If a very high-ranking Golden Omega was determined, they could confuse and interfere with a Golden Alpha’s control. But Changing was a process that transformed a Beta into an Omega. It wasn’t difficult at all for Liu Weikun to control his pheromones and the Changing process on a Beta who possessed no pheromones.
That was true for everyone, except for one very special Beta.
Diamond Dust.
Liu’s gaze was fixed on the back of Diamond Dust as he walked away.
Judging by the direction he was headed, it seemed his destination today wasn’t the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont, but the Parc de la Villette, further north.
Once Yeehyeon’s calm back, walking along the canal, was about 50 meters away, only then did Liu get out of the driver’s seat and head to the café. He went to the very same table where Yeehyeon had been sitting just a moment ago and sat down.
It was a lucky day. There were many times when the seat was snatched by someone else right after Yeehyeon left.
The dog that had been so friendly to Yeehyeon now sat maturely beside its owners and looked up at Liu. It tilted its head, stared intently, and gave a small bark, but it made no attempt to approach. It even let out a whimper and moved to the opposite side of the table.
Just as the weather had grown chilly, the warmth of the previous person still lingered on the chair. The warmth Yeehyeon had left behind.
He made no effort to calm the emotion that surged hotter than that warmth. He simply let it be, allowing it to rise up and shake him. Anything that came from Yeehyeon was worth savoring just as it was.
He ordered a warm latte and a croissant. The same things Yeehyeon had eaten at this table a little while ago. Since they were common menu items, the waiter who took his order didn’t find it strange at all.
Hiding and watching from in front of his regular café, sitting in the seat he sat in, ordering the exact same things he ordered… A full-fledged stalker, indeed.
He drank his coffee with a self-mocking smile at the thought. The same coffee, with the same taste and aroma, that would have warmed Yeehyeon’s body.
In truth, as much as he missed Yeehyeon and longed to be by his side, he was going mad with worry for his health.
Yeehyeon’s omega-fication was about 50 percent complete. If no further Changing was induced by Ghost, the transformation would stop here. Although the changes that had occurred inside his body were irreversible, on the outside, he could live a normal Beta life, just as he had until now.
He knew that without ‘Ghost’ by his side, ‘Diamond Dust’ was just an ordinary Beta. He understood it in his head. But he was anxious, wondering if Yeehyeon’s underdeveloped sex hormones might cause a sudden problem.
He had secretly asked Yuni to let him know if there were any issues with Yeehyeon’s health, but he couldn’t be completely at ease. It was all the more so because he knew Yeehyeon wasn’t the type to let on to others that he was unwell unless it was something serious.
“Even if it meant physically distancing yourself from him, you should have separated Yeehyeon from that situation itself.”
When he had confessed that he was Ghost and was turning Yeehyeon into an Omega, Choi Inwoo had said those words with a look of contempt. If he couldn’t resist the power of his pheromones when he was near Yeehyeon, he should have maintained a far enough distance where the pheromones couldn’t take effect.
The ‘physical separation’ Choi Inwoo had spoken of was probably a situation just like this one. Seo Yeehyeon and I living like strangers, separating myself from Seo Yeehyeon’s life. Protecting Seo Yeehyeon from Changing by doing so.
Liu’s gaze, which had been silently fixed on the northern direction where Yeehyeon had disappeared, dropped to the table. He rummaged through the pocket of his trench coat, took out a cigarette, and lit it.
The pheromonal attraction that existed between ‘Ghost’ and ‘Diamond Dust.’
It possessed a power so destructive it couldn’t be compared to the pheromones between an Alpha and an Omega. A potency that Choi Inwoo, stuck awkwardly between Regular and Golden, could never even imagine.
No Golden Omega had ever been able to break through Liu’s defensive wall.
Liu had lived his life neither using his own pheromones—to the point of being teased about trying to become a Beta—nor being swayed by anyone else’s. That was his pride.
But Seo Yeehyeon’s—Diamond Dust’s—pheromones had torn down that defensive wall of Liu’s with such ease. Torn down? No, they had melted it away without a trace.
