Chapter 51: The Unveiled Secret

‘That place…’

The hotel he had named as their destination to the driver was *that* one.

It was the very hotel where Han Jung-woo had accepted Yoo Seo-jin’s persistent one-night stand proposition, not long after I had possessed this body.

The moment I heard the dubious location, I instinctively reached for the car door, but of course, it was locked.

“Let me out right now.”

“I told you to keep your mouth shut, didn’t I?”

“I have no more business with Han Jung-woo.”

“But I still do.”

Our relationship had ended in that distant foreign country.

More than a month had passed since then, neither of us seeking the other, a period long enough to shed any lingering attachments.

I had naturally assumed he felt the same, but it seemed I was entirely mistaken.

Why, just why…? Unanswerable questions flooded my mind, offering no solace.

“If you were going to come anyway… why didn’t you come with me?”

His hand, unable to reach me, grasped only empty air as he pulled away.

Even seeing the slight tremor in his fingertips, my expression remained unchanged as I answered firmly.

“Because there was no reason for me to come with you.”

“Because we’re nothing to each other?”

I remained silent, but my silence seemed to be a sufficient answer, as he let out a weak, humorless laugh.

Just as I was about to ask him to let me out of the car again, merciless pheromones flooded the confined space.

“Ugh…”

“Let’s go quietly. It’ll be better for both of us.”

While a partner alpha’s pheromones were said to be necessary for stability in early pregnancy, this excessive amount was detrimental.

For the sake of the child, I needed to calm Han Jung-woo down, at least for now.

But how?

It wouldn’t be easy to calm someone so utterly unreasonable.

After much deliberation, I decided to play the card I least wanted to use.

“I’ll go if you promise not to do anything.”

For now, I decided to go to the hotel as Han Jung-woo wished.

However, only conversation, without any physical contact—that was the absolute maximum I could allow him.

“Very well.”

After a moment of thought, he retracted his pheromones.

I exhaled a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding, then hastily threw open the window.

A cool breeze swept in, pushing out Han Jung-woo’s pheromones that had saturated the confined space.

A fleeting thought that I might miss the slowly fading scent crossed my mind, but I kept the window open until the car’s interior was purified by the fresh air.

For a long time after that, neither of us spoke.

****

Upon entering the room, he immediately shed his jacket.

Startled by his sudden disrobing, I flinched, but he quickly reassured me that nothing untoward would happen.

After confirming that no one was guarding the door, meaning I could leave at any time, I stood awkwardly a good distance away from him.

As he loosened the tie around his neck, he caught sight of me and let out a soft laugh.

“Why, are you afraid I’m going to devour you?”

Unable to deny it, I opted for silence.

Fortunately, he seemed more relaxed than before and did not try to close the distance between us.

This distance was just right.

“Would you like a drink?”

He asked, pulling a bottle of wine from the mini-bar.

Normally, I would have readily accepted any offer of alcohol, but now there was a reason I couldn’t.

“Yoo Seo-jin, didn’t you like alcohol?”

“My body hasn’t been well lately, so I’ve stopped.”

It was a perfectly natural excuse, one anyone would believe.

Fortunately, he didn’t seem to harbor any particular suspicion.

With a casual shrug at my refusal, he quickly emptied his glass and refilled it.

“If you have anything to say, say it all now.”

‘So we won’t have to see each other again.’

I didn’t need to add the unspoken part.

Yet, seeing his face crumple without resistance, my meaning seemed to have been perfectly clear.

“This feels, rather disgusting.”

He muttered to himself, then set down his empty glass and moved swiftly.

Feeling threatened, I tried to escape through the exit I had mentally secured, but he caught me, forcing me onto a nearby sofa.

“Ugh.”

With the sofa at my back and him in front, I was completely trapped.

I instinctively curled my body away from the steadily approaching Han Jung-woo, sending him a warning with my pheromones to come no closer.

It seemed to be of little use, however.

“You said you wouldn’t do anything.”

“And I haven’t, have I?”

His brazen attitude elicited only an incredulous laugh from me.

I almost asked what exactly *would* qualify as ‘doing something’ if this didn’t, but then I stopped myself.

He might just decide to show me.

