PAO 15

“I understand. Please start the process.”

“Huh? Oh.”

Curious about what Seowon was thinking, Yoo Taeha separately contacted a nurse to request the admission procedures and quickly followed him.

“What took you so long?”

Junghoo stood up from his seat and irritably pulled at the IV line. Seowon had told him not to remove it, so he hadn’t pulled it out outright, but his rough handling showed he didn’t care if it came out.

“They said you have to be admitted.”

“I told you I’m not doing it.”

“You’re not?”

“Yeah.”

“Fine, then.”

Seowon walked past Junghoo and approached the bed. Then he took off his shoes, climbed onto the bed, and lay down. Junghoo didn’t even have a chance to grab him.

Junghoo was the one who came to the hospital because he was sick, but Seowon was the one lying down, so Yoo Taeha looked on with a slightly dumbfounded expression.

Junghoo was the same; he didn’t even notice the tape dangling from the back of his hand.

“What are you doing?”

“What do you mean, what am I doing? I’m lying down to sleep.”

Seowon lay on his side, propping his head up with one hand.

“It’s a shame this isn’t home, since we could sleep together. Or do you want to lie down, too?”

Then he patted the spot where Junghoo could lie down. Tap, tap. The gesture was like a wife seducing her husband.

The two men’s reactions to seeing Seowon pat the bed were starkly different.

To think he’d use a method like that. Seeing Seowon’s pretty-boy ploy, Yoo Taeha shook his head back and forth.

“Seowon, first let’s go up to the hospital room…”

Yoo Taeha, who had been about to say that other people could see them in the emergency room, which was only partitioned by a single curtain, saw something and his eyes widened.

Junghoo had climbed onto the bed without a word of complaint. Then, as he hugged Seowon and started rubbing his face against his chest, Seowon looked at Yoo Taeha and shrugged.

“That crazy bastard… I’m so embarrassed for him.”

The asshole who had been dead set against being admitted or anything else just hopped into bed the moment Seowon lay down. Should he be called easy to handle, or picky? Even if he only acted like that for Seowon, it was still pathetic to see.

At Yoo Taeha’s lament, Junghoo, with his face buried in Seowon’s chest, just waved his hand dismissively.

“Get out. Get out and don’t come back.”

“Hey, you punk, this is a hospital. Does it make sense to tell a doctor not to come in?”

Yoo Taeha looked at them with a fed-up expression. Normally, Seowon would have cut them off and told them to knock it off, but since Junghoo had agreed to be admitted, for the time being, he couldn’t stop him any further.

“Can I suck on your chest?”

“Go ahead, if you want all your hair pulled out.”

As Junghoo mumbled his question, Seowon gently stroked his hair. Under the threat that he might grab a fistful and pull it out at any moment, Junghoo stayed quiet as if to say he would behave. Watching the two of them, Yoo Taeha shook his head as if he had completely given up.

“Fine, do whatever you want. I’ll call when the room is ready, so wait and then go up.”

“Should I call you after the IV drip is finished, too?”

“The nurse will… I’ll do it. Call me.”

Figuring it would be better for him to do it himself than to show a nurse the two of them lying stuck together, Yoo Taeha muttered in a troubled voice.

“But you’ll have to get a lot of tests done tomorrow before you go.”

With a final threat that he would make Junghoo get every test imaginable tomorrow now that he was admitted, Yoo Taeha went to his office.

Once the two were left alone, Seowon clutched his head as if he’d been hit with a sudden wave of reality. He felt a sense of self-loathing for what he had just done to get Junghoo admitted. It was agonizing to have come up with such a method, but it was even more pathetic that he had naturally assumed Junghoo would fall for it.

“Move away for a second.”

Seowon pushed Junghoo’s head. Since he wasn’t the type to be pushed away so easily, Seowon was about to smack him on the head but stopped. He felt bad hitting the head of someone who was sick, so he lightly stroked his hair instead.

“Let me readjust my position. I’m uncomfortable.”

“You’re not getting off the bed, are you?”

“It’s narrow here, so we have to stick together.”

Since it didn’t mean he was getting off, Junghoo immediately lifted his head. He hadn’t completely wiped off the nosebleed from earlier, so there were marks here and there, but he was still handsome.

Seowon moved his body further back to make room for Junghoo to lie down.

“Okay.”

Seowon lifted one arm and gestured with his eyes for Junghoo to come in. He had done it thinking Junghoo would bury his head in his chest like before. But when Junghoo saw the outstretched arm, instead of cuddling, he made a different move.

He stretched out his previously curled-up body and lay down. The taller Junghoo pulled Seowon into his own arms.

“You…”

As he wrapped his arm around Seowon’s waist, their stomachs pressed together, and the centers of their bodies touched. Seowon tried to pull his hips back, but he was leaning against the wall and couldn’t retreat. This wasn’t the position he had intended, but the moment Junghoo moved on top, it had turned into a strange pose.

“Seowon.”

