6 – The Man Who Married the Moon

Painter Kang Hae-ah became famous for his “Undulating” series. From the perspective of someone unfamiliar with the art world, it felt like one day, upon looking around, the patterns of his paintings were plastered everywhere.

His paintings were used in clothing collaborations with famous designers, television commercials, and as mise-en-scène in new films by master directors. Occasionally, when taking the subway, I would even see phone cases illegally printed with his paintings. Everyone knew Kang Hae-ah’s paintings, even if they didn’t know Kang Hae-ah himself.

The artist himself became famous later than his painting “Undulating.” He began to appear frequently in the fashion/art categories of portal sites or on morning news, and soon became a celebrity.

The “Kang Hae-ah” in the media was an SNS addict, a great socialite, and a special artist with a unique perspective. When the price of the jeans he wore became controversial, people initially criticized Kang Hae-ah. Then, when they found out that the jeans were the work of a foreign artist, they defended him, and later they argued about the difference between art and ready-made products. When a famous critic explained the phenomenon using aesthetic terms, an internet article appeared within two hours.

My impression of such a Kang Hae-ah was,

‘Product.’

That was all.

He was famous but not vulgar. He was familiar to the public but did not reveal any personal relationships. He showed his work, but that was just business; as for who he was, he was colorless and odorless. It was impossible for a personal SNS account with so many followers not to reveal any political stance.

The conclusion was simple. ‘Kang Hae-ah’ is a product. An icon of the Hanseong Group’s luxury strategy, a model for the image marketing of a chaebol family.

The marriage talks between such a Kang Hae-ah and me were not based on friendship or intimacy between families, but on the conditions of a contract. The arranged marriage proposed by Hanseong was a gamble and an opportunity for me. It was a gamble because I might have to live with a man who didn’t suit me for the rest of my life, and it was a golden opportunity to raise AOM to the ranks of a tightly closed chaebol company.

However, the risk of the gamble was not great. Even if his personality didn’t match mine, he would soon manifest as an omega, so there wouldn’t be a big problem. No matter what his type was, I was a dominant alpha, so a moderate bond would be formed even with just knotting.

Before signing the marriage contract, I went through a long period of consideration. What I prioritized over the future of the company and the success of the business was my parents’ opinion.

My father was not pleased, but he didn’t stop me. My mother liked the painter Kang Hae-ah from the beginning.

“When I look at his paintings, I feel good.”

That was how my mother evaluated him. She said he was a painter who painted really good pictures, not the youngest son of the Hanseong Group.

So I looked at him that way too. What if I married a painter, not the youngest son of the Hanseong Group… I liked the thought. The hesitation disappeared.

“What does Mr. Kang Hae-ah think?”

When I asked,

“He said he liked it from the beginning. And the AOM test results were reliable, weren’t they? He’s already looking for a honeymoon home, haha.”

The lawyer sent by Hanseong answered easily. The ‘AOM test results’ were just a pilot operation that combined our company’s program beta test with the information they sent and the information I had. The results were something that I, the CEO, and the development team members had to believe, and all we conveyed to them was ‘a moderate positive level.’

The fact that a lawyer was already pretending to know meant that the publicity effect of this wedding was definitely significant.

‘A program used directly by CEO Cheon Tae-rim to choose her partner.’

There was no better title to gain the trust of not only partner companies but also the public.

“Oh, Hanseong has agreed to prepare the honeymoon home. The chairman’s pride is no joke, he loves his youngest son that much. Even when he lived abroad, he always decided on his residence himself.”

I had heard so much about how much Chairman Kang Jun-il cherished Kang Hae-ah that I was sick of it. Lawyers with different faces had already chimed in several times.

‘That must mean he’s a precious young master.’

I could understand it if I thought of it as a parent’s words. Seeing that he hadn’t manifested even at the age of twenty-six, Kang Hae-ah was definitely not a dominant omega. I thought they were setting up a shield in advance in case a dominant alpha husband would mistreat their son.

For me, it didn’t matter whether he was dominant or recessive, as long as he was an omega.

“I understand.”

So the answer was light.

“Then I’ll be on my way… Oh, and please give my regards to the chief prosecutor.”

As I watched the lawyer, who was packing up his documents, leave, the chief of staff clicked his tongue.

“Here, you always discuss things yourself, but the person who’s going to be our CEO’s husband hasn’t even visited the company once?”

“Why would he come to our company?”

The table where the final discussion of the prenuptial agreement had taken place was messy. I stood up, leaving half of my coffee untouched.

“I’m doing this marriage for business, but Mr. Kang Hae-ah isn’t. It’s literally an arranged marriage. So there’s no need for him to come and look around the company.”

The youngest member of the secretarial team came in and started cleaning up the conference room. As she did, she glanced at me, not yet knowing that Secretary Eun-cheol and I had been friends for over 10 years.

“Hey! That’s cold, I was just taking the CEO’s side.”

Eun-cheol said in an exaggeratedly disappointed tone. This was both Eun-cheol’s strength and weakness. He always tended to take my side too much. Thanks to that, I could entrust him with all the secretarial work and still feel at ease, but privately, he often made people tired.

“…I’m sorry. I’ve been sensitive lately because I’ve been looking at contracts every day.”

Eun-cheol’s face brightened at my apology.

“Don’t touch the documents, Ms. Eun-ah can’t look at them.”

As he said that, he slapped the youngest member’s hand away.

I sighed and left the conference room. Eun-cheol’s words weren’t entirely wrong either. The fact that Kang Hae-ah had never visited our company even once made me feel a little sad. I was making the contract with Chairman Kang Jun-il, so there was nothing to discuss with him, but it was strange that the person who was going to be my husband had never looked into what kind of vision I had and what kind of work I did.

‘Does he just need me to be a dominant alpha…?’

Kang Hae-ah had faithfully answered the questionnaires and tests that I had sent, asking if I could use his information as a sample for the type-matching program we were developing. His father and brothers, except for his second older sister, had also participated in the test. Thanks to that, I had personality test data with the name ‘Kang Hae-ah’ attached to it.

It was embarrassing to say as the CEO of AOM, but what I wanted wasn’t those pieces of data. No matter how good the test results were, someone I hadn’t even met face-to-face or exchanged greetings with was still a stranger.

Until I met him at a restaurant that seemed too extravagant to just have a cup of coffee, a meeting arranged under the name of a blind date, I was only given rampant speculation and misunderstandings.

But Kang Hae-ah was indeed a special person, as Chairman Kang Jun-il had emphasized several times.

The moment I met him, having only changed my tie from my work clothes, my heart raced strangely. As soon as I saw his face in person, I felt a little angry. Recalling the faces of the Hanseong Group lawyers who had been constantly visiting me, interfering with my work, I resented them.

‘Why didn’t anyone talk about his face?’

I wondered if any of them should have warned me in advance. That Kang Hae-ah was much prettier in person than in pictures. That his eyes were clear and sparkling like a child’s. That I should dress up nicely for the first meeting if possible.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

I deliberately looked around, pretending not to recognize Kang Hae-ah in the distance. I took a breath while adjusting my tie for no reason.

I saw him getting up from his seat as if he recognized me. He seemed like a work of art painted in a different style, mixed in with other people. He was just that clear and pleasant.

He smiled at me, as if he was seeing someone he was very happy to see. I smiled back at him, feeling like I had received an unexpected gift.

But as I got closer, step by step, Kang Hae-ah’s clear face gradually hardened. Like a startled person, he began to look around at me and the restaurant. As if this shouldn’t be happening.

“Mr. Kang Hae-ah?”

Woof, woof… Suddenly, I heard an unfamiliar sound. It was the sound of a dog I had never seen before barking at me as I returned home.

Because the weather was cloudy, even the huge windows of the detached house were not functioning properly. Hae-ah was asleep in the dark. His face, lying on the sofa, was pale. My bag fell on the vinyl that covered the floor. I wanted to stretch my legs, but I couldn’t approach.

I knew, he was already dead.

My heart pounded wildly.

As I blinked my eyes at the cold sensation, my vision cleared. Warm sunlight streamed through the restaurant window. Hae-ah’s eyes, bathed in light, were light brown. His eyes, so light they made me suspect he was mixed-race, were shaking back and forth. I frantically chased after his gaze. My appearance was reflected messily in his beautiful eyes.

“…Mr. Hae-ah. Mr. Kang Hae-ah?”

A dog I didn’t recognize passed by me. The white, rough-looking dog began to lick Hae-ah’s cheeks and mouth. The face, which had been filled with gloom and sadness, slipped down the cushion. His closed eyes and parted lips looked strangely comfortable.

I had seen that face before, only when he was asleep. When he woke up and looked at me, that peace disappeared. Now he would never see me again. He had decided to be at peace forever.

“Are you alright?”

But I asked as if I were dealing with someone who would wake up soon. I already knew there would be no answer. Still, I was hurt. Kang Hae-ah didn’t answer, he didn’t react to my question. He was the one who had begged me to say just one word, even if it was an insult.

As I took a step closer, my knees buckled. I fell to the floor with a thud. The touch of the cold vinyl was rough.

I crawled towards him. I forcibly pushed away the dog that was licking his dry cheeks. I had learned how heavy a dead person’s weight was while carrying my father’s coffin. But Mr. Kang Hae-ah’s body was very light. I no longer felt the terribly sad and frighteningly persistent vitality. My reason snapped.

In the blink of an eye, Hae-ah’s complexion had changed. His firm cheeks were flushed red. Soon, he began to collapse from his legs. I moved reflexively. I reached out and quickly hugged his shoulders. His body temperature was hot, as if he had a fever.

I was momentarily out of my mind as I supported the body that was collapsing into my arms.

‘What is it?’

I felt a sense of déjà vu and lifted my head. I looked around, but there was nothing special. I didn’t have the hastily packed luggage in my hands, and instead of the whimpering of a dog, I heard orchestral music.

Hae-ah in my arms was breathing heavily with flushed cheeks. There was no scar on the cheek of the unconscious man.

“…Mr. Kang Hae-ah.”

Strange. Luggage and a dog. It wasn’t the time to be thinking nonsense when someone had collapsed.

I said to the employee who was approaching in surprise.

“Please call an ambulance.”

And I rubbed my left cheek and wiped it. A line of tears of unknown origin wet my thumb.

Quietly, I looked down at Kang Hae-ah’s face with his eyes closed. A sweet scent emanated from the unconscious body of the man who was younger than I had imagined and more handsome than I had expected.

The moment I smelled that scent, I no longer doubted my tomorrow with this man. It was a good smell that I would never get tired of smelling for the rest of my life.

As soon as we arrived at the hospital, the process was handled smoothly. As soon as we moved to the 13th floor according to the nurse’s guidance, the ward became quiet. I didn’t even know if this was a hospital or a hotel.

My impression was further solidified when I entered the hospital room. Kang Hae-ah was laid in a sunny hospital room with even a vase of flowers on the bedside table. Without asking me for any explanation, the nurses left and soon returned with two doctors.

The doctors said they had been contacted in advance and introduced their names and departments. After examining the unconscious Kang Hae-ah, they put him on an IV drip of a sedative that would help with anxiety after manifestation and left again.

“Then please rest comfortably.”

I watched them leave the hospital room in bewilderment.

I wondered if there was any place in Korea that Chairman Kang Jun-il’s influence didn’t reach. Seeing that he had arranged for a doctor and hospitalization with just one call to his secretary from the ambulance, it would be impossible for Kang Hae-ah to be neglected in Seoul, at least.

Sure enough, Chairman Kang’s secretary called again.

-Are you resting well in the hospital room? Has he regained consciousness yet?

I briefly explained the situation to his question. The secretary said he understood and hung up, saying, ‘I’ll contact you again.’ He was obviously going to call the hospital right away to ask about his condition.

I looked around the hospital room again, which had an awkwardly warm atmosphere. I didn’t think it was excessive, since they couldn’t put their youngest son, who had manifested as an omega, in a multi-person room.

Still, I thought it was different. Attaching two doctors even though he wasn’t an emergency patient and making medical staff focus on service rather than treatment was something the Cheon family wouldn’t do.

The young master, who was living under such special protection, would be my husband next month. I was suddenly worried. No matter what kind of affection Chairman Kang Jun-il and his siblings poured out, I couldn’t be a husband who unconditionally protected a grown man, nor did I want to.

I returned to the bed and looked down, Kang Hae-ah’s eyelids were twitching.

“Mr. Kang Hae-ah. Are you coming to?”

I was about to cover him up again, starting with the blanket that had slipped down below his neck. The moment I reached out, Kang Hae-ah opened his eyes wide. Before I could say anything, he moved his upper body. Then, he hit his head on the headboard of the bed with a thud.

His pale face turned red in an instant. He frowned, covering his crown. A thin groan escaped.

The blanket in my hand became awkward. His eyes were looking around at me with a surprised look. Seeing his sensitive and sharp expression, he felt like a different person from the one I had seen at the restaurant earlier.

“What happened?”

Kang Hae-ah asked. At the end of the slow question, his voice trembled. Then he pursed his lips. He seemed upset that I had startled him for no reason.

What a strange man. I thought he was surprisingly pretty for a painter, but how could even his voice be so pleasant to listen to?

“Well. I said hello, and you fainted.”

I said to ease the atmosphere. Then silence fell. My mother was right, I took after my father. I had no natural talent for jokes.

“……”

Kang Hae-ah’s closed mouth showed no sign of opening. He barely raised his upper body and looked down at his own hands.

Was I that boring to make him this embarrassed?

“I’ll get straight to the point.”

He said, clenching his fists on his knees. It was a voice he made while moving his Adam’s apple as if he had made a great decision.

“I have no intention of marrying Ms. Cheon Tae-rim. Today… I came out to apologize in person. I’m sorry.”

His unexpected words fell like a bolt from the blue. Leaving aside the fact that he had already signed the contract, I was more disappointed by those words. It was absurd that the words coming from a likable face and a pleasant voice were a rejection.

Still, the fact that I wasn’t angry showed what kind of person I was. Since I had been rejected out of the blue, it was time to question the conditions, saying, ‘You should have rejected me before the contract, whether you met me in person or not.’ But I couldn’t bring myself to speak to the newly manifested omega who was bowing his head deeply, saying ‘I’m sorry.’

When I asked the reason, pretending to be calm, Kang Hae-ah’s head went down even further. I looked down at his soft crown.

“We misrepresented our conditions. The trait test results I sent you beforehand are over 20 years old. The test from back then is highly unreliable, and even in that unreliable test, my awakening probability is only 77 percent.”

Kang Hae-ah says, exuding a sweet scent, that he feels like a Beta. It’s not that my conditions are lacking or insufficient, but that he doesn’t meet the promise, so it won’t work out.

The unexpected reason for refusal made my palate itch. Suddenly, my interest was piqued. It wasn’t because I was a pervert thrilled by the ‘NO’ sign.

Although various marriage proposals had been exchanged until now, no one had ever revealed their cards like this. Yet, Kang Hae-ah, with the most splendid and best specs, declared surrender. He was pushing me away, saying he would let me go.

“So, Cheon Tae-rim-ssi, let’s not waste each other’s time. My Father approached you looking at Chief Prosecutor Cheon Hee-jung’s connections.”

“You’re talking about my Father?”

“Yes. They might have said they prioritized Cheon Tae-rim-ssi’s business first, but frankly, that’s like the second condition. …Of course, I’m not saying your company is bad.”

“You don’t have to say that. Since it’s still in the startup phase, I honestly suspected the conditions when Hanseong first suggested collaboration.”

The afterthought was a lie added out of modesty. I was confident that I could raise AOM to Hanseong’s level, or even higher, within 10 years. However, it wasn’t the stage to reveal the technological achievements to the world just yet.

Even if he’s going to be my spouse, he’s Chairman Kang Jun-il’s son. It was wise to be careful with my words.

