SPM 1.5

What greeted him as he came out to the arrival hall in a daze was Ian’s father, Harrison Bailey.

“Ian! Over here!”

Ian looked up at the familiar voice calling him.

“Dad…”

Harrison came into Ian’s view very easily.

A middle-aged man waving his large hand while holding a tacky sign with his son’s name and welcome greeting written on it. However, his neat appearance and handsome looks, which contrasted with the childish hand-drawn sign, made it more surprising that he didn’t stand out.

“Dad, seriously…”

With some inexplicable awkwardness and embarrassment, Ian slowly pushed the cart containing his large immigration suitcase as he approached. Then Harrison strode over and hugged his son’s body so tightly it might break.

“My son…!”

“Ugh…”

He must have skipped shaving today, as his rough, short stubble rubbed against Ian’s cheek as he kissed him on both sides, causing Ian’s delicate, pale skin to quickly turn red.

Ian looked up at his father, whom he was meeting for the first time in six months.

The first thing he saw were blue eyes curved as if facing something extremely lovable. In fact, Ian’s eyes appearing as blue-gray with black mixed with a slight blue tint was inherited from his father.

Would he look like his son, or like a stranger? A momentary question arose. It was fleeting, but a question he had agonized over many times from long ago.

Being mixed-race was truly fascinating.

Perhaps because he carried characteristics of both races, he was simultaneously not quite either. Because of this, Ian knew all too well that even between parent and child, they could sometimes look like strangers.

Unusually, Ian was of mixed Eastern and Western descent, but he was rarely biased towards one side. Because he had inherited more of his father’s genes, he looked like a Westerner with only dark hair at first glance. Perhaps because of this, when he went around with Song Joo-hee from childhood, strangers more often didn’t realize they were mother and son.

Behind his blank gaze, thoughts that had been quietly settling for a long time passed by.

This time, would others immediately recognize them as family, as father and son?

Could he avoid being misunderstood as a foreigner here?

He had experienced situations of being misunderstood because of his appearance that didn’t look Korean his whole life, so he was used to it now, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t uncomfortable.

How would it be here? In his heart full of fear about starting in a new place, the only expectation bloomed like a small flower bud.

Perhaps because he had been staring blankly at his father for a while, Harrison stroked around his chin and asked.

“Why, is there something on Dad’s face?”

“No. Just. I’m happy to see you after so long, Dad.”

He was always a father who was like a friend. When Ian smiled at him, the large hand reached up to his forehead again and ruffled his hair.

“You worked hard coming alone from far away.”

With his palm as large as his build, he not only stroked his hair several times but even planted a kiss on top, making Ian’s face turn red.

“People are watching, Dad.”

“So what. You’re my son.”

“I’m not a little kid anymore…”

“But to Dad, you’ll always be my cute little boy.”

Apart from the objective fact that Ian had grown up enough to become an adult in just a few years, to Harrison, his son was always a cute and lovable being like a little child.

While the impression from childhood when they always lived together was strong, the fact that they couldn’t live together or always be together meant that memory and awareness couldn’t keep up with actual growth speed.

In addition, Harrison was completely at Ian’s mercy because of his affection for his son, who had to live on the other side of the world, and his regret and regret for not always being able to be by his side.

The complete opposite of Song Joo-hee being completely dominant with Ian.

“And you don’t have to do that here. People don’t really care what others do.”

At those words, Ian nodded. It was a moment when he truly felt like a blue-eyed Korean. He would have to adapt to this culture from now on, and there were countless worrying things ahead.

“Why did you bring such a big bag? You could have come empty-handed. Dad would have bought everything new for you.”

Before he knew it, Harrison had taken the bag from his back and even taken over the cart, leaving Ian empty-handed in an instant.

“Just, well. What I’m used to is more comfortable.”

Perhaps because they hadn’t met in a while, Ian felt slightly awkward exchanging conversation with his father as he followed him.

The most recent time they had met was already 8 months ago.

Generally, Harrison would come to Korea to meet his son during vacations, but sometimes Ian would travel like last time.

Of course, he wouldn’t go to his house, it was an implicitly established pattern for the two of them to meet at a vacation destination and spend about a week together traveling and enjoying time.

That was because Harrison’s house had the new family he had formed.

