Swish. It was just the sound of water dripping from the faucet, but somehow, it felt like a large hole had been drilled in Joo Tae-hyun’s chest, filling it with rainwater.
Joo Tae-hyun subconsciously hid his trembling hands under the blanket, trying to remain calm.
First, even if there was a possibility, the actual probability of him being pregnant right now was extremely low. Wasn’t it? His body becoming something strange, neither Alpha nor Omega, happened after he showed abnormal heat symptoms at the Lotus Flower Palace.
It hadn’t even been a month since then, so pregnant?
Of course, he had mixed bodies with Seo Baek-han countless times. He had received his semen to the point where the duration didn’t even matter. Both above and below.
Even if he was pregnant… it didn’t make sense for such clear symptoms to appear so early. It was a field he thought was far removed from him, so he had only barely grasped the basic knowledge, but he knew that it was extremely rare for morning sickness to start from the very early stages.
And, and… Ah, right. Above all, he had heard that pregnancy wasn’t easy between the same genders. Even between Alphas and Omegas. So…
Joo Tae-hyun unknowingly clenched his teeth hard. His dry lips easily tore even with that little force, revealing droplets of blood. Even in this situation, he felt like he was going crazy because Seo Baek-han’s Pheromone, faintly mixed in with the blood, was welcome and pleasing.
What am I going to do? I need to quietly deal with the unilateral Imprinting, but I might be pregnant?
Fortunately, even if he wasn’t pregnant, what was he going to do in the future?
He had received a prescription that his Pheromone abnormalities would subside if Hyung ejaculated inside him, but he couldn’t ask to use a condom. Avoiding sex itself was also out of the question.
How on earth… Ah, birth control pills! Should he tell him to take birth control pills just in case? If he relayed the message through Doctor Woo, it wouldn’t be so unnatural.
“By the way, Seo Baek-han is, huh! Hey! Joo Tae-hyun! You’re bleeding!”
Joo Tae-hyun wiped the blood dripping from his chin haphazardly and hesitantly called out the name of Cheon Seung-pil, who was about to press the nurse call button, the only acquaintance who seemed to be on his side right now.
“…Cheon Seung-pil, I actually have something to confess. Something I’ve never told anyone. Not even my family.”
“What is it? Why all of a sudden? You’re scaring me for no reason.”
“Kim Seung-jun went to see you and said nonsense, right?”
“Yeah. He showed me some photos that weren’t even confirmed and said you what? Went around buying a Dirty Switch? Something like that.”
“It’s true.”
Cheon Seung-pil tilted his head almost 90 degrees as if he didn’t understand, muttering, “Huh?”
“Hey, Joo Tae-hyun. Dirty Switch, that, that…”
“The photos and videos Kim Seung-jun secured weren’t about buying drugs, but regardless, I’ve tried Dirty Switch.”
“What? Hey, hey! That’s, that’s a drug…”
Cheon Seung-pil, who had raised his voice in surprise, covered his mouth and looked around nervously.
“The test results show a reaction similar to drugs, but it can’t be said to be a drug.”
“Anyway! It’s okay in the US, but it’s illegal in Korea! Wow, what the hell are you going to do! Does Seo Baek-han know? No, did Seo Baek-han tell you to take it? No, no… Wow, damn. Wait a minute. You took the Switch, so… you really slept with Seo Baek-han?”
Cheon Seung-pil’s face turned as red as a thoroughly boiled tomato from shock. The decibels, which had been suppressed with difficulty, gradually increased, and by the end, it was so loud that there was even a vocal break.
“You, damn it! You were talking about marriage when you were twenty years old. That’s Korean age, barely twenty when the year changed! Seo Baek-han, that bastard, fed a Switch or whatever to a kid seven years younger than him and took him?”
“…No, it’s not like that.”
“Then what is it, you bastard! Damn it, did you put caramel drizzle on your mouth or something? Why do you keep stopping in the middle of your sentences, making people frustrated!”
Thinking that Cheon Seung-pil might cause a big commotion, Joo Tae-hyun briefly explained the situation.
How he went crazy after hearing that Seo Baek-han was going on blind dates, how he succeeded in attracting his attention and marrying him by lying that he was taking Dirty Switch, how he pretended to buy Switch from the US from time to time to deceive Seo Baek-han, and how he had barely managed to survive by making up new lies to avoid getting caught, resulting in his body becoming a little strange now.
“So, you’re saying that you have to keep having sex with Seo Baek-han for your body to return to normal.”
