AOA 121

Baek Jaehan was a powerful man. If he took a dislike to you, life would become hard in one way or another. You had to keep your head down and watch his mood until the very end.

“Then, has Mugyeong ever behaved unusually?”

Baek Jaehan was persistent. He didn’t give up and kept questioning.

I swallowed a sigh, feeling an ominous hunch that this meeting would drag on.

***

“Mugyeong-ssi?”

When I came home after dinner, the first thing I saw was Baek Mugyeong’s car parked in one corner of the garage. I was so startled that I immediately cut across the garden.

“You are here?”

Baek Mugyeong stood up from the sofa in the living room. His attitude was cold, but I was flustered.

After days without any contact, I doubted for a moment if the Baek Mugyeong who suddenly appeared was real. Even with drug side effects, I had never experienced hallucinations or heard voices. So Baek Mugyeong being at home had to be real.

Usually, when he came home from work, he changed into comfortable clothes, but now he was still in a neatly fitted suit. That meant he had arrived not long ago.

“When did you get here?”

“I didn’t wait long.”

“Did you see my message?”

“No.”

I thought he would react if I said I was meeting Baek Jaehan. But he said he hadn’t seen it. Faced with his denial, I started to walk toward him, then stopped in place.

“Then why are you here?”

“There is something I want to hear.”

“Please say it.”

“That night, I didn’t get an answer. I thought I would never hear it. But since you also regressed, you should be able to resolve my question.”

Baek Mugyeong’s voice was cold. It didn’t seem like he was holding back anger like before. There was no threatening pheromone either.

But that made it even scarier.

“Um… I don’t know what you are talking about.”

It was a stupid answer, but I really didn’t know what Baek Mugyeong meant.

That day had been far from ordinary. Because I manifested as an omega and even became pregnant, my pheromone levels went wild.

I felt so unwell that I dozed off through the entire afternoon lecture. When I came home, I couldn’t even eat much dinner, and after lying down on the bed, I fell asleep as I was.

I woke after about an hour. I suddenly remembered that the helper had said she would make a sandwich for late night, so I went to the kitchen.

I barely ate a few bites of the sandwich, then sat in the living room watching TV. I remember it was a news channel, but I don’t remember what it was about.

That was when Baek Mugyeong appeared. After being gone for days, he came home with a frightening face and demanded to know why I had done it. He asked if even following him to America had been part of some plan.

I had no idea what kind of answer he wanted. That is still the same even now.

What? How? A plan?

When I stammered my reply, Baek Mugyeong’s face distorted violently.

“You really don’t know?”

“I don’t.”

“…Fine. I know you weren’t in your right mind then. That it wasn’t your will either. …I tried to persuade myself with that many times. But it doesn’t work.”

“Mugyeong-ssi?”

He spoke like he was spitting out his suffering. He looked truly tormented. I was shocked since I have never seen him like this before.

Before I could ask if he was okay, his expression returned to normal. His stern face gave away no emotion.

“From now on, I won’t care what you do. Unless it’s a special occasion, there won’t be a reason for us to meet face to face. The divorce… let’s do it as quickly as possible. I will get grandfather’s permission.”

“Divorce?”

“Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“Yes… but. I don’t understand why you are this angry, Mugyeong-ssi. I need to know what it is before I can explain or not explain.”

“There is nothing I want to hear from someone who doesn’t even know he was used.”

The one-sided declaration left me dazed. …It meant he wanted a divorce because he couldn’t stand the sight of me. I realized that a little late.

It was like we had gone back to before the marriage. Baek Mugyeong spoke politely, but it was always cold.

My heart turned cold like it was covered in frost. My breathing grew tight, and I even felt dizzy.

“If you need to contact me, do it through my secretary or my lawyer. Here are their cards.”

Baek Mugyeong placed two business cards on the table. I needed to say something, but my mind wouldn’t work.

“I don’t care what you do. But I hope you act with basic decency.”

I stared blankly at him as he continued speaking. When our eyes met, Baek Mugyeong frowned. He slowly ran a hand through his hair and stepped closer.

“I hope we don’t have to see each other again.”

Baek Mugyeong turned around. His back looked familiar. But I felt that this really was the last time.

My body moved first.

My legs, unsteady and weak, carried me to block Baek Mugyeong’s path as he headed for the front door.Baek Mugyeong frowned at my sudden action.

“What is it?”

