By Zephyria 
For a long time, Hae-ah stood there with a defenseless face. There were water stains splashed haphazardly on his beige T-shirt and white shorts, a long scratch on his calf, and shampoo foam smeared all over his hair.
Looking up at the visitor who had suddenly arrived at 1:30 PM, the quietest time of the day, Hae-ah rubbed his hands on the towel he had brought. He was a little embarrassed by his appearance, as he had rushed over, mistaking it for the delivery he had been waiting for.
“Hello?”
On the other hand, the uninvited guest looked neat.
“Ah, yes. Hello….”
Smiling awkwardly, Hae-ah looked the other person up and down. The coordination of a white short-sleeved T-shirt for the top, charcoal-colored suit pants for the bottom, and a mix-and-match of white sneakers and a loop-type belt gave a city-like impression. The hair, which had grown long without time to trim it, was swept behind his ears and tied in a small bunch at the ends, and the unique hairstyle combined with the large, clear eyes made him look like a person of mixed race.
Shaking a large paper bag in one hand,
“I’m Si Eun-cheol.”
The visitor who had suddenly arrived introduced himself.
“…CEO Cheon Tae-rim’s chief of staff, and also a middle school, high school, and university classmate. I had personal circumstances, so I’m greeting you late. Nice to meet you.”
“Ah….”
Draping the pink towel over his shoulders, Hae-ah was somewhat flustered. The fact that the unexpected guest was Si Eun-cheol was not a big problem.
Occasionally, when he was home alone, Kang Il-hae would knock on the door, saying, ‘Let’s talk,’ as if he knew that everyone else had left. It was Kang Il-hae who was dissatisfied with the non-access clause in the marriage contract between his Father and his brother-in-law. However, since both Chairman Kang Jun-il and CEO Cheon Tae-rim were formidable opponents, he sought out Hae-ah, who was not only his younger brother but also his punching bag under his feet, rather than the parties who had signed the contract.
If he refused to meet and closed the door, he would have no choice but to return, but Hae-ah was uncomfortable and afraid even to turn away his brother. Compared to that, Si Eun-cheol was even a welcome guest.
However, because his appearance today was so different from what he had seen in the past, Hae-ah couldn’t help but scan Si Eun-cheol’s entire body openly.
“Yes, I’m… Kang Hae-ah. I’m a writer, uh, um, I work with oil paintings. Tae-rim-ssi and… engaged, living together….”
It was quite unfamiliar for celebrity Kang Hae-ah to explain who he was. To the slow, mumbling self-introduction,
“I know.”
Si Eun-cheol easily cut him off.
Smiling awkwardly, Hae-ah racked his brains. It seemed that Si Eun-cheol did not remember their past meeting. Moreover, his eyes, expression, and behavior were so different from before that he felt like a completely different person. The intelligence characteristic of smart people flickered in his eyes, and a sense of ease was felt in his smiling mouth.
‘He’s gotten a lot better and has already returned.’
Concluding his thoughts alone, Hae-ah opened the front door wide and cleared the way.
“Nice to meet you. Come in.”
It was now routine for Hae-ah for the secretary of CEO Cheon Tae-rim to visit the house during lunchtime. Two or three times a week, especially on days when there was late-night work, Tae-rim would somehow forget his belongings and go to work.
“Our Tae-rim-ssi has a bit of a clumsy tendency.”
“…….”
“He leaves out one thing every day, so Eun-ah-ssi is so busy.”
Chattering, Hae-ah took the lead and went up the stairs. This was because the important USBs, valuable documents, and the lucky fountain pens that Tae-rim had forgotten, which were essential for signing contracts, were all in the study on the second floor.
“It’s really fortunate that Eun-cheol-ssi has returned…. Ah, can I call you Eun-cheol-ssi? Calling you by your title is too stiff… Eun-ah-ssi said that before.”
Towards Hae-ah, who was working hard to break the awkward atmosphere,
“Well… call me whatever you want.”
Eun-cheol said.
“…And I didn’t come back to visit after returning.”
“Yes? Then, why….”