‘So, Chairman Kang Jun-il spilled the beans. A husband who is half right and half a trick.’

All the cards they held were revealed. I thought it was strange that they were sending lawyers in droves to build a shield… It seems they weren’t sure whether Kang Hae-ah would awaken as an Omega or not. They said they loved him, and they had to decide on the residence to be satisfied, but how could they not know their own son this well?

Kang Hae-ah was sticking out from the snake-like Chairman Kang Jun-il’s coil.

I was delighted. My heart was pounding, and excitement filled my heart. It was the first time in a while that I felt alive. I didn’t know how long it had been since I was happy because of someone other than work.

With innocent-looking eyes, Kang Hae-ah was anxiously watching my reaction. If we broke off the marriage and invalidated the contract, as he said, the penalty would be entirely on his family’s side.

‘And he’s willing to bear all of that.’

Kang Hae-ah is someone who should never do business.

“Is that all?”

I asked. I didn’t think he would spill other reasons just because I asked like this, but I asked just in case.

Then, Kang Hae-ah’s crown lowered hesitantly. I was watching to see if he would even do a deep bow, but after hesitating for a while, he raised his head. My reflection was in his innocent eyes.

“I asked if that’s all the reasons you’re saying you won’t marry me.”

I asked again, and

“Yes. Because it’s a fraudulent marriage.”

Kang Hae-ah answered.

“If you marry a Beta, Tae-rim-ssi’s life will be… miserable. I hate that kind of thing. That’s why.”

Then, he said he hates people who would attach and detach Cheon Tae-rim-ssi just because he married a chaebol’s son and try to assess the conditions. He also hates that Hanseong will obviously use Chief Prosecutor Cheon Hee-jung’s connections for the political maneuvers they want.

Kang Hae-ah probably doesn’t know. Every time he adds a sentence or two as a condition of refusal, saying he hates it, it strengthens my decision.

“Thank you for caring so much.”

I can’t let this man go.

“But I’ll pretend I didn’t hear the proposal.”

Because I won’t be able to meet someone like him twice.

“No, why? I told you something very important?”

Looking at Kang Hae-ah like that, I started to feel remorse. I was wrong to imagine a noble young master with a haughty nose and imposing demeanor.

Kang Hae-ah is a good person. He was stuck with cheese in the trap his Father set, but he worried about me. He grew up under a Chief Prosecutor Father and is a very precious person to meet for someone like me who jumped into the business world, not calculating and even full of compassion for others. When his Father, who is the chairman of Hanseong Group, tells him to deceive others and bring in a Dominant Alpha as a husband, he would usually shut his mouth and endure it, but it was strange.

I’m sorry to Kang Hae-ah, who is so serious, but I found him cute.

“Thanks to you, I want to marry Kang Hae-ah-ssi.”

This kind of inversion is a way of speaking that I use when making important contracts or emphasizing our side’s advantage.

“And, you’re not a Beta.”

One word at a time,

“You awakened, just now at the restaurant.”

As I pointed out, Kang Hae-ah’s eyes widened. Then, he looked back and forth between my eyes.

“I’m a Beta, I tell you.”

“Not anymore, starting today.”

Then, Kang Hae-ah ran away from the bed. He even pulled out the IV line in a hurry, and all he did was take a few steps away from me.

“Kang Hae-ah-ssi.”

I admired him blankly for a moment. Looking at him like this, his shoulders were wider and stiffer than I thought. Although pale, there were muscles on his forearms as well. In comparison, his waist and hips were narrow, making him slender.

I was sure that I wouldn’t be the only man who was entangled with him in his life. There will be even more in the future. If he keeps making that bewildered face and spreading his excited scent, it was clear that some Alpha would make a move on him before long.

I thought I couldn’t calm him down with words, so I used some of my innate power. At the same time, I also learned about his trait. With a high probability, Kang Hae-ah was recessive, judging by how he collapsed at just one touch of my forearm.

His upper body poured into my arms as if falling. It was the second time today that I had supported him.

“Let me go.”

Kang Hae-ah pleaded.

“Let me go….”

His heat transferred to my forearm. My body also became hot. I laid the man, who was even sweating profusely, neatly on the bed. I even covered him with a blanket, hoping the scent would be a little hidden. But even so, the bridge of my nose was numb.

‘This is driving me crazy.’

Perhaps because he was surprised, Kang Hae-ah’s scent kept getting stronger. At this point, I was suffocating. If I were recessive instead of Dominant, I might have already pounced on him.

As soon as I had such a crude thought, I became annoyed.

‘I’m not an animal.’

I banged hard on the call bell next to the bed. And I apologized.

“…I’m sorry.”

Kang Hae-ah, who had no way of knowing my true feelings, just looked dazed.

“Still, Cheon Tae-rim-ssi, no, nothing changes.”

He mumbled, scratching at the blanket.

“I’m not going to marry you. I, I’m… I’m someone who doesn’t believe in arranged marriages. I like being free-spirited.”

Honestly, I couldn’t hear the rest of what he was saying. Half of what he was mumbling was words, and half was groaning.

“Am I speaking in Korean right now?”

“Yes, you are.”

I don’t know what he said, but

“Then…, then you’re listening to everything I’m saying, right?”

“Yes.”

It’s nice to hear, so it doesn’t matter.

“I heard everything you said, Kang Hae-ah-ssi.”

I stood up as straight as possible. I had to postpone sexual excitement for a while, or hide it if I couldn’t.

“You’re saying to find an honest Omega who doesn’t look at the Chief Prosecutor’s family background, doesn’t covet a Dominant Alpha, and wants to live quietly without political maneuvers.”

By the way, he’s so pretty. His round forehead, the cheek with a small mole, and the lips that only say nice things.

“Isn’t Kang Hae-ah-ssi that kind of Omega?”

If I didn’t know your personality, I wouldn’t hold onto someone who said they didn’t want to, but now it was different.

Leaving aside the issues of awakening and scent, I had to catch Kang Hae-ah. If I saw him smiling next to someone else, my intestines would twist and I wouldn’t be able to bear it. Wouldn’t anyone who marries him laugh at Cheon Tae-rim, saying, ‘He had no eye for talent and missed out on this man’?

Before I had to desperately cling to him in a vulgar way, the nurse knocked on the hospital room door. I barely held onto my sanity and grabbed my coat.

“You want to start with dating. I understand the conditions well.”

I hope this hides my excited thing well.

“Then let’s make it not an arranged marriage. I’ll contact you for an after-date application as soon as you’re stable.”

Then I left the hospital room. The nurse in the hallway looked at me and made a surprised gesture. I passed her and quickly caught the elevator.

My face reflected in the mirror was as red as if I had been burned. While cooling the heat with the back of my hand, I looked at my dumbfounded face in the mirror.

It’s a strange thing.

When I look in the mirror, when I look at my Father and Mother, I can imagine my old self. Becoming someone’s husband, then a Father, and then a grandfather. Maybe I’ll be a stubborn husband, a scary Father, and an old-fashioned grandfather who still doesn’t cancel his newspaper subscription.

But when I look at Kang Hae-ah, I can’t imagine him getting old. It’s even difficult to guess how his hands, eyes, nose, mouth, and clear face will change. Not someone’s husband or Father, just Kang Hae-ah. He just seems like he’ll be Kang Hae-ah.

So I was curious. How his life will change when he reaches my age and turns thirty. What the future of such a perfect and beautiful man will look like.

I’m looking forward to the marriage with him. I’m looking forward to the rest of my life with him.

“He got scared and ran away?”

Si Eun-cheol laughed loudly. It’s been 10 minutes since I called him to the CEO’s office under the pretext of important work. For 10 minutes, I quietly ignored the guy who was snickering, saying that there was an Omega who stood up the great Cheon Tae-rim. It seems that my appearance, having ruined the after-date that I had carefully prepared, was very funny to him.

It wasn’t the first time I had ruined a date. It wasn’t the first time that a date partner had trembled with fear and run away, embarrassingly.

But this case was different. Kang Hae-ah was different. He was the first to turn me down even though I was pushing myself on him, saying I liked him.

“Stop laughing.”

When I pointed out,

“How can I not laugh? It looks like CEO Cheon won’t be able to get married!”

Si Eun-cheol snickered even more. Eun-cheol had always had a mischievous side. A couple of girlfriends he met in high school even told Si Eun-cheol to change his name to ‘Mother’. That’s how his nickname was ‘Mother-in-law’ for several months.

‘Eun-cheol is a man. If you’re going to tease him, you should call him Father-in-law, not Mother-in-law.’

My retort was terribly dull. I didn’t know that siding with a friend over a lover was a serious crime in dating back then. Maybe that’s why I got dumped so often.

Back then, there was no impact from ruining a few dates. The Omegas I dated out of curiosity in my teens weren’t future marriage partners anyway.

As I watched Si Eun-cheol organizing the documents with a chuckle, my eyebrows furrowed.

“But why do you look like that?”

And I asked abruptly.

“What? Why are you suddenly picking a fight, picking a fight.”

“No. Did you put something on your face? It’s a bit strange.”

My tongue blurted out the words first, and my head belatedly accepted them. Now that I think about it, it was a bit strange. It was the same face as Si Eun-cheol that I knew, but somewhere, a little….

“Si Secretary.”

Adjusting my posture, I leaned deeply against the back of the chair.

“Give me some advice.”

Then Si Eun-cheol let out an exaggerated sigh.

“What advice are you talking about?”

“What should I say to change Kang Hae-ah-ssi’s attitude, that kind of advice.”

Si Eun-cheol was the only one who could help me in times like this. It was because he was the only Omega I could call a friend.

Finally, Si Eun-cheol’s expression became serious. He pushed the neatly organized documents to the side of the table and leaned against the sofa in the CEO’s office. He seemed to be contemplating with his arms crossed, and then he opened his mouth.

“From my point of view, Tae-rim. The problem is that you pushed too hard. Omegas hate that kind of thing. Contact him right now and say you’ll call off the marriage, apologize, and say you shouldn’t see each other for the time being. You have to keep some distance like that so they’ll think, ‘Ah, this Alpha isn’t just a pure beast’?”

“You’re saying to just call off the marriage?”

“No. You just say that and actually give them time to think. It means letting them know that they have the decision-making power.”

It sounded like nonsense at first glance. How many relationships had ended lukewarmly after saying ‘Let’s have time to think’? There were quite a few faces that still came to mind, so I couldn’t even go to high school reunions.

I didn’t want to give Kang Hae-ah the decision-making power for this marriage or anything. Otherwise, like the date I ruined last night,

‘I’m sorry.’

What if he runs away with a face that looks like he’s about to cry?

The sight of him trembling and running out of my car was vivid in my mind. Recalling that face made my head darken again. I kept feeling pain in the back of my neck. It felt like someone was stabbing a knife into my throat. My eyes were sore as I recalled his shrinking back.

‘I’m sorry, Tae-rim-ssi.’

I haven’t found the words to express this feeling yet. A familiar yet unfamiliar feeling. At first, I thought it was déjà vu, but I had never even experienced that similar situation. I thought I saw it in a dream, but if I had such a disturbing dream, there was no way I wouldn’t remember it.

‘It’s strange.’

There are too many strange things happening these days. I was worried, even though I was trying not to show it. I was anxious that I would lose Kang Hae-ah, that Kang Hae-ah would run away from me forever. It was unlike me to be so impatient. If it was a liking, it felt like a memory, and if it was excitement, it felt like longing.

The possibility of being imprinted on by a recessive Omega or being captivated by his scent was zero. But when I looked in the mirror, there was a guy standing there who had been swept away by Kang Hae-ah.

Strangely enough, I thought of ‘Red Shoes’. It felt like someone had cut off my two feet and attached dancing shoes to them.

I heard that there are all kinds of words in German. So maybe there’s an idiom in German that means the frustrating and terrible feeling that someone has cut up my life with scissors.

‘Did I catch his awakening anxiety?’

Considering Kang Hae-ah’s scent and expression, which were still unstable, this was a more credible guess.

‘Yeah, it’s the first time I’ve seen an Omega who just awakened.’

Thinking that way made me feel a little calmer.

There are two words that stimulate the buyer’s desire: the first is ‘one-off’, and the second is ‘deadline approaching’. Kang Hae-ah was exactly like that. He had specs that were one of a kind in the world, and it was a deadline approaching because if I didn’t take the opportunity now, it wouldn’t come again.

Once an Omega, always an Omega, and there were plenty of Alpha bastards starving for a chaebol businessman. If I let him go, another Alpha would soon take him.

As my silence grew longer, Si Eun-cheol snapped his fingers.

“Hey, CEO Cheon.”

Then he said precisely.

“He just awakened and he’s recessive. How confused would a chaebol’s young master be in that situation? You can’t just push him. You have to give him some time to think.”

There’s an old saying that you should leave fortune-telling to fortune tellers, exorcism to shamans, and dating advice to Omegas. Si Eun-cheol’s words would be more accurate than me just guessing on my own.

“Okay.”

I didn’t want to be impatient like an Alpha in heat. Even if I didn’t have the leeway, I had to pretend I did, and even if I didn’t want to give him the choice, I had to pretend to be generous.

-Today-

[If you end up refusing, I won’t push it. If the marriage is canceled, I will pay the wedding penalty together.]

10:00 AM

So I texted before the morning meeting started, and

[Please contact me.]

12:00 PM

I resentfully sent one more message, checking the answer that hadn’t come even by lunchtime.

Si Eun-cheol looked at me pitifully as I put my cell phone on the desk and tapped it. I didn’t like him sending me a sympathetic look as if it was already over, but it was even stranger that his face looked subtly unfamiliar. He must have changed his hair or put something on his face or something, but he kept denying it.

But it was difficult to say clearly what had changed. If I were to pick on the face of the secretary I see every day, I would only ruin my personality.

On a long afternoon that was boring enough to be tiring, my cell phone rang loudly. The text message sent by Kang Hae-ah ended my worries. There was no cold refusal or nasty cynicism. ‘I just woke up, I’m sorry about yesterday, I was anxious’… I repeatedly read the words that apologized in a roundabout way several times.

[There’s no reason to pay

the wedding fee. I’ll do

as Tae-rim-ssi says.]

5:17 PM

If possible, I should have video calls with this man often. It seemed easier to grasp the meaning of his words if I saw his face.

[I’ll do it, the marriage.]

5:25 PM

As soon as the approval I had been waiting for fell, I let out a sigh.

“Hoo….”

I unconsciously raised the arm holding my phone and spun my chair halfway around from where I was sitting. Outside the CEO’s office window, the lights of cars on their way home from work gleamed.

Groups of two or three office workers passing by, and a man waving his arm out to the shoulder to catch a taxi, looked tiny like ants.

I let out a long breath and loosened the tie that was choking my neck. I picked up the phone on my desk with a click and pressed the button for the secretary’s office.

“Thanks, Eun-cheol.”

I hung up before an answer could come back. Then, I pressed the call button next to ‘Kang Hae-ah’ in my phone.

I wasn’t sure if Kang Hae-ah was strange or if I was becoming strange, but now I know. Kang Hae-ah is strange. He is a very strange person, and I married him.

My marriage to him was nothing more than a showy play. Parents from both families, along with figures from conglomerates, businessmen, acquaintances of my father who worked in politics, and about ten reporters gathered. I was so out of it just trying to keep track of and greet each of them.

In the outwardly perfect and inwardly fierce wedding hall, Kang Hae-ah was a groom in white. Without a single flaw in his smiling face, he endured for three or four hours.

‘As expected of someone from the Kang family.’

No sooner had I made that assessment than he broke down. In the middle of the wedding hall, of all places. It happened while we were listening to the wedding vows.

It was fine up until we took turns saying the obvious ‘Yes’ to the obvious question of whether we would protect each other for the rest of our lives. Even as we carefully exchanged kisses, he seemed happy. I was even confused as to whether he was acting well or genuinely excited.

