NUTMEG 35

Just then, Wonoh’s penis swelled again, changing its shape. Once again, he felt a pressure all the way up to his throat. Hot, rough breaths poured onto the nape of Minje’s neck, and his mind flashed white as if a spark had ignited.

“Ah ah, ah! …Eung, heut!”

“Keuhut, hook.”

He could feel the hot semen filling his inner walls and flowing out of the hole. At the same time, the clear fluid ejaculated by Minje’s penis, which was held by Wonoh, splattered in all directions, soaking the seat dark.

“Heuk… Your, seat. Hoo-eu.”

“Hoo-woo, ha….”

As if they had just finished a sprint, the two people’s overlapping backs and chests rose and fell without rest.

Did he cum again…? He tried to recall if he had ever produced something so watery, or if it was because he had ejaculated multiple times. It was the first time he had received an Alpha’s rut with a clear mind without his own heat, so everything was so different from the hazy memories of his past life. The one thing that was certain was that Minje’s lower body felt numb, as if it had lost all sensation, with only a dull, stinging pain remaining.

It was then that Wonoh, who had buried his nose between his nape and shoulder along with his ejaculation, muttered in a dazed voice.

“The smell coming from you seems to have gotten stronger, hyung.”

“……Huh?”

“I like this smell.”

Minje, still lying on his stomach, flinched, his shoulders trembling.

“…What smell?”

“I don’t know. A smell like laundry.”

Wonoh slowly licked the area where the carotid artery passed. At the act, which seemed like an animal marking its prey with saliva, Minje’s heart began to beat anxiously. As if oblivious to Minje’s agitation, Wonoh muttered a curse and slowly pulled out his still-stiffly erect member from inside Minje. He could feel the cloudy fluid that had flowed out from between the hole that hadn’t fully closed trickle down his thigh.

Minje, tense, quietly watched Wonoh. Did he smell my pheromones? Sub-genders can’t smell their own pheromones. And since no one had ever described his scent to Minje, Minje couldn’t tell if the ‘laundry-like smell’ Wonoh was talking about was his pheromone scent or just the smell of fabric softener.

“What are you going to do without clothes, hyung?”

“Uh…?”

Wonoh, who had crossed over to the driver’s seat, suddenly widened his eyes as if he had come to his senses. Minje, with dazed eyes, touched his bangs, which were plastered to his forehead with sweat. The T-shirt was torn to shreds and lying on the floor, and the shorts and windbreaker were covered in semen and saliva, in no condition to be worn. The only things that were okay were the socks and sneakers he was wearing, so looking down, his appearance was a mess. Wonoh, who seemed to be looking at the same thing, burst out laughing.

“……What am I going to do. These are costume clothes.”

Wonoh’s eyes widened and he laughed again, asking, “I did this, didn’t I?” Seeing Wonoh laugh like a deflated balloon, Minje, who had been serious, felt his brow relax with a snap.

Wonoh took off his own T-shirt and gave it to Minje. Minje, who couldn’t stay in such a perverted state that felt like déjà vu, obediently took it and put it on. He had been worried in a daze that the rut wouldn’t end even after one round of knotting. But now, it seemed the rut had completely ended.

Wonoh, wearing only his sweatpants without a shirt, got out of the car and walked somewhere. Outside the car window, a familiar white van and Wonoh’s manager came into view. The manager, with a surprised expression, seemed to turn his head toward the car, and Minje instinctively ducked.

As Wonoh left, the Alpha pheromones in the car naturally thinned. As if his brain, which had been reacting sharply to his pheromones, was slowly waking up, his body’s sensory organs began to function properly one by one.

This meant he started to feel things like the dull pain deep inside his buttocks, the stinging and burning on his nape and chest, and the hazy feeling in his head as if a fever was rising. Minje raised his own hand and touched his forehead. Since both his hand and forehead were equally warm, it was difficult to judge for himself whether he really had a fever or if it was just his imagination. Minje let out a shallow breath. That too, perhaps because of his mood, felt hot.

