V1C3 Part2

That day had been an ordinary day, no different at all from the other days.

Eun-woo saw his parents leaving the house and greeted them brightly. He did so to relieve them of their worry of leaving the young Eun-woo alone at home.

But if he was in the second year of middle school, he could be considered all grown up now. So what were they so worried about?

Unaware of his parents' feelings, Eun-woo deliberately put on a brighter face.

"Have a safe trip."

Then, his parents, who were wearing their shoes at the front foyer, looked back at Eun-woo. They made an apologetic face, as their young son looked at them with a smile on his face, and then they said.

"Eun-woo. We'll call you when we get there."

"You must not open the door or anything if someone comes by."

"Okay. Don't worry."

But as if their feet were stuck to the ground, his parents kept hesitating by the front foyer, and Eun-woo rushed them and saw them off with a smile. He waved until they left and the door closed. He thought he was all grown up now, but did he still look like a child in his parents' eyes? Eun-woo shook his head while locking the front door and went back inside the house.

Since his exams started right after the weekend, Eun-woo's desk was in a mess, his textbooks and workbooks all scattered around. He resumed his study, rummaging through the reference books he had been looking at just until a while ago.

Only the scratching sound of a mechanical pencil and the sound of the clock hands ticking away filled the room for a long time. Hours later, Eun-woo rose from his seat, kneading his stiff neck with one hand. His clock was already pointing at the late afternoon.

Should I get something to eat? Eun-woo went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. There was a pile of side dishes made by Eun-woo's mother inside. Did she make it for him to eat it all alone over the weekend? Eun-woo looked at them with slightly aghast eyes.

He took a quick glance at the side dishes, of which a major part he most certainly would not eat, and took milk and bread out of the refrigerator. When his parents weren't watching over him, he never fed himself well enough, and that's why they were so worried about him. But Eun-woo didn't know about that.

For him, eating just enough to fill his hungry stomach was good.

He unpacked the bag of bread and turned on the TV for a little diversion. A rebroadcast of an entertainment show was airing just in time, so he slowly chewed his bread while watching the show. He laughed at the celebrities' jokes from time to time, and gulped down his white milk when he choked.

After a while, when he was somewhat full, Eun-woo stuffed all the bread he was eating into his mouth and tied up the bag. He also turned off the entertainment show that was almost over. He pondered a little over his leftover milk and put it back in the refrigerator with the bag of bread.

Well, I can drink it back when I get thirsty later. He didn't put much thought on it and started going back to his room to study.

Ring... Ring...

Right then, there was a sound that held back Eun-woo's footsteps. When Eun-woo heard the sound of the phone ringing across the house, he stopped in his tracks and turned his head toward the phone.

Since his parents and Eun-woo had a cell phone, it'd been quite a while since he had used a telephone. But the only calls they received through that phone were newspaper subscription calls or calls asking to upgrade their Internet and the like.

Eun-woo approached the phone without thinking too seriously. He picked it up and gave a cliche greeting.

"Hello?"

Then, there was a moment of silence on the other side of the phone. And after a while, he heard the unfamiliar voice of a man who spoke in a cautious tone.

[Are you Lee Eun-Woo?]

When Eun-woo heard his name being spelled out by the voice of a person he didn't recognize, he started to get a little worried. Did voice phishing start scamming you already aware of your name first these days? Eun-woo got extremely nervous and replied.

"Yes, that's me."

[Could your father and mother's names be Lee Chang-wook and Park Mi-jin?]

"Yes. Who's it?"

Eun-woo felt uneasy when the other person knew even the names of his parents. An unknown fear made his back cringe. After yet another silence, the man opened his mouth again.

[I feel very sorry for this but... ….]

Eun-woo just listened blankly to what the man said while he continued to spit out the details and circumstances of the incident, not caring at all about Eun-woo's lack of response. In the end, when he asked him to come check the bodies, Eun-Woo couldn't help but drop the phone.

