SATURDAY 31

“Mr. Taeseon…. Ack!”

Before the medication could even take effect, I struggled to embrace Mr. Taeseon and try to kiss him. Mr. Taeseon grabbed a handful of my hair and yanked it back. A dull pain throbbed through my head, which was already aching with a headache. Mr. Taeseon threw my body onto the floor just like that.

“Ugh….”

Tears spilled out uncontrollably from the pain and embarrassment.

“It seems you don’t even know how to be ashamed.”

“Tae, Taeseon….”

“How many times have I told you not to call me Mr. Taeseon?”

“But….”

But you are my Mr. Taeseon, so what else should I call you?

My still-dazed mind couldn’t think of anything else. I couldn’t understand why I was being rejected by Mr. Taeseon. My whole body ached. My stomach, in particular, felt very tight and heavy.

Even so, I was filled only with the thought of wanting to be held by him; truly, Omegas and Alphas were an exhausting lot.

It felt as though I had fainted for a moment. Or perhaps I had simply closed and opened my eyes. It was when the effects of the suppressant slowly began to kick in.

A burning heat rose to my face.

“….”

“It seems you’re finally coming to your senses.”

“I’m—I’m so, sorry, I….”

“What do you think you were doing to me? There’s no way your rut would suddenly return. And then, as if you were waiting, you’re in heat? That’s not even funny.”

I couldn’t lift my head. I was so embarrassed and ashamed that I wanted to sink right into the floor.

“Truly shameless, and without a lick of modesty.”

Mr. Taeseon lightly slapped my cheek twice as I sat there blankly. At the second slap, my body tumbled over sideways. After wiping his hands with a handkerchief, he tossed the handkerchief toward me, stood up, and walked straight out of the room.

Once he left, the tears that had been welling up since earlier burst forth. I picked up the handkerchief Mr. Taeseon had thrown and wiped my tears, wondering if I should return it to him.

Probably not. He had discarded the handkerchief he used to wipe his hands next to me. Like trash. He had wiped his hands because they were stained with my tears.

Unconsciously, I looked for Lili. Lili was nowhere to be seen, having fled somewhere. Fearing he might have gone outside again, I slowly stood up and opened the room door. My heart pounded as I opened the door. Out of fear that I might run into Mr. Taeseon.

Fortunately, there was no one in the hallway. The sexual desire that had felt like it would drive me mad vanished in an instant, but a depression as deep as a bottomless pit surged up in its place.

Without even thinking to wipe the falling tears, I let them drip as I entered the utility room. The door was closed. It seemed the door had been kept locked tight since the last time Lili got out.

“Lili….”

“Woo.”

A small sound came from near the living room sofa. As I approached, Lili was curled up underneath the sofa.

“…I’m sorry, I startled you…. Come out here.”

“Ehh… ung.”

Lili slowly crawled out. Holding Lili in my arms, I looked at the sofa. Mr. Taeseon’s pheromones remained thick on the sofa, and I could still feel them.

Holding Lili, I found some deodorizer and sprayed it on the sofa. I didn’t want to suffer through the same situation again.

Fortunately, there was deodorizer all over the house. Mr. Taeseon must have prepared it. What he was feeling when he prepared this deodorizer… honestly, I didn’t want to think about it deeply.

I stared at the deodorizer bottle with melancholy eyes before putting it back in its place.

∞ ∞ ∞

The incident occurred a few days later.

Unusually, the house was bustling. This was because the preparations for the wedding, which was now right around the corner, had to be made. Today was the fitting for the wedding attire. Mr. Taeseon was away from the house, saying he had a meeting.

The wedding clothes had been prepared long ago, but it seemed Inha’s frame had lost a lot of weight and needed alterations; even Mr. Taeseon’s clothing size had to be taken in slightly.

However, since the wedding clothes were originally tailored to me, I thought they would need to be lengthened to fit Inha’s height, but strangely, the length was a perfect fit.

I decided to be the first to try on the newly altered clothes. Mr. Taeseon was scheduled to come in the evening for his fitting.

As soon as he confirmed the size was right, he would likely want to clear out this cluttered little dressing room and send everyone away.

