* * *

“Madam Jang, Ki Beomhyeon is here to see you.”

“Oh?”

“He seems to be alone. What should we do?”

Madam Jang set down a red-stained paintbrush and smiled coolly.

“Let him in. I’m curious to hear what he has to say.”

She rose from her seat, massaging the stiffness in her neck from a night of work, and glanced out the window.

Her gaze met Beomhyeon’s, who stood below with an openly hostile expression.

Smirking, she thought of Jungin.

The timid boy couldn’t have contacted him first—he must’ve read the messages.

If Beomhyeon had come this quickly, had their relationship changed?

“Have a seat. I’m not sure what brought you here unannounced, but let’s hear it.”

“Why did you summon Jungin in secret and tell him to hide it from his siblings?”

Beomhyeon’s voice was cold, his piercing glare fixed on her.

Madam Jang, feigning ignorance with a sly smile, arched a brow.

“Oh? Whatever do you mean?”

Madam Jang, sipping her tea slowly to wet her throat, felt the faint trace of Beomhyeon’s pheromones, which he tried hard to suppress but couldn’t entirely hide.

She swallowed a laugh.

“I don’t think there’s any reason for me to tell Beomhyeon about this.”

“No, as his fiancée, I insist on knowing.”

“Are you referring to that engagement with a set expiration date?”

No matter how she thought about it, Jungin seemed like too good a match for him.

If she had known it would become a burden for that boy, she would never have planned the engagement in the first place.

It baffled her why the heir of the Yeonhwa Group—a man known for never letting anyone close—had chosen to give his heart to that boy.

Even Chairman Ki couldn’t make sense of it.

Madam Jang’s gaze flickered as she recalled something Beomkyeon had casually mentioned to her a while back.

But she quickly masked her expression and ran her tongue over the lingering bitter taste of black tea before looking at Beomhyeon.

“Stay away from Lee Jungin.”

He was still young, but an alpha was still an alpha.

Madam Jang studied him as his piercing gaze met hers, cold and brimming with menace.

“Did you know? That boy has been mentally unstable for a long time.”

“…”

“It started not long after he came to this house. He would have fits, insisting he wasn’t Lee Jungin, only to apologize later and fall asleep in the arms of Executive Director Lee or others. Once, he jumped from the second floor and was severely injured. Even then, my children, claiming him as their brother despite being an illegitimate child, took great care of him.”

Beomhyeon, who had been listening to Madam Jang’s words, fixed his icy gaze on her and spoke.

“So, you abandoned Lee Jungin at the orphanage?”

Beomhyeon had already read the report on Jungin countless times.

It detailed how Jungin, born from an affair between Chairman Lee and a housemaid, was abandoned at an orphanage before being brought to the main house at age seven.

It also outlined the illness he had been living with.

And standing before him was the woman most likely responsible for turning Jungin into what he was now.

Madam Jang, unable to hide her hostility toward him, replied,

“Yes. I couldn’t bear the thought of my children being close to someone like that. So, I made a condition with them: if they brought that boy into the house, they’d have to leave for America.”

It was the first time she’d spoken so candidly to anyone.

Why?

Perhaps she wanted Beomhyeon, who cared for Jungin, to experience even a fraction of the pain she had endured.

“I thought that putting distance between them would change things, but that boy kept clinging to my sons in the end.”

Beomhyeon recalled the abrupt return of the Lee siblings, who had been attending school and handling significant projects in the U.S.

It was triggered by Jungin’s suicide attempt.

As Beomhyeon clenched his jaw tightly, Madam Jang smiled faintly.

Leaning in close enough for only him to hear, she whispered,

“Honestly, I wished that boy would die. I still do.”

Watching the corners of Madam Jang’s mouth curl into a relaxed smile, Beomhyeon felt confusion rising within him. Had he made the right choices all along?

Though the culprit behind the recent car accident hadn’t been identified, the evidence—though inconclusive—pointed heavily toward Madam Jang.

If she had been trying to kill Jungin all this time…

A chilling numbness spread through Beomhyeon’s veins as his mind froze.

He stood abruptly, eyes blazing, and declared,

“I will take care of Jungin until he graduates.”

Just six months remained until graduation.

Afterward, Beomhyeon planned to register their marriage and remove Jungin from the Lee family registry.

“I told you, didn’t I? That boy has been mentally unstable for a long time.”

As Beomhyeon rose from his seat, Madam Jang followed him with her eyes, her expression twisting as she continued,

“With parental consent, it wouldn’t take much to lock him up in a mental hospital.”

Beomhyeon, despite himself, felt a twinge of fear at her words.

Even as Jungin’s fiancé, there was nothing he could legally do.

The metallic tang of blood filled his mouth as he bit down on his lips, red veins appearing in his eyes.

