* * *
Kang Taeyun stroked my cheek and rubbed my earlobe.
I felt this yesterday too; he seemed to like touching my earlobe.
As my head tilted toward the area he was touching, he kissed it.
“If the kiss was your first, then this must be your first too.”
“…”
“I like it. That your first time is with me.”
Pleased, he licked my earlobe with his tongue.
The slow, circular motion made the fine hairs on my body stand up. It was a different kind of thrill than a kiss.
“As much as I’d like to strip you right here. I’ll be understanding.”
He pulled and sucked my earlobe with his tongue, saying he understood why I asked for a month’s time.
I felt the meaning was misunderstood, but it was okay.
I was intoxicated by Kang Taeyun’s actions, and everything felt good.
“Siho, Seo Siho.”
Siho felt a strange sense of unease at the desperate voice, like that of a passionate lover.
It hadn’t even been a week since I started dating them.
Even if fast relationships were the trend, this was too fast.
People say that anyone catches fire when they start dating, but these people weren’t supposed to be romantics.
“Isn’t it strange? I’m not an Omega, yet I’m obsessed with you.”
The tongue sucking my earlobe gently bit the plump flesh.
‘Hnng.’
At the reflexive moan that came out, Siho made a confused face.
“…Do you want to have sex with me, or do you want to date me?”
“Both.”
“…”
“I’m so drawn to you that I feel like I go crazy thinking about you every hour.”
I wished it wasn’t true, but my prediction seemed to be right.
I, too, was often confused about my feelings for the three men.
The realization that this was an forcibly constructed plot made my excited feelings cool down.
“I want to stop for today.”
Siho moved his upper body back and covered his swollen ear tips with his hand.
I hadn’t noticed while he was sucking it, but now that I’d calmed down, it felt throbbing.
Thankfully, he was considerate of the fact that it was my first time and didn’t force anything, heading home instead of the officetel.
Yoo Joohwan, who was pacing in front of the house, spotted Kang Taeyun’s car and approached it.
He walked toward Kang Taeyun’s side, then, seeing that I was inside, he flung open the passenger door.
“Why are the two of you together? …The smell.”
Yoo Joohwan raised his arm, covered his nose, and twisted his body.
His face was stained with pain, as if the smell was unbearable.
“What did you do? What is this intense pheromone? Are you trying to kill people?”
The pheromone seemed to be aggressive, as he raised his voice and glared at Kang Taeyun.
It seemed like he had released it when he checked my arm.
Siho quickly took out the deodorizer I had and sprayed it on my body and the surroundings.
Yoo Joohwan seemed to calm down immediately, lowering his arm and showing a much more relaxed expression.
“What happened? You don’t usually release pheromones like this.”
Yoo Joohwan looked at Kang Taeyun with a worried face, but he didn’t say anything in return.
Knowing Kang Taeyun wouldn’t talk, Yoo Joohwan looked at me and began to meticulously inspect me from head to toe.
From my swollen lips and red ears to the marks left on my arm.
Yoo Joohwan, who confirmed everything with cold eyes, sneered.
“I’m starting to dislike fair play lately.”
“You were the one who suggested it, and Siho accepted it.”
Kang Taeyun answered indifferently, implying that he, too, was holding back.
Yoo Joohwan seemed annoyed by the answer, but instead of saying anything, he ran his hand through the back of his hair and replied with a sigh.
“I don’t know. But for now, a truce.”
“…”
“I guess I’ll have to work hard to seduce him. It seems like an internal conflict will break out soon.”
Yoo Joohwan closed the open passenger door and grabbed Siho’s arm to check it closely.
Seeing the marks overlapping on my arm, he deduced that the first mark was not left by Kang Taeyun.
“Who is it? The bastard who marked my lover’s body.”
“This is—”
“Kim Seunghyun.”
I wanted to say it was a mishap caused by pheromones, but Kang Taeyun, leaning against the car, answered first, preempting me.
At the mention of Kim Seunghyun, Yoo Joohwan’s gaze moved to my lower body.
Siho reflexively put both hands together to cover the area.
“Why, why?”
“He’s an Omega, right?”
“Yes.”
“How many times did he make you hard for him to cling to you like that? A mere Omega.”
He looked displeased, asking why I hadn’t said that I was the one being penetrated, not the penetrator.
His eyes looked like they would sever that part of my body right then.
