L*ck Me If You Can

Chapter 216

They ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) visited the hospital the very next day. Bernice, having been informed in advance, had finished all preparations and was waiting for them.

"Hello, Mr. Miller. Mr. Niles."

As usual, she greeted them with a businesslike attitude. Exchanging brief glances, Bernice fixed her gaze on Ashley and spoke.

"Mr. Niles' trait test requires a sample collection, so could you please wait for a moment? The results should be ready within thirty minutes."

"I'll be back, Ash. I promise I'll come back."

Koi deliberately added that, but Ashley's reaction was indifferent. He hadn't been in a good mood since morning. No, he had been like this ever since realizing the day before that his revenge had failed because of Koi. However, Koi stubbornly followed Bernice without concern.

"Now you're doing a trait test? Weren't you supposed to be pregnant?"

Left alone with him, Bernice asked. Even for her, a thorough professional, this question had been impossible to suppress. Koi took a deep breath before replying.

"I needed to be absolutely sure."

Bernice still seemed doubtful but said no more, simply nodding in acknowledgment. And about an hour later, they faced an unexpected situation.

"Sorry for the delay."

The doctor who had come to see Koi and Ashley began with an apology.

"The test results were unclear, so we had to retest. Um, we conducted several tests simultaneously...."

He dragged on unnecessarily, glancing between the two before addressing Koi.

"We also did a pregnancy test, and that's confirmed. However, the trait test result is also unmistakable."

Unable to suppress his excitement, he took a deep breath and finally asked,

"Did you know that your trait is extreme omega?"

Bernice, standing next to the sofa, widened her eyes in surprise—an unusual reaction for her—before quickly returning to a blank expression. However, the slight tremble in her eyes betrayed her as she stared at Koi. Facing the doctor, Koi calmly replied, "Yes."

"I knew. My trait appeared as beta, right?"

"That's right. How could this be... my god, I'm probably the only one in the world who's met two extreme omegas."

At the mention of "two," Angel's face briefly flashed through Koi's mind, but he quickly returned to reality and focused on the situation at hand. The doctor continued, unable to hide his rising excitement.

"What happened? When did the manifestation occur? What were the symptoms? Could we perhaps get more blood samples? No, even just answering some questionnaires would be invaluable. Such precious data—I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way."

"Steward."

Ashley spoke for the first time. His face was cold beyond description as he glared at the doctor.

"You're not suggesting using my Koi as a test subject, are you?"

"What? No, of course not. Absolutely not."

Flustered, the doctor hastily denied it.

"Just a simple questionnaire would suffice. I'm sorry. I got too excited."

"It's fine, Mr. Steward."

Koi spoke calmly.

"I can answer questionnaires as much as you want. If you need blood samples, I'll give them too. I, um, have a question."

"Yes, what is it? Anything. I'll answer if I can."

At the doctor's eager reply, Koi took a deep breath and finally voiced the reason they had come this far.

"I heard that an extreme omega’s pheromones can cause an extreme alpha to go into rut by triggering excessive pheromone secretion, or even cause brain damage. Could the reverse also be possible?"

Everyone’s gaze focused on Koi. Koi felt Ashley's piercing stare from the side but deliberately ignored it.

The previous night, they had fallen asleep holding each other but exchanged no further words. When Ashley woke up in the morning, Koi was already up and waiting for him.

〈We need to do a trait test.〉

That was all Koi had said. It wasn’t a difficult request, and Ashley didn’t particularly doubt it. He had even secretly scoffed that Koi’s idea, after a night of agony, amounted to something so trivial. At this point, Koi couldn’t do anything anyway. No one in the world could. Ashley had thought that way as he ordered Bernice.

But now, what the hell is he saying?

Ignoring Ashley’s furrowed brow, Koi continued speaking.

"Yesterday, Ash lost consciousness, but when I released my pheromones, he came to. Ash even got angry, saying I stole his pheromones. If that’s possible, wouldn’t it mean Ash’s condition could improve?"

That was his last hope. He believed there must be a reason why he had manifested as an extreme omega.

That his trait existed only for Ashley.

