AOA 61

“Is something wrong?”

My voice was completely subdued. I must’ve slept too deeply.

“Yes. Please get up quickly.”

At Baek Mugyeong’s urging, I rubbed my eyes and tried to rise, only to freeze.

The moment I sensed something was off, I realized I wasn’t wearing any clothes. And at the same time, I noticed this wasn’t my bedroom.

This was Baek Mugyeong’s bedroom. Even though I’d only been in here once before, both before and after regression, I immediately recognized the large abstract painting hanging on the wall. It was the one I’d seen and thought I’d never understand the aesthetic tastes of the rich.

Against the backdrop of the colorful abstract piece, Baek Mugyeong stood in everyday clothes with a coat over them.

“Uh…?”

I couldn’t make sense of the situation. I was sure I had fallen asleep after lunch. I’d briefly woken up once from the fever to drink some water. I had no memory of why I was naked in Baek Mugyeong’s room.

And not even on the bed, I had woken up on the floor.

No way.

With a creeping suspicion, I looked at Baek Mugyeong. The fact that the man who should’ve been at a hotel was here meant something must have happened.

But I didn’t feel like we had had sex.

“It’s not that.”

Realizing the meaning of my gaze, Baek Mugyeong frowned slightly and said,

“Then what is it?”

“Put some clothes on first.”

Following his gaze, I looked down. The blanket was just barely covering my lower half.

We’d already seen everything, so I wasn’t embarrassed. What puzzled me more was the shiny pajama top hanging over my arm. No matter how I looked at it, it was Baek Mugyeong’s pajama top.

Why is this here?

I looked back and forth between the pajamas and Baek Mugyeong. The man had a strange expression on his face.

“I know it’s not what I think, but… what the hell happened?”

“I got a call from Kim Juhyun saying you had disappeared.”

“What?”

“She said it was getting close to dinner, so she went to wake you, but the bedroom was empty. Your phone was still there, there were no signs you’d left, and she searched the entire house but couldn’t find you. So I came to look.”

Baek Mugyeong explained calmly, his expression unwavering. And even in my dazed state, I slowly began to piece things together.

So, in the middle of my heat cycle, I’d lost my mind, snuck into Baek Mugyeong’s bedroom, stripped naked, grabbed his pajamas, curled up in his blanket, and passed out on the floor. I had no memory of it, but all the clues pointed that way.

Just imagining it made my heart freeze. My face flushed with shame. I couldn’t look Baek Mugyeong in the eye and lowered my head.

Dear god. I’m crazy. Crazy. What the hell did I do?

If there had been a mouse hole, I would’ve hidden in it. Or I wished aliens would abduct me immediately. I seriously considered smashing my head against the wall and passing out.

But none of those were realistic options. I grabbed the blanket and pulled it over my face.

I really couldn’t bear to face Baek Mugyeong. I wanted to tell myself at least I wasn’t running around naked outside, but even that wasn’t consolation in front of the bedroom’s actual owner.

“Jeong Minchae?”

“…I’m just embarrassed and sorry. Could you step out for a moment? I’ll get dressed and apologize properly.”

I spoke from under the blanket. I didn’t want to say sorry in a daze, naked. I wanted to pull myself together and apologize once I was dressed.

I was cursing the damned heat cycle in my head, but no matter how long I waited, I didn’t hear Baek Mugyeong’s footsteps. The bedroom door had a smooth hinge, but I should’ve at least heard the lock click. There was nothing.

“Um, aren’t you going to leave?”

“Jeong Minchae. Please lower the blanket.”

“…Why?”

“I have something to say.”

Since I was the one who had done wrong, I couldn’t yell at him to get out. Slowly, I pulled the blanket down. Baek Mugyeong was still standing exactly where he had been, like a stone statue.

“Is something wrong?”

“Jeong Minchae.”

I looked up at him without answering. Because of my position, the already tall man seemed even bigger.

No matter how many times I looked, his handsome face held an unreadable expression. I glanced at him as if to ask why he’d said he had something to say, only to remain silent.

“Jeong Minchae. Will you have sex with me?”

There wasn’t a single difficult word in that sentence, but my mind, gone blank, refused to process it.

Sex? With me? Why? I thought you didn’t have sex with men even if they were omegas?

