Under impossibly clear, sunny skies, on a sunlit, lush green hill, Eunwon — dressed in angel-white — sat patting the bare ground, pat-pat, as if playing in sand.
Childish as the act was, he was so serious about it, so diligent like someone carrying out a great task — too cute, unbearably cute. Muyoung crouched to his eye level and asked.
"Seo Eunwon. What are you doing?"
Eunwon looked up at him with sparkling round eyes and answered as if to say, why ask something so obvious.
"I’m taking care of our tree, hyung."
"Tree? Our tree…?"
"Yeah, the one you and I planted together."
"This is the tree we planted together?"
Looking again at his words, between Eunwon’s fingers as he patted the mound, a tiny sprout peeked out — adorable, cute, looking heartbreakingly fragile, pale green.
He stared at it quietly for a while, fascinated, and Eunwon smiled softly, eyes folding, and whispered.
"Pretty, right?"
"…Yeah, it’s so pretty it surprised me. I hope it grows up healthy and strong."
"Right. I really hope so… but, um, the sky is scary."
"The sky?"
Following Eunwon’s fingertip, Muyoung turned and froze. From the opposite sky, pitch-dark gray storm clouds were drawing closer, dragging a giant whirlwind.
Startled, Muyoung rose to block the storm — and Eunwon called from behind him: "Hyung." Tense, unable to even answer, he only strained his ears, and Eunwon’s small, earnest voice pierced his chest.
"You’ll… protect us, right?"
Muyoung’s eyes snapped open as if struck by lightning. He hadn’t even given a proper answer!
For Muyoung — who rarely dreamed, and never dwelled on dreams or gave them meaning — to clutch his pounding heart even after fully waking was truly strange.
In the dream’s intense afterglow, Muyoung struggled to steady his breathing.
Had he dreamed this because Arbor Day was coming up? No — it felt like it held something deeper, more significant. Like he’d received a revelation… Meaning? Revelation? Could it be…?
In the pitch dark, Muyoung’s eyes flashed. Readjusting his hold on Eunwon, asleep and breathing softly in his arms, he lifted the hem of his pajamas.
He touched the lower belly with careful hands, but honestly it just felt soft and warm —nothing particularly unusual. Even so, as he stroked the merely flat belly, the corners of his mouth were already hitched up to his ears.
I mean — the tree we planted together.
Hyung, protect "us."
If that wasn’t a taemong, it would be even weirder!
Though he’d woken far earlier than usual, Muyoung’s morning condition was superb. The storm from the dream — which hadn’t struck yet — weighed on his mind a little, just a little, but he’d take it as a warning to watch over things more carefully, and simply protect Eunwon and the baby perfectly.
Our apple and our sprout. Hyung — Daddy — will definitely protect you!
With that resolve, Muyoung’s over-the-top, doting care began in earnest. The moment Eunwon blearily opened his eyes, he showered him with kisses, filling today’s kiss count up to 13, and even coaxed, "Baby, want to just skip work and play today?"
But diligent Eunwon just shook his head gently with a small smile.
"You have an important meeting today."
"Doesn’t playing at home together sound more important than that?"
"To cheer you up… should I do that thing?"
"Th-that thing I do. The one I do for you every day…"
Thinking it was simply Muyoung whining because he didn’t want to go to work, Eunwon even offered first.
What could that possibly be? He brazenly played dumb and asked again just to hear it, but he really did know it meant their own "60-second hug therapy."
Only minutes ago he’d vowed to become an iron husband who could block typhoons, a bomb-shelter dad.
But he didn’t want to refuse Eunwon offering to hug him first.
"Do it."
Nodding eagerly, Muyoung burrowed into the arms Eunwon opened wide to him. Burying his face in the white nape, hugging tight, savoring his fill of the warm, fresh Seo Eunwon —his resolve as head of the household was renewed.
"Right, let’s go to work. Hyung’s sense of responsibility is second to none, after all." He didn’t forget to subtly appeal to his responsible-alpha image, though whether Eunwon got it was anyone’s guess — he just smiled sweetly, eyes folding.
"You can sleep two more hours. I’ll get ready and head out first, so rest more and come on time—"
"Hold on. What do you mean? You’re going first… we’re headed to the same place, why go separately? We’re one heart and soul now. We have to move as one body."
Puzzled by Eunwon’s sudden remark, Muyoung tilted even his head as he asked; Eunwon tilted his head too as he answered.
"Huh? Well, obviously I… have to stop by my place first—"
"Your place? Which place? The rooftop room? Why on earth?"
"Yes… well, my clothes and shoes and bag… I didn’t bring any of it."
"…Hm."
In truth, the penthouse dressing room was already stocked with new suits and shoes in Eunwon’s size, but Muyoung thought for a moment, then nodded with feigned generosity.
