The dinner wrapped up a little later than usual. Normally I would have ended it sooner, but tonight I had been drinking along with them. The employees were drunk out of their minds, and I wasn’t much different.

“Are you all right?”

Mr. Kim, who had been waiting in the car, came immediately to get me once the dinner was over. He draped a coat over my shoulders and supported me with formal care as I staggered. Yido’s secretary had also arrived to collect him, but Yido only stood a little ways off, quietly watching me.

“Get home safe, CEO!”

“Thank you for today, Executive Director!”

“Who’s in for round two?”

“Oh, karaoke! Karaoke!”

The sound of the employees’ voices drifted away into a blur. The cold night air cooled my flushed face a little, but regaining clarity was another matter entirely. I leaned silently against Mr. Kim and exhaled a long breath.

“Did you drink much?”

“Yes, I’m... rather drunk.”

The hazy feeling wasn’t unpleasant. The faint smell of alcohol in my own breath was less so. When I covered my mouth with my right hand, I thought I caught the faintest trace of Yido’s pheromones.

“I’ll escort you to the car.”

Mr. Kim was about to guide me straight there. I had never been this drunk before, and his eyes showed real concern. Most likely he would tell me to doze off a little in the backseat, as he always did.

“Wait a moment.”

I barely straightened up and stopped him. Mr. Kim paused, hesitating on the spot. And I, still feeling Yido’s eyes on me, addressed him.

“Executive Director.”

“......”

The employees had long since left in small groups. Half of them to karaoke, half home. Luckily it was the weekend, so they could drink to their hearts’ content, rest the next day, and return on Monday.

“Do you, by any chance...”

I spoke slowly, blinking. My right hand clenched and unclenched, still tingling with his pheromones. And then I asked the kind of question I never could have voiced without alcohol.

“...have plans later?”

Yido’s eyes jolted faintly. He narrowed them, as if trying to gauge my intent. I shrugged and squinted playfully.

“If you’re busy, then...”

“No.”

“......”

“I’m not busy.”

Liar.

If he truly wasn’t busy, then his secretary wouldn’t look so stricken. His name was Park Kyung-seok, wasn’t it? I remembered because he looked so much like Mr. Kim.

“Then let’s talk. If you’re not busy.”

Yido inclined his head. He must have had some drinks himself, but his appearance was perfectly neat, not a hair out of place. Even with one hand in his pocket, he looked like something out of a magazine.

“It’s nothing much...”

I gently pushed Mr. Kim aside. I was drunk, but not so far gone that I couldn’t walk. Perceptive as ever, Mr. Kim stepped back. Slurring slightly, I told Yido:

“I can’t take my sleeping pill tonight.”

The doctor had told me—never mix alcohol with sleeping medication. He hadn’t said I could drink this much, but at least on that point I intended to obey.

“But as you know, my insomnia is bad.”

Yido °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° kept his gaze steady, waiting for me to continue. If I said this, what kind of face would he make? I knew full well it was selfish.

“I want to sleep deeply tonight. And for that... I need your help.”

“......”

I thought he would understand immediately. He knew already that I slept soundly in his pheromones. In the past, and even now.

“So what will you do?”

He didn’t answer right away. He simply gave instructions to his secretary, then stepped toward me. Mr. Kim also withdrew, saying he would wait in the car.

“I don’t mind, but...”

Yido began, looking down at me. Sometimes his gaze made me feel dissected, or else too tightly strung. This time, it was the latter.

“Are you sure you’re all right?”

“...About what?”

“Tomorrow... it’ll be your heat cycle.”

“......”

My mind retraced the dates, fumbling. Right. I had forgotten in the haze of alcohol—tomorrow my cycle would return. It was the weekend, so I hadn’t thought much of it.

“...So your first thought is staying the night.”

I replied flatly. Yido raised an eyebrow, and I tilted my head at him with deliberate insolence.

“And isn’t tomorrow your rut as well?”

If my heat cycle was coming, then his rut was too. That was the mark’s effect—our cycles had slowly aligned until they matched perfectly. Whether we wanted to or not, we knew each other’s rhythms in full.

“You don’t respond to suppressants.”

He cut me off with that single line. Childish as it sounded, it meant he had been drinking too. I frowned slightly but answered back, refusing to yield.

“They work now. My body’s changed.”

“......”

“...A little.”

The last words slipped out more timidly. It wasn’t complete.

My heat had once gone wild because I couldn’t release pheromones at all. But as my glands stabilized, suppressants began to take effect. The doctor had said that in time, I might even live normally.

“If you don’t want to, then forget it.”

I hadn’t asked him to stay the night, nor for sex. It was just that after holding his hand all evening, I craved his pheromones again. Or maybe it was just the cycle. Even stripped of emotion, in my intoxicated state I found myself wanting him.

“I never said I didn’t want to.”

As I turned away, Yido seized my arm hard. Regret flickered on his face as he loosened his grip, then caught me again, this time gently by the wrist.

“Let’s go together.”

***

“Mm, ngh...”

The door closed with a thud. His large hand cupped the back of my head, his solid thigh wedged between mine. Pressing me against the door, Yido tilted his head and sealed my lips with his.

“Hh—”

His saliva mixed with thick pheromones, flooding me. The drunken haze melted into something soft and heavy. I pressed a hand to his chest to push him away, but instead it only seemed to ignite him.

“...Hh.”

His tongue traced everywhere inside—stroking tender flesh, tickling my palate. Sucking noisily, swallowing mouthfuls of heat-soaked pheromones.

Ah, how did it come to this?

We had come here by car with Mr. Kim driving. In the car, the silence was thick, no words exchanged. Only my head nodding against his shoulder as I dozed.

