Chapter 1
Hyoung frowns as he looks at the pages with disdain, what is this?!
He should rip up the book, but not until he meets the bastard first.
Hyoung is reading a book delivered by a punk named Bueno—yes, Bueno! But contrary to his name, he is far from good.
He feels insulted that this trash was even popular. Do people hate him this much?
The novel is called Love Mocha!, a boys' love story. That wasn't the problem; the problem was the character meant to be him: Hyoung.
Bueno hates all plus-size people and didn't even bother to hide it, and to rub salt in the wound, his fictional counterpart is plus size too.
“Bueno! I hope you die!” he shouts toward the ceiling.
Gulping down his anger, he heads to his computer to write his own version of the story. Take that, stupid Bueno!
It wasn't long after touching the keyboard that his eyelids grew heavy. He shouldn't have stayed up so late, but a quick nap sounded heavenly.
“How is he, doctor?”
Hyoung drifts back to consciousness at the sound of a deep, gravelly voice.
“Don't worry, he just needs to eat a healthier diet. All that junk food is terrible for the heart,” the elderly doctor advises.
“Okay.”
Hyoung’s eyes feel like lead as he glances at the man standing beside him. This guy… who even is he?
His hair is messy and greasy-looking, heavy stubble shadows his face, and don't get started on his clothes! His shirt is oversized, his pants are aggressively baggy, and those scuffed sandals?
He knows people don't look their best at home, but that shirt is visibly stained.
“Hey, time to go home. Your kid has been kicking up a ruckus,” the man says, pointing a thumb toward the hallway.
Hyoung is bewildered. Kid? I don't have a kid.
When did he even get to the hospital? He really must have overdone it this time. He really hates that Bueno guy.
Trying to steady his racing thoughts, he asks politely, “I'm sorry, but who are you?”
“I'm Terry, your next-door neighbor from down the hall,” the man sighs, crossing his arms.
I know most of my neighbors, and you are definitely not one of them! Is this a hostage situation?
“Anyway, go check on your brat. It's my only day off in months, and it already sucks with you yelling up a storm in the middle of the night. Now the kid won't shut up,” Terry complains right to his face.
Hyoung is instantly annoyed by the man's tone. Sure, he'd been shouting recently, but breaking things? Does Terry know how expensive property is?
Hyoung pauses, a cold dread creeping in. “Kid? What kid?”
“Eh?” Terry snarls. “Your kid. You don't even know you have a kid?”
Hyoung is about to cuss the slob out when a sudden, violent rush of unfamiliar memories floods his brain. His name is Kim Hyoung. About a year and a half ago, he had a drunken one-night stand with a mysterious man and ended up pregnant.
The memories click into place with terrifying clarity. He'd been kicked out by his parents for refusing an abortion, benching himself for months until the one-night stand finally tracked him down. But it was too late—Kim Hyoung had already cracked under the pressure, twisting into someone erratic and unstable.
Obsessed with money and deeply resentful of his changing body, he grew to hate his own child. He made life miserable for the baby daddy, and after giving birth, his postpartum psychosis spiraled out of control.
The father had tried arranging doctors, therapists, and psychiatrists, but how do you help someone determined to destroy themselves? He did a complete 180—no, a 360. When they tried to keep the baby away, Hyoung snapped, kidnapped the infant, stole a stash of cash, and went on the run.
Things only deteriorated. His psychosis worsened to the point of outright neglect: nearly starving the baby, almost dropping him, and plunging headfirst into madness. It was only by sheer grace that the child survived, while Hyoung himself suffered a massive heart attack right before he could fling the infant to the floor.
Hyoung shivers. This plotline is identical to Bueno’s tragic backstory for the male lead's abused first child—a character killed off early by an unhinged side character. A bitter, metallic taste floods Hyoung's mouth.
“Where is the baby?” Hyoung demands, panic rising.
“He's at the apartment.”
Hyoung freezes. “YOU LEFT A SEVEN-MONTH-OLD ALONE?!”
Not even bothering to check out of the hospital, Hyoung bolts down the stairs, flags down the nearest taxi, and bursts through his apartment door, gasping for air.
He races inside to find the infant lying limply on the floor, frail and dangerously underweight.
“Why didn't anyone call CPS?!”
The baby's breathing is shallow but steady, though the child looks desperately, agonizingly hungry. As if driven by an alien, instinctual reflex, Hyoung fumbles with his shirt, pulling it down and pressing his chest to the baby's mouth.
The infant can barely latch, forcing Hyoung to gently squeeze his breast to express milk. At the first warm drop, the baby’s eyes flutter, and he begins to frantically suckle.
Only then does Hyoung release a shattered breath he didn't realize he was holding.
Then the reality crashes down around him: He is breastfeeding. How is that even possible? He can't believe it's actually working—it's completely surreal!
Instantly, his mind snaps to one furious conclusion: The baby's father. If he ever finds the bastard who abandoned them to this, he is a dead man.
“Bueno, you motherfucker!”
