Today, as always, the day for my regular obstetrics and gynecology checkup has come around. Thanks to Cha Juheon’s excessive fussing, it’s also a day with many things to worry about since I have to receive additional tests that other omegas don’t even get. However, knowing that he postpones even his personal schedule on hospital days and makes such a fuss with extreme devotion, I followed his words without complaint.
After finishing various tests at the hospital and taking a breather, it was now time for Cha Juheon to go meet his attending physician.
“Eunwoo-ssi. I just need to have a consultation without any tests, so wait here and sit for a moment. I’ll be right out. But isn’t it cold here?”
Cha Juheon looks around the hospital corridor with an extremely worried expression. As if it would be cold here… At his words, I gave an absurd smile and lifted the coat I was holding in my hand to show Cha Juheon.
“Cold? It’s so hot I even took off my coat. It’s really warm here right now.”
Moreover, contrary to Cha Juheon’s worry, the hospital corridor was warm and comfortable—I couldn’t feel any chill anywhere. As he sat me down on a corridor chair without erasing his overly dramatic expression, I had to repeat several times that I was fine. He’ll be out soon anyway, so why is he like this?
Even in that short time of entering the consultation room right in front of us, I was completely exhausted by how many times Cha Juheon turned around to look back. However, knowing it was because of his caring heart toward me, it wasn’t annoying. Various thoughts occurred to me as I watched Cha Juheon enter the consultation room.
Our relationship changed from that day on. I can’t pinpoint exactly what to say, but the atmosphere and emotions we had toward each other were different from before. Cha Juheon became more attentive and incredibly affectionate toward me. It’s different from before when he was concerned because of the contract and the baby. Setting all that aside, Cha Juheon focused solely on me.
That sensitive person had this side to him—to a surprising degree, Cha Juheon was clumsy but affectionate. He was considerate of me to the point where it wouldn’t be wrong to say his entire daily life revolved around me. I, too, became more dependent on him as he was so affectionate.
For quite a long time, I lived struggling hard. I never even thought about relying on anyone. So this unfamiliar experience of being taken care of is awkward, but it doesn’t feel bad. Rather, these days I’m feeling how comforting it can be to have someone to depend on.
Then suddenly I felt anxious. If I give my heart to Cha Juheon like this and depend on him emotionally, what will happen to me when that day comes? We have an end, and the day we’ll part is decided. Knowing that, I’m not without anxious feelings about how I could open my heart this much.
I was already troubled by developing paternal affection for the baby, but now that I’ve found this comfort with Cha Juheon, I’m worried about the separation that will come in a few months. There will be aftereffects of great loneliness and longing, so I need to think of a way to overcome them.
After that incident, my head hurt for several days from worrying about this. I definitely have feelings for Cha Juheon, but since I can’t know what’s in Cha Juheon’s heart, I couldn’t rashly take any action. What if I cling to him and won’t let go? What am I doing? All sorts of anxieties came rushing in. When nothing had happened between us, I never had these worries.
But that was only for a moment—that worry melted away like snow at one look from Cha Juheon’s gaze toward me. His eyes looking at me were always full of affection.
As someone who knows what kind of expression Cha Juheon uses when looking at others, I couldn’t help but know that this gaze was directed only at me. Even though I always carry worry beneath these emotions, this was also the reason I couldn’t turn away from these feelings.
Also, right now, rather than nurturing such anxious feelings, the priority is to create an environment where the baby in my belly can be comfortable. To put aside these useless thoughts, I looked over the ultrasound photos I had just received. The baby, who will enter a full four months in just a few days, was growing well.
The heartbeat was very loud and healthy, and the baby was playing so well, moving that small body like a frog. And finally, today I could also find out the baby’s gender. Even before the doctor could tell me whether it was a prince or princess, a certain part on the ultrasound was so clearly visible that it couldn’t not be a baby boy.
“But it’s really amazing. Even this tiny thing is a person, and you can clearly see that. Our Kkomul drinks amniotic fluid well and excretes it too, and they said the baby is growing body hair and head hair too? Where on this tiny body is body hair growing?”
Perhaps because there are so many things I find fascinating, these days every time I come to the hospital, I’m full of surprises. So I couldn’t take my eyes off today’s ultrasound photo and looked at it preciously again and again. Kkomul, I should look at you a lot now.
“Eunwoo-ssi? What were you thinking about that you didn’t even notice me coming?”
Before I knew it, Cha Juheon had come and sat down next to me.
“Executive Director, you came out? I was looking at the baby’s ultrasound photo. The more I look, the more amazing it is.”
“Right? It did grow a lot compared to last time.”
Cha Juheon glances at the ultrasound photo in my hand and smiles.
“Executive Director, but why did you meet with the attending physician?”
