TSG 53

Shin Tae-oh got wet. At first it was sweat, but after Se-hyun poured water over him, it was mostly water.

Se-hyun waited to see how Shin Tae-oh would react. If he was displeased, he would apologize right away. If not, he was willing to pour more water on him when needed.

After a short period of time, Shin Tae-oh ruffled his hair.

“So, that’s why the secretary was in the bathroom.”

“That’s right. It was sudden for me too.”

It was like this when a heat that was always regular came a day earlier. Like Shin Tae-oh, Se-hyun felt an unbearable thirst due to the sudden heat. So he crawled to the bathroom. As he was pouring water on him, the heat was able to go away, and he occasionally stuck out his tongue to sip some.

It wasn’t a complete solution, but it was the best option at the time.

“Are you coming to your senses?”

“To some extent.”

As Sin Tae-oh shook his head, the strands of hair stuck to his face fell. Just that made his face look cooler and brighter, and Sin Tae-oh slowly got up from his seat. Judging by the fact that his movements were no longer as helpless as before, was he really feeling better?

“Then can you continue to endure it? If you can hold out a little longer, we will go to the hospital right away…”

Se-hyun was thinking about going to the hospital and getting a prescription quickly rather than waiting for Lee Jin-ho, but suddenly his shoulder was grabbed.

Shin Tae-oh placed his hands on both shoulders, not just one, and lowered his head. If there was a big difference in height between them, his face might be visible, but there was only a difference of about five centimeters.

“Sir?”

So Se-hyun called out to him, and Shin Tae-oh’s hands tightened their grip on his shoulders.

“I feel like if I don’t do it now, I won’t be able to.”

It wasn’t clear what he wouldn’t be able to do, as Shin Tae-oh revealed his thoughts not through conversation but in a murmur to himself. So Se-hyun frowned in confusion, and Shin Tae-oh lifted his head to meet his eyes.

Shin Tae-oh’s eyelashes were soaked with something he couldn’t tell if it was sweat or water. His eyelashes fluttered, dripping moisture, as his equally moist eyes gazed at and reflected Se-hyun.

He shouldn’t have looked. He was already dizzy from the pheromones, but when he made eye contact with Shin Tae-oh, his heart started beating like crazy.

Se-hyun ignored his heart that was beating without notice and lifted his shaking hand. It was an attempt to push Shin Tae-oh away.

The moment Se-hyun’s hand touched his clothes, instead of pushing him away, he felt the impulse to wrap his fingers around the fabric. He knew he shouldn’t, but he wanted to hold on to Sin Tae-oh. When Se-hyun felt like he wanted to stay here and not go out at all, his body turned.

“Huh?”

He was looking at Shin Tae-oh when he suddenly turned to face the wall, confused. Why did this happen?

“Leave when I can still endure it.”

“Sir? Wait a moment please.”

Controlled by Shin Tae-oh’s two hands, Se-hyun was made to walk forward. Even when he tried to turn back, he couldn’t.

Shin Tae-oh kindly opened the door and pushed Se-hyun into the hallway. Finally able to turn around, Se-hyun looked at Sin Tae-oh. His breath was becoming uneven again as he held onto the door handle.

“Go home.”

“But your condition isn’t good right now.”

“But there’s nothing Secretary Ahn can do.”

Shin Tae-oh drew a line with a forced smile.

“It’ll just be an hour. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

After bidding farewell, Shin Tae-oh shut the door.

Thanks to that, Se-hyun found himself facing the closed door, blinking silently.

“Did he just…”

Kicked him out directly?

Was it because last time he pretended to leave and just closed the front door?

⍣⍣⍣

“Yes, it’s true that I should be kicked out.”

Se-hyun muttered to himself with a troubled heart as he retraced his steps.

“What am I saying?”

He was just Shin Tae-oh’s secretary. It was his dream and goal to lead a stable life next to the sub-gong… That’s why he was simply an extra who wanted to remain just a secretary.

So even if Shin Tae-oh went into a rut, his role was just to say “I understand, I’ll take care of it” and then leave. It was a role where all he had to do was give the same answer.

“I understand it in my head, but why does my heart want to rebel so badly?”

Even as he walked away, he hadn’t gotten very far, and no matter how hard he tried to shake Shin Tae-oh’s pheromones off, they wouldn’t leave his body.

“Why are they so clingy?”

He glared frustratedly at the invisible pheromones before dropping his hands in resignation.

This was all coming from his own vexed feelings, so what good would shaking off the severe pheromones do?

“Mr. Ahn Se-hyun?”

It was Park Ha-seong.

“I’ll see you off here.”

“Sure thing. Oh, you come to this party too?”

“It’s not me, it’s the CEO.”

