AOA 110

It was my first time being in a mutual fling. Maybe because of that, unexpected things kept happening.

On the way to meet my biological father after class, I sent a message to Baek Mugyeong. Since he had left for work early in the morning, I hadn’t been able to tell him today’s schedule.

Right as I sent the message and got into the car, his name lit up on the vibrating phone screen.

“Hello?”

I answered, wondering what it was about.

-Jeong Minchae-ssi.

“Yes.”

-Are you driving?

“No. I just got in the car, I haven’t even started the engine. What is it?”

There had only been one time when I sent Baek Mugyeong a message and then got a call back. Remembering what had happened at the Geumpalang Art Museum back then, I wondered if something had happened to my father.

-Can you go alone?

“It’s fine. Today’s one of the regular days I go to see my father.”

-Is there something you have to meet him regularly for?

“Ah… it’s nothing big. It’s because of regular checkups. My father takes care of that sort of thing thoroughly.”

I lined up the facts in the best way I could. The monthly checkups and the fact that my father made sure I went through them were both true.

If it was Baek Mugyeong, who was quick to notice things, he would understand what the checkups meant. As expected, his answer came a beat late through the phone.

-What’s your schedule after that?

“Nothing special. I’ll go to the academy, then home.”

-Do you need spicy food?

His voice was indifferent. I couldn’t see his face, but it felt like he was saying it without a change of expression. Imagining that made me smile.

It was strange and funny to be receiving back the same comfort I had given him not long ago.

“No. It’s nothing.”

-Is that so?

“And tonight, there’s steamed seafood and eel. I’ll eat that.”

-Do you like eel?

“Of course. It’s good.”

-Eel is good. Ah, I need to hang up now. Then, let’s meet at home.

From far away, someone’s voice was calling him. I said okay and ended the call.

Looking down at the blinking call time on the phone screen, I scratched my head. I felt strange. A conversation barely over a minute long felt both the same and different from before.

Unlike before, when we had no reason to face each other, after the regression all sorts of things kept happening. We had sex, we argued, we joked, we got angry, we cursed, and grew quite close on a human level, for better or worse.

But ever since I was confessed to by Baek Mugyeong, who said he wanted to seriously get to know me, everything had changed. To be exact, I just wanted to attach meaning to ordinary conversations.

“It is meaningful.”

Calling me when I said I was going to see my father, asking if he should come with me, or asking if I needed spicy food, all of that.

He had acted kindly many times before. Back then I just thought he was a good person and let it go, but now it felt different.

My fingers and chest felt itchy. The only experience I had with dating was holding my high school girlfriend’s hand. I wasn’t sure it was supposed to feel so uncertain and restless.

I wanted to ask Choi Jaeha, the romance enthusiast. But if I did, he would tease me, saying, “See, I told you so, wasn’t I right?” I had denied his words, insisting there was no way Baek Mugyeong liked me, and that dating him was unimaginable.

To be honest, even now my head tried to reject it. I still couldn’t believe it.

At first, I had tried to refuse. But that day, I saw him anxiously standing in the garden at sunset. My heart pounded at the fact that his picture-perfect handsome face was directed only at me. Like I was under a spell, I almost answered right away that I would do it, but held back.

Even just recalling it made my fingers and toes twitch. Thinking now about how I had told him I would answer later, only to return and say yes, made me feel embarrassed.

“Ugh.”

I rubbed my flushed face with both hands.

Even though several days had passed since that day, I kept lying down on the bed, then kicking off the blanket and sitting up again. Like now, when I was alone, I twisted my body out of embarrassment many times.

The problem was that I also fumbled and flustered in front of Baek Mugyeong. Showing signs of being an inexperienced kid with no dating experience gnawed at me. I wanted to act relaxed, if not as much as Baek Mugyeong, but it didn’t work out.

“Really…”

I felt disappointed in myself, wondering why I was stumbling like this. But I believed it would get better with time. Humans were creatures of adaptation, after all.

I washed my face dry again and pulled myself together. I couldn’t stay restless forever. Now I had to go meet my father.

