By Zephyria 
After Bernice left, Koin remained alone, staring blankly into space. She couldn’t believe what she had heard. But Bernice wouldn’t lie, and if she wasn’t going to trust her words, she wouldn’t have called Bernice in the first place. Setting aside the fact that she had treated her harshly, Bernice had never made a mistake or added falsehoods regarding her work.
So, that person must have grasped the current situation most accurately.
It was rationally understandable, but emotionally difficult to accept.
〈Junior’s brain is already damaged.〉
〈There’s no way to reverse it. We can only delay the damage.〉
〈His brain will continue to deteriorate from now on.〉
〈Someday, he won’t recognize you or even know who he is. We don’t know when that will be.〉
〈As soon as a few years, or ten years later? It could take longer than that.〉
〈Parts of the limbic system, which feels emotions, are already damaged, and there are also memory impairments. It will worsen in the future. You’ll have to constantly piece together his memories, which are shattering like fragments. Just as I, and the medical staff here, did last time.〉
〈The deterioration of the limbic system is a characteristic of extreme Alphas, but in cases like Junior’s, where it manifested late, there’s almost no damage. This level of deterioration is rare.〉
〈Is it because of the pheromone shock caused by the Angel?〉
〈No, Junior was already damaged before that. Much longer ago.〉
〈This pheromone shock was merely a trigger.〉
Koin covered her face with both hands with a groan. The words were incomprehensible. That Ashley had been damaged for so long, since when? Since she slept with him? Or when they met again? Before coming to the East?
〈Only Junior would know how that happened.〉
Perhaps much longer ago than that.
Suddenly, Koin recalled a forgotten memory.
〈I had no intention of meeting you.〉
Ashley’s words from when they met again resurfaced one by one, and the color gradually drained from his face.
〈You came too early.〉
〈You ruined my plans. Completely.〉
And what else did he say?
〈Then when were you planning to find me?〉
When Koin asked, Ashley replied with a bitter smile.
〈Well. Maybe in about ten years?〉
〈I thought by then things would be going according to my plan.〉
At that moment, Koin gasped and covered her mouth with both hands.
\ \ *
Ashley appeared at Greenbell a little over thirty minutes after Koin called him. Koin, who had been staring blankly out the window, turned her head at the sound of the bell and spotted him, her gaze freezing.
Ashley strode in, glanced around the shop once, and then met Koin’s eyes. Koin tried to smile at him, but her facial muscles wouldn’t cooperate. With a contorted expression, she forced an awkward smile, as Ashley walked towards her with long strides.
“What are you doing here?”
Ashley stood in front of Koin and spoke. Intimidated by his presence, with his hands in his coat pockets and looking down at her oppressively, Koin mustered her courage and spoke as casually as possible.
“You came quickly. I thought it would take an hour.”
“I asked what you’re doing.”
Ashley repeated, frowning. Koin desperately suppressed the urge to beg him to stop and gestured to the chair opposite.
“Sit down first. We’ll talk afterward.”
“…….”
“Hurry.”
When Koin urged him again, Ashley reluctantly sat down opposite her. Watching him sweep his neatly combed hair back as if annoyed, Koin opened her mouth.
“It’s been a while since you’ve been here, hasn’t it?”
Ashley stared at Koin without a word. Koin looked around and continued.
“When I was young, it was too expensive here to even have a drink, but look at me now, I’ve earned enough to buy a meal. Isn’t that amazing?”
“With drinks and ice, too?”
Ashley scoffed, but Koin smiled and nodded.
“Yes. I’m an adult now, too.”
Ashley continued to look at him with a furrowed brow. As if asking what on earth he wanted to say.
Just then, an employee approached their table, and Koin ordered a warm herbal tea. Ashley asked for a double espresso, but it wasn’t on the menu. He had no choice but to order a cheap americano. After the employee left, Koin smiled with a slightly more relaxed expression.
“I want coffee too, but they say caffeine is bad for me. It’s strange, now that I think about it, I haven’t had coffee in a while. Maybe my body knew instinctively.”
