Chapter Ten #2
I turn my head to glare at him with pure venom and he simply presses his lips to my temple—a casual, easy gesture that’s become commonplace between us without either of us acknowledging when it started or what it means—and then grins against my skin.
“Come on,” he murmurs, his breath warm against my hairline. “I’ll give you all the inches you want to make up for it.”
I curse and shove at his chest, but there’s no real force behind it, and he barely moves anyway. He just catches my wrist, squeezes it once, and lets go.
“Get dressed. I’ll drop you off at work.”
I’m still pouting on the drive to the gym, slumped in the passenger seat of the Maserati with my arms crossed over my chest and my jaw set in a sulk that I know makes me look like a petulant child but can’t bring myself to care about.
Hyunwoo drives with one hand on the wheel and the other resting on my thigh, his thumb rubbing absent circles against the fabric of my sweatpants.
I let him because the warmth of his palm feels grounding even when I want to strangle him.
The morning light glints off his gold chain where it sits against his collarbones, his shirt unbuttoned to the third button as always, and he hums along to the radio like he hasn’t got a care in the world while I sit here mourning the loss of my manhood.
But since there’s nothing I can do about the situation either way, I force myself to move on. I have bigger things to deal with today.
That morning I wait until the gym floor is quiet before I corner Ye-eun at the front desk and ask her to grab Manager Kim from the back office.
She gives me a curious look but does it, and a minute later the three of us are standing in a loose triangle behind the check-in counter, Ye-eun with her tablet tucked under her arm and Manager Kim with his reading glasses pushed up on his forehead and a mug of barley tea in his hand.
I take a breath and just say it because if I try to ease into it I’ll lose my nerve.
“I’m pregnant.”
The silence lasts about two seconds.
Ye-eun’s jaw drops, her mouth falls open so wide I can see her back molars, her eyes blowing huge, and then she lets out a screech so shrill that every head on the gym floor swivels toward us in unison.
A woman on the elliptical nearest the desk actually pulls out an earbud.
Ye-eun’s hand shoots out and clamps around my forearm hard enough to leave marks, her fingers digging in as she yanks me closer.
“You’re WHAT? How far along? Who’s the father? When did this happen? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
The questions come in a single breathless torrent, her eyes darting down to my midsection like she’s trying to see through my hoodie by sheer force of will. I put my free hand over hers and gently pry her fingers off my arm before she cuts off circulation.
Manager Kim, by contrast, does not screech.
He takes a long, slow sip of his barley tea, sets the mug down on the counter with a careful click, and lets out a sigh so heavy and so long-suffering that it seems to come from deep in his bones.
He pushes his glasses back down onto his nose and peers at me over the rims.
“I suppose I’ll start on the maternity leave paperwork, then,” he says, in a flat tone. He turns and shuffles back toward his office, muttering just loud enough for us to hear, “This is exactly why we don’t hire omegas.”
I frown, my chest tightening with a sting that catches me off guard even though I’ve heard variations of that sentiment my entire working life. It shouldn’t still bother me after all this time, but it does, and my jaw clenches as I watch his retreating back disappear through the office door.
Ye-eun waves a dismissive hand in his direction without even looking.
“Don’t mind that old grouch, he says that about everything.
Last month he said that’s why we don’t hire people under thirty when Yeungho called in sick for the third Friday in a row.
” She turns back to me with laser focus, her eyes still enormous, and leans in so close I can smell her mint gum.
“Now explain to me how on earth this happened, because last I checked you were exclusively into women. I have watched you flirt with every female gym member who walks through those doors for two solid years. You’ve never once looked at a man sideways. ”
I scratch the back of my neck, choosing my words with care. “It’s more of a surrogacy situation. Sort of. An arrangement between me and the father. It’s practical, not romantic.”
Ye-eun’s eyebrows climb her forehead. “An arrangement.” She says suspiciously. “How’d you meet the father? Did you go through one of those agencies?”
“No, I already knew him.” I pause, and then because there’s no way around it, I add, “You know him too, actually.”
