The police fired and Eunhyuk luckily managed to escape when he bent down and crawled on the floor. However, he didn’t escape unharmed. One of the shots hit his face, but it wasn’t a serious injury, while another hit his waist. The alpha couldn’t handle the pain, but he had to get to the door and out of the bar.

Fortunately, Shindong was there and helped him to get out and pulled him out of the bar without the men seeing anything.

- ! I need a doctor now!

- Easy, Eunhyuk. We are going towards your car and you will be home soon.

- No, Shindong! The ing hospital!

Shindong understood and took Eunhyuk to the car, asking the driver to drive as quickly as possible to a hospital where they had a trusted doctor. The younger alpha couldn’t believe he was going through this again. Not on his daughter's six-month birthday. Eunhyuk knew he had to stay alive to at least meet Hyuna when she was older.

He needed to cling to that hope.

But fortunately the driver managed to get there as fast as he could and so they arrived at the hospital. They took Eunhyuk to the doctor and Shindong asked the driver to hide the car because no one would see the blood. After that, the older alpha sat in the waiting room and stood there hoping the younger alpha could save himself.

Everything was so confusing and Shindong knew he would have to give the necessary information to the press, but he couldn’t solve anything there. He didn’t even want to solve it. He could only think of Eunhyuk and hope that he would be well.

***

- What happened?! – stunned, Martha asked while the driver was washing the car – When?

- Today. Shindong-ssi is with Eunhyuk-ssi in the hospital and I think you'd better take some clothes for him because he didn’t look well.

Martha nodded and went to Eunhyuk's room. But as she walked, each step seemed heavy. She felt as if her body was being dragged into a nightmare that had no end. And when she entered the room and opened the wardrobe door, the housekeeper cried like she had never done before.

The memories of a better life for Eunhyuk have always been there. From the first time they met.

Hyukjae was seventeen and had been living in the Park house for just over five months. He was truly bored among so many books and couldn’t read or write well. All he wanted was to run away from that new prison and have fun anywhere – maybe ing crazy an omega or drinking one of the rum bottles his grandmother thought she was hiding very well.

- Holy ... This ing thing is so hard to learn. – Hyukjae murmured – And this in my ear is ing hurting me.

- Don’t you think you're too young to speak so many ugly words?

Hyukjae looked at the woman and then murmured as he looked at the notebook:

- Hell... One more to be a ing .

Martha laughed and said as she sat at the table:

- I'm not a ing , my dear. I'm just here to take care of you.

- And do I need? My mother is dead because a beta son of a killed her and my father. My idiot grandmother hates me and I'm still worried about my cousins ​​who... – Hyukjae widened his eyes and stared at Martha – That old man can’t even imagine I have cousins. Don’t tell him.

Martha smiled.

- Why would I?

- Because it was that that sent you here to talk to me. I know he's trying to train me, but damn it... I'm not an animal he thinks he can cut the balls and it's going to be okay.

- And I fully agree with you.

Hyukjae raised an eyebrow.

- Do you?

- Yes. I don’t want Hyunki-ssi to think I'm going to train you. All I want, without his knowledge, is to become your friend.

- And why do you want something like that? No one in this ing house likes me. That cute omega thinks I'm going to eat him whenever we meet in the hall.

- Have you ever stopped to think you're to blame for that? – Martha saw that Hyukjae was a cheeky alpha, so she tried to calm the situation – Maybe you do it without realizing it, Hyukjae. Leeteuk-ssi is not the biggest fan of alphas, but that doesn’t mean he's afraid. Perhaps your aggressive posture is the cause of all this fear.

- So I have to change my way? The old man brought me here and marked me as if I were cattle. – he showed the ear – That hurts.

Martha sighed and placed her purse on the table. From there, she took out a first aid kit and said:

- This is going to hurt a bit, but you'll be fine.

Hyukjae nodded and pulled away as Martha put the cotton in his ear. He growled and narrowed his eyes, making the woman laugh and shake her head.

- That hurts.

- I know, but your ears are swollen and I want to clean those bruises. Or do you want to lose your ears?

Hyukjae's eyes widened and he shook his head. He then gathered the rest of the courage in his body and let Martha clean his ears. It was a terrible pain that made him growl and grumble sometimes. But after she put the ointment on his skin, he was quiet and whispered:

- Thank you. The last time someone took care of me like that, I was seven years old.

- Your mother? – the alpha nodded – How was she like?

- She was incredible. The most perfect woman in the world. – Hyukjae smiled, but then sighed – I think she would be frustrated with me.

- Why?

- I'm not a good son. I want to take revenge on who killed my parents and the parents of my cousins. This bunch of betas ruined my family and now my cousins ​​live with that old woman who doesn’t like us.

- And why don’t you let Hyunki-ssi take care of them?

- For what? I have a cousin who could serve very well the purposes of that damn old man. I've got to take care of them and I'm going to get them out of that filthy thing as soon as possible, but first I need the confidence of this old man.

