A9 17

“Ugh…!”

Suho barely pulled his body back and avoided the approaching Minhyuk. Before he could even feel relieved, Minhyuk grabbed the back of Suho’s head with his remaining hand, fixing him firmly in place, and immediately lowered his face. As Minhyuk’s lips came dangerously close, Suho instinctively squeezed his eyes shut and raised his left hand to cover his mouth. Minhyuk’s lips landed on the back of Suho’s hand. Minhyuk’s gaze, which had been fixed on Suho’s lips the entire time, shifted to Suho, who was rejecting him.

“Put your hand down.”

“H-Hey, let’s talk. Okay? Sorry. Let’s talk it out…!”

Suho’s words were cut off before he could finish. It was because Minhyuk pulled Suho’s hand down and pressed his lips against his.

Caught off guard by the unexpected action, Suho froze stiff and widened his eyes. He should have resisted, but as Minhyuk devoured his lips and breathed out hot breaths, Suho’s mind turned blank as if it were a lie. On top of that, Minhyuk kept pressing closer, leaving him unable to move either way.  

Snapping back to his senses too late, Suho pounded Minhyuk’s chest and shoulders with all his strength. It did not make him budge at all. No, rather, as if colliding with Suho’s resistance only excited him more, Minhyuk’s breathing grew rougher.

Suho bit down hard on the inside of his cheek and squeezed his eyes shut, as if declaring that he would at least not allow anything inside his mouth. The more he did, the more impatient Minhyuk became. Even though Suho had clearly been the one to tempt him first, Suho did not give him even a sliver of leeway. As if coaxing him, Minhyuk tilted his head the other way and held Suho’s lips. They tasted sweet, like caramel, just like his pheromones.

Startled by that, Suho’s body trembled. Minhyuk soothed him with short kisses, breathing out heated breaths.

“Haa…”

“……”

“…Relax. You’re the one who started it first, right?”

As Minhyuk tightly held his slender body and breathed hotly against him, Suho grew frightened and made a tearful face. He was supposed to throw a fit and say he hated it, but his damned body instinctively relaxed at Minhyuk’s kisses. Unaware of Suho’s inner turmoil, Minhyuk kissed him several more times. Only then did the frozen Suho let out a whimpering sound.

“Hngh…”

“…!”

At the sudden sound of crying, Minhyuk’s eyes flew open as if he had been struck on the back of the head. He withdrew the pheromones he had been unconsciously releasing, but tears were already welling up at the corners of Suho’s eyes.

“I t-told you… Hngh, I said to answer me… I d-didn’t say to kiss me…”

Suho pushed him away belatedly. The strength behind it was pitifully weak, but Minhyuk stepped back without resistance and stared at Suho, who had flushed red, looking dazed. Then, without realizing it, he let out a sigh.  

Those wildly trembling dark brown eyes. Those reddened eyes that looked ready to spill tears at any moment. The cream caramel scented pheromones that had yet to fully fade. Why were all of them so vivid?

When the sound of crying reached him again, Minhyuk flinched his shoulders. Only then did he realize his mistake. Even so, he did not try to deny what he had already done. His body had long since become sensitive under Suho’s pheromones, and the feelings that had surged toward Suho refused to easily settle, embedding themselves throughout his body and urging him on.

Minhyuk squeezed his eyes shut and began to berate himself. Using pheromones as an excuse to force a kiss was bad enough, but what was even worse was that he still had enough reason left to know exactly what he was doing, even in that situation.

“…I’m sorry.”

“……”

“I was wrong. Don’t cry.”

It was a sincere apology. With that, Minhyuk carefully let go of Suho, so he would not startle him, then threw open every window in the room without exception. Only after the winter wind swept through the room did Minhyuk’s expression finally calm a little.

“I’m going to step out for a bit.”

Because if I stay here, I might act carelessly toward you again.

As if wary of himself, Minhyuk left the room right away.

Click—

The sound of the door loudly announced his departure, and afterward, a cold silence settled in. It did not last long. Suho collapsed to the floor and stared blankly into the air. Then he raised his right hand and pressed it gently against his lips. It was not even his first kiss, yet his lips burned strangely. It might have been his imagination, but the soft sensation lingered, as though his kiss with Minhyuk were still continuing.  

“…Crazy.”

Suddenly, his gaze turned toward the window. At some point, the rich woody scent mixed into the falling snowflakes made his head spin.