At first, I was just confused. But almost immediately, the heat in my cheeks spread throughout my body.

Honestly, when I first saw him upon waking, I felt nothing. If Baek Mugyeong had been next to me when my heat was at its peak, I would’ve pounced, every nerve in my body had been twitching. But now, it was different.

And yet, my body reacted to the word “sex.” I couldn’t tell whether it was because my heat hadn’t ended or just a conditioned reflex.

“Why…?”

“If you don’t want to, just say so.”

Baek Mugyeong cut in clearly. I knew if I refused, he’d leave without hesitation. Random thoughts drifted in and out of my foggy mind.

Of course I should say no. But I didn’t want to.

“…Okay.”

Only after saying it did I start worrying about what came next. But the hesitation didn’t last long.

In an instant, Baek Mugyeong’s pheromones filled the room, leaving me dazed.

I’d come into contact with his pheromones several times while in my right mind. I already knew the scent of rain-drenched wood, flowers, and musk wasn’t just perceived through smell. I also knew it stimulated sexual arousal.

But this wasn’t like when I’d faced Baek Mugyeong in rut. Not when he’d overlaid his pheromones to erase Baek Yeongseop’s, or when he warned me in the hospital about how dangerous pheromones could be.

It wasn’t a one-sided flood that felt like drowning, or a subtle itch that teased the nerves.

As his pheromones soaked into me, everything became hypersensitive. My body hair stood on end, and all my senses locked onto Baek Mugyeong.

Wow… so this is how an Alpha seduces someone.

While half my mind marveled at it, I couldn’t take my eyes off him as he slowly approached. As I dumbly looked up at him, Baek Mugyeong knelt on one knee and lifted my chin.

The skin he touched burned like fire. My heart nearly stopped.

His eyes, sharp enough to pierce me, made my face flush. Blood rushed downward. I remembered how insanely good sex with him had felt, how I’d felt like a bee drowning in honey.

I forgot to breathe from the tension.

“Honestly…”

His low murmur sounded more like a growl. His sunken gaze gleamed like a predator eyeing its prey.

“Baek Mugyeong?”

“The fact that I’m falling for this, this is insane.”

Somehow, he seemed drunk, and his words made me want to laugh. What did I do to make him think I was seducing him?

“I didn’t seduce you.”

“I know.”

This time, Baek Mugyeong used informal speech again. Then he tilted my chin higher and pressed his lips to mine.

The moment his soft lips touched mine and his hot tongue pushed in, it was like getting struck by lightning.

The scent of his pheromones washed over me, and my strength drained away. My lower half had been trembling for a while, but now I was definitely aroused.

Just the kiss had me thinking I might come. My body shuddered. Heat and wetness gathered below.

I was half lost in his pheromones, but not completely out of my mind. I was still naked, only the blanket covering me. I froze as I tried to guess where the cum had landed.

My flushed face burned even hotter. I reflexively pulled away and pushed at Baek Mugyeong’s face.

“You don’t want to?”

“No, it’s just…”

I could never say it out loud, that I had just come from a kiss. Something similar had happened before, but that didn’t make it any less humiliating.

“People can come from just a kiss.”

His blunt words made my face flare up another notch. The fact that he said it so casually made it worse.

I wanted to be as calm as him. Even if I was in heat, it annoyed me that I was the only one losing control.

I had never intentionally used my pheromones before. I didn’t even know how. But maybe if I concentrated, I could manage something.

Pheromones, spread. I wanted to get back at him.

I tried hard, but since Baek Mugyeong’s expression didn’t change, I couldn’t tell if it worked.

Still, we were this far in, I couldn’t back out now. No, the truth was, I didn’t want to. I hesitated for a moment, then grabbed Baek Mugyeong’s shoulders tightly. The heightened arousal from that one climax hadn’t faded.

I debated whether I should kiss him first, then finally pressed my lips to his cheek. I still didn’t have the courage to initiate a kiss properly.

At that moment, the scent of his pheromones thickened. I was kneeling and half-hugging Baek Mugyeong, but the strength drained from my legs and I collapsed partway.

The feel of the coat brushing my bare skin was strange, but I couldn’t focus on that.

Baek Mugyeong slid a hand under my shoulder and lifted me up. In the blink of an eye, I was lying on the bed.