If You Want Me - Episode 5
<Episode 5>
“Welcome, sir.”
As soon as he appeared, the servants bowed to welcome him as if they had been waiting.
Seo-won hurriedly followed suit and bowed to greet him before even getting a good look at Do-gyeom.
Only after furtively glancing at the others and straightening up was Seo-won able to take in the sight of Do-gyeom.
“……”
The moment he saw him, Seo-won instinctively inhaled sharply.
Now twenty-five years old, he had become a completely different person. Even as a child, he had a build and aura that seemed uncommonly mature for his age, and it was even more so now.
Although Seo-won had also grown taller since then, Do-gyeom must have grown as well, as Seo-won still had to tilt his head back slightly to look at his face.
His skin was more tanned than when he had been pale from only studying, and his facial features had become much more defined, perhaps from losing baby fat. His straight eyebrows, sensitive-looking eyes, sharp nose and jawline appeared harmonious, as if an artisan had painstakingly crafted them.
Seo-won absentmindedly gazed at his face before furtively lowering his gaze. Do-gyeom was impeccably dressed in a black suit without any skin showing, but it still seemed apparent that his body was made of solid muscle. His broad shoulders, thick chest and thighs made it clear to anyone that he was a dominant alpha.
Seo-won’s mouth felt parched at the familiar yet unfamiliar sight. As he unconsciously swallowed, Madam smiled warmly at Do-gyeom in a way she had never shown the servants, and stretched out both arms towards him.
“Welcome! Our son.”
Since Do-gyeom was so tall, only after he bent down was Madam able to wrap her arms around his neck.
Even though it had been a while since reuniting with his parents, Do-gyeom seemed to find such gestures embarrassing as he grumbled.
“Why did you make everyone stand here like this?”
“They aren’t just standing here. They all came out to welcome our son.”
“There are so many people I don’t know, so why…”
Do-gyeom retorted to Madam’s words in an obvious tone.
After breaking the embrace with Madam, Do-gyeom looked around. It seemed he was taking in with his own eyes how the estate that he had left at age twenty to study abroad had changed in the six long years.
Seo-won couldn’t take his eyes off him, finding Do-gyeom’s appearance taking in the estate both cool and somehow unfamiliar yet glad to see him. But then suddenly, Seo-won’s and Do-gyeom’s eyes met squarely.
“……”
Seo-won lowered his gaze as if he had been burned. It was because he felt needlessly caught out, worried that Do-gyeom had noticed him looking at his face with personal interest.
He thought he had averted his gaze quickly, but Do-gyeom’s sharp gaze was already fixed on Seo-won as if he had read his eyes.
The jet-black eyes swept over Seo-won from head to toe. It felt like a predator visually devouring discovered prey, sending a chill down his spine.
Today would be their last meeting, so Seo-won was afraid Do-gyeom would be repulsed by him. He regretted greedily wanting to see him one last time, thinking it would prevent him from even being able to idealize their memories together.
Still… was there really a need for Do-gyeom to hate him that much?
That day, when Seo-won had been groaning in pain from presenting heat and leaking omega pheromones… Seo-won knew that must have been why Do-gyeom hadn’t been able to control his sexual urges and had accidentally kissed him.
But it wasn’t as if Seo-won had wanted that to happen, and if anything… wasn’t Seo-won the one who had been victimized?
Seo-won had been the one lying sick that day when he had been kissed, and most importantly, he may have presented as an omega in heat due to the influence of Do-gyeom’s pheromones.
He clenched his fists tight in a sense of injustice, his nails digging into his flesh. Although he had come out thinking it would be the last time, it felt like even a single shred of hope had been completely extinguished.
As he dropped his head even lower, Do-gyeom spoke in a puzzled voice from above.
“Was there someone like this?”
“Ah, you don’t know, Do-gyeom? He’s the son of the lady who used to put you to bed when you were little. Look how big he’s grown already.”
Madam answered with a laugh to Do-gyeom’s question. At that, Do-gyeom’s expressionless face hardened even more.
“…This is that brat from back then?”
“……”
What? He didn’t even recognize me, so why was he looking… Why is he calling me a brat?
Seo-won had no idea how the situation was unfolding. As he just kept his head bowed without saying a word, Madam asked with a surprised expression.
“What was that? Do-gyeom, you know Seo-won?”
“We were close.”
“Close…?”
At the mention of being close, Madam glanced at Seo-won with a subtle expression, trailing off.
