LIGHTNOVELSTORY Side Story 12
Side Story 12
Side Story 4. Meeting and Change (3)
“…A heat cycle…”
Seung-hyun sighed deeply. Becoming Han Seung-hyun, having a child – everything had been surprising, but this was truly perplexing.
“Seung-hyun’s omega pheromones should have completely disappeared after the baby was born… but because it was a malfunctioning organ, there’s some residual effect.”
“…Pardon?”
“Since the baby is born, the pheromone glands shouldn’t be stimulated anymore, so they should slowly stop functioning… but it seems omega pheromones will remain for about half a year.”
Half a year. He’d be busy taking care of Raon for six months anyway, so he probably wouldn’t go out or meet any alphas. Even with Jae-young around, he was careful about managing his pheromones, so it should be fine if he took suppressants properly.
“You’ll probably have one, maybe two heat cycles. Ah, since only the pheromones remain, the possibility of pregnancy is still almost non-existent… but you should be prepared.”
“Can’t I just take heat suppressants? That’s what everyone does…”
“In a normal situation, I would recommend that… but heat suppressants won’t be effective for you.”
The doctor explained that since only the pheromones remained while his body was essentially beta, it was unclear if omega heat suppressants would work. Moreover, there was a higher chance of adverse effects if suppressants were prescribed to a body already experiencing confusion.
“Still, since you were originally an alpha… you should be able to control your pheromones, which is fortunate. When betas present late, they struggle with pheromone control from the start, so at least…”
The doctor, who was about to say it was somewhat fortunate, quietly left upon seeing Seung-hyun’s dazed face. Omega pheromones, heat cycle – these were things he had never imagined experiencing.
Moreover, if he couldn’t get suppressants prescribed, wouldn’t pheromones leak out if stimulated, even in daily life?
‘And if I can’t take medication during heat… that means I have to spend the heat cycle with a partner. At least once, or twice if I’m unlucky…’
How should he tell this to Jae-young? Of course, he needed to tell him since Jae-young was the only person to spend the heat cycle with, but it felt strange.
Jae-young would be surprised but would probably accept it quickly. But Seung-hyun wasn’t like that. What was a heat cycle? Wasn’t it losing one’s reason to pheromones and craving an alpha’s pheromones and body?
‘…Something I’ve only seen in those kinds of novels…’
With how effective suppressants were in this world, even people who lived their whole lives as alphas and omegas acted as if heats and ruts didn’t exist. And now he, who had become a beta, had to face a heat without suppressants.
It was so overwhelming that his head hurt. If it was this bad now, he felt like he might want to run away if he saw Jae-young’s face. So, although he felt sorry, he immediately refused when Jae-young said he would come.
It wasn’t like they would never see each other again, and he knew it was just delaying the inevitable, but he wanted to postpone it even for a week.
‘Maybe I should have at least pretended to consider it…’
But after hanging up, he felt guilty for refusing so abruptly. It must be hard taking care of Raon alone, and they hadn’t been apart for a day since he woke up, so being unable to see each other for a week must be worrying.
He looked forward to being discharged but also wished it wouldn’t come. Time passed quickly while he was unsure of his true feelings. On the day Raon turned exactly 4 weeks old, Seung-hyun received confirmation that he could be discharged.
“Don’t overexert yourself. The heat will probably come once around 3-4 months after birth, and if it comes a second time, it will be around 6 months. There are regular check-ups and pheromone kits, but try to avoid going out during those times if possible.”
“……”
“You know the prodromal symptoms, right? Don’t mistake it for a cold, you need to check immediately. And once it starts…”
“I’ll be affected for about 3 days. You’ve told me at least ten times.”
“Because it’s that important.”
In the end, Seung-hyun couldn’t tell Jae-young about the heat cycle until the day of his discharge. While he was listening to the doctor’s instructions about the heat cycle for the umpteenth time, Jae-young opened the hospital room door.
“Seung-hyun.”
His face had become a bit thinner over the two weeks. Although they had video called every day, seeing him in person was quite different from the low-quality video calls. Seung-hyun reached out with a worried face.
“It must have been hard taking care of her alone. I’m sorry.”
“I wasn’t alone. There’s the sitter. And you told me to focus on getting better. You listened so well, there’s nothing to be sorry about.”