He had tried taking more than the standard dose of suppressants, which he hadn’t needed since becoming a Golden, but it was useless. Yeehyeon’s pheromones tore through such things as if they were paper, overwhelming and sweeping over Liu. And Yeehyeon himself had no idea he was even emitting pheromones.
No, the pheromones didn’t matter. They weren’t the essence of the problem.
As Choi Inwoo had said, if he had cut ties with Yeehyeon and they had lived their separate lives, Yeehyeon would have been fine.
But he just couldn’t do it.
To explain what Ghost was, and to ask him to accept the transformation of becoming more and more of an Omega every time they were intimate. —He neither had the courage to confess, nor the courage to push Yeehyeon away.
Even if he could go back to that moment, it would be the same.
It was wrong, and he regretted it with his entire being. Because he had lost Yeehyeon because of it.
But he knew that even if he went back, he would repeat the same mistake. He would be tormented by fear, yet he would have no choice but to commit the same sin all over again. Like a machine whose functions were all paralyzed and broken, rendered powerless before an incomprehensible force.
For now, it was a relief that he seemed to be doing fine here without any trouble. Since he wasn’t a complete Omega, he could go about his daily life without taking suppressants. The Yeehyeon of now, free from Ghost, was merely a Beta.
A Beta…
Liu’s lips drew deeply on the cigarette filter.
He remembered Yeehyeon’s pheromones. The richness and power, like that of a top-tier Golden Omega secreting them with full intent, that left one no choice but to be dragged along in submission. How they called out and pulled at his own pheromones, hidden deep behind his defensive wall, and then bewitchingly coiled around and swallowed them…
He remembered the ecstasy of their two pheromones achieving perfect union, maximizing their communion. How could he ever forget?
It was on a different dimension from the so-called ‘pheromone sex’ that some groups, who used pheromones like drugs or hallucinogens, babbled on about.
To completely open one’s defensive wall out of trust for one’s partner, and to let one’s own pheromones react sensitively to the colors and rhythms created by the other’s, slowly intertwining.
The sense of unity, where reason and instinct became perfectly one, while completely surrendering oneself to the experience offered by the two mingled pheromones as they changed color, scent, and intensity from moment to moment.
It wasn’t the animalistic pheromones that Liu had despised his entire life.
In sex with Yeehyeon, pheromones were a delicate second language.
He could speak to Yeehyeon with pheromones, too. Tell him that he loved him to a frightening degree.
Yeehyeon’s pheromones had clearly told Liu as well. That they loved him. That they felt his love.
Yeehyeon himself may not have been aware of his pheromones’ movements, but his instincts had revealed them before Liu without any concealment.
That Yeehyeon, my one and only Diamond Dust, is living as a Beta. In this distant place, 9,000 km away from me.
Liu’s hand, flicking ash, froze for a long time over the ashtray.
And only after a good while, just as it began to move again.
Drrrrk. Drrrrk.
Liu, who was slowly bringing the cigarette to his lips, paused. His phone was vibrating in his inner pocket. It was Manager Han.
He briefly calculated the time in Korea and then answered the call.
“Yeah. What’s up?”
[I call you on the weekend and that’s the first thing you say?]
“Sunday’s almost over, so I was just wondering if it was something urgent…”
[I’m at Chou Chou Studio with Inwoo. Just thought of you and called.]
“Ah… really?”
[We’re about to head out for dinner. Want to come?]
He had received quite a few calls from Manager Han and others while he was in Paris. He often didn’t answer because he didn’t want to lie every time, but he couldn’t do that forever.
“Thanks for the invitation, but… I’m good.”
[Why? Where are you now?]
At Manager Han’s question, Liu’s gesture of flicking ash grew anxious. If he said he was home, they might say they were coming over.
“I’m out. I’m out of town for a bit.”
It wasn’t a lie.
[Out of town where? Somewhere provincial?]
“Yeah, provincial. I probably won’t be back until late tonight.”
[Really? Well, can’t be helped then.]
From over the phone, he could hear Choi Inwoo threatening that if he kept playing hard to get, they might not invite him next time. Thanks to that, he was able to manage a faint smile.
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