Love Born of Pity Chapter 102

Following the familiar road up led to a high wall. In case something unexpected happened, Do Yeonjae parked the car a little farther up and briefly contemplated which method would be better: to ring the bell and announce his visit to the people inside, or to just climb over the wall as he was.

Naturally, the former would be more proper. But the thought he’d had just moments ago—that there was no way he wouldn’t be able to see him—somehow felt absurd. He suddenly became anxious.

As he turned off the ignition and got out, Do Yeonjae still hadn’t made a decision. His loitering around was suspicious to anyone who might see, but this was a place where not many people passed by in the first place.

Leaning against the car body and pondering a bit more, Do Yeonjae became certain they wouldn’t open the main gate for him and decided to climb the wall. It was possible because, for aesthetic reasons, no security sensors had been installed on the fence. Who would have thought of climbing over the wall of the great Chairman Do Seungtae’s house?

His clothes would get a little dirty, but what did that matter? Do Yeonjae lightly stepped on the hood to stand up, climbed up the windshield, and easily stood on the roof.

A head popped up over the wall, but no one from inside the estate spotted Do Yeonjae. Using the car’s body for support, Do Yeonjae leaped lightly, grabbed the wall, and jumped right over. It was a swift and clean motion. Landing without any particular noise, he dusted off his clothes and started walking.

“Hoo.”

He ran a hand through his messy hair and hurried. If he dallied and got caught right at the doorstep, he’d be kicked out again without even being able to see a single hair on Kwon Jiho’s head, so his heart was racing. He scanned for anyone who might be out as he headed straight for the annex without hesitation.

Thinking that sneaking around in the corners would make him stand out more, Do Yeonjae confidently walked along the path in the middle of the garden. It was fortunate that no servants were wandering about in the chilly weather.

Just before the annex, he ran into the gardener who was sweeping fallen leaves.

“Oh? Have you come, young master?”

“Yes, the weather has gotten cold. Thank you for your hard work.”

“Yes, sir.”

The man, who had known him since he was a child, greeted Do Yeonjae in a friendly manner. It had been such a long time that he had momentarily forgotten the Chairman’s order not to let Do Yeonjae into the house. It was also because he had appeared so naturally.

Smiling back as he passed, the gardener wished him to be careful not to catch a cold and continued sweeping, but his head suddenly whipped around.

“Uh, ah…?”

Do Yeonjae was nowhere to be seen. He had vanished without even the sound of footsteps, to the point where the gardener wondered if he’d seen a ghost. He didn’t know if it was because of the chilly weather or because of Do Yeonjae, who had appeared out of nowhere and then vanished, but goosebumps ran all over his body.

Do Yeonjae had successfully navigated the situation where he might have been kicked out and made it inside the annex. And he felt indescribably proud. No particular sound came from inside the tightly closed annex. That was to be expected since he wasn’t a noisy person by nature, but it still felt like no one was there, which made him anxious.

Is it okay to open it? 

Contrary to his worried thoughts, his hand reached out first. The movement of gripping the handle and pulling seemed untouched by his earlier hesitation.

Click. 

The unlocked door opened easily. A soft scent filled the air right from the entrance. It wasn’t an artificial fragrance, but Kwon Jiho’s own body scent. An unforgettable one, one that had no similar counterpart he could recall, one you wouldn’t know unless you smelled it directly.

Do Yeonjae, for whom every scent in the world had been bothersome, suddenly felt his stomach settle. As he quietly took off his shoes and stepped inside, he then went straight ahead as if there were no obstacles. His sense of smell had become overly sensitive. Following the scent, he strode in, walking as if he knew exactly where Kwon Jiho was.

He stopped for a moment in front of the room located in the innermost part. Is he asleep? If he had heard the door, he would have made some kind of sign, but it was too quiet.

The fingertips he held out to open the sliding door trembled slightly as if in tension. Wondering if he could open this quietly as well, he pulled carefully, and the fragrance that had been lingering throughout the house grew stronger.

Do Yeonjae stood there, unable to readily step inside. Kwon Jiho was in there. Apart from his heart pounding as if it would burst, a sense of stability rose up like water. As he took the deepest breath possible and stepped inside, the first thing he saw was Kwon Jiho, sleeping soundly in the bed.

“…So peaceful. Oblivious to everything.”

It was something only the selfish Do Yeonjae could say. But as he got closer, he realized that very statement was wrong from the first syllable. His cheeks were more hollow than when he was at his own place. His lips were chapped and cracked, and the area under his eyes was dark and sunken.

