Chapter 70 - Beta Women

“Is it because I haven’t seen you in a while? It feels like you’ve lost a little weight, Yeonwoo. Am I mistaken?” said the lawyer amicably.

I replied formally, “It must be because it’s been a while. You’ve become even more beautiful.”

She giggled and placed her hand on my arm. “We should see each other more often. I like it when you call me beautiful, Yeonwoo.”

“I’m just stating the truth,” I said nonchalantly, but she continued to stare fondly at me. Her affectionate gaze and the hand that was still on my arm made me somewhat uncomfortable.

Just then, I felt another set of eyes on me. When I shifted my gaze, I met Keith’s eyes right away.

He was staring at us with his brow tightly scrunched up. I could clearly see that his irritation was about to overflow.

I hurriedly took her hand off my arm, making sure not to seem rude. “Will you be talking about the acquisition after the meal?”

From the perspective of the client-slash-employer, it must be rather upsetting to see his lawyer and his secretary idle away when he had made time for work during his lunchtime in between his busy schedule. In response to me covering for her, the lawyer seemed to have remembered the original objective of this meeting and nodded. “Oh, of course. I’m sorry, Mr. Pittman. I was just glad to see Yeonwoo after such a long time.”

Keith didn’t say anything in response to her apology. The meal afterward was eaten in silence. I wanted us to at least talk about work, but nobody spoke. All that could be heard was the clattering of cutlery.

“Excuse me for a moment.” When the meal was almost done, the lawyer got up from her seat. The waiter saw her heading toward the washroom with just her pouch in her hand, came up to the table right away, and cleared the finished plates. In the blink of an eye, the table was now empty.

The waiter disappeared once again after placing a dessert menu in front of each person. While we waited for the lawyer to return, I pulled out my tablet and organized the notes that I had recorded down on my phone. Soon, we would actively be talking about work. When I finished preparing to note down their conversation and looked up, I suddenly met eyes with Keith.

It seemed like he had been continuously staring at me. He didn’t even avert his gaze—though, of course, that was only to be expected.

I blinked and carefully asked, “Um, is there something that you wanted to say?”

He was still refusing to speak. As I was beginning to feel anxious about his silence, I belatedly remembered his medicine. I briskly opened my briefcase, took out the meds that I had received from Whitaker in advance, and put them on the table.

“Your afternoon meds… They’re antibiotics,” I added, looking at Keith as he curiously rustled the plastic bag containing the medicine between his fingers. “Painkillers, too. If you don’t take them, your wound might become infected…”

As I was talking, that day’s memory flashed before my eyes—the sharp blade, the vivid red of his blood…

I subconsciously closed my eyes and opened them back again slowly. Keith was staring at me with his eyebrows knitted. I managed to reply with a shaky voice, “I’m sorry. I just remembered it again.”

Keith didn’t say anything. All he did was rip open the bag, toss all of the pills into his mouth, and swallow them with water. I quietly gazed at him.

This was all I could do for him.

“…How’s your arm? Doesn’t it hurt?” My own voice, so full of emotions, echoed in my ears. Was this really my voice? Was it always so pitiful and heartrending?

Feeling as if I was listening to a stranger’s voice, I stared at him. Keith was silent for a moment before replying, “It feels fine.”

His expression really did seem fine. Despite that, I felt upset. However, I couldn’t possibly tell him that.

“…That’s a relief,” I murmured, lowering my head to hide my face. I could still feel Keith’s gaze on me. I pretended not to notice and stubbornly avoided meeting it.

In my peripheral vision, I saw the lawyer walking back toward her seat. Keith, who had glanced toward her, suddenly asked, “Was she a beta?”

I was one beat late in processing his sudden question. “Oh, yes. If you’re talking about Ms. Lawyer here, she is a beta.”

As soon as I confirmed his question, my foggy brain began to spin rapidly. Had Keith chosen her as his next partner? Until now, he had never picked anyone who was on business terms with him. If they were to break up after a period of sleeping together, it would be awkward working with her in the future. More importantly, how was I supposed to tell her that their relationship was over? I was the one who would have to continuously contact her. Besides, was she even Keith’s type? I thought not.

Keith’s next question, however, only added to my confusion. “Was Emma a beta as well?”

“…? Yes,” I replied, still puzzled.

Before I could even make sense of things, he asked again, “That woman is a beta as well, no?”

“That woman?” I asked back. There were too many women that came to mind.

Keith snapped at my hesitation, “The woman who’s sleeping with me.”

He meant Naomi. I belatedly nodded and answered, “Yes, she is.”

Keith fell silent. A heavy stillness took over. My head was about to burst from the endless surge of questions. Why was he asking about Emma? Why Naomi? He couldn’t have just suddenly gotten curious as to how many beta women there were around him.

There were quite a few strange things about Keith today. He was acting only in ways that he usually didn’t. Just then, I recalled what Charles had said earlier.

Could it be that he had some kind of change of mind after getting attacked? Since it was his arm that got injured, it couldn’t be that his head was affected.