The Smell on His Skin Wasn’t His Husband’s

“……!”

The pheromone hit so hard my knees nearly buckled.
Releasing pheromones this strongly between a married couple meant one thing—’I want to have s*x right now.’
If a stranger did this, it would be a trip to the police station.
I was dumbfounded.
I had absolutely no desire to do anything right now.

I considered s*x where someone forced their pheromones to induce heat to be no different from r*pe.
Jeon Seongwon knew I felt that way.
Yet he still did this.
I strode over and slapped his cheek, then turned away.
He quickly stood up, followed me, and grabbed my arm, but I shook him off.

If he held on tight and didn’t let go, I had no way of overpowering him.
But fortunately—was ‘fortunately’ the right word?—he let go of my arm almost immediately.

Even after my arm was free, I clutched the spot he’d touched and glared at him.
“…….”

Jeon Seongwon kept his eyes fixed on me.

“What. Trying to fill in for Weilin?”

“Why do you keep bringing up Weilin? And how do you know I met him?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t get reports on that?”
Because I’d planted a spy after all……
Even if it was mostly Han Youngjun’s doing.

“Anything else to say?”

“A lot.”

Jeon Seongwon’s voice was strained.
From the moment he’d released his pheromone, his face had been impossibly cold, radiating a murderous pressure as if he might strike me at any moment.
I actually flinched when he raised his hand.
Seeing me flinch, he looked slightly taken aback and swept his hair back.

“……What do you have to say?”

“Sit down and talk.”

“In this situation, you want me to sit in front of you? You don’t mean on my knees between your legs, do you?”

I was asking if he meant orally.
Jeon Seongwon’s face flushed bright red.
For someone who’d been releasing pheromones so freely, it was an innocent reaction.

Still glaring at him, I shoved both hands against his chest.
With a thud, Jeon Seongwon collapsed limply onto the sofa.
I immediately went into my room and slammed the door shut.
Jeon Seongwon didn’t follow.

* * * *

The next day, I woke up in an unpleasant state.
Having been hit with the pheromones of three alphas in quick succession, then dousing myself in deodorant, and finally going into heat because of Jeon Seongwon and having to take suppressants—my body seemed to have been through too much.

As I lay in bed groaning, someone knocked.
A quiet, neat knock.
It must be the chef.

“Is that you, Chef?”

I asked just in case, and the answer came back telling me to come in.
The chef, carrying a tray with a prepared meal, opened the door one-handed with practiced skill.

“You’re not feeling well, are you? I prepared easily digestible food, so please eat at least a little.”

“Ah…….”

I’d just woken up, my mouth felt dry, and I had no appetite.
But remembering the taste of the chef’s food, which I’d grown accustomed to over five years, I suddenly felt hungry.

“Is it okay if I wash up first and then eat?”

“Of course. I purposely kept it warm.”

“You’re the only one, Chef.”

Relieved, I roughly washed up and came out to find the chef had already set the meal on the table.
The food had cooled to just the right temperature, and the room was filled with fresh air—she must have aired it out while I was washing.
Just moving around a bit, washing up, and breathing clean air made me feel somewhat better.

“Then please eat comfortably. I’ll bring your medicine when you’re almost done.”

“Yes…… Ah, Chef.”

She turned back as she was leaving the room.

“What about Seongwon?”

Surely he hadn’t drunk himself into a stupor like some tragic alpha protagonist and passed out on the sofa?
While guzzling down that precious Remy Martin he’d been so upset about?
The chef smiled slightly and answered.

“The Vice Chairman went out early this morning. He didn’t overdrink last night either. I believe he got up right after you went to your room. He asked how you were doing this morning, by the way.”

“……Is that so?”

As expected, the chef knew everything.

“Yes. Don’t worry too much, Director.”

“Worry…… Haha. Well, I’ll eat well.”

“Please do. Enjoy your meal.”

I wanted to tell her I wasn’t worried, but explaining every situation was a bother, and letting it slide was simpler.
She might have guessed everything anyway.

Despite all my groaning, I ate nearly everything on the tray, then brushed my teeth and lay back down in bed.
Burying my face in the fluffy pillow and scrolling through my phone while lying on my side, I checked my unread messages and blinked.
One had arrived about two hours ago.

[Web Sender
Hankyung Card (9238) Approval
Lee Seyeon
3,820,300 Won
Bomyeong Seoul Hospital]

3.82 million won……
The hospital name was printed, so there was no question.
Kang Chaehee must have paid his grandmother’s hospital bill.
This was the first payment notification since I’d given him the card.

