COAC 4

“What the, why is your bag strewn about over here?”

Kim Chayeon’s voice, mixed with bewilderment, came from the living room.

The passcode to Do Hyeonjun’s studio apartment was already public property among the three of them. It was perfectly normal for Kim Chayeon to visit this place on days when classes were awkwardly spaced out or when they drank until dawn. Especially when he was with Seo Jeong. Do Hyeonjun covered his mouth with both hands and held his breath.

He must not face Kim Chayeon. A primal warning that he must not be caught in this state, that his condition must not be discovered, dominated his mind.

Fortunately, it seemed Kim Chayeon had no intention of staying longer in the quiet house, as the sound of footsteps seemed to be moving away toward the front door.

“Phew…”

His jaw, which he had clenched without realizing, was throbbing. His palms were soaked with cold sweat. Still, it’s a relief that Kim Chayeon is leaving…….

Knock, knock.

His body froze stiff at the sound of a knock on the bedroom door. Hadn’t he left? His heart began to pound violently with anxiety once again.

“Do Hyeonjun. Are you in here? I’m coming in.”

Had I locked the door? He could not remember. What if Kim Chayeon opens this door? As if he had never been lying there like a dead man, Do Hyeonjun shot up like a spring. At almost the same moment he grabbed the doorknob, from the other side, click, came the sound of the handle turning first.

“What’s this? You are here. You, what are you doing in your room?”

The door was definitely closed, but the voice coming from the other side was strangely clear, as if it were being whispered right into his ear. It was as if his sense of reality had gone askew.

“Do Hyeonjun, aren’t you going to answer?”

Do Hyeonjun held his breath and haltingly opened his mouth. A metallic taste came from the inside of his lip, which he had bitten down on to endure the pain.

“I’m… busy right now, so just go.”

Normally, he would have come up with a more plausible excuse, but right now, only the thought of getting Kim Chayeon out of this space as quickly as possible dominated his mind. He could say with certainty that he had never wanted anything in his life as desperately as he did now.

“Ha. Busy?”

Kim Chayeon’s scoff, as if in disbelief, flew through the door and hit him.

“What important business are you doing that you’re telling me to get lost out of the blue? You’re being weird right now. Open the door while I’m asking nicely.”

The problem was, the person himself had absolutely no intention of backing down, which was driving him crazy.

“…Just, please…”

Kim Chayeon, please. I don’t know why I’m being like this either, so please don’t ask anything and just go. As he swallowed the plea that rose to his throat, Kim Chayeon’s voice on the other side of the door grew even lower.

“Are you going to keep the door closed? Should I break it down?”

He could not fight back any longer. Do Hyeonjun’s hand slid powerlessly from the doorknob. He immediately ran to the bed, pulled the blanket over his head, and curled up his body underneath it.

Creeak.

The door, with no one to block it, opened easily. However, not a single sound could be heard. No footsteps, no sound of breathing. A heavy silence flowed, as if no one had entered. But soon, a quiet presence pressing on the floor seeped into the room.

Do Hyeonjun held his breath under the blanket and listened intently. As the presence, which had been slowly approaching, stopped moving by his head, Do Hyeonjun’s heart plummeted.

“Did you have a nightmare while sleeping or something? What are you doing in there. You’re doing things you never do today.”

Do Hyeonjun bit down so hard his jaw went numb. Contrary to his desperate wish for him to leave even now, Kim Chayeon did not back down. Instead, he slowly approached and lightly patted the back that was rounded up under the blanket. Even that light touch set all his nerves on edge.

The next moment, Kim Chayeon’s hand nonchalantly grabbed the edge of the blanket. Do Hyeonjun, hidden, squeezed his eyes shut. His heart was beating so hard, it felt as if the tiny space inside the blanket was completely filled with the sound of his own heartbeat. Even the extremely short time it took for the fingertips to lift the blanket stretched on endlessly for Do Hyeonjun.

“Hey. Do Hyeonjun.”

The blanket was completely pulled away, and along with the cold night air, Kim Chayeon’s gaze poured down.

“Why is your face so red? And why are you sweating so much. Are you really sick somewhere? Then you shouldn’t be at home.”

Contrary to his indifferent words, Kim Chayeon carefully scanned Do Hyeonjun’s face. The beads of sweat forming on his forehead, his flushed reddish cheeks, his chest rising and falling unsteadily. His gaze, which had at first just seemed to find him strange, gradually changed to a peculiar hue.

