SATURDAY 40

However, even though I had nodded, the moment Mr. Taeseon embraced me, I flinched violently as if I had been struck by an arrow. This was because as his pheromones drew closer, the sensation of Mr. Taeseon’s hands strangling my neck and that overbearing expression of his flashed through my mind.

Pathetically, I swallowed a dry gasp and began to tremble. In the arms of Mr. Taeseon, which had once been such a sanctuary. It was truly a strange thing.

My memories of being happy with Mr. Taeseon spanned nearly two years. To think that I could become this afraid of Mr. Taeseon just because I was hated for a mere two months…. The human heart is truly an unknowable thing.

From the moment I flinched, Mr. Taeseon held me even tighter, but when my trembling did not subside even after he poured out his pheromones, he quietly pulled back. He turned his head to the side and then looked at me with an expressionless face. My heart sank again at that look.

“Ah, are… are you angry?”

My hands and feet grew cold. Mr. Taeseon’s eyes instantly went toward my fingertips, which were losing their warmth and turning pale.

I didn’t want to tremble because of Mr. Taeseon either, but my body kept shaking. I couldn’t tell if the situation where he was calling me Inyoung was real, or if it was okay to accept it.

Mr. Taeseon remained silent for a moment before speaking slowly in a sunken voice.

“I’m not angry, Inyoung.”

“….”

“…I will never be angry with you again. No matter what happens.”

I stared at him blankly. I can distinguish between his sincerity and a lie. In fact, he almost never lies to me, but…. After hesitating for a long time, I asked him.

“Tae… Director, do I… really look like Inyoung to you? How…?”

At that, Mr. Taeseon squeezed his eyes shut. My voice was trembling to a point that was ridiculous even to my own ears. After there was no answer for a long time, Mr. Taeseon opened his mouth with a sense of “finally” and squeezed out his voice.

“I’m sorry.”

“….”

“It’s so cliché… but I’m still sorry. I’m sorry, Inyoung.”

The trembling of my body finally stopped. I took a deep breath in and out, which I hadn’t been able to do properly because even my breath was shaking. I felt like I could finally breathe easily.

And Mr. Taeseon, with a miserable expression, knelt down beside the bed. Startled, I shouted “Mr. Taeseon!” and leaned my body sideways, trying to make him get up. But he did not budge.

“I’m sorry…. I’m sorry, I’m truly sorry, Inyoung.”

“D—don’t do that. Please get up….”

A nice scent came from his still slightly damp hair. His somewhat intensified pheromones brushed against my body. The pheromones were surging unstable and anxious. However, they were Mr. Taeseon’s, and I could find no trace of attack or hostility toward me.

Fidgeting at the sight of him kneeling, I reflexively released my pheromones as well. The wrinkles on the forehead of Mr. Taeseon, who had been making a pained face with his gaze lowered diagonally, slowly smoothed out. Soon, he too took a deep breath. The pheromones began to stabilize.

And as I smelled those stabilized pheromones, my own anxious spirit softened bit by bit as if we were exchanging them. Mr. Taeseon remained kneeling and showed no intention of getting up. I asked falteringly.

“Did you really recognize me? How….”

“I investigated. You and Yoon Inha were… switched intentionally. It was carried out very sloppily, but unexpectedly, it wasn’t caught by anyone. Because most of the people involved wanted ‘this side’ to be the answer.”

He spoke calmly. While kneeling beneath the bed as if repenting, he held my cold hand with both of his.

“And I recalled the things you’ve said and done up until now…. Lili too.”

“….”

“You said all animals hate Yoon Inha. But it was strange that Lili followed you like that. You clearly said that even when you went to the shelter, she was hostile from the start.”

But he hadn’t tried to find out sooner. Mr. Taeseon, Mr. Taeseon too… no, he too was simply seized by the shock of my death and couldn’t think of anything.

I would have been the same. If the roles were reversed, wouldn’t I have acted exactly like Mr. Taeseon?

“I have… no words for an excuse, Inyoung.”

With that, he dropped his head. Water “tuduk” fell from his wet hair. Flustered because I wanted Mr. Taeseon to get up quickly but he wouldn’t, I blurted out words without knowing what else to do.

“It’s—it’s okay, why an excuse. I would have acted the same way. I’m fine.”

At that, Mr. Taeseon lifted a face that had grown even darker. Mr. Taeseon probably expected me to react this way. That’s why he became so gloomy.

But, truthfully, inside I was a little… I resented Mr. Taeseon.

I won’t say it directly, but I felt bitter that he hadn’t recognized me.

However, on the other hand, it has only been two years since we met. In such a situation, I also feel it would be stranger to recognize me.

While I was unconscious, the Shaman fed me something strange. I heard Inha’s voice. That surely played a decisive role.

It was a complicated feeling. After staying silent for a long while, I looked up at Mr. Taeseon and opened my mouth.

“Mr. Taeseon….”

“Yes.”