“How many mental hospitals do you think there are in this country? Or perhaps it would be more accurate to include those overseas?”

“Are you threatening me right now?”

“Do my words sound like a threat to you? Something as minor as this?”

Madam Jang picked up her teacup, sipping calmly before meeting his gaze directly with her crimson-painted lips.

“‘I could put him somewhere no one would ever find, where he’d never meet another soul, unable to do anything but wait for death.’ Now that might qualify as a proper threat.”

Why did this woman despise Jungin so much? What had that boy ever done wrong?

“How unfortunate. It seems our young master has found himself a weakness. All this fuss over that boy.”

A weakness.

The trembling in Beomhyeon’s hands ceased as her words cooled his head.

His pheromones, once erratic, steadied as his resolve returned.

Seeing this, Madam Jang’s brow furrowed slightly, sensing the shift in his demeanor.

“Yes, a weakness,” Beomhyeon admitted, his tone calm.

“You’re right, Madam Jang. Jungin might very well be my weakness. But do you know what happens when a beast gains a weakness?”

“…”

“They’ll risk their lives to protect it. They’ll fight tooth and nail, with everything they have, once they know what their opponent is after.”

“You think you can do that?”

Madam Jang sneered openly at him.

He was just a boy, not even of age. In the end, he’d have no choice but to rely on Chairman Ki.

And would the head of a major corporation back Beomhyeon in a matter tied to business interests?

Madam Jang was certain he wouldn’t.

As if he could read her mind, Beomhyeon curled his lips into a faint smile and said,

“I’m not like your sons, Madam Jang.”

“…You…”

At the mention of her sons, Madam Jang’s face contorted in an expression she’d never shown before.

Sensing he’d hit a nerve, Beomhyeon glanced at the clock, noting the time.

“You’ve touched my weakness, Madam Jang. You’d better protect your own.”

With that, Beomhyeon’s gaze shifted briefly to a canvas propped up in the corner of the room.

An inexplicable wave of unease washed over Madam Jang as she bit her trembling lips and called after him,

“Fine. Protect him all you want. Let’s see how well you can do that. I’ll destroy that boy with everything I’ve got!”

Ignoring her words, Beomhyeon stormed out of the building and slammed into his car.

“…Damn it.”

Meeting Madam Jang in person had been worse than he expected.

She was a monster.

Seething with rage, Beomhyeon clenched the steering wheel tightly and ran a hand roughly through his hair, trying to steady himself.

---

“Ah, my phone…!”

As he stepped into the building, Jungin reached for his phone to check the time but was met with the emptiness of his pocket. He let out a soft groan.

“Seriously. Where is my head these days?”

Clicking his tongue lightly in frustration, Jungin sighed deeply and trudged down the stairs to the basement where the storage room was located.

The door wasn’t locked, so he opened it and stepped inside.

Thankfully, he still had two minutes to spare before his shift started.

“At least I’m not late.”

Jungin had always written “I am absolutely punctual” on every job application he submitted, and he took it very seriously.

Being late was simply not in his vocabulary.

“But why does it feel so empty here…?”

There was no sign of the team leader or any other employees.

Was it because it was Sunday?

Then what about today’s work…?

“Ah.”

He noticed the once pristine room he left yesterday was now a chaotic mess.

Letting out a strained smile, Jungin stretched his sore back and limbs, then stepped further inside.

“Guess I’ll just clean up like I did yesterday.”

Unlike the day before, he hesitated this time.

The state of the room was worse, and he wasn’t sure if it was okay to touch the identical products scattered around.

“Mm… Babe, no, what if someone comes…?”

…What was that?

Eyes wide, Jungin froze. The sound came from outside the door.

“Shh. It’s fine. There’s an issue at the western factory, so no one’s here.”

“Nngh, but still…”

The wet sounds of lips meeting and the occasional sultry breaths reached his ears.

Jungin blinked rapidly as the sounds grew closer. He instinctively covered his mouth with his hands.

What do I do?

Should I say someone’s here?

But why are they doing this at work…?

Maybe… I should make a cat sound or something.

Jungin’s mind raced with dozens of solutions in the briefest of moments, and he began pacing around the room in circles.

But he missed the perfect moment to intervene, and now the noises outside had only grown louder.

“Haa…”

Finally, Jungin let his hands slip from his mouth and pressed them tightly over his ears.

He crouched on the ground, staring blankly at the floor.

“Are they gone now?”

After what felt like forever, he cautiously removed his tingling arms from his ears and sighed in relief at the silence outside the door.

“Phew… I thought I was going to die.”

Still red-faced, Jungin groaned in embarrassment.

Despite his efforts to block out the sounds, faint whispers and moans had reached him, leaving his face burning.

* * *