#93
“Oh no. Are you hurt?”
Jaeha took Eunhong’s startled hand to check if any fragments had hit him. He enclosed the silently head-shaking Eunhong in his long arms. The glass pieces made crunching sounds under their shoes with each unsteady movement. Jaeha embraced Eunhong’s back tightly and stroked it soothingly, as if comforting a child.
“Shall we go back to the hotel?”
Eunhong nodded with a dazed mind at the whispered question mixed with gentle laughter. Jaeha’s pheromones easily disarmed him and made him unsteady.
“Mmhmm.”
As he buried his face in Jaeha’s shoulder to avoid making a pained sound, suddenly, with a feeling of something overflowing, pheromones poured out. Eunhong heard Jaeha cursing in a low voice by his ear as he tried to suppress a scream.
***
With one day left before their return to Korea, the two packed their bags to move to another city for their final schedule. After entrusting all their large luggage to the secretaries, they got into the car with just one small carry-on. This time, they were traveling alone, separated from everyone else. Jaeha drove himself.
They headed south on the highway. Though Eunhong could guess their final destination, Jaeha didn’t seem to want to bring it up as a topic of conversation, so Eunhong quietly enjoyed the journey. After stopping at rest areas a couple of times and driving for about four hours, they arrived at a small seaside village in the south.
What was unusual was that this quiet rural village had a luxurious private medical center that didn’t fit in—and this was where Jaeha’s father was staying.
The village was extremely peaceful, with only leisurely elderly people walking the streets. Instead of heading straight to the hospital, Jaeha drove to the accommodation he had reserved in the village. Professor Choi was waiting, pacing in front of a small two-story house.
Eunhong bowed slightly in greeting as he got out of the car, and Professor Choi returned the greeting warmly. He looked quite tired, as if the work he had handled earlier with the medical team had been strenuous.
Jaeha took the suitcase from the car and said to Eunhong:
“I’ll go see… my father with Professor Choi.”
“And I’ll wait here?”
“…Yes.”
“Okay. I’ll wait quietly.”
Jaeha looked at Eunhong with a troubled expression, wrinkling the bridge of his nose.
“I know you feel left out… but really, he has no meaning to me as family. I don’t want to show you that. I’m not excluding you… I’m not keeping my distance. Eunhong.”
Just yesterday, Eunhong had resolved to wait magnanimously for Jaeha, who kept his deep feelings hidden and only showed his polished side, but now his heart was running wild again. Indeed, things never go as planned when it comes to emotions. Eunhong forced the corners of his mouth up into a smile.
“It’s fine. Who said anything? I’ll just take a nap or look around the village.”
“Save the beach. Let’s see it together.”
Eunhong nodded gently with a smile.
“I’m really okay. Don’t worry about it and go.”
“I’m just going to check in. The medical team has already arrived and is waiting, so it won’t take long. I just need to go through the paperwork… and give my consent for various things. I’ll finish everything and be back soon.”
Eunhong tightly closed his mouth and examined Jaeha’s expression. No matter what, he was going to see his sick father. Momentarily setting aside his disappointment at not being fully confided in, worry suddenly welled up. His eyes softened and darkened.
As Eunhong took the suitcase and turned toward the accommodation, Jaeha followed and firmly pressed his lips to Eunhong’s temple.
“I’ll be back soon.”
Eunhong blinked slowly, feeling the pheromones pouring over him with the kiss. Was Jaeha worried Eunhong might meet another alpha in this quiet rural village during his half-day absence?
With a wave and a “take care,” Eunhong entered the accommodation. An attendant who had arrived early to check in recognized Eunhong and approached him. Receiving this kind of service was still awkward, but humans are creatures of adaptation, and he was gradually accepting it naturally. In any case, now that he was sticking closer to Jaeha than before, it was something he needed to get used to.
The small house they had rented for one night was a low two-story building typical of a rural village. The interior, decorated with linens in exotic patterns, was warm and pastoral. Since all the check-in processes had been handled, there was no one else in the house. Eunhong took a juice from a basket on the kitchen table and went up to the bedroom on the second floor.
“Whew…”
He drank the bottled juice in one go. Flopping down on the bed with a thud, Eunhong let out a long breath he had been holding. He felt a frighteningly strong urge to go out immediately and secretly follow Jaeha to the hospital.
