TIN 146

As if he had never smiled, only a slight annoyance and boredom remained on his face. The reaction that had changed as easily as flipping his palm told me that my guess was correct.

Joo Do-hwa, who had been staring at the air for a moment, beckoned towards the door.

“Come in.”

“…….”

The doctor, who had been watching for a chance, stepped inside. The doctor, who approached with a nervous face, took Joo Do-hwa’s right hand with bated breath. Because of what I had bitten a little while ago, blood was still seeping from his hand. It looked like he needed treatment, but Joo Do-hwa pushed the doctor away and pointed at me.

“Not me, that one over there.”

What he pointed at was my left hand, which had been messed up a little while ago when I took it out of the handcuffs. The bone had been put back in place, but it was swollen and bruised from the wrist to the thumb. If he had even the slightest bit of sense, he would immediately realize what had happened.

“My thumb was dislocated, so I put it back in place. Wrap it in a bandage.”

The doctor took out a bandage from his bag without a word. The movement of making a splint and putting it on his thumb seemed mechanical yet skillful. The handcuffs were scattered on the bed, and both of them had messed up their hands, but they didn’t even bat an eye at this chaotic scene.

“If there are no other fractures, it will heal in about a week. Try not to move it as much as possible…….”

I didn’t answer the doctor. It was because the consolation that he would recover quickly because he was extremely dominant followed, which I didn’t want to hear right now. In the first place, I didn’t care whether he recovered or not.

The doctor finished the treatment, bowed, and stepped back. He glanced at Joo Do-hwa’s hand once at the end, but when Joo Do-hwa didn’t say anything, he silently left the room.

“…….”

“…….”

That’s how silence remained. Joo Do-hwa stared at me, and I stared at my hand, without any conversation. I felt like his gaze would pierce my face, but I didn’t lift my head.

I moved the throbbing tip of my hand slightly. It was so tightly fixed that I couldn’t even bend my fingers. I couldn’t get this bandage outside, so I used the one I had until it wore out, but it was such a common item in this house.

“In the early stages of pregnancy, you can’t see the gestational sac.”

It was Joo Do-hwa who spoke first. He started the story in an extremely calm tone, as gently as usual.

“The doctor said that you need to confirm that to know the exact number of weeks… Even if you’re extremely dominant, male omegas are slow to show, so even if you look at the ultrasound now, the timing is ambiguous.”

I had almost no knowledge related to him. I didn’t even know how many weeks it took for the gestational sac to appear. Perhaps Joo Do-hwa in front of me was similar. At best, he was just listening to the doctor’s explanation and conveying it as it was.

“So answer me.”

He asked subtly. Softly and sweetly, as if he wouldn’t hurt me.

“That, it’s my child, right?”

My hair stood on end. An ominous feeling flashed through me at his incredibly affectionate question.

I knew that my answer now could be a crossroads for me. If I wanted to live, I knew what answer I had to give to please him.

“…Well.”

But didn’t I say it before? That I no longer needed to live in fear of being killed by him. If he were to kill me, that would be exactly what I wanted.

“I don’t know.”

“……”

The smile vanished from his face. Ah, Joo Do-hwa sighed briefly and tilted his head to look down at me. The light on the ceiling was hidden behind his head.

“You don’t know?”

The shadow cast on the bed was as large as that of a giant. The already enormous man was as intimidating as the anger he felt. I felt like I would be swallowed whole if I stayed still.

“Then whose is it?”

I couldn’t answer. Of course, it was Joo Do-hwa’s child. Joo Do-hwa was the only one who had knotted me, the only one who had been intimate with me.

“Tell me.”

“……”

“If you tell me the truth, I’ll let you off.”

Let me off, my ass. No matter how generously he spoke, the other party was Joo Do-hwa. I wasn’t stupid enough to fall for such words.

“I don’t even know whose it is.”

“Then you should say it’s mine.”

Joo Do-hwa, who retorted without a beat, reached out to me. The hand that carefully cupped my cheek then went down to my neck, gently covering the throbbing pulse. That was all, but it felt like he was strangling me, and I gasped for breath.

“Is there someone else who shot inside you besides me?”

My face was reflected in his beast-like, bright yellow eyes. His thinly trembling gaze contained not only anger but also a sense of betrayal towards me. Even though he had so confidently said it was our child, he must not have been sure of anything.

“How much did you roll around outside that you don’t even know whose it is?”

“How much did I roll around.”

