TIN 146

As if he had never smiled in the first place, only slight irritation and boredom remained on his face. His reaction, changing as easily as flipping the palm of his hand, confirmed that my guess wasn’t wrong.

After staring into space briefly, Joo Do-hwa soon gestured toward the door.

“Come in.”

“…”

The doctor who had been hesitating entered the room. Approaching with a tense face, he took Joo Do-hwa’s right hand while holding his breath. Due to my bite earlier, blood was still seeping from his hand. Though it clearly needed treatment, Joo Do-hwa pushed the doctor away and pointed at me.

“Not me, over there.”

He pointed to my left hand, which was a mess from forcing it out of the handcuffs. Though the bone was reset, from wrist to thumb it was swollen and bruised. Anyone with minimal perception would immediately understand what had happened.

“The thumb was dislocated and I reset it. Just wrap it in bandages.”

The doctor wordlessly took bandages from his bag. His movements creating a splint for the thumb were mechanical yet skillful. He didn’t even blink at this chaotic scene—handcuffs strewn on the bed, both men’s hands mangled.

“If there are no other fractures, it should heal in about a week. Try not to move it…”

I didn’t respond to the doctor’s words. I didn’t want to hear the following reassurance about quick healing due to extreme dominance. Whether it healed or not didn’t matter anyway.

After finishing the treatment, the doctor bowed and withdrew. He glanced at Joo Do-hwa’s hand one last time, but when Joo Do-hwa said nothing, he silently left the room.

“…”

“…”

What remained was silence. Joo Do-hwa stared at me while I stared at my hand, with no words exchanged between us. Though his gaze felt like it would burn holes in my face, I didn’t raise my head.

I tried moving my throbbing fingertips slightly. The bandaging was so tight I could barely bend my fingers. Outside, I had to use these bandages until they were worn out, but here they were such common items.

“They say the gestational sac isn’t visible in early pregnancy.”

Joo Do-hwa spoke first. He began speaking in an utterly calm tone, acting gently unlike usual.

“The doctor says they need to see that to confirm the exact weeks…Even with dominant genes, it shows later in male omegas, so an ultrasound would be inconclusive now.”

I had almost no knowledge about such things. Not even knowing from which week the gestational sac becomes visible. Probably Joo Do-hwa before me was similar. At best, he was just repeating what the doctor had explained to him earlier.

“So answer me.”

He asked subtly. Softly and sweetly, as if promising no harm would be dealt to me.

“It’s my child, right?”

My hair stood on end. An ominous feeling flashed through me at his extremely gentle question.

I knew my answer now could be a turning point. If I wanted to live, I also knew what answer I should give to please him.

“Well…”

But hadn’t I said it to myself before? That I no longer needed to live in fear of dying by his hands. If he killed me, that would be exactly what I wanted.

“I’m not sure.”

“…”

The smile vanished from his face. Ah, Joo Do-hwa sighed shortly and tilted his head to look down at me. The ceiling light was blocked behind his head.

“Not sure?”

The shadow cast on the bed was huge, like a giant’s. The man, already massive, was as intimidating as his anger. It felt like he might devour me in one bite if I stayed still.

“Then whose child is it?”

I couldn’t answer. Of course, it was Joo Do-hwa’s child. He was the only one who had knotted with me, joined bodies with me.

“Tell me.”

“…”

“If you tell the truth, I’ll let this matter slide.”

What nonsense was this about letting it slide? No matter how generously he spoke, this was still Joo Do-hwa. I wasn’t stupid enough to fall for such words.

“I don’t know whose child it is either.”

“Then you should say it’s mine.”

Without pause, Joo Do-hwa reached out to me. His hand carefully cupped my cheek, then moved down to cover the pulsing spot on my neck. Just that was enough to make my breath catch as if I was being strangled.

“Are you saying someone else besides me came inside you?”

My face reflected in his beast-like golden eyes. His trembling gaze held not only anger but betrayal. For all his confident talk about “our child,” it seemed he wasn’t certain of anything.

“How many did you roll around with outside to not even know whose it is?”

“How many, you ask…”

A scoff escaped me. You really do see me as just a whore. Strangely, I didn’t feel wronged by this fact, and it was even satisfying that it could fuel Joo Do-hwa’s anger.

