#yeyoooop

The low hum of bass pulsed through the walls of Mingi’s house, sending vibrations up Wooyoung’s spine as he stepped through the crowded hallway. Lights flashed in quick, dizzying patterns, casting shifting shadows across a mix of familiar and unfamiliar faces.

“Remember,” Hongjoong’s voice echoed in his mind “we’ll be there to keep our heads down and watch. The second anyone sees something suspicious, you know how to reach me. Avoid taking any action if not necessary.”

Right, low profile — he thought, scanning the room anxiously.

With that, Wooyoung slipped into the flow of the party, letting the crowd carry him toward the back. He knew San would be here somewhere, and his heart pounded harder than he’d like to admit — even to himself. Tonight was his chance to settle what had been left lingering for too long.

Should I really talk to him? He wondered, biting the inside of his cheeks as loud music filled his ears. Life was blooming around him, but inside his head — he was all alone with his thoughts even between so many people. It was stupid — and annoying — that just a few weeks ago he’d arrive as a completely different person to one of Mingi’s such parties.

The plan seemed perfect: the four of them arrive at different times, to different locations in Mingi’s mansion, and mingle with the people. Wooyoung was the first one to get there, to test the waters and to avert attention Hongjoong decided it was best if Wooyoung went in first.

Yeah, best for who? Wooyoung felt like a piece of meat on a market in front of starving dogs. Was there really anyone there he could cling onto if things went south?

“If it isn’t Wooyoung of the Jung's!”

The voice came from behind, loud and unmistakable. Wooyoung turned to see Mingi striding toward him, two bottles of beer clutched in his hands. Mingi’s smile was as wide as ever, radiating warmth that was almost infectious.

“Oh, Mingi…” Wooyoung managed, his voice strained. He ran a hand through his hair, trying to push back the storm of thoughts swirling in his mind. Focus, he told himself. He needed to focus.

“What are you doing here all on your own? You got no company to bring with you—if you know what I mean?” Mingi leaned in close, wiggling his eyebrows mischievously. The playful gesture was so typically Mingi, but it caught Wooyoung off guard. He could feel Mingi’s breath on his skin, and when Mingi inhaled deeply, it was as if he was breathing in Wooyoung’s scent. Wooyoung shook off the odd sensation. It’s probably nothing, he thought.

“I just… I just arrived,” Wooyoung stammered, forcing a smile. If I don’t pretend to be confident I should just go home and die in a corner. I need to get this done. “I was looking for you, actually.” He reached out and took one of the beers from Mingi’s hand, though the cold bottle felt foreign in his grasp.

“Well, now you found me, sugar pie!” Mingi chuckled, throwing an arm around Wooyoung’s shoulder. “Let’s go get you some friends.”

Mingi’s arm was a solid weight around his shoulders, grounding him as they pushed through the throng of people. The air grew colder as they ascended the stairs to the second floor, where the crowd thinned out, and it became easier to breathe. Wooyoung glanced down at the beer in his hand, frowning slightly. I don’t like beer, he thought absently, barely hearing Mingi’s chatter as they walked. The noise and the press of bodies made his senses blur; the pheromones in the air made everything feel foggy and distant. They were unfamiliar. Unfamiliar and disgusting.

“You know I’m not looking for a date tonight?” He asked, glancing up at Mingi who was just high-fiving some random people. He peeked at Wooyoung with a frown and smirked.

“Who was talking about a date? You don’t need to date them.”

“Mingi.” Wooyoung said strictly and something seemed to have clicked in Mingi but he sucked the words back before uttering them and just smiled, downing the rest of his drink.

“I was just kidding honey.” He spoke, but something seemed off.

Mingi led them down a corridor, and just as they reached the end, a familiar scent hit Wooyoung like a jolt. He snapped his head up, eyes focusing on the living room they had just entered. It was spacious, with a bar, a pool table and a foosball table, but none of that held Wooyoung’s attention. What did on the other hand, was the broad back of a guy with short black hair, talking to someone near the pool table.

Wooyoung froze.

Mingi noticed, his eyebrows shooting up in surprise. “Come on in, you got to meet my friends. They don’t bite.”

I know they don’t. Was the only thing that could cross Wooyoung’s mind as he looked at someone who was very obviously Choi San. His lips curled into a smile that he couldn’t quite get rid of, even though he didn’t want to seem like a fool. He also failed to notice Mingi’s curious eyes recording everything he was doing.

“Hey guys, look who arrived!” Mingi announced as he entered the room, his voice booming. The initial response was enthusiastic—cheers and playful barking from his friends—but it quickly died down when they saw Wooyoung. The smiles on some of their faces faltered, replaced by something more guarded. Clearly, at the current time Wooyoung was none other than the talk of the town. Major newspapers wrote about him and he wants to pretend to be a nobody? Foolish.

Mingi noticed the shift immediately. He was more perceptive than most gave him credit for. He caught the way his friends’ expressions changed and how Wooyoung seemed to shrink back, his eyes locked onto San. Mingi had sensed that something was up with Wooyoung, and he’d promised himself — and someone else — that he would keep an eye on the younger man tonight.

Wooyoung averted his gaze from San before their eyes met, and escaped Mingi’s hold to head for the bar, but was pulled back by the wrist. He couldn’t help but turn towards the tall guy and stare him right in the face from rather close.

“What?” He snapped.

“Go talk to him.”

Insecurity slapped Wooyoung in the face. How did he know? Why? What will he do with this information? But his mind changed when Mingi smirked. “The fuck is your problem?” Wooyoung cursed as he pulled his hand free. “I don’t even know who that guy is.” A lie.

“That’s my friend, Choi San. Besides a few one night stands he’s single” the host wriggled his eyebrows and Wooyoung wanted to fucking kill him right there and then, but then he remembered Mingi has no idea he became an omega.

“I don’t care if he’s single. He’s most definitely an alpha we wouldn’t be compatible.”

Mingi let go of him and his smile widened.

“What is it?” Wooyoung asked with annoyance in his voice and he failed to notice that someone was walking over to them, but then he felt a shiver on his nape.

“Hey.”

“Oh fuck me.”

Wooyoung turned over to face San whose left eyebrow was raised in a mischievous way as he eyed him up and down. Wooyoung could almost read his mind saying — Fuck him? I already did.

“Yall stand there like a bunch of virgins” Mingi snorted towards them as he downed 2 shots of something suspicious. “Get acquainted.”

“We know each other, actually” San smiled.

Wooyoung flashed him a look that could only be described as terrified. Worry flashed in San’s eyes as he remembered Wooyoung’s recent scandal, and he reached out to tug on the hem of the other’s shirt but he pulled away his hand.

“Yeah? I didn’t know. How did you meet?”

“It’s none of your business” Wooyoung barked back at him and bit his lips.

“Wow, no need to be so rude to me!”

It was really hard to speak. Anxiety was eating him up from the inside. Hundreds of thoughts filled his head, all on a mission to drive him insane. San? One night stands? Could that be true? Was he maybe also just a one night stand? Am I so blind? He took in a small ragged breath, contracting his fingers and then releasing them.

San noticed. He seeked out Wooyoung’s gaze, and when their eyes met he grabbed his wrist so swiftly the other wouldn’t be able to pull away and started pulling him with him as he left the room.

“Hey where are yall going?” Mingi shouted after them but silence was his answer.

“Let them be, they might have some unfinished business” someone spoke, and he glanced back towards the pool table to see who it was.

He shamelessly looked the other up and down with confidence. He was a tall, brown haired young man dressed rather casually in a party of this calibre. A white T-shirt paired with a blue jean jacket and jeans of the same colour, complemented by white sneakers. He was a refreshing site to see in this jungle of women with barely anything on.

Mingi strode over to where the other was and released his pheromones clearly marking his territory so others will leave from around them and that’s exactly what they did, leaving the two alone around the table.

“Don’t think we’ve met,” Mingi said, leaning just close enough to be heard over the music, but clearly — he just wanted to take a whiff of the other’s pheromones. “You’re one of Wooyoung’s friends?”

“Something like that,” Yunho replied, fighting to keep his usual stoic expression, though he felt a strange pull toward Mingi’s unfiltered self. He reminded him of his master.

Mingi laughed, tipping his drink toward Yunho. “Hope you’re not as serious as you look.”

The other glanced up at him from the table and Mingi was met with the most gorgeous pair of eyes he has ever seen.

“Are you intimidated by serious men?” The brown haired smiled and tossed the ball.

“No, normally not, but—” he started and sat on the side of the pool table “you’re making me quite excited.”

“Oh?” He smirked. “You didn’t even ask me my name.”

Mingi hopped off the table and straightened his knee-length white fur coat.

“Excuse my behaviour. I’m Song Mingi, the host. I hope you enjoy yourself tonight—”

“Yunho.”

“Yunho” Mingi repeated the name, tasting each letter on the tip of his tongue, finding this conversation a new sensation, but a rather stimulating one for that matter. But something bothered him. The man clearly didn’t react to his pheromones in any way, nor did he smell in any particular way. Does he have the same condition as Wooyoung? Maybe that’s why they are friends—

“I’m a beta Mingi, you can stop fucking me with your pheromones.”

Mingi snapped as he came to his senses and immediately pulled them back. A beta? It can’t be.

“You want me to fuck you with something else—”

“Ah please, as if you’d get hard over someone who doesn’t have the inviting scent of an omega.”

Mingi was flabbergasted. The way this stranger spoke so rudely with him stirred something in him.

“Then how did you—”

“How did I know you were releasing pheromones?” Yunho asked coyly as he scored another point. “As you approached me suddenly everyone ran away like dogs with their tails between their legs,” he laughed, then his expression changed to a rather serious one “but isn’t it you who acts like a dog by deliberately trying to mark your territory?”

A vein popped out on Mingi’s forehead as he rapidly approached Yunho to grab him by the throat but before he could manage to do that, Yunho twisted his arm behind his back and pushed him against the pool table with his back towards Yunho.

About 4 men stood up immediately from where they were hanging out and looked like they were about to rush to help Mingi, but he probably signalled them off. Bodyguards?

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” He spoke, trying hard to turn his face back to face Yunho.

“Who do you want me to be?” Yunho replied in a cocky matter and pushed his crotch against Mingi’s ass.

Mingi’s eyes widened and he ceased all the struggling he put up before, and relaxed in Yunho’s hold. Yunho released him with the hopes that he won’t be punched and stepped back. Mingi straightened his back and dusted down his coat while clearing his throat.

“Everyone. Get out.”

With only three words the room was cleared in almost less than a minute, making it only the two of them remaining. Once the last bodyguard left and closed the door behind him, Mingi turned towards Yunho.

Yunho expected a face full of shame and anger but the one he was greeted by put a smirk on his face and sent a shiver down his spine. Mingi’s face yes, was red, but not from shame. His eyes radiated so much lust Yunho never saw anything like it before, all the while his eyes were foggy with desire.

Yunho slid the coat off of Mingi’s toned shoulders, then slid down his hands on said area, until he was holding onto the others hands. Then he mindlessly dropped to his knees and put Mingi’s huge palms on his neck.

“What do you want me to do now, sir?”

Hongjoong's sleep was restless, plagued by memories that haunted him even in his dreams. In the depths of the night, his subconscious replayed scenes of turmoil and conflict, each moment etched with the weight of his past. A nightmare. He tossed and turned, trapped in a whirlwind of emotions.

It was eleven years ago…

“Attention all students, this is the Principal. Would Kim Hongjoong please come to my office immediately? Again, Kim Hongjoong please report to my office as soon as possible. Thank you.”

He remembers the way the announcement echoed through the halls. Hongjoong was used to it. With a reputation preceding him like a storm cloud, he was no stranger to these summons. Whether it was a major or minor mishap, every month, if not every week, he had to pay a visit to their dear principal. That day was no different, however the trouble he caused was rather serious that time.

Three victims. One of them rushed to the hospital.

Chatter spread like wildfire. At that point Hongjoong had definitely become a deviant. It was most definitely worth it, because he beat up the people who gave trouble to his lover. He believed it was worth it.

As he strode down the corridors, his presence was impossible to ignore, as there was a certain style to the way he walked. Each step felt heavier for him than the last. His frequent visits to the principal's office became somewhat of a routine performance. How he managed to evade expulsion was a mystery – but for those in the know, it was clear: the shield of his influential family protected him like an armour.

