* * *
“Who the hell would want to see… something like that?”
“Why not? I want to see yours.”
The hot breath carrying those words tickled Junhee’s ear, making his instincts scream danger.
His hand crept toward his waist, just in case his pants—or worse, his dignity—were about to be stripped away.
Catching the movement, Ki Taeryu let out an amused chuckle and slightly lifted his hips.
Junhee barely managed to tighten his grip on his waistband, but then—the real problem arose.
It was as if his hand had fallen into a trap, right where the space had been deliberately left open.
“W-What the—!”
Their lower bodies were now pressed flush together.
Something firm brushed against the back of Junhee’s hand.
Startled, he tried to yank his hand away, but the sheer weight above him had already swallowed it whole.
“What’s wrong?”
“M-My hand—!”
“Oh? Didn’t you put it there on purpose?”
His words were nonchalant, but the sensation pressing against Junhee’s hand was anything but.
“Junhee, your hands are small.”
“…”
“Think you can hold all of it?”
His cheeks burned like sun-scorched pebbles on a midsummer day, hot enough to sizzle if a drop of water landed on them.
“What… kind of bullshit… are you saying…?”
But as absurd as it sounded, the overwhelming sensation didn’t end at his hand.
It stretched further, reaching up to his navel, making him question if the man before him was even human.
The growing satisfaction on Ki Taeryu’s face only fueled Junhee’s frustration.
Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to respond boldly.
“…Are you some kind of animal? Do you go into heat all the time?”
“Heat?”
“Don’t play dumb.”
He must’ve been embarrassed; his feigned ignorance was too obvious.
Just as Junhee was about to smirk in triumph—
“I haven’t even fully gotten hard yet.”
Junhee’s eyes widened, not in shock, but in sheer horror.
As if to prove his point, the thing pressing against his hand throbbed slightly—
…And grew even harder.
Junhee’s lips parted slightly in stunned silence, and that was all the opening Ki Taeryu needed to slip inside, teasing and deepening the kiss.
A ripple of warmth spread through him, a mixture of amusement and something far more dangerous.
Junhee blinked down at the dining table, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of food laid out before him.
“Aren’t you going to eat?”
“…You expect me to eat all of this?”
It was too much. If he actually finished it, he’d either burst or end up rolling around like a ball.
“It’s breakfast, lunch, and dinner all in one.”
“Who eats all their meals at once?”
As he protested, a thick cut of short ribs landed on his plate.
When he made no move to eat, Ki Taeryu raised a brow, silently asking, ‘Want me to feed you?’
Defeated, Junhee reluctantly picked up his spoon.
Ki Taeryu didn’t touch his own food, simply watching as Junhee ate.
The moment his plate emptied, another portion appeared in its place.
By the fourth dish, Junhee could no longer hold back.
Slamming his chopsticks down, he demanded,
“Am I your royal taste tester or something?”
“I’m the one serving you, though.”
Technically, that wasn’t wrong, leaving Junhee at a loss for words.
“…I can feed myself, you know.”
But before he could take another bite, yet another dish was placed before him.
Up until now, everything had been packed with protein, but this time was different.
A neatly shaped, bright orange carrot sat there as mere decoration.
Taeryu was scanning the other dishes, wondering which one he should go for next.
Noticing this, Junhee seized the moment.
With a slight flick of his chopsticks, he stealthily nudged the carrot to the edge of his plate.
He was meticulously maneuvering it with the utmost focus when—
“You’re a picky eater?”
Startled by the voice, he looked up, only to meet a piercing gaze locked onto his actions.
“P-Picky eater? No way.”
Ki Taeryu glanced back and forth between the carrot and Junhee as if pointing out his crime.
“Allergy?”
“…No.”
“Then you are a picky eater.”
At twenty-five, Junhee, who couldn’t stomach carrots, blushed and pretended not to notice the gaze fixed on him.
He quickly picked up another piece of food and took a large bite—
“A rabbit that can’t eat carrots, huh.”
Mischievous eyes stayed on him, relentlessly tracking his every move.
Why does he even care whether I eat carrots or not?
He had no idea how unfortunate Ki Taeryu was for not knowing the vile mushiness of cooked carrots.
“There’s quite a lot you can’t eat, huh, our Junhee.”
He looked so pleased, as if he had just scored a point, that it was downright annoying.
