Work Text:
Iseul Han wouldn't say she had any particular biases for or against any of the authors she worked with. They all had their idiosyncrasies, and while her coworkers might engage in idle musings about whether all authors were a little weird because of the nature of their job or whether they were authors because they were weird– she didn't really care about this kind of chicken or egg discussions.
Whatever the cause, they were all a little odd in their own ways, so she wasn't extra fond of any of them or extra strict on another. They were well behaved enough to not give her too much trouble– and really, her friend had no need to laugh about her sounding like a schoolteacher managing a class of problem children rather than highly qualified professionals. Nearing fifty five now with decades of experience at her job, she was senior enough as an editor to be assigned the well established authors instead of the up and coming ones, so that might have something to do with it. The type of issues she had to deal with were more along the lines of one of them deciding to take a two months vacation to India for "research" and try to write it off as company expenses, rather than having to deal with late submissions and excuses of wanting more time that were common in some of the less organized writers.
She looked at the watch on the office wall, closing the pdf of the latest submission from one of her writers and started packing up her bag.
"Meeting," she muttered when the coworker who sat next to her sent a questioning glance.
He made a noise of understanding, taking a look at the clock himself. "Oh yeah, Namjoon-ssi, right? His monthly meeting. Er, he's not coming over today?"
"No, apparently he sprained a ligament in his foot and is advised to rest up, so the meeting is at his house today," she informed, not going into details of how and when and all the unnecessary information that Namjoon had told her, the man having a tendency to ramble.
Her coworker made appropriate sympathetic noises, but looked in surprised. They were all used to the author's clumsiness, from tripping on thin air to accidentally breaking coffee mugs.
"Guess you'd be meeting the infamous kid and husband," he grinned suddenly, the realization dawning on him.
Iseul grimaced, grabbing her bag. "I suppose."
And that was the most well known idiosyncrasy of the author in the office, more than even his baffling clumsiness (surely a normal person cannot accidentally break chains with his bare hands?). The alpha was a family man , a true definition of the word, through and through. Every single meeting his focus would slowly drift from his book plot to how his kid was doing in school or something in a similar vein, until he was opening his phone gallery to show her or any other staff unfortunate enough to linger nearby pictures of his kid, accompanied with long retellings of the event behind each photo.
Or maybe she was the only one who found it tedious– she wasn't exactly fond of children, and was perfectly content being an single and unmated alpha as well– because some of her coworkers would gush about how adorable the kid was or prod for Namjoon to keep going with his stories. She wasn't sure whether they were just indulging the author, but then again, a lot of them were quite similar when it came to their own children or grandchildren.
She sighed to herself as he hefted her bag and made her way to the lift, ignoring the cackles of her coworker. Maybe he should be assigned to Namjoon instead, if he liked the kid so much. Iseul just wanted to limit the conversation to things related to the job only, she didn't need this extra…bonding or whatever. Although, as long as Namjoon continued to turn in consistently good drafts, she'd put up with it.
She was surprised when it was the man himself who opened the apartment door for her, hobbling along with one hand on the wall for support as he lead her to the sofa.
Iseul clicked her tongue as her eyes drifted to the younger alpha's wrapped foot, wondering why he hadn't simply canceled the meeting or offered to hold it virtually.
"Coffee?" Namjoon offered, but Iseul ignored it as she motioned primly for him to sit down.
"Your mate is not home?"
Namjoon blinked at her, suddenly looking very out of his depths. "I beg your pardon?"
"Your family?" She prompted, because while she wasn't exactly interested in his personal life, it seemed irresponsible for the man to be on his own when he had limited mobility.
"Oh! Um, I live alone. Perhaps you might have confused me with someone else…?" the author explained, and that didn't seem right. But maybe things were complicated, so she didn't push. He didn't seem to want to talk about that topic.
"Very well," she conceded, moving onto the topic at hand. Work went as swimmingly as it usually did with this author, as long as he didn't get distracted with stories about his personal life. He did seem a bit subdued today, and she didn't know whether it was the tiredness of the injury or because her question earlier had made him uncomfortable. Was he, perhaps, one of those alphas that couldn't let go of old attachments? Was the man divorced, maybe? That would explain the lack of presence.
She wasn't interested in knowing, exactly, but the thought process had aroused her curiosity enough that she dawdled in the hallway after the meeting was done to take a look at the various pictures hung on the wall. Namjoon was popularly known to be an avid art collector as well, so Iseul hadn't been surprised to see all the paintings that adorned his walls. She disregarded those– fascinating as they may be– and focused on the personal photos that the entryway was full of. It was as she has expected, with photos of the man and the child that were his phone lockscreen as well. Namjoon himself featured in a great number of the photos, the three of them looking like one happy family. The pictures were clearly from various points of time over the years, and she focused on the more recent ones. There didn't seem to be any tension between the two adults, so either they were good at pretending to be a normal couple for the sake of the pup, or there genuinely weren't any bad feelings between them.
