By Zephyria 
“Young Master, you’ve returned.”
As Seo Yi-kyung passed through the garden and entered the house, Butler Do approached him.
“Have you eaten?”
Seo Yi-kyung looked at Butler Do and shook his head. He had no appetite. However, he quickly corrected himself.
“I should eat something. Please prepare something simple.”
“I will have it ready shortly.”
Seo Yi-kyung brushed past Butler Do and headed toward the dressing room. Taking off the coat he was wearing and hanging it up, Seo Yi-kyung looked into the full-length mirror. His slender eyebrows were downturned, looking discouraged. Seo Yi-kyung scanned the plain shirts and pants with comfortable waistbands.
If I had known Han Seung-jae was coming, I wouldn’t have worn this.
Seo Yi-kyung turned his head to examine the clothes filling one side of the dressing room. Since he spent most of his time painting in the painting studio, it was frequent for paint to get on his sleeves. Because of that, the clothes he wore tended to be limited.
“There’s paint on this one too.”
Seo Yi-kyung touched the sleeves of the clothes as if checking them. What would be the best thing to wear when meeting Han Seung-jae this evening?
Seo Yi-kyung turned his head to the opposite side. There, suits that Han Seung-jae frequently wore were lined up. The dark-colored clothes looked stiff and cold, reflecting his temperament.
Knock, knock. At the sound of the knocking, Seo Yi-kyung turned his head. He followed Butler Do to the kitchen and took a seat at the dining table. Seo Yi-kyung moved his chopsticks slowly, staring at the food placed before him.
Though he had no appetite and his body felt lethargic, Seo Yi-kyung finished all the food provided. Butler Do placed a glass of water beside him. Seo Yi-kyung took the glass and moistened his throat.
“You must have been very hungry.”
Seo Yi-kyung murmured, wiping his wet lips with the back of his hand.
“Thank you for the meal.”
He needed strength in his body to meet Han Seung-jae and talk, didn’t he? Having filled his stomach, Seo Yi-kyung left the kitchen and headed for the stairs to the second floor. Han Seung-jae already knew that Butler Do hadn’t actually had a cold. Despite that, he hadn’t said a word about it.
Seo Yi-kyung worried about what would happen if Han Seung-jae decided to kick Butler Do out of the house.
He entered the bedroom and headed for the bathroom.
Seo Yi-kyung took off his clothes and stepped into the shower booth. Warm water poured over his entire body. Even though his vision became blurred by the steam, Han Seung-jae’s face, which he had seen at the hospital, remained vivid. He hadn’t expected him to come, but seeing that face actually made his anxiety and nervousness fade away.
At that moment, Seo Yi-kyung could see only Han Seung-jae.
* * *
It was late at night. Seo Yi-kyung, wearing pajamas, sat leaning against the headboard of the bed. As evening approached, he had gone into the dressing room to pick out clothes. Butler Do had assisted him, showing him suits or offering thin silk dress shirts.
But Seo Yi-kyung hesitated to put them on. Wouldn’t that make it look like he had been waiting too eagerly? In the end, he chose to wear pajamas.
Seo Yi-kyung looked down at the comfortable, calmly drooping collar. He had returned to his room around evening and leaned against the headboard.
Ever since he became conscious that Han Seung-jae might arrive soon, time had been passing far too slowly. He had stood on the terrace for a while, but the night breeze felt cold, forcing him back inside. He couldn’t afford to catch a cold.
Seo Yi-kyung fiddled with the baby shoes in his palm.
What should he say when he sees Han Seung-jae? More importantly, he had to think about what the other man might say.
It seemed like he hadn’t been listening to the doctor at the hospital. He had a face that suggested there was no need to listen. No, he probably heard it with his ears.
Lost in various thoughts, Seo Yi-kyung couldn’t gauge how much time had passed. Thus, his spine stiffened at the sudden sound of the door opening.
The door opened, and a tall figure stepped inside. Seo Yi-kyung recognized him as Han Seung-jae instantly. No one else could enter this room at this hour. Except for him.
Due to the light coming through the terrace, a diagonal shadow was cast across Han Seung-jae’s face. Therefore, he couldn’t tell what expression he was wearing.
Suddenly, Seo Yi-kyung remembered when he first opened his eyes. The time when he realized this wasn’t a dream and spent his time in agony, wondering if he should jump off the terrace or how he should escape. If there was anything different between then and now, it was that Seo Yi-kyung was carrying a child and that his feelings toward Han Seung-jae, which he felt at the hospital, had changed slightly.
If he said he felt relieved to see Han Seung-jae, what would he say? Or rather, what unpleasant expression would he make?
“You weren’t sleeping.”
Han Seung-jae wasn’t in a suit, perhaps having changed his clothes downstairs. He touched the sleeve of the dress shirt he was wearing and fastened a button. Seo Yi-kyung tucked the shoes he was clutching under the blanket and replied.
