Chapter 55

Startled out of his wits, Kwon Rian locked his arms tightly around Taeju’s neck, clinging to him like a lifeline.

Coughing violently as they surfaced, Rian sputtered, “Pffft!”

The instant they plunged beneath the surface, water had surged frantically into his nose, ears, and mouth. Ah, I don’t know how to swim!

It was Taeju who hoisted the frantically flailing Rian, whose eyes were clamped shut in sheer panic, back above the water.

Hooking his broad hands securely under Rian’s armpits, Taeju lifted the trembling boy up toward the pool edge.

“Hey! I don’t think Rian knows how to swim! Man, Kim Taeju, you crazy bastard!” Su-hyun barked, laughing as he swam closer.

Waving his hands in concern, Yoon-seok called out, “Take it easy on him, easy! Hey, are you okay, Rian?”

Even as they voiced concern, Yoon-seok and Su-hyun couldn’t stop chuckling at the sight of the soaked pair.

Terrified that he was about to drown, Rian turned white as a ghost, shivering violently in Taeju’s hold.

Taeju steadied him against his chest and murmured gently, “Did I scare you? Sorry about that.”

Seeing those delicate shoulders quiver so pitifully, Taeju let out a quiet smirk. Why does every single thing he does remind me of a tiny prey animal?

A fiery itch stirred in Taeju’s groin, causing his restless lust to darken by several degrees.

How am I going to pin this tiny little thing down beneath me? That singular thought utterly consumed Taeju’s mind.

“I… I can’t swim…” Rian stammered, his teeth chattering against Taeju’s wet shoulder.

“I’m sorry, I won’t do it again,” Taeju promised, his voice dropping to a low, husky register as his gaze dragged over the dripping boy. “By the way… Kwon Rian.”

Kim Taeju licked his parched lower lip. Planting both hands on either side of Rian, who sat perched on the pool’s coping, Taeju leaned in close. From a distance so near their noses nearly brushed, Taeju peered up into Rian’s wide eyes.

Drenched in water, Kim Taeju looked undeniably handsome. Rian could distinctly catch the scent of the other boy’s Alpha pheromones. Brushing the tip of Rian’s nose, the scent grew markedly heavier, saturated by the moisture.

While the trembling sensations coursing through Rian’s body settled into ease upon catching the Alpha’s scent, his nerves stretched taut. Feeling every fiber of his awareness converging on Taeju, Rian stared back at him despite himself.

“Yeah? What… why are you looking at me like that?” Rian asked hesitantly.

Rian’s pitch-black pupils occasionally seemed to harbor something lying far beyond the surface. Taeju felt an insatiable curiosity about what lay hidden underneath.

The urge to tear away those clothes soaked sheer enough to bare the flesh underneath, the fair skin waiting beneath the cloth, and the Omega arousal the boy was trying to conceal all drove Taeju further out of his mind.

What should he do? Taeju wanted nothing more than to drag Rian to a bedroom this very second and do whatever he pleased to him.

Taeju’s eyes dropped between his legs, asking bluntly, “Are you wet down there, by any chance?”

The words Kim Taeju tossed out were utterly raw, devoid of even a shred of calculation. He simply let them fly because pure instinct commanded him to do so.

Rian’s shorts, hitched up well above the knees, clung damply to his skin and laid his slender thighs bare. That was hardly all. His nipples pushed tautly against the translucent white shirt, his fair complexion gleamed in the dappled sunlight, and shivering so pale made him look like nothing so much as a drenched chick.

Stirring a man’s pulse merely by sitting still, Rian seemed the sort who would have captured Taeju’s gaze even if he hadn’t been an Omega.

Rian’s face flushed crimson as he stammered, “W-Where?”

Down there was down there—where else could it be? Did he really have to spell it out? Taeju’s gaze dropped straight to Rian’s lap.

“I’m asking if your underwear is soaked,” Taeju clarified. “Ah, and I don’t mean from pool water.”

Kim Taeju glanced over at Su-hyun and Yoon-seok splashing each other in the pool, then leaned in close to Rian to speak in a secretive undertone.

“Because I can smell your cunt juice,” Taeju murmured in his ear.

“Cough, cough!” Rian broke into a sudden fit of violent coughing.

“Damn it, kid…” Taeju muttered under his breath.

Thoroughly startled, Rian choked on his saliva and coughed uncontrollably, prompting Taeju to pat him reassuringly on the back.

Whether he realized it or not, Kwon Rian was leaking pheromones relentlessly. It was fortunate that Yoon-seok and Su-hyun were Betas; had they been Alphas, Rian might well have been violated right here at the villa today.

Ugh, just thinking about it makes my head spin.

Taeju knelt slightly to meet his downcast eyes. “Are you all right?”

Having finally gotten his coughing under control, Rian found his face burning bright red.

“Please stop saying weird… weird things,” Rian protested, his voice hushed. “Especially with your friends right there, why do you keep…”

“You have to understand my position too,” Taeju countered. “To be honest, it gets really awkward every time I’m around you.”

“…Why?” Rian asked softly.

“Try imagining having a hard-on all day long,” Taeju pressed. “Do you think anyone could endure that in their right mind? You don’t even realize you’re dripping pheromones everywhere right now, do you?”

“I-Is it that bad?” Rian asked, wide-eyed.

Rian hunched his shoulders inward. Because Yu-gyeom had always disciplined him so strictly, Rian had believed he managed his pheromones fairly well at school and in his daily routine, but today, for some reason, they defied his control.

“Yeah, it’s that bad,” Taeju replied. “Want me to show you? How my cock is glowing bright fucking red like it’s about to burst?”

“…” Rian fell completely silent, his expression stiffening in mortification.

When Rian’s expression turned rigid, Taeju snickered with an easy grin. “It’s a joke, just a joke. Still, I’m not kidding about how intense it is. It literally takes my breath away.”

“I’m sorry,” Rian murmured quietly.

“What do you have to be sorry for? If anything, I like it,” Taeju countered. “After all, I’m the one who asked you to help me fully manifest as an Alpha.”

Even with Taeju saying that, Rian let out a faint sigh. For some reason, ever since arriving at the villa, an unsettling discomfort had weighed heavily on Rian’s chest.

Rian had expected the trip to be thrilling and pleasant, yet for reasons he couldn’t name, Yu-gyeom refused to leave his thoughts.

What is he doing on that business trip with Sun-woo right now? Has he eaten lunch? Is he staying at a hotel? In that case, is he using the hotel room by himself? Since he’s always stayed alone up until now, he probably will. No…

Is there a bus from here back home?

The urge to return home surged abruptly within him. Rian bit down hard on his lower lip.

“Rest here for a bit, I’m gonna play in the water some more,” Taeju told him.

Taeju ruffled Rian’s damp hair affectionately before swimming back toward his friends. While the two boys looked overjoyed, Rian felt utterly detached, trapped in his own wandering thoughts like an outsider looking in.

A sudden, sharp longing for Yu-gyeom gripped him. This was the very first trip Rian had taken away from Yu-gyeom’s side, yet all it brought him was a hollow sense of alienation and gnawing anxiety.