Not knowing when the rain might suddenly pour again, Yeonwoo unfastened his seatbelt and quickly pulled the door handle. He intended to get out of the car first and then thank Munbeom for the ride, saying they should meet again.
“Yeonwoo.”
Just as his toes touched the ground while getting out, Yeonwoo turned around.
“Take care going in. I’ll contact you again next time.”
“…”
So there will be a next time.
While the words “take care” made him happy, what pleased him even more was that Munbeom had promised a next time. Though he didn’t know the exact date, it meant he could see this person again when that time came.
Yeonwoo slowly nodded.
“Please drive carefully too, Executive Director. And…”
Wondering if he should mention Munbeom’s mother who had been in an accident, Yeonwoo hesitated and then closed his mouth. Stepping back about two paces while holding the car door, Yeonwoo whispered softly, “Please go,” and closed the door. Then he just stood there.
Previously, he would have gone up before the car left, but this time he didn’t want to. He wanted to wait until the car departed before moving. As if reading Yeonwoo’s thoughts, the car slowly moved. Only after the back of the car gradually faded from view did Yeonwoo exhale a long breath.
“…”
When he was with Munbeom, he could focus solely on him without distracting thoughts entering his mind. But now that Munbeom had left and he was alone, all sorts of random thoughts crowded his mind at once. Feeling a headache coming on, Yeonwoo touched his head then removed his hand and turned around.
I’ll go in, eat something, and go straight to bed.
Since he would be able to meet that person again next time, he couldn’t live like a recluse. At the very least, he wanted to appear healthier than now the next time they met. Having lacked motivation for the past few days, Yeonwoo, now wanting to take care of himself a bit, walked briskly.
Then he discovered a passenger car parked prominently in front of his row house.
There were usually a couple of cars parked between the narrow alleys in the early morning or late at night, but this was a car he had never seen before. To begin with, was there anyone living here who would drive such a car?
Though he found it strange, he climbed the stairs thinking it had nothing to do with him. And as he got closer to his house, Yeonwoo’s expression hardened as he looked up at the increasingly strong smell of cigarettes. There was no need to look closely. A middle-aged man standing in front of his wide-open front door was immediately visible.
As soon as Yeonwoo spotted him, the man recognized Yeonwoo and frowned.
“You, why are you so late…!”
Lee Jonghoon, who was about to scold him, immediately closed his mouth. After checking the downstairs and surroundings, he threw his cigarette on the ground and stubbed it out with his foot. Then, entering through the wide-open front door, he said, “Come in.”
It was amusing how he acted as if it were his own house. Or was it? Come to think of it, since he had provided it, was it actually this man’s house? Speaking of which, Yeonwoo had changed the password, so how did he open the door? The question was quickly answered. Seeing the ripped-out keypad rolling on the entrance floor, Yeonwoo’s gaze hardened.
“What are you doing standing there? I said come in…!”
Taking his eyes off the keypad rolling at his feet, Yeonwoo looked at Jonghoon. He was standing inside the living room, still wearing his shoes. Seeing him forcibly open the front door and enter the living room with his shoes on made it difficult for Yeonwoo to breathe.
If I had known this would happen, I should have returned later.
Or I should have insisted on staying with that person a bit longer.
But he wasn’t someone who would stay just because Yeonwoo was being pushy. From the beginning, the time spent with him was like a dream, and this was his reality. Taking a deep breath that expanded his chest, Yeonwoo took off his sneakers and entered the house. He went straight to the refrigerator, took out a bottle of water, and drank the cool water. His shoulders naturally hunched as the cold liquid flowed down his throat.
After squeezing his eyes shut and then opening them, Yeonwoo closed the water bottle cap and turned around.
Jonghoon, who had been standing with his arms crossed, frowned when his eyes met Yeonwoo’s. His expression wrinkled harshly, as if looking at the most detestable thing in the world, and Yeonwoo calmly asked:
“What is it this time?”
“…Look, look, look at how this kid talks!”
Considering what he had done to Yeonwoo, wasn’t this response rather mild?
