* * *
“This is your kid.”
At the calm, indifferent voice, the noisy café fell silent as though cold water had been poured over it.
All eyes turned to a single point.
Cough, cough, choke, cough.
The sweet chocolate frappuccino that had just sweetened Junyoung’s mouth caught in his throat.
Coughing violently to clear the obstruction, Junyoung gawked at the pair seated across from him: Seojin and a young boy.
Seojin, who had been covering the child’s ears until just a moment ago, had finally let go.
The boy, seemingly uninterested in the commotion, kept his gaze fixed on a phone propped up on the table.
A thin straw poked out between his slightly flushed lips, sipping from a carton of plain strawberry milk.
“He needs pheromone therapy.”
Seojin’s sharp gaze lingered on Junyoung’s stunned face, disapproving.
It had been six years since they last met, and his polished, flawless face was as irritatingly handsome as ever.
“They say this can happen sometimes if an Omega doesn’t get enough Alpha pheromones during pregnancy. The pheromone gland doesn’t develop properly.”
Still wide-eyed and slack-jawed, Junyoung felt his mind blanking out entirely, Seojin’s monotone explanation doing little to help.
‘My kid? Pheromone therapy? Pheromone glands? What’s that even supposed to mean?’
If he could comprehend even one thing, he might be able to retort.
But his brain, overwhelmed, refused to process anything.
He blamed Team Leader Baek for berating him nonstop this morning.
Junyoung roughly loosened the tie choking his neck.
It wasn’t much, just a strip of cloth, but it felt like it was suffocating him.
“If he’s consistently exposed to Alpha pheromones for at least six months, he’ll improve significantly. Even if he gets better, he’ll need an annual check-up until his manifestation, but with proper treatment, full recovery is possible.”
“…….”
“That’s why I’m here. The Alpha providing the pheromone therapy needs to be biologically related to the child.”
Junyoung still couldn’t grasp Seojin’s words.
This was the same Seojin who had disappeared after that day at school, only to reappear six years later and drop this bombshell: “This is your kid.”
The boy hadn’t fallen from the sky or hatched from an egg in some mythical origin story, so how could he possibly be Junyoung’s son?
“Dad, I wanna watch something else.”
“What do you want to watch?”
“World Explorers!”
“Alright, hang on.”
And the boy even called Seojin “Dad”?
This made even less sense.
As a dominant Alpha with superior traits, Junyoung knew it was biologically impossible for him to impregnate a male Beta.
In other words, Seojin must be lying.
“Hey, Yoo Seojin.”
Junyoung smirked arrogantly, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.
‘So obvious. What a blatant, amateurish lie.’
As Junyoung sneered and settled into a more dismissive posture, Seojin quickly covered the boy’s ears with both hands.
“If you’re going to lie, at least make it believable. You’re a Beta. How could he possibly be my kid?”
‘From what I can tell, you had a fling with some woman, ended up with a kid by accident, and now the mom’s nowhere to be found. You’re trying to convince me it’s my child, thinking I’d panic like you’ve got something on me?’
Junyoung didn’t even bother to hide the sneer curling his lips as he leaned back arrogantly.
But Seojin remained unfazed, not so much as blinking.
Instead, he let out a dry chuckle, as if he had expected this reaction all along.
“Hey.”
“What.”
Despite the anger and irritation in Seojin’s tone, Junyoung didn’t back down, responding curtly.
He had such a calm, polished face that you’d never guess he had such a nasty personality.
Clicking his tongue, Junyoung glanced at the expensive luxury watch on his wrist.
Unfortunately, there were still twenty minutes left of his lunch break.
Not that he had any intention of spending it with Seojin.
No need to prolong an unpleasant encounter when they clearly didn’t get along.
Just as he was about to toss out a parting remark, Seojin suddenly leaned in, closing the distance between them.
The unexpected move left Junyoung wide-eyed in surprise.
Seojin narrowed his sharp eyes, his voice dropping to an ominous whisper.
