Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

You could say that Yunho lived his normal boyish, teenage life until the moment when fate, genetics, and all the unresolved problems of this damned world suddenly fell on him at the age of fifteen, like a massive avalanche, turning him into a damn omega. Even now, at the age of twenty-seven, he still clearly remembers how he introduced himself to his family. He remembers how their expectations of another alpha were instantly shattered when, instead of a tart and rich scent like musk, coffee, or spices, he gave off a warm trail of ripe apricots and the light, sweet scent of blooming elderberry. Something very sweet and reminiscent of his mother.

At the time, he thought they had turned their backs on him, and that disappointed him, perhaps even more than he had disappointed them. Because some stupid sub-gender of his had turned out to be more important than his own child. His father and older brother and sister, with whom he spent most of his time at home when they weren’t at the academy, simply slipped quietly out of the living room and didn’t even speak a word to him again, as if he had become a burden to them. His mother, who constantly pampered and doted on him when his father wasn’t looking, stayed with him. She did this even though he was being raised in a strict military family, where affection was forbidden to them as if it were the fruit that Eve ate in the Garden of Eden. 

Every day, before he went to sleep, his mother would sit by his bedside, gently stroke his chubby little face, hold his hand, and tell him over and over again that they loved him. Just as much, just in a slightly different way.

In the dim orange light cast by the night-salt lamp, the boy studied the soft features of the dark-haired woman sitting on the rug in front of him, her face barely visible in the room's darkness.

“Is it because I’m an omega? Is that why they don’t play with me anymore?” Yunho asked in a voice that was too quiet, almost childlike with disappointment.

“No, of course not,” the woman replied, shaking her head slightly. “It’s because they don’t want to hurt you, dear.” Playing with weapons, even fake ones, and fighting—that’s not for you… Omegas should be brave, but we shouldn’t put ourselves in danger,” she explained, gently clasping his hand with her warm one. “I’ll teach you and show you everything I know so you don’t feel left out.”

And something like “He should never be left alone, because the new world with its own rules is too harsh for people like them.”

In fact, she was right.

At eighteen, in his last year of high school, he was surprisingly the only omega who loved math, physics, drawing and measuring, counting numbers, and calculating probability theories. Although his teachers never believed in his knowledge, he still got straight A's. He could even surpass the alphas with his skills, who, for some reason, were less intelligent in science than he was but boasted the most.

There weren't many adult omegas there; the vast majority of the “weak” population worked on farms, in orchards and fields, looked after children, or worked in schools, only in the lower grades, but Yunho always proved that he was not like that... That he was not weak, causing them surprise and some concern. Omega also loved plants, books, cooking, and the air, which in their quiet lands was almost crystal clear and fresh because it was almost mountainous but completely adapted for life until one moment.

One day, he woke up to strange sounds that resembled fire alarms. The piercing, roaring, and sharp sound waves penetrated his brain, forcing it to work overtime even in deep sleep.

Yunho stirred under the blanket when a sound like an explosion rang out on the street. Immediately, the annoying wail of car alarms could be heard, and out of the corner of his ear, he caught the noise and commotion outside his door.

His parents’ whispering behind the door sounded like a loud conversation through the house’s thin plywood walls. He pricked up his ears to hear their voices better. It seemed his mother was murmuring to his father, agitated or even almost panicked, asking what on earth they were going to do. Had the war from the south really come too close to the town where they lived?

It sounded bad.

Unable to resist his curiosity, the boy lifted his head from the crumpled feather pillow. Rubbing one eye with the back of his hand, the half-asleep omega climbed out of his warm bed, nearly tripping over the fluffy rug. He wanted to find out what was going on, but just then, someone burst into his small, cozy room. The sudden impact sent the door flying into the wall, and the metal doorknob scraped the blue paint off the wall. The aggressive scent of his father’s woody-fruity pheromones nearly knocked him off his feet, like an ocean wave, forcing him to grab onto something to stay on his feet and not fall from this uncontrollable force. 

The senior alpha’s strong, sinewy hands clamped down on his slender shoulders and shook them hard several times to fully rouse him. At that moment, Yunho thought his head would detach from his spine and roll like a ball across the floor. The scent of tart, resinous cherry bark tickled his nose, and the boy couldn’t help but sneeze at the strong smell so close to him.

At that moment, his father spoke to him as an equal for the first time in a long while. Yunho sensed a hint of agitation in his voice as he ordered him to pack his things and get out of there if he and his mother wanted to live. The Omega merely nodded obediently, staring at his father with eyes wide with fear in the morning darkness, while his father gently touched his hair. After he left the room, Yunho stood there for a minute, lost in thought, as the information his father had spoken sank in to his not-quite-functioning, still slightly sleepy brain.

The boy shuddered, as if from the cold, when the full meaning of everything that had been said finally sank in. And he understood. They could die right here and now if he didn’t hurry.

Omega tore himself away from the floor, to which he had stuck like chewing gum, immediately rushing to turn on the light and search for his worn backpack, which he had received from his older brother Insu a few years ago. This thing had seen and endured all the tough school days. He found it in the closet, buried under a pile of winter outerwear that he had once promised his mom he’d put away; right next to it stood a small emerald-coloured travel suitcase.

Yunho pulled his backpack out from under a pile of clothes and tossed it onto the floor in the middle of the room, ignoring the jackets that fell out after it. He never would have thought that one day he’d be hurriedly packing up the things that had been his whole life—a life that could easily fit into carry-on luggage. Omega opened another door of the closet, its hinges creaking loudly, and pulled out some warm clothes for fall and lighter ones for summer from the shelves.

The rest of the suitcase, despite being packed with layers of clothing, still managed to hold a pair of sneakers and a pair of warm mid-season boots. As he closed it, using all his strength, it resisted. It even seemed to him that the zipper, which looked fragile at first glance, would burst at the seams from the strain or snap from the force with which he was yanking it. But when the sliders clicked quietly together, he exhaled with relief, sinking down onto the carpet.

At least packing the backpack was easier. A few books on civil aviation were placed on the stiff bottom. Documents, savings in a separate blue folder, and a silver laptop were tucked behind the central nylon divider, which was slightly torn along the seam. All the necessary charging cables for the devices fit into the front pocket, but there was still plenty of room left inside the bag.

Lost in thought, Omega looked around the room. He glanced at the empty desk, where there was nothing of importance except for scattered pens and coloured pencils, and then shifted his gaze to the wooden nightstand standing by the window. Yunho sighed, tilting his head back slightly. That’s it! How could he have forgotten?! He crossed the room in two quick strides and tugged on the tiny, round brass knob, pulling out the top shelf. Among the unused skincare products lay a black silk pouch containing his most essential and personal belongings. He grimaced slightly in disgust but took it too, tossing it into his backpack.

Yunho took one last look at that part of the room and reached for the shelf in the corner, which he had almost forgotten about. He grabbed the photo frame with a family picture. The photo, taken on his tenth birthday, was the most precious thing he owned. He ran his fingers across the glass, wiping away a thin layer of dust to get a better look at the old photograph. Then he gave a faint smile, carefully placed the frame in his backpack along with the rest of his belongings, and zipped it shut. He changed out of his pajamas into some comfortable clothes he’d grabbed at random from the closet, then took one last look around the room where he’d lived for the past eighteen years and stepped out into the hallway. 

Holding onto the bannister, Yunho slowly made his way down the creaky wooden stairs to the first floor, dragging his suitcase behind him. His mother was already standing by the front door, waiting for him.

The woman was wearing a light beige jacket to protect herself from the morning chill, along with white sneakers with thin soles that were slightly worn. He had thrown on nothing but a black hooded fleece hoodie and loose gray sweatpants so as not to waste precious time. In one hand, she held a brown leather bag that he and his father had ordered for her as a gift a few years ago, and in the other, a yellow fabric suitcase. Yunho saw that her face was red and slightly swollen, and her eyes, which always sparkled, were wet. He hated it when she cried.

Omega slipped on his sneakers and glanced at his mom. She gave him a faint smile and rolled his suitcase over to him so she could free her hands. Just as he was about to open the front door, there was a loud rumble outside. The house shook, the windows rattled, and he froze in fear.

On the second floor, the door creaked as it opened and closed, and his father, sister, and brother were already standing there in their pixelated marsh-green uniforms. They were coming down the stairs two at a time and hurried over to them, handing his mother the keys to the old car parked in the garage. 

"Take care of him, Seyon,” the man said, gently kissing the woman on the cheek, and she, pressing herself against him, began to cry even harder. “You two need to get as far away from here as possible, just like we agreed, remember?”

“But what about you?” Yunho asked anxiously, glancing at his father and the twins. “Why aren’t you leaving?”

“We’re needed here, and it’s our duty to protect you, Yun,” Insu replied, his voice almost steely. “That’s what we were trained for.”

“Will we see each other again?” the boy asked, looking first at his sister and then at his brother, who were as one.

“Of course, little one. Be smart and take care of your mother,” Ilwon replied, ruffling his hair with her palm.

She pressed another bag made of thin, baggy fabric into his hands; it gave off a strong scent of ripe cherries and tobacco, along with the light, woody aroma of sawdust and amaretto.

“Okay,” he nodded, a bold fire burning in his eyes.

“I love you, son. Things may have been complicated between us, but you’re my child, and I love you,” the man said, enveloping the omega in a soothing scent he constantly craved.

“I love you too,” Yunho said, unable to hold back a sob, and immediately threw himself into his arms, burying himself in them as if they were a strong, protective bubble. Those were the longest and warmest few seconds, despite all the cold that had come before, until the house shook again.

They left Kelstone at dawn. When the sun had already risen above the horizon and when, after two hours of sitting in the basement amidst the whistling and explosions, everything had quieted down. A mountainous forest landscape stretched out beyond the car window, but Yunho gazed intently at the sky. It was beautiful and endless, almost like a painting, only alive. The colors blended and shifted in gradient waves. First from dark red to pink, and then to a bright light yellow. Everything would have been fine, but all of it was obscured by the gray and black columns of smoke rising upward.

Omega just sighed heavily, turning his head away from the window. He fidgeted for a long time in the uncomfortable seat, trying to get comfortable enough to doze off. His lack of sleep was making itself felt through his heavy eyelids, which kept slowly drooping.

But the smell inside the car was actually a bit off-putting. It was almost sickeningly sweet. It felt as if his mother had doused herself in a ton of floral-honey perfume, which had mixed with his own, equally sweet scent. However, he didn’t notice it bothering her. The woman’s gaze was fixed firmly on the road, which wound out before them like a gray serpent. 

“Where are we going?” Yunho asked quietly, tucking his hands into the wide pockets of his hoodie.

“I don’t know,” the woman answered honestly, without taking her eyes off the road.

She sighed heavily before continuing.

“First, probably to Grandma’s in Brins. We need to process all this, and it’s safe there right now.”

“And then?” he asked again, unable to suppress a yawn.

“And then, maybe north to Delburn.”

“Why there?”

“Because a good friend of your father’s lives there, and it’s very far away,” Seyon replied, glancing gently at Yunho. “He and his son have agreed to take us in for a while.”

She chuckled to herself and added:

"I've wanted to go there for a long time, but I never would have thought I’d visit that place this way."

“Delburn,” he thought, and for a moment, a childhood memory flashed through his mind.

He sits at his desk in the back row, his temple pressed against the smooth wooden surface, trying to squeeze in a quick nap before the teacher notices his misbehavior. She was enthusiastically explaining English grammar at the blackboard, which he hated.