He hadn’t cursed, nor had he gone crazy and thrown a fit like Jonghoon. Why was he getting so worked up over a simple question about why he had come again?
Jonghoon, his face hardening at Yeonwoo’s cold gaze, gritted his molars. Yeonwoo thought it strange that he was holding back when he had expected him to be more disruptive. Was he behaving this way because he was afraid the man downstairs might come up like last time?
By the way, while the keypad was being ripped out, hadn’t anyone downstairs heard anything? Then it seemed strange to Yeonwoo that he was hoping for help from others when this was his own problem. Thinking how ridiculous it was to fall into such a delusion after receiving help once or twice, Yeonwoo spoke again:
“If you’re going to be noisy, please leave. I want to rest.”
“So tell me, where have you been and what have you been doing to be so tired?!”
Approaching with large strides, Jonghoon glared at Yeonwoo, who was standing across the table. Then suddenly, he lowered his gaze and seemed to be examining Yeonwoo’s neck, chest, stomach, and lower areas, which immediately made Yeonwoo’s expression crumple.
“What are you looking at? Don’t look at me like that.”
As Yeonwoo covered his body with both hands, Jonghoon also seemed flustered and pounded the table.
“No, it’s because of what you said before! Frankly speaking, since you live alone, you might have been going around carelessly sleeping with people!!”
“…”
“Why are you making that face?! You said it first! You said you did it! Said it wasn’t your first time! Rumors have spread everywhere, so you can’t even be packaged as an inexperienced omega! In your current position, all you have going for you is your face and being dominant, but if you go around sleeping with anyone, who would buy you?! You can’t even get your proper price now! Not even half price!”
Was it because Yeonwoo had found out about the loan shark? Jonghoon no longer minced his words.
“I knew you’d be like this. Did you think you could live recklessly after coming to Seoul? Is that why you couldn’t hold back and went around sleeping with people? Ah, you frustrating child. Not understanding how valuable a premium dominant omega is, going around offering yourself to just anyone! You’re someone who could get paid for sex…!”
“Stop it!”
As Jonghoon’s voice grew louder, what he was spewing was not just words but insults. Things that would be unbearable to hear from strangers were being said by someone who claimed to be his biological father. He already knew he had been brought here to be used as a commodity, but this was too much. Unable to control his expression, Yeonwoo glared at Jonghoon.
“How can you talk like that? I’m your son too.”
“…”
“Like Seongho, I’m also your blood.”
If Seongho had been a dominant omega, would he have spoken and acted like this? No, he wouldn’t have. The reason he was behaving this way was because it was Yeonwoo. A child born from a brief relationship twenty-some years ago, in whom he had no interest or curiosity. He only appeared when he thought the child might be useful because he was a dominant omega.
Yeonwoo thought he had been quite naive. Only now, when things had come to this point, did he realize that the lifeline he had been clinging to was not just rotten but emitting a disgusting pus odor.
“…If I had known it would be like this, I should have used that loan shark or whatever from the beginning. I was stupid to believe in and rely on someone like you as a father.”
“You…!”
Jonghoon, not wanting to hear Yeonwoo’s criticism, repeatedly raised and lowered his clenched fist. Just as he was about to curse and vent by hitting the table, he suddenly pulled out his cell phone from his pants pocket.
“I’m busy as hell, who’s calling? If it’s an insurance call, I won’t let them off the hook.”
Normally, he wouldn’t have answered a call from an unknown number.
But Jonghoon, taken aback by Yeonwoo’s aggressive attitude, needed to break this flow. So, intending to shout at whoever was calling, he loudly exclaimed, “Who is this?!”
“Who’s calling?! Do you know how busy I am right now?! I’m…! Huh?”
Yeonwoo was looking pathetically at Jonghoon, who was making a show of answering the phone. He considered either closing the front door or pretending to call the police if Jonghoon continued to be loud under the pretense of talking on the phone. But Jonghoon, who seemed like he would continue to threaten, suddenly stammered “Huh, ah” and looked at Yeonwoo. Seeing the bewilderment in his eyes, Yeonwoo blinked slowly. Until then, he had been wondering why this man was acting that way.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
