“I have to work…”
“You’ve been working diligently every day. You should rest when you’re not feeling well.”
Liu, who had taken off his hat, pushed Yeehyeon’s shoulders down. He tucked the covers over Yeehyeon, who was now lying on the pillow, and bent down to kiss him. Just as Liu was about to leave the bedside, Yeehyeon called out to him once more.
“Kun.”
“Hm?”
“Later…”
“……”
“Do it for me… while you’re wearing that hat.”
Standing and looking down at Yeehyeon, Liu slowly stroked his jaw. When he lowered his hand, a sly smile lingered on his lips.
“Do what? What do you want me to do?”
“That thing you want to do.”
“Now?”
“Not now. It’s right after my heat.”
Yeehyeon, with only his face peeking out from under the covers, closed his eyes.
Having thrown out words that set the mood, he instantly fell asleep. Liu’s expression was full of injustice as he looked down at his irresponsible mate. But it didn’t last long. His mate, who had gone through his first heat with him the night before, was several times more lovable than usual.
■ ■ ■
After confirming that Yeehyeon was fast asleep, Liu tidied up the traces of the previous night. He gathered the staggering number of towels and the clothes strewn on the floor into a laundry basket and left the bedroom.
There were five face towels and eight bath towels. He couldn’t entrust these towels and the clothes, which had been soaked in Yeehyeon’s fluids, to anyone else for laundry. Besides, he had already told the housekeeper to take the day off.
Entering the laundry room, Liu picked up Yeehyeon’s t-shirt, which had been taken off inside out. The fabric around the nipple area was twisted and stretched out from where he had sucked on it.
“This is… unwearable.”
If Yeehyeon were here, he would have been embarrassed and snatched it away. Chuckling at the thought, he tossed the t-shirt into the washing machine.
A blue and white striped t-shirt.
A Saint James Minquiers 18.
Yeehyeon owned several of almost every model from this brand, in every color. And these days, he wore this particular model most often. Especially in this color.
Come to think of it, the shirt he was wearing last night, the one he wore on the day they moved to Bali, the one he wore the morning after their wedding, and the one he wore most often during their museum tours—they were all this t-shirt.
Cheerful stripes of blue and white. A thickness that fluttered pleasantly when the wind blew. The sleeves always folded up twice, wide, so as not to interfere with his work.
He loved looking at Yeehyeon wearing this t-shirt with blue jeans.
Yeehyeon in the atelier, wearing an apron over this shirt, holding a brush and palette; Yeehyeon barefoot, treading on the garden lawn to tend to the trees and plants; Yeehyeon standing by the poolside, scooping out floating leaves with a long skimmer. And of course, Yeehyeon disheveled in their bedroom, wearing this t-shirt just like last night.
He loved him in every single moment.
He was grateful that he could look at him from the closest position, with the right of a mate.
There were still times when it felt unreal.
The fact that he was married to Yeehyeon, that they were living together in the same house, sharing the same bedroom, and that they no longer had to be apart in Paris and Seoul.
At times like that, Liu had to pause and take a deep breath to digest that immense happiness.
As he pushed Yeehyeon’s jeans, still damp with traces of fluid, into the washing machine, Liu thought.
Was it the right decision to let Yeehyeon get pregnant at such a young age?
Of course, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t respect his wishes. Yeehyeon was an established professional painter and a respectable adult worthy of respect and admiration as a mate. As Seo Yeehan had said, he was also a strong person, capable of deciding for himself what was best for him.
He recalled Yeehyeon’s sweet expression and voice from last night, asking for a baby.
Was it just dirty talk, drunk on his heat, or was it Yeehyeon’s true feelings?
Even if it was what he truly felt, was having a baby now really for his sake, just because Yeehyeon wanted it?
After adding detergent to the dispenser, Liu selected the wash cycle. The machine started to operate with a quiet hum. Leaning against the opposite wall with his arms crossed, he was once again lost in thought.
After coming to Bali, they had about a month of free time before the gallery opened. During that period, the two had fully enjoyed their newlywed life. There were many days they didn’t step a single foot outside the house, just rolling around in bed. On those days, the entire house was filled with the scent of their pheromones.
