L*ck Me If You Can-Chapter 160

“What happened? I heard you got sick all of a sudden?”

The moment he walked in, the boss asked the question. Koi scratched his head awkwardly and nodded.

“Yeah... Sorry. I caught a cold...”

Not just the weekend—he’d been bedridden for two more days after that. It was a relief that he’d managed to cancel with Sara early, but he hadn’t contacted anyone else. In fact, he hadn’t even picked up his phone. By the time he got out of bed, the phone had rung itself dead and powered off.

The first missed call, of course, had been from Ariel. At first, she’d been alarmed, asking if he was okay—but once she confirmed he was safe, she immediately got angry. Still, her anger didn’t last long.

“Next time we meet, give me your emergency key. If anything happens, I’m just going to let myself in.”

That was her parting comment before she hung up. While Koi had been unreachable, Ariel was the only person who had come to his apartment. When she got no answer at the door, she assumed he wasn’t home and actually filed a missing persons report. She’d even started to suspect that Ashley might have done something to him—but thankfully, it was all just a misunderstanding. If Koi had waited one more day to get in touch, she might’ve stormed Ashley’s office again.

Unaware of all this, Koi apologized profusely, promised to treat Ariel soon, and then finally called his job.

Apparently, they thought he had just up and disappeared. The manager was clearly surprised when he heard from Koi—and when Koi showed up to work the next day, he was greeted with a not-so-happy expression. But the fact was, he had missed work without any notice, so Koi apologized again and again.

“I’m sorry. I’ll make up for it by working even harder from now on.”

“You better. Just disappearing without a word? You’re going to have to pay that back.”

The boss gave one more scolding, then assigned him tasks. As Koi gathered his tools and prepared to start, another employee, Tony, came over and asked in a low voice,

“What happened? I called you so many ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) times and you didn’t pick up once. Were you that sick?”

“Yeah,” Koi replied with a sheepish smile.

“I usually don’t get sick, but this time it was bad. I had a fever the whole time, and I was so drained I couldn’t even open my eyes.”

And yet, for all of that, he hadn’t really felt sick. His head had been foggy, and he’d been overwhelmed by sleep, unable to get up—but even with the high fever and burning heat in his body, he’d felt no pain.

Is it that new flu going around?

While he was silently wondering, Tony lowered his voice further and asked,

“You didn’t fake being sick and sneak off somewhere, did you?”

“No.”

When Koi gave a nervous laugh, Tony tilted his head and sniffed the air around him.

“You smell good. I thought maybe you went somewhere and bought perfume or something.”

“Smell?”

“Yeah.”

When Koi reacted with surprise, Tony said,

“It’s kind of floral... or maybe grassy? I don’t know. It just smells really nice. Like, it makes me feel calm.”

Koi had tensed for a moment but relaxed as soon as he saw Tony smiling. Since Koi couldn’t smell anything himself, he’d been worried someone might say he smelled bad. That would’ve been a nightmare.

“Oh, one of my houseplants bloomed.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

He remembered seeing the flower in full bloom that morning. Before he got sick, it had still been a tightly closed bud. He’d bought the seeds on discount, so he wasn’t even sure what it was, but given Tony’s description, the cheerful yellow flower came to mind.

“Three flowers bloomed all at once.”

“Really?” Tony turned away, murmuring to himself.

“Do flowers smell that strong for that long...?”

Thankfully, that was the end of it. Koi quickly forgot the exchange, and once he dove into work, the day flew by. Before he knew it, it was already evening.

*

“Haaah...”

As soon as he got home, Koi let out a long sigh. The cold should’ve passed, but his body still felt sluggish and heavy. At least the fever was gone. He dragged himself toward the bathroom for a shower, but something in his field of vision caught his attention.

The flower from that morning. Still in full bloom, glowing with that cheerful yellow.

Seeing it made something warm stir in his chest. He walked closer, crouched by the pot, and stared at the bloom for a moment before gently touching one of the petals. The soft light of the flower seemed to pass right through his fingertips.

I wonder what it smells like...

Tony’s comment came to mind, and Koi suddenly felt a pang of regret. If only I could smell it too...

Would it make me feel calm, too?

He stood there for a while, quietly gazing at the flower, then finally dropped his hand and headed for the shower. After a quick rinse, he crawled into bed.

Ashley didn’t contact him again—not even once after that day.

*

The flower’s scent, which Koi had thought nothing of at first, only became a real issue about a week later.

When Tony had commented on it, Koi hadn’t thought much of it. But as the days passed, the fragrance clinging to Koi’s body seemed to grow stronger and stronger.

The first person to react again was Tony. Seemingly drawn in by the scent, he suddenly hugged Koi from behind. Shocked, Koi instinctively shoved him off, causing Tony to twist his ankle and miss work.

The next day, another coworker tried to grab Koi and fell, breaking his nose.

By the end of the week, the tiny office of five or six people was practically empty. The last remaining employee clung to Koi and refused to stay away, got into a massive fight with the boss, and quit.

Now only Koi and the boss remained.

Though he hadn’t meant to cause any of this, Koi couldn’t deny that he was the common denominator. The guilt weighed so heavily on him he couldn’t lift his head. But the boss, surprisingly kind, told him it was okay and even tried to comfort him.

When the last coworker quit, Koi had panicked, but the boss told him not to worry—just to keep coming in—and even gave him a bonus.

Koi was grateful. But even so, he couldn’t just ignore the fact that he was the reason for all the chaos. And worse, whenever he took the subway, strangers would constantly approach him or try to touch him. He’d ended up walking several stops more than once. Out on the street, where it was more open, things weren’t as bad—but he couldn’t live like this forever.

How strong can this flower’s scent possibly be?

He stared at the still-vibrant yellow flower with a conflicted expression. Eventually, he made a decision.

I’ll throw it out.

It was heartbreaking—it was the first flower he’d grown since coming to the East—but there was no other option. It was causing too many problems.

...But it’s a waste to just toss it.

He gently placed the potted plant into a plastic bag. Tomorrow was the weekend—and he had plans.

I’ll show it to Elle.

*

“Oh, it’s lovely. Did it bloom recently?”

“Yeah, just over ten days ago.”

Unable to hide his pride, Koi replied brightly. Ariel picked up the pot and inhaled deeply. Koi stiffened—but she looked up calmly and said,

“Did you bring this just to show off?”

“Huh? Uh...”

Her reaction was so casual that Koi blinked in confusion. He hesitated, then told her briefly about everything that had happened.

Listening with a thoughtful expression, Ariel tilted her head.

“It just smells like a normal flower to me.”

“R-really?”

Koi blinked in disbelief. What’s going on?

It wasn’t like Ariel couldn’t smell—so why couldn’t she sense what others had?

As he blinked in confusion, Koi looked around. They were sitting on an outdoor café terrace. The tables weren’t that far apart, but no one around them seemed to be paying him any attention.

...Was I imagining things?

Koi turned back to Ariel and asked,

“Hey, do I smell like anything right now?” 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

“Smell?”

Ariel immediately leaned in, grabbed his arm, and took a deep breath across the table. After a few sniffs, she let go and straightened up.

“I don’t smell anything.”

“You don’t?”

Koi was stunned again. What the hell is going on?