Define The Relationship Novel - Chapter 1

The countdown had begun.

An endless stream of people pushed past Karlyle Frost. Times Square on New Year’s Eve seemed to have no empty space. Even the black sky was dyed by the dazzling lights of the billboards. Karlyle scanned his surroundings. The main culprit who had pestered him relentlessly and driven him here was nowhere to be seen. It seemed he had been swept away and separated by the crowd.

The person who had led Karlyle to Times Square in New York today was the immature son of a business client. He was also an Omega. The man had made it clear he was interested in Karlyle from the moment they met. Since he needed to handle him appropriately until the contract was finalized, Karlyle had spent about three days by his side.

The man must have mentioned the New Year’s Eve event because he wanted to spend the night with Karlyle. He probably thought it was romantic. But Karlyle Frost was someone who considered the word “romance” utterly meaningless. It was impossible for him to enjoy it.

However, his private thoughts were not important here. What mattered was the outcome of the deal. To that end, Karlyle had no intention of stubbornly asserting his useless personal feelings. Karlyle willingly humored the man. Perhaps after the Ball Drop, Times Square’s signature event, he would suggest going to the affiliated hotel.

That was, if he could find him again.

Karlyle was now far from the center of Times Square. Avoiding the people who relentlessly pushed forward, Karlyle retreated backward. Trying to find someone here was foolish. He had assessed the situation. He decided it was right to leave this place and go to the hotel first.

10…

Cheers faintly echoed from the distant square. The shouts spread on a wind mixed with the stench of marijuana and the fishy smell of beer.

9, 8…

Shoulders collided. Someone passing by him stopped.

“Sorry. Are you okay?”

7, 6…

A hand gently gripped his shoulder. Following the direction of the worried voice, Karlyle raised his head. Someone was looking at him. A well-defined nose and shapely lips were the first things he saw.

5, 4…

“I’m fine.”

Their eyes met. At the same moment, the lights went out. The lights of the open storefronts, the orange streetlights, everything vanished.

“That’s a relief.”

3, 2…

Everything around them was pitch black. He couldn’t see the other person’s face. Yet Karlyle was certain their eyes were still locked.

1….

The numbers announcing the New Year exploded loudly. A fleeting silence passed. The hand gripping Karlyle’s shoulder tightened ever so slightly. Happy New Year. A faint whisper was heard.

Had he heard that people in America kissed at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s?

It varied by region, but it was common to kiss even a stranger right next to you. The Omega’s face, talking about a fated midnight kiss, came to mind. But he wasn’t here. Instead, a stranger stood before him. Karlyle didn’t move away. The man gradually drew closer. A refreshing scent reached him. An Alpha, he thought. He couldn’t recall ever even touching an Alpha’s hand, but on this day, he felt no particular aversion.

And then, their lips met.

With a soft sensation, his lips were lightly bitten. A faint shiver ran down from his shoulder. Ah. His mouth parted slightly with a groan-like sigh. Through that gap, a tongue delved in. The gentle kiss instantly turned into a deep, lingering one. The deeply intertwined tongue was surprisingly skillful. Karlyle was swept away, without even time to think that he was kissing an Alpha, a complete stranger he had never seen before.

Saliva passed. He swallowed it without realizing. The palm gripping his shoulder tightened further. A chilling sensation ran down his spine. Ugh. As a groaning sigh escaped, a small laugh echoed in his mouth. The man was annoyingly relaxed. It felt dangerous. With an unknown sense of crisis, Karlyle pulled his lips away. Unmanaged saliva dribbled slightly down his lip. He rubbed it with his finger. Then the man caught his finger.

At the same time, the lights began to turn back on. Like a wave spreading from Times Square, the halo of light gradually grew, heading towards Karlyle. It was like a tide.

“Will you tell me your name?”

Looking down at his captured hand, Karlyle hesitated. The lights were now spreading right in front of Karlyle. There was no value in reconsidering. Tell him his name? How ridiculous.

It wasn’t as if they would ever see each other again anyway.

“Lyle.”

Even as he thought that, Karlyle opened his mouth. Half-truth, half-lie. It was his nickname, one no one ever called him.

“Lyle, my name is Ash.”

Under the returning lights, the man’s face fully revealed itself. His black hair, like it held the night, had a different warmth than Karlyle’s. A well-defined forehead, softly curving eyebrows, and the eyes beneath them.

Karlyle momentarily held his breath at the two eyes of different colors.

“If it’s okay…”

Before the man could finish his sentence, someone grabbed Karlyle’s collar.

“Found you. Were you here?”

It was the person who had been his companion. The Omega scent from behind him suddenly felt unpleasant. Karlyle didn’t turn his head. Instead, he gazed at the lips in front of him, curved in a gentle smile. The red lips, wet from the kiss.

“Next time.”

Karlyle said. He pulled away his captured finger.

“See you next time.”

He bid “next time” to someone he would never see again. The man smiled. Ash. He quietly savored the name on the tip of his tongue. Karlyle’s collar was tugged again.