Why did he need to learn a language he already spoke fluently?

He was given a light nudge on the shoulder, and he opened one eye with disdain, glaring at the one who had interrupted his brief but sweet slumber. A thirteen-year-old boy with dark, rather long black hair was looking at him, smiling slightly at the corners of his mouth. And Yunho could have sworn it was the sweetest smile he had ever seen. 

“What’s up, Mingi?” Yunho mutters quietly so no one else can hear.

He lifts his head from the desk and sits up straight in his chair, leaning his back against the backrest.

“I’m moving to Delburn tomorrow,” he says, almost in a whisper, and the smile immediately fades from his face.

“But why?” Yunho snaps, almost offended.

He says it, it seems, too loudly, because the whole class immediately turns around with interest and looks at him. The boy presses his lips together and apologizes sheepishly, catching the teacher’s reproachful gaze.

“Don’t be mad. My dad can’t live here without my mom, so he found another place to live,” Mingi explains quietly, shrugging. 

Yunho doesn’t even have the words to argue, so he turns away, offended. It stung him because Mingi was his only friend in this juvenile detention center  disguised as a “school.”

“I’m sorry, Yu,” Mingi says softly, touching his shoulder again, but Yunho just pushes his hand away, wiping a single, lonely tear from his cheek while no one is looking.

“No way! Don’t tell me I’m going to see Mingi!” Yunho exclaims joyfully, bouncing up and down in his seat. 

It’s the first bit of good news he’s had all day.

“Do you still remember him?” asks Seyon, smiling as she watches her restless son, who now can’t sit still with excitement in the small car.

“I remember his black hair, his small eyes, and a few moles!” he listed eagerly, counting on his fingers. “Everything else has faded from my memory over the years,” he added, a note of sadness in his voice. “But you’re not joking, are you? Are we really going to live with Mingi and Uncle Minsu?”

“Of course, son,” she confirmed, nodding her head and holding back the sadness in her eyes. “Go to sleep and gather your strength, because the road will be very long,” Seyon said calmly, adjusting the collar of his hood.

Omega woke up several times because of the persistent ringing in his ears. Every time he opened his eyes and saw the road ahead, his mind calmed down, and he would drift back into a deep sleep until the next stop along the route. 

A few kilometers before entering Midson, the woman pulled over onto the gravel-covered shoulder. She stopped at a simple, yellow-painted diner to grab some food and stretch her muscles, which had gone numb after eight hours on the road.

Yunho got out of the car, squinting against the blinding sun. Pulling his hood over his head, he reluctantly trailed after his mother—she looked surprisingly cheerful. 

Inside, the room looked gloomy and dark. The light cream paint caught the eye, peeling off the walls in places and settling as dust on the baseboards. Above his head, in the yellow rays of the chandelier, a spiderweb stretched and glistened. And with every step, the worn and scratched floorboards creaked beneath his feet.  

The air, heavy and stifling, was filled with the heady scent of beer and a mixture of spicy, potent alpha pheromones that were too overpowering for his sensitive senses. 

The boy caught a few curious and slightly puzzled glances, but none of the others said a word to him. Everyone immediately turned their attention to the TV, which was hanging in a dark corner a little way from the tables so as not to get in the way. 

The journalist, who was temporarily filling in as the news anchor, was mumbling something, but Yunho was barely listening. He caught only a few sentences, focusing instead on choosing dishes from the old, slightly faded menu alongside his mother.

"The aggressor decided to intensify military operations today, attacking Kelstone, Eastwood, and Westner this morning. What can you say about this?"

"We are deeply concerned about the entire situation, and all necessary measures and personnel have already been deployed to defend these cities."

"What about the civilian population? Will you do anything to help them?"

"All Omegas, children, and seniors will be evacuated from these and other surrounding areas in the near future for their safety. In the meantime, we urge everyone who can do so to leave the city on their own."

"Is there anything else you’d like to add?"

"No."

The bell on the counter, covered in a thin layer of dust, suddenly jingled, and a cute, curly-haired waiter approached them with their order in paper bags. 

Seyon took her wallet out of her bag to pay. Making sure she had enough money, the woman handed the bills to the cashier and received a check in return. Yunho, without a second's hesitation, took the packaged food from the counter and, without turning around or even saying thank you, headed for the exit. This place and the calm people in it were even more infuriating than the entire situation.

Yunho first opened the front door, placed the bags of food on the center console, then walked around to the trunk and opened it. Finally, he had a chance to grab a blanket and take off his hoodie, which was already making him feel quite hot, even though it was only about fifteen degrees Celsius. 

The woman took her usual place in the driver's seat and started the car, waiting for him. Yunho pulled a thin blue-plaid blanket that smelled of cherry bark and amaretto from behind the suitcases and held it close. He closed the trunk with his free hand and got back into the car, preparing for the long drive. 

As soon as Omega closed the door behind him and fastened his seatbelt, the metal in the old white Ford creaked slightly but began to move. Yunho took off his shoes, unfolded the plush blanket, threw it over his feet, wrapping them in warmth, and, settling down comfortably, reached for his food.

He had been hungry for the past five hours of the trip because there were no takeouts along the way, only gas stations. In a paper bag with a logo in the middle, there were several hot ham toasts, a vegetable salad with chicken in a transparent container that seemed to be swimming in a ton of sauce. Fried potatoes that had soaked their packaging with oil. There were also several packets of ketchup and cheese sauce. And something that looked like a pie. There was also a set of cutlery. In another bag, there were many cans of fizzy sweet and still water.

His stomach immediately cramped with a sharp, painful spasm from hunger. He decided to start his lunch with a piece of toast, making sure to give one to his mother first so she could regain her strength as well. The woman thanked him gratefully as she accepted the food. 

Omega looked at her, chewing his toast slowly, and felt a certain gratitude that she was calm. The only things that betrayed her tension were her shoulders and the mess on her head, as her black, wavy hair, tied in a messy bun, stuck out in all directions. 

The next six hours of the trip went by in much the same way. Yunho scrolled through his Twitter feed on his phone until the battery ran completely out. They made short stops to use the restroom, fill up the tank, and grab some more food, and they aired out the car to get rid of the fruity-honey scent that was already starting to make him feel sick.

The landscape had long since shifted from a forest to the countryside. Tiny houses were barely visible in the darkness, illuminated only by the diffuse white light of the headlights, as was the blue sign bearing the village name “Brins” at the entrance, which Yunho could barely make out. 

Seyon turned left, pulling onto a familiar gravel path that wound through the trees toward houses both grand and humble, searching for that same old but neat wooden cottage belonging to his grandmother, where he used to spend entire summers.

An elderly woman was already standing by the blue-painted wrought-iron gate, waiting for guests. Seyon drove a few meters further and pulled over onto the grass so as not to get in anyone’s way. She then turned off the engine and got out of the car, immediately greeting her mother-in-law.

Yunho, feeling a bit sluggish and tired from the long drive, got out of the car after his mom, but first opened the trunk and took out his things while his mom talked to Grandma.

He looked at his backpack and suitcases and thought he probably should have packed a little more. As soon as all the luggage was unloaded and the backpack was on his shoulders, he too walked over to the old woman, immediately catching the faint, delicate scent of lilacs.

“My dearest grandson,” the old woman cooed sweetly, immediately setting down her worn wooden cane and reaching out to stroke his soft cheeks. 

She always showed her love this way, and Yunho, feeling a little shy, leaned in to make it easier for her. 

“You must be hungry and tired,” she said, looking at his pale complexion. “Let’s hurry inside. I’ve prepared a room for you and your favorite chicken soup.”

“I missed you,” said Yunho, giving her his best and most sincere smile. 

“And I missed you so much, little apricot.”

The interior of the house hadn’t changed at all, and even the scent was exactly as Yunho remembered it from last year. Slightly damp and fresh, like summer morning dew. The fragrant aroma of green herbs and flowers wafted from every room. 

The floor in the wide hallway was still covered with several brightly patterned rugs, just like in the other rooms of the house. Covering everything with them seemed to be a tradition of this generation. 

Yunho took off his shoes and left them by the threshold. Omega carried his things into the first room on the right, set them down by the bed, and then headed toward his grandmother’s voice. His knees trembled slightly as he walked. He just wanted to lie down, curl up in a ball, and fall fast asleep, but there was still so much left to do.

In the small living room, bathed in the bright yellow light of the lamps, the furniture was also in its usual place. In the corner by the bookshelf stood a rocking chair, and next to it lay several colorful balls of wool. Against the green-painted wall stood a sofa, as always covered with a brown throw to protect the expensive upholstery. Small decorative pillows were scattered across the sofa, and their pillowcases were shaped like simple knitted flowers—something like white daisies or chamomiles. A few meters away from the sofa lay a small pile of firewood and a poker, which in the summer, along with the tiled stove, served as little more than decoration.

The kitchen was in the next room, just past the archway. As always, it was quite modest and cluttered with old junk that Grandma couldn’t bring herself to throw away, just in case it might come in handy someday. The air was filled with the appetizing aroma of freshly cooked food. 

Although Yunho had eaten on the way, he was still hungry—or maybe he just didn’t have the strength to refuse his grandmother’s samgyetang*. The chicken lay in a fragrant broth of herbs, spices, and dates, whetting his appetite, and next to it was a plate of spicy sauce and kimchi.

As soon as they washed their hands and sat down at the table, the atmosphere became a little strange, as if they were strangers gathered around the same table for the first time. But all the awkwardness vanished as soon as the elderly woman began asking interesting personal questions, which amused him more than they embarrassed him.

"Yunho, have you found an alpha yet?"

For some reason, that was always the question everyone was most curious about.

Omega even recalled how the twins used to tease him, saying, “How is he going to find anyone if he never leaves his den?”

Well, the truth is, he just loved his personal space, and for some reason, it never occurred to him that he might want to find someone to talk to. 

So his answer was always the same for everyone:

"I don't think anyone could interest me right now, Grandma."

Modest, but true!

“Such a handsome boy must have had plenty of admirers,” she continues to coo, and Yunho can’t help but smile. “Back in my day, they used to chase after me like a herd! They’d give me flowers from the flowerbeds, invite me to discos—there was nothing I didn’t experience in my youth…”

“Mrs. Jeong, there’s a time for everything,” Seyon interrupted the captivating grandmother’s life story. It's brought relief to Yunho for a few seconds. “Let him focus on his studies first, and then he can think about relationships.”

“Of course, of course,” she conceded, backing off from her questioning.

"So, have you decided what you want to be? Midsummer is almost over, and it's time to apply, son."

Damn, he hated that question...

Who the hell is ready at eighteen to say who they want to be and work for the rest of their life?!

Just show him these people!

He clicked through every tab on the internet that had even the slightest mention of education, as well as all the websites of universities located in various cities. Yunho had tried everything, but a solution to this problem still hadn’t occurred to him. 

Besides, the only thing he knew for sure was that military careers were completely off-limits to him, so he physically couldn’t follow in his father’s footsteps, and he had no desire to follow in his mother’s footsteps and work at a school.

They lay relaxed on the soft, sun-warmed, ticklish grass, their hands behind their heads, gazing up at the bright blue sky.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” the boy asked quietly, tilting his head toward him. 

“I don’t know. What about you?” Yunho said, his eyes fixed on a fluffy white cloud that, to him, looked like a ship.

“A pilot,” the boy replied dreamily. “I want to soar among the clouds and look down on people from above.”

