Love Born of Pity Chapter 103

After bowing low to his grandfather, who turned away without any lingering attachment, Do Yeonjae also left the main gate very quickly. He had thought he would get an earful about the pajamas, but it seemed his grandfather had no intention of doing so. Even though he had been prepared for a scolding.

Walking toward his car parked up the road, Do Yeonjae once again smelled Kwon Jiho’s scent. A good scent. The same scent, whether he was by his side or far away, still ignited a fire.

“I’m going to lose my mind.”

The more he smelled it, the more a thirst arose. If he stayed here any longer, he felt like he would want to climb over the wall again.

Do Seungtae headed for the annex. He didn’t go inside, but slowly walked around the exterior. His worries deepened. It was just as Do Yeonjae had said. To get the baby on the family register, the alpha’s consent was needed.

An omega could somehow manage to give birth alone, but they could not officially register the child. Kwon Jiho had lived as a beta for a long time, so he probably didn’t know that fact. That was likely why he had said that if he helped him escape, he would disappear with the child.

“Hah…”

His worries deepened. In a fit of anger, Do Seungtae even considered putting Kwon Jiho’s child on his own family register. But if he did that, it would literally mess up the family tree…

“Tsk, tsk, tsk…”

Kwon Jiho’s heart hadn’t even been soothed yet, and he felt it would hurt him, so it was very difficult to bring it up.

In any case, that bastard Do Yeonjae was the problem. Why would a guy who liked him enough to take the pajamas Kwon Jiho had taken off push him to the brink like that? He’d done things even a fifteen-year-old wouldn’t do. The more he thought about it, the more agonizing it became.

He must have circled three or four more times like that. The child who was supposedly sleeping had woken up at some point and was standing close to the living room window. His gentle eyes, still drowsy with sleep, confirmed his presence outside the window and curved softly.

“As I thought, when the great-grandchild is born, they have to take after Jiho, not that Yeonjae brat.”

Kwon Jiho rubbed his eyes, opened the window, and asked Do Seungtae what he was doing.

“You can stay inside. Earlier too… was it you who came in, grandfather? I feel like… I’m just being a burden here.”

“…What do you mean, a burden? You’re saying things that make this old man sad. Don’t worry about such things and just think of yourself. That’s why I brought you here. I need your morning sickness to subside a bit so I can feed you some nourishing food. That’s the only thing I’m worried about, a mountain of worry.”

At Do Seungtae’s words to close the window because it was cold, Kwon Jiho came out onto the wooden porch and perched on the edge. The chilly wind seemed to feel quite refreshing, as he closed his large eyes and lifted his head. When his fine hair swayed and tickled the corners of his eyes, the boy wrinkled his nose in a way that wasn’t unlikable and smiled.

“I think I can eat something today.”

“Really? And you don’t know what you want to eat?”

“Um… I want to eat… ramen.”

“Of all things, ramen is what you want to eat.”

Do Seungtae laughed as if it were absurd, but immediately ordered someone to prepare it.

“It can’t be too spicy. Your stomach is empty. Even if it’s a little less spicy, you’ll have to understand.”

In a gentle tone, he asked whether he would go to the main building with him or have it brought here, and Kwon Jiho thought for a moment. He had never been inside the main building where Do Yeonjae’s family resided. It felt strange to go there when he and Do Yeonjae weren’t in any kind of relationship yet, and besides, most of his family members came to the annex first.

“Just in case you might come over, it’s been quite a while since any of us have let a single wisp of our pheromones out. Ever since you came here. We didn’t suggest it because we thought you’d feel burdened if we called you over, but that place is much bigger than here, and warmer, and the ceilings are higher, and there are a lot of interesting things too.”

He enticed him as if luring a child with words like “there are a lot of interesting things” and “there are a lot of delicious things.” Such things didn’t particularly pique Kwon Jiho’s interest, but he thought it wasn’t polite to refuse every time an elder made an offer, so he nodded.

“Then I’ll go and eat there.”

“A very good idea.”

Kwon Jiho went inside and came out again through the main entrance. He was in such a hurry that he hadn’t put on a coat, so Do Seungtae took off the cardigan he was wearing and gave it to him.

“My dear boy, you have to wear clothes even if you’re in a hurry.”

“…Ah. I wasn’t cold…”

“You have a tendency to see your body as much stronger than it is. In my eyes, you are very weak.”

With clumsy hands, he meticulously buttoned it up, and then Do Seungtae walked ahead. He strode across the yard, which was free of even a single stone, constantly telling him to be careful not to fall. Every three steps, he would stop once to turn around and check if Kwon Jiho was following well.

