OMF 24

“Your pretty lips will get hurt.”

At the gentle touch rubbing his lips with affectionate eyes, goosebumps rose all over his body, but Seowoo could not push him away. It was a response that had been learned layer by layer since childhood. Seowoo’s stepbrother Jaekyun lifted the corners of his mouth in satisfaction.

“You’re such a good boy, Seowoo.”

Seowoo, who had been led by Jaekyun’s hand and made to sit in his seat, looked at the arm that was caught by him. He wanted to shake off the hand and brush it away, but it remained only a thought. Though he was only three years older than Seowoo, to Seowoo, who had been young and weak, Jaekyun was an unattainable adult. To such a Jaekyun, the young Seowoo had relied on him. Unlike his biological mother, he believed that Jaekyun thought of him at least a little.

Jaekyun was someone who wandered outside the house, but when he occasionally came home, he would sometimes throw food to him and stop his biological mother from hitting him. When Jaekyun left the house, Seowoo waited only for him to return. That was why he could not refuse even when Jaekyun touched him. No, to begin with, it was not an environment where refusal was possible, but he believed that there was no bad intention in that act.

As Jaekyun would say like brainwashing whenever he touched Seowoo, it was just the price for giving him food. But now, he knew all too well that it was not that.

When he put strength into his hand and pulled, the hand that had been holding his wrist surprisingly came off easily. The fact that he let go of the hand even at that slight movement was simply because the rather bold action was amusing, but Seowoo did not know that fact.

Seowoo, who had regained at least a little composure, looked around. Even in this situation, his eyes went to the cute interior. He had wanted to come to a place like this at least once. He had wanted to drink a beverage whose taste he did not know and try smiling.

In his childhood, when Seowoo was chased out by his biological mother and wandered the streets, he would often watch people from in front of a cafe where he could peek inside through the window. When he left his biological mother and went to the mansion, amid his fearful heart, if there was one thing he had anticipated, it was something like that.

I wonder if I can go to a place called a cafe with my alphas, whose identities I still do not know. Like the people he had seen through the window in his childhood, I wonder if we can hold hands, sit together, share drinks, and laugh.

Even after several years had passed since coming to the mansion, he knew better than anyone that it was an absurd expectation now, when all he had done with the alphas was have sex. The reason for his existence was sex and pregnancy.

Jaekyun, who had seen Seowoo since he was young, knew Seowoo better than anyone. That was why he could also guess what was in Seowoo’s mind right now. Jaekyun’s lips curved up as he watched Seowoo, who looked around the cafe interior with shining eyes and soon became sullen. A half-baked omega who was naive and scatterbrained, thinking of other things even in this situation. Seowoo’s immaturity was an opportunity for Jaekyun.

“Lee Seowoo.”

At Jaekyun’s call, Seowoo snapped out of his thoughts and raised his head. A faint crack appeared on his small face.

“…No, I am not Lee Seowoo.”

The words he barely stammered out were quite impudent. Jaekyun let out a hollow laugh inwardly.

“If you are not Lee Seowoo.”

“I, I am Joo Seowoo. Now.”

Though he had mustered the courage to say it, only a “pfft—” laugh came back. When he glanced up with his large eyes, Jaekyun was laughing heartily.

“Seowoo, do you really think you are Joo Seowoo?”

“……”

“You have lived more years as my younger brother, as Lee Seowoo.”

“……Even so, I am Joo Seowoo now. I am not Lee Seowoo.”

“And those people acknowledge you as their real blood relative?”

“……”

Jaekyun’s words blocked his mouth. He knew better than anyone that his alphas did not acknowledge him as blood relative. Because dirty and vulgar beta blood flowed through his body. It was also his alphas who had reminded him of that fact tiresomely every time they had sex.

“See?”

As he watched Seowoo falter, the corners of Jaekyun’s mouth twisted up crookedly. He was convinced that Seowoo could not possibly be treated well there, but he had wondered just in case. But judging from the reaction, it seemed to be the case after all. Things seemed to be resolving much more easily than he had thought.

“Seowoo, I am your hyung. Your real hyung.”

