“Mom, where are you?”
—I stepped out for a bit. Why?
“Hyung came home, but something’s wrong. I think we need to take him to the hospital. He showed up wearing just a thin coat in this weather.”
After quickly explaining the situation, Shin-Yeon hung up as soon as his mother said she was on her way. Then he called out,
“Hyung! Come eat!”
A little later, Kim Shin-Hee came into the kitchen.
He looked worse than when he’d run away—thinner, lips badly chapped, his whole appearance a mess.
“Wow… Mom’s cooking.”
“Eat the soup first. Want some warm water?”
It had been well over two weeks since Shin-Hee had eaten a proper meal from home. As soon as he started eating, he suddenly burst into tears.
Even while crying pitifully, he kept forcing food into his mouth. As his stomach filled, his expression gradually improved.
Shin-Yeon watched him with an awkward look, not asking anything while he cried. Only after the meal was over did he speak carefully.
“What happened? Where have you been this whole time? No, more importantly—what’s wrong with you? Are you hurt somewhere?”
Moved by the fact that his younger brother seemed to have forgotten all about the stolen money and the elopement and was only worrying about him, Shin-Hee finally spoke with difficulty.
“I… I miscarried.”
“What?! How? Then why aren’t you at the hospital right now? If you had surgery, shouldn’t you still be admitted until you recover? What the hell happened?!”
Startled, Shin-Yeon shot to his feet and rushed over, urging him to explain.
After a moment, Shin-Hee began to speak through tears.
“That senior… said he loved me and told me to run away with him, but… it was all for money. When the money ran out… hic…”
According to Shin-Hee, this was what had happened.
The college senior he’d fallen for had never truly loved him—he had only been after his money and possessions.
With the backing of his fiancé Seo Kyo-Shin, Shin-Hee had been draped head to toe in luxury brands, constantly involved in rumors with various alphas. To someone like that senior, he had been the perfect target.
Blinded by his handsome face and his skill in bed, Shin-Hee had showered him with expensive gifts.
All of it paid for with Seo Kyo-Shin’s money.
“When I found out… he was a gambling addict. The place we ran to was near a gambling house. We were living in some run-down shack in the countryside… then we broke up, and I ran away.”
On top of that, the man had even denied that the baby was his.
When Shin-Hee confronted him about it, it escalated into violence. He was beaten—and lost the baby—before finally escaping back home.
“I know I lived like trash, doing whatever I wanted just because I wasn’t happy… I guess this is my karma.”
Shin-Yeon couldn’t even bring himself to deny that.
With his pretty face and superior omega traits, Shin-Hee had always lived however he pleased, bending people to his will.
But something about it didn’t sit right.
Someone like Shin-Hee… endured all that?
The same Shin-Hee who would rather die than do something he didn’t want to?
“…Ha…”
Shin-Yeon didn’t even know where to begin.
He felt like he should comfort him—but at the same time, Shin-Hee had walked straight into this himself.
Still, with how bad his condition was, he couldn’t bring himself to scold him either.
“I’m just glad you came home. Right now, you need rest. Let’s focus on getting your body better first.”
Holding his hand, Shin-Yeon comforted him, turned on the heating in his room, and warmed up the bed.
“Shin-Yeon… I’m sorry for how awful I’ve been to you. I’ll just marry Seo Kyo-Shin, so tell our parents not to worry.”
…Ah.
“Hyung, about that…”
Shin-Yeon tried to explain, but Shin-Hee, already exhausted, lay down first and spoke.
“I was an idiot for trying to throw away a good man like Seo Kyo-Shin. Now that I’m back, don’t worry—I’ll make sure nothing goes wrong.”
With a faint, pained smile that didn’t suit him, Shin-Hee fell asleep almost immediately.
Quietly leaving the room, Shin-Yeon bit down on his finger, his face tense with unease as he returned to the kitchen.
He washed the dishes first, then stared blankly at his silent phone before finally sending a message.
[Kim Shin-Yeon: Executive Director Seo… my brother came back.]
He started typing another message.
[Kim Shin-Yeon: He says he’ll marry you as planned. So I think… I should probably stop.]
He finished typing, but he couldn’t press send.
In the end, he let out a long sigh and dropped his head onto the table.
It would be more respectful to meet Kyo-Shin in person and properly end things.
“…”
For some reason, his stomach churned like he might throw up. His eyes burned red.
At first, it had been embarrassing—throwing himself at Seo Kyo-Shin with reckless flirting and proposals.
Now he wouldn’t have to force himself anymore. The embarrassment would disappear.
More than anything, he had only been proposing because he didn’t want the company to collapse and had been trying to take his brother’s place.
So really… wasn’t this a good outcome?
