“Hyedam-ssi is on the move. But the route is a bit strange.”
Coming out after finishing a meeting, Leo couldn’t easily understand what Robert, who approached his side and conveyed the situation in a small voice, was saying.
“What? Where to?”
“Toward the airport.”
“He said he was going to the countryside.”
It was Hyedam who’d been acting like a tongue in the mouth for the past few days. Every time he asked why he was being so scary, all he said was that he didn’t want to hurt him anymore. He’d also added to bear with whatever appearance he showed. Since he submitted a vacation request matching the New Year holiday, he told him to do so.
So that he could stay comfortably, he’d secretly done a little work on his countryside home without his knowledge. But where is he going? To the airport?
“Be careful not to let him notice, check where he is and what he’s doing, and if there are any changes, let me know right away.”
Even while spending all day together and sharing a bed, Hyedam rarely showed his inner thoughts. Unlike his sharp words and actions, he was warm and had a considerate personality. Right. That considerate personality was the problem. While seeming like he’d cross the line, he rarely crossed the line.
While knowing what he wanted and doing it all, he didn’t say what he himself wanted. That said, he didn’t refuse what was given either. Like a bird that flew in as it pleased and flew away as it pleased, he seemed like he’d leave his side at any moment.
So he’s flying away? The story about the birdcage that Daddy told came to mind.
Because of Komom who kept backing away and pulling out his feet, Daddy tried to make a birdcage so large that he wouldn’t notice. If the bird doesn’t know it’s trapped in a birdcage, would that bird be unhappy? Happy? It was certainly guaranteed that the bird would live a comfortable life inside a birdcage large enough that the bird wouldn’t know.
When he told that story to Komom, he snorted.
[Birdcage my ass. If a bird doesn’t want to fly away, it just stays in that place. Don’t think about confining it, make it a place where it wants to stay. Anyway, the temperament of Lewis family alphas. You. Never think like that. Daddy is wrong. Got it?]
I’m sorry, Komom.
It seems I’m a Lewis family alpha who can’t help it too.
He wanted to become a big tree that Hyedam could lean on and rest on anytime. A tree that the bird would want to live in without leaving. So he always said it. Do whatever you want to do. Say everything you want to have. Say everything.
It’s the bird who left without singing.
Though he wanted to cancel all his schedules and go back, it was a situation where he couldn’t. All he could do now was put a tail on Hyedam. He needed to know where he was arriving and what he was trying to do to be able to move actively.
To build a birdcage large enough that the bird wouldn’t notice, having a little patience was unavoidable. That way he could build a birdcage as large and sturdy as the bird wanted.
* * *
Biting into a whole cleanly peeled orange, Hyedam opened the door and walked into the sunlight. Listening to the swaying blue sea and gentle sound of waves, Hyedam, who walked along the deck, arrived at a daybed under the shade of a large tree.
“Ugh. I’m tired. What did I even do to be this tired?”
Whether the orange juice flowed or not, not caring at all, Hyedam comfortably leaned and lay down on the daybed. Looking at the sky with picture-like clouds floating leisurely, humming flowed from Hyedam’s mouth as he bit into the orange.
It had already been a month since he’d been apart from Leo.
For almost two weeks, he couldn’t come to his senses due to severe morning sickness, but they say time is medicine, and those words were exactly right. Still, when waking from sleep or moving severely, when fasting time got long or overeating even a little, morning sickness rushed in without fail.
But now that he roughly knew how to alleviate it, such things weren’t worrying at all. If it was too burdensome to handle, he could take the medicine prescribed by the doctor. As the doctor said that he should be more careful and cautious since it was a male omega’s pregnancy, Hyedam was sticking to a life like seaweed floating in the sea.
Even if zombies suddenly appeared, food was stockpiled enough to last at least a year, and since there was even a self-generator, there was no inconvenience in life at all. On top of that, sensible Luna sent fresh food by drone once a week.
There was no one to wake him up, and no one to nag that he was sleeping late. A regular life might be good, but such things didn’t matter. Eat when you want to eat, sleep when you want to sleep, rest when you want to rest. Since he kept resting, maybe this wasn’t right.
