Evan, who had sent away the lawyer, the secretary, and even his mother who had rushed over in shock at the news of the accident, buried himself in the sofa. Too many things had happened in such a short time, and now he was finally alone.
The phrases the media had carelessly spouted seemed to linger in the air. Provocative headlines, words that he couldn’t tell whether they were worried about his and Siwoo’s safety or cunningly hoping misfortune would befall them.
Compared to the major accident, what happened to himself, Siwoo, and Jadu could be called a miracle. All three were safe without major injuries. But were they really safe?
Jadu, born without completing the full term, was lying alone in a small incubator in the pediatric emergency room. Siwoo, who would wake up once the anesthesia wore off, was sleeping alone in the hospital room.
And he was in the living room attached to the hospital room where Siwoo was.
Technically speaking, it could be considered the same place, but ultimately they were all alone in different locations.
An accident that shouldn’t have happened.
An accident that shouldn’t have occurred.
But it was a foreseeable accident.
What should he say to Siwoo when he wakes up?
Evan raised his hand to dry-wash his face but frowned. When his mind was occupied, he didn’t feel the pain well. Now his whole body hurt.
The tension from the sudden accident must be releasing now.
If he was like this, what about Siwoo who experienced all these things while asleep?
He couldn’t even grasp what to say to Siwoo who would soon wake up.
Among the paparazzi following us, the crazy ones crashed into us, so…
He became choked up at the same time as thinking of Jadu.
Siwoo’s pheromones, full of confusion and fluster, had disappeared for just a brief moment but quickly reappeared. And now, as if asking “when was that?”, they were full of peaceful and stable emotions. Evan, who had been feeling his pheromones flowing from the hospital room where Siwoo was sleeping, slowly rose from his seat.
He needed to organize his thoughts and establish countermeasures, but that was something he could also do by Siwoo’s side.
The first thing Evan encountered when he carefully entered the hospital room was Siwoo lying alone on a pure white bed.
Evan, who had briefly cast a meaningless gaze at the complicated lines connected to his body, soon sat not on the chair beside the bed but perched on the bed where Siwoo was lying.
“You’ll be very surprised when you wake up. But everything’s okay. The crack in my collarbone will heal quickly if I suffer for a few weeks, and our Jadu is bravely holding on well alone.”
Evan, who had lingered in the air for a moment, slowly lowered his hand and arranged Siwoo’s disheveled bangs. He wanted to keep saying what was inside, but he couldn’t easily open his mouth. He didn’t know what to say.
It was too late to say let’s go to Korea now. He didn’t even have the right to say he would start litigation against the paparazzi. He had considered the disgustingly clinging paparazzi to be unavoidable due to his background, being a former idol, and his unique trait. The very thought that he could coexist with the paparazzi while maintaining an appropriate boundary was rotten.
It was all because he had thought complacently, and because he had believed the words of Siwoo, who couldn’t say he disliked things even when he did, swallowing it alone and just saying it was good, it was good. He hadn’t understood the heart of Siwoo who smiled brightly upon seeing him and kissed him while seeing him off to work even from the bed.
That it was comfortable to be at home because of morning sickness. That it was better to rest at home than walk around with a heavy body—he had believed those words as they were.
Siwoo loved to travel.
During Ocean’s activity breaks, the two of them traveled a lot together.
Although they wore bucket hats or caps pulled low and wore masks, the two of them wandered around many places.
When they wandered around alone like that without managers, staff, or broadcast cameras, Siwoo would laugh brightly and say. That the reason they were recognized was because of the people surrounding them. He would whisper that when they went around like ordinary people like this, no one knew.
Was that really the case? Siwoo might not know, but security guards were always on standby around them. There were many people who recognized them but pretended not to.
He liked to go out whenever there was an opportunity in any situation. Later on, he even enjoyed taking walks at dawn when everyone was asleep.
Why did he believe the words that he didn’t need to go out? That it was good to be in a house that had everything?
What was Siwoo’s heart like when he suddenly came to the company? What was that feeling of shopping while communicating with fans through a live in a situation where people were crowding like that?
It was all his fault. He should have looked deeper into and understood better the heart of Siwoo who sent him warm gazes and smiled.
He had told his secretary to start preparations so they could go to Korea right away anytime as long as Siwoo and Jadu were okay, but to Siwoo, all of this would probably feel like bowing down to receive a bow.
“I’m… sorry.”
The many words in his heart were ultimately just elaborate excuses.
Evan’s fingertips that touched Siwoo’s forehead carefully touched here and there on the face of the peacefully sleeping Siwoo.
“It’s all my fault.”