His face bore a proud expression. He made no effort to conceal the evidence of his shenanigans. Instead, he wore his injuries like badges of honour. His appearance was an open book to his personality. He remembers his shirt being misbuttoned and untucked, hanging off of his frame in a careless manner. Tie? He must have left it home while rushing to school, abandoned somewhere in the chaos of his morning routine, together with his shoelaces, one of which dangled loosely. His whole person just mocked the very idea of conformity.

The door of the principal’s office closed with a loud bang as he swinged it shut after entering. The dean clearly despised Hongjoong and his entire family, but she couldn’t act carelessly and just kick him out of the school, due to his family. They pumped loads and loads of money into the school in attempts to present themselves as heroes in the local community – but it was all a lie.

Hongjoong was defiant. His every movement dripped with resentment and bitterness towards his father, the man who had abandoned his family. He was strong. He had to be. He just had to. To show them, to show everyone he wasn’t all just talk, that he wasn’t a pussy like his father… He wanted to be better but just rolled deeper in the dirt.

In the end, all he got was a week of detention after all of his classes were over. So foul. All through his life Hongjoong was treated like a prince, and never fully got to understand how to stand up for his mistakes. This all repeated up to one point, from where there was no going forward.

It was by the end of the week of his detention when the incident happened.

Hongjoong’s then long-time lover was Seonghwa, who he considered the epitome of perfection. He was there every time Hongjoong needed a shoulder to cry on. He was beauty and he was grace, Hongjoong found absolutely no fault in him. Seonghwa was the man of his dreams, his tender sweetheart and also someone to feed his passions. He was his muse.

They were in love for a few years already when they underwent their secondary gender examinations. The results of Seonghwa being an omega and Hongjoong being and alpha never really affected them. They never cared. Up until the time when Hongjoong’s first rut came.

It was seven in the morning. They had a test later that day but Hongjoong awoke with a terrible headache and symptoms similar to a fever. He never got sick. Something he also never did was care about skipping school. If he wanted to, he would just do it. That wasn’t the issue. The issue was that T-shirt Seonghwa left over at his house and the moment he smelled it he became erect and got a nosebleed. Now that was an issue.

He spent the whole day cooped up in his room, not letting anyone enter. The bigger issue was his lover being overly worried and rushing over to his house the first thing after school. Hongjoong’s closed door couldn’t keep him out as he had a spare key for whatever reason made Hongjoong give him one. When he entered he was overwhelmed by Hongjoong’s raw pheromones.

One thing led to another, and Hongjoong pounced on him.

He still remembers the feeling in his bones. Yes, he was excited, but above everything he was terrified. Terrified of this new nature of him, terrified of hurting the person he treasured the most.

They had slept together before so it wasn’t unusual for them to be in such a compromising situation. But this time it was different. Instead of his usual self it was as if he went crazy and couldn’t hear anything Seonghwa had said to him.

He loved him. Seonghwa loved him so dearly, he would have spent the rest of his life with his boyfriend if it wasn’t for this night. He had no idea what overcame Hongjoong. They ended up sleeping together, and when the morning came the bitemark was already on his nape.

Nothing was the same after that.

---

Suddenly, a jolt of fear ripped through Hongjoong, tearing him from the clutches of sleep. His eyes snapped open, the darkness of the room enveloping him like a suffocating blanket. His chest heaved with ragged breaths, heart pounding in his ears like a drum.

For a moment, he lay there, disoriented and trembling, trying to shake off the terrible, terrible dream that kept coming back to haunt him throughout the years, over and over again. But the memories lingered, haunting him like ghosts in the night.

With trembling hands, he reached out, fumbling for the familiar shape of the light switch. Panic was a tight knot in his chest refusing to loosen its grip. But instead of the switch, his fingers closed around the cold surface of his phone, resting on the nightstand.

With a shaky exhale, he glanced at the screen, the harsh glow illuminating the darkness. An alert from one of his employees flashed urgently, demanding his attention. The words blurred together in front of his eyes for the first few seconds of him looking at it, but after the message settled into his brain his eyes popped open and he shot up from the bed.

The word “URGENT!” written in all capital letters settled somewhere in the back of his mind, sending a warning signal to his brain. At first he decided whatever it is, could wait till his working hours start, however before closing his phone he saw the 47 call notifications from two of his managers, and the more than two-hundred other unread emails and messages that he got while being asleep for not more than 4 hours. It was the middle of the night. Something had happened.

He opened the first letter he got from his manager with a groggy demeanour, rapidly blinking away tears that fogged his eyes from the sharp light his phone emitted. He was slow at deterring the message first, but after reading it again and again several times, he broke out in cold sweat.

His first journey that day lead to Wooyoung’s room, but to his surprise when he entered there was no one inside. He even spent the night. Hongjoong walked up and down inside his half-brother’s room, when a dishevelled Yunho bust the door open and burst into the room. They looked at each other for the first few seconds before Hongjoong’s brows furrowed. With quick steps he approached the other and grabbed him by the collar.

“What the fuck is this?” He gritted his teeth, showing Yunho the emails he got. Both of them were pretty unnerved, on the verge of bursting.

“Sir, I…”

“Your sole job was to protect my brother from situations exactly like this one! This is why we pay you this is why we trust you! How could you have betrayed us, no him like that? What if the next thing I know after he left with that unknown man is that they found his body in a gutter?”

Hongjoong was fuming. Yunho never saw him like that. He was usually composed no matter what happened. This made it clear for Yunho just what kind of relationship the two of them had. Hongjoong really did care.

“In this next few hours we will try to find Wooyoung and come up with a plan to respond to the rumours. You can be sure most of the magazines picked up on the topic already and are busy preparing the prints.”

“Sir, if it’s about the family’s name…”

“Are you fucking stupid? I don’t care about that shit, I can restore the name with a single thing I do for the public, the only thing I care about is Wooyoung! What if he end up getting…”

He didn’t finish the sentence. He couldn’t. But before any of them could respond his phone rang with the most unexpected name popping up on it. Hi picked it up with trembling lips.

“Yes, Dr. Park?”

As Hongjoong held the phone to his ear, his mind raced with a whirlwind of emotions. Dr. Park's voice on the other end sounded urgent, cutting through the haze of panic that clouded his thoughts.

“Mr. Kim…” He stopped to take a deep breath. “It's about Wooyoung.”

“I know” The tone Hongjoong used unknowingly sent shivers down Seonghwa’s spine, momentarily bringing back memories he pushed to the back of his mind. “Is there… a problem at the clinic?”

“Not exactly. It’s about the… news. As you know he left a… well, an alpha” Hongjoong could feel Seonghwa’s voice tremble. His heart dropped to the floor. All this suspension, why couldn’t he just cut to the chase? But behind it was Seonghwa silently pointing out a fact that already lingered in Hongjoong’s thoughts. Fear and dread twisted in his gut, threatening to overwhelm him. Without hesitation, he bolted from the room, his mind a flurry of questions and worst-case scenarios.

Yunho followed close behind, his expression mirroring Hongjoong's concern. They rushed through the empty corridors of the mansion, the darkness of the night pressing in around them like a suffocating shroud.

As they reached the waiting car, Hongjoong's thoughts raced with a million possibilities. What had happened to Wooyoung? Was he hurt? Was he in danger?

The drive to the hospital felt like an eternity, each passing moment filled with uncertainty and fear. When they finally arrived, Hongjoong's heart hammered in his chest, his hands trembling as he pushed open the doors to Seonghwa’s clinic.

Inside, the sterile scent of antiseptic assaulted his senses, mingling with Seonghwa’s painfully familiar fragrance. At first, he instinctively wanted to ask his employee to stand outside, but when Seonghwa saw Yunho his eyes darkened.

“You fucking asshole” was the only thing that came out of his mouth, shocking Hongjoong to the core. Since when did the neat and perfect Seonghwa curse? “How dare you!”

“Well it was you who…”

“Excuse me, both of you can you shut up just for a second and quit the bickering?”

Seonghwa nodded, crossing his arm in defence, deciding to be the bigger person.

“Tell me everything both of you know, this is getting way out of hand!”

“Well then” Seonghwa started. “I have a confession to make.”

“We are listening.”

He wanted to roll his eyes so bad but had to keep his composure.

“It was me.”

Hongjoong and Yunho both answered in unison with a what? The shorter was about to go and grab him too by the collar and shout at him when Seonghwa continued.

“No, not the rumours, I didn’t spread the rumours. The one thing I did was… well, I asked Choi San to take Wooyoung out of there.”

Hongjoong was so angry he almost collapsed on the floor like a whiny child.

“You did what? Whatever for would you do that???”

“Well, I wasn’t in the know that they would go straight to a hotel?” Seonghwa retorted. They bickered like an old married couple.

“You could have told Yunho to go with them!”

“Are you serious? Obviously, you are unaware but Wooyoung was emitting pheromones the moment he saw San at your opening ceremony, what was I supposed to do? Let someone randomly pounce on him, or let the public know your brother is an omega?”

Seonghwa’s words cut like knife. They hit exactly where it hurt the most. He directly targeted his and Hongjoong’s past besides his current conscience.

“No…”

“Right.”

“But you should have notified me? The problems we have with each other should not have stood in the way of my brother’s wellbeing!”

Seonghwa gritted his teeth and glanced at Yunho who pretended not to have heard anything. Hongjoong held eye contact with him for way too long for any of the three to feel comfortable in the room.

“Get out.” Was the first thing that left his lips. Yunho blinked twice before he registered the words, then turned around abruptly, bowed and left in a hurry. The two were now alone in the room, tension so thick one could find it hard to breathe.

“What do you want?” Seonghwa spoke and turned around, showing his back towards Hongjoong. His first instinct was to glance at his nape, and he was ashamed that he felt disappointed for not being able to see his neck, for it was being covered by the clothes he wore.

“There was something else you wanted to talk about, right?”

“Oh, how nice of you for being so keen” Seonghwa added sarcastically.

“So?”

“You know what might happen if Wooyoung went into heat from the pheromones of that alpha and they ended up sleeping together?”

Dread overcame Hongjoong.

---

The following events of the day could be describe as chaotic. They did everything they could to find Wooyoung, and when they did Yunho gave him a stern scolding while Hongjoong had to take care of some of the scandalous paperwork that he had to deal with. His main concern was their father getting wind of this. It was hard to conceal the evidence, based on how it was everywhere. But he could manage up to a point.

When he was notified of Wooyoung returning the first thing he did was rush over to his room. When he entered, he saw his brother, safe and sound, Yunho and… a third person. Blood rushed to his head. His mind immediately associated that it was the alpha Wooyoung had slept with. He rushed over with bloodshot eyes and without a word, punched him in the face. Wooyoung shot up from the ground and flew towards the two.

“What the hell are you doing Hongjoong!?”

“It was you, wasn’t it?” He asked looking at his victim, voice hysterical. Memories of the past flew by in front of his eyes, how he used to beat people up for hurting his Seonghwa. Now it was his Wooyoung.

“Sir?” Yunho asked in a panic as he held Hongjoong back from pouncing on Yeosang.

He glanced at Wooyoung’s state. He had only a bathrobe on, hickeys and bite marks clearly showing how much fun he had the previous night. He trembled in anger. How could he let this happen?

“Turn around Wooyoung” Hongjoong ordered, snapping his arms out of Yunho’s hold.

Without having time to properly register the command Wooyoung was turned with his front towards Yeosang who still lay on the floor holding his hurt face, and his back was towards Hongjoong.

It was a swift motion. A quick move, and Wooyoung’s bathrobe was dropped to the ground. Red sneaked up on his face, shoulders and chest as he stood stark naked in front of his best friend, brother and confidante worker.

“What are you doing?” He screamed back at Hongjoong who grabbed his head to keep it in place. “’Joong’ah?”

“Keep still, I have to check something” he said, and everybody froze watching him. Especially Wooyoung, who shivered when he felt his brother’s cold fingers on his shoulder.

It was painful. Keeping eye contact with Yeosang in this situation. Wooyoung swore he could feel those eyes clawing into his soul. He lay on the floor, holding his face, his nose bleeding subtly, his huge, glistening eyes watching Wooyoung.