“…Yeah, roughly speaking, that’s right.”
Now, only the most difficult story remained.
Unilateral Imprinting.
It was a phenomenon that even he had difficulty accepting, so how much more would Cheon Seung-pil, a Beta, think of it?
He would think, how much did he like Seo Baek-han, how much of an idiot was he to cause such a commotion all by himself, but… he needed to explain this far to get his help.
Now that it had come to this, Joo Tae-hyun planned to borrow Cheon Seung-pil’s name diligently while he was staying in Pyongyang. He felt sorry for Cheon Seung-pil, who had inadvertently joined in, but he was thinking of secretly looking into other clinics or Imprinting breaking procedures using him as a front.
After even considering the slim possibility of pregnancy, he had long lost all shame.
But.
“You crazy bastard! Have you even used a pregnancy test?”
Cheon Seung-pil shouted about a completely different topic. No, he shouted and then managed to suppress his anger and whispered.
“…Pregnancy test?”
Even while considering the possibility of pregnancy, he hadn’t even thought of using a pregnancy test. He was too distracted, and he didn’t have the leeway to consider that far.
That’s… right, usually when something like this happens, you would think of using a pregnancy test first.
“Why doesn’t your brain work in this area when you’re so smart? You kept having sex with Seo to share hormones or Pheromones or whatever. Did you use a condom? You wouldn’t have! Ah, did you take birth control pills?”
“…”
“Hey, is…! Ugh, wait. Are pharmacies open at this hour? Well, it’s near the hospital, so… Anyway! You stay here, got it?”
Even so, Cheon Seung-pil kept repeating, “No, no…” Then, he let out a hollow laugh and left the hospital room.
At first, he seemed to have forgotten that it was a sliding door and struggled to push and pull it, but he barely managed to open it, only to come back into the room saying he had left his phone and wallet behind. Then, as if he was still pissed off no matter how much he thought about it, he rushed back in and pointed his finger wildly at Joo Tae-hyun before finally shutting his mouth and stomping down the hallway.
Joo Tae-hyun blankly watched Cheon Seung-pil, who was making such a fuss, and unknowingly chuckled.
“That guy, really.”
The laughter, which was enough to make his shoulders shake, soon turned into a sneer, then slowly spread into a bitter laugh.
It wouldn’t be pregnancy. It was a matter of probability. It couldn’t be.
But if it really was, if by any chance a child was conceived…
He wasn’t afraid of the public’s reaction. Why did he suddenly become an Omega when he was supposed to be an Alpha, was he originally hiding his traits, was he really Chairman Joo’s biological son… Well, there would be such dirty speculations, but he didn’t tend to be greatly affected by the words of strangers.
Because he had loving family members who would firmly support him so that he wouldn’t be hurt in any way.
Everyone in his family would probably be surprised. Especially his parents… they would definitely be furious about how he had hidden such an important fact, but they would still be happy in the end. He was sure that they would hug him tightly, saying that their youngest son had gone through a lot, as they always had.
‘Ha, wait a minute. Even so, I’m not ready yet… Tae-hyun’s baby! A baby inside a baby’s belly? Does that make sense?’
‘Let’s see, the age difference between our kids and the baby isn’t as big as I thought? Wow! If we’re lucky, they might even go to school together for a year!’
‘Oh, really? With our kid too! Isn’t that crazy? Our kids, Hyung’s kids, and Tae-hyun’s kid all wearing the same uniform in a row, huh? Youngest, you have to send the youngest’s kid to the same private elementary school as the cousins, got it?’
He could picture his family excitedly making a fuss. Just like he had, and just like his nephews and nieces were doing now. The child would also grow up receiving only love that felt like drowning.
Perhaps the suspicion of taking Dirty Switch could also be completely cleared up with the pregnancy. He could announce that he wasn’t an Alpha but an Omega, and that there was a mistake when he was young, so he didn’t know, and that since he was originally an Omega, he didn’t need to take Switch or anything like that… Assemblyman Seo would definitely like that. Prince Lee’s faction would also gain momentum in promoting related bills. Because public opinion is the most important thing in law.
But…
The most important problem of all didn’t have a solution.
Would Seo Baek-han really accept this situation?
Even he was confused and embarrassed, so would Hyung truly accept a child that was conceived so vaguely? A child from him, who wasn’t even a proper Omega, from a man who wasn’t even a woman?
During the weekend trip to a domestic resort instead of a honeymoon, Seo Baek-han had clearly said this.