Just then, click, the driver’s side door opened again.

“Hyung, sorry. I was on the phone with Kihwan hyung.”

Wonoh returned and rolled a small pill case into the side pocket. To Minje, who was asking what it was with his eyes, Wonoh answered briefly, “Suppressants,” and then skillfully manipulated the gear shift and began to move the car.

“I told them you can’t film today either, hyung. Ah, Im Kihwan keeps prying, he’s so quick-witted.”

At those words, Minje, struck by a sudden thought, picked up his phone, which had fallen to the floor. There were a ton of missed calls from Director Im.

“No, I can film.”

“You can’t, hyung. I even knotted you.”

I heard a tearing sound when it happened, too. Wonoh, who had said that far, fell silent while slowly turning the steering wheel. For a moment, an awkward silence filled the car. It seemed they had recalled the same scene. Usually, they would sleep right after sex, so this atmosphere, with the subtle air of post-sex hanging around, was hard to bear.

It felt itchy somewhere, and hot somewhere. Ah, is the heat a fever. As he was thinking this and fiddling with the door trim with his fingertips for no reason, Wonoh, after a small cough, spoke.

“I’m sorry. I’m a complete mess. I think I came inside you. …That, you have to clean it out, right. Let’s go straight to the dorm.”

Minje nodded, 괜히 rubbing his flushing nape.

The set and the dorm were close. Wonoh, who was turning the steering wheel to make a right turn, tapped the wheel with his fingers, tap, tap, and then, after a long pause, spoke with difficulty.

“……The contraceptive pill, you don’t have to take it, right? Since you’re a Beta, hyung.”

He had been wondering what he was hesitating to say. Minje just nodded his head quietly in affirmation. The IUD had a contraceptive effect, so he probably wouldn’t have to take it separately. It was then that Wonoh, who was slowly turning the steering wheel with one hand, muttered as if to himself.

“I feel really bad.”

“Huh?”

“I remember everything, but it feels like it wasn’t me. I had no control at all. Are all ruts like this?”

“……”

Minje looked at Wonoh’s side profile as he said that. He had never seen an Alpha say something like that. But that’s why he thought it was so like Wonoh. Just then, Wonoh, who had returned to his usual playful expression, glanced at Minje and asked.

“I think I like sex when I’m in my right mind better. What about you, hyung?”

“……”

“You’re blushing, hyung.”

Is this moment so embarrassing because I’ve realized my feelings? Normally, I would have just thought, I’m glad it was good, but now all sorts of thoughts are running through my head. What part was good, when was the best, then was today not good.

I liked it all.

Swallowing the words he couldn’t say.

By the time they arrived, Wonoh had parked the car in front of the dorm, went inside in a flash, and came out with a change of clothes. He hadn’t noticed when he was sitting, but the moment his feet touched the ground, an incredible, sharp pain shot through him. Did it really tear? In an instant, Minje’s face turned deathly pale and his forehead was covered in a cold sweat.

Wonoh, noticing Minje frozen like a plaster statue holding the passenger door, immediately came over.

“It hurts, doesn’t it? I’m sorry, hyung.”

“Yeah….”

It was the first time he had known that receiving a knot was this difficult. Wonoh supported Minje’s arm and slowly matched his steps. Wonoh was being gentle. He knew he was like that by nature, but now he was even more so. It must be because I helped him with his rut. A bit of responsibility. Even knowing that well, he liked this time when Wonoh was being gentle to him. He even wanted to be more clingy.

Minje, dazed from the rising fever, quietly looked up at him. It was an unconscious action. Wonoh, as if sensing his gaze, looked right at Minje.

“It’s a real relief that you’re a Beta, hyung.”

Wonoh, who had supported Minje all the way to the bathroom, stroked the back of his head, gave his nape a light squeeze, and let go.

Thud.