“You told me not to sleep and to wait for you, Seung-jae.”
Han Seung-jae seemed to lower his body slowly and then sat on the edge of the bed. Seo Yi-kyung felt a strange, overwhelming pressure rushing in. If he weren’t an extreme dominant Omega, it might have been unbearable.
“Your face looks quite worn down.”
Han Seung-jae reached out a finger and stroked Seo Yi-kyung’s cheek. Seo Yi-kyung’s jaw trembled slightly.
“I wasn’t trying to hide it. Once I got the tests and the results were certain… I, I was going to tell you.”
The finger touching his cheek felt excessively cold. Because of that, he swallowed hard, and his words broke and leaked out. In contrast, the words flowing from those well-shaped lips were excessively monotonous.
“Is that so?”
This made Seo Yi-kyung even more nervous. Han Seung-jae’s hand didn’t stop and moved down toward the area of Seo Yi-kyung’s neck. The hair on the nape of Seo Yi-kyung’s neck stood on end. Nevertheless, he didn’t stop and added more.
“You heard from the hospital today that it’s the 5th week, so you know, right? I haven’t known for long either.”
At most, he had known only a week earlier. And he had even gone to find Han Seung-jae immediately after visiting the hospital last time.
Meanwhile, Han Seung-jae’s hand passed over the area of his chest. Because he was wearing thin pajamas, he felt Han Seung-jae’s fingers more sensitively. The long finger that brushed past his nipple slid down to touch his stomach.
“So…”
Seo Yi-kyung let out a small breath.
“I didn’t think you’d come to the hospital today, but thank you for coming.”
Although the anxiety had faded because Jin Seon-yu was there, the sprout of fear nestled in a corner of his heart hadn’t completely disappeared. He had simply tried not to look at it.
The movement of Han Seung-jae’s fingers, which had been resting on his stomach, stopped. He gazed at Seo Yi-kyung.
“It seems you knew I wouldn’t go?”
“….”
“You were like that before, too. Like someone who knows exactly how I will act.”
Seo Yi-kyung looked into Han Seung-jae’s deep eyes and parted his lips.
“That’s not what I meant.”
He might have jumped to conclusions and guessed based on Han Seung-jae’s actions in the original novel without realizing it. Was that showing on the surface? Seo Yi-kyung quickly added.
“Because you’re a busy person, Seung-jae…”
“….”
In truth, there were different words that Seo Yi-kyung really wanted to say, lingering in his mouth.
Han Seung-jae did not want a child. The ‘Seo Yi-kyung’ in the original novel knew that fact.
That was why no anecdotes about a child appeared between the two of them. Until they rushed toward the ending, there was no story of them having a child. Perhaps that was why Seo Yi-kyung had been more complacent. He hadn’t thought that he would have a child.
“Well, you see.”
If he tried to deceive him further here, he wouldn’t be able to handle the aftermath. But what choice did he have? He woke up to find himself inside a book. Would the man even believe that? It would only arouse more of Han Seung-jae’s suspicion.
Just as Seo Yi-kyung was about to use Seo Young-hwan as an excuse.
“Still.”
“….”
“If the child resembles you, it’ll be fine.”
Seo Yi-kyung blinked. Han Seung-jae pulled out the baby shoes that were slightly exposed from under the blanket. He looked at the shoes for a moment, placed them on the nightstand, and stood up.
Seo Yi-kyung’s heart pounded as he watched Han Seung-jae’s receding back. Come to think of it, there had been times when he woke up in the morning to find the baby shoes placed neatly on the nightstand like this.
Was it Han Seung-jae? Was that why he told him not to sleep and to wait for him today?
Seo Yi-kyung couldn’t gather his thoughts amidst the rushing emotions. Soon after, at the sound of the door opening, Seo Yi-kyung swung his legs out of bed. Without even thinking to put on slippers, he stepped barefoot onto the rug and opened the door.
Han Seung-jae, who was walking down the hallway, stopped and looked back. Seo Yi-kyung spoke, catching his hurried breath.
“Then, will you go to the hospital with me in two weeks?”
No. It didn’t matter if he didn’t go to the hospital together. What he truly wanted to ask was whether Han Seung-jae would accept this child. However, since he couldn’t ask that directly, Seo Yi-kyung was expressing it indirectly.
Han Seung-jae was not a person who adjusted himself to anyone, nor was he someone who expressed things circuitously. Everyone simply walked on eggshells, anxious to please him. In ‘Omega’s World,’ Han Seung-jae was a cold, heartless man lacking emotion. That man straightened his slanted body and spoke toward Seo Yi-kyung.
“I’ll make time.”
With just those words, a corner of Seo Yi-kyung’s chest tightened.