Flower Fiancé Chapter 74

“I want to get the detailed examination quickly, find the right treatment for me, and get treated. So, could you please wait just until I receive treatment?”

Having listened quietly, Choi Moohyuk only then opened his mouth as if he finally understood what Ji Yeonwoo meant by those words.

But Ji Yeonwoo’s voice was slightly faster than his.

“I know all about it, that you were in a situation where you couldn’t help it, Mr. Moohyuk. I have enough decency that I can’t bring myself to tell you not to go on matchmaking meetings, but if I recover my pheromones, things will change a lot. They definitely will.”

“Mr. Yeonwoo.”

“I was a dominant omega. It’s absolutely not trait manipulation or anything like that, I’m saying I really was a dominant omega. If only I recover my pheromones, then…”

Abruptly stopping his words, Ji Yeonwoo bit down on his lower lip as if chewing it with his teeth. His wounded heart was fully revealed on his expression.

“Because no matter how much I think about it, it’s unfair. Of course, it was because of a momentary lapse in judgment, but I can’t receive the price like this. I can’t lose all my pheromones and then have the person I love taken away from me too. So…”

“Yeonwoo.”

Ji Yeonwoo, who had been continuing his words without pause, came to an abrupt halt when he heard the voice calling him with emphasis. He drew in a large breath that made his chest heave.

Choi Moohyuk, who had come closer, carefully held his shoulders and met his eyes.

And at the tender voice that followed, Ji Yeonwoo had no choice but to hold his breath.

“What are you so anxious about. I’m right here.”

The moment he heard his voice, his heart dropped with a thud. It was such a calm and affectionate voice that it swept away the shadows of anxiety that had been encroaching on his heart in an instant.

“Mr. Moohyuk, I…”

A swelling heat rushed to his eyes. He tried somehow to hold it in, but perhaps because his mind had already been so broken down by Lee Hyunjoon, controlling his emotions was not easy.

“I…”

His face, which he had been staring at blankly, gradually blurred. In the end, Ji Yeonwoo shut his mouth without finishing his sentence. Without a single sob, the quickly pooling tears fell—pit-a-pat.

“That I might lose you like this, Mr. Moohyuk, that is just too…”

Having stammered and barely gotten the words out, Ji Yeonwoo let out small sobs and covered one eye with the palm of his hand. The tears that fell dropped onto the blanket, making round marks. Watching silently, Choi Moohyuk moved a little closer and pulled Ji Yeonwoo’s back into an embrace.

“Ha, what do you mean by that. Why would I let go of you. Do you know how hard I’m trying to keep you safe.”

The large hand slowly stroked the rounded back of his head and then tightly gripped his shoulders. Wherever his touch landed, a burning heat was felt.

“The people I’ve met for matchmaking so far are merely connections of the sort where you brush past someone’s sleeve on the street. They’re people so easily forgotten that I can’t even remember their faces now, so I didn’t want to make you worry. I mean it. There was no other intention.”

His hand did not stay in one place. Maybe it was his imagination, but the way he kept stroking his back and gripping then releasing his shoulders and waist felt exactly like he was restless with anxiety.

“It’s my fault. To block it at its source, it would have been right for me not to even go to such meetings, but I had no way to refuse immediately, so I only went through the motions to keep up appearances.”

Having buried his face in the broad chest, Ji Yeonwoo rested his forehead on his shoulder as he listened to his voice. The beige knit quickly became damp, soaked with tears.

“I know it’s upsetting that I even went to that meeting. But if I may add just a little excuse, this time several circumstances overlapped, so simply avoiding it was a bit difficult.”

What pained him more than anything was the fact that he had heard those words through Lee Hyunjoon, of all people. If he had heard it through someone else, it probably would not have felt this upsetting or made him this anxious.

Having deeply stroked the rounded back of his head several times with the palm of his hand, Choi Moohyuk took hold of Ji Yeonwoo’s shoulders and gently pulled him back. When their eyes met again, Ji Yeonwoo’s eyes were still glistening, wet with moisture.