Martha smiled and said:

- Then start being respectful, Hyukjae. Hyunki-ssi won’t tolerate this disrespect and you know full well. And also, you need to stop swearing. Or at least try not to speak so many bad words like that. Be more polite and friendly.

- And what am I to get from this?

- You'll only find out if you follow my advice. – she smiled – By the way, I'm Martha.

Hyukjae smiled and said:

- I'm glad to meet you, Martha. I think you're the only person who was really nice to me here.

- And I'll be loyal, too. Don’t think I'm going to betray you, I won’t.

The alpha laughed.

- I want to trust you.

- And you can. I'm not that old either. – and they laughed together – I promise I'll take care of you, Hyukjae. I promise I will.

Hyukjae smiled and said as he took Martha's hand:

- And I promise I'll take care of you, Martha.

Martha wiped her face and closed the suitcase. She picked up a few more things and then left Eunhyuk's room. Then she left the house and got into another car so she could drive to the hospital herself. And Martha was terribly worried. She needed to see Eunhyuk and make sure he was fine.

Then, arriving at the hospital, Martha went to Shindong who explained what had happened. She was shocked, but she didn’t cry. Just sat next to the alpha and waited for the surgery to end, since the bullet was lodged in the alpha’s waist and was a complicated surgery. The hours passed and Shindong paced back and forth while Martha stared at a fixed point on the wall.

Those hours were like years that even Lion arrived to know if everything was well with Eunhyuk. And so the three stood there, waiting eagerly, until the doctor left the room and said:

- It worked well, but Eunhyuk-ssi's going to have to stay here for a few days.

- And can we see him? I want to see my cousin.

- I think it best to leave Eunhyuk-ssi to rest before suffering any unnecessary stress. He didn’t only have one bullet, but three bullets, and that's why we took too much time in this surgery.

They nodded and Shindong said:

- I think I'm going home and taking a shower. Then I go back to see Eunhyuk.

They nodded and Shindong left after waving. Martha sighed and looked at Lion who sniffed and wiped his face.

- What's it? – she asked as she his shoulder – Eunhyuk is fine.

- I know, but... – Lion was clumsy when it came to his feelings for Eunhyuk. The two, like Hyang, grew up together and only had each other. And now seeing that his older cousin suffered all that was a little harder to accept – I should be there to protect him, you know...

- But it's not your fault. No one could imagine that something like this could happen.

- But Eunhyuk always protected me. He has always protected Hyang and when she finds out, I already imagine she will cry a lot because he is like our brother. We don’t even have a cousin relationship anymore. We are like siblings.

- I know and I understand this, but don’t be like this. – she hugged him – You can cry if you want.

And that's what Lion did. He didn’t want to lose Eunhyuk and was only shaken that way because he knew that after the shooting, the bar was burned down. Lion quickly went to Eunhyuk's house and learned from the driver that his cousin was in the hospital. And when he saw that Shindong and Martha were there, he went into despair.

No one could deny that that night was very difficult for everyone.

…–––...
The next day...

When the doctor said that Eunhyuk needed to stay at rest, the alpha really thought he would get some rest. But as soon as he woke up and ate something, he saw Lion and Hyang (who had come desperate to the hospital that morning) stick on the stretcher to never leave. Eunhyuk would have laughed, but he understood that his cousins ​​were stunned and so he decided to let them calm down first.

Shindong and Martha were there and the housekeeper even said she would do whatever Eunhyuk wanted to eat and the alpha laughed. He didn’t enjoy being pampered like that, but he was glad everyone was there.

- I said I'm fine. You can let me breathe now.

- No, Eunhyuk. I was so nervous when Siwon called and told me what happened. I hope that won’t happen again.

- I also hope this never happens again. – Lion said, making Eunhyuk sigh and say:

- Okay, this isn’t the first time it's happened and you know it. But still, I need to breathe a little.

Reluctantly, Lion and Hyang moved away. They looked at their cousin and were glad he was alive. Shindong, who wanted to talk to Eunhyuk alone, cleared his throat and said:

- As much as this family reunion matters, I'd like to talk to Eunhyuk. But just the two of us.

Hyang was about to protest when Eunhyuk looked at her and said:

- Do what Shindong said. This conversation is important and I need to at least take the time to reflect on what I'm going to do next. – they nodded and left, but they wouldn’t leave. Eunhyuk sighed and looked at Shindong as soon as the door was closed – What did you find out?

- Well, I found out that this wasn’t a random attack, and the police also have no connection whatsoever with what happened there. What I do know is that there was a person in that bar, probably someone from a rival gang that came to hide in our country. Then those men invaded the bar and did all that. Then they burned everything to cover clues.

Eunhyuk wanted to punch somewhere, but he had to stop himself.

- And what did you do?

- I sent some people behind the men, but I'm afraid there might be retaliation. After all, this is not our business.

- And yet they acted like amateurs and killed people in that bar. I don’t care about the man who hid. I just want the men who shot them to get caught.

- And are we going to kill them?