The problem arose when we linked arms and walked across the wedding hall. Clutching the bouquet, he was acting like a robot. He was holding my right hand and throwing the bouquet to a designated acquaintance, but there was no strength in his outstretched arm.

“Hae-ah-ssi.”

I leaned slightly towards him and called out. But Kang Hae-ah didn’t respond to my words and just smiled brightly.

‘What’s wrong with him?’

When I lifted the veil covering his face, his eyes were not normal. One of my maternal cousins had very severe somnambulism, and his eyes looked exactly like this when he walked around at night.

I covered Kang Hae-ah’s sleepy-looking face with the veil again.

A very faint sweet smell wafted up.

‘Stabilizer.’

It was past the time he should have had his shot. He had been stuck next to me for four hours, so it was easy to figure out.

I put my arm around Kang Hae-ah’s shoulder. I couldn’t manage my expression as I worried about him collapsing and tried to take him out.

Kang Hae-ah, tucked into my side, was rather nonchalant. He smiled and greeted the Hanseong Group executives who were approaching without a clue. Rather than looking like someone who was struggling, he was like a robot making expressions and saying words that he had been programmed to say.

‘I knew it was too good to be true.’

I suppressed my embarrassment with a silly joke.

As I walked out of the wedding hall and towards the waiting room, I could feel people’s eyes on Kang Hae-ah. The Alphas who glanced at us, men and women alike, were annoying. My nerves were on edge and so sharp that my skin tingled.

I plopped Kang Hae-ah down on the sofa in the waiting room. When I lifted the veil, his smiling face was revealed.

“What are you smiling about?”

When I chided him, his face slowly turned sullen. I rummaged through the luggage piled up in the waiting room, with him in front of me, not knowing if he was awake or asleep. I opened all the travel bags and suitcases and found the stabilizer. I ended up breaking the zipper while roughly opening the leather case.

“…….”

Kang Hae-ah had a blank look on his face when I glanced down at him. I slipped the broken zipper into the case.

I sat facing Kang Hae-ah and rolled up the sleeves of his jacket and shirt. I rolled up his clothes so that his forearms were visible and gave him the shot. It felt awkward to inject someone else’s arm with the stabilizer that I used to give to my mother, who was going through menopause.

While pressing the disinfected cotton on his forearm, I watched the docile Kang Hae-ah. Omegas are so convenient in times like these. They don’t go on a rampage when you give them stabilizers or suppressants, and their temperament is docile… I know my Mother would be furious if she heard me. She would get angry and tell me not to take things so lightly just because it’s not my problem.

Chairman Kang Jun-il, Kang Il-hae, Kang Hae-in, and Kang Mi-hae all visited the waiting room in a row. They were the faces of Hanseong, who were usually hard to gather in one place. Their extraordinary affection for the youngest, Kang Hae-ah, was as I had heard.

While his Hyung and then his sisters visited one after another, Hae-ah-ssi only repeated that he was fine. His family didn’t seem to care about his subtle expression. It’s not that they didn’t know something was wrong with their younger brother… This symptom must have been there for a while.

“I’ll take care of Hae-ah-ssi, so don’t worry. Instead, I’ll skip the after-party, since I need to stop by the hospital before the trip.”

When I wrapped things up, Kang Il-hae opened his mouth as if he was disappointed, saying, “But…”

“It can’t be helped if the kid is sick.”

Vice President Kang Hae-in was calmer than him.

“The most important thing is to avoid accidents. Judging from the current atmosphere, I think all the assemblymen will drop out. The after-party will just be a party for our family, right?”

All the eldest daughters are similar in any family. Especially the eldest daughters of businessmen have a unique power. When the eldest, Kang Hae-in, wrapped things up, the conversation quickly ended.

“Then I’ll leave you two alone. I don’t want to smell my younger brother’s body scent, okay?”

Kang Mi-hae links arms with her older sister and steps back. Around that time, Kang Il-hae quietly left the waiting room. Only Kang Hae-ah was left in the room where his siblings had disappeared.

“Tae-rim-ssi, I…”

He muttered with lifeless eyes.

“I really didn’t know…”

I let out a hollow laugh at his nonsensical words.

“Didn’t know what?”

“Just, everything.”

I plopped down on the sofa opposite him.

Outside the door, I could hear the footsteps of people busily changing the after-party schedule, and the voices of people who had been rejected after trying to score points by pretending to worry about Kang Hae-ah.

I quietly watched Kang Hae-ah, who was talking nonsense while intoxicated with the stabilizer. What couldn’t he say when he was on drugs? He seemed quite wronged, claiming innocence with the word ‘didn’t know’, as if he was caught up in some delusion.

Still, he seemed to recognize me,

“Tae-rim-ssi.”

He called out repeatedly.

“Yes, I’m here.”

“Will you stay by my side?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you…”

Then he smiles. His listless smiling face looked just like a child who had been playing outside until he was exhausted.

I want to ask him where he went in such a hurry. I want to press him on why he went so far away. I want to press him on what was so difficult for him. I want to ask him if he had to do the same with the seat that I had emptied first because it was painful for him to be next to me…

The footsteps passing outside the door ‘thudded’.

“…….”

My dazed mind snapped back. I shook my head and looked at Kang Hae-ah again. He also looked surprised like me. Light entered his rapidly blinking eyes.

I got off the sofa and went to his feet.

“Hae-ah-ssi.”

I called out while stroking Kang Hae-ah’s knees,

“Uh…”

He was flustered like someone who had just woken up. He looked back and forth between the waiting room and my face, and I grabbed his knees with a little force. His body flinched, so it seemed like he had come to his senses now.

“The wedding went well. Hae-ah-ssi looked like he was in bad condition, so we decided to skip the after-party.”

I thought he would look for his family first since he had come to his senses, but Kang Hae-ah unexpectedly took care of my parents.

I was honestly surprised. He softened not only my Mother’s heart but also my Father’s heart with a conversation that lasted about a minute. He melted my Father, who was dissatisfied with the excessively extravagant wedding, by saying that he would have a garden party and that he would take good care of Tae-rim-ssi, and he changed my Mother, who was worried about a loveless marriage.

At the after-party that I stopped by after sending Kang Hae-ah to the car first, I couldn’t believe how much my Mother praised him. It was so strange that she was already mentioning Kang Hae-ah as if he were her own child, saying ‘Hae-ah this’ and ‘Hae-ah that’.

It’s not that I didn’t like it. It was annoying to have to fend off the sly old men who were taking this opportunity to discuss business, but my steps became lighter as I headed to the car where Kang Hae-ah was waiting.

I was planning to make him my Omega when we arrived at our honeymoon destination. Now that we were married, there was no need to wait for his heat cycle to pass.

My plan, which I had made a long time ago, was further strengthened,

‘It might be okay to even knotting.’

I was even convinced that someone who knew me would point out that I was being hasty.

“Let’s not put pressure on each other.”

But Kang Hae-ah slapped me in the face with his words.

“So, what I mean is… you don’t have to be too tied to this marriage. If you want to meet someone or live somewhere, I won’t care. Instead, I’ll only do what I can do for you as a couple. Tae-rim-ssi and I are just… like business partners for our families. So, please feel comfortable.”

With a kind face and a gentle voice, Kang Hae-ah dropped a bomb.

No Omega in the world had ever said such a thing to me, and there never would be. I didn’t know what kind of face to make at him, who was making it clear that he didn’t even want to have sex, let alone knotting.

He even said that he ‘wouldn’t care who I met or who I lived with’. It was like saying that if I went into heat, I could go out and sleep with any Omega or have two households as I pleased. It was like condensing all the insults that an Alpha could hear in his life, putting a pretty ribbon on it, and throwing it at me.

Then what was all the favor he had shown to me and my parents so far? Was I the only one playing the drum and drinking the kimchi soup? I couldn’t understand where things had gone wrong and why he saw me as such a pathetic Alpha.

But I had to stay calm. I had to calmly ask him why he was saying such things, solve the problems if there were any, and clear up the misunderstandings if there were any.

But from my mouth,

“Kang Hae-ah-ssi, are you a multiple personality?”

A grumpy shout burst out.

He was coaxing me with nice words and driving me crazy, but as soon as we got married, he was saying things like this. Is he really crazy, or should he just not be so pretty?

When I was in middle school, my Father hit me for the first time. Even when his son, who had just awakened and couldn’t control his heat, broke a classmate’s cheekbone, and even when he broke three laptops, he would say ‘it’s okay’ and let it go, but there was a good reason why he hit me.

‘Can’t we live in a bigger house like other people? I’m the only one who lives in an apartment like this among the kids whose parents are prosecutors.’

Looking back now, we were right and everyone else was wrong, but I didn’t know that back then. My Father, Cheon Hee-jung, was a man who had risen to the position of Chief Prosecutor without ever being called a political prosecutor. He was a man who avoided the easy path that others took, and he was an activist who fought against corruption.

It was the turning point in my life that I was beaten to death by my Father until my Mother stopped him. I was forcibly transferred to a middle school full of the sons and daughters of conglomerates and businessmen, and I couldn’t get my act together for several months, but later I realized my mistake. The letter I wrote at the time out of guilt was still framed and hung in the main room.

You must be a man who is not ashamed when you look in the mirror, money that is not stained with sweat has the tears of others on it, and if you hold dirty hands, your hands will also become black. I was made with such teachings throughout my life.

There were difficult times when I took over the research institute that my grandfather had run and started my own business. It was because I couldn’t let a single drop of ink splatter on the name tag of Chief Prosecutor Cheon Hee-jung’s son. There were as many shortcuts to weed out as there were benefits to be gained from that name tag.

To look at it more simply and routinely, even the airplane seats I took when I went on business trips were different. No matter how many hours I flew, I never took a first-class seat that cost hundreds or sometimes thousands of dollars just to save face.

The airplane seats were always business class. If I were a little smaller, I would have taken economy class, but since I was stopping just short of 2 meters tall and spending my weekends at the gym, it would have been a nuisance to take economy class.

Kang Hae-ah intervened in my life like that.

‘I didn’t expect this.’

I thought that it was up to him to take care of his spending habits as a precious young master, and that it would be wrong to interfere with his family’s spending habits. When I left for my honeymoon with Kang Hae-ah, I never thought deeply about the fact that his seat would become my seat and his accommodation would become my accommodation.

The first-class seats, which were specialized for long-distance flights, were different from any airplane I had ever seen. The eight seats in the aircraft were more like rooms than chairs. Each seat had a small sink, a bed, and a small desk.

As soon as he got on the plane, Kang Hae-ah went to his seat and then,

“See you later, Tae-rim-ssi.”

He closed the curtains.

I was very embarrassed and sat down in my seat. The flight attendant was overly kind. She came up to me and knelt down, asking me what I wanted to drink. I told her to please stand up because it was uncomfortable, and then I listened to the flight schedule.

Kang Hae-ah behind the curtains didn’t show his face the whole time after that. Even after I had finished reading a book and the flight attendant had brought me the in-flight meal, he didn’t say a word.

Instead of the flight attendant, who was watching my mood, I opened the curtains of Kang Hae-ah’s seat. He was crumpled up and asleep on the bed. He looked like he had just changed his clothes and collapsed. Kang Hae-ah, lying on his side with his fist in his mouth, looked very uncomfortable and tired.

Come to think of it, his jaw seems to be more slender than before. I didn’t know if it was because of the stress of the wedding, if his heat cycle was overwhelming, or if it was all of the above.

I took out a blanket and covered him, and put the meal on the square table.

The lunch in-flight meal was collected, and dinner was served. But Kang Hae-ah still didn’t wake up.

I was thinking that I should feed him something when we arrived in Florence when the in-flight announcement came that we were approaching the airport.

The stewardess looked for Kang Hae-ah again. She tapped on the wall next to the curtain and naturally bent down and looked inside.

Only then did Kang Hae-ah’s voice be heard. It was a very sleepy and hoarse voice. The conversation that followed was quite long. But I couldn’t understand what they were talking about. For some reason, the two of them were talking in French.

Come to think of it, Kang Hae-ah is a famous student who studied abroad. I think he lived in Paris from the age of six…

‘He’s more comfortable with French.’

It was embarrassing that I knew less about my husband than the stewardess.

“What’s wrong?”

As soon as she disappeared, I took her place. Kang Hae-ah’s eyelids looked heavier than usual after waking up. He touched his neck with a languid face. He was holding a syringe in his right hand, but his fingers were stiff, so it looked like he was having a hard time giving himself the shot properly.

“Ah, well… they said I can’t bring the stabilizer when I arrive at the airport. So I’m going to get it in advance.”

I took the syringe from him and lowered my eyes. I could understand that he was nervous because he couldn’t bring the stabilizer. He was on his honeymoon in a foreign country with an Alpha who was still awkward, and it was something that couldn’t be done without the stabilizer.

Silently, I looked down at his forearm. There was a bluish bruise in the shape of a finger. It was the mark I had pressed with the cotton at the wedding. It looked like he had rubbed it gently. To think that he would get a bruise from rubbing it a little… He’s a delicate and weak person.

“Why is this broken again?”

Kang Hae-ah tapped the leather case with the zipper torn off.

“…….”

I quietly gave him the shot on his other forearm. I should look for a new bag to put the stabilizer in, and I should apologize later.

-Today-

[Info on Omega

stabilizers available

in Florence.

No drug allergies,

recessive only.]

10:40 AM

[They confiscated the

stabilizer at the airport.]

10:42 AM

It was a text message I sent to Si Eun-cheol as soon as I got off the plane. Si Eun-cheol answered with a phone call to my urgent message, which I sent after putting aside work-related emails. I sighed at his voice asking if I had arrived in Florence safely.

“Yeah, I just arrived, please check the text message.”

―Oh. They really took the medicine? At the airport?

“Yeah.”

―Wow, even the rich can’t do anything about it. If you’re a Dominant Omega, you can just endure it for a day or two, but if you’re recessive, it’s going to be a hassle every time you go abroad. Right?

“No.”

It’s not like he needs the stabilizer for the rest of his life, so it won’t be a hassle.

―…What. I mean, Hae-ah-ssi is going to have a hard time, not you. As for the medicine… well, buy a bunch with blue labels and feed it to him throughout the trip.

“I don’t know just by hearing it.”

While urging him to send me a picture, I checked the limousine driver who was loading the luggage. The person who should have been next to the driver closing the trunk was missing. I was puzzled and looked around, but Kang Hae-ah was nowhere to be seen.

“Just a moment. Ha… I have to hang up, Hae-ah-ssi is gone.”

―Huh? He’s not a child… When I saw Kang Hae-ah yesterday, he was as tall as me, you’re being too….

As tall as Si Eun-cheol? No way. He seems much smaller than that.

“Anyway, send me the photo.”

After hanging up, I asked the driver, and he pointed to the gate leading to the airport. I told him to wait a moment and quickly ran inside the airport.

Even in the wide and complex first floor of the international terminal, it wasn’t hard to find Kang Hae-ah. I knew it… Si Eun-cheol was wrong. Kang Hae-ah is smaller and much younger than Si Eun-cheol. I could tell just by looking at the back of his head in front of the airport pharmacy.

Wearing a brown bag, standing alone, he looked like a college student at first glance.

Next to him, an Alpha with a bushy brown beard was leering. Narrowing my eyes, I saw that the front of his pants, pressed tightly against his carrier, was bulging out. I could clearly see the red tip of his nose twitching as he smelled Kang Hae-ah’s body scent. It was hideous.

It’s a pity I can’t mark Kang Hae-ah with my body scent. I forcibly pulled Kang Hae-ah away, almost tearing him off. I put him in the car as if catching a runaway dog. He might think I’m a bossy husband, but it can’t be helped. He’s like a child out on his own.

