Dolls Chapter 2.2

“Are you hungry?”

At Jay’s words, Joy nodded eagerly. He hadn’t had a proper meal in a while. Exhausted from the heat cycle and brought to the lab, the only “meals” Joy had for the past few days were nutrient injections.

On the plate were appetizing figs. When Jay picked up a ripe fig and split it in half, a sweet yet slightly bitter fragrance softly filled the room.

“It smells good.”

“The taste is even better. I’m sure you’ll love it, Joy.”

Jay said with a smile. Figs were a fruit Joy Green loved. Unlike the sweet initial taste, the lingering aftertaste was slightly tart, so Jay didn’t particularly care for them, but he was certain Joy would like them. After all, Joy Green’s essence was etched into his genes.

Jay took a bite of the fig, chewed it slightly, and then kissed Joy. As the soft fruit pulp passed into Joy’s mouth, he made a smacking sound with his lips and pulled away.

“How is it?”

“It’s sweet… but bitter.”

Jay tapped Joy’s furrowed brow with his fingers.

“Still such a baby, our Joy.”

At Jay’s words, Joy pouted and urged him for another bite. With a low chuckle, Jay bit into the fig again.

“You said you’d do anything for me, even eat a fruit you don’t like?”

At Joy’s sudden remark, Jay, still holding the fig in his mouth, looked at the Joy in front of him. Though Joy sat demurely, clearly OE01 created by Jay, the expression on his face was unmistakably Joy Green’s.

“Why so surprised? You’re the one who trapped me in this Omega’s body.”

Jay dropped the fig in his hand as he stared at Joy, who spoke with a slight smile.

“Even after going this far to possess me, why are you shocked to see me, Jay Miller?”

“Jo… Joy Green?”

As Jay reached out toward Joy, Joy gave a cold sneer. Joy shouldn’t smile like that. OE01, the most perfect Omega created by Jay Miller, doesn’t smile like that. Why, why was OE01 smiling like Joy Green?

The image of Joy Green, who died calling Noah’s name while looking at Jay until the very end, flashed in his mind. Jay grabbed Joy’s neck with both hands. His fingers, gripped with unintended force, dug into Joy’s delicate skin.

“I should have… killed you with my own hands like this.”

As if hearing Jay’s mutter, Joy Green, whose neck was being squeezed, let out a sharp laugh. That laugh reminded Jay of the day Joy left him for Noah Seyfried, making it even harder for him to breathe. He was the one choking Joy, yet he felt like he was the one suffocating.

“Ugh… D… Daddy…”

Joy, looking at Jay with bloodshot, reddened eyes as he choked him, let out what little breath remained. Seeing himself reflected in those red eyes, looking like a malevolent demon, Joy’s tears burst forth.

“D… Daddy… ugh…”

Just as Joy’s struggling legs began to lose strength beneath Jay, a strong lavender scent brushed past Joy’s nose.

“No… don’t…”

Joy’s vision flashed white. It seemed like tears were flowing from Jay’s red eyes looking down at him, and even as Joy was losing consciousness, he reached out to wipe those tears.

*

After days of being unwell, Noah felt somewhat refreshed and prepared to go out. It seemed like something was wrong with his body, so he thought he should get a check-up. Adrian had urged him to do so as well.

The look on Adrian’s face when he saw Noah collapse as if in a seizure was filled with sheer “despair.” Adrian, the head of Persco Corporation and a symbol of cold rationality, was actually warmer than anyone when it came to his family.

Noah, too, addressed him formally at work but treated him casually as a cousin in private. Adrian’s bold physical affection could sometimes feel overwhelming, but Noah accepted it as his way of showing care.

That was why it wasn’t surprising that Adrian rushed to Noah’s house upon hearing there was a possibility of mutation. Showing such a collapse to someone who came burdened with all sorts of worries was truly unexpected, but it was fortunate that it shifted Adrian’s attention away from the “fakes.”

[Come to the lab as soon as you’re feeling better.]

Noah didn’t want to go back to the lab, but he couldn’t defy Adrian’s words. After such a spectacle, saying “I’m fine” clearly wouldn’t work. Noah sighed softly as he tied his tie.

His reflection in the mirror looked quite haggard. Probably due to the unexplained illness. Noah gave a faint chuckle, adjusted his clothes, and swept his wavy blond hair up. It fell like sunlight on his pale face.

“Mr. Seyfried, do you have a moment before you head out?”

Hearing Lionel’s voice behind him, Noah turned his head.

“What’s the matter?”