Yunho could see Hongjoong inspecting every bite mark that littered Wooyoung’s skin around his neck. It dawned on them, just why he is doing that.

“I wasn’t… marked” Wooyoung dropped his head hesitantly, his hands covering his private parts.

“That’s right, I doubted this fucker could’ve done that.” Hongjoong smirked, and raised the bathrobe from the ground, handing it to Wooyoung.

“What? Who? Yeosang?”

Hongjoong blinked twice at the man on the floor and twice at his brother.

“Yes.”

“He isn’t an alpha.”

Wooyoung’s addition settled dead quiet in the room. Such a mistake from his brother’s part could only be done if he himself is unable to smell pheromones, since Yeosang clearly wasn’t emitting any, and even if he were, those were definitely not alpha pheromones. So for Hongjoong to mess up this bad, meant that he used his judgement rather than his instincts. It also would mean that for some reason he was unable to sense pheromones. He was clearly healthy, so that couldn’t have been an issue. The last thing Wooyoung could think of as in why Hongjoong acted so out of character looking for a bite mark on his neck, was that he also had on of his own. His own bite mark, on somebody else.

And just like that, they fell through the building.

San’s palms covered both of his ears as time slowed down. In fact, everything slowed down, only his brain kept working at its usual speed, circling round and round. His eyes locked with San’s as he saw reality shift by the corner of his eyes. Colors and shapes shifted endlessly. He felt the sensation of falling quickly, but they were going down so slowly it was as if they were completely still. He fell backwards and San fell towards him. When his back was supposed to hit the roof of the building, the impact never arrived, instead it was as if they fell through a glass door. Fake shards of glass shattered into every direction, and they were all glitching. Small pictures and videos showed up on them. They seemed to be fragments of something. Something similar to what he lived through ever since he met San. Were they his own memories? Was he seeing fragments of his own memories of the past few days shattering around him and flashing by? They said if you see your own memories you’re about to die. But was he dying?

 Suddenly, time sped up. The scream that lingered in his throat escaped and echoed through the empty space they were in like a thunderclap. In the same instant San’s hands moved, one resting behind his head, the other behind his back and yanked him towards himself.

In the next moment, Wooyoung’s eyes cleared up. He was sitting behind the wheel of a car, one hand on it, the other on the gear shift. His vision slowly but surely came back entirely, and soon he started realizing what the things that surrounded him were.

The speedometer said 120mph and he had only one hand on the wheel. He had to blink twice to register everything. The window by his side was broken and missing, the rearview mirror had 2 obvious gunshot holes in it, but even then he was able to see 3 cars speeding after them. There was a strange tattoo on his left wrist that consisted of numbers, but he barely managed to notice it as he focused on the road in front of him. The asphalt was wet and the streetlight reflected off of it.

“Oh, he’s awake” said a voice from the backseat.

Wooyoung whipped around his head in a second. It was Yeosang.

“Keep your head on the road babe!” Shouted San from the passenger seat.

“What the fuck is going on?” Wooyoung shouted as he turned back towards the road again.

“We’re being chased by 2 sedans” said Yunho nonchalantly while loading a gun – derived from the sounds that echoed form the backseat. He probably set next to Yeosang.

“Fucking figured that” Wooyoung cried out desperately as he noticed there was a turn in the road coming right up.

“Don’t stop love. You can make it.”

“Kiddings” Wooyoung whimpered and was about to step on the brake when San held onto the gear shift and gave him a meaningful look.

“I know you can” he said. “You hold the speed, I shift. When I say ‘now’ you turn the wheel to the left till it locks. Do you understand me doll?” His voice was calm and full of mischief. Wooyoung wanted to tear off all his hair because there was just no way San managed to be this calm and this hot at a time like this.

“Isn’t it supposed to lock only when I’m going slow?” He screamed as the turn got closer.

San chuckled. Wooyoung felt it was time to turn but waited as San instructed.

“Now!”

Once he heard the command his hands immediately turned the wheel and it did indeed hit the lock. San shifted the gear, and the car turned perfectly, skidding onto the next section of the road.

One of the black cars crashed into the building on their right, not making the turn but the other followed effortlessly.

“Good job Wooyoung!” Yeosang shouted from the back.

Wooyoung gasped for air. San smirked as he looked at him.

“Great job indeed. Wasn’t sure you still had it in you.”

“What the fuck do you mean still? And why the fuck am I driving? Did ya’ll drug me again?”

“As if” Yunho started. “Would’ve been much easier.”

“Whatever do you mean? Then why did I see all those things and then wake up at a totally different place and behind the wheel of a car going 120 mph and being chased by some randoms?” Wooyoung was hysterical but he had a reason to be.

“It’s a long story love” San sighed.

“Well then make it fucking short to resemble your dick more” Wooyoung screamed at them as he maneuvered to not hit the other cars next to them. They were approaching the freeway.

Yunho broke out in a fit of laughter and Yeosang was sure to follow when he saw San’s face.

“Babe???” San asked.

Wooyoung snapped his head at him then back on the road.

“Fuck I have no idea why I said that! Sorry!” He cringed. “It kind of came from the back of my mind you know I’m under heavy stress right now! I haven’t sat in a car since I got my license and that was in like, fucking high school!”

“Crazy ‘cuz you insisted on driving” Yeosang leaned into the middle between the two front seats to look at Yeosang while San was still shocked about the insult his dick just received.

“I did? When? I have no recollection of anything that happened after I just laid foot on the rooftop.”

“The rooftop?” Yunho interrupted.

“Yeah?”

“Man that was like, 6 hours ago.”

Wooyoung almost smashed his head into the steering wheel. On a whim, he steered the wheel to the right. That made San slide up against the door and Yeosang fall into Yunho’s lap who almost dropped the gun. Guess seatbelts were not for gangsters. It was as if his driving skills leveled up by a hundred in just a second, something overcame him. At that same time, the car behind them opened fired at the car. Judging his maneuver, it almost seemed like they anticipated the gunshots and tried to duck before they even happened.

“Won’t you make good use of that gun in your hand Yunho?” He said to the tall one who was peeling Yeosang off of him.

“Will if you stop driving like a lunatic. Seems like your balls finally dropped Woo.” He snickered while pulling the window down to turn back and shoot at the black car.

Traffic was heavier on the freeway than in the city and it caused a serious problem for both Yunho who tried to eliminate the enemy, and to Wooyoung who had to keep their speed also while slaloming between cars.

“So what happened in those 6 hours?” He asked while glancing in the rear mirror at Yeosang. “Will it give me an answer as to why I got this tattoo on my wrist next to a whole bunch of blood that I sure the fuck hope is not mine ‘cuz I can’t feel pain for shit from all the adrenaline right now.”

“You seriously think you’d suffer harm while I’m next to you?” San asked, his tone scornful and offended.

“If you flirt with me a single once more while I’m driving our asses out of a car chase I swear I will just crash into the next thing that comes our way!” He screamed at San who pulled back but a smile lingered on his lips still. It was fun for him to see this side of Wooyoung.

“You sure you wanna know man?” Yeosang asked while eyeing Yunho if he needed help. He seemed to be doing good.

“Don’t tell me I killed someone? Not like that other time was my fault” he said nonchalantly and his tone even surprised him. It was definitely not the adrenaline. He was different.

San side eyed him. He opened the glove compartment and pulled out a gun. Wooyoung double checked his actions.

“You guys seriously keep a gun everywhere? Even up your fucking asses?” His tone was condescending. Yeosang snorted.

“Man you’re acting so weirdly. It’s your fucking car and pistol. It’s obviously not us who put it there.”

Wooyoung glanced at him through the broken rear. What? His car? His gun? He hasn’t driven a car ever since he was 18, much less did he purchase one but he definitely didn’t own a gun. This had to be some wicked joke.

“Eyes on the road!” San smacked his thighs and Wooyoung immediately snapped back to reality. Worry evident on his face, he followed the road with his eyes but couldn’t actually focus. There were just too many things going on in his brain at the same time. Hs skills were getting sloppy, and eventually he missed a maneuver and scratched the side of their car against the guardrail.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Yunho shouted back at him and pulled in from the window. “I almost died!”

“Sorry, I can’t fucking focus anymore! Something’s not right here!”

San glanced at Yeosang and they gave each other a knowing look.

“Hey Yeosang, remember that joke we made the last time? About snatching the wheel.” San asked.

“I surely do, but I hope you don’t think we’re going to try to do it when we’re going 120 mph on the freeway!”

San smiled wide.

“Once again, I need you Wooyoung to trust me. When I say ‘now’ you let go of the wheel and climb over to sit in my lap, and Yeosang takes your spot.” He instructed. When Wooyoung heard what they want to do he looked at San and time once again felt like it had stopped as they held eye contact. It was getting repetitive. San counting down from three, and them having to act when one of them says NOW. It felt like a weird code between the two.

Wooyoung couldn’t nod as a reply that he accepts the idea, so he just blinked slowly with both of his eyes at the same time. Fear made him freeze. There was just no way this bullshit plan would work out. San looked at the road up ahead them. They passed a road sign that signaled there will be a curve in the road coming up. They knew they had to make the swap before they reach it because Wooyoung didn't have enough presence of mind to do what they did before leaving the city. He’d just crash the car.

Up front the only car next to them was a red Beetle. All of them knew this was their chance to make the swap. San squeezed Wooyoung’s things in an attempt to divert his attention to him. Then, once again he used the word Wooyoung heard so often from him.

“Now baby.”

Wooyoung let go of the wheel so fast that if h could’ve threw it then it’d long be flying out the missing window on his right. With that same motion he stomped on the gas pedal to lift himself up and the car swiftly took off, but he managed to get up and hopped into San’s lap who hugged him from behind to hold him close. When he looked back at the wheel, Yeosang was already holding it as he climbed into the front seat. He didn’t seem to waste any time as the turn got closer, he stepped on the brakes as he shifted the gear. Yunho held onto the grab handle for dear life in the back. Wooyoung held onto the grab bar as well with his left hand, while he held San’s thigh with his right one. San had both of his hands around Wooyoung’s waist. They barely made the turn. The black sedan that was speeding after them ended up crashing into the barrier and explode.

“Oh my fuck.” Wooyoung breathed as he kept grabbing around San’s upper leg.

“Can’t get yourself to thank god?” He mocked and slid his own hand down Wooyoung’s leg who shifted in his spot from the feeling.

He turned back to look at San. Both of their chests were heaving up and down from the adrenaline they got from all of this car chase thing. Wooyoung wanted to snap at San for flirting with him again but their lips were so close in this position the only thing he managed to do was blush while searching the other’s eyes for answers.

“Do you have a tissue?” He managed to say in the end, quite lowly after the way he shouted just a few seconds ago.

San didn’t answer, just put his hand into the front pocket of Wooyoung’s jeans without breaking the eye contact. Woo gulped. Before pulling his hand out, he caressed Woo’s inner thigh with his thumb, then flipped out a single tissue. Wooyoung would never admit that he shivered. He just raised his eyebrow and said a small “huh” because clearly he had no idea he had a tissue but San knew in his stead.

“I gave them to you earlier. You said they’d come handy after I’m done with you.” He admitted and Woo’s whole face turned bright red. In just what setting did he ever say something so shameless to this man?

Yeosang coughed but Yunho was clearly enjoying the show. They left the freeway and were approaching another city. None of them knew if this was a sane idea based on the chase they just had to endure, but Wooyoung didn’t even have any idea in what city they were, and as it was night and all of them looked pretty roughed up they clearly needed a place to rest. A Motel maybe.

“Where are we going ‘Sang?”

“Mingi gave us a checkpoint before we get back. Said they’ll arrive tomorrow, or during the night, hinges on the extent to which they're hindered by the enemy.” He said, and slowed down.

“We were also to arrive during the day tomorrow, but due to your insane idea that you’ll drive we managed to save like 12 hours for us. Potential rest time.” Yunho yawned leaning on the door.

“I suggested that?”

“Yeah. None of us thought you were much of a lunatic driver but you were until…”

“Until I woke up. Isn’t that right?” Wooyoung said and the atmosphere became gloomy. “You guys know what’s going on don’t you? Did you drug me again?”

San face-palmed.

“That’s not the case…” Wooyoung turned to look at him again but changed his mind mid move so he just pretended to move around as if he was relaxing his sore muscles. San groaned.

