Flower Fiancé Chapter 78

Unlike the gentle hand stroking his cheek, Choi Moohyuk’s voice ringing in his ears carried a low, firm edge. Just who was he on the phone with to be this angry? As he thought about it, still hazy with sleep, his voice continued.

“Please convey my words clearly to that household. Hah, this wasn’t something I started according to my will from the beginning, was it.”

The hand stroking his cheek pressed in with a little more force, and his voice grew increasingly louder. Ji Yeonwoo thought it might be a call from Choi Minhyeok or Mr. Park Jincheol, but the way he was consistently using polite speech made it seem strange.

‘Ah, could it be a call from home? No way, again….’

As the thought inadvertently crossed his mind, his body felt as if it were sinking downward with a thud. Ji Yeonwoo, who had flinched greatly without meaning to, hurriedly reached out his hand.

“If you had consulted with me even once beforehand, I would have….”

His voice, which had been carrying emotion, cut off abruptly, and at the same time, a hand grasped his own. A hurried breath escaped through his slightly parted lips. It felt as if he had just gone bungee jumping.

The man gripped his hand with a little more force. Ji Yeonwoo cracked his eyes open into narrow slits. Beyond his blurred vision, Choi Moohyuk’s bare upper body and abs, with nothing on, swam hazily into view.

“…Let’s talk later. This doesn’t seem like something to discuss over the phone first thing in the morning. I’ll visit you soon and speak in person. Yes. Yes.”

As he wrapped up the call, the hand that had been lightly stroking his cheek delved in a little deeper. Ji Yeonwoo drew closer to him, feeling his warmth. He rested his forehead somewhere on his thick, substantial thighs. At that, the man, who had quickly ended the call, tossed his phone onto the bed as if discarding it and lay his body over Ji Yeonwoo’s.

“Did I wake you?”

His gaze, looking down while pressing his elbows into the sheets, and his voice were as sweet as candy. Ji Yeonwoo shook his head.

“No, I was about to get up too… cough.”

The end of his hoarse voice cracked. Startled, Ji Yeonwoo covered his mouth with his hand and opened his eyes wide, and Choi Moohyuk gave a light laugh.

“You can sleep more. It’s not even 8 yet.”

“And you, Mr. Moohyuk?”

“I need to wash up and go to work.”

Hearing that he had to leave, a wave of disappointment washed over Ji Yeonwoo. Whether it showed on his face or not, the man, who had been looking into his eyes up close, glanced at the clock hanging on the wall.

“It’s about 7:52 now, so there’s still some time, though.”

Drawing out the end of his sentence, Choi Moohyuk looked back down at Ji Yeonwoo lying beneath him and raised one eyebrow.

“Shall we just stay like this for about 10 minutes?”

It was a question that didn’t actually seek consent anyway. Only then did Ji Yeonwoo break into a bright smile, wrap his arms around Choi Moohyuk’s neck, and pull him into his embrace. Bare chest met bare chest, transmitting warm body heat. He could feel the heartbeat clearly, though he couldn’t tell whose it was. Ji Yeonwoo held his firm back tightly and buried his face in his shoulder.

There were many things he wanted to say, but he decided to keep them all buried in his heart. It was because he believed that, without needing to force an answer, the man would now handle things well within his own bounds.

Choi Moohyuk stayed for another 15 minutes like that before getting up with apparent reluctance. Ji Yeonwoo, left languid from the kisses that followed on the bed, only managed to finally dust himself off and get up long after he had left.

The very first thing he did after deciding to stay at his house was to clear out Flower Fiancé.

Due to the nature of a flower shop, it couldn’t be closed down like other stores. Plants need regular sunlight and water; without proper care, they wither quickly, so if the shop couldn’t be operated, the best course was to dispose of all the remaining flowers and plants and bring them back in later.

But since several days had already passed with things left unattended, it was obvious what state the shop would be in.

Inevitably, he urgently contacted the Boss of the flower farm and asked for help. The Boss readily agreed to his earnest request to save at least the ones that could be saved.

Only after Ji Yeonwoo had cleared out Flower Fiancé, which he had treated like his own body for two years, could he finally fully set foot in Choi Moohyuk’s house.

