The silence wasn’t long, but the meaning it held wasn’t simple.
“This is…”
Just before a myriad of thoughts could flood his mind, Seo Baek-han’s doctor cautiously voiced his question. His eyes darted between the pregnancy test, Cheon Seung-pil, and Joo Tae-hyun, filled with bewilderment and suspicion.
Joo Tae-hyun pressed the back of his head harder against the pillow, trying to shake off the cold sweat that had gathered on his nape. Perhaps he wanted to feel the safety of the test kit hidden behind the bedding against his skin. It would put his mind at ease, even if just a little.
Seo Baek-han couldn’t possibly have failed to notice what the doctor was thinking. Even if he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was, it certainly wasn’t going to help him.
“Aigo.”
Cheon Seung-pil, still leaning over Joo Tae-hyun as he had been while tucking him in, picked up the test kit from the floor. The movement of shoving the object into his pocket wasn’t hurried, nor was it leisurely, but it felt unnatural somehow.
It was fortunate that Cheon Seung-pil didn’t add any further explanation. If he had said something like, “This is mine,” it would have looked incredibly suspicious.
But Cheon Seung-pil was always cowering in front of Seo Baek-han like a snot-nosed kid who had caused a major accident, so it didn’t seem particularly strange.
Right, he’d come up with a plausible excuse later.
Joo Tae-hyun lay on his side, pretending to look at Seo Baek-han while fiddling with the innocent pillowcase.
“Well, um, then you both should get some rest, and I’ll come back tomorrow-“
“If he’s well enough to chat with a friend, he seems to be doing alright.”
Seo Baek-han dragged the IV pole over and plopped down at Joo Tae-hyun’s feet. It was a perfect angle, as if he knew something and was deliberately choosing that spot. Joo Tae-hyun hurriedly sat up, worried that the hidden test kits might catch his eye.
“Isn’t that right, Tae-hyun?”
“…I’m fine.”
What kind of face did I usually make when I faced Hyung? Ah, did I get up too suddenly just now? I hope I didn’t look awkward.
Maintaining the indifferent and sulky expression he had been so confident in was proving difficult, at least for this moment. He hadn’t even faltered when he was intimate with him.
Joo Tae-hyun couldn’t even breathe comfortably, fearing that the evidence of the child might leak out with every exhale.
Once he started being conscious of it, his stomach felt like it was cramping… He knew very well that he couldn’t be sure of pregnancy with just one test kit, especially one for Omegas.
“Hey, Baek-han hyung. Tae-hyun is-“
“Seung-pil, don’t you know since you’re not married yet?”
“Huh?”
“There are things that only couples talk about. I’ve been giving you hints for a while now, but you still don’t get it.”
Seo Baek-han didn’t even glance at Cheon Seung-pil or the others, focusing only on Joo Tae-hyun. His large hand, which had been stroking the crown of his head, slowly brushed over his rough cheeks and lips.
“…Ah, okay.”
After hesitating for a moment, Cheon Seung-pil reluctantly backed down. Joo Tae-hyun’s only family and protector was directly telling him to leave, so what justification did he have to stand his ground?
“Yes, then… have a good talk.”
Cheon Seung-pil hunched his shoulders and opened the sliding door.
“Doctor, are you staying?”
“…Excuse me?”
The doctor, who had been waiting near Seo Baek-han as if it were natural, blinked.
“That’s strange. Tae-hyun is my only spouse. Seung-pil and the doctor keep trying to interfere between us, don’t you think?”
“Ah…”
Only then did the medical staff realize Seo Baek-han’s intention and quickly retreated.
“Then I’ll come back tomorrow, or rather, I’ll visit you when you contact me.”
Even the medical staff left without delay. The sound of the sliding door closing seemed louder than ever.
Why is Hyung acting like this? It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen him act sly before, but today… it was hard to explain. An indescribable sharpness surrounded Seo Baek-han.
“Hyung, the surgery… it went well, right?”
