Apart from his father issues, he wondered why these things were being imposed on him. Why should he have to attend these ridiculous meetings for something he hadn’t done? He felt wronged and confused, but no one would solve this problem for him. There was no point in telling others. No one would listen to him. Besides, he didn’t want to talk about it.
He didn’t want to verbally confirm that his already squalid life was even more rock-bottom than it appeared. Especially not to that person, Ho Munbeom.
He didn’t want to reveal these sordid aspects of himself to that seemingly flawless person. Even if he gathered everything and packaged it nicely to show only the good parts, it would still be insufficient.
Even if it was just a matter of maintaining his not-so-funny pride, he couldn’t give up. He hoped that his behavior in front of Munbeom yesterday had been at least somewhat decent.
“I understand.”
“…Really?”
“Yes.”
“Then give me your phone.”
Yeonwoo handed over his cell phone, which he had taken out of his pocket, to Jonghoon who was confidently extending his hand. Snatching it eagerly, Jonghoon quickly began checking something. Even if he thoroughly examined it for any record of communications with someone or any unfamiliar numbers, he wouldn’t find anything. A professional might be able to recover deleted texts or call logs, but Jonghoon wouldn’t go that far.
After fidgeting with the phone where nothing was found, Jonghoon smacked his lips.
“…I’ll go pay the hospital bill, so wait here quietly.”
“I’ll be with Dad, so come there.”
At those words, Jonghoon hunched his shoulders.
Despite having had a child with this person, there were times when he would flinch like this, seemingly uncomfortable. Knowing this but still saying it, Yeonwoo thought his own personality wasn’t particularly nice either as he went to find Younghwa’s hospital room.
His father was lying in a room set up in a corner of the emergency room. The way he lay there without the slightest movement throughout the transfer seemed just like…
No, let’s not think negative thoughts. With that in mind, Yeonwoo sat in the chair next to Younghwa. As he carefully took his father’s fingers after watching him quietly, they were very cold. While gently massaging them to add warmth to the stiff fingers, Yeonwoo moved his lips.
“Dad,” Yeonwoo whispered weakly.
“I’m scared.”
He had been scared continuously since hearing the news that Younghwa had collapsed.
All the events that followed now seemed like a dream. Whether such things had really happened to him, whether he had endured it all, and… whether he had actually met that person, Ho Munbeom.
Sometimes he felt that if he closed his eyes and opened them again, he would wake up to a different situation, like waking from sleep. So Yeonwoo closed his eyes and counted numbers in his mind. As he counted backward from ten to one, he started to laugh. This was because during the counting, the fact that this couldn’t possibly be a dream became chillingly vivid.
Opening his eyes before finishing the count, Yeonwoo looked at Younghwa.
While his pale complexion was concerning, he also looked peaceful. So Yeonwoo decided to think that his father wasn’t sick but sleeping. And that the next time they met, he would be healthier than now.
“See you later, Dad.”
After muttering this, Yeonwoo forced his lips to curl upward.
When Jonghoon had told him to come to his house, there was just one thing that bothered him. As the front door of the mansion, reached after passing through a narrow yard, opened, and Seo Miyoung, who had been sitting elegantly in the living room, turned around with her eyes, nose, and mouth widening in shock, Yeonwoo thought, “as expected.”
Bringing me to this house wasn’t something he had discussed with his wife.
“What on earth are you thinking…!!”
Miyoung rushed toward Yeonwoo with a terrifying momentum. But before her hand could reach him, Jonghoon stepped in. He embraced his wife with both arms and tried to stop her. In response, Miyoung pounded on Jonghoon’s arms that held her while shouting angrily.
“You’re crazy, crazy! Is this house yours alone?!! Why are you bringing him here?!! Don’t tell me, your not coming home last night and being out of contact was because of him?! You, what did you do with that bastard?!”
“Please lower your voice and don’t think strange things. What would I do with Yeonwoo? Younghwa’s condition suddenly worsened…”
“What?! What!! You stayed out overnight because of that omega bastard?! You crazy person! Get out! Just leave and don’t come back!!”
Miyoung would slap Yeonwoo’s face or verbally abuse him whenever they met. He had thought that was all there was to her, but apparently not. She had been holding back quite a bit. The way she was now frantically pounding Jonghoon with her fists was so fierce that even Yeonwoo was taken aback. Although Jonghoon had spoken first, Yeonwoo hadn’t followed thoughtlessly. Should he apologize, say he would just leave, and depart?
