PIA 111

Jeong Han-joo’s twisted lips quivered faintly.

“Tell me. Is what I heard correct? Is Jian pregnant?”

“I thought you’d left.”

His head was throbbing. This was the last way he wanted to reveal this. Jeong Hee-seo made no attempt to hide his distorted expression.

“I’m sick of this. Han-joo, what exactly are you so dissatisfied with? Have I ever once done anything to make your life miserable?”

“Just answer my question.”

“Why should I?”

It was a moment when his brother’s personality, which Jeong Hee-seo had considered manageable until now, suddenly felt overwhelming. Jeong Hee-seo’s patience was wearing thin at the sight of him showing such unreasonable greed and possessiveness towards Jian.

“You’ve… always been like this. You’ll never understand.”

“Han-joo, ha…”

Jeong Hee-seo gritted his teeth and muttered a curse under his breath. The very idea of having to explain everything to him was exhausting.

“Jian doesn’t want to reveal it yet, and I intend to respect that. This is important to both of us, so I don’t want to casually spread it around. If you have even a shred of loyalty, I trust you won’t speak of it recklessly.”

“‘Important to both of you’?”

Sarcasm clung to the back of Jeong Hee-seo’s head as he turned away.

“Is it true? Is it really your child? Are you certain it’s yours! Do you know how many years he chased after me saying he liked me? You’ve only been together a few months, and now you’re totally lost, making a complete fool of yourself!”

“…”

Looking at Jeong Hee-seo’s back as he stopped abruptly, Jeong Han-joo felt a glimmer of elation. He had always been annoyed by how his brother seemed to look down on him, so seeing him shaken like this was even thrilling.

“Have you even done a proper test—”

As Jeong Han-joo was raising his voice triumphantly, he bit his tongue. With a loud smack, his jaw twisted. When he came to his senses, he was rolling on the ground.

The last thing he saw was Jeong Hee-seo’s body swiftly turning. Stars flashed before his eyes, and his startled body stiffened, unable to move. The intense pain arrived a beat later.

As he squirmed like an insect, unable to regain his senses, cold criticism rained down from above.

“As you said, he liked you for so long. Even if you’re an idiot, you should know how to show at least minimal respect to someone like that.”

“…”

Jeong Hee-seo irritably dusted off his hands and turned away without hesitation. Jeong Han-joo struggled to raise his upper body, staggering. Warm blood flowed down below his nose, and his mouth filled with blood, perhaps from a cut inside his cheek.

“Shi…”

Even cursing was difficult, as if his jaw was dislocated. As he felt his face with trembling hands, Jeong Hee-seo, who had gone far, suddenly stopped and strode back.

Jeong Han-joo flinched and met his brother’s fierce eyes looking down at him.

“You…”

The finger pointing at Jeong Han-joo trembled with anger. Jeong Hee-seo clenched his fist and continued.

“You should take a good look at your Omega. I could tell right away. You call yourself a dominant Alpha and can’t even discern that?”

“…What? What do you mean?”

“Use that brilliant head of yours and think.”

Faced with Jeong Hee-seo’s scathing words, Jeong Han-joo was at a loss for words. Not being a fool, he immediately understood what he meant. Perhaps it was the same as the subtle doubt he had been harboring.

“…”

It was a moment of realizing he had been deliberately feigning ignorance.

Leaving the dumbfounded Jeong Han-joo behind, Jeong Hee-seo returned to Jian.

The dimly lit room was filled with Jian’s pheromones. With each breath laden with his lovely scent, the pain in his clenched fist was forgotten and his turbulent heart calmed.

Jeong Hee-seo quietly approached, muffling his footsteps, and looked down at the sleeping Jian. The room was so quiet that only the sound of soft breathing and the dripping of the IV could be heard.

‘I’m glad you couldn’t hear that.’

Jeong Hee-seo sat on the floor by the head of the bed. He rested his chin on the mattress and gazed at Jian’s face. His peacefully sleeping face looked serene.

From now on, I’ll make sure you never shed a single tear. I’ll protect you. He murmured silently.

Though he was the one taking action, Jeong Hee-seo didn’t understand why he was declaring his resolution to an intangible presence. Yet he found himself muttering unconsciously. Whether it was because his heart was pounding fiercely after throwing the punch, he was filled with an indescribable feeling.