Although she didn’t openly express it, Seo-won had received many similar gazes, so he could understand the meaning implied in her eyes. How could the likes of you associate with my son… It was a cold look, as if seeing a shameless person.
It couldn’t be helped to receive such a gaze. Not only were they inherently completely different people, the condition for staying at this estate was to “live as if dead as a mouse”… Madam probably disliked that Seo-won had even caught Do-gyeom’s eye, so of course she would hate it to the point of wanting to step on him for saying they were close.
However, that look lasted only a moment. As if she had never looked at something vulgar, she spoke to Do-gyeom with a honeyed gaze.
“I didn’t know you two were close. But it’s fortunate you greeted each other before leaving.”
“Leaving? Where is he going?”
“Now that he’s an adult, he decided to leave the estate. He can’t stay at the estate forever, after all.”
“……….”
Do-gyeom’s expression turned grave at Madam’s words. Although his face looked equally expressionless, was it Seo-won’s imagination that he somehow seemed angry?
As Seo-won watched Madam and the young master thinking something seemed strange, Do-gyeom suddenly turned his head and looked this way.
“Hey, let’s talk for a bit.”
“……?”
Hey?
Seo-won unconsciously looked around. However, there was no one here that Do-gyeom would call “hey” other than him.
No matter how much Do-gyeom was a young master who didn’t need to be careful, he wasn’t crass enough to call an elder “hey.”
“…Are you talking to me?”
“Yeah.”
Do-gyeom answered curtly as if to say who else would he be talking to.
Seo-won furtively glanced at the people around them. The servants and his mother had their mouths shut with surprised faces, and Madam in particular looked beyond shocked, dumbfounded and flabbergasted. Although her precious son had returned from America after several years, before she could even exchange a few words with him, he had beat her to the punch with someone she had never paid attention to.
As Seo-won gauged their reactions, Do-gyeom began to walk first. Unsure if he should follow and standing frozen in place, Do-gyeom looked back and said,
“You’re not coming?”
“Ah, y-yes I’m coming……”
Seo-won hurriedly followed Do-gyeom up to the second floor.
As he climbed the stairs, he felt piercing gazes on his back, but he couldn’t bring himself to refuse Do-gyeom’s words.
* * *
“Wow……”
Seo-won looked around and let out a small gasp of admiration.
Although he had lived at this estate for several years, it was his first time entering Do-gyeom’s room. Unlike Seo-won’s room where laying down and sleeping was all he could do, Do-gyeom’s room was so spacious it could be mistaken for a living room.
Moreover, it was so immaculately clean it was hard to imagine it had been unoccupied while he was studying abroad. It must have been thanks to the housekeepers constantly coming in and out to sweep and wipe so not a single speck of dust accumulated.
One wall was completely filled with so many books it made one doubt if he had even read them, with a desk in front of the bookshelf. And in the center of the room, plush sofas were placed on either side of a low table. Considering Do-gyeom’s current age it seemed to suit him, but thinking it was the room he had stayed in until high school, it felt mature.
As Seo-won looked around the room in wonder like a country bumpkin who had come up to Seoul for the first time, Do-gyeom gestured with his eyes to the sofa in the middle of the room.
“Don’t just stand there, sit over there.”
“Ah, yes……”
Embarrassed that he had been gawking so conspicuously, Seo-won hurriedly sat on the sofa Do-gyeom had indicated.
But why had Do-gyeom called him? Why had he said in front of everyone that they were close, when he had intentionally avoided seeing Seo-won for years? What was he trying to say to Seo-won? Was he going to bring up what happened that day…? All sorts of thoughts swirled in Seo-won’s mind, making him feel complicated.
As Seo-won sat rigidly with his back straight, anxiously awaiting Do-gyeom’s words, Do-gyeom sat on the sofa across from him and asked,
“Do you want something to drink?”
“Ah, no… I’m alright. I have to get going soon.”
Having something like tea would help him relax, but there was no time for that. If he dragged it out, Madam would dislike it. So he intended to quickly finish their business and leave the estate.
When Seo-won implicitly requested that Do-gyeom not take too long, Do-gyeom turned his head to the side and let out an empty laugh, “Hah.” It was a somewhat absurd reaction.
Seo-won felt his throat go completely dry. Even though he wasn’t in a confined space and Do-gyeom hadn’t released any pheromones… it felt as if he had been trapped.
Carefully unfastening one button of the shirt choking his neck to relieve the suffocating feeling even a little, Do-gyeom’s gaze shifted to the exposed flesh of Seo-won’s neck. Do-gyeom then asked,
“Are you uncomfortable being with me?”