Reasonable Loss - 6

“Love is ultimately something the brain does, after all.”

At those words, Eunsu, who had been maintaining silence the whole time, drew in a sharp, false breath. So, to sum it up. Love is something the brain does. Dokwon injured that brain. So the memories of four years evaporated. In other words, right now he was not in a state of loving me.

“Haah……”

Eunsu let out a short sigh. At that moment, his vision spun around. His head throbbed, and his stomach churned. As Eunsu swayed while seated, Kiho quickly supported him.

“Baby. Go out and wait. We’ll hear the rest and tell you.”

At those words, Eunsu obediently rose from his seat. Listening more would only make it more tragic. Anyway, treatment wasn’t happening right away. Sitting there sprawled out like this wouldn’t bring about any sudden solution that hadn’t existed before.

Eunsu, who had come out of the examination room, steadied his ragged breathing. Then he slid down the wall like a support, slowly sinking to sit on the floor.

He could not pull himself together at all.

It felt like waking up one morning to become a widow. Or like being left alone in a bleak world.

Ah, it was similar to the feeling when he had stood in his parents’ funeral hall. Nothing felt real.

Anyway, Dokwon had woken up, so that was enough. He would remember me soon. His petty heart felt sad, and it was frustrating enough to resent Dokwon for forgetting him completely.

In truth, he had done nothing wrong. There had been an unexpected accident, and he had injured his head while trying to protect me. If anything, it was my fault. But he could not help the feeling of resentment.

Eunsu blankly stared into space while stroking his belly. The child, who had not even come into the world yet, felt terribly pitiful for going through all sorts of things without being able to say a word.

Eunsu sat there on the hospital corridor floor like that for a few minutes. Doctors, nurses, and patients passed by him countless times, but none of them paid any attention to Eunsu.

As if they had seen people like Eunsu countless times before.

For some reason, that indifference made him feel better.

Yeah, this wasn’t so bad. As long as Dokwon had woken up, that was fine. So what if he did not remember me. They could just start over from the beginning. Just like when he kept coming and going to the 14th floor endlessly, this time I would go to him and keep going again.

Eunsu gripped the wall and stood up. Then, with a fierce snort, he headed to Dokwon’s hospital room.

Dokwon was leaning against the bed headboard, looking at his phone with a serious expression. It was the phone that his secretary had fixed after the screen had completely shattered in the accident.

Eunsu knocked lightly on the hospital room door. Dokwon’s gaze flowed toward the door. Eunsu smiled awkwardly. Dokwon did not smile. He did not say come in either.

Eunsu, who waited a moment, decided to be shameless. No more, no less, just as much as Dokwon had been when he showed up holding a mug, claiming the water cooler was broken.

Eunsu grabbed a folding chair and sat next to Dokwon. Dokwon looked at Eunsu with an expression like what kind of guy is this. Eunsu met that disgust and smiled brightly.

“How’s your body? Does it hurt anywhere?”

“……”

“Aren’t you hungry? Should I order a meal? Porridge would probably be good, right?”

Eunsu chattered on while checking the menu on the side table. The VIP hospital room had as many menu options as a hotel. Of course, the taste would not match a hotel’s, but since his condition was not good, it seemed better to eat hospital food.

Which one would be good. Which one would suit Dokwon’s taste.

Eunsu was seriously reading through the menu when Dokwon thrust his phone forward.

“Is this you?”

At the sudden polite speech, Eunsu’s shoulders flinched. When had he last heard polite speech from Dokwon. After they started dating, they had spoken casually, so the polite speech felt very new.

Eunsu tried to hide his fluster and looked at the phone. On the screen, Eunsu was laughing with a large white chocolate donut stuck above his lips, mimicking a mustache. It was taken at a donut shop near the company, a place they went to often.

“It does look like me, doesn’t it?”

Remembering the time when the photo was taken, Eunsu replied with a smile.

It had been winter, but the sunlight was good, so being indoors felt just like spring. As always, Dokwon and Eunsu had spent their lunch break together at the company, stopped by the donut shop to buy coffee and dessert, and then, with some time left, settled at a window table, fooling around with silly pranks until they took that photo.

Dokwon had really liked that photo.

