The Omega Is Pregnant

"Everything is fine, but doesn't it feel like something is out of order?"
"I think it would be better if you added an explanation at the front..."

"Look ahead."
As Kang Se-heon turned his head, Tae-seo pointed with his chin towards the front. When the traffic light changed from red to blue, Kang Se-heon stepped on the accelerator, and the car moved forward. Tae-seo, who had been watching the passing scenery, murmured with a complicated look in his eyes.
"I just said that while thinking about random things."

As Tae-seo leaned his head against the window, he felt a slight vibration. He liked the feeling of it and continued to lean, staring ahead. He was looking at the same place as Kang Se-heon, but his mind was full of other thoughts.
When Kang Se-heon came over and had dinner with his parents, when he met Kang Se-heon's parents...
‘Everything's fine, everything’s good, but...’

Both occasions passed smoothly, far beyond his worries. His parents didn’t say anything, and while he didn’t hear anything from Kang Se-heon’s parents, the atmosphere wasn’t bad.
So, it seemed to have passed easily, but there was an odd lingering feeling, like something wasn’t completely wrapped up.
Kang Se-heon had gladly introduced himself as Tae-seo’s Alpha, and at the hospital, he had naturally expressed that he would be the father of their baby. So, raising their child together had become a given, but...

How did you first meet Se-heon? He's my son, but I didn't think he was particularly kind, so I thought it’d be hard to date him.
The question from Kang Se-heon’s mother kept lingering in his mind.
‘When did we start dating? Wait, are we even dating? We’re getting married, right?’
Once he began doubting, more and more questions followed one after another. The pregnancy had come so suddenly that he hadn’t had time to reconsider his relationship with Kang Se-heon.

‘Was just eating together and drinking coffee considered a date?’
Tae-seo crossed his arms and seriously pondered. Some people might not care about defining the relationship, but Tae-seo thought it was important.
As a result, the bridge of his nose and his forehead furrowed in deep thought. Whether he knew it or not, Kang Se-heon likely found this endlessly cute, but Tae-seo continued to organize his thoughts with seriousness.

How long had it been? By the time Kang Se-heon had arrived at their destination, he turned off the car's engine but merely observed Tae-seo’s thoughts without disturbing him. He waited, hoping that Tae-seo would be the one to speak first.
“You know…”
“Are you finally ready to talk?”

Kang Se-heon responded warmly, causing Tae-seo to fall silent again. He had originally planned to ask Se-heon about their relationship, but changed his mind upon seeing his smile.
Instead of asking about their relationship...
“Do you have vacation time?”
“I do.”

Kang Se-heon nodded with a slight puzzled look when Tae-seo unexpectedly brought up vacation time. All companies have vacation time, so Kang Se-heon’s workplace was no different.
“Do you, Se-heon, take time off when everyone else does?”
“I do…”

Kang Se-heon trailed off, as he had never really taken a proper vacation. He hesitated, unsure how to explain it to Tae-seo, when Tae-seo asked again.
“When is it?”
Instead of answering, Kang Se-heon picked up his phone and sent a message. The phone vibrated shortly after, and Kang Se-heon checked it before responding.

“My vacation is from next Thursday to the weekend.”
“Next Thursday?”
Tae-seo briefly thought about his upcoming finals and tried to calculate the dates. Considering that most office workers take vacation at the end of July, this was a month early.

Noticing Tae-seo’s confusion, Kang Se-heon put his phone down and said,
“I’m an executive, after all.”
So, he had different vacation dates from the others, but Tae-seo, who hadn’t worked in a company, took it at face value. He didn’t realize that Kang Se-heon wasn’t asking his secretary about his vacation schedule but was rather asking about a day he could take off.

“Well, the weekend is a regular off-day, so that’s fine, but is that it for weekdays? Your vacation is so short.”
“Is that how you express something being short?”
“Yep, exactly.”

At any rate, next week wasn’t too far away. Once he focused on his finals for a while, the time would pass quickly.
“Then spend one day with me that week.”
Without explaining why, Tae-seo asked for Kang Se-heon’s time in advance.

 
****
Focused on his task, Seo Da-rae glanced at Kang In-hyuk through the laptop. Just like her, he was staring at his laptop, printing out his assignment for the final check.

"Hansoo said he’d send the presentation by the end of today, so I think we just need to check for any typos."
"So, we’re done."
"I'm glad it didn't overlap with finals."

As the long-running assignment neared its end, Kang In-hyuk stretched, his face relaxed with satisfaction.
"That was really tough, right?"
"Well, we’ll have to see after the presentation is completely finished."

"Did you finish yours?"
"Ah..."
Seo Da-rae glanced down at her personal assignment and nodded.