Mr. Taeseon had also changed the design of the clothes slightly. It was originally a design I had chosen. Now, to exaggerate a little, it looked almost like fancy mourning clothes. As for me… mine was also a design Mr. Taeseon had picked out for me, and it had been modified to a slightly simpler tone to match him.

The rings were changed too. We decided not to go on a honeymoon, and the design of the formal wear was changed. Even the flowers to be used at the venue were all changed in color at a great expense. The design of the wedding hall was also altered to match the flowers. In that way, every single wedding item that Mr. Taeseon and I had chosen became different.

I shouldn’t let it bother me…. Even though I thought that, I couldn’t help but be bothered. Perhaps because of that, I had been unusually short of breath and dizzy since morning. I think I also had quite a high fever.

In the midst of that, putting on and taking off clothes multiple times was quite a grueling labor. Especially since it was tight wedding attire that I would normally never have a reason to wear. I had to try on three sets of formal wear: for the main ceremony, the reception, and the evening party.

The designer and staff worried as I breathed heavily, but I only repeated that I was fine.

However, from a certain point, my stomach began to ache strangely. As if my internal organs were being torn apart inside my belly.

Because of that, I don’t know how many times I went up to my room during the fittings to take medicine. But no matter how many painkillers I took, the pain did not subside.

Then, it was while I was changing into the evening party outfit. While fastening the last button of the formal wear inside the temporary changing area, my hand kept clawing at the air, missing the mark. I was that dizzy.

I leaned one hand against the wall and trembled, clutching my stomach with the other. Both the hand on the wall and the hand on my stomach shook violently.

Part of me wanted to take off the tight formal wear and say I would rest for a while. However, I was barely holding on with the single thought that it would be better to finish quickly and then rest.

“….”

My breath caught in my throat. My whole body was drenched in cold sweat. I felt that something was wrong. My stomach hurt too much. It was a type of pain I had never felt in my life. It was agonizing beyond words.

“Ugh….”

“Director? Is something wrong?”

“Haah…. Ah…?”

The first thing that entered my sight was myself, having collapsed at some point, and a large amount of blood spreading between my legs. The blood, staining the light-toned formal wear bright red, was shocking beyond mere bewilderment.

And then, an intense pain, like being stabbed with a knife, spread from below.

“Ah, ugh….”

“Director!”

Someone outside yanked the curtain open. Slumped over, I leaned against the wall, shivering and convulsing while breaking out in a cold sweat.

“Call 911, hurry!”

“Director, please pull yourself together, Director!”

The voices of panicked people drifted over my head. Heat began to boil throughout my body. I couldn’t tell if my fingertips and toes were cold or hot. Blood continued to flow from below, and my stomach hurt enough to kill me.

In the midst of that, strangely, I thought of Mr. Taeseon. Realistically, it was only natural that Mr. Taeseon wasn’t here right now. Yet, I felt strangely resentful. Even though I was in this much pain.

I’m hurting, so why isn’t he coming?

Why….

As questions and resentment filled my head, I couldn’t hold on any longer and fainted.

∞ ∞ ∞

In a place I didn’t recognize, I was waiting for an elevator. It was dim and somehow eerie, and there were countless people crowding around me. All of them were silent, their faces strangely stiff.

Without knowing where the elevator was going, I waited endlessly for it to arrive, worried about whether I could properly board among this crowd. The arrival indicator lights flickered alternately.

About four elevators arrived in turn, picking up people and going up or down. Actually, the numbers on the panel were strangely broken, so the floors couldn’t be read. I didn’t know if they were going up or down.

Finally, my turn came, and the doors opened in front of me. About four people were inside, every one of them with their heads bowed. A man dressed in black stood by the buttons and spoke.

Please get on.

I stepped into the elevator as if possessed. The other people outside were staring intently at me. It seemed no one else was getting on. The man in black looked at me as if asking, “Which floor?” I answered instinctively.

Ah…. Basement level 2, please.

That was the floor that came to mind. It was the floor where the hospital examination rooms were. The man pressed the button for basement level 2, and the elevator began to descend slowly. However, the elevator did not stop at basement level 2 and continued to go down.

…?

I looked around wonderingly. No one expressed any doubt. I was about to ask the man, but at that moment, the elevator began to descend—no, plummet—at a tremendous speed.