“But you can’t see people in the sky,” Yunho said with a laugh. “There are only clouds and the sky. And aren’t you afraid of heights?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. 

”When we grow up, all our childhood fears will disappear, but new ones will take their place,“ Mingi said with a sigh, meeting his gaze. ”So I will fly in the clouds without thinking about it.“

"Then I'll wait for you down on the ground."

"Promise?"

"Of course, I'm your best friend."

For some reason, at the most critical and confusing moments of his life, fragments of past conversations would pop into his head, giving him the confidence to move forward with a decision already made.

”Air traffic controller,” he said without a moment’s hesitation.

His grandmother, who had worked as a cook in a kindergarten her whole life, burst into a fit of coughing and was left speechless.

Despite this, deep down, he hoped he had made the right decision.

“Are you sure?” Seyon asked, frowning as she poured Grandma a glass of water from a pitcher. “That’s a pretty tough job for an Omega, dear.”

“One hundred percent sure, Mom. I aced all my final exams in school, so they might even accept me into the government program. And there’s even an aviation university in Delburn, so I’m confident.“

“You’ve definitely done your research,” she praised him, having no arguments against it. “All right, let it be aviation; Dad will really like that.”

In his mind, the omega inside was squealing with overwhelming happiness.

On a day when the summer sun burnt him like some vampire from Twilight, the omega helped pluck ripe cherries from the thick branches that were bending under their own weight. Although mostly he just threw them into his mouth instead of dropping them into a small bucket hanging from a hook attached to a branch.

His mother swept the sidewalk in the yard with a broom and worked in the flowerbed, planting flowers. Twice a week, she went to the local market, where she bought groceries in bulk to prepare lunch. Yunho kept a close eye on her. Whenever he saw that she was getting too tired, he would take over her duties so that she could rest and gain strength for the journey north.

Grandma Jeong spent her evenings in the garden, tending to her vegetable beds. She carefully cleared the sprouting carrots of couch grass and dandelions, trying to pull out the weeds thoroughly and gently without damaging the future crop. 

And as day turned to evening, the TV hummed softly in the house. Yunho sat on the couch, his legs crossed, listening intently to the news—which wasn’t very encouraging—while his mother spoke to his father and the twins in the kitchen on the phone again. In the evenings, the connection at their headquarters somewhere in Nazon was always better. To be honest, he even started to miss the jokes and pranks of Insu and Ilwon. They were the same, even though they were five years older than him. But there seemed to be no difference between them at all, except for their appearance.

"Yunho has decided to choose aviation," he heard from his mother’s voice from the kitchen. 

There was a note of pride in her voice, and the omega turned the TV down a little, straining his ears to listen. 

“I knew he was making the right decision,” his father said quietly, and Yunho smiled when he heard it. “He will be just like his great-grandfather. An unyielding omega with steel patience, the same."

Now he could safely consider himself the second omega in the family, who had a direct relationship with airplanes and could be proud of it.

Meanwhile, Grandma was sweeping the rugs in the hallway, cursing the never-ending dust and her aching joints. They had long since offered to buy her a vacuum cleaner for those dust-collecting rugs on the floor. But every time, the old woman would grumble in displeasure at the suggestion: “No fancy gadget can clean the rugs better than my broom!” After that, no one wanted to argue with her anymore, even if the reason was to make her life easier.

They spent the week at this rather fast but pleasant pace. Yunho woke up in the morning with a strange, aching feeling inside. He hadn’t even left yet, and he was already beginning to miss the quiet, carefree life in this bright place. Brins had always been a second home to him, even despite his grandmother’s whims and constant lectures. 

Seyon was darting around the room, running from one corner to another, gathering and packing the last few items that hadn’t yet been put in her suitcase. Grandmother bustled around him like a mother hen around her chicks. Omega tried his hardest to stop his eyelids from twitching and to stifle a scream at the constant questions about whether he was hungry—and whether he wanted to take some more food with him for the road. And the least he could do to calm this annoying old woman down was to give her a gentle hug so she would stop pacing back and forth and intensifying her lilac pheromones out of excitement.

“Are you sure you want to leave today?” she asked again, even though he’d heard it a dozen times over the past hour. “Maybe you should stay a little longer?”

“We’re definitely leaving today, Mrs. Jeong!” Seyon assured her in a surprisingly calm voice, though the omega could sense through the lingering scent of acacia that her nerves were starting to fray as well. “Yunho has to be at the university on Monday!” She went on to explain this to her mother-in-law once again, all while zipping up her own suitcase. “And he still needs to settle in and unpack his things. I’ll come back to you as soon as I make sure everything’s okay with him there.”

“Wait…” Yunho suddenly exclaimed, not quite understanding what she had said. “Aren’t you going to stay there with me?” he asked, staring intently at her, desperately waiting for an answer.

“No, son,” she said, shaking her head. “From what I’ve been told, there isn’t much room there, and you need your own space.”

Of course, he understood why he would need some personal space. The very thought of it made him feel sick. He would be completely alone there. He would live alone with his old best friend and his father. With people who were technically close to him, but at the same time strangers, because they hadn’t spoken or seen each other for the past five years. He would have to solve all the problems and difficulties that life threw at him on his own.

Damn, he wasn't ready for this.

“Hey, sweetheart, everything will be okay,” Seyon said gently, touching his cheek with her palm and stroking it with her thumb. “You’re an adoult now, and I’m sure you can handle this on your own. If you need me, I can always come see you or give you a call.”

Her sweet, yet slightly tart, acacia scent was so soothing and gentle that it seemed to penetrate right through his skin.

“I taught you how to cook, sew clothes, manage money, and take care of yourself because you are the most wonderful thing in this world. Your father and the twins taught you self-defense; everything will definitely be fine, and you’ll end up in safe and loving hands—I promise."

“All right,” the omega said in one breath, nodding slightly, even though his eyes were already stinging a little from the tears.

“I know it’s hard, but you’ll be safe there. You’ll go on living and building your future,” she said, gently hugging him around the shoulders. “I’d really love for all of us to stay in Kelstone or move to Brins. But you have to understand: it’s dangerous there, and there are no prospects for growth here, so this is the best decision your dad and I could make to secure your future, son.

“Your mother is right, as always, little apricot. You need to keep moving forward.”

Yunho couldn’t hold back his tears after all and began to cry.

✈✈✈

Despite the steady rain that lasted at least half the journey, Delburn greeted them with a magnificent sunset over the glass skyscrapers. The navigation app built into the phone constantly told them where to turn in this endless maze of colorful streets. Yunho gazed longingly out the window, watching as cars and shops floated past his eyes, giving way to parks and playgrounds.

“In three hundred meters, turn right and merge onto the main road,” a synthesized female voice in the navigator suddenly said.

Seyon turned in the right direction at her command, and the road led closer to a forest and single-story buildings resembling cottages. This neighborhood was much quieter than the rest of the city. 

Omega pressed a button on the side panel and rolled the window all the way down. His chestnut hair immediately fluttered in the gentle breeze that swept in through the window, and the evening sun bathed his skin in a golden glow. He took a deep breath and filled his lungs with the fresh, clean, and cool scent of the earth after the rain.

The woman turned into an alley, toward a house standing amid a dense coniferous forest almost right by the road.

“It’s as if they, too, have decided to hide from the whole world,” Yunho muttered under his breath.

Up close, the house seemed even larger than at first glance. It reminded him of his own house in Kelstone. The facade was clad in the same dark wood siding, with small brown windows whose outer surfaces had the texture of dark wood, and smooth black shingles that gleamed with cleanliness after the rain.

It seemed as though the house had been designed to blend harmoniously with the surrounding trees, creating the impression that it had been built in the middle of a forest rather than simply on the outskirts of town. 

The older omega pulled the Ford over onto a wide stone path that narrowed as it led invitingly toward the house and another building. The streetlight turned on automatically as the car pulled up, and Yunho’s skin prickled for a moment with excitement and nervousness. While his mom was turning off the engine, he pressed the button, and the window closed with a monotonous hum.

Seyon got out of the car to unload their things from the trunk, but the omega didn’t even dare to touch the handle. He sat in the car until she shouted, “Let’s go,” and only then did he pull the handle and open the door. Yunho first took a deep breath to suppress his panic and gather his courage, then got out of the car and followed his mother.

No sooner had they pressed the doorbell than the front door swung open before them. The first thing Yunho sensed was the familiar, slightly resinous scent of cedar, characteristic of Uncle Minsu. In the five long years since their last meeting, the man had aged: wrinkles and a mustache had appeared on his face, but his gaze, which had always been friendly, hadn’t changed a bit. 

“Come in. Don't be shy; make yourselves at home,” he said it sincerely, and Yunho relaxed his tense shoulders. “I hope you made it here without any trouble. The road here is a bit confusing." 

Like a true gentleman, the man immediately carried their belongings into the house, where the warmth stood in stark contrast to the coolness outside.

“The trip was wonderful. Thank you for stepping in to help us,” his mother replied, shaking the hand Alpha had extended.

“It was our pleasure, Seyon,” the man said with a warm smile.

They chatted among themselves as if they were distant relatives, while Yunho stood frozen in the narrow hallway, feeling like an outsider. Out of habit, he took a deep breath, checking to see if the area was safe. The house smelt of pine needles and light resin—a pleasant, unobtrusive scent for an alpha. Yet another scent stood out among them, one that made Yunho’s heart skip a beat: the familiar smell of damp moss, fallen leaves, and tree bark, with that barely perceptible, painfully familiar sweetness that reminded him of home. 

“Hey, Yunho?” Uncle Minsu’s voice interrupted his deep thoughts. “Would you mind if I talked to your mom while Mingi shows you around the house?”

“I-I don’t mind,” he replied, sounding a little nervous. 

Although he tried to look as if everything was fine.

“I’ll go get him; I’m sure the two of you will have plenty to talk about.” 

The man winked at him, gently took his mother by the elbow, and led her into the room on the left. Judging by the outline of the furniture inside, it was a study. He then walked down the hallway and, returning a few minutes later, quietly closed the door behind him.

While Yunho waited, he dared only to take off his shoes on the brown doormat by the door and look around a little. Right in front of him stood a gleaming wooden staircase leading to the second floor. To the right was a walk-in closet, where a mirror sparkled in the hallway light, and to the left, a dark, solid door led to the study. Next to it stood a small shelf filled with trinkets. There were several photo frames on it, along with some keys and a vase of yellow, exquisitely fragrant lilies. 

He wanted to pick up a photo frame and look at that sweet photo, but he immediately changed his mind as soon as he heard a door creak nearby. In the quiet room, those heavy footsteps echoed with a loud rustling sound. The light scent of the forest grew more intense, enveloping every square meter, and Yunho’s heart suddenly began to beat faster.

“Hello.” 

Omega flinched. The other man’s voice was rough and slightly lisping. He turned his head away from the shelf, swallowing a thick glob of saliva, and met Mingi’s gaze. His eyes widened in surprise, for the boy standing before him had changed beyond recognition. 

Yunho tilted his head back slightly since Mingi was a little taller than him, by just a few centimetres. His hair had a soft, whitish-cream hue and was cut short, resembling a hedgehog’s quills. There was a piercing in the cartilage of his right ear, and a silver hoop earring glinted in the light. And the scent was woody, calm, and gentle—and completely unlike an Alpha. 

"H-hello," Yunho replied, immediately feeling intimidated under his friend's watchful gaze.

"Come on, I'll show you the house."

