Chapter 262: The tells and the weakness

Junho’s POV

Ghost, Seoha’s half older brother, went missing.

Despite what my team has done, no trail that leads to the captor has been found.

His kidnapper seems to be just like him, digitally impossible to find, and another ghost.

We don’t know if he’s alive or dead, but that’s not my business, and it is the least of my concerns.

If my boss, the captain Taesan, doesn’t care about working while he’s in this country, why should I?

I place the bags of chips I took from the shelf into my basket, moving quickly to join the long line at the checkout point.

Minjae will scold me for buying them first of all, then he’ll devour them like he didn’t just pretend to be annoyed.

I’m going to work hard and marry him soon. I’ll adopt his pup, then I’ll find his ex and make him pay for making an omega like Minjae lose confidence.

By then, the baby won’t need that person to be his father...they’ll both have me.

No...I sound robotic again, Minjae doesn’t like that.

I’ll try my best. I’ll do everything I read in my romance novels. And I’ll make him happy.

"Line moved, buddy" the person behind me says and I take a step forward. Eyes following the longer arrow of the store clock.

In a few minutes’ time, Minjae will need to have his calf massaged, and he will start to complain if I’m not there.

I’m slowly starting to understand Minjae’s tells and I feel more proud about it than I’ve ever felt about anything.

It makes me even more proud than when I beat Taesan in a practice fight.

When Minjae starts groaning, turning to the side and keeping his hand under his belly, it means he needs to pee.

When he starts mumbling, and rubbing the front of his round belly, he’s hungry.

And when he starts to complain about body ache, grunting and sighing, it means his feet are starting to hurt and he needs a massage.

Tonight, he was hungry.

He didn’t tell me outrightly, he was rubbing his belly and looking down at it, so I went to the store to buy his favorite chips.

He says they taste like cardboard, yet he eats them as if they’re his last meal.

The last person leaves the line, and it’s my turn to check out.

"Is that all, sir?" the store attendant asks in English, and I nod grimly, handing my card to her.

She swipes it and packs up the chips for me. I bought six of them. Six cardboard tasting chips.

The young woman looks towards the door, lips forming the O shape as she takes in the weather. It’s starting to rain.

"I knew it" she mutters, handing the bag to me, and I nod in gratitude. Silently schooling myself to nod less and talk more.

"You can wait behind if the rain is too much for you, sir. It’s really pouring" she jerks her thumb at the door.

"Thank you" I say as I head for the door, choosing to wait outside like most people. I’m not the only one caught off-guard by the weather, but I’m the only one fully dressed in a coat.

My phone rings, and I pull it out. Instead of Minjae’s name as expected, I see the name of one of my assistants.

"Sir, we got news" he says, he sounds excited to share the news.

"What happened?" I ask quietly, watching as the rain hits the cracked floor.

"The man who kidnapped Ghost reached out to us in an untraceable morse code letter" he says and I shut my eyes.

An enemy that speaks in morse code? What psychopath is trying to get on Captain’s bad side now?

"What did he say in his letter?" I ask, lowering my voice even though in the midst of English speakers.

"He said he’s after Seoha, and that if we give Seoha to him, he’ll leave the Kang clan alone, then he signed it off with S.Y.C"

S.Y.C?

Who is S.Y.C or what is S.Y.C?

"Keep it as classified information, I’ll tell you when it’s time to attend to it" I mutter, squinting at the sight that’s coming for me.

"JUNHO! JUNHO!" Yuki screams.

She’s riding an unsteady bicycle in the rain, completely soaked as she screams for me.

"JUNHO! Why did you leave?" she asks, throwing the bike and running the rest of the way to me.

"What’s the meaning of this, Yuki?" I ask and she places her hands on her knees, wheezing helplessly as she tries to catch her breath.

"Minjae...Minjae is in labor" she says and my eyes widen.

"What? When? Where is he?" I ask, grabbing her hand as my heart rate accelerates. "At the hospital it’s nearby, hurry!" she yells.

I get under the rain, still holding the bag of chips, and not caring about my phone as I run.

I came here without a car because of the small distance, so I hail a taxi, barking orders at the driver till I get to the hospital.

This happens within thirty minutes.

One minute, I’m on a call at the store, the next, I’m barreling through a team of nurses and security.

"Let him through, he’s the omega’s mate" Taesan’s voice says and the guards give way.

I don’t stop to look at my boss or at anyone else, I just go in.

"I want Junho...I want Junho" Minjae’s voice floats to me, and when I take a step towards him. A nurse turns.

"Who let him in?" she yells.

"JUNHO!" Minjae calls my name, he lets out a guttural scream at the same time, and his body bows forward.

"He’s my Junho, Junho..." Minjae says, tears streaming down his face as the nurses permit me to move to his side and to kneel by his side.

"I’m here..."

"They said my baby...my baby is too weak..." he sobs, clenching his teeth and screams.

"It’s okay, he’s your son...I know he can’t be weak" I whisper to him and kiss his head.

The room is in chaos, the smell of blood hits me in my face, but my focus is on Minjae.

"He’s going to be fine" I tell him softly.

The battle continues for forty more minutes, Minjae is growing weaker, I’m getting scared, but when it looks like it’s getting worse.

There’s the shrill cry of a baby.

Weak...but alive.

Minjae did it.