Her eyes narrow into dangerous slits. The gears are turning behind them and I can see the exact moment the answer clicks into place, but I say it anyway.
“It’s Hyunwoo.”
Ye-eun’s jaw drops for the second time in five minutes, and this time she staggers back a full step, her hip bumping the edge of the counter. Her tablet nearly slides out from under her arm and she catches it reflexively without breaking eye contact with me.
“Hyunwoo?” she repeats, her voice pitching up an octave. “That playboy alpha bestie of yours? The walking red flag with the Maserati and the bedroom eyes?” Her expression shifts from shock to something approaching horror. “The one whose dick size I asked you about six months ago? That Hyunwoo?”
I wince and nod.
Ye-eun lets out a long, pained groan, tipping her head back and pressing her tablet against her forehead. “Oh no. Yugyeom, you didn’t. Please tell me you did not voluntarily let that man knock you up.”
“It’s not a big deal,” I say, and I can hear the defensiveness creeping into my own voice even as I try to keep it casual.
“He needed a baby. There’s an inheritance on the line worth billions, and he was willing to share a portion of it with me.
I had a functioning womb and student loan debt that was eating me alive.
It made sense for both of us. It’s a temporary thing, that’s all. Mutually beneficial.”
Ye-eun lets out a sharp snort that conveys exactly how much she thinks of that explanation.
“And I’m sure that’s all it is,” she says, her voice dripping with so much sarcasm I could wring it out like a wet towel.
“He’s just going to pay you and walk away, no strings attached, right?
Two bros having a baby together and then going their separate ways like nothing happened? ”
“Yes,” I say firmly. “That’s exactly what we agreed on.”
She crosses her arms and raises one eyebrow. She holds the pose for a beat, letting the skepticism radiate off her in waves.
“Hyunwoo wouldn’t just take the baby without paying me,” I insist, because her silence is making me itchy.
“We have an understanding. He’s already covering all my expenses, my medical bills, everything.
Once the baby’s born and handed over to his family, I walk away with enough money to clear my debts and start fresh. That’s the deal.”
Ye-eun uncrosses her arms and leans one hip against the counter, tilting her head at me with an expression between affection and pity, like she’s watching a puppy try to figure out a glass door.
“Oh, I know Hyunwoo’s not going anywhere,” she says. “That’s not the problem.”
I blink. “What’s the problem, then?”
She points at me. “The problem is that if I know alphas—and trust me, Yugyeom, I do, I grew up with three alpha brothers and an alpha father—that man does not intend to let you go anywhere either. Not now, and especially not with his baby growing inside you.”
My face heats. “It’s not like that.”
“Oh really?” She tilts her head the other direction, her eyes sharp and knowing.
“So if it’s only about the baby and there’s nothing more going on between you two, then I assume Hyunwoo stopped sleeping with you after finding out you were pregnant, right?
Since the job was done and all. No more need for the, what did you call it, the practical arrangement? ”
The silence that follows is so loud it echoes off the gym walls.
My face goes from warm to scorching. I can feel the blush spreading down my neck and across my chest, and I know Yeeun can see every shade of it because she’s staring right at me with a satisfied expression.
She points at my burning cheeks. “See? I knew it.”
“It’s—that’s—” I stammer, grasping for words.
“It’s just a convenient arrangement, nothing more.
We’re in complete agreement that this is temporary, just for the duration of the pregnancy.
” The words tumble out. “The baby is going to be raised by the nannies and staff at the Seo family estate. Afterward, we both move on with our lives like none of this happened. We’re friends, Ye-eun.
We’ve been friends since we were babies ourselves.
It’s natural that we’d feel comfortable being physically close, given how long we’ve known each other.
” I swallow hard and add, quieter, “There’s nothing deeper going on. Hyunwoo doesn’t see me like that.”
Ye-eun shakes her head slowly, and the look she gives me is one of bone-deep exasperation.
“Yugyeom,” she says purposefully gentle. “You are such an innocent soul. It’s almost painful to watch.”
She leans forward, bracing both hands on the counter between us, and drops her voice low enough that no one on the gym floor could overhear even if they were trying.