It sounded dry, perhaps even a little indifferent. Could it be that everything they had simply vanished over the past five years, and he was the only one who remembered it? Yunho nodded and shuffled down the hallway behind Mingi, following him like a little shadow. They walked down a long hallway that, by the looks of it, led to the living room. The walls were painted a light, warm color, similar to sand, and the floor was covered in herringbone-patterned parquet. On one of the walls to the left, Yunho noticed a few more photo frames featuring a small, smiling Alpha. 

“This is the living room, and to the right is the kitchen and dining room,” Mingi said, showing him the spacious rooms decorated in shades of green.

In the living room, calm, melodious music was playing from a record player sitting on a bookshelf. The green sofas and armchairs blended so harmoniously with the interior by the fireplace that Yunho was speechless.

Calm music played quietly in the living room from a vinyl player on the bookshelf. The green sofas and armchairs blended so harmoniously with the interior and the fireplace that Yunho was at a loss for words. The small kitchen, where only two people could work at the counter at a time, smelled of spicy noodles. It was painted a similar but slightly lighter shade of paint, like a separate island in the house. On the table, covered with a yellow tablecloth, stood a vase of white and purple eustomas and four olive cloth placemats.

“Over there is the guest bathroom—we hardly ever use it,” the alpha said just as indifferently, pointing to the door next to the kitchen. “And here’s the terrace that opens onto the garden. On the second floor are the bedrooms and one bathroom, as well as several balconies offering views of the city and the forest.”

Yunho nodded in understanding with every word, but at the same time, he couldn’t take his eyes off the face from which all the childish features he remembered had vanished. The cheekbones had become higher and wider, and the chin—barely rounded and elongated—formed a sharp line along the lower jaw. At the same time, his face still had plump, childlike cheeks that charmingly complemented his harmonious appearance.

“Why are you looking at me as if you’re seeing me for the first time?” Mingi asked, a little awkwardly and flustered, not knowing where to look to escape the omega’s piercing gaze. 

“Because you’ve changed… and this is the first time I’ve seen you like this,” Yunho replied, catching a subtle hint of tension in his scent. 

“You’ve… changed too,” he coughed briefly and dryly before looking at him again and continuing. “It just surprises me… We rarely have guests, except for my friends and my boyfriend. And I never thought you’d turn out to be… an omega.”

Yunho froze, and his heart clenched with disappointment that spread through him as quickly as poison. The realization that in this house he was just a guest to Mingi—and not even the friend he had once promised to be—pierced him right through. 

The omega’s scent had changed, and all that remained of the juicy, fruity note of apricots was a sourness so strong it was as if the fruit on the tree had turned unripe again. His body tensed slightly, and his lips pressed into a tight, even line. It felt as though he had just been betrayed in the worst possible way.

Running fast across the soft grass left trails of tiny footprints behind them as they played tag. They were nine years old. Childish energy poured from them as rapidly as water through a sieve.

Yunho ran in circles, trying to confuse the boy who was chasing him from behind to win the pack of ramen they had bet on. Both of them were competitive and wanted to win too badly. Because who wouldn’t want to win food?

Mingi ran fast—maybe even too fast. Sometimes he reached out to grab the hem of Yunho’s striped shirt, but his hand only grabbed air. The boy running ahead even relaxed a little when he saw that Mingi couldn’t catch up to him, and that only fueled his competitive spirit.

“Hey, Mingi, are you going to catch me or what?” he laughed mockingly, not really watching where he was going.

“Of course,” Mingi shouted.

“Well, try your best!”

Yunho just laughed even louder, teasing him even more. He ran headlong forward until he cried out in pain. Losing his balance from the throbbing, sharp pain in his foot, the boy fell onto the grass, and a breathless Mingi, who hadn’t had time to react, fell on top of him, pinning him to the ground with his own body.

“Gotcha,” Mingi smiled slyly, flashing his white teeth.

“You just got lucky,” Yunho hissed unhappily, looking up at him from below. “A thorn got stuck in my foot, that’s why you won!” 

“Does it hurt a lot?” Mingi asked cautiously, getting up from Yunho’s body and settling down on the grass next to his injured leg. Without wasting any time, he immediately began pulling out the small thorns from the hedge that were stuck in his skin. 

“Not anymore,” the boy assured him, moving his injured leg slightly. “I’m glad you’re my best friend.”

“I’m glad to be your friend, even if sometimes a pack of ramen is more important to me than giving in to you.” 

“Idiot,” Yunho said, making them both burst into infectious laughter.

“So… are we not friends anymore?” Yunho managed to say, feeling those five words tighten his throat as the wolf inside him howled pitifully. 

“It’s complicated, Yun…” Mingi began, looking him straight in the eyes, but the omega cut him off. 

“Don’t call me like that!” the omega snapped, not letting him voice his ridiculous excuses. 

His voice trembled with disappointment, like the last autumn leaf on a tree.  

“I’ve been traveling here for who knows how long, thinking we were still friends! With that fragile hope that we could restore our bond, torn apart by circumstances." 

The rotten bitterness of his scent intensified rapidly in the air, as did the tension stretching between them, like a rope over an abyss.

“And now you’re telling me… that I’m just a guest? Not even a friend?” he blurted out, feeling his emotions spiraling out of control. “All these years I thought there was still something between us, but now you’ve proven that there’s nothing left between us, and…” 

“Hey, Yunho, breathe!” his mother’s demanding yet gentle voice interrupted him. “Take a deep breath and breathe.”

Omega flinched in surprise, realizing that everyone had heard his eloquent monologue.

Yunho did as she said, and immediately felt his pheromones intensify tenfold as they tried to overpower the woody scents in the house. A burning sense of shame engulfed him as easily as fire engulfs dry grass, and his face twisted at the smell of his own sweet apricot and the cloying scent of elderberry.

It wasn’t that he’d set out to make a bad impression on his first day in a stranger’s home, but damn it, he’d done just that, and he probably regretted it a little.

“I’m sorry,” the omega whispered in a barely audible voice, running shyly past his mother and Uncle Minsu from the living room.

As soon as the door creaked and closed behind him, the room immediately fell into complete silence, broken only by the rhythmic ticking of the clock and the vinyl record that was still spinning dramatically on the player.

“I’m sorry. His emotions are still unstable due to hormonal changes, and recent events have only added fuel to the fire,” Seyon said, feeling her cheeks burn with shame for her son’s behaviour. “Sometimes he can be hard to deal with, because he explodes over the smallest of things.

“Don’t worry. He’ll grow out of it soon,” Minsu began to reassure her.

He led the distraught woman to the dining area, pulled out a chair for her with soft dark green, almost marsh-green upholstery, and then turned on the electric kettle, which immediately began to hiss.

“Mingi was the same… If not worse.”

“Dad…” Mingi hissed warningly through clenched teeth. 

It seemed as though everyone had forgotten that he was still there and could hear everything, even though he himself was still trying to figure out what the hell had just happened. 

“Am I lying? Over the past two years, I’ve had to replace the door to your room four times because you slammed it so hard it flew off its hinges and got stuck,” the senior alpha said with a sigh, taking two clear cups from the top shelf and some tea from another.

“Oh, don't start,” the younger alpha said irritably, rolling his eyes.

“You’d better go talk to him—or better yet, go apologize,” Minsu said, his voice turning almost steely as he looked at him from the kitchen.

“For what?!” Mingi raised his voice and immediately received a warning glance from his father.

“You know perfectly well why. You’ve known each other since kindergarten, if not since you were in diapers, so cutting him out of your life was a reckless decision on your part,” said the senior alpha, taking the boiling kettle off the stand and pouring water into the cups. 

“But…”

“No "buts," Mingi! Your bad crowd over the last few years doesn’t seem to have taught you anything good. So learn your lesson and make the right decisions!”

“You’re the one who dragged me here!” the boy growled, turning back toward the door. “I’m staying at Haewon’s tonight,” he told his father, having made his first truly wise decision.  

The wolf inside him urged him to run away so he wouldn’t have to sit through a lecture on good behavior for the next few hours.  

“I’ll be waiting for you at home in the morning because we have to go to the university,” Minsu added calmly, reminding him one last time before Mingi hurried out of the room, slamming the door behind him for added effect. 

“God, these teenagers…” their parents sighed in unison. 

Stomping his feet—a reflection of all his inner aggression—Mingi went up to the second floor and immediately burst into his room, which was on the right. He quickly grabbed his charger, his phone with wireless earbuds, car keys, and a black leather jacket, then ran out of the room, heading for the exit to put on his shoes and get out of this crazy house.

When the young man stepped out onto the glass-enclosed veranda, he noticed Yunho, who was sitting hunched over in an armchair in the corner, sobbing and quickly wiping his tear-stained face with his palm, as if trying to hide it. Their eyes met for a moment, but despite the trembling in their chests, neither of them said a word. Mingi hurried out of the house, passing him indifferently, leaving behind only a trail of the tart, dew-soaked, slightly musty scent of the forest.

✈✈✈

Omega woke up in the morning to the sound of the alarm clock, which his mother had set yesterday after a quiet, delicious dinner. The flute melody, which was more likely to lull him to sleep than wake him up, played throughout the room. Yunho whined discontentedly, turning on the bed in the opposite direction to the wall, covering his head with a warm blanket. Just to somehow drown out that damn sound. The annoying alarm clock fell silent as soon as his mother swiped her finger across the screen and got out of bed, putting on her slippers and shuffling across the floor with her feet, looking for the things they had managed to unpack.

They were given the furthest, more or less spacious room with cosmetic repairs on the second floor. There were two single beds, a nightstand with three wide shelves, a full-length mirror on legs, a bedside table next to Yunho's bed with a lamp and a fluffy rug, but basically, the room was clean and tidy. His mother gently pulled the blanket off him and asked him to get up because they had a lot to do today. Yunho reluctantly got out of bed, yawning and stepping onto the carpet with his bare feet, immediately shivering from the morning chill. Omega found his phone on the wooden table nearby and unlocked it to check the time.

The lock screen showed that it was seven in the morning, and he grimaced even more discontentedly, because he was by no means a morning person. Seyon took her things to get dressed and was the first to leave the room, asking Yunho to hurry up a little with waking up. Omega nodded and went to the drawer to look for his light-colored flared jeans and a loose, wide blue shirt to change into while the room was free for him.

As soon as he zipped up his jeans and buttoned the last small round button on his shirt, the door opened, and his mother returned to the room. Yunho looked at himself in the mirror, took his face towel, and went to the bathroom to freshen up as well.

The bathroom was spacious and bright, tiled with white tiles from floor to ceiling. The only green accent was a mat near the bathroom with a glass curtain that also served as a shower. Yunho rolled up his shirt sleeves, turned on the tap with warm, pleasant summer water, and splashed it on his face, immediately refreshing himself and washing away his sleepiness. He dried his face with a towel and looked in the horizontal mirror that took up almost the entire wall, staring at his still slightly rumpled reflection. Omega found his toothbrush in a ceramic cup on the sink and, putting a pea-sized amount of mint toothpaste on it, began brushing his teeth, humming something at the same time. When he finished rinsing his mouth and did all the other grooming and hygiene stuff, including combing and styling his hair, there was a quiet knock on the door, and Yunho shouted that he was coming out.

Being an omega meant taking a long time to groom himself so that not only did he like himself, but also those around him.

