Ten days had passed since the conversation with the Chairman about surrogacy. The Chairman told me to think about it for two weeks, but I tried not to think about it. When I was agonizing over how to refuse the Chairman, I received a call from my aunt at my family home.
[Eunwoo. Can you call me after work? I need to discuss something about your mom.]
My aunt usually tries to handle things on her own so I won’t worry, even when something happens, so thinking it must be something urgent, I took a taxi—something I never usually do—and rushed to my family home.
My aunt welcomed me as I came home urgently. After a brief greeting, I went to Mom’s room. Then I stared at Mom for a long time as she slept after taking medicine with my grandmother, and came out to the living room.
“But Aunt, why does your face look so worn out? Your complexion is so different from when I came last time?”
“Worn out? It’s just because it’s hot. It’s the hottest time of the year.”
My aunt showed me a bright smile, saying it was nothing to worry about. But I couldn’t smile looking at my aunt. Thanks to my aunt who has been taking care of Mom ever since the accident, I’ve been able to breathe easier, but my heart aches knowing how hard it must be for her. Working and taking care of Mom—it must be extremely difficult. I squeezed my aunt’s hand that kept stroking mine.
“Aunt, don’t worry about the electricity bill and turn on the air conditioner, okay? I’ll send you enough for living expenses.”
“How can I freely spend the living expenses you send? Don’t worry. I have to regulate the temperature because of your mom, so I’m managing it myself.”
Since the traffic accident, Mom has been in constant pain. Due to severe burns on her body, she’s had twelve surgeries, and with repeated disinfection and medication, she hasn’t had a single comfortable day. Since that day, she can’t even think about being in the sunlight. Even the jokes she makes saying it’s fortunate her face wasn’t seriously injured make my heart heavy.
“Aunt, but what’s the urgent matter? Has Mom gotten worse?”
I asked what I was curious about before I could even put down the water I’d been drinking on the table.
“Phew, she used to endure it well before, but your mom has been unable to bear the itching lately. She’s in a lot of pain and having a hard time.”
“…Her body must have reached its limit. I thought I was being careful…”
No matter how many surgeries, are burns useless? How long will Mom have to suffer like this? The pain of Aunt and Grandmother watching it must be indescribable too.
“Eunwoo. Listen to what your aunt has to say. The hospital called this morning. They said a skin graft donor came up.”
…? A donor came up? At my aunt’s words, I quickly raised my head that had been lowered and looked at her. There are so few donors for skin, so money aside, waiting has been an eternity. I looked at my aunt with widened eyes in surprise, and she grabbed my hand.
“Aunt! Really, a donor came up?”
“Yes. When I heard that, my heart went back and forth between heaven and hell all day…. So Eunwoo. Listen carefully to what your aunt says. I think we’ll have to sell the house. Even if we live in a smaller house, I want to sell the house and do the surgery this time.”
“…Sell the house? This house that Grandmother worked so hard to buy…”
“The house isn’t the problem right now. You know, right? If we can’t do the surgery this time, it goes to the next person… So we must do the surgery. We don’t know when the opportunity will come again, and your mom is having such a hard time.”
Surgery costs… Right. That was the problem. Even with this opportunity, the issue is the huge surgery cost. Even when told it could be covered by insurance, everyone hesitates because there are so many other costs involved.
After hearing my aunt’s story, my heart pounded with anxiety. Right now I need money more than ever. My salary or loans have their limits.
“The conditions are perfect for your mom. If we grit our teeth and sell this house for the cost…”
“…No. Aunt, just do it.”
These words burst out of my mouth without me knowing as I stared at the room where Mom was lying.
“Hm?”
“The house…. Don’t sell it and do the surgery. Quickly call the hospital and tell them we’ll do it. Aunt.”
“What? If we don’t sell the house, we can’t afford the cost. Looking into it, the insurance coverage…”
“Don’t worry about money. I can prepare it.”
I must be crazy. Unplanned statements kept bursting out of my mouth. Mom in pain and Grandmother’s tired face sleeping next to her. And my aunt full of worry. I could tell without looking how much my aunt must have agonized before deciding to sell the house, and how hard she must have tried to find other ways.
I said I was living hard too, but perhaps I’d been at ease in the shade of my aunt and grandmother. As Mom’s actual guardian, I should have lived more fiercely.
I can’t let my aunt handle everything anymore. Now I have to step up. I have to protect not only Mom but also my aunt and grandmother.
“Eunwoo? Where would you get that much money?”
My startled aunt grabbed my hand tightly and urged an answer. In my aunt’s eyes was anxiety about whether I’d gotten into some kind of trouble. I grabbed my aunt’s hand back with my other hand and grinned.
“Actually, I was going to tell you later, but I guess I have to say it now! I’m changing jobs. I got scouted and I’m going to a big café. The salary is really good and I’ll get a generous signing bonus. I’ll also get severance pay from where I’m working now.”