As he moved closer and closer, these features became clearly visible, and Do Yeonjae’s brow furrowed deeply. Anger surged at the thought that they had made the boy look like this after insisting on taking him in. They said he was doing well? Well, my ass. Does this look like he’s doing well?

Kneeling in front of the bed, Do Yeonjae carefully observed Kwon Jiho. In truth, he wanted to touch him here and there, but the parts already visible were all in a wretched state. He had lost so much weight that every bone in his already thin body was prominent.

His arms were covered in bruises, making one instinctively frown. It might have been unavoidable since he couldn’t eat, but the thought of the needles that must have been stuck into those slender arms made him grit his teeth.

His gaze, which had slowly traveled down from the top of his head, obsessively scanned down to his fingers, then landed on the stomach covered by a thin hand. The area that had been only hollow was now gently swollen. Unlike before, when it would sink in even more when he lay down, it was now convex.

Until now, he had only been interested in what Kwon Jiho was eating, so the physical change felt unfamiliar. Is it inside that soft flesh? The thing that has my and Kwon Jiho’s genes.

Their relations had been with the clear intent of getting him pregnant, but now that he was faced with it and saw Kwon Jiho suffering, he regretted it. I should have just broken off the arranged marriage with Kang Gyumin from the start and proposed to Kwon Jiho. He had realized too late that wanting to possess that gentle, kind person was synonymous with liking him.

Vaguely, then and now, he had only wanted to have Kwon Jiho. It would have been even better if Kwon Jiho had wanted to have him too.

His hand, which had been sweeping through the empty air without daring to touch, slowly found its place and lowered. It would be nice to watch him until he woke up, but he had to go. He wanted to pick Kwon Jiho up and leave right now, but he couldn’t climb over the wall like that, so it was right to leave him.

It would be nice if he could become small enough to fit in my pocket. Then I would wrap him in a handkerchief, put him in very carefully, and walk out proudly through the main gate. But would that be cruel to Kwon Jiho, too?

His expression soured with disappointment. Do Yeonjae stopped his impossible delusions and stood up. Kwon Jiho was still in a deep sleep. Recalling the fact that sleep increases during pregnancy, he was about to turn away but stopped and reached out his hand.

After barely touching the back of the hand covering the belly with just his fingertips, he left the bedroom. He strode across the living room, then changed direction and stopped by the laundry room. From inside, he took out and packed the pajamas Kwon Jiho had worn and lived in. Do Yeonjae buried his face in them and inhaled deeply, feeling the urge to go back right now and hug Kwon Jiho tightly.

“…Fuck.”

He couldn’t do that. He still hadn’t received a call to come to the main house. So he couldn’t forcibly wake up Kwon Jiho, who wasn’t ready to see him. If he unnecessarily deepened any negative feelings, that would be disadvantageous for him as well.

In that somewhat uncool state, pajamas in hand, he quietly exited the annex, only to come face to face with his grandfather, who was waiting outside the door. Behind him stood the gardener he had greeted on his way in, his face pale.

“So it wasn’t a ghost, you really did come in.”

“I hope you’ve been well.”

Do Yeonjae, who had bowed his head nonchalantly, was roughly grabbed as he tried to walk past Do Seungtae.

“You climbed over the wall like a thief to get in.”

“Then you should have opened the gate for me.”

“Are you saying it’s my fault?”

“I mean that you’re not without fault.”

Both Do Yeonjae and Chairman Do Seungtae kept their voices down. In case they were heard inside, both of them walked quickly away from the annex.

“I’ll leave through the main gate.”

“Why? Why don’t you jump over and leave the way you came in?”

Looking at his jeering grandfather, Do Yeonjae let out a deep sigh. His head started to throb the moment he left Kwon Jiho. He pressed his temples firmly and lowered his head.

“Still, it seems you have a conscience. Seeing as you’re leaving without forcibly waking up the sick boy. Either that or you’ve grown a conscience you never had!”

“Say some nice things about me to Jiho. That’s the only way he’ll consider marrying me.”

“Why would I do that to a boy who’s too good to be married off to you?”

“Then what will you do about the child? You know that if Jiho gives birth alone, he can’t even get the child on the family register. Do you think he can have a child, not register it properly, and keep avoiding it forever? You’d better not even think about providing a way for Jiho to escape out of pity. If you do that, the government will take the child away.”

In this country, a child born to an unmarried omega could not be put on the family register. It was the alpha who held the parental rights and custody of the child.

“And you’re the one who knows that!”

Do Seungtae pointed a finger and clicked his tongue at the same time. Saying there was no one as high and mighty as him, he criticized him more scathingly and spun around.

“Even if I wanted to say something nice, I don’t say anything because there’s nothing nice to say! You should know that, tsk.”