Stopping halfway up the stairs, Hae-ah looked down at Eun-cheol, who was standing two steps below him. Then he discovered a strange sign. He was just blinking his eyes and looking at him, but his cheeks were gradually turning red, as if he had been attacked.
It was the first time he had seen such a prominent blush, so Hae-ah was even more embarrassed.
“…I stopped by to say hello. And I have something to give you….”
After a brief silence, Eun-cheol said. However, the more he added explanations, the more Hae-ah’s tilted head moved from side to side.
“Um, Tae-rim-ssi is still at the company…. Uh…? Did you come because of me, not Tae-rim-ssi…? To see me?”
“Yes.”
“…Then is that thing in your hand a gift for me too? Eun-cheol-ssi bought me a gift?”
“Yes.”
“…Do you remember everything that happened at the hospital?”
“Ah, damn it….”
The conversation stopped there. Crumpling his smooth forehead, Eun-cheol raised his right hand and scratched above his eyebrows. Expressing his annoyance, he thrust the large paper bag he was holding in one hand into Hae-ah’s arms.
“Then don’t you remember? Who do you think is senile? Stop nagging me because I’m annoyed and just take this.”
“…….”
Dumbfounded, Hae-ah accepted the paper bag. Then, as if his business was over, Eun-cheol turned around and started going back down the stairs he had come up. Hae-ah hurriedly chased after and grabbed the guest who was trying to run away.
“Eun-cheol-ssi!”
He called out like that and grabbed his arm. Eun-cheol couldn’t bring himself to shake it off. This was because he knew that if he shook it off hard, the person would fall backward, even on the road.
When he turned around with a displeased frown, Hae-ah was smiling with a friendly face.
“Um… don’t do that, let’s have a cup of tea before you go. …Ah, ah! Oh my, look at my mind.”
Then, without hearing acceptance or rejection of his suggestion, he started running somewhere. Without realizing it, Eun-cheol followed the homeowner. The place Hae-ah headed to was the bathroom on the first floor.
“Oh, Hyung is sorry. A guest came….”
Inside the bathtub, where he approached with a pink towel spread out, was a dog with its ears perked up, completely soaked in water. He looked sullen, having been left unattended for a few minutes after his bath. After watching Hae-ah wipe the dog’s fur with clumsy movements for a while, Eun-cheol picked up a new towel hanging on the towel rack and joined in drying the dog.
“Don’t rub it like that, you have to shake it while wiping it. And blow it with a dryer. Huh? If you don’t dry it quickly, it’ll smell like a dog soon….”
The nagging was a bonus.
Only after drying Do-jin’s fur until it was fluffy, holding towels and dryers side by side, did the homeowner, who was having a guest for the first time, and the guest, who had buried his face in his arms and sobbed in the past, sit facing each other at the table. It was an extremely awkward meeting.
Following Eun-cheol’s gestures, who was busy looking around the house, Hae-ah looked at the chandelier hanging from the living room ceiling, his works hanging on the walls, and the very large and deep sofas and furniture tailored to Tae-rim’s body.
Then he asked.
“Shall I give you a room tour a little later?”
“…No. It’s not that… I just thought, ‘Well, Cheon Tae-rim said he would live in this big house.'”
Hae-ah seemed delighted by Eun-cheol’s muttered words and laughed out loud. And he poured warm tea into the empty teacup.
“It’s pointless to even mention it. Anyway, see that detached building out there? He’s making a fuss about tearing it down… He’s already torn everything inside, you know?”
“Um….”
“Right now, it’s like that, under construction as a greenhouse garden with windows. Originally, I was going to use it as my studio. I even received a dedicated canvas rack as a gift. But Tae-rim-ssi insisted so much….”
“Hmph….”
“He even put the rugs on those stairs all by himself. Honestly, I agreed because Do-jin is here too. …Ah, now that I think about it, Tae-rim-ssi brought Do-jin here without permission! Without even consulting me.”
“Khmm….”
Chatteringly, Hae-ah rattled on with a one-sided conversation, happy to have a guest after a long time. Eun-cheol, who had been listening for a long time, looked down at the tea in front of him and couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Cheon Tae-rim has that side to him.”
