Dolls Chapter 2.1

The sunset that marked the end of the day was always beautiful, Jay had thought. That is, until his lover, standing before that beautiful sunset, declared they would become an “experiment subject.”

“Listen, Jay.”

“Yeah?”

“What if I became an Omega?”

“What do you mean…”

“I was thinking, what if I transformed myself without being cloned?”

“That’s dangerous.”

“Dangerous? So it’s not impossible?”

“Joy!”

Jay gripped Joy’s slender shoulders as if he might crush them and said,

“Don’t you understand what I mean when I say it’s dangerous?”

“What does it mean?”

“It means you could die!”

“So?”

The smile that appeared on Joy’s calm face tore at Jay’s heart mercilessly.

“So… what’s that supposed to mean? Is it such a trivial matter?”

“Well…”

“Well?”

“Living isn’t exactly fun anyway.”

“Joy!”

“Oh, sorry. Was it a bit much to say that in front of you?”

“…….”

“I’m just… bored.”

“Even with me… you’re bored?”

Joy cupped Jay’s face as he lowered his head and whispered. Jay’s eyes shimmered as if they might overflow at any moment. Joy looked at him with a faint chuckle and, still with a calm expression, said,

“Who are you to me?”

-Dream…

Jay opened his eyes, staring at the familiar ceiling, and let out a sigh as he sat up. The sound of Joy’s steady breathing filled the dark room rhythmically. Jay lifted the blanket to cover Joy’s shoulders, then got out of bed and headed to the bathroom.

A life without hope, without a future, wears a person down. Joy was Jay’s hope, his future. Even if Joy didn’t feel the same.

Jay, who had planned to stay in academia researching for life, joined Persco Corporation because of Joy.

Joy Green. The person who always teased Jay, made him miserable, and brought him joy.

She was his one and only. The person he gave his heart and body to. Because he loved and cherished her so deeply, the betrayal hit even harder. When he realized that the relationship he believed was mutual was nothing but a delusion, Jay’s world crumbled.

[Why… why…]

[Why that face?]

[Why, you ask…]

[Jay. There may not be many women in the world, but I’m not the only one.]

[Joy!]

[Can’t we just… keep things light? Our relationship.]

[What do you mean… you’re my fiancée.]

[Fiancée? Oh… you mean because of a promise made in bed?]

[…….]

[Jay… you’re so naive. People say all sorts of things during sex.]

[Joy…]

[We were just that kind of relationship, Jay.]

[I…]

[I’m getting married. Can you congratulate me?]

He let out a bitter laugh under the stream of water pouring like rain.

“Yeah. So naive. Look at what that naive fool did to you, Joy.”

“Ugh…”

The moan Noah let out, curled up on the bed, echoed in the silent room. Noah, who hadn’t left the bedroom for days and had been suffering all the while, found his state both ridiculous and disorienting, his mind clouded by the scent of osmanthus lingering at the tip of his nose.

A few days ago, when Adrian opened the door to take the Omega with Joy’s face, Noah shouldn’t have been there. He shouldn’t have been standing in front of the door to a room filled with the pheromones an Omega in heat had been emitting for days.

Overwhelmed by the Omega’s pheromones, Noah collapsed as if in a seizure, and the scent of Joy’s pheromones, which only he could detect, floated through the house. As a result, Noah had been groaning in agony for days, while the servants, unaware of the cause, were left flustered.

“The scent… osmanthus… isn’t it there?”

Adrian, who looked at Noah’s gasping face with shock, couldn’t smell it either. It was only Noah. Why… for what reason?

“Ugh… ha…”

His body grew feverish, and his heart pounded fiercely. Noah, placing a hand on his chest with an anxious expression, his eyes darting around, eventually stood up and stumbled out of the room.

-Yeah… fakes…

Even as he staggered toward the room where AE70 was, the osmanthus scent continued to torment Noah.

“Damn it.”

Noah bit his lip, unlocked the door, and knocked.

“Fake! Open the door!”

Though he tried to stay composed, his voice trembled slightly. AE70 opened the door a crack with a frightened expression, then, recognizing Noah, smiled brightly.

“Master!”

Noah, not exactly thrilled to face someone with his own face, frowned but straightened up and entered the room. Looking at AE70, still wearing the white sack-like clothes from the lab and following him like a puppy, Noah asked,

“How do the Alphas and Omegas in the lab manage their pheromones?”

“Pheromone management…?”

“With Alphas and Omegas gathered together, there must be some management to avoid issues.”

“…Why are you asking?”

“What?”

“Are you planning to bring other Alphas and Omegas besides OE70 and me?”

“What are you talking about?”

“There are only OE70 and me here as Alphas and Omegas, so why worry about pheromones…?”

“…?”

“The Alphas and Omegas in the lab are paired and imprinted from the start, so they can’t sense other Alphas’ or Omegas’ pheromones.”

“Can’t sense…”

“Did OE01 go back to the lab?”

“Yeah.”

“They seemed sick…”

Realizing further conversation was pointless, Noah turned to leave.

“Master.”

It was then that AE70 called out to him.

“Master, we really do look exactly alike.”

Noah let out a scoff as he looked at AE70, standing like a mirror image of himself. Turning to leave, AE70’s voice drifted into the air behind him.

“Lavender…”

*

Having endured their first heat cycle alone, Joy was overwhelmed by an indescribable sense of loss. The gaze of Noah Seyfried, looking at her as if she were an insect, was as violent as the lavender scent that seemed to burn her.

Joy learned for the first time that a floral scent could be violent. The lavender from the scented candle in Jay’s room was a comforting fragrance that soothed the heart, but the same flower’s scent from Noah Seyfried hurt Joy deeply.

Thinking of that scent, which had caressed her relentlessly while endlessly soaking her below, Joy felt goosebumps and shivered. The time spent crying alone, locked in that room, was so terrifying and humiliating that she never wanted to return.

Jay, watching Joy fidget with darting eyes, gently stroked her head. Her fine brown hair slipped through his fingers.

“Daddy.”

“Joy, is something worrying you?”

“…….”

“Joy?”

“Do I… have to go back to that mansion?”

“Mansion?”

“The Master’s…”

Jay responded with a chuckle in his voice to Joy’s trembling tone.

“No need for that, Joy.”

“…?”

“You just stay by Daddy’s side.”

At Jay’s words, Joy’s round eyes widened, and the corners of her mouth lifted.

“Really? Really?”

“Of course.”

“That’s a relief. Such a relief…”

“Relief?”

As Joy repeated “relief” with her head bowed, she looked up at Jay with shimmering eyes.

“I was scared… that you’d abandon me.”

“What?”

“That I might never see you again… I was terrified.”

“Joy…”

“I’m your Omega, Daddy, so I want to stay by your side.”

As a tear finally fell from her shimmering eyes, Jay wrapped his arms around her shoulders and chuckled softly.

“You’ll always be by my side, Joy.”

“Yeah…”

When Jay gave her a brief kiss, Joy looked up with flushed cheeks. Since her heat cycle, a faint osmanthus scent had been emanating from Joy, but the researchers at the lab, ordinary humans, and the paired and imprinted Alphas and Omegas didn’t notice it.

Jay, holding Joy close as she rubbed her cheek against his chest, eventually let her go and picked up a plate from the table.