If You Want Me - Episode 9
<Episode 9>
When he woke up, it was already dark outside the window.
Was he that tired? Before falling asleep, it was definitely sometime past lunch, but when he woke up, it was already evening.
Before going to sleep, Do-gyeom told him to eat lunch properly, but since he fell asleep right away, he felt extremely hungry as soon as he woke up.
“I’m hungry…”
Seo-won muttered and rubbed his empty stomach with his palm.
Normally, he would have just casually ordered room service, but today he heard there was food at the party hall that he could bring and eat. The food at the party hall was probably even more luxurious than room service.
“Should I go for a walk and stop by?”
Seo-won usually thought parties were not his thing, so he tended not to go, but today he felt particularly bored and thought about dropping by for a walk.
Thinking that quietly going and coming back wouldn’t be a big deal, Seo-won carefully headed to the party hall on the lower floor.
In the center of the party hall, there was a long table set up with various foods on display in a buffet style for people to take and eat. As it was a gathering of famous figures, each dish looked like a lot of effort was put into it.
Although he had tried all sorts of good food while accompanying Do-gyeom as his partner, he knew it was food that was hard to buy with his own money, so it felt new every time he ate it.
While Seo-won was taking out plates and tongs to fill with this and that food, a man blocked his way in front.
He naturally tried to pass by thinking the man was trying to get food, but when he raised his head, a foreigner much larger than him with blonde hair and blue eyes was looking down at him directly.
“Hello, I haven’t seen you before.”
“…”
“Did you come alone? If there was such a beauty, I would have remembered.”
He spoke to Seo-won fluently in English, showing interest.
He had a similar experience before. At that time, he thought he shouldn’t cause harm to Do-gyeom because it was a business setting, so he gave appropriate responses, but when Do-gyeom saw that, he got very angry.
And then there was a time when Do-gyeom told him not to respond even if some fly sticks to him, saying that just staying still is helping.
He didn’t know why he called people flies, but if he responded again this time, he might get scolded again.
As Seo-won tried to ignore them and pass by, the man grabbed his forearm to stop him. An unintentional groan escaped at the forceful grip that made his brows furrow.
“Ouch…”
“Where are you going? I said let’s talk.”
“Hey, don’t touch him. That guy is Seo Do-gyeom’s partner.”
Before he could shake off his hand telling him to let go, another foreign man who seemed to be the man’s companion spoke while looking at Seo-won.
He didn’t attend official events together with Do-gyeom or cling to his side on days like today when there was a party. Still, wherever Do-gyeom was, Seo-won was always there, so there were occasionally people who remembered him as Do-gyeom’s partner.
If it was someone who didn’t know of his existence at all, he would have ignored them and passed by. But to think they even knew he was Do-gyeom’s partner. The situation became awkward.
As Seo-won looked at the two men with furrowed brows, the man who had been expressing interest made a dumbfounded face.
“Seo Do-gyeom’s partner? This guy?”
“Yeah, that unfortunate bastard.”
“Wow, I thought he was a eunuch, but he was going around with a guy like this? He’s a lucky bastard.”
The two men spewed curses about Do-gyeom as if they had bad memories of him.
The man who had been expressing interest looked at Seo-won with regretful eyes, then approached a passing waiter behind him.
He briefly talked to the waiter with his back turned, brought a glass of champagne, held it out to Seo-won, and winked.
“Then at least take this. It’s a pure act of goodwill for a pretty thing.”
“…”
Seo-won silently looked at the champagne he held out. He could just take the champagne himself, but he didn’t know why the man was acting like he paid for it himself.
He really thought it was uncool, but since the two men knew he was Do-gyeom’s partner, there seemed to be a limit to just ignoring them. They also seemed like people who would stick to the end. Seo-won let out a small sigh and replied in English.
“Thank you.”
“You finally replied. I thought you couldn’t speak.”
“…”
“Ah, your eyes are scary. If you toast with me just once, I won’t bother you anymore. Let’s have a drink.”
When Seo-won looked at him with dumbfounded eyes, he pretended to be frightened but immediately demanded a toast. He should at least act a little scared. His attitude was absurd and ridiculous.
Judging by his behavior, Seo-won didn’t know if he would really leave after one toast, but he sighed and nodded. One glass of champagne wouldn’t make him drunk, and the man received the glass from the waiter right in front of him, so he doubted anything would happen.