Then Hae-ah smiled brightly. Smiling so that his neat lower teeth were visible, he nodded busily.
“Right, Tae-rim-ssi is a bit….”
“…a bit….”
“Stubborn.”
“Pigheaded.”
The two spoke almost simultaneously. Then, with their eyes wide open, they looked at each other, then shifted their gaze to the teacups on the table for no reason, and started laughing with a ‘pfft’ sound.
Once the topic became ‘Cheon Tae-rim,’ the conversation continued without end. Hae-ah really liked the guest who had suddenly arrived, Si Eun-cheol. He even enjoyed talking to him. Eventually, it was only when the sun set outside the window and the water in the teacup cooled that Eun-cheol got up from his seat.
“I’ve been here too long. I should go now.”
“Ah, why? It’s almost time for Tae-rim-ssi to come home…. Since it’s already late, let’s have dinner together, okay?”
Eun-cheol had not yet decided how to treat Hae-ah, who was approaching him without hesitation and sticking to his side. He had not even solved the problem of what kind of person he should consider him.
He had come to the hospital room on his own accord to see an Omega who had One-sided Imprinting on his fiancé, and then, when he was out of his mind, he had comforted and put him to sleep…. So Eun-cheol hated Kang Hae-ah. It was difficult to erase the dirty feeling of being indebted to someone he hated without even knowing it. That’s why he came as soon as he was discharged.
To such an Eun-cheol, Hae-ah showed him a cute dog, fed him delicious snacks, and brewed him sweet tea.
“Let’s have dinner together. If you try our Ok-hye-ssi’s cooking, you’ll want to come over every day.”
The voice suggesting gently was kind. Light entered his brown eyes each time his eyelashes moved up and down. The small, prominent tip of his nose was white and shiny, and there were no small flaws on his cheeks, which were lively with a light blush.
“…….”
It was a moment that made him ashamed of his past self, who had belittled him as an ‘unruly third-generation chaebol with a rotten personality and obviously promiscuous relationships.’
Eun-cheol needed time. Time alone to gather his confused feelings and reorganize the categories of his relationships.
‘No, before that….’
The moment he felt any more affection for Hae-ah, something very troublesome seemed like it would happen. For example, he would be in danger of losing his best friend and his job at the same time. Something that should never happen.
So Eun-cheol shook his head. He was going to refuse dinner and go home.
“You’re home, Tae-rim-ssi? See what kind of guest is here.”
That was until he faced Cheon Tae-rim, who had come home with a briefcase in his hand, for the first time in as many as four months.
“Si Eun-cheol? …Why are you here….”
Tae-rim’s reaction was so stiff that it was even cold. He had never thought that he would welcome him with open arms, but Eun-cheol had still expected a greeting such as ‘Thank you for your hard work during your long hospital stay’ or ‘Please take care of me again in the future.’ Eun-cheol was momentarily embarrassed, a little annoyed, and very angry at Tae-rim’s appearance, staring at him with eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost.
“What am I doing here? Did I come to a place where I shouldn’t come?”
When Eun-cheol raised his voice, Tae-rim’s dark eyebrows furrowed slightly. Eun-cheol felt like he was burning inside at the unique overbearing expression of raising one eyebrow.
“When were you discharged? Did the Doctor discharge you?”
Even while asking that, Tae-rim was looking at Hae-ah, not Eun-cheol. His black eyes, moving up and down, were openly checking to see if his fiancé had suffered even the slightest scratch.
Because of that, Eun-cheol felt a stuffiness that was no different from indigestion.
“What are you talking about, who would discharge me? I’m saying I was discharged because I’m all better!”
“So what are you saying.”
“Hey, Cheon Tae-rim. You should have given me a hint in the first place, did you forget that? If you knotted, you should have contacted me, right? Even if you’re crazy in love, there’s a limit, you shameless bastard.”
“What?”
As soon as he shouted the question back, Tae-rim quickly shut his mouth. Raising his voice inside this house, and especially in front of Hae-ah, was strictly forbidden.
