Heavy Rain Chapter 4

The interest regarding Haejin, which had spread briefly like smoke, vanished as suddenly as it had emerged. On Lyle’s face, as he held documents in his hand, there was no trace of the doubt or unpleasantness he had momentarily felt.

𓂃ﾟ ⋆ ﾟ ☂︎ 🍂༄˖°

“I absolutely have to go today.”

“Ah, well. That’s none of my business. I told you to tell me in advance.”

“I’m telling you, I definitely told you three days ago!”

“I didn’t hear it? But fuck, where do you think you’re raising your voice? Huh?”

The large driver stepped toward Haejin aggressively, as if threatening him. At times like this, the small stature characteristic of East Asians felt sorrowful. Still, Haejin could not give up and remained standing in place, trembling.

Today happened to be the day the hospital bill was due, so he absolutely had to go. Of course, the money was being provided in full by the Vermouth family, and the signature Haejin provided was merely a formal procedure.

However, even such a formality was desperate for Haejin. In the first place, the hospital had not been very proactive in treating his adoptive parents, even if Haejin brought money packed in bags. It had improved somewhat after they moved to a hospital under the Vermouth family’s umbrella, but the gazes of the doctors—who felt he was pouring precious money into thin air—always made Haejin shrink back.

“I have to go. This is even in the contract…”

“Ah, how would I know about a contract made with that high-and-mighty person? Anyway, I’m telling you I didn’t get instructions to take the car out today!”

Sorrow surged up, but Haejin kept his mouth shut. There was only one condition he had set while pouring all his time into this humiliating contract. To be allowed to visit his adoptive parents periodically.

It was Lyle who had said he would provide a vehicle for that purpose. It was probably for the purpose of monitoring him so he couldn’t wander around unnecessarily. Whatever the purpose, to treat even the contract so neglectfully.

Whether Haejin was sorrowful or not, the driver pulled out a cigarette and sneered at him. At first, when he was told to take an Omega to the hospital, he wondered if he was some kind of favored mistress of the master. He thought that, contrary to the rumors, the master of Vermouth was just another Alpha bastard after all.

However, the driver, who had been hired through the butler’s connections, soon poked around the mansion and picked up rumors. As it turned out, wasn’t this Omega bastard just being treated like a tool used for an Alpha’s fucking?

The servants were already disregarding this small East Asian Omega as they pleased. They said that even though five years had passed like that, their employer had never once cared about the Omega. Naturally, the driver’s attitude was decided. He began to find it bothersome to have to go that long distance and wait every two weeks without fail.

He even had a hangover today because he had been pouring down alcohol until dawn. He didn’t know what kind of hope the Omega held to go to the hospital so regularly, but it was obvious. He was probably going to see if he happened to be pregnant. Thinking of that made him dislike the sight of him shouting about the contract in front of him even more.

He simply and comfortably ignored the fact that, when he got this job, the butler had told him to take the Omega to the hospital and back every two weeks on his own. After all, that Omega wasn’t in a position to go blabbering somewhere.

“Fuck.”

Haejin, whose face had hardened, listened calmly to the driver’s thick stream of curses. This driver, who had changed a year ago, found Haejin’s outings—which occurred only once every two weeks—extremely bothersome. That fact went beyond being obvious and turned into cold treatment, but he endured it silently. Because what he needed was, literally, just a means of transportation.

“Anyway, I don’t know anything about it.”

“…All right.”

Suppressing his sorrow, Haejin turned around. If that order was the problem, he had to go to the butler right now and explain the situation. Hoping, rather, that the butler had simply forgotten because he was busy with work.

“Fuck, acting so damn stiff when he’s just a kid selling his body.”

“…”

Even at the chilling curse heard behind his back, Haejin did not turn around. There was nothing to be gained for him by talking back here. And that was probably an expression that explained very straightforwardly how the servants viewed him.

Cough, a dry cough came up. It was because he had been out in the cold air for too long. He became more anxious as his shivering body seemed to finally be breaking down. Since Lyle reacted sensitively to his physical condition, he had intended to get a checkup while at the hospital today.

