The place where Hyowoo opened his eyes was a university hospital, in an omega-only ward.
It had been five days since he lost consciousness.
He barely regained consciousness, but his condition was still precarious.
His temperature fluctuated around 40 degrees Celsius, and his consciousness kept fading in and out.
The doctor diagnosed it as heat cycle aftereffects.
Commonly called ‘omega fever,’ this symptom appeared when an omega experienced heat without taking suppressants and failed to satisfy their instincts.
The instinct referred to here was the breeding urge. In other words, it meant sexual intercourse with an alpha.
These days, suppressants were widely available, and even those who avoided taking them usually had partners, so this symptom rarely appeared.
Even if they did experience aftereffects, it typically ended with body aches. It was at a level that didn’t interfere with daily life, so it wasn’t much to worry about.
But Hyowoo was different.
Because of his Peculiar Constitution that required him to take strong suppressants daily, the intensity of his heat was incomparably stronger than that of ordinary omegas.
The doctors guessed that this severe fever was precisely because of that.
Blood tests conducted to find any other possible causes revealed no viral infections or other abnormalities.
In the end, all they could do for Hyowoo was administer fever reducers and IV fluids to prevent dehydration while he was unconscious.
The doctor said he would recover soon once the fever broke, but the family’s anxiety didn’t easily subside.
This wasn’t the first time Hyowoo had lost consciousness and hovered between life and death. The nightmare of ‘that day’ they didn’t want to recall reared its head again.
Worried that something might happen like back then, the whole family was anxious and on edge.
Even while suffering from high fever, Hyowoo repeatedly called out one name.
His voice was barely audible, just his lips barely moving in a murmur. His parents thought it was delirium from the fever, but Gyeonwoo immediately recognized who he was looking for.
‘Even in this situation, you’re looking for Lee Seohee?’
Gyeonwoo’s expression gradually twisted as he watched his hyung, who looked like he could barely breathe.
‘I thought you’d finally be happy now that the CPA exam went well, your health improved, and you met a good person……’
What on earth did hyung do so wrong to face such cruel trials again? Gyeonwoo resented the heavens.
Days continued as if time had stopped. One day felt like a year.
After enduring such difficult times, Hyowoo’s fever finally began to drop little by little.
The upper range of 38 degrees.
Only then did Hyowoo properly open his eyes.
“…Mo…m, Gyeonwoo…ya……”
The voice heard after several days was so faint it seemed like it would disappear at any moment.
Breathing heavily, Hyowoo asked with difficulty.
“…Where… am I……?”
His mother tightly grasped her son’s hand.
“The hospital. You suddenly started your heat, so Dad and Gyeonwoo brought you here.”
“…Dad and… Gyeonwoo……?”
“Yes. Don’t you remember?”
“…No.”
Tears poured from his mother’s eyes.
“My poor baby… How shocked and scared you must have been……”
Hyowoo watched his mother’s sobbing with unfocused eyes. Then slowly, he moved his gaze to Gyeonwoo standing beside him.
“…How did you know I started my heat……?”
In that moment, Gyeonwoo’s face stiffened.
His hyung’s face overlapped with ‘that day.’
Hyowoo lying in the ICU with an oxygen respirator.
That bloodless skin and lifeless eyes were Gyeonwoo’s ‘trigger.’
He couldn’t bear to meet his eyes.
“…I’ll go call Dad to tell him you’re awake.”
Without even answering, Gyeonwoo left the hospital room.
In the hallway, he told his father that hyung had woken up. He also informed their noona, who had said she would take a flight to Korea if Hyowoo didn’t regain consciousness by today.
“I see… You’ve been through a lot, Gyeonwoo-ya.”
“What did I go through… Mom’s the one who had it hard……”
“And… don’t say anything to Hyowoo for the time being. Recovery comes first right now.”
Father said the same thing.
Don’t say anything to hyung. Even if he asks, pretend you don’t know.
Gyeonwoo knew why he said that.
But he couldn’t easily nod his head.
“Noona, you should rest now too. I’ll contact you again later.”