Whether I used it or not, it was a precious part, so Siho turned his body sideways to get out of his line of sight.
“Since Kang Taeyun went, it must be over. Did you half-kill him? Or did you bury him?”
“Who knows.”
“…You just left him alone? You?”
“I’m the gentler one when it comes to Siho.”
Yoo Joohwan wrinkled his face, saying he heard something ridiculous.
He even scrunched up his nose bridge, like someone who had seen something revolting.
Perhaps because he was handsome, even that look seemed cute.
“You said you had an important meeting. Did you come after it was over?”
“No.”
“Are you crazy? What are you going to do?”
“I’ll take the beating.”
Kang Taeyun replied calmly, as if he were used to violence.
Seeing him speak without any change in expression, it seemed that this sort of thing was commonplace.
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“I’m going to go. Before they charge over here.”
“…I wish you luck.”
“Thanks.”
Although I said that, the thought of Kang Taeyun going to be beaten didn’t sit well with me.
His lip injury hadn’t even fully healed.
The unconscious thought made me feel uneasy.
“Don’t get hurt.”
Kang Taeyun chuckled at my worry-filled tone.
“Okay,” he replied, his voice quite gentle.
He drove away, smiling until the very end, and Yoo Joohwan sighed with a serious face, then rubbed his neck.
“Let’s go up.”
Yoo Joohwan changed the subject, took the lead, and entered the main gate.
His steps going up the stairs seemed much lighter than before.
Should I say he looked cheerful? Somehow, I didn’t want to follow him inside.
‘…What is this uneasy feeling?’
Even though it was my house, I felt like a rabbit walking directly into a tiger’s den.
But I didn’t have the courage to run away, so I followed him up weakly.
“Finally, it’s just the two of us.”
Yoo Joohwan, who was stepping onto the last stair, quickly turned around and showed his even teeth.
At his eerie smile, Siho instinctively looked behind the stairs, searching for an escape route.
“I didn’t even eat lunch so I could be alone with you. I was so excited about the thought of you smiling when the gift was complete that I couldn’t eat.”
“…A gift?”
“Yes. Your gift.”
Yoo Joohwan walked brightly to the door and picked up a shopping bag hanging on the doorknob.
The day he came to me with a gift came to mind.
As I stepped back with a sense of déjà vu, he quickly ran over, grabbed my arm, and pulled me forward.
“Be careful. What if you fall down the stairs?”
“…Haha. That’s not my gift, is it?”
“It is. Your gift.”
Yoo Joohwan slightly frowned, asking if I was going to make him say the same thing again.
But he quickly smiled radiantly, pleased with the gift in his hand, and offered it to me.
“Take it. It’s the second gift I’m giving you.”
“…I can’t refuse, can I?”
The large corn Yoo Joohwan gave me was still safely in the freezer.
I worried that there might be another strange item inside this one.
Seeing me hesitate, Yoo Joohwan took the gift out of the shopping bag and presented it to me.
It was a long box tied with a beautiful red ribbon.
“…Is it safe?”
“Of course. I even skipped a meal just to give you this.”
Yoo Joohwan smiled innocently at my wary expression.
He looked reassuring, as if to say he wasn’t a malicious person.
His full dimples made his smile look cute, so Siho decided to trust him this one time.
“Thank you. I wonder what’s inside.”
“I specially prepared something you’ll like.”
“Something I’ll like?”
Siho tilted his head. I hadn’t known him for long.
I figured he must have investigated my preferences if he claimed to have prepared it to my taste.
‘Something Seo Siho would like?’
Not wanting to open it for some reason, I just stared at the box.
Yoo Joohwan replied with a confident voice.
“Don’t cry after you get it.”
“…Is it that good?”
“Yes.”
Seeing him shrug, it looked like he was bursting with pride.
His reaction suggested it was a healthy gift.
But for some reason, my hands just wouldn’t move.
As I hesitated, he sent me an urging look.
“What are you doing? Not opening it?”
“…I do want to open it.”
‘But I don’t have the courage,’ I swallowed the unspoken words and smiled unnaturally.
Under his insistent gaze, urging me to open it right there, Siho pulled the beautifully tied ribbon string.
The ribbon string came undone easily, tangled on my fingers, and slipped off.
“I hope you like it.”
With eyes as clear as the sunshine, Siho carefully opened the box.
And then immediately closed it.
* * *
