“Please go inside.”
Standing at the door, the nurse opened it first. Even in his disoriented state, Ran muttered thanks and walked out. The consultation room was at the end of a corridor about 10 meters long. Halfway there, he noticed Andrea’s pheromones floating in the air. He had to make a deliberate effort to encourage his legs, which didn’t want to move.
Inside were only the doctor and Andrea. The doctor, who greeted him as soon as their eyes met, had a smile encompassing his entire face like others had. That wasn’t strange, but what Ran found peculiar was that Andrea’s expression, which had been stiff until entering the hospital, had softened.
“Ran, sit here.”
Could there be no problems at all? The feeling of his wish to at least have contracted some minor illness being shattered was certainly not pleasant. Ran, sitting beside Andrea as instructed, clenched his hands resting on his knees.
He expected to hear what he’d heard every time he had a health checkup before: that he was healthy with no major issues but needed to pay attention to being underweight and his diet. He wasn’t prepared at all.
“Congratulations. You’re pregnant. It seems to be about two months along.”
He couldn’t even ask again. To avoid too great a shock, his mind first thought, “I must have misheard,” but part of him remained that accepted reality, repeating what his ears had heard. Congratulations. You’re pregnant. Two months… pregnant, two months.
It wasn’t an impossible thing. How many times had he been knotted by Andrea? But he had taken contraceptives. But Andrea was a dominant alpha, and he was a recessive. Ah, all these assumptions were meaningless. The water was already spilled. He was in a situation where he had become pregnant.
“…Ha…”
The sharp breath he himself exhaled. After that, sound disappeared from Ran’s world. Only Andrea, who embraced the frozen Ran, asked the doctor many things in a joyful voice. What should be paid attention to from now on, whether Ran’s physical condition was okay. The sight of one person trembling violently while another asked questions with a smile was truly bizarre, but there was no one to point this out.
Only after hearing all the answers he wanted did Andrea grab Ran and make him stand up. Ran, forced to stand, staggered. Still, he wondered what he had heard. Ran’s thoughts remained stopped there, unable to escape, spinning round and round.
What has happened to my body?
Pregnant? That can’t be possible.
While he was unable to accept reality, only the surrounding background changed. From the consultation room, supported by him almost like a crutch, he moved to the corridor of the hospital entrance. Then to the front of the car. Andrea opened the door first, seated him, and only then got into the car beside him.
“Edik. Could you turn up the heater a bit stronger?”
Andrea, who covered Ran’s body with his coat as he couldn’t shake off the pouring chills, wiped his forehead that was getting wet with cold sweat. His already white face had turned as pale as a sheet of paper. While carefully checking his condition, fearing he might have a seizure, Andrea and Ran’s eyes met. Upon eye contact, Andrea unconsciously smiled.
“That’s good.”
While Ran’s gaze, unable to escape reality, found it burdensome to even meet his, Andrea, liking even that, added a word.
“Though it’s too early.”
“Are you serious?”
“Which part?”
At the coolly asking voice, Ran’s mind turned completely white. There was no room for the thought that he needed to stay calm.
“The child… I don’t want it. I don’t want to give bir—”
“It’s because it’s my child, isn’t it?”
“I just don’t want it. I don’t like children. I’m, I’m scared of giving birth too.”
“Have you always felt that way?”
Ran quickly nodded. His throat was choked with anxiety, and his heart was beating fiercely. Even saying a single word was difficult to bring out of his mouth. Andrea, who had been quietly watching him, came closer and sat down, meeting his eyes. Though his smiling expression was endlessly generous, he stabbed his counterpart with words.
“Well. It’s hard to believe that you, who was thinking of marrying Bjorn, would say you had no intention of having children.”
Ran had no response to that. It wasn’t that he particularly disliked children, and just before marrying Bjorn, they had reached an agreement on the issue of children. In front of him, who seemed to know everything no matter what he tried to hide, Ran gradually lost words.
“…After making me give birth, what, what are you planning to do?”
“Shall we get married?”
“What?”
Ran’s expression distorted as if he had heard something absurd. However, Andrea’s expression was extremely calm, and since it was something he had been considering all along, there was no hesitation in bringing it up. Ran’s face gradually changed from surprise to shock.
