If I were an Omega at a time like this, I might have been able to smell the pheromones Kang Taeyun was emitting.
I felt a pang of regret, but then I startled and pushed him away.
“Sorry. What time is it now?”
“11:00.”
“……I should go home. I have classes to attend.”
“What classes? You already applied for a leave of absence.”
“So you knew after all.”
“It would be stranger if I didn’t. It’s you, Siho, not just anyone else.”
My initial plan to escape from this place was a failure.
Still, I was glad to confirm that he knew about my leave.
My escape plan would have likely been ruined anyway if I didn’t account for that.
“Rest here for today.”
“……I’d rather rest at home—”
“Will you be okay? Facing Yoo Joohwan and Moon Dowon?”
The two of them might already know that Kang Taeyun and I spent the night out.
Just as he said, if I went home before recovering and ended up being hounded by those two, I would be miserable.
“You won’t even be able to rest properly there. How could I bear to see you like that, Siho?”
He added that it wouldn’t be uncomfortable for him if I stayed.
Hearing that, it seemed safer to rest here than at home.
I nodded slowly and noticed I was neatly dressed.
He mentioned a doctor had visited; it seemed he had dressed me as a courtesy.
“I asked them to send up some food. Do you want to wash up in the meantime?”
Kang Taeyun suddenly picked me up in his arms.
When I looked up at him with a startled face, the corners of his mouth curled up softly.
“It’ll be hard for you to do it alone.”
“No! I can wash up by myself.”
“I’m joking. I’ll just drop you off.”
With a polite smile, Kang Taeyun set me down in a spacious bathroom.
Freshly prepared clothes and underwear were folded neatly next to the towels.
“Call me if you’re uncomfortable.”
“Okay.”
I gave a short answer and closed the door.
My lower body throbbed and trembled, but I moved to the shower as best as I could and adjusted the water temperature.
As the warm water hit my head, my body began to feel heavy and relaxed.
“……This is nice.”
The tension in my body dissolved as my stiff muscles loosened.
Perhaps because he had cleaned me up while I was sleeping, no semen leaked out, but the thought of Kang Taeyun cleaning me out all night made me feel incredibly embarrassed.
I turned my head away in shame, only to be horrified by my reflection in the mirror.
“……What on earth is this?”
My entire body was covered in red splotches, enough to make one wonder if I was ill.
The bite marks on my shoulders were bruised to a bluish tint, and my face was so swollen I looked like I’d been beaten.
It was an ugly face—I didn’t think a person could swell up this ungracefully.
‘He called me pretty even after seeing this face…? He must really like me.’
A giggle escaped my lips before I knew it.
Without realizing that my cheeks were flushing red like a shy boy’s, I began to hum a tune.
I never imagined that having someone like me could make me feel this happy and excited.
With a fluttering heart, I reached for the shower ball and squeezed some body wash onto it.
“Affection is a scary thing. How can he like me this much?”
I hummed as I made soft bubbles and rubbed them over my body.
Then, I realized just how excited I was.
“Get it together, Seo Siho. Feelings aside, that thing is a weapon. A weapon! How are you going to handle three of them, not just one?”
I washed off the bubbles with warm water, telling myself I’d have to be crazy to enjoy this.
Yet, my lips kept curling upward as if they were about to fly off my face.
“How can they like me…?”
Kang Taeyun, Yoo Joohwan, and Moon Dowon.
All of them said they liked me—not the Seo Siho from before the possession, but the current me.
Even so, I couldn’t accept their hearts.
A Beta is a Beta, after all.
I slowly suppressed my heightened emotions, telling myself that one experience of sex was more than enough.
I took a deep breath amidst the sound of the water and thought only of the ‘Rut.’
The thought of those three guys with their “weapons” pouncing on me suddenly made my whole body go cold.
“Right, now is not the time. At least not unless they’re in a state where they’ll listen to me.”
Right now, I didn’t have the confidence to control the three of them.
We were tied together under the name of ‘dating,’ but each had a different personality and character.
Not only were they uncontrollable, but their obsession was incredibly strong.
As long as our differences weren’t resolved, I would be the only one suffering in the middle.
