Each time Jung Heeyeon fidgeted with his fingers, the machine dangling from them twitched along. Sitting upright, he kept wiggling his fingers. Perhaps because the machine was custom-made for the company’s alphas to use, his feet didn’t touch the ground, leaving them swinging in the air.
Lifting his vacant gaze, he saw Director Yeon’s profile across the room, having a conversation with Kim Jiwon. His face was impassive.
Forgetting that he was fidgeting with his fingers out of habit, Jung Heeyeon simply stared at the man. At some point, their eyes met. As Director Yeon’s gaze softened, Jung Heeyeon faintly smiled.
“Heeyeon-ssi, we’re done. You can come down now.”
Kim Jiwon’s voice flowed in with the sound of the machine shutting off.
“Yes.”
The moment he lowered his head to remove the device from his fingers, the sound of footsteps broke the silence. Before he could fully look up, a rock-hard chest came into view. The man who’d entered the examination room detached the machine himself and asked.
“Heeyeon, were you bored? Why do you keep fidgeting?”
His tone carried a hint of amusement.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Do we need to redo the test?”
“It’s alright.”
Wrapping an arm around Jung Heeyeon’s waist, the man lifted him down gently and whispered.
“I can get down on my own too… I’ll be careful next time during the test.”
At the murmured promise to be careful, Director Yeon raised an eyebrow, seemingly thinking Jung Heeyeon was saying it out of self-reprimand.
“You don’t have to be careful. I said it because your fidgeting is adorable.”
“Ah, yes.”
I see. Jung Heeyeon nodded nonchalantly, unbothered by being called adorable. Asking ‘Why am I adorable?’ to Director Yeon felt odd—the meaning behind it was probably akin to him calling the man beautiful.
Leaving the examination room, Kim Jiwon was peering at the pheromone levels on the screen. Jung Heeyeon sat practically nestled in Director Yeon’s arms, quietly waiting for the doctor to speak.
Since his first heat, he’d been meeting Lee Haejin regularly to learn how to control his pheromones, but he was still struggling, which worried him slightly.
Pheromone levels and mastering them were separate issues, but he couldn’t help feeling anxious—wondering if some flaw in him was to blame. He wanted to be an omega worthy of Director Yeon, so he felt somewhat fearful that he might fall short.
“It’s definitely more stable than last time.”
“How much?”
Kim Jiwon turned the screen toward Director Yeon, clearing his throat. The doctor had heard the man was busy, so he didn’t expect Director Yeon would stay through the whole test. An omega-obsessed Yeon Woobeom—it felt as strange as witnessing his tenderness toward Jung Heeyeon.
Guessing what had happened between the two wasn’t hard. Kim Jiwon had been the one to suggest Jung Heeyeon spend his heat with an alpha, after all. Still, he hadn’t expected Director Yeon to go this far, leaving him a bit flustered. He glanced at Jung Heeyeon.
The omega, nestled docilely in Director Yeon’s arms with a gentle expression, was practically drenched in alpha pheromones. The test was machine-run, so that didn’t matter, but even Kim Jiwon, medical professional, found himself thinking like a layman would, what if the test results don’t come out properly because of the alpha pheromones?
With a deep sigh, Kim Jiwon muttered a small complaint.
“Director.”
“Yeah.”
Director Yeon answered slowly, eyeing the screen instead of Kim Jiwon.
“I did say alpha pheromones are good for Heeyeon-ssi’s condition, but how about holding back starting tomorrow? His results are stable enough now that you don’t need to pour them out like this. Anyone else might think you’ve given him a pheromone shower.”
It was Kim Jiwon himself who had prescribed continued exposure to alpha pheromones post-heat. But this was excessive. As a dominant alpha, Director Yeon’s pheromones felt indeed intense, but even the alphas in Jiwoo—who doted on Jung Heeyeon—might recoil and avoid the omega with this level.
“Honestly, Director, your pheromones are giving me a headache. Can you spare some consideration for the other alphas in the company?”
“How can a doctor care more about himself than the patient?”
“But you can read pheromone levels too, Director. You’ve seen it—he’s fine now.”
“I’m fine?”
Jung Heeyeon, who was sitting quietly, chimed in. Kim Jiwon pointed at the screen Director Yeon had been viewing and began explaining step-by-step.
