TL | Chapter 13 | Familiar Yet Unfamiliar

As soon as Seowon stepped out of the car, he took a deep breath. Pouring out pheromones in a cramped, enclosed space—he clearly wasn’t in his right mind. Though he had cracked the window open for ventilation, he couldn’t fully clear out the pheromones that had saturated the car, so he hadn’t even been able to take a proper breath on the way here.

Seowon was the only one affected by his pheromones. It wasn’t clear if Min was a Beta, an Omega, or an Alpha, but since he was marked, Seowon was the only one vulnerable to Iden’s Alpha pheromones, which were clearly intended to seduce.

Iden, who had gotten out on the other side, approached Seowon. Seowon frowned, still feeling a lingering tingle on his skin, and just as he did, Iden leaned slightly forward, bringing his face right up to his.

“You’ve turned all red.”

Iden reached out and brushed lightly against Seowon’s neck. It was clearly meant as a tease, so Seowon smacked his hand away.

“Enough with the jokes.”

“What did I even do?”

His shameless tone made Seowon seethe. Gritting his teeth, he glared, only to have Iden meet his eyes and smile softly.

“Even though I poured out pheromones, no one else is bothered.”

In other words, he wasn’t in the wrong.

You’re the only one reacting.

It was almost as if he could hear the words Iden hadn’t said. Damn it. He swallowed down a curse and turned away first. Though it was still early due to their awkwardly timed dinner, he just wanted to go in and rest. He hoped to calm his overheated body with cold water as soon as possible, not wanting to lose control and beg to be held because of the pheromones.

Standing in front of the house, Seowon found the gate firmly shut. In the end, he sighed and had no choice but to wait until Iden came to unlock it.

“Why are you just standing there?”

Iden, who had come up right behind him, asked. Seowon pointed to the gate, and with a small exclamation of realization, Iden smiled and took Seowon’s hand. Seowon was about to pull away, suspicious of what Iden was planning, when Iden pressed his thumb against the black panel in the center of the gate.

Beep. The red light turned green, and he heard the sound of the lock disengaging.

“It’s fingerprint recognition. Only your and my fingerprints are registered.”

Iden stepped through the open gate first, gesturing with his eyes for Seowon to follow. Seowon stood still, staring at the fingerprint panel and his own thumb. He hadn’t registered his fingerprint here. So, the one registered wasn’t him, but the fingerprint of the ‘Ha Seowon’ who lived here.

Sigh. He let out a deep breath. Insisting that he was different from that person would only sound foolish at this rate. And Iden, time and again, reminded him in ways like this—not in words, but in actions—that there was no difference between his ‘Ha Seowon’ and himself.

Biting his lower lip hard, he finally stepped through the gate. Iden waited for him at the steps leading to the yard.

“There’s no need to keep watching me like a guard; I’m not going anywhere.”

The complexity of his emotions came through in his curt tone. Iden stared at him intently for a moment before letting out a small laugh.

“You’ve suddenly started talking informally again? Weren’t you planning to address me respectfully as Director?”

He pointed out how, in the car, Seowon had switched his way of addressing him and even used formal language.

“I’m off duty.”

Though he realized his mistake, he couldn’t be bothered to use formal speech, so he replied offhandedly. Iden, who had been staring blankly, burst into laughter. Ignoring him, Seowon walked past him and headed ahead. Though the building’s front door was also locked, this time, he didn’t hesitate to place his hand on the fingerprint panel beside the handle. With a familiar beep, the lock disengaged.

Inside, Seowon stood in the entryway, pondering. He still hadn’t looked around the house and only knew the living room directly in front and the bedroom to the right. Last night, he had somehow ended up in what seemed to be Iden’s bedroom. Iden hadn’t come into the room all night.

“There aren’t any other bedrooms aside from the one you stayed in last night.”

Iden, who had somehow ended up right behind him, read Seowon’s hesitation and answered. From behind, he placed a gentle hand on Seowon’s shoulder.

“You wouldn’t have shared a room with your marked partner separately, would you?”

Iden whispered, as if on purpose, leaning close to Seowon’s ear. Yes, Seowon knew. Even he wouldn’t have thought about sleeping separately if ‘Iden’ had come to his house. Still…

“Luckily, there seems to be plenty of room.”

