Lick Me Up If You Can Novel (Completed) - Chapter 214

Pant, pant.

Koi panted, wiping the sweat from his forehead. No matter how much he searched, Ashley was nowhere to be seen. He had thoroughly searched his house and office, but it was all in vain. Just in case, Koi even went to the rented house where he used to live, but it was empty. Finally, in the darkened street, Koi stood lost, feeling helpless.

Where did he go?

Nothing else came to mind. He clutched his throbbing head when suddenly his phone vibrated. He quickly checked the caller and sighed, connecting the call.

“What’s wrong? You called, didn’t you?”

It was Bernice. Koi took a deep breath, then vaguely explained that Ashley had a pheromone attack and his whereabouts were unknown, then quickly added.

“I went to his house, but he wasn’t there. The doorman said he saw him come in, but no matter how much I searched, he wasn’t there… It seems he went out again without the doorman seeing him…”

“Did you check the closet?”

Bernice suddenly asked. Koi stopped mid-sentence.

“The closet?”

“Yes. The wardrobe inside the dressing room.”

Bernice added in her usual businesslike voice, completely unfazed.

“Junior will be there.”

The call ended, and Koi, who had been standing blankly for a moment, belatedly came to his senses and hastily rushed back the way he came.

“Ash doesn’t truly love you.”

Even as he ran, Ariel’s words echoed in his mind.

“What’s the reason for his strong denial? Why won’t he admit that you’re an Extreme Omega? Don’t you have an answer? He can’t stand you being superior to him.”

“Ash has always looked down on you from above.”

“Can you call that feeling love?”

His frantic footsteps gradually slowed. Standing in the middle of the street, panting, Koi hesitated for a moment but then shook his head and started running again. Finding Ashley was his priority now. He would think about it later.

If that’s what Ash wants…

Looking up at the familiar building in the distance, Koi thought.

I can do that much for him.

He gritted his teeth and rushed into the building. The doorman looked at him in surprise, but Koi ignored him and strode straight across the wide hall to the elevator.

So, just don’t run away from me.

“Pant, pant.”

When he finally got off the elevator, Koi was gasping for breath, swaying as if he would collapse. As he passed through the double doors of the entrance and stepped inside, a heavy silence instantly enveloped him. Koi took a deep breath and then walked towards the second floor. As he walked towards the bedroom with slower steps than before, his heart, instead of calming down, pounded even more restlessly against his chest.

When he opened the bedroom door, the empty room, just as before, came into view. He walked straight across the room to the dressing room. He opened the door to the connecting room, but it too was empty. Up to this point, it was the same as before.

But this time, something else was felt. As he stood still and sharpened his senses, a chill ran down his spine, causing a slight shiver.

He’s here.

Koi instinctively knew. He couldn’t smell it, but his entire body was reacting sensitively. To Ashley’s pheromones.

Hoo, after taking another deep breath, he took a step. With each step, it turned into certainty. Finally, when he grabbed the closet doorknob and pushed hard, Koi froze in place.

Ashley was there. Just as Bernice said, alone in the closet.

“Ash…”

As Koi, who had paused, hastily called him and reached out, something else suddenly caught his eye. The moment he recognized what the objects scattered around Ashley were, Koi froze all movement.

The bulky man, the best lawyer in the East, a cold-blooded, heartless individual, was unconscious, surrounded by shabby dolls. Cheap and ugly dolls that were utterly unsuited for a man at the pinnacle of wealth and power. And the moment he saw the pink elephant doll he was holding tightly in his sleep, tears welled up in Koi’s eyes..

“I want to give it to you, take it.”

“Is this… an elephant?”

“Here, this is an anteater.”

All the dolls he had given him were there. He had clearly thought they would have been thrown away. The empty mansion from that day came back to his memory. That time when he had collapsed and cried, thinking everything was over, that he was alone.

But he was wrong. Koi wasn’t the only one who was alone. And it was he who had made Ashley like this.

“Ash.”

Koi whispered, his voice choked with suppressed sobs. Slowly bending down, he gripped Ashley’s shoulder with trembling hands, holding back his tears with all his might, and spoke.

“Why are you here alone like this…?”

Ashley still didn’t open his eyes. Bernice’s words, spoken indifferently, that Ashley would be here, came to mind. He couldn’t tell if he was asleep or unconscious, but one thing was certain. Every time something like this happened, Ashley must have been here alone, like this.