*

My biological father’s company building was in Yongsan. The president’s office at the top of the building held nothing but bad memories. Most of the time, I kept my head down while listening to his nagging and scolding.

Before the regression, I listened obediently and then forgot. After the regression, I grumbled inwardly and let it go in one ear and out the other.

Since I had earned a fortune from stocks, I was no longer afraid of my father. But for the sake of later, I lowered myself as much as I could and agreed earnestly with his words.

“Chairman Baek Jaehan stabbed me in the back again. That bastard.”

My biological father’s face twisted frighteningly as he spat out curses. I tensed up and couldn’t say a word.

The reason I had been able to marry Baek Mugyeong was because several conditions fit together precisely. The most decisive among them was the fact that omegas from the Jeong family had given birth to alpha sons for generations.

Baek Jinseok, the chairman of Daesong Group, openly wanted an alpha great-grandson. He even promised DS Motors to Baek Mugyeong for it.

The next person who wanted me to have Baek Mugyeong’s child was none other than my biological father. Like Baek Jinseok, who was nearing eighty, my biological father also had outdated beliefs. From the start of the marriage, he kept nagging that without a child of my blood, I could never fully become part of the Baek family.

When I manifested as a dominant omega during the honeymoon and came back, he was happier than anyone. He got ahead of himself, saying all that was left was to have a child.

After the marriage, his interference lessened a lot. But he still directly checked my academy attendance, my university grades, and the checkups I received every two months.

Today was the day the test results came out. The report that showed, through various figures, whether or not I was pregnant always went to my biological father. That was why I had no choice but to go meet him in person.

I thought it would end the same as always, with him sighing that I wasn’t pregnant. But I heard something unexpected.

He said the test results showed a significant level of contraceptive components.

I froze in shock at his words. Ever since the first time I had sex with Baek Mugyeong on our honeymoon, I had taken contraceptives without fail. I didn’t know how it had appeared in past results, but my biological father had never once brought it up.

So when he suddenly said there was a meaningful reading, chills ran down my spine. A suspicion crossed my mind, was it because I had been having sex with Baek Mugyeong repeatedly lately? Sometimes we used condoms, but not always.

I racked my brain desperately over how to explain myself if my biological father asked whether I was taking contraceptives. But then he drew his own conclusion.

He said that Baek Jaehan must have mixed contraceptives into my water or food to prevent me from getting pregnant.

“That petty bastard. Tsk. He doesn’t even have the guts to hand over one company to his nephew.”

My biological father clicked his tongue and burst out angrily.

Through my marriage with Baek Mugyeong, he had gained a lot from Baek Jaehan. Until the marriage, he had acted as if he would pledge loyalty to him. But after learning that Baek Jaehan had injected me with a manifestation delay agent, his wariness grew.

It was only natural that my biological father would suspect him again now over contraceptives. Thanks to that, I didn’t need to make excuses.

Instead, I had to listen to his scolding. He said things like this happened because I didn’t manage people properly, blaming me again. He nagged that I should replace the people working for me as soon as possible.

“Contraceptives suppress pheromones, but they say if you get an enhancer shot it can offset it to some extent. Before you go home today, go get an injection. Director Choi will take care of everything. Understood?”

“Yes.”

My biological father immediately laid out a solution. To avoid his suspicion, I had no choice but to get the shot. I lowered my eyes and answered obediently.

Then he said he would send me herbal medicine that would help me conceive easily. He went on nagging at length, saying my life would only improve if I gave birth to an alpha son.

“You haven’t forgotten what Chairman Baek said, right? For Guhyeon to return from America, you at least need to be pregnant. That way, he’ll have something to say.”

“Yes.”

“They say he’s doing well in America, but it’s still not as good as living at home. Guhyeon is reflecting on himself too. That kind of mistake should be forgiven between brothers. Don’t you think so? If you keep acting petty, the relationship will only get worse.”

Dumping all responsibility on me was my biological father’s terrible habit. Normally, I would have cursed him in my head, thinking he was insane, and let it go. But for some reason, imagining Jeong Guhyeon coming back made my stomach churn.