“You knew… what…?”
He wanted to believe it wasn’t true, but a bitter smile appeared on Lee Seohee’s lips.
“Probably, Hyowoo-ssi in the past…”
He stopped what he was saying and quietly caught his breath.
Knowing that even trivial words could be a trigger for someone with deep trauma, he carefully chose each word.
“I thought you must have experienced something very bad. And that… it must have been a very cruel thing that left such a big scar that it would never be erased for a lifetime…”
From Lee Seohee’s calm tone, Hyowoo realized he was pinpointing the situation accurately.
“How did you… know that…?”
“I didn’t secretly investigate. I just, vaguely guessed on my own.”
He knew well that there was no way he would have had people dig into his background.
Even if he’d tried to find out, that incident had been thoroughly covered up with money and power.
There was a high possibility that even the police investigation records had been erased. An incident that left not even a crumb for the media and public, as if it had never happened in the first place. Even if he’d investigated such an incident with money, he wouldn’t have been able to find even a trace.
He gently stroked Hyowoo’s faintly trembling fist.
“As you know, my family is… not exactly ordinary. Since many people approach with bad intentions, I grew up being told to always be careful. I actually experienced all sorts of things too.”
For that reason, he said he naturally came to observe people from a young age.
“It might be a bad habit, but I came to watch the people around me more closely. Especially since Hyowoo-ssi is the person I like, every word, every action, even small changes in expression all caught my eye.”
At the words ‘the person I like,’ strength gradually drained from the fist he’d been clenching so tightly his blood was draining. He kindly held that hand as it opened.
“That thing you experienced in ‘third year of high school’ must have led to your fear of Alphas. Because it must have been an existence that hurt Hyowoo-ssi.”
Finishing his words, he carefully asked, ‘Right?’
After hesitating for a moment, Hyowoo slowly nodded.
“…Since when did you know?”
“From the day of our blind date.”
Perhaps he’d already anticipated how Hyowoo would react, as embarrassment was evident in his smiling answer.
To think he’d already known everything—Hyowoo’s mind went blank.
The shock was so great it took a long time even to part his lips.
“…You knew all that… and still met me…?”
“Yes.”
When he barely managed to ask, a short and straightforward answer came back.
His mind that had gone blank now became tangled in complexity.
‘Even knowing all about my past like that… he met me as if it was nothing…?’
Of course, there probably wouldn’t be many people who would immediately turn their backs just because their partner was a victim of sexual assault.
But there would surely have been some wavering or hesitation, yet he didn’t feel even a hint of such signs from him.
He smiled at him unchangingly and showed consideration.
His kindness at least didn’t stem from pity. He could definitely trust that sincerity.
‘Seohee-ssi… comes from a good family and is even an exceptionally capable Dominant Alpha…. Why would he, of all people, be interested in an Omega full of defects like me…?’
He’d heard that Alpha society was much more conservative than one would think, and there were many with old-fashioned ways of thinking.
Especially among young male Alphas these days, such tendencies were said to be getting worse.
A narcissistic group of Alpha supremacists who lived selfishly and for their own self-satisfaction. They looked down on Omegas while forcing obedience and wanted them to be ‘pure.’ If they deviated even slightly from the standards they set, they would coldly discard them without a single second of hesitation.
In their eyes, Hyowoo would be the worst of the worst among defective products not even worth dealing with. A disqualified Omega.
Especially if they were a chosen existence, a ‘Dominant Alpha,’ belonging to the top 1% even among them, they would be bound to apply even stricter standards.
‘I thought Seohee-ssi wasn’t such a selfish person, but…’
Still, it didn’t make sense.
Why did he give his heart to him?
“…Why… didn’t you ask me…?”
“Because I thought it would be hard on you.”
To the question asked with difficulty, he answered calmly.
“If… I hadn’t said anything, what would you have done?”
“Then I wasn’t planning to mention it either. I didn’t want to forcibly dig up old wounds and cause another wound.”
Just how kind could this person be?
