RACA 85

Thud.

The item in Eunseol’s hand fell to the floor, and his mouth opened wide. He had been about to go to the room to see the cat, but he had turned back because it felt rude not to exchange at least a few words with Chairman Jang, who had come all the way here on purpose.

But the shocking words he heard made the strength leave his hand. Both of them were alphas with good hearing, so there was no way they failed to notice the sound.

Chairman Jang’s gaze reached him first, and then Jaebeom also turned around.

“Ah, um, that’s…”

Eunseol saw Jaebeom frown and hurried to come up with a reason, but Chairman Jang intervened before he could continue.

“Good timing. Since Eunseol heard it too, the talk will be easier. What do you think?”

Eunseol’s pupils trembled at the direct question that came without any attempt to go around the topic. He looked toward Jaebeom, his eyes asking how to handle this.

He did hear it, but wasn’t this something far beyond what he could comment on?

“That’s for us to handle, Chairman, so please don’t get involved.”

However, because Jaebeom said it so firmly, Eunseol ended up watching Chairman Jang’s reaction instead.

“Did I ask you? I was talking to Eunseol. What do you think, Eunseol?”

Chairman Jang, who was no less shameless than Jaebeom, smiled kindly at him. The way he wore a hanbok and a fedora again reminded Eunseol of that certain hamburger franchise mascot.

“Uh… so, well…”

But right now he was too busy going over the question that had been thrown at him. Marriage? He had never even considered that. No, it would be more accurate to say he hadn’t reached the stage to think about it.

Until now, he had focused only on the pregnancy because Jaebeom needed it, and after that, he had been too preoccupied trying to understand his situation and find a way to recover Jaebeom’s memory to think about anything else.

After Jaebeom realized his own identity, their relationship had changed drastically, and that was how they had ended up here, so marriage wasn’t something he had thought about yet.

“Well now, Eunseol-ssi. That won’t do. The babies are already growing. What will you do if they’re born and don’t have a father on the family register?”

That wasn’t really something he had the authority to decide. It was Jaebeom who had claimed parental rights over the twins.

Of course, since their relationship had changed, they would have to discuss what to do going forward, but with Chairman Jang suddenly showing up and talking about marriage, everything had turned into chaos.

“That’s true. Eunseol, what about you? Do you want to?”

Jaebeom, who had been standing with his arms crossed and his brow furrowed, suddenly looked at him. Eunseol blinked, startled by the same question coming from two alphas at once.

He tried to think about marriage again. What did he think? Honestly, he still just felt dazed.

‘Isn’t that right?’

It had only been a single day since he and Jaebeom decided to date.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? Then are you saying you planned to give birth to the children without marrying Jaebeom?”

“Well…”

Chairman Jang looked confused by the vague answer and turned to Jaebeom, thinking he might get the real answer from him instead.

“Come on. Eunseol, that sounds hurtful. You’re not saying you won’t live with me just because I might’ve been a bit cold before, right?”

But Jaebeom didn’t even glance at Chairman Jang. His attention solely focused on Eunseol. His voice sounded playful, but Eunseol could clearly feel the pressure hidden underneath.

“But we haven’t talked that far yet. What about you, Jaebeom-ssi? Have you thought about marrying me?”

“Of course.”

Huh? That wasn’t what he expected. Eunseol’s mouth fell open at the immediate yes that came right after his question, but Jaebeom looked completely confident.

From the moment he decided to date Eunseol, he had already been thinking about what to do next. There were things he needed to take care of first, but he had planned to make their relationship official before the twins were born, even if it was only on paper.

And since everything that happened today, he felt an even stronger need to make it clear that Eunseol was his partner.

So when Chairman Jang brought up marriage, he suddenly found himself very interested. But Eunseol’s hesitant attitude made him displeased.

“Uh, uh… really?”

Jaebeom found Eunseol’s innocent reaction cute, and he smiled without thinking. Then he realized that this wasn’t the time to smile, and he quickly controlled his expression.

Chairman Jang’s gaze seemed to land on him, but Jaebeom didn’t need to care about that. He lowered his eyes slightly to shake Eunseol’s heart.

“Shouldn’t we? We already have Ssangssang and Ddungddung. So shouldn’t we do it before you get heavier?”

“Ah…”

At those words, Eunseol dropped his head. His loose clothes still hid it well enough that nothing was visible to the naked eye.

But when he took them off, he could feel his stomach slightly swollen. To others, it might only look like he had gained a little weight.

“In two or three months, it’ll swell enough for anyone to see. It’s better to do it before that.”

That was true. For now, it wasn’t obvious, but within a month, his stomach would be rounder than it was now, and even formal clothes wouldn’t hide it.

Of course, for it to reach that point, he would already be in the middle months. Because he still didn’t have a real sense of such things, Eunseol quickly fell for Jaebeom’s reasoning.

“Then what should we do?”

When Jaebeom saw his expression that looked like he might cry, he looked toward Chairman Jang.

“Since the topic came up, we should just do it. When can it be arranged?”

It was an unexpectedly fast development. But Chairman Jang wasn’t the kind of man to miss such a chance.

“A month. No, it can be done in three weeks!”

“W-wait! That’s not right!”

Eunseol hurried to stop them before they could decide his wedding date. He did think marriage was something they would eventually have to do, given the situation, but how could anyone rush such a major life event like cooking beans over a lightning fire?

“Why? Do we need a family meeting?”

Jaebeom’s eyes said, ‘Are you thinking of facing Lee Daebak again?’ and Eunseol looked horrified.

“What family meeting? We’re not doing that.”

Eunseol spoke firmly. His tone was uncharacteristically strong, and Chairman Jang’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. But Jaebeom, who didn’t want him to ask further, said first.

“Then it doesn’t matter, right?”

“But it’s still a wedding, so there’s a lot to prepare.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. With the Chairman’s connections, we can secure a venue right away. The suits can be ready in two weeks if we pay more. The gifts are fine too, as long as they’re not custom-made. It’s a bit disappointing, but we can pick something from the existing designs and redo it later.”

“What the…”

Why did it sound like he already had everything prepared? Eunseol just opened and closed his mouth without being able to argue. When he thought about it, there was a reason Jaebeom could run through everything so smoothly.

How many dramas had he filmed so far?

In romance dramas, marriage was the usual ending. There were so many roles where he played a chaebol’s son that it was impossible to count, and he had filmed plenty of wedding scenes too.

“Besides, Eunseol. Like I said, your body will get heavier as time goes on. So isn’t it better to do it sooner?”

His reasoning was logical, and Eunseol started to waver. But there was one reason he couldn’t give a definite answer.

Eunseol moved his lips and then placed his hand on his stomach. It had been four months from the time he conceived Jaebeom’s children to when they started dating.

Only now were they finally able to look at each other properly, and only now did he have the space to think about what he wanted to do.

“But there’s something I want to do before marriage.”

“What is it?”

Jaebeom met his gaze and Eunseol swallowed dryly. Maybe it wasn’t something big.

But no matter how he looked at it, this came first for him. He looked toward Chairman Jang, and the man nodded, urging him to speak.

With the two of them staring at him expectantly, the pressure made his hand on his stomach tighten.

Eunseol clenched his fist, took a deep breath, and finally spoke the thought he had been holding in since the start of this conversation about marriage.

“Dating. I want to date you first, Jaebeom-ssi.”