Dad’s wife and half-siblings. Though Ian didn’t hate or dislike them, he was also reluctant to meet them, and Song Joo-hee, Ian’s primary guardian, actively avoided them with disgust.

Perhaps that’s why sending Ian to live with his father’s family was such a shock to him. Even thinking about it again after time had passed, Ian’s conclusion was always the same, that it was the most bold and radical decision his mother had ever made.

Following Harrison, who walked fast with his strong build and long strides, they had reached the parking lot before he knew it. Opening the trunk of a large, gleaming Lincoln and loading the luggage, he muttered.

“What was Joo-hee thinking, making you carry such heavy luggage? I understand being prideful, but this is really too much.”

Though the latter part continued almost inaudibly like talking to himself, Ian heard it all.

Actually, it wasn’t the first time he’d heard such things. Though neither Song Joo-hee nor Harrison openly badmouthed their divorced partner in front of their son, they didn’t hesitate to make minor complaints.

Ian was newly puzzled about how two people so different and incompatible could have loved each other and had him.

The car started and left the airport, finally entering a quiet road. Ian stared blankly at the roadside where trees of species rarely seen in Korea were planted regularly, then turned his head toward the driver’s seat and carefully spoke.

“Dad, how exactly did you marry mom?”

He knew they had met on campus, loved passionately, and married hastily, but he had never heard any specific stories. Both of them never told such stories, as if they didn’t even want to recall the past.

“Hmm…”

As soon as Harrison heard his son’s question, he fell silent and stared only at the distant horizon visible ahead.

Stroking near his chin with his left hand that wasn’t holding the steering wheel, he slowly spoke.

“…Because of pheromones.”

At the unexpectedly surprising answer, Ian’s gaze, which had been looking out the window, quickly turned toward his father.

“Really?”

“…Yeah. Since you’re almost grown up, I’m answering honestly.”

As if embarrassed to tell his son such a story, Harrison cleared his throat and chose his words.

“Have you ever heard terms like ‘destined partner’ or ‘soulmate’ in movies, books, news, or such?”

“Destined partner?”

Ian’s voice jumped at the unexpected term.

Though wrapped in romantic expression, it was a phenomenon revealed through the development of modern medicine. Simply put, it referred to the relationship between Alphas and Omegas who had particularly compatible pheromones.

Usually, Alphas were enchanted by Omega pheromones and vice versa. Alphas and Omegas being drawn to each other’s pheromones was instinct. It was a characteristic unique to Alphas and Omegas, different from Betas.

Since the difference between trait carriers and non-carriers started with the presence or absence of pheromones, it was a natural fact.

Unlike Betas, Alphas and Omegas felt attraction to the opposite sex not only through primary gender differences but also through pheromones from secondary gender. And most trait carriers tended to value secondary gender classification as Alpha and Omega more than primary gender classification as male and female. Like insects and beasts, opposite-sex pheromones stimulated the nervous system and sex hormones, being involved in reproduction. Of course, there were minorities who weren’t like this, but just as male beasts instinctively sought females to continue their bloodline, being attracted to opposite-sex pheromones was natural.

And ‘destined partner’ referred to the possessor of specific pheromones that were irresistibly strongly enchanting. It was a different story from the commonly accepted universal attraction.

Just as everyone likes beautiful and charming celebrities, it was true that pheromones of dominant Alphas and dominant Omegas with expressed dominant genes were commonly attractive to all trait carriers. But just as all humanity had individual preferences when falling in love, pheromone preferences also differed for each individual. It didn’t mean dominants were always chosen.

To summarize, this was a phenomenon that stood at the opposite end of general and common pheromone preferences, extremely personal and maximized only for specific targets.

Being such a powerful attraction, it mainly occurred 1:1, and was known to be experienced by only a very small number of people, not all trait carriers.

Ian had never expected such a fantasy-like story that would appear in fairy tales to have happened to his parents.

But as soon as he heard that, apart from the surprise, he could immediately understand. How two people so incompatible that they still constantly complained about each other even after more than ten years could have dated, married, and even had a child.

“I still vividly remember how I felt when I first met Joo-hee.”

“…”

“I probably won’t forget it until just before I die. It was such a tremendous shock.”

Harrison’s gaze, searching through the distant past, still wandered far away.