“What?”

“Please… don’t move around like that…”

When Wooyoung realized what he meant he almost slapped him. Yeosang made a face that made it obvious he tried not to hear anything of what just happened while Yunho snickered. Really, only a bowl of popcorn was missing from his hand.

The journey wore on in hushed anticipation, every mile passing with a weighty silence. Finally, Yeosang veered into a desolate parking lot, the glow of neon casting an eerie sheen on the shabby facade before them. The bold letters spelling out "M-O-T-E-L" flickered persistently.

They got out of the car one by one. As the four of them stood there Wooyoung was finally able to get a good look at them. They looked different than the last time they met and it was only a week ago. Yeosang was clearly a lot more muscular, and Yunho’s face slimmed down. San on the other hand looked the same. Wooyoung thought, maybe he remembered them differently than how they actually looked while San’s memory was more vivid in his mind. But that wasn’t the case. He realized that when he looked at his own reflection on the window of the car.

His eyes widened. His own image was nothing similar to how he looked just that morning. His hair was long, almost reaching his shoulders, tied back into a ponytail. His eyes held a dark expression, purple bags under it. He was dusty and full of smaller-bigger wounds. One spread across his nasal bridge, but his lips were also torn. Compared to him, San was in a better shape. He just looked tired and messy.

Wooyoung looked visibly confused. The others noticed his state and frowned with distaste. Yunho snatched some keys from Yeosang and flipped them around in his hands.

“Okay lovebirds I’m gonna’ share one of the rooms Hongjoong booked for us with Yeosang until the others arrive. I don’t feel like getting involved in your lover’s quarrel.” He joked and was on his way as San sighed. Yeosang pet his shoulder.

“Good luck man. It’s never easy.”

Both of them watched as they walked away. They were long gone and still none of them spoke. Wooyoung watched San as he kicked the messed up tires of the car.

“Will you not speak?”

“Just because they put the responsibility on me it doesn’t make confessing easier.”

“Come on, it’s not like you’re going to profess your love to me. You’re just a dog that barks but doesn’t bite.” Wooyoung snickered and ran a hand through his hair. The feeling of his grown-out locks felt unfamiliar. He spent a moment skimming through it.

“You’re right.” San admitted. His tone was different. It was full of sorrow. “This needs a different approach…” He mumbled.

Wooyoung put his hands on his waist. He pretended to be patient but he was anything but that.

“So?”

“Hold out your hand. The one with the tattoo.” San said and Wooyoung whipped it out sassily.

Once his hand was out San raised his own as well, and placed it next to Wooyoung’s. In that moment, it was as if something activated, the tattoo started glowing and memories flooded Wooyoung’s brain. They were memories he didn’t remember experiencing, but they were real, and they were all his. They were memories full with the others, but mostly San. San and his endearing eyes. His beautiful smile. Wooyoung started understanding why San felt like home. They knew each other. All of them did, in fact. He had a life he had no idea about. No, more like countless lives. Every time the memory got interrupted it started again from the day of his promotion when he got on the train and met some. It was like some kind of never ending loop. His eyes filled with tears.

“What’s going on Choi San?”

“I knew it was different this time. That this time is the one. This is NOW.”

“Raise your hands higher” Yunho exclaimed as he stood over the kneeling Wooyoung who had both of his hands in the air as punishment.

“How long will I have to do this?”

“For as long as you’ve been away from me – your personal body guard whose life depends on your stupid ass’s safety!”

“But that was like… from late afternoon to the next day’s afternoon! My hands will fall off from the poor circulation!” Wooyoung whined.

“I don’t care. Do you have any idea what I got first from your brother, then from Dr. Park and then from your father, for loosing you?” Yunho argued back, sitting on a comfy armchair in front of Wooyoung so he had to ache to sit there too but would get yelled at if he even tried.

“My brother talked to you about it?”

“I’m more curious about the fact that he and Dr. Park were cozying up to each other behind the building in a parking lot smoking and shit. Stood too close to each other for mere acquaintances” Yunho wondered aloud.

Wooyoung frowned. Yes, he noticed too that they might know each other, but he thought it was only because he was Wooyoung’s new doctor so evidently – they would get to know each other based on the fact that his older brother was really protective of Wooyoung. But their relationship seemed off from the start. Seonghwa didn’t notice, but Wooyoung noticed the way they looked at each other. The way they stood next to each other tensely, like they had so many things to talk about but could just never quite get there. There was definitely more behind the formality they presented towards each other then what they were letting on. He tried to ignore it but now that Yunho reminded him of this fact, it made him bitter. Hongjoong used to tell him everything even things he really didn’t want to know about, but never a word of Seonghwa. It was all too suspicious.

“Just forget that. Hongjoong’s business has got nothing to do with us. He’s an adult man, heir of the family too, if he has or had an affair with a renown rare second-gender disorders doctor whose exceptional in his field then he did” Wooyoung muttered under his breath and picked on his thumbnail with his index finger.

“You’re so natural with it” Yunho sighed. “But how can he be the heir of the family when you’re the only legitimate son of Mr. Jung, besides he’s not even connected to your family by blood and—”

Wooyoung glared at him.

“You’re going overboard with this free thinking of yours, disrespecting the future leader of Jung Group” he uttered in a domineering tone, making it clear for Yunho who the master is. He might have disregarded Wooyoung’s abilities just because he seems like a natural air-head and because he’s a “frail omega” but he really should not have done that. Rookie mistake.

Yunho fell forward onto his knees in front of the still kneeling and hands raised Wooyoung, and bowed down to the floor.

“I beg for your forgiveness Sir, I forgot my place.”

Wooyoung eyed him for a while, but couldn’t keep his laugh inside. Even though he was now laughing, Yunho didn’t dare to raise his head.

“Come on man, get up, it’s not like I’m the mafia, I won’t shoot you dead for talking down on my half-brother” Yunho nodded and stood up, but he still didn’t dare to act like before, so he just sat on the floor in front of Wooyoung.

“Still… sir… I mean Wooyoung, I should not have said something like that I’m so stupid.”

“We could say that. You’re lucky it was me who heard it, and not one of those posh employees my father treasures so much – I have no idea why.”

Yunho nodded. He had to agree. Their employees were more like servants in the royal court, and the daily life felt like a week on the battlefield in this huge mansion. They never said a word to each other, never even nodded or side eyed each other, just kept on working like robots or soldiers. Amongst all of them, Wooyoung considered only him to be a real person and was glad they got to spend so much time together and he didn’t have to stare at an asshole kind of person all day long. The only times he wasn’t so glad about it were the ones such as now, when he was being punished for being stupid. You got to be tough if you’re going to be stupid.

Yunho was still in his pajamas. When he got notice of Wooyoung arriving home – basically his phone went off after the motion and face detection sensors activated and sent him the signal of Wooyoung trying to sneak in by climbing trough the fence, so he was woken up from his late afternoon nap, which was mandatory after staying up all night and searching through a bunch of security footage to find his master – he had no time to change so he just ran through the whole house until he found the criminal: Wooyoung. That being said, Wooyoung on the other end was now in bath robes and underwear, because when the two met and Yunho noticed there were alcohol, saliva and other substance stains on his clothes besides them being torn apart or disheveled, they stared at each other very obviously awkwardly for an uncomfortably long time. So before the punishment set in, he had Wooyoung take a quick and tepid shower – that lasted about an hour and a half because Wooyoung was a mermaid in his previous life and once he gets under the water, time stops, and Yunho was too embarrassed to enter and yell at him to stop raising the water bills – and only after he finish, did Yunho make him kneel on the ground and raise his arms, combined with a colorful scolding in which he didn’t use any curse words because at the end of the day Wooyoung is still his boss after all. Not soon after that, the conversation took a dark turn because Yunho was careless.

It was known around the mansion that Kim Hongjoong was an illegitimate heir to Jung Group. In fact, he wasn’t even the son of Mr. Jung by blood. Hongjoong’s mother was married to another businessman, and after they divorced due to his criminal background, he fled the city so she came to Seoul with his then 10-year-old son, Hongjoong. After a few years of raising him alone, she met Wooyoung’s father due to work related reasons and they started having an affair while he was still married to Wooyoung’s mother. If rumors are to be trusted, they never planned on getting married, it only happened because she got pregnant. Once the cat was out of the bag, their scandalous love life stirred such a huge ruckus that reporters even tried to interview the then middle-schooler Wooyoung. Once his mother found out about the affair, she disappeared without a trace and hasn’t been found ever since. Not like Mr. Jung cared, guess he was just happy she was out of the picture.

Wooyoung resented her on his behalf. Everyone thought he’d resent his stepmother and stepbrother, but how could he? No one saw into their family like he did. No one saw how nothing worked out at home, how his parent’s marriage was not the seal of love, but a business plan. A business, that’s fruit was supposed to be another dominant alpha son, who’d be able to take on the company. However, Wooyoung’s results of his secondary gender never arrived. Whatever he was, his father was sure he was not a dominant alpha, or else everyone would’ve known by that time. Little by little, he started letting go of Wooyoung, and ever more of his mother who failed at the only task she had. That’s when Hongjoong and his mother entered the picture. And just like that, Mr. Jung forgot he had his own family, his own son by blood and just because of sheer disappointment he turned to the son of someone completely else. It was convenient.

So, they thought Wooyoung would resent them for ruining his life. But did they ruin it? He never wanted to be the heir of the company. He was comfortable with his own little life that didn’t need so much responsibility in it. How could he resent Hongjoong? The guy barely had a say in it, similarly to himself, and he never said a bad word to Wooyoung as well. On the contrary, from the first second they met – which was an awkward introduction dinner ordered by his father – they got along well, and Hongjoong treated him as if they were blood-related brothers who’d known each other for years. He was the epitome of a good older brother. And he had talent for business, not like Wooyoung. He was totally blind at it, while the other treated difficult business plans as if they were a child’s play. Naturally, Mr. Jung also noticed. And as how time passed, Hongjoong became the successor. Wooyoung was fine with it. He really was. This gave him a little more freedom and time to pass to his heart’s content. He couldn’t hat Hongjoong’s mother either, no one could control who they fell in love with.

He instead resented his own mother. When shit kicked in, she just fled like a rat.

“Young Ma- Wooyoung? Are you okay?” Yunho inquired, worry evident in his voice.

“Yeah. Just the poor circulation in my hands” Wooyoung responded with a life less tone.

Before Yunho could respond, someone kneeled onto the doorbell and rung it frantically, like a maniac.

“What in the fuck… Yunho, go get it!” Wooyoung ordered and got a look from the other. As a response, he just opened his already raised hands as if signaling that he couldn’t’ possibly go as he’s serving his punishment.

The doorbell rang frantically, the sound echoing through the mansion. Yunho hesitated for a moment. With a resigned sigh, he rose to his feet and hurried to answer the door.

As Yunho disappeared from view, Wooyoung remained kneeling on the ground, his hands still raised above his head. The uncomfortable position was starting to take its toll on him, but he refused to lower his arms, determined to endure.

Minutes passed, each one feeling like an eternity as Wooyoung struggled to maintain his posture. Finally, the sound of hurried footsteps approached, and Yunho reappeared in the doorway, a look of urgency etched on his face.

“It's...” Before he could finish, a familiar face popped up at the side of the room and made their way inside.

“Yeosang?” Wooyoung exclaimed in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

The other was about to speak but his eyes stopped on Wooyoung’s body. The white bathrobe he had on slid up on his thighs from how his hands were raised, parted on his chest, one of his nipples showing, love bites and marks clearly visible on his soft skin. Yeosang gulped. They exchanged an awkward glance before he cleared his throat and decided to banish those thoughts from his mind.

“What’s up ‘Sangie?”

“This… it’s really bad” Yeosang spoke and pulled out a colorful magazine from his backpack. Based on how he looked Wooyoung could guess that he ran here straight from wherever he was before, not even stopping to take a breath as he was disheveled, out of breath and sweaty.

“What is… what’s that?” Yunho asked and took the papers from him. Yeosang brushed his hair back, brows furrowed. He tried not to peek at Wooyoung’s form.

“What is it Yunho? Show your master” Wooyoung said teasingly, but when he saw Yunho’s face freeze and life seemingly leave his body he got worried. He jumped up and walked over, snapping the page out of Yunho’s hands and taking a look at it himself.