Jae-young said, rubbing his face against Seung-hyun’s hand. His face looked worse due to the lingering effects of the first week, but life had become much easier since the sitter arrived.
While they were greeting each other, the doctor stood beside them with a slightly awkward face. After waiting for a moment, the doctor spoke.
“Don’t forget to come for regular check-ups every two weeks, and please take care of the caregiver as well. Especially the he-“
“I’ll tell him about that later.”
Seung-hyun interrupted the doctor, who was about to mention the heat cycle, and looked at him with urgent eyes. Quickly grasping that Seung-hyun hadn’t told Jae-young yet, the doctor closed his mouth.
“Alright. You’ve recovered enough to be discharged, so don’t worry too much. Just don’t overexert yourself.”
“Yes. But is there anything I should know…”
“I’ve told the patient everything, so he’ll tell you. I’ll see you in two weeks then. Congratulations on your discharge, and take care on your way home.”
The doctor left the room almost as if escaping. Something seemed suspicious. Jae-young glanced at Seung-hyun.
“…Are you hiding something from me?”
“Hiding? No. It’s just… there are some precautions, but it’s nothing serious. I’ll tell you later when we get home. I want to see Raon quickly.”
Seung-hyun said, unable to meet Jae-young’s eyes. Why was it so hard to say this? It was much more difficult than talking about his complexes or fears.
It wasn’t something that could be hidden by trying to hide it, and it was something he had to tell, but even thinking that, he couldn’t bring himself to speak.
“She’s grown so much. It’s only been two weeks…”
“Babies this age change every day. I thought the baby looked like her dad, but seeing her now, she looks exactly like her mom. Hoho.”
The friendly babysitter, who had become comfortable with Seung-hyun, taught him the things she had taught Jae-young. Saying that now there were two of them so she would leave, she smiled and left. After putting Raon to sleep, Seung-hyun closed the nursery door and came out to the living room.
“Is she already asleep?”
“Yeah. She whimpered a bit but fell asleep quickly.”
“We need to keep watching the baby monitor since we don’t know when she’ll wake up. We need to listen carefully too.”
Jae-young, who seemed more skilled than Seung-hyun after two weeks of care, said.
“Wouldn’t it be better to just leave the door open?”
“No, I have something to talk about. In case she wakes up…”
Seung-hyun came to the sofa and sat next to Jae-young. Now he really had to talk about it. After taking a deep breath, Seung-hyun began to speak.
“About what I was going to say at the hospital earlier…”
“Did something happen? Are you still not well?”
Jae-young’s expression changed as soon as he heard about the hospital, and he sat up straight, examining Seung-hyun’s condition. Seung-hyun calmed him down.
“No, it’s not that. If it were, I wouldn’t have been discharged. It’s not that… there’s just something we need to pay attention to. That’s what I wanted to talk about. It’s nothing major.”
“If it’s nothing major, you wouldn’t look like this. What is it?”
“Well, you know I’m not an alpha anymore, right?”
Seung-hyun struggled to begin. Jae-young knew that all of Seung-hyun’s alpha pheromones had disappeared. He had been preoccupied with the baby issue since then, so he had somewhat forgotten about it.
“Well, first… the pheromone issue is temporary, and they say I’ll become completely beta after about half a year.”
“Is that all? What’s the problem with that? I didn’t mind even when I thought you were an alpha.”
Jae-young said with a smile. He probably thought Seung-hyun was concerned about this because he had grown up in a family that discriminated based on traits, and he had ultimately become a beta, not an omega.
“It might even be better. You won’t have to feel others’ pheromones, and there’s no rut.”
“……”
So in his own way, he was trying to be considerate, but at the mention of rut, Seung-hyun felt like he had been hit. To say it’s fortunate not to have it, when he was about to experience something uncontrollable that even medication wouldn’t help.
“Don’t worry about that. My parents, me… it’s not important whether you’re alpha, beta, or omega, it’s just us that…”
“No, you’ve got it wrong. That’s not what I’m trying to say. I wish I could become completely beta quickly too.”
Seung-hyun interrupted Jae-young and rubbed his forehead. Right, he had to talk about it anyway, so he might as well say it quickly. Having made up his mind, he met Jae-young’s eyes.