* * *
The driver dropped them off at a large bookstore in Jongno.
“Pick us up in two hours.”
“Yes, young master.”
Taejoon, watching the car drive off, muttered in amazement, “Whoa~.”
“So you really are a chaebol. It’s finally sinking in.”
Yeo Wonhee, feeling embarrassed for no reason, didn’t respond.
As soon as they entered the bookstore, they stopped by a drugstore.
Yeo Wonhee swept pads off the shelves into his basket.
Taejoon, watching Yeo Wonhee load up his bag with the purchases, asked,
“Do you… uh, have a lot of discharge or something? Why are you buying so many?”
“It’s hard for me to go out often, so I just stock up at once.”
Yeo Wonhee wasn’t the type to feel shame easily, but it was still embarrassing to admit that he needed pads even during non-aroused moments due to inappropriate fantasies.
Taejoon, half-serious, asked if he should take care of buying pads for Yeo Wonhee in the future.
“That’d be great for me.”
“You really are my lucky charm. Geez, my sweet Yeo Wonhee. My golden goose.”
Taejoon playfully squished Yeo Wonhee’s cheek with his palm, making his lips pout forward.
“Stop it~. Don’t do that.”
After some light bickering, they snapped a photo with the bookstore as the backdrop and sent it to Yeo Jinwoo.
[You look great. Have fun.]
The praise, “You look great,” from his master made Yeo Wonhee’s cheeks flush red.
If he’d heard it while being scolded, he might have leaked through his hole out of sheer excitement.
As he beamed foolishly, Taejoon stared at him with a dumbfounded expression.
“What’s with you? Do I have something on my face?”
Yeo Wonhee rubbed his cheek with his hand.
Taejoon shook his head and crossed his arms.
They browsed the TOEIC and TOEFL sections, picked up a few new releases, and paid for their selections.
At the café inside the bookstore, they shared cake and iced Americanos before leaving.
Taejoon was dropped off first in front of the officetel, and Yeo Wonhee headed home.
After stepping out of the car, Yeo Wonhee checked the time on his phone—it was already 9 p.m.
‘I need to get to my room and start my study chat with Kang Dohee,’ he thought as he opened the front door.
“I’m home.”
With the threatener dealt with and his stash of suppressants and pads replenished, he couldn’t help but smile.
After kicking off his sneakers, he walked into the living room.
Yeo Jinwoo, seated on the sofa and flipping through documents, looked up.
“You’re back? You’re late.”
“Sorry about that.”
Just then, his phone rang—it was Kang Dohee.
Yeo Wonhee answered.
“Sorry, I just got back from the bookstore.”
“No problem. Take your time joining the chat. I’ll get started on studying first.”
After ending the call, Yeo Wonhee pressed the elevator button.
Suddenly, someone tugged at his bag, causing him to stumble.
“Hyung?”
“Yeo Wonhee, let’s have a little bag inspection, shall we?”
Yeo Wonhee hugged his bag tightly and shook his head.
The items inside that had previously given him a sense of security now felt like ticking bombs because of Yeo Jinwoo.
“No.”
Jinwoo’s sharp gaze bore into Yeo Wonhee’s pale, terrified face.
“Let go.”
“No! Why do you need to look in my bag?”
“Why is my sweet Yeo Wonhee behaving like this? Do you know what kind of punishment awaits for disobedience? Do you think I let you off easily today? I already know everything, so hand it over.”
“Ugh…”
With tears brimming in his wide eyes, Yeo Wonhee reluctantly loosened his grip on the bag.
He glanced around desperately, as if searching for someone in the house who could save him.
To Jinwoo, Yeo Wonhee’s continued hopefulness was nothing but endearing.
Jinwoo stepped into the elevator first.
“What are you doing? Let’s go to your room.”
Jinwoo had set a trap to uncover how Yeo Wonhee had been obtaining suppressants and pads.
This led him to the Omega supplying Yeo Wonhee with suppressants, and Jinwoo now fully understood what Yeo Wonhee’s so-called bookstore trips really meant.
But that wasn’t all he discovered.
After leaving work, Jinwoo sought out Yeo Wonhee’s biological mother, whom Yeo Wonhee had skipped class to visit.
She was now a hostess at a high-end karaoke lounge.
The moment Jinwoo entered, she recognized him immediately—likely because he resembled Chairman Yeo.
“What brings you here?”
“I heard my little brother came to see you yesterday. Why was that?”
Jinwoo sat on a long sofa, picking up a glass of whiskey—not to drink, but to intimidate.
He hurled the glass at the wall behind her, shattering it next to a poster advertising karaoke rooms.
“Ahh!”
Miho crouched down, covering her head with her hands as glass shards flew around her.
“Next time, it won’t be the wall—it’ll be your face. Now talk. Why did Yeo Wonhee come to see you yesterday?”
The trembling Omega could only stammer in fear.
Jinwoo grabbed another glass, prompting Miho to shriek.
“I’ll talk! H-he said he wanted to live with me.”
“With you? Don’t lie. Why would my brother want to live with someone like you?”
Though she indeed worked as a hostess, Miho couldn’t suppress the anger at Jinwoo’s blatant insult.
Swallowing her indignation, she kept her head down and explained.
“He said you’ve been trying to do bad things to him—trying to undress him.”
“Ah, I see. So my Yeo Wonhee ran to you because he didn’t want me to touch him.”
Jinwoo seethed with anger at Yeo Wonhee’s attempt to escape from him.
Did Yeo Wonhee not realize how generous Jinwoo had been, leaving him unchained and uncaged?
“If I let you live, you’ll always be here for him to run to.”
Standing up, Jinwoo pulled his leather belt from his waist.
Miho scrambled to crawl under the table, clutching at his legs in desperation.
“Please, spare me! I told him I wouldn’t take him in!”
“Fine. I won’t kill you. But I’ll make sure you’re useless. If you’re intact, Yeo Wonhee might still hold onto some hope that you can take care of him.”
Jinwoo kicked her hands away.
Miho realized he wasn’t bluffing—men who frequented places like this were rarely sane, and Jinwoo’s eyes were akin to those of someone who’d come with a knife to settle a score.
“I told him everything! That I tricked Chairman Yeo into taking him in!”
“…What? What do you mean by that? Explain in detail.”
Seeing a glimmer of hope, Miho wiped the cold sweat off her face.
Even as glass shards pierced her knees and drew blood, she was too tense to feel the pain.
“The truth is… Yeo Wonhee isn’t really the chairman’s child. I had him with another Alpha before I met the chairman.”
“…”
Jinwoo’s silence made Miho panic, thinking he didn’t believe her.
She poured every ounce of effort into explaining herself.
“Really, it’s true. Woohee isn’t twenty; he’s actually twenty-one. Since we couldn’t get a death certificate from the hospital, he’s still officially listed as alive. If you pull up my family register, you’ll see ‘Lee Woohee.’ Just give me five minutes, and I’ll go to the office and bring back the document.”
“Get up.”
“What?”
“You said you’d bring the register.”
Miho looked up, startled, at the imposing alpha standing over her.
His polished shoe nudged her lightly, snapping her out of her daze.
Struggling to her feet, she left the room, blood trickling from her knees, and headed to the office.
There, Miho grabbed the computer mouse, opened a browser, and logged onto the Government24 website.
She accessed her family register and printed out a copy.
On the document, beneath “Jung Miho,” the name “Lee Woohee” was clearly listed.
* * *