Kim Chayeon, who had been leaning toward Do Hyeonjun, slowly straightened his upper body. He narrowed his brow but could not take his eyes off him. A subtle tension began to settle, like someone trying not to miss even the smallest irregularity.

“And in the middle of all this, what kind of perfume did you spray on so strong…”

Kim Chayeon could not finish his sentence. It was because Do Hyeonjun’s hand was gripping his wrist. His skin was so hot it was startling. At the same moment he questioned the abnormal heat, a sickeningly sweet scent struck Kim Chayeon.

In that instant, Kim Chayeon staggered back, and Do Hyeonjun instinctively pulled him. He was already not in his right mind. Every single hair on his body stood on end, and he got goosebumps. In the bizarre sensation that his body was not his own, all sorts of sweet scents billowed every time he breathed in. Saliva pooled in his mouth, and an unbearable thirst scratched at his throat. Do Hyeonjun could do nothing but hold onto the solid being in front of him.

“Hnngh, Kim… Hah.”

The hot temperature of the skin he touched. The moment he realized who he was holding onto, Do Hyeonjun’s eyes filled with terror.

“Do Hyeonjun. Don’t tell me.”

Kim Chayeon’s voice cracked harshly. A shock beyond mere bewilderment was clearly embedded in his tone.

“Did your heat start? No, you’re a dominant alpha. But this right now…”

“Hoo, I, don’t… know either. Suddenly, my body feels strange. Tha, that’s… why I told you to go back. Ah…”

Before he could finish speaking, another violent wave of heat churned through his body. His breathing continued to fall apart, and his skin spewed intense heat from within. Rationally, it was a situation where he should push Kim Chayeon away immediately, but strangely, the thought of letting go of the hand he held did not occur to him.

Rather, the firm sensation where his palm touched felt like the only anchor in this terrible storm. Amidst the anxiously boiling heat, Do Hyeonjun slowly, but clearly, moved his fingers to feel the other’s body temperature.

Kim Chayeon looked down at Do Hyeonjun as if frozen, then let out a breath he had been holding and stepped back. But Do Hyeonjun’s hand did not let go; instead, it gripped him even more desperately.

“Chayeon.”

“This is… right now, no. You, in this state…”

Do Hyeonjun seemed not to have heard him. Hot steam burst from between his slightly parted teeth. Kim Chayeon’s gaze swept over his faintly unfocused pupils, his teary eyelashes, and the cold sweat running down his cheek in succession. His instincts as an alpha were warning him. What dwelled beneath this flushed face was not a simple fever.

“…Do Hyeonjun, stop. Get a grip.”

Contrary to the warning in his head that he should back away, his feet were firmly fixed to the floor. Something that had been suppressed deep inside his body reared its head. It was a chilling thrill as the borderline of reason he had precariously maintained came crumbling down.

“Kim Chayeon. Help me, please…. No. You should leave, even now…”

Do Hyeonjun’s voice had almost scattered, and the remaining words were buried within his trembling lips. His fingertips lightly tugged at Kim Chayeon’s shirt. It was not a cling, but a desperate gesture not to let go. Kim Chayeon, unable to either get closer or completely step back, silently stared at the cold sweat dripping from his forehead to his chin.

That scent, that heat, stimulated the most primal senses. Incomprehensible emotions and bodily reactions he did not want to comprehend raged at the same time. Kim Chayeon exhaled as if letting out a breath. He slowly, very quietly, leaned his body toward Do Hyeonjun again.

Now, the two were close enough to feel each other’s inhalations and exhalations, the tremors of a sensation that could not be explained with words.

“No.”

Kim Chayeon’s heavily cracked words were almost a whisper. His throat was parched and raw, and his fingertips were spread as if wanting to clutch something. Kim Chayeon’s gaze touched Do Hyeonjun’s lips for a very brief moment before slowly studying his face again. As if trying to find the reason that would firmly say ‘no.’

But there was no judgment or will left on Do Hyeonjun’s face. Only a strange longing and, within it, pupils that trembled anxiously, existed.

“This is really not right.”

Kim Chayeon muttered in a low voice. As if he were warning not Do Hyeonjun, but himself, who was beginning to run wild. However, the more he breathed in, the sweeter the scent clung to his brain. It was a scent he had never once smelled from Do Hyeonjun before. His head was dizzy. At that moment, Do Hyeonjun moved the hand that had been gripping his collar and strongly grabbed Kim Chayeon’s wrist.