However, Kang Hae-ah’s thoughts were different from mine. As soon as we arrived at the hotel, he strongly informed me that he was not my Omega and never would be.

My room card key was for room 800, and his room was 601. Seeing that he had prepared separate rooms, even on different floors, was absurd. When he happily took his luggage and got off on the 6th floor, he looked like he had gotten rid of a big burden.

‘Did anyone say they were going to eat you alive?’

I did think that, though.

He’s rejecting me like this. I’ve spent my whole life pushing away and rejecting Omegas, but this is the first time I’ve been rejected like this.

As soon as I arrived on the 8th floor, my mood swung even more wildly. There was no separate door for room 800. I had to scan the card key from the elevator to even press the button, the entire 8th floor was room 800.

The suite had two bedrooms, a large living room, and even a work room with a desk. The city scenery was visible through the large window. To book such a room and still reserve room 601 separately, Kang Hae-ah’s iron wall was quite solid.

I threw my luggage in the fancy living room and grabbed my wallet.

I went out of the hotel and visited every pharmacy in order. I showed the photo of the medicine bottle Si Eun-cheol sent me on my phone and went around. The pharmacies within five or six blocks all said they didn’t have that medicine. They introduced me to other medicines that had similar effects, but I didn’t trust them.

Eventually, I went to a large pharmacy quite far from the hotel. The pharmacist was cold, saying there was a limit to the number I could buy at once. I was grateful to buy only six bottles in a kraft paper bag.

When I came outside, the scenery was unfamiliar. I seemed to have lost my way. I walked as my feet led me, but when I realized it wouldn’t work, I caught a taxi. As soon as I returned to the hotel, I went to the front desk and strongly asked them not to come to room 601.

As soon as I got off on the 6th floor, holding the crumpled paper bag in my arms, heat flared up over my head. The anger I had been holding back all along burst out.

A strange man with a red face flushed with excitement was looking into the peephole of room 601. Even as I approached, he didn’t budge, but rather pressed his body against the door. The vulgar smell of a rutting Alpha wafted out.

Beneath it, a sweet scent mixed in.

I felt like I was going crazy from Kang Hae-ah’s scent mixed with another Alpha’s smell. I punched the guy hard in the shoulder. The guy, who was hit with a thud, stepped back as if falling off the door. When he asked what I was doing in English, he faltered.

With an awkward face and a chuckle, the strange Alpha staggered backward. I stared stiffly down at the guy who was scanning my body up and down. After seeming to size me up for a while, he eventually retreated and went into his room.

A beastly Alpha bastard. Dirty and disgusting.

After checking the room number the guy went into, I suppressed my body scent. I clenched and unclenched my hands, which had turned white from clenching my fists tightly, to relax them. Then I knocked on the door of room 601.

I heard the sound of quick footsteps approaching, and the door burst open. I saw Kang Hae-ah’s face, flushed with heat.

He seemed to have been expecting a hotel employee to come up instead of me. In Kang Hae-ah’s surprised hand, there was a wad of bills that seemed too much for a tip.

“Did you take the medicine?”

“Ah…. No. I asked the employee to take care of it. I feel better now that I’ve rested a bit.”

“It’s not like a cold that gets better with rest.”

As I closed the door behind me, I felt inexplicably happy. The scent of Kang Hae-ah vibrating throughout the room tickled my insides.

It would be great if his actions were as sweet as his scent, but Kang Hae-ah was not. Even when I showed him the bag I brought, he didn’t seem to want to back down. Helplessly, I grabbed his hand as if interlocking our fingers.

His palm was soft and delicate, but the calluses on his middle finger were quite unique.

As expected, Kang Hae-ah’s hand was as cold as ice. His white hand was almost purple.

He succumbed to the simple touch. He seemed to stagger for a moment and then fell into my arms as if collapsing. I put strength into our interlocked hands. I don’t like Kang Hae-ah’s cold body temperature. I hope he is always warm and full of life.

“……”

Ignoring the wish that suddenly appeared in my head, I picked him up.

I guess I’ve been working out my whole life for this. Thanks to that, Kang Hae-ah was light. Every time I touch him, I feel like my arms are floating, so maybe that’s why I feel that way even more.

I slowly moved him to the bed and laid him down as if he were a princess. And then,

‘It’s a shame.’

A shallow thought pricked my scalp.

‘Do I really have to make him take the medicine?’

Looking at his faintly flowing breath, sweet scent, and entranced expression,

‘If I have sex with him and knotting now, he’ll be mine.’

My lower abdomen felt heavy.

As I was immersed in deep temptation and remained silent,

“U-um, excuse me….”

Kang Hae-ah called out. ‘Excuse me’ was such an awkward title. Only then did I come to my senses. I remembered the recessive alpha with the red face I saw in front of the door earlier. There was no way I could rub my dick against Kang Hae-ah in that state. I didn’t want to be like that.

I reached out to him, thinking I should make him take the medicine quickly. Then Kang Hae-ah let out a small groan. He squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth. I felt like a demon trying to gouge out his eyes.

Yes, this man would feel that way. Meeting a Dominant Alpha with a body that hasn’t even gone through the stabilization period, and being with him for the rest of his life… I don’t know how uncomfortable that must be. I can only guess. In the future, he will meet countless Alphas in his life, and most of them will look at his body as a tool to satisfy their lust.

Even I, as his husband, shouldn’t become that bad. Kang Hae-ah was too good of a person to live with such a beast for the rest of his life. If he wasn’t a recessive, he would have easily won the triple crown in the marriage market.

“Kang Hae-ah-ssi.”

“……”

“It’s okay.”

I swore inwardly that if I ever forced myself on you, I would burn my arm, not just my hand, that day.

I twisted open the cap of the medicine bottle and brought the opening to his lips. After hesitating, Kang Hae-ah took the medicine.

After leaning his head against the raised pillow, I quickly moved away. I strode to the terrace, opened the window, and stretched my head out. I had to get rid of the Omega scent vibrating in the room. It was hard to breathe, and heat rushed to my genitals.

‘Damn it.’

I took a deep breath. My lungs were violently protesting, saying they didn’t like it. They were demanding to smell Kang Hae-ah’s hair, skin, tongue, and the scent coming from under his flesh.

‘Damn it….’

This isn’t Cheon Tae-rim. I set a strong alarm. This isn’t it. This kind of guy, just getting an erection like a beast, isn’t Cheon Tae-rim.

“You’ll be okay soon. Both you and I….”

I heard a long sigh behind me. Who is it that wants to sigh right now… But even if I were to argue, I already like Kang Hae-ah too much.

Every time I see Kang Hae-ah, the question of ‘how’ lingers in my head. How can he speak like that, how can he smile like that, how can he seem like the owner of everything like that?

There were many people who embellished their expressions and actions. However, there were few people who were accepted as they were by others. But Kang Hae-ah manages to do that. Even in this distant foreign land, he acts like the owner of everything, and everyone accepts him as such.

This is already the third time today, I find Kang Hae-ah amazing. I was amazed that he gave up the white beaches of Tahiti and brought me to Cinque Terre. How did he know that I wasn’t interested in resort beaches?

“I thought Tae-rim-ssi would like it.”

Then he boasted. He took me to a village like a dollhouse, and with the face of the owner of toy soldiers, he straightened his back and laughed.

“Shall we go that way?”

Kang Hae-ah deliberately chose the uphill road. He took me to a road overlooking the cliffs in the distance and stopped in front of a brick railing. I don’t know why, but he seemed to like looking at those roofs from this angle.

I felt good to be on a real trip for the first time in a while. I even found the secretary who kept calling to be annoying.

―I’m worried that I might have recommended the wrong medicine. How is Hae-ah-ssi doing?

“He’s fine, so don’t worry.”

―Don’t stick too close. The Dominant Alpha body scent might make it harder for him to stabilize.

“How can newlyweds be apart?”

Si Eun-cheol’s voice, joking about how immersed I was in the fake honeymoon, bounced off my ear.

Kang Hae-ah and I were married and on a trip. There was no point in questioning the authenticity of this marriage.

“Tae-rim-ssi, by any chance….”

Kang Hae-ah approached from behind me. I raised my hand to stop him for a moment. If Kang Hae-ah heard the advice about not sticking too close, he might even suggest taking separate planes.

“Hang up. I’m outside right now.”

I abruptly hung up the phone and turned around. The elegant and delicate Kang Hae-ah-ssi, in the meantime, had a somehow upset face.

“Cheon Tae-rim-ssi, are you perhaps… ashamed to be seen with me?”

There’s definitely something about the Kang family. From Chairman Kang Jun-il to his siblings, they are all extraordinary, but especially Kang Hae-ah. His skill in driving people crazy is extraordinary.

The three days in Florence passed with frightening speed. Whether it was the effect of the satisfying scenery and delicious food, I was already familiar with Kang Hae-ah. It felt like we had been living together for several years already, and on the other hand, I felt strangely uneasy.

“People see me as a walking money bag because I’m from the Kang family. Will they kidnap me and extort hundreds of millions? Will they approach me and ask to borrow millions? That’s what they think.”

After a satisfying meal, Kang Hae-ah rests his chin on his hand, sitting in front of a candlelit table.

“Finally, I’ve become the money bag that seduced Cheon Tae-rim-ssi. But well, honestly, if I didn’t have money, how else would I have married Tae-rim-ssi? I can’t seduce you with this face either.”

Then he made a spiteful joke. It was such a ridiculous statement that I wondered if he was teasing and testing me.

“Why not? You can seduce me with Kang Hae-ah-ssi’s face.”

When I asked back in confusion, Kang Hae-ah just laughed.

“Tae-rim-ssi is even joking with me.”

Then he waved his hand and called the waiter.

That’s when I knew something was wrong. The face and eyes that were laughing and joking without substance were somehow unusual. He looked bright and very excited on the outside, but that appearance felt artificial. I started to think I shouldn’t leave him alone.

So I coaxed him. I suggested we stay together on the 8th floor tonight, since there are two bedrooms, we can still use separate rooms there. Contrary to my worry that I would be misunderstood for flirting, Kang Hae-ah willingly got on the elevator with me.

“Hae-ah-ssi, slowly….”

As he crossed the living room of room 800, he took off his shoes and coat. I picked up his jacket that had fallen on the floor, organized his shoes, and chased after him. Then Kang Hae-ah grabbed his stomach and laughed loudly.

It’s scary. It’s scary that he seems excited. It’s scary that he’s laughing brightly and enjoying himself. My insides are twisting and I feel uneasy, as if a very bad accident will happen.

“Oh, are you angry?”

Kang Hae-ah put his hands on his hips, as if he had misunderstood my expression.

“I’m not angry.”

I replied, suppressing my pounding heart.

Kang Hae-ah flopped down on my bed. Then he started chattering.

“Does Tae-rim-ssi also have a romantic idea about painters? There’s a lyric in a children’s song like that, ‘A painter with a mustache in a brightly sunny park.’ I don’t have a mustache and I don’t paint outdoors. Should I have brought a notebook and pretended to be conceptual?”

He sighed and rummaged through his luggage, but he couldn’t find the stabilizer. It was in the paper bag until yesterday, did the hotel employee perhaps throw it away?

“But still, please give me credit because I’m good at painting.”

Kang Hae-ah makes an excited voice. How did such a talkative person pretend to be so quiet throughout the trip?

“I like and am good at painting. In the old days, there were things that could only be said with paintings, so I liked it. Painting is also a language after all. Because there is a story that is universally understood within it.”

“Yes, is that so.”

After emptying all the luggage, I found the bag I had given him as a gift last night. The bag that I bought for him while confessing that I had broken the zipper of the stabilizer bag was rectangular and small. As soon as I opened it, three brown medicine bottles appeared.

I didn’t know because the reaction at the store was lukewarm, but he seemed to have liked it in his heart.

“…But you know what. I’m not in my paintings. At least, that’s true for the paintings that are hung in exhibitions. There are no children who write their true feelings in a diary that will be checked by their teacher, and my painting diary is the same. Too many people are checking me.”

I suddenly felt sorry for the talkative Kang Hae-ah. It’s ridiculous, for me to feel sorry for the youngest son of Hanseong Group.

Instead of showing sympathy, I sat on the bed he was lying on. I touched his forehead, which looked hot.

“Is that so.”

When I said that,

“It was.”

He laughs.

Kang Hae-ah, who was acting like a good boy, was only up to that point. Even though I was going to open the lid and feed it to him directly, he resisted, saying he wouldn’t take the stabilizer. I was dumbfounded by the way he covered his mouth with both hands and shook his head back and forth.

“I don’t like it because it doesn’t taste good, teacher.”

“Then talk all night. Only Kang Hae-ah-ssi’s mouth will hurt.”

“That’s right. Only my mouth will hurt.”

I plopped down next to him, who wouldn’t listen to reason. Following the tilting mattress, Kang Hae-ah leaned towards me a little. I brushed his disheveled hair and touched his forehead. His head is just the size of my hand. His cheeks, which were flushed with heat, were warm.

Kang Hae-ah pressed his cheek against my palm. It was as if he had been caught measuring the size of his face.

“Why are your hands so cold? They’re like ice….”

He is an Omega who hasn’t even gone through the stabilization period. I know that the heat cycle is still far away. I know, but his behavior, intoxicated by my body scent, looked somewhat like an Omega in heat.

“Why am I like this…. I feel like I have a fever.”

My lower body felt heavy from his seductive behavior. Whether he knew I was forcibly swallowing the heat or not, he kissed my palm.

“Tae-rim-ssi.”

Then he breathed hot breaths, ‘huff,’ ‘huff.’ I quietly looked down at him as he rubbed his lower body against the bed sheet, exhaling rough breaths.

“Tae-rim-ssi….”

Kang Hae-ah started licking my hand. He licked between my finger joints, making a slurping sound, and sucked on the lines of my palm. Blood rushed between my legs.

“…Kang Hae-ah-ssi.”

My index and middle fingers went into his mouth. He sucked on my fingers, making a ‘chup,’ ‘chup’ sound. His elegant face was disheveled, and his indifferent lips were plumply pursed. His soft tongue pressed against my fingers.

My dick stood up straight. It’s not my fault. If anyone were to experience this, wouldn’t they imagine him sucking on my dick instead of my fingers?

Kang Hae-ah let out excited breaths. Each time, a sweet smell wafted over.

“Yeah….”

I could see his body getting wet with excitement. I just stared blankly at him as he rubbed his lower body against the blanket.

A dirty porno was unfolding.

“Tae-rim-ssi….”

The sound of my name being called made my back tingle. It felt like a cramp in my muscles. Kang Hae-ah jumped into my arms like a puppy. I swayed slightly from the weight of him clinging to me. I hated Omegas in rut more than anything, but I didn’t dislike even the hair that tickled the tip of my chin.

His attempts to seduce me were clumsy. He would rub his forehead against my chest, then fidget and stammer, twisting his knees. The awkward movements struck my heart.

“I like you.”

Soon, he buried his face in my forearm.

“I like you…”

Kang Hae-ah confessed in a wet voice. My heart started to go crazy like a madman. I was overwhelmed with the urge to sink my teeth into his neck and squeeze his waist with both arms. I wanted to lick, bite, and become intoxicated by his skin, which smelled of wetness, moist flowers, and sweet flesh.

Kang Hae-ah’s round forehead came between my breasts. Slowly tilting his ear, he listened to my heartbeat. My insides itched.

As he led, I put my right hand into his pants. The inside of his underwear, already wet with anticipation, was hot.

“Huk…, uh, uh-uh…”

Kang Hae-ah already made dying sounds from just a light caress. He didn’t even release his body scent or foreplay, but he was already like this from just being touched. I wondered what sounds he would make if I shoved mine in and pounded him.