When Seo-won reluctantly nodded, the man smiled brightly, revealing his teeth, and said,
“Cheers.”
Clink, after touching glasses, Seo-won drank a few sips of champagne on the spot. The taste of the alcohol wasn’t very good for some reason, but it seemed to be because the other person was unpleasant.
As Seo-won narrowed his brows and looked at the glass, the man smiled ambiguously and said,
“Then have a good time.”
As promised, he gave way as if he wouldn’t bother anymore. Even though he seemed like someone who would pester more, it was fortunate.
With the hindrance gone, Seo-won put a few more dishes on his plate and went to a secluded corner to eat. Perhaps because they were dishes made for high-class people, each one was delicious, but strangely, after eating only a bite or two, he felt unwell.
His body heated up, he felt dizzy, and his stomach felt bad. At first, he thought he overate after having one or two bites, but suddenly an omega pheromone brushed past his nose.
Omega pheromones were emanating from his own body.
“What is this…”
Seo-won was a passionate omega with faint pheromones, so it was rare for pheromones to flow out like this.
Except when his heat cycle was approaching.
However, it wasn’t the time for his heat cycle to come, and there were no signs, so he didn’t know why this was happening all of a sudden… As he got up from his seat, stopping his eating, his head suddenly rang and his body staggered.
“Ugh…”
Dizzy, Seo-won grabbed the backrest of the sofa he had been sitting on.
This time, he hadn’t drunk a lot of alcohol, but he felt dizzy and weak as if he was dead drunk. No matter how unexpectedly his heat cycle came, this state of his body was… abnormal.
Suddenly, the group of foreign men he had met while getting food earlier flashed through Seo-won’s mind.
Could those bastards have spiked the champagne with a heat cycle inducer?
Otherwise, there was no way his condition would worsen so rapidly. He thought there would be no problem since the man received the glass from the waiter right in front of him, but that brief moment when the man had his back turned suddenly caught his eye. A skilled person could spike a drink even in that short instant.
Somehow, it seemed strange that they would send him off obediently while openly showing hostility towards the young master, and they did this despicable thing…
He wanted to grab those bastards and question what the hell they were doing, but it wasn’t the time. He had to avoid the eyes of the alphas and return to his room as soon as possible.
Putting strength into his two legs that seemed like they would collapse at any moment, he barely made it out of the party hall, leaning against the wall with one hand.
He tried to walk through the corridor and return to his room, but familiar large figures were blocking the way in front of the room as if they had been waiting.
“Pretty thing, where are you going in such a hurry?”
It was the two foreigners he had encountered earlier.
As soon as Seo-won faced them, he ground his back teeth. He had a vague idea that those bastards might have spiked the champagne, and seeing them standing there as if they had been waiting, his speculation turned into certainty.
They weren’t even worth dealing with, but due to the drugged alcohol he drank, his reason had hit rock bottom. Seo-won glared at the two men with eyes burning hot from arousal and lowered his voice.
“You guys… did this.”
“Hmm, what are you talking about?”
“You spiked the champagne, it was you bastards.”
“Ah, are you talking about the champagne we treated you to? Did it taste good?”
Just talking felt like using all his energy, but the man sarcastically taunted him. No matter how fiercely he glared and got angry, they didn’t seem to find it scary at all.
They knew. They knew that it was as easy for an alpha to overpower an omega as killing an ant, and moreover, the two alphas in front were esteemed guests invited to today’s party. They probably also knew that unless someone was extraordinary, they couldn’t touch them.
As Seo-won bit his lower lip hard, trying to barely hold onto his reason, the man who had first approached him earlier raised his hand and fiddled with Seo-won’s earlobe.
“The way you come among alphas and shake your ass seemed like you were seducing me.”
“…”
“I was curious what kind of omega Seo Do-gyeom would embrace… I wonder how delicious you are that he only keeps you by his side.”
The moment the man in front of him smiled faintly, a heavy alpha pheromone pressed down on Seo-won’s body.
It was already hard to stand, but with the two men’s alpha pheromones weighing down on him, Seo-won collapsed to the floor. Sitting on the floor with a thud, he breathed out hot breaths.
“Huff, huff…”
With the scorching heat enveloping his head, his vision seemed to blur more and more, and his ears rang with a buzzing sound. He could only hear the sound of himself gasping for air roughly.
It was the beginning of his heat cycle.