‘This bastard is certainly capable of it.’

I bit back the words I wanted to say, relaxing the intensity in my glare.

I hadn’t come all this way to waste emotional energy.

I was here to sever this cursed bond.

“I had a lot of questions I wanted to ask Yoo Seo-jin, you know? Like, why you left without a word…”

His voice trailed off, and he offered a faint smile.

The truth was, I had just heard the news that my mother had collapsed, leaving me no room to care about anything else.

Not Han Jung-woo, not Jae-hyun, not anyone.

I could explain the situation even now, but there was no need to for Han Jung-woo, with whom I shared no relationship anymore.

He watched me, my lips pressed firmly together, then added one more remark.

“But now, there’s no need for that.”

His face, which had been dark moments ago, brightened as he showed me something.

Held proudly in his hand was a pregnancy logbook, boldly emblazoned with my name: ‘Yoo Seo-jin, Expecting Parent.’

‘Why is that in Han Jung-woo’s hand?’

“You seem quite flustered.”

He saw my helplessly trembling eyes and let out a soft laugh.

I tried to feign indifference belatedly, but my agitation was impossible to hide.

How could I calm down when I had been caught with the very thing Han Jung-woo should never have discovered?

‘No, it’s still alright.’

Fortunately, just looking at the pregnancy logbook wouldn’t reveal who the child’s father was.

So, if I could just talk my way out of it, I might be able to navigate this situation, and I clung to that hope.

“Four weeks into pregnancy, the timing seems to fit perfectly.”

In the meantime, he rummaged through the pregnancy logbook and pulled out an ultrasound photo tucked inside.

Flustered, I tried to snatch the photo, but he lifted his hand high, thwarting my attempt.

“Four weeks means about a month ago, which is exactly when…”

“What happened a month ago?”

“Did you forget so quickly? You and I fucked, Yoo Seo-jin.”

Han Jung-woo was already certain.

He was sure the child in my belly was his.

My heart, sensing impending doom, began to pound twice as fast as before.

“So, Han Jung-woo, are you trying to say this child is yours?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Just looking at the timing—”

“What a ridiculous misconception.”

I scoffed at his certainty.

Then, I reminded him that a dissolute Yoo Seo-jin would certainly have had relations with others besides Han Jung-woo during that period.

Of course, both Han Jung-woo and Yoo Seo-jin were birds of a feather, yet, ironically, Han Jung-woo intensely detested the frivolous side of Yoo Seo-jin.

Thus, by reminding him of the Yoo Seo-jin he despised, I hoped Han Jung-woo would misunderstand me as being the same as before.

That way, his attention would be diverted from the child in my belly.

‘Please let this work.’

I didn’t want to be entangled with him any further.

He was the kind of person who would abandon me the moment he met Jung Hee-soo, so this ill-fated connection had to end here.

For my sake, and for the sake of the child who would one day be born.

“So, what Yoo Seo-jin is saying is, there was another bastard besides me at that time?”

Fortunately, my strategy seemed to have worked; his face, which had been smiling moments ago, was now fiercely rigid.

Now, it was his turn to cast me out, disgusted with me, telling me never to appear before him again.

“There were no alphas who approached the resort for two weeks, so, pass.”

He suddenly began speaking in an incomprehensible manner, but he didn’t cast me out.

I, who was preparing a tearful performance, continued to listen to his muttered monologue, searching for the right timing.

“For three weeks after returning home, mostly secluded at home, bought a phone at a department store with Jae-hyun then went straight home, visited a family medicine clinic near home a few days later, moved to the obstetrics and gynecology clinic next door 30 minutes later. And today, a revisit to the OB-GYN.”

What Han Jung-woo was rattling off was my movements for the entire month after returning to the country.

He had never once sought me out, so I had assumed he had completely forgotten about me, but it seemed that was not the case at all.

Even so, I had never expected him to be watching me so tenaciously… my mind went blank.

“During this entire process, there was no contact whatsoever with any alphas other than family and Jae-hyun.”

He tilted his chin, as if daring me to make an excuse.

Realizing that a clumsy lie wouldn’t work, I couldn’t offer any defense.

It was his complete victory.

“Even after all this, you’re still saying you have nothing to do with me?”