TIN 28

It didn’t take long to realize the meaning behind Joo Do-hwa saying he needs his brother. As soon as it was time for the next meal, a woman came to the house. Accompanied by bodyguards, the woman entered the house and her eyes opened as wide as saucers when she saw me standing next to Joo Do-hwa.

“Huh?”

Her unusual, murky eyes had a faint bluish tinge. It was so pale that you’d miss it if you didn’t look close enough, but the implication was clear right from the start.

“Hello.”

She was an Omega. And a dominant one at that.

While the eyes of a dominant Alpha had a golden hue, the eyes of a dominant Omega have a pale blue color. Not the typical blue we imagine, but the clear azure of the sea under a bright sky. Of course, just as extremely dominant Alphas were rare, extremely dominant Omegas were also scarce, making it nearly impossible to see the pure blue.

“Nice to meet you. Are you new here?”

The woman greeted me lightly, with an unusually friendly air. Her warm smile, her use of honorifics, and the lack of dismissiveness like the middle-aged woman before—it all gave an impression of politeness bordering on daintiness as she tucked her hair behind her ear.

“Joo Do-hwa, you should have told me earlier. I only brought one bottle of wine.”

She called him Joo Do-hwa. Before I could even be surprised by that, the bodyguard behind the woman extended a long shopping bag. Judging by the ribbon, it was clearly a product distributed by Gold Road Liquors, a brand I knew was occasionally carried at Oceans as well.

“That’s good. You’d have ended up drinking it all yourself anyway.”

Joo Do-hwa barely acknowledged the wine, lightly brushing it off. He showed no interest in the woman’s gift, and Henry took the wine from her. The woman looked at me without seeming to mind any of his brashness.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me?”

Her smiling face wasn’t unpleasant. As a dominant Omega, she was a beautiful woman who could easily captivate one’s gaze. If Theo had been here, he would have definitely tried to charm her, but Joo Do-hwa was the opposite. He merely pressed his lips together and took a step back.

“Go ahead and introduce yourself.”

“Oh, alright then?”

Despite the lackluster response, the woman kept her poker face intact. She simply winked her eye at me and held out her hand for a handshake. A silver ring that didn’t match her outfit was visible on her right pinky finger.

“I’m Lee Yuna. Joo Do-hwa and I are engaged.”

“…I see.”

So she was his fiancée. That was why she called him Joo Do-hwa, and that was why she seemed subtly friendly.

“We’re not dating, though. Do you know what that means?”

It wasn’t surprising. Joo Do-hwa was a dominant Alpha, so it was only natural for him to meet an Omega befitting of that status.

Alphas and Omegas, comprising less than 0.01% of humanity, were essentially aristocrats that common people could hardly even approach. Among them, the dominants were extremely rare, so an arranged marriage from birth wouldn’t be out of the question.

The only reason I was surprised after learning this was because of something the child had said once.

‘I have a fiancé.’

So that was true. I had just glossed over it when the child mentioned having a fiancé, thinking the child didn’t even know what that meant. But now seeing it in person, it felt novel. Especially since they seemed to have a good relationship, not just a political marriage.

“Aren’t you going to shake my hand?”

When I remained still, Yuna tilted her head questioningly. I was planning to return the handshake, but Joo Do-hwa prevented that by wrapping an arm around my shoulder, blocking me from Yuna.

“You don’t have to greet everyone.”

It was an obvious display of ownership. Was he even feeling a little jealous? That thought crossed my mind briefly. The possessiveness an Alpha has toward an Omega was a kind of feeling I could never even mimic. Even if this was a political marriage, he might still want to maintain control over his future mate.

While I was pondering this, he continued speaking to me.

“You don’t like strangers, do you?”

“…”

No, that wasn’t it.

I had developed a shy personality in an instant, but I couldn’t refute it. Joo Do-hwa had left Yuna behind and simply turned his back, and in my hesitation to follow him, I didn’t even see the expression on Yuna’s face.

Joo Do-hwa led me to the dining room. The table was set for three people. Perhaps with Yuna in mind, there was a much wider variety of dishes than usual, suggesting the fact that Yuna was an invited guest, not an uninvited one.

Joo Do-hwa and I sat side by side, with Yuna seated across from us as usual. Since the meal was Western-style, we were all given forks today. I should probably let them know that I could now use chopsticks, but I kept putting it off out of laziness.

“I’m so glad you’re here. Let’s enjoy the meal!”

Yuna greeted me warmly with a bright smile. She certainly seemed to have a pleasant personality, and there was no lingering resentment over me ignoring her earlier greeting. In fact, her unfazed expression was almost to the point of being unsettling.