Meanwhile, hearing Koi’s explanation, Steward’s eyes gleamed as he looked at Ashley. His face radiated like an adventurer who had just discovered a new continent.

"Is that true? Then we must run some tests immediately. It’s fine—we can prepare right away. Mr. Miller, come this way. Quickly."

"Koi..."

Ashley ground his teeth, looking incredulously at Koi. But Koi had no intention of backing down. Rather, he stood up first and declared firmly toward Ashley.

"Come on, Ash. I’ll be with you."

Ashley, who rose to his feet after him, looked down at Koi and growled,

"I’m not a kid. I'm not afraid of tests."

Ashley’s rough voice didn’t faze Koi at all. He knew that Ashley loved him more than anyone else in the world. So much that he had destroyed himself. That truth pained Koi again, but he forced himself to stay calm, hiding his emotions as he reached out his hand.

"Alright then. I’ll be waiting. Go and come back."

He even smiled brightly as he said it, causing Ashley to look down at him in disbelief before finally turning away with a low curse. Watching Ashley's back as he left the consultation room, Koi finally exhaled the breath he had been holding and collapsed onto the sofa.

It’ll be alright.

He clasped his hands together and closed his eyes tightly, praying.

Please, let nothing happen to Ash.

The examination took quite a while. It was only after half a day that Ashley finished and they finally received the results.

"This is truly astonishing."

The doctor couldn’t hide his excitement, exclaiming repeatedly. Koi’s face brightened along with him, but Ashley’s expression did not. He merely stared at the doctor, silent and resentful, while the doctor, still excited, continued.

"The pheromone levels are much lower than usual. Look here. Mr. Miller’s average levels used to be around this mark. Normally, this would be considered the standard range. But Mr. Miller’s were always much higher. That’s what caused the brain damage."

The doctor flipped through the data and almost shouted.

"But now, look at this. It’s even lower than the normal range! This is an incredible discovery. That extreme omega pheromones could have this effect—I must include this in a research paper."

Watching the doctor, overjoyed at his monumental discovery, Koi hurriedly asked,

"So what does it mean? Is Ash okay now? Will he go back to normal? Please?"

Please tell me yes.

Koi stared at him desperately, but the doctor hesitated before shaking his head.

"No, that’s not possible. Once the brain is damaged, it can never be restored. Not even extreme omega pheromones can make the impossible possible..."

〈Just because you're an extreme omega doesn’t mean you're omnipotent.〉

Angel’s words came to mind. Had he known about this too? Koi wondered but couldn't ask. Instead, he muttered bitterly to the doctor in front of him.

"Then I’m completely useless after all..."

"Ah, that’s not it."

Just as tears welled up from disappointment and despair, the doctor quickly spoke up. Startled, Koi looked up, and the doctor, in a bright voice, continued.

"As I mentioned earlier, the pheromone levels have drastically decreased. If you keep regulating his pheromone levels below the standard range, further damage can be prevented. Although there’s no way to restore the damaged limbic system."

Koi didn’t immediately understand what that meant. Perhaps because it was too unbelievable. Ashley reacted first.

"Not deteriorating further? What the hell does that mean?"

He was visibly flustered. Understandably so. His lifetime efforts were about to crumble to nothing. On the other hand, Koi’s emotions were entirely different. Swallowing dryly, he carefully repeated what he understood.

"So if I stay by Ash’s side and regulate his pheromones, he’ll be okay? Right? That’s what you mean?"

"Correct."

The doctor nodded.

"If you do that, things will be fine. But this is only possible because it's the pheromones of an extreme omega. They can force excessive secretion but also draw out large amounts all at once."

"Other extreme omegas are meaningless."

Bernice, who had been listening silently, interjected. When Koi looked up at her, Bernice looked down at him with an impassive face and said,

"If Mr. Miller smells another omega’s pheromones, he has seizures, right? It worsened when he was exposed to another extreme omega’s pheromones last time."

"Exactly."

The doctor agreed, nodding seriously at Koi.

"For Mr. Miller, only Mr. Niles’ pheromones work."

No one spoke. Koi wanted to know Ashley’s reaction, but Ashley only kept his mouth shut, glaring at the doctor.

"So."

