December

The air of dawn penetrated into my nose like a blade. In the tingling cold air, there was a dry, iron like winter reek mixed. I buried my face in the scarf and bent over the stove. Perhaps it was so cold outside, no matter how much heat the stove emitted, the cold air inside didn’t go away so easily.

But compared to the outside, that place was heaven. The snow that fell the day before yesterday froze completely due to the temperature that fell to minus 10 degrees.  The road was covered with cloudy snow, so I had a hard time not to slip.

It wasn’t just the road that was cloudy. My head was similar. I guess I ate too much inhibitor that prevented an Omega from heats. My body felt drowsy and my mind felt light as if I was drunk.

Fortunately, I was in a large-scale development district so there were no residents there. Even if it was a large construction project to rebuild a whole city, it was as quiet as a ghost city on the weekends when work stopped. But it was perfect for me who needed a place to stay until the first train. I was sleepy because I was dazed and felt cold.

I hummed a song to keep myself awake. There was a song that was particularly catchy when I passed through the commercial district earlier, which was exciting, similar to a bright day, bright lights and entertainment. But was it because I was stupid? I couldn’t remember the lyrics properly so I hummed, hm hm hm, and followed the peak of the song.

Creeakkk- Clanggg

I flinched at the loud noise from nearby. Did something hit itself outside? It sounded like an accident. I quickly left the container office and looked around with the light from my phone. Which way was it? I walked slowly on the icy road, looking for the direction of the sound.

Then I found a headlight shining on the road in the distance. A motorcycle was rolling around the unpaved road. Ack, is it a person… I stopped and glanced at my surroundings and found a person against the wall. Is he alive?

“Are you okay?”

There was no answer. there was no movement. Did he die? I raised up my arm and touched him, but he suddenly pushed me away violently. In vain, I quickly yanked my hands to myself and was greatly relieved. It wasn’t a body, he was alive! As I thought how much of a relief it was, his leg caught my eye. His toes which were supposed to face up were twisted inward.

“Is your leg okay?”

“Fuck off.”

Perhaps because I was worried, he pressed me to go away. The future that seemed already weak for that person, on top of that he seemed grateful. The heart was filled with warmth, perhaps as a side effect of the inhibitor.

“I’ll call an ambulance for you. This is a development area, so there’s no cars going around…”

“No. Don’t.”

The boy interrupted me with an impatient voice. But it was his voice that stopped me. He was a young kid. Oh, was he a student? Then the question automatically blurted out of my mouth.

“High school student?”

His shoulders flinched. It was obvious that he was. Why was a minor riding a bike early in the morning and heading towards a deserted place…

“Did you run away from school?”

“Fuck.”

That time again, he affirmed. I suppressed my amazement  when I saw an honest teenage who couldn’t lie. It was an impulsive question, but my doubts were proven true. Knowing he was young, I couldn’t let him go. It was too cold and dangerous for him out here.

“Did you hurt your leg? If I call an ambulance, they will come right away but it’s so cold right now so come…”

“Fuck, don’t call them.”

“…with me.”

Despite his interference, I finished what I wanted to say. I stood there looking at him for a moment. But the invisible eyes under the black helmet seemed to stare back at me for some reason so I took a step back. For a moment, we were brushed with a bitter breeze that flowed through the narrow road.

Snivel, I buried my nose in my scarf. I could just go back to the warm place by myself and call an ambulance for him. There was no way to drag a person who didn’t want help.

But I didn’t want to leave him and head back alone. He was a kid. A kid who drove there on a bike and wanted to hide in a deserted place. Normally, I wouldn’t mind a runaway teenager who was a few years younger than me but now it was different. I didn’t know why it was but it might have been because it was too cold, the inhibitors or that it was completely dark there. Let’s see, what kind of words do that kind of kid like…

“You’re an Alpha, right?”

That time, the curse didn’t come right away. Instead, his shoulders flinched.

“How…did you know?”

…I didn’t know. I mean to coax him gently and take him to the container that had a stove. Seeing how there were no pheromones from him, he must have been a recessive Alpha. I was surprised too, so I crouched inside my neck inside my scarf like a turtle to hide my sting.

“Well, just.”

“Are you an Omega?”

“I’ll let you know when we get somewhere warm.”

He turned his head away at my suggestion as if he was interested. A strong wind blew from behind and ruffled my hair. It was really cold. I jammed my hands into my pocket and stomped my feet.

“It’s minus 12 degrees and wind temperature is minus 18 so if you stay here even for 5 minutes, your dick will freeze.”

It worked. As expected, there was no man who didn’t know the importance of their dicks.

“Don’t bother, fuck.”

“You should care, though. You must know how having a dick is so important to an Alpha.”

Would a sincere advice work, but the kid sighed sharply.

“If I follow you, will you stop talking about dicks?”

Yes, I answered immediately because it was cold. The breath that I exhaled through my nose touched my scarf and turned it ice cold. While he hesitated, I approached him and grabbed his arm. He yanked his arm away as if my touch offended him but I didn’t let go of him.

“I can’t carry you on my back. If we slip because of the slippery road, we are both going to die. So, try to stand up on your own.

Come on, I waved my arm if I was urging him. He sighed again as if he was annoyed but he raised himself. He stood up and stumbled because he couldn’t put strength on his injured leg but I held him firmly. Fortunately, he was of a similar build as me so it wasn’t much of a burden to support his weight. However, I thought whenever he refused my help and pushed me away, I thought we would fall but surprisingly, he followed me calmly with his arms around my shoulder.

“Just a little far.”

I grabbed him by his back and stepped first. His injured leg stopped him from catching up to me. I glanced back but he managed to keep his pace without making any noise. I grabbed him with one of my arms and held the cell phone in another. The road was slippery. Usually, it would take one to two minutes to arrive rather than the several minutes it took to get there.