“Yes. Heeyeon-ssi, this is your pheromone level before the heat… and this is the result from just now.”
Jung Heeyeon leaned forward slightly, examining the graph on the screen. The wildly fluctuating line had now settled into a gentle curve.
“As your heat triggered, the pheromones that had accumulated in your body were released to some extent. After that, being consistently exposed to the Director’s pheromones helped dilute the remaining buildup… Since your pheromones had been accumulating for a long time, it’s natural that it’ll take longer for them to clear out compared to other omegas. Pheromones naturally build up over time, so the ones still lingering in your system need to be expelled properly.”
“Oh… So, is that why I’m struggling to control my pheromones? Haejin hyung said people with dominant traits usually pick it up quickly, but it feels like it’s taking me longer than expected.”
“That’s a possibility we can’t rule out. But judging by today’s test results, you’re improving. It should get easier from here.”
“I see… Thank you for explaining it to me.”
Jung Heeyeon, who had been looking a little dejected, felt somewhat reassured by Kim Jiwon’s words. Even if it wasn’t just because of Director Yeon, now that he was outside the walls, he needed to learn to control his pheromones on his own. Having presented as an alpha or omega and not knowing how to handle pheromones was no different from being immature. His hormonal glands weren’t damaged, and he had no major health issues, so it was something he absolutely had to learn.
More than anything, as an adult, it was only right that he knew how to control his pheromones.
“Director, he said I’m okay now. I’ll learn to control my pheromones quickly.”
“There’s no need to rush.”
“But I’m an adult, so I should be able to do it fast.”
Jung Heeyeon’s firm response made Director Yeon chuckle. It wasn’t that uncommon for people to manifest only after reaching adulthood, so being an adult didn’t automatically mean everyone could manage their pheromones properly. In fact, Director Yeon and the alphas of Jiwoo were the unusual cases.
Still, he decided to humor Jung Heeyeon’s determination.
“Hmmm. So you need to learn quickly?”
“Yes. Director, you’re good at it, and Haejin hyung too.”
“How adorable.”
Instead of praising him, Director Yeon used a different expression as he pressed a kiss to Jung Heeyeon’s fair cheek. It was as if he didn’t even acknowledge Kim Jiwon’s presence next to them, treating him like an inanimate object. Kim Jiwon, long accustomed to his employer’s shamelessness, simply averted his eyes, pretending not to see the scene.
He had noticed the subtle shift in atmosphere, but he hadn’t expected Director Yeon to dote on Jung Heeyeon this much. Even the pheromones made it obvious. The diagnosis Kim Jiwon had given was simply that Jung Heeyeon needed an adequate amount of alpha pheromones, meaning there was no need to be this excessive.
For a dominant alpha like Director Yeon, this amount of pheromones might not seem overwhelming, but there was no possible chance that he had misunderstood the doctor’s prescription. Whatever his reasoning, he was clearly releasing an excessive amount of pheromones on purpose.
For Jung Heeyeon, a dominant omega, this was practically pheromone therapy. But for Kim Jiwon and the other alphas in Jiwoo, this was a rather unpleasant experience. If it were just an alpha’s obsession with an omega, it might have been easier to understand—but the fact that it was Director Yeon made it all the more baffling. After all, wasn’t he someone who hated pheromones, both from alphas and omegas?
“So, you’re saying he’ll be fine now? I don’t think it’s such a simple matter, though.”
At Director Yeon’s question, Kim Jiwon gave a slight shrug before answering.
“He’s definitely improving, but as you said, it’s not a simple matter. His condition has stabilized a lot, but it’s still too early to say his body has become normal. Still, he’s on the right track, so as long as he avoids suppressants from now on, he should be fine.”
“Suppressants? Oh, right. Now that I think about it, Haejin hyung told me it’d be better if I stopped taking them.”
“Lee Haejin-ssi is correct. To be honest, the reason you were prescribed suppressants in the first place was because of the pheromones leaking from your body—it wasn’t because of your heat. If you can’t regulate your pheromones, it makes daily life difficult. And Heeyeon-ssi, as you know, our company is full of alphas.”
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Tysm for this update!!! This makes my heart feel so happy amidst the earthquake and saddening things happening here. Lovelots!!!!!!!
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