Wiping the water droplets he had left on the surface with a cloth, he left the bathroom and went down to the first floor, heading straight for the kitchen. The kitchen smelled of omelets, sausages, and bacon that Uncle Minsu was frying in his pajamas, as well as fresh pastries from the bakery and strong morning coffee, which sleepy Mingi was drinking, supporting his head with his palm. Yunho looked at him, trying to read the alpha's expression, but saw nothing there but general indifference and a complete unwillingness to go anywhere. He turned away from Mingi for a moment to greet the older alpha, who wished him good morning, and went to the shelf with cups. He took one painted in a single tone from among the whole range of colors to pour himself some coffee.

"Can I... can I have some milk?" Yunho asked uncertainly, filling only half of the cup with the black, aromatic, steaming liquid.

He didn't like pure classic coffee; it was too bitter for his taste buds, so he always tried to dilute it with something to soften the taste.

"Sure, the jug is in the fridge on the bottom shelf," Minsu said, pouring breakfast onto plates and placing one in front of Mingi.

"Thank you," said Omega, opening the refrigerator and taking out a spotted clay jug with white liquid.

The dark brown liquid in the cup turned a pleasant creamy shade as soon as he added milk, causing brown streaks to appear on the surface, and the taste became much milder and more pleasant. Behind him, Omega felt a piercing, intense gaze. It was as if someone was trying to drill a hole through him, and only when he barely turned his head, trying to catch Alpha in the act, did the other person abruptly look away, which infuriated him.

"Your mother said yesterday that you don't really like to eat regular food for breakfast, so I asked Mingi to stop by the bakery on his way home this morning," Minsu said, handing Yunho a bag of fresh pastries that smelled of soft spices.

He opened the bag and saw two cinnamon rolls with buttercream filling, which had leaked and smeared a little. His heart fluttered because Mingi, damn it, still remembered what he liked. The omega looked at him in surprise, almost not believing his eyes, but the alpha just shrugged and stared at the plate with his half-eaten breakfast.

"My mom asked me to give you the cinnamon rolls she baked yesterday," said the boy, taking a small container of pastries out of his bag. "There's enough here for your whole family," Mingi smiled, handing the container to Yunho.

"Thank you. I appreciate it," the boy said hoarsely through his stuffy nose and sore throat.

"Are you still not feeling better?" Mingi asked, following him into the kitchen, where Yunho just shook his head and coughed a few times.

"Well, then, sit down. I'll make you some tea and take care of you so you'll feel better."

They smelled incredibly appetizing and fresh, as if they had just been taken out of the oven. Yunho put one on his plate, said a quiet thank you, and began to eat breakfast. The dough was tender and moist inside, and melted in his mouth along with the cream. Sweet pastries always lifted his spirits by a thousand percent. He could say that it was the best and most enjoyable breakfast of his life, except for the ones his mother always made. Seyon entered the kitchen just as he and Mingi finished eating. Her hair was curled at the ends, and her face was covered in neutral makeup that was almost invisible.

"You look great, Seyon," Minsu said, pouring coffee for her into a cup, which made her a little embarrassed.

"Thank you," she said calmly, taking the cup and taking a sip.

"I suggest we all go together in our car today, it has a bigger trunk and more space in the cabin."

"That sounds great," said the woman, "but we don't want to distract you from your work. We'd like to go to the mall to buy some furniture for the room and maybe some clothes, because Yunho didn't bring much with him."

"We'll help you with that... right, Mingi?"

"Mhm," the boy grunted in response.

"You don't need to..." Yunho interrupted.

"My father owns a furniture company, so he has his connections there," Mingi replied, looking straight at Yunho with his brown chocolate eyes, as if searching deeply for something in him. "You can always find something in the warehouse that has been written off as defective because of a small scratch, which can actually be easily restored and purchased at a lower price if money is an issue."

I don't think they had a choice but to accept when they were literally offered a pretty good deal.

When they got ready and left the house, the sun was shining brightly outside, flooding the entire front yard with light. A brand-new Volkswagen was parked on the driveway, which was bigger than their 1990 Ford. Uncle Minsu opened the door for his mother, letting her into the front passenger seat, and Mingi opened it for him. Omega's head was spinning with happiness at these small gestures, but Yunho himself understood that these were just polite manners to smooth over yesterday's storm between them.

The car smelled the same as home, refreshing and clean, like a damp forest and pine resin with a hint of an unfamiliar rose scent that he didn't like. Mingi sat down next to him behind the driver's seat and put his headphones on. Damn it, Yunho wanted to sit closer to him, if not for that same rose, which lingered in the car like perfume, stronger and cleaner than at home, where the scents of pheromones and breakfast were mixed. Yunho immediately realized that the scent belonged to another omega and moved a little further away from the alpha, realizing that there was nothing between them now but a broken friendship.

The university's main building was huge. It looked like an old but restored castle built several centuries ago, which was now considered the main attraction of the city. On the alley in front of the central entrance to the educational institution, surrounded by ball-shaped bushes and lavender flowers, stood a wrought-iron airplane, the nose of which was pointed toward the sky, as if it were taking off. One of the staff members at the entrance, who was helping to accept student documents for enrollment, asked them to wait due to the large number of people and those who had arrived earlier. So, they walked around and looked at what was around them. Seyon lagged behind them for a few minutes because of a call from his father, and Minsu walked behind, while Mingi and Yunho walked slowly ahead, looking at the exquisite botanical garden, which had clearly been created with great care. Although Omega tried harder to sniff out Mingi's pheromones nearby, trying to break down the multifaceted aroma into molecules, rather than the flower that was lost in it.

“So you're joining this university too?” Mingi suddenly asked, breaking the awkward silence.

Omega flinched, still trying to get used to the deep tone of his voice.

"Yes," said Yunho, glancing at his tense posture and involuntarily meeting only a sullen gaze.

"So what major are you going for?"

Mingi`s curiosity was overflowing today. Even after asking several questions in the car, he was still interested in asking about his life, or maybe he just wanted to reach a stage of reconciliation.

"Air traffic control," Yunho replied, smiling involuntarily, his gaze, which had been fixed on the ground the whole time, automatically drawn to the clear blue sky. "And you? Do you still want to be a pilot?" asked the omega, catching a tart, sweet note of tree bark in his voice that signaled that Mingi was open to conversation.

The alpha stopped beside him, his small eyes widening in surprise, his slightly bleached eyebrows barely rising.

"Do you remember?"

"I remember everything, Mingi," Yunho said, chuckling at the alpha's puzzled look. "Absolutely everything about you and me."

"You've always had a phenomenal memory," said the alpha so easily, as if confirming a world-famous fact without even trying to praise him in any way.

"Can I ask one question, since we're doing this today?"

Mingi nodded and said,

"Of course."

Yunho thought for a moment about what he wanted to ask, but the only thing running through his head was the stupid question, "Who is this omega?"

"That omega... whose scent is on you today? Who is he?" he asked quietly but confidently. Yunho knew that this question could easily be ignored, but it wouldn't leave him alone.

"My boyfriend," Mingi replied, crossing his arms in front of his chest in a bored manner, although Yunho considered it more of a defensive posture.

"How long have you been together?" Yunho asked nervously, playing with his fingers behind his back.

"About two years, maybe."

"That's quite a long time for a relationship," flashed through his mind, and the omega fell silent, trying to think of the next question, but Mingi beat him to it.

"I think we're pretty serious about our relationship. Haewon likes me, and I like him."

Yunho just snorted, keeping to himself, "Liking is not loving," but words are like sparrows; once they fly out of your mouth, you can't catch them. Although he himself understood that love is a very difficult and confusing thing, you can't even predict when everything will go wrong.

Omega left school at six in the evening with the alpha he really liked, but he didn't love him because he always had the feeling that his heart belonged irrevocably to someone else.

Their hands were intertwined and clasped tightly together when he was pulled around the corner of the stone building, where there was no one left except the gym teacher, the cleaning lady, and a few younger classes. All of their classmates had probably already scattered to their homes, leaving them completely alone.

Hands pressed him firmly against the wall by the shoulders, and warm foreign breath tickled his lips until it covered them with a wet kiss. The smell of tart, slightly sweet, overstepped black tea with bergamot swirled around, seeping into his clothes and hair, as if saying "you are mine" without words. Their tongues merged in chaos and twisted in an open desire for more than just a momentary pleasure, and their hands wandered over the omega's body, trying to find a place to stop. It seemed like the most amazing seconds of his life. Until the moment when Alpha was roughly pulled away from him by his shirt collar and struck in the face, leaving a red mark from the palm.

"How dare you betray me, you idiot!" shouted the omega, red with rage, his eyes flashing.

"I didn't... it's not what you think, baby," he began to look for an excuse, but then it dawned on Yunho. The omega smelled like lemons, and now the smell was so sour and strong that it was as if a dozen of them had been squeezed out. The same smell that constantly hung around the alpha like a second skin.

"That... isn't that your mother's scent?" Yunho asked breathlessly. "When I asked you about that lemon scent, you told me it was your mother's scent. Did you lie to me?" he said with bitterness in his voice.

"You liar!" the other omega shouted, leaving another handprint on the other cheek.

"You idiot, So Joon," Yunho said with disgust, wiping the saliva from his lips with his fingers.

"Yunho..."

"Don't touch me… ever again. You'd better talk to the one who is destined for you," Yunho said, glancing at the angry boy next to him and grabbing his backpack from the ground, walking away from them.

"What are you thinking about?" Mingi asked, barely touching his wrist with his fingertips, causing a strange warmth to spread throughout his body.

Yunho shuddered, looking down at their almost intertwined hands, catching a sweet note of toffee, honeysuckle, and vanilla in the short distance between them.

"Huh?" he asked, confused.

"You've been walking silently for the last five minutes. So I'm asking what you're thinking about," the alpha explained, pulling his hand away from him as if he had been electrocuted, while Yunho, on the contrary, wanted to feel it on himself for a few seconds longer.

"It's nothing..."

"Hmm, are you offended that I have a boyfriend?" the alpha tried to guess, eliciting a light, warm, carefree laugh from Yunho.

"No, I'm not offended. Why should I be offended? Everyone would want someone like you..."

"I would want someone like you," he kept to himself, feeling the sweet, fresh, silky scent of Mingi enveloping him from all sides, forming a cocoon around him. Something new and special, as if the forest had begun to bloom with wild flowers.

Alpha just grunted at his restrained answer, as if subconsciously accepting it and falling silent, asking no more questions.  They walked around the garden for about an hour, occasionally catching each other's eyes, until they were finally called to the main building, which was as majestic inside as it was outside. Columns carved in the style of the eighteenth century adorned the massive corridor, and the high ceiling was painted with geometric patterns and delicate colors, from which voluminous crystal chandeliers descended.

They dispersed to different tables for a few minutes to fill out the forms and submit all the necessary documents, but Yunho could still clearly and vividly feel Mingi's scent among the tons of others. It seemed that Alpha could, too. The omega woman at the table, from whom Yunho subtly caught the scent of jasmine, smiled at him and handed him a three-page form for the state program, and asked him to sign it. The omega thought he would burst into flames and start screaming with happiness, realizing that he had not wasted eleven years of school. He made his last stroke with his pen on the paper, leaving his simple two-letter signature, and with the woman's words, "We will send all the training information to your email address and look forward to seeing you at the air traffic control department in September," he walked away from the table, almost squealing with overwhelming happiness.

