“…!”
At Hwalyeon’s calm statement, Suhwan’s eyes widened.
Though surprised, this was actually in line with the original story. Suhwan unconsciously clenched both hands.
After Jin Suhwan’s death, despite their poor relationship, perhaps due to the grief of losing his grandson, Chairman Jin decided to pass the company to Hwalyeon. Because of this, Hwalyeon too was preoccupied with succession issues and didn’t have the chance to investigate Jin Suhwan’s death.
But why now? Chairman Jin had no reason to step down from his position, and Hwalyeon didn’t seem to have great ambition for the chairman’s seat. Suhwan couldn’t understand why things had suddenly turned out this way. He blinked and asked:
“Why did you… make such a decision?”
“…”
“Is it because of me and Seunghyun?”
Although he couldn’t tell anyone, Suhwan too was shocked by what Chairman Jin had done. Using drugs to make him spend the night with a blind date, and trying to forcibly separate him from Seunghyun who was in heat. If Chairman Jin had been his real family, Suhwan would have been deeply hurt.
But perhaps because he consciously thought of Chairman Jin as a stranger, he was shocked but not deeply wounded. He was just very troubled that their relationship with Seunghyun wasn’t acknowledged by Chairman Jin.
He wondered if that was why Hwalyeon was planning to oust Chairman Jin and take the chairman’s position. Hwalyeon carefully nodded toward the face looking at her.
“That’s a big reason.”
“Ah…”
“And since it will be mine soon anyway, bringing it forward a bit wouldn’t be a problem, would it?”
Suhwan swallowed as he watched Hwalyeon speak so calmly. Though surprising, it was the kind of thinking Hwalyeon would have. And such an attitude suited her well.
“Noona… you acknowledge the relationship between me and Seunghyun, right?”
What mattered most to Suhwan was his future with Seunghyun. If Hwalyeon, unlike Chairman Jin, acknowledged his relationship with Seunghyun, nothing else mattered. And seeming to notice this point, Hwalyeon gazed steadily at Suhwan and answered:
“Yes. However, if you marry that child, you must bear a dominant alpha.”
“…!”
“As you know, it’s uncertain whether Hyejin and I can have children. The next heir to Hwamyeong will have to come from you two. Understand?”
Suhwan pressed his lips together. A problem he hadn’t considered before now invaded his mind.
Hwalyeon’s spouse was a recessive omega. Moreover, she had a congenitally weak uterus, making implantation difficult. She could be considered nearly infertile.
But since children weren’t important to Hwalyeon, she never regretted marrying Hyejin. The issue was that she still had to consider Hwamyeong’s succession.
And Suhwan could understand this situation to some extent.
Children. Having to think about children before even getting married. It made his head throb.
“It’s a rare opportunity to be paired with a dominant omega.”
“…”
“We can’t miss that chance.”
That was another reason why Hwalyeon supported his marriage with Seunghyun. To obtain a dominant alpha heir. While Chairman Jin prioritized the company’s interests over traits, Hwalyeon was the opposite.
However, he couldn’t tell Hwalyeon. He couldn’t tell her that his relationship with Seunghyun was different from other alphas and omegas.
A child with Seunghyun. Could they really have one? Facing a problem he had never thought about before, he couldn’t think at all. Hwalyeon looked at him curiously.
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah.”
Snapping back to reality, Suhwan looked at Hwalyeon who was showing a curious expression. He slowly shook his head.
“It’s nothing.”
Anyway, the issue of children was still a distant future concern. Even if they got permission to marry, they would hold the wedding ceremony after Seunghyun graduated from college, so it would take a long time before they felt pressure about having children. So there was no need to worry about it now.
“I understand, noona. I’ll try my best.”
“Good.”
Looking at Hwalyeon’s satisfied smile, Suhwan inwardly sighed.
If he said they needed to have a child, would Seunghyun accept it? Perhaps the reason he was maintaining a good relationship with Seunghyun now was because, unlike the original Jin Suhwan, he wasn’t being forceful with him. He worried that if he pressured Seunghyun about having children and acted like Jin Suhwan, Seunghyun might lose his affection for him.
Looking at the droplets sliding down the lemonade in front of him, Suhwan swallowed another sigh.
***
At that time, Seunghyun was meeting with Jaehyun. Seunghyun indifferently observed Jaehyun, whose eyes were bloodshot, probably from staying up all night for experiments. He handed him a medicine bottle.
“I think the medicine needs to be remade.”
“What?”
Jaehyun opened his eyes wide as he received the bottle. After confirming that the medicine wasn’t much depleted, he asked:
“Why? Did something happen?”
“Yeah, the suppressant didn’t work at all.”
“That can’t be. The ingredients are the same as what we’ve made before…”
Jaehyun paused mid-sentence. The suppressants they had made were based on data from before Seunghyun had contact with an alpha. But now Seunghyun was different. He had even gone through rut with that alpha. Jaehyun stared at Seunghyun with a hardened expression.
“When was the last time you measured your pheromone levels?”
“That’s…”
Seunghyun recalled a distant memory. The last time he measured his pheromone levels was when he had just manifested as a dominant omega. He vaguely remembered. It was the summer when he was thirteen.
He remembered it being very difficult because he had manifested in a challenging situation, separated from his family. But as usual, Seunghyun endured the manifestation fever alone. And from the pheromone levels measured then, Seunghyun learned that he was a dominant omega.
“I measured it when I first manifested and haven’t since. Why?”
“Well, if the medicine isn’t working, it might be good to measure your pheromone levels again.”
“Really?”
Seunghyun frowned slightly. If he said he was going to the hospital, Suhwan would worry. He didn’t want to cause him unnecessary concern. Seeing Seunghyun hesitate, Jaehyun shrugged.
“We don’t know what complications might arise if you keep having contact with an alpha. The medications you’ve been taking might not be enough to suppress your pheromones.”
“…”
“Um, hmm, Suhwan… did you say he’s recessive?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.”
A recessive alpha’s pheromones shouldn’t have caused such significant changes. Jaehyun, stroking his chin, suddenly had a thought and widened his eyes.
“Did you perhaps… imprint?”
“Imprint?”
Seunghyun’s eyes rounded.
Imprinting. Imprinting, indeed. It was an issue he hadn’t even considered because he was already aware that his relationship with Suhwan wasn’t ordinary.
Alphas and omegas could imprint when their rut and heat overlapped. Although there were cases where imprinting occurred as emotions grew during intimacy even without being in a heat cycle, Seunghyun couldn’t be certain if he and Suhwan had imprinted.
“…I’m not sure.”
“Hmm.”
Jaehyun looked at Seunghyun, whose expression had darkened, and then turned his head away. He shook the medicine bottle that rattled in his hand.
Well, they had only been living together for about a month, hadn’t they? Although their behavior was annoyingly like that of newlyweds. Jaehyun inadvertently recalled the incidents at the Korean restaurant and frowned.
Anyway, it would have been too short a time for the two young people to imprint. Even for experienced people, it takes time, and Suhwan was most likely Seunghyun’s first partner. Being a first-timer, he would be overwhelmed dealing with everything else to even think about imprinting.
“Um, ahem, hey.”
“Why?”
Jaehyun debated whether he should ask this. Even with family, it was awkward to inquire about someone’s sex life. But Seunghyun was still young and naive about the world. So he felt he had to ask.
“Are you… using protection properly?”
“…”
Seunghyun was silent for a moment at the careful question.
Certainly, to others they would appear to be an ordinary alpha-omega couple. No one would ever dream that the opposite was true. Seunghyun instinctively felt this fact needed to be hidden.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