Understanding him, showing consideration… it was all warmth beyond what Hyowoo himself deserved.
He couldn’t grasp at all how to accept this heart of his.
He didn’t even have the courage to look directly at Lee Seohee, so he lowered his head. He could see his large hand holding his own dry hand.
“How much bone-cutting pain Hyowoo-ssi must have endured to stand up like this. It must have been painful and difficult beyond what an Alpha like me, who grew up without lacking anything, could even imagine.”
Letting go of the hand he’d been holding, he stroked Hyowoo’s pale cheek.
“That’s why I think Hyowoo-ssi is a really amazing person. Because you’re moving forward every day while fighting against your painful past.”
Only then did he raise his head and look at him. Lee Seohee’s gentle eyes contained only him.
“The expression is awkward, but I’m really proud of you. I’ve fallen for Hyowoo-ssi’s strong side all over again.”
It was the first time.
The first time someone who wasn’t family had told him it must have been hard, that he was doing well overcoming it.
‘I… am doing well after all…’
While he was happy that the person who said those words was Lee Seohee, he couldn’t smile.
“I won’t say arrogant things like the past doesn’t matter at all, or that I can understand and accept everything. Such words would be no different from dismissing what Hyowoo-ssi experienced as ‘no big deal.'”
“……”
“However, whatever past you have, my feelings of liking Hyowoo-ssi won’t waver because of it, and the way I treat you won’t change. I promise you at least that one thing.”
“……”
“And I’ll be careful and make an effort so that you don’t get hurt because of me.”
In that instant, tears burst out.
His chest felt heavy. He didn’t know what to say, and various emotions mixed together so his mouth wouldn’t move.
He quietly pulled Hyowoo, who was trembling his lips and sobbing, into his arms. Gently patting his trembling shoulders and back, he silently waited for him to cry to his heart’s content.
Only after crying for a long while in his arms could he finally stop the tears.
“Now that I see it, Hyowoo-ssi is a complete crybaby. How are you going to live in this harsh world with so many tears?”
When the crying subsided, he suddenly came out with words like an old person.
“Your crying face is pretty too, but stop crying now. You’ll get dehydrated at this rate.”
At Lee Seohee’s half-joking words, Hyowoo muttered in a voice choked with tears.
“…I don’t usually cry much. It’s because of Seohee-ssi that I’m like this…”
“So, you’re saying I made you cry?”
“…I don’t know.”
After his heightened emotions barely calmed down, he slightly pushed away from his chest.
Seeing the shirt dampened by his tears, embarrassment suddenly rushed in for no reason.
“I’m sorry… because of me, your clothes…”
“What’s there to be sorry about?”
Saying this kind of thing dries quickly, he pulled out three tissues and handed them to Hyowoo.
“Wipe your tears with this. And wipe your runny nose too.”
“Wh… what?”
At the mention of runny nose, as he hurriedly started wiping his nose with the tissue first, he burst into laughter.
‘…Where did all that seriousness and kindness from just now go?’
Hyowoo glared at Lee Seohee, who was chuckling as if amused, with resentful eyes.
“Do you have to tease me even in a situation like this?”
“Thanks to that, you stopped crying, didn’t you?”
“I already stopped before Seohee-ssi teased me, you know?”
He crumpled the dampened tissue into a ball and threw it toward his chest. The tissue that hit him went thud— and fell limply to the floor.
“Did you throw this hoping it would hurt when it hit me? Or are you asking me to throw it away?”
“I don’t know. More importantly, please move aside quickly. I’m going to go wash my face.”
He tried pushing him, but the large body wouldn’t budge.
Instead, he reached out and wiped the tears still lingering around his eyes. Then he gently stroked Hyowoo’s lower lip with his thumb.
At the sudden touch, Hyowoo was startled and froze still.
“If you don’t like it, push me away.”
Lee Seohee, who spoke as if whispering, slightly lifted his slender chin, then gently overlapped his own lips onto those lips.
Seohee is such a green flag.