Omega Complex Novel (Completed) - Chapter 31

The tips of Kim Dohyun’s ears turned red. It was similar to when I had been exposed to Choi Taegyeom’s pheromones. He looked at me with wildly shaking eyes and spoke in a heavily suppressed voice.

“Please, do something about your pheromones.”

“If I could do something…”

If I could have done it, I would have done it already. As if I’d never been angry, now I only felt bewildered. This much pheromone was more than usual during a heat cycle, and the fact that my reason was clear was also strange.

“……Ha.”

Kim Dohyun was now pulling his sleeve over his nose. His short, broken breaths seemed to show how difficult it was for him. It was fortunate that he instinctively wasn’t emitting alpha pheromones.

“It’s not me doing it… it’s because I got a shot.”

“……A shot?”

“I got a hormone shot, and they said my pheromones wouldn’t be controllable for about two hours.”

He pressed down, suppressing his pheromones, and moved his feet. First, he had to get out of this confined space. That would be good for both Kim Dohyun and me.

“No, senior, then.”

But before I could even get down the stairs, Kim Dohyun stopped me. He grabbed my arm with reddened eyes.

“Are you saying you’re going out like that, right now?”

My tightly held arm hurt. I twisted my arm to signal that it hurt, but Kim Dohyun didn’t even notice my signal. His increasingly rough breathing was excessively raw.

“If you go out like that… it’s dangerous.”

No, right now, the most dangerous one seems to be you.

This was the first time something like this had happened. An alpha reacting to my pheromones, or looking at me with such desirous eyes. Putting aside the physiological fear, I wasn’t confident watching the surging desire in real-time.

“Let go.”

So I pushed Kim Dohyun’s hand away with force. He flinched when my hand touched him and frowned with reddened eyes. Huh, a heated breath accompanied it.

“No, senior…”

“It hurts, so just let go first.”

Kim Dohyun was startled by the word “hurt” and retreated. Thud, he hit the stair railing, turned his head, and gasped for breath. Just a moment ago, he was saying things that were quietly infuriating, but looking at him now, he was just a fidgety child.

“Ah… I’m sorry.”

I rubbed my stiff wrist. Kim Dohyun, who had an embarrassed expression as if apologizing, slowly composed himself.

“……Senior.”

He panted, barely managing to speak. It seemed difficult for him to even talk now.

“Let’s just go back up instead.”

I knew what he was worried about. I couldn’t control my pheromones, and defenseless omega pheromones were too likely to be exposed to danger. The fact that I was a sturdy man, or that it was still bright outside, didn’t matter. If an accident was going to happen, it would happen somehow.

“There’s no need for that.”

Even knowing all that, the message Choi Taegyeom sent flickered in my mind. Although the message arrived around 2 PM and it was now well past 4 PM, I was confident he would still be waiting.

“……Yes?”

Kim Dohyun asked back with a somewhat stiff expression. His face was red, and his chest rose and fell ceaselessly, but his eyes were incredibly sharp.

“Why?”

Choi Taegyeom is waiting. I couldn’t answer that way. It was obvious what kind of look he would give me the moment he heard my words. He would probably look at me with foolish eyes. And he would calmly add, “Senior, it’s been two and a half hours. He wouldn’t still be waiting.”

“I have to go home.”

But before the thought could fully form, my mouth opened. It was a disjointed remark, and naturally, a bewildered reaction came back.

“Surely, he’s waiting?”

No answer was needed. Although he had a bewildered expression, he seemed to have guessed the reason. It was natural for him, being quick-witted.

“Huh…”

A sigh escaped. Not from me, but from Kim Dohyun. He wiped his face with the hand that had covered his mouth and sighed. Haah, a deep sigh mingled with his lowered voice.

“If you’re going to say you’re an omega, then do it.”

“……”

“Surely, you’re not planning to meet him with those pheromones, are you?”

I was speechless. Of course, I couldn’t possibly meet him in this state. How could I meet Choi Taegyeom like this, in such a mess? With pheromones like this, I’d be exposed as an omega even from a distance.

“I’ll take you home, so call Choi Taegyeom. Tell him you’ll go back today and see him tomorrow. That would be better.”

