SATURDAY 21

The grip of the two hands holding my arms gradually tightened. He gazed at me with a calm face, only his eyes shimmering. The hushed atmosphere actually created a sense of intimidation. His pheromones grew thicker, and his eyes took on a fierce light.

I felt a little frightened. I tried to step back, but I couldn’t even do that because Mr. Taeseon’s hands were holding me so firmly. Then, suddenly, the look in his eyes softened.

“…Inyoung.”

“….”

I couldn’t stop my body from flinching. How long has it been since he called me “Inyoung”? No, he has called me that since I’ve been in this body, so it’s only been a little over a month…. But it feels as distant as if it were years ago.

“Inyoung….”

Mr. Taeseon slowly leaned toward me as he called my name. Only then did I realize that I had left something behind at that place, the scene where the car accident occurred.

I left myself there. Yoon Inyoung. That is why I am incomplete now.

After hesitating, I answered in a voice that wouldn’t even come out properly.

“Yes….”

“Inyoung.”

“Yes, Mr. Taeseon.”

My body trembled. His pheromones mixed with mine that had leaked out. The first communion we’ve shared since the accident. I couldn’t contain a joy so intense it felt like a shiver. It was just as I tried to move closer to Mr. Taeseon with my trembling body.

“…!”

Mr. Taeseon suddenly grabbed me tight and shoved me toward the floor. With a loud thud, I fell next to a large flowerpot. It was a relief I didn’t knock the pot over. It was also a relief I didn’t fall toward the stairs. And once again, I wasn’t hurt.

He had a look of utter disgust on his face. Seeing a private expression stained with unpleasantness—as if he had seen something creepy—made me feel strangely hurt.

He muttered softly. “How can it be like this…” I couldn’t tell exactly what he was saying.

To make matters worse, my robe was hanging wide open because I had tumbled onto the floor. My face turned bright red as I tidied my clothes; lacking the strength to stand up, I crouched down beside the flowerpot.

Mr. Taeseon looked down at me with eyes where pheromones wavered.

No, dangerous pheromones were surging from his entire body. The precarious atmosphere just before a rut was clearly felt. His body, firmer than usual, the strong grip of his hands, and the aura of his face that forced one to look.

Everything signaled that his rut was approaching. However, he shook me off, stared at me for a moment, and then pressed a hand to his forehead with a sigh.

The fact that he grabbed my arm and came close was all because of the rut. During a rut, there is an instinct to hold onto a partner no matter what. It could be said that regaining his senses in that situation was an incredible feat.

“I-I’m sorry, Director. I’ll leave.”

“What?”

“While you… spend your rut, I’ll stay out.”

At that, Mr. Taeseon looked down at me with a strange gaze and abruptly asked.

“You aren’t hurt anywhere, are you?”

He seemed to be referring to my fall from his shove. I quickly shook my head. His eyes followed me, then he suddenly looked away, then stared again as if he couldn’t help himself… He exhaled a deep breath and spoke.

“There is no need to go out. I can just leave.”

“But….”

“Would I want to spend a rut alone in this house?”

“….”

It was a voice that muttered calmly, but the moment I heard it, it felt like my heart was being crushed. Alone, in this house. This was originally our honeymoon home.

It was only natural not to want to be alone here during a rut.

Mr. Taeseon went upstairs, changed his clothes, came back down, and left just like that. He didn’t even look my way as he walked out. Now, only his thick pheromones remained in the house.

“Sigh….”

I let out a sigh and curled up, hugging my knees. I had bravely said I would leave, but in truth, I had nowhere to go even if I did.

All I had was a family card under my parents’ names and a check card, and the usage history for both goes straight to my parents. It would be considered strange if I slept out at a hotel or a motel.

The same went for staying up all night at a PC cafe. Going in at night and coming out in the morning…. I couldn’t live like that for several days.

My parents often kicked me out of the house, and back then, I felt self-conscious about going to a hotel, so I wandered around places like PC cafes. But I couldn’t do that now. They would certainly worry.

“…Ah.”

Then I suddenly realized that those were all pointless thoughts. I had Inha’s wallet. Unlike mine, it was full of cards in Inha’s name and stuffed with cash.

The family card and check card I originally had were all canceled when “I” died….

I wouldn’t be able to go to large hotels because my face is known, but a small, nameless hotel would be perfectly fine. The thought “Should I leave too?” suddenly crossed my mind. I didn’t want to be alone in the house Mr. Taeseon had left to spend his rut elsewhere.