He had said it came out too cute, that he kept smiling every time he turned on his phone, that it was not just once or twice he had let out chuckles during meetings after turning it on absentmindedly.

When Eunsu had told him to change the wallpaper then, he said he would never, even if it killed him. He had joked that he had no plans to change it for the next ten years.

Eunsu’s eyes curved gently. He vividly remembered the expression on Dokwon’s face when he had held the phone to take that photo.

“……”

Dokwon gave no reply. With an indifferent face, he took back the phone and looked through various things.

Eunsu was glad about that. It seemed like Dokwon was trying to recover his memories. After all, there was nothing he held in his hand as long as his phone. From the gallery and messages to emails, there would be plenty of memories to dig up.

While Dokwon was checking his phone, Eunsu ordered the meal. He ordered porridge that would not burden digestion and side dishes chosen carefully to match Dokwon’s taste, who did not like spicy or salty things.

With nothing left to do, Eunsu tapped his knee with his fingers like playing piano. Then he spotted the empty water glass. He got up right away and poured water. He mixed a little cold water into the hot water to make it warm.

Eunsu held out the water glass to Dokwon.

“Drink some water. The meal will take about fifteen minutes.”

Dokwon stared blankly at the water glass Eunsu held out. Then suddenly, he dropped the phone into the glass. At the unexpected action, Eunsu widened his eyes. Why would he drop a perfectly fine phone into water……

“Why……”

“It feels like picking up and using someone else’s. It seems better to throw it away and buy a new one.”

“This is practically as good as new. It was fixed after the accident.”

“Is that so?”

Dokwon twisted the corner of his mouth downward. Even so, it was already in the water, so his expression said there was nothing to be done.

Eunsu let out a long sigh through his nose. Somehow, he seemed a bit younger as a person. With four years gone, that made sense. He had always been so mature.

Eunsu let out a light sigh and fished the phone out of the water glass.

“Phones these days don’t break from this. They’re basically all waterproof.”

“……”

“It’s a relief. No need to buy a new one, ah!”

In that moment, Dokwon suddenly grabbed Eunsu’s elbow. His grip was so rough that the startled Eunsu dropped not only the water glass but the phone too. The glass shattered with a sharp clink. The phone also hit the edge and floor, and the screen cracked into pieces with a crunch.

Hundreds of cracks formed over the photo of Eunsu smiling brightly.

Eunsu looked at it with a sense of futility. No, how long had it been since it was fixed, and now again! Eunsu bent at the waist to pick up the phone. Then Dokwon pulled his arm even harder.

“It hurts!”

Pain like his bones were crumbling twisted Eunsu’s face badly. However, Dokwon pulled the arm more, drawing Eunsu toward himself. Then, out of nowhere, he buried his nose in the nape of Eunsu’s neck.

The startled Eunsu stopped breathing with a gasp. On the other hand, Dokwon inhaled deeply enough to swell his chest. In that instant, his pupils shrank to pinpoints.

“This smell. It’s omega pheromones, right?”

“Let go, Mr. Dokwon.”

“I’m asking if it is.”

“Of course it is! If it’s the smell you’re smelling.”

At Eunsu’s answer, Dokwon released his arm like tossing it away. Eunsu staggered but barely regained his balance. And he clutched his throbbing arm. At the sudden pain, tears welled up in his eyes. He felt annoyed too.

Eunsu furrowed his brow. Dokwon’s face was just as crumpled.

“Your smell is too strong. To the point of being unpleasant.”

“What did you say?”

“The moment you came in, the whole room filled with omega scent. My head hurts, and I feel nauseous.”

“……”

“This level means you haven’t taken suppressants. What’s the reason?”

At those words, Eunsu’s cheekbones flushed red. After all, there was nothing as vulgar as an omega wandering around emitting pheromones so blatantly.

Alphas and omegas, unlike ordinary people, were created to be faithful to their instincts. The pleasure their bodies produced was so great that many alphas and omegas lived addicted to s3x, like drug or alcohol addicts. Most of them wandered around emitting pheromones freely.

Eunsu felt his heart sink at the thought that Dokwon was treating him like one of those omegas.

“I…… I’m, pregnant, so I can’t…… take regular suppressants.”

Eunsu, covering his mouth, stammered.

“……”

At those words, Dokwon widened his eyes.