Lifting his right hand to smooth over his lips, Tae-rim held his breath. Then he said,
“I did… knotting, but Hae-ah-ssi hasn’t had his awakening yet.”
“No, what are you saying…?”
Eun-cheol’s face, which had been glaring at Tae-rim with anger, crumpled for a moment. Before he could digest what he’d heard, he involuntarily glanced at Hae-ah, then shook his head violently from side to side. He had to strain his brain to avoid imagining the moment of knotting between a man who hadn’t even had his awakening and a massive Dominant Alpha.
And Eun-cheol became puzzled.
“Uh… but, Tae-rim, I told you I’m all better?”
Hae-ah’s head, which had been shaking back and forth, turning to Tae-rim, then to Eun-cheol, then back to Tae-rim, and then back to Eun-cheol, finally stopped. It was the moment the two men, who had been continuing their argument, suddenly fell silent.
“What’s wrong, you two…?”
Only Hae-ah was blinking, bewildered and unable to understand the situation.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Thus, the two-story house, where the warmth of evening had been reserved, became a labyrinth for three men. There was a Dominant Alpha who believed without a doubt that he was a brute who had knotted with a man who was no different from a Beta, a Dominant Omega who had checked himself out of the hospital as soon as his One-sided Imprinting was broken and came to that house with a bunch of Omega supplements, and Kang Hae-ah, whose identity was completely unknown.
Hae-ah was very tired on the night he returned from the hospital after a long examination and numerous tests. The lips that had been deliberately chattering about various exciting things in the car were tightly shut as soon as he got home, unable to resist sleepiness.
It was Tae-rim who picked up and carried Hae-ah, who had fallen asleep with his limbs sprawled out. It was a smooth process to lay him down on the right side of the master bedroom, then take off his shoes and loosen his pants belt. Only after undressing the half-asleep Hae-ah and dressing him in comfortable pajamas did Tae-rim sit at his bedside and stroke the sleeping man’s hair.
Hae-ah lifted his heavy eyelids at the touch of the hand caressing his forehead. He smiled as he looked up at the gentle Alpha, but only for a moment, before his eyes closed again, unable to withstand the drowsiness.
Hae-ah whispered to his lover, who was unusually quiet today.
“I’m okay, Tae-rim-ssi.”
The words, delivered calmly with a faint smile, did not comfort Tae-rim, however. As with most of the problems surrounding them, today, Kang Hae-ah might be okay, but Cheon Tae-rim was not.
Tae-rim had a plan. He was going to buy a cake and a bouquet of flowers to give to his lover on the day he became an Omega. He wanted to whisper words of love to each other all night long, make plans for children after the stabilization period, and suggest that they take a year or so of rest and spend enjoyable time together. That’s how it was in his imagination. In his imagination, Kang Hae-ah was not a ‘sick Omega with no awakening symptoms or body scent.’
It was a lover who showed fatigue on his face only after falling into a deep sleep. Tae-rim carefully stroked Hae-ah’s cheek with the tip of his thumb. He was only twenty-six years old. It was late to have an Omega awakening, but too early for a hormonal abnormality to occur.
But Kang Hae-ah had both of those problems. He never had an Omega awakening, but his hormones were already acting like an Omega’s. That was the conclusion he had reached today, after a long examination and treatment.
Tae-rim was the one who sat the Doctor down and demanded to know what the problem was all day long. Hae-ah just wore a bland smile, clasped his hands together, and listened to the words going back and forth.
‘The psychological factor is probably significant. It could also be an instinctive factor.’
The Doctors he met today all said the same thing. They said they couldn’t determine which of the two or more ‘factors’ was the cause. At least the vocabulary of the Doctor at Juhan Hospital, who had previously been in charge of treating Eun-cheol’s condition, was direct.
‘Have you ever heard the story of how, if an Omega has an unwanted pregnancy, there’s no bloating, no morning sickness, and no visible signs, so in severe cases, they may not know they’re pregnant until right before the baby is born?’
