By Zephyria 
When I wrapped my hands around my stomach and made a tearful face, Kwon Yi-kang asked with a stiff expression. He looked like he was in a momentary panic, so I gave a thin smile and waved my hand.
“I’m hungry. I thought I’d be home soon, so I only had a glass of milk before leaving, and now my stomach is growling.”
“You have to eat your meals properly. Now that there’s a child, you have to eat even better. Got it?”
Without even acknowledging his father, Kwon Yi-kang naturally pulled me toward the entrance. The action was so natural that both I and Kwon Yi-kang’s father only noticed it belatedly.
“I told you to stop right there!”
“Let’s talk later. He must have been startled because of you, and between the hospital and being dragged here, Soo-kyung must be tired.”
“You… you don’t give a single thought to your father’s feelings. What will you do if I oppose letting that brat in until the end? If I cannot acknowledge the thing in his belly!”
“You didn’t give a single thought to my feelings either, Father. If you had truly thought of me, you wouldn’t have summoned Soo-kyung in this manner. What on earth did you say to him?”
“He told me to break up and get rid of the child. Otherwise, he’d make sure I never see the sun tomorrow.”
Seeing the opportunity, I blurted it out, and Kwon Yi-kang’s eyes narrowed. With a furrowed brow and a sharp gaze, Kwon Yi-kang glared at his father and clicked his tongue.
“He told you to prepare the operating room right now and drag me away. To get rid of the child. I even recorded it. I’ll let you hear it when we get home.”
“That… that wretched brat…”
As I spoke while pulling out my phone from my pocket, Kwon Yi-kang’s father pointed at me and clutched the back of his neck.
“Yi-kang. Do you not understand your father’s heart at all? Haven’t you watched from the side how this father has lived until now? And what about you? This father’s pain, your pain—all of it was caused by that family. And yet, do you like that brat so much? Can you not give him up?”
“I…”
Pulling me into his embrace, Kwon Yi-kang continued after a brief silence.
“After graduating college, I rushed back to the country upon hearing that Father was critically ill. I threw away my dreams, my entire future. I came back with that resolve, but Father was perfectly fine. Even as I settled back here after returning based on a lie told simply to drag me back, I did not resent Father. …But now, I do resent you.”
Holding my back firmly with his large hand, pulling me strongly into his chest, and pressing against me as if he wouldn’t allow a single gap, Kwon Yi-kang still looked as if it wasn’t enough.
“My Omega, my child, my family—everything I wanted so badly. I’ve only just managed to get my hands on them, so for what purpose are you trying to tear them apart? You claim it’s for my sake, so why are you trying to rip my happiness to shreds?”
“Blood is mixed! Between that bastard and you! That damn hosan bloodline!”
“The fact that he is my Omega remains unchanged. A relative? Even if we were born from the same womb, he would still be my Omega, and I would have taken him.”
See, I told you Kwon Yi-kang would never give up on me. No matter what anyone says, Kwon Yi-kang won’t abandon me. Now that there’s a child, and considering what he himself went through, he’s not the type of man who would let his own child experience the same.
I smiled brazenly. Seeing Kwon Yi-kang act exactly as I expected filled me with a shallow sense of trust again, and that made me feel better than anything else.
“Let’s go home. I’m tired.”
“Right. Let’s go.”
“You’re not going anywhere. I will never allow the two of you to be entangled!”
It seemed a peaceful exit was out of the question. That old man looked like he was going to be stubborn until the very end. As I let out a small sigh, Kwon Yi-kang gently stroked my back as if telling me not to worry.
“If you intend to see blood, I won’t stop you. Instead, after today, I am no longer your son. I will also sever all ties with Hwang Seong.”
“You… how could you say such a thing to your father…”
“You were the one who crossed the line, Father. If you take one more step, we will truly be strangers.”
Think carefully. At the warning tone of his words, the old man’s face turned grim. I looked away as his body, which had been half-raised in a fit of rage, collapsed powerlessly back onto the sofa.
I had said I didn’t need a wedding where family members approved and congratulated us, but the fact that there actually wasn’t a single person who approved felt a bit bittersweet.
Isn’t it because parents want their children to live happily that they wait for them to marry and have children? So why are they opposing so strongly when a child says they want to marry the person they love?
Even if a natural disaster were to occur, a parent should be someone who permits it for the sake of their child, but reality seems different. The parent-child relationship is truly difficult.
“Does anything hurt?”
“Uh, I’m okay.”
“Should we go to the hospital and get another check-up? You said you didn’t get a detailed exam.”
“Just go home.”
Perhaps because he was in such a rush, black cars were lined up in front and behind the car that was parked crookedly in front of the building. It seemed Kwon Yi-kang had actually considered using force; the men he brought were facing off against the security personnel guarding the house in a tense war of nerves.
“You brought so many people in such a short time. Were you late because you were leading a bunch of foot soldiers?”
“I’m sorry. From now on, I’ll keep them on standby at all times.”