The four of them met in the lobby, which was buzzing with the voices of teenagers. His mother took a photo with him to send it to relatives and show off her son, and then they all headed for the car to go to the furniture warehouse as they had agreed earlier. This time, he and his mother sat in the back, chatting about strange facial cosmetics and looking at photos of the house that Ilwon had sent. The house, which, surprisingly, was still intact and standing in its place, because in the last few days everything had calmed down a bit, and Yunho hadn't even heard any bad news. Except for the fact that several soldiers from his father's unit had been sent to Monté, closer to the front line.

"We'll be back someday, right?" Yunho asked quietly, flipping through another photo.

"Maybe someday, but right now I can't put you in danger, my dear," she says quietly, hugging him as tightly as if he were a little boy.

The warehouse smelled of dust and wood. The furniture was sorted into corresponding areas and colors, and signs hung overhead indicating where to go to find what you needed in this huge, cold room. The first thing Yunho noticed was a light-colored wardrobe with a built-in bookshelf. A multifunctional piece of furniture, as they say. He didn't need much. Just a desk and a chair, a tiny nightstand with shelves to put next to the bed instead of a table, and a wardrobe, and maybe a pouf. His mother looked at the tables, checking the shelves for strength, and Yunho liked the one she was walking around, which came with a chair. It was completely simple and neutral with open shelves at the bottom.

"Can we buy this table and that wardrobe?" Yunho said to the employee in a bright neon green vest, pointing to the selected items with his finger.

"Of course, would you like anything else?"

"Yes, a bedside table. Preferably something inexpensive."

"Then I recommend you consider that one. It's the same color, but there's a scratch on the side from manufacturing," said the salesperson, leading him to the right department and immediately pointing to the one he was talking about.

Yunho thanked him and sat down next to it, opening the door to see how much space there was inside. There were two small shelves in the middle and one cabinet on top. There should be plenty of room for his small items.

"What do you think, Yunho?" Minsu asked after talking to his subordinate.

"I like it. There's enough space for my things, so I'll take it."

"Okay. The company will cover this purchase for you."

"No, don't worry about it. We can pay for it," he began to refuse, because he could never accept someone else's kindness.

"Let us help you after you were forced to leave your home," the man assured him.

"You've already done so much by letting me live with you," the omega tried to interject his futile arguments.

"Don't argue, Yun, you don't stand a chance against him. Just take it, it's okay," the younger alpha chimed in, but it somehow managed to calm his little burst of anger.

As always, without even noticing Mingi, he subconsciously grounded him by influencing him.

"Hey, Yunho, you're practically shooting sparks," the boy shouted after him, catching up and forcing Yunho to stop two steps from the stairs. "Won't you tell me what happened?"

"Ask Jivon," Yunho said discontentedly, stepping onto the stairs and trying to escape to the restroom on the first floor.

"I want to ask you! Why should I ask someone else when I want to hear from you?"

"I don't like it!" Yunho said and pulled his hand away from the other's grip, continuing down the stairs. "I don't like being underestimated when I solved those damn equations, and he just copied them from me and passed them off as his own!"

"I know they're yours, Yun," Mingi said gently, following him down the stairs and catching up with him on the landing. "Only you could solve them using this method," he reassured him, pulling him close. "No one can ever match your brain, not even Jivon."

"Do you think so?"

"I'm sure of it."

"Okay, sorry," the omega said quietly, watching as Mingi turned and walked away to where his mother was, exchanging a few words with her. Mingi was like his own lightning rod when he was a thunderstorm. And then the omega realizes that the alpha still calls him Yun, even though he asked him not to yesterday, and maybe that even warms his heart a little.

"It's okay, let's go, boy," Minsu says calmly, patting him gently on the shoulder. "We can take the bedside table today, and the rest will be delivered in a few days because there's a delivery backlog."

"Thank you," Yunho manages to say as he heads for the warehouse exit.

After the furniture warehouse, they stopped at a shopping center to shop and split up. They went their separate ways, wandering around the large building like cats. Minsu went to the fishing tackle shop, while Mingi went up to the second floor with them, but went into a piercing jewelry shop, although Yunho didn't really pay any attention to that. Meanwhile, he and his mother went to the left to look at clothes and spend money. After twenty minutes of walking between the rows, he picked out a few new plaid shirts and a pair of wide jeans for himself, and a green cardigan that looked like it had been knitted by his grandmother. The price tags on the clothes were usually steep when he found something of better quality, and sometimes the price was ridiculous. He returned to the pants rack and grabbed the ones he liked best and were perfect for his size before someone else took them. A plain white linen shirt also fell into his hands, along with a gray and satin black one that shimmered in the light. It would go well with his classic pants. Seyon brought him two plain sweaters to choose from. Mint green and milky white. He touched both fabrics, soft and warm to the touch, the wool slightly fuzzy but not prickly in the milky white sweater. So, he took it as a top to go with his jeans, thanking his mother for her excellent choice. With his arms full of clothes, the omega headed to the checkout, stopping at a separate section with pillows and blankets, wanting to buy a few for his nest. Because without them, the bed felt hard, empty, and uncomfortable, especially after the wide and soft nest he had in Kelstone. His mother freed his hands by taking some clothes, and Yunho touched a plush blue blanket, immediately taking it for himself, along with a powder pink and sunny yellow one. Now he definitely had no free space in his hands, given how voluminous and large they were. Seyon grabbed two decorative small pillows and two sets of replacement bedding, and only then did they go to pay at the cash register. And only now, at eighteen... Yunho realized that being an omega was a very expensive pleasure. They paid for everything with a card, and the cashier neatly packed everything into two bags and wished them a good day.

Maybe today really was a good day for him. 

They met Mingi on a bench next to the escalator going down. The alpha was mysteriously examining something in a small black box, which he immediately hid in his pocket as soon as he noticed them approaching. Yunho caught a sweet, lingering scent of toffee and flowers from him, which meant that he was happy and excited.

"Are you done?" Mingi asked, quickly taking one of the bags from him, which the omega almost dropped in surprise.

The alpha was acting very strangely today: thirty percent normal and seventy percent weird.

"I think so... That's it for today," the omega replied cautiously, glancing at him sideways, as if asking, "Are you okay, or do you need to see a doctor?"

"Then let's go, because I really want to go home," said Alpha, almost cheerfully stepping onto the escalator and going down.

When they returned home, it was a little after noon, and the sun had disappeared behind the clouds. They had spent about seven hours in the city, but it felt like a whole day had passed. Omega slowly got out of the car, stepped onto the rocky path, stretched, and rubbed his shoulders. He glanced involuntarily at the house and noticed a boy sitting bored on the steps, his hands on his knees. Mingi slammed the door on his side and quickly approached him, smiling broadly. Once, that smile belonged only to him. Uncle  Minsu, standing nearby, sighed heavily, rubbing his eyebrows with his fingers, as if to say, "How annoying you are."

But Yunho couldn't take his eyes off them, even though he shouldn't have been watching them hug. For some reason, his heart was breaking into pieces as he watched the tall boy with pink hair kiss the alpha on the lips, press himself against him, and then giggle. It was Haewon, because he smelled like roses a mile away. Only after his mother nudged him did he tear himself away from watching the couple and go to the trunk to get his new things.

"Mingi, you'd better open the door," Minsu suddenly shouted at the alpha, and Yunho flinched in fright.

"Okaaaay," he said irritably, and a few minutes later, Yunho heard the jingle of keys and the turn of the lock in the door.

Yunho quickly carried all his things into the room, throwing them on the floor for now, while the older alpha brought him a new nightstand and closed the door so as not to disturb his space anymore. A place where he could now hide from everyone and everything. He wiped his hands of cold sweat on his jeans and took a deep breath of the honey-floral scent, trying to calm his racing heartbeat and wild desire to tear the alpha away from the stranger omega. Yunho leaned his head gloomily against the wooden frame of the bed and sighed heavily, realizing that it shouldn't be this way. That he shouldn't react this way to a person he didn't know at all now. Seyon entered the room an hour later, and Yunho was still sitting leaning against the bed with his knees pulled up to his chest. Even on her, he could smell those damn flowers.

"What's wrong, son?" she asked quietly and gently, sitting down opposite him to listen.

Yunho was silent, swallowing hard, a lump stuck deep in his throat.

"I don't know..." he said quietly, looking into her soft, dark eyes. "I think there's something between us... and it's not friendly, or at least it's not friendly on my part, more than on his."

"What do you mean?"

"I feel his scent clinging to me like a second skin and how it intertwines perfectly with mine," Yunho continued. "And how my heart races a hundred times faster when I'm with him, and I can hear my pulse in my ears and feel goosebumps on my skin. But it's not normal, Mom, because he has an omega that he likes, and there's nothing between us..."

"Oh, sweetheart..." the woman said gently, squeezing his hand. "The explanation for why you feel this way is quite simple, and you'll laugh. In the scent of each omega presented, there is a subtle particle that is more like a hint of the scent of a future mate."

"Huh?" Yunho asked, confused.

"We are born as babies, and then we are born again as the beginning and continuation of a new family," she explained softly. "From our father's scents of acacia and cherry bark, a completely new and unique scent has grown, and it is yours. Apricot and a subtle, barely perceptible herbal sweetness of elderberry, which grows mainly near forests. And Mingi is that deep forest that you need to explore to blossom in it."

"Did you know?" the omega asks quietly, sniffing.

"As soon as I got to the house," she admits, pulling him into an embrace. "And Minsu too. As parents, we always find out everything first when it comes to our children; we just don't talk about some things."

"So should I continue to pretend that there's nothing between us?"

"Do as you see fit, son, because he'll figure it out sooner or later anyway," she said gently, stroking his chestnut-colored, fluffy hair.

—

The end of August crept up unexpectedly, leaving a few warm days before the cold September. For three weeks, he lived in this house, exploring every nook and cranny he hadn't been to yet while no one was home, as if he were a shy wild animal. He had not crossed paths with Mingi or spoken to him in the last few days. The only thing that betrayed his presence in the house was the damp smell of soil and wood mixed with sticky roses, which, like incense in a church, tried to drive him out of the house. Or it seemed to him that Haewon had deliberately settled in this house so that no one (meaning him) could get close to his alpha.

Yunho left his room as soon as the door to Mingi's room closed. The omega was carrying a book, "The Salvation of Aviation," which he had bought at the local market a week ago, and a blanket that he had pulled out of his half-built nest. He went down the stairs to the terrace that led to the backyard, where there was a garden and a small vegetable garden, and another building unknown to him, where Mingi often wandered.

Minsu was tying up and picking ripe cherry tomatoes, which had been slightly damaged by hail a few days ago. This was the only vegetable crop that was still ripening at the end of summer. In addition to tomatoes, under the fence were bushes full of ripe blackberries and raspberry bushes, which he was allowed to eat if he wanted.  His mother had gone to Brins to visit his grandmother a few days ago, leaving him some pocket money and promising that she and his father would send him money every month so that he would have a reserve and wouldn't deny himself anything. Their money was hard-earned, and Yunho didn't really want to spend it. His father and brother were now working in an evacuation brigade on the border between the villages of Sendu and Borland, transporting wounded civilians and military personnel to the relatively peaceful Kelstown, where his sister worked at a military hospital. Then they sent them on to Eastwood, where there was a little more space in the hospitals.

"Hey, Yunho!" the senior alpha waved at him, getting his attention just as he was about to put his things on a chair. "Want to help me make lunch today?"

Yunho actually loved to cook, but he would never have dared to do so in someone else's house without permission. Although if he already lived here, he could try to do something nice for them, too.

