Chapter 42: Each Perspective I

Dragged by Yeon-chae, who had seized his wrist, Yoonwoo was pulled into his car. Yeon-chae drove with his left hand on the wheel, while his right arm stretched out, gently comforting Yoonwoo.

He had sobbed until his eyes were swollen shut, convinced he couldn’t cry another tear, and gradually, his heart began to settle.

It was the first time in his life he had ever cried with such abandon.

Only after letting it all out did he realize the depth of the fear he had carried all this time.

Feeling somewhat better, Yoonwoo glanced at Yeon-chae, whose right hand was clasped over Yoonwoo’s left, and was startled by what he saw.

Yeon-chae’s slender profile was starkly pale.

His fair, smooth cheeks were ashen, and his lower lip, bitten raw, was a mangled mess. Yoonwoo’s barely improved mood plummeted once more.

Yeon-chae, who had been constantly reassuring Yoonwoo that he was fine, looked anything but.

‘The news of the pregnancy must have been a shock, after all,’ Yoonwoo thought, feeling utterly deflated. ‘He said not to worry. He said he’d handle everything.’

A deep resentment, which he had kept hidden in his heart, suddenly reared its head. ‘Whose fault is this, yet he suddenly changes his tune like that? How could he do this?’

Strictly speaking, Yeon-chae, consumed by rut, had pushed him away, pleading for him to leave. Yet Yoonwoo had stubbornly remained, leading to the unfortunate incident. In truth, this entire situation was almost 98% Yoonwoo’s fault.

Yeon-chae, far from changing his words, hadn’t even uttered a single one yet. However, in Yoonwoo’s mind, seething with anger, such logical considerations held no power.

While Yoonwoo stewed in his thoughts, the car arrived at its destination.

He looked up and surveyed his surroundings, realizing they were in front of the obstetrics and gynecology clinic at the general hospital Yeon-chae had taken him to before.

Realizing Yeon-chae’s intention, Yoonwoo’s heart sank even further. It seemed Yeon-chae didn’t trust his words and intended to have a proper examination done.

Yoonwoo had already come here once by himself, but he didn’t want to show it. To explain, ‘I already had all the tests done last time, and they confirmed the pregnancy,’ felt too drawn-out and pathetic.

Yoonwoo tried to be resolute, clamping his lips shut.

“We’re here, Senior.”

“…”

However, the moment he heard Yeon-chae’s gentle voice (clearly an attempt to sound so), the simmering rage in his stomach could no longer be contained and erupted.

Yoonwoo whirled around to face Yeon-chae, his eyes blazing.

Startled by his intensity, Yeon-chae’s eyes widened.

“I already had tests done. They confirmed it.”

The abrupt, blunt reply burst out. At first, Yeon-chae looked bewildered, not understanding what he meant, but soon his face turned stark white.

It seemed he had desperately hoped it wasn’t a pregnancy.

“Hey, don’t make that face…”

Yoonwoo retorted weakly.

‘When I think about it, it’s only natural,’ Yoonwoo mused. Yoonwoo wasn’t Yeon-chae’s spouse or even his lover; he was merely someone Yeon-chae had spent one night with due to a sudden rut.

Moreover, Yeon-chae had practically been ‘pounced on’ by Yoonwoo, who had stubbornly refused to leave despite Yeon-chae trying to send him away.

‘He must regret it,’ he thought. ‘If I hadn’t gotten so drunk that day, things wouldn’t have come to this.’

Yoonwoo, lamenting his situation, blamed that troublesome senior who had forced drinks on him that day. ‘It’s all because of him. Because of him, I pounced on a junior in rut…’

In any case, the news of Yoonwoo’s pregnancy must have been a bolt from the blue for twenty-one-year-old Yeon-chae.

Rather than feeling hurt or sorrowful, Yoonwoo felt a complex mix of emotions. The way Yeon-chae had comforted him, saying it was okay, had been unexpectedly, excessively gentle.

‘That’s why, in such a short time, I must have come to rely on Yeon-chae too much. I shouldn’t have.’

Yoonwoo, in any case, had no intention of having this baby. He had been on his way out of the house to arrange a consultation and schedule the procedure.

‘There’s no need for unnecessary emotional expenditure when our understandings align.’ Yoonwoo reconsidered his anger towards Yeon-chae.

Yoonwoo roughly shook off his unexpected disappointment and anger. He was about to vaguely assure Yeon-chae that he would handle it and not to worry.

Yeon-chae, who had been hesitating all this time, finally spoke, his voice hoarse.

“Beta pregnancies… I heard they’re very dangerous.”

“Hm?”

It was an odd thing to say. As Yoonwoo narrowed his brows and looked at him, Yeon-chae also raised his head.

