The next day, I went for my therapy session ’alone’. Seo-Jun wanted to come with me, but I asked him to think of getting therapy in his own time but he dismissed it and said I was all the therapy he needed.

Yeah, right. With that broken mind of his, I doubt it.

But well, we could figure that out in the future. We had forever together, after all.

The office was quiet, the faint scent of the lavender candle I’d lit last night still clinging to my sweater.

I sat across from Dr. Hye-Marin, and for the first time, I didn’t feel the need to fill the silence with nervous chatter.

​She looked at me over her glasses, her pen resting on her notepad. She didn’t say a word for a long time, just watching the way I sat—relaxed, my legs uncrossed, my hands resting loosely in my lap.

​"Jo-Pil," she said finally, her voice a warm anchor. "Last time, I asked you to find one positive thing. One reason to believe the emptiness isn’t permanent. One thing worth staying for."

​I thought about the four of them last night, arguing over who got to sleep on which side of me while they all refused to take their brooches off, and a soft smile played on my lips, which she took as a positive sign.

​"I found it," I said.

​"And?" She leaned forward, a professional but genuine curiosity in her eyes. "How are you feeling about life right now, Jo-Pil?"

​I looked at a small dust mote dancing in a beam of sunlight hitting her desk. I didn’t have to search for the answer. It was just there.

​"Great," I said. The word felt solid. "I feel... great."

​"Great," she repeated, nodding slowly. "That is a very powerful word for a man who used to dream of jumping out of windows. Tell me, what changed? Was it the luxury? The attention? Or was it the way they looked at you when you gave them back?"

​I smiled. A real one. "I think... I think I finally realized that I’m not just worth staying for. I’m worth living for."

"For who?"

"For all of us."

...

The days leading up to the trip had a newfound warmth. We didn’t just go the next day because I didn’t want them leaving things half-assed and then getting called in the middle of the trip.

After the therapist session, I felt like a man who had finally stepped out of a storm and into a sunlit room.

If this were the past, packing would’ve been a chore of silence, a mechanical task done by maids who looked like they were programmed to avoid my gaze.

But this morning, the atmosphere in my bedroom was different. April was carefully folding my sweaters while May organized my toiletries, Amber was counting my shoes, and the rest were busy with one thing or the other. And for the first time, they weren’t just shadows in the room.

​"Make sure you wear the blue one if it gets windy in the evenings, master," May said, her voice quiet but clear.

​I blinked, looking up from my phone. I was surprised by her advice, but I appreciated it. "Oh. Thank you, May." I smiled.

​As I headed toward the door, following the maids as they carried my luggage down the grand staircase, they stopped and turned to me. They didn’t wait for a command. They didn’t look at the floor.

​"Have a nice trip, master," they chorused, a genuine, small smile touching their lips.

​I froze for a second, a memory of my first week here flashing through my mind. Back then, they were robots. They didn’t have names. They didn’t have lives. They were just part of the furniture in my prison. I looked at them now—real people, with sweet teeth and smiles.

​"Thank you," I said, grinning back. "I’ll make sure to bring back souvenirs for all of you. I promise."

​Downstairs, the four Alphas were already waiting. They looked like a high-fashion catalog for "Men Who Own the World but Are Currently on Vacation."

My men.

We piled into one car, and the bickering started before we even cleared the driveway.

​I had insisted on a public flight. I wanted to feel the bustle of the airport, the normalcy of a boarding gate. I wanted to be part of the world, not hovering above it in a private jet.

​"It’s inefficient," Jin-Yeok grumbled, though he was wearing the emerald brooch on his lapel.

But I want it.

​"It’s crowded," Seo-Jun added, checking his watch for the tenth time. "Do you know how many people are going to try to take a picture of me?"

Sure, Mister Narcissist.

​"I’ve already handled the security protocols for the terminal," Ki-hoon said calmly, though he looked a bit stressed by the logistics.

Always the darling.

​"I have the snacks!" Min-Cheol chirped, patting a backpack.

Ah, my baby. You’re the best.

​I watched them, a laugh bubbling up in my chest. This was peace. This was the luxury I had asked for—not the designer coats, wealth, or jewelry, but the ability to sit in a car with the people I loved and just... exist.