Hiding his trembling hands under the blanket, Joo Tae-hyun tried to act calm. Breaking the awkward silence and gently steering the atmosphere, as well as gauging Seo Baek-han’s intentions, was always his job.
“Yeah, as you can see. I’m recovering at a frightening pace.”
Seo Baek-han chuckled, adding that this would greatly contribute to the prejudice that Alphas were inhumanly strong.
It wasn’t the expression he usually wore in front of people, nor was it the playful, crooked smile. It was a somewhat unfamiliar smile that Joo Tae-hyun was seeing for the first time… Seo Baek-han’s face was strangely unsettling.
He was just smiling lightly, but Joo Tae-hyun felt like the ground was sinking beneath his feet. Was this also an effect of the Imprinting? He felt like he was missing something important right now. He just didn’t know what it was.
“I didn’t really know until now, Tae-hyun.”
His voice was so low that Joo Tae-hyun flinched without realizing it.
“Pheromones are really fascinating, I think.”
Was it a coincidence? Seo Baek-han also brought up the topic that he had only been thinking about.
“Oh, really? Well, I guess. When Hyung came in, it was… better than the hospital smell-“
“I want to indulge you. Just a little bit.”
“Excuse me?”
Seo Baek-han’s gaze towards Joo Tae-hyun felt new, filled with a tenacity that seemed to want to dissect the person he was looking at into pieces.
“It’s clear that you’re hiding something from me.”
His whispering voice was the same as when he had asked if he wanted to go on the Ferris wheel. Calm and slightly affectionate. That’s why Joo Tae-hyun was late in realizing the meaning of his words.
“…Hyung, what are you talking about-“
“I had someone follow you.”
Seo Baek-han cut off Joo Tae-hyun’s words, who was about to deny it out of habit, gently but firmly, and warned him.
“From the moment you confessed you liked me and ran away to America until now, I’m reviewing your actions again.”
“…Hyung.”
“So tell me before that. Before the final report comes to me.”
It was a Seo Baek-han-like, calm and cruel warning that didn’t even include the cliché of saying he might indulge him.
He had to deny it, had to retort with something, anything. But he couldn’t even move his lips.
The Dirty Switch he had never touched, the non-existent sex partners, the twisted Pheromone abnormality, the one-sided Imprinting.
And perhaps, the child in his womb.
The sandcastle that Joo Tae-hyun had been building up was shaking precariously. No, it might have already collapsed. It was like he was desperately trying to save something that was almost broken and ruined by the storming waves.
He knew that he was being viewed with suspicion. He had been tested several times when they were intimate at the hotel.
He hadn’t completely let go of his guard, even though he had been too busy mating like animals in Heat to come up with concrete countermeasures.
But he didn’t expect to be directly confronted like this, being asked what he was hiding. He had no idea where Seo Baek-han knew from, or how much he knew.
“I told you, maybe it’s because of the Pheromones, but I want to indulge you a little.”
“…”
“But you should hurry. This is a whim I’m experiencing for the first time, so I can’t guarantee how long I’ll feel this way.”
While Joo Tae-hyun was panicking, Seo Baek-han grabbed Joo Tae-hyun’s chin, gave him a few pecking kisses, and then stood up completely.
“Explain it well to the family when they come tomorrow.”
In other words, it was as good as saying that Seo Baek-han had no intention of meeting Joo Tae-hyun’s family even if they came to Pyongyang.
“Ah, if you’re feeling well, get discharged first. I think I need to see how things go.”
Joo Tae-hyun unknowingly placed his hand on his lower abdomen and blankly watched Seo Baek-han’s back as he left the hospital room.
Even in this situation, he felt a little better thanks to the peach scent left in the spot where he had been sitting. He craved it, he was desperate for it. Joo Tae-hyun, who had been greedily chasing Seo Baek-han’s Pheromones, realized a beat later.
It was the first time since their marriage that Seo Baek-han hadn’t shared the upcoming official schedule with him, his spouse.
* * *
“Has Tae-hyun already arrived?”
“Yes, he said he would be getting some fresh air on the terrace near the hospital room.”
“What about Cheon Seung-pil?”