After moving into his house, Ji Yeonwoo’s daily life closely resembled that of a lazy grasshopper. Choi Moohyuk protected Ji Yeonwoo within his bounds with an attitude that seemed as if he wouldn’t let a single drop of water touch his hands, and Ji Yeonwoo obediently followed his wishes.

The housework and meals were taken care of by the housekeeper who came to work every day. She was so meticulous in her work and so skilled at cooking that there was nothing for him to lend a hand with. The only things he did were seeing Choi Moohyuk off to work in the morning, sitting on the sofa and resting, gathering the laundry and putting it neatly in the basket, and sitting with the housekeeper to fold the laundry from the dryer while chatting.

He had come into the closet to get the laundry and was on his way out after tidying up some clothes that looked slightly disheveled. A black cardigan was draped over the showcase in the dressing room. It was the cashmere cardigan that Choi Moohyuk often wore. Probably, he had meant to put it in the basket but got busy, forgot, and just went to work.

Ji Yeonwoo picked up the cardigan and stroked its soft, characteristic cashmere texture.

‘Would this knit be infused with Mr. Moohyuk’s pheromones too?’

Fingering the cardigan, Ji Yeonwoo clutched the knit in both hands and buried his face in it. What Ji Yeonwoo could still detect was only his body scent.

Frustration and wistfulness coexisted within him. He had never imagined he would long for pheromones this much in his life, but the more days he spent sleeping skin-to-skin with him, the more he missed how things used to be.

Since bringing Ji Yeonwoo into his house, Choi Moohyuk hadn’t touched so much as a fingertip. A few days ago, during a kiss, a hand had slipped inside his bathrobe, and he had briefly hoped for more, but it had stopped there. It was all just holding each other to sleep, or exchanging kisses. He couldn’t pinpoint his exact intentions, but it seemed he was deliberately holding back so Ji Yeonwoo could recover quickly and get tested.

‘Mr. Moohyuk, where will I stay?’

On the day he was discharged from the hospital and came to his house, they had had that conversation.

‘What do you mean, where? Are you planning to sleep in a different room?’

‘You’ve always lived alone. It might be uncomfortable for you to have me around.’

‘Who says that? That it’s uncomfortable. I won’t be touching you for the time being, but separate rooms are absolutely out of the question.’

Then he had added firmly:

‘Who knows? Maybe if you keep staying close, an alpha’s pheromones might even naturally cure your pheromone deficiency, Mr. Yeonwoo?’

Ji Yeonwoo, recalling the words he had said as a joke, let his shoulders droop and let out a deep sigh.

“Something has to happen for it to get treated or not. If nothing’s happening… even a cure would stop working.”

His lips pursed as he grumbled softly. Just because he didn’t have pheromones didn’t mean he had no sexual desire. He knew well it was all because of the man’s consideration and concern, but he couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed nonetheless.

Left with only strange lingering attachments, Ji Yeonwoo, who had been unnecessarily clinging to Moohyuk’s cardigan, opened the closet door and stepped out.

— Beep, beep-beep-beep.

Just then, he heard the sound of a password being entered at the front door. Ji Yeonwoo, who had been about to close the door, froze and looked toward the entrance. The front door opened with some effort, and the housekeeper came in, carrying heavy bags in both hands.

“Mr. Yeonwoo, you’re up early.”

“Hello. Please give those to me.”

Ji Yeonwoo bowed in greeting and approached. Seeing the bags that had been set down briefly to close the door, he took them instead, but the housekeeper stopped him.

“Oh, it’s fine.”

Ji Yeonwoo smiled kindly and took the bags from the housekeeper’s hands despite her firm refusals. As the housekeeper carried the remaining bags and entered the living room, her gaze lingered on one spot. Ji Yeonwoo belatedly realized that in his hands, along with the shopping bags, was Choi Moohyuk’s cardigan.

“Ah! This. This is Mr. Moohyuk’s knit—he must have forgotten to put it out for the laundry. So I was going to put it out instead, ha, haha….”

Even though the housekeeper hadn’t said anything, he felt strangely guilty about having buried his face in Choi Moohyuk’s cardigan in the closet, and he rambled on. The housekeeper, watching Ji Yeonwoo quietly, gave a smile as if to say, why are you flustered over something like that.

“I told you, you don’t need to help. Anyway, thank you for caring. Is there anything you feel like eating today?”

Ji Yeonwoo followed the housekeeper into the kitchen and set the shopping bags on the table.