The Probability of Becoming a Couple with Your Beloved

Today, the eyelids were especially heavy. Wonhyeok, waking up and looking at the white ceiling, quietly cursed. They say a person knows their body best. A slight feeling of fever and heaviness in the body. Wonhyeok roughly grabbed the desk calendar near the bed and checked the date.

Seeing the sticker on Friday of this week, he sighed briefly. In the past, he always somehow took care of himself before the onset of rut, but lately, he couldn’t do it.

Why?

‘Hello, senior.’

Ironically, this question was followed by Hangeom’s face. Feeling strongly displeased with himself, Wonhyeok frowned and sharply put down the calendar. Then he headed to the bathroom to wash up.

Alphas and omegas have a common phenomenon – the heat period. For alphas, it’s called the rut cycle, for omegas – the heat cycle. Although the names sound elegant, there’s actually nothing special about it. It’s just a period when, like animals, alphas’ lower parts swell, and omegas become wet in the back, that’s all.

Wonhyeok was a dominant alpha, of which there are only a small minority among alphas, and who are considered a very superior type in some circles.

Dominant alphas typically experience strong ruts. Since childhood, he had been drummed into his head that this was a strong manifestation of the human instinct to pass on superior genes to the next generations, but honestly, he didn’t care about all that.

“Damn, my head…”

Because in the period approaching rut, his condition became absolutely terrible. Especially for Wonhyeok, due to his constitution, his condition during rut was very unstable. Even the pheromones, which he usually carefully controlled, could unexpectedly burst out, so during this period he had to take stabilizers daily.

After finishing preparations for university, Wonhyeok went to the kitchen and habitually took out and took a stabilizer. Then, just in case, he took out a long case from the drawer where medicines were stored and checked its contents. Fortunately, there were suppressants left that needed to be used during rut.

“Too lazy to go for a prescription.”

Wonhyeok irritably and nervously closed the drawer. Recently, medicine related to types has developed greatly, and suppressants stabilizing the body during heat could be easily bought as regular medicine.

But Wonhyeok’s case was a bit different. Because he was a dominant alpha and his heat was very unstable, only special suppressants in the form of injections prescribed by a doctor after consultation helped him. Even the current suppressants were prescribed after he tried many options and found the most suitable one, but honestly, they didn’t suppress the heat completely like for others.

Therefore, when the day of rut came, Wonhyeok didn’t leave the house until it ended. After all, if he accidentally touched some omega, it could become a problem.

Since in the period approaching rut, other people’s pheromones were felt more acutely, Wonhyeok didn’t forget to take a mask and hat before going out. Suddenly he noticed the assignment materials lying on the table in the living room. These were the materials he had struggled to bring from his parents’ house last weekend to keep the promise he made to Hangeom.

“…”

Despite the fact that he himself brought these things, a wrinkle appeared between Wonhyeok’s eyebrows as he looked at these materials. “Senior taking care of juniors” was also one of the images that Wonhyeok had been playing all this time. But this category didn’t include such personal help with assignments and one-on-one care. Until now, he had never cared so much about any junior.

Why was he doing this for this nerd? Wonhyeok sighed deeply and put the materials in his bag. Well, after all, he promised.

‘Really, thank you, senior. I’m so happy.’

When he handed over the materials, Hangeom smiled widely, stretching his red lips. Although he just handed over materials, because of this facial expression, it seemed as if there were not papers in his hands, but a bundle of money.

Irritated by the gaze of the large eyes that seemed to be trying to examine his face under the hat, Wonhyeok quickly made excuses about having a cold and left.

As the day of rut approached, his condition worsened. He wanted to remove all classmates, seniors, and juniors who tried to talk to him. He even wanted to hit hard those who slightly emitted pheromones.

Fearing that his real character might accidentally manifest, Wonhyeok tried not to communicate with anyone after classes and immediately, as if running away, headed home.

“Ah, damn…”

And so the day of rut came.

Wonhyeok couldn’t get out of bed. Despite the fact that he had injected a suppressant in the morning, strangely, nothing calmed down.

The temperature was rising, and breathing was becoming a bit rapid. Although he definitely injected the suppressant, this was the first time his condition didn’t improve so much. Obviously, his unstable constitution was making itself known again.

Finally, seeing that his lower part was half swollen, Wonhyeok started rummaging in the drawer to make another injection of suppressant. But what he had prepared ran out with the morning injection. He didn’t expect that his laziness to go for a prescription would have such consequences.

“Nothing’s working, how annoying…”

Wonhyeok, grabbing his head in which pain was growing, heavily sat down on the sofa. As if he had taken a sleeping pill, his consciousness was foggy. Cold sweat broke out, and his body was itching all over. It seems this time the rut came quite strongly. In this condition, the entire period of rut would undoubtedly be torturous, he needed to go to the hospital for an examination, but he was absolutely not in a state to get there.