Even after hanging up, Gyeonwoo couldn’t return to the hospital room.
Leaning his back against the wall, he exhaled deeply. He tried to suppress the rising anger, but it was futile.
The anger he had buried belatedly boiled over.
After Hyowoo went through that incident, Gyeonwoo sometimes couldn’t control his emotions. So for a while, he had received psychological treatment and medication prescriptions.
If he returned to the hospital room like this, he felt like he would explode the moment he faced his hyung.
Gyeonwoo bit his lips hard, trying to suppress the urge to scream.
He roughly ran his hands through his hair and punched the wall with his fist.
With trembling hands, he took out his cell phone.
Then after staring at the name ‘Jingnyeo’ for a long time, he finally pressed the call button.
* * *
About an hour after receiving the call, their father arrived.
Rushing into the hospital room, he collapsed on the spot as soon as he saw his son’s face.
Seeing their father, who usually showed a strong appearance, crumble helplessly, Hyowoo’s heart collapsed with guilt.
“I’m sorry… for making you worry like this again……”
To Hyowoo, who couldn’t hide his guilty feelings, his parents only said they were glad he woke up, and said nothing else.
They must be curious about what happened to start his heat, but they probably judged that now wasn’t the time to ask about it.
‘Dad knows everything now too. He’ll probably say something to Hyowoo……’
Gyeonwoo and noona Hyeonwoo had already been scolded by their father. Thinking that hyung would be scolded soon too made his heart heavy.
‘But right now Mom is beside him. Hyowoo needs to stabilize a bit more. At least he won’t scold him here……’
Thinking it would be better to let his parents rest first, Gyeonwoo told them that he would stay by his hyung’s side tonight, so they should both go home.
“No, Mom will stay. I need to be here to feel at ease.”
“I’m worried Mom will collapse too at this rate. Hyowoo’s awake now, so please go home and sleep, just for today.”
“Dad will be here too, so it’s okay.”
“Dad stayed here all night yesterday too. Please, both of you go home today.”
“Listen to Gyeonwoo, Mom. I’m okay now……”
After persistently persuading their parents to send them home, Hyowoo quietly spoke to his younger brother.
“What… happened? How did Dad and you know to bring me to the hospital……?”
“……”
“What about Seohee-ssi? Where is Seohee-ssi? Is he… okay?”
Hyowoo’s voice was urgent. Even while gasping for breath from the high fever, it seemed he was more worried about Lee Seohee.
Gyeonwoo hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth.
“He left for London. You’ve been hospitalized for ten days as of today.”
“T… ten days……?”
Hyowoo’s eyes widened as if he couldn’t believe it.
“I… see……. Three days after the day we met… he was scheduled to leave……”
“Right. So he left the country.”
“He’s… okay, right?”
To Hyowoo asking again, Gyeonwoo couldn’t answer right away.
His father and noona’s words telling him not to say anything even if asked echoed in his head.
‘…Should I really not tell him after all?’
Unlike his twin hyung, Gyeonwoo was good at lying smoothly. He was also an expert at playing dumb, so pretending not to know even when asked wasn’t that difficult.
“Yeah, he was fine.”
Hyowoo stared intently at his younger brother’s face as he spoke naturally, as if it was nothing, just like usual.
“…Don’t… lie……”
“Hey, why would I lie to you……”
“Even if it’s not a lie… there’s something you’re… hiding from me.”
This lie was meaningless from the start.
Just as Gyeonwoo knew Hyowoo well, Hyowoo also knew his twin brother well. No matter how perfect Gyeonwoo’s acting was, there was no way Hyowoo would miss his younger brother’s small hesitation.
“Tell me. What happened……”
Hyowoo’s words didn’t carry any emotions like reproach or anger toward his younger brother. They only contained the desperation to know the truth.
“Is Seohee-ssi… really… okay?”
Not knowing might have been better. Even if he would find out eventually, stability was important right now, so there was no need to burden him with unnecessary worries.
“Gyeonwoo-ya, please……”
But he couldn’t do that. Unable to ignore his hyung’s frail plea, Gyeonwoo confessed what happened that day.
