By Zephyria 
“I chose them from families your father said were acceptable. There are no better candidates than these.”
“By what standard are they ‘acceptable’ and ‘better’? For starters, their age and faces are already a disaster.”
Was Kwon Yi-kang thirty-four? If they’re going to be old, at least their faces should be on that level. Only then would I have the desire to date, marry, or fuck.
Of course, one shouldn’t judge a person solely by their looks, but that guy had a great personality and was great at fucking. I couldn’t judge these men’s personalities or downstairs abilities without experiencing them, but I had zero desire to do so. I already have a perfect person by my side, so why bother?
“Either their age should be similar to mine, or at least their faces should be decent. There’s absolutely nothing in this for me.”
“You’ll see once you meet them, but they are flawless people.”
“You must have met them, Father? Since you know whether they’re flawless or not. Have you met them?”
“…”
Asserting things when he hasn’t. Isn’t he dismissing the possibility too easily just because it’s not him who has to date them?
“I don’t want to. First, I don’t like their faces, and I don’t like their ages. I don’t understand why I have to go on arranged dates at twenty. You told me to go to college.”
“Omegas traditionally marry early. There’s the issue of heat cycles, and since they need to bear children, they usually marry in their early twenties. …I had you when I was twenty.”
What? Then the age difference between us is only nineteen years? He’s not even forty yet? I thought he looked young, but it turns out he just had Cha Soo-kyung at a very young age. So, at my current age, a child…
Wow, this is a bit shocking.
Moreover, the partner was a man who had already been married, whose wife had died, and who had two children. What could possibly be the reason to marry such a man? It didn’t seem like he loved his Alpha father immensely, so I couldn’t understand why he married him. Was there some legendary love story I didn’t know about?
“That’s why. First, go on the dates, pick someone you like, and start with an engagement. I’m not telling you to marry immediately. You need time to get close, so you can date slowly and marry after graduation, or even during the semester…”
“By then, even the thirty-six-year-old will be forty. If I’m going to marry, I should date someone I like and then marry them. Does it make sense to just pick one and force an attachment? Even if Omegas marry early, this is just wrong.”
“So, are you saying you’d rather marry that Alpha you’re seeing now?”
My father’s voice turned sharp. I stared blankly at him in response to the reprimanding question.
“You know I’m seeing someone, so why did you bring these arranged dates?”
“Dating and marriage are separate things. Dating? Do it to your heart’s content. Unlike others, I won’t force you to stay quiet just because you’re an Omega and then marry. That would be too unfair. Date and play enough, and then marry when the time comes. Though the spouse must be decided in advance.”
How generous of him. A hollow laugh escaped me. Whether it’s parents who push you to be well-behaved and then marry, or a father who tells you to date and play before marrying an Alpha he’s already chosen—it’s all the same in the end: the party involved has no choice.
“So I should be grateful and meet three people a day—lunch, tea, and dinner—and then pick one? Because whoever I marry among the three will be helpful to the family? Since these are the only options after careful selection, it doesn’t matter who it is, so I should just pick one from these?”
“If it’s too tedious, your father and I can choose one and recommend them to you.”
“Yes, you’re just overflowing with consideration. I wonder why I’m only now realizing how deeply considerate my parents are.”
“Stop being sarcastic.”
“How can I not be sarcastic when you’re treating your child like merchandise?”
“Cha Soo-kyung!”
I don’t know why he’s angry when I’m just stating facts. If this isn’t selling a child, what is? He’s raised me this far just to sell me off to someone who benefits the family.
Just like how a cow raised at home is sold at the market once it gives birth to a calf. Claiming they need to provide for the mother’s surgery, the child’s college tuition, or study abroad expenses.
I don’t see any difference. No, it’s actually worse. The subject is a human. And it’s his own child; why trade with your child?
“I was discharged from the hospital only a month after my accident. Do you really want to push arranged dates on a child like that?”
“You said it yourself. That you’re fine. That while your memories are unstable, there’s no problem with your daily life. And indeed, you’re living without any issues. Now that everything has returned to normal, you must do what you’re supposed to do.”
“Ah, what I’m supposed to do. Go on arranged dates and marry a stranger for the sake of my parents?”
“Why are you being so rebellious? I don’t know what you want. Everyone marries like this. Your eldest married the partner your father chose, and the second one will marry around next year. I don’t understand why only you are so unable to accept this.”
