DOTH Volume 3 Chapter 8.9

Jung Heeyeon hadn’t known before.

But looking back, both the dream he had just had and the one from long ago had all been nightmares. Jung Heeyeon liked the present time he spent with Director Yeon. He was happy now. He didn’t want to return to the past he saw in his dreams. So, as the man had said—those memories must have been nightmares.

“What did you dream about?”

Amidst the scattered words, the man accurately grasped what Jung Heeyeon was trying to say.  To conceal the ferocity rising within him, he softened his tone and asked gently.

“Chairman Jung was in the dream, and he slapped my cheek.”

The hand that had been tenderly caressing Jung Heeyeon’s cheek came to an abrupt halt. Director Yeon pressed his lips together, swallowing down a curse as he examined the omega’s face. How did that old man find the nerve to lay a hand on this face? The tears that had clung to Jung Heeyeon’s lashes had already disappeared, thoroughly licked away, but the remnants of his nightmare had yet to fade completely.

“Did it hurt?”

Director Yeon withdrew his hand from the pale cheek and instead slowly lowered his lips to it, asking softly. The omega in his arms hesitated with each breath, his unease evident.

“I don’t really know. I’ve been hit plenty of times elsewhere, but I wasn’t used to being hit on the cheek… Still, I didn’t cry.”

Saying he hadn’t cried only darkened the man’s mood further.  It wasn’t that Jung Heeyeon hadn’t cried, he simply couldn’t. At first, he must have been not allowed to cry. Then, over time, not crying had become a habit. Director Yeon barely swallowed the curse that threatened to slip through, and resumed pressing soft kisses to Jung Heeyeon’s cheek.

“Why do you keep giving me pecks?”

Jung Heeyeon shrank back slightly, as if ticklish, then let out a faint laugh. As if the nightmare that had devoured him moments ago was already forgotten.

“Heeyeon, do you not like it when I give you pecks?”

“No, I like it.”

Director Yeon’s lips found him again, this time with an audible smooch against his soft cheek. Jung Heeyeon had insisted he wasn’t afraid, but the news of Chairman Jung’s return to Korea must have weighed on him. Lately, Jung Heeyeon hadn’t been having nightmares—not since he had started sleeping beside Director Yeon.

Director Yeon was sensitive to his surroundings. The slightest movement in his bedroom was enough to put him on alert. If the person sleeping in his arms had a nightmare, he would have known immediately. Especially since Jung Heeyeon always slept in his embrace. If he had been having bad dreams, he would have tossed and turned. There was no way Director Yeon wouldn’t have noticed.

Would it have been better to hide Chairman Jung’s return, even if he had to lie? The thought flickered through Director Yeon’s mind for an instant before vanishing.

“Did he hit you anywhere else?”

“No, he didn’t hit me again… Oh, I twisted my ankle when I fell.”

“Hmm, did you?”

The hand that had left Jung Heeyeon’s cheek now slowly, delicately, massaged his slender ankle. Jung Heeyeon wiggled his toes at the ticklish sensation. It wasn’t actually hurting. It was just a dream. And yet, Director Yeon’s touch was so careful, as if he were handling fragile bones that had actually been injured.

That’s when Jung Heeyeon finally realized—Director Yeon had been giving him pecks to comfort him. Whether it was the part of him in his dream or the part of him that had nearly been consumed by a nightmare, Director Yeon had been trying to soothe him. The warmth against his ankle felt oddly ticklish.

“Director.”

“Yeah.”

Jung Heeyeon hesitated briefly before trying his luck.

“I got a nosebleed from the slap too.”

It was an obvious attempt at seeking comfort, but Director Yeon let himself be played. With a low chuckle, he pressed a kiss to the bridge of Jung Heeyeon’s nose. So, he really was following through on his claim to seduce him.

Holding the warm omega close, Director Yeon swallowed down the murderous rage he felt towards Chairman Jung. It had been a long time since he had wanted to kill someone.