“Ah, ah, uh…”

I grabbed Kang Hae-ah’s penis and stroked it up and down. His slowly erect penis was visible through the open fly of his pants.

‘What is this, really?’

Even this man’s penis is neat and handsome. Clear fluid dripped from the tip of his reddened penis, and even that scent felt sweet. I wanted to bury my face and suck it.

“Heuk…, uh, heueung…”

As I roughly shook his hand, Kang Hae-ah’s waist moved this way and that as if trying to escape. Veins stood out on his reddened neck, and he was sweating. I squeezed his penis tightly to prevent him from escaping, and he even groaned.

After squeezing and stroking him hard a couple of times, Kang Hae-ah cried. Seeing the tears streaming down his face, I realized what I had done. I belatedly came to my senses and slowed down.

Slowly, I put my thumb on the tip of his reddened penis and rubbed it, and Kang Hae-ah squeezed his eyes shut. He bit his glistening lips tightly and trembled all over. Then he came.

“Ack, ah.”

Seeing his face as he felt it, making painful sounds, made me feel like I had committed a terrible act.

He collapsed into my arms, breathing faintly. Kang Hae-ah, who was defenseless and limp like a worn-out person with his eyes closed, made me feel awkward.

This man doesn’t know. What a Dominant Alpha can do to a recessive Omega, and how far they can go. He shouldn’t be held like this by any Alpha other than me.

“…Are you sleeping?”

I touched his lips, which were closed, with my fingertip. When I put my wet index finger on his lower lip and pressed down, he slowly opened his mouth. His red lips were more swollen than usual.

‘What’s with the way he looks?’

His lips had caught my eye before. I didn’t bother to praise him, but Kang Hae-ah’s lips were unique. The center of his upper lip was very prominent, so when he closed his mouth tightly, it looked like a bird’s beak, and the line from his philtrum to his lips was amazing when viewed from the side.

“Kang Hae-ah.”

I wondered how many people had brushed past these lips when he was living a life no different from a Beta as an Omega who hadn’t had his awakening. I also wondered if he had always met men, or if he had only dated women.

If Kang Hae-ah asked about my past even once, I would have a chance to satisfy my curiosity, but he didn’t seem to be curious about me.

“Hae-ah.”

I tapped the tip of the sleeping man’s nose. He frowned and opened his mouth a little more. His white upper teeth were visible through his lips.

“Hae-ah.”

I kissed him and immediately pulled my face away.

“……”

Kang Hae-ah only made panting sounds, leaving me alone to kiss him and be embarrassed again.

I had lived my whole life hating Alphas in rut, and I didn’t want to get involved with recessive ones, whether they were Alphas or Omegas, who couldn’t overcome their instincts. But now that I was out of the well, I was exactly like that. I was arbitrarily touching an unconscious Omega and even secretly kissing him.

Without a word, I pulled him into my arms. I put his small head on my forearm and carefully wrapped my arms around him. Kang Hae-ah’s brow slowly smoothed out. His lips curved into a smile. He smiles when I hug him.

Kang Hae-ah was quick-witted and knew a lot, so I thought he was mature for his age of twenty-six. But when I looked at his sleeping face, it was the opposite. His face, which was releasing a good flesh scent and soft skin, looked about sixteen years old.

I grabbed his waist with both hands as he slept. His waist, which showed signs of exercise, was slender. His belly, which was not tanned by the sun, was like a boiled egg white. It felt firm, but compared to my hands, it felt thin and delicate.

I stroked his back and touched his buttocks. His upturned buttocks were small. One cheek fit perfectly in my hand.

“I can’t.”

Kang Hae-ah suddenly said. I was surprised because I thought he was fast asleep. I felt like I had been arrested as a criminal for committing a very bad crime. My face was burning.

“I can’t… Tae-rim-ssi is too big.”

He continued, mumbling. I put my face close to his and looked at it. His lowered eyes were almost closed, and his cheeks were pressed against the pillow. I wondered if he was awake, or if he was just talking in his sleep.

“I’m too big?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you know if I’m big or not?”

Then Kang Hae-ah laughs. He likes the lewd joke just like a boy.

“I know everything. I know it all… I’m Dr. Cheon Tae-rim.”

“I see. You must have studied everything.”

“Of course. I’ve studied everything…”

His sleep talking is at a serious level. Maybe that’s why he insisted on using separate rooms. Thinking that way made me feel better.

“A long time ago… there was a guy I dated for a month or two.”

The mumbling was strangely slurred. You could say his pronunciation was off. It sounded like a foreigner who hadn’t learned Korean for very long.

“He told me… I was like a chihuahua. He said I barked when someone hugged me, but I couldn’t even make a peep when I was put on the floor.”

“Was that so.”

“Yes…”

Then he let out a hot breath. I smelled sweetness in his sigh.

“I want to keep barking and living.”

Kang Hae-ah’s blank eyes had no focus. He obviously wouldn’t remember his sleep talking now in the morning.

“So please hug me often.”

“Okay.”

Still, I answered,

“…Okay.”

I gently lowered his eyelids with my index and middle fingers.

A smile spread across Kang Hae-ah’s sleeping face. I propped my cheek on my fist and lay down next to my husband.

Kang Hae-ah, you should be glad that I’m a Dominant Alpha. If I were a recessive Alpha, I wouldn’t have been able to tolerate an Omega intoxicated by my scent. I wouldn’t be happy just watching your sleeping face.

The driver who came to pick up Kang Hae-ah was already at the airport. My car was also waiting two gates away. My husband’s sleek silver-gray sedan and my very angular black SUV looked contrasting.

“Are you going straight to the company?”

Kang Hae-ah asked, stretching his neck slightly. I placed my suitcase next to him as he looked around my car.

“I’ll stop by for a while and then go home.”

As soon as I arrived in Seoul, my phone was over-saturated with incoming calls. Just as much work was piled up. My head was busy thinking about the order of things to do. But on the other hand, I was worried that Kang Hae-ah would see me as a workaholic.

In the first place, it was true that I was so obsessed with work that I even proceeded with the marriage as a business contract. But on the contract, Kang Hae-ah’s,

“I see…”

Didn’t have a sullen face.

I was worried about Kang Hae-ah, who got into the back seat of his car without a word. I would have apologized if he had asked, ‘Are you going to be this busy in the future?’ or showed a hint of disappointment, saying, ‘It’s the first day we’re moving into our new home,’ but Kang Hae-ah didn’t.

I handed my luggage to the driver who was loading his luggage. The man, called ‘Driver Oh,’ bowed politely. He also said the obvious things, like please take care of me in the future.

While responding appropriately, I smelled the ring on his ring finger, his neat face, and the perfume scent from his collar.

‘Married, Alpha, no body scent. They wouldn’t have put a Dominant as Hae-ah-ssi’s driver… If he’s recessive and doesn’t have a scent like this, he must already have a bonding partner.’

I tried not to be too conscious of Kang Hae-ah’s driver and got into the SUV. The youngest secretary sitting in the driver’s seat handed me a tablet PC first. I heard the words that they had received the report and that I should look through it on the way with one ear and let it out with the other.

I tapped the side of the tablet with my index finger.

As I found out before the wedding, Kang Hae-ah was not a person who easily changed the people around him. There were four solo exhibition catalogs with the same gallery name, and the housekeeper he brought into the new home as a ‘helper’ had been working at his Seoul home for three years.

Driver Oh Geon-min must have seen him more than that.

‘If he had such an Alpha next to him… he should have thought about an ideal marriage at least once.’

Then I felt like a very bad bastard. ‘I don’t care if they’re recessive or Dominant, as long as they’re Omega, because knotting will form a proper bond anyway’… I only thought that lightly. I should have considered that the other person was an artist and therefore had delicate emotions.

“Hoo…”

I sighed deeply. I could feel the secretary watching me through the rearview mirror, but my sigh only deepened.

To be honest, I don’t know Kang Hae-ah well. I don’t even know what he thinks of me.

I read the report, which I couldn’t get into my head at all, for the third time. I wanted to go home as soon as possible. I was overwhelmed with the urge to see his expression and ask him what he was thinking.

How petty people’s hearts are. My complicated feelings change quickly. When I was lying in the hotel room in Florence, I thought every call from the company was annoying, but as soon as I arrived at the company and got on the escalator, my mood changed.

‘It’s a good thing the honeymoon was short.’

The development team leader and the secretarial staff followed me, each carrying a piece of work. There were tons of things to check, from the device errors that had been fixed in the past four days to the collaboration product drafts sent by Han-seong.

There was only about a year left until the first AOM was released by combining Han-seong’s mobile phone business and our technology. A year was just a word, but in reality, it was a period that had to be run without a day off.

“CEO! We’ve been sampling the attachable sensors. But the AI implementation is too low compared to the insertable ones…”

Following the development team leader,

“CEO, this is a model we picked out two days ago, but it needs urgent modification. Can you take a look at it now?”

Even the employees started chasing after me.

“Wait a minute.”

I returned the tablet with the report on it and the 3D-printed design drafts in the order I received them.

“Let’s wait outside. Let’s get organized and work.”

I closed the CEO’s office door, leaving behind the employees who were complaining. Coffee was already on the U-shaped sofa table.

With the tray under his arm,

“CEO, what about my gift?”

Si Eun-cheol jokes. I stared at his smiling face for a moment and headed to my desk. The documents to be reviewed were placed in order of importance and date of processing, with even the Post-it notes organized. Eun-cheol is always neat when it comes to work.

I was supposed to look through them in the order they were placed, but strangely, the work was blocked. Standing in front of my desk, I read the year and date written on the documents two or three times.

“Why are you spacing out?”

Si Eun-cheol said.

“Are you still jet-lagged, our CEO? Or did you forget your friend’s gift and just play around?”

“I sent them all home. I’ll give them to you next time.”

When I replied,

“When is next time?”

Si Eun-cheol showed a hint of disappointment.

I couldn’t answer that question right away. It was time to think a little. Eun-cheol sees me six times a week, sometimes even seven, so I could give him a small gift at the company.

But I’m not single anymore. It would look bad to only give a gift to the chief of staff. Even before, people had assumed that Si Eun-cheol and I were not friends. They thought there was a reason why a Dominant Alpha and a Dominant Omega were hanging out together.

Well, there was a reason. Si Eun-cheol called it a ‘fly swatter.’ We were in the same club in college, acting as a role to chase away recessive Alphas and Omegas who were attracted to each other.

But if that was really all, it wasn’t. I needed an Omega who could comfort me without romantic feelings. If Eun-cheol hadn’t been by my side during every rut, I wouldn’t be in this position now.

‘I don’t care if they’re Dominant or recessive, as long as they can knot’… That’s all because I found a spouse for a simple and selfish reason.

Only during the rut did I become the kind of Alpha I hated the most. A crazy Alpha who goes crazy from the effects of hormones and instincts.

That’s why I needed Si Eun-cheol, someone who was so proud that he wouldn’t feel romantic feelings for me and so Dominant that he wouldn’t be fascinated by my scent. More precisely, I only needed his body scent. Just smelling the Omega pheromones would bring back the reason to put on a suppressant. In an emergency, I would smell his scent and get an injection.

But now it’s different. I’m married and my husband is a newly awakened Omega. It doesn’t matter whether the partner’s trait is Dominant or recessive. As long as they’re by my side under the same roof.

Thinking about that made me feel good.

“Huh? Why are you smiling? When are you going to give me the gift, CEO?”

Si Eun-cheol tapped the sofa. As he said, I must still be jet-lagged. I can’t concentrate on the documents at all.

“At the garden party.”

“Garden party?”

Si Eun-cheol’s eyes widened. Every time he makes a surprised expression, I think those big eyes will fall out someday. I once joked that I would pick them up and put them in the ambulance together.

“Wow… are you even doing that now? Our CEO has become a chaebol aristocrat in a few days.”

“It’s not like that, it’s just a small gathering of a few acquaintances.”

“Do you believe that? How many acquaintances do you think those people have? Wanna bet? 50,000 won that it’ll turn into a chaebol party.”

“Okay. I’ll do it.”

I swept the organized documents into the case and stood up. I was going to be working overtime anyway, so I was going to spend the night at home.

Then the CEO’s office door clicked open. The youngest secretary timidly opened the door about two spans and hesitated.

“CEO, everyone’s gathered to report…”

“Ah.”

Only then did I look beyond the glass wall. Among the employees sitting in a row, the development team leader looked at me with tired eyes. We had recruited additional personnel, but the development team still seemed thirsty.

What’s the point of bringing in new recruits? The work only increased as we had to educate them on the protocols and logs one by one. They complained every day that their blood was drying up.

“Is it briefly summarized? I don’t have much time… and it’s almost time for you to leave work. Let’s keep it short.”

The youngest secretary started carrying several coffee cups and setting them on the table. Just that many people rushed into the CEO’s office.

Looking down at the workaholics packed on the sofa, I wondered if it was a good idea to create a comfortable company atmosphere by breaking away from authoritarianism.

By the time I arrived at the new home, the sun had set. Carrying a document bag that was thicker than expected, I entered the front door. The high ceiling lights in the wide hallway turned on silently.

I was so dumbfounded by the size of the living room, which seemed to be four times the size of my parents’ house, that I laughed. I remember seeing pictures and hearing stories about the house that Han-seong had prepared, but I didn’t really care. I thought they would have taken care of it on their own since it was the house for their precious youngest son.

But,

‘It’s too much.’

This wasn’t a house, it was a castle.

Looking at it again, Han-seong wasn’t just good at shooting product commercials. They had wrapped their youngest son’s new home in very nice wrapping paper.

I liked the high ceiling, that was one thing. I slowly looked over the large window facing the garden, the stairs leading to the second floor, the three doors attached to the second hallway, and the low steps leading up to the kitchen.

We don’t have any plans for children, but looking at the size of the house, I think we could easily raise eleven.

‘No… perhaps he wants children?’

We’ve never talked about heirs, only business.

Lost in thought, I headed to the living room table. Several suitcases and packages from Italy were already there. Lavish gifts were piled on the table like a cake. Most of them were for Kang Hae-ah.

But before the various bags and gadgets with luxury brand labels, a bouquet of flowers on a side table caught my eye.

The purple, unknown flowers were romantically wrapped. A letter lay open, as if someone had been reading it. I picked up the shimmering, high-quality paper and looked at it.

“To my beloved writer, with heartfelt congratulations.

You soothe my anxiety.”

Without a doubt, the flowers and letter were for Kang Hae-ah.

‘You soothe my anxiety?’

I frowned at the cheesy phrase. The name of the sender, wherever they lived, wasn’t written. That made it even more suspicious. Whoever sent it, Kang Hae-ah recognized them and had deliberately set it aside.

The round handwriting suggested it was a woman.

‘Why does my husband have to worry about your anxiety?’

My expression soured. The letter in my hand crumbled like a cookie.

“…….”

I crumpled the letter in one go, then looked around once, then twice. I tried to smooth it out with my thumb, but the letter looked worse than before. The creases in the paper wouldn’t flatten.

I picked up the crumpled note and the bouquet. I felt awkward leaving them ruined. I went up to the second floor.

And I realized that our tender nights in Florence had all gone up in smoke.

Like the Prince who changed his mind as soon as the Little Mermaid gained legs, Kang Hae-ah turned away from me. He blatantly left the master bedroom and holed up in the guest room, refusing to come out.

Like a junior secretary in front of the CEO’s office, Kang Hae-ah held the guest room door open just a crack and mumbled words to drive me away.

“I’m a total night owl, so I kept the bedrooms separate. I’m going to use the detached building as a studio… um, because I’ll be going back and forth all night.”

I hadn’t done anything wrong, but Kang Hae-ah’s demeanor was as if we’d already had a fight. A cold declaration of separate rooms made me feel even more wronged.

“Um….”

I was about to say something, but I hid the crumpled note behind my back. And I trudged into the master bedroom.