“Aren’t you leaving?”

He looked at his eyes one last time. As if shaking off lingering regret, Karlyle turned his body. His steps were heavy. He kept wanting to look back, as if he had left something behind. But Karlyle erased that feeling, following the Omega who led him with a sulky, frowning face. There was no need to appease him. Even if he pretended to be angry, he would surely cheer up if Karlyle returned to the hotel and fucked him until he melted.

With an emotionless face, Karlyle anticipated the dawn that would follow. His subtly excited mood returned to its usual state.

Calm, calm, without even a ripple, just like himself.

…I had a useless dream.

5 AM. Karlyle opened his eyes precisely at his habitual waking time. He was certain even without checking the clock. But something was different from usual. It was because a past event, one he had even forgotten, had appeared in his dream, making him feel strange. He covered his eyes with a cool hand. He quietly exhaled and sat up.

“…Are you already awake?”

Rupert, who had fallen asleep as if collapsing, whispered. He seemed to have woken up at the rustling sound. Karlyle, who had gotten out of bed, picked up a glass.

“You can sleep more.”

“But Karlyle, you didn’t sleep much either.”

Rupert was an Omega Karlyle met fleetingly once a year. Since their first meeting five years ago, he had met him less than ten times, excluding accidental encounters in private settings.

Karlyle Frost was an Alpha. And he lived a life a little different from others. He had half noble blood. Karlyle’s mother had a father who was a Marquis. The Marquis Frost, Karlyle’s grandfather, was extremely meticulous about maintaining his lineage. He believed that only noble blood could produce dominant Alphas, who accounted for 1% of the population.

For this reason, his grandfather forbade meeting the same Omega during rut periods. The rut was to be resolved, but he was not to fall in love with an Omega not designated by the family. As a result, Karlyle met a different Omega every month during his rut. He had spent his entire life that way.

Occasionally, when he grew tired of it, he took suppressants. However, due to his younger brother’s severe side effects from excessive suppressant use, it wasn’t a method he could use frequently. Karlyle’s life consisted only of minor things he could control and important things he couldn’t. The matter of suppressants fell into the latter category.

Karlyle didn’t answer Rupert’s worried words. Instead, he offered him a glass of water. Rupert took it. Thank you. Karlyle nodded in response.

Rupert, who had been silently drinking water, quietly set the glass down. Looking at Karlyle’s bed, which showed almost no signs of being disturbed, Rupert spoke after a long pause.

“But Karlyle… there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Speak.”

Rupert’s brown eyes gazed at him awkwardly. A deep silence briefly settled in the dark, violet-tinged room. Karlyle knew what was coming. It would be more unbelievable if his partner didn’t know, after they had sex for several hours.

“You… didn’t finish, did you?”

“What do you mean?”

He asked back dryly, pretending not to know.

“…You didn’t come even once, Karlyle.”

The sentence grew longer with more explicit words. With an unchanging expression, Karlyle ran a hand through his hair. His cold face showed no sign of embarrassment.

“If you’re asking about the number of ejaculations, then yes.”

Karlyle admitted in a dry voice. From the start of his rut last night, throughout their prolonged sex, he hadn’t ejaculated even once.

“Isn’t that… a problem?”

“Did you feel any discomfort during the act?”

“No. It was good. It was good, but… I think it’s definitely a problem for an Alpha in rut to be like that.”

Karlyle silently conceded. Although this was the first time such a situation had escalated, there had been gradual signs over the past few months.

Lately, it had taken a long time for him to ejaculate. As a result, his Omega partners were suffering. Even for Karlyle, who generally didn’t enjoy sex, it was a torment.

His body emitted pheromones and went into heat according to its cycle, but his mind couldn’t follow. When his body became aroused, he felt forcibly drawn into having relations. It felt as if the connection between his body and mind, which had been subtly misaligned for a very long time, had finally severed. Karlyle was utterly fed up with this mechanical release of sexual desire.

And this situation was the result.

“Understood.”

A faint irritation rose within him. He could clearly foresee what would follow. The man would act as instructed.

“Mr. Milan, right? My contract condition was to report to him if anything happened to Karlyle.”

“I know.”

He replied, his voice still devoid of emotion. Karlyle picked up the phone lying by his bedside. He checked the time. He had expected around 5:10 AM, but the time was much later than he anticipated. It was six o’clock. That meant he had woken up late. In short, he had overslept.

Including his late awakening, his perfectly synchronized life suddenly felt out of sync. Karlyle’s lips finally tightened at the farcical situation of an Alpha in heat unable to ejaculate. He was not in a good mood.

Both waking up late and feeling down were not common occurrences for him. His emotions were always a straight line. Neither bad nor good. Neither unhappy nor happy, a parallel line.

“Contact Mr. Milan when it gets light.”

With that concluding remark, Karlyle left the bedroom. Walking across the wooden floor leading to the bathroom, he quietly thought.

Perhaps the dream he had in the early morning was the problem.