The feelings he thought had settled down were uncontrollable, making him want to voice his determination aloud. Though it seemed childishly grandiose, it was truly a simple, heartfelt sentiment.

Thinking that sometimes childish feelings might be closest to one’s true heart, he quietly kissed Jian’s cheek.

* * *

Jian was standing alone on a beach. The pure white sand stretched endlessly on both sides. The sunlight was so intense he could barely open his eyes, yet strangely it wasn’t hot, just cozy.

The shallow water made the sea a pale sky blue as far as the eye could reach. Waves and sand tickled his toes.

In this flawless landscape, a small, out-of-place speck caught his eye. Desperately wriggling across the sand was a tiny green turtle, no bigger than a booger.

‘…You should go to the sea. Why are you coming this way?’

Jian scooped up water with his hands and sprinkled it on the turtle.

‘Not this way. You should go into the sea. Why do you keep trying to come onto land?’

He had seen it in a documentary once. Baby turtles must make their way to the sea on their own after hatching, and if they go the wrong way, they die. But people are not supposed to help them then.

Despite his concern, pushing it away by sprinkling water, it persistently came towards Jian. Wondering if the turtle was following him, Jian jumped into the water without hesitation.

‘This way. You have to come here to live.’

After taking a few splashing steps in, he turned back to see the adorable turtle following him. It parted the wet sand with its short four legs, heading towards Jian. For every five steps forward, the waves pushed it back four, but the turtle didn’t give up.

‘Well done!’

As it entered the water, it floated up and swam fiercely, flapping its tiny flippers. Finally, as the turtle approached right in front of Jian…

‘What… what’s happening?’

It grew larger and larger, becoming enormous in an instant. As it approached, stepping on the sea as if to split it with its pillar-like legs, Jian stumbled backward in fear and fell on his bottom.

With each step the giant turtle took, waves rose in reverse. Frantically wiping his face drenched by the strong currents, Jian looked up to see its body had grown large enough to block out the sun.

Just as the house-sized creature, ungrateful for his help, was about to jump into his arms to crush him, Jian’s eyes snapped open.

“…!”

Gasping for breath, he looked around at the unfamiliar place. After blinking quickly three times, he remembered falling asleep in the room at Jeong Hee-seo’s family home. It was dark outside, with only one yellow light on in the room.

“Are you awake?”

Jeong Hee-seo, who had been reading a book while sitting on a long chair, asked. Jian, still not fully out of his dream, just blinked his eyes.

The weight of being crushed by the turtle was still so vivid.

Ji-an ran his hands over his body and tossed the covers aside. As he raised himself halfway and leaned against the bed’s headboard, he noticed Jeong Hee-seo watching him with a curious expression. Ji-an looked back at him, caught up in his gaze.

“What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?”

Jeong Hee-seo narrowed his eyes and closed his book. There was a soft thud as the hardcover closed.

“You’re looking at me… seductively.”

He came over and sat down next to Jian. His hand gently enveloped his shoulder. Jian burst into giggles.

“What’s gotten into you? What were you thinking while I was sleeping?”

“What about you? What kind of dream had you smiling and mumbling to yourself?”

Ah, the dream.

“A… conception dream?”

The words slipped out inadvertently. Jeong Hee-seo pressed his lips into a line and widened his eyes.

“I think I just had a conception dream. But do you have those this late? Do conception dreams come late too?”

Perhaps it was because Jian’s decision to raise the baby himself came late. It seemed like the little one had just now visited him in a dream. To have such a dream on the day he decided to meet Myung Hyeon-sook and actually did so, he couldn’t help but attribute meaning to this strange coincidence.

“Jian.”

Jian, who had been looking down at his stomach, raised his head. Jeong Hee-seo was looking down at him with warm eyes.

“I…”

Jeong Hee-seo couldn’t easily continue and wrinkled his nose bridge. Jian opened his eyes wide to show he was listening.

“I’ve…messed up.”

He confessed that word of Ji-an’s pregnancy had apparently gotten out. Ah, Jian thought it was a conception dream—but was it a premonition? Or are they the same thing? Jian tilted his head in confusion.