He hurried inside the mansion to find the butler, but he was not in his place, no matter where he went. Even when he asked about his whereabouts, the servants did not give him a satisfying answer.

Stamping his feet in anxiety, Haejin wandered all over the mansion. He endured the cold treatment of every servant he met and asked for the butler’s whereabouts. Even so, there was no gain. If they could at least tell him if the butler had gone out somewhere, it would have been nice.

After searching for the butler for a long time, Haejin was devastated when he looked at the time. It had become such that even if he left right now, he wouldn’t be able to make it in time for the visiting hours.

In the end, he was unable to go see his hospitalized parents that day.

𓂃ﾟ ⋆ ﾟ ☂︎ 🍂༄˖°

Haejin, who had been curled up on the bed in the same clothes he intended to wear out, snapped his head up at the sound of a commotion outside. As soon as he realized it was the sound he had been waiting for, he moved his body hurriedly and headed outside.

He fell into despair the moment he realized the servants didn’t actually not know the butler’s whereabouts, but simply didn’t want to deal with Haejin. He didn’t even have any money on hand, so he couldn’t even go to the hospital by himself.

The money he received as compensation for the contract was spent entirely on his adoptive parents’ hospital bills. The small amount of money Haejin had brought with him was almost gone since he hadn’t been able to do any other work in the meantime. Even then, he didn’t have it as cash, so he couldn’t use it right away.

Above all, going to the hospital was the one and only right he had. Yet, the indifferent Lyle did not even protect that.

Haejin, who had endured everything else until now, finally exploded.

“Mr. Vermouth!”

When the master of the mansion arrived, the servants gathered in an orderly fashion in front of the giant main gate. Their appearances were neat, unlike the expressions of looking at him with contempt whenever Haejin spoke to them.

He knew that if he headed toward the front now, a myriad of scoffs would be poured upon him tomorrow, but he couldn’t help it. Because looking at the face of the butler who was out to greet Lyle, it became clear that he had known Haejin had been looking for him all day and had ignored him.

“…What is this.”

Lyle, who had just gotten out of the car in front of the mansion’s gate, raised his head at the voice that caught his ear. From far away, Haejin, with hair that resembled the night, came running toward him.

Lyle’s gaze landed on the bare face he was seeing for the first time in a very long while. It was an extremely unfamiliar yet familiar face. Above all, Haejin calling out to stop him like this was something that had never happened in the past five years.

“Mr. Vermouth, I have something to tell you for a moment.”

Suddenly, the guy’s lingering behavior when they last mingled bodies came to mind. At the time, he thought it was just because his legs hurt, but did he really have something to say?

“You.”

Lyle, who had shown a momentarily puzzled look, stiffened. Haejin’s body scent, approaching close, drifted in more intensely today. Lyle was someone who felt absolute disgust toward Omega pheromones. However, the moment he saw Haejin facing him in this unfamiliar place, Lyle realized that he was somehow familiar with this pheromone. To the point where it was bewildering that he didn’t even feel a sense of rejection.

Lyle, having barely pushed away his idle thoughts, frowned. Anyway, he thought he had been quiet all this time, but was he of a cunning nature that could endure like this while waiting for the right time?

“Mr. Vermouth, today…”

“If you need something, tell the butler.”

“Pardon? But…”

“Are we in a relationship to speak, like this, privately?”

“…”

Since he couldn’t seem to understand, he spoke words that clearly reminded him of his position. Lyle’s time was by no means cheap. This moment, where he has to have a squabble without even being able to enter the mansion, is extremely unpleasant.

However, once his words fell, what Haejin displayed was not the sense of shame or embarrassment that a rejected Omega might show.

A sorrowful face that resembled heavy rain.

That appeared briefly for an instant and then vanished. It was also at that moment that the moonlight, which had been hidden by the clouds in the already late night, shone on Haejin’s white face and then faded away.