Dirty Switch

The man you love—I’ll take responsibility, he said.

Don’t make your family cry blood, he said…
Joo Taehyun repeated Seo Baekhan’s words to himself over and over.
He’d expected Baekhan to treat the press conference like a joke. And rightly so—Taehyun had handed over an entire platter of things to pick apart.

Could you even call that a press conference? All he’d done was borrow DH Group’s name to whine about how hurt and wronged he felt before stepping down. His family had been scrambling to cover for him, doing the cleanup he couldn’t.
Still...
Let’s say, for argument’s sake, Baekhan brushing off the pregnancy was understandable. Given his personality, it would’ve been more suspicious if he had believed it without question.

But to throw the word love in the dirt like that?
That old, reckless confession of “I like you.”
The words I love you, too cowardly to say to his face—Taehyun had only managed to murmur them into a camera, right before he decided to end everything.

He stared down at the soggy clump of his own heart, like a wad of wet tissue. If it had just torn clean through, maybe he could’ve scraped it away. But it was melted, filthy, unsalvageable.
How much longer was he supposed to endure this?
When would he finally be able to gather up all these little barbs, soaked and hidden like splinters in water?
Probably never.

It was all too clear. To Baekhan, someone like Taehyun—who acted like this—wasn’t worth soothing. He was someone to spit on, nothing more.
“…So you really don’t care. About what I lied about, or what I was trying to prepare behind the scenes.”
“Don’t care? That’s not true. I’m just more curious about what you’re thinking right now than whatever I’m going to find out soon anyway.”

From the moment he decided to propose to Seo Baekhan, Joo Taehyun had had endless nightmares. Getting exposed, facing Baekhan’s scorn—that was actually one of the milder versions.
But of all those nightmares, this… this was the worst.
Sleeping with him without love, getting pregnant, imprinting him alone—and then announcing their divorce in front of the world.

“Again.”
Smack. A scolding sound, followed by a firm thumb shoving its way into his mouth. He’d bitten his lips again without realizing it.
Why did this habit of his bother Baekhan so damn much? Even now, in this moment, he couldn’t let it go.

“…I don’t care.”

“You don’t care?”
“Even if I have to live the rest of my life with a broken body because I can’t bond with your pheromones—I don’t care.”

“…What?”
“I really don’t understand why you’re so concerned about my condition, anyway. It’s not like it actually matters to you.”
Taehyun gently placed his hand over Baekhan’s and pushed it away.

“Unwanted sex… there’s no reason to keep doing it. Wouldn’t it be better for both of us if I just disappeared?”
The gesture wasn’t even strong enough to call a rejection. But Baekhan looked genuinely surprised. He stared at his hand, now lowered, as if it had dropped all on its own.
“Honestly, from your perspective, this is probably a good thing. The media came after me like they wanted me dead for the whole Switch scandal—now you’ve got the perfect excuse to retaliate. You could even push for legalizing it outright.”
Taehyun clasped his hands behind his back, hiding the fingers that kept twitching. He stared off at some distant point. He °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° was saying whatever came to mind, but that didn’t mean it was easy to look Baekhan in the face.

Still, eventually he’d be okay.
Back in the States, when he buried himself in school, time passed somehow. The pain in his chest, like needles pricking his heart, would eventually dull too.
It had to, and he would make sure of it.

“The divorce will go through the lawyers anyway. There’s no reason for us to meet about it. As for the baby… well, I’m sure they’ll settle that too. Just tell your lawyer your wishes. I’ll do my best to comply.”
His throat burned. He had to cough several times before he could speak again. Baekhan didn’t blink once—just kept staring at him.
“But if you ever want to know what I lied about… or why I did what I did… if you ever want to know, even if it’s way down the line… just call me.”

Drawing a deep breath of the peach-sweet pheromones flowing from Baekhan’s sleeves, Taehyun stepped half a pace back.
“…Joo Taehyun.”
“Yes, I’m the pathetic asshole who caused all this and dumped the mess on everyone else. But… I think this is as far as I go.”

He couldn’t do it anymore.
His lips barely moved, but in the stillness, even that whisper carried straight to Baekhan.
All those years spent training his face not to move, to lock his emotions down—worth it, apparently. Even now, after causing all this, he hadn’t cried or collapsed. He’d said everything he needed to, clear and steady.

Maybe… it hadn’t sunk in yet. That this was really the end.
“I’ll be going, then.”
“…”

“I hope everything you wanted so badly… I hope you get it all.”

There was no reply from Baekhan. Maybe he hadn’t expected Taehyun to fight back this much. Taehyun hid his bitter smile and turned around. Almost as if they’d been waiting for it, Gukwon’s car roared to life. The ring of bodyguards that had encircled Baekhan began to shift as well.
A rush of small, unfinished things bubbled up inside him—things he hadn’t had the chance to say. But he held it back.

All just excuses. All just lingering feelings.
Don’t look back. He knew he’d fold the second he did. Just get in the car. In a way, it was a relief that Gukwon had insisted they travel separately. Okay, once we get to Seoul—
“…Hyung?”

He hadn’t even taken a few steps before Baekhan grabbed his wrist.
“Hyung, let go—”
“Taehyun. I told you—you can’t divorce me.”

“Hyung!”
“You said it yourself. In front of everyone. That everything was just rumors, slander—that you love Baekhan hyung. And now you’re talking divorce? Like we’ll never see each other again?”
Baekhan’s grip tightened without mercy, and Taehyun let out a gasp of pain before he could stop it.

“Sure, maybe I don’t care that your body’s failing because you can’t receive my pheromones. But what about DH Group? What about me? What did we ever do to deserve getting dragged through your childish tantrums? What’s your excuse this time? Love? That crazy feeling that makes you wreck everything every damn time?”
“Hyung, that hurts!”
“We’ll talk later about why you think you get to meddle in my plans, but for now, just answer me this.”
“…This is your last warning. Let go before I call the guards—”

“You’re carrying my baby, and you still haven’t imprinted me?”
It was so sudden he didn’t know how to respond. Taehyun just blinked, stunned, then quickly shook his head. But Baekhan caught something in that hesitation—and sneered.
“I knew it.”

“No—”
“So that’s why you suddenly brought up the pregnancy. You’re showing imprinting symptoms, aren’t you?”
“I said no!”

“It’s fine. I’m not blaming you.”
“Hyung, please, for once can you just listen to me—!”
“I imprinted you, too.”

“…What?”
“I said, I imprinted you.”
Even Baekhan seemed astonished by his own words. He let out a few dry, incredulous laughs.

Taehyun could only stare blankly at his lips.
Imprinted…?
You imprinted… me?