Even if he’s a stranger to me, he’s still Kwon Yi-kang’s father, yet he brought people in without hesitation. While it’s reasonable to expect that something bad might happen, Kwon Yi-kang—who prepared to counter with equal force, anticipating that his father would try to suppress him—seems a bit insane too.
“I feel completely secure.”
“It has to be at least this much so I can worry less while you flutter around. From now on, make sure to contact me before going out and move with an escort. There’s no law saying something like today won’t happen again.”
“Yes.”
“You’re only good at answering.”
Kwon Yi-kang caught me as I was about to get in the car and pushed me into the back seat before sitting beside me. A quick-witted man climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
What’s gotten into him? He’s the type of person who hates it when others touch his car.
As I looked back, wondering why he was doing something so unlike him, he was staring at me with sparkling, expectant eyes.
“What?”
“It’s really eight weeks, right?”
Ah, so that’s what it was. He must have sat side-by-side with me in the back seat, doing things he usually doesn’t, just to hear that. He was looking at me with eyes that betrayed an unusual urgency, as if it were too hard to wait until we got home.
Ahem, I cleared my throat and held out the photo I was clutching. Since I had snatched it from Kwon Yi-kang’s father’s hand in the midst of the chaos, it was a bit crumpled, but even if it were pristine, the “peanut” wouldn’t have looked like a child.
“They said we can hear the baby’s heartbeat now. I didn’t listen to it because I wanted to go and hear it with you next time.”
Kwon Yi-kang smoothed out the crumpled parts with his hand and stared at the photo with a terrifying level of focus, as if he could pierce through it. Even if he looked at it with a frown like that, he wouldn’t think it looked like a child. Perhaps, like me, he couldn’t tell what the fetus was.
“This part here is the gestational sac, and this is the fetus. They say it has arms and legs, but to me, it just looks like a peanut. If I’m being generous, a teddy bear.”
At my words, a smile appeared on Kwon Yi-kang’s lips. Watching the corners of his mouth curve upward softly, I unconsciously pressed my lips against his.
“Do you like it?”
“I do.”
There were no flowery adjectives, but it was a word that expressed the emotions Kwon Yi-kang was feeling with the utmost sincerity. A feeling of just being happy, to the point where nothing else came to mind. Even without speaking it aloud, that emotion was conveyed.
“We’re in big trouble now. We have no idea what to be careful of during pregnancy or how to raise a child. There’s so much to study, and the bigger problem is that I’m unemployed and you’re a prospective unemployed person.”
Now that Kwon Yi-kang’s father knows, will he be able to continue working at the company normally? He might be kicked out soon. A recommended resignation. I hope he gets a lot of severance pay.
Kwon Yi-kang must have some money saved, and I have my gold bars, so we can sell those to live on for a while. We’ll somehow hold out until the child is three or four years old, and then I’ll gradually start looking for work when the money runs out.
I can’t imagine Kwon Yi-kang working under someone else, catering to their whims. Rather than watching him bow his head and taste the bitterness of the world to earn money, I’d feel more at ease if I put him through rigorous childcare and went to work myself.
“Did you embezzle anything?”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
Given Kwon Yi-kang’s personality, I didn’t think he’d have embezzled anything behind the scenes, and he wouldn’t have had the time anyway. If he had managed to change the title of at least one house owned by the old man, it would have given us some breathing room, but Kwon Yi-kang probably lacks the cunning to pull off such a trick.
Why is this guy so uselessly kind? Maybe he’s this kind to offset how wicked I am. Right, now that there’s a child, at least one of the parents should be decent. I’m too far gone to be a decent parent, so in many ways, I’ll have to leave the childcare to Kwon Yi-kang.
“I’ll take care of everything, so you just raise the child. I’ll make sure you and the baby don’t starve no matter what.”
As I poured out the words like a sigh, Kwon Yi-kang tilted his head.
“You can do childcare well, right? You have to raise the kid well so they don’t go astray. But don’t get too obsessed with the child.”
I’ve seen too many cases where someone became so obsessed that they ruined the child’s life and destroyed themselves in the process. My grandfather was like that, and Kwon Yi-kang’s father is currently hovering right on the edge.
I’ve also seen cases where parents were too indifferent and the kids turned into trash. That usually applies to Alpha fathers.
As expected, moderate interest and moderate love are what’s important. I hope he gives all the remaining interest and love to me. I’m so deficient that it would be fine if Kwon Yi-kang poured all his attention and love into me. It would be even better if he became obsessed.
“Even after the baby is born, you’re mine. Got it?”
“You’re stating the obvious. It’s only good because it’s a child you’re giving birth to; otherwise, I wouldn’t care.”
“That attitude is very good.”
I nodded with satisfaction. It wasn’t the first or second time Kwon Yi-kang had said something sweet, but it’s a difficult thing to consistently say only sweet things.
Kwon Yi-kang was definitely born with it. Born to be loved. It’s truly impossible not to like him.
I grabbed Kwon Yi-kang’s face, which was still staring intently at the ultrasound photo, and pressed my lips against his with a firm kiss. Kwon Yi-kang, who looked momentarily startled with wide eyes, soon smiled and parted his lips as if responding to my kiss.