“Alphas and Omegas have that kind of thing. Being breathlessly drawn to a specific person. It’s a type that Betas could never understand. It’s not simply love at first sight, it’s a sensation where pheromones stimulate the brain and hormones, shaking a person from the very foundation. Even the pheromones of a ‘destined partner’ are several times stronger and more shocking than that.”

“Did you feel that toward mom?”

“…Yeah.”

Harrison glanced back at Ian and smiled slightly, and the image of a handsome young man who fell in love with Song Joo-hee in his youth briefly passed by.

“Ian, you’ll start experiencing romance in earnest now, but you need to be careful when you meet someone like that.”

It was a meaningful statement.

“I-I’ve never dated anyone even once.”

Far from dating, he had never even had an ambiguous relationship with anyone. How did everyone else manage such things? Having never experienced liking someone, everything related to romance, affection, and falling in love seemed fascinating to Ian. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, Ian squirmed in the passenger seat.

“You’ll meet someone eventually. Omegas always have to be careful. Security here is worse than in Korea, so you’re more likely to become a target of crime. Of course, Dad will protect you.”

This was something Harrison habitually said to Ian.

I’ll protect you. Don’t worry, Dad is watching over you.

Just as a Beta father cherishes his daughter, it was a universal sentiment for Alpha fathers to particularly cherish and love their Omega children, similar across all cultures.

They say it’s an instinct to protect the most vulnerable and easily endangered individual among one’s family and kin, but Harrison had a tendency to be excessive. Ian could only speculate that perhaps feelings of guilt about his son, whom he had separated from at too young an age, were mixed in.

While it felt good to be protected and loved, perhaps because he was going through puberty, Ian felt somewhat awkward and changed the subject.

“What exactly does being attracted feel like?”

“Hmm. It’s hard to explain.”

Harrison furrowed his brow and pondered Ian’s question, as if choosing words that could express it accurately.

“Just finding someone’s pheromones really nice, that’s something you can encounter fairly often in life. But it’s on a completely different level from that feeling. When you meet such a person, your whole body boils and every cell screams desperately. To catch that person. To possess those pheromones and make them completely yours.”

It was a statement that revealed the Alpha’s possessiveness that was rarely seen from his father.

Only then did it seem understandable how two people who had met by chance on a vast campus could fall in love instantly. If they had been swept up in such strong impulses, they probably couldn’t have endured without immediately possessing the other person. Ian nodded, thinking of movies and books about destined partners.

Perhaps thinking he had revealed too personal a sensation to his teenage son, the voice that had been explaining passionately paused for a beat and became calmer.

“…But relationships, you see, there’s something that can’t be maintained by mere fascination or burning love alone. I didn’t know that then. I just thought that if we loved like this, we could live happily forever.”

The two had sworn eternal love at the wedding altar not long after meeting. It was a promise that wouldn’t last even three full years, but it was probably sincere at the time.

Everything after that seemed understandable without explanation. The two probably clashed throughout their time living together.

Ian’s mother, Song Joo-hee, was extremely self-directed and so diligent she couldn’t sit still for a moment, while simultaneously being very controlling in everything, and his father Harrison was the complete opposite. He was someone who lived like flowing water, positively speaking, he was optimistic, and negatively speaking, he belonged to the type who lived without worrying about tomorrow. He was also impulsive and tended to think that what was good for him was good for everyone else too.

‘If your father hadn’t been born the son of a wealthy family, he probably would have lived somewhere as an idle beggar.’

This was something Song Joo-hee often said. Mainly when she heard stories about him taking Ian somewhere for travel, buying plane tickets and wandering the streets without any plans. While it was fine for him to live however he wanted when traveling alone, she had quite criticized him for being an unplanned person who couldn’t get his act together even when traveling with his young son.

But Ian didn’t think his father’s free-spirited nature was bad. It was the only moment he could breathe in his tightly scheduled daily life.

Moreover, for someone his mother evaluated so harshly as a former spouse, the father Ian directly experienced wasn’t entirely like an idle person. He was just relaxed and positive in personality, but he did what needed to be done. He was also smart and had a broad perspective on the world, Ian always thought so when talking with his father.

“Speaking of which, I talked to my lawyer, Ian. How about changing your surname?”

“My surname?”