'We’ve arrived.'

By the time we reached the officetel, I was leaning fully into him, half-drunk, half-asleep. This time it was Yido, not Mr. Kim, who helped me out. Mr. Kim’s anxious look hadn’t stopped him.

'...Your pheromones are leaking.'

In the elevator, he had sighed the words. I’d relaxed all the more, knowing how unsettled he was.

And then... what happened after?

“Haa... hh...”

My thoughts kept breaking. My legs had lost strength, but Yido’s grip kept me upright. At some point my arms were looped around his neck.

“Hh...”

Yes, it had flared up suddenly. Maybe because our eyes met, maybe because our pheromones tangled too thickly. By the time I punched in the door code, he was already devouring me.

“...Wait.”

I pushed at his shoulder weakly with my left hand. My other arm was still clinging to him, so it hardly looked like resistance.

“This isn’t... hh, this isn’t why I called you.”

“......”

His eyes seemed ready to consume me. I could feel his arousal—in his gaze, in his skin, in the emotions bleeding through. As much as I felt him, he must have felt me. The thought was unsettling.

“We’re not... at that stage, are we?”

Selfish, perhaps. But when I said it softly, Yido’s gaze tightened with focus. His darkened eyes bored into me.

“...Not yet?”

His husky voice was obscenely raw, making my skin prickle.

“Sejin, I...”

He rubbed his face against mine, sliding his lips down my cheek, over my neck.

“Even those words give me hope.”

“......”

Had I just said not yet? My head was spinning—I couldn’t even tell what words had left my mouth. I hadn’t meant to give him permission, so what had I said?

“...Yido.”

His hot breath touched my collarbone. My shirt was no barrier. Swallowing hard, I asked, voice shaking:

“Are you still sorry for me?”

His silence was answer enough. The dull ache that followed wasn’t even mine. When I asked if he still felt guilt, he really did.

“Then...”

My head swam. Half of me wanted to drown in instinct, half screamed not to. Pity for him clashed with some strange, rising urge.

“Then get on your knees.”

Call it pettiness. His words to me came back, and moments once meaningless now stung with resentment.

“If you’re sorry, at least do that much.”

I didn’t think he’d do it. It was petty revenge, unfair. Time had passed, and it wasn’t all his fault anyway.

“......”

But Yido, calm as ever, slipped free of my arms. I expected anger, but he only caught my hands gently, lowered himself, and knelt on the floor.

“......”

It sobered me instantly. He bowed his head onto the backs of my hands, exhaling a trembling breath. Not out of humiliation, but as if overcome with tension.

“What do you want me to do, Sejin...”

His voice came small, uncharacteristically subdued. Even kneeling before me, after kissing me moments ago, his pride remained untouched. So he pressed his forehead into my hands, whispering smaller still:

“What should I do... to make it stop hurting you?”

I leaned my head back against the door. In the silence, the rattle of the hallway was loud. Seeing him kneeling there, unable to lift his head, sent a sharp ache through me.

“I’ll do anything you say.”

“......”

“So please...”

The rest went unsaid. Whether he meant don’t abandon him, or forgive him. Unspoken wishes were always the hardest to grant.

“...Why go this far?”

It was all I could ask. I was slowly recovering, yet he was still drowning in grief. He laid every foundation for me, but none for himself.

“Saying you’ll do anything...”

When I’d said something similar, had he felt this same confusion? Was it the surge of impulses, incomprehensible and overwhelming?

“What, how far would you go?”

I knew it was irrational, but I wanted to test him. I pitied his desperation as much as I resented it. If this was how it would be, why hadn’t he done differently before? My anger twisted itself into cruelty.

“...Yido.”

He lifted his head slowly at my call. Meeting my eyes, I thought he understood. He closed them, opened them again, released my hands, and gripped my thighs.

My belt came undone. Then, with his teeth, he pulled down the zipper. His hot breath pressed through the thin fabric. Losing balance, I leaned back against the door, and he tugged my underwear down.

“...Hh.”

And just as he had knelt before, he took my limp cock into his mouth without hesitation. His hot, wet mouth teased the sensitive flesh, his tongue wrapping the shaft. Heat flared across my nape.

“Ah...”

The surge of sensation made me clutch his head reflexively. My fingers tangled in his neat hair, ruffling it, pressing the back of his skull lightly. My lower abdomen tightened, and my cock swelled in his mouth.

“Haa...”

In my ringing ears, I heard wet sounds. He furrowed his brows, but swallowed me whole. His tongue stroked the tip, then he pushed deep into his throat.

“...Hh.”

Ah, this is... dangerous.

The alcohol I thought had faded rose back up. My grip tightened, my hips twitched forward. Instinct overrode thought—I wanted more.

So I held him firmly in place and moved my hips. Thrusting deep, hitting the back of his throat. He faltered a moment, but quickly adjusted, accepting it without protest.

“...Ugh.”

My head felt scrambled. He had done this to me before, but with me in control, the thrill was sharper. Looking down at him was too much—his mouth hot as fire, nothing like his cold skin.

“Haa, hh...”

Tight, hot, soft. Forcing his throat open, yet no gagging. I forgot entirely that I was being rough. I drove my hips, pressing down on his head to keep him from pulling away.

“...!”

When climax surged, instinct tore me back—I shoved him away. My last shred of reason screamed not to finish in his mouth. But in that split second of mistiming, I spilled.

“Haa, haa...”

“......”

Through the blur, I saw Yido wince. One eye squeezed shut, his lashes beaded white. The fluid ran down, trailing his smooth cheek.

“Ah...”

I hadn’t meant... to come on his face. I wasn’t some pervert excited by that sight. And yet, seeing the cum staining his red lips—I felt myself stir again.