He only said he was meeting the attending physician but didn’t say what it was about, so I was secretly curious whether something was wrong.
“It’s nothing much, I met with him about adjusting my rut suppressants.”
Rut suppressants? Ah, right. Cha Juheon must have his rut too. But I was curious about what he meant by adjusting. Could there be something wrong with his pheromones from living with me?
“Unlike other alphas, even when my rut comes, I’ve been enduring it by just taking suppressants, so I’ve been using rather strong medication until now. Changing to various kinds to avoid building tolerance.”
When rut comes, it’s best to spend time with an omega, but since Cha Juheon can’t do that, he must have endured for a long time with medication. Also, I know that in the case of dominant alphas, they need to use stronger suppressants than dominant omegas. No matter how good the natural ingredients of the medicine they take are, it probably isn’t that good for the body.
“Thanks to using quality medication and injections in combination, I’ve been doing well until now without any pheromone abnormalities. But lately my pheromones have been more stable than when I was taking the medication, so I changed to milder medication ingredients.”
“What? Really? Did the medication work well? Why did your pheromones suddenly improve?”
Whatever the reason, it couldn’t help but be welcome news that the medication ingredients were adjusted to be weaker and his body improved too. As I smiled brightly and asked for the reason, he just stared intently at my face before slowly opening his mouth.
“Well, it’s because lately I’ve been releasing my pheromones freely without suppressing them. On top of that, Eunwoo-ssi’s pheromones have been working quite stably on my body. So there’s no way my body wouldn’t improve.”
As unexpected words came from Cha Juheon, I opened my mouth. Right, that makes sense! Why didn’t I think of this? A dominant alpha who had been suppressing pheromones almost all the time since manifestation released the pheromones that had built up for nearly a month, so the unbalanced pheromones flowed sequentially and became stable.
Living with him, I thought I was the only one who became stable with the help of alpha pheromones. But that wasn’t it. I had forgotten that alphas also need to receive omega pheromones. My pheromones, naturally released in daily life, had been helping him.
Lately, both I and Cha Juheon have looked well. My body feels light and refreshed, my condition better than ever, and this was because of each other’s pheromones. Also, not long ago, we both poured out our pheromones to our heart’s content, so there was nothing more to say. Above all, I was secretly happy that I had been helpful to Cha Juheon.
“I never thought I could be helpful, but I’m glad.”
“Then now that you know, please continue to take good care of me from now on.”
Continue from now on? Without even having time to think about how long that “from now on” would be, Cha Juheon held out his arm to me. Knowing what that meant, I quickly linked arms with him. This is Cha Juheon’s method of supporting me these days.
There’s no need to do this, but from the moment I mentioned that my belly was getting slightly bigger, Cha Juheon has been making me lean on him. Even though my belly has grown to a level that no one knows about except me. But I walked without saying anything, leaning on Cha Juheon.
“Ah, Executive Director, I think I left my phone where I got the IV.”
“We can just go get it. While we go, think about what you want to eat for a snack.”
“…Um. Roasted sweet potato.”
“Again? That’s impressive. Then today let’s eat it with butter.”
Cha Juheon looks down at me with an impressed look as I keep asking for roasted sweet potato these days. Well, what can I do? I only crave roasted sweet potato. If there’s something else that changed after the pheromone release incident, it’s that the two of us sit side by side and eat simple snacks together.
Although we still can’t eat facing each other, for Cha Juheon who has eaten alone his entire life, it was progress in its own way. And I was happy that I was the subject of that progress. I’m glad that Cha Juheon also seems to enjoy that time spent together with me.
***
“Chairman, I think you need to check the employee anonymous free board right now.”
“Where? The anonymous board?”
The Chairman, who had been working, looked questioningly at the secretary who came in somewhat busily. On the tablet the secretary hurriedly held out, there was a photo uploaded along with some text.
[Jackpot!!! Isn’t this the Executive Director? Is the person next to him that omega from before? Anyway, the germaphobic Executive Director linked arms with someone! The bigger jackpot is that I saw them coming out of the obstetrics and gynecology consultation room! What could this be?]
The Chairman doubted his own eyes at the photo that went up with this opening. There was a back view of someone with their arm linked with Juheon’s, and next to them was a photo of Juheon standing side by side, looking down at them with a slight smile.
“What is this, is it photoshopped or AI? There’s no way that guy would offer his arm like that.”
“No! Chairman, look again carefully. The physique and the round back of the head look exactly like Baek Eunwoo.”
“…Huh?”
The secretary who recognized Eunwoo was very excited. As if not caring at all that the two of them coming out of the obstetrics department had been caught by employees, he urgently showed the photo to the Chairman. While Eunwoo and Juheon were leisurely leaving the hospital, someone’s eyewitness account went up and the company was turned upside down once again with gossip about the Executive Director.