“…You are not a real hyung.”

Jaekyun was the son of the man his biological mother had loved in her childhood. He did not know the complicated circumstances of the adults. What Seowoo knew was only that he was not related by blood not only to his biological mother but also to himself. And also that he had occasionally engaged in sexual acts with his biological mother.

“Lee Seowoo.”

At Seowoo’s denial, Jaekyun’s expression had hardened, but he regained his composure again.

“Does that make the years we lived as family disappear?”

“……”

“I thought of you and cherished you like my real younger brother.”

“……”

“Did you think of me as a stranger? That would be too sad.”

Seowoo also thought of him as his family. To the young Seowoo, who had nothing, even his biological mother, who hit and scolded him every day, was a loving family. Seowoo just wanted to be loved by anyone. So he gave his heart to Jaekyun, who had treated him the best among them. It was something like a survival instinct.

“Lee Seowoo.”

Seowoo flinched at the name called with emphasis, as if trying to imprint it.

“Do you know how much I searched for you after you left like that?”

“…Hyung?”

“Yes. We parted without even properly saying goodbye.”

There was no lie in Jaekyun’s words. He had done everything possible to find Seowoo. He had only thought that he must get Seowoo back. Back then, Jaekyun had habitually run away from home like inertia. There were times when his biological mother, who had no outlet to vent her frustrations and scolded a child who had nothing to hit, could not endure it as she fussed over him. She was a woman who would look at him with tender eyes reminiscent of the man she had once loved, but soon her body would heat up and she would cast sticky gazes. The child she had conceived like stealing seeds, saying she would try living her life once, was a frail omega who wheezed.

If it were not for an alpha family, an omega was like an troublesome burden that was hard to deal with. Once he reached a certain age, he could be sold to a pleasure district for money, but he was still too young. He did not feel sorry for that child. It was a neighborhood where similarly unfortunate lives gathered and lived. His own life was not in good enough shape to easily pity someone else.

However, throwing food to the child who looked so small and weak was the maximum kindness he could offer. At some point, that child’s gaze kept holding his steps. The reason he had no choice but to return even after leaving home as if he would never come back again was precisely Lee Seowoo.

He had left home as usual and returned. Only two weeks had passed. The periods he spent away from home were gradually shortening. Though he had not admitted it to himself, he now knew that it was because of Lee Seowoo.

That day, he was holding a box containing donuts covered in white powder. He remembered seeing him eat cheap market donuts deliciously at some point. Having earned quite a bit of money following his hyungs around, he thought he would show some generosity for the first time in a while. Thinking of the sight of him devouring them greedily with white powder on his lips made him smile involuntarily. However, the house he returned to with light steps no longer had Lee Seowoo.

“Seowoo. Back then, hyung was a bit hurt.”

“……What?”

“I thought we were close enough to at least say goodbye before parting.”

“……”

“Yeah?”

“…Uh… I’m sorry….”

Even though it was not something he had done wrong and there was no choice given to him, seeing Seowoo apologize so meekly so quickly made him laugh. This innocent and foolish child had to be his. Jaekyun felt that the time he had spent searching for Seowoo had not been in vain. He still had a chance with him. This time, he would not just take it foolishly lying down.

When he grabbed the small hand, the startled Seowoo reflexively tried to pull his hand away. But this time, he did not let go easily. Jaekyun gently stroked Seowoo’s hand.

“Now that we’ve met again, it’s okay. Hyung will understand everything.”

He fiddled with the frayed fingertips. They were the fingertips Seowoo would bite when he was anxious and scared. The unchanged fingertips showed that Seowoo’s situation in the current mansion was not so good. It was a fortunate situation for him.

“When you were young, Seowoo followed hyung a lot, right? Do you remember?”

“…Yes.”

“Hyung still feels sorry that he could not treat Seowoo better back then.”

“Ah….”

“Our Seowoo must have been through a lot alone. Back then, hyung was the only one for Seowoo. Right?”

“…Uh… Yes….”