Se-hyun lightly replied as he fixed his tousled hair. He had no patience to deal with anyone right now. His mind was completely fixated on the room where Shin Tae-oh was.

“Then I’ll…”

As Se-hyun bowed his head, Park Ha-seong also returned the courtesy gesture and stepped aside to let Se-hyun pass, realizing his state wasn’t good.

Se-hyun didn’t decline and went through the space Park Ha-seong had made. Right now, going home like this…

“Can I ask you something?“

That’s right, Se-hyun grabbed Park Ha-seong.

“Yes? Yes.”

Even though Se-hyun had initiated it, he couldn’t open his mouth right away and just bit his lower lip. Asking the coincidentally encountered Park Ha-seong was almost an impulsive act.

He was so frustrated trying to think it through and come to a conclusion by himself that he wanted to ask anyone, even Park Ha-seong who he had only met once before…

“If you receive a gift, you should reciprocate, right?”

“Yes. Well…”

“If you receive help, you should return the favor.”

“That’s what ordinary people do.”

“Ordinary people… That’s right. That’s not strange at all.”

Se-hyun’s face brightened.

It was not at all strange that he wanted to help Shin Tae-oh. There was no need to be swayed by the original work and hesitate by comparing it only to Shin Tae-oh and his own situation.

“That’s right. I’m just an ordinary person.”

Before he was an extra, he was Shin Tae-oh’s secretary. And it’s only natural for a person to repay what they’ve received.

“If someone gives you rice porridge and buys you coffee that matches your taste at the cafe you often visit, ignoring the circumstances of such a person would be too contemptuous as a colleague?”

“Well, I guess so, but…”

Park Ha-seong gave an ambiguous response, but Se-hyun couldn’t hear anything.

“To be honest, I did feel conflicted leaving him like that. What’s with the traits and all that. You can only ignore it when you don’t know about it, but I ignored it even though I knew it was painful after going through the same thing. I was so selfish.”

“Is that so? You are selfish?”

“What if the other person is a man? It’s not like anything is going to happen right now, I just need to help out for a bit.”

“The other person is a man?”

“Having him saved as the third favorite is pretty much saying he’s my favorite, right? After watching that pure but perverted cat from the sidelines and thinking his heart would be shaken by Yoo Jin-ha. I get it now, I understand now.”

“Oh, do you understand everything?”

“Yes. Thank you. I’ll make sure to bring coffee next time.”

Se-hyun turned around after smiling brightly and bowing politely. Watching him rush back inside, Park Ha-seong scratched his head. He wasn’t sure what had happened, but he could guess….

“Is he in a fling with someone?”

A coworker who gives him rice porridge and buys him coffee, the third favorite, a pure but perverted cat…a man with those qualities.

⍣⍣⍣

If it had been normal times, Shin Tae-oh wouldn’t have spaced out and carelessly allowed his rut to hit. Lee Jin-ho might have scolded him for being so absentminded.

“It’s my own fault for letting it happen.”

So even though his whole body burned and ached, he couldn’t blame anyone else. Sending Se-hyun away was the right thing to do.

Compared to the patience he had shown in gripping Se-hyun’s shoulders but not pulling him closer, his current state was nothing.

“That’s right. This is nothing…”

Shin Tae-oh exhaled a long breath, arm resting on his forehead. The cold from his wet clothes leeching away his body heat was the only tether keeping his sanity intact right now.

“I just have to take suppressants anyway…”

Shin Tae-oh, who was muttering that the current situation was nothing, clicked his tongue and pressed his eyes. To be honest, he still regretted it. He had wanted to hold onto Se-hyun. Not to ask anything of him, he just felt it would be nice to have him around.

“Damn it, you’re selfish, Sin Tae-oh.”

His pheromones could have tormented Se-hyun, yet he wanted him to stay with him. He knew that, but…

“I miss him.”

If he had known this would happen, he should have taken a picture. If he had a photo of the blushing cat whose ears redden when embarrassed, maybe he would have been able to soothe it.

Oh, come to think of it, Ahn Se-hyun wasn’t an emotionless man. His ears turn red when he’s embarrassed, and his eyes flicker when he’s flustered. He showed his own reactions even without making an expression on his face.

The more Shin Tae-oh thought about it, the more he wanted to see Ahn Se-hyun. Just recalling that person who made his heart race so strongly…

“Who? Me?”

“…”

Sin Tae-oh quickly got up, moving his arm that covered his eyes. He blinked at Se-hyun standing in the doorway. He definitely sent him away. He sent him away so he wouldn’t stand in front of the door like last time, so why was he here again?

Was this an illusion born of his desires? Or had he not closed the door properly?

“How did you get in?”

Looking at Shin Tae-oh’s bewildered face, Se-hyun showed him what he was holding in his hand.

“Two card keys?”

This is a hotel after all.