[Hello, Mr. Lee Eun-woo? Lee Eun-woo, can you hear me?]

He heard the man's voice coming dimly from afar.

A dream. This must be a dream. A terrible nightmare, actually.

Eun-woo shook his head. He recalled the faces of his parents who were looking at him with worried faces just this morning. Would this not have happened if he had held his parents back then? Would it have been different if he had acted like a child and told them to not leave him alone?

As always, a person regretted after things had already happened. So did Eun-woo.

The ground where he was standing over had slowly started to collapse.

"...Eh?"

Eun-woo felt his body being dragged away, and at the same time, he burst his eyes open.

There was a window where he had seen the sunlight pouring in a few days ago. He blinked and looked at the dazzling sun. The thick curtains were completely useless.

"Are you awake?"

A strange voice wormed into Eun-woo's ear, and Eun-woo shuddered, feeling as though this was an extension of his nightmare.

Then he turned his head towards the place where he'd heard the voice. A pale-looking man in a white suit was staring down at Eun-woo.

"...Who...are you?"

The man gave the impression of an angry person, wearing thick horn-rimmed glasses that covered most of his face. Maybe that's why. He looked angry, but he didn't seem scary. Nevertheless, Eun-woo gulped down hard while looking at him as the man looked at him in a way that seemed not so friendly.

"I'm the one who checks on you every time you lose your consciousness."

"Sorry?"

"But I'm glad you woke up in a day this time."

Then suddenly, he came up to Eun-woo and extended his white hand forward. Eun-woo stared blankly at that hand, unable to avoid it.

"Looks like the fever's gone down a bit..."

"E-excuse me..."

The man removed the hand that was feeling Eun-woo's forehead and sat on the chair again. Then he wrote something on the chart he was holding and spoke in a businesslike tone.

"You had a fever because you overstrained yourself. It's similar to suffering from fatigue. Take some medicine, take a good rest, and you'll get better soon."

Now that he thought about it, he didn't have any strength left in his body. It wasn't at such a level where he couldn't even lift a finger, but he felt somewhat drowsy and strange. And since he said he had had a fever, he also felt somewhat sweaty, and this also made him feel uncomfortable.

"Then, take a good rest and take good care of your health. It’d also be good for you to not see me again."

Eun-woo couldn't give a reply to such blunt remarks. He just blinked with both his eyes and watched the man packing his things and getting up from his seat. The man turned around, and was just about to leave like that, when suddenly, he spinned back and fixed his eyes on Eun-woo.

"...?"

When Eun-woo watched him with a curious face, the man got near Eun-woo again. Then, strikingly different from the insolent attitude from a while ago, he whispered cautiously.

"If Vice President Kang or Secretary Cha ask you, you must tell them I was by your side until you woke up, okay?"

He spoke to him with an urgent look on his face, as if he was indebted to someone, so the perplexed Eun-woo could only nod at the man's words. Though he didn't know what exactly this was about...

Then, the man sighed in relief and turned, as though he was really going to leave this time around. At the same time, the door opened with a click and a rude swearing burst out from the man's mouth.

"Fuck."

The one who had opened the door and was coming in was Sung-hyun. He saw Eun-woo, who was lying in the bed, and grinned. After that, he looked at the man who was about to leave and grinned even more brightly.

"Doctor Kim. Don't tell me you were about to leave now, were you?"

"Of course not."

The man answered in a heavily pent-up voice and dropped his shoulders. Even Eun-woo could see that the man's mood had become worse in an instant.

Sung-hyun approached Eun-woo on the bed and said.

"Eun-woo. This is doctor Kim Woo-bin, who will check on you from now on. Have you exchanged greetings yet?"

"Yes... well..."

He nodded with a puzzled face. So this man wearing a white suit is the doctor who examined me before too, then. Eun-woo realized once again and looked at Woo-bin, who stood with a not so happy look on his face.

