Flower Fiancé Chapter 41

“When I was living as an omega, I really hated how my body would move according to pheromones regardless of my will. So I thought living like an ordinary beta would be fine too….”

“….”

“But lately, I’ve started thinking I want to go back to being an omega.”

“Why have you had such thoughts?”

“I’m so curious about what kind of pheromone the Managing Director gives off. It suddenly occurred to me that maybe the Managing Director might be curious about my pheromone too.”

Drunk with sleep, Ji Yeonwoo was rambling to the point where he barely even knew what he was saying. Choi Moohyuk gazed at Ji Yeonwoo’s half-closed eyes, then brushed back his hair and asked a question.

“So without pheromones, you don’t go into heat either?”

Ji Yeonwoo shook his head lightly.

“That’s not it. The irregularity is the problem.”

“To what extent is it irregular?”

“Sometimes it’s once every few months, and other times it happens just a month after that.”

“Have you had a heat recently?”

“No. It’s been completely silent for three months now.”

“You’re saying you haven’t had one for three months?”

“Yes. So I’ve been a bit anxious lately. It absolutely cannot suddenly hit while I’m working at the shop. If I at least knew the cycle accurately, I could take suppressants in advance, but since I don’t even know that, it’s hard to take them at the right time.”

“But if you overdose regularly on them, they lose effectiveness when you actually need them.”

“I got a prescription for a stronger suppressant from the clinic I go to, and I carry it with me. So that if it ever hits while I’m outside, I can take it as an emergency measure.”

“It must be bad for your body.”

“What choice do I have? To protect my body, there’s no other way.”

And he leaned his face against Choi Moohyuk’s chest and burrowed into his embrace. Holding Ji Yeonwoo, who had come into his arms, Choi Moohyuk whispered softly.

“Can’t you sleep?”

“Mmm, I’m sleepy. I’m tired and sleepy, but it feels like a waste to just fall asleep.”

Even though he brushed his hair back, his eyes were completely closed, drowned in drowsiness, without a stir.

“Just a little, can’t I sleep just a little later? The Managing Director is really warm and cozy.”

“I think you said you would decline a human heater.”

“Just this once. Okay?”

As if he took that as a refusal, Ji Yeonwoo let out a small, pained sound and burrowed deeper into his embrace. Chuckling softly, Choi Moohyuk wrapped his arm around Ji Yeonwoo’s shoulders.

“Is this how I should hold you?”

“Yes. It’s nice. Mmm, so warm.”

With his gaze cast slightly downward, Choi Moohyuk admired the mumbling Ji Yeonwoo. Leaning completely against Choi Moohyuk and resting his body on him, Ji Yeonwoo’s lips were curved gently upward.

He had said he would sleep just a little later, but making that last question pointless, Ji Yeonwoo, who had been drawing out his words, soon fell fast asleep.

∞ ∞ ∞

Until the deep hours of dawn, Choi Moohyuk gazed at the sleeping Ji Yeonwoo, lost in thought. Fatigue pressed down on his body, yet for some reason, sleep would not come.

As if admiring a work of art, not taking his eyes off the sleeping Ji Yeonwoo with a serious gaze, Choi Moohyuk reached beside the bed and picked up his phone.

The time was past 3 a.m.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Choi Moohyuk pressed a speed dial number and called somewhere. To others it was a late hour, but for those who worked under Choi Moohyuk, it might as well have been broad daylight.

[ Yes. Managing Director. This is Park Jincheol. ]

As soon as the phone rang a few times, a deferential man’s voice came through the receiver. His expression hardening in contrast to how he treated Ji Yeonwoo, Choi Moohyuk slowly opened his mouth.

“Bring me just one—someone who’s tight-lipped and good with their hands.”

[ Yes. Understood. But, where shall I attach them for tailing? ]

Listening to Park Jincheol’s carefully asked question, Choi Moohyuk stroked and swept back the sleeping Ji Yeonwoo’s hair.

“Rather than tailing, I’m looking to attach a shadow on my behalf.”

He was sorry to say this to Ji Yeonwoo, but he felt he would not be at ease unless he took out insurance in his own way.

∞ ∞ ∞

Sitting in the passenger seat, Ji Yeonwoo kept sniffling.