“I was planning to tell you this once it was resolved to some degree on my end…”

After letting out a small breath, Choi Moohyuk looked at Ji Yeonwoo, who was slowly averting his gaze, and spoke.

“Actually, my family knows about your existence, Mr. Yeonwoo.”

“…!”

Ji Yeonwoo’s shoulders flinched and trembled. Meeting his eyes again, Ji Yeonwoo’s eyes, reddened from crying, widened so much they couldn’t possibly grow any larger.

“They know? How, how…”

The moment he stammered, a person’s face flashed through his mind.

“Don’t tell me, Mr. Minhyeok told them?”

Choi Moohyuk’s younger brother, Choi Minhyeok, who had come to the house a few days ago. Recalling Choi Minhyeok, who differed in so many ways from head to toe just as he had said as a half-brother, Ji Yeonwoo’s face began to turn pale.

“Ha, how much do they know? Do they also know everything, including the fact that I’m divorced and a dominant omega with pheromone deficiency?”

He had thought that a day like this would come someday. As their relationship deepened, it was only natural to worry about the future. But he hadn’t known that time would approach this quickly. Having made no preparations at all, he simply could not withstand the weight of the crisis that had come crashing down all at once.

“Ah, no. You shouldn’t know, not already…”

His chest tightened suffocatingly. His breath caught and his vision went white.

Ji Yeonwoo, who had been babbling in confusion, faltered and stopped talking. A warm temperature was felt on his hand, which had been cold enough to make his fingertips ache. Choi Moohyuk was holding both of Ji Yeonwoo’s faintly trembling hands.

“First, listen to what I have to say. Take a breath first.”

The large hand clasped Ji Yeonwoo’s hands, which were frozen cold and stiff, with a bit more strength. Ji Yeonwoo, who had been looking at Choi Moohyuk with wavering eyes, unconsciously let out the breath he had been holding slowly.

As if by magic, warmth began to circulate through his body, which had been turning cold.

“I don’t know how much you know, but it’s not solely Minhyeok’s fault. They already had an inkling before that. It’s only natural. Because before, even if the matchmaking meetings were reluctant, I had consistently attended them, whereas recently I’ve been acting strangely—calling it off early every time or giving flowers like marigolds.”

Come to think of it, his words were right. He remembered that even the first time he came to buy flowers, he had been trying to purchase flowers to give to an omega whose tastes he didn’t even know. Then, upon learning the meaning of marigolds, he had changed his words and had those flowers wrapped. So he could see that from the very beginning, Choi Moohyuk had no interest in the omegas he was meeting, nor did he have any intention of becoming interested.

“In a situation where I didn’t know what might come out from the family, I couldn’t just keep avoiding it either. Because it’s a situation where the damage might go not to me, but to you, Mr. Yeonwoo.”

Chewing over the thought, Ji Yeonwoo recalled what Choi Moohyuk had said on the day he went to the hospital alone.

“Then what you said to me that day…”

‘It is not an important appointment. But if I do not go to the meeting place, I might lose something truly important.’

He could now finally understand precisely what those words, which he had taken simply at face value back then, meant. It meant that to Choi Moohyuk, there was nothing as important as Ji Yeonwoo.

“Actually, my matchmaking involves various intertwined interests within the family. It’s not a matter you can simply separate into liking it or not.”

“A marriage of convenience, is it something like that?”

Unable to believe that something he had only ever seen on television was actually happening, and thinking that this was a problem in a realm he could not touch, a wave of anxiety rushed in.

Sensing the anxiety revealed in his expression, Choi Moohyuk adjusted his hands and held on even tighter.

“Something similar. But I won’t let the damage reach you, Mr. Yeonwoo. Once the Lee Hyunjoon matter is settled, I intend to wrap up my own matters properly.”

“…How are you planning to do that.”

“Whether it’s a showdown or whatever, I’ll have to persuade them well. Though it won’t be easy.”

Having smiled bitterly, Choi Moohyuk continued.

“So I hope you, Mr. Yeonwoo, will also do what you can do.”

The rough hand gently brushed away the tears still lingering at the corners of his eyes and met his gaze again.