The house had gone silent again.
Haru didn't cry.
She didn't call for anyone.
She didn't smile, didn't attempt to speak.
She simply sat in her room with her teddy
pressed to her chest, her eyes emptied of the light she had worked so hard to gain.
It was the same expression she had before meeting Haneul,
the one that made every adult in the residence feel they had failed her.
Taekyun stood at her doorway several times throughout the week, but Haru didn't look at him.
Not once.
The more she ignored him, the quieter he became.
He woke early.
Returned late.
Spoke only when absolutely necessary.
It was as if the warmth he had slowly learned to carry had been pulled out of him with force.
Bora watched all three of them crumble
Taekyun's quiet retreat,
Haru's regression,
and Haneul's suffering in a heat that refused to break.
Haneul hadn't left Bora's guestroom for days.
His heat wasn't like the heats of this world.
Even suppressants barely touched it.
His pheromones were unstable, heavy, thick enough to make Bora's skin tingle even from outside the door.
She had moved out of her own home, staying at a relative's place nearby, terrified that staying inside would trigger her instincts.
Every evening she returned only long enough to leave meals and medicine by the door.
He rarely touched the food.
He barely drank water.
Sometimes she heard muffled crying
short, broken, and quickly strangled as if he was forcing himself to stay silent.
She had called a doctor twice, but canceled both times.
She couldn't risk exposing what came from his body.
Instead, with Lihan's help, she acquired stronger medicine the kind that wasn't meant for an Omega, or even legal for casual use.
It dulled the pain, but very slowly.
Too slowly for his thin body to handle.
Taekyun returned home each night, exhausted but expressionless.
Whenever he passed Haru's room, he paused out of habit.
But she no longer lifted her head.
She no longer said "abba."
And every time she didn't look at him, something inside him quietly snapped and rebuilt itself into something harder.
Soon,
He stopped pausing outside her door.
He stopped eating at home.
He stopped staying long enough for anyone to notice he was there.
Bora watched him silently.
She had lied to Haru three times already.
"Haneul went far. He'll come back in a few days."
But Haru didn't believe it.
Her small shoulders had stiffened in that way Bora feared the most.
the silent fear, the silent expectation, the silent acceptance of loss.
She thought Haneul abandoned her.
And she collapsed back into the girl she used to be.
(On the fifth day)
Taekyun came home early for the first time that week.
Haru had already been taken to the Gwanrim Hanok Estate by her grandparents.
Most of the staff were gone for the evening.
The residence felt too large and too quiet.
Bora rushed to her house, holding a tray of warm broth and medicine, hoping today Haneul would at least open the door.
But the moment she entered, the air was wrong.
House door was open.
She stepped in, heart pounding.
"Haneul?"
Silence.
She entered the room and froze.
The blanket was on the floor.
The room smelled faintly of heat and suppressants.
His phone was still on the table.
His clothes untouched.
"Haneul?"
Her voice broke.
Kitchen was empty.
Bathroom, empty.
Living room, empty.
Her knees almost gave out.
He didn't leave with luggage.
He didn't take his phone.
He didn't even wear proper clothes.
Where could he.....
Bora spun around and ran.
And there he was.
Haneul was staggering toward the residence gate, thin white night clothes clinging to his feverish skin, his hair drenched in sweat, his eyes unfocused.
He wasn't even walking straight.
His fingers struck the gate weakly over and over, as if he didn't even realize he was hitting metal.
"Haneul!"
Bora screamed, her voice cracking.
He didn't look at her.
He just kept walking, as if his body was moving on instinct alone.
Inside the residence,
Taekyun was walking downstairs, laptop in hand, still connected to a meeting.
He barely looked up,
until the front doors opened and something slammed into him.
Not a body.
A scent.
A scent so powerful it hit him like a shockwave, punching straight into his chest and stealing the air from his lungs.
His fingers loosened.
The laptop slipped.
It crashed onto the floor, screen going black.
He didn't even blink.
Because Haneul was standing there.
Barefoot.
Trembling.
Eyes red and glassy.
Breathing as if every inhale hurt.
And those pheromones,
they were nothing like the soft warmth he had grown used to.
They were sharp, tangled, furious.
And they were calling him.
Haneul lifted his head slowly, as if it weighed too much.
His eyes locked onto Taekyun.
He pointed a shaking finger at him, tears spilling down his flushed cheeks.
"How… dare you…"
His voice was weak but filled with something raw.
"You got me out… like I was nothing."
Taekyun didn't move.
Haneul stepped closer, legs barely holding him.
"Do you know… how much I hate you right now?"
Taekyun said nothing.
He couldn't.
Because the sight in front of him was worse than any nightmare,
the Omega he threw out, was standing in his residence again.
Haneul grabbed Taekyun by the collar, nearly losing balance in the process.
"How dare you make my Haru cry."
His breath shook against Taekyun's chest.
"How dare you hurt us."
His fingers tightened.
"I'll never forgive you."
Bora rushed inside and froze at the sight,
Haneul swaying in front of Taekyun, standing on the fallen laptop, gripping his collar like he wanted to pull him down.
"You don't deserve anyone's love,"
Haneul whispered, tears falling faster.
"Because you don't know how to respond to someone's love. You don't know how to cherish it."
He looked up at Taekyun, eyes burning with pain, exhaustion, heartbreak.
Taekyun finally lowered his gaze to meet his.
Something dangerous flickered in Taekyun's expression.
Something sharp.
Something he had tried to bury all week.
And for a second, silence drowned everything.
The weak Omega clinging to him.
The Alpha who had pushed him away.
The scent that made the air heavy.
The accusation that had pierced straight through him.
And Taekyun's eyes
dark, burning, unreadable
watched Haneul as if he was standing in front of a cliff with no way back.