Chapter 5: A Scent and a Scrawl

Still dripping, with his hair and body barely dried, Hanjoo emerged from the shower wearing only a robe.

He took in the Omega’s pheromones that filled the room as he looked around.

The room was indeed too small, but he rather liked that the Omega’s dense scent, released in the throes of heat, lingered so thickly.

Come to think of it, the bed was also small, and it hadn’t been so bad having his body pressed against the Omega’s all night.

The tangy citrus scent woven through the rich, magnificent floral aroma was driving him crazy.

It was a fragrance that reminded him of a luxurious, elaborate bouquet rather than a single flower.

He sniffed greedily, wondering if floral scents had always been this pleasant, and when he caught the fresh hint of lemon or lime, his mind felt refreshingly clear.

He had never encountered a pheromone like this before.

He was also puzzled, having never before seen an Omega lose control so completely, especially if he was a Dominant, who should have excellent pheromone control.

When he had first discovered the Omega in heat in the restroom after the engagement party, he had suspected it might be a setup by an enemy.

But given the location, and the state the Omega was in, he was clearly not in a condition to be acting or pulling a scheme.

But besides all that…

The sight of teardrops trickling down that pretty face, one he would never forget if he had seen it before, was truly a magnificent view.

Even if someone had been playing tricks, could he have refused that pleading face?

It was an appearance one would want to possess at least once, even if he were a Beta, and on top of that, the pheromones were fantastic.

How could such a being exist?

He reached out and stroked the empty sheets where the Omega had lain.

It felt as if his pheromones were rubbing off on his hand.

Hanjoo picked up the room’s desk phone and pressed the concierge button.

“I’ll be using this room, so don’t let anyone in for about a month. Make sure housekeeping is absolutely forbidden from entering.”

Pheromones this strong would likely fade in a week, but one never knew.

After that…

Deciding he needed to find this Omega as soon as possible, Hanjoo was contemplating who to call when his eyes landed on a pen and a piece of paper lying on the floor.

Hanjoo’s expression twisted as he flipped the memo over.

[A messy scrawl of letters.]

‘What does this mean?’

It looked like a doodle, maybe some Hangul, but the handwriting was so atrocious he couldn’t decipher the intent at all.

It seemed his omega, who had provided him with an incredible night, wasn’t very bright.

But then…

“Did he dine and dash?”

Hah…

Letting out a hollow laugh, Hanjoo realized he was holding a few crumpled bills.

It was the first time in his life he had ever been paid for s*x.

With the note in one hand and the cash in the other, Hanjoo sat dumbfounded for a long while, utterly bewildered.

‘At least this means it wasn’t a setup.’

The change in his feelings, a sense of relief, felt foreign.

The fact that he wasn’t particularly resentful or angry, even though the Omega had committed such an audacious act and fled, made him think that perhaps fate really did exist.

‘Fate? What kind of absurd thought is that…’

Realizing he was having foolish thoughts, Hanjoo cursed himself.

When he lifted his head, he saw the mirror mounted on the table.

In it was a fool with soaring cheekbones and the corners of his mouth turned up in a grin.

Startled, Hanjoo shot up from his seat and roughly scrubbed a hand over his perfectly fine face.

Feeling a sense of crisis, that he would be ruined beyond repair if he stayed in here any longer, he decided he had to leave and began to put on the clothes that had been laundered and returned to him.

It seemed the contents of his pockets had been sent for laundry as well, as his phone and wallet were in a small pouch attached to the suit’s hanger.

He turned on the powered-off phone, and a flood of missed calls and messages poured in.

Aside from his secretary, most of the messages were from Oh Sihyeon.

[Hyung, where are you?]

[Aren’t you coming up? I’m worried, please call me.]

He could almost hear Oh Sihyeon’s whining voice right there.

The desperate messages looking for him had continued until dawn.

Hanjoo’s face contorted as if recalling a forgotten, troublesome matter.

Leaving the room, Hanjoo took the elevator to the suite on the top floor.

It was where Oh Sihyeon, his fiancé as of yesterday, was staying alone.

“Hyuuung!”

The moment the door opened, Oh Sihyeon rushed out.

He had come expecting him to still be there, but seeing Sihyeon’s frantic state in person made him regret coming.

A week ago, when Sihyeon had blushed and told him he had booked a room for them to stay in together after the engagement party, Hanjoo had an ominous feeling that this marriage was heading in a different direction than he’d anticipated.

But he had brushed it off, thinking the actual wedding was far in the future.