​We arrived at the airport, the terminal humming with the energy of travelers. We walked silently, though catching many eyes and hanging out pictures taken.

Thankfully, our schedule was kept a secret; if not, reporters would’ve been swarming around us.

We walked toward the gate, two Alphas on both my sides like bodyguards. High fashion bodyguards, but then my pace began to slow until they were a few paces ahead of me, their tall frames cutting through the crowd like a phalanx.

I stopped for a second, feeling a slight itch on my ankle, and bent down to scratch my leg. Then, I looked up.

​I watched their backs. Jin-Yeok’s broad shoulders, Seo-Jun’s arrogant stride, Ki-hoon’s steady pace, and Min-Cheol’s bouncy gait. They were happy. I was happy.

​But then, it hit me. A cold, oily sensation in the pit of my stomach. That foreboding I had felt before... it wasn’t gone just because I felt satisfied and happy. Rather, now that I was at the peak of my happiness, it was screaming.

​Is it just in my head? I wondered, my fingers trembling against my skin. Everything is perfect. Why do I feel like the floor is about to give way?

​"Jo-Pil! Come on, let’s go!" Seo-Jun called out, turning back with an impatient but fond grin. "It’s almost time to board!"

​"Coming!" I called back, pushing the dread down.

​But as I stood up to my feet, the world slowed down. I saw their faces change. In a split second, the fond smiles vanished, replaced by masks of pure, unadulterated horror.

They started running toward me, their hands reaching out, their mouths open in silent screams.

​What—?

​"JO-PIL!"

​Someone behind me called my name. Not with love. With a jagged, broken desperation.

​I turned around, and the breath left my body.

​Cha Hyun-woo stood there. He looked like he had escaped from a nightmare. His hair was matted, his clothes were wrinkled, and his eyes... they were wide, bloodshot, and filled with a terrifying lucidity.

​He was holding a gun. And it was pointed directly at my stomach.

​BANG.

​The sound was the loudest thing I had ever heard. It wasn’t like the movies; it was a dull, heavy thud that vibrated through my entire skeleton. I didn’t feel the pain immediately—just a sudden, icy shock that spread from the center of my body.

​I looked down. A red flower was blooming on my cream-colored sweater.

​"I remember it all, Jo-Pil!" Hyun-woo screamed, his voice cracking as tears streamed down his face. He looked like he had been hollowed out by a ghost. "I remember the past! I remember the chains! I remember the broken bones and bruises!"

​My knees buckled. I felt the hard floor of the terminal rush up to meet me, but it was my body swaying as I fell.

​"I don’t know how you can think of being with these monsters again!" he wailed, waving the gun frantically as the Alphas closed in. "I won’t let you! I won’t let you go back to that hell! If you have to die to be free of them, then so be it!"

​In that split second, as my vision began to blur at the edges, the truth crashed into me.

​He remembered.

​The doctor who had patched me up, the one who had watched me break over and over again in that first life... he had remembered it all. That trauma had found him across time. And in his twisted, broken version of love, he thought he was saving me.

​So that’s what it was, I thought, the sound of the Alphas’ screams fading into a dull roar. That was the foreboding.

​I saw Jin-Yeok’s face, tear-streaked and terrifyingly close, as I slipped toward the darkness.

​Out of everyone... Why was it the person who helped me who became the one to end me?

​If only I had known. If only I had understood the foreboding.

​The last thing I felt was the warmth of my own blood, and the crushing realization that my happily ever after had just been shot through the heart.

{End of Volume one and Book one}

​Author’s Note:

​I told you to brace yourselves! We’ve reached the end of the first leg of Jo-Pil’s journey. So many Chapters of pain, luxury, cohabitation, changing, getting to know each other better, secrets, happiness, smegsy times, dates, confession, and a willow tree that was supposed to represent a new beginning.

​Thank you for sticking with me through the ruts, the heats, the ’foxes’ in sheep’s clothing, and the complicated love of four monsters trying to be men. Jo-Pil’s story isn’t over—death is rarely the end in a world of second chances—but the road to the next book is going to be paved with a lot more than just love and redemption.

​Stay tuned for Book Two. The nightmare might be back, but Jo-Pil isn’t the same man who jumped out of a window anymore.

Oh, and console your hearts a bit with the side story continuation of Jo-Pil and the Alphas in school.