It was the most recent article of one of the leading newspapers in town. The design was exquisite, the paper of the highest quality, but it was the bold, attention-grabbing headline that captured their attention. Wooyoung couldn’t help himself, he muttered the words aloud.

“Scandal rocks the Jung Family: Prince caught in compromising situation with mystery man!” Wooyoung couldn't help but mutter the words aloud, his voice tinged with shock and disbelief. “Breaking! Jung Wooyoung was left with hickeys all over his body after emerging from the depths of a hotel!”

Yeosang pulled out three or four other newspapers from local to regional, all of them bearing the same news he read aloud.

 “Spectators claim the youngest of the prominent family reeked of Alpha pheromones. What are the stances of the Jung Family on the matter?”

Article followed article with the same topic in all of them: him and San. They delved into the details of Wooyoung's alleged rendezvous with a stranger, painting a scandalous picture of his actions. Hickeys, hotel stays, and the unmistakable scent of Alpha pheromones all featured prominently.

Shit. This was truly, really bad.

With each word he read, Wooyoung’s heart sank deeper into his chest. This was beyond bad—it was a disaster of epic proportions. The Jung Family's reputation was on the line, and Wooyoung knew he had to act fast to mitigate the damage.

“At this point maybe I should just kill myself shouldn’t I?” Wooyoung asked as he dropped the papers to the ground with a lifeless expression, then plopped next to them with a thud.

Yeosang wanted to run up to him and help but was preceded by Yunho.

“You mustn’t do that; I’d lose my job!”

Wooyoung gave him a dumb smile. Dumb smile for a dumb person saying dumb things… oh all of this was just so stupid.

“Fuck, Yunho, I respect you… but are you serious right now?” Yeosang snapped at him, not realizing it was just a joke.

Wooyoung raised his eyes to look at his best friend.

“’Sangie, just calm down and—”

“Calm down? I ran over here from school once I heard it, but only after taking off all the posters around school that had your face on it saying you’re a dick sucker omega bitch anyone could just use around! If you are not, I am fucking terrified Wooyoung!” He shouted, voice breaking. There was a visible tremble in his hands as he gripped the now crumbled pieces of newspaper.

The weight of Yeosang’s words hit Wooyoung like a ton of bricks, the reality of the situation sinking in deeper with each passing moment. He had never seen Yeosang so distraught, so shaken to the core. It was a stark reminder of just how dire the situation had become.

Yunho, too, seemed to grasp the gravity of the situation, his expression reflecting a mix of concern and urgency. He knelt down beside Wooyoung, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

“We'll figure this out, Wooyoung,” Yunho said, his voice firm and determined. “We'll find a way to clear your name and salvage the family’s reputation.”

Wooyoung couldn't shake the feeling of despair that threatened to overwhelm him. The headlines, the accusations—they were like a dark cloud looming over him, casting a shadow on his life that seemed to be blooming recently, but maybe he was just too stupid and shallow minded to realize how thin the ice he walked on was.

“What are we going to do?” Wooyoung murmured, his voice barely above a whisper. It wasn’t evident that he even registered what Yunho had just told him.

Yeosang took a deep breath, his hands still trembling as he tried to steady himself. “We need to get ahead of this,” he said, his tone resolute. “We need to find out who's behind these rumors and put a stop to it before it spirals out of control.”

Yunho nodded in agreement, his mind already racing with possible courses of action. “We'll start by gathering any evidence we can find,” he suggested. “Witnesses, security footage—anything that can prove your innocence.”

Wooyoung felt a flicker of hope stir within him at Yunho's words. Maybe, just maybe, they could weather this storm together. But as he glanced at the crumpled newspapers strewn across the floor, the weight of the situation bore down on him once more.

“How could you possibly clear my name?” Wooyoung scoffed. “Innocence? Look at me!” He pulled the bathrobe apart on his chest, making it obvious for the two where to look, and what not to miss.

There was no part of his body San’s marks hadn’t covered. What went down in the hotel was clear as day to anyone with a conscience, especially to those who saw those disgustingly well taken photos of him exiting the Hotel.

“Wooyoung…”

“Just tell me, I’m curious, how will you present me as innocent? And the pheromones? You can tell me, I know that both of you can feel it I can see the disgust and remorse it gives you just by the way you scrunch your noses, how you hold your heads and how your torso doesn’t face me. I know all too well you feel repulsed by my right now because even though I showered, I still reek of it.”

Wooyoung's words hung heavy in the air, casting a pall over the room as Yunho and Yeosang exchanged uneasy glances. They had known that clearing Wooyoung's name would be an uphill battle, but facing the harsh reality of the evidence against him was another matter entirely.

Yunho took a deep breath, steeling himself for the difficult conversation that lay ahead. “We'll find a way, Wooyoung,” he said, his voice firm despite the uncertainty gnawing at his insides.

Yeosang nodded in agreement, his expression determined. “And we'll scrutinize every detail of those photos and articles,” he added, his voice tinged with determination. “We'll find any inconsistencies, any holes in their story, and we'll use them to cast doubt on their accusations.”

Wooyoung looked up, his eyes meeting Yeosang's with a mixture of gratitude and uncertainty. In that moment, he felt a glimmer of hope stirring within him.

“Thank you,” he murmured, his voice choked with emotion. “Thank you both for staying by my side and trying to help even though I keep fucking up over and over again all the time.”

Wooyoung couldn't shake the sinking feeling that the worst was yet to come. And with each passing second, the walls seemed to close in around him, the weight of his predicament pressing down upon him like a vice when the doorbell rang again. There were two options and the better one was Hongjoong.

After Wooyoung left the room Seonghwa fell into a silent state. The result he got back from Wooyoung's blood tests were nothing less than worrisome. The drug they found in his blood was something new, something worrying. During none of the tests he ran was he able to identify the substance, so it was possible that it was brand new, one that hit the market recently.

For it's properties he deducted it was an omega heat inducer, but seeing how Wooyoung was still releasing pheromones weeks having taken it raised to drug to a height of unexpected hazard. He had no idea how the drug altered his body, and he wasn't even sure Wooyoung didn't become an omega because of it. Sending the results to higher ups was too risking in this case. The only people he could rely on were those of Jung Group.

A synthetic omega heat inducer. 

The case felt bigger than he thought. 

---

"What did you say?" Wooyoung asked with disbelief. 

"I meant it." San replied.

"I- do you really think that was the right thing to say at a place and time like this?"

San hesitated and bit his lower lip.

"I was afraid you might slip away."

Wooyoung thought his ears were playing a prank on him. Just what was this conversation? He was disappointed in everything - himself included. Minutes ago he wanted to kill this person with his own two hands and now he was contemplating on forgiving him? It was just miserable.

As he watched the taller one the realization hit Wooyoung in the face that in the past weeks he was constantly thinking about San, in the most shameful ways possible. He was used to having awkward conversations with his one night stands but this felt so different compared to those.

Embracing a change was difficult.

San couldn't make eye contact with him. He kept eyeing the ground, his shoes, his hands,  the walls, the tiles down the corridor, but not Wooyoung. Cheeks dusted pink, biting his lips he was totally out of it.

"Could you stop?" Wooyoung asked then, in a low tone. 

He started walking down the corridor and evidently San had to follow.

"What do you mean?"

"Biting your lip."

San raised a brow.

"It's annoying" Wooyoung added. "It remind me just how big of a player you are."

San stopped and grabbed Wooyoung's arm, pulling him back as well.

"What are you talking about?"

"I saw the teeth marks on your lip, it's obvious the girls you sleep with left them there."

San was flabbergasted. Girls he sleeps with? Girls? He sleeps with? Girls??? He couldn't escape the laugh that bubbled up from his chest as he looked at Wooyoung's grumpy face. He was just too cute. 

"Why are you laughing? You should be crying. I should be crying, oh wait, I already did that" he added in a sassy tone.

San raised his left hand and placed it on Wooyoung's cheek.

"You got it totally wrong. I'm biting my lips because of you."

Wooyoung's lips parted but at the same time he rolled his eyes.

"How cheesy..."

"Not like that. It's because of your pheromones. They keep on lingering around you, and just one whiff of them makes me go totally crazy. I bite my lips so that I manage to keep my sanity."

Wooyoung's eyes went as wide as two plates. Just how shameless was this person? Admitting to getting horny by another man's smell in broad daylight? In a public facility too? He couldn't believe he got himself into this mess. 

"Oh come on. We're both men."

"You clearly didn't mind it when I was holding you."

His lips fell agape from the shock, face as red as a tomato.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm just stating a fact. I'm surprised at this day and age there are still people like you."

"Like me? What does that mean?" Wooyoung asked but regretted it as San stepped closer as well, their faces now inches apart. He averted his gaze for a second.

"It means people who can't accept the existence of secondary genders, and how they shape our lives."

"Oh yeah? And how does it shape your life? You're just an other one of those high and mighty perfect alphas who can go around and fuck everyone without consequences because you're on the top of the food chain, while I would get slut shamed on the streets if anyone knew I became an omega? My friends, my previous partners would all be ashamed of me prejudicially."

"You wanna know how it shaped me?"

"Yeah."

San leaned in. Their lips were only a breath away.

"It shaped me in a way that I want to rip your clothes to shreds every single time I lay eyes on you. It shaped me in a way that your mere thought sends shivers down my spine and makes my blood go south and my brain go foggy. That a mere whiff of your scent makes me want to bite your nape. That I want to hold you for so long we'd become one entirely." 

Wooyoung couldn't help but gulp. He felt a strange sense of familiarity at San's closeness, and involuntarily wanted to lean in and taste his lips. He pulled his ears back lack a scared cat, and tried to step back to get away but his legs got tied together in his clumsiness, and he would have fell back if it wasn't for San holding his waist. The touch sent shivers down his whole body and he was sure San could feel it too. His face was so flushed from being fluster a tear threatened to escape from his right eye.

"Pervert."

San laughed and let him go.

"I'm only saying the truth."

"Yeah... I guess. But must you have said it in such a... vulgar way?"

"I'm sure many even more vulgar things have left those pretty lips of yours before."

"Do not flirt with me. We are not a thing."

"Why aren't we?"

"Are you seriously asking that?"

"Yes, and don't say because we are two men because I know. I can vividly remember your naked body and how you moan my na--"

"Okay fucking stop. Are you crazy?" Wooyoung clasped a hand over San's mouth. He nodded slightly as an answer, signaling that he in fact, considered himself a little crazy. "You can't be serious. I'm a man!"

"And you think I care? I go fucking insane if I just think about you."

"You... are you confessing?"

"What if I am?"

Wooyoung didn't know how to act. Yes, he received many confessions before but all of them were from girls who liked him or girls who he slept with and started liking him. They were all the same. They caught feelings because of how handsome he was, or how good he was in bed but their feelings were always very shallow and not enough for Wooyoung. And now there he was, a head taller than him, nothing cute about his build or his features, he was masculine and hot, raw and passionate - basically the polar opposite of what Wooyoung considered to be his time. And even then, he didn't feel the need to push him away. He even felt like he should consider San's confession. The energy San emitted, it was so different than everything Wooyoung ever knew, he felt like the pray of a carnivore and he enjoyed it.

"San I– this is really new for me, you, my whole secondary gender, dating... I'm not sure if I'd be able to date a man." He said, and for the first time ever since he started refusing confessions, he felt genuinely sorry.

"I'm not asking you to date me."

"Then what....?"

"If you want to date me or not, that's entirely up to you. I just had to let you know my feelings. Your friend surely educated me on the topic while you were inside." San replied with a nervous chuckle.

"Wait what? The two of you know each other?"

"I mean yeah? He was the one who called when I was holding you, and I told him where to come and how to get you, because I knew I had to leave or else I'd do things we'd both regret, but I felt bad for it so I asked Yeosang to come."

Wooyoung facepalmed so hard it would definitely leave a mark.

"My god."

"What?"

"I had no idea about that and was rude to him for like no reason other than that he has been ghosting me ever since."

"He hasn't been replying to your texts since he found you in the classroom?" San asked, surprise seeping from his voice.

"Yes. And not only to my texts, to my calls either. After he took me home we talked then he suddenly left and ever since then there was no word about him, and now he just shows up here..." Wooyoung wanted to put two and two together but something was missing. "I need to go to his house right now." He blurted out and stormed out the door.

