Work Text:
"How far along?"
Junhee's breath catches. Saebyeok stops sipping her tea, looking between her sister and her father with shock and worry. The lively chatter of their guests comes from the living room, where Junhee has escaped from in an attempt to control her nausea. Saebyeok, who already knows, had followed her to help her before Gihun had interrupted them offering them tea.
Gihun, for his part, doesn't look anything in particular: not disappointed, like Junhee thought he would be, not angry like in the worst case scenario she had imagined; he is calm, a small, understanding smile on his face. A warm cup of coffee sweetened with milk sits in front of him, and she should have understood that he knew something from the fact that he didn't make a cup for her too, despite coffee being a shared passion between them.
Junhee opens her mouth and closes it. She opens is again with the intention of arguing against the man that adopted her, telling him: "What are you talking about?", deny any possible allegations of a life growing inside of her for the past two months.
She lets out a sob instead and the dam breaks.
Gihun is immediately at her side, cooing at her and rubbing her back, murmuring reassurances. Saebyeok remains sit in her place, unsure about what to do.
It takes a good fifteen minutes before Junhee is able to speak: "A-Ajusshi-"
"I'm here dear, I'm here," he says against her temple, rocking her gently as she hugs him like her life depends on it, "You are safe."
"I'm so sorry, ajusshi."
"There's no need to be sorry, Junhee-ah."
"I-It was my fault, I," she sobs again, distraught, "I trusted him ajusshi!"
"I know you did."
"It was my fault!"
"No it wasn't."
"Y-You've done so much for me and I-"
"None of that Junhee-ah," he softly reprimands her, petting her hair and placing a kiss on her forehead, "You are not at fault here."
"How did you know?" Saebyeok says suddenly, asking the most pressing question.
"Just omega intuition," Gihun explains with a wink before going back to focus on his other daughter, "Junhee, I'm not angry, but I need you to explain to me what happened."
Junhee sniffs, accepting a small paper tissue from Saebyeok to dry her tears and cleans her nose from the snot: "He... He said that we were safe, that... That there was no risk."
"Myungi?"
She nods: "I've been so stupid."
"He tricked you, the only one at fault here is him."
"But you and Inho-ajussi taught me better, I should have known better! He already took so much money from me and I still-"
Gihun shakes his head: "He took advantage of your trust."
"I'm so sorry," she says, starting to cry again, feeling impossibly stupid and small.
She had found out a month ago, and a secret appointment with a gynecologist had confirmed it: she is pregnant with her ex-boyfriend's baby. Ex-boyfriend that has basically stolen a huge sum of money from her to 'invest' in crypto, that had promised her that the 'pull out' method was the best protection to use because: "Even if something happens, I'll take care of you, Junhee-ah." A promise that ended up meaning nothing: Myungi not only lost the money she had lend him, but upon knowing of the pregnancy he had broken up with her and told her to get rid of 'it'.
And Junhee should have done it, she should have had an abortion, but something told her to wait, that maybe there was something else that she could do, an alternative. She didn't want to put the baby in the adoption system - she comes from it, knows what a shit show truly is - but maybe her parents could help her find the baby a good home? Give them to someone they could trust? But that would imply telling Gihun and Inho what happened, and she never found the courage to do it: the couple that took her in despite being an older child, an age usually unfit for adoption, that took care of her and showed her nothing but love and support despite her not always easy attitude towards them deserves better than a fatherless-grandchild born out of a mating because the mother was too stupid and believed some empty promises of a future together.
Saebyeok already told her that she was in idiot. Junhee had repeated that to herself infinite times in the last weeks.
"Junhee-ah," Gihun's voice is soft, "I'm so sorry you thought you couldn't tell us about the pregnancy."
Oh no.
Oh not that!
"No, wait, that's not-"
"It is, you should be able to trust us, if you can't it means that-"
"No, no! I-I just didn't want to disappoint you," she pleads him to understand, rubbing her face to get rid of the tears, "Y-You have done so much for me and I've re-payed you by loosing money and getting pregnant and still with no job and-"
"Junhee-ah-"
"I'm so sorry appa," she sobs, not realizing the word she used and barely registering the stiffness in Gihun's body.
"Oh Junhee-ah," he starts rocking her again, murmuring consoling words and even more reassurances, waiting for her to calm down before speaking, "You could never disappoint us, Junhee-ah, we love you so, so much."
"Ajusshi-"
"We'll figure this out together, after everyone has gone home."
That's when Junhee remembers the lunch happening just in the other room.