Tae-rim frowned at the story, which was not unfamiliar. He remembered seeing news about an Omega giving birth to a baby in the back seat of a taxi. But as the news sensationally reported, that Omega had had unwanted sexual relations before the unwanted pregnancy.
That made Tae-rim angry. He yelled, was he saying that Kang Hae-ah’s condition was the same as that of a pregnant woman who had been sexually assaulted? Hae-ah was startled and made rabbit eyes, and the Doctor acknowledged his slip of the tongue and waved his hands wildly.
‘No. What I’m trying to say is that the patient’s current condition is similar to that of the fetus in that case. Even though the time when it should be noticeable has passed… there are no awakening symptoms or rut, and even the physical changes are too slow. It’s as if he instinctively doesn’t want to be discovered as an Omega.’
Tae-rim’s heart became heavy and sank like a stone. On the night he walked out of the hospital after hearing the long story, he could only think of this.
‘Is it because of me?’
Then he cut off the tail of his lengthening self-reproach. The pheromones and body scent that a Dominant Alpha unilaterally poured out might have been too much for Hae-ah, who showed no symptoms in his Omega body. But that was all.
“Tae-rim-ssi.”
Whenever he saw Hae-ah, who was showing signs of fatigue on his face after falling into a deep sleep and breathing raggedly,
“…Tae-rim-ssi….”
Whenever he thought of Hae-ah, who had crawled under his writhing body in a rut and said ‘it’s okay’ dozens of times and stayed by his side so he wouldn’t be alone,
“…Yeah, Hae-ah. I’m here.”
Tae-rim knew instinctively. That the culprit who had caused Hae-ah, without even knowing it himself, to develop abnormal symptoms in a state that was neither Beta nor Omega in order to avoid being assaulted, killed, and ultimately to hide his identity, was not himself.
‘If the condition is this severe, the patient must have felt pain. Have you ever had heart pain or muscle pain?’
Hae-ah had shaken his head at the Doctor’s question. He said that he had hardly been sick lately, then he raised his hand and rubbed his mouth. He had sincerely believed that he was not in pain as long as he was not punched in the fist or kicked in the foot.
He didn’t know if his heart hurt or if his arms and legs were numb. Even though he was stimulated by Tae-rim’s pheromones every day, he never once realized that he was in pain. He was a fool of a lover from head to toe. He was dull, ignorant, and heartbreakingly lovely.
“Nothing’s going to change, Hae-ah.”
Tae-rim whispered very softly as he bent down and kissed the sleeping man’s nose.
“We can live as we always have. We just have to wait and love each other.”
Hoping that his whisper would reach Hae-ah’s subconscious, and praying that he would be able to escape the violence that had plagued him all his life, even in his dreams.
And Tae-rim was right. To Hae-ah, who was living as he always had, continuing to wait, and spending days full of love, the awakening symptoms came.
“Umm.”
In the afternoon, Hae-ah, who had put his hands on his stomach and opened his eyes alone on the wide bed, felt that his head was heavier than usual and his body temperature was excessively high. It seemed that taking a nap because he couldn’t stand the body aches was not a good choice. His whole body was boiling in a couple of hours.
“Heeu…”
Lifting his hand, which felt like a rat had climbed up and wrapped itself around his skin, to caress his face, Hae-ah barely managed to get up from the bed.
And then he blankly took out his tablet PC. Then he opened the paint program that he used to sketch whenever he had a good work inspiration, and opened the ‘Omega Awakening Symptoms’ memo that he had written down a full five months ago.
‘One, accompanied by headache, slight muscle cramps, and fever. …Two, hands and feet may tremble or you may not be able to stand properly… Three, become very sensitive to Alpha’s body scent, the possibility of fainting increases, and the front of your eyes….’
Hae-ah dropped the tablet he was holding on the floor because his hands and feet were trembling. At the same time, his vision spun, and the chandelier on the ceiling filled his vision. He was sprawled out on the bed, alone, with a dizziness that washed over him like a rough wave.
