Chapter Text
Albert Crossman.
The only son of Zed Crossman and his first wife.
The heir to Crossman Pharmaceutical.
The head of his own research team.
He was a handsome man with blond hair, blue eyes, and a dazzling smile. To the public, he was known as a romantic husband to a beautiful wife, Rosalyn Breck Crossman, and a loving father to their cute son, Alvin Crossman. In the eyes of everyone who met him, Albert was a capable man blessed with talent, looks, and a prestigious family background. A true role model to all aspiring young men.
But what everyone did not know was that he was a man with many secrets and sins.
Today, Albert was at University R again.
He was an Adjunct Professor at this university, honoured to teach Pharmaceutical Science students here once a week. He had been doing this out of fun, and also to make a good name for their company, the Crossman Pharmaceutical.
While he was walking to the class...
BUMPP
A person suddenly bumped into him.
Upon the impact, the person bounced off him and fell onto the hard floor. Albert was always physically fit, so he managed to balance his own body and not fall down with him. Books and files scattered across the floor.
"I– I'm so sorry, Professor!"
He heard the person who had bumped into him say in a panic. The young man was already hastily bowing at him before hurrying to pick up his scattered items from the floor. Albert could not see the person's face because he kept bowing, but from his physical appearance, he was a lean, pale-skinned young man.
"It's okay. I'm not injured," Albert said.
The young man remained crouching on the floor, frantically gathering his things. Albert looked down at him, keeping his tone light and pleasant. "But maybe you should be careful next time? You can be injured too."
Still bowing and crouching down to pick up his belongings, the young man stammered, "Yes! I will be more careful next time, Professor! I'm sorry again!"
"Yes, yes," Albert said in a soft voice.
He was always polite whenever he was in front of people. It was like his second skin.
But the moment the young man finally rose, standing straight, and Albert finally saw his face...
"Thank you, Professor," the young man said, looking at Albert in gratitude.
Albert was very surprised to see his features.
Those eyes...
They were the same eyes as the person he had once loved in the past.
The eyes of the biological mother of his son.
The colour, the shape... They were identical to each other.
For a moment, he was completely stunned.
Then, he managed to find his voice to ask the young man. "You... What is your name?"
The young man politely bowed to him and introduced himself.
"My name is Kim Rok Soo," he said. "Professor Crossman."
From quick research, Albert found some details about the young man.
His name was Kim Rok Soo, a History major at the university. He lived with his grey-haired father, who was old enough to be his grandfather. He had a reserved personality, mostly kept to himself, and was humble but kind to others.
His personality reminded Albert of Cale.
Only, Cale could be a bit more feisty, before he became docile after their "marriage".
They had similar personalities, but at the same time, they did not.
Cale...
Remembering Cale after all these years made some forgotten, locked memories resurface in Albert's mind.
After that night at the hospital, Albert had secretly searched for Cale's whereabouts but found no trace of him. It was as if Cale had completely disappeared after that night. The people he sent to find him only reported negative findings.
He had been searching for Cale's whereabouts because he needed to keep him under his control. Nobody must know about what he had been scheming. Cale was a threat to all of his dark secrets, and he had to keep him under his watch.
Whether it was truly for that reason.
Or because Albert was feeling guilty.
Or perhaps out of possessive love.
Only he and the gods knew.
After the day they first met, Albert began to find excuses to meet Kim Rok Soo again. The naive student did not suspect anything and just greeted him whenever he was around.
Albert felt comfortable whenever he was with Kim Rok Soo. He felt as if he were young again whenever he spent time with the student.
Sometimes, he thought his attraction to Kim Rok Soo was only because the young man reminded him of Cale.
Until he saw that Park Jin Tae, another student, confessed to Kim Rok Soo one day.
Luckily, Kim Rok Soo had politely rejected the other man. But even so, Albert's heart was not at ease.
"Park Jin Tae has women and men all around him," Albert had said to Kim Rok Soo after the confession. "Don't let yourself be seduced by him."
But deep down, Albert knew the truth. Park Jin Tae never looked at any of those people. He only had his eyes on his Kim Rok Soo.
Kim Rok Soo was looking at the floor, clearly embarassed that his professor had witnessed Park Jin Tae confessing to him.
"W... We are only classmates..." Kim Rok Soo stammered. He shifted his weight, looking down. "Besides... he can't possibly like me. Nobody likes someone plain and boring like me."
Albert reached out and touched his shoulders, his grip gentle but firm. "Hey."
Kim Rok Soo looked up.
"Don't say such things," Albert said softly, holding his gaze. "You're adorable."
From that day onwards, Albert realised his true feelings for Kim Rok Soo were not because the student reminded him of Cale or anyone else.
He liked him because of himself.
He loved him as Kim Rok Soo.
Now, Albert was determined to seduce this young man.
Despite their relationship getting closer and closer than what a professor and a student should be, Kim Rok Soo never saw Albert as a romantic partner. Whenever his friends asked him about his real relationship with Albert, he would shake his head and say they did not have that kind of relationship, and that Professor Albert was just being nice to him. Nothing more.
But Albert did not mind.
Kim Rok Soo was still young. They had all the time in the world to explore every stage of a relationship.
It was not like his and Rosalyn's short courting in their arranged marriage, where he had only courted her briefly before they married for family reasons. Nor was it like his rushed "marriage" with Cale, whom he had dated for only a few months before they got "married" because they were rushing to get Cale pregnant at the time.
Now, Albert had the luxury of time, and he was more than willing to wait.