He remembered the day they met at the restaurant.
He had boldly proposed, and that had been the first time they drank together.
Even before that, they had kept in touch, and there had been something subtle between them—something that made his chest feel strangely ticklish, like they were almost something.
It had felt like, if he just pushed a little more, Kyo-Shin might actually accept.
As those thoughts surfaced, memories followed one by one.
The day Kyo-Shin went on a blind date with another omega—at the time, he hadn’t understood why it upset him so much.
Now, it felt like it had been jealousy.
And during his heat cycle, the warmth of being held in Kyo-Shin’s arms… those moments pricked at his heart.
Drip. Drip…
Tears fell.
Roughly wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, Shin-Yeon headed to his room.
It had started the moment he held Kyo-Shin’s large hand.
The solid warmth of his embrace, the acacia scent that had intoxicated him… and then the kiss.
His feelings had overflowed.
Now, thinking about ending things with Seo Kyo-Shin, it felt like his heart was dropping straight to the ground.
With how he felt… how could he not realize it?
“Do I really like Executive Director Seo? I shouldn’t…”
Finally acknowledging it, Shin-Yeon buried his face in his pillow under the blanket.
“I think I like Seo Kyo-Shin…”
The moment he realized it, it felt like he had already been rejected.
He hid under the covers and cried for a long time.
Bzzzz—! Bzzzz—
[Seo Kyo-Shin]
While he was still crying, his phone rang.
He stared at the screen blankly before finally answering, trying to steady his voice so it wouldn’t sound like he’d been crying.
“…Hello.”
—Why is my baby crying? Did your brother hit you the moment he got back?
“N-no… I went out to buy ramen in the cold, and I think I caught a chill.”
Forcing himself to sound normal, Shin-Yeon spoke softly.
“When are you getting off work? Even if it’s late… can you meet me?”
—I should go let you steal another kiss. I’ll see you later.
After the call ended, Shin-Yeon collapsed onto his bed, already feeling the ache of heartbreak in advance.
“It’s over… I’m screwed… damn it… sniff…”
Now that Kim Shin-Hee—his original fiancé—was willing to marry him, the two of them would probably fall into place quickly.
“They’ll probably be really happy together…”
Even if he could step back and wish them well, there was no way he could bring himself to attend the wedding.
Now it was Shin-Yeon’s turn—not Shin-Hee’s—to leave both the house and Seo Kyo-Shin behind.
***
When their parents heard that Shin-Hee had returned, they rushed home, checked his condition, and immediately took him to the hospital.
In the meantime, after crying in his room for a long time, Shin-Yeon washed his swollen face with cold water and changed into going-out clothes—the ones Kyo-Shin had given him after his heat cycle.
He wanted to end things on the best terms possible.
“In the end… I guess it’s better for him to be my brother-in-law, not my husband.”
It was embarrassing, but he had been living in a sweet daydream. Now it was time to wake up.
His eyes stung again, threatening to tear up, so he quickly grabbed his phone and wallet and trudged out of the house like a defeated soldier.
As evening fell, the biting cold wind turned his pale face red.
“Sniff…”
Not even feeling the cold, Shin-Yeon absentmindedly kicked at the ground in front of the gate—until the sound of a car approaching made him look up.
A luxury sedan pulled up.
Seo Kyo-Shin stepped out, dressed in a black coat, and strode toward him.
When the tall, imposing man stopped in front of him, his shadow seemed to swallow the light around them.
Looking up, Shin-Yeon spoke, even as he stared at Kyo-Shin’s face glowing pale under the streetlight.
“I thought there were only two suns… but I guess there are two moons too.”
“If there were two moons, do you know how many places would be flooded? The world map would look completely different. And if it were that bright, how would you sleep at night, baby?”
That’s not the point!
Tears welled up again at his answer, and Shin-Yeon sniffed, snapping back weakly,
“Are you a T or something? Why are you always— hic—”
A warm hand cupped his freezing cheek.
Their lips met.
Kyo-Shin’s tongue slipped inside, licking from the parted lips, moving slow and deep as it filled his mouth.
Shin-Yeon grabbed onto his large hand with both of his, clinging to the sweet, enveloping sensation as if he might fall without it.
Entangled with the broad tongue of a dominant alpha, he let out a soft, broken sound, fingers tightening.
“Mm… haah… ngh—”
Struggling for breath, tears slipped from the corners of his eyes and soaked into Kyo-Shin’s palm.
Kyo-Shin licked along his trembling tongue, nipped at it, then pulled back slightly.
“Haah…”
Even as he opened his coat and pulled Shin-Yeon tightly into his arms, he didn’t stop—pressing small kisses, brushing lips against his again and again.