His face, fixed steadily on Yoonwoo, was utterly bloodless, as if he were on the verge of death. Yeon-chae’s lips trembled as he stammered out each word.

“I looked it up briefly earlier, and it said that it’s hard for the baby to survive, but the mother… is in very grave danger.”

“Oh…”

It was true. Just recently, Yoonwoo himself had agonized over that very issue.

However, since Yoonwoo had presented as an Omega, albeit a recessive one, he didn’t need to worry about that particular problem.

The obstetrician had also said that if the Alpha father of the baby was by his side, there would be no particular complications.

A sudden realization struck Yoonwoo as he thought this far. It was because a crucial fact, which he had completely forgotten in his distress, suddenly came to mind.

“Hey, Yeon-chae.”

“I was going to follow whatever decision Senior made, but…”

Yoonwoo’s hesitant voice, struggling to get the words out, was cut off by Yeon-chae. Though his face was pale, his expression was resolute.

Yoonwoo grew a little more anxious.

“Senior being in danger, that’s unacceptable. We should consult with a doctor first, but…”

“That’s not it, Yeon-chae.”

“It might be difficult, but the baby… if it puts Senior in danger, then, we’ll have to… ab-abort it…”

Yeon-chae, who had been struggling to continue, clamped his mouth shut. Moisture welled up in his light-colored eyes.

Completely flustered, Yoonwoo reached out both arms and firmly grasped Yeon-chae’s cheeks. He was afraid Yeon-chae would start crying again like a faucet.

“Yeon-chae, just listen to me first. What happened is…”

“I’m sorry, Senior. Truly… I never imagined things would turn out like this…”

‘Of course he wouldn’t have known. He probably never even imagined being pounced on by me in the first place,’ Yoonwoo thought.

“No, that’s not it. It’s just that, well, while it’s theoretically possible for a male beta to get pregnant, it almost never happens in reality, Yeon-chae.”

“I saw that too. It said it’s because the mortality rate is too high…”

His low voice was already thick with unshed tears. As Yeon-chae showed signs of breaking down, Yoonwoo grew even more desperate.

He’d already seen enough tears for one day from both of them. Unable to bear it any longer, Yoonwoo quickly skipped past the introductions he had planned in his head and simply blurted out the main point.

“Oh, but that doesn’t apply to me. Because I’m an Omega, you see. Even though my designation is weak, the doctor said there wouldn’t be much impact if you were just by my side!”

“…What?”

The effect was immediate and profound. Yeon-chae stared blankly at Yoonwoo, his tears instantly forgotten.

“…An Omega?”

Perhaps it was too much information to process in one day. But Yoonwoo couldn’t let Yeon-chae spiral into such extremes on his own, so he offered an awkward, helpless smile.

“Yeah. Turns out I presented at the end of last year. It was so recessive that I barely had any symptoms during the presentation, and even afterward, I was practically indistinguishable from a beta, so I didn’t know.”

“But even a recessive Omega is still an Omega, so pregnancy isn’t particularly dangerous… Oh, did I not tell you? Hahaha… Haha…”

“…”

His lips twitched uncontrollably from his strained laughter. Yet, inwardly, he felt a sense of relief.

‘So, it wasn’t the pregnancy itself that made him so pale with dread,’ Yoonwoo thought. He recalled the first time he’d read the terrifying explanations about beta pregnancies.

Without knowing the full context, seeing words like stillbirth and mortality rates, it was understandable that Yeon-chae had been terrified.

Feeling significantly better, Yoonwoo subtly observed Yeon-chae out of the corner of his eye. As if overloaded, Yeon-chae remained silent, his face blank.

His heart pounded as he waited for a response. ‘I don’t plan to have the baby, but I hope Yeon-chae doesn’t hate it,’ he thought, his feelings tangled like a complex knot of threads in his mind.

But all this time, he’d had a persistent feeling that he was missing something important.

“If you… presented as an Omega, then pregnancy… isn’t dangerous? Even when the baby is born?”

“Hm?”

‘The baby is born?’

Yeon-chae continued hesitantly. At some point, the tips of his ears had turned bright red. Even his previously bloodless cheeks now had a rosy, apple-like flush.

“Just now, Senior said the doctor mentioned it would be fine if I was by your side… And it’s much more stable when you receive the baby’s father’s pheromones, isn’t it? Right?”

“…Baby’s father?”

He had called Yeon-chae “the baby’s father” a few times to himself, but to hear it from someone else’s mouth… especially Yeon-chae’s own mouth… was a first.

Yoonwoo’s expression, as he stared intently at Yeon-chae subtly implying he was the baby’s father, changed dynamically.

He finally understood what he had been missing.

“You…”

“Yes?”

“Do you remember that day?!”