Right — he’d basically snatched the kid up and brought him over, so there’d been no time to pack. Unlike Muyoung, who could just buy anything he needed new, Eunwon was sentimental, attached to things worn in by his own hands.
And most importantly, only by going through the process of packing even a single box with his own hands would Eunwon clearly recognize this place — not that place — as "home" from now on.
"I’m coming too."
"You’re coming too, sir?"
"Of course — does it make sense for you to go alone? You should’ve assumed I’d tag along. What if those bastards are lurking around again?"
"Ah… I didn’t think of that."
"And it’s packing, sort of — the bags will be heavy, right? Hyung has to carry them. An omega shouldn’t go lifting heavy things."
"…Yes, thank you."
Having gladly volunteered as bodyguard and porter, Muyoung finished getting ready for work early and headed to the rooftop room with Eunwon.
Even in the car, Muyoung was excessively affectionate, and Eunwon — as he had the past two days — didn’t push away the brief affection granted to him, accepting it meekly.
Inside, a voice kept berating him — "You said you’d stop liking him! Greedy liar" — but it was just a few days. He timidly argued back that accepting kindness Muyoung offered first was fine, then pretended not to notice and looked away.
As Muyoung had said, there wasn’t really any moving to do, and Eunwon wasn’t shameless enough to plan on imposing on the penthouse indefinitely.
They’d probably head home separately after work today.
So he really only needed to pack for today’s work — which meant, maybe, that it was okay to fully enjoy Muyoung’s kindness just until today…
Contrary to Eunwon’s worries — he’d braced for a wreck, given the chaos his uncle and the loan sharks had caused the day before yesterday — the house was clean, the door perfectly locked.
Even the coffee stains and muddy footprints Eunwon hadn’t finished wiping were spotlessly gone. Realizing belatedly that this mysteriously tidied scene was also magic worked by Muyoung’s kindness, Eunwon turned to him, throat tight.
Despite being told not to bother with the stairs and just wait in the car, Muyoung had insisted on following right behind Eunwon — and now stood with his hands clasped behind his back, looking around the room with fascination.
In the two years he’d lived here, he’d adamantly avoided and refused his visits so many times that — aside from Saturday morning — this was essentially Muyoung’s first time properly coming inside.
He’d been so on guard, never bringing him here, not wanting to see that reaction — like the famous mocking photo online, the chaebol gaping in shock at a commoner’s shabby room. Which made it almost embarrassing how —
Muyoung looked thrilled, even smiling. He looked delighted, like someone finally stepping into a place he’d always wanted to visit.
He peered into every corner of the tiny home — hardly anything to properly look at — got his attention stolen by the small bookshelf, swept his gaze across the desk.
Muyoung’s presence nagged at Eunwon terribly, but he didn’t show it, finding his everyday suit and bag. Then he froze at the sight of a familiar paper stuffed inside the bag.
It was the horrible "life-turnaround flyer" the loan sharks had forced into his hands. After they’d left it on the floor, he’d lacked both the nerve to look closely and the courage to crumple it up — so he’d folded it roughly in half and stuffed it in his bag.
Without even a moment to check Muyoung’s reaction, Eunwon quickly hid the paper deeper in the bag. Fortunately, Muyoung was busy examining the framed photo on Eunwon’s desk and didn’t notice his suspicious behavior at all.
"Kuk, Seo Eunwon. Remember this?"
"Y-yes?"
"The trip to Gangwon-do. You were little, so you probably don’t remember it well?"
The photo he held out was from the Gangwon-do valley trip — Eunwon’s family and Muyoung, oddly just the five of them — taken on that trip.
As if he could forget.
That trip was a very happy, vivid memory for Eunwon too. A peaceful, happy vacation —especially joyful because, along with his beloved family, Muyoung had been there too. He’d always lived thinking he wanted to go back there someday.
"I remember all of it. It was so much fun."
At that, Muyoung smiled brightly — beautifully. A smile so dazzling and beautiful it was impossible to believe others’ assessment of him — indifferent, cold, rude, a prickly dominant alpha with terrible mysophobia. Even Eunwon, who’d spent his life looking at him, froze a moment in shock.
But.
Cha Muyoung’s perfect mood — newlywed buff plus the fresh taemong buff, a "Happy Merry Delight LV.100" — would shatter exactly one hour later.
After arriving at work, while Eunwon got swept off with his secretarial-office colleagues to buy coffee together, Muyoung — humming as he went to move the framed photo from his desk to Eunwon’s spot — spotted the tacky, garish flyer poking out through the gap of the open bag, and couldn’t help pulling it out to check.
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That he’d kept that disgusting flyer stored in his bag was strange enough — but on top of that, learning that Eunwon, off at the café with colleagues, was in real time searching things like "contract marriage reviews" and "what is a dowry?" — his mood plummeting to rock bottom was really…
only natural.
***
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