I knew it in my head. That Kim Dohyun’s solution was the best option. If I called and explained the situation, Choi Taegyeom would surely go back without a word. He’d say “okay” and worry about me not getting sick. No, maybe he hadn’t even been waiting from the start.

‘Lee Yoonwoo, look at me. Are you okay?’

“……”

Yes, that could be.

“Ha…”

My head throbbed. Choi Taegyeom’s face kept filling my mind. His worried gaze, expression, tone of voice. And even the tips of his fingers that he hadn’t quite extended.

…What if he thinks I abandoned him?

“You don’t have to take me.”

It might have been arrogance. Anyone who heard it would surely say it was arrogance. I clearly mistook the special feelings I had for him as meaning he had special feelings for me too.

“Senior, really…”

“I’ll handle it myself.”

But what if it was a delusion? If my delusion could prevent him from getting hurt, then that would be fine in itself.

“I’ll handle it myself, let’s talk next time.”

He could call it arrogance. I already had a history of avoiding Choi Taegyeom, and that was different from him briefly running away from me. The unannounced five years must have been as painful for Choi Taegyeom as they were for me.

“Thanks for today.”

“……”

“I’m going.”

Kim Dohyun looked at me with blank eyes. He reached out his hand as if to grab me, then dropped it weakly. His drooping fingertips were pitiful, but they didn’t evoke any emotion in me.

The medicine prescribed by the hospital was a kind of antidote. It was a medicine that helped expel the accumulated suppressor components in the body and allowed suppressed pheromones to be secreted normally. The pharmacist added a few precautions along with the efficacy, and among them, there were, of course, three warnings not to take suppressors.

Not to take suppressors. It was like a bolt from the blue. Even if I was a recessive, pheromones weren’t entirely absent. Sometimes they flowed out unconsciously, and sometimes they flowed out according to my emotions.

It was true that I had overdosed on suppressors to prevent such situations or to prepare for irregular heat cycles. After reuniting with Choi Taegyeom, I took them even more diligently to alleviate an unknown anxiety.

I felt that the greed I had indulged in was ultimately gnawing at me. I couldn’t take suppressors with a heat cycle right around the corner. I had to meet Choi Taegyeom without being able to control my pheromones. All these facts were nothing short of the mistakes I had accumulated. Now, I felt like I was paying the price in full.

On the way home, I smoked. One, two, and three. I walked through deserted alleyways, continuously smoking cigarettes that I didn’t usually smoke. The doctor said it was better not to smoke at all, but I couldn’t possibly meet Choi Taegyeom with pheromones clinging to me like this.

Fortunately, as I got closer to home, my pheromones stabilized. Whether heaven helped me or not, I didn’t encounter anyone who seemed to be an alpha either. The way home was perfectly peaceful, and when I was almost at my doorstep, I was worried about the smell of cigarettes rather than pheromones.

“……”

And in front of my house was Choi Taegyeom.

Should I say it was expected? Or should I say I was a little surprised?

I thought he would be waiting. Choi Taegyeom was a man of his word, and he wasn’t so cold-blooded as to just abandon me when I was sick. When he was little, he would have skipped school if I was sick, and I didn’t think he would have changed just because he became a university student.

Indeed, as soon as I turned into the last alley, I spotted Choi Taegyeom. The pheromones I felt even from a distance, and the sweet emotions welling up inside me. Instinctive tension and anxiety, and even the apologies I had temporarily buried.

Choi Taegyeom was standing in front of my house, looking at his phone. One hand in his pocket, the other holding his phone, he stared intently at the screen. He wasn’t sending messages or doing anything else. He was truly just ‘looking’ at his phone screen.

What is he looking at so intently?

The still cool April breeze ruffled his fine hair. His delicate eyelashes were lowered beneath his disheveled bangs. His glassy eyes and straight nose also caught my attention. He had his rosy lips pressed together, biting his lower lip.

It was like a painted picture. I wasn’t trying to say he was handsome or pretty. He was so unreal that the Choi Taegyeom in front of me seemed like a mirage.

“Choi Taegyeom.”

Fortunately, the mirage didn’t disappear even when I called his name. It was a very, very small voice, but Choi Taegyeom raised his head. Then he slowly turned to look at me.

“Have you been waiting for me all this time?”