“I think it would be good to have the wedding at the hotel where Bjorn got married. Inviting more people than who attended then, and also—”
“…”
“Should we invite Bjorn too?”
He said no. No, no, repeating the same words while shaking his head, Ran fell into panic. He exhaled irregular breaths as if in a state of panic. His chest heaved steeply, and then he collapsed in his seat. While Andrea prepared a paper bag to soothe him and comforted him, he still delivered cruelly easy words.
“Ran. You’re not in a position to tell me no.”
* * *
Though what happened was like a death sentence to Ran, there wasn’t a big change on the surface. Several days passed without particular incidents. To Andrea, Ran was surprisingly calm. Even after hearing the unilateral declaration that he was pregnant and would be made to give birth. At least that’s how it was according to Andrea’s standards.
He had expected him to act out wanting an abortion, or suffer, or cry and say he didn’t want it, but apart from making a horrified expression when the marriage conversation was brought up, he didn’t say anything else. Sometimes he would curl up his body as if trying to hide himself, and since it looked like he was trying to hide inside himself, Andrea was puzzled but curious about what action Ran would take next.
And two days later, the words Ran, who had come to him first, delivered were quite unexpected.
“If you’re going to keep me… staying at Andrea-ssi’s mansion, would it be okay to dispose of my original house?”
“Do as you please. Will you be alright without someone to help?”
“…Yes. I don’t have much luggage.”
Though Ran would certainly not think so, Andrea was guaranteeing Ran’s freedom. He had told his employees not to interfere with whatever Ran did. Provided that he didn’t harm his own body and didn’t go beyond the surveillance range.
That afternoon, Ran met with a real estate agent and disposed of his house. Then he returned to the mansion and, for some reason, ate a normal meal, then complained of fatigue and went to bed early. It must have been quite tiring since it was an outing after a long time. Andrea, who arrived at the mansion late, covered Ran with a blanket instead of undressing him.
“Sleep well, Ran.”
His side profile, with his cheek buried in the pillow, drew a delicate line. He was originally a thin person, but after coming to his house, he had shed flesh that didn’t even need shedding, and barely maintained his current state. It felt like when touched, the bones inside his skin, like thin cloth, would push back against his fingers. It was pitiful. It had been a long time since he had gently embraced Ran, who was too pitiful having been abused by him. If this state continued in the future, there would be no reason to treat Ran harshly.
I wish you would sink into me like this.
Swallowing the words he didn’t utter, he pressed his lips against the cold cheek. Though a regretful feeling remained and undulated, setting it aside temporarily wasn’t such a difficult thing. Checking the room several times to see if there might be any other discomfort, he turned off the bedroom stand light and closed the door.
But wishes and reality were sometimes different. In Andrea’s case, who was born with many things in his grasp from birth, wishes and reality generally aligned, but when the exception named Ran Icanoth appeared, the situation would twist in directions different from expectations. He was the only person who easily changed the path Andrea had created.
That was the situation unfolded before Andrea, who had gone to work early in the morning and returned as soon as he finished his business.
“I am deeply sorry.”
Seeing Edik repeatedly bowing his head, Andrea tilted his head.
“He escaped.”
There was no anger in the questioning. He merely asked. Edik immediately added the next words. He said that there were belongings left in the disposed house that he wanted to retrieve. Two employees accompanied him, and as soon as Ran got out of the car, he ran across the street and took a taxi… Up to this point, the situation somehow felt ridiculous.
Ah, so this is the method this time. Following the announcement of the marriage with Bjorn, now it’s escaping while carrying our child. Quite dramatic.
“It seems he went as far as the train station, but we’re tracking him now. We should be able to find him before evening.”
“I see. Understood. Ran isn’t well, so let’s hurry.”
Though he had received the report, Andrea merely nodded. He didn’t consider it significant. He had thought that Ran would escape someday. It was just brought forward a bit because of the pregnancy, but it was a scheduled event, something that would have happened eventually.
What Andrea had to do was simple. As he had told Ran when confessing to him once, love makes one commit troublesome, irrational, and cruel acts. Therefore, today, he just needed to do something troublesome and irrational.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