For now, he had no intention of sharing a bed with Iden. He wasn’t so reckless as to stay in the same room with a man who might pour out pheromones at any moment.

Since you’re marked. That excuse didn’t work. The person Seowon had marked wasn’t this world’s Iden. The only reason he was influenced by the pheromones now was because he was an Omega, not because he had feelings for him.

Seowon brushed Iden’s hand off his shoulder and entered the living room, opening every door he could find. In one of them, which seemed to be a study, Iden followed and leaned against the doorway.

“You’re going to sleep here without a bed?”

“I don’t need one. Just get me a blanket.”

Fortunately, the study was spacious enough, with a couch big enough for one person to lie down. For now, that would do.

“So stubborn.”

Though Iden made a displeased remark, he didn’t insist that Seowon sleep in the bedroom. The guest bathroom was on the other side of the living room, separate from the one connected to the bedroom. Entering it, Seowon undressed and turned on the shower. Cold water poured over his head, sending a shiver through him, but this was better for now.

Though he had acted nonchalantly in front of Iden, the lingering scent of his pheromones clung to him as if embedded in his skin. Only after his entire body tingled from the cold did he let out a long breath.

“I don’t know how long you’ll last.”

Iden’s words in the car seemed to echo in his ears. How much longer could he last? He couldn’t be sure if the heat from yesterday had been triggered by Iden’s presence or if it was a normal heat cycle. If it was triggered by Iden’s pheromones, he needed to get a heat cycle suppressant right away.

A suppressant… He almost laughed. After meeting Iden in college, he had practically forgotten about suppressants. To get a prescription, he’d have to go to a hospital, but he was legally declared dead, so how would that work? Would he have to ask Iden again?

Thinking of Iden’s bold embrace made him shake his head instinctively. He couldn’t trust that Iden would simply procure a suppressant for him if he asked.

The thought that he now had to use the phrase “can’t trust Iden” made him want to laugh bitterly. Maybe he’d be better off asking Min.

“Ah…!”

Shaking his head to dispel these thoughts, Seowon sighed as he realized he hadn’t brought a change of clothes. He had no idea where to find them. Most likely, they’d be in the bedroom he shared with Iden. A dressing room was connected to the bedroom, so he’d have to enter it to find something to wear.

Part of him thought, Why bother? We’ve already seen everything. But it hadn’t been of his own volition. In fact, his memories of it were fuzzy from the middle onward. He only remembered that Iden’s touch had been rougher than usual, as if marking him.

He stopped thinking about it before the memories could resurface. He was far from used to this. His memories of intimacy were with the deceased ‘Iden,’ not this one. Still, his body didn’t reject him—in fact, it wanted him too much, which only made things harder.

“This is really going to drive me crazy.”

He hated the idea of provoking Iden with his indifference and hated showing he cared enough to be cautious around him. Staring at the clothes he had tossed by the bathroom entrance, Seowon let out a deep sigh. He had no choice but to put them back on and go out.

Past midnight, Iden sat in the living room, scrolling through something on his tablet when his gaze drifted toward the study’s closed door. The tightly shut door felt like a mirror of Seowon’s heart, and he couldn’t help but chuckle.

When Seowon went into the bathroom without taking a change of clothes, he’d half-expected him to call out for help. But seeing him emerge in the same clothes, he couldn’t help but laugh. For a moment, he’d wondered if Seowon hadn’t even showered, but his soaked hair and the fresh scent of body wash assured him otherwise.

Even though he’d been staring, Seowon simply asked where he could find a change of clothes.

“The bedroom. The usual place.”

He’d answered vaguely on purpose. It was only natural that Seowon wouldn’t know where that was. Yet, after a brief look at Iden, he sighed, turned around, and went into the bedroom. Iden, curious, followed and watched as Seowon entered the dressing room, opened a few drawers, and grabbed some clothes. Without a second thought, he left the bedroom and went straight to the study, closing the door.

It was the first time Iden had seen such a cold demeanor from him.

Seeing Seowon’s familiar face and eyes looking at him with such a formal distance made something snap inside of him. So he couldn’t help but act a bit mean.