"I finished."
She tapped her assignment on the table, smiling contentedly. While not everything was finished yet, she felt a sense of accomplishment from tackling one task after another.
"Then, let’s go out for dinner."

Kang In-hyuk gestured with his eyes. After spending the whole day on assignments without eating, he wanted to grab something to eat and maybe enjoy a cold beer. Seo Da-rae, who was equally eager, had no reason to refuse.
"Then let’s quickly tidy this up..."
Kang In-hyuk muttered as he looked at the scattered assignments on the table when suddenly, the doorbell rang.

"Who is it at this hour?"
Since no one was expected, Kang In-hyuk stood up with a puzzled expression. If it was Park Han-su barging in without a word, he was ready to kick him out without hesitation. After checking the person outside, Kang In-hyuk turned to look at Seo Da-rae.
Noticing his unusual expression, Seo Da-rae stood up from her seat.

"It’s my mother."
"Then..."
Seeing that Seo Da-rae understood the situation, Kang In-hyuk was left speechless. The doorbell rang again, but this time, it felt sharper than before, making Seo Da-rae hurriedly motion for him to go into the room.

"I’ll go into the room."
"...Do you want that?"
When Kang In-hyuk looked at her with an apologetic expression, Seo Da-rae took his hand once, then let it go and went to her room. In the meantime, unable to hold herself back, Han Mi-sun rang the doorbell again. When Kang In-hyuk opened the door, she walked in as if she had been waiting.

"Why did you just open the door now while you were at home?"
"I was in the bathroom, so I didn’t know."
If Kang In-hyuk hadn’t stepped aside, Han Mi-sun would’ve barged in with force. Considering that she was upset about the late door opening, her reaction was surprisingly intense, and Kang In-hyuk missed his chance to ask why she had come without any prior notice.

“I’m really losing my patience.”
Han Mi-sun threw her handbag onto the chair as if in frustration and sat down. Kang In-hyuk began to clean up the scattered papers around, sitting across from her. Noticing the unusual atmosphere, he closed his laptop and asked,
“What’s going on suddenly?”

While Kang In-hyuk was observing Han Mi-sun’s expression, the sound of the door closing caught his attention. Because his mother had arrived without notice, Seo Da-rae had gone into her room. If Han Mi-sun started searching through the room, it would be a problem, but for now, there was no other choice.
Once he confirmed that the door was firmly shut, Kang In-hyuk’s expression softened briefly before darkening again. He thought that if his mother and Da-rae met, things wouldn’t end well. Feeling relieved that he had hidden Da-rae, he was suddenly reminded that this wasn’t exactly a good solution, which weighed heavily on his heart.
However, telling his mother to take good care of Da-rae would never work. Da-rae knew that as well and had voluntarily gone to her room. He believed it was better to avoid any confrontation.

As Kang In-hyuk worried about Da-rae, Han Mi-sun suddenly got straight to the point.
“Did you know Tae-seo has manifested?”
“...Tae-seo? Tae-seo has manifested?”

Kang In-hyuk didn’t understand immediately and reacted a beat too late. When he asked for confirmation, Han Mi-sun responded harshly.
“Yeah. And I was still waiting around thinking I was being patient. Agh.”
Han Mi-sun muttered words that Kang In-hyuk couldn’t fully grasp. She was furious, and it seemed that Kim Mi-kyung had known about Tae-seo becoming an Omega but hadn’t said a word to her. Han Mi-sun seemed to be overcome with betrayal and anger, fanning herself to calm down.

“What do you mean by that?”
“I went to see Mi-kyung... no, never mind.”
Han Mi-sun seemed to have a lot to say but stopped herself, then turned her body slightly away, signaling that she didn’t want to talk about it.

“Agh, it’s hot.”
Han Mi-sun, seemingly trying to change the subject, looked around as if the fan wasn’t enough and then grabbed a piece of paper from the pile Kang In-hyuk had hastily gathered.
Noticing this, Kang In-hyuk reached out to take it from her.

“I’ll turn on the air conditioner. Please give me that paper.”
“Are you worried it’ll wrinkle the paper? Just use it for a moment and put it down...”
Han Mi-sun, irritated by her son’s lack of concern for her discomfort, seemed upset and stopped in her tracks. When she saw Seo Da-rae’s name written on the bottom of the paper, she let out several sharp breaths, as though she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“Are you still living with her?”
“We were just doing an assignment together.”
“Why are you doing it at home? There are cafes everywhere. Can’t you do it at school?”

Han Mi-sun dismissed Kang In-hyuk’s explanation with irritation and threw the paper aside. Even though she threw it hard, the paper fluttered down slowly, and her eyes narrowed in dissatisfaction.
“Are you hanging out with the wrong person while you don’t even know that Tae-seo has manifested? You don’t even know what’s important anymore.”