I felt a bit unsure calling him Mr. Taeseon, but he answered immediately. I felt that he was now truly seeing me as ‘Yoon Inyoung’. I squeezed out my courage.

“…Do you want to kiss?”

At that, Mr. Taeseon’s eyes widened as if he were surprised. It seemed he hadn’t expected such words to come from my mouth. But soon, his cheeks stiffened as if he were tense, and his face turned a bit red before he asked.

“Are you really okay?”

“Yes….”

I needed some action to empty my head.

Just like that, Mr. Taeseon finally raised himself and slowly climbed onto the bed. I flinched again, but I felt a bit relieved by the touch of Mr. Taeseon’s hand stroking my back gently.

The kiss followed. At first, he hesitated repeatedly, but he soon adjusted and I entrusted my body to Mr. Taeseon. As always, it was a gentle kiss.

Our lips were sucked multiple times, tongues entered and pulled my tongue out, and as they intertwined, a wet sound echoed embarrassingly through the large hospital room.

My head, which had been packed with complicated thoughts, was soon filled only with the instinct of feeling good.

The kiss grew long. When I was out of breath halfway through and tapped “kong kong” on Mr. Taeseon’s chest, he pulled his lips away for a moment, checked that I was gasping for air, and kissed me again.

Mr. Taeseon’s hand endlessly felt from the back of my head to my nape, shoulders, shoulder blades and spine, waist and pelvis. His other hand was stroking my cheek.

Thick pheromones flowed from each of us. The hospital room door was the type that slid open sideways, so there was a slight gap. I was worried to the point of wondering if they were leaking through that gap. Because all the hospital rooms in this ward were arranged to surround the nurse’s station and were very close.

If there were an Alpha or Omega nurse, they would immediately notice the thick pheromones spreading.

“Nng, mmm, Tae, Mr. Taeseon…. Just a moment….”

Mr. Taeseon tilted his head and pulled his lips away. He still had those somewhat strange eyes. How should I put it, his pupils were blurry and pale as if he had just woken up from anesthesia. He also seemed to be lost in some thought.

“The pheromones…. They’ll leak outside.”

At that, Mr. Taeseon smiled faintly and whispered, “You too.” Only then did I realize that an enormous amount of pheromones was coming from my body as well.

Feeling needlessly embarrassed, I quickly gathered them. At that, Mr. Taeseon made a slightly dissatisfied face and buried his nose in my nape.

Then, he slowly moved his face from my nape to my temples and then to my hair, taking in my scent.

“Inyoung.”

He called me in a low voice. Me. Not Yoon Inha, but me….

“I’m sorry.”

When the words of apology flowed out once again, it was beyond my control that my tears burst forth.

∞ ∞ ∞

During the time we were discharged and heading home, both Mr. Taeseon and I were quiet. However, it wasn’t the cold silence from before. Mr. Taeseon kept letting his pheromones flow weakly for me, since I wasn’t feeling well, and I sat still covered by the blanket he had given me. We did not turn on the air conditioner.

When we were about halfway there, I asked Mr. Taeseon if he wasn’t hot, but he—having taken off his jacket and vest and wearing only his shirt and tie—simply said he wasn’t hot at all.

But as he said that, a light sweat was beads on Mr. Taeseon’s temples. Mr. Taeseon stopped me when I tried to turn on the air conditioner without a word. While stubbornly insisting he wasn’t hot, he was loosening his tie with his hand.

To me, the air was a bit chilly to the point that I needed to cover up with a blanket, but Mr. Taeseon was clearly hot after all. After being stopped a second time while trying to turn on the air conditioner, I didn’t reach for it again.

Thinking about it after getting home, I should have just said that I was the one who was hot….

The silence in the car wasn’t uncomfortable and stifling like it had been for the past while. However, the feeling of not knowing what to do with myself was similar to before. This was the extent of our conversation until we arrived home.

‘Are you not hot? Turning on the air conditioner….’

‘I’m fine, I’m not hot at all.’

‘Mr. Taeseon, you’re sweating. I’ll turn on the air conditioner.’

‘I’m really fine.’

‘…Shall I turn on the radio or something?’

‘Pardon? No, I’m fine.’

Thinking about it, it seems Mr. Taeseon was also feeling awkward. However, he must have calmed down once we got home, because as soon as he got out of the car, he tried to pick me up and carry me, so we had to have a scuffle as I said I was fine.

“I’m fine, I can walk. I walked around in the hospital too.”

“Actually, even in the hospital, I wanted to either put you in a wheelchair or carry you around.”

“Thank you for not doing that. Um… you don’t have to carry me, so let’s just go holding hands.”

At that, Mr. Taeseon hesitated for a moment before taking the hand I offered. It wasn’t that far from the garage anyway. With his coat draped over one arm, I held hands with Mr. Taeseon and walked the few steps to the front door. I looked at Mr. Taeseon as he scanned his fingerprint and asked.

“Mr. Taeseon…. Can I now.”

“Hm?”

“Can I go into our bedroom?”