Now, however, seeing Sihyeon standing before him in nothing but a white silk robe gave him a headache.

They’d never even kissed, and now this, all of a sudden?

He knew that Sihyeon, who was practically a brother to him, wanted to be his partner, but they had never had any physical contact.

Sihyeon knew that he regularly slept with Betas or Omegas, yet had never shown any sign of coveting that position, which had made Hanjoo think he was a little different.

Of course, Hanjoo couldn’t carelessly touch the child of a family intertwined with his own through business.

But more than that…

‘His pheromones are really not my type.’

He wasn’t even in heat, but whatever he had been doing alone had filled the room with so many pheromones that it gave him a headache.

Whenever he’d occasionally caught a whiff of the recessive Omega Sihyeon’s pheromones, he had thought it was a relief they weren’t his type.

He had always thought that getting turned on by the pheromones of someone who was like a brother would be creepy.

But now, realizing that even this openly released scent did nothing to arouse him was simply baffling.

He had thought that since they got along fine and he wasn’t sexually attracted, he was a decent enough partner for a strategic marriage.

“Rein in your pheromones. And air the place out.”

“Hic…”

“Did you want to spend our first night together or something?”

“We’re engaged now.”

“An engagement that could be broken at any time.”

“…”

Sihyeon’s face looked as if he was about to burst into tears at any moment.

Let’s see how much further he’ll go.

Hanjoo crossed his arms and observed Sihyeon.

Just as I thought… shallow emotions can’t even produce a single teardrop.

“Stop acting.”

“Hmph…”

Having failed to squeeze out any tears, Sihyeon stomped his foot irritably and went to sit on the sofa.

Hanjoo plopped down in front of him.

“Was it a Beta?”

“…H-how did you know?”

“Don’t be stupid. With only your pheromones in this mess, how could I not know? You should have at least aired the room out.”

“You didn’t come back yesterday! It’s all your fault!”

“Now you’re just lashing out. I even got engaged to you like you wanted, so you should start acting appropriately.”

“Don’t lecture me. You were just fooling around with someone yourself. Don’t tell me it was an Omega?”

“…”

“Aaaaaah! Are you crazy? You slept with an Omega on our engagement day? You weren’t even in rut!”

“Shut up! Unlike a recessive like you, I have plenty of self-control, so don’t get any funny ideas! Besides, could you even handle my rut? You know damn well I hate your pheromones.”

“…Do you really hate them that much? You don’t feel anything right now?”

“…”

When he gave Sihyeon an indifferent look, it seemed his disinterest got through, as Sihyeon’s face fell.

Unconcerned, Hanjoo observed Sihyeon’s face, which still had a childish look to it.

He thought they might be around the same age.

“What do you think this says?”

Hanjoo carefully took something out from his wallet and held out a piece of paper to Sihyeon.

It was the note the Omega had left behind.

Hanjoo’s face crumpled when Sihyeon unthinkingly reached for it.

“Just look.”

“…”

Sihyeon shot Hanjoo a glare as if he’d realized something, then stood up abruptly.

“Looks like you’re nothing special either. Seeing as they just scribbled a half-assed ‘thank you’ like that and left!”

Sihyeon, his face beet red, spewed the words, then shrieked when he saw Hanjoo muttering to himself, “Thanks, thanks…,” completely ignoring what he was saying.

“Just remember that once we’re married, you can only have kids with me!”

Having made his declaration of war, Sihyeon slammed the bedroom door shut and went inside, openly displaying his displeasure.

Hanjoo could only let out a hollow laugh, bewildered by the child, who was like a younger brother, showing his true colors right after their sham engagement.

As expected, there was no such thing as purity in this world.

The next day, as Noah was about to follow his mother to the restaurant, she stopped him.

“You’re not to come to the restaurant for the time being.”

“Why?”

“They say an Omega who can’t control their pheromones shouldn’t go out carelessly.”

So that’s why the light in her room was on so late last night.

It seemed she had been reading the pamphlets from the hospital all night.

“I learned how to control my pheromones… Heup!”

As Noah held his breath and made a strange sound, his mother’s eyes narrowed in suspicion, as if she didn’t believe him.

“They say it’s not easy at first, so just stay home. At least until your next hospital appointment.”

“…Heup!”

He kept trying the control method he’d learned online to show her he could do it, but there was no way his Beta mother would know.

Besides, he could still smell the floral scent wafting from him, so it seemed his mother was right.

He gave up being stubborn for now.