"I'm sorry-"
"None of that, you have no reason to be sorry."
"I just-"
"I'm going to kill Lee Myungi," Saebyeok proclaims suddenly, standing up. Junhee goes to stop her but when she freezes on the spot, pale like a sheet, she turns towards the door, her heart stopping at the sight of her alpha father.
Inho just stands there, expression perfectly neutral, and one wouldn't be able to guess that he is angry by just looking at him; except his hands are tight fists, his lips are a straight line, and he's breathing like he's trying to calm himself down.
"Jagiya?" Gihun calls him, worried.
Junhee rubs her eyes: "A-Ajusshi-"
Inho doesn't reply to either of them: without saying a word he turns and walks straight into his and Gihun's bedroom.
Oh no.
"Inho-ah!" Gihun calls his husband, standing up and telling Saebeyok to look after Junhee before following Inho. Saebyeok, still a bit pale, sighs and turns towards her sister: "I told you to tell them."
Junhee stands up and runs after her parents, ignoring Jungbae's questioning from the living room and not realizing that Junho was after her.
When she arrives in the bedroom she gasps: Gihun is begging Inho to stop and "Think about this jagiya, you are not being reasonable!"; meanwhile Inho is handling... His gun!?
"Ajusshi!" Junhee exclaims, shocked, her voice breaking a little. She vaguely registers Gihun telling her to go back in the living room and Junho's questions, her attention focused on the gun. A real gun. The gun given to police officers like Inho.
Inho doesn't say anything, he has not spoken a word for the whole time. He checks the gun, see that it's empty, and inserts a few bullets in the chamber.
"Hyung?" Junho gently moves Junhee aside and enters the room, "What are you doing?"
Inho doesn't answer him, doesn't acknowledge Gihun insistent questioning and Junhee's pleads. He walks out of the room, dodging Junhee's weak attempt at stopping him, and exits the apartment.
"What happened?" Junho asks Gihun while Sangwoo, Jungbae, Hyunju, Geumja and Hyunsik stand up in alarmed and confusion at seeing Inho walk away with a gun in hand.
Gihun looks at Junhee, then at his brother-in-law: "I'll explain later, help me stop Inho now!"
"But I don't understand-" Junho looks briefly at Junhee, eyes widening when he notices the way she touches her stomach; then he looks back at Gihun, "Oh."
"Junho-ah, now is not the time-"
Junho's face does something complicated, like he's solving a quick equation which results into assessing a timeline of events and arrived to the inevitable conclusion: "Your ex boyfriend-"
"Myungi-sshi?" Jungbae asks, then look at Junhee's hand on her stomach. Everyone does, and everyone arrives to the same conclusion as Junho. The reactions are mixed: Geumja immediately walks to her asking her if she is alright, while her son stands awkwardly next to a shocked Hyunju; Sangwoo and Jungbae exchange a look worth an entire conversation, but both of them look strangely... Determined?
Saebeyok, in the meantime, has taken little Chaeol into another room.
"Junho-ah, help me stop your brother, now!"
Junho gives Junhee a long look, then shrugs: "I don't think it's necessary."
"What?!"
"Yeah, I mean, maybe Inho-ah has gone for a walk to calm himself down?" Jungbae adds, smiling at Gihun's gaping expression.
"He has a gun!"
"Probably an occupational hazard," Sangwoo replies, fixing the glasses on his nose, "You never know these days."
"Sangwoo-ah, what are you talking about?! He's going to do something stupid-"
"Nah, he won't, hyung is more intelligent than that," Junho shrugs again and goes in the living room to sit on the sofa.
Gihun groans something about alpha posturing and runs for the front door. Junhee runs after him, ignoring Geumja's plead to be careful.
They manage to get outside just in time to see Inho run past them on their car.
Gihun curses, ready to bolt upstairs and take the keys of their second car when their neighbour, Ali, pulls up after returning from work.
Junhee likes Ali, he has always been kind and gentle with her and her family, his wife offers her all kinds of sweets whenever she sees her, and right now he's their savior. She grabs Gihun by the arms and pulls him inside Ali's car before the latter could come out.
"W-What?" Ali stutters, confused.
"Ali-sshi, please follow Inho-ajusshi!" she begs, pointing at her alpha father who is further and further away.
Ali turns on the car again and starts driving, ignoring Sangwoo and Junho's calls to stop, and only after he starts asking questions: "What happened? Why is Inho-sshi driving away so fast? Where is he going?"
