Chapter 14: Unraveling Threads

Honestly, he hadn’t planned on coming all the way into the room.

He had just stopped by to check if he was okay.

But the careless Omega had swung the door wide open and started acting strangely, which had led him here.

He would have to warn him later.

“Don’t come any closer!”

Noah belatedly realized he had made a ridiculous mistake.

He had acted rashly because he was at ease, his pheromones having calmed down.

To open the door with his own hands and then tell him not to come closer.

Besides, the man was only one step inside the door, while Noah was pressed against the window, the farthest point from the door.

What a discourtesy to a high-ranking person who had helped him.

He was also worried that this might cause trouble for his company.

But…

The moment he saw the man, a chilling sensation ran down his skin, and his pheromones began to leak.

No matter how much he claimed to have strong self-control, an Alpha was an Alpha.

He had no intention of causing another accident, so Noah decided to play the role of the dangerous beast himself.

“I might… pounce on you!”

“What did you say?”

“I’m going to pounce, so get out of here, quickly!”

“Don’t you know that such a statement is even more dangerous?”

“…”

Sh*t… I didn’t think that far ahead.

This was the first time he had been in this kind of situation.

Did Alphas not turn away willing Omegas?

Those promiscuous b*stards.

“Anyway, I’m fine, so please leave!”

“Hah… Do you not know who I am?”

Hah… Noah was dumbfounded by the man’s words.

You gave me your business card earlier.

Are you trying to show me the power trip of a big corporation’s executive now?

He might have acted a little rudely, but wasn’t it better than being accused of trying to seduce him?

Noah took a deep breath and tried to calm his excitement.

“I’m sorry, but please, please leave.”

This time, he changed his strategy and spoke in a pleading tone.

The man’s expression changed in a peculiar way.

He looked a little sad, and also a little tired.

With a small sigh, the man opened the door.

“Let’s see each other again next time.”

Thump.

As the door closed with a heavy sound, Noah’s heart began to pound loudly, like an echo of the door’s thud.

The man’s final expression bothered him a little.

“Over here!”

Seungho, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time, raised his hand high.

He looked like a big dog, grinning foolishly.

He hadn’t changed at all.

Noah hesitated before approaching the table where Seungho was sitting.

He was prepared to bolt if his pheromones reacted to meeting Seungho.

“You’re still pretty.”

“I told you not to say things like that.”

Having confirmed that his pheromones weren’t leaking, a relieved Noah sat down in the opposite chair and chided Seungho.

Even though he always scolded him for making such cheesy remarks, Seungho paid him no mind.

He was the type of guy who would probably drag him to the marriage registration office if he were to say “let’s get married” right now.

That’s why he couldn’t give him any room.

Seungho was a friend who had been with him through difficult times, a person he wanted to see for a long time.

“So you can see me if you take your medicine?”

“Yeah, looks like it. You can’t smell my pheromones, right?”

“…That’s a shame.”

“What’s a shame, you punk.”

It had been a while since they had seen each other, but since they had been in frequent contact, there was no awkwardness at all.

They ordered a simple meal and were having a lighthearted conversation when Seungho’s phone rang.

“Mom. Yes, ah… you’re outside?”

Following Seungho’s gaze, he saw a middle-aged woman waving from the back seat of a luxury sedan outside the window.

At Seungho’s words, “my mom,” Noah bowed his head in greeting.

“What should I do? My mom said she saw us while passing by. She wants to say hello for a moment, is that okay?”

“Huh? Sure.”

Seungho’s tone was extremely stiff and unnatural.

It was clearly a fabricated situation.

He was flustered, but there was no reason to be reluctant to meet a friend’s mother.

If there was some ulterior motive to this situation, it was a simple matter of crushing Seungho after his mother left.

“When he said she was a Dominant Omega, I thought he was joking, but I could tell at a glance.”

At his mother’s summons, the entire family had gathered at the main house for dinner for the first time in a long time.

It was a meal they were all sharing together for the first time in almost half a year.

It used to be a monthly gathering, but after the major incident of Hanjoo, who was considered the family’s heir, imprinting and breaking off his engagement, everyone had gradually started to avoid the gathering for their own reasons, and it had fizzled out.

Today, the atmosphere was different from the moment he entered the house.

It seemed that the youngest, Seungho, who had been living a profligate life with no interest in the family business, had introduced an Omega he wanted to marry to his mother.

“Dominant?”

He was naturally reminded of his Omega.

He had searched the entire country for a Dominant Omega for years, but had failed.

Remembering that he himself had studied abroad in the US for a while because of his own Dominant secondary gender, he had even inquired at Omega schools in foreign countries, but he couldn’t find him anywhere.

How on earth had he lived?

“Honey. The child is so pretty, you know. And you have no idea how spunky she was.”

“She’s really pretty, right? I had my eye on her in high school, but I couldn’t date her because I went to study abroad then. I should have snatched her up then. To meet her again. Anyway, we’re destined.”

“Destined, my foot. Lee Seungho.”

As Seungho chimed in with his mother’s reaction, who seemed to have taken a liking to his younger brother’s Omega, Seonju, the eldest daughter and Hanjoo’s twin sister, glared at him.