He thought about calling an ambulance, but, irritated by his helplessness due to just a heat, he just closed his eyes and stopped thinking about it.

“…”

How much time passed like this?

Ding-dong-

A cheerful doorbell sound spread through the apartment. At first, Wonhyeok ignored it. But when the bell rang again, and then a second time, his eyes involuntarily opened.

“Damn, how annoying… Who is it? Maybe I should break their fingers?”

Wonhyeok stood up, rubbing his face. Apparently, because he woke up from a short sleep, his thoughts were so confused that he couldn’t distinguish whether it was a dream or reality.

In a state where nothing resembling common sense remained, Wonhyeok, without even looking at the intercom screen, sharply opened the front door.

∞ ∞ ∞

Now Hangeom didn’t know what to do with the impulsive act he had committed. Of course, the problem was that he realized this only after he reached Wonhyeok’s officetel. Moreover, he was all sweaty, having run here without thinking about anything.

“Can I come in?”

He came worried that the sick Wonhyeok might be suffering alone, but what if he disturbed his rest? Or maybe he had already recovered enough and didn’t need anyone’s help or care?

After much deliberation, Hangeom finally clenched his fists. Yes, he came here only to return the received things. And at the same time to check if the senior was okay. Although he came to this conclusion, Hangeom couldn’t help but stop at the common entrance.

He was confused, not remembering exactly Wonhyeok’s apartment number, but at that moment another resident came out, and Hangeom, without realizing it, slipped through the opening door. Successfully entering inside, he found his apartment by memory and pressed the doorbell.

He involuntarily became nervous and constantly wiped away the emerging sweat. Because of this, his hair covering his eyes became disheveled. Before he could tidy it up, the door suddenly swung open.

“Uh…”

Wonhyeok came out in home clothes. Unlike usual, his lips, always smiling, were now pressed into a straight line, and his eyes seemed lifeless.

“S-senior. This…”

When he was trying to explain why he came, Wonhyeok suddenly grabbed Hangeom’s hand and sharply pulled him inside. Before he could react, there was a sound of the lock engaging, and suddenly it became quiet around.

“…Why did you come?”

Wonhyeok sighed deeply and rubbed his face. His voice sounded very tired. Perhaps because he was used to seeing him always neat, such an appearance of Wonhyeok definitely seemed unusual.

“Ah, I c-came to return what y-you lent me.”

Hangeom fussily took out the laptop and materials from his bag and put them on the table. Wonhyeok absentmindedly looked at the things.

“You could have returned them later.”

“Thanks to you, I did well with the assignment, and since the laptop is expensive, I thought it would be better to return it quickly.”

“Okay, thank you. For coming specially.”

His voice was a bit harsh. Hangeom carefully examined Wonhyeok’s face. He definitely looked unwell. Moreover, his breathing seemed heavy and labored, as if it was difficult for him. Obviously, his condition was still bad.

“If there’s nothing else to say, could you leave?”

“Um… Senior. Are you feeling very bad?”

“…Leave, Hangeom.”

Ugh, suddenly he felt pain in his shoulder. Wonhyeok strongly squeezed Hangeom’s shoulder. His grip was so strong that it caused pain, as did his heavy voice telling him to leave. But now Hangeom was more concerned about how bad Wonhyeok looked.

“Senior, if there’s anything I can help with, I’ll help. I’m good at taking care of sick people and…”

“Why you?”

“What?”

“Who do you think you are to say you’ll take care of me?”

Hangeom’s eyes widened. For a moment, it seemed to him that this wasn’t Wonhyeok’s voice. The expression with which he was looking at him now was also a bit creepy, as if he was seeing another person.

“I received a lot of help from you and wanted to somehow t-thank you…”

He was just worried about the sick Wonhyeok, but maybe he perceived it as strong concern? Perhaps, if a not very close junior suddenly came home and started talking about care, even he himself would find it burdensome.

Thinking he had made a mistake, Hangeom habitually lowered his head and started fidgeting with his fingers. Apparently confused, his cheeks and earlobes, already reddened from running, became even redder, like apples. Perhaps due to the small distance between them, a soft soap scent was felt from his shiny hair.

Wonhyeok’s unfocused eyes fixed very intently on this image.

“You… don’t happen to use perfume?”

“What? N-no. I don’t use anything.”

Wonhyeok’s eyes, examining Hangeom’s face, instinctively became predatory. This was the gaze of a predator seeing prey before him.

“You want to thank me… Okay, then.”

“What?”

“I’ll accept your gratitude.”

Hangeom’s face brightened considerably. But this didn’t last long, suddenly Wonhyeok pulled Hangeom by the hand.

“Ah, senior…?”

“Have you ever done this? I think I need to do this at least once now to calm down.”

“Uh… what?”

Surprised by something that ended up in his hand, Hangeom was thrown onto the sofa with a strong jerk.