Gihun looks briefly at Junhee and waits for her nod before explaining the situation. Ali listens attentively, without ever looking away from the road, but it's pretty obvious that the more he listens the more he finds the whole situation infuriating. Junhee feels bad for being the cause of Ali being so upset, but then again all of this is Myungi's fault, his and his stupid 'pull out method' and "I swear the condom won't fit me."
Stupid alphas.
When they arrive in front of Myungi's apartment complex Inho had just gotten out of the car.
Gihun and Junhee immediately go after him, while Ali stays behind looking at the whole situation with mild amusement.
"Inho-ah!" Gihun begs him, walking next to his fast-paced husband, "What are you doing?!"
"I just want to talk to Myungi-sshi," Inho says simply, holding the gun in his hand.
"Is the gun necessary?!"
"I just wanna talk to him," he repeats, walking up to the entrance of the building and ignoring his daughter and mate.
"Inho, this is ridiculous!"
"I just want to talk to him."
"Ajusshi please!"
"I just want to talk to him."
"Inho, you are not being reasonable, there are better way to deal with this-"
"I just want to talk to him."
"Ajusshi, stop!"
"I just want to shoot him."
"What?!"
"I just want to talk to him," Inho says, but before he can ring at Myungi's apartment to have him open the door, Myungi himself runs out of the building, almost crashing into Inho on his way out.
"I'm sorry, I-" he stops on his tracks when he recognizes his ex's alpha father, her omega father, and his own ex standing in front of him. The alpha father has a gun in hand.
"M-Myungi-" Junhee says his name, but before anyone can say or do anything two other young men come out of the apartment complex, one with purple hair and the other with longer hair.
"You will give me my money back!" the purple hair guy says, pointing at Myungi before having to rest his hands on his knees and takes deep breaths.
"Who the fuck are you?" says the long hair one, scanning the four of them with suspicion.
"Myungi, what is going on, what did you do?" Junhee asks, frustrated.
"N-Nothing-"
"He stole out money, he told us to invest it and we lost tons of won!" purple hair guys exclaims between deep breaths, obviously not used to run after people.
"I told you that there was a risk! I didn't do anything wrong!" Myungi replies, then turns towards Junhee and looks with surprise at the way she is protecting her still flat stomach, "W-What-"
"Myungi-"
"I told you to get rid of it! Why are you-"
Maybe it's the wrong thing to have been said, maybe it's because Inho has run out of patient, maybe a mix of both. Whatever the reason, Inho grabs Myungi by the collar and point the gun to his chin, dragging a gasp from the two guys and a frightened yelp from Gihun and Junhee. Myungi, pale as a sheet, raises both hands in surrender: "A-Ajusshi-"
"If I find out that you are in contact with Junhee again," Inho's voice and hand are steady, but the fury in his eyes can't be mistaken for anything else, "I promise you that no one will ever find you again, have I made myself clear?"
Myungi nods, tram,bling like a leaf and falling on the floor when Inho lets go of him.
Inho gives him one last disgusted look before turning towards his family, way more amicable: "Junhee-ah, whatever you are going to decide, we are going to support you, remember that."
Junhee nods stiffly, still a bit in shock from the scene that she witnessed, but also incredibly reassured in the fact that her alpha father loves her enough to do this.
The two guys attempt to say something but a glare from Inho makes them scramble, almost impacting into Sangwoo, Junho and Jungbae who, in the meantime, had also come using Jungbae's car.
"What happened?" Junho asks, glaring coldly at Myungi as he stands up again.
"Nothing, we just clarified a few things," Inho says, putting the gun in the internal pocket of his jacket.
"I could report you, you know that ajusshi?" Myungi says, finding somehow the courage to threaten him. Courage that get extinguished like the flame of a small candle once he realizes that all the men present - Inho, Junho, Sangwoo, Jungbae and Ali, who has decided to join them - are all glaring at him, standing between him and Junhee with the protective fierceness of a pack towards it's weakest member.
Inho gives him one last look, the look that makes the toughest criminals cower like children in front of their mothers, before turning away: "Junhee-ah, I'm sorry for scaring you like this, we will continue our discussion at home."
"Ajusshi-"
"At home," Inho insists, nodding towards his car. It seems to be also the signal for the other men to go back to their own vehicles - after each one of them send Myungi a threatening look.
Junhee is starting to feel a bit overwhelmed by the situation, so she gladly let herself be guided by Gihun to the car, not sparing Myungi a single glance. With Gihun's hand on her shoulders and Inho's gentle grasp around her hand, she knows that things will be okay.