- No. That would only make it worse because we would live a reign of horror here. But if you catch the men, I want you to get in touch with their boss and tell them what happened. And I don’t mind negotiating their lives.

- And why are you so confident?

- Because I know the police will only have one to hold someone responsible for the attack. After all, everyone knows that I was in that bar and many probably think I died.

- Actually, everyone has already said that you died because no one could identify the bodies. – he rolled his eyes – I can clarify everything and...

- No. – Eunhyuk interrupted Shindong – Let's keep it that way. I just want the sheriff to know that I'm alive because if he doesn’t have a body, they can’t say I'm dead. At most they can say that I am missing or unidentified.

- And you just happened to think about how you're going to do it?

- Do you know why the old man sacrificed his social life? Because he thought he would recover from that . But as it didn’t happen, he simply cut himself off from the world. I can isolate myself from the world as long as it takes, since I spent most of my life going in and out of reformatories and jail.

Shindong sighed and asked a question that didn’t leave Eunhyuk comfortable:

- What about your daughter?

- Well, I want to get away exactly because I need to spare her life. I know that Donghae will take care of Hyuna very well, but I still have to stay away because we don’t know what can happen when the men get caught.

- But how do you plan to return? You still have your business here and...

- I thought I'd let Lion take care of everything. I trust him and he knows very well what will happen if there is any kind of betrayal. Obviously, since I'm going to stay in jail, he's going to give me all the information about how my business with the hotel business is and so I'm going to guide him to keep it going.

- I see... What about the plans to make the surname Lee come up?

- I can wait. I'm not in a hurry to do that. My goal now is to recover and take care of other matters while I'm hiding.

Shindong nodded and said as he looked at Eunhyuk:

- I really hope things change. Akemi almost forbade me to come back here because I didn’t want the police to come to our house. They will, but everyone knows we're friends.

- I don’t care much about them as long as they don’t meddle in our affairs. And Akemi can rest easy, because the police have nothing against you.

- Not even against you.

- But I was at the bar and no one saw you there. Or saw you and you don’t want to tell me?

Shindong realized that Eunhyuk was getting paranoid again – and that could be something dangerous, since he could stop trusting everyone around him. But since he wasn’t lying, the older alpha replied:

- So far no one said they saw me there. But what can they do but be charged a fine? We were just drinking and we ended up being victims in this attack.

Eunhyuk sighed and said as he leaned his back against the pillow:

- You're right. We weren’t doing anything wrong. – and looked at Shindong – But don’t lie to me, Shindong. I won’t tolerate lies and you always knew that.

- I'm not lying, Eunhyuk. I know you're going to get paranoid and you're probably going to accuse me of treason, but I won’t betray you.

- And I hope you don’t really think of betraying me. It will be a very difficult blow to accept. – As the remedy was taking effect again, Eunhyuk yawned and said – I want to be alone for now. I need to think about a few more things and then I want to talk to you.

- It's alright. And what do I tell the press?

- Say you have nothing new about anything at all. Tell others to do the same.

Shindong nodded and left the room, leaving Eunhyuk there with his thoughts as he touched his cheek that had a bandage. He knew he would have a scar, but he didn’t care that much. Everything the alpha needed was to recover and change many things that needed to be changed. He knew that being inmate was a risk, but he wanted Donghae and Hyuna to be saved if anything happened and someone discovered that he had a daughter.

Eunhyuk didn’t want to think about it anymore.

He had a plan to see Hyuna but wouldn’t be able to put it into practice because he wanted to be well to face Donghae face-to-face – and as it had been six months since the girl was born, he no longer had the right to take his daughter to live in his house.

The law was clear about this: the omega that conceives during heat or during an unlawful act (such as ion) or just casual relationships, must bring to justice the name of the alpha so that the omega and the baby can coexist with the alpha that will have to take care of his family. The rule isn’t valid for cases.
But six months after birth, the alpha that doesn’t assume his responsibilities as a father is no longer entitled to the omega and the child.

Eunhyuk sighed and closed his eyes. With sleep coming, all he could do was sleep. And sleeping really seemed like the best option at that moment.

~~~
Later...

Eunhyuk smiled when he saw that Martha made his favorite food: ramen. He hadn’t eaten ramen for years and realized that his housekeeper was there to pamper him and that she would spare no effort. He didn’t even understand why she was doing it, but he didn’t stop her either. Eunhyuk owed Martha a lot because she was always by his side when he needed her most.

- I don’t know how to thank you.

- You don’t have to. This time you really deserve it. – they laughed – But how are you? Your face is one less swollen.

- But it still hurts a lot. – he sighed and ate – Um... So delicious. Do I need to be pampered like this more often or am I going to have to take another shot?

- Don’t say anything like that, Eunhyuk. I think we had too many problems.

- I know that. Sorry, Martha. – Eunhyuk smiled – But I really want to go home. I have to think about how I'm going to get out of here without the press seeing me.

- And where are you going after you left here?

- I'll stay in that house where no one knows the address.

- Are you sure?

- Yes. And I