Hae-ah whimpered softly and reached out in all directions. His fingertips, which were groping wildly on the bedside table, finally caught his cell phone. As soon as he tapped the screen to turn it on, Hae-ah opened his emergency contact list and pressed 1.
[Cheon Tae-rim-ssi]
As soon as the signal rang exactly twice,
―Yeah, honey. Are you awake?
A familiar voice was heard. Hae-ah groaned with a huge headache. He felt a sudden surge of tears. Suddenly, he missed Tae-rim so much. He had just picked out his tie for his commute a little while ago, and he was the person who would be back by his side after work in a few hours, but he missed him so much right now. It felt like something terrible would happen if he couldn’t see him. He felt like he could die from missing him so much.
―…Honey? Hae-ah, hello?
An urgent voice was heard from beyond the phone. Now Hae-ah couldn’t breathe properly. The skin all over his body was tingling and aching.
“Tae-rim-ssi…, heeu, I….”
Hae-ah gasped for breath and hunched over in an awkward position. He curled up his whole body as if he had been hit hard, and he started to cry. He crawled on the bed, kicked the sheets with both feet, and buried his head in the pillow.
“Eueuk….”
And then he fainted for a moment.
When he opened his eyes again, Hae-ah heard a knock on the door. Encouraged by the knocking sound coming from afar, he moved his numb arms and legs.
‘Tae-rim-ssi. It looks like Tae-rim-ssi has come….’
He ran out of the bedroom with his reason half-paralyzed. He grabbed the stair railing and went down to the first floor as if waiting with trembling legs, and burst open the front door.
And he immediately regretted it.
“Tae…rim, ssi….”
He realized too late that Cheon Tae-rim didn’t need to knock to enter his house.
“Kang Hae-ah, you….”
Hearing the sound of his heart racing, Hae-ah felt a light flashing in front of his eyes. The shock flashed and kept coming at him with red, white, and yellow lights, flashing his vision. Hae-ah tried to step back two steps, but he sat down as he slammed his pelvis hard against the cabinet.
“Ah, …ah.”
Kang Il-hae’s eyes slowly scanned Hae-ah’s whole body, who was gasping for breath as he collapsed in the shoe rack. After recklessly visiting him several times to relieve his anxiety and express his impatience, his younger brother, who finally opened the door, was in a completely different state than in the past, with an appearance that was no different from the past.
Red cheeks, a forehead dripping with hot sweat like rain, a gasping breath that seemed to be passing out, and two legs that had collapsed without being able to support his own body… A strange excitement filled the eyes that contained his blood.
“…You’ve had your awakening?”
Hae-ah did not miss the moment when his nose twitched slightly.
“D-don’t come. Don’t come in….”
Hae-ah whispered as he crawled backward. Then Kang Il-hae kicked Hae-ah’s ankle with his shoe as if handling a ball and entered the house.
“Wow…. So you really were an Omega? You’re so lucky, our Hae-ah. I wondered why you were protecting such a moron so much….”
“Hyung…, you promised not to meet me….”
“Haha, damn, the smell… is amazing….”
“Please leave.”
Kang Il-hae didn’t budge even at the words he uttered with his face soaked with liquid that was either tears or sweat. He only looked around to see if there was anyone else in the two-story house besides Hae-ah. The moment he was covered by Kang Il-hae’s shamelessly approaching shadow, Hae-ah lost his age.
“Don’t, don’t…. Don’t hit me….”
Hae-ah pleaded like a child. Almost at the same time, a rough hand reached out towards his collar.
And Hae-ah lost his mind.
What greeted Tae-rim when he returned home was the front door, which was already open. His expression, filled with worry and excitement to the point that his whole body was flushed red, was like that of a person turning into an animal in a short moment. His black eyes were filled with a strange light, and the tip of his nose began to follow an unfamiliar body scent.
Tae-rim silently opened the front door. The feeling of his hair standing on end, made sensitive, felt as prickly as if needles were pricking him.
“……”
Even though his breath became rough, he didn’t make a sound, only his chest heaved.
