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Since Kim Dokja has gotten pregnant, Yoo Joonghyuk has been… strange.
Strange in a way that Kim Dokja couldn’t describe. No, Yoo Joonghyuk’s behavior has been completely nonsensical, to the point where it genuinely couldn’t be explained away by any sort of natural phenomenon. The cases that Kim Dokja had experienced had been odd enough for him to wipe them from memory. But, if you forced Kim Dokja to describe it… It was akin to a wolf trying to protect a carcass it had hunted from other predators lurking in the area—a territorial kind of action that left Kim Dokja speechless more often than not.
He remembers a specific confrontation with Han Sooyoung when Yoo Joonghyuk’s initial symptoms had popped up.
“Hey.” Han Sooyoung shifts the lollipop in her mouth from one side of her cheek to the other. “You should probably get… that guy in check.”
Her eyes flick towards somewhere behind Kim Dokja, before jolting back to him. Her pupils, shaking, stare directly into Kim Dokja’s own, her lips pressing into a thin line. This sight from Han Sooyoung is fairly normal—she’d always been strangely afraid what she’d dubbed your bastard of a boyfriend—so Kim Dokja simply rolls his eyes in response.
Still, he can’t help but be a little curious. His head flicks around, meeting Yoo Joonghyuk’s glower.
That guy in question is still wearing an apron—of course, for some reason, sans the cooking utensils that were previously in his hands—sniffing the air like a rabid wolf in search of prey. Kim Dokja blinks, turning back to Han Sooyoung.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kim Dokja lies straight through his teeth.
Okay. So Yoo Joonghyuk is acting a little weird. But for someone like him, it’s probably a phase. With those looks, Kim Dokja would let anything he’d do pass, really.
Han Sooyoung’s gaze flicks between him and Yoo Joonghyuk. Him and Yoo Joonghyuk. Again and again, before she sighs, shaking her head. She hisses something to Kim Dokja, but he completely ignores her.
There’s no point in trying to listen to Han Sooyoung when she’s just as crazy as Yoo Joonghyuk, Kim Dokja thinks.
Okay. To be fair, back then, he didn’t know it’d get this bad.
“Yoo Joonghyuk,” Kim Dokja sighs. “Stop that.”
Yoo Joonnghyuk’s head snaps towards Kim Dokja, and the rumble—the pervasive growl that seeped from his throat—lessens to a manageable purr. He grabs onto Yoo Joonghyuk’s hand for good measure, interlacing his own fingers between his, dragging him away as quickly as he can.
“It’s a mannequin, Joonghyuk-ah. What are you growling at?”
“It has pheromones,” he counters. “…You’re easily seduced, Kim Dokja.”
What the fuck?
This guy… This absolute bastard. Is he actually fucking insane?
“What the hell are you talking about?” Kim Dokja openly gapes at him. Where the hell did he get that idea? Did playing video games somehow end up rotting his brain? Were the L■■gue of L■gends matches too much for his sanity? Had someone cursed him out so badly during a game he’d suddenly lost all sense of reality?
Sooner or later, Kim Dokja would need to bring this guy to a shaman. Modern-day gaming truly might rival underwater welding in terms of danger if it could warp Yoo Joonghyuk’s cognition this much.
“You fell for me at first scent,” Yoo Joonghyuk says. His brow, still furrowed, resembles a valley in its shape. There are so many wrinkles that Kim Dokja wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up aging fifteen years after this shopping trip. “You—”
Kim Dokja leans forwards, pressing his index against the center of his brow. The wrinkles lessen, flattening out, but Yoo Joonghyuk’s glare still remains pointedly on him.
“Joonghyuk-ah, please just think for just a second,” Kim Dokja sighs. “You know that I don’t care about anyone else’s pheromones except yours.”
Of course, this persuasion isn’t enough to dissuade Yoo Joonghyuk. His gaze still flicks onto the mannequin, before it finally slips out of view as Kim Dokja practically pulls him away.
Yoo Joonghyuk still glances back, as if there’s a possibility for the mannequin to suddenly become sentient and wander in their direction. A migraine begins to build against the back of Kim Dokja’s skull.
“You…” Kim Dokja massages his brow. “No, nevermind.”
“Kim Dokja,” Yoo Joonghyuk hisses.
“Don’t say anything right now, Joonghyuk-ah.”
If this guy really does say anything else nonsensical, Kim Dokja really might pass out in the middle of the mall.
As soon as they get home, Kim Dokja drops all their shopping bags onto the couch, before grabbing hold onto Yoo Joonghyuk’s wrist, dragging him to the center of their living room. It’s spacious enough for Kim Dokja to carry out what he needs to do.
“We need to talk,” Kim Dokja says.
As soon as he drops those earth-shattering words, Yoo Joonghyuk’s reaction follows.
Yoo Joonghyuk’s pupils shake, his look immediately growing stern. His throat bobs up and down, and his brows furrow. He exhales shakily.
