Chapter 17: A Startling Confession

“Di-Director!”

The startled PR team leader stood up and bowed his head.

Noah was blankly holding the handkerchief, his hand still outstretched in the air above the table.

Hanjoo, with a murderous aura, looked back and forth between the two frozen figures.

“Are you two dating?”

“What? What are you talking about!”

Such nonsense.

Startled by the absurd statement, Noah snapped to his senses and shot up from his seat.

Hanjoo, who had roughly grasped the situation after seeing Noah’s horrified expression, glared at the team leader as if he wanted to crush him and said.

“You’re not?”

“That’s… not it.”

“We’ll talk later, Team Leader Kim.”

The team leader, who had been acting sleazy just moments before, instantly cowered like a dog that had lost a fight.

What’s wrong with him?

Noah was bewildered, not understanding the situation, when Hanjoo spoke to him.

“Mr. Yunoah, I believe we have something to talk about.”

“What?”

“Was this company dinner so important that you had to attend even when you were sick?”

“…”

Ah… I’m caught.

Noah, who had forgotten his lie in his excitement upon entering this place, bit his lip and smiled awkwardly.

“Then would you spare me a moment of your time?”

Noah, forcing a smile at Hanjoo’s stiff expression and tone, obediently followed him out.

The place he followed him into was a cozy room, smaller than the company dinner venue.

As Noah hesitated, unable to enter, Hanjoo looked at him and said.

“I’m not going to eat you.”

Noah, whose expression clearly showed his disbelief, took a step inside.

He still had one hand on the open door, as if ready to flee at a moment’s notice.

“It will only take a moment. What’s the problem?”

“Your… your tone, I mean, the way you speak, Director… why do you speak so scary?”

Noah’s voice trembled with tension.

Every time he saw this high-and-mighty Alpha, his skin crawled and his heart pounded.

When their eyes met, it felt like his body was being bound, to the point where he would forget to speak or move.

Seeing him for the third time made it clear.

This Alpha was definitely dangerous.

His body naturally flinched when the Alpha he had to be wary of was now openly angry.

He braced himself for a scolding and pointed out that he was scary.

He wondered if something would come flying at him for being impertinent.

“…I apologize. I was a little angry just now.”

“…”

The Alpha, finally realizing his own sharp-edged attitude, softened his demeanor and offered an apology.

A large hand stroked his chin, as if he were embarrassed.

He had expected him to get angry, but Noah’s eyes widened at the unexpected apology.

“Mr. Yunoah. The leaking of your pheromones is not your fault, and I’m really fine, so let’s talk for a moment.”

The anger from moments ago had completely vanished, and a hint of pity was evident in Hanjoo’s tone, as if he understood all of Noah’s worries.

Although the sudden change in attitude was awkward, Noah sensed that since this high-ranking person was speaking to him this way, he had no choice but to go through with this situation, and he obediently sat down.

Hanjoo, watching the Omega who had sat down meekly, took out a handkerchief and a portable spray from his pocket.

He sprayed the handkerchief and said to Noah.

“Could you give me your hand for a moment?”

“Wh-why?”

Noah, not knowing the reason, looked at him with wary eyes.

Hah… Hanjoo let out a sigh and said.

“Team Leader Kim’s pheromones are on your hand.”

“What? Crazy…”

Isn’t he crazy?

So that’s why he had strangely brushed his fingers against mine when he handed me the handkerchief.

Did he do it on purpose?

The moment Noah unconsciously tried to bring the hand that had brushed against Team Leader Kim to his nose, Hanjoo quickly snatched his arm.

“Don’t you even know what marking is?”

“Marking?”

Hanjoo gently wiped the lingering Alpha pheromones from Noah’s hand with a handkerchief soaked in deodorant.

The Omega, who had a clueless expression as if he had never even heard of marking, had white, beautiful fingers.

As he thought about wanting to interlace his own fingers with his and hold his hand, Hanjoo cleanly wiped away the traces of the other Alpha from Noah’s hand.

“If you just stand there like that after being marked, it means you’re also interested in the other person, so you have to be careful.”

“Oh my god… I’m definitely not like that. How could I…”

“I know. You’ve imprinted, so you’ve become insensitive to other people’s pheromones.”

“Imprinting? What are you talking about?”

“…”

Noah was more surprised by Hanjoo’s words now than by the fact that that b*stard Team Leader Kim had marked him.

Imprinting?

What was that again?

Noah, who barely knew what marking was, couldn’t possibly know what imprinting was either.

