If You Want Me - Episode 26
<Episode 26>
After the long conversation ended, Seo-won sighed roughly and glanced at him. Even after making a deal as he wanted, Do-gyeom wasn’t moving an inch and sat in his spot.
…Why isn’t he leaving? Shouldn’t he be heading back now that he’s done talking? He could bring the contract next week.
As Seo-won looked at him quizzically, Do-gyeom belatedly opened his mouth nonchalantly with an “Ah.”
“Then go about your business now.”
“…Pardon?”
“Act like you normally do. Pretend I’m not here.”
“Ah, no… Aren’t you going back?”
“We made a deal. To find out if there’s someone you like or not, I need to observe you.”
“…”
Was that the deal? A deal to legally allow him to monitor me? It felt like I had fallen into a trap.
He seemed to want me to ignore him and go about my work as usual, but that was impossible. How could I not be conscious of a person bigger than me sitting in my small space where I was alone…
Above all, the presence of the alpha pheromones subtly emanating from him was huge. To him, low-fertility omega pheromones might be something he could ignore, but not to me.
I badly wanted to argue, but I had no more energy to bicker with him. Moreover, I heard an alpha’s pheromones had a positive effect on the child if the mate was pregnant, so leaving him be might not be bad either.
“Sigh…”
Seo-won, who had been looking at Do-gyeom with dissatisfied eyes, put on the thin-framed glasses on the desk and sat down.
Sitting in front of the computer, he checked his email to see if any freelance work had come in today. Feeling relieved there was nothing urgent at the moment, Do-gyeom spoke while sitting on the sofa and looking at him.
“Was your vision bad? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wear them.”
“Ah… I wear them occasionally. It’s not that bad.”
“You never wore them when you were with me though.”
“I guess I had nothing to read then.”
“…”
At the vague answer, Do-gyeom nodded his head as if to say that could be the case.
Actually, I always wore contacts on the days I met Do-gyeom. There was no need for good eyesight since all we did when we met was eat, sleep, and release pheromones, but it was because I wanted to take in his appearance even a little more clearly.
I could have worn glasses, but I didn’t think they suited me well, so I chose contacts. For about the first month, I struggled every day I met him because I wasn’t used to putting in and taking out contacts at all. There were days I went to him with red eyes from taking out contacts and was asked if I had been crying.
Now I’m very natural at putting in and taking out contacts… But I won’t have any reason to wear them to look good for him anymore.
Even though I thought it was good to have abandoned the habit of enduring discomfort for Do-gyeom, thinking about the years of unrequited love I had gone through made my mouth bitter.
As I was barely pulling myself together, thinking I should live my life without being shaken anymore, Do-gyeom stared at my face intently and casually remarked.
“They suit you well.”
“…”
It was probably just a casual remark in passing. Without any particular meaning, like saying a new outfit looked good.
However, it felt like all my efforts to avoid showing him my glasses-wearing appearance were unnecessary, so my heart fluttered for no reason.
Why do I attach meaning to his words and find comfort in them by myself?
Seo-won tried to calm his emotions by biting his lower lip hard. Seo-won, who had sorted out his feelings so that his pheromones wouldn’t overflow, calmly retorted in a flat voice.
“Young master. You told me to pretend you’re not here… I think you’re talking too much.”
“…You really have changed.”
“Have I?”
Seo-won answered indifferently and moved his gaze to the monitor. However, he could only stare at the white pop-up window and couldn’t move his hands.
I need to work. Even if it’s not partner work, I need to show him I’m living well and make him let go of his lingering feelings…
The ripple created by a single word saying it suited me well turned into a wave, and it felt like the firmly built breakwater was being chipped away little by little.
* * *
“Phew…”
For the first hour or so, work didn’t happen as if my mind was floating, but when I forced my hands to move while looking at the manuscript file, I could concentrate a bit. It was fortunate the submission deadline was ample, if it had been today, I would have been screwed.
Although it hadn’t been long since I got pregnant, after getting pregnant, my arms and legs felt numb and tired if I sat for a long time. As I got up from my seat to stretch, Do-gyeom suddenly caught my eye.
Saying he had to monitor me, he wouldn’t leave the house like a stone statue, but at some point, he was also working while looking down at a tablet. Come to think of it, since he was a man whose time was gold, he wouldn’t be someone to waste time doing nothing.
