By Zephyria 
“Haa. I’m exhausted.”
Trudging along, he walked to the already darkened hospital lobby and sat in a chair. Staring blankly outside, Jeong-min let out a long sigh.
Young-min had kept rambling about Alphas. ‘Alphas don’t know. They don’t know how hard it is to give birth, right? They don’t know how hard it is to raise them? Why is it all dumped on me?’ Words like that unintentionally gouged at Jeong-min’s heart.
If you hated it that much, you should have given them to me—
“I guess it’s over now?”
Ji Su-han stood before Jeong-min and smiled. Jeong-min straightened his slouching body and looked at him.
“You didn’t leave?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“You always drink after meeting your brother. So I waited. Let’s go. Let’s go drink.”
Su-han patted Jeong-min’s shoulder, and Jeong-min stood up with a bewildered laugh.
✽✽✽
“Su-han hyung….”
Already slurring his words, Jeong-min couldn’t maintain his balance and collapsed onto the table, repeatedly calling Su-han’s name. Knowing that Jeong-min drank more than his usual limit when he suffered a mental attack from Young-min, Su-han drank moderately while attending to the disheveled Jeong-min.
“Su-han hyung….”
“Yeah. I’m right here, you punk.”
Normally, when sober, Jeong-min called him ‘Sunbae’ and rarely ‘Hyung,’ but he only called him hyung, hyung when he was drunk. The moment Su-han thought that look was quite cute… he felt a shiver. He wondered if calling an Alpha over 180cm ‘cute’ was a bit much, but now he decided to just follow the flow of consciousness, thinking, ‘What’s the harm in calling something cute cute?’
“Su-han hyung….”
“This won’t do. You’ve had too much. Get up….”
As Su-han tried to lift Jeong-min, who now had his head completely buried in the table, he was suddenly startled. Jeong-min was crying. Tears were dripping down… Since this was the first time seeing him like this, Su-han was inwardly flustered and sat back down opposite him.
“…What on earth did your brother say to you? Tell me about it.”
Jeong-min listened to and counseled Ji Su-han and Ji Su-eun a lot, but he had never clearly shown his own inner thoughts. Thus, the only worries and pains Su-han knew about Jeong-min were related to his brother.
“Hyung….”
“Yeah. I’m here.”
When Su-han filled the empty glass, Jeong-min took it and drank while crying. Then, tears fell again in a shower.
“Jeong-min.”
Su-han couldn’t drink any more and looked at Jeong-min with pity. He wondered what kind of wound this guy had. He seemed ordinary, and his personality seemed good. His interpersonal relationships were adequate, and he possessed a certain level of skill as a doctor. His private life was clean. Since he had charm as an Alpha, Su-han had heard the nurses at the hospital talking about Jeong-min several times.
However, he did not love. The reason this relationship with Su-eun was maintained was precisely because he did not love Su-eun. While it was a blessing for Su-eun, there were things Su-han, as a fellow Alpha, couldn’t understand. Despite being in a sexually active period, he was plain, and seemed to have absolutely no interest in Omegas.
One day, a Dominant Omega in the middle of a rut had come to the emergency room, causing a stir. Even though most of the Alphas in the hospital were affected by those pheromones, Jeong-min remained calm, soothing and treating the Omega without a trace of agitation. Other Alphas and Omegas applauded, praising Dr. Shin’s incredible patience, but Su-han, who knew Jeong-min well, knew it was because he truly had no interest in Omegas.
One day, out of curiosity, Su-han had asked him while drunk if he was a virgin. Jeong-min had burst out laughing at the question and calmly talked about his experiences, which actually surprised Su-han. He realized Jeong-min had slept with Omegas.
But he said he hadn’t had a relationship with an Omega recently. He claimed he was too busy to think about it, but to Su-han, he seemed excessively plain.
“Here, lie down.”
Eventually, Su-han brought the collapsed Jeong-min to his officetel. Since it was near the hospital and convenient for commuting, he chose this over a hotel.
He laid Jeong-min on the bed and took off his jacket. He had no intention of removing the other clothes, even if they were uncomfortable. Instead, he tucked him in tightly with a blanket. As Su-han stood up to drink a glass of water, he felt a hand grabbing him and looked back. It was Jeong-min’s hand.
