Reasonable Loss - 19

It was a meaningless smile. A common smile used in social interactions, the kind nurses use when dealing with patients or guardians. Then, she closed the door without hesitation.

“…”

Eunsoo stared blankly at the closed door. Faintly, he could hear Dokwon’s groans from beyond the door. While listening, he caressed his hand. It was the hand stained with Dokwon’s blood.

‘Don’t touch me!’

‘Get away!’

Dokwon’s screams echoed in her ears. His red eyes glaring at her and the repulsive smell seemed to dominate her senses.

Eunsoo rubbed his hand a little harder. He kept rubbing and scratching his hand with his nails. After a while, he felt a sharp pain. His skin was unpleasantly peeling. He looked down at it silently and then turned away.

* * *

It was the weekend just before the accident. It was a peaceful and lazy weekend. Eunsoo was lying on the carpet in Dokwon’s living room, looking at heis laptop. It was Sunday, but he had to submit his work by Monday, so he was reviewing it once more.

Dokwon hugged Eunsoo from the side and nuzzled his face against his neck. In the early days of their relationship, they had promised not to work on days off, but Eunsoo was a team leader and Dokwon was a director, so it wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

So, she was understanding as long as their time together didn’t interfere too much. Of course, Dokwon would sometimes threaten to cut off all the tasks he assigned to Eunsoo, or casually mention that he would be featured in the newspaper for harassment.

But today, surprisingly, Dokwon waited for him to finish his work without any complaints. He promised Eunsoo a generous reward of a deep kiss once he finished his work.

As Eunsoo was finishing his last email, Dokwon gently touched his waist and called his.

“Eunsoo.”

“Yes?”

“Are you feeling unwell?”

“Huh? Me? No?”

Eunsoo was surprised by his sudden question. He had slept in late today, eaten delicious food, and almost finished his work. He was in perfect condition.

However, Dokwon didn’t dismiss his inexplicable worries. He buried his nose behind Eunsoo’s ear and sniffed, trying to catch a strange scent.

“Really? It’s a bit strange…”

“What do you mean?”

“Your scent seems different. It’s like the smell of a gym cycle… But we just had that gym cycle recently, right? I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it’s different from usual.”

Eunsoo smelled his own wrist. But he couldn’t smell anything unusual. It was natural since he couldn’t smell his own pheromone scent. He could only smell Dokwon’s scent that lingered on his skin.

“Maybe it’s just my imagination.”

Eunsoo casually replied and finished writing his email. However, Dokwon’s serious expression didn’t fade away.

“No. Could it be that I’m imagining your scent due to my mood?”

“…?”

Eunsoo didn’t respond. He was concerned, not about any physical problems with his body, but about something else.

Tapping on the laptop keyboard, Eunsoo asked without taking his eyes off the screen.

“Is the smell, like, bad?”

“What?”

“No, you said it’s strange…”

“…”

“Like the smell of spoiled milk, a sewer smell, or smoke… I thought it might be something like that…”