Beomyeong picked up the magazine that had fallen to the floor and strode over. He put the crumpled magazine back on the table, then patted the shoulder it had brushed past and clicked his tongue.

“Why are you doing this embarrassingly.”

“Embarrassing? A kid who knows what embarrassing is is now......!”

“Stop. I’ll handle my own business.”

There it was again. Before a crucial answer came out, Beomyeong cut off the information. Interrupting Madam Yi, he turned to me and smiled brightly.

“You’d be surprised if this happened out of nowhere, hyung.”

“......”

I pretended not to hear Beomyeong and watched Madam Yi’s reaction.

Madam Yi, with a face that had barely swallowed the fire rising to her throat, tightly closed her eyes and turned away from Beomyeong.

There were two reasons I had not suspected Madam Yi until now.

First, there seemed to be no plausible motive.

Second, the thugs who had shown up threatening me were too low-level to be men working under Madam Yi.

But now, it looked like Madam Yi had enough motive.

What on earth had the words hidden behind “Because of you, my son” been?

Had Beomyeong been embarrassed because of me? No, that couldn’t be it. During the marriage, he had never once gone outside the mansion.

If the marriage itself had been the problem, she would have gotten rid of me five years ago already. So what problem had Beomyeong had because of me?

Beomyeong, who had come close without me noticing, helped me up.

“Let’s go. It would be better to wash up first.”

“Huh? Uh, uh......”

Beomyeong remained calm even after starting a fire inside Madam Yi. As I was led away by Beomyeong, I kept glancing back at Madam Yi.

Madam Yi, who had been glaring at me with icy eyes, could not bring herself to be angry at her son and only threatened me.

“You, be careful.”

Those words meant she would kidnap me again before long.

Beomyeong’s words had indeed not been a lie. It was not okay to run away, and hiding in Beomyeong’s house was the safest, while still not something I could call a good situation.

If Madam Yi had been the one who started everything before this, it made sense.

I wanted to talk to Madam Yi more, but Beomyeong gently dragged me away with strong force. Even if I planted my feet and resisted, it was useless.

“Hey, this, what kind of strength is that...... Madam! If you’re just going to tell me, why not say it clearly?”

While I thrashed, Beomyeong lifted me right over his shoulder.

“Ack!”

“If you’re curious, ask me.”

“You don’t answer anyway!”

Beomyeong left the reception room in just two steps with his long legs.

As we moved farther away, Madam Yi shouted in a tone that sounded utterly fed up.

“auntie! I don’t want to look at those two, so close the door!”

Bang! The door closed. The information retreated uselessly into the distance.

* * *

Beomyeong carried me and walked toward the annex, and I pounded his back with my fist over and over again. When I kept struggling, he gave up and set me down.

The moment he let go, I turned toward the front gate.

“fuck, this shitty house. It’s disgustingly huge too.”

I crossed the football field-sized yard like a defeated soldier. Beomyeong blocked my path.

“Forget what Mom said.”

“Beomyeong, do I look like an idiot? Forget the thing I just heard?”

My soaked figure, as if I had rolled through a pit of dust, was miserably compared with Beomyeong, wrapped in luxurious clothes. Nothing about my words came out politely.

Beomyeong twitched his eyebrows in dissatisfaction.

“If only you had just listened to me sooner.”

“What would have been better? Your mood?”

I fumbled in my pocket. Thankfully, I found the crumpled cigarette pack. The fact that I thought of cigarettes every time my irritation rose made me feel like maybe I was becoming someone who got addicted to bad things, like Joo Gwansik.

I put a cigarette in my mouth, twisted and crooked just like my current state, and tapped the lighter twice to light it. Every time the weakened cigarette stem drew in a puff, it wore down frighteningly fast.

“Why are you twisting my words like that?”

“Ha, Beomyeong. Do I look like I can avoid twisting them right now? Is the problem in my head? Is that why this is happening?”

“Try speaking properly.”

“How am I supposed to say it better than this!”

When I shouted like a madwoman, Beomyeong flinched.

Just as Beomyeong had changed from how he used to be, I was not the Joo Jaeyi from the time I had lived with him either. I had changed too. Now I could get angry at Beomyeong and yell at him as much as I wanted.

“I was the one who almost got stabbed out of nowhere, and I was the one who got kidnapped, so can’t I be angry a little? I’m not curious about whatever problem you have at all! I don’t want to know what you want either, I just don’t want to be tangled up with you anymore!”

