POV: Kang Yejun
The car is warmer than Yejun's entire life.
He sits in the back seat of something expensive (he doesn't know cars, doesn't care anymore), and Haneul is asleep against his shoulder, one small hand gripping his jacket like he's afraid Yejun will disappear if he lets go. In the front, Kaien drives with one hand, the other resting on the steering wheel with the confidence of someone who's never doubted his own right to exist.
Yejun has doubted his right to exist about a thousand times today alone.
"I know this is insane," Kaien says quietly, keeping his voice low so Haneul won't wake. "If I were you, I'd think I was losing my mind. If I were you, I'd probably have run away by now."
"The night's still young," Yejun says, but there's no bite in it. Just exhaustion. Just the desperate need to understand something, anything, before his brain completely fractures.
"Your apartment is close?" Kaien asks, glancing at him through the rearview mirror. His silver eyes catch the city lights. Even angry or worried, he's beautiful enough to hurt.
Yejun gives directions. They drive through Seoul in silence except for the rain and the occasional sound of Haneul shifting in sleep. Yejun watches the city pass by and tries to convince himself that this is all a hallucination. That he's actually still on that bridge considering how easy it would be to jump. That his brain is creating this fantasy where someone beautiful wants him, where a child needs him, where the universe isn't completely indifferent to his suffering.
But Haneul is real. His weight is real. His breathing is real.
The apartment building is shabby. Yejun watches Kaien take in the peeling paint, the broken buzzer, the stairs that smell like stale ramen and desperation. He expects judgment. Finds none.
"Lead the way," Kaien says simply.
Inside the studio apartment, Yejun is acutely aware of how small it is. How poor. How pathetic it must look to a man worth billions. Kaien sets Haneul on the bed gently, pulling a blanket over the sleeping child with the tenderness of someone who's done this a thousand times.
"He'll sleep for hours," Kaien says. "The quantum travel exhausts him."
"Quantum travel," Yejun repeats blankly. "That's a thing that exists now?"
"It shouldn't." Kaien pulls out his phone, opening documents. "According to everything I know about physics, dimensional rifts are theoretical. Pure mathematics. But Haneul is proof that they're real." He shows Yejun photos. Images of a swirling blue light inside what looks like a laboratory. "This happened in my facility six months ago. An accident with the dimensional stability device. The machine malfunctioned, created a rift, and Haneul came through."
Yejun stares at the images. They look real. Too detailed to be fake. "Why didn't you turn him over to authorities?"
"Because he appeared in my private lab at midnight. Because he knew things about me that nobody else knows. Because he kept calling for his papa, and even though I didn't understand it, I knew the answer." Kaien's voice is rough. "I knew instinctively that the person he was looking for was important. That he was the most important person in the world to both of us."
"You didn't know me."
"I did," Kaien says firmly. "In my dreams. I've been dreaming about you for three years, Yejun. The same man. The same smile. The same everything. And when Haneul described you, I recognized you immediately."
Yejun sits on the only chair in the room, trying to process this. "That's not how physics works. That's not how anything works."
"I know." Kaien pulls up more documents. Complex equations. Research papers. Videos of scientific experiments. "My parents were quantum physicists. They died when I was eight in what was reported as an accident, but I've since learned they were close to proving multiverse theory. They discovered that consciousness might exist across multiple dimensions simultaneously. That love, specifically, might be the only force strong enough to create bridges between timelines."
He shows Yejun a photo of two scientists standing in a laboratory. Both brilliant-looking. Both proud.
"They were researching soulmates," Kaien continues. "The idea that certain souls are meant to find each other regardless of which universe they exist in. They thought love was a quantum probability. A matching signature that exists across dimensional frequencies."
"That's beautiful and completely insane," Yejun says.
"Yes," Kaien agrees. "But what if they were right? What if every choice you make creates a branch, and in some branches, you and I found each other? What if in infinite timelines, there are infinite versions of us that chose each other?"
Haneul shifts in sleep, murmuring "Papa" like it's the safest word in any universe.
"How did you find me?" Yejun asks. "I don't exist in public records anymore. Not officially. Jihoon had me erased."
"Haneul described you. Your eyes. Your smile. Your scar." Kaien moves closer. "But more than that, I searched for you because I recognized you from my dreams. I followed quantum signatures. I traced probability patterns. I used every resource I have to find a man with warm brown eyes and a smile that could light up universes."
Yejun's chest aches. "Why?"
"Because you're looking at me," Kaien says simply. "In every timeline Haneul describes, you look at me like I'm precious. Like I matter. Like I'm worth choosing again and again. Nobody has ever looked at me like that in this timeline. And I needed to find you."