‘If we’re going to use separate rooms, he could have at least made the room a decent size.’

The wide windows, the large couch, and the king-size bed were all neat and cozy.

‘Too big to sleep alone.’

There weren’t many places in Korea where I felt ’empty’. Any place with ‘public’ in the name was uncomfortable because of my size. I also took after Father in my inflexibility, so I often argued about right and wrong, and I was usually the one who won with my size.

But this house was desolate in its vastness. This room was too empty to stay in alone.

I picked up the letter again, held between my index and middle fingers. Under the light of the lamp, the pretty handwriting stood out more clearly.

‘What kind of woman is this?’

I frowned and leaned back against the headboard. I flipped the letter around, but there were no clues to guess the sender’s identity.

Who was this woman who sent such a note now? What kind of face and job did she have that she was seducing the man who married Cheon Tae-rim? And why did Kang Hae-ah bother to separate this note and suddenly become cold, hiding in the small room?

My mind was a mystery thriller, then a horror thriller, then a romantic comedy. The premiere was interrupted by Kang Hae-ah, who suddenly walked into the bedroom.

“…….”

“…….”

He approached silently like a squirrel, then slipped into the covers next to me. Then he turned his back to me and lay down.

“I’ll sleep here until my stabilizer kicks in. I took it a little while ago, so don’t worry.”

Kang Hae-ah said in a curt voice. His tone was firm, but the back of his head was so small.

I thought about asking about the letter, but I closed my mouth. I wanted to ask if he would go back to that room once he was stable, but I stopped myself again. Instead, I pulled the blanket over the covers.

“Kang Hae-ah-ssi. I’m not going to eat you.”

I meant he could just sleep here, whether he was stable or unstable. But the aloof Kang Hae-ah didn’t answer.

If I had been born in the Joseon Dynasty, I might have been his servant. If Kang Hae-ah had said ‘Humph,’ I would have said ‘Humph’ and swayed this way, and if he had said ‘Hmph,’ I would have said ‘Hmph’ and swayed that way. If he had smiled because he was in a good mood, I would have lost my mind.

I might have died of frustration because I couldn’t stand the curiosity. Who was the woman who sent a letter to my young master?

I sighed involuntarily. I stared at the letter in my hand for a long time, then crumpled it again.

“Kang Hae-ah-ssi, are you asleep?”

Unable to resist the rising curiosity, I asked. Kang Hae-ah’s shoulders rose with a deep breath, then slowly fell again.

“I’m not asleep yet.”

“Then what are you thinking about so much?”

This time, Kang Hae-ah didn’t answer. He tossed and turned, still turned away. His uncomfortably huddled body seemed even smaller. He looked so precarious, as if he would fall out of bed if I touched his shoulder.

“…Who are you thinking about so much?”

I secretly stole glances at his cheeks, which seemed lost in thought,

“Why do you keep asking? Who else would I be thinking about… I’m thinking about Cheon Tae-rim-ssi.”

With that, Kang Hae-ah closed his eyes.

I threw the letter in my fist into the trash can. I got into bed next to him and turned off the lamp. Then everything was quiet.

The first night in our honeymoon home was coming to an end. Listening to the pounding, pounding, hard-to-distinguish heartbeats.

I would soon meet the mysterious letter’s author, on a warm day when even the grass was dazzling in the sunlight, at a garden party.

Unaware that he was the one who had sent a pretty bouquet and a meaningful letter to a married man, I had a rather pleasant conversation with him.

“I heard you have a separate studio? Wow, the writer must be happy. He needs someone to look at his paintings to work well.”

Until then, I only knew the man named Im Geon as a famous critic. His thick eyebrows and nearly prescription-less glasses gave him a scholarly image, but I could tell from his body. He was someone who worked out quite a bit.

The first impression of a healthy person with good posture is always good. Im Geon’s first impression was like that. There was nothing to criticize in the way he talked about Kang Hae-ah, calling him ‘writer’, ‘writer’. Rather, I thought it was an opportunity to get a hint of what kind of person Kang Hae-ah was.

“Anyway, please take care of him. I was worried that I would be visiting Kang Hae-ah’s studio often and ‘seeing the CEO’s face on the way’, but… haha, after seeing you today, I don’t think there will be any awkwardness.”

That was until he said something out of the blue with a neat face.

“What awkwardness could there be?”

I replied politely,

“Ah.”

He fiddled with his lips.

“The writer didn’t tell you. Um… I… the writer and I dated for a while. Very briefly last winter.”

At the sudden words, my gaze went to his hand. The moment I looked down at his straight fingers, the round handwriting came to mind.

‘The letter.’

As if sensing my frozen gaze, Im Geon closed his mouth. A look of ‘I made a mistake’ inevitably surfaced, then disappeared.

I quietly observed him as he tried not to show his embarrassment. I had to know what kind of person he was. What kind of bastard was he to brag about his past in front of Kang Hae-ah’s husband? I wanted to open his skull and scan his brain structure.

“Nothing happened.”

Im Geon said with a more composed face.

“The writer and I were both Beta back then… I guess he didn’t mention it because he didn’t think it was a big deal.”

“Not Beta.”

I cut him off. I couldn’t just let it go without pointing out the wrong thing he was rambling about.

“He was an unmanifested Omega.”

Then I slowly raised my eyes and scanned Im Geon’s arms, shoulders, and face. Looking at him again, he looked as bland as salted shrimp floating in a bowl of gukbap.

‘What did Kang Hae-ah see in this kind of guy?’

The quietly rising anger,

‘That’s why they broke up.’

I calmly suppressed it.

The anger subsided when I thought of Kang Hae-ah telling him goodbye. A sigh escaped my nose.

But… I don’t know anything for sure about their past relationship. All that’s certain is that Kang Hae-ah is a challenge. If I could, I’d like to steal his diary and see what he’s thinking. What is he thinking to invite his ex-boyfriend from last year to his honeymoon party?

Even today. Kang Hae-ah, with a bright face that doesn’t seem to have any worries, was surrounded by an excessive number of Alphas.

Any Alpha would have noticed, they would have smelled it sitting next to him, there’s no way they wouldn’t know that Kang Hae-ah is still an unknotted Omega. But the faces that were hovering around him didn’t hesitate. It was Kang Hae-ah who had put the Alphas around him as if to show off.

Frankly, it was upsetting. The fact that the person who was so conscious of me on our honeymoon that he took separate rooms didn’t have any wariness towards low-level recessive Alphas upset me.

And then he put this man at my table. Like the ridiculous letter he had spread out in the living room.

“I don’t care about the past. Kang Hae-ah-ssi is an Omega, so.”

I said, pausing between each word.

“Hae-ah-ssi seems very sure. That he has no feelings for Betas anymore.”

I stated the facts, and Im Geon smiled even wider. He fiddled with his eyebrows, saying, ‘This is quite something.’ He seemed a little flustered. I looked at his ring finger, but I didn’t see a wedding ring or a couple ring.

“There’s a saying among Betas.”

He said.

“Isn’t our way a little more human than just meeting a partner because of instinct, because of traits…?”

Then his and my gazes crossed meaninglessly in the air. I had never hit a man with glasses, not yet.

“Well, it’s just an outsider’s self-consolation, haha….”

I looked down at Im Geon, who was laughing awkwardly, with a stiff face.

The urge to tell him to be glad that he was an outsider Beta, as he said, rose up and then subsided. Either way, he was Kang Hae-ah’s guest. There was no point in starting a fight.

The score was settled by exchanging a few unpleasant words. I relaxed my stiff expression.

“That’s not what I meant.”

I said to ease the atmosphere,

“I crossed the line a bit too. I’m sorry. I’m sick of being labeled as a Beta, so….”

Im Geon sighed deeply.

Just as he and I were about to wrap up the conversation and move away, Si Eun-cheol returned. For some reason, he couldn’t hide his angry expression and rough breathing.

He suddenly stretched his head to my shoulder. He leaned on me halfway and rattled off words like a machine gun.

“CEO Cheon. I’m sorry to say this, but your husband is weird. He’s a psycho, in my opinion. Are all artists like that?”

The last words were directed at Im Geon. His brow furrowed as much as mine. It was a party to celebrate, so I was more embarrassed than angry at the sound of him suddenly insulting the host.

Just before I asked what nonsense he was talking about, Kang Hae-ah came between us.

“Eun-cheol-ssi!”

Kang Hae-ah, who came trotting over, was completely different from Si Eun-cheol. He had a smiling face. Coming across the garden lawn in the bright sunlight, he looked like a happy puppy. If he had a tail, it would probably be very busy wagging from side to side.

Kang Hae-ah, who had been walking straight, stood next to me. Then he separated Si Eun-cheol and me with his left shoulder. Si Eun-cheol didn’t move, but I stepped back and gave him space.

Then Kang Hae-ah smiled at me.

‘…It was real.’

I was lost in thought for a moment.

‘He really is about the same height as Eun-cheol.’

I thought he was much younger and smaller, but I was wrong. Looking at them standing side by side, they looked different in build, but they were definitely about the same height.

“Eun-cheol-ssi, how can you just leave like that?”

With a smiling face, he turned his head and leaned his face against Si Eun-cheol’s shoulder. Then he smelled his collar. He even made a ‘sniffing’ sound.

My and Im Geon’s mouths opened in embarrassment, then closed in turn. Si Eun-cheol’s reaction was even more extreme. With a surprised face, he pushed Kang Hae-ah away as if he was disgusted.

“What is it? Why are you doing this?”

Si Eun-cheol whispered, lowering his voice in embarrassment,

“Why? It’s not like smelling me will wear me out. Come here.”

Kang Hae-ah almost buried his head in his shoulder and hugged him. His aggressive attitude and playful obsession created a strange sight.

Unconsciously, I smiled as I watched them, then my gaze reached the area around Im Geon’s mouth. After confirming the smiling muscles around his mouth and tracking his warm gaze, it was, as expected, directed at Kang Hae-ah.

‘Wow….’

This bastard is really….

While the veins in my neck stood out with the rising heat, Kang Hae-ah, who had caused me to feel this way, was just bright and cheerful.

“Let’s see how good you smell, I have a nose too.”

Kang Hae-ah said, lifting his shoulders from his seat. Si Eun-cheol took a few steps back in disgust, and Kang Hae-ah pulled on the waist of his jacket.

My Mother, who had been watching the scene from afar, laughed. The guests’ eyes were drawn to us. The faces that were laughing, thinking it was a joke, were all bright.

Soon, Kang Hae-ah let go of Si Eun-cheol. He raised his head towards my Mother and moved his feet.

“I have to smell our Mother’s hands too.”

Then he went to my Mother, who was bursting with laughter, and took her hand. Kang Hae-ah, who was holding my Mother’s left hand with both hands and pretending to smell it, looked like an excited puppy. If a stranger had seen him, they would have mistaken Kang Hae-ah for the youngest of the Cheon family, not the Kang family.

Amid the laughter, Kang Hae-ah said.

“What should I do? Our Mother’s scent is so good that I’m embarrassed by the gift I prepared….”

Then, as if waiting for it, the staff began to bring out the gift boxes.

I couldn’t believe my eyes, seeing my Mother and husband become so affectionate, like a mother and son. Not to mention my friend, I don’t know when he became so close to him.

I nudged Si Eun-cheol’s arm with the back of my hand, as if I was dumbfounded.

“Give it to me.”

And I said.

“50,000 won.”

Si Eun-cheol looked at me with a ‘what are you talking about’ face for a moment, then sighed as if he was upset. I held out my hand in front of him, who was thumping his chest.

‘Do you want to bet with me? 50,000 won that this will turn into a chaebol party.’

My bets with Si Eun-cheol were always like this. He always bet against me and lost.

Sometimes, he seemed like a friend who existed to praise me. There was only one time, around the age of twenty, when he bet in a direction that seemed like he would lose on purpose. Even then, I won and Si Eun-cheol lost.

His face as he opened his wallet with a disappointed look was now so familiar that I didn’t even feel sorry for him. It was just amazing that he kept betting against me every time, knowing that he couldn’t win.

Since living under the same roof, I’ve seen ten faces of Kang Hae-ah. He seems like a different person every day. Sometimes he seems like a person full of confidence, and other times he can’t even go down the stairs easily.

I often woke up when the dawn air was dim. Kang Hae-ah tried so hard to get out of bed without making a sound that his slow, careful movements, focused on every nerve, woke me up instead. If I closed my eyes pretending to be asleep, I could hear the sound of him putting on his slippers and walking carefully.

Heading towards the stairs, perhaps to go to his studio, his footsteps soon ceased. The sound of hesitant steps, one step, then another, was sparsely heard. The sound of deep sighs and fumbling movements continued throughout the early morning.

It’s because of that sighing sound that I had a bad dream.

Every night Kang Hae-ah quietly moved to the detached studio, my dreams turned violent. For three days, the content of the dream was the same. My whole body drenched in sweat, I would grip the railing on the second floor and look down.

Then I would see Kang Hae-ah fallen upside down on the last step of the stairs. In the dream, I wouldn’t recognize him for a long time, and then, belatedly, I would scream and run down the stairs, thump, thump.

Kneeling down and forcibly grabbing Kang Hae-ah’s nape, he would say strange things.

‘It’s okay. I’m okay.’

His nape soaked with blood flowing from his torn cheek,

‘Don’t cry, Tae-rim-ssi.’

Fallen upside down, Kang Hae-ah would comfort me. Don’t cry, it’s not Tae-rim-ssi’s fault… The sound of him muttering, his leg broken and clear fluid running from under his nose, lingered in my ears even after I woke up.

I found the source of the unpleasant dream in the real Kang Hae-ah. I heard that he was the one who insisted on this two-story house as our marital home, but the problem was the sound of him sighing as he feared going down the stairs. Listening to the sound of him fumbling down one step, then another, ‘Hoo…’ a long sigh, must have disturbed my dreams.

So, I decided to lay down a rug. So that the nightmare wouldn’t become reality, so that he wouldn’t be anxious every night, and so that I could get a proper night’s sleep.

I had to find him in the detached building from morning to ask what he thought about starting the construction right away today. It was because Kang Hae-ah hadn’t returned to the bedroom all night.

As I walked out, dressed in my work attire,

“Have a good day, CEO.”

The helper Ok-hye-ssi bowed.

“…Yes.”

That was all I could reply.

At times like this, I realize again that Kang Hae-ah is a very innocent person. He not only calls the fifty-something helper, who is twenty years older than him, ‘Ok-hye-ssi’ and treats her like a friend, but also keeps her at home all day from early morning.

Conversely, I found it very difficult to deal with ‘Ok-hye-ssi’. I couldn’t bring myself to speak informally to a woman who was the same age as my Mother, and it was too awkward to receive her bowing farewell.

‘I can’t tell her to ignore me…’

With a troubled heart, I stood in front of the detached building. As soon as I opened the studio door, the sound of singing poured out. It sounded like band music or an idol song. Instead of knocking, I leaned against the door and looked at Kang Hae-ah.

As soon as I saw his face, engrossed in his work with a brush in his hand, I realized my mistake. Seeing his focused face, disheveled hair, and messy work clothes, I felt strangely remorseful. I had forgotten that he was also a person.

It was a really strange thing, that I only realized that fact after seeing him frowning in worry, getting paint all over his hands, and looking exhausted.

After stepping back from the large painting that filled the wall, he muttered something to himself. Mumbling, evaluating his painting like a mathematician reciting formulas,

“Ack!”

He suddenly fell. It was because he had found me standing at the door.

I was even more surprised to see his eyes wide like a rabbit’s. I didn’t expect him to be so startled.

I reached out my hand to help him up. But Kang Hae-ah didn’t take my hand. He seemed angry that I had come so suddenly and interrupted his work.

