nail marks formed, and blood welled up from beneath them.

“How long do I have to wait?”

Bailey checked the time and answered like a machine.

“About 30 minutes left.”

From Bailey’s attitude, Sarang could tell that this was not the first or second time this had happened. The sight of him looking so calm from being so used to it seemed even more agonizing to Sarang. Even though there was no second hand, he felt like he could hear the tick-tock of seconds in his ear. 30 minutes felt like 30 years, and one second felt like an eternity.

Sarang was angry. Without knowing at all who or what he was angry at, he scratched the back of his hand with a hardened face, scratch, until a piece of flesh tore away.

Bailey, who had been looking down at his watch without even glancing at Sarang, stood up. At the same moment, Sarang understood what Bailey meant when he said he would know naturally. It was the moment Florian’s moans, which had been scratching at Sarang’s heart and floating around the mansion, stopped.