“Noona. Your younger brother has met his fated partner, and you’re going to rain on his parade?”

“Hmph! I saw you entering a hotel with two Omegas the other day, and now this, all of a sudden?”

“Ah! That kind of thing!”

How can you talk about that here?

It seemed to be a difficult topic, as Seungho’s voice gradually trailed off.

“Well, we’re not dating yet. She has a child.”

“What?”

Hanjoo clicked his tongue.

An Omega with a child, and they’re not even dating, but he wants to get married, and he’s going to keep playing around as he always has?

He was a kid who was still far from growing up, even after introducing her to his mother, saying he wanted to get married.

He had caused so much trouble in high school that they had sent him to a strict boarding school abroad, but he had thoroughly disgraced the family there too and had been kicked out.

Now that time had passed and he wasn’t causing any visible trouble, he thought he was doing well, but he was still the same.

“She was so sensitive after giving birth that I haven’t been able to see her for years. Now that she’s doing a little better, she’s showing her face. I’m going to start dating her now.”

“That’s right. Seungho used to bring me peanuts, which I love, all the time, but it turns out he was bringing them for that child’s morning sickness. That much sincerity is enough.”

“Yes. Noah ate peanuts well, just like Mom. That’s why the baby’s nickname was Peanut.”

“What did you say?”

The name that had just passed his brother’s lips was definitely Noah.

An uncommon name.

Hanjoo wanted to believe he had misheard.

“Peanut.”

“No, the Omega’s name.”

“Noah. Yunoah. Do you know him, hyung?”

“…”

This is absurd.

The person his brother wants to marry is his Omega?

It had been less than a day since he had learned his Omega’s name was Yunoah.

And a child, too.

He had suspected that thanks to the Omega in heat, he too had gone through a rut again that night.

It had been around the end of his rut.

No way…

“It’s a shame about the child, but since she’s a Dominant Omega, I would have no other wish if she were to pair up with Seungho and give me a Dominant Alpha grandchild. It’s a great relief in this situation, isn’t it? Don’t you think so too, honey?”

His father, who had been observing the conversation between his mother and siblings, nodded once in agreement with his wife’s opinion.

Empowered by her husband’s support, Kim Soojung, the mistress of the house, looked at her eldest daughter and eldest son, the twins, with a displeased expression.

The eldest daughter, Seonju, had been dating a Beta for 10 years.

Seonju was also an Alpha, but not a Dominant.

When it was revealed that Hanjoo was unlikely to carry on the family line due to his imprinting, the family had been turned upside down with pressure on Seonju to break up with her partner and marry an Omega.

Fortunately, Seonju had anticipated all the opposition and was thoroughly prepared, so the financial pressure didn’t work at all, but the family atmosphere was still tense.

But for Seonju, the fact that her reckless and recessive younger brother, from whom she had expected nothing, was bringing in a Dominant Omega was not a bad thing.

“Lee Seungho. Let’s talk for a moment.”

He had to confirm what kind of relationship they had.

From the crack of dawn, text messages began to pile up on his phone.

They were all from Seungho.

It was because he had lashed out at him in a fit of anger after the sudden dinner with his mother.

Seungho’s mother, whom he had met and even had dinner with yesterday, was a very elegant and kind woman, as befitting the wife of a chaebol.

But she had subtly tried to pair him up with Seungho, and his resolve to treat her comfortably as a friend’s mother had crumbled in an instant.

It was the first time since his morning sickness that he had been so stressed all day that he couldn’t even eat properly.

He wanted to tell his mother that he and Seungho were not in any kind of relationship, but Seungho kept signaling him not to, so he held back for the time being.

He had planned to bring a storm of fury after his mother left, but Seungho, sensing his mood, had taken his mother and left.

He couldn’t believe it.

He entered the chat to turn off the message notifications and was looking at what he was saying with hazy eyes when he felt a wriggling movement next to him.

“Baby, are you awake?”

“Good morning.”

That useless Lee Seungho.

He was already worried that Peanut didn’t sleep much.

They say young children need a lot of sleep to grow well.

Since his second birthday, it was rare for the child to even take a nap.

He had just woken up, his hair messy like cotton candy and his eyes sparkling, so he sat him in his lap and opened Seungho’s message window, which he had been about to check.

The number indicating that the message had been read soon disappeared, and when there was no reply, he started to panic.

Peanut, who was staring at the one-sided conversation scrolling up, said.

“Sorry?”

“Wow. Peanut, you can read Hangul?”

“Why should be sorry?”

They say five-year-olds sometimes start learning Hangul, but Noah hadn’t taught him yet.

He would be going to kindergarten next year, so he thought it wouldn’t be too late to start then.

Still, had his daily reading of fairy tales paid off?

A sense of pride welled up, and he smiled brightly as he looked at the child’s face, but something was strange.

Why that displeased expression?

“Hmm? Peanut, why are you angry?”

“No, I’m not.”

The child slipped out of his embrace, and with a prim expression, got off the bed and opened the door.

When he asked, “Where are you going,” his reply of “Pee-pee” showed that he was still very much a baby.