Chapter 23.1

Sweet Taste (1)

Right now, I was being made to sit in between Yuugo’s legs as he sat on the sofa. While being hugged from behind, I ate the orange jelly that he bought for me.

Dr. Kazuki and Yanagi had left a little while ago.

I totally thought I’d be going home together with them, but I’m still in this room for some reason.

The person who suggested that I stay with Yuugo for a little longer was surprisingly Dr. Kazuki himself.

It seems like the reason was my pheromones would only become stable when I’m around Yuugo. I wonder why. Maybe because I could feel at ease by his side… because he’s an alpha?

After hearing that, Yuugo wouldn’t leave my side, just like now.

Well, there was no need to stick close together like this… But Yuugo said he wanted to stay like this, and it didn’t make me feel uncomfortable too.

But it still feels strange.

I still couldn’t understand why we were in this situation.

“Sou, does that taste good?”

As I was eating the jelly silently, Yuugo spoke to me from behind.

His voice that could be heard so close to my ears tickled me a little.

“Ah… yeah. Do you want some, Yuugo?”

I replied like that spontaneously, and I immediately realized that I had made a mistake.

There was only one portion of jelly— If Yuugo said that he want some, I would have to give him a bite out of this.

I wonder if Yuugo would want to eat from my share.

“I want it. Give me some.”

“…Ah, but… if you don’t want to eat from my share, you don’t have to force yourself-“

“Of course I don’t mind. Come on, I’ll open wide.”

Wait, shouldn’t it be me who say ‘open wide’ if I’m the one who spoon-feeds him?

Yuugo leaned his face from the side and opened his mouth to me. That movement of his was just like a baby bird.

I couldn’t just ignore Yuugo, who looked as if he would stay like that until I spoon-feed him the jelly, so I scooped one-bite size of jelly and brought it to his mouth.

…The action of spoon-feeding someone is really something.

I couldn’t take my eyes off Yuugo’s mouth as it moves.

I slowly pulled out the spoon that I had inserted into his mouth. I could see his red tongue as it followed the spoon, and my heartbeat went faster in an instant.

“You’re right, it tastes good.”

“…..”

Yuugo smiled happily, but it wasn’t the time for that for me.

I gulped down the rest of the orange jelly in one gulp, but I couldn’t feel the taste that should have tasted good.

*

“Then, let’s sleep.”

Yuugo brought me not to the room where I had been sleeping before, but to his own bedroom.

I could smell his scent from all over the room. I’ve been restless just staying like this, and now he told me to sleep next to him… I think it’s impossible for me.

I couldn’t move from in front of the door.

“Hey… I’ll sleep in the room from earlier after all.”

“No. You have to be by my side so your pheromones could become stable, right? Come on, sleep in this room together with me for today.”

I tried refusing once, but in the end I couldn’t argue back as he took me into the bed.

I resisted Yuugo’s attempts to sleep while hugging each other, and I somehow managed to get into a position where he just hugged me from behind. But I still felt restless.

Perhaps Yuugo was tired, for I could hear his steady breathing as he sleep after a while.

…Even though I didn’t feel like I could sleep at all.

It was partly because I had been sleeping until just earlier, but the scent in this room must be what caused it. I could smell Yuugo’s scent from all over the room.

The new medication dose that Dr. Kazuki had given to me earlier seemed to prevent my fever from going up, but my heart was beating so loudly. It even made me think that Yuugo might wake up from the loud noise.

I felt so restless that I decided to get out of bed.

Yuugo didn’t wake up even when I lifted his arm. He seemed to be sleeping really soundly.

I left the room quietly and took a deep breath in the corridor.

It’s not that I don’t like Yuugo’s scent. Instead, it smells really good.

But, I was scared because I felt like I was turning weird the more I smelled that scent. My pheromones might become stable, but I felt like anything else inside my body would become a mess instead.

I moved to the living room.

Without turning on the lights, I sat on the sofa I had been sitting on earlier.

The air conditioner was also turned off, but it still felt cool here.

In the dimly lit living room, I turned on the screen of my phone that I brought from the bedroom.

“…There are also messages from my sister.”

I was going to look at it later, but I forgot all about it.

The messages arrived even before I first woke up. There was also my sister’s name on the call history.

The messages were all about her worry for me. She even said that she would contact our parents about this, as expected of her.

“I guess I’ll reply tomorrow.”

It would be 1 AM at midnight soon.

She had probably heard about my condition from Dr. Kazuki already, so I’ll just reply tomorrow morning. It would only bother her if I reply at this hour anyway.

That’s right. People normally don’t send messages to someone at this hour.

But, I sent it to Yuugo. Because I thought that he was an AI… that he wasn’t human.

I’m sure there must be a time when I sent a message when he was sleeping like now. Even at the time when he must be working, he would always give me a reply right away.

…Yuugo is a big shot, right?

Yanagi even said he was Yuugo’s secretary, and he called Yuugo a director.

Also, it was said he would be the next president— I remembered the unpleasant feelings I had from earlier.

“…Lars Lindgren, was it?”

I recalled Yuugo’s name that Dr. Kazuki had mentioned and tried to search it up. That name came up right away. Some pictures of Yuugo dressed properly in a suit came up, just like when I met him at the bookstore.

I had no idea who he was, but apparently Yuugo was famous.

“Developing products for alpha and omega… so he does something like that.”

Among them was the pheromone measuring device that Dr. Kazuki had been using.

It seems like his company was also involved in producing medical equipment. There were many other products on the site, but that wasn’t what caught my interest.

“Is this a forum…?”

There was a forum with Yuugo’s name on it. It was an anonymous forum. I tapped it out of curiosity –and immediately regretted it.

Most of the people posting there were omega. They wrote whatever they wanted about Yuugo.

I want to be his pair.

I want him to bite my nape.

Those were still on the better side.

That he has superior genes, the ideal stallion… There are many other worse words.

Among them, one particular conversation caught my eye.

—No matter how much of a big shot he is, in the end he’s just an alpha. We can just make him fall for using pheromones, right?”

—I know right. I should just be in heat near him, and he’ll be mine.

Isn’t this a crime?

No one on the forum tried to stop them. All I see were a bunch of comments that made fun of alpha.

“They only saw me as an alpha, and not myself.”

I remembered the words that Yuugo had blurted out earlier.

He probably meant about something like this.

All the comments posted there were all talking about Yuugo as a convenient alpha, not as himself.

Just looking at them made me sick.

I was also in a similar situation after I found out I was an omega. Not to this extent… but I hated the way people around me treated me as an ‘omega’, not as myself.

Because of that, I began to put distance even to my friends and family. They acted overly afraid than I was about the heat that I’ll experience, and they treated me like I was boiling water. Those things tire more than anything.

Then, it made me hate myself even more for being an omega.