“Yes. It seems it would be more convenient in various ways to follow our family’s surname here.”

Not the surname ‘Song’ from his mother, but ‘Bailey’ from his father. Since it was something he had never considered, Ian’s head tilted in puzzlement.

“If you have a different surname from the father you’re living with, it might cause various misunderstandings at school, and it’s complicated when going through legal procedures too.”

“Ah…”

He hadn’t considered that at all. Mom’s evaluation does have some bias after all. Ian mentally disagreed with his mother’s prejudice as he looked at him, who seemed to have prepared various things in advance regarding his situation.

“If you had followed my surname from the beginning, there wouldn’t have been this problem.”

Harrison frowned between his handsome eyebrows. Then Ian became slightly restless. Even though he wasn’t a child anymore and had grown up, he still felt this way. No matter how long ago his parents had separated, parental fights definitely had aspects that made children anxious.

“The only time we reached an agreement pleasantly was when we first named you. I named you and Joo-hee agreed.”

Ian’s name, though it looked ordinary, was actually a bit unique upon closer inspection. It wasn’t a pure Korean name, and while it looked like an English name at first glance, it wasn’t that either. Peculiarly, Ian’s name was in Chinese characters.

Joy (怡) and peace (妟). (It’s read as Yian)

He had once heard from Song Joo-hee that they wanted to create a Korean name that would also feel natural in English. The story was that they attached characters with such meanings, hoping he would live a life that was always joyful and peaceful. So he had thought it was entirely his mother’s idea, but it was a name his father had chosen? This was the first time he learned this fact.

“After that, it was all muddy fighting. Even when it came to custody.”

“…”

“Dad never forgot you for a moment, Ian. I just met the wrong judge.”

Deep lines formed in Harrison’s brow. It seemed like unpleasant past and the emotions from that time were pouring out like a tsunami.

“Back then, unless one side’s economic capability was lacking, they rarely gave custody of Omega children to Alphas. I appealed that I could raise you much better, but the judge immediately rejected it. Dad absolutely did not abandon you.”

“Yeah… I know. I know.”

However, while agreeing with his excuse-like words and reassuring him, Ian was shaking his head in his heart. The truth from that time wasn’t simply due to the judge’s decision as Harrison said.

Both his mother Song Joo-hee and Ian’s paternal family had opposed Harrison gaining custody of his son. This was something Ian learned from his maternal grandmother after he had grown up considerably. So no matter how much he argued, it would have been impossible in the end.

Furthermore, Ian came to know exactly why they had vehemently opposed Ian’s custody after more time had passed. It was also related to Harrison’s quick remarriage.

The people living in the house they were heading to now.

That’s probably why Song Joo-hee had tried to keep Ian from meeting them until now. She would have wanted to keep young Ian as far away as possible from connections entangled with the past,  wounds, disputes, dirty emotions, and hatred. Looking back later after learning everything, that’s how it was.

But at this time, Ian didn’t know much under the pretext of adult protection. So he purely accepted his father’s affection and regret.

“You don’t know how happy I am to finally live with you.”

At the slightly excited voice, Ian forced the corners of his mouth up to smile cheerfully.

Just from seeing his father’s passionate reaction now, Ian could tell how much his father loved and cherished him. Since childhood, he had naturally learned that this was the only area where a person who laughed leisurely everywhere else showed sensitivity.

“How about it? It seems like you need to decide quickly to finish the paperwork the school wants.”

“…Would it be okay not to ask mom?”

“Your mom will agree too. Dad will take care of that part.”

Harrison looked toward Ian and smiled brightly as if to reassure his son. It was a wonderful smile.

Ian didn’t want to displease his father who had finally cheered up again. Ian looked at Harrison and nodded.

“I’ve prepared your room too, and picked out a car for you to drive around. It’s safe and, well, a cool car.”

“But I don’t have a license…?”

“Oh! Geez, I didn’t think of that. It’s natural for everyone here to drive their own cars. I got my first car when I was sixteen too.”

Even so, to buy a new car first in his excitement.

“Can’t help it… Dad.”

“You’ll have to get your license quickly, Ian.”

Exchanging trivial conversation, Ian’s anticipation gradually grew. The anxiety right before departure seemed to gradually fade away in his father’s positive energy as soon as he met him.

Of course, that too was a misjudgment.