Evan, who withdrew his fingertips that had been lingering on Siwoo’s face, soon wrapped Siwoo’s hand where the IV needle was inserted and looked at the IV fluid dripping steadily. As it had been until now, from now on it was a time of waiting.
He had to wait for Siwoo to wake up on his own, not forcibly wake him.
“Wake up now…”
“Noisy.”
Evan’s words, about to say shouldn’t you wake up now since if you sleep too long we’ll have to call the medical staff again, were cut off abruptly by a small sound.
“Coco. Coco? Are you awake? Are you okay? I thought I just heard your voice.”
He definitely heard Siwoo’s voice tinged with irritation. He hadn’t been looking at Siwoo’s face for a moment while watching the IV drip, but Evan’s face, who hurriedly turned his head to look at Siwoo, was strangely distorted.
“What are you touching and muttering about beside me?”
His green eyes welled up with moisture, and Evan’s lips, trembling and choosing words to say to Siwoo, were tightly shut at Siwoo’s harsh words and actions.
“Those crazy paparazzi bastards. If they catch my eye, I’ll separate their bones from their flesh, so if you don’t want to see me become a murderer, you better lock them up in jail yourself. Don’t just stand there and raise this bed a bit. Ah, my stomach really hurts.”
Blinking his large eyes slowly, Siwoo’s words and actions—who had been careful for a while after finding out about Jadu, saying he should be good and think good thoughts and only say pretty words—were unrestrained.
All the comments he had prepared to slowly explain from the accident to the current situation and Jadu’s news vanished in an instant. Siwoo had clearly been asleep before the accident happened. But looking at what he was saying now, it seemed he already knew everything.
“Why did you leave Jadu alone? Bring him right now. There’s no major problem. The kid who’s sad about being forcibly separated from me and doesn’t like being trapped in an incubator, why leave him alone? Whether you use your great background or have nurses or doctors on standby at all times, somehow make Jadu be in this hospital room.”
Evan, who raised the bed a little at Siwoo’s urging, couldn’t take his eyes off Siwoo, who was even talking about Jadu in succession.
“But where and how did you get hurt that you have bandages wrapped on both shoulders?”
Seeing Siwoo’s gaze, who had been talking about Jadu as if he knew everything, touch his shoulders, Evan sighed and tried to sweep back his hair but his expression slightly stiffened at the pain that came.
Then, at Siwoo’s urging, he talked about the situation that led to the incident and what happened after. The situation where Evan’s collarbone was cracked, and that both Siwoo and Jadu were in critical condition so they had no choice but to perform an emergency C-section.
The rough words and actions toward the paparazzi that began pouring out from Siwoo afterward, completely unfiltered, continued until Jadu sleeping in the incubator arrived.
“Jadu. Please let me hold him.”
Siwoo looked at Jadu sleeping with a smaller body curled up inside the small incubator, then requested of the medical staff standing beside it. He could understand that the accident happened because of paparazzi, and that they performed a C-section in an urgent situation.
But leaving Jadu alone in the pediatric emergency room was something he couldn’t quite understand. Though he appeared to be sleeping peacefully, right now Jadu was crying. In Jadu’s pheromones—warm and savory yet bitter like freshly brewed coffee beans—the emotion of desperately seeking himself and Evan was completely dissolved.
According to Evan’s explanation a little while ago, Jadu had no major medical problems. He knew that everything in the world could be threatening to Jadu who came into the world too early. The incubator that maintained a constant temperature and humidity might be more stable for Jadu, but he couldn’t just leave him when the kid was this scared and looking for him.
He wanted to tell him it was okay, that he and Evan were together. But Evan was tightly hiding his pheromones right now. More than anything, during pregnancy he had read Jadu’s emotions better than himself. But to ignore Jadu crying desperately like this? This didn’t make sense.
“Jadu is sleeping, so when he wakes up in a little while…”
At Evan’s words soothing him in a gentle tone, Siwoo withdrew his gaze from Jadu and looked at Evan. Others might not know, but you should know. You know. Why are you pretending not to?
“You… what’s wrong? Why are you hiding your pheromones?”
“This is a hospital.”
A hospital. Evan wasn’t wrong. Moreover, the place where this hospital room was located was probably an alpha, omega center. So controlling pheromones would be natural. But there was no need to hide them that much. Letting them flow weakly enough for only himself and Jadu to feel wouldn’t be a big problem.
The fact that the hospital rooms at the alpha, omega center, not anywhere else, were specially designed and constructed so pheromones wouldn’t flow outside was something Siwoo also knew.
“The hospital isn’t the problem, Jadu likes your pheromones…”
“Jadu is a beta.”
Siwoo blankly looked at Evan, who was carefully holding his hand while speaking.
