Chapter 45

It was from that moment on. That was when Yu-gyeom began raising Kwon Rian, cherishing the boy more dearly than his own life.

Watching Rian sitting dazed on the roadway, Yu-gyeom pulled himself out of the dusty memory. Car horns blared frantically across the street, which had been thrown into utter chaos by the accident and Kwon Rian’s sudden dash. The drivers of the two collided sedans climbed out, shouting and arguing heatedly with each other. Fortunately, no one appeared to be injured.

In Yu-gyeom’s view, there was only Rian—and Kim Taeju standing at his side. Flustered, Kim Taeju was frantically moving Kwon Rian to a safer spot and fretting over him… shielding him so he wouldn’t see the crash site. Ah… he was completely different from me.

So what? That son of a bitch is grating on my nerves.

Even though the crosswalk signal had turned red, Yu-gyeom strode boldly forward. Reflected in his eyes were the crimson light of the opposing pedestrian signal and Kwon Rian and Kim Taeju standing beneath it.

Yu-gyeom’s pace quickened as he crossed the street. The instant he witnessed Rian trembling like a leaf within Taeju’s embrace, Yu-gyeom felt it.

A crack was forming in the impregnable fortress wall that had shielded Rian all this time.

Through that narrow fissure, that Alpha bastard was seeping in. Like a hyena… cowardly and sinister, burrowing straight into Rian’s vulnerabilities.

Yu-gyeom rushed forward with a terrified roar, shouting, “Rian!” His expression shifted instantly into one of desperate, frantic terror. Sprinting over in a panic, he snatched Kwon Rian away. Jolted by the sudden collision, Kim Taeju stumbled backward, nearly toppling onto his rear.

Kim Taeju glared at Yu-gyeom in disbelief, but worried far more about Rian’s condition, Taeju quickly turned his attention away from Yu-gyeom.

Wrapping Kwon Rian securely in his arms, Yu-gyeom pinned him against his chest to ensure Kim Taeju couldn’t take another step closer.

Yu-gyeom dropped to his knees, his hands checking every inch of Rian’s limbs. “Rian, are you okay?” He knew all too well that Kwon Rian suffered from deep trauma related to car accidents. At a tender age, Rian had witnessed his parents’ deaths right before his eyes, and young as he was, the horrific memory had been etched into him for life.

Whenever the memory threatened to fade with the passage of time, Yu-gyeom had deliberately reminded him of that day. Brainwashing him, summoning the dread back to the surface, he wanted Rian to remember that only one person had stayed by his side throughout that nightmare. And that person was none other than Yu-gyeom himself. All so that Rian would remain utterly, completely dependent on him.

“Hyung…” Rian breathed, his voice shaking.

Rian’s face had drained of all color, turning deathly pale. Even his lips shook violently. With his shoulders hunched tight, he looked lost in the nightmare of his past. His pupils trembled wildly like waves caught in a storm, and in those frantic eyes, he reflected only Yu-gyeom.

Cupping Rian’s face firmly to meet his gaze, Yu-gyeom whispered in a gentle, soothing tone.

“Rian? Rian… Listen to me carefully,” Yu-gyeom coaxed.

“…” Rian could only stare back, speechless and trembling.

“Fireworks… That’s just a really big fireworks show, remember?” Yu-gyeom whispered.

Choking back a sob, Rian gasped, “…Hyung. Hic.”

“Even if they crashed, it just created a huge fireworks show. You remember, right? A pretty, dazzling fireworks show,” Yu-gyeom murmured softly.

Tears poured from Rian’s eyes, dripping down his cheeks. Amidst the noisy chaos of the scene, Kwon Rian had been trapped inside his own private terror. But the moment Yu-gyeom held him and whispered those words, the tension snapped, and Rian broke down into uncontrollable sobs, collapsing into him completely.

Watching Kwon Rian sob like an inconsolable child, Kim Taeju and their friends were thoroughly bewildered. Sure, an accident had occurred right in front of them, but…

Their friends crowded around to check on Kwon Rian, their expressions full of worry.

Yoon-seok hovered beside them, his voice laced with deep concern. “Rian, are you okay? Nothing happened to you… Kwon Rian.” He gently patted Rian’s back.

“That must’ve scared the hell out of you, happening right in front of you like that,” Su-hyun said with a troubled frown.

Su-hyun let out a long, heavy sigh.

Taeju stepped closer, trying to offer reassurance. “…Kwon Rian, you’re fine now. I grabbed you right away, didn’t I? Nothing happened. That’s just an accident that has nothing to do with you.” Kim Taeju was burrowing directly into the fissure of that cracked wall. I grabbed you right away. Relax. It’s just an accident.

“I’ll look after Rian, so the rest of you can go on ahead,” Yu-gyeom said, stepping in with a firm, dismissive tone.

Yu-gyeom spoke with a hardened gaze, determined to push Kim Taeju away. Taeju did not miss the chilling hostility flashing across Yu-gyeom’s eyes.

