The Omega Is Pregnant

"Is there anything you need?"
"No."
Tae-seo shook his head. It wasn’t that walking was hard, and there was nothing lacking because someone had already taken care of everything. Kim Mi-kyung, concerned, patted Tae-seo’s head and asked with worry.

"Isn't it frustrating just being in the hospital room? Should I ask the doctor if you can be discharged?"
"That’s fine too."
Tae-seo looked around the room and shook his head again. The room was so spacious that it seemed like he wouldn’t feel cramped. Perhaps noticing what Tae-seo was thinking, Kim Mi-kyung smiled after a brief moment of hesitation.

"Then, is everything alright?"
"Yes, so please go now. The traffic will get bad."
Pushing Kim Mi-kyung’s arm as she was about to leave before work, Tae-seo urged her to go. Kim Mi-kyung, unable to resist, got up from her seat.

"I'll come again tomorrow, so rest well."
Kim Mi-kyung patted Tae-seo’s head and stood up. Tae-seo got up and handed her the handbag she had placed next to her. Just as Kim Mi-kyung was about to contact her secretary, she smiled «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» and accepted it.
"I'm fine now, so you don’t need to come starting tomorrow."

"But how can I not come when my son is in the hospital? Even staying with you all day wouldn’t be enough..."
Using the usual excuse of being busy, Kim Mi-kyung had often not been able to visit her son, and now she couldn’t even stay by his side when he was sick. Tae-seo, noticing this, took her hand and spoke up.
"I've decided on the baby's pre-birth name. It's Blessing."

"That's a pretty name."
"Yes, well, it almost became ‘fruitmeat-rice,’ though."
"Huh?"

Tae-seo scrunched his nose.
"I almost made the name something I like to eat, you know? It’s a problem when you like food too much."
"Oh my?"
"It’s just that the meals Se-heon makes are really tasty."

"He cooks for you?"
Kim Mi-kyung asked as if she had never heard such a thing, and Tae-seo nodded vigorously.
"He’s really good at cooking. When I stayed at his house, he cooked for me every day."

"Even though he’s busy with work, he can do that?"
"It’s really delicious. Anyway, I almost called the baby ‘fruitmeat-rice,’ instead of Blessing."
"That’s funny."

Kim Mi-kyung smiled at their conversation, and Tae-seo, who had been excitedly chatting, suddenly realized he was getting carried away. His intention was to reassure his mother and send her off, but he had been talking without realizing it.
"I’ll tell you more next time. Please go now."
"Make sure you tell me."

Kim Mi-kyung squeezed Tae-seo’s hand once more before leaving.
Once Tae-seo was alone, he stretched lightly and turned around. No one was going to visit now, so should he try taking a nap for a bit?
"Here’s Yoon Tae-seo’s name."

Just as Tae-seo was about to put his foot on the bed, he stiffened and turned around. The familiar voice and a knock came together.
"Knock knock."
...Should he let that person in, who even knocks with his mouth?

"It’s my fault for having him as a friend."
After thinking for a moment, Tae-seo sighed and lowered the leg he had placed on the bed. He dragged himself to the door and opened it, only to see Park Han-soo, who had been about to knock again, now staring wide-eyed without moving from the spot.
"You're walking?"

This was the response to Tae-seo opening the door. As Tae-seo reached for the door to close it again, Park Han-soo pushed his foot in.
"Are you really going to treat a friend who came to visit you in the hospital like this? I rushed here as soon as I heard you were in the hospital."
"I didn’t mean for you to come just because I’m in the hospital."

"Who else is going to come if I, your only friend, don’t?"
Park Han-soo threw the words out without hesitation. It seemed like he knew that if he lost this round, he wouldn’t be allowed into the room.
Tae-seo shot him a sideways glance, then withdrew his hand from the door. It was better to not drag things out and just lie down on the bed.

"What’s this? Is it okay for the hospital room to be this fancy?"
Park Han-soo couldn’t hide his surprise as he looked around the room.
"Did your parents set this up for you? Or was it Se-heon? Whoever did, I’m jealous."

"It’s neither."
Tae-seo, now on the bed, beckoned him over with a finger. If he hadn’t picked up the phone that had rung in his sleep, he wouldn’t have even mentioned that he was in the hospital to Park Han-soo.
With Park Han-soo’s chaotic presence, the quiet hospital room soon became noisy.

"So this is the special room. First time I’ve been here."
"Me too."
"Huh? Your family is wealthy, but you’ve never been to a place like this?"

Tae-seo clicked his tongue as if he couldn’t believe he didn’t know that.
"A healthy person like me wouldn’t have a reason to come to the hospital."
"Oh, right."

Park Han-soo scratched his head and came closer, then sniffed the air, likely noticing the unique scent in the room.
"It smells ridiculously like flowers. What’s with all these flowers? I thought I was in a flower shop."
He looked at the box of vitamin drinks and a bouquet in his hands. However, his flowers probably wouldn’t stand out in this room.

"The person who arranged the special room bought them."
Tae-seo sighed and rested his arm over his legs. He had been told he could be discharged yesterday, but his stay was extended for another week, and his room had been changed to a special one.
The single room was already spacious and nice, but now he was in a luxurious special room, which was almost absurd, though he couldn’t cancel it.

"Who arranged it?"
"The chairman."
"The chairman? Which one..."

"The chairman of the KH Group."
As soon as he realized who had arranged his extended stay, Tae-seo accepted everything.
Park Han-soo poked his ear and looked at him, his eyes asking if he had heard correctly. Tae-seo clicked his tongue in response.