He seemed to remember seeing the word when he had skimmed through the pamphlets after his presentation.

“An eternal vow of love. One must be cautious even in a married relationship.”

Noah vaguely recalled the sentences he remembered.

But why was this man questioning him about imprinting?

“I’m not married!”

“I know. That’s not it…”

“Is Team Leader Kim married? Are you worried that I’ll go around seducing married men?”

“…”

Hanjoo’s face contorted at Noah’s words.

He had no idea how to explain it.

What on earth was going on in this Omega’s head?

No way.

“Don’t tell me, are you interested in Team Leader Kim?”

“What? What do you take me for! I’m not the kind of person who can’t distinguish between my personal and professional life. And Team Leader Kim is not my type.”

“Then what is your type, Mr. Yunoah?”

“I…”

Noah, who had automatically pictured a charismatic and sexy female Alpha in his head, suddenly snapped to his senses.

This person was a high-ranking official.

He wasn’t someone he could just blurt out such things to.

“No, um, Director. We don’t have a personal relationship. This kind of question is rude. I swear, I have nothing to do with Team Leader Kim, so you don’t have to worry.”

He found it difficult to answer the awkward question, so he said it with a laugh, as if it were a joke.

He wondered if he had made a mistake and checked the Alpha’s expression, which was strange.

His stiff expression was still there, but something was different.

He had a very tense face, which didn’t suit him.

“Let’s have one with me.”

“What?”

“A personal relationship, let’s have one with me.”

“What are you talking about…”

“Mr. Yunoah. Do you remember the night four years ago, when you went into heat and spent the night at our hotel?”

“…”

“I thought you wouldn’t, but you really don’t remember.”

“…”

Gulp.

Noah swallowed dryly.

It was an unforgettable day.

Although who he had been with that day, what they had done, those things were in the abyss, but because of what happened that day, Noah’s life trajectory had not gone according to plan at all.

But what did it mean for this man, whom he wanted to avoid, to know about it?

The days he had spent consoling himself by repeatedly telling himself that he had done nothing wrong, that it was just an accident, disappeared, and in an instant, he felt like a criminal caught in a dragnet.

The saliva in his mouth dried up.

“The person who spent the night with you that day was me.”

“…”

“You don’t remember at all?”

“…”

Noah’s eyes, which were twice their usual size as if he were terrified, seemed to have forgotten to blink.

But the pale pupils within them trembled violently, revealing his confused state.

How could he not know?

Hanjoo felt a sense of futility and his strength drained away, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the shocked Omega’s face.

The large pupils, reflecting the light of the crystal chandelier, shone with a beautiful amber color.

Something boiled up in his chest and surged.

“I haven’t forgotten. Not for a single moment.”

“…”

“Let’s meet. You and I, in a personal relationship.”

“Wow… I was so nervous.”

After taking a shower, Noah lay on his bed and kicked his feet restlessly.

He had already done ten forward and backward somersaults in his head.

His body was so tingly he couldn’t stand it.

“He’s asking me out, right?”

He had never heard such a confession in his life.

He had been asked out countless times—he had even received a marriage proposal—but he had never been so nauseous and nervous.

The fear he felt when he confessed that he was the one who had spent the same night with him.

In his imagination, the person from that night was close to a psycho or a pervert.

Although those thoughts had gradually disappeared after he gave birth to Seolu and saw the angelic child.

When Seolu was born, he had thought he looked just like him, but his appearance had gradually changed, and now he could hardly see his own face in him.

Still, he was such a handsome son that he had sometimes wondered what kind of Alpha he was.

But to think that person was Director Lee Hanjoo.

The moment his secret, which almost no one knew, came out of the mouth of a completely unexpected person, Noah just wanted to run away from that place.

From the Alpha’s perspective, would he have wanted to see him again after a crazy Omega had desperately clung to him, had s*x, and then left as if he were running away?

He thought he probably wouldn’t even be interested.

Even if the Alpha recognized him, what good would come of meeting again?

He had talked about this topic with Dongseok and Minho before.

The fantasy of accidentally meeting a one-night stand again.

If it had simply ended as a one-night stand, he wouldn’t have even imagined meeting again, but because of Seolu, he had always had a lingering attachment.

The common conclusion of the three was that it was “close to a gamble.”

Still, Dongseok had said the sweet thing, “Wouldn’t it be hard to forget Yunoah’s face?” but he had quickly come to his senses after Minho’s, “How do you know what kind of trouble this guy caused while he was unconscious? He’s lucky he’s not getting sued.”

He was right.