The admission hangs between them. Yejun stands up, needing distance, needing space to think. "This is too much. This is insane. I can't—"
"I know," Kaien interrupts gently. "But you don't have to believe me. Haneul is proof enough. And more than that, you felt it. When we touched, you felt it. The connection. The recognition."
He's right. Yejun did feel it. Feels it still, like electricity running through his veins.
"What do you want from me?" Yejun asks, and his voice sounds small.
"The truth?" Kaien smiles sadly. "I want you to fall in love with me the way you do in the other timelines. I want to build a life with you and Haneul. I want to be the person you choose." He pauses. "But I don't expect that. So I'm asking for something smaller."
"What?"
"Play house with me," Kaien says. "Pretend to be a family. Give Haneul the comfort he needs while I study the quantum anomaly. Figure out if we can send him home or if he stays here. Help me prove that what the multiverse is suggesting is possible."
Yejun should say no. Should walk away from this beautiful man and his impossible child and his insane dreams.
But then an idea forms.
A dangerous, reckless, perfect idea.
"What if I said yes," Yejun says slowly, "but for different reasons?"
Kaien's expression shifts. "What do you mean?"
Yejun explains. The engagement party. Minho and Jihoon. The need to show up with someone perfect, someone powerful, someone who would make them regret ever crossing him.
"I need revenge," Yejun says bluntly. "I need to prove to Seoul that I'm fine. That I've moved on. That I have something infinitely better than Minho ever was." He looks at Kaien. "You need me to comfort Haneul. We both need something. So we trade. I play 'Papa' and your partner in public. You play my loving boyfriend. Three months. Through the engagement party. Then we part ways."
"And what happens to Haneul?" Kaien asks quietly.
"He stays with you. Actual family. But I'll be good to him. I'll make sure he feels safe and loved. Not as a performance. Just because—" Yejun looks at the sleeping child. "Just because I couldn't live with myself if I didn't."
Kaien studies him for a long moment. Then: "Three months is too short."
"Three months is all I need to prove to them that I've won."
"What about after?" Kaien's voice is careful. "What happens to you when the three months end and you have to let go of him?"
Yejun doesn't have an answer. Doesn't want to think about losing Haneul now that he's just found him.
"We'll figure it out," Yejun says. "But we need to do this now. The engagement party is in three weeks."
Kaien extends his hand. "So we have a deal?"
Yejun takes it. Electricity sparks between them, just like before. Just like it always will.
"Deal," Yejun says.
That's when Kaien's phone buzzes.
Then buzzes again.
And again.
Kaien pulls it out, and his face goes pale.
"What?" Yejun asks.
Kaien shows him the message from his security team.
"ALERT: Someone attempted to breach the quantum research facility at 11:47 PM. Security stopped them before they reached the lab. Files appear to have been accessed. Multiple files. Stand by for full report."
Kaien opens a second message.
"Sir, we've identified the source. The investigation came from Kang Industries board. They're looking for information about your research. They know something. They're trying to find out what."
Yejun's blood goes cold. "Jihoon."
"Your brother?" Kaien's silver eyes are dangerous now. Not beautiful anymore. Just dangerous. "He knows about the quantum research?"
"He knows about the break-in you mentioned in Chapter 3," Yejun says, his mind racing. "He's connecting dots. He's trying to figure out what you're hiding."
Kaien looks at Haneul, sleeping peacefully, unaware that someone is trying to steal his existence. His quantum signature. Proof that alternate dimensions exist.
"They'll weaponize it," Kaien says quietly. "If they figure out what Haneul is, if they understand the technology behind his arrival, they'll weaponize it. They'll weaponize him."
He looks at Yejun with an intensity that's terrifying.
"We need to move faster," Kaien says. "We can't wait three weeks to establish our relationship. We need to do it now. Tomorrow. We need to make this real enough that when they investigate, nobody doubts what they see."
"What are you suggesting?" Yejun asks, though he already knows.
"Move in with me," Kaien says. "Tonight. Pack what you need. We go to my penthouse. You become part of my life completely. We make them believe you're essential. We make them understand that if they touch Haneul, they destroy me. And more than that—" Kaien's voice drops. "We make them understand that you're loved. That you matter. That you're worth protecting."
Haneul murmurs in his sleep.
And Yejun realizes that his three-month plan to use Kaien for revenge just became something else entirely.
His survival.
His only chance to protect the people he's just started to love.
"Okay," Yejun whispers. "Okay, let's do it."
Kaien's phone buzzes again.
This time, the message is different.
"Sir, we found something in the files they accessed. They now know about the child. They're asking questions about his origin. They're threatening to go to authorities with accusations of illegal experimentation if you don't cooperate. We need to know what our next move is."
Yejun and Kaien look at each other.
The game has changed.
And both of them understand, with perfect clarity, that they've just made a choice that will either save them all or destroy them completely.
The clock is ticking.
And Jihoon is coming.