Feeling awkward, I put my hand in my pocket and looked at the studio wall. Canvases with paint still wet were neatly arranged. The glossy surface of the canvases themselves was fascinating, but above all, the number and scale of the work were astonishing.

“Did you paint all of this… overnight?”

He tried to dismiss my admiration as if it were nothing, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the paintings. Even to my untrained eye, which knew nothing about the meaning of abstract paintings, his paintings looked good. The colors poured into the vague images drew my gaze.

To be honest, it was impressive. The works built up with the smell of oil paint, created by that man’s two hands throughout the past night.

Kang Hae-ah’s paintings were truly like Kang Hae-ah. The fact that they felt like finished products even now was like that. The difference was that while it was difficult to imagine Kang Hae-ah’s future appearance, it was easy to imagine the completed form of his paintings.

Tilting my head, I approached a large painting. Next to the canvas, which was as big as Kang Hae-ah himself, was a sketch thickly drawn with pastels.

‘Have I… seen this somewhere before?’

Kang Hae-ah wandered around behind me, and then, as if giving up, plopped down on a chair.

“Tae-rim-ssi, are you busy today then?”

He asked, and

“I guess so. I have something to do in the evening too….”

I left a subtle signal.

I was planning to install a non-slip rug on the stairs of the main house as soon as I got off work. From tonight, I would make sure there was no hesitation in Kang Hae-ah’s footsteps.

“A-Are you crazy? How can you treat your husband’s friend like this?”

Instead of grabbing the Alpha’s collar, who was lying there covered in blood.

‘Oh…’

Slowly blinking my eyes, I released my right hand. The Alpha’s head fell onto the table with a thud, unconscious.

‘Where am I?’

My mind went blank.

‘…What?’

I felt a stinging sensation behind my eyes from the sudden stress. A headache started, and tinnitus rang in my ears. My hands felt numb.

“Tae-rim-ssi…”

A soft hand touched my arm.

“S-Stop… stop it.”

Turning around sharply, I saw Kang Hae-ah. The moment I saw his tearful, trembling face, my organs twisted and my chest felt like it was burning. After a tingling pain, fragments of memories floated vaguely. I remembered the house being empty when I returned, starting the car to rush out and find Kang Hae-ah. I remembered stopping by the place I heard about on the phone and asking about the group’s whereabouts, only to receive unhelpful answers.

Then I moved aimlessly. I visited every store I could see in the vicinity. I think I wasted about 30 minutes like that… And then I found him, Kang Hae-ah, standing pale-faced in the hallway.

‘I’m telling you, Kang Hae-ah definitely wanted it back then too. If I had just, you know? Been a little brave and rubbed against his ass a little, he would have fallen for me!’

Kang Hae-ah was smiling as he listened to them insult him. He didn’t get angry or sad, he just smiled. His face, smiling as if he had transcended everything, felt like it was slapping my cheek.

And then I blacked out, just like in my adolescence… Pressing down on my churning stomach, I looked at the unfamiliar faces. Half of the face of the man slumped on the table was swollen, making it difficult to recognize his features. Another man was clutching his forehead, which was red with blood, and cursing.

There was a stronger Alpha body scent than alcohol. It felt like I had entered a secret room teeming with germs.

A glossy murderous intent surged over my brain again. I wanted to kill them. I wanted to crush their faces so they could never talk nonsense again, and stomp on and burst their aroused dicks so they couldn’t get hard. That kind of impulse stained my insides red.

But not in front of Kang Hae-ah. Not in front of Kang Hae-ah.

I grabbed Kang Hae-ah’s hand, who couldn’t even walk properly, and left the store. My car, parked with its headlights on and the engine running, was the first thing I saw. As soon as I put him in the passenger seat, my head went blank.

‘What have I done…’

I saw someone else’s blood on my fist. I rubbed my palms repeatedly on my pants.

‘What have I done?’

Pulling down my shirt sleeves, I saw blood splattered on the collar. It was the trace of me swinging my fist like a madman, tearing someone’s face.

‘Did Hae-ah-ssi… did I… did I touch Hae-ah-ssi too?’

I tried to retrace my memories, but my mind was just a blank slate. Suddenly, like a photo inserted incorrectly into a projector, his face fallen below the stairs came to mind.

“…….”

I shook my head violently. No, there’s no way I would have touched Kang Hae-ah… If I had, he couldn’t have been so unscathed… If I had even accidentally grazed him with my arm… his soft cheeks would have been torn. Like the image that appeared in my nightmare….

I squeezed my eyes shut. I pressed my thumbs and index fingers firmly on my throbbing eyelids. I tried to erase the image that seemed to be printed on the back of my eyelids.

After taking a deep breath of hot air and exhaling, I headed to the driver’s seat.

As soon as I sat in the car, I focused solely on driving. I didn’t dare to look at Kang Hae-ah in the passenger seat. He might be regretting marrying a gangster right now.

My head started to throb. I shouldn’t have gotten into a brawl like this… I had lost control. I had acted like a madman off the leash. I had shown the person I least wanted to see the appearance I wanted to forget.

And it had to be in front of Kang Hae-ah. It had to be in front of Kang Hae-ah.

My anxiously trembling heart finally settled down. It was the moment I arrived at the marital home and parked in front of the garage. At that moment, Kang Hae-ah started to cry. My eyes were stained black with self-reproach. My stomach churned with a sense of unease I had never felt before.

“I’m sorry. Hae-ah-ssi.”

I said, trying not to stammer.

“It will never… happen again. I swear. It was a long time ago… it was only like this a very long time ago.”

Without answering, Kang Hae-ah only made strange noises. I could hear his teeth clattering. Seeing him biting his lip and only shedding thick tears, I felt like my existence was monstrous.

“Hae-ah-ssi.”

I reached out my hand to him, and

“Ack!”

Kang Hae-ah shuddered.

“Don’t touch me, don’t touch…, don’t touch me.”

Then he started to beg. Covering his mouth with both hands, he frantically cried, ‘Please’… mixing in pitiful screams.

I knew it was an unconscious action. Because he hadn’t taken his stabilizer on time, because he had drunk alcohol during an unstable period, because his body was just moving on its own, startled by the stimulus I had given him, I knew. That’s what my head told me.

‘Why the fuck am I such a monster…’

I had been so anxious that some trash might touch him that I went to find Kang Hae-ah, but instead, I had hurt him. I had shaken him up, I had resorted to violence and spilled blood.

“…Hae-ah.”

My voice, trying to soothe him, returned to my ears terribly.

Kang Hae-ah squeezed his eyes shut. Then he slowly slumped against the back of the seat.

“Hae-ah-ssi, stop….”

“Tae-rim-ssi.”

“Stop crying….”

From Kang Hae-ah’s sobbing breath, a sweet body scent burst out. Even in this situation, I was aroused by it. Even in the moment I wanted to bite my tongue in self-disgust, I wanted to have sex with him. I felt like I had become a dirty beast.

Kang Hae-ah’s bewildered expression was innocent, but I alone was the sinner.

“It’s because you’re scared of me. Because you’re afraid I’ll hurt Kang Hae-ah-ssi. That’s why, that’s why your body is doing this, Hae-ah-ssi.”

I suppressed myself, emphasizing each word. If I did it now, it would be so good. I wanted to bite his neck and thrust my genitals into his skin. Even if I forced it in and shook him, the Omega’s body would accept me without getting hurt. In the end, he would cry and shed tears, saying it was good too, and he would definitely ejaculate either semen or urine.

But I couldn’t do that. When morning came, he would realize what had happened to him, even though he was now exuding body scent and begging me to hold him…. My gaze fell on his swollen crotch. Startled, he covered his legs with his coat.

Then he turned away from me. His face, turning his head and lowering his eyes, was reflected in the car window.

“Give me the shot…. The stabilizer, give me that. Please….”

“You’re drunk.”

“Even so… can’t you still give it to me?”

If I really wanted to, I could. I could give him the stabilizer to calm his excitement, and if he showed signs of addiction, I could change the medication I was administering. The real problem that was turning my insides out was something else. I was afraid that Kang Hae-ah would push me away when he regained his senses, that’s what I was afraid of.

‘Just don’t penetrate.’

Trying to hide my excitement, I inhaled.

‘If I comfort him with my body once… then he won’t be able to leave easily.’

I reclined the passenger seat and climbed on top of him. My aroused member was stiflingly hot. It was difficult to hold onto my sanity. I was overwhelmed by the urge to remove everything that was blocking him and me, including the clothes that covered Kang Hae-ah. I wanted to thrust something of mine into his skin. I wanted to forcibly cram my body scent into him and possess him. I wanted to confine and hide him so that no one else could see or touch him.

Gasping,

“Tae… Tae-rim-ssi, are you okay?”

Kang Hae-ah’s bright eyes looked up at me.

“You’re okay, right?”

The goodwill in those eyes cooled my heat with absurdity. It was ridiculous. An Alpha was on top of him, spreading his excited body scent, and he was asking, ‘You’re okay, right?’… He made me laugh with his purity.

I forcibly pulled down Kang Hae-ah’s pants. Two thighs stuck together were revealed. The flesh of his thighs bulged, pressed down by the unbuckled pants. His already erect penis was red and dripping with clear fluid. The fluid, exuding a deep body scent, soaked the passenger seat of my car.

“I’ll relieve you.”

“N-No, no, no…!”

After unbuckling my pants as well, I grabbed his and mine at the same time. Even while shouting that he didn’t want to, Kang Hae-ah couldn’t push me away.

“Ah, ah!”

Kang Hae-ah was sensitive. I had only cupped it in my palm and stroked it up and down a few times, but he was already shaking his hips on his own.

“D-Don’t, don’t do it, uh, heung, uh….”

His attitude of resisting with words but being obedient with his body relieved my breath. Kang Hae-ah can’t reject me. In the end, he will like me, he has no choice but to accept me.

With tears and even drool, he moved his hips up and down. Every time it shook up and down, the penis in my hand rubbed up and down. With my hand wrapped around it, I admired his face. His forehead was flushed red, his veins were standing out, and his tear-stained cheeks were blotchy with red spots.

“Aheuk, uh….”

Kang Hae-ah, who had been struggling to move his body, soon became exhausted. When I put strength into the hand that was holding his penis, he let out short moans, ‘Ah’, ‘Ah’. I liked his body, which was sensitive to pain. I had to try my best not to ejaculate first because I was so turned on.

“Heeik….”

I started moving the hand that had stopped again. With my left hand, I pressed down on Kang Hae-ah’s shoulder. His thin body, which had been thrashing around as if trying to escape, was easily subdued.

“Aack, ah, aah!”

Then a high-pitched moan burst out. I had only given him a handjob, but he twisted his waist and moaned like someone who had been burned. His feet, kicking the passenger seat dashboard, were filled with strength.

“…….”

Finally, Kang Hae-ah ejaculated. Whether it was communion with him or something else, I ejaculated too, listening to the hiccuping sounds. The semen that gushed out splashed on his chest and face. Panting, I finished stroking the penis in my hand. I poured all the remaining afterglow onto his face.

The white, opaque fluid was poured over his eyelids. With his lips parted as if he had applied something, Kang Hae-ah squeezed his eyes shut. Only his right eye was barely half-open, his gaze was hazy. His parted mouth was smeared with clear semen. Saliva and mixed bodily fluids pooled under his chin.

Only when I had covered him with my body scent did he feel like mine, and

‘Ah, fuck…’

The self-loathing that washed over me was very heavy.

‘Crazy bastard.’

I buried my face in Kang Hae-ah’s shoulder, who was sprawled out beneath me, as if at a loss for words. The thought of how I would endure the impending recriminations made me feel hopeless. Not only had I beaten up his acquaintances, but I had forcibly pulled down his pants and ejaculated on his face, how could I explain that… I didn’t want to use words like ‘Alpha’s instinct’, but if I took those two words out, I had nothing to say.

‘Gulp.’

But then I heard it, the sound of him swallowing something.

“…….”

Startled, I raised my head, and Kang Hae-ah lowered his feet, which had been resting on the dashboard. Hesitantly, his body, which was soaked and sticky, pulled away, and his lips were cleaner than before.

“O-Oh, thank you… for picking me up today.”

And he drew a line.

“I, I’ll… be in the detached building for a while, I have work to do. Um… Tae-rim-ssi… g-go up and sleep…, don’t… don’t come to my studio anymore.”

Flustered, Kang Hae-ah left me. I was left alone with my dick out in the passenger seat, which was disgustingly smeared with various bodily fluids.

“No, just now….”

I quietly banged my head against the back of the passenger seat.

‘Didn’t he just swallow my semen?’

After quite some time of suppressing my emotions, I finally regained my senses. I roughly took care of my still half-erect member and fastened the loosened belt. Then, I defied Kang Hae-ah’s command. I had to barge into his studio.

If I didn’t clear up the misunderstanding right away, I might end up seeing his divorce lawyer instead of Kang Hae-ah tomorrow.

It was also my first time opening the detached house’s door in the middle of the night. Pushing open the unlocked door, I saw Kang Hae-ah lying on the sofa. Without thinking, I lowered my head to check under my shoes. The rustling plastic wasn’t there.

When I raised my head again,

Woof, woof…

The sound of a dog barking came from afar. Strangely, my legs stiffened. It felt like a white beast would whoosh past me, but that didn’t happen.

‘I feel like… I’ve seen it somewhere before…’

Ignoring the creeping fear, I opened my mouth. My voice came out like an explosion, much later than I intended.

“Hae-ah-ssi.”

At my call, Kang Hae-ah abruptly sat up. At that moment, the restraints that had been binding me were released all at once. I felt relieved that he was getting up. That he was looking at me, frowning, and saying something, anything. Not just being left there like that….

‘Why do I feel like crying?’

Feeling the heat rising to the top of my head, I approached Kang Hae-ah. He was complaining about this and that, whether it was because of the alcohol or his unstable state of mind. However, he didn’t say anything about the violence I had shown.

While rambling on as if he were drunk, Kang Hae-ah rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand.

I hated seeing him cry. It felt like it was all my fault.

Suddenly, a bad dream came to mind.

‘Don’t cry, Tae-rim-ssi.’

The words he had said to me,

“…Don’t cry, Hae-ah-ssi.”

I gave them back to him, just as they were.

I married a man who I never knew where he would bounce, a bouncy ball who suddenly said he kissed another man and dropped my heart, and confessed that he did it with Si Eun-cheol, not Im Geon.

While watching my expression as I shut my mouth because I had nothing to say,

“Are you angry?”

His face asking that looked pretty.

“I’m just dumbfounded….”

“Me too.”

Kang Hae-ah is cute. Ridiculous and absurdly, he is cute.

Unable to figure out what to say, I hugged him. I knew it wasn’t normal to handle a grown man like this, but it couldn’t be helped. The man in front of me just felt small. Because of him crying in my arms, even my eyes felt sore.

My hand, which had been comforting the crying man, soon reached the back of his head. As I touched his pleasantly soft hair, I felt a bulge like a lump.

Suddenly, I felt afraid. A scary thought crossed my mind that maybe I accidentally hit him when I tried to stop him at the bar.

“Hae-ah-ssi.”

As I clenched my trembling hand into a fist and opened my mouth,

“No….”

He blocked my lips. It was a kiss that pressed down firmly, like stamping a seal.

Kang Hae-ah wouldn’t know, me whose heart drops to the floor with every one of his actions, and sometimes even my soul feels relieved. Already excessively fascinated by him, moments when I’m anxious that I might go crazy like this. When I lie next to him in the same bed and cover myself with a blanket,

‘I’m finally back.’

Even feeling such affectionate feelings….

How would he know, Kang Hae-ah wouldn’t know.

Even I don’t know. When I see him, I feel strangely happy, when he cries, I feel terribly sorry, and when he smiles, I feel unfamiliar with that smile.