A sneer escaped me. So you really do see me as a slut. The fact that was not newly unfair, and it was even satisfying that it could be Joo Do-hwa’s anger.

“You saw how much I earned selling my body. You even put a reward on my head matching the amount, so what’s with you.”

It was Joo Do-hwa who had retrieved the money I had entrusted to Kei, and of course, he would have checked the amount written on the receipt. So he must have written an amount ten times that on the flyer.

“If you’re curious, wait and get an ultrasound. But I ran away not long after sleeping with you… so I don’t know if you’ll be able to tell with that.”

“……”

“I was a bit, you know, right after I got out.”

It took about two weeks from the sex with him to leaving this house. If I got an ultrasound as he said, it was a period where I might get caught after confirming the baby in my belly. Knowing that fact, I continued with a nonchalant face.

“How would I pick one out of them?”

How many partners do you think I had? With that meaning, I let out a snicker, and the hand gripping my neck tightened. His bright yellow eyes gleamed, and there were even veins standing out on his jawline.

After a long time, he slowly spoke to me as if chewing on each word.

“Think carefully. Before I catch more than one to kill.”

It was a voice that had sunk so low that it sent shivers down my spine the moment I heard it. Knowing that it was his last warning, I didn’t give him the answer he wanted. At that, Joo Do-hwa curled up the corners of his lips.

“…Interesting, really.”

In the blink of an eye, I also instinctively felt that his patience had truly reached its limit. That what happened on the island might happen again.

But unlike my expectations, he didn’t harm me in any way. He simply took his hand away from me and straightened his posture. With his gaze still fixed on me, he ordered someone in a casual tone.

“Bring that bastard Kim Jae-won here.”

“…What.”

I raised my head abruptly. It was because a familiar name had pierced my ears. No sooner had I realized that the presence visible from the door was Henry’s than the words burst out of me.

“It’s not Kei’s. I didn’t… with him.”

“I told you not to take that bastard’s side.”

Joo Do-hwa, who coldly dismissed me, raised the corners of his lips. Even the question that followed his face, which was painted with mockery, was full of ridicule.

“You didn’t sleep with him?”

I didn’t even have time to answer yes. He asked right away.

“Then what did you do in the first-class cabin?”

From my lips that were moving, not even a small exclamation came out. First-class cabin. The word that suddenly popped out hit me in the back of the head.

“How many CCTV cameras do you think are installed from the station to inside the train?”

The part I had known all along but turned a blind eye to had caught me by the ankle. I knew there would be CCTV there, and that Joo Do-hwa, who had discovered Kei’s name, would suspect him. That’s why I ran away, and that’s why I tried to hide.

“This.”

With those words, Joo Do-hwa pointed to my neck. The part where Kei’s mark had been left, the location that was probably now covered with Joo Do-hwa’s traces.

“Did you think I wouldn’t know what that bastard made?”

“…Ah.”

My fingertips turned cold. My heart sank, and my lower abdomen seemed to ache. It was just a moment ago that I thought it was okay to die, but as soon as that arrow was directed at someone else, I felt a sense of crisis.

“I told you to think carefully.”

His gaze seemed to be asking me. Didn’t I give you a chance? Seeing Joo Do-hwa slowly turn his body, I hurriedly got up and grabbed his arm.

“No, no. I didn’t sleep with him. I’m not anything with him.”

It was a truth without a single lie, and it was a more urgent cry than ever before. I shook my head while kneeling on the bed.

“You’ll know if you look at the first-class CCTV. He doesn’t even know I’m an omega.”

At the word ‘omega,’ he glanced back at me.

If Joo Do-hwa killed Kei. The thought that came to mind made me feel like my insides were turning upside down. I couldn’t believe that someone else was dying, that it was because of me, and that I would still be alive without being able to die.

“We broke up as soon as we got off the train. That’s all. Nothing happened…”

“Then which bastard did you roll around with, again.”

Joo Do-hwa coldly retorted without changing his expression. He carelessly dropped me, who was holding his arm, and grabbed my hand wrapped in bandages from his side.

“Theo, Gi-cheol? Or that ticket scalper?”

How does he know those names, I couldn’t even ask. The fact that he knew more than I thought wasn’t even that shocking. It was just that my insides were getting more and more sore, as if someone was strangling me.

“If you can’t answer, give it up.”

As if he wouldn’t let me off any longer, he dropped my hand. Joo Do-hwa chuckled and said to me, who was curling up and covering my stomach.

“We can just get rid of the baby anyway.”