"Of course," he replied sincerely, sitting down on the chair and adjusting his long dark blue shorts. "But can we do it after Haewon leaves? Because, to be honest, I can't breathe with that smell anymore. A few more times, and I'll definitely get sick, and even your scent won't help cover it up."

"Of course. I'll do all the prep work, and you can stay here as long as you need and enjoy nature," Minsu replied kindly, picking the last ripe tomatoes from the bush.

Yunho adored this man's endless kindness. It seemed to flow from him like a steady stream.

"What have you done, Yunho?" Seyon asked angrily as she entered the principal's office, where two ten-year-old troublemakers and their parents were already sitting.

"It's nothing serious, Mrs. Jeong," the principal hastened to reassure the woman. "I'm sorry to have taken you away from your lesson."

"So what did our children do?" asked the woman in the red jacket with soft features, looking at her son, who was fidgeting in his chair.

"Your children decided to run around during recess and knocked over several flower pots that were standing on a stand in the hallway. You will have to pay for them because they are all broken."

The boys sitting on chairs in front of the principal's desk seemed to freeze and shrink in size from the tension and fear of being punished.

"You know that running in school is forbidden, Yunho, and we've already talked about it," his mother said sternly from behind him.

"Seyon, it's okay. The kids just wanted to have some fun and brighten up their gray school days," said a soothing male voice next to his wife. "We'll buy these few pots... don't scold him."

"All right," the woman sighed helplessly, rubbing her temples to get rid of her headache.

When the door to the house on the other side slammed shut and the car engine in the parking lot roared to life, Yunho breathed more calmly. Omega had read about a hundred pages of the book in the last two hours while basking in the sun on the terrace, listening to the birds singing. Mostly crows, rooks, and woodpeckers pecking at trees as if trying to get to the heart of Mother Nature herself. He closed the book, placing a plastic bookmark between the pages so he wouldn't forget, and left it on the table before finally going inside. Mingi, looking disheveled, met him in the kitchen, breaking several eggs into a deep bowl, stirring them, and pouring them into a heated pan. His wide black T-shirt, which almost hung off one shoulder, revealed his neck and shoulders, and small pinkish-red spots that blushed on his skin, and Yunho felt somewhat uncomfortable about it. A storm of emotions rose inside him, already wanting to burst out, and his brain played out all the worst scenarios of what could be happening behind the door of the room where the alpha lived.

"Are you jealous?" he asked unexpectedly, clearly catching the intensified sweet and sour smell of apricots.

"No," Yunho squeezed out almost calmly, walking past him to the plate of peeled potatoes. "Who am I jealous of?" he asked, moving away from the alpha and taking up another surface. "We're not in a relationship, and your food is burning in the pan."

The alpha glanced at the pan and cursed quietly, flipping his slightly burnt but timely rescued omelet to the other side. Yunho took a wooden board from the bottom shelf and picked up a knife from the stand, and began cutting the potatoes into quarters. His hand gripped the plastic handle of the knife tightly when the alpha next to him spoke again.

"You know... You don't have to be in a relationship to be jealous," he said quietly, turning off the stove and scooping the omelet onto a plate from the hot skillet with a spatula.

 The alpha was standing sideways to him, only four steps away, but it felt as if he were standing behind him, and Yunho squeezed the knife tighter, cutting the potatoes in half.

"What do you want from me?" Omega asked, clenching his teeth, and for a second, he stared intently at Mingi, as if trying to read his thoughts so he wouldn't have to hear the answer.

"I like seeing you burn with anger and at the same time try to extinguish yourself," he shrugged, speaking in a velvety voice that sent a slight shiver down his spine. "And when you pretend you don't care, trying to wipe his scent off me right now."

"I'm not trying," he says, throwing the potatoes onto his plate a little aggressively. Wishing he would leave him alone.

"Oh, Yun... you're trying," Mingi whispers right into his ear, covering his skin with his moist breath. "I can smell those apricots and something else sweet and grassy so strongly that they settle in my lungs even more than roses," he murmurs, running his fingertips over his elbow, leaving his hand on his shoulder.  Yunho shrugs his shoulder, pushing him away out of discomfort and so as not to ask for more.

"Take your hands off me..." his voice cracks with hidden anger as he turns to face him, coming face to face with those dark brown eyes that pull so deeply. Mingi seems to have come to his senses and takes a few steps back, shaking his head as if waking up from hypnosis, mumbling apologies, and sitting down at the table with his back to him. But it's still hard to breathe.

The three of them had lunch. Baked potatoes with basil and oregano smelled wonderful and appetizing throughout the room, along with red fish. Yunho ate only half of his portion, feeling full, and simply poked at the rest with his fork, thinking about what had happened today. His body burned from within, feeling the alpha too close. It seemed that Mingi also had no appetite, as the younger alpha simply stared at the leftover fish on his plate, occasionally spearing it with his fork, trying to vent his pent-up emotions on it.

"There's a strange tension between you," Minsu said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Is everything okay?" he asked, looking at the boys lost in thought.

"Yes," Mingi grumbled, pushing his plate away. "Lunch is wonderful, thank you."

Yunho just chuckled at the sincere compliment to his culinary skills.

"Tomorrow, you'll receive a duplicate set of keys to the house in the mail, Yunho. You'll be able to go for walks and come back without waiting for any of us."

"Thank you," he said, relaxing his shoulders.

"Did Mingi tell you about the hot spa vat?" his husband asked, clearing the table of plates.

"What?" the omega asked, puzzled, remembering the building next to the house among the trees.

"Yes, there's a hot vat in the neighboring house where you can warm up and relax while enjoying the view.  The door locks, and everything from the road is walled up and surrounded by a fence, so you can go there whenever you want."

"Go there a few times, and you'll see for yourself that it's so nice there that you won't want to leave," the younger alpha said easily, giving a half-smile.

Now Yunho knows exactly why Mingi always went there with Haewon, and he thinks he'll never want to go there himself.

—

Around noon, four days before September 1, the doorbell rings throughout the house. Yunho is sitting on the couch in the living room with his legs tucked under him, watching some new popular music show, when Mingi brings him a letter. Omega tears open the envelope and Alpha does the same, sitting down in a chair near him.

To: Jeong Yunho

We would like to inform you that by September 1, all first-year students of NAU must undergo a mandatory medical examination at the aviation medical center and obtain a third-class certificate for admission to study. The schedule of upcoming classes has also been sent to your email. We wish you success."

From: Delburn National Aviation University

"Did you get the same letter?" Yunho asks, squinting to see what's on Alpha's letter.

"Yeah," Mingi replies, running his fingers through his slightly overgrown blond hair, nervously squeezing them. "I'll tell my dad to drive us there tomorrow, and you'll do yours, and I'll do mine."

"Couldn't they have sent this letter earlier? There will be terrible queues there now," whines Yunho, clutching his letter in his hands, rereading each line over and over again, then throwing it back on the table where it slides across the glass surface.

"I don't know, but we'll figure it out," says Mingi, getting up from his chair and returning to his room.

Yunho mutters quietly to himself, "We?" As if they ever had a concept of "we" rather than "you" and "me." Or maybe it just slipped out unintentionally, and he didn't pay attention to it.

—

As Yunho had expected, there were terrible queues at the medical center. They took the piece of paper with the necessary tests at the reception and waited in the crowded corridor. Minsu left them to run some errands because they had warned him at home that they would be stuck here for a long time. All the places where one could sit on the first floor were occupied by other prospective students, mostly alphas, whose smells merged into a single mixture, except for one. Except for the one standing next to him, leaning against the whitewashed wall. Yunho glanced at his not-so-long list of doctors, which included a therapist, dentist, ophthalmologist, otolaryngologist, and a dozen other doctors he had definitely seen before school. Only at the end was there an item for a "hormone specialist," whose office he had no great desire to visit. Mingi`s list seemed to be a little longer. If they could have split up and gone their separate ways, they would have done so, but everything had to be done in order, as indicated in the letter. Yunho was actually annoyed by this system because why did it have to be the therapist first!

The time dragged on so long that there were still three people ahead of him in line.  Yunho tried everything he could to relieve the tension in his legs so he wouldn't have to stand. He leaned against the wall, squatted under it to relax his legs, and sat cross-legged on the floor until he got a nudge from Mingi and a grumble not to sit on the cold floor. Omega had a false and insidious feeling that the alpha cared about him. As soon as it was his turn, the omega entered the stuffy, hot office, where a rather sullen man who looked to be over forty was sitting at a table. From whom there was no smell due to a skin-colored patch on his glands. The doctor, whose name tag simply read "Chwe," pointed to a chair opposite him.

"What is your first and last name?" he asked matter-of-factly, not for the first time today, clicking his mouse on a tab on the computer, while the nurse wrote down the same information on paper.

"Jeong Yunho," he replied nervously, putting his hands on his legs and looking at them instead of the room he was in.

"Your secondary gender?"

Another question that made him flinch a little.

"Omega..." he replied quietly.

"We need your height, weight, and blood pressure, so please go to that part of the room and the nurse will help you," said the man, pointing to the other end of the room behind a dark fabric screen.

Yunho did as he was told, trying not to tremble as he walked behind the screen. There was a chair for him to sit on, a small table, scales, and a long ruler attached to the wall with markings for measuring height. It wasn't scary at all, but he couldn't help feeling nervous when walking around the hospital on his own. The nurse, who had left the documentation, approached him, asking him to take off his shoes and stand on the scales, writing the numbers on a piece of paper. It took three seconds and a few of his nerve cells. The rest was much easier to get through as he caught the dry scent of pine bark and warm flower meadows coming from behind the door, as if reaching out to him. Mingi must be sensing something, affecting him in this way. When he comes out with his paper copy of the form, Alpha is already standing at the door and barely brushes against him with his shoulder as he enters the office.

They wait for each other outside each office and only separate when Mingi goes to do his spirometry* and audiometry*, and Yunho obediently waits for him outside the door because he doesn't want to go in alone. When the alpha comes out rubbing both ears, the omega quietly laughs, catching his dissatisfied gaze.

Their list still includes a ecg, a psychologist, a neurologist, and a hormone specialist, but half the day has already passed, and he is hungry, his stomach rebelling against such ignorance.

His ECG* goes by fairly quickly and calmly, without the awkwardness he had expected. The omega only unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt without taking it off completely and immediately buttoned it back up as soon as all the wires and suction cups were removed, leaving only circles on his skin. The doctor now examined the long pink sheet with waves and spikes, entering all the results into the electronic system and attaching it to a stack of forms, stamping it on a separate sheet. Yunho looks at the time on his phone and is surprised that he has been lying on the couch for ten minutes. It feels like a long time, and when he leaves and Mingi confidently follows after him, it feels even longer. So he sits down in a free seat and scrolls through social media, cooling his brain, which has already started to boil. The younger alpha leaves just as Yunho resumes playing Tetris for the fifth time.

"Are you still playing games?" Mingi asks in surprise, frowning as he looks at his phone screen.

"Mhm. It's fun and kills time," Yunho replies, locking his phone and stuffing it into his pocket.

"How can that be fun?" he says, sorting through his stack of papers on the chair next to him.

"Because it's a memory," Yunho replies, leaning back in his chair and turning his head toward him. "You gave me a console once... It's still sitting on a shelf at home somewhere, if my memory serves me right."

"I don't remember that," Mingi mutters, clutching the papers.

"I'd be more surprised if you remembered anything at all."

A small package tied with a blue bow fits in his little hands.

"Happy birthday, Yunho," the boy says with a big smile.