They released their pheromones and inhaled the other’s without any hesitation. They knotted and changed to their hearts’ content.
When they first moved to Bali, Yeehyeon’s manifestation progress had been just over 80%, but in that one month, he had completed his manifestation. As Liu himself admitted, it was proof that they had ‘fucked an insane amount with pheromones.’
The Tri-Zone, which corresponded to an omega’s uterus, and the Omega Road leading to it had both developed normally. The Yeehyeon of now was a fully mature omega. If he hadn’t been pouring birth control pills down his throat, he would have certainly gotten pregnant from their heat sex last night.
Liu raked a large hand over his face as if to crush it.
The pregnancy and childbirth would be Yeehyeon’s burden. That was why, even if he wanted it, Liu couldn’t readily agree.
In any case, that was a problem for later. Right now, there was something more urgent to confirm.
Liu, who had been staring blankly at the laundry tumbling inside the rhythmically rotating drum, suddenly pushed himself off the wall as if he had made up his mind. He took his phone out of his jeans pocket and headed to the kitchen.
10:30 AM, Bali time.
It would be 10:30 PM in Boston, exactly 12 hours later. Grabbing a bottle of beer, Liu sat at the dining table and made the call.
[Well, look who it is!]
Marcus answered right away with a cheerful voice.
“Have you been well? I called because I figured it wasn’t your bedtime yet.”
[Not bedtime, no. I was having a drink with Ellen. Why, did something happen to Yeehyeon?]
Marcus asked in a teasing tone. It was because Liu always called him immediately if he noticed even the slightest unusual symptom in Yeehyeon. Marcus often teased Liu, saying he was like an overprotective parent who calls the pediatrician over nothing.
But this time, Liu didn’t even have the composure to smile sheepishly. He scraped the surface of the beer bottle with his thumb, biting his lower lip several times. The wound still smelled faintly of blood.
“Yesterday, Yeehyeon… he went into heat.”
[That’s impossible!]
Marcus, crying out as if in lament, seemed to have shot up from his seat.
[There’s no way he missed his suppressants.]
“He’s taken them every single day without fail. Yesterday was no exception.”
[Are you sure it was a heat?]
“It was unmistakably a heat.”
[How can you be so sure? It could have been something else wrong with him….]
“Because it triggered my rut.”
[Ah… so that’s what happened….]
Letting out a sound like a groan, Marcus was speechless for a moment. This time, there was a sense that he had slumped down into a seat, drained of strength.
After hearing the series of symptoms from Liu, Marcus seemed to find the phenomenon even more unbelievable.
[A heat can never end in a single burst like that. You know that well, don’t you?]
“If it wasn’t a heat, then what was it?”
[…….]
Marcus couldn’t answer right away. Only after a long pause did he offer his opinion in a serious tone.
[It must have been something unique to Diamond Dust, triggered only by you, a Ghost.]
Liu, too, could only think the same.
[What about contraception?]
“Both Yeehyeon and I took the pills. I increased my dose, and just in case, I had Yeehyeon take one after it was over, too.”
[Good, you did well. That’s a good response. How’s Yeehyeon? It was his first heat, he must have been very surprised. And it wasn’t a normal symptom, either….]
Liu took three or four gulps of the beer in front of him. In truth, Liu himself seemed more confused by this mysterious heat and rut than Yeehyeon was. Just like back when they first met, when he had sensed an overwhelmingly powerful pheromone he couldn’t resist from the beta Yeehyeon.
“He was a little confused at first… but he’s fine now. He’s okay. He’s sleeping.”
[Right, he’s a well-prepared and strong kid. And I’m sure you handled it well, reassuring him.]
Liu, who had been barely maintaining his composure, suddenly let out a long sigh. He propped his elbows on the table, pressed his temples, and muttered quickly in an anxious voice.
“His heat broke through even though he took the Balance suppressants every single day, and even the Sharp suppressants I gave him were useless. Doesn’t that mean this is unstoppable? If something like this happens again when I’m not around…”
[Liu Weikun. Stay calm. If you’re anxious, what will Yeehyeon do?]
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