Choi Moohyuk, who was driving, glanced sideways at Ji Yeonwoo, then reached out his right hand and turned up the temperature of the passenger seat. Before long, a warm heat rose from the seat. Ji Yeonwoo grinned at Choi Moohyuk, then again—achoo—covered his mouth with both hands and sneezed. The sniffling sound that followed did not sound good at all.

“It seems your condition isn’t good.”

“I think I might be coming down with a cold.”

“Isn’t it because you fell asleep while still covered in sweat? I told you to wash up warmly before sleeping.”

Ji Yeonwoo pouted sullenly.

“This is all because of the Managing Director. I’m telling you, yesterday I really couldn’t move a single finger.”

Having stopped the car just as they caught a red light, Choi Moohyuk turned his body toward Ji Yeonwoo.

“How about we exercise together? Jogging is good, or the gym.”

“But I do exercise regularly.”

“What kind of exercise do you do?”

“Uh… moving flower pots, organizing flower pots, etcetera….”

As if embarrassed even as he said it, Ji Yeonwoo gauged Choi Moohyuk’s reaction. As if dumbfounded, Choi Moohyuk let out an empty laugh.

“Isn’t that labor? Don’t you know the difference between exercise and labor?”

“But I’m saying I hate sweating.”

“You’re a total kid. A kid.”

Choi Moohyuk reached out, lightly tapped Ji Yeonwoo’s cheek, then straightened his posture. Just then, the light was changing from orange to green. The car moved smoothly. As if his throat was uncomfortable, Ji Yeonwoo let out a low cough.

Holding the steering wheel with one hand, Choi Moohyuk kept glancing at Ji Yeonwoo while facing forward, paying attention.

“Will you really be okay without going to the hospital?”

“I’m fine. I have all-purpose cold medicine at the shop, so I’ll get better if I take that.”

Though his tone was languid from not having fully recovered from fatigue, Ji Yeonwoo answered spiritedly. Choi Moohyuk, too, did not show his worry any further. That was because Choi Moohyuk also knew that Ji Yeonwoo was declining the hospital because it would delay the shop opening time and disrupt business.

Since he knew well how much Ji Yeonwoo cherished Flower Fiancé as if it were his own body, and to what extent he loved the flowers and plants inside it, Choi Moohyuk inwardly worried but did not stop Ji Yeonwoo.

Earning money while doing work one loves was one of the few blessings granted in this world. Knowing that was something only possible when environment and various conditions aligned, Choi Moohyuk silently watched over and supported Ji Yeonwoo’s work from behind.

“Are you going straight to work, Managing Director?”

Leaning against the warm seat, Ji Yeonwoo sat up as if something had just occurred to him.

“I have to stop by home first and then go.”

“Ah, right. You have to change your clothes, don’t you?”

Unlike usual, Ji Yeonwoo scanned Choi Moohyuk’s slightly disheveled attire, then glanced back at the back seat. Choi Moohyuk’s soiled tie and jacket had been tossed into the back seat. As the events of last night flickered through his mind again, Ji Yeonwoo felt his face flush for no reason.

Glancing at Ji Yeonwoo, who was looking back at the back seat, Choi Moohyuk readjusted his grip on the steering wheel with his left hand, reached out his right hand, and took hold of Ji Yeonwoo’s hand resting on his thigh. At Choi Moohyuk’s touch, Ji Yeonwoo’s hand flinched in surprise, but he neither avoided it nor pulled away. Enveloping Ji Yeonwoo’s hand, which fit entirely in one hand, Choi Moohyuk spoke.

“I should keep some clothes at your place, Mr. Ji Yeonwoo. Or else, I’ll have to bring you to my house.”

“Yes. I suppose that would be… Huh? Wait a moment. That sounds a bit strange….”

Gripping the steering wheel, Choi Moohyuk glanced sidelong at Ji Yeonwoo and raised one eyebrow.

“Strange? Now you’re dropping the formal speech at the end, huh?”

Though a flustered expression crossed his face as if startled by the sudden informal speech that popped out, Ji Yeonwoo did not back down either.

“Why? Am I not allowed to speak informally? But you, Managing Director, sometimes use informal speech too, you know.”

“That’s because I’m older. Do you even know how old I am, Mr. Ji Yeonwoo, to be acting like this?”

“…Ah.”

Only then did Ji Yeonwoo blink his eyes as he looked at Choi Moohyuk. The exclamation that burst through his slightly parted lips had an air of, I hadn’t even thought of that.