"It’s because your friend is doing so well, so stop being surprised."
"Right. The people my friend meets are from KH."
"...Did I ever tell you that?"

Tae-seo casually brushed off Park Han-soo’s question about whether he was seeing Se-heon, though he wasn’t sure how Park Han-so knew.
"Others might be unsure, but I know."
"How?"

"Just a hunch."
Tae-seo shot Park Han-soo a sideways glance before turning his head. It wasn’t entirely wrong to say his hunch was good. In fact, something similar had happened in the original story. When Seo Da-rae was hospitalized, his room was suddenly moved, and not long after, the chairman came to visit. Tae-seo wasn’t Seo Da-rae, but since he had been the one to move the room, it was now the chairman's turn to visit.
"By the way, why are you hospitalized? You didn’t say anything when I called."

"I collapsed."
"Was it something like malnutrition?"
"No. It’s because of pheromones..."

"Right. You’re an Omega, I keep forgetting."
Park Han-soo muttered about the pheromones, unable to fully grasp the situation. Tae-seo’s face, which he had seen countless times, didn’t change even when his traits shifted. Since Park Han-soo couldn’t sense pheromones, it was all the more difficult for him to understand. Moreover, Tae-seo didn’t have the soft and delicate aura that Seo Da-rae had.
He was just a handsome friend.

"Are you okay now?"
"Yeah, I’m fine enough to be discharged."
This was something Park Han-soo could sense as well, and he wisely kept quiet. There was no way he could refuse the special room that had been arranged by the chairman.

"You must really love Se-heon a lot."
"Well, that’s true, but what makes you say that?"
"You’re obediently following the chairman’s words. If he says you can go home, what’s keeping you here?"

"Hmm… If that’s the reason, it’s not really that."
Tae-seo looked at the flowers scattered around the room.
"Then?"

"I thought he might come."
"Are you talking about the chairman?"
"Yeah. That’s why I’m waiting."

Tae-seo had already searched for the chairman’s photo on his phone. He felt like he had seen the face before and somehow felt a strange sense of familiarity. At least now he had seen his face, so if the chairman came to visit, he’d recognize him right away.
"You’ve really been thinking about all sorts of things while sitting here."
Park Han-soo grabbed a vitamin drink from the box he had brought, took a sip, and sat down. He had come to check if Tae-seo was alright, but it seemed like he wasn’t planning to leave anytime soon.

Tae-seo, however, didn’t think Park Han-soo would leave right away. After all, this was the guy who used to yell and insist on meeting him when he didn’t even mention taking a break from school. He had given up on him for good.
Instead, Tae-seo leaned back on the bed and furrowed his brow, looking serious.
"Hey."

Finally, someone had appeared to listen to the complicated thoughts that Tae-seo had never been able to share with anyone.
"I told you I collapsed, right? It’s because of the pheromones..."
Tae-seo continued without worrying about how much Park Han-soo would understand.

"I collapsed because I’m an Omega. But does that mean the other Omega in the room wasn’t affected?"
"You’ve only just manifested, right? So maybe only the recently changed Omega was affected? Or maybe you’re just inexperienced and couldn’t avoid it? Or maybe the other Omega was affected, but it only showed up later?"
Tae-seo looked up as he listened to Park Han-soo throw out various possibilities.

"What if I was inexperienced and couldn’t control it, and that other Omega held it in and it showed up later?"
 
****

With the sound of the door lock disengaging, Kang In-hyuk looked up. Seo Da-rae, who had entered, noticed Kang In-hyuk's gaze and raised his head.
"Where have you been?"
"...Home."

Seo Da-rae answered in a weak voice and passed by Kang In-hyuk. He didn’t want to talk to Kang In-hyuk while facing him, but Kang In-hyuk didn’t let him go easily.
"What...?"
Kang In-hyuk grabbed Seo Da-rae’s arm as he passed and even pressed his wrist to his own nose.

The sweet floral scent was strong. Even considering Seo Da-rae’s pheromones, it was quite intense, especially since he wasn’t trying to release them on purpose. This could only mean one thing.
"Did your heat come?"
Seo Da-rae turned his head to avoid eye contact with Kang In-hyuk. The subtle pheromones emanating from the back of his neck were detectable, even though he tried to control them. When it couldn’t be hidden entirely, it was related to his heat cycle.

"...Yeah."
"Then why didn’t you tell me? Did your heat come and you went home?"
"The medication was at home."

Seo Da-rae pulled his wrist out of Kang In-hyuk’s grip. He didn’t look directly at Kang In-hyuk, still avoiding him. Since the incident with Tae-seo, Seo Da-rae had avoided facing Kang In-hyuk.
Eventually, Kang In-hyuk approached him. He tried to hold Seo Da-rae back from heading into the room with some casual words.
"But it came earlier than usual."

"...It did."
Seo Da-rae smiled, but then realized it felt awkward, so he raised his hand to stop himself.
"All this circling around is just wasting time. I need to talk about Tae-seo. That day, Tae-seo..."

"Stop."
"Da-rae."
"I don’t want to hear about Yoon Tae-seo. So stop."

Seo Da-rae fully turned his back on Kang In-hyuk. With his back to him, Seo Da-rae no longer had to hide his expression and lowered his hand.
"I just want you to stop mentioning Yoon Tae-seo to me."
"Da-rae, that day, Tae-seo went to the hospital..."

"I know. You said you went to the hospital. No need to say anything else."
Seo Da-rae forcefully shut down Kang In-hyuk’s words. He didn’t want to hear anything more about Yoon Tae-seo. He had already heard everything about him being collapsed and taken to the hospital. That was enough. He didn’t want to hear it anymore.