Woo-bin repeatedly lifted and let go of his black horn-rimmed glasses, which were too big for his small face. It was obvious he was finding all this very uncomfortable. Maybe that's why Eun-woo couldn't readily talk to him even when they were facing each other.

And then Sung-hyun, who most likely would have made the atmosphere from a while ago somewhat better, said he had received an urgent call from work and left, leaving only the two of them alone again. Eun-woo didn't know what to do with this heavy and stuffy atmosphere. He just kept casting furtive glances at Woo-bin and sat still on the bed.

But right then, a loud sound came out of Eun-woo's stomach.

- Growl

As if thunder and lightning had struck, the sound reverberated around the room, and Eun-woo wrapped his arms around his stomach, startled. But his body, which always betrayed his heart, continued to scream in protest. His face turned beet red in an instant.

After looking at Eun-woo in silence, Woo-bin stood up from his seat. At the sound of the door opening, Eun-woo realized that Woo-bin had left the room without a word.

"Haa..."

Left alone in the room, Eun-woo heaved a little sigh. He didn't see me with good eyes to begin with, so he might have gotten annoyed and left. That was the only thing Eun-woo could think of. He dropped his head without confidence and put on a bitter smile.

After a while, however, Woo-bin came back into the room with a steaming ware bowl. Eun-woo stared at him in surprise and Woo-bin put the bowl on the table without saying a word. Then, looking back at Eun-woo, he said.

"Come and eat."

"Ah..."

Eun-woo sat still for a moment and blinked before carefully coming down from the bed.

He felt a little sore at the waist, but it was not to such an extent where he couldn't even walk until the table.

Slowly, Eun-woo stepped up to the table and sat down on the chair. Now that he thought about it, he remembered to have eaten porridge while sitting in this very seat a few days ago too. And in front of Eun-woo's eyes was the same kind of porridge where warm steam was rolling up from. The savory smell tickled his nose. Swallowing hard, Eun-woo looked at Woo-bin and said.

"Thank you."

Upon hearing Eun-woo's polite thanks, Woo-bin’s cheeks twitched. Turning his face away from Eun-woo, he muttered quietly.

"I just heated up what was in the kitchen."

He was sure it had been prepared by Sung-hyun to feed him after he had woken up, since Eun-woo had had a high fever. So the reason why he had gone to work without saying anything was because, even though Woo-bin was always nagging about every little thing, Sung-hyun was sure Woo-bin would still carefully look after Eun-woo.

Eun-woo gave him a quiet smile and held up his spoon. A person's small kindness called forth another person's goodwill. Eun-woo felt his anxiety being relieved a little and started to eat his porridge. Woo-bin watched this in silence.

This was the omega Kang Shi-hyuk had chosen as his mate.

That was his only perception of Eun-woo. And he didn't want to entangle himself in a tiresome relationship by adding something there. All he had to do was to successfully carry out the terms set forth by Shi-hyuk.

And that was to make this omega safely conceive and give birth to Kang Shi-hyuk's child. To help him be in his best shape until then. That was the only thing Woo-bin should do. The rest was none of his interest.

After finishing the porridge, Eun-woo put his spoon down on the table. His naive eyes were fixed on Woo-bin. The record clearly stated that he was 20 years old, but because of his small body and those big round eyes, he looked more like a high schooler. Ah, no. Perhaps it was normal for a 20-year-old to still look very young?

Woo-bin was surrounding himself with a lot of useless thoughts before he shook his head. Eun-woo saw this Woo-bin and told him timidly.

"I'll take this to the kitchen."

"Leave it. Secretary Cha will take care of it when he comes back."

"But, still..."

Eun-woo, though, was quite persistent, and Woo-bin let out a small sigh. He imagined that sick boy–who had just been struggling in pain–going to the first floor while carrying that heavy ware bowl.

Would he come back? He would be glad if he didn't break that expensive bowl on the way. Wait. No. If that happened and he got hurt, Woo-bin would be in trouble.