“…What’s this?”
Seongho’s face, who had come out surprised by the sudden commotion late at night, distorted. The same happened to Yeonwoo. It was because Seongho had emerged wearing only boxer shorts. As if he had seen something he shouldn’t have, Yeonwoo turned his head away, and Seongho pointed at him accusingly.
“What, what is this! Why is that bastard here?! Dad? Did you bring him?!”
At Seongho’s words, Miyoung screamed as if she had been waiting for this.
“Seongho! Throw that filthy guy out of my house right now! If not, mom will die here! Mom will bite her tongue and die!!”
“Ah, alright! I’ll throw him out, so don’t do that…!”
The startled Seongho hurriedly rushed toward Yeonwoo. But before that, Jonghoon shouted “Please stop!” and pushed Miyoung hard. As she fell back onto the sofa, Miyoung looked at Jonghoon with disbelief. Seongho also froze, apparently shocked by the sudden turn of events.
Ruffling his hair with both hands, Jonghoon bent over toward Miyoung.
“Please stop! You know better than anyone that in the current situation, we can’t do without Yeonwoo!!”
Miyoung’s expression, which had been quietly looking up at Jonghoon, gradually distorted. Springing up, she pushed against Jonghoon’s chest.
“Are you siding with that concubine’s child in front of our Seongho?!! That kind of omega…!”
“Then why did you give birth to Seongho as a beta?! Even if not dominant, if you had just given birth to an omega…!!”
Looking at Seongho, Jonghoon’s face crumpled like a piece of paper.
“After giving birth to a child like that, what do you want me to do?! I’m the only one without a quality child among my siblings! Everywhere I go, I’m always told to shut up and just drink! At least Yeonwoo is a dominant omega, thanks to that I borrowed money and, uh, used it to clean up after that half-wit son, and bought those bags you love so much?!!”
Though these were words he had been holding back, after blurting them out, it felt refreshingly good. With the feeling of his chest clearing, Jonghoon was unstoppable.
“Seongho is flawed! With that face and that body, he’d be ruined even as an omega! He’d be embarrassing wherever we put him! But look at Yeonwoo!! Yeonwoo could sell well anywhere!! So!”
Just as Jonghoon was about to continue, saying to take good care of Yeonwoo now, that he’s the source of money even if you hate him, he froze as his head suddenly turned with a sharp impact sound. Belatedly realizing he had been slapped, he turned his stiff neck to look at his wife.
Miyoung, whose face had turned black with rage, glared at Jonghoon as if she would kill him.
“You, you’ve been looking at our Seongho that way all this time?”
“That’s not it, I…”
“Lee Seongho, go pack your things.”
He had blurted out words that he shouldn’t have said in a moment of anger. Only now realizing his mistake, Jonghoon, with a hardened expression, tried to cling to Miyoung, saying “Honey,” but was pushed away.
“Seongho, what are you doing! I said pack your things!!”
Seongho was crying with his face crumpled like a child’s. His father’s words had been shocking, and he felt too pathetic to bear it. Seeing Seongho go into his room crying “Huuh-huuung,” Miyoung glared at Jonghoon.
“I’m going to stay at my parents’ house. Go ahead and try living well with that precious dominant omega son of yours. Take care of all the messes you’ve made so far on your own.”
“Honey, I’m sorry! I’ll apologize. So…!”
He tried to grab her urgently, but was immediately pushed away. Still not giving up, Jonghoon clung to Miyoung’s legs, but she left the house, taking only Seongho with her.
Sitting on the living room sofa where a storm had just swept through, Jonghoon muttered like a person in a daze.
“If we just resolve this issue well, things will be fine. There’s no choice. We can’t just sit here and be ruined…”
Yeonwoo was still standing near the entrance.
Leaving Jonghoon, who was acting as if he didn’t even know Yeonwoo was there, Yeonwoo slowly examined the space he was in. The interior, with traces of daily life, looked clean and nice.
But that was all. Although it was incomparably better than the house he used to live in, Yeonwoo kept thinking of the small house in the old row house and lowered his head. The socks he was wearing had black stains from somewhere, as if something had gotten on them.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