I was going to stretch, but since he was home, I felt conscious about bothering him. Even though it was my house, I somehow felt like I was arbitrarily invading his space, so I was about to go out to the yard to stretch for a bit.
“Where are you going?”
I tried to go quietly without disturbing him, but Do-gyeom quickly noticed and turned his gaze to me.
He has good concentration too… Thinking I might have moved too busily, Seo-won answered in a slightly embarrassed tone.
“Ah… I’m going to stretch a bit in the yard. I’m stiff…”
“I’ll go with you.”
“You want to do it together?”
“Why? Am I not allowed to?”
I had just asked because I couldn’t imagine stretching together, but Do-gyeom asked sarcastically if it would be a big deal if we did it together.
We had been bickering just before too, but the sharp feeling was different from then. At that time, he simply seemed unhappy that I wasn’t accepting his partner proposal, but now he looked a bit tired and sensitive.
Could it be because of work? Well, there aren’t many people who would be in a good mood while working.
“…Then let’s go together.”
I had tried to go to the yard so as not to disturb Do-gyeom, but it felt a bit awkward to say that was the reason I was going to the yard, so I tried to go out together.
As we were about to head out to the front door together, Do-gyeom suddenly narrowed his brows and staggered.
Then he dropped his head on Seo-won’s shoulder and leaned his body against him.
“Huh, young master…?”
Seo-won, pushed by Do-gyeom’s weight, stumbled and leaned his back against the wall. It was strange to see a man much larger than him bending his waist and pressing his forehead against Seo-won’s shoulder.
For some reason, it tickled my heart. After trying so hard to separate him, I didn’t know what to do when our bodies got close.
As Seo-won barely placed his hands on Do-gyeom’s chest and tried to push him away, Do-gyeom grabbed Seo-won’s arms with his hands.
“Yoon Seo-won.”
His lowered voice was similar to his voice during sex. Just hearing his voice made me feel dizzy for a moment.
As I squeezed my eyes shut at the strange sensation enveloping my whole body, Do-gyeom rubbed his forehead and opened his mouth.
“I’m dizzy.”
“…”
“It hurts.”
Do-gyeom whined in a way that didn’t suit him. At the rare sight, Seo-won swallowed his saliva, looked at him, and asked back what he had said, sensing something strange.
“…You’re in pain?”
In pain? Dominant alphas had exceptionally good physical conditions to an abnormal degree. Not only their physique but also their health was the same. I had heard they didn’t get sick often, not even catching a cold, and that they didn’t get drunk even after drinking a ton of alcohol.
But he’s saying his head hurts enough to lean on me. An alpha feeling dizzy only happens when there’s a major problem with their body, right? Seo-won, whose thoughts reached that point, suddenly became frightened.
Seo-won tried to push him away with the strength he had barely placed on Do-gyeom’s chest, and asked him in a trembling voice.
“Y-you don’t look well, should I call Secretary Bae?”
“No need.”
“Then at least a doctor…”
“If that could have solved it, I wouldn’t have come all the way down here.”
“…Pardon?”
“I’m saying my head hurts like hell because I can’t relieve my pheromones. It’s because of you.”
“…”
I wondered what he meant… He was saying his head hurt because his pheromones had built up.
The pain from pheromone buildup can be somewhat alleviated with medication, but rumor has it that the medicine also affects virility. Is that why he can’t take it?
…But considering Do-gyeom’s usual sex life, it should be fine to take it a little. Seo-won recalled his sexual encounters with Do-gyeom that didn’t end with just one or two times, and hurriedly erased the imagination, feeling embarrassed.
“That’s not because of me… It’s because you didn’t relieve your pheromone buildup, young master.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“How is that the same… Other than me…”
Seo-won stopped talking mid-sentence. He couldn’t bring himself to say to embrace another omega to settle his pheromone buildup.
No matter how much I decided to end my ties with him, saying that much would make me too miserable, wouldn’t it?
I was feeling a bit sad, and Do-gyeom, who had been resting his forehead on my shoulder, lifted his head and made eye contact with me up close.
From a close distance where our noses would touch with a slight movement, Do-gyeom enticed Seo-won with a sweet whisper-like voice.
“Let me at least kiss you. I think I’ll feel a bit better then.”
“…”
“You can do that much for me, can’t you?”
A thick alpha pheromone wafted over.
It seemed he deliberately released his pheromones, knowing omegas were weak to alpha pheromones, not just because he was close.