I spent a good ten minutes just sitting in the living room, staring at the velvet box I placed on the coffee table.

This was all that mattered now.

​My heart was doing this weird, fluttery thing after I succeeded in shutting out Cha Hyun-woo’s confession. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

I’ve given the Alphas things before—mostly my compliance or a fake smile—but this was different. This was me saying, ’I see you.’ The real them. Not the monsters from my nightmares, but the men who spent their afternoon digging a hole for a tree just because I asked.

​The front door opened, and the silence was immediately murdered.

​"If I have to sign one more merger agreement, I’m going to start a fire," Seo-Jun’s voice boomed through the foyer. He sounded exhausted but wired, the scent of expensive wine and stress following him in.

I think he had a pretty good time signing those mergers, haha.

​"You’ll do no such thing, you’ll just complain about it for the next three hours," Ki-hoon’s calm, level-headed tone followed. Then came the heavy thud of Min-Cheol’s boots and the grounding, silent presence of Jin-Yeok.

​They walked into the living room, looking like they’d been through a war. Ties were loosened, sleeves were rolled up, and Min-Cheol looked like he was about to fall asleep standing up. But the second they saw me sitting there with a box in front of me, they all stopped.

​"Jo-Pil," Jin-Yeok said, his emerald eyes immediately zeroing in on the table. "You’re still up."

​"I told you I wanted to see you," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. I gestured to the sofa. "Sit down. All of you."

​They obeyed with an almost funny synchronicity. They looked like four giant, dangerous kids waiting for a lecture.

​"I went to get something I prepared with Jin-Yeok’s craftsman, Kyle." I began, my fingers tracing the edge of the box. "I know you guys keep giving me things. The house, the car, the silk... luxury. And I appreciate it. I really do. And I won’t ask you to stop either. But I wanted to give you something that isn’t about money or debt."

I took a deep breath and opened the lid of the box. The light from the chandelier caught the stones, making the living room floor dance with four distinct glints of color.

​I reached in and picked up the first one—the ruby.

​"Seo-Jun," I said, looking him in the eye. He looked like he was vibrating with a mix of exhaustion and ego, but his expression softened the moment I held the brooch toward him. "This is for you. Because even though you’re a loud-mouthed bastard who likes to break heads and tie up people, you were the first one to tell me I deserved way more than meets the eye. You gave me a place where I could breathe."

There was so much I wanted to say and thank him for, but if I went into so much detail, I would be telling a lifetime’s worth of story for all of them. So I decided to keep it brief.

In all, I wanted him to know he was worth loving and no one could stop that.

​Seo-Jun’s smirk faded for a moment, practically disintegrating as he took the ruby with fingers that were surprisingly shaky for a man who had just come from ’handling personnel.’

He stared at the sharp, red stone as if it were a piece of my own heart.

"Hah," he scoffed, not mocking but touched, like a man moved to tears. "There’s a reason my heart chose you," he muttered, and stared at the ruby with gentle eyes, as if it were the most precious treasure in existence.

His reaction made my heart swell with joy. I’m glad he liked it.

​Next was the sapphire. I turned to Min-Cheol, who was already sniffing, his eyes getting that glassy look he gets right before he turns into a puddle.

​"Little Min," I whispered, handing him the blue stone. "For being the only ’normal’ thing in my life when everything felt like a simulation. You make me feel like I’m actually here."

​"Hyung!" Min-Cheol wailed, lunging forward to grab the sapphire like it was a holy relic. "I’m going to wear this on my pajamas! I’m going to wear it to bed! I’m never taking it off!"

Let’s not do that, haha.

​I chuckled, patting his head before reaching for the obsidian. Ki-hoon was watching me with a gaze so intense it felt like he was trying to read my DNA.

​"Ki-hoon Hyung," I said, placing the dark, solid stone in his palm. "For the hands that held me in the past, the hands that learned to be gentle and the hands that still hold me even now... For the car, the safety, and for finally letting me see the world without a cage."

​Ki-hoon didn’t say a word. He just closed his fist over the obsidian, his knuckles turning white as he bowed his head, his shoulders trembling just a fraction.

He felt he did not deserve it. But he would make sure he was deserving of it from now on.

​Finally, I picked up the emerald and stood up, walking over to Jin-Yeok. He didn’t move an inch, his presence grounding the entire room like a mountain. I held the green stone up to his chest, the exact shade of the eyes that had watched me through two lives.

The sharp gaze that was once so cold I shivered, but now so warm I flush.

​"For the laws you’re building," I murmured, my voice barely a thread. "And for the ghost you’re trying to save. Thank you for making this life the right one."

​Jin-Yeok’s hand came up, his fingers covering mine as I pinned the emerald to his lapel. The heat from his skin was overwhelming, but that was that.

I had delivered their present.

For a long moment, nobody spoke. The ’monsters’ from my past were gone. In their place were four men who looked like I’d just handed them the keys to the entire universe.

​"Unbreakable," Ki-hoon whispered, having found the engraving inside the matte metal.

​"Wait, is that what it says?" Seo-Jun barked, squinting at his ruby. "Hah! You hear that? Unbreakable! Just like my jaw after that merger meeting!"

Stop bragging that you live a gangster life in the shadows. But seriously, how did I not know that until now?

​I laughed, the tension finally snapping. "Don’t ruin the moment, Seo-Jun."

​"I’m not ruining it! I’m celebrating it!" He pinned the ruby to his shirt—crookedly, of course—and stood up, pulling me into a one-armed hug. "We’re going on that trip, Jo-Pil. And we’re wearing these. Let the world see that the Omega is the one in charge."

​I leaned into them, feeling the weight of their bodies surrounding me. The nightmare was a memory. The doctor’s longing was a fading shadow. Tonight, I wasn’t a prince or a slave. I was just Jo-Pil.

But then, what was this heaviness in my chest? Like a foreboding.

It’s all going so well that I feel something will appear out of nowhere and ruin it all.

It was probably just my imagination. Yeah, it was.