The Sleepwalker’s Mansion Chapter 45

“Yes.”

Taeoh sat with his legs crossed on the oak desk chair, looking down dryly at his two sons kneeling before him. No clues could be gleaned from the emotionless pupils about what he was thinking now.

It would be better if he at least got angry. If he yelled even a little. Doeon, peeking at his dad with tear-clouded eyes, found his silence more frightening than any rebuke. He swallowed his dry saliva down his tension-stiffened throat and rolled his eyes to glance sideways at Doha sitting next to him. He was gazing at his dad fervently with bright eyes, as if the god he devoutly believed in had finally descended.

“Dad, I like hyung. Hyung and I will go live together. Just give us permission….”

“Seo Doha, shut that mouth.”

“…”

At his dad’s shout, Doha stiffened his lips. Doeon felt like he was sitting on a bed of thorns. His dad stared at the brown pupils of Doha, who was wavering without finding his bearings.

“…”

Doeon lowered his eyes, avoiding the sharp gaze. He gripped his trembling hand with the other hand and bit his lip.

As he chewed his lip so hard that it drew blood, the taste of blood seeped into his mouth. Each minute and second felt like an eternity. He wished his dad would say something, anything. He wanted to crawl on his knees, grab his ankle, and beg. Taeoh slightly raised his straight eyebrows and let out a sigh.

“How should I interpret this.”

“I-I’m sorry, D-Dad….”

Doeon bowed his head so low that his forehead nearly touched his knees, apologizing for his wrongs like a criminal. Teardrops falling from his large eyes pooled drop by drop on his thighs.

“You like hyung? Is that something to say in front of Dad. Doeon, you tell me.”

“I-I….”

Doeon was just as flustered by Doha’s bombshell declaration. Doha likes me…? Why…? All the actions so far had been nothing more and nothing less than twisted excretion mixed with threats and mockery. And now he says he likes me? In front of Dad, no less? With his mouth agape in bewilderment, unable to open it, Taeoh hardened his beautiful lip line rigidly.

“My two sons, right in front of my eyes. Daring to.”

His heart felt like it was being torn to shreds at the gaze full of disgust, as if looking at vermin.

“Things worse than beasts.”

Beasts. Taeoh, who had nailed it as worse than dogs or pigs, gestured with his eyes to Jeong Taeseok standing like a shadow beside him. As he quickly walked over and opened the door, Taeoh stood up from the chair and looked down impassively at his two sons.

“Both of you, wait quietly for disposal.”

“D-Dad….”

Disposal? His body trembled uncontrollably, and his mind tangled into a complex mess. If he got found out like this, what about me? What about the mansion? The monastery-like university in the brochure that Jeong Yubin had handed him unfolded automatically before his eyes.

Was he really going to have the mansion stolen like this and be thrown helplessly into the middle of nowhere in America, forced into a prison-like life where he could not go out without a car?

Why?

Why me? I did nothing wrong. It’s all because of Seo Doha. The arrow of resentment turned toward Doha. If only Doha had not touched him today, Dad would never have found out.

Why did a guy with a fiancée touch me. If he had just gotten through today safely, after the welcome party ended, Dad, Yubin, and Doha would all have returned to their places. His plan was ruined because of Seo Doha. Everything was because of Seo Doha.

“D-Dad…!”

“……?”

Doeon grabbed Taeoh’s ankle as he tried to leave the room on his knees. Taeoh furrowed his brows with an expression as if something dirty had gotten on his pant hem. But it did not matter. It was his last chance. Doeon sobbed, his two cheeks trembling.

“What is it?”

“D-Dad, I was raped…! Do-Doha for, forcibly… I-I said no, but he kept… my body…! It’s, it’s true…. Doha, raped me…!”

“Raped?”

Taeoh furrowed his brows sharply and turned to look at Doha. Doha, who had been full of conviction until moments ago, was just quietly watching Doeon, who was crying with a hollow face.

“Since when.”

“Hueup, wh-when Dad went on the business trip…!”

As if recalling his own absence, Taeoh narrowed his eyes.

“Is it true?”

“Yes, yes! It’s true…! I-I didn’t want it…! I don’t like Doha. D-Dad, help me…. Please… save me…!”

He cried loudly, pouring out words like vomiting them up. At first… he hated it. He did not want it. It was a relationship forced upon him, and he had clearly said no. He was not speaking lies. It was… not a lie.

Taeoh, who had been quietly listening to Doeon’s words, turned his gaze toward Doha.

“Seo Doha, is what your hyung said true?”

“…”

“Why no answer. Why not speak with that open mouth. Just now you were blabbering about going to live with hyung.”

Doha said nothing. He just emptily gazed at Doeon, who was curled up like a pill bug at his dad’s feet and crying.