“Where are you planning to take him? Shouldn’t you at least take him to a hospital?” Taeju countered sharply.

Kim Taeju challenged Yu-gyeom directly, and at the mention of a hospital, Yu-gyeom’s eyebrows knotted into a severe scowl.

“Why would he go to a hospital when he isn’t even injured? He was only startled. I can soothe him myself. Let’s go, Rian,” Yu-gyeom snapped.

Yu-gyeom wrapped an arm around the sniffling Rian’s shoulders and turned away. Behind him, Kim Taeju’s raised voice called out after them. He cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting after them, “Kwon Rian! Message me once you get home, okay? Text me so I know you’re alright!”

Hunched small within Yu-gyeom’s embrace, Rian merely dragged his feet forward, never looking back once.

Yu-gyeom quickened his pace.

* * *

The moment they returned home, Yu-gyeom filled the bathtub with warm water and had Rian rest inside. In the steam-filled bathroom, Rian remained curled up in the corner of the tub, still trembling.

Whenever these panic episodes struck, they tended to linger for quite a while, and each time, Yu-gyeom would gently wash Rian and cradle him in his arms.

Yu-gyeom placed a steaming mug into his trembling hands. “Rian, do you feel a bit more comfortable now?” He sat facing Rian inside the tub. Both men were completely naked, without a single stitch of clothing between them.

“Come here. Sit between my legs,” Yu-gyeom commanded gently.

At Yu-gyeom’s beckoning gesture, Rian crawled across the bathwater from the opposite side and settled between Yu-gyeom’s legs. Parting his thighs, Rian climbed up onto Yu-gyeom’s lap and straddled his thighs.

Their hardened cocks brushed and tangled together in the warm water.

“Haa, it feels warm, doesn’t it, Rian?” Yu-gyeom murmured.

Yu-gyeom whispered against Rian’s skin as he showered kisses over his earlobe, nape, and collarbone.

A helpless, shivering whimper escaped his lips, “Nngh.”

Rian let out shallow, ragged breaths as he panted. Wrapping his arms tightly around Yu-gyeom’s neck, he pressed his naked body flush against him.

“Rian, won’t you rub your pussy against me?” Yu-gyeom asked.

Trembling with heat, he whimpered, “…Hyung, hngh.”

Rian was quickly intoxicated by Yu-gyeom’s pheromones. Obeying Yu-gyeom’s bidding, he began rubbing his soaking-wet pussy against his cock.

Even submerged beneath the water, the viscous juices pouring from Rian’s pussy coated Yu-gyeom’s cock. Drifting through the warm bathwater, the slippery, wet texture of his arousal was unmistakable.

Holding him close, Yu-gyeom slid his hands down past Rian’s waist and firmly seized the cleft of his buttocks. In that instant, Rian’s rear hole twitched and parted as Yu-gyeom drove a finger deep inside.

“Hee-ut!” Rian cried out.

A strange, metallic rasp in Rian’s groan tickled against Yu-gyeom’s ear. Burying his lips into Yu-gyeom’s shoulder, Rian pressed his tongue firmly to the flesh and sucked, like a kitten nursing at its mother’s teat. Having lost his parents at a young age, Rian often displayed his desperate craving for affection in this manner.

Yu-gyeom let out a soft, amused chuckle. “That tickles, Rian.”

“Hngh… Hyung-ah, my hole… it feels like it’s stretching too wide,” Rian whimpered.

Whether water droplets or tears, moisture clung heavily to Rian’s reddened eyes. Heated by the steamy bath, his flushed body had grown crimson and soft as a ripe tomato.

Rian twitched his rear hole rhythmically, sucking down Yu-gyeom’s fingers as if greedily chewing them up. When one finger became two and soon three, his secret entrance had already stretched supple and yielding.

Yielding and adapting to every touch, Rian’s body was endlessly wondrous. Indeed, having only recently manifested, the Omega’s flesh was as pale, plump, and supple as a freshly boiled egg. Prying apart the plump cheeks of Rian’s buttocks with both hands, Yu-gyeom withdrew his fingers and drove his cock deep inside with a wet plunge.

“Huck!” A breathless cry tore from Rian’s throat.

Overcome by the solid fullness stuffing his lower abdomen, Kwon Rian arched his body like a bow. As Rian threw his head back to gaze up at the ceiling bathed in dizzying yellow light, Yu-gyeom seized the opening and sank his teeth into Rian’s exposed neck.

“Hngh! Ah, it hurts… Nngh,” Rian cried out.

A vibrating sound spilled from Rian’s throat. Rian’s purring, throat-scratching cries of pleasure stoked Yu-gyeom’s arousal to an even sharper pitch.

As Yu-gyeom’s cock, swollen rock-hard to bursting, relentlessly thrust into Rian’s tight passage, the ring of muscle clenched desperately around it.

Squelch, splash… Slap, slap.