Everything from the shoe rack to the hallway to the living room was a mess. The objects were all dropped as if a fight had taken place, the sofa was tilted at an angle, and several of the flower pots that Ok-hye usually took care of were broken and scattered on the floor.
Anyone could have read that it was an emergency situation. Tae-rim also knew that something had already happened or was about to happen. Because the disgusting Alpha’s smell and the unfamiliar, yet familiar and sweet Omega’s body scent remained in the air.
But he couldn’t bring himself to walk quickly. Already below the stairs, a stretched-out foot was visible…. The foot of a man who was not moving, having fallen down the stairs as if he had fallen, was not moving.
“…Hae…ah.”
Tae-rim was trembling all over, literally. Even the few bits of flesh on his cheeks were trembling like a person having a seizure. With two legs that could barely manage not to collapse, let alone run, he walked slowly.
For a very brief moment, Cheon Tae-rim even thought about death. There was a weekend scene flashing through his mind. There was a white dog curled up in the middle of a round cushion, taking a nap, and Hae-ah was lying flat in front of it, holding his breath.
He would gently touch the tip of his nose to the sleeping dog’s pink lips, and Hae-ah would laugh silently.
‘I can feel Do-jin’s breath when I do this.’
That was Hae-ah. If anything tragic happened to him, Tae-rim had no confidence that he could live.
“Hae-ah…?”
A shoe that had been taken off, a slender ankle, and casual pants with the hem folded up came into his vision, which was trembling with anxiety. Tae-rim took a hot breath and then inhaled the wet breath again, and made a voice.
“Hae-ah.”
Then he suddenly bent down and slowly looked at the face that had been hidden beyond the railing.
“……”
Immediately, Tae-rim fell backward and sat down. The strength in his knees, which had been steadily supporting his whole body, was released in an instant. It was because he was too relieved.
It wasn’t Kang Hae-ah…, it wasn’t his Hae-ah. The man who had fallen down the stairs and lost consciousness was Kang Il-hae, not Kang Hae-ah. He was unconscious, his torn nose bridge covered in blood, and there was not even a twitching movement.
Feeling his breathing open up, Tae-rim took a deep breath. Regaining his composure, he jumped up from his seat again. Then he looked up at the stairs leading to the second floor. One drop, two drops of red blood were on the rectangular rug that he had carefully applied one by one.
Tae-rim no longer hesitated. In a desperate impulse to check on Hae-ah as quickly as possible and relieve his anxiety, he quickly climbed the stairs. He crawled up to the second floor, and as he crossed the hallway, he shouted.
“Kang Hae-ah! Hae-ah, where are you?”
It was the awakening he had been waiting for so long. It was the body scent he had been so curious about. On a happy day, at a moment that should have been happy, Tae-rim was terribly anxious. Kang Il-hae, who had collapsed with a serious injury, looked like a victim for the first time in his life. The sweet body scent that filled the hallway was so strong that it felt like it was choking Tae-rim.
He had thought that something was wrong when he answered the phone. He had felt an irrational excitement in Hae-ah’s voice as he groaned in pain. It seemed that the late awakening and the heat cycle had come at the same time. And an Omega in heat, especially in a state of such an unnatural illness, was by no means easy to deal with.
Gasping for breath, Tae-rim wandered around the hallway. There was no more blood to be seen.
“Hae-ah!”
He shouted and opened the guest room door, then looked around the study, and finally entered the master bedroom. But Kang Hae-ah was nowhere to be seen. Thinking he might have run outside, Tae-rim wandered aimlessly for a few steps before suddenly lifting his head.
“Hah…”
With a short gasp, he opened the door to his dressing room without hesitation.
“……”
Sure enough, two white feet were visible under the hangers holding suits and winter clothes. Hae-ah was huddled with his face buried in the pile of clothes, hugging his legs. As Tae-rim approached and knelt down, a sobbing sound leaked out.
“Hic, heuk…”
Hae-ah was crying, his bloodied hands clenched into fists. The blood soaking his fists didn’t seem to be his own, as Tae-rim frantically examined him.