But no matter how much Albert loved Kim Rok Soo, and no matter how he yearned for the young man to love him back, he never used Dead Mana on him. He had used it on Venion Stan in the past, and he had planned to use it on Cale if his marriage proposal had fell through.
Dead Mana was the name of the drug Albert had manufactured through Crossman Pharmaceutical. It was an odourless substance that made a person completely lose control of their body whilst retaining full consciousness. Because it did not stay in the system, it could never be traced. It was a breakthrough research project that Albert had personally overseen.
Yet, he would never use it here. To him, Kim Rok Soo was pure. Even purer than Cale. He did not want to taint such a pure being. He wanted to have one hundred per cent of Rok Soo's love, freely given, without any interference.
"Alvin, this is Uncle Rok Soo," Albert said, introducing the young man to his son.
He had brought Alvin to a park today to meet up with Kim Rok Soo. Rosalyn was out of the country for a week for her research, and Alvin had been cooped up at home for a long time. Albert had thought it would be good to bring his son out once in a while, and Kim Rok Soo had suggested this park, where other kids were playing happily with their families and friends. It was the perfect environment for the young boy.
To Albert’s surprise, his timid son, who was always shy around new people, actually stepped forward when he saw Kim Rok Soo and reached out to hold the young man’s hand.
"Oh, it seems Alvin likes you!" Albert said, genuinely surprised. Then, his expression softened. "It's good that he likes you, Rok Soo."
His timid son was finally opening up to someone, and that person happened to be the one Albert loved the most.
He watched in silence as Kim Rok Soo gently scooped Alvin up into his arms and began to play with him. Watching them together, they looked just like a real mother and son.
Albert looked at them fondly, a warmth settling in his chest.
If Kim Rok Soo could accept his son so easily, what was stopping them from venturing further in their relationship?
His wife, Rosalyn Breck Crossman, finally found out about Kim Rok Soo.
She confronted Albert one night when he came home. She shouted at him, her voice echoing through the quiet house. Throughout their entire marriage, this was the first time he had ever seen Rosalyn lose her composure so completely.
But her anger did not make him yield to her.
They had a massive fight. The argument escalated so far that Rosalyn, in her fury, almost let her anger out on Alvin.
Albert felt a cold rage wash over him when he saw Alvin crying. Nobody was allowed to hurt his son.
If Rosalyn could no longer be a good mother to Alvin, so be it. He alone could take care of and raise his son perfectly fine.
But Albert did not expect his father, Zed Crossman, to interfere in his private affairs and mess everything up.
Zed Crossman's people had barged into Kim Rok Soo’s home like gangsters one day, demanding to interrogate him about his relationship with Albert. The incident had left Kim Rok Soo shaken. To make matters worse, Kim Rok Soo's elderly father had been there when it happened, forced to go through an ordeal he never should have faced at his twilight age.
Albert had never been this mad at his father. From childhood, no matter what his father had put him through, Albert had always borne it silently and strived to be better.
But not this time.
Albert slammed the door to his father’s office with pure rage, having just returned from consoling the still-shocked Kim Rok Soo and his father at their house.
"What is the meaning of this, Father?!" Albert demanded.
Zed Crossman calmly dismissed his assistant, who quickly scurried out of the room, before turning his gaze to his son.
"You sent your people to Rok Soo's house?!" Albert shouted, stepping closer to the desk. "Why did you do that?!"
Zed Crossman remained silent, watching him.
"I am sure you must have sent your people some time ago to look into Rok Soo's background when you first found out about him," Albert said, his voice laced with venom. "Maybe Rosalyn told you. But it came out clean, right? I checked him myself when I first met him."
Albert looked at his father with unflinching eyes.
"Rok Soo is no threat," Albert said, his voice dropping to a dangerous undertone. "So, why did you try to harm him?!"
Zed Crossman’s expression turned dead serious. "You have never talked back to me before." Then, losing his composure, he glared back furiously. "Now, because of that boy, you dare to cross me!"
"I will never stand back when Rok Soo is hurt!" Albert snapped, refusing to back down.
"I have told you before, I don't care what you do as long as you don't drag our family down," Zed Crossman said, his voice low and demanding. "I never forbade you with Cale before because Cale was a docile wife. He gave me my grandson and never threatened our family."
Zed Crossman shifted on the edge of the desk, his face contorting with disgust. "Kim Rok Soo is different. That boy isn't gullible like that fake wife of yours! He will destroy our reputation!"
When Albert did not reply, Zed Crossman slammed his hand on the desk. "What will people say if they find out you, a professor, are courting a student? Where do you want to put your face? Where do I put my face?!"
Albert stood his ground, completely unmoved by his father's fury.
"You can do whatever you want to me, Father," Albert said. Then, his expression hardened, and he spoke with cold emphasis. "But don't ever lay your hand on Rok Soo."
"Look at you, Albert Crossman!" Zed Crossman roared, gesturing wildly at him. "Because of one man, you become like this! Because of that Kim Rok Soo, you dare defy your father!"
Albert did not care what his father said. He turned around to leave.
"Albert Crossman!" Zed Crossman shouted, stopping him just as he reached the doorway. "One more step, and you are no longer my son and the heir to Crossman Pharmaceutical!"
Albert stopped at the threshold. He paused for a moment, then turned to glance at his father over his shoulder.
"I don't care about that anymore," Albert said flatly. "Find yourself a new heir."
With that, he walked out of the office without looking back.
"ALBERT!"
Behind him, Zed Crossman's voice echoed down the corridor in a furious shout.