CHAPTER 23: CHAPTER 23

Yu jin’s POV

I didn’t even notice the stares anymore. My vision had blurred, and my chest was tight. My hand shook as I pressed it against my cheek. The office was spinning in slow motion, and the weight of everyone’s stares sank into me. Park Min. Of all people, he was standing there, jaw tight, eyebrows drawn low, trying failing to keep his face neutral. I could see it. That flicker in his eyes. Surprise. Confusion. Something else I couldn’t quite name, but it rolled across his face like a wave he hadn’t expected.

I blinked, tears burning my eyes, but I couldn’t stop. I tried to swallow, tried to ground myself, but it wasn’t working. Everyone knew. Everyone had seen it. Park Min, the man who hated ABO people, the one everyone whispered about, was looking at me like someone had just shoved a knife through his chest. His lips twitched, like he wanted to say something but stopped himself. He didn’t. I couldn’t blame him. Nobody expected this. Not him, not the office, certainly not me.

And then Woo Min came in. he was all sharp edges and urgency. He didn’t even look at the office, just cut straight through the space between us. His hand found mine strong, firm and he yanked me up before I could protest.

"Why are you crying?," he asked, voice low, pulling me toward the door. "Stop thinking about what he just saw. Forget it. We’re leaving."

I couldn’t stop the tears. I let them fall, hot and messy, as he guided me through the hallway. My body shook with everything I wasn’t letting out, and for a moment, I was just a mess of raw emotion. He didn’t say anything else, just held my hand tighter.

Once we were outside, he stopped and pulled me to a bench by the river. The water rippled, silver under the late afternoon sun, but I barely noticed. My chest heaved. My shoulders sagged.

"Yu Jin," he said, his voice soft but commanding. "Look at me. You don’t need to.. "

I shook my head violently, burying my face in my hands. "I can’t... I can’t do this anymore. The plan... the seducing... it’s all wrong. I can’t. ."

"You’ve been crying this hard..." he continued, eyebrow raised, as if he was shocked I’d let myself get this far. He sounded like he wanted to scold me, but I knew it was concern underneath. "You’re supposed to be clever. Are you going to be ashamed of us now? That closed you had a son with doesn’t even care about you and he didn’t know who you were with. If Rin didn’t have an urgency you’d have stood there being humiliated, the only reason I came was because you were not picking your calls and I was able to save you. But what if I’m not there next time? What happens to you?."

"I can’t think. You’re right. Park Min... he hates... he hates people like us!" My words choked off into sobs. "And now... now he knows... and I..."

He sighed, and for a moment I thought he was going to leave me there to stew. Instead, he sat beside me and pulled me close. His hand was firm on my back, grounding me. "You don’t get it, do you?" he asked. "This plan, this game... it’s nothing. Nothing compared to what you’re holding inside. Forget Park Min. Forget the office. Go back home. Go back to Ri . Fuck the seduction. Start over. You got me."

Hks words hit me like a punch. I cried harder, my knees shaking, my body trembling against his. he held me as I spilled everything the fear, the guilt, the heartbreak. My childhood flashed through my mind like a movie reel I hadn’t dared to watch in years.

After a while, I wiped my face on my sleeve and leaned against him. "I’m so embarrassed Min, you’ve seen every pathetic side of me, I’m so grateful for you and I suck."

"You don’t suck," he said, voice firm. "You’re angry. You’re scared. That’s not someone who sucks. That’s alive. But you need to breathe. Breathe, Yu Jin. And then decide what’s next. We’ll figure it out together, well you suck a little though."

I let out a smirk and I nodded, still trembling, my tears slowing.

We stayed by the river a long time, talking about everything and nothing. Childhood scars, moments that made us who we were, heartbreaks that still throbbed in our chests. My sobs subsided, replaced with soft, shuddering laughter as we shared the small, stupid memories. It was a release, a purge of all the tension the office had built.

***

Park Min’s POV:

By the time I realized Yu Jin was gone, my blood was boiling. I was pacing, fists clenched, trying to process what just happened. My mother was standing in the center of the office, a smug expression plastered across her face. She had done it. Exposed my worker. My damn worker.

"What the hell were you thinking?" I shouted, the office going silent. "Why did you embarrass him? Why didn’t you tell me personally?"

She didn’t flinch. Her arms were crossed, chin up, eyes sharp. "Because, Min. I’ve been with an ABO before. I know how sly they can be. They know how to get what they want without you noticing. I wasn’t going to tip my hand until the right moment."

I froze for half a second, then the anger surged back. "You... what? You’ve been with one? Is that supposed to excuse this? You humiliate someone under my roof without warning me? And hell yeah I know you’ve been with one because she was my mother. "

She raised a hand, calm now, almost amused. "I didn’t humiliate anyone. I merely presented facts. Facts you refused to consider. Facts that everyone here needed to know. And yes, I’ve been with an ABO. I know what they’re capable of. I’ve seen enough to recognize it immediately."

My jaw tightened. I had to bite my lip to stop it from trembling. The memory came crashing back; the reason I hated ABOs so fiercely. My other mother. She was ABO. My human mother had been bullied relentlessly because of her sexuality, her orientation. And my alpha mother? She had done nothing. Left my mother to the wolves in the name of humans. Years ago when the omegaverse just got exposed to humans, a few people were so reluctant with it and so closed minded. But now it’s a lot better even though the still face controversies. I had blamed my human mother for loving someone like that, for caring about an ABO. And then... she left. Married someone else. And so did my human mother. But even though my human mom wanted me I kt her go and I was left to fend for myself. Alone. Responsible. Growing up without the guidance of either women who should have protected me.

And now... now I was here, finally opening myself up to someone, trusting him. Yu Jin. And the universe, apparently, had decided to twist the knife. He was one of them.

"Do you understand?" I yelled, pacing. "Do you understand what you’ve done? You’ve shattered everything I was trying to build. I was... I was finally starting to let him in! And now..." My voice cracked. I swallowed hard, trying to regain control. "Now I find out he’s part of the very thing I’ve hated my entire life. Do you know what that feels like?"

My mother’s face softened slightly, but the sharpness didn’t leave her eyes. "I know exactly how you feel, Min. I’ve lived with one, loved one, and survived. You think I didn’t know what I was doing when I married again? You think I didn’t consider how this would affect you? But you’ve been so busy hating that you never noticed. I warned you in subtle ways, but you ignored it."

I slammed my fist onto the table, startling the staff. "I ignored it? You don’t get it! . I know how you were bullied, humiliated, abandoned. And now, after all this time, I finally let someone into my life and it’s him. Him! The one I wanted to trust. And he’s... part of them!"

She took a step forward, voice firm, cutting through my tirade. "And you are acting exactly like your past is controlling you now. You need to stop punishing yourself and him. Look at the facts. He is here, and he acted human. But he was also ABO. But it’s best, letting him in could mean you were gay. Isn’t it as worst? ."

I sank into a chair, hands covering my face. The fury hadn’t left, but exhaustion had set in. My chest ached, and my mind spun with memories of childhood betrayals, of being left alone, of being forced to grow up too fast, and now the realization that the one person I allowed myself to trust was part of the very world I’d despised.

I recognized the complexity of it all. My past, my mother, my biases they all existed, and I couldn’t change them. But I cou

ld change what I did next.

And that meant finding Yu Jin.