When Noah asked, Lionel adjusted his glasses, which had slid down to the tip of his nose, and said with a troubled expression,

“The Alpha and Omega you brought aren’t eating.”

“What?”

Noah’s brow furrowed.

“Why not?”

“Well…”

“Speak clearly.”

“It seems… they don’t know how to eat.”

“Ha!”

Noah let out a disbelieving laugh. Not knowing how to eat? Don’t people need to eat to live? Can fakes survive without eating? With a cold expression, Noah headed to the room where OE70 was.

The door was still locked. Alphas and Omegas from the lab were timid. With the intelligence of a young child, they were curious but not bold enough to adapt quickly to unfamiliar places. Noah knew that even without a lock, they wouldn’t step a foot outside the room.

But just in case, if a heat or rut cycle came and they lost their reason, they might follow each other’s pheromones out of the room, so he kept the door locked.

As Noah unlocked the door, he clicked his tongue briefly. Even though they were test subjects, locking up beings with his own face didn’t sit well with him. But what choice did he have? He couldn’t bear to see faces like his own being killed and discarded under the pretext of “disposal.”

Even if they were test subjects, they were still living and breathing.

“Haa…”

Noah let out a short sigh and opened the door. OE70, curled up on the bed with a rounded back, looked up, recognized the “Master,” and approached with a bright smile.

“Master.”

Seeing OE70’s smiling face, Noah paused. The tears clinging to the corners of his smiling eyes suggested OE70 had been crying before Noah arrived.

“Were you crying?”

He asked, looking at OE70, who had the same face but was a head shorter. It wasn’t just height; OE70 had an overall delicate frame, with the slender lines typical of an Omega. Noah, suppressing a strange feeling, looked at OE70.

“…Yes.”

“Why?”

At Noah’s question about why he was crying, OE70 lowered his head and bit his lips tightly. The red lips, contrasting with his pale face, caught Noah’s attention. Despite having the same face, OE70’s oddly sensual appearance made Noah shake his head.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

When Noah asked again, a tear fell from OE70’s eyes. As Noah hesitated at the sight, OE70 spoke.

“Why am I here alone?”

“What?”

“I’m scared…”

“Scared?”

Scared? What could a grown adult be scared of being alone in a room? As Noah thought this, it crossed his mind that OE70’s intellectual level and mental age were only about ten years old.

—So… just a child, then…

Noah looked at the top of OE70’s bowed head, lost in thought.

—What was I like at ten…

At ten, Noah Seyfried already had a private study and was taking business lessons. He preferred being alone and never thought of it as scary. He quickly realized that his standards, shaped by a life as part of a chaebol family, couldn’t comprehend OE70’s “scared.”

“If you can’t even handle being alone, what will you do in the future?”

At Noah’s cold words, OE70 shed tears and mumbled in a small voice.

“What? Speak up.”

At Noah’s irritated tone, OE70 sniffled and said in a barely audible voice,

“I want to be with AE70… We’ve never been apart…”

“No.”

At Noah’s flat refusal, OE70 looked up, tears streaming down his face. For some reason, the sight seemed pitiful, and Noah let out a low sigh.

“Why can’t we meet? AE70 is my Alpha… We’re a pair… Why…”

“That’s why.”

“…What?”

OE70 looked at Noah with wide, uncomprehending eyes. Noah swallowed the words “I don’t want you to get pregnant” and stroked OE70’s hair. OE70 flinched, his face flushing.

“Master…”

“Yes?”

At OE70’s faint voice, Noah leaned closer. OE70’s face grew even redder, his heartbeat almost audible.

“Master… you really look exactly like AE70.”

Blushing over something so trivial… Noah straightened up with a neutral expression. OE70, who had been gazing at him in awe, flinched and lowered his head when their eyes met.

“Don’t stare at me like that with the same face.”

“…….”

“The food.”

“…What?”

“Why aren’t you eating?”

As soon as Noah spoke, a loud growl came from OE70’s stomach. His face turned bright red.

“Your stomach’s screaming for food, so why aren’t either of you eating?”

“Both…”

“You and your Alpha.”

At Noah’s curt words, OE70 hesitated, biting his lips and rolling his eyes before speaking.

“…I don’t know.”

“What?”

“We don’t… know how to eat…”

At the unexpected reply, Noah let out a disbelieving “Ha!” Eating food was something they didn’t know how to do? Was that even possible?

“You don’t know how to eat? You don’t know how to eat food? Have you been living without eating all this time?”

“…….”

At Noah’s words, tears welled up in OE70’s eyes again. Fidgeting and rolling his eyes, OE70 stammered as he spoke.