“Baek Mugyeong-ssi. How can you only say what you want? I told you I don’t know what I’m supposed to say. You have to explain properly, only then can I apologize or not.”

My voice trembled, I didn’t know if it was from anger or fear. Asking him this way required enormous courage. I was so nervous that my cold heart beat strangely.

This time, I didn’t feel the aggressive pheromone of an alpha. But it was still frightening. To receive his hatred without even knowing what I had done was unbearable.

I wanted to know what in me had made Baek Mugyeong this angry back then.

No matter how much I thought about it, I hadn’t done anything wrong. No, I had. When Baek Youngseop called, I ran like a loyal dog. Even when Baek Mugyeong told me not to, I didn’t listen.

But my birth father had warned me again and again not to go against Baek Jaehan or Baek Youngseop, and to stay in their good graces. In my half-unconscious state, I didn’t even think of it as flattery. I only acted like a puppet who obeyed orders.

Did that cause some problem in a place I didn’t know?

I liked Baek Mugyeong. That was why being misunderstood like this was terrifying. I wanted to explain myself properly and stop him from leaving.

“You want to apologize without even knowing what you did?”

“That’s why I said explain…”

“Stay ignorant.”

“What?”

“If you did it knowingly, I can’t say what I might do.”

“…Then get angry instead!”

It was something Baek Mugyeong had once told me. The situation was different, but when anger was warranted, he should get angry. I didn’t want to remain in the dark like this.

“Get angry?”

For an instant, Baek Mugyeong’s face turned fierce. At the same time, his pheromone spread everywhere. It wasn’t a pheromone to lure an omega, it was to threaten.

I felt like Baek Mugyeong had turned into a beast read. My heart shrank and my legs went weak.

Back at Cheongam Art Museum, when the alpha hazard happened, I had been fine. But now was different. This was the first time such anger was directed at me directly. I was so scared I wanted to run.

“How is it?”

Baek Mugyeong approached, his body wrapped in pheromone like blades. His expressionless face revealed nothing. He was someone who could act mercilessly at any moment.

I didn’t want to step back like a frightened dog. But if I held out like this, I felt I would lose consciousness.

“Stop!”

I clenched my teeth and pushed his shoulders with all my strength. Normally he would have stood like a stone, but now he fell back like a limp balloon doll.

The pheromone that had threatened me from all directions vanished instantly, and I could breathe freely. But the aftermath lingered. The goosebumps that had risen all over me down my back and up to my head didn’t fade. My hands and feet were icy cold.

“Should I keep getting angry? Can you endure it?”

Baek Mugyeong exhaled a deep breath and scoffed. It was practically picking a fight.

“Are you crazy?”

“When I look at your face, I feel like I am. …Don’t block me. Next time, it won’t end like this.”

Baek Mugyeong walked past and went to the door. I clenched my trembling hand tight, but until the front door closed, I couldn’t look back.

Click.

As soon as the lock clicked, I couldn’t hold on any longer and collapsed where I stood. My head was blank, I couldn’t think of anything.

But one thing was certain.

It was over.

***

After Baek Mugyeong stormed out of the house, four days later on Sunday afternoon I received a summons from Baek Jinseok. With the mindset that what was bound to come had finally come, I went to Baek Jinseok’s mansion.

It was the place where the grand birthday banquet had been held, but today it was ominously quiet. The butler guided me to the second floor, where the study was.

Butler Son told me he had safely taken care of the chandelier and thanked me, then warned me that the atmosphere inside the study wasn’t good.

Just as he said, when I entered the study, the heavy mood hit me. I greeted them under Baek Jinseok and Baek Mugyeong’s eyes, they were already seated.

“I am here, Grandfather.”

“Good. Sit there.”

At the head sat Baek Jinseok, and on his left was Baek Mugyeong. The seat Baek Jinseok pointed to was next to Baek Mugyeong.

I slowly sat on the sofa and looked at Baek Jinseok.

“Mugyeong says he wants a divorce. Did you know?”

“Yes.”

Honestly, I hadn’t expected Baek Mugyeong to move this quickly. I didn’t know how much he had agonized over it in the past days. I still held on to the hope that maybe he would tell me everything, that once the misunderstanding was cleared up, we could go back to how we were before.

But Baek Mugyeong had shown by his actions that he had no such thought. If Baek Jinseok gave his approval for the divorce now, it was all over.