Woo-bin frowned and looked at Eun-woo. Then he said in an apparently annoyed voice.

"It'll be a lot more helpful to us if you don't do anything and just rest."

"Ah, yes."

I shouldn't have made the doctor angry by being stubborn for no reason. Thinking so, Eun-woo dropped his head low. Woo-bin didn't think he had said something bad. But seeing Eun-woo with his head down like that made his heart a little heavy. It was an unpleasantness he hadn't felt for a long while – the unpleasant feeling of caring for others. It was the thing Woo-bin was trying hard to ignore.

A small sigh slipped from Woobin's mouth once again. He fixed his horn-rimmed glasses out of habit and looked at Eun-woo. Then, he started speaking again with a slightly softer voice.

"My job is to aid you to safely give birth to a baby."

Eun-woo raised his head and looked up at Woo-bin's face. Not only his voice, but Woo-bin's eyes also felt a bit softer while he looked at Eun-woo.

"Even if you're an omega, it's hard to have a baby with a man's body. Usually, it's even common for women to go through complications while delivering, so it's all the more worse for male omegas. I really won't stand to see my patient going wrong."

It was likely that what Kang Shi-hyuk wanted was a child of his own that had his alpha genes.

Nothing else would probably matter to him. And if something went wrong with this small, soft-hearted man while he gave birth, it was obvious he would choose the child without a second thought. But for Woo-bin, it was different. Although the baby was important too, it was also important for the mother to stay safe until the end while giving birth to the baby. It was a matter of pride as a doctor.

"So don't think about anything and just go lie down."

Woo-bin's indifferent words shocked Eun-woo a bit.

Ah, so I still have a lot of lingering feelings. It came back to his mind again... the dream he had dismissed as just a nightmare in the morning. The dream of that day when he had to send off his parents to a faraway place.

There was no way to turn back the years that had already passed. There was also no one in the world who could do such a thing. Yet Eun-woo was still lingering until now. Sticking to the past while ignoring what he was supposed to do from now on like a fool...

He could see why he had a dream of that day today. A dream he hadn't had for a while. It was to cut off all the lingering feelings he still had in him. If my parents hadn't died on that day... If I had just held them back on that day... It was a foolish lingering regret that stuck to Eun-woo and didn't go away.

Eun-woo clenched the hand he had placed on his knee in a small fist. Then, forcing his trembling lips in a smile, he tried hard to put on a brighter face and told Woo-bin while looking at him.

"Yes. Thank you."

But somehow, Woo-bin felt that his face was not all that bright. There was something like a dark shadow in his childlike innocent and bright face. He didn't want to care, but oddly enough, it kept drawing his attention. However, just because Woo-bin cared about it, it didn't mean that he could do something about it.

Eun-woo slowly rose from his seat and got near the bed. Every time he walked, the soreness he felt in that place made him feel embarrassed, but now he didn't feel miserable anymore. This was all something he had to endure. Eun-woo thought so while lying in bed as Woo-bin had ordered him to do so.

After getting on the bed, Eun-woo rolled his eyes vacantly, looking up at the ceiling. The design of the ceiling patterned in a simple way caught his eye. He didn't think he would fall asleep easily with a body that had slept all day long.

Eun-woo just stood lying there with both his eyes wide open when Woo-bin approached him. There was nothing better than sleep for a patient to recover their health.

"Eat this and go to sleep."

"What's this?"

Woo-bin came close to Eun-woo, who was still lying on the bed, and gave him a white pill and water.

He replied to him, nonchalantly.

"It's just a sort of supplement. You'll feel much better if you eat this and sleep."

"Ah, yes."

Taking the medicine from him, Eun-woo put the small white pill in his mouth and swallowed it. Woo-bin held the empty glass and watched Eun-woo fall asleep. Maybe this pill also has the effect of a sleeping pill? As soon as he shut his eyes, he fell into sleep.

Eun-woo closed his eyes and prayed to no longer dream of anything.

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