But inevitably, I was a monster. When I didn’t recognize Kang Hae-ah who came back with the scent of an unfamiliar Alpha and pushed him away, I was a monster. When I looked down at him sitting down and begging, ‘Don’t hit me,’ I was a monster. I was a monster who was helplessly drawn to the voice that comforted me that it was okay,

“Hae-ah-ssi.”

The moment I discovered Kang Hae-ah with red marks all over his body, I was a monster.

“Kang Hae-ah-ssi. Please….”

Lying face down on the sheets that were a mess with bodily fluids, Kang Hae-ah cried and cried. Red handprints remained on his shoulders, chest, waist, and hips. Semen and vaginal fluids flowed between his thighs, and sobbing hiccups leaked out in a hoarse voice.

My memories were fragmented. I remembered burying my face in his chest in excitement, but after that, everything was blurry. It was clear that I had hugged him and ejaculated inside him, but I couldn’t remember the process at all. Did I hug him forcibly, did I hit or push him, and if not, why was Kang Hae-ah crying….

“Stop… don’t cry, please.”

I hugged him with both arms. His reddened naked body limply came into my arms. Kang Hae-ah curled up, making sniffling sounds. He was covering his face with both hands and crying, so I couldn’t even check his expression.

My heart was burning. My insides were blackened. It was so black that it turned purple.

Did he hurt because of me, did I hurt him… I couldn’t even check recklessly. All over his body, which was crying in my arms, were red and bluish bruises.

I forcibly grabbed his cheeks and kissed him repeatedly. But Kang Hae-ah didn’t say anything to me.

Just,

“Let me go.”

He begged like that.

“I’m okay, so… so let me go.”

His face, which was only shedding tears like a worn-out child, was finally revealed. Red marks remained on his cheeks where the blush had disappeared, and his eyes were swollen. ‘Hic,’ he hiccupped, making a sound.

“Hic! …Ugh, …hic!”

I wrapped Hae-ah, who was hiccupping while pressing his chest, in a blanket.

“Hae-ah-ssi.”

When I called him like that,

“Hic….”

He made a sound that was neither an answer nor anything else.

Until the hiccups completely stopped, I didn’t let him go. Even while spitting out the words ‘let me go,’ Kang Hae-ah didn’t push me away. Rather, he leaned his tired head on my shoulder and only shed dry tears little by little.

In the daily life swept away by the rut, Kang Hae-ah, who had become stranger than before, remained. After suffering a severe bout of body aches, he began to act like a person who had lost his energy. He spent all day in the studio he had moved to the main house, and he was ambiguously kind to me.

“Have a good day.”

He greeted me like that in the morning, and

“Are you back?”

He smiled at me in the evening as well, but he seemed like a sick person somewhere.

I even measured his temperature while he was asleep and bought a pregnancy test kit to see if he was in a stable period, but I couldn’t find any particular problem.

“It’s just… I’m busy with work these days. I’m just out of it….”

Even when comforting me who was worried, Kang Hae-ah acted listlessly. He used to be so cheerful that I wondered if his family name Kang was the dog Kang, but now he was sullen like someone with a big worry.

There was definitely a change in either his mood or his body. But not even a hint was given to me.

To make matters worse, work at the company started to get busy. Originally, business was so busy that I didn’t have time to breathe, but from the time the AOM’s American partner was decided, I became so busy that my mentality was shaken. In the end, a business trip to Chicago was scheduled.

I felt like my insides were tightening, so I loosened my tie.

“It’s almost over a month. Is that the shortest you could make it?”

I asked, tapping the schedule with my fingertip. At this rate, the business trip that would start in the first week of June would not end until after mid-July.

At my annoyed remark, only the innocent youngest secretary looked sullen.

“Originally, we were thinking about 50 days, CEO. You’re not just going there for simple meetings, but you have to set up a branch office… it could be even later than this. You know all the complicated things.”

Yes, I knew it. It was my business that I started, so there was no way I wouldn’t know.

‘Then what about Hae-ah-ssi.’

The problem was Kang Hae-ah.

There was definitely something, my mistake. After the first time, he didn’t say whether it was good or bad, but the tears that soaked his clear face clearly indicated what it meant. I had abused his small body. I drove him to tears with pain and resentment.

So I said I was sorry and gave him random gifts. Kang Hae-ah shook his head at the words of apology, saying that there was absolutely no need to do that, and the gifts….

“Thank you….”

Frankly, if you only look at the reaction to the gifts, it was very successful. It was very useful information that I could see his happy face with just a soft set of pajamas and a bottle of perfume.

In the meantime, I couldn’t easily say that I was going on a business trip for over 40 days. It was something that was already scheduled, so he probably knew it, but it was very cautious to say it in this situation in our relationship.

After talking around and around about this and that, I finished notifying him of the schedule.

“…Will you be okay?”

I was busy calculating whether I could forcibly postpone the date if Kang Hae-ah said he didn’t want to be alone. If that wasn’t possible, I wanted to take him on the plane and take him to America, even though I knew he was busy working.

But Kang Hae-ah,

“Pack your USB well.”

He made me feel empty with his unexpected words.

“…USB?”

I could only repeat like a parrot. Hae-ah nodded in front of me who was embarrassed.

“I mean… I mean, make sure you pack well so you don’t forget and leave anything behind.”

“Yes….”

Kang Hae-ah’s absurd answer unexpectedly stabbed my insides. I don’t know what he intended to say, but it was because I had a plan to have the secretaries look around the house a few times under the pretext of leaving a USB or documents behind.

I was honestly worried about whether Kang Hae-ah would be okay while I was away on my first long-term business trip. The time we spent apart after getting married was longer than the time we spent together, so it was also unknown whether the husband named Cheon Tae-rim would be well embedded in his heart during that time.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that the more the company’s work progressed, the more distant I became from my husband. I was trying to stay in the same place, but it felt like he was pushing me away and pushing me away again.

So I forcibly squeezed out a day to spend with him. By pulling the busy schedule forward and pushing it back, I made exactly half a day to spend in Seoul right before leaving for the business trip.

“How about spending the whole day together before taking the evening flight?”

When I asked that,

“Are you talking about Wednesday? Uh…, why?”

Hae-ah’s face seemed to have a liveliness I hadn’t seen before.

“I cleared my schedule because I wanted to spend some time together before going on a business trip. Let’s have lunch together.”

It felt good to make eye contact while saying that. Kang Hae-ah’s brown eyes sparkled for the first time in a while. He put down the brush he was holding and tore off the masking tape attached to the canvas. Then, he said with a bright face.

“Then let’s call Father and Mother and treat them to a meal.”

The moment two unexpected names popped out, I couldn’t have been more embarrassed. I had reserved a suite at a hotel near the airport, thinking of spending as much time as possible with him.

“My parents….”

Again, I repeated the words like a parrot. Kang Hae-ah nodded vigorously. It was a very confident gesture.

“Tae-rim-ssi, you’re not going to be in Seoul for 40 days, so how much do you think they’ll miss their son? I’ll find a restaurant and call Mother. It’s great, right?”

Saying that, if I said I didn’t like it and wanted to go on a date with just the two of us, wouldn’t I become the most unfilial son in the world at that time?

“Yes, that’s great….”

The moment I answered with a forced smile, the strength drained from my shoulders.

I didn’t forget him sitting in the waiting room on the day of the wedding, saying hello, ‘I’ll do well.’ But I never dreamed that he would be so sincere.

Then, when I said let’s go to my parents’ house for dinner,

“Then we’re not treating them, but rather being indebted to them!”

I could see Hae-ah jumping up and down in place.

“Oh my…, Tae-rim-ssi just has to come on time. There’s a Korean restaurant that they’ll love.”

I was overwhelmed with the urge to check Kang Hae-ah’s sleeve. I suspected that there was a device to change his face in his sleeve, just like a Chinese Bian Lian performer. Otherwise, there was no way he could suddenly become diligent and full of energy and hum a song.

I thought that if you were the youngest son of Hanseong Group, you would be able to order anything to your employees, but that was not the case at all. Even if he had worked on his own without a professional publicist, ‘Kang Hae-ah’ would have definitely become a pretty positive icon. Maybe, if that had been the case, I would have liked him sooner.

On the other hand, what does Kang Hae-ah think of me… When I changed the subject and thought about it, my mind became blank. Even this morning, I woke up with a suspicious and strange feeling, wondering if he even liked me.

When I saw Kang Hae-ah opening my luggage for the business trip and putting in three novels I hadn’t seen before, saying ‘books to read on the plane,’

‘What are you thinking right now?’

My tongue was all stirred up, wanting to ask that.

It was a hectic day with a lunch appointment with my parents and an evening flight. I had to go to the company from the morning to listen to the final briefing. The meeting, which was brought forward in case it dragged on, ended ambiguously late.

When I went to the parking lot and got in the car as soon as it was over, it was already 1:20. Considering that the scheduled dinner time was 12:30, I thought that my parents and Kang Hae-ah had already met and finished their meal.

I didn’t feel good because it seemed like I had wasted a precious day that I should have been desperate to get points. I hurriedly drove to the restaurant, but I became anxious at that point. No matter how much it was Kang Hae-ah, spending an hour blankly with my parents would not be very enjoyable. It was difficult to gain my father’s favor, let alone my mother’s. I had been working hard all my life to become a proud son as well.

However, outside the door that I approached with the guidance of the employee, cheerful laughter was heard. An employee dressed in hanbok opened the door, and

“Ah, Tae-rim-ssi!”

Hae-ah’s face with a bright smile was looking down.

Only one cushion was placed, and my share of the meal was neatly prepared in the empty seat next to him. Kang Hae-ah patted the seat as if to tell me to come quickly.

“How can you be so busy even before you leave?”

My mother said without erasing the laughter, and

“Come and sit down.”

My father also rarely raised his voice.

As I sat down in embarrassment, Hae-ah ordered warm new rice from the employee. My mother and father continued the conversation with smiling faces, not knowing what the topic was. Only then did I see a napkin and a pen placed next to Kang Hae-ah.

On the white napkin, something that looked like a flower stalk or a heat haze was drawn with black ink. What on earth was going on… I was very dumbfounded. Kang Hae-ah, a proud artist, was putting on a show of drawing to look good to my parents. On a restaurant napkin, using a cheap ballpoint pen….

‘No, why….’

I had no idea why he was going so far. It was a political marriage anyway, and this side welcomed him just for your family’s conditions, so I was uncertain and strange why he was bothering to try so hard.

“Eat quickly, Tae-rim-ssi.”

Kang Hae-ah put a pair of chopsticks in my hand as I blankly looked at him.

“You have to eat Korean food before going to America. You didn’t even have breakfast this morning.”

His whispering tone and the touch of his hand wrapping mine were kind. His brown eyes also contained pure goodwill. So I was confused, if I only looked at his eyes and attitude, it was as if he loved me very much.

When we were about to leave after finishing the meal, my father and Kang Hae-ah stood side by side at the cash register. Hae-ah didn’t stop my father, who insisted on paying.

He just stood close to him and,

“Thank you for the meal.”

He smiles and laughs.

Kang Hae-ah is an amazing person the more I see him. It was the first time I saw someone treating my father like that. Even Si Eun-cheol, who I’ve known for over 10 years, finds my father difficult, but Kang Hae-ah manages to stand shoulder to shoulder next to my father, who is like an iron fortress.

Leaving the two people chatting about something, I went outside. Then, as if waiting, my mother grabbed my arm.

“Hae-ah seems softer than I thought.”

Then she said something strange.

“When I said, ‘Hae-ah, you must miss your mother too,’ he said he didn’t. He said that if she were alive, he wouldn’t have been able to satisfy her expectations. Who said such bad things to him?”

A sigh followed his words. I was the one who felt more embarrassed by the unexpected turn of the conversation. Kang Hae-ah rarely talked about his own father. And here I was, about to discuss my deceased mother with him.

“I’m relieved to see you’re already calling him Hae-ah.”

I said, feeling somewhat puzzled,

“You’re just like your father. I raised you to be considerate of others, but you’re just causing trouble.”

Mother’s small fist thumped against my arm hard enough to make it sting.

“Why would a young man like that invite old folks like us for a meal and give us gifts? What does he lack that he needs to be so charming to us?”

I was wondering the same thing… I forcibly swallowed the brazen retort that threatened to spill out.

Mother glared at my silent face, looking frustrated. Then, she creased her forehead with the worried lines I often saw.

“Take good care of your husband, Tae-rim-ssi. Hae-ah really likes you. It even makes me wonder if he married you because he truly loves you.”

I couldn’t even manage a perfunctory “yes.” Because it wasn’t true.

That couldn’t be the case. Kang Hae-ah, who I’d only met twice before the wedding and who had said he disliked arranged marriages, couldn’t possibly have married me out of pure affection.

But on the other hand, I wished Mother was right. I wished that this seemingly perfect man with nothing to lack liked me. It seemed I was the one who disliked arranged marriages and wanted a love marriage instead.

After sending my parents off with smiling faces, it was past 3 PM. I had a little over an hour before heading to the airport. I insisted on seeing Kang Hae-ah off, even though he said Driver Oh would take him.

“I won’t see you again until next month. Just get in.”

He said, pressing the car key to unlock the door. His foot instinctively moved toward the back seat before stopping, and he got into the passenger seat. It was a habit ingrained from being used to a chauffeur.

The road home was unusually clear. It was partly because it wasn’t rush hour yet, but also because we were unnecessarily lucky, hitting green lights at every intersection.

“Come to think of it, we’re both from Seoul, aren’t we?”

Kang Hae-ah said suddenly.

“…People say they spend up to nine hours stuck in traffic during Lunar New Year or Chuseok, traveling back and forth.”

I glanced at his profile as he looked at the sky above the road.

“Are you envious of that, Hae-ah?”

“Not envious, but I’ve never experienced it… I’m just curious. What it feels like to be in the same car for nine hours…”

We arrived home with surprising speed. But Kang Hae-ah was the only one who needed to get out. I had to head straight to the airport, where my secretary and the development team leader were waiting.

As I parked the car in front of the wall, Kang Hae-ah looked at me for a moment, then,

“…Have a good trip, Tae-rim-ssi.”

He said, opening the car door and getting out.

“Kang Hae-ah.”

I lowered the passenger-side window and leaned out.

“Take care of yourself. Don’t just hole up in your studio…”

Kang Hae-ah rubbed his arm, looking awkward, and didn’t say anything. He just nodded, his expression ambiguous, unsure whether he felt regretful or empty.

“I’ll be back.”

I said, grabbing the steering wheel. As I drove the car down the hill, I felt strangely unsettled. Everything related to Kang Hae-ah made me feel that way. I couldn’t tell if I’d said goodbye properly, even though it was my own business.

The road to the airport was much more congested than before. I stepped on the brakes at a red light and hesitated. Was bringing up the topic of hometowns and Lunar New Year a way of saying he wanted to go for a long drive?

“……”

I rested my head on the steering wheel and rubbed my forehead with my fist. The light had already changed, as the car behind me honked.

Kang Hae-ah wasn’t a man who could be described in a single sentence. He was the kind of person who gave you the feeling that you’d seen him somewhere before, that you’d already met him, that you’d loved him. The more I saw him, the more I learned about him, the more Kang Hae-ah was someone I already knew and yet didn’t know. He was unfamiliar, yet familiar.

While waiting for his calls in the United States, the more I contacted people to take care of him, the more I racked my brain to find a word to describe Kang Hae-ah. Finally, one word came to mind, and it was laughably ‘the moon.’

I married the moon. Always following me, always watching me, but a strange man I could neither get closer to nor further away from.

And,

—I’m telling you, it’s real. That critic guy was coming out of your honeymoon home in the morning… And Hae-ah was seeing him off like a husband going to work.

It seemed Si Eun-cheol was right. Kang Hae-ah was a little, or a lot, crazy.