"Thank you, Mingi," Yunho replies almost squeakily, hugging his friend too tightly, as if to show how much he loves him.

"Enough, enough, let me go," Mingi wheezes hoarsely, trying to push himself away from the embrace, and Yunho reluctantly lets him go. "Open it! Mom and I picked this out for you."

Yunho nods, sitting down on the mat in his room and unties the ribbon, loosening the bow, then tears open the colorful wrapping with balloons. Inside was a small brown box, and inside that box was another brand-new blue portable game console in its factory packaging.

"Mom and I thought that if you like games, why not give you one?" explains the boy as Yunho takes the console out of the packaging and examines it.

"This is the best thing I've gotten today!" he squeals, knocking the boy to the ground.

"I'm glad you like it," Mingi laughs, pulling him closer.

"I like everything that has to do with you."

"Then that's a lot."

The psychologist annoyed him so much with her questions that he just wanted to leave that place any ways he could. This woman literally drained him before putting a check mark on the paper. "Questions like how do you cope with stress and how do you make decisions under time constraints" would now haunt him forever, and Mingi left her so irritated that the pine tree, which was always muffled, now twirled in his nose. Now it was clear why the neurologist was standing behind the psychologist, to treat their nervous system after a dozen similar questions. Yunho was already and didn't even remember what he had answered last. They left the neurologist's office in five minutes and were already standing at the door of the office that Yunho didn't want to enter, even at gunpoint. Its smell thickens in the air with excitement and anxiety, his legs trembling.

"Give me your hand," Mingi said, surprisingly warmly, sitting next to him, shoulder to shoulder.

"Why?" Yunho asked wearily, counting the tiles on the floor, stopping at about thirty.

"Just give it to me, I won't do anything bad," he suggested, and Yunho timidly held out his left hand. "I'm going to get sick from your apricots if you don't calm your scent down, because for some reason it's strongest right outside this office," he said irritably, but still softly murmurs the alpha, pulling up the sleeve of his right arm to his elbow, gently pressing on his wrist, releasing a slight sheen of fragrant oil from the gland. And then Mingi does the same with Yunho's hand. And the omega quickly realizes what he wants to do and blushes to the tips of his ears when Mingi gently squeezes his palm with his left hand, assessing him with his gaze, and then asks with words.

"May I? This is the best option I can think of right now."

"What about Haewon?" Yunho asks quietly, biting his cheek from the inside, with a bad feeling about what that guy might do if he finds out about this.

"It doesn't mean anything. He won't find out," Mingi shakes his head reassuringly, drawing patterns with his fingers on his palm. "He won't be around for the next week, don't worry."

"Then it's okay," Yunho whispers, sighing softly as Mingi touches his skin. The light rubbing of his scent gland causes a pleasant tremor and vibration in his body and warmth spreading through his wrist. The scent clings to him like bees flying into the forest thicket to a fragrant flower. The grassy scent of fresh green leaves and the faintly vanilla-sweet aroma of bark and resin intertwine in a subtle blend of sweet floral scents, as if ripe apricot trees were somewhere among the elderberry glade. This sensation seemed to intoxicate and refresh him at the same time, because inside he immediately felt so calm, as if a wild swarm had settled on the blossoming branches, trying to pollinate them.

"That's better," the alpha mumbled, pulling away from him as if it were an ordinary, everyday thing, not a rather intimate gesture, and the only thing Yunho could get out of his mouth was a barely audible, heavy "uh-huh."

The office was warm, and the walls were a delicate lemon color. His body was completely calm, and the pheromones were no longer bursting out. Only now did Yunho barely restrain himself from sitting with his wrist pressed to his nose, which would have looked a little strange. No stranger than what they had done in the hallway amid a bunch of curious glances. His skin was still pleasantly sensitive and warm to the touch as he soothingly ran his fingertips over it through his shirt. The doctor, sitting at a desk by the window, was typing all the information into the computer, her fingers clacking loudly on the keyboard, while the nurse bustled nearby by the medicine shelf.

"All this is necessary so that you can get official leave during your studies and not be forced to work at seminars," said the fifty-year-old woman who smelled of niche citrus perfume. "So don't worry when I ask you questions."

"I can get a leave?" the omega asks her in surprise, not remembering anything like this at school.

"Yes," she nods. "During heat waves and ruts, access to simulators, let alone real equipment, is strictly prohibited," she explains. "Your absence will be automatically recorded in the system until the end of your studies and will not be counted as an absence."

"Oh."

For Yunho, it was honestly a bit strange, but a completely logical decision to ensure the safety of themselves and others around them.

"How regular is your cycle?" asked the woman, adjusting her brown glasses on her nose.

"Four times a year," the omega replied quietly, and under the gaze of "go on, I need more information," he continued, "October, January, April, and July."

"How many days does your heat cycle last?"

A common question that makes him scream inside with embarrassment, but the smell of the green forest on his wrist restrains him, turning everything into a quiet sigh.

"Two days of warm-up, five days of heat, and three days of recovery. So ten," he replied almost calmly, glancing at the white door.

"So that's 30 days of absence during the academic semester. That's not so much," says the woman, writing everything down.

It doesn't sound like much when he lives like a normal person.  But it's a lot when he's alone, and it twists him like a rag and melts him in excitement like boiling lava. And everything drags on so long, as if time itself is mocking him. In that case, it sounds like a lot.

"Always on the same days?"

"Yes... From the 10th to the 20th."

"Okay, that's noted. Every ninth day, you will receive a warning from the university. The nurse will now take a blood test for hormones, and then you can go."

"Thank you," he muttered politely.

It wasn't as bad as he had expected, or as his brain had projected. It seemed that at fifteen, the full range of tests at Kelstone by a doctor of the same specialty was much worse than here, or maybe it was because someone was noticeably close to him. He sat down on the brown couch behind the screen and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, allowing the nurse to do her job, quietly hissing from the needle in his vein.

Omega left the office in a fairly good mood, his gaze no longer wandering around the room in a wild desire to escape. His arm was bent, with alcohol-soaked cotton wool clamped between the skin.

"The wolf isn't as scary as they paint him, is he?"  Mingi asked almost mockingly before entering the doctor's office quite boldly.

And Yunho froze, lost in thought.

Had Alpha just called him a coward?

Or brave?

Because he definitely couldn't be brave without his forest scent woven into his body like a thread in embroidery.

So it was a question that remained unanswered for now, but with a wild desire to punch the alpha in the face.

—

They left that damn building exhausted and hungry, with a whole stack of papers that they were advised to keep. His stomach growled as if he hadn't been fed in an eternity, and it protested painfully, twisting with spasms inside.

"Should we go somewhere to eat? Or should we go home right away?" Yunho asked the alpha, slowly descending the stairs, although the desire to just slide down them was stronger.

"Mmm, my father will pick us up in an hour. He sent a message saying he's at work," said Mingi, pausing for a moment on the steps to send a message. "So we should go to a café to grab a bite to eat, because we'll be completely exhausted by the time we get home."

"So, where are we going? I don't know anything around here," replied Yunho, looking at the green surroundings but seeing nothing but tall maple trees and gray buildings.

"I'll show you a place... It's quite far from here, but the food there is really delicious."

"Just lead the way," said Yunho, not even having the strength to argue.

—

Mingi wasn't lying. The food at the restaurant, located 700 meters from the medical center, was indeed incredibly delicious. He ordered hot toast scrambled with avocado and shrimp, an iced Americano, and a Belgian waffle with ice cream, because he couldn't do without something sweet. Meanwhile, the alpha ordered pasta with seafood, something both filling and healthy, and coffee to give his body some energy. Although it was a pretty bad decision to drink it at lunch. While they were stuffing their faces, Yunho also looked at the interior on the second floor. The walls were a bright coral color with wooden elements and dried flowers in wide vases on the floor, as well as lampshades in the form of red Chinese lanterns above each table.

"Why this place?" he suddenly asked, taking a sip of cold coffee and watching as Mingi stopped eating and placed his cutlery on the stand next to him.

"Because it's Haewon's favorite place," replied Alpha, swallowing his food, and Yunho couldn't help but roll his eyes at the obvious answer. Screaming inside, "Again with this Haewon. Everything they do is always intertwined with him!" but all he said was calm and lighthearted:

"Then he has good taste."

"Don't you want to tell me anything?" Mingi asks instead, his gaze trying to get through to him.

"Like what?" Yunho replies, taking another sip of coffee and wishing he could hide somewhere.

"Why were you so scared? I could literally feel your cry for help in my brain right outside that office."

This was not what he expected to hear from him. Yunho put down his glass of coffee with ice cubes clinking in it and thought about where to start. Of course, it didn't sound literal, because who could hear someone's thoughts, but their connection had always been special. Mingi looked at him so gently and caringly, as if they had been transported back ten years in time. His face was not stern, as he had always seen it, but had become somehow softer, like marshmallow, and his white hair, carelessly tousled to the sides, added to this feeling.

"When I was fifteen, I introduced myself as an omega for the first time," he began emotionlessly, clenching his fingers on his pants. "The doctor behaved quite rudely, hurting me during the examination, even though my mother was in the office behind the wall. He was fired for it later because I wasn't his first case," he said coldly, as if thick ice had formed in his voice, avoiding Mingi's gaze.

"I'm sorry, Yun."

Yunho felt a note of bitterness between them, like dry leaves had been set on fire. Mingi seemed irritated or was holding back his emotions, because his jaw was clenched quite tightly.

"You don't have to," he said quietly, lowering his gaze to his wrist. "I'm grateful for what you did. It made it easier," a slight smile appeared on his face.

"We're still friends... even if you don't think so," Mingi said so quietly that it sounded more like a whisper, then called the waiter to their table.

—

September 1st came so quickly that Yunho hadn't even had time to open his eyes properly when a hoarse, insistent shout came from behind his door.

"Yunho, we're going to be late as hell if you don't get up right now!" Mingi shouted from the other side of the door, banging on it with his fist.

Yunho barely opened his eyes, which immediately squinted back from the light outside, and pulled the blanket off himself, turning over in his nest, which was now built on a double bed. He reached for the nightstand, feeling around for his phone, and found it at the far end, quietly cursing as he moved closer to it and unlocked it. Damn, it was 9:30 in the morning, and they had to be at the university by 11. Only now did he remember that he had been so tired yesterday that he had forgotten to set the alarm and had fallen asleep immediately. Alpha banged on the door again, shouting, "Yunho!" and Omega jerked in bed from the surprise. The boy jumped out of his warm bed and quickly headed for the closet, hastily grabbing gray pants and a shirt, a terry towel, and underwear. He could tell that Mingi was still standing outside his door because of the sharp pine scent.

Omega threw the door open, and if it had been a few millimeters wider, he would have hit the alpha, who fortunately reacted in time to avoid a bump on his forehead. Mingi was angry, his nostrils flared, and his jaw clenched, yet at the same time, he was devilishly handsome.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry," Yunho muttered to him as he walked to the bathroom, which seemed too far away when he was in a hurry. Why couldn't they have designed it closer?

"You could have gotten up even later! You omegas take as long as if you were going to a ball!" Mingi said discontentedly, following him for some reason, clearly wanting to continue spreading his negativity.

"The main thing is that it's not like a funeral," Yunho grumbled in response, locking the door right in front of him.

Insult upon insult. Because the whole look of the alpha in black evoked exactly such morning thoughts.

Yunho took his morning shower as quickly as he could. The desire to stay under the water was so strong that it even surpassed the desire not to leave the house, but unfortunately