“You should be grateful I haven’t gone to your parents or the press.”
“……”
“I could’ve plastered it all over the news: ‘Cha Junyoung, son of Baek Hyunjeong, chairwoman of Sunwoo Group, has an illegitimate child.’ But I came to you directly. I don’t want more headaches while the kid’s unwell.”
Seojin spat out each word with biting precision, then exhaled sharply and pulled back.
The previously smug Junyoung was now speechless, his lips trembling as the blood drained from his face.
Horrifying thoughts raced through his mind.
‘Sunwoo Group’s second son, Cha Junyoung, embroiled in illegitimate child scandal… Is this the end of the company’s legacy?’
The mere idea of such headlines made him snap to attention.
Seeing Junyoung grow pale, Seojin chuckled bitterly and pulled a small plastic bag and a yellow envelope from his bag, placing them in front of him.
“If you don’t believe me, get a paternity test.”
Inside the clear plastic bag were several strands of dark hair.
Without needing an explanation, Junyoung could tell they belonged to the child.
The envelope contained a birth certificate, a family registry document, and two paternity test consent forms.
“One’s already filled out and signed by me. All you have to do is fill out yours and send it in with a hair sample. I could send it in myself, but I figured you’d trust it more if you did it.”
Junyoung swallowed hard, his shaky hand picking up the bag.
This didn’t make sense.
There was no way a beta like Seojin could’ve had his child.
And yet, Seojin’s confidence left him reeling.
Clutching the bag tightly, Junyoung finally managed to speak, though his voice sounded pitiful even to himself.
“You… you’re a beta. How could you…?”
“I thought so too.”
“What nonsense is this…?”
“It happened that day. The day we…did that… I manifested.”
Seojin stared blankly into space for a moment, as if recalling the past, before meeting Junyoung’s eyes again.
He understood Junyoung’s shock, but that didn’t mean he’d let this man off easy.
Turning back to his bag, Seojin retrieved his wallet.
There was no way Cha Junyoung would believe him without irrefutable proof.
“See for yourself.”
What he handed over was an ID card, reissued six years ago after his manifestation as an omega.
Where “beta” used to be listed under his designation, it now read “omega.”
“…What the hell…”
Junyoung’s jaw dropped, his lips parting wordlessly.
He blinked, rubbed his eyes, and stared again, but the word “omega” stubbornly remained.
His trembling hand let the ID card fall onto the table as he scrubbed his face with his palm.
‘Seojin’s an omega?’
‘So… back then, he really got pregnant with my child?’
‘That can’t be real.’
“Stop spouting this insane bullshit. At least make it sound remotely believable!”
Junyoung burst out in desperation, clutching at the last straws of denial.
If Seojin wasn’t lying, then it meant that one night during their sophomore year in college, Seojin had manifested as an omega, gotten pregnant, and had been raising the child alone all this time.
“Dad.”
Junyoung froze mid-rebuttal as the child seated next to Seojin spoke up.
Though the kid was looking at Seojin, the word “Dad” still jolted his heart into his throat.
“I want to drink that too…”
“This? Mine?”
“Yeah. It looks cool with the ice and stuff…”
The child’s sparkling eyes were fixed on Seojin’s iced Americano.
Seojin gently patted the kid’s head.
“This is for grown-ups only.”
“Why?”
“If you drink it, your heart will race, you won’t be able to sleep, and you won’t grow tall. And remember how you were sick recently? Drinking this might make you sick again.”
“I don’t want to be sick…”
“And I don’t want my Jinseo to be sick either. So, let’s save this for when you grow up big and strong like Dad, okay?”
“Okay…”
Junyoung crossed his arms, his expression sour as he watched the pair interact.
They seemed close, like father and son, but their resemblance was uncanny.
The kid’s sharp, upward-tilted eyes… If anything, they looked more like him.
“…What the fuck…”
* * *
Ml is a dumb lol