I chuckled, imagining Kang Chaehee’s face, knowing his personality—agonizing like crazy over whether to use it or not.
I tossed my phone aside and slept for a while.

How much time passed?
When I groggily woke and checked the time, I had to let out an “Eh?”

[Director, I’m reporting that Kang Chaehee has visited the hotel.]

Startled, I sat bolt upright.
It was Wednesday.
We’d met just yesterday, and it was certainly not a scheduled appointment.

For the past month, Kang Chaehee had kept our appointment times perfectly and had never once asked to meet first.
Could he already be getting greedy?
Had I misjudged him?

“…….”

Messages like ‘Send him away’ or ‘Ignore him’—words I could type with just a few taps.
But I just stared at the screen without writing them.

I narrowed my eyes, thought for a long time, and finally made up my mind and sent a reply.
Of course, Jeon Seongwon’s attitude yesterday had significantly influenced that reply.

* * * *

“……Director!”

Kang Chaehee, who had been waiting in the lounge cafe, jumped to his feet.
His face was tense with nerves.
Our arrangement was to meet every Tuesday.
Showing up unannounced like this was a problem.
I had no intention of letting him cross the line.

So I looked at him with a hardened expression.
Kang Chaehee seemed to tense up even more, then took a deep breath and bowed his head.

“I-I’m sorry for using the card. The hospital bills had piled up……. I’ll pay you back when I get the money.”

I raised an eyebrow.
He’d hung around the hotel just to say this?

“I gave you that card to use. Are you going to call me out every time you use it and apologize?”

“Ah, uh……. It’s not that, but…… it was too large an amount…….”

A chuckle escaped me.

“You already know who I am, yet you’re calling a few million won a large amount. Whether it’s tens of millions or hundreds of millions, use it as you please. You don’t need to report to me. Not that you’d have anywhere to spend hundreds of millions anyway…… Ah.”

Only then did I remember something I’d briefly forgotten.
Kang Chaehee’s debt.
I asked him, tilting my head curiously.

“How much debt is left?”

“Well, about 77……”

“77?”

“77 million won……”

“Hasn’t gone down at all.”

In one month, only 1.2 million won had decreased.
Was his household situation that difficult?
If he’d been living off barely reducing it by a million won a month, the harassment would have been intense—but it didn’t seem like that.

“Honestly, last month I couldn’t do many part-time jobs…….”

Kang Chaehee smiled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head.

“Why?”

After asking, I figured out the answer myself.
Because of acting practice.
I’d taken up what little time Kang Chaehee had.

“Um, about the card……. Using it right after yesterday’s timing felt too…… I was worried you might think I assumed it was okay to use it because we kissed. So I came to tell you that’s not it.”

At the words ‘because we kissed,’ Kang Chaehee’s voice volume dropped extremely low.
I could barely understand it by reading his lip movements.

“Like I said, you don’t need to worry. It’s a card I gave you to use. And—”

“Yes.”

“Tell me the name of the private lender you borrowed from.”

* * * *

“You’re smiling?”

Once inside the room, Kang Chaehee looked at me and smiled.
Caught off guard, I asked, and he scratched his eyebrow without wiping the smile off his face.

“Well…… I was so nervous earlier I couldn’t speak properly, but seeing you makes me happy.”

I shut my mouth.
The words that came straight at me hit me defenseless.
As I struggled to find a response, Kang Chaehee spoke again.

“I won’t show up unannounced like this again. But…… honestly, the card was an excuse. I couldn’t stand to wait until next Tuesday.”

“You’ve managed to wait just fine until now.”

“I did, but…….”

Kang Chaehee wrinkled his brow slightly, hesitated for a moment, then lowered his voice.
Even though there was no one listening.

“I did, but we kissed yesterday, didn’t we?”

“…….”

I pretended not to be shaken, but my heart dropped.
My face instantly heated up, and my chest pounded.

However he interpreted that silence, Kang Chaehee leaned his body slightly toward me and looked up.

“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since then.”

As he said this, Kang Chaehee’s face was damp.
Not that he’d been crying—it carried a certain sticky, humid quality.

And if I wasn’t mistaken, that was lust.
Kang Chaehee suddenly bowed his head deeply, lightly touched his nose tip to my exposed wrist, and said softly.

“Alpha scent…….”
“…….”
“Your husband’s?”