Getting a cab was one of his many talents, with just a wave of his hand one already pulled over. He was half inside when San grabbed his wrist.

"Will I see you again Jung Wooyoung?"

Wooyoung's heart skipped a beat and he smirked.

"If we need to meet again, we will" he said coyly and closed the door of the car.

San watched as the vehicle slowly disappeared from his sight and let out a frustrated sigh.

---

Wooyoung knew the way to his best friend's house like the back of his hand. He's been there many times before, so it was only natural for him to be so sure. However, when he stood outside the white fence, his nerves got the best of him. If it wasn't for Yeosang's mother to open the front door while he was standing outside he'd have already left.

"Wooyoung? Is that you? What are you doing standing there, come in!" She chirped in a lovely way that made his heart ache for his own mother.

"Hello Mrs. Kang. It's been a while" Wooyoung said shyly, kicking off his shoes.

"It sure has. Yeosang is in his room, I'm sure he'll be happy to see you."

Yeah, sure.

Wooyoung nodded and went upstairs. He could hear faint music seeping out from his friend's room as he stood there, biting the tip of his thumb. What was he even going to say? He came here on an impulse.

Knock knock knock.

No answer. He picked up the pace of the knocking, and put a little more force in it.

Knock knock.

"Mom I told you I wasn't hungry!"  Yeosang's voice was frustrated on the other end of the door.

Wooyoung felt a rush of fear wash over his body but he shrugged it off.

"It's me Sangie, Wooyoung."

The music stopped. Rattle of a chair disrupted the quiet, and the rushed noises of throwing things from one place to the other. Then footsteps got closer to the door. When it opened, it revealed an awkwardly smiling Yeosang.

"What are you doing here? I had no idea you'd drop by" he pretended everything was okay between them, but his eyes radiated sadness.

"I felt bad for acting that way towards you." Wooyoung said, and stepped into the room. It seemed neat and tidy but he was sure Yeosang just shoved some stuff into his closet a few seconds ago in a try to clean up before the guest enters.

"You did?"

Yeosang's voice was surprised, and it made Wooyoung's skin itch. He said those words with a tone indicating the fact that he didn't even consider Wooyoung would feel bad for acting like a little shit.

"Of course. You're my best friend." Wooyoung said and turned back towards him. 

Yeosang eyed the floor. He closed the door and now was lying against it. His face was slightly flushed - it seemed to be a new habit of people who surround Wooyoung. He fidgeted with his legs uncomfortably.

"Ok stop it right fucking now." Wooyoung blurted out. His brows were furrowed from frustration and that broke Yeosang's heart.

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? I mean you ignored my texts and calls for days and then you randomly showed up made a scene and left when I told you to! Just what is going on?"

"What the fuck did you want me to do then hm?" Yeosang replied and made Wooyoung's eyes widen. 

Wooyoung was shocked. His friend never cursed. He never said anything bad to anyone, he was always just so good and so pure and now he stood there, muscles flexing, jaw clenching, eyes holding so many emotions in them Wooyoung would need several lives to fully decipher them. 

"Just what is going on with you Yeosang?"

"What going on with me? What going on with you?"

"Whatever do you mean?"

Yeosang slowly walked up to him.

"All my life, you've been a playboy, a womanizer, you got anyone you wanted you've been on top all the time, you've been the epitome of perfection, a dream a vision - and you think I wouldn't act differently after finding you passed out covered in pheromones and cum, drooling over the dick of some random dude who fucked you into oblivion instead of--" he stopped, sucking back what he was about to say.

Oh this was not happening.

"Instead of fucking who?" Wooyoung asked clenching his fists.

"Instead of the person who always had eyes for you even before you became an omega. The person who held you as you slept, the person who always stood in your shadow but never had a problem with it because at least he could be with you, even if he had to watch from the side as you had your fun. But I guess the bubble just popped."

"You... you're joking." Wooyoung's voice faltered. 

They stood face to face and he kept searching Yeosang's eyes to find the point where he was just fucking with him but he couldn't find it. He was sincere. He had feelings for Wooyoung. 

"Do I look like I'm joking to you?" He asked, cornering Wooyoung between himself and the desk. "You have no idea how much the mere thought of never being able to have you made me suffer, and have no idea how much more I will suffer just because I told you my feelings and now you're going to get scared and leave and we'll slowly become strangers."

"We will never be strangers 'Sangie."

"Don't give me hope" he said, and leaned closer, putting their foreheads together.

"You're just confused Yeosang because I'm  changing but it's okay we'll get trough this together I--"

"You think I'm confused?"

"Yes." Wooyoung breathed, voice getting so low even he couldn't hear it well. But Yeosang did.

"I'll show you just how much I mean what I said" he whispered on his lips.

Yeosang kissed him.

---

Seonghwa closed down the clinic after his last patient left. He was reducing the amount of clients he accepted because of his new contract with Jung Group. Although it wasn't Wooyoung's father who contacted him, but a man named Yunho, but he made it clear for Seonghwa just how important of a client Wooyoung was. 

The building was already quiet when he left the office, but he still ended up bumping into someone on the corridor.

"My apologies" Seonghwa bent down to pick up the papers the person dropped.

He couldn't help but ran his eyes over them. They were construction plans and sketches, sealed business documents about payments and ownership of a new shop located right opposite of Seonghwa's clinic. 

The other person stayed silent. Seonghwa wondered why he didn't bend down to pick up his own stuff, but he too froze when he heard the eerily familiar voice of who he bumped into. 

"Park Seonghwa is that you?" Said the man, and Seonghwa raised his head to look at him. But he was careless to do that. 

All of his blood froze into his veins in the blink of an eye. He felt lightheaded and almost fell on the ground but was pulled up by the other. He couldn't form words even tough he wanted to, and much less was he able to run away, even tough he desired to. 

"What are you doing here?" He asked curtly, earning a laugh from the other. 

"I came to check up on my new shop. We'll hold a grand opening ceremony by the weekend and I just wanted to make sure everything was going well with the construction, but I had no idea I'd bump into an old friend. What are you doing here? How long has it been? 10 years at least."

Seonghwa had to keep all his resolve to not hit him. Business smile plastered on his face, he stepped back a few and handed to papers to him.

"It has been 11 years and 7 months since you sexually assaulted me. In light of your actions I became a doctor specializing in rare second gender conditions to help other's overcome difficulties and not end up in my situation. Just a week ago, I secured a prominent client."

The other's face became somber.

"Sexually assaulted you? Are you crazy?"

"What would you count our history as then?"

"We were in love Seonghwa! Or at least I was in love with you! We dated and slept together."

"You bit my neck! Without consent!" The man went dead silent. Seonghwa continued. "The following day I went rushing to the doctor because I found out I couldn't smell any pheromones anymore, only to find out I was marked? I didn't even have any idea what it meant to be marked until he explained to me I will never be able to have sexual relationships with anyone other than the person who marked me, that I will never be able to smell the pheromones of anyone other than the one who marked me, that I will never be able to live a normal life because you ruined it selfishly!"

Seonghwa latched out completely. He was furious. He kept all of this in his chest ever since than, as he and his family had moved away from their old neighborhood not long after the incident occurred. 

"Seonghwa..."

"And you know what the worst part is? That I also was in love with you. Yes, we were 16, yes we were young and stupid, but if you had asked me for consent before biting me, I would have said yes, that I wanted to be with you for the rest of our lives even if I had no idea how it worked back then but I'd have agreed because that's just how much I loved you Kim Hongjoong." 

Yeosang pushed him against the table. 

His lips were unsure at first, but once he realized Wooyoung is not pushing him away he became greedy. One of his hands found Wooyoung's waist while the other rested behind him on the desk for support. His mind was going to break. 

There he was, kissing his best friend who he longed for for so long and he was kissing him back. Yeosang didn't care if this would ruin their friendship, if this would be the end of it all, the only thing on his mind was that he could finally have him, taste him, hold him, even if for mere seconds. He had no idea why Wooyoung didn't pull away why he didn't slap him in the face for crossing the line, but instead played along and kissed him back. His lips were just as how Yeosang imagined so many times before. They were soft and plump, juicy and delicious. And he definitely knew how to use them. 

When Wooyoung held up his hands to grab Yeosang's shirt was when he moaned into the kiss and the two parted. Looking at each other with laced eyes they quickly snapped out of it when the realization hit them.

"Oh my fucking god I'm so sorry Wooyoung" Yeosang backed away, a hand in front of his mouth. He was terrified of what was coming next, but Wooyoung just stood there with a weak smile.

"I guess I should've seen this coming" he admitted. That's when Yeosang realized Wooyoung was no longer emitting pheromones. Oh. "I think it would be better for both of us to just forget about this" he said in the end.

Yeosang dropped his hands, eyeing his best friend.

"I'm not sure if I will be able to do that."

Wooyoung gave him a painful glare.

"You better do."

---

Friday came by painfully slowly. Wooyoung stuck to taking his medicine. He wasn't cooped up in his room but started attending University again and catching up with everything he left off on. If it wasn't for his family's prominence, he'd already have been expelled for his extended leave. Guess money do can buy happiness up to an extent.

He got along with people just as how he did before, and nobody seemed to complain about his pheromones, which he was more than glad for. He could finally pretend life was back on its usual track, except the way Yeosang acted. He still kept following him around like before, but his eyes never met those of Wooyoung's.

Wooyoung entered Seonghwa's office, noting the tension etched on his doctor's face. There was an air of disquiet, palpable even in the sterile confines of the room. Seonghwa's troubled expression didn’t go unnoticed by Wooyoung, who furrowed his brows in concern.

"Is something bothering you, Seonghwa?" Wooyoung asked, his voice tinged with worry.

Seonghwa's gaze drifted towards the window, where the city skyline sprawled in the distance. "There's a new business owner across from us," he confessed, his voice heavy with apprehension. "His presence... it's unsettling."

Wooyoung's curiosity piqued at the mention of the mysterious figure. "What do you mean?" he inquired, leaning forward in his seat.

Seonghwa hesitated before speaking, choosing his words with care. "There's something about him... something I can't quite put my finger on," he admitted, his tone laced with unease. It was obvious he tried avoiding stating clear facts. He knew Wooyoung knew the shop's owner as he planned to attend the opening, but Wooyoung didn't know about Hongjoong and Seonghwa's history. 

Wooyoung nodded, understanding the gravity of Seonghwa's concerns. Despite the doctor's attempt to reassure him, Wooyoung sensed there was more to the story than Seonghwa was letting on.

As Seonghwa broached the subject of attending the opening of the new shop - which was the only reason Wooyoung sat so neatly in his chair - Wooyoung's interest was piqued. 

Unbeknownst to Seonghwa, Wooyoung's mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Yeosang, their recent encounter lingering in his thoughts like a persistent whisper. The memory of their kiss sent a shiver down his spine, igniting a flurry of conflicting emotions within him. It was weird. He wanted to forget it. But he didn't know that not forgetting it was what saved his ass.

"After all" Seonghwa started "you are free to attend." He looked at the result of the new tests in his hand while saying the verdict.

"Oh?" Was the only thing Wooyoung managed to say.

"Are you surprised?"

"A little. I didn't trust the medicine to work wonders like that."

"It is experimental" Seonghwa replied, putting down his sheets of documents. "But you're clean. One way or another, your results are spotless. In fact, it seems you haven't emitted pheromones in a few days either. Almost as if your condition has become stable."

A smile lingered on Wooyoung's lips.

"Must be because you're wonderful at your job, doctor!" He chirped and jumped up from where he sat before. "A raise should be in order."

Seonghwa laughed. He managed to hide behind his poker face, but his thoughts were circling. One way or another...

"Will you be attending as well Dr. Park?" Wooyoung asked on the verge of stepping out of the room. He didn't even notice the boy going there. He nodded with a hum and watched as Wooyoung disappeared behind the white door.

The opening ceremony...

As the day of the opening arrived, Seonghwa found himself standing amidst a sea of unfamiliar faces, his senses heightened by the fear of what lay ahead. Across the room, he spotted the figure of Hongjoong, his presence commanding attention amidst the crowd. Although he wasn't tall, he was clad in all the luxurious brands one could imagine, but even if it hadn't been for that, he'd be a sight to behold. Seonghwa shivered. The mark of their bond pulsated uncomfortably on his neck.

