It had been a long time since I’d caught such a fever. Early in the morning, Mr. Kim came by with a worried face, insisting I go to the hospital. I had no intention of resisting, so I got a prescription and returned to Kwon Yido’s house.

The truth was I wanted to stay at the officetel. There was still a week before Yido returned, and I didn’t want it known that I’d fallen ill from carelessness.

But if I was to do what Father had ordered, now—while Yido was away—was the only chance.

'...You really intend to go back to Mr. Kwon’s house?'

Mr. Kim’s expression made it clear he didn’t like it, but he couldn’t stop me. Not after the words I’d given him:

'Father asked me to do something.'

He knew it wasn’t of my own will. Even if he didn’t know the details, he understood I couldn’t refuse.

So I dragged my weakened body back to Yido’s house. The medicine hadn’t brought the fever down at all. That rain had been foolish—I should’ve listened to Kim.

Once there, I shut myself in my room. I wanted to hide my condition, but inevitably I ran into the staff. At lunch, a porridge with egg appeared, and a humidifier was set by my bed.

It was... guilt, perhaps. A feeling I’d never had toward Yido but did toward them. What I was about to do would bring turmoil to this house. Even if not disaster, at least some disturbance.

'Do you know who raised you all this time, useless boy?'

Lying in bed, Father’s words haunted me. Closing my eyes felt like falling into a bottomless pit. Without him, I would have died in that snow. My surviving years had to be spent as he wished.

'You truly are my son.'

Pathetically, that one phrase quenched my thirst. A single drop of water on parched earth, showing how desperate I was. It was a kind of love I could only ever get from him, however twisted.

The fever lasted three days. Even so, I went to work, and every day Father called me into his office. He offered greetings he never usually bothered with, told me not to worry about the documents I hadn’t yet delivered, and never once asked about my health.

“....”

Back at the house, I collapsed into bed each night. One evening, waking hazy from sleep, I stumbled from my room. My head was spinning, my vision blurred. I didn’t know if it was night or dawn.

The hallways were dark. No Yido, no staff at that hour. The carpet was soft under my bare feet, though my soles prickled as if walking on needles.

I headed to the study at the far end of the second floor. Yido’s workplace, where he often stayed longer than in his own room.

'There’s only you, Sejin.'

The thought came: I could say I’d tried and failed, that I lacked the ability. I’d be scolded as incompetent, but that was nothing new.

And yet, when I turned the doorknob, my heart wished for both things at once: that the documents weren’t there, and that they were. If this was my way to survive, then I wanted more than one path.

Perhaps God heard me. The door wasn’t locked. A faint trace of pheromones lingered inside. The room looked exactly as it had before: bookshelves, the gun on the wall, the orderly desk, the neat piles of files beside it.

“....”

Father’s requested documents.

***

Another three days passed. The house without Yido felt peaceful. Strange—he was never noisy, yet his absence was stark.

After I recovered, Father made no contact. I erased all traces from my phone and asked Mr. Kim for more medication—this time not just sleeping pills but antacids and digestive aids.

Since coming here, I’d vomited more often than I could remember. As a child it was from hunger, but now it was after proper meals I couldn’t digest. My stomach was always bloated. Perhaps I’d grown too used to comfort.

Maybe the nausea wasn’t indigestion at all, but something else. Probably both. But I ignored it. Facing reality meant I wouldn’t withstand it.

“Director, are you really ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ all right?”

“You look pale...”

Each day, my staff grew more concerned. I forced smiles, but that only made me seem more unwell. When asked directly if something had happened, I laughed it off as a bad cold from being caught in the rain.

“Why would you stay out in the rain?”

“Haha...”

Indeed, why. There was no more foolish thing to do. Yet even if I could turn back time, I knew I’d do the same again.

Maybe it was the sickness, but my commute felt longer each day. I longed to “go home,” but I couldn’t call that house mine. The room he’d given me was mine only in name—never a place I could settle.

That evening, I skipped dinner and went straight to bed. Yido would be back in two days, so I needed time to prepare—to act as if nothing had happened.

It didn’t take long to fall asleep. Even severe insomnia relents when the body is too exhausted. I slept dreamlessly, waking to the pale light of dawn.

And with it, another heat cycle I hadn’t expected.

***

“Hhh...”

For hours I writhed in fever. With all my strength, I texted Mr. Kim, clutching my phone, curling up tight. It was absurd. I’d just been sick with a fever, and now another.

“Hhhk...”

Professor Choi had said it was because of Yido—that my cycle had shifted to match his. But shouldn’t there be some pattern? What if it happened at work?

Frustration boiled over, but desire never ebbed. My cock throbbed painfully, leaking pre-cum, soaking both front and back until I flushed with shame, though no one was watching.

Part of me wished for someone to come. Another wished no one would. I hid under the blanket, tears streaming without reason.

Click—the door opened, long after. By then, I wasn’t sure if I was in Yido’s house or the officetel. My head was filled with nothing but the need to be relieved.

“Mr. Kim...?”

A tsk, and the scent of wood. My heart plunged. A cold voice cut into me.

“So you fuck your secretary too?”