“What? Want water?”
“…Shin-woo hyung….”
Shin-woo.
A name Jeong-min occasionally uttered when he drank. So it wasn’t an unfamiliar name.
“Geez, I’m not that Shin-woo or whoever, I’m Su-han, you punk. How many times do I have to tell you?”
Just who was this guy named Shin-woo? He had wanted to ask when Jeong-min was sober, but he couldn’t because it was a name he only heard when Jeong-min was this drunk.
“An Omega… hyung’s….”
“What?”
Jeong-min spoke in fragments, but since Su-han couldn’t understand, he leaned down and brought his face close to Jeong-min’s. Tears welled up and fell from Jeong-min’s closed eyes.
“…A child… hyung’s child… I want to give birth….”
Su-han froze.
“I… Shin-woo hyung… hyung… why am I not an Omega…. why… Young-min….”
Though they were only a few words, Su-han could understand everything Jeong-min was saying. The thought flashed through his mind that Jeong-min might be in a situation similar to his own sister, Su-eun.
Now he understood why Jeong-min had acted so plainly. If he wanted to be an Omega, it must have been hard to look at other Omegas. That’s why you collapsed after meeting your brother.
And the person named Shin-woo who received your love… because you were an Alpha, he couldn’t have accepted your heart.
“Poor bastard….”
Su-han stroked Jeong-min’s hair. Then, he slowly moved his hand down to wipe Jeong-min’s wet eyes.
“Hyung… Shin-woo….”
“I am Ji Su-han, Jeong-min.”
Su-han blocked Jeong-min’s lips, which kept uttering Shin-woo’s name, with his own hand. He didn’t want to hear that name anymore. He felt like he was becoming angry at a person he had never even met.
✽✽✽
“Ugh— my, my stomach….”
As Jeong-min clutched his stomach in the hospital hallway, Su-han clicked his tongue.
“You okay? I knew this would happen from the moment you started chugging.”
“Please save me….”
Having drunk several times more than his usual limit, he felt like he was truly going to die. He wanted to take a day off and rest today, but was that even possible for an intern? As it was, he was already receiving looks of envy and jealousy for being a son of the Shin family; if he did that, it was obvious people would start whispering that he was using connections, even if he wasn’t. In the end, he dragged himself to the hospital, but pain was still pain.
Thanks to that, Su-han rushed to the internal medicine department where Jeong-min was whenever he had no appointments to check on him.
“Did you take the medicine I gave you earlier?”
“Yes… but I think it’s wearing off….”
Jeong-min wanted to take another placebo, but as an internal medicine physician, he knew better than anyone that it wasn’t a good idea, so he endured it. Thinking he should at least drink some milk, Jeong-min tried to stand up, but as he staggered, Su-han, who was sitting beside him, quickly supported him.
“You’re in no condition. Go inside and rest. I’ll handle the talking.”
“I’m fine.”
Though he said he was fine, he didn’t even have the strength to stand if Su-han didn’t hold him up. Jeong-min’s mind was far too busy focusing solely on the fact that his stomach didn’t hurt at the moment.
“What are you two doing~? I’m going to tell Dr. Su-eun!”
“You look great together!”
The nurses, returning from lunch, teased them after seeing Jeong-min and Su-han embracing(?). Jeong-min laughed at the comment, but soon let out a pained groan, and Su-han hugged him even tighter. This only prompted the nurses to tease them more, and soon, doctors from other departments passing by with cups of coffee joined in, joking about what two Alphas were doing. Jeong-min didn’t have the mental capacity to play along with their jokes, and Su-han simply shrugged his shoulders.
“Sunbae.”
Amidst the cheerful commotion, a low voice rang out. Jeong-min was the first to react to that voice. He quickly straightened his slumped body and looked toward the source of the voice. Naturally, everyone else’s gaze shifted in that direction as well.
The nurses and the Omegas present stirred. Standing there was a man with such breathtakingly handsome features that “handsome” alone couldn’t describe it, exuding an intimidating Extreme Alpha pheromone.
He was looking at only one person—Jeong-min. Jeong-min sighed and gently pushed Su-han away to step out of his arms. Su-han quickly grabbed Jeong-min’s arm.