Chapter 1 01. Faint

The twenty-nine-year-old guy, who had a scarf over his neck, appeared very pale and closed his mouth as he struggled with nausea he had been experiencing ever since coming off the plane. The exhausting trek he had made from Canada had left him with a hazy head and little vitality. His head was already spinning from the loudness and the people they could see walking by, not to mention how congested his ears felt.

He had a strong aversion to this aspect of large crowds like these. Kim Seo Jae searched in all directions for the person who had been missing from his view for fifteen minutes, while a trolley with two huge pieces of luggage and a purse was piled high, as if to indicate that Seo Jae's journey had not been a quick one.

Seo Jae had nausea again, feeling like he was about to vomit. This time, Seo Jae was forced to get up from his seat and hurry to the closest restroom he could locate. However, because his head felt highly dizzy, Jae knocked into someone and collapsed, landing on his knees.

The person who Jae struck yelled at him, "Hey, look where you are walking! You dumbass!" but Seo Jae didn't answer anything, his mouth full of vomit, instead choosing to become enraged and yell at him.

Seo Jae was having trouble getting up on his own, refusing help from the person, even though he had to crawl a little. Seo Jae eventually stood up and ran back into the bathroom, where he puked in the toilet. The person appeared sympathetic to Seo Jae's situation.

Some of the persons using the restroom were observed gulping down their saliva as they hurriedly left the facility after being sick to their stomachs at hearing Jae throw up.

Jae was left alone there. He attempted to vomit as best he could while in the restroom stall, but he could still feel it stuck in his throat. He vomited for around two minutes before resting against the toilet cubicle wall. Jae then took a nearby tissue, wiped his spit from his lips on his chin, and finished. He was vehicle sick or jet lag because his breathing was laborious and reasonably heavy. But that's precisely how Jae felt-his body was so frail that her knees quivered, and she couldn't even hold her weight to stand up. His brain was spinning.

"Jae! Are you in there, Jae? From the outside, someone yelled.

Jae, who was already worn out, could only use what little energy he had left to knock on the walls of the restroom cubicle when he heard someone calling out to him. As he was ready to exit the restroom, the man heard a series of light knocks coming from one of the stalls and hurried over to it. Unexpectedly, he noticed Seo Jae sitting on the ground with a pale face and shallow breathing. He quickly raised the body that was considerably smaller than himself and took Jae's body out of the bathroom.

The bespectacled guy carried Seo Jae's body out of the airport lobby and toward the parking lot, where a shiny metallic grey BMW was neatly parked with a driver who had opened the door to make it simpler for him to get Jae inside. It was as if the man didn't care about his bags in the waiting row as he continued to carry Jae's body there.

"I forgot my bag inside. Please, look after him for a little bit." The man spoke to the driver, who instantly took charge of Seo Jae and covered him with a blanket from the back trunk, hoping that the blanket's warmth would make Jae's pale face flush a little.

That man hurried back into the terminal with the trolley having his and Jae's two baggage in tow. The man approached Seo Jae again after the driver helped him place the bags and a handbag in the trunk. He wanted to ensure Seo Jae was okay and not hurt from tumbling out of the toilet.

The motorist inquired about their destination once the man had entered the vehicle. Do you want to go to the hospital, sir?"

"Yes, we're going to the hospital down the street." The man with the glasses answered without even glancing at the driver. His breathing cadence was erratic, and the vapor coming from his mouth seemed like it was burning, incredibly hot, much like his body temperature gradually rose as he gripped Jae's weak body very firmly.

"Yes, please, go to the hospital." The blanket covering Seo Jae's tiny body was tighter. At the same time, the man whispered, seemingly trying to prevent outside air from entering and disturbing the person he was cuddling. The metallic gray BMW passed the vehicles in front of it rather quickly. Even though it passed two passengers in front of it multiple times and was moving at approximately 80 km/h, they didn't voice any complaints because the only thing on the driver's mind was how to go to the hospital swiftly so that Seo Jae wouldn't suffer any further harm.