“....”

My blood chilled. My ragged breath stopped. Peeking out from the covers, I saw Kwon Yido staring down at me.

“Heard you’d caught a cold...”

His gaze was as icy as his voice. If not for the blankets wound around me, I would’ve been exposed in all my filth.

“...Can’t even control your pheromones?”

“Hh... it’s not... something I can...”

If I could, suppressant companies would’ve gone bankrupt long ago. Even he couldn’t endure rut raw.

“Haa...”

Unlike last time, he didn’t leave. He stood there, watching. His pheromones seeped into me, and what little reason I had slipped away.

“Mmm...”

I crawled toward him. Really, I only reached out a hand. I didn’t think about how wrong it was, or how disgusting it might look.

“Pheromones... please...”

Tears welled as I begged him, spilling pheromones his way in desperation.

Unexpectedly, he gave me his hand. I rubbed my lips against his palm. He snorted. His pheromones overwhelmed me, drowning my mind.

“Feels... good...”

I wasn’t even aware of myself. One hand clutched his, the other pressed between my legs. I licked his fingers.

“You’re a natural at seducing.”

He spoke calmly, rational. Slowly, deliberately, he released more pheromones, soaking me in them. When I sucked on his finger, he pressed down on my chin.

“Jung Sejin.”

“Hhh...”

“Do you want to fuck me?”

I nodded, not even knowing what he asked. I only wanted more of his pheromones. I knew it was animal, but I couldn’t think otherwise.

“Sleeping with me won’t benefit you.”

“Mmm...”

I only bit down on his finger. Sweet pheromones filled my mouth, dizzying.

“So what you want is just to get fucked...”

He muttered, loosening his tie, unbuckling his belt. His pheromones thickened as he drew closer.

“Suck it. Do it well and I’ll give you more.”

“....”

It was huge, threatening. His severe exterior belied its raw, veined length. I had no chance to hesitate—his command pushed me.

“Hurry.”

I parted my lips, taking him in. If I didn’t, he might leave. My tongue brushed the head, and his brows furrowed.

“Mmph!”

He shoved deeper, too big for my jaw. When I tried to pull back, his hand clamped on my head.

“Never sucked cock before, have you.”

“...Mhh.”

I could barely breathe. Without his pheromones I would’ve gagged. He withdrew suddenly.

“Forget it.”

He adjusted his clothes, turning away, expression flat. Before he could leave, I grabbed his sleeve.

“...Down below, hhh...”

“....”

“You can... put it in...”

Suddenly the world flipped. He’d thrown me onto the bed, pinning me. His face was twisted with annoyance, but I rubbed against him anyway.

“Please...”

“How many have you spread for before...”

His mutter sounded like disgust. Did I seem filthy? Did he hate omegas touched by others? Should I tell him I was untouched?

“Jung Sejin.”

His pheromones filled my name. I blinked through tears, seeing his beautiful face clearly.

“You know who I am, doing this?”

“Kwon... Yido, hh...”

“And still?”

His voice grated, cursing under breath, as I clung to him. He easily flipped me onto my back.

“Wait—”

My pants and underwear came off at once. Cold air hit my skin. Something pressed against my entrance. His hand forced me open.

And pushed in.

“...!”

The pain was unspeakable. Like my body splitting, my insides crushed. I couldn’t breathe.

“Aaah...”

Only broken sounds escaped. Yido bent over me, panting, pressing my shoulder as he moved.

“Ahhh!”

“Begged me for it...”

“Ahh, no...”

“Clench like that...”

“Ahh!”

“I can’t move.”

My insides felt wrong. Slick walls stretched painfully around him, no chance to adjust.

“Ahhh!”

Still, pheromones burst from me. His filled me too, stoking the heat. He moved carelessly, battering me open.

“Hh!”

Then—sudden pleasure. My stomach caved, and he groaned. He struck that spot again.

“Hh, ahhh!”

The bliss was overwhelming, beyond anything I’d felt. My body convulsed with each thrust.

“Hh!”

Then came a buzzing sound. Yido noticed instantly. Reaching behind me, he picked up the phone.

“Jung Minjae.”

The name on the screen felt like an intruder. I reached for it, but he answered first, putting it on speaker.

–Hey, Jung Sejin.

“....”

I snapped back to myself. My arousal almost died. What if Minjae said something? My heart pounded to bursting.

–Fuck... you’re not answering?

“....”

I shook my head frantically. Please hang up. But Yido held the phone closer.

–Where the hell are you, skipping work—

“Hhhn!”

He thrust deep. My cry went straight into the call.

“Hh, hhhnn!”

–...

Silence. Yido didn’t stop. He shoved fingers into my mouth to muffle me.

“Hhh, mmm...”

–...

The sound of breath came through. Yido leaned over, speaking into the phone.

“You can guess what he’s doing.”

–...

“If you don’t want to hear, hang up.”

Click. The call ended. By Yido’s hand, not Minjae’s. He pulled his hand from my mouth and drove harder.

“Hhh!”

It went on until the day was gone. He came inside me more than three times, filling me until I overflowed.

And after that day, Minjae never called again.