MW 23

His face showed no sign that he thought his actions were wrong. Jaeha, meeting those dark eyes, brushed his hair back as if to say “fine” and spoke.

“Right. I wanted to tell you before it got too late, so this is good. Let’s call off our engagement.”

“What? Are you saying you’re going to scrap the engagement over some insignificant kid?”

“He may be an ‘insignificant kid’ to you, but not to me.”

“Ha, so what, you’re in love with him or something?”

“……Yes.”

Jaeha admitted his feelings. A look of contempt seeped into his eyes as he looked at Dohae. Suppressing his emotions as much as possible, he continued in a flat, unembellished voice.

“Sejin will be contacted soon. Just know that, and I’ll be on my way.”

“You’re calling off the engagement now? I’ll never let that happen.”

Dohae urgently snatched Jaeha’s arm, his eyes gleaming with rage.

“If my engagement with you is canceled, I’m going to kill Seo Yijae.”

“Gu Dohae.”

“He can’t escape our house anyway!”

Dohae, shouting with a strained neck as if putting on a brave front, pulled his lips into a bitter smirk and spoke viciously.

“Want to bet on whether I can kill him or not? Should we give it a try?”

Dohae was confident. He knew better than anyone that Seo Yijae’s life hung on his every word.

It was true now, and it was true in the past; Seo Yijae was the type who trembled in fear that his mother might not receive treatment and couldn’t say a word.

“I can understand since it’s before the engagement. So, you should stop there and end it.”

Taking in Jaeha’s horribly contorted expression, Dohae smiled confidently as if he had seized victory. He straightened Jaeha’s frozen tie and whispered softly in his ear.

“Unless you want to see Seo Yijae dead.”

“……”

Slowly pulling away, he swallowed a laugh and turned, exiting the hallway. As he walked through the dark space, his face grew chillingly cold.

Once in his car, Dohae let out a murky breath and looked down at his hand, which was stained red with blood under his palm.

Then, clenching his fist, he slammed it hard on the steering wheel, biting his lip as he closed his eyes.

‘I’ll never lose you to him.’

His life had been one where everything, his birth parents’ choice, his status as a dominant Omega, had been stolen by Seo Yijae.

So this time, he absolutely could not have it taken away. Gritting his teeth, Dohae drove off, exhaling increasingly hot breaths due to the side effects of the procedure.

⁺₊❆₊⋆

BANG!

“Hk!”

Yijae, who had been lightly asleep, was startled awake by a loud noise that pierced his ears like a clap of thunder and shot up.

“Who’s th… Gu Dohae?”

“Hey.”

Dohae, dressed to the nines in nice clothes as if he had been out, stood with the door open. What in the world is going on at this hour?

“Dohae, what brings you here at this time….”

This hadn’t happened recently. Had he been drinking and come to find him in a fit of anger? Yijae’s trembling fingers clutched the edge of the blanket, covering his body. Dohae, seeing this, let out a small, mocking laugh.

“Seo Yijae. Do you think you’re all that?”

“Do-hae.”

His speech was slurred and his pupils were cloudy; he was not in his right mind. Had he taken drugs again? On the days he came back from the hospital, Dohae would often come to him, high on medication.

‘I have to run.’

Through five years of experience, Yijae knew well that this was the most dangerous moment. His eyes grew frantic, instinctively searching for an exit to survive.

But Dohae strode forward and, in the next moment, grabbed Yijae’s hair and shouted.

“I asked, do you think you’re all that! I never should have brought someone like you here. No, you should have never been born.”

“Ugh, Dohae…!”

“If you hadn’t, you would have never met Kang Jaeha!”

“I’m sor-, heuk, I’m sorry! Keoheuk, let me go…!”

“If you ruin my engagement, I’ll really kill you. I’m going to kill both you and your mother!”

Dohae climbed on top of Yijae’s body, wrapping his hands around his slender neck and choking him. As his breath was cut off by the strong force, Yijae struggled.

Geuk, kkeuk. Just as Yijae’s body was going limp with intermittent groans, the sound of something shattering, clang, was heard.

“Ugh!”

“Huu. Heuk!”

Pushing Dohae off to save his own life, Yijae scrambled up and fled the room as if escaping. Barefoot, he ran past the front door and out of the house, moving his feet wherever his body led him, not knowing where he was going.

“Heok, heok.”

The door creaked shut, and Yijae hid himself in a dark, unlit space, panting for breath.

“Heo-eo, heu, heuk, Mom….”

Tears, brought on by the relief of being alive, streamed down his cheeks. He had ended up back in his old home, where he wrapped his arms around himself and burst into sorrowful sobs.

Perhaps this was the place where he truly belonged. Wanting to go to school, wanting to make friends, having feelings for someone, it was all his own greed.

And so, Yijae cried until dawn, as if pouring out the grief that remained deep in his heart.

.
.
.

“Ah….”

It seemed he had briefly passed out, leaning against the wall. The moment he opened his eyes, he felt a stinging pain in his throat.

Yijae unconsciously raised a hand to his neck and winced at the soreness of his skin.

‘Ah, last night Dohae….’

Letting out a long sigh, Yijae got up and walked with familiar steps into the bathroom.

The inside was not much different from when he used to live here. No, it was exactly the same. Yijae stared blankly at the small bathroom, still without a washing machine, and at a cockroach that scurried away from him. He turned his gaze and stared at the dark red handprints on the neck of his pathetic reflection in the mirror. They were so clear that anyone could tell he had been choked.

“Ut….”

Yijae grimaced at the worse-than-expected injury as he rubbed his fingers over it. Taking a deep breath, he washed the skin where blood had dried from Dohae’s fingernail scratches.

After quickly washing himself with the remaining toiletries, Yijae checked the time and saw he didn’t have much time left before school, letting out a long sigh.

“I don’t want to go….”

He was scared to go to the main house and run into Dohae. He was afraid that, just like yesterday, Dohae would choke him and threaten him with his mother’s life to make him stop seeing Jaeha.

Ever since that day three years ago, Dohae had always threatened to stop his mother’s treatment whenever he didn’t listen to him.

‘This time, it might be for real.’

But this time, he felt that Dohae might genuinely mean it. Because he loved Jaeha. With the engagement approaching, it made sense. Even though he could understand it perfectly, his heart still ached.

‘No. I have to be the one to stop. They’re about to be engaged, I can’t be greedy anymore.’

Yijae clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly, resolving to never harbor feelings for Jaeha.

It was a relationship that would end after this class was over. It had to be just a fleeting connection like that.

Tiptoeing like a stray cat, Yijae entered the main house, heading to his room without making a single sound. He entered through the already wide-open door, quickly grabbed only what he immediately needed, and left the house.

“Cough.”

Yijae covered his mouth as an intermittent cough burst out. It seemed his body couldn’t withstand the cold, as he had come out last night wearing only thin pajamas.

Yijae rummaged through his bag to find some cold medicine and put it in his pocket, intending to take it as soon as he got to school.

The tension in his body eased in the warm air. Had his body gotten weaker? His head throbbed, and the breath he exhaled was hot.

“Cough, cough!”

After getting on the bus, Yijae covered his mouth with his hand and coughed, worried about bothering others. It wouldn’t stop easily, so he covered his face with both hands and held his breath, closing his eyes against the stares he could feel on him.