The bathroom door closed, and Minje was left alone. He gently touched the nape of his neck where Wonoh had stroked it. He knew. He knew that since he thought of me as a Beta, he had said it without any special meaning. Well, if I were an Omega, he might have been worried about pregnancy, and Wonoh didn’t really like Omegas in the first place.

“……”

But he didn’t want to hear it right now.

Minje bit his lower lip so hard it hurt. Lacking the courage to see what kind of face he was making right now, Minje passed the mirror without looking and stood under the shower.

“Ah, noona. Are you on your way now?”

Minje, who came out drying his hair with a towel, stopped in his tracks at the voice coming from the room. The gentle voice that followed, saying, I didn’t know you called, made him hesitate for a moment in front of the door, and then he turned around and sat down on the living room sofa. Ironically, the spot where he had received his knot throbbed.

He didn’t want to listen, but in the small, empty house, the sound of the phone call from the room was all too audible. He heard laughter. It was a little different from the sound he made when he laughed in front of Minje. It was a more restrained, lower sound. It sounded like the kind of sound one makes to look good in front of someone they like.

I don’t want to hear it.

I wish he wouldn’t smile at Jeong Danbi.

I wish he wouldn’t talk to her so gently and warmly.

His heart pricked as if stabbed with an awl.

Thinking how foolish he was, he let out a long sigh, and then he happened to see some small boxes on the living room table. Minje unconsciously picked them up. It was all medicine. Painkillers and antibiotics. They weren’t there this morning, so Wonoh must have taken them out while he was showering. Next to them was a glass of lukewarm water.

His flat brow furrowed into a frown. Minje muttered very quietly to himself.

“Ah, really… what am I supposed to do.”

Laughter came from the room again. Each time, his heart sank endlessly, but seeing the medicine and lukewarm water in front of him made him want to cry.

I like you.

I like you so much.

Only the words that cannot be conveyed pile up.

“You even knotted with an Alpha who was in rut.”

At the hospital he had revisited for a regular check-up, this time it was Minje who first confessed what had recently happened. It was because it was obvious that if he went back like this, he would get a call the next day about his internal pheromone levels again.

Minje had to admit that his physical condition had not been good since then. Some days he would be burning with a high fever, and other days his whole body would tremble as if it were the dead of winter. He would break out in a cold sweat at any moment, so the makeup team had to dry the hair at the nape of Minje’s neck, which was soaked with sweat, between every cut, and wipe away the sweat with a tissue.

Throughout all this, Choi Wonoh was consistently gentle. It was because he believed the words that his behind felt torn due to the knotting. In fact, seeing blood occasionally made it seem like it was really true. At times like that, Minje even had the foolish thought that he wished he could stay sick like this.

Yes, Minje answered in a small voice, biting his dry lips in embarrassment.

“If you are considering pregnancy, you must stop the IUD procedure.”

“Ah, it’s not like that…”

As if his heart would be read if he met the doctor’s steady gaze, Minje quickly lowered his eyes. The doctor typed a few more things on the keyboard and then said.

“Then, just in case, I’ll order a pregnancy test as well.”

“…Yes.”

The doctor, with a noticeably tired face, tucked her short bob behind her ear and recited in a monotonous tone that the pregnancy test was just in case, and that thanks to the IUD, the probability of pregnancy was very low. It was something he had heard many times since the first procedure, so he just nodded his head quietly. The doctor, after a pause, continued.

“Does your partner know about the IUD? I’ll have to check your internal pheromone levels to be sure, but if this continues, it will be too much of a strain on your body, patient. If you are in a serious relationship with the Alpha, I recommend removing the IUD.”

“No, I want to keep the IUD in.”

Minje answered the doctor’s words as if to cut her off. Removing the IUD, that’s ridiculous. The doctor, as if wondering what he was thinking, carefully scanned Minje’s face and exposed skin. Minje, feeling as if his mottled chest would be discovered, slightly hunched his shoulders.

“By any chance, was this incident an accident resulting from a coercive relationship? I can connect you with the relevant departments that can help.”

“No. It wasn’t like that. I, I wanted to, no, I consented…”