As befitted a once-flourishing dominant Alpha, even though he was nearing eighty, Jang Yuguk was tall and broad-shouldered, and his gaze met Choi Suho’s straight on in midair. Liking the way his father looked at him with such warmth and gentleness, Choi Suho wrapped his arms tightly around him and spoke.
“No, it’s fine. If you fire people over something like this, what does that make me, the President? I’ll handle it myself, Dad.”
“Oh my, you’ve really grown up. My boy.”
Even as he hugged Choi Suho, Jang Yuguk was thoroughly scanning the area behind him, checking if there were any rat-like pests hiding. Sharper and more perceptive than most, Jang Yuguk narrowed his eyes on instinct, thinking, It feels like there’s someone here, and even strained his ears for the faintest sound of breathing.
But nothing could be heard, and there were no skewed shadows. Naturally so—Ji Haesu was using the stacked shadows to hold the bloodied employee in his arms. More than that, he covered the employee’s mouth firmly to stop his panicked panting, staring outward through the piled supplies with a blank expression. The employee, unable to breathe properly, trembled violently, completely at a loss as to what to do.
They’re closer than I expected, Jang Yuguk and Choi Suho. Anyone watching would think he was just a late-born son raised in a wealthy household.
“Still, the one with overall responsibility for making you like this—was his name Jang Jisu? That kid needs to be fired. Especially if he’s a rookie. If a rookie messes up from the start—”
A faint smile flickered at the corner of Ji Haesu’s eyes. Seeing that, the employee sensed something was terribly wrong and tried to make muffled sounds, “Mm, mm,” but Ji Haesu pressed down harder over his mouth, and the employee’s eyes rolled back halfway.
“No, Dad.”
Choi Suho hastily tried to calm him. Jang Yuguk was the type who followed through once he decided on something. There was no way he’d let Jang Jisu go after causing trouble the moment he’d been assigned to his room.
“What do you mean no! If that brat had done his job properly, would the minibar mirror have shattered? Why did the minibar mirror break, why was the whiskey bottle smashed—just what the hell happened—!”
However, Choi Suho had no intention of letting Jang Jisu—today’s prey—off so easily. Listening intently to his father shouting at the top of his lungs, Choi Suho spotted Jang Haejin standing anxiously outside the laundry room door. The moment their eyes met, her face turned deathly pale. Thinking Perfect, Choi Suho let his eyes droop and tears spill down as he spoke.
“Actually… Haejin…”
“…Haejin? Don’t tell me—Yeguk’s daughter?”
Yeguk was his father’s cousin. Haejin was that cousin’s daughter. Though the blood was quite diluted, she was still considered part of the Jang family, so his father had pulled strings to get her hired at XX Hotel, even giving her a managerial position as suite-floor manager at a young age.
“Haejin called me a bastard… she said it in front of the staff, and I couldn’t hold back… I’m sorry, Dad. I mean, it’s true…”
The moment Jang Yuguk saw Choi Suho smiling through tears, his expression hardened completely. He kicked the laundry room door open and stormed out. Seeing Jang Haejin covering her mouth in shock, Choi Suho mouthed sorry to her, then stuck out his tongue and turned away.
Behind him came the sharp smack of Jang Yuguk slapping Jang Haejin across the face.
“You’re fired! How dare you say that to whose son!”
“Chairman! I—I never—! I never said that!”
“If my son says you did, then you did! What do you mean you didn’t? Get out of my son’s hotel immediately!”
“Ch-Chairman!”
The one who calmed Jang Yuguk as Jang Haejin clung to him, begging not to be thrown out, was none other than Choi Suho.
“Dad, I told you I’m fine.”
Jang Haejin stared blankly at Choi Suho, who had destroyed her in an instant, tears streaming down her face.
But as nothing more than a cousin’s daughter, there was nothing she could do. Overnight, she was stripped of her position as suite-floor manager and thrown out along with her belongings that very day.
Jang Yuguk, who had rushed to Liberty University Hospital for heart tests after hearing his son was injured, now seemed to have put too much strain on his heart; he even staggered. Startled by the sight of his father in pain, Choi Suho personally supported him all the way to the Maybach, kissing his cheek and whispering softly.
“Dad, I love you. Go home and get plenty of rest.”
Jang Yuguk clasped his son’s soft hand tightly and said,
“Let’s have dinner together this week. It feels like it’s been far too long since we last ate together. Before you went to college, we used to eat together every weekend… I don’t even remember when that stopped.”
After entering college and living with Do Si-in for three years, he’d ended up neglecting his father. Overwhelmed by guilt, Choi Suho lowered his head deeply, his expression dark.
Spending a lifetime with a recessive Omega like Do Si-in—it had been an absurd dream. While he’d been lost in such empty fantasies, he should’ve treated his father better, made him happier, knowing his life was nearing its end.