The ceremony came to a start as Hongjoong tapped the mic in front of him to speak. Next to him stood the glamorous Wooyoung with a pride smile on his face.

Their eyes met, a silent exchange of recognition passing between them. In that fleeting moment, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place, revealing a truth that had remained hidden beneath layers of uncertainty and deception. It all dawned on Seonghwa. How did he not notice it before? How did he miss the signs?

They were not merely strangers bound by chance encounters and fleeting connections. No, they were something more profound, something rooted in the depths of their shared history and intertwined destinies.

Jung Wooyoung, Kim Hongjoong. 

To eyes and ears outside of their world, the two would seem to be total strangers. But to Seonghwa, who knew Hongjoong since they were kids, who knew how his mother married a wealthy businessman later on in their life, who knew that businessman had a son from a previous marriage as well... It was so clear now. They were the so called twin jades of the new generation of wealthy business families, the brothers known by so many. Seonghwa was blind. And now he felt terrified. His most important client was the brother of his bond, the man he swore he'd never see again if it was on him. And now, he was entangled deeply in their family's business. Deep under the sea. 

His worry might have overtaken his senses if it wasn't for a hand tapping him on his shoulder. He instinctually wanted to smell pheromones, but it was a failed attempt. He couldn't smell any, ever since... ever since Hongjoong and him bonded, but the instinct was still there. The only case where this was different was with a few dominant omegas he worked with, one of them being Wooyoung. 

His first thought was whether he had covered up his bond mark with his turtleneck properly. In the past he had to deal with some alphas who'd get a kick out of the fact that the omega they were interested in was already marked. At first they seemed respectful, but later ended up spiraling into madness. They all said they were okay with not sleeping together, that affection was enough because they liked Seonghwa... but in the end they became forceful. They couldn't accept the fact that Seonghwa, an omega's body changes after a bond is made and his body would refuse the pheromones of other alphas, and would make it impossible for them to be intimate. None of them cared.

Seonghwa snapped his head around in an instant.

The man who stood behind him was muscular and handsome, chiseled facial features and thin eyes. He stood firmly, but removed his hand once he saw Seonghwa's frightened expression.

"I beg your pardon. I just thought you were familiar." The man said.

Seonghwa couldn't mask his surprise as he looked him up and down, then adjusted his clothes.

"I should be. Aren't you the man who was at my clinic with Jung Wooyoung a week prior?"

The other's eyes widened and he bowed, then extended his hand for a greeting.

"Yes! Right, I was. My name is Choi San, I'm..." he wanted to say further but stopped upon not knowing how to address his and Wooyoung's relationship.

Seonghwa laughed and accepted his hand.

"No need to say further. I'm Park Seonghwa. Wooyoung's doctor."

The two of them shared a glance of mutual understanding and acceptance until a familiar whiff of pheromones hit both of their noses. Their heads turned in almost an instant.

Time passed, and they hadn't noticed the speech was over and it was now time for the party to begin. But what they did notice was how Wooyoung stared holes into San.

This is bad.

Seonghwa could feel pheromones be released into the air and a few heads turn left and right. He thought Wooyoung was clear, that he was fine, but now that the two of them met all his resolve slipped without him knowing and he just started releasing his scent again? It was way too unusual. He turned to San.

"I know you can also sense it, you two are more than familiar" he stated leaning in close to the other. San locked eyes with him.

"This is bad. I can feel it already affecting me, doctor."

"Leave this place at once." He ordered, but San pulled back. If someone had never seen an obvious no way I'm going to do that face before, they should have seen San's now.

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't tell me you can't. You cannot be serious right now. There are way too many spectators, and this is a formal even! If word got out–"

"If word got out of what, Dr. Park?" Called out a high pitched voice.

Wooyoung and Hongjoong stood side by side next to them, a glass of champagne in their hands. Seonghwa's expression darkened.

"I'm afraid I cannot discuss the matter of confidential information about my clients with you." He said sternly.

"Wait the two of you know each other?" Wooyoung spoke, side eyeing San in the mean while.

"Yes! Dr. Park Seonghwa is my..." Hongjoong started but Seonghwa took the word from him with a step on his brand new crocodile skin shoes. His unamused face was a sight to behold.

"We actually just met the other day after your visit when I was closing up the clinic. Mr. Kim stopped by to check on his new office and well, we exchanged a few words."

Whatever Hongjoong wanted to reveal about them, Seonghwa saved them from. Wooyoung eyed them for a bit. The tension in the air was insane and more than a few heads turned, but Seonghwa was afraid it wasn't for their good looks, but for the lingering smell of pheromones. He leaned over to San and whispered.

"Get the both of you the hell out of here as fast as you can." He said in the lowest tone possible, then bowed to bid his farewell.

"I might join Dr. Park on the way out, just to have a quick smoke then be right back. Keep the front for me then Wooyoung." Hongjoong stated, and went after the black haired.

It was a bit uncomfortable. San was just quietly eyeing the shorter one, who emptied yet another glass of champagne.

"I can feel your gaze on me you know" Wooyoung said.

"Sorry."

"What are you sorry for?"

"For staring."

"If you're so sorry, then stop." Wooyoung snapped at him.

San shifted awkwardly, a pout lingering on his lips. Wooyoung snorted, and made the other raise one of his brows.

"What?" San asked.

"You should see your face now. It's hilarious." Wooyoung laughed but stopped when San stepped closer to him. They stood in their closest proximity, maybe a bit too close for casual acquaintances.

"What's on my face, Jung Wooyoung?"

He asked, his smiling eyes forming crescent moons. Wooyoung viewed his face with parted lips.

"Ugliness." He replied with a chuckle then turned away and stepped one back. "Don't stand too close. People are watching."

"Shall we go somewhere else then?" San asked and Wooyoung whipped his head back at him.

"What? Where?"

"Let's leave this place. All this hypocrite bullshit is suffocating." San's face held an expression of adventure and Wooyoung found it amusing. At first he wanted to clap back at what the other said, but then actually realized he had to agree. Although he loved glamorous events, everything about this one screamed Hongjoong, and not Wooyoung.

He gave his glass to a passing server and allowed San to lead the way. They were on the corridor in less than a few seconds. Not many people were there, maybe those who escaped from the party, talking in small groups.

Wooyoung stopped to stand by the wall but San grabbed his wrist and started leading him somewhere else.

"Where are we going?" He asked.

San didn't answer. Soon, they were in the closed off staircase of the building.

"I wanted to have some peace and quiet." San said once they were there.

Wooyoung giggled. He was tipsy.

"Thought you wanted to kidnap me." He laughed.

San admired him.

"I wouldn't want to do anything that could ever hurt you. At least I don't plan on doing it."

Wooyoung scoffed.

"You already did."

His answer made San go rigid.

"Wooyoung..."

"Don't give me that bullshit again. That you this and that" he was blabbering complete nonsense in his state of frustration. "You... I... ever since then, I changed. And it's because of you, because of what we did. Ever since I inhaled your pheromones I go crazy every time I think about them, and you."

San's eyes widened. A tear rolled down Wooyoung's cheek and he was next to him in a millisecond, cornering Wooyoung between the wall and himself. He wiped the tear away.

"I'm the same!"

"What do you mean?"

"That night, I went to the party because of my friend who was the host. He said, as a freshman it'd be best I attended, so I did. I wanted to go home but stopped by the washroom before doing so, and that's when you came in. When I smelled you, I had to bite my arm as to not jump on you instantly, I went crazy." San started. One of his hands held the wall while the other Wooyoung's cheek. "I pulled together all my strength as to leave without butting into your business but you... the way you were... you..."

"Don't say anymore" Wooyoung stopped him. His voice was low.

"I didn't want to do it, in fact, it was... actually my first time."

They stared at each other for awkwardly long.

"What?"

"It was. You were my first."

"You mean, the first man you fucked."

"No. I've never slept with anyone before you."

"WHAT?"

Wooyoung fell to the ground and San reached after him with worry.

"What's wrong? Are you sick? Do you feel bad?"

"Yes? Yes! I'm sick! My goodness" he slapped both his hands to the side of his face several times.

"Wooyoung what's going on?"

"What's going on is that all this time I kept whining about how you used your good looks and charms to seduce me and took advantage of my first heat and now I find out I was your first? And I kept crying for how you were my asshole's first?"

The obscenity of his words made San both shocked and cackle. He found this side of Wooyoung utterly adorable, but something in what he said got caught in the front of his mind.

"Wait... that was your first heat?"

"Yes the fuck it was!"

"Well how should I have known? Wait so... we were both each other's firsts... in that way..." the words got stuck on his throat. They glanced at each other than blushed.

Oh this was awkward.

"I guess we were... but don't you dare assume I'm inexperienced! I got plenty of experience just... not with men. I mean, before you I didn't even think about doing it with men. I mean, I didn't think I'd do it with you either it's just that... you know what? Let's forget it, what's done is done, what's gone is gone."

Before Wooyoung could slip away San grabbed his cheeks and turned his face towards him.

"I don't want to forget it."

Wooyoung's lashes fluttered.

"What do you mean..." his voice was so low San almost missed it. He leant in and brushed their lips together.

"Just give me one more chance to prove how interested I am in you. Then we can part our way's and I'll never see you again if you wish that. I want to show you how I can make love to you if given the place and time. I don't want that bad memory to be our first and last time together." His words were sincere even if his whole face was bright red. Wooyoung blushed. The heat radiated off of him in waves.

"Why should I accept the offer?"

"I want to make that time up to you. If you wish, you can do whatever with me. I'm all yours."

That was more than enough for Wooyoung to pull San in for a kiss.

The following week felt like a fever dream. After what happened to him, nothing felt real for Wooyoung. It all seemed like a façade put together by something. Nothing and no one felt real. The coffee didn't taste the same, the colors didn't look the same, the eyes meeting his didn't feel the same. 

Every two hours Wooyoung turned on the news even when he wasn't at home to see if there would be a report made on the attack but there were none. 

At first he wondered if was only the government trying to gatekeep the information, but later he noticed nobody was talking about it. Nobody whispered about the explosion of the train, nobody gossiped about opposing gangs shooting each other dead without hesitation, nobody broke down in fear from dead bodies littering the streets of their city. It was as if none of it even happened. 

But it was real. Wooyoung knew it was real, the aching pain in his stomach and the sight of it in the mirror reminded him every morning just how real it was. He ended up going to the hospital as per San's advice because he just couldn't get it out of his mind - and got the stiches checked. It was a clean work - said the doctor. It was so clean in his opinion that he asked just who had such superb equipment and Wooyoung had to reply he got it done abroad. Even with that, he was given strange looks.

Yeosang however, was absent from work ever since then. Wooyoung didn't text him and neither did he reach out. Wooyoung promised he would forget all about them but he just couldn't. The events of that day lived so vividly in his mind he fell victim to them every now and then. He started feeling like he was crazy. Like he imagined it all, like it was just a dream.

It wasn't a dream.

He became paranoid. As if there was a man on every corner coming for his life. Even tough he knew that shouldn't be the case, he couldn't believe it. 

Wooyoung sat at his regular spot at the café on the corner of his office. The place was small, but usually packed with costumers - truly the example of great marketing. The walls inside were bare bricks covered by live wisteria tendrils. Wooyoung enjoyed staying there. It was a spot he frequented so often they knew him by name, knew his mother by name, knew his favorite drink and what he would order based on his complexion when he walked in. It was his safe place. And he wanted to believe it was actually safe.

That illusion came to a halt the moment he looked up from his laptop and saw a familiar man at the other end of the shop, staring right at him. 

A whole week passed that felt crazy but on the contrary nothing happened. A whole week, where instead of his life going back to it's previous state it just deteriorated and when it was finally Friday, finally the day when he could just sit back and think maybe he was the crazy one to imagine things when actually nothing was coming for him - he was now staring at the exact person who was coming for him. 

He dropped the mug from his hand and it shattered loudly on the ground.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?" The shopkeeper rushed over and checked on Wooyoung. Her worry was evident. 

Wooyoung barely managed to force out a smile due to how shocked he was but he knew he had to pretend. 

What if he was imagining things again?