As Yuna chatted about various topics, I quietly ate the food in front of me. Joo Do-hwa had asked me to imitate my brother, but he probably didn’t want me to actively engage in conversation. After all, the “brother” he remembered would find such friendly exchanges odd.

Surprisingly, Joo Do-hwa did a fairly good job of responding to Yuna’s chatter. He didn’t give proper answers, but occasionally hummed in acknowledgment, and even made eye contact with her at times, prompting Yuna to giggle coquettishly.

They seemed to have a good relationship. Regardless of the reason, as his fiancée, they appear to maintain a reasonably amicable bond. I thought I had no friends, but it was fortunate that he had at least one.

“Hey, Joo Do-hwa, you should try the wine too. It’s a new product that just arrived at our company.”

Yuna raised her wine glass. Based on their conversation just now, she was the only daughter of the Gold Road Liquors chairman and was just starting to learn the business. The wine she brought as a gift was a new product not yet available on the market, but the problem was what she said next.

“You know, right? Father opened up a shipping route for me as a congratulatory gift for my new job.”

Joo Do-hwa, who was popping a piece of meat into his mouth, looked at Yuna. His eyes, with the whites showing prominently, seemed to turn cold in an instant. This reaction was different from before, but Lee Yuna continued excitedly.

“I visited your father recently, and you know how much he dotes on me. He said he’ll give me this, so we should get married soon!”

If the “father” Yuna is referring to was Chairman Joo, his ambitious personality pushing for a marriage wasn’t surprising, but it wasn’t a very pleasant topic. As Yuna spoke more, Joo Do-hwa’s expression grew increasingly colder by the minute.

“For my birthday next year, he’ll probably open up distribution rights in Germany…”

“Yuna.”

A low voice interrupted Yuna’s words. I swallowed the food in my mouth and straightened up. That one word felt like a warning.

“You must be drunk from the wine.”

Joo Do-hwa put down his utensils and dabbed the corners of his mouth with a napkin. His tone was leisurely, but it was enough to make Yuna lose her words. His slowly blinking eyes soon crinkled with a mocking smile.

“Marriage?”

“…”

“Take off that ring and say it, Yuna.”

His gaze turned to Yuna’s right hand. Joo Do-hwa had quickly shifted his attitude from the friendly conversation they were engaged in earlier. Yuna, visibly flinching, gripped her fork tightly.

“The shipping route was given to your arrogant father, not you. And the German distribution rights will go to Gold Road, not you.”

Despite his soft-spoken tone, there was a subtle disdain underlying his words. It was even worse because he said that all of that was not hers, as if he was sorry.

“Don’t try so hard. The more you do, the uglier it looks.”

“…”

Was it my imagination, or did a flash of annoyance cross Yuna’s face? It was an expression that didn’t fit the person who had been cheerfully chatting just moments ago.

However, Yuna quickly gave an embarrassed smile and apologized.

“I’m sorry…I got a bit carried away just now.”

“I’ll leave first. You finish eating, hyung.”

Joo Do-hwa unilaterally ended the conversation, gently patting my shoulder before leaving the dining room. The weight of the hand gripping my shoulder was not just something of my imagination. He probably meant for me to finish eating and leave after him.

“…”

“…”

Even after he left, an awkward silence lingered in the dining room. Yuna kept her head bowed, and I simply stared at her, neither of us bothering to say anything.

As his fiancée, he should treat her more kindly. In this type of atmosphere, what was the point of telling me to finish eating?

Should I try to console her, or just stay quiet and pretend not to know? As my dilemma dragged on, I even started feeling annoyed.

“Ugh…”

Yuna?

That assumption was brief. Yuna, covering her eyes with one hand, shook her shoulders as she let out a deflating sound.

Quietly at first, her laughter gradually grew louder.

“Ahaha!”

“…?”

The cackling laughter pierced my ears. Seemingly enjoying it immensely, Yuna laughed uncontrollably, almost maniacally. It was so sudden that I momentarily lost my grasp on the situation.

“Ha ha, ha…”

“…”

“Ah… Fuck.”

As her prolonged laughter began to subside, Yuna angrily threw down the fork she was holding. The fork clattered loudly against the marble table. Pushing back her disheveled hair, a distorted expression was revealed on her face.

“What a fucking weirdo.”

The sound of her gritting her teeth was clear. Her cold, hardened expression was nothing like the gentle, pretty smile she had shown earlier. Yuna brushed her hair back with one hand and pulled a cigarette pack from her pocket.

“Just because I scratched him a little, he goes running off in a tantrum.”