“Calm down first. I’ll explain.”

I slapped away Beomyeong’s hand trying to soothe me and stepped back.

“You said you wanted to register a marriage with me? Who decided that.”

“Fine, just listen to me for a second.”

“I have a boyfriend.”

“......What?”

Beomyeong looked at me with an empty expression. I took another step back and curled my lips into a spiteful smile.

“I said I have someone I’m going to marry. So go and tell your mother to stop leaving me alone. I have no intention at all of playing along with your stupid nonsense.”

Beomyeong’s arm slowly dropped.

I crudely rubbed out the half-burned cigarette butt against the fancy lawn and walked toward the gate again.

Beomyeong seemed to follow me for a few steps, then soon turned away. Instead, a car he had sent was waiting outside the gate. I got into the car without refusing. This seemed like a ride I could accept.

* * *

“So what you’re saying is...... your ex-husband, who divorced you, suddenly showed up after years and started making a scene about getting back together? But your former mother-in-law hates you?”

The way Park Minwoo said it made it sound exactly like one of those re-enactment shows about divorce stories. What was most irritating was that there was nothing wrong with what he said.

“......That’s how it turned out.”

“Wow......”

Park Minwoo sighed with a dazed face.

I sat in front of him sipping soju mixed with beer and turned my gaze elsewhere. It was embarrassing to look him straight in the eye.

“I didn’t even know you were married, and now you’re divorced at this age.”

“Hey, it’s called marriage, but if you think about it......”

I reflexively started to make an excuse, then shut my mouth. I had revealed that I had gotten married, but not the details. I didn’t want to say that much.

As my words trailed off, Park Minwoo prompted me for the rest.

“Think about what?”

“......Never mind. Forget it.”

When I let out a long sigh, Park Minwoo sighed too and downed his soju mixed with beer in big gulps.

Even with the so-called intestinal stew he loved sitting in front of him, Park Minwoo did not pick up his chopsticks. Seeing him drink only alcohol one after another made me feel a little sorry.

Park Minwoo, rubbing the space between his brows under the cap brim, rested his arm on the table and leaned his upper body closer.

“So what’s the reason you’re telling me this now?”

At last, the question that had to come out came out. The reason I was spilling my past now. The reason I had urgently called Park Minwoo. The reason I had bought the side dishes and drinks he liked and handed them over. They were all the same reason.

I grabbed Park Minwoo’s hand on the table with both hands.

“Park Minwoo! Please help me.”

Park Minwoo pulled his chin back with a grim expression.

“......Are you crazy? Why are you suddenly acting like this?”

“What’s the point of friendship? Who else do I have as a friend? Aren’t you my best friend? Do you have a lot of friends? You don’t have friends either.”

“Wow, look at this bastard talking trash.”

“Pretend to be my boyfriend.”

Park Minwoo, who had been blinking blankly, twisted his face like he was about to throw up.

“......Ugh, I feel sick.”

He coldly shook off my hand and covered his mouth.

Seeing how genuinely he hated it made me feel offended even from the position of asking for a favor. Any trace of guilt melted away without a trace.

“You bastard......”

“Hey, don’t misunderstand me. It’s not that I hate it because you’re a guy or an Omega, it’s just that I hate you. You know how I feel, right?”

“You shitty bastard......”

That line was even more irritating. I wouldn’t take Park Minwoo even if he were given to me. Still, I had no options. Unless I went out right now and found a man to marry, Park Minwoo was the most suitable choice.

He was a Beta, but he was tall enough, had a decently handsome face, had a decent job, and was flawless enough to bring out in public.

Especially his best trait was that he was quick-witted.

“I get what’s going on.”

After scrubbing the hand I had grabbed with a wet napkin laid out on the table, Park Minwoo finally picked up his chopsticks and stirred the intestinal stew.

“That thing you told me about last time, that’s this, right? But it seems like it didn’t go the way you thought. Since you lied that you had a boyfriend.”

“Strictly speaking, the man I’m going to marry.”

I quickly added the explanation, and Park Minwoo clicked his tongue with a disgusted expression.

“Are you out of your mind?”

“Yeah, I’m crazy, and you’re the only one I can ask for help. Save me.”

Since I was going to be treated like a crazy person anyway, I decided to be even more shameless.