At Jaekyun’s words, Seowoo’s heart melted softly right away. It seemed like he was truly missing him as a hyung. As Jaekyun said, in his childhood, there had been no one else for Seowoo. He was grateful that Jaekyun was saying he was sorry even now. He was the first person to say he was sorry to Seowoo. The resentment he had built toward him seemed to be melting away.

No one had ever been sorry to him or missed him. His biological father had no interest even in his existence, and even the biological mother who had given birth to him hated him. Seowoo was starving for affection that he had never received even once, not knowing what it was. And Jaekyun knew that about Seowoo better than anyone. It was not some special insight. It was just instinct. Only someone who had starved for affection in the same way could recognize it.

“Uh… I, I’m sorry…. For coming without a word….”

When another apology came from Seowoo’s mouth, Jaekyun’s eyes sparkled. He had almost lost this child forever, who was so easy. Jaekyun looked at the Seowoo in front of him with a renewed feeling.

His appearance had changed a lot over the past few years. He had been a child who wore clothes that were stretched out from being passed down and full of dirty stains because he could not wash them. But now, even to him who did not know much, he was wearing clothes that looked expensive. There was not even the logo of a common luxury brand, but he could tell they were costly.

The face that had always been grubby from not being able to wash had a clean glow, and the expression that had always been cowering and watchful seemed somehow a bit brighter. Jaekyun did not like Seowoo’s changed appearance.

But there were many things that remained the same. The softly drooping but mysteriously shaped corners of his eyes, the small upturned nose, the plump lips, the rounded forehead, and the rosy cheeks—none of them failed to draw the gaze. His slender nape and white hands were all equally alluring.

Was an omega who had learned about sex originally like this? From the moment Seowoo entered the cafe, Jaekyun’s cock had been erect to the point of bursting. Jaekyun had to suppress the impulse to strip Seowoo’s clothes off right then and there.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. The fact that he had not taken that child’s first time. The fact that he had wasted the past few years when he could have kept him by his side and made him live looking only at him. Seowoo was his. He was something that rightfully belonged to him. Now that he thought about it, it was idiotic, but he had hesitated for quite a long time because he had watched him grow up from childhood under the name of younger brother. Though their lives were both at the bottom, he had some sense of conscience. Moreover, Jaekyun was a beta.

Though he was half an omega, it was hard to admit desiring a man who had the same thing. Because of that, though he had touched Seowoo’s body and even had him do handjobs with that small hand, he had not crossed the decisive line.

He had let his guard down. A child whom no one but him would care for. A child who could not earn money with his own hands and could never leave that squalid house forever. He had thought that whenever he wanted, he could have his way with him. By the time he realized it was not like that, it was already too late, but it was fortunate that he knew now at least.

Jaekyun intended to put Seowoo back in his original place. Seowoo’s place had to be by his side.

“Now we can keep in touch and get along again. To Seowoo, hyung is family, right.”

“……”

“Right?”

He definitely considered him family. The only person who had shared warmth with the young Seowoo. Seowoo had relied on Jaekyun. It was natural. The occasional food thrown to him and a single word stopping his biological mother from hitting him had been like a lifeline. Moreover, even his biological mother, who had not treated him as a person, was family to Seowoo. There was no one else to expect and hope for affection from besides them. They had been the entirety of Seowoo’s narrow world.

Now, Seowoo had three alphas. The fact that he was their omega was an undeniable truth that no one could deny. Could he be connected to them under the name of family…. As it was now, he absolutely could not call it family. If he called himself family, they might frown or sneer.

To them, he was still a pathetic half omega they wanted to hide. But if he gave birth to a child someday, perhaps he could become real family. Seowoo had endured day by day, looking forward only to that day.

“I…, family is….”

“What?”

“My family, now….”

He wanted to say that he too had real family now, but he could not bring himself to say it. Because he knew better than anyone that it was not true. Seowoo, who had been mumbling with a voice that sank lower and lower, finally closed his mouth.

“Lee Seowoo, are you saying those alphas are your family now?”

“……”

“Do you think those bastards even consider you family?”

“……”

“They just took you to have a child. To get you pregnant. I looked into it, and that place had no omega, right? So they took you. Isn’t that right?”