There was a time when he had found the idea of crushing Chairman Jung to be a dull and uninspiring task. That was why he hadn’t acted until Nam Soohyun moved first. Even his cooperation in her plans had been purely to honor the promise he made to her.

His revenge against Chairman Jeong had never been personal—or rather, it had stopped being personal. After years of playing with him, he had simply grown bored. When things became boring, his enthusiasm naturally waned as well. But the moment Jung Heeyeon became entangled in this revenge, everything changed. Suddenly, the idea of killing that old-aged alpha became personal. A vicious kind of hatred simmered beneath his skin, threatening to spill over.

“Come here. I’ll hold you, so go back to sleep.”

Director Yeon pressed down lightly on the back of Jung Heeyeon’s head, guiding him to rest fully against his chest. Part of him did it to conceal his own expression—one that he knew must have looked downright murderous.

The omega naturally settled into his embrace, resting his head against Director Yeon’s chest. The man had one arm wrapped securely around Jung Heeyeon’s waist, while another hand rubbed soothing circles against his back.

“Director, next time, if you have a nightmare, I’ll pat your back like this too.”

“Hmmm. You’ll pat my back? Then I might have to make sure I have nightmares on purpose.”

“Pardon? You can’t do that. Director, please don’t have bad dreams.”

At the light-hearted joke, Jung Heeyeon, who had been half-asleep, suddenly lifted his head in alarm.

“It’s me who should be telling you not to have nightmares?”

Director Yeon chuckled softly and pulled Jung Heeyeon back into his embrace. The omega’s soft hair tickled against his chest.

“Director, when you’re holding me, I don’t think I’ll have nightmares anymore.”

Jung Heeyeon gazed out the window, enveloped in the Alpha’s pheromones. The darkness was receding, hinting at the approaching sunrise. Maybe it was because he had dreamt of the past, or maybe because he was facing the dawn alongside Director Yeon, but suddenly, a very old memory surfaced.

“When I first met the butler, there was something he told me about.”

At the quiet mention of that butler from those small lips, Director Yeon frowned. Chairman Jung was one thing, but Jung Heeyeon addressed every person who had shown him violence with polite honorifics. Was it because the baby was just too gentle?

Without a word, Director Yeon ruffled the soft hair nestled in his arms. It didn’t matter if Jung Heeyeon acted a little differently than how others usually would. From now on, he personally would let the omega know. What to say, how to act. Everything.

“I was too young to remember clearly, but my name is Heeyeon, right?”

Hearing Jung Heeyeon say his own name was unexpectedly adorable, and Director Yeon let out a quiet chuckle.

“Yeah, Heeyeon.”

His name, spoken in that low, gentle voice, made Jung Heeyeon instinctively burrow deeper into Director Yeon’s embrace. Yet his gaze remained fixed outside the window. Threads of white light began weaving through the sky, signaling the break of dawn.

“He told me that somewhere in the countryside, the dialect there has a word which says ‘Heeyeonhada.’ I don’t remember the exact term, but…”

“Heeyeonhada?”

“Yes. It means when the first white rays of sunlight make the sky glow at dawn.”

Director Yeon’s hand, which had been stroking Jung Heeyeon’s hair, came to a stop. In the midst of soothing the omega, he had completely lost track of time.

Lowering his gaze, he saw his hand, once submerged in the deep blue of dawn, gradually reclaim its natural color.

”……”

Director Yeon silently swallowed a breath. If he had been alone in his bedroom, like before, he would never have witnessed this moment. Unlike Jung Heeyeon, he had always been someone who would be asleep in darkness. Shifting his gaze, he saw the sky slowly brightening.

The moment when darkness faded and light took its place.

Yeon Woobeom thought it was a name that suited Jung Heeyeon perfectly.

“Watching the sunrise with you reminded me of it. Isn’t it beautiful?”

Was he saying the name was beautiful? Or the moment of sunrise itself? Either way, it didn’t matter.

Yeon Woobeom pressed his lips against Jung Heeyeon’s hair and whispered softly.

“Yeah. It’s beautiful.”

And suddenly, an inexplicable certainty took root within him. That he would never, ever forget this moment.

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