“Hae-ah. It’s okay, now… I’m…”
Smelling the suffocatingly strong body scent, Tae-rim slowly grabbed Hae-ah’s shoulder. The startled man abruptly lifted his face. Tear tracks marred the skin under his eyes, and blood flowed from his nose.
As soon as he saw the burst mark on his lip, Tae-rim gritted his teeth. Hae-ah contorted his right cheek, covered in bright red handprints, and wildly swung his fists at Tae-rim, who was holding him.
“Ugh. No, no…!”
Trying to meet his unfocused eyes, Tae-rim grabbed his hands.
“Hae-ah!”
He gripped his wrists as if to subdue him, and as he pushed him into the corner with his weight, Hae-ah resisted even more fiercely. Unbelievably rough and savage, unlike the Kang Hae-ah from the morning, he kicked Tae-rim in the stomach with all his might, bit his shoulder, and screamed.
“No…, nooo, don’t do it, no!”
Tae-rim quietly looked down at Hae-ah, who was struggling, crying, cursing, shouting, and thrashing. Hae-ah collapsed, exhausted, making a ‘hic’ sound, then stretched out his neck again and bit Tae-rim’s hand with all his might. He seemed to have mistaken the attempt to wipe away his tears for an attempt to hit him.
“Woo… heuk, heueuk…”
Tae-rim watched as his hand was bitten hard, the flesh torn and bleeding. He didn’t resist or restrain him in any way. He didn’t even use the simplest method of calming him down by releasing pheromones as an Alpha.
“Heueuk, heueuk… Heueuk…”
He left him alone, until Hae-ah had cried as much as he wanted. Until he had resisted as much as he could, swung his fists, sobbed, shouted, and cursed.
Tae-rim left Hae-ah alone,
“No…, no, …please don’t hit me…”
While shedding tears and sadly groaning together.
“…Hae-ah.”
And whispered.
“It’s okay now…”
Tae-rim hugged Hae-ah, who rushed into his arms, the Omega who had lost his gentle reason and was savagely shouting with only instinct remaining, with all his might. And he poured warm tears and kisses on the crown of his head.
There was a moment when he had to realize an unpleasant truth. Tae-rim realized, gritting his teeth in anger and wrinkling his nose in hatred. He had known unconsciously, his Hae-ah… At least his instincts must have known. That upon awakening, when he became a complete Omega, he would be harmed…, by his own flesh and blood, no less.
“It’s okay now.”
“Uk…, heuk, euk…”
Tae-rim clenched his molars, swallowing tears.
“Hae-ah, now… now I’m here.”
In many ways, their beginning was extraordinarily strange. Their first meeting, when they heard each other’s voices, the first letter he had written by hand, the first kiss they shared as Alpha and Omega, everything was excessively sad and poignant.
Kang Hae-ah is only Kang Hae-ah. Cheon Tae-rim thought so. When he embraced the fragile man who frantically burrowed into his arms, as if to open his ribs and enter, when he met the eyes that recognized him when he called ‘Hae-ah’ even in a state of lost reason and fear, even while wetting his underwear with the pheromones of the Dominant Alpha,
“La licorne…”
When he recalled the diary that his lover, who made him laugh by whispering, had hidden away.
“Yes, it’s me. Your Unicorn…”
At times like that,
“I love you, Kang Hae-ah.”
To Cheon Tae-rim, Kang Hae-ah was like a fragment of himself that he hadn’t even realized he had lost. Throughout the time he loved him, Tae-rim had to realize his own shortcomings. He was actually hungry all his life, that he was lacking and insufficient, that he was overwhelmed and burdened, and he belatedly realized he was a fool. And for the first time, he felt fullness, completeness, and happiness.
“I love you…”
Cheon Tae-rim was thus completed,
“I love you.”
By dedicating his soul to the Omega who was mindlessly sobbing and repeating his confession.
He gave Hae-ah the soul of a narrow-minded Dominant Alpha, and Hae-ah gave him the soul of a poor recessive Omega. And they were all satisfied with the lover in their hands.
In the moment of imprinting on each other, it was as if they were taking out their lover’s heart, holding it to their ear, and listening to it beat.