“….”

But the deliberation ended with a shake of my head.

“Meow.”

Lili had approached at some point and was rubbing her body against my ankle. Where would I go leaving Lili behind? They say cats get lonely too; it was pitiful to leave Lili among the staff who only quietly did cleaning and housework. I also felt sorry about increasing their workload by asking them to look after Lili.

I quietly reached out my arm. Lili climbed up my leg and settled into the space between my thighs and chest, and I hugged her.

After staying like that for a long while, I picked Lili up and headed for the stairs. Even if the rut hadn’t fully started yet, I had been exposed to the strongly radiating pheromones. My body was heating up.

Still, at this level, I could sufficiently suppress it with inhibitors. It was better to take an inhibitor if only to prevent my heat from coming on.

However, I realized as I went up to the room.

‘There are no inhibitors….’

Inha does not take inhibitors. He tended to date freely, and when he went into heat, he had a partner he met with periodically. According to what Inha said, it was a “safe Alpha.”

Of course, I don’t know the face or identity of that partner. Because every time he was in heat, Inha would vanish after telling our parents.

It isn’t a disgrace for an Omega or an Alpha to meet a specific partner during their fertile period, even when they are married—as long as there are no feelings involved with that specific partner.

‘Should I meet that Alpha too….?’

If I have to be Inha, it will be difficult to tell the story without including that Alpha. An Alpha to spend a heat with is a fairly important person in one’s life. Considering it’s been two years since Inha became an adult, you could say it’s an Alpha he’s met for quite a long time.

I have no such person. I was with Mr. Taeseon from around the time I became an adult, and before that, I always took inhibitors. Even when meeting Mr. Taeseon, I was used to suppressing it with medicine if the timing didn’t match—though Mr. Taeseon, who felt uncomfortable about me taking inhibitors, tried to match my cycle as much as possible.

If I were told to endure with only inhibitors from now on without ever sharing my body with someone, I could do it. No… rather, I hated the idea of having to open my body to someone other than Mr. Taeseon even more. I’d rather think of it as suffering through a severe case of the flu after taking the inhibitors.

I let out a sigh and went back down to the living room to look for the first-aid kit. There were truly only emergency medicines; there were no common inhibitors for Alphas and Omegas that would typically be in a kit this large.

When I sighed repeatedly, Lili let out a long sigh too. I burst into a small laugh. Even cats sigh.

∞ ∞ ∞

A short while later, I was at Inhyun University Hospital. It was to meet Professor Jang. The professor was in charge of family medicine, but since he had looked after Inha and me since we were young, he knew everything about us.

The reason was, needless to say, to get a prescription for inhibitors. You can buy them at a pharmacy, but the effect was weak for me. I planned to get several months’ worth just in case. Also, there was something I wanted to talk to the professor about.

I had contacted him in advance and set a time, but when I arrived, I was told he was meeting an important guest, so I had to wait for a while. Then, I followed the nurse who came to fetch me from the ward into the professor’s office.

Usually, he would examine me in the ward where he had just been, but today of all days, it was a trip to the office. It was something that happened occasionally when I came alone.

Whenever I enter the consultation room, my shoulders always slump because of the patients swarming in front and the backlogged turn numbers.

I entered the office with my hat pulled down low, wearing a hoodie and even a mask. Fortunately, people didn’t pay much attention to me entering with a nurse without even being called by name.

When I took off the mask and hoodie in the office, Professor Jang beckoned me to come closer. I approached and sat in the patient’s chair.

“Hmm, right. You said you need inhibitors?”

“Yes….”

I had already told the nurse beforehand. The professor was quickly typing in the prescription when he suddenly called out to me.

“Inyoung.”

“Yes?”

“You… know that Inha had an Alpha he was seeing, right?”

I didn’t expect that topic to come up now, so I swallowed wrong in surprise and coughed slightly. Professor Jang looked at me with an expression that seemed to ask why I was so surprised, as if he found it amusing.

“What do you think the future holds? With Managing Director Lee.”

“Mr. Taeseon…. You mean the Director?”

Managing Director, Director—both were titles referring to Mr. Taeseon. When I stammered a bit, Professor Jang shrugged his shoulders as if that alone told him everything.

“Yeah. I mean, do you think you’ll be taking these inhibitors a lot in the future?”

“….”

“Would it be easier to understand if I put it like this? Do you think you’ll be able to sleep with Managing Director Lee Taeseon?”