Love is somewhat tiring. But the wonder of love is that even such efforts are considered joys.
“Edik, just a moment.”
“Yes, Carp-ssi.”
“I’ll go with you. I can’t let a sick person come alone. And I have something to do before that.”
After finishing his thoughts, he rose from his seat. He wanted to see Ran’s face as soon as possible.
* * *
“Excuse me. May I check your ticket?”
“Yes, here it is.”
“Yes, thank you. Have a pleasant journey.”
The hands that had been endlessly trembling until buying the train ticket became calm. After stuffing the ticket that had been handed to the attendant into his pocket, Ran looked out the window several times and clasped his hands together.
This train, which didn’t have many passengers, was one that ran non-stop to Lufros. Because of that, his mind was gradually becoming stable. The train wouldn’t suddenly stop with Andrea getting on. Even Andrea couldn’t do such a thing… Ran was desperate to reassure himself.
Meanwhile, the train entered a tunnel and came out. Just being submerged in darkness for a moment and coming out made the world look twice as white. After watching the city where snow had piled up in various places as if painted white, Ran fell into a light sleep. His body had relaxed because he felt safe inside. For the past few days, Ran hadn’t been able to sleep properly.
In his dream, he dreamt of giving birth to Andrea’s child. After having only such dreams and waking up, it didn’t feel like he had awakened.
‘Shall we get married?’
That’s when he decided to escape. When Andrea casually talked about marriage, he determined to remove the child by any means and escape. But even on the way here, he had thought at least a dozen times that it might be better to jump onto the railway track. The money he had accumulated without use and the money from selling his house was quite substantial. But the opponent was Andrea Carp.
While escaping from him, would he ever be able to sleep peacefully in the future? Though creeping fear gripped his ankles, even fear could be shaken off when recalling the nightmares he had suffered. If he could remove the child and escape, at least during that time… he wouldn’t have nightmares about giving birth to the child in his belly. That was Ran’s only hope. At the same time, it made him rely on it.
“Ah… auu, damn it.”
Hope that scattered easily.
Greatly startled, Ran clenched his fist. It was the voice of two people sitting right behind Ran’s seat. The man sitting by the window sighed and made a groaning sound.
“What’s wrong?”
“…Do you have any suppressants?”
“What? Did your rut come? Geez, carry some suppressants around. Always.”
“Sorry. Sorry.”
“Being a dominant with a regular cycle, but you still forget every time? Suppressant prices are high these days. Give me the money, man.”
“Ugh, I hate myself for this too. Anyway, I’ll enjoy the free suppressant well.”
Though the pheromones were faint, perhaps because the rut cycle had just begun, Ran received the dominant’s pheromones more closely than other recessive omegas. Though the two were laughing and chatting, Ran was terrified. The sensation underlying his base tickled his skin like a bug. The feeling rising from the tips of his toes was similar to a person’s tongue licking and passing by. When Andrea held his ankle and licked the inside of his legs. When he bit. The heat of the breath exhaled directly on his genitals arose in order.
“Ungh…”
It felt like his underwear was getting wet. His vision turned pure white and then barely regained its original color. Though the alpha’s pheromones faded as he took suppressants and soon disappeared, Ran couldn’t move from his seat until the two left.
—The next stop is Lufros. The train will soon arrive at Lufros. For your safety, passengers please move after the train has stopped. Thank you.
After a considerable amount of time, only when hearing the announcement message as they arrived at Lufros did he reflexively grab the handle. With his two legs pressed together, he barely stood up. He had to leave now. Ran didn’t have much time to delay.
As far as possible. To a place where Andrea wasn’t. After extracting what was in his belly.
The hospital he had reserved before boarding the train was not far from the station. Seeing part of the hospital building at a glance, Ran moved his feet. The air was cold and the sky was whitish. He thought it was weather where it wouldn’t be strange if snow fell, and as soon as he stood in front of the hospital, white crystals began to flutter.
Ran paused in place for a moment. Seeing white reminded him of Andrea. While hurriedly shaking off the snow beginning to stick to his coat, he flung open the hospital door. The reception was nearby, and the process of going there, stating his name, and entering the examination room went smoothly.
* * *
“You can wait here. Your number will appear on the monitor. Your number is 36, so when you see it, please come to the consultation room.”
The people in the hospital were all uniformly kind enough not to be uncomfortable. They were different from the staff at the hospital he had gone to with Andrea. As if trying not to burden an omega who came for an abortion, they were careful from the pre-surgery consultation and various tests, and after everything was finished, they guided him to a quiet waiting room.
‘Due to your months of pregnancy, abortion with medication will be difficult. These days, it takes so little time that it’s almost hard to call it surgery. Please relax and wait in the waiting room.’
Ran thought it was fortunate in many ways. Like the pharmacist he had met when getting a prescription for a morning-after pill, they didn’t make many assumptions seeing his shabby and precarious appearance.
The hospital television was playing local news. After looking at the announcer’s face, he turned his head. His mind was troubled and his heart was beating heavily. Since he wasn’t in the mood to look at the video anyway, he was turning his eyes away from the breaking news, when a faintly heard sound lingered in his ears. Ran stiffened for a moment and then looked at the television. Then the channel changed. It kept changing, but for some reason, the same story was on all channels.
“What’s this? I get that it’s a big issue, but should the broadcast make such a fuss about it?”
“I know, right? All other channels are only talking about this too. What’s this, they’re doing it here too.”
[MISSING]
That was the first word that came up. And then… [YOUNG CEO OF AINOS], [BJORN ASHFIELDEN] The words appearing one after another were nailed down like big nails. As if they had all received the same script, all channels conveyed the same content in different voices.
“Ha… ha. Haa.”
Was he still sleeping on the train? Had he been having a nightmare since then and reached this point? Thinking that way almost made more sense. As Ran burst into hollow laughter, someone sat beside him.
“…”
The person who had just come in from outside was wrapped in cold wind, and as he sat down, he was staring intently at him. He knew who it was without looking. That’s why he couldn’t turn his eyes toward him. The hand placed on his knee trembled violently, and while his body shivered from the approaching cold, his heart grew hot with ripened fear.
“Ran.”
“…Andrea.”
Please.
The one word that couldn’t come out of his mouth rolled inside and didn’t reach him. Andrea, who was silently looking into the rippling red pupils, may have smiled for a moment.
“It must have been hard coming all the way here. The snow doesn’t stop.”
Saying that, Andrea turned his gaze toward the window outside. Like the city where Ran was born and raised, the streets were all pure white, and the snow piled up everywhere devoured people’s legs. Everyone looks like they are having difficulty taking each step. Some people couldn’t even walk and were avoiding the snow under roofs. But paradoxically, the people standing outside were freer than Ran. There was no one among them who wasn’t freer compared to his love.
It was satisfactory.
“A child who dies on a day like this will have a very cold journey to heaven.”
“…”
“But if that’s my child with you… do you really want to erase it? If so, I would respect Ran’s opinion, but I won’t let the child go alone. A child needs a guardian, you know.”
—Ainos CEO Bjorn Ashfielden has gone missing. The police authorities are conducting a search—
Andrea’s threat reached Ran, coincidentally overlapping with the news breaking story. What further explanation was needed? Bjorn’s neck was visibly clutched in his hand. And yet he gives him a choice. A choice where the path is already determined. It would be better if he didn’t even show it, but Andrea, who showed it while urging a choice, was cruel.
[Patient Number: 36]
[Please enter Consultation Room 2.]
That cruel alpha looked at the name appearing on the monitor, then at his pitiful trembling lover.
“It’s your turn. What will you do? You can go in.”
“…I’ll…”
“Ran.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