After a long silence, Ashley finally spoke. In a slow, deliberate tone.

"Koi has to stay by my side for life, right?"

His voice was chillingly low. The doctor flinched and hurriedly nodded.

"Yes, exactly. It’s inevitable. If Mr. Niles disappears, Mr. Miller’s brain damage will accelerate even faster. It’s like someone who barely quit drugs relapsing—it gets worse than before."

"...Heh."

Ashley let out a derisive laugh. Both Koi and the doctor stared in shock as he covered his mouth with one hand. But soon he couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing, tilting his head back as he laughed loudly.

I did it.

Koi can't leave. Ever.

Of course, the moment you throw me away, I'll be destroyed. It couldn’t be more perfect. Unable to stop laughing, Ashley shook with mirth.

My god, I actually did it.

*

The news article announcing that Ashley Miller was marrying some penniless repairman was published a week later. Ariel, who had heard the news over the phone in advance, crumpled the newspaper in anger when she saw the article written by a colleague.

"There’s nothing we can do. Ash put everything he had into getting Koi."

Bill, now her housemate, said cautiously. Ariel glared at him but couldn’t deny it either. She also had to accept that she had lost to Ashley. In the end, she slumped her shoulders and muttered,

"I guess I’ll just have to wait for the wedding gift list."

Ariel frowned as she looked at Ashley’s face printed in the crumpled newspaper.

I didn’t know he was this crazy.

But it couldn't be helped. Her friend had fallen for this crazy bastard.

Irritated, she ruffled her hair messily, pulled a beer from the fridge, and drank it with Bill.

You actually did it, you damned bastard.

Both of them thought the exact same thing.

*

Sliding the door aside with a soft thud, Koi found a large man sleeping inside. Koi quietly lay down next to him.

"...Koi?"

Ashley called out to him in a voice thick with pheromone intoxication. Koi moved aside the elephant plush Ashley was hugging and slipped into his arms instead.

"Sorry I'm late. If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn’t have proposed."

Trying to get married had turned out to be too busy. They had to prepare gifts for the guests, choose the party food, even pick the color of the chairs. Even if they left everything to the wedding planner, there was still too much to do. Busy and overwhelmed, Ashley had once again locked himself in the closet out of loneliness.

"If you keep running away like this, what kind of father are you going to be?"

Koi spoke gently. As he carefully focused on releasing his pheromones, he looked up at Ashley and saw him smile faintly.

"I don't need a child. I only need you."

"You shouldn’t say that."

"Okay."

Ashley obediently changed his words.

"It’d be nice to have a lot of children. Ones who take after you."

He added jokingly,

"I’ll never accept one that takes after me."

"Don’t say things like that."

Scolding him in a soothing tone, Koi cautiously opened his mouth.

"Ash, there’s something that really upset me."

"Huh...? Upset you?"

Repeating Koi’s words, Ashley looked at him, and Koi continued.

"You told me to go West. Did you really mean that?"

Ashley blinked. Koi pressed on.

"Tell me honestly what you really wanted."

You can say it now. Koi whispered softly.

"You didn’t really want me to go West. You said it, but you wanted something else, right?"

He already knew the answer but wanted to hear it. As Ashley hesitated without speaking, Koi continued to urge him.

"Just tell me the truth. That’s all you have to do."

Finally, after a long moment, Ashley opened his mouth.

"...Don’t go."

He confessed in a trembling, breath-like voice.

"Don’t abandon me again."

There was only ever one thing he wished for. From the beginning, now, and forever.

Just you.

Just stay by my side.

Koi gently embraced him and whispered,

"I won’t go."

"I’ll never leave your side again. I’ll be with you for the rest of my life."

Hoo—Ashley exhaled above his head.

Ahh, thank god.

As the accumulated pheromones drained out, a faint sense of consciousness returned. Realizing he was once again inside the closet, Ashley let out a bitter laugh. Instead of mocking himself, he tightly hugged Koi.

Even though he had lost everything and fallen into hell, it was okay. Because he had gained him. If hell was with him, then this place was the heaven he had chosen.

Ashley tilted his head. Their lips met, and they both closed their eyes.

Let’s go together—into a hell just for the two of us.