"Oh! That photo!" Namjoon exclaimed, startling her as he suddenly came up behind her. Youngsters these days, too full of energy. "That's Jungkookie's first day of school."
"That's nice," she murmured, taking another look at the picture. It was a cute one, with a gap tooth boy held securely in the arms of the other adult– the omega, Iseul presumed– with Namjoon standing next to him. "Your son is very cute."
"Jungkookie?" Namjoon confirmed, as if there were any other kids in the photo, and then laughed awkwardly. "He's not my son! It's a common misunderstanding though."
Iseul pursed her lips, facts shifting in her brain to accommodate this new information. "...a stepson, then? Your husband's from a, ah, previous marriage?"
"No no, he's not mine. By blood or legally. He's not my son." the alpha clarified, sounding as if it pained him to admit it. "I'm unmarried too, you know?"
If anything that made Iseul frown harder, suddenly gaining insight into the other's character. "I must say, I make it a point to keep personal life and work separate, so it doesn't matter what goes on in your life, Namjoon-ssi, but I'm most disappointed."
"Huh?"
"I did not expect you to be one of those cad that play around with the hearts of omegas without any promises of commitment, it is very badly done."
"I don't–"
"And if you claim to really be serious about this boyfriend of yours then," and here she nodded towards the photo, "and if you're not just playing around, then you should man up and embrace the child. He's part of the relationship, you know? You kids these days, no concept of family or anything, just wanting fool around and have fun and making some poor child feel unwanted."
"Excuse me–"
"Is it not obvious that if you were to wed this omega– and again, I hope you haven't simply been wasting his time with false promises– that the child would become part of your family? How can you so callously disregard him and say that he's not your son? Your boyfriend's child should be the same as yours, if the relationship is as serious as it appears."
"Editor Han!" The flustered alpha yelled, finally finding a moment to get a word in. "Han-ssi, there's been a terrible misunderstanding."
"A misunderstanding," Iseul repeated, eyeing the younger suspiciously. "I know kids these days have all these fancy and modern concepts about mates and don't take it seriously–"
"Han-ssi, I'm single!" Namjoon blurted out. "I don't have a boyfriend! I wish he was mine but he's not!"
The younger abruptly closed his mouth as if he hadn't meant to say all that, and his statements processed in Iseul's mind.
Then she sighed, startling the alpha.
"So all this is youngster stupidity after all."
Namjoon looked at her like a wide eyed child. "What?"
"All this hemming and hawing that you do about 'my kid' this 'my kid' that, and you haven't even courted the omega yet." She clicked her tongue, leveling a disapproving gaze at him. "Alphas who dawdle their time and count their chickens before they hatch never get anywhere, don't you know? Back in my days if a young alpha fancied an omega they should man up and court them properly, good grief."
"I've been…working on it?" Namjoon offered, sounding unsure of his own words as he scratched his cheek. He folded quickly with another of her looks, giving a sheepish smile. "It's kind of complicated."
"Which means you haven't worked on it at all," she sniffed. "Does this omega of yours even know you keep claiming his kid?"
The following silence was enough of an answer.
"You better sort out all this, young man," she ordered. "And don't let it affect your writing, or I'll sort you out."
"I promise, I promise," Namjoon agreed hastily, raising his hands in an open gesture.
"Very well. If nothing else, I'd be going back to the office now."
"Of course." The author scrambled to open the door for her, before he paused and looked back. "Um, Han-ssi? If I may ask something?"
She adjusted her bag, guessing this was why he had insisted on accompanying her to the door. The man should have just agreed when she had said that he shouldn't be moving more than necessary and she could show herself out. "You may."
"You, um, you said you don't really get involved with people's personal lives and yet– uh, aren't you worried that maybe a broken heart would affect my writing in the future? Hypothetically!"
Iseul scoffed, shaking his head at the naivety of the question. "Things like this have a tendency to come to a head sooner or later, Namjoon-ssi. Best to have it done with early and on your own terms. And," here she paused, deciding on how much of her reasons she should reveal. "I do not want an omega, and more importantly, a pup to be played around with if I can do something about it. It is very bad business, very foul."
"Right," Namjoon nodded, half to himself. "I'll– I'll keep that in mind."
"I'm positive that this whole business would have been dealt with before the next meeting," she instructed primly, silently gesturing towards the door so that the alpha could open it already. She didn't have all day. Namjoon gulped nervously and nodded.
"Positive. Rest assured."
She didn't have to do anything as crass as ask , the next meeting. The alpha's triumphant grin was an obvious indication of what happened.
Han Iseul mentally acknowledged it, shelving it briskly as another completed task as she brought out the pages of correction on Namjoon's latest draft. Now, back to work.