(Woo, after so long, I finally got to Chapter 500. Hooray! It’s almost done. This journey is almost reaching its destination, but I’d hate to part with y’all, so I prepared a little something at the end. Don’t be too surprised, but brace yourself, haha)

After we dropped Jie-Yu off, I leaned back into the plush leather of the sedan, the city lights flickering past like a reel of a movie I was finally enjoying. I pulled out my phone and tapped on the group chat.

It was a chaotic mess of notifications, mostly Seo-Jun and Min-Cheol arguing over which brand of travel gear was ’actually durable’ and Ki-hoon trying to mediate with spreadsheets that nobody asked for.

​Jo-Pil: Are you guys still at the house? Did you actually finish planting that tree, or did Seo-Jun give up to go buy a new spade?

​The response was almost instantaneous.

​Min-Cheol: (flower emoji) Hyung!! No, we finished! But old man Jin-Yeok said we had to leave so he could ’clear the decks’. I’m at the office trying to sign a mountain of papers so I can be all yours for the trip! (Running emoji)

​Seo-Jun: I don’t ’give up,’ brat. I just delegate the digging to people with more muscle and less brain. I’m out handling some... personnel issues. If I don’t break a few heads now, they’ll bother us while we’re in Europe. (Wine and sword emoji)

That’s quite concerning. Aside from his tech empire, I suspect he’s also running clubs. Hm, is that his connection with Jin-Yeok then?

I can never fully grasp what their dynamics are.

​Ki-hoon: I am currently in a board meeting, Jo-Pil. But don’t worry—I’m mostly just staring at the clock. We’re all wrapping up our business, so we won’t have to look at a single email for a month. (Rising and falling charts emoji)

​Jin-Yeok: We are making sure the world doesn’t burn down while we’re away with you. (Dragon emoji)

​I smiled, my thumb hovering over the screen. They were busy, stressed, and probably terrifying their subordinates right now, yet they still had time to bicker in the chat just to keep me entertained.

​Jo-Pil: Well, don’t work too hard. I want to see all four of you tonight. At the mansion. I have something for you. (Present emoji)

​Seo-Jun: A gift? Is it the matching silk pajamas I asked for?

​Min-Cheol: Is it a kiss?! (Kiss and heart emoji)

​Ki-hoon: We’ll be there. I’ll make sure everyone is home by eight.

​I put the phone away, my heart doing a little flutter. I reached into my bag, took out the velvet box, and finally opened it.

As soon as I saw them, my heart stopped for a second, and then my eyes and heart warmed up.

He really was a genius. The brooches were perfect—each one a masterpiece of matte-black metal set with a single, brilliant stone that matched their eyes.

​The sapphire for Min-Cheol is bright and full of life. The emerald for Jin-Yeok, deep and ancient. The obsidian for Ki-hoon is solid and protective. And the ruby for Seo-Jun, sharp and unpredictable.

​They weren’t just stones. They were the pieces of my world I was finally reclaiming.

I should treat him more nicely in the future. I thought, but thinking about his attitude, I shook my head and added, probably. Haha.

​By the time I got back to the mansion, the sun was already beginning to set.

I picked up a few boxes of cake from that famous shop. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait in line since, well, I was popular now, haha.

There was nobody who didn’t know who I was. The treasured darling Omega of the four powerful Alphas. Once a slave, now a prince.

It made people start wondering if I had anything to do with the recent abolition of slavery in the country.

Well, you all guessed it.

The cakes were for the maids. It was a sort of bribery, but don’t tell them that, haha. April, in particular, has a sweet tooth. I noticed May giving her half of hers with a smile, and April having this gullible expression that you would never see on her on a normal day.

It was fine. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

But aside from them, there was one more person I saw before my Alphas came back.

Cha hyun-woo.

The doctor was sitting in the living room, waiting for me with his equipment. As soon as he saw me, he stood up. His eyes looked a little hollowed out and somewhat... longing.

Ah, I could see where this was going.

He slowly reached his hand for me, but then paused and lowered his hand.

"I got your supplements, Jo-Pil," he said with a quiet voice. "I know you’ll need it."

Ah, with all that’s going on, I definitely need it.

"And..." he added. "Can I check your pulse?"

I looked at him for a while and then looked up at the security cameras. He won’t try to do anything funny, right?

I walked towards him, nodding my head. This was just like every other check-up. If I tell myself that, I won’t feel as nervous.

But then, when he finally held my hand, his thumb brushed against my pulse point a little too... intimately.

This guy... was he still at it?

"Sorry," he said. "I’m sorry if I came on to you too strongly. I’m sorry for how I treated you in the past, too. But... I’m not sorry for the way I feel about you." His grip on my arm tightened a little. "Just... what do I do with this feeling?"

I watched his state, felt the tremor in his hands, and the way his shoulders shook. This was what happened when a man loved too much but never got a positive response to his feelings.

It was miserable.

"Cha Hyun-woo," I called, my voice firm. "Forget your feelings," I said, and his eyes trembled.

There was no hope, and he knew it, but for some reason, he was still clinging to his feelings.

"I can’t." He said. "This is the first time I’ve felt this way about someone without having to think about the things I might gain from them. It’s hypocritical given how I treated you in the past, but I... I’m sorry. Even if I know it’s wrong, just... let me keep loving you in secret. Eventually, I’m sure the feelings will fade."

"And if they don’t?" I asked. "Will you just continue to watch me and suffer silently?"

"Yes," he answered without hesitation, and my heart did a weird, nauseating flip, and I took my hand back.

"I don’t care," I said. "You can do whatever you want. Just... don’t make it too obvious if you don’t want to die. Seo-Jun already knows you feel something for me."

I don’t want any conflicts. I don’t want any more drama. I just want my happily ever after. And as for this man who helped me countless times in my last life, I will let him love me, but I will never reciprocate those feelings.

"I hope... You live a happy life, doc." I whispered and walked past him.

I watched him nod and walk away, his gait staggering and his shoulders slumped. Once he was gone, I let out a sigh of relief and shut everything else out, including Cha Hyun-woo.