Koi hastily wiped away his tears and quickly called Bernice. She would know. What to do in a situation like this.

“Leave him.”

She answered simply when she picked up the phone.

“He’s intoxicated by pheromones. He’ll regain consciousness in time.”

When would that be? Bernice added to the anxious Koi.

“If you have anything you want to ask Junior, ask him. He’ll answer you now.”

Koi hung up the phone and looked down at Ashley again. He was still unconscious. Koi hesitated, then cautiously called his name.

“Ash.”

Ahem, he cleared his throat and raised his deeply subdued voice a little more.

“Ash, it’s me. It’s Koi.”

His voice kept trembling, and he had to take a deep breath in the middle.

“Open your eyes.”

He called out “Ash” again and gently shook his shoulder, and after a few seconds of silence, Ashley miraculously opened his eyes. Koi held his breath, watching him slowly blink his half-lifted eyelids.

“…Koi?”

Ashley mumbled in a languid, drunken voice. Koi again suppressed the urge to cry and quickly nodded.

“Yes, it’s me. Are you conscious?”

He asked quickly, and Ashley was silent for a moment before mumbling in a low voice.

“Koi came…? Really?”

“Yes, I’m here. I really came.”

Koi quickly took Ashley’s hand and brought it to his cheek. Ashley, who had dropped the doll he was holding, slowly raised his gaze. Their eyes met, and they looked at each other. After staring at Koi for a while, a smile slowly bloomed on Ashley’s face.

“…Koi, you came.”

Ashley reached out his arm, and Koi immediately bent down and hugged him. Haa, Ashley took a deep breath and mumbled to himself.

“I waited, always.”

“I know, I’m sorry.”

Koi quickly apologized, and Ashley continued in his still hazy voice.

“I had a strange dream… I was waiting at the train station, and you didn’t come. I waited and waited…”

Koi’s eyes widened, and he froze. Ashley, embracing Koi’s waist, closed his eyes and continued to whisper.

“It’s strange, you would never abandon me. You came like this, didn’t you? Now we’re leaving, aren’t we? Just the two of us.”

Ashley asked, but Koi couldn’t readily answer. Sensing something strange in his hesitant reaction, Ashley raised his head.

“Koi?”

The moment he confirmed his still hazy eyes, Koi understood. Along with what Bernice had said.

Memory disorder.

Ashley was mistaken right now. He thought he had been waiting for Koi at the train station, and they had finally met. How many times had Ashley returned to that day, more than ten years ago? Waiting, waiting, and waiting again.

Only waiting for Koi, who never came.

“…Yes, that’s right.”

Koi managed to answer.

“I’m sorry I’m late, Ash.”

I’m sorry I came so late.

I’m sorry I abandoned you.

This was what Bernice had meant. If he experienced such memory confusion every time he was intoxicated by pheromones, it would be the same when he woke up. When he opened his eyes, Ashley might not remember this moment. No, it wasn’t just this that he wouldn’t remember. He would lose even more. Every time, every moment.

Always returning to that day.

Koi bit his lip and then released it, taking a deep breath. He cupped Ashley’s cheek with trembling hands, tilted his head, and kissed him. Cold lips met. Ashley closed his eyes and then wrapped his arms around Koi’s waist, burrowing into him. Koi hugged his head and quietly comforted himself.

“Ash, I have something to ask you.”

Now, Ashley would tell him honestly.

Koi inhaled and exhaled, speaking with difficulty.

“Why can’t I be an Extreme Omega?”

He waited for the answer, tense, when Ashley, who had been breathing regularly as if asleep with his eyes closed, opened his mouth.

“Because it’s impossible.”

“Why?”

Koi quickly asked in a sleepy, subdued voice.

“Al said you’re denying it because you want to be superior to me. Isn’t that right?”

“What?”

Ashley replied, still in a languid tone, as if dumbfounded.

“Koi, I’ve never once been superior to you.”

Then why.

Koi couldn’t hold back and pressed him.

“Tell me honestly, Ash. What are you afraid of?”

He felt his heart pounding. Ashley whispered, “Because,”

“If you’re an Extreme Omega, you’re deliberately not emitting your pheromone scent.”