By Zephyria After waiting a bit, the door opened. Seo Jeong-won looked surprised, as if he hadn’t expected my visit. I told him I was coming, so why the reaction?
“I heard you wanted strawberries.”
“Yes? Ah, did you talk to Noona?”
“I heard roughly.”
Seo Jeong-won had naturally assumed Song Hae-seop wouldn’t come. It wasn’t just a flurry of snow; it was really coming down hard. There was no real need for him to come, so Seo Jeong-won felt grateful that Song Hae-seop had braved the snowy roads to come all the way here. The longer he stayed here, the more indebted he felt.
“It’s snowing so much.”
“I didn’t think you’d be able to come. There’s a heavy snow advisory here…”
“That explains it. The snowflakes suddenly became the size of fists.”
Song Hae-seop smiled, his lips curving, and held up the strawberries for Seo Jeong-won to see. They were being sold at the department store’s food section, so the packaging was excessively fancy.
“Wow, they’re really big and pretty. How can strawberries be this… this color?”
“They’re expensive. I heard they’re delicious.”
He didn’t buy them himself, so he didn’t know the exact price, but he was sure they were expensive, so he proudly took credit in front of Seo Jeong-won.
“Thank you. You really didn’t have to buy them…”
Seo Jeong-won rubbed his stomach, which felt like it was tightening and then loosening, and headed to the bathroom. He took a towel from the cabinet and returned to Song Hae-seop.
“Here you go.”
“Oh, thanks. But your face is a little pale. You’re not really sick, are you?”
“Ah… I don’t think it’s bad enough to go to the hospital. I looked it up online, and it said you should go to the hospital if it’s regular, but mine isn’t…”
Song Hae-seop asked again, as if to confirm, at the vague answer.
“So, are you sick or not?”
“It’s bearable.”
Seo Jeong-won stood there, feeling a little intimidated by Song Hae-seop’s voice, which sounded particularly sensitive today. Song Hae-seop walked past him and placed the strawberries on the table.
“Try one, see if it’s good.”
“I’ve never seen strawberries like this before. It’s like strawberry milk mixed with cream.”
Seo Jeong-won deliberately raised his voice. He muttered “thank you” several times and carefully unwrapped the package. The strawberries were big, white, and had a strong, sweet smell.
“They sell these at the department store, they call them Eternal Snow? Cinderella Strawberries? Something like that.”
“Really… thank you.”
“There’s a saying that pregnant women should eat pretty things to have pretty babies. Well, you don’t have to worry about the baby’s face, though.”
Song Hae-seop imagined a baby with a face that was a good mix of Seo Jeong-won and Kwon Tae-hee. Both of them were so good-looking that the baby couldn’t possibly be ugly, but still, the better, the better. Nevertheless, the words came out harsher than he intended.
“Um, yeah. Let’s eat. I’ll wash them.”
“No, no. I’ll do it. Go wash your hands.”
Seo Jeong-won carefully transferred the strawberries to a colander. His movements as he turned on the cold water and trimmed the stems one by one were quite skilled.
“I’ll be right back. Wash as many as you want to eat. I don’t really like them.”
“Okay.”
While Song Hae-seop went into the bathroom to wash his hands, Seo Jeong-won couldn’t resist and popped one of the strawberries he was washing into his mouth. It was sweeter than what he had eaten at lunch, and the texture was also softer. The crushed flesh went down his throat without him even realizing it. His eyes widened as if they were about to pop out. Seo Jeong-won forgot about his stomachache and kept putting the strawberries into his mouth as he washed them.
“Wow…”
At the quiet exclamation, Song Hae-seop, who was coming out of the bathroom, stopped moving. His gaze rested on Seo Jeong-won, who was standing in front of the sink, putting strawberries into his mouth. It was so pathetic and miserable. Song Hae-seop clicked his tongue at the sight he had witnessed as soon as he came out of the bathroom. What on earth was the reason for acting so pitiful? Was this what happened when you were pregnant? He really couldn’t understand it.
“Jeong-won, eat comfortably. Sit down.”
“Hyung, these are really good.”
Seo Jeong-won held up a strawberry that was almost the size of his fist and looked like he was about to cry with emotion, adding a little lie.
“I’m not going to steal them, so sit down and eat. You’ll get indigestion.”
“It’s the best taste I’ve ever had in my life.”
He hadn’t even put a few on the plate, but it was piled high because of their size. Seo Jeong-won sat down at the table, and Song Hae-seop also sat down, roughly scanning the state of the house.
“It’s clean.”
“Hyung, have some too.”
The conversation didn’t continue, but no one was paying attention, so it passed by. Song Hae-seop took the strawberry that Seo Jeong-won offered and put it in his mouth. It was delicious, as he said, but it was a little bland for his taste. Strawberries should have a sweet and sour taste to be delicious, but this was just too sweet.
“It’s not my taste. Jeong-won, you eat them all.”
“Thank you.”
“Ugh, I’m tired. I wish someone would drive for me. Can I sit over there and rest while you eat, Jeong-won?”