“For dessert, there are fruits, and also ice cream. That Hyunsu kid, he likes sweet and cold things more than he looks.”

“Everything sounds good. I’ll let you know if I think I can eat it.”

Following behind Do Seungtae, Kwon Jiho suddenly thought that it might not have been him who had come into his room. His grandfather doesn’t come all the way into the room where he sleeps. If he thinks he might be sleeping, he knocks on the door to wake him, he doesn’t just come inside and stare silently.

His eyelids had been so heavy and he’d been so deeply asleep that even though he sensed a presence, he couldn’t get up. He thought he might have heard a familiar voice in his sleep…

“Grandfather.”

At the low call, Do Seungtae stopped and turned around.

“…It’s nothing. Never mind.”

“How anticlimactic.”

At the urging to hurry up, Kwon Jiho quickened his pace. Then came the worry to come slowly. The grumbling that worries increase with age, and that his worries for him were the greatest among them, wasn’t unpleasant to hear. On the contrary, he was starting to like it so much that it was becoming a problem.

♬⋆.˚

As he left the main house, Do Yeonjae informed Chief Kim that he was going to the hotel. When asked what he would do for his meal, Do Yeonjae replied that he wasn’t going to the hotel where he was staying, but to Kwon Heeyeon. He had his nose buried in Kwon Jiho’s clothes.

Normally, he would have been overcome with irritation and annoyance, but his reply was uncharacteristically gentle. The call ended with Chief Kim’s response that he would be on standby.

Even after finishing the call, Do Yeonjae couldn’t put down Kwon Jiho’s clothes. He shouldn’t keep touching them, and he needed to store them well so the scent wouldn’t fade. But he couldn’t let them go from his hands, busy as he was smelling the deeply ingrained body scent.

“What does he wash with to smell like this?”

He naturally became aroused. He found it absurd that his body would react even in a situation like this, but also thought it couldn’t be helped and tried his best not to pay attention to the area between his legs.

“Should I just let her go?”

What kind of things Kwon Heeyeon was doing, he could find that out by putting people on her. It was called a “hotel-cation” for a reason, but he couldn’t keep her confined indefinitely. It was annoying, and since he was focusing all his attention on Kwon Jiho, the time had come to decide how to deal with Kwon Heeyeon, whom he had kept putting off.

He’d heard that she had been getting more and more irritable lately, demanding to be let out, as if she had reached her limit. It was ridiculous. Did she think she could do anything if she went outside, given her situation?

Do Yeonjae parked his car haphazardly in the hotel parking lot and passed through the lobby without hesitation. Chief Kim, who had arrived first and was waiting in the lounge, quickly approached.

“You’ve arrived, sir.”

“Let’s go up.”

Chief Kim thought that if he had known they would meet again like this, it would have been better for him to have accompanied him to the main house in the first place. Though it also seemed that the decision to meet Kwon Heeyeon was an impromptu one.

He pressed the elevator call button and after a short wait, the door opened with a chime announcing its arrival at the lobby floor. Do Yeonjae got on first, and Chief Kim followed. He tagged the card key on the reader and pressed the 13th floor.

“She’s eating well and sleeping well, I hear?”

“Yes, I’ve been informed that she orders room service with a different menu for every meal.”

“It’s a big problem that even her eating is detestable.”

“…Yes.”

Chief Kim didn’t know what to say here, so he just ended it with something like, “Is that so?” The elevator arrived at the 13th floor in an instant. The entire floor had been left empty in case of any unforeseen circumstances, so only silence filled the hallway.

The guard standing watch in front of the door recognized the two of them and stepped back a little. Acknowledging the guard’s bow of greeting with a nod, he pressed the doorbell and then held the card key to it. With a beep and a mechanical sound, the door opened.

“You go in first, sir.”

“Shall I?”

Chief Kim stepped aside. As Do Yeonjae strode inside without hesitation, he immediately saw Kwon Heeyeon sprawled out asleep on the living room sofa. It seemed she hadn’t even heard the doorbell. The table was packed with dishes that were not even half-empty, a testament to how much room service she had ordered.

At that moment, Do Yeonjae covered his mouth against a surge of nausea and turned right back around. He irritably told him to request a cleaning first and then quickly left the room.

Standing by the window at the end of the hall, it felt as if the foul odor was still lingering at the tip of his nose. He couldn’t understand why she was living in such a state. The state of the room was reminiscent of a pigsty. It was questionable whether she even washed on time. Her disheveled, unkempt hair, even giving her the benefit of the doubt, did not look like it had been washed the previous night.