"Yes, I'm so sorry for troubling you like this I have no ide what got into me!" He quickly stood up in an effort to help but the lady pushed him back down.

"You go and sit, I'll clean it up. Should I bring you another cup of coffee?"

Wooyoung glanced at San again. He blinked with both his eyes slowly, as if signaling to accept the gesture from the host. Wooyoung gulped.

"Thank you."

As the owner disappeared behind the counter Wooyoung's eyes darted over to San again. He had an elbow on the desk, holding his chin up. His thin eyes bore into Wooyoung like a shark's teeth into its prey. There was a coy smile on his lips as he tapped the ground rhythmically with his dress shoes. He wore black suit pants and a white shirt with a double strap harness belt. He was truly a vision. 

Wooyoung on the other hand looked like he survived a zombie apocalypse, even more then he did before. He was disheveled, clothes unironed, shirt buttoned wrong, tie loose and crooked, hair all over the place, the circles under his eyes darker than those intense eyes of San. 

The lady came back with a brand new mug and placed it in front of Wooyoung who looked soulless as if he saw a ghost. 

"Here you go- Wooyoung?" She asked, waving a hand in front of his cloudy eyes. 

He took a moment to snap out of it.

"Yes that's me, what's up?" 

She looked stunned. 

"My goodness, you look awful. Pulled another all-nighter again?"

"No I- actually yes, yes I did. Work's been busy lately."

"I can tell." She said and stepped on her toes. "So- are you dating anyone right now?" She asked just when Wooyoung took a sip of his coffee. 

It was a terrible mistake. The beverage was hot, the question was uncalled for, he was on edge - and it all lead down to him spitting it out all over the desk and his laptop after banging his knee loudly into the underside of the table. Fucking god.

She pulled out a napkin and tried cleaning down the affected area but it was no use, the computer already went to shit - similarly to Wooyoung's future. 

"No, Mindy, I'm not. In fact, I think I actually have a rendezvous with the devil coming up soon" he managed to say between a few heavy coughs, wiping away some teardrops that built up in his eyes.

"What do you mean?" She asked awkwardly, her attempts ruined by his unusually strange behavior.

Wooyoung looked around and signaled for her to pull closer, as if he was about to whisper confidential top secret military data to her. 

"I think I'm seeing ghosts. No, I'm imaging people who never existed to manifest in front of me." 

She pulled away with a grimace, but ended up considering what he said to be real upon seeing that oh so serious expression on his face. 

"I think you need an exorcism." She ended up saying.

Wooyoung clapped a hand on his mouth.

"You might actually be right!"

Suddenly, he wanted to stand up to hug her as a thanks, but just outside the door of the café the sound of a gunshot broke the idyll. 

And just like that, the memories of a week before came flashing back to Wooyoung. The empty school grounds, the train full of thugs, the embrace from behind, passing out and then waking up on a battleground, gunshots, men fighting, blood, cold, pain, more blood. 

He started shaking. His eyes couldn't focus. He just stared blankly as he saw from his peripheral vision how the people in the shop started panicking and evacuating. The sounds were numb, he was numb, he was totally spinning out of it when hand curled onto his nape. 

"Hello love."

The voice was just as how he remembered it from their first meeting. In the few seconds he was out of it San got next to him and Wooyoung instinctually pulled away as he learnt from their first meeting he might be injected with something again. He stared at the muscular man with huge eyes. San seemingly understood why he pulled away and grinned.

"Clever" he spoke "but not clever enough."

Before Wooyoung could question what he meant he was grabbed on the nape again and forcefully pulled to the ground. He fell right on top of San, who immediately covered both of his ears with his gloved hands, just as the glass walls of the café blasted open in an explosion.

Another attack. 

Wooyoung shook in his whole body. He was utterly terrified. His ears were ringing, and probably bleeding too. His vision was blurry but he could make out fragments of rubbish everywhere, fires starting and people running. San squeezed his waist. 

"As much as I enjoy you being on top of me, we should run" he said with the greatest smile on his face.

Wooyoung had no idea what got into him. He should have pushed San away and ran for his life, he should have screamed for help, that he was being targeted by terrorists, but instead he stood up, pulling the other with him, and letting him take him. 

San's always smiling face and eyes, his calm and seductive tone, his overall alluring behavior was doing things to him and he felt like obeying completely. It just felt natural to submit to him, even if it meant endangering his own life. 

San held him by the hand as they ran towards the back door while more gunshots were fired in the back. In the matter of seconds, they were out in an alley behind the shop, two tall brick walls on their sides. Their hands didn't let go. 

San looked in both directions. His gaze was different, but Wooyoung still couldn't look away from him. He seemed like a predator on a hunt. His grip was firm, no hesitation in his moves. On the right end of the alley was the road from where the explosion came, the left end held unknown qualities, and that's where they started going towards. Hand in hand, they stepped with a quick pace Wooyoung almost couldn't hold. It seemed like a solid escape plan.

The vailing of police, ambulance and firetruck sirens cut trough the air that smelled of smoke and sulfur. Wooyoung wondered if this will also end up being a topic nobody will talk about. But the explosion of a café seems like such a bummer compared to the explosion of a train over a viaduct, and as how that was ignored, this case was as good as dead. It was suspicious how chaos seemed to erupt around him lately.

Two people approached them from the front.

Wooyoung tried to pull his overly sweaty hands away but San held them in place, and even intertwined their fingers. Wooyoung gulped. The two men seemed obnoxious, and he noticed how San had lead him to stand in a way that he'd almost entirely be covered by San's body. He stood to San's right, with his left hand in San's right. As he walked behind San's back, he noticed a gun strapped to his waist on the side closer to him. Oh well, it's only natural that a gangster has a gun - he thought.

The two man got even closer, and their harmful behavior was obvious now. They had both of their hands in their pockets, hoodie covering their eyes. San stopped a good distance away from them, and Wooyoung bumped into his back. He was like a brick wall.

"Close your eyes" he whispered and before Wooyoung could register the command San had reached back with their still intertwined hand, grabbed the gun and pulled it forward. The motion lead to Wooyoung clashing into San's back, his head on San's shoulder from the side, one of his hands holding San's and the gun, the other wrapping awkwardly around San's waist.

He held out the gun for a second, but that time wasn't enough for the enemy to retaliate. He fired. Two shots. Clean. Straight into the head. They fell lifelessly to the ground as Wooyoung inhaled the gunpowder and pulled away in fear. Just now, his hand was on a pistol with which he killed two people. They were laying on the ground, a pool of blood forming next to them.

"I told you to close your eyes." San said and turned entirely towards Wooyoung. He towered above him, blocking his view from the gruesome event that played out.

"Are you serious right now? I just- you just-" he was at a loss for words. "I just held onto a gun while you shot two men with it!" 

San raised his brows.

"That means you shot them."

"Liar! You wouldn't let go of my hands!" Wooyoung screamed and ran his hands trough his hair. He felt like he was about to have a panic attack.

"I just killed two men! And for what? Are you at least going to rob them?" He asked hysterically and San couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him. 

"I was just fooling around. I'd never let you take the blame, love." He said and stepped closer. There were barely 8 inches between their faces. San held out his hand and put it over Wooyoung's face. The gesture made his panicking stop. He looked up at San, terrified. 

"Then I was an accomplice."

"Can't say that's a lie. But you were sexy during it."

"Are you seriously flirting with me in a place and time and situation like this?"

"I can take you to dinner later if you preferred that for an ideal opportunity for flirting."

Wooyoung slapped San's chest. He was insanely annoyed and troubled by that man, but he couldn't say he didn't find him utterly intriguing. Just what did it take to shoot someone in cold blood like that? San held Wooyoung's hands on his own chest while they locked eyes.

Wooyoung felt an odd sense of similarity. San felt similar. He felt safe. He felt like something Wooyoung knew a long time ago. It was odd. Even the heartbeat he felt vibrating on his palms felt like Wooyoung knew it. The yes boring into his own were eyes Wooyoung was familiar with. 

San smiled seeing his expression.

"So what do you say to that date?"

"..."

"Should I take that as a yes?"

"You make me go crazy."

Wooyoung pulled his hands away, but San grabbed his waist and pulled their bodies together. A sense of fear washed over Wooyoung as flashbacks hit him again from their first meeting. San sensed it and blinked slowly, as if reassuring him.

"I'm not going to do anything to you that you don't want."

"Should I say thank you?"

"You should." San said plainly and in that exact moment gunshots were fired at them.

Wooyoung shirked into San's hold. He grabbed his shoulder with both of his hands and before he could say anything, they launched into the sky.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck San what the fuck!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, holding on for dear life. 

Wooyoung wrapped both of his legs around San's waist while the other only held him with one of his hands. The other gripped onto a steel wire. The end of the wire connected San's whole chest to something that was pulling them off the ground. It was a carabiner. Wooyoung didn't notice when San had installed it or how, but they were rapidly going up between the walls of the two buildings. 

The next time Wooyoung felt solid ground under their weight was when they reached the top of the building and San him on the ground. Wooyoung fell on the ground and held onto it with both of his hands. 

"As much as I love hearing you say my name and so many fucks in the same sentence the tone might have been a bit harsh." San announced while he unclicked the wire from his outfit. 

Wooyoung gave him a glare.

"A fucking heads up would've been great you insane motherfucker!" He stood up and was on his way to hit San who countered the attack by placing him in a headlock, securing his arm around Wooyoung's neck.

Their bodies pressed together and Wooyoung didn't even have an inch to shuffle away.

"Lovely show ya'll are putting on" they heard a voice from behind their backs. 

San let go of Wooyoung right away and pulled his glock out, turning towards the source of the voice.

"If you sneak up on us like that a single once more, I'm blowing your head off again." San snarled, and ran a hand trough his hair, frustrated. 

Wooyoung's breath skipped a beat.

What did San mean by again?

"Wooyoung-"

"I won't be talking to you Yeosang." He retorted instantly.

"Wonderful, we're such a big happy family!" Another person spoke. 

It was Yunho. Wooyoung managed to recognize him. The four of them stood on top of he 4 story building. As he looked around, Wooyoung saw that the city was in shambled. Fires and smoke everywhere, explosions happening in real time in the distance. The noise of traffic and commotion - a riot. 

"What... what's going on?" He asked with a shaky breath. "And why am I involved with any of it?" 

He wanted to hear the others say none of this was real. It was just a joke. He wanted to wake up and realize it was all a dream. But it was always San's eyes snapping him back and assuring him that in fact, it was real. That sharp and intense gaze fixating on him. Other's would find it intimidating, but for him, it felt like home. I should not have. They didn't even know each other. Wooyoung was utterly confused. San was a stranger. A stranger, he should have avoided at all cost, and now there he is again, entangled in this crazy business from head to toe. 

San looked at his wrist. There was nothing on it, but he looked as if he was reading down some data from it. As if, he could see something Wooyoung couldn't. 

"Ten seconds." He said.

Wooyoung froze. Blood was rushing trough his whole body. 10 seconds until what? Until another explosion? Or until somebody finds them? Will they have to flee again?

"Noted. I'm giving feedback to the captain. The product is with us."

Feedback? Who is this captain they are talking about? Does he mean the others Wooyoung met the other time? Where are they? What product is Yunho talking about? Why is he in all of this anyway? What's going on? What will happen in 10 seconds?

"Doll."

Wooyoung's eyes must have been darting all over the place, because when he looked up San was towering above him again. Both of his gloved hands were on Wooyoung's ears. 

"Five."

It felt the same as in the café. Wooyoung thought another explosion was coming. He couldn't hear the words the other formed due to his ears being blocked, but saw him mouthing each letter.

"Four."

San was counting back again. Just as how he did on their first meeting. Wooyoung pursed his lips together on account of the eerie memory. 

"Three."

Wooyoung couldn't look at anything else besides San. 

"Two."

The letters rolled off gently from his lips. 

Wooyoung felt a vibration hit his body. The world slowed down. San's lips curled into a cheeky grin. 

"Do you trust me?" He breathed almost onto his lips as he leaned in way too close. 

"No." Wooyoung replied, but no voice left his throat, just the empty gesture of speaking.

"Good boy." San said.

He held his hands still on both sides of Wooyoung's face and pushed him forward forcefully. Wooyoung prepared himself for the hard impact, but it never came. 

"One."

They fell trough the building.