As she unconsciously stroked her belly, Ashley watched her without a word. What was Koin trying to say? He chose to wait patiently rather than rush the other person. After a moment of silence, Koin finally spoke.
“I have something to ask you.”
She took a deep breath and looked straight at Ashley.
“It’s true you didn’t know I had become an Omega until then, right? And the pregnancy wasn’t intentional either?”
“Yes.”
Ashley replied with a blank expression. Koin asked again.
“If you had known beforehand that I was an Omega and could get pregnant, would you have been careful then?”
The hypothetical was meaningless, but it was an important question for Koin. Ashley seemed to think for a moment before speaking.
“If that were the case, I wouldn’t have slept with you.”
“Why?”
Koin asked as if she had been waiting.
“Because if I have sex with you, the pheromones I’ve painstakingly built up will dissipate?”
Ashley closed his mouth. It was difficult to read his thoughts from his expressionless face. She waited for his lips to part again, and Ashley slowly spoke.
“……What are you talking about?”
Koin noticed his inner turmoil from his slow words. It was proof that he was deflecting instead of answering the question. Koin confessed honestly.
“I met Miss Bernice. I heard about your condition.”
Ashley’s expression didn’t change. But Koin didn’t miss the momentary pause. Ashley said nothing, but Koin continued without waiting.
“I often thought something was strange. You were very different from before. No, your words and actions changed so frequently that I couldn’t understand why you were acting that way. But if it’s brain damage, it makes sense. That’s probably why your emotions are so volatile, and why you become frighteningly cold at times.”
Koin, who had been speaking rapidly, took a deep breath. With a trembling voice, she finally voiced the question she had been holding back.
“What I want to know is, why did you do it?”
Koin’s voice gradually became emotional and chaotic. She thought she should speak calmly, but she couldn’t stop talking.
“I know I hurt you. So if you wanted to hurt me back, and you deliberately got me pregnant because of that, then yes, maybe. But this is completely different. Why? You said I ruined your plans, right? So, is this your revised plan? Then what happened to your brain? I don’t understand at all. Explain it to me.”
Koin’s face contorted as if she were about to cry.
“Or, am I not good enough for you after all?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
For the first time, Ashley reacted. As if he couldn’t understand why such a topic was being brought up. But Koin no longer had the capacity for rational thought. After pondering for hours without finding an answer, all the negative emotions she had buried in her heart poured out.
“You were flustered when I proposed. Even though you knew I was pregnant with your child. You said you loved me, or is it that you love me and can have sex with me, but not marriage? Is it because I’m a penniless Koin Niles?”
At those words, Ashley retorted without holding back.
“What the hell are you talking about? Do you think I’m a piece of trash like my father?”
Seeing him enraged as if a button had been pushed, Koin released her bitten lip and confessed.
“The menu.”
“What?”
Ashley frowned and looked at her. Koin exhaled a trembling breath and confessed.
“I know you made that French restaurant’s menu as a fake.”
Ashley sighed and shook his head.
“What are you talking about right now?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know. You deliberately had the menu made fake to match my circumstances. You paid the remaining amount, didn’t you? I thought it was real and foolishly rejoiced, how could you do such a thing?”
Ashley paused for a moment but then became angry and pressed Koin.
“Did you suffer any harm because I did that? When I collapsed, you went there with another woman. Why were you there? Wasn’t it to show off? You had little money, and that was the best restaurant you could go to.”
Despite Ashley’s sarcastic remarks, Koin did not back down.
“You’re right. I wanted to go to the best place I could. Because I had committed a grave offense against her, and was about to commit another.”
After taking a short breath, he quickly added.
“I’m sorry I went there while you were collapsed. It weighed on me too, but I wanted to sort everything out before meeting you again. I thought prolonging things vaguely would be disrespectful to both of us.”
“Then what’s the problem? In the end, didn’t everything turn out the way you wanted? Why are you so angry?”
Ashley still didn’t understand his words at all. Finally, unable to hold back her pent-up sorrow, Koin asked.
“Do you… still pity me?”