Using the internet through the bypass program Luna told him about was no problem, and before leaving the country, he contacted Junseok with a newly opened number and told him to clear out the house he’d been living in. Though he got a bucketful of curses asking where he was and what he was doing, good Junseok would faithfully carry out what he requested.
Having finished eating the orange he brought out, Hyedam wiped his hands by rubbing them on the loose shirt he was wearing. Though he said he could stay as long as he wanted, he couldn’t keep living like an idler like this, and once he entered the stable period, it seemed he’d have to leave this island.
Until then, Junseok would clear out the house and get a small studio in the province he mentioned.
As the gently blowing wind lightly lifted his hair, Hyedam, who roughly swept back his hair, covered himself with the blanket he’d put beside him. He’d gotten up, washed, made and ate a simple meal with available ingredients, and ate an orange for dessert. So now what he had to do was take a nap.
“Not high pay, but a life of no work is nice.”
Placing his hand on his lower abdomen and patting it weakly, Hyedam bit his lips tight at a thought that suddenly occurred, then clicked his tongue.
I thought he’d at least look for me though.
Seeing that there’d been no news for a month, Leo really seemed unable to find him. In movies, dramas, and novels, they found people well, but as expected, that seemed like something only possible in imagination.
Well, he’d changed his phone number before leaving the country, and since he came here through Luna who manages customer information more thoroughly than life, it was natural that he wouldn’t know.
Even if he went looking for Junseok, all Junseok knew was that he was traveling. It was the situation he’d hoped for and it was happening that way, but an inexplicable bitterness rushed in. Could it be he had no intention of looking from the beginning? Since he couldn’t know Leo’s heart exactly, everything was his speculation.
[By any chance. If you had a child….]
[That won’t happen.]
[Why? Later, if you get married too, naturally a second generation will be born. And with your situation, the line ending doesn’t make sense.]
[That’s why I’m being careful.]
At Leo’s words, hugging him tight from behind and kissing his head while whispering, Hyedam tapped his arm wrapped around his waist. He’s guaranteeing that won’t happen, but how will he explain what’s already happened?
[That’s why I’m saying what if. If I said I’m pregnant with your child! What would you do?]
[I can’t imagine our poor thing pregnant with my child? Regardless of that, I really just need our poor thing. But is our poor thing not satisfied with just me? Of course I’ll marry our poor thing too…. Hmm, does poor thing want to have a baby?]
Leo’s words that popped out without a moment’s hesitation poked into his heart. In his answer, there was himself but as expected, there was no child.
Because he avoided and cleverly changed the subject about children this way and that, there was no way to bring it up anymore. He said it outright, but Leo passed it over with a snort and instead pounced on him saying let’s make a baby from now on.
“Ah, it’s difficult.”
Though there’s no answer in life, he couldn’t even imagine how Leo would react later after knowing all of this.
“You, don’t resemble that guy, resemble me.”
Others apparently make and call fetal names or something, but Hyedam’s baby had no such designation. Absolutely don’t resemble brown hair and green eyes. Because then it seems we two can live together. If anyone sees you look like Lewis’s second generation, if by any chance we happen to pass by while living and they find out, that won’t do.
Giving up the child from the beginning wasn’t in Hyedam’s plan. Looking at his situation and his age, this was literally a miracle. Though he went from omega to beta and back to omega, he had no intention of applying to change his trait.
Leo meets a person suited to him and lives the life given to him. He and the baby live their life warmly together. They just had to live their respective lives.
As the sunlight coming through the tree shade dazzled his eyes, Hyedam raised his hand to block the sunlight. He couldn’t believe Leo’s words saying let’s get married, let’s live together. Words brought out countless times so naturally like breathing seemed like a joke. Now he might be like that because he had rose-colored glasses on for him, but as time passed, they’d naturally come off.
Just because an eagle accidentally entered a small open birdcage and ate the feed there doesn’t mean it can be tamed.
He was too small to contain Leo who enjoyed camping holding a hunting gun on horseback.