The sight is almost enough for Kim Dokja to forgive Yoo Joonghyuk, but if he does, then it’ll go how it’s always gone. In no time, Yoo Joonghyuk would be back to his strange antics, bothering Kim Dokja until he couldn’t take it any longer. Again, they’d be stuck in this cycle, where Kim Dokja would chide Yoo Joonghyuk, before forgiving him, before chiding him once more.
“What is it?” Yoo Joonghyuk’s voice comes out barely louder than a whisper. His eyes flick across Kim Dokja’s face, a clear indication of him trying to discern what’s wrong. Kim Dokja, of course, knows this, keeping his face as impassive as he possibly can.
He swallows. He tries to shake off Kim Dokja’s grip gently, but Kim Dokja only tightens his fingers in response.
This guy… He’s really oblivious, isn’t he?
In no time, Yoo Joonghyuk begins rambling. “I’ll cook a better dinner than yesterday. We can go out to buy anything you’re missing. I’ll—”
“Joonghyuk-ah, just stop. Stop for a moment.”
Yoo Joonghyuk immediately shuts up, his lips pursing. He gulps. He looks just like a child in trouble—which, to be frank, he might as well be, given his childish actions as of late.
Kim Dokja sighs. It’s always Yoo Joonghyuk who manages to get on his nerves, but he wouldn’t be Yoo Joonghyuk if it weren’t for his skill to do so. His grip tightens on his wrist, preventing him from going anywhere—though, if Yoo Joonghyuk really wanted to, he could easily break out, given the state of Kim Dokja’s body. Pregnancy hormones and his past dietary choices hadn’t done well for his strength, of course.
That’s only if Yoo Joonghyuk doesn’t want to get chewed out further, though. And, intelligently, he doesn’t break out of Kim Dokja’s grip, quite possibly knowing this exact train of thought.
Kim Dokja suppresses a smile, a sense of schaudenfreude filling him at this pathetic sight. Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes are dimmed, staring right at Kim Dokja, waiting patiently for his next words. If it weren’t for Yoo Joonghyuk’s past actions, Kim Dokja would’ve once again fallen into his clutches, his face irresistible.
Still, he has to teach Yoo Joonghyuk a lesson.
Kim Dokja sighs. “What has gotten into you? You weren’t like this before, were you? I’m older than you, Joonghyuk-ah. You don’t have to treat me like a toddler.”
Yoo Joonghyuk gulps, averts his eyes, sighs, before he purses his lips even further. If he keeps up his pace, his lips would disappear into the ether in no time.
After releasing a huff—and some prompting from the stern look on Kim Dokja’s face—he relents. “The baby… pheromones, your body, you… other alphas… You keep releasing your scent, Kim Dokja.”
What?
Yoo Joonghyuk had practically unloaded a truckful of word vomit onto him. Even a Korean literature major wouldn’t be able to decipher Yoo Joonghyuk’s thoughts from those handful of words.
Kim Dokja pinches his nosebridge, exhaling a slow breath, before glancing back at Yoo Joonghyuk’s face. As expected, his lips are pursed once more, his gaze guiltily placed off to the side.
“Say that again, but slowly.” Kim Dokja runs a hand over his face. This guy would sooner be the death of him than anything else.
“You keep releasing your scent. In public. Other alphas… You… You fell for me. There’s a chance that you’ll fall for someone else, too. Your pregnancy—it’s been bothering you. What if you change your mind?”
Kim Dokja’s mouth drops right open.
Hah…
Really, what strange thoughts has this guy been thinking?
During these tumultuous weeks, Kim Dokja has had thoughts like that too. Of Yoo Joonghyuk leaving him for his moodiness. Dissatisfaction with his body—his gradual weight gain. The nausea that accompanied his mornings, along with the glow of the sunrise.
He didn’t think someone like Yoo Joonghyuk would be thinking these things, too. Really, the perfect Yoo Joonghyuk that everyone had admired back in high school and college, fretting over matters such as these? It would be unfathomable, even to someone like Kim Dokja, who knew Yoo Joonghyuk more than anyone else.
In all honesty, it makes Kim Dokja feel a little better. It makes him feel much better, actually. To think that Yoo Joonghyuk had thought like him—strange anxieties that plagued his days, keeping him up late at night.
“You idiot. Do you think my feelings can change that quickly?” Kim Dokja sighs. “Have a little more faith in me, Joonghyuk-ah. It hurts, you know? You already know I’m not the type to fall for just anyone. Your face is too handsome to let go of.”
Yoo Joonghyuk flicks his eyes to the floor. It’s as clear as an apology could be from a guy like him. Kim Dokja brings a hand to his face, brushing his cheek with a thumb. His gaze immediately flicks upwards, a puppylike innocence gleaming within his previously subdued eyes.
Kim Dokja can’t suppress a laugh at the sight. “Hey Joonghyuk-ah. If you’re really sorry, massage my legs later, okay? They’ve been killing me.”
“Okay…”