***
Though it had seemed luxurious compared to the size of the village, the hospital was actually quite modest in scale. The interior was more like a quiet monastery than a hospital. Even Jaeha, who had almost no information about Lee Suhyeok as a human being aside from being his father, could easily understand why he had chosen this hospital.
Jaeha stood frozen in the quiet, clean hospital corridor. The door in front of him had an unfamiliar name in italic script, but the surname that followed confirmed it was definitely his father.
“If it’s difficult for you to see him, I can go in alone. CEO Lee, please meet with the director and handle the paperwork.”
Professor Choi placed his hand over Jaeha’s, which was gripping the doorknob. Only then did Jaeha realize he had been trembling slightly.
“…No. If I had wanted to avoid it, I wouldn’t have come here in the first place.”
The hospital room was quiet and peaceful. The light filtering through the blinds even looked warm. The only sound in the spacious room was the low beep of the machine indicating vital signs. If not for the heavy alpha pheromones, Lee Suhyeok, with his barely audible breathing, was so still one could believe he was a corpse.
The skin covering his pale, bloodless face was terribly dry and withered. Dark shadows settled under his sunken eyelids. The bony hand placed on the sheet looked sharp enough to strangle one’s neck at any moment. Nevertheless, he didn’t look as bad as Jaeha had imagined.
Jaeha took out a handkerchief and covered his nose and mouth. His biological father’s pheromones made him feel nauseous. With a pale face, he stood two steps away and carefully observed his birth father.
“He’s deteriorated significantly since I last saw him last summer.”
Professor Choi, who had arrived early to check on Suhyeok’s condition, continued with a brief explanation. He said that while a dominant alpha’s body is strong, that’s only when they’ve regularly shared pheromones with an omega and experienced rut normally. He added that Suhyeok had endured for a long time, probably in pain throughout all these years. He expressed relief that Jaeha had come when Suhyeok still had enough strength to endure the flight back to Korea.
Jaeha was filled with a sense of devastation. Including his own mother and the mothers of his sisters. For someone who had ruined the lives of two people, his final days seemed too peaceful.
“So you get to enjoy everything comfortably, live according to your desires, and fulfill your wishes until the end…”
What had I expected? Had I hoped he would be suffering, connected to all sorts of machines with tubes hanging everywhere? If he had been bleeding profusely, at least I might have felt some sense of atonement.
“Alpha genes are truly selfish.”
Jaeha staggered backward. He had always lived with the thought that he had taken his mother’s life. If his father had been bleeding and atoning, wouldn’t his own burden have felt a little lighter? If he had never been born, if he had never been conceived, wouldn’t Han Nari’s life have ended a little differently?
Even as Professor Choi checked the basics, Suhyeok did not open his eyes. He didn’t even flinch when a thick needle was inserted into his withered skin. Sitting in a chair watching the entire process, Jaeha felt extreme fatigue. He rubbed his face with his hands and pressed his dry eyes firmly.
“Drink this at least.”
Professor Choi approached Jaeha, who had buried his face in his hands, and handed him a cold bottle of water. When he lifted his head, he saw that the room had filled with medical staff. Jaeha took the water bottle with a limp hand and stood up.
As he stepped into the corridor, his vision suddenly darkened, and he staggered dizzily. Was it the aftermath of the forced march to quickly handle everything despite being mentally exhausted for the past week? Jaeha had to lean against the stair railing and catch his breath for a while.
“Why don’t you lie down and rest for a moment? The next room is empty.”
A medical staff member suggested to Professor Choi, pointing at Jaeha. His face was as pale as wax. Jaeha rejected all their kindness and completed the paperwork in one go. He didn’t want to spend any more time here.
Rest here, in a space separated by just one wall from where his father was lying? He might die from not being able to breathe. That thought even made him laugh.
“Is everything finished now?”
Jaeha asked again to confirm what he already knew.
“Yes. We will proceed with the patient transfer as we’ve prepared. Secretary Kim is at the airport where the chartered plane is waiting…”
“That’s enough. I don’t want to know. My role is over, so let’s part ways here.”
As the explanation grew longer, Jaeha waved his hand with a disgusted expression.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
