Chapter 19

***

There are countless reasons why someone might suddenly wake up in the dead of night. While waking up purely from intense thirst was a rarity for him, today was unfortunately one of those days.

As consciousness slowly began to breach the heavy fog of sleep, Gi-hyeon’s first groggy thought was simply: That steamed sea bream was definitely way too salty.

However, completely banishing the heavy, suffocating wave of sleep that had swallowed him whole was incredibly difficult, leaving Gi-hyeon hovering in a suspended state with his eyes still firmly shut. Trapped in that strange, halfway purgatory between deep sleep and waking consciousness, he suddenly registered something deeply uncomfortable.

“…”

What is that?

That was his very first conscious thought.

What the hell is pressing against my tailbone?

It was undeniably hard, and terrifyingly thick. It also radiated a distinct, heavy presence and a faint, searing heat. The sheer girth felt like the thickest section of a baseball bat, right before it tapered down to the grip. Unless someone possessed absurdly massive hands, there was absolutely no way they could wrap their fingers completely around it.

His receding consciousness violently snapped back into sharp focus. Someone was actively grinding that massive, rock-hard object directly against his tailbone.

What the hell is it?

Gi-hyeon frantically tried to calculate the possibilities. In reality, because his brain was still heavily submerged in sleep, the only sound that escaped his lips was a soft, confused groan: “Mmm…”

Regardless of his confusion, the thick, heavy object wedged deeply between the cleft of his ass began to slide slowly up and down, occasionally bucking upward to strike firmly against him. Gi-hyeon’s consciousness was now almost entirely lucid. If he simply opened his eyes, he could instantly identify exactly what was pressing against him. And right at that exact moment…

“Haa…”

Accompanied by a low, ragged sigh, someone buried their face deeply into the crook of Gi-hyeon’s neck, exhaling a scorching breath directly against his skin. Gi-hyeon’s eyes flew open.

What the fuck…

A massive, terrifying question mark floated violently through his mind. He was fully prepared to shove himself upright and demand answers. Suddenly, something wet and incredibly hot pressed against his nape. Then, something distinctly rougher, practically radiating a blistering fever heat, slowly and deliberately licked a long, wet stripe directly up his sternocleidomastoid muscle. A sharp, startled gasp—Heut—was violently choked back right before it could escape his throat.

“Ah, fuck.”

Gi-hyeon froze entirely, his breath completely suspended in his lungs. He was absolutely paralyzed, physically incapable of turning around. A second later, the heavy rustle of the duvet shifting echoed through the pitch-black room. Blinking rapidly, Gi-hyeon stared blankly into the darkness. He felt the distinct weight of the person rising from the mattress beside him.

“Now I’m even doing this…”

Someone viciously ground the curse out through clenched teeth. There was exactly one singular person in the entire universe who had fallen asleep in the spot next to him: Jo Yeon-oh.

Desperately trying to force his panicked, chaotic brain to process exactly what had just happened to his body, Gi-hyeon struggled to regain control of his racing thoughts, but it proved nearly impossible.

He felt Yeon-oh, who had just stood up from the bed, looming over him, staring intensely down at his frozen form.

“…!”

Gi-hyeon squeezed his eyes shut. It was a purely involuntary, terrifyingly instinctual reaction. It was utterly ridiculous. Why the hell am I closing my eyes over this? I should just sit up and demand to know what the fuck he thinks he’s doing. While Gi-hyeon violently berated himself, he felt a distinct, heavy shadow fall over him in the darkness. Jo Yeon-oh had leaned down directly over Gi-hyeon’s face.

Just like he had done moments prior, the Alpha buried his face back into the crook of Gi-hyeon’s neck, inhaling a long, desperately deep breath.

The scorching heat of his exhalation ghosting across Gi-hyeon’s skin sent a violent, full-body shiver tearing down his spine. An unbearable, agonizing tickle bloomed across his chest. Blood violently rushed to his nipples.

Why the hell are they suddenly…

While it was biologically normal for a man’s nipples to harden in the cold, the bedroom was currently steeped in heavy, suffocating body heat, rendering the area almost uncomfortably warm.

The sudden, aggressive physical reaction was entirely incomprehensible.

Meanwhile, Jo Yeon-oh kept his face buried against Gi-hyeon’s nape, his lips hovering a millimeter above the skin, exhaling heavy, ragged breaths. He occasionally inhaled sharply, as if desperately searching for something specific. A deep, heavy ache instantly pooled between Gi-hyeon’s legs. It wasn’t the throbbing rush of blood associated with a typical erection; it was a heavy, suffocating, almost painful pressure blooming directly within his perineum. He couldn’t shake the terrifying conviction that something was profoundly, biologically wrong. Just then…

“He’s not even an Omega.”

“…”

With that cold, clinical observation, Jo Yeon-oh pulled completely away from Gi-hyeon. The heavy thud of the Alpha stepping fully off the mattress vibrated through the floorboards. The soft rustle of him slipping into his indoor slippers was followed by the muffled scuff of his footsteps retreating across the room. Finally, the sharp click of the bedroom door opening and shutting finalized his departure.

“…”

Left entirely alone in the suffocating silence, Gi-hyeon blinked blankly into the dark. He lay perfectly still for a long time.

Then, he slowly pulled the duvet entirely over his head.

***