* * *

Several hours had passed with Suho lying on the bed, killing time. Absentmindedly staring out the window, he slowly blinked and repeatedly pulled the blanket close, then crumpled it again. Even so, time slipped by mercilessly, and before he knew it, it was already late afternoon. Only then did Suho sit up and lean his body against the head of the bed. It felt as though his head was filled with thick fog. Nothing would sort itself out cleanly, and feeling inexplicably gloomy, Suho habitually bit down on the inside of his mouth. Even then, his lips burned as if demanding his attention.

“…Damn it.”

Suho irritably wiped his lips that he had been biting. Why had he needlessly provoked Kang Minhyuk and ended up like this? …No, putting himself aside, why was Kang Minhyuk like that? He was sure he had cut off his pheromones at a reasonable point, so why…?

“Haa…”

With his thoughts growing tangled again, Suho squeezed his eyes shut and let out a deep sigh. One thing was certain. Minhyuk no longer thought of him the way he used to. It even left a deep question because it did not seem to be merely due to the interests between families. Why insist on maintaining this hollow relationship? Was it simply to use his family to grow Goun?

“…Or is he just lacking the strength to cut it off?”

Suho muttered softly as he continued to think. In a way, it was only natural that he lacked the strength. No matter how exceptional a main top he was, he was still nothing more than an immature boy. What power could someone like that really have? Thinking about it, there was also a lack of justification. To talk about breaking off an engagement over something like his straying attention would not be enough, considering the interests at stake and the businesses already set in motion. An engagement so intricately tangled with the interests of two corporations was never going to be severed easily.

Then how did the engagement get broken in the original story…? Suho tilted his head and narrowed his brows. Even though it was something he had read over and over again, strangely, he could not remember it well. He had even worn down the threshold of the library coming and going, fearing he might forget, yet it was as if someone had deliberately erased that part of his memory. That section alone remained blurry and would not surface clearly.

The harder he tried to recall it, the more oddly his memories seemed to grow hazy, which put him in a bad mood. In the end, Suho temporarily gave up on trying to remember.

“If I carefully reread the book again before the graduation ceremony, it should be fine.”

Muttering as if making a promise to himself, he shrugged his shoulders. Nothing had been resolved, but his heart felt lighter nonetheless. Suho gently opened the eyes he had closed while thinking. As he watched the white snowflakes still falling outside the window, Minhyuk suddenly came to mind. Where would he be right now? Was he not coming back because his thoughts were complicated like Suho’s? It was strange to worry about the man who had left him behind and run away as if fleeing, but still, for some reason, Suho felt uneasy.

He probably had not gone far. After skipping even a charity event under the pretense of a date, using his parents as an excuse, where could he possibly wander off to while leaving Suho behind? At most, it would be a nearby convenience store. Or maybe he was sitting alone on a bench in a nearby park, wallowing in self-pity. What would a rich family’s young master even do by himself…

“…Ah, forget it. Why am I even thinking about that guy?”

He would take care of himself on his own. As if shaking off pointless thoughts, Suho irritably ruffled his hair.

That was when it happened.

Knock, knock—

A couple of knocks sounded from beyond the tightly closed door. At the sudden noise, Suho tilted his head in confusion and spoke.

“Who is it?”

Even when he waited silently, there was no answer. He wondered if one of the staff had knocked on the wrong door, but an uneasy feeling made him lift his lying body halfway up.

But—

Knock, knock—

For some reason, the knocking came again. It seemed they really were looking for him, so Suho slightly furrowed his brows and spoke.

“Yes, who is it?”

…Just as expected, there was no answer again. What was this? Were they messing with him?

“No, who are you? You have to answer for me to open the door.”

With his face deeply furrowed, Suho finally got out of bed. He did not want to get out of bed, but what was this about? Pouting as he muttered complaints, Suho quickly approached the door. Even then, just in case, he engaged the double lock and opened the door slightly, only to be forced to make a strange expression.

“…What the hell.”

What he saw through the door opened about a hand’s width was a delivery trolley. The person who had brought it must have knocked, yet no matter where he looked, not even a strand of hair was in sight. Feeling unsettled, but with no choice, he undid the double lock and opened the door wide. Thinking that a staff member might have left it for Minhyuk, Suho pushed the trolley slightly to the side and rummaged beneath the cutlery. Sure enough, his fingertips caught on a piece of paper. It was not the note he had expected, but a receipt.

[ FIVE MIDDLE BY Go Un ]

– Soy sauce marinated galbi¹A traditional Korean dish featuring marinated and grilled beef short ribs. set meal

– Strawberry pavlova (strawberry meringue cake)

– Drink: Peach iced tea

– Payment information: XX Card 24012258923822 Kang *hyuk

“…Goun?”

Suho narrowed his eyes as he murmured the English lettering.

• 1
  A traditional Korean dish featuring marinated and grilled beef short ribs.