Realizing exactly what Choi Suho truly regretted and felt guilty about, Jang Yuguk settled comfortably into the back seat of the Maybach and gently stroked his son’s face, which so closely resembled the Omega he had loved his entire life.
“It’s enough that you understand now.”
With tear-filled eyes, Choi Suho looked at his father and said,
“I’m sorry. And I love you, always.”
“Yes. Dad too.”
“Yes. Goodbye.”
When Choi Suho spoke with a soft, smiling gaze, Jang Yuguk nodded, reassured.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
Until Jang Yuguk’s Maybach disappeared completely from the hotel grounds, Choi Suho stood there, leaning on one crutch, watching with a wistful expression. A chilly wind blew, turning his pale pink peony-like nails bluish, yet he showed no sign of leaving his spot. He looked as though he might turn into a stone statue waiting for his husband.
It was a habit he’d had since childhood.
On weekends, he’d wait three, four hours, wondering when his dad would come. When it was time for his dad to leave, he’d cling to his leg, sobbing and begging him not to go. And once his dad finally left, he’d stare endlessly at the car driving away—
Until his entire body grew cold, or until it burned hot.
Why couldn’t I live with Dad? Dad loves me, so why can’t I be with him?
It had been the same when he was young, and nothing had changed even now. His body and heart were endlessly cold.
Then, a coat warmed by body heat draped over him.
—Suho, aren’t you cold? Why do you always wait outside like this? Wait inside.
At the gentle, soft voice so characteristic of Do Si-in brushing past his ear like a blade, he snapped his head around. The coat that had been resting on his broad shoulders slipped down with a thud.
“Ah…”
But the person meeting his gaze wasn’t Do Si-in—it was Jang Jisu, Ji Haesu, the one who’d caused trouble earlier that morning.
“What the hell. You.”
Not even realizing when he’d lost his crutch, Choi Suho stood at the hotel entrance, supporting himself with only the right one, glaring at Ji Haesu as if he wanted to kill him.
“Who the hell do you think you are, keep—”
“Aren’t you cold?”
Ji Haesu hesitated while holding his fallen cheap coat, but gathered his courage, draping it around Choi Suho’s shoulders and whispering naturally into his ear.
“I figured you wouldn’t wear a padded jacket, given your personality, President…”
In that instant, Choi Suho’s face flushed bright red. Grabbing the coat with one hand, he threw it straight at Ji Haesu’s chest.
“Fuck, I wear long padded coats when I’m cold too, okay? Uh—!”
But then, relying on only one crutch and having moved his arm too violently, his body tilted forward. Choi Suho’s face went pale.
No—my face! Anything but my face!
Trying to protect his handsome, refined face, Choi Suho flung away the crutch and covered his face with both arms—when suddenly, thick arms wrapped around his body.
“Uh…?”
Those arms didn’t just hold him—they pulled him inward, snug against another body. Though Choi Suho had done this to others countless times, it was his first time being on the receiving end. Completely flustered, his body stiffened, unable to move.
Ji Haesu, who had steadied him upright, nearly burst out laughing at how adorable he looked, but instead checked him with a worried expression, even reaching out to touch his face.
That was when Choi Suho finally came to his senses.
“W-what the hell are you doing, you!”
He covered his mouth and cheeks, grumbling as his face turned red like a perfectly ripened persimmon. Thinking, He’s getting cuter by the minute, Ji Haesu reached to steady him again but instead picked up the coat that had rolled onto the ground.
In the meantime, Choi Suho awkwardly hurried back into the hotel, leaning on one crutch. When Ji Haesu called out innocently, “President, are you okay?” Choi Suho responded by raising his hand high and flipping him off.
Seeing that gesture illuminated in the darkness, Ji Haesu turned away, covering his mouth as he laughed silently.
Ah, seriously adorable. Choi Suho.
The way he’s so ruthless to others yet endlessly soft toward his father. The way he secretly craves affection and wavers because of it.
Still, Suho—no matter how cute you are, there’s work that needs to be done, right?
***
It was nice that injuring his left sole earned him two weeks of vacation, but his father’s heightened attention meant Choi Suho had to put his usual hotel-based sex life on hold for the time being. His ambitious plan to fuck Kim Minju and then immediately fuck Ji Haesu went up in smoke overnight, and his desire for Ji Haesu ballooned larger with each passing day.
Especially once Ji Haesu started bringing him medicine morning and night in his immaculate hotelier uniform—and at some point began placing caramel candy directly into his mouth—Choi Suho found himself seized by an intense urge to show him no mercy, to overpower him in one swift motion, and fuck him right there.
But there was a problem. Every time he was consumed by sexual desire—something only human—he got hard.
When he got hard, he fucked. He fucked and thrust relentlessly. And since his hobby was cumming while watching the pain contort someone’s face, he deliberately knotted and came inside both Alphas and recessive Omegas alike.