Through the gap between his dad’s shoe soles, he could see Doha kneeling like a stone statue, large and solitary. His tear-clouded eyes met the gray pupils that had sunk endlessly. The eyes they met seemed to ask why he did that. You know too. Admit that you forced it from the beginning. I hated it. I hated you from the beginning! He had to forget that he had lost his mind to pleasure and opened his body. To survive, he naturally had to find his own way out. Anyone would do the same. Anyone would.

“Is it the right to remain silent? The more you stay silent, the worse it is for you.”

“…”

“If you don’t make excuses, I’ll believe it’s true.”

Doha, with his mouth firmly shut, just stared at Doeon without any change in expression. Doeon deliberately averted that gaze and bowed his head so low that his forehead touched his dad’s shoe sole. Better not to look. He did not want to see anything. He just wanted to turn away.

“Fine. I’ll handle it my way.”

As Taeoh beckoned to Jeong Taeseok standing in front of the door, he walked over heavily and gripped Doha’s shoulder, who was kneeling, pulling him up. The towering height staggered, looking particularly precarious.

“Take him away.”

Doha, seized in Jeong Taeseok’s grip, followed without resistance as Jeong Taeseok led him out of the room. Doeon slowly raised his head and looked toward the direction Doha had gone. At that moment, his eyes met Doha’s, who had turned his head at the same time.

“……!”

Bloodshot veins stood thickly in the strangely bordered gray pupils. In an instant, his legs went weak. Pretending not to see, he lowered his eyes, and pfft, it seemed like a faint chuckle was heard. The faint chuckle that soon crumbled away like rustling leaves felt like mockery directed at him. As a brand of betrayer.

He wanted to say he was upright. I am not a betrayer. Because of you, I learned pleasures I did not need to know, and even in crisis, I forgot everything. He could not do that anymore. He had to ignore the heart-wrenching pain like his heart was shattering into pieces.

Now, only his dad and he were left in the room. The bone-dry air choked his throat stuffily. Even as he moved his Adam’s apple to moisten his raspy throat, the oppressive pressure like he could not breathe remained.

Fortunately, because he was covered head to toe in Doha’s pheromones, the fact that he was a recessive omega was not discovered, but no less a shameful secret he wanted to hide, his abnormal relationship with Doha, had been exposed.

Doeon readjusted his grip on the sharply creased pant hem. Because his dad might kick him away as if something dirty had gotten on him. His dad hated bloodlines fucking each other. Would he not be despised too. He could not incur his dad’s hatred….

“Seo Doeon.”

A voice that seemed to have washed away the chill, now gentle, called him. As he snapped up his tear-filled eyes, Taeoh bent his knee and carefully gripped Doeon’s upper arm, who was prostrated like dead at his feet, and pulled him up.

“Doeon, all this time without being able to say anything… it must have been hard.”

“D-Dad….”

“Now that Dad is here, you can rest easy.”

Doeon looked up at his dad with a dazed face. Had he been forgiven. As he met Taeoh’s warm pupils, which seemed to hold countless lights, tears burst out as if resentment welled up.

Hnng, he leaned on his shoulder, burying his wet eyes, and cried with ragged breaths. Even if they were crocodile tears, it was fine. At this moment, it felt like he was forgiven. The countless copulations he had with Doha. He hoped that sin would be washed away even a little. Above all, the relief that he had not been cast out by his dad yet followed. Taeoh warmly wrapped his arm around Doeon’s shoulder and stroked his back.

“There, there, Dad is here. Stop, stop crying.”

“Hueup, D-Dad….”

The tears did not stop until his dad’s shoulder grew limp. Doeon rubbed his lightly pigmented hair strands against his dad’s broad chest and burrowed deeper into his embrace. A languid energy spread from the sensation of firm fingertips stroking his hair. The tension began to ease little by little.

Ah, had he survived.

Taeoh’s disposal was swift. Doha’s destination was set to the language school affiliated with Shane Global University. It was obvious as day that Jeong Yubin’s influence had played a role in choosing the school. Using the tight academic schedule as an excuse, Doha’s departure was decided in less than a week.

In the meantime, the two spent time as if isolated in their respective rooms. Jeong Taeseok always stood guard in front of Doeon’s door, and Doha’s door remained firmly closed and did not open.

On the day Doha left, it rained. The old wooden house absorbed moisture and sank with lower saturation than usual. Listening to the rain pattering on the roof, Doeon anxiously bit his nails in his room on the second floor.

“Call when you arrive.”

Through the window, he could see Jeong Taeseok carrying a simple duffel bag and Doha leaving through the entrance. Doha, with a ball cap pulled down, gave his dad a short bow and then turned his back without delay.

Doeon paced restlessly by the window, wondering if he would turn around, but he crossed the garden without looking back. Doeon could not tear his eyes away from that back figure.