Now holding Seowon, Junghoo pressed his lips close to his ear and whispered. As his lips moved, tickling his ear, Seowon’s body froze. The warning he’d given not to come in and then freak out was about to apply to himself.

“I’m sleepy.”

“Go to sleep. But don’t stick so close.”

“Everywhere we’re touching feels cool. It’s like…”

Seowon was curious about what would fill in the blank where Junghoo’s words had trailed off.

“Like a medicated patch.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? Do I look like water to you?”

While Seowon was retorting with such meaningless words, Junghoo’s hands were moving busily. He would gently squeeze and release the back of Seowon’s neck and trace the line of his spine.

At the movement, Seowon himself felt a strange sensation blossoming amidst the coolness, as if a medicated patch had really been applied.

The places his hand had touched weren’t just cool; they were ticklish. It soon left a lingering feeling, like ants crawling on his skin.

Feeling his own center getting half-hard, Seowon closed his eyes completely. He tried to think of something else, but the touch of the hands caressing his body and the pheromones mingling together only made Seowon more flustered.

Unable to tell him to retract his pheromones, Seowon’s lips turned down at the feeling that it was going to be a long night.

He had thought Junghoo wouldn’t miss the chance to hold him, but surprisingly, Junghoo fell asleep quickly.

“Umm…”

Perhaps because he had lost a lot of blood, Junghoo’s even breathing was occasionally interspersed with pained-sounding groans. Seowon lifted his head to look at Junghoo’s face.

Above his white skin, his brown eyebrows stretched out refreshingly. His smooth eye-shape was well-defined around a nose that anchored his features. With skin that would only turn red and burn in the sun but never seemed to tan, and red lips, he was like Snow White himself.

“But why is he pretty and handsome?”

It was a combination that should have just been pretty, but why did he look handsome, too? He wasn’t sure if it was because of his high-bridged nose or because his eyes were long and slanted.

With this face, I’d believe it if he said he was an idol.

Seowon lightly touched the corner of one of Junghoo’s eyes with his fingertip. As he touched the double eyelid, which was only on one side like his own, Junghoo scrunched up his face in his sleep, perhaps because of the touch.

I have one double eyelid too. Between the two of us, we have two.

It would have been one thing if they were born with two each like other people, or with none at all, but they were both born with only half a set.

After looking closely at his face for the first time in a while, Seowon let out a sigh.

“Just what is hurting you so much?”

Junghoo, who was usually so sensitive that he would wake at the slightest stir, didn’t open his eyes. He was so deeply asleep that he hadn’t even noticed Yoo Taeha coming in midway to remove the needle.

Just as he was pulling the blanket up over Junghoo’s body, Seowon felt something and paused.

“Pheromones.”

Pheromones were leaking from Junghoo’s body.

Normally, Junghoo’s pheromones were as refreshing as he was. But as they gradually intensified, he thought they might be a musk scent, and now that they had grown even stronger, they reminded him of dark chocolate.

“Why are your pheromones getting so strong?”

Instead of waiting for an answer from Junghoo, who was frowning in his sleep, Seowon repeatedly pressed on his forehead.

“And why are they so unstable?”

Because Seowon was more sensitive to pheromones than others, he could immediately grasp what state Junghoo was in. The pheromones, now stronger than before, were unstable and spiking erratically.

Furthermore, the amount of pheromones was increasing to a level he couldn’t believe was Junghoo’s, so something was strange.

“Was he normally at this level?”

He’s a Recessive, so I thought his pheromone level was really low. Seowon felt the turbulent pheromones for a moment before remembering that they were currently lying in the emergency room.

The hospital room had become available, but he was reluctant to wake Junghoo, and in the short time he’d let him be, he became worried that his pheromones might disturb other people.

After pondering what to do, Seowon released his own pheromones. It was strange to release pheromones when there were other people around, but for now, it was the only method he could think of. Because the only thing that could calm an Alpha’s pheromones was an Omega’s pheromones.

“Don’t attack me.”

Seowon spoke while tapping Junghoo’s cheek, letting his pheromones gently mix and envelop his.

At first, Junghoo pushed his pheromones away with a sense of rejection. But then, he gradually began to accept them.

As the pheromones stabilized, Junghoo’s expression gradually improved. Now, he no longer let out pained groans, even in his sleep. Seowon idly wiped at a bloodstain on Junghoo’s face with his fingertip and muttered.

“Don’t make me worry.”

Especially about you being sick.

*

“This is strange.”

Yoo Taeha kept tilting his head as he moved the mouse. The way he was clicking here and there, looking at the chart, suggested something was bothering him.

“What is.”

Junghoo’s expression was grim, his mood soured from having undergone all sorts of tests since morning. With his arms crossed and his eyes cast down, Junghoo was getting extremely irritated, wanting to go to Seowon, who was probably waiting outside.

“Hurry up and tell me.”

“Just be still for a moment.”

“Is this the first time you’ve seen a chart? Have you never seen test results before?”

Even though Junghoo was openly taunting him, Yoo Taeha’s serious expression didn’t change. Instead, he looked at Junghoo strangely.