Swallowing the food he had shoved into his mouth, Junhee shot him a glare and retorted,
“I eat everything except carrots.”
“Tangerines?”
“…That’s a physiological issue.”
If it weren’t for that damned allergy, I’d be working at a tangerine farm in Jeju right now, stuffing myself until my hands turned yellow.
“Black bean noodles?”
“That’s…”
“Sweet and sour pork?”
“I mean, that’s…”
Junhee was about to argue that it wasn’t that he couldn’t eat them, just that he chose not to, when he noticed something odd.
It was the look on Taeryu’s face—
That insufferable smirk, as if no matter what Junhee did, he was already in the palm of his hand.
“…Wait, have you been investigating me?”
“Investigating?”
“Then how the hell do you know all this?”
Did he really think Junhee wouldn’t figure out that he’d done a background check on him?
“I just know because I’m interested.”
He tilted his chin slightly, his gaze persistently pinning Junhee down, as if to prove just how much interest he had in him.
“You know it too.”
“Know what?”
“What kind of person I am.”
Oh, he knew. He knew all too well.
An insufferable, lunatic, Alpha of the highest rank.
The illegitimate half-brother of Ki Taeseong.
The adopted son of the Taesan family.
And that was just the beginning.
He knew how Taeryu lost his mind when his rut cycle hit.
Knew exactly what medication he took for it.
…Even knew his habits when kissing, and that when he did, his body burned like molten iron—scorching and solid.
Junhee knew things he’d never once been told directly.
He knew Taeryu better than anyone else.
And now that he was aware of the emotions he harbored toward this man, he had no way to refute it.
‘…How the hell did I end up falling for someone like him?’
If Ki Taeryu had a face shaped like a carrot, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
Junhee completely lost his appetite. He put down his utensils and pushed his plate away.
When Taeryu asked if he wasn’t eating anymore, he answered,
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
Taeryu lowered his gaze, wordlessly prompting him to go on.
Taking a deep breath, Junhee parted his lips.
“The letter your brother left behind…”
The temperature in Taeryu’s gaze shifted.
The chill in his stare was enough to cool Junhee’s burning cheeks.
Instinctively, he hesitated.
He clenched his eyes shut, then forced out the next words.
“I tore it up.”
“What?”
Taeryu’s expression darkened instantly, like he was about to rip Junhee apart.
If he didn’t say something fast, there’d be hell to pay.
So he confessed in one breath—
“…I found it inside a diary on the day of the engagement at Hyunwol Hall. I was going to hand it over, but—”
That was the day Junhee had asked Taeryu why he wanted an recessive Omega.
And he had answered, ‘Because they can’t get pregnant.’
Just thinking about it made his blood boil all over again.
Now, he knew why Taeryu didn’t want children.
Hong Yeonggyeong’s words and Taeseong’s diary had revealed everything—
That his mother was a recessive Omega.
That she had chased after Taeryu to his school.
That she had died in an accident.
“…I’m sorry, but I threw it away.”
“…What did you just say?”
Taeryu’s voice was taut, as if he couldn’t believe his ears.
“You made a garbage comment to me, didn’t you?”
“Yoo Junhee.”
His low voice carried the weight of a threat, but Junhee was too furious to be intimidated.
“So I threw it in the trash.”
It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, learning such things about him not from the man himself but through others.
No, it was downright disgusting.
“…Tell me what the letter said.”
Taeryu spoke through gritted teeth, struggling to suppress his anger.
So he didn’t even know the letter existed.
Maybe it was buried under so many past records that he had read it and forgotten, or maybe it was simply too close for him to see.
Whatever the case, it didn’t matter to Junhee.
“…He said he was sorry for leaving you alone. That he didn’t know if he could come back.”
At Junhee’s words, Taeryu sucked in a breath.
“That’s it?”
“He said he had something he needed to find. That you shouldn’t wait, but look for what you needed to find.”
“Son of a bitch… Ki Taeseong, that bastard…”
From the murderous look in his eyes, it seemed like if Taeseong were in front of him right now, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill him.
Or maybe he was just in the mood to kill someone.
“…Why are you only telling me this now?”
As expected, the blame quickly turned on Junhee.
“I told you—I was angry that day…”
“And who the hell do you think you are, tearing up something that wasn’t even yours?”
The same eyes that had once wrapped around his throat bore into him now.
* * *