“…Really? Eunwoo, is it really true?”
As if surprised by the unexpected news, despite her smiling face, her worried eyes couldn’t be hidden. I acted as naturally as possible so my lie wouldn’t be discovered. Well, strictly speaking, it’s not all a lie. The contract fee and salary are good, and the Chairman personally called and recommended it…
“So Aunt, trust me and proceed with it. If you just call the hospital, I’ll handle the hospital matters from now on.”
“Oh my, Eunwoo. This is so great. Everything else aside, this is such great news for you. But don’t feel burdened about the hospital bills, I’ll…”
“Aunt, it’s not a burden—it’s naturally my responsibility. What I should have been doing all along, you’ve been helping with. So on the day we go to schedule Mom’s surgery, get your knee examined too. Let’s get treatment, whether surgery or whatever. Don’t worry about hospital bills.”
“Eunwoo. I’m so… so grateful and happy I can’t even believe it. Our Eunwoo is so great.”
Seeing me speak so confidently, my aunt’s eyes welled up with tears. There must be so many emotions mixed in those tears. Right. With family struggling like this, what can’t I do? Having a baby…. Let’s give birth.
I’ll think about the rest later and just think about family for now. Still, at least there’s something I can do.
After calming my aunt down, I stepped outside for a moment and calmed my complicated feelings. Ha, I know it’s not an easy thing. But there’s nothing I can’t do for Mom. I was just worried about the Executive Director’s personality. That’s what bothers me strangely.
“Does that kind of thing get inherited?”
The Chairman’s grandson, Cha Juheon, can’t stand seeing things in his space moved to other places. Everything must always stay in its place, and he hates things being touched by others’ hands. Also, naturally there must be no dust around, and everything must be at right angles and neatly arranged—that’s his personality.
Disinfectant is essential anytime, anywhere, and his office that was just made has even a small room and bathroom, they said. In that small room, there are spare suits that he can change into several times a day.
And the bathroom. The Executive Director, who absolutely cannot use bathrooms outside, specially took care to make this space that’s essential for him. When telling this story, the Chairman shook his head.
Showers must be at home, he absolutely wouldn’t use bathrooms outside the house, and they said just entering external bathrooms gives him goosebumps. Also, while he somehow endures family and acquaintances out of loyalty and morality, he can’t even have face-to-face conversations with strangers.
He finds it extremely difficult to see faces with pores and skin texture that are unclean. Getting disgusted, he absolutely won’t eat meals together whether it’s meetings or anything. There’s also the reason he can’t eat food outside his home, but they said he often runs out because he feels nauseous seeing others chew food.
The opponent’s teeth and gums visible when talking, the nose breathing, even the pores showing on the face—everything disgusts him to the point of making him sick…. He’s a pathological germaphobe who extremely avoids even small contact with others. Because of that, his mother even took him to a psychiatric hospital when he was young—that says it all.
“But did he really agree? Otherwise, won’t I be going to prison?”
Surrogacy is only possible with the other party’s consent. They say in words that the germaphobic Executive Director permitted this method, but I have my doubts. They say the Executive Director, who extremely avoids contact with people, permitted this on the condition of not getting married. It seems he gave permission for any method as long as it doesn’t involve others touching his body. As long as it’s a good trait without defects, it doesn’t matter?
“…It’s not like I’m some object.”
I shook my head with a headache. This is why I hid the fact that I’m dominant. As expected, being ordinary is the best for people. That ordinariness that’s neither lacking nor excessive. Now I should call the Chairman.
***
Chairman Cha, having heard the news through his secretary, looked at his grandson in front of him with a smile on his face. While watching his grandfather on the phone with the secretary, Cha Juheon’s complexion didn’t change even though he’d heard the conversation.
“That omega agreed? He said he wouldn’t. The conditions were quite good though.”
“Yes, isn’t it really such a relief? The plan almost fell through, but it’s really fortunate.”
“What relief? If he refused, we could just find another omega. Anyway, they also have something they want, so they decided to contract to get it. It’s a contract because we need each other—they got what they wanted, so they just need to give birth to a healthy child.”
“…Will you meet him at least once?”
Toward the Chairman who carefully urged a meeting while observing his grandson’s face, Juheon snorted. He wasn’t unaware of his grandfather’s intentions from the start. Trying to make us meet subtly? Not a chance. He made an expression as if to say don’t talk nonsense at the Chairman’s proposal.
“Still, this is the person who will bear your child.”
“That’s right. Grandfather. Just a person who will only bear the child. What’s the point of seeing them? Omegas are all the same.”
“Dominant! Dominant! I found that dominant!”
He knows dominant omegas are precious. So he somewhat understands his grandfather’s reaction, getting all worked up like that. But dominant or whatever, to Juheon they’re all just the same omega that he has no interest in whatsoever.