“He is touring Pyongyang with President Joo Kyung-han and President Joo Yun-woo.”
Several days had passed since the attack.
Joo Tae-hyun had been discharged the very next day, and he had heard that his family from Seoul were taking turns caring for him, but Seo Baek-han didn’t know the details beyond that. He hadn’t called Joo Tae-hyun back to the hospital since then, nor had he contacted him separately.
It was the secretary who had conveyed the message to Joo Tae-hyun to come to the hospital today.
“…Hmm. Well, this is too blatant to ignore.”
That was all he had to say about the draft press release that Secretary Nam had given him. Even though it had been cut off at the desk level, it was deplorable that such a low-quality article had been written under the name of a major media outlet.
“Kang Bu-nam’s side has promised to provide reporters with exclusive stories in the future. They said they were preparing recordings or footage, so they should look forward to it.”
“Kim Seung-jun would have been in charge of the other minor receptions and bribes…”
Officially, Seo Baek-han was “hospitalized for recovery after surgery,” but he was going out to the Royal Hospital every day. There were quite a few materials that could only be accessed there. In any case, the Royal Hospital wasn’t far from the Pyongyang University Hospital, so there was no need to worry about being seen. Even if someone did see him, there would be nothing wrong with it. They would just make a fuss and praise him, saying he was coming to work even after being stabbed.
“Anyway, I guess they thought this was their chance. Judging by the fact that the backlash against Shifters and the commercialization of the Switch has disappeared and only Joo Tae-hyun’s insults remain.”
“Yes. Even though it hasn’t been reported, there are rumors that there might be infighting among DH relatives, so I think Kang Bu-nam’s side will continue to denigrate Young Master Joo Tae-hyun in this way.”
Seo Baek-han returned the printout to Secretary Nam as it was.
“Discard this and go home.”
The Seos in the assembly would no longer care as long as the Seo family wasn’t being gossiped about in the assembly. Rather, they might use this as an excuse to ask for even bigger handouts from the DH Group. They had openly hinted at that when he visited the assembly office before.
“Then what about Young Master Joo Tae-hyun…”
“Choi Yeon-jun will pick him up.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Leaving Secretary Nam, who was bowing politely, behind, Seo Baek-han headed towards the terrace in the ward.
It was still cold, but he was going to get some fresh air. What kind of protest was this?
Pressing hard on his throbbing temples, Seo Baek-han recalled the various papers he had been looking for in the Royal Hospital.
Seo Baek-han used to store information as if he were building his own library in his head. He enjoyed the process of systematizing data and storing acquired knowledge so that he could take it out whenever he needed it, as if he were neatly placing it on empty bookshelves. When he was young, he was obsessed with early admission and early graduation because he wanted to show off, but he basically liked studying.
For the first time in his life, Seo Baek-han’s solid and vast library in his brain was in a mess.
This was also because of Joo Tae-hyun.
The unwanted Imprinting was ruining Seo Baek-han’s entire system.
“Oh, that person… is that right. Joo Tae-hyun? Why is he doing that over there?”
“Director Seo is out right now. Maybe he came out to look around because he was bored? By the way, this is the first time I’ve seen him in person, but he’s really handsome.”
Perhaps it was thanks to being hidden in a blind spot. The voices of the nurses, who hadn’t yet noticed Seo Baek-han’s presence, were whispering softly.
“Joo Tae-hyun is an Alpha, right? Are all Alphas that tall and have that good of a body?”
…Right, Alpha.
Joo Tae-hyun is an Alpha.
Although he was currently leaking fluids from his backside, he was still an Alpha. He had even done a one-sided Imprinting, but this was only a temporary phenomenon. It didn’t mean that his Shifter had completely changed to Omega.
So it was more likely that Cheon Seung-pil was carrying Joo Tae-hyun’s child.
The papers he had been looking at until just before at the Royal Hospital, and the journals he had been looking at while moving. The language was different, but the direction of the content was the same.
Cases where a Beta developed into an Omega late.
Or cases where a Beta suddenly became pregnant.