“How do I run away…?”
Currently, there was no way to escape them.
However, if I stayed with them during the upcoming Rut, my body might literally break apart.
I was especially more afraid of Yoo Joohwan than Kang Taeyun or Moon Dowon.
He was a guy who always rejected normalcy, so I couldn’t even guess how he might torment me.
As the water poured down, Kim Seunghyun suddenly came to mind.
I wondered if I should arrange the meeting between the three of them and Kim Seunghyun on a day close to their Rut.
In the original story, there were four main characters, after all.
“And then I’ll make my escape…”
The only day I could truly slip away from their gaze was that day.
If I missed that chance, I felt like the day I could run away would never come.
“Yes, a Rut should be spent with a Heat. How can a Beta like me handle it?”
I shook my head and turned off the shower.
Even as I dried myself and got dressed, I felt my mood drop rapidly.
When I came out after washing, the table was full of Korean-style food.
Kang Taeyun pulled out a chair for me and filled a glass with water.
From the moment I sat down until I finished the meal and got up, Kang Taeyun didn’t leave my side for a single second.
It was his house, so it was natural, but being alone with him felt awkward.
I sat carefully on the sofa and asked him.
“You’re not going to school?”
“No.”
“Then what do you do every day? Do you stay home?”
Kang Taeyun reached for a tablet next to him, then turned his head to stare at me.
I blinked in fluster, wondering if I had said something wrong.
“……Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Are you curious now? About my private life?”
“I never had the chance to ask… Every time we met, you only thought about stripping me.”
I pouted slightly. Kang Taeyun set the tablet aside and came over to sit next to me.
“I work from home. Sometimes I go to the office if Chairman Kang calls for me.”
“Chairman Kang? Your grandfather?”
I remembered Yoo Joohwan calling him an old man in Busan.
When I asked tentatively, Kang Taeyun nodded.
I still wasn’t used to the atmosphere being so much softer than yesterday.
Perhaps because we had shared an intimate night, he seemed more compliant and even kinder than before.
“What about your parents?”
“They passed away.”
“……I’m sorry.”
“It’s a fact you could find out with a little research. You must have been excessively uninterested in me. Or maybe you just followed me around for my face.”
Kang Taeyun answered smoothly and slowly crossed his legs.
As he rested his chin on his hand and watched me, his gaze was so warm—no, hot—that I felt the heat rising to my face.
“Do you know that you’re handsome?”
“I couldn’t possibly not know.”
Kang Taeyun shrugged lightly and leaned back against the sofa, saying he’d heard it many times.
He wasn’t saying it to be arrogant or to brag; he was just answering naturally.
If anyone else said it, it would be annoying, but coming from him, it felt humble.
It was likely because his image was so firmly established as someone refined.
“Siho, you’re handsome too.”
“……Are you teasing me?”
“No. I’m telling you. To my eyes, you look prettier than any Omega.”
“……Why are you being like this? You don’t usually say things like that.”
“I wonder. Back then was before I admitted it. Now is after I’ve realized that I like you.”
Kang Taeyun’s long eyes curved languidly, and a deep smile formed on his lips.
At this point, I wondered if he was making fun of me, but based on his personality, he wasn’t the type to play with people.
Which meant he was sincere.
Seeing how he expressed himself without hesitation as soon as he realized his feelings made my hair stand on end.
I felt like it would be better if he treated me with a hidden agenda like before.
“……It’s still a bit awkward.”
“Get used to it, Siho. I plan to express myself a lot from now on.”
It seemed he intended to show even more obsession and affection than he did now.
A smile spread across my face like a flower in full bloom despite myself.
“Did you hear from Joohwan or Dowon?”
Time was already slipping into the late afternoon.
Since I didn’t have a phone, they would have contacted Kang Taeyun if they realized I wasn’t home.
“They did. While you were sleeping.”
“Did they say anything…?”
Since they were so obsessive, it wouldn’t be strange if they said they were coming here right now.
Honestly, I felt like it wouldn’t even be out of place if they were standing right here.
“They’re sharpening their blades.”
‘Not for me, but for you.’
Even though he didn’t say the words, I felt like I could hear them.
