TCBW C55

Chapter 55

 

“….”

Damn it—what on earth was this?

The moment Dowoon saw Suhoe in that state, he found himself inexplicably unable to take even a single step forward. His gaze remained fixed upon that fragile figure, as if nailed in place.

He tried to avert his eyes, but those suppressed, trembling sobs burrowed persistently into his ears. To make matters worse, the curse that trailed him crawled up from his fingertips, pierced through his solar plexus, and tightened around his heart like a vise.

For a long moment, Dowoon stood there as though shackles—unseen yet unyielding—were locked around his ankles. Only after that suffocating stillness did he finally turn away, his movements weighed down.

“…Stop crying.”

At the low, slightly cracked tone, Suhoe’s shoulders jerked. Words spilled out of him in a disjointed rush, as though a dam had burst.

“…F-For… for going to the dinner, I really was wrong. But at first… after the dinner, I planned to come home. It’s just… I thought you wouldn’t come home that night, and… and I didn’t know the exact address… so I just told the driver ahjussi, and thought if I slipped out for a little bit it would be fine, but… he was asleep then… so I left a note on the window… that’s really why I went.”

Talk of notes and such only sounded to Dowoon like flimsy excuses to worm out of the situation.

Besides, there was something even more fundamental pricking at his temper. So after quietly listening to Suhoe ramble, he asked in a sunken voice:

“How exactly would you know whether I’d come home or not?”

“…Because… whenever Director Han comes… you usually don’t come home.”

Suhoe’s voice thinned like a fragile thread, ready to snap at the slightest tremor. His eyes remained glued pitifully to a spot on the floor, unable to lift.

“Director Han?”

The unexpected name made Dowoon involuntarily knit his brows. Was this kid talking in his right mind?

Yes, he had indeed been informed that Sara suddenly showed up at the office that day.

But with his mind wholly consumed by the frantic search for Suhoe, he had forgotten all about her until this very moment.

And even if he had remembered—what connection could that possibly have with whether he came home or not? The confusion was plain on his face.

But Suhoe had no capacity to read that shift. He continued, voice hollow with resignation, as if everything were already known.

“You two… are dating… so when you’re together… you usually don’t come home…”

“…What?”

Only then did Dowoon grasp the outline of what Suhoe was saying.

This naïve little fool—whether from innocence or sheer stupidity—believed his husband was openly seeing another woman, and had voluntarily stepped aside for them.

“…Who ever asked you to give me that kind of consideration?”

Dowoon had to force down the blaze of fury surging to the top of his head.

After all, he had never once given Suhoe any hint regarding Sara.

Yet for some reason, this slow-witted kid had arbitrarily decided that he and Sara were lovers, and like a fool, had tried to tactfully disappear.

The absurdity of such misplaced consideration almost made Dowoon laugh.

Yes, there were days when he did not go to Banhwadong when Sara dropped by.

But that was because she barged in during work hours, derailing everything—leaving him to clear the backlog late at night at a private penthouse near the company.

Who could have known a chain of unfortunate coincidences would pile up this way and solidify into such a preposterous misunderstanding?

Dowoon was assaulted by a wave of discomfort and disgust.

That suffocating kindness—believing his husband was keeping another household, yet enduring it all in silence.

Those attempts to yield space, as though he truly were some secret lover… each thought throbbed painfully inside Dowoon’s skull.

“And what does my absence have anything to do with you? I told you to understand your place.”

His voice was glacial. At that frozen reprimand, Suhoe’s trembling worsened.

“B-But… I-I’ve never forgotten my place. Not once. I’ve never been with any other alpha. It’s always… always been you, Dowoon-ssi.”

Unable to finish, he choked out a desperate plea, his voice thick with tears.

“I’ve never… not even once… with another alpha… ever… even if— even if something happened with Jun yesterday, I didn’t know anything. Nothing at all…”

Dowoon already knew that.

There had been no trace of another man in Suhoe’s body.

Had there been even the slightest sign, this would not have ended with mere words.

But even without physical proof—penetration was not the only form of intimacy. Who knew what else could have occurred? The thought alone sickened him.

“Take this opportunity to stop that pointless job.”

“T-That’s impossible!”

Suhoe cried out, voice cracking. Dowoon’s eyes narrowed.

“Afraid you won’t see that mutt wagging his tail at you? I already warned you.”

“N-No! It’s not that— it’s really not—”

As if exhaling a breath he had been holding in, Suhoe pleaded:

“I only went to the dinner because… because I was so lonely…”

“…What?”

“…When you’re not there… it gets so lonely I can’t endure it.”

Through that trembling voice, something immeasurable flickered in Dowoon’s chest. Slowly, he turned his gaze to Suhoe, who shook uncontrollably.

His pale throat had flushed red.

“…You’ve got a fever.”

“I-I spent the whole weekend sick, alone. Nobody was there… I was so scared and sad…”

Fresh tears rolled down his delicate cheeks once more.

“And when we met, you only yelled at me… I was so scared… h-hic…”

Dowoon pinched the bridge of his nose. Watching Suhoe’s frail shoulders quake, it was clear he was on the brink of another heat.

“Hic…”

“Enough.”

He tried to calm him, but once the sobs began, they refused to stop.

“Hic… u-ugh…”

“The more you cry, the higher your fever will climb. Your pheromones are already all over the place.”

With a short sigh, Dowoon pulled him onto his lap.

Suhoe lifted his tear-stained face in surprise, searching his expression. A fragile hope flickered—had Dowoon calmed down and embraced him out of softness?

But cold anger still lingered in his eyes.

Seeing that, Suhoe could only cry harder, his body heating dangerously.

Dowoon, too, realized how alarmingly hot his skin had become.

“I-It hurts… my body’s burning…”

“Of course it is. Stop crying. If your fever rises more, the heat will start again.”

“Hic…”

Sighing softly, Dowoon pulled him closer.

Then he released a faint wash of stable pheromones—gentle like mist—wrapping around Suhoe.

“Breathe it in.”

Obediently, Suhoe nodded.

“Yes…”

He rested in the pheromone haze, stabilizing—until he suddenly looked up.

“Dowoon-ssi.”

“…What.”

“P-Please let me… keep working.”

Dowoon slowly lowered his gaze. Even as he made that request, tears overflowed, as though sorrow swelled endlessly inside him.

His attitude—clearly not intending to avoid heat properly—his fragile appearance, trembling on the brink… prompted Dowoon to ask something else entirely.

“You… do you have any sort of ability?”

“H-Huh? Ability? No… if you mean the blessed powers the servants of Unbang Mountain have… I don’t have anything like that. I can’t hear spirits or see them.”

“…But you can exorcise, right?”

“Oh—only if I have a special tool.”

“And besides that?”

“N-Nothing. I don’t have any abilities…”

In truth, he did—but bound by a promise with Unhyo, he kept his lips sealed.

“So then… do you have some ability to manipulate people with tears?”

Dowoon’s voice chilled sharply.

“W-What?”

Terrified, Suhoe flailed his hands.

“N-No! I would never— I definitely can’t do anything like that! H-hic!”

“You’re sure.”

“…Yes.”

Even as Dowoon asked again, suspicion unshaken, Suhoe only shook his head.