“You saw how much I made selling my body. Why act like this when you even put out a bounty matching that amount?”

Joo Do-hwa was the one who retrieved the money I’d left with Kei, and naturally, he would have seen the amount on the receipt. That was why he’d written ten times that amount on the wanted notice.

“If you’re curious, wait for the ultrasound. But since I ran away not long after sleeping with you…that might not tell us.”

“…”

“Since I was quite…active right after leaving.”

It took about two weeks from our sex to my escape from this house. It was a timeframe that might be revealed once we looked at the ultrasound and confirmed the child inside. Knowing this, I still continued nonchalantly, “How could I choose just one among them?”

The implication being there were so many. When I smiled mockingly with that meaning, his hand gripping my neck tightened. His golden eyes gleamed, and veins almost visibly bulged near his jaw.

After a long while, he spoke to me slowly, as if grinding out his words.

“Think carefully. Before I have to catch many instead of killing just one.”

His voice had sunk so low it gave me chills. Even knowing this was his final warning, I didn’t give him the answer he wanted. At that, Joo Do-hwa curled his lips.

“…How interesting, really.”

In the moment his eyes blinked, I too instinctively felt it. That his patience had truly hit rock bottom. That perhaps what happened on the island might repeat itself.

But contrary to my expectations, he didn’t harm me at all. He just removed his hand and straightened his posture. While keeping his gaze fixed on me, he commanded someone in a composed tone, “Bring me that bastard Kim Jaewon.”

“…What?”

My head snapped up. The familiar name had pierced my ears. Before I could even register that the presence by the door was Henry’s, words burst out from my lips, “It’s not Kei’s. With him…”

“Don’t defend that bastard.”

Joo Do-hwa cut me off coldly and raised the corner of his mouth. His face showed mockery, and his following question was full of derision.

“You didn’t sleep with him?”

There wasn’t even time to answer. He immediately asked, “Then what were you doing in first class?”

My parted lips couldn’t even produce a small gasp. First class. The sudden words struck the back of my head.

“How many CCTVs do you think are installed, from the station to inside the train?”

What I knew but had ignored came back to bite me. That there would be CCTVs there, that Joo Do-hwa would suspect Kei upon finding out he was onboard that train. Though I knew this and ran away, even tried to hide because of it, filled me with regret.

“This.”

With those words, Joo Do-hwa pointed to my neck. The spot where Kei’s marks had been, probably now covered by Joo Do-hwa’s traces.

“Did you think I wouldn’t recognize that bastard’s handiwork?”

“…Ah.”

My fingertips grew cold. My heart sank, and my lower abdomen seemed to throb with pain. Just moments ago, I thought I’d be fine with dying, but as soon as that arrow turned toward another person, I felt a sense of crisis overcome me.

“I told you to think carefully.”

His gaze seemed to ask: Hadn’t I given you a chance? As I watched Joo Do-hwa slowly turn away, I hurriedly sat up and grabbed his arm.

“No, that’s not it. I didn’t sleep with him. We’re nothing to each other.”

It was the absolute truth, spoken more urgently than ever before. I shook my head while kneeling on the bed.

“You’ll see if you check the first-class CCTV. He doesn’t even know I’m an omega.”

At the word ‘omega,’ he glanced back at me.

If Joo Do-hwa killed Kei…The mere thought made my stomach turn. That someone else would die, that it would be because of me, that I would still live unable to die—it was unbelievable.

“We parted ways right after getting off the train. That’s all. Nothing happened…”

“Then which bastard did you roll around with?”

Joo Do-hwa coldly asked back, his expression unchanged. He carelessly shook off my grip on his arm and grabbed my bandaged hand.

“Theo? Gicheol? Or that ticket scalper?”

I couldn’t even ask how he knew those names. It wasn’t shocking anymore that he knew more than I thought. I just felt an increasing pain in my stomach, as if someone had stabbed me there.

“If you can’t answer, forget about it.”

As if saying he wouldn’t be lenient anymore, he dropped my hand. As I flinched and curled up clutching my stomach, Joo Do-hwa smiled mockingly and said,

“We can just get rid of the baby anyway.”