Seo Jeong-won nodded, his cheeks puffed out. Song Hae-seop told him to chew slowly and carefully, like he was coaxing a child, and then went to the living room and lay down on the cushion in front of the window, where Seo Jeong-won spent most of his day.
“It’s warm.”
“The ocean view from there is really pretty.”
“It is.”
Seo Jeong-won was eating, and Song Hae-seop was lying down, spending a quiet time without much conversation, when suddenly the doorbell rang.
Seo Jeong-won, his cheeks full, naturally got up. Then, he frowned at the tightening pain in his stomach. When he considered whether he could bear it or not, it wasn’t so painful that he would make a fuss, but it bothered him.
“Jinhee Noona… is here, maybe.”
Song Hae-seop, who hadn’t seen what expression Seo Jeong-won was making because he was looking out the window, replied indifferently.
“Doesn’t she do evening business these days?”
Seo Jeong-won, who had answered “she does” quietly to the question that came out like a monologue, slowly headed to the front door. As soon as he opened the door, he saw a man wearing a helmet.
“Seo Jeong-won?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Please sign here.”
“…What is this?”
As Seo Jeong-won asked while signing the receipt that was suddenly thrust at him, the deliveryman put the signed receipt in his pocket and opened his mouth.
“Strawberries, it seems, from Seoul. H Department Store?”
“Who…”
As he asked who had sent them, the deliveryman raised the helmet screen and checked the name written on the receipt.
“Song… Hae-seop? The sender is Song Hae-seop. Here you go.”
Why would Song Hae-seop, who had come all the way here with the strawberries himself… Seo Jeong-won nodded awkwardly and took the strawberries that were handed to him. It was the moment he felt a familiar Pheromone. The scent, which he hadn’t smelled in far too long, flowed gently from the strawberry box.
“Then I’ll be going.”
Even after the noisy motorcycle sound disappeared, Song Hae-seop, who found it strange that the door wasn’t closing, got up from where he was lying and headed to the front door.
“What is it? What else came?”
“…Strawberries.”
“Strawberries?”
“Hyung sent them, apparently.”
His already pale face turned blue. As soon as Song Hae-seop confirmed that what he was holding and what he had brought himself were the same product sold in the same place, he gaped. He couldn’t understand why the strawberries that Chief Jung had told him to bring had been delivered to Seo Jeong-won by quick delivery.
“So… um, because I thought I might be late. There’s a snow forecast, and Jeong-won said he wanted to eat strawberries…!”
“…Executive Director’s scent is on them.”
However, Song Hae-seop’s excuses, which he was rattling off urgently, didn’t reach Seo Jeong-won’s ears properly. He felt the Pheromone that had begun to permeate his body on the riding wind and squeezed his eyes shut. Strength left his hands.
“Jeong-won, I mean…”
Thud. With a heavy sound, the shiny strawberries rolled out of the box that had fallen to the floor. Seo Jeong-won, who was staring blankly at the scattered things on the floor, raised his head and met Song Hae-seop’s eyes.
Seeing his pupils shaking as if there had been an earthquake, he realized that he had been completely deceived from the beginning.
“…My stomach hurts, Hyung.”
“What?”
“…My stomach hurts.”
Seo Jeong-won’s body swayed as he muttered softly. Song Hae-seop supported Seo Jeong-won, who looked like he was about to collapse at any moment. All thoughts evaporated at the groaning and sobbing that spread in his arms, and the voice that said his pants were wet.
Song Hae-seop supported the staggering Seo Jeong-won, hurriedly put him in the car, and drove aimlessly down the road. He didn’t know how he had managed to get to the hospital emergency room. When he came to his senses a little, he saw Seo Jeong-won lying on a white bed with a face just as white.
Song Hae-seop sighed heavily and manipulated his phone. He informed Chief Jung of the hospital name and the news that Seo Jeong-won had been hospitalized.
“Ha.”
He wanted to evaporate as he was, but if he left Seo Jeong-won alone and went back, he felt like the cafe and everything else wouldn’t be left for him, so he desperately endured.
¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸.•¨•¸
Seo Jeong-won squeezed his eyes shut when he saw Kwon Tae-hee approaching him. The realization that he hadn’t been able to escape from that man at all from the beginning washed over him like a flood. He had been doing foolish things for weeks without knowing it at all. How ridiculous must he have looked, struggling all alone?
Song Hae-seop, who sensed an unusual atmosphere at the small sound of crying, quietly got up from the guardian’s chair and left the room.
“Jeong-won.”
Kwon Tae-hee, who naturally reached out his hand, stroked Seo Jeong-won’s gaunt cheek. Then he immediately released his Pheromone. One of the most important factors in an Omega’s pregnancy was an Alpha’s Pheromone shower, and he had become so weak because he hadn’t received it.
Seo Jeong-won’s expression distorted as he felt the softly released Pheromone. He bit his lip tightly, his lowered eyelids trembling pitifully. It was the same as before, excessively stimulating pity and lust.
“It’s all right now. I’m here.”