If everyone marries like that, why do they date? Just to play? Just to fuck? I never imagined I’d feel the same frustration in my own home that I felt when meeting Kwon Yi-kang’s father. To think I’d end up in Kwon Yi-kang’s position. I think I finally understand the rage he felt while throwing the files of his blind date candidates into the trash.
“I think it’s weirder to actually accept this. …Anyway, right now I don’t have the mental space to care about dates or marriage. I’m not even used to this house yet.”
“I’m not telling you to marry right now. Marriage is something that will happen in a few years.”
“Right, just pick the target now. They must be families too good to miss, for you to make such a request of a sick child. Or what, does the hospital need urgent cash? Is the hospital not running well these days?”
“Soo-kyung.”
My father rubbed his brow as if he had a headache. Seeing his face—which looked more concerned with how to persuade me than how to understand me—I realized that no matter what I said, his mind wouldn’t change.
Our values are fundamentally different. Our entire ways of life are different. That’s why he doesn’t understand what I’m saying, and has no intention of understanding. Because he believes his own thoughts and values are correct.
“You didn’t date and marry the hospital director father out of love, did you? There was no love, right? You just married because the interests aligned? Because your parents decided?”
“I… yes, there was no such thing as love. There were some complicated matters between me and your father. Still, I willingly married, had you, and I am living like this now.”
“And were you happy?”
Marrying a stranger, someone for whom you feel no emotion, sharing a bed, bearing their child, and spending the rest of your life with them. I cannot understand why anyone would do that.
Why on earth? Why should I spend the rest of my life with someone I’ve never even seen? What meaning is there in that?
“That is not important.”
“Then what is important? Poor people, people without money, might not have the luxury to seek happiness because they’re worried about surviving today. But you don’t have to worry about surviving. For people who have money and no worries about survival, what is important?”
My father was silent for a moment. He looked as if he might cry if touched, which made me wonder if I had said something wrong.
“I’ve wasted time on an unnecessary argument. I will pick a suitable date.”
“Father. Were you always like this? Or did you become strange after entering this weird household?”
“You’re becoming more and more insolent.”
“I think you’re becoming more and more strange.”
“Cha Soo-kyung!”
“Fine. If you’re determined to make me go on these dates… please set them for two or three months from now. I don’t know what might happen by then. Just not right now. I honestly can’t understand this, and it would be a disaster if I went on a date and did something to embarrass the family. Don’t you agree?”
Within that time, I will find the culprit behind my parents’ accident somehow. I’ll confirm if the little brat is truly the culprit, and once I’m sure, I’ll make him experience the same. If a funeral occurs in the house, would they even have the mind to send me out on a date? No, if I get arrested, the arranged dates would be canceled anyway.
“Are you trying to buy time like that?”
My heart sank at his words, spoken as if he knew something. Had I let what I was thinking slip out? When I looked at him with startled eyes, my father stared back and asked again.
“By pushing it back and pushing it back again, you intend to avoid the situation?”
Ah, damn. That scared me. I let out a small laugh, calming my heart.
“The answer will come out in two or three months. Do you think the fathers will just stay quiet if I do that? They seem like the type who would either force me onto a date or send out wedding invitations without my knowledge and drag me to the venue on the wedding day.”
“I hope such a thing does not happen.”
“Yes, me too.”
“I’ll leave that here.”
My father gestured to the papers in my hand and slowly stood up.
“You’ve been staying out often.”
Ah, I guess he wasn’t planning to let that slide. Right, I’d been feeling uneasy about it myself, so there was no way this wouldn’t come up.
“…It just happened that way.”
“Even if they are people who have no interest in you, it doesn’t mean there are no eyes watching you. Be careful. And pay attention to contraception.”
I took a direct hit from my father at the very end. Leaving me with a dazed expression, my father left the room.
Contraception. It was something I hadn’t thought about at all, but the moment I heard it from my father’s mouth, it became a reality.
That’s right, I was an Omega—capable of sex with men, capable of marriage, and even capable of pregnancy.
Omega, damn Omega. Even while screaming why it had to be an Omega, I had been vaguely convinced that issues like marriage or pregnancy wouldn’t happen to me. Is there any word more unrealistic than that? In truth, it wasn’t that they weren’t real, but that they were problems lying somewhere on the path I had to walk.
I certainly hadn’t thought about it, but had Kwon Yi-kang done something for contraception?
My head began to ache.