When the car left the airport and arrived at University Hospital's emergency room, it was around thirty minutes away. The spectacled man lifted Jae's body, bringing her into the emergency department. When they arrived, a nurse welcomed them and instructed the man to put Seo Jae to sleep on one of the beds. The nurse then inspected Seo Jae right away.

"What is her current temperature?" One of the nurses came over with a tray holding an IV tube, a needle, and many sterile cotton objects as soon as the patient asked one of the nurses, who were already busy doing this and that. "The patient's body temperature is roughly 38.8 P. 18 degrees. Very high. Will insert an IV."

"Please also attach an oxygen tube, as his breathing seems very heavy." The man named Yeon Jin said to the nurse.

"Y-yes," the nurse replied, nervous about the man's request.

The nurse nevertheless simultaneously inserted the IV and attached the oxygen. The two nurses who were present worked rapidly to treat Jae. One more nurse was even spotted rushing while carrying an ice-filled compress bag, which she then placed directly under Jae's head, hoping the combination of the compress and the infusion would quickly reduce Jae's fever.

The nurse interested in Seo Jae's medical history questioned, "Does the patient have any other previous illnesses?"

Before the man could respond, a doctor approached them and greeted the man by name. However, when the doctor saw their encounter in the hospital emergency room, he adopted a worried expression rather than a cheerful one.

"What are you doing here, Choi Yeon Jin?" Yeon Jin, a bespectacled guy, was shocked when the doctor asked him a question because a voice he didn't recognize called his name.

Yeon Jin tried to recall the doctor's identity as she stared at him for a while, but since she didn't know him, she could only nod and smile. The doctor asked once more, "What are you doing here?"

"We're sorry, are we ...?"

"Oh, my bad. Maybe you forgot about me, yet I still think of you. At the university, I was your senior. Go Bum Gyo here-I'm Bum Gyo." He said hello and introduced himself, but Yeon Jin was still perplexed. "You still have no memory of me? At the university, I was your senior. However, after receiving your degree, you moved to Canada.

"Hey Hyung, how are you?" Yeon Jin extended a welcome while bowing. Yeon Jin didn't want to ignore the person trying to greet him, even though he didn't recall much about the person in front of him. So, even if it needed to be clarified, he would try to remember.

"So, tell me, who is he?" Looking at Seo Jae, lying on the ground with a red face and an oxygen mask that appeared to be condensing from the heat of his body, Bum Gyo inquired Yeon Jin.

"He's my fiancé." Yeon Jin responded while turning to face Seo Jae, who was motionless on the bed. "He had a carcinoid tumor, which was diagnosed within the first year, but the tumor made it difficult for him to digest food in the years that followed. After three years of therapy, food changes, and two operations, he is doing much better, but occasionally his body seems to have undergone trauma that I am unable to comprehend; if he travels for an extended period, his body invariably reacts." Beum Gyo could only nod in understanding, as Yeon Jin said.

"So, you just got back from Canada?" guessed the doctor, making Yeon Jin nod this time. "It makes sense why he has terrible jet lag. I'll try to call a doctor to check on his stomach. Is he an omega? Dr. Bum Gyo made a point at Jae.

"A-ah, he's an omega.""Is he pregnant?" Bum Gyo re-asked.

"N-no. Not yet." Yeon Jin shook his head, the bespectacled man blushing visibly. Bum Gyo wanted to laugh but worked very hard to control himself.

"It's a good thing because pregnancy would just worsen his situation with that kind of condition. Please wait a moment." Bum Gyo repeated her statement as she turned around and strode over to the nurse's station. However, Yeon Jin shouted at Bum Gyo and halted his progress.

"Hyung, thank you," Yeon Jin again bowed and expressed gratitude for what his senior had attempted to accomplish in college. Yeon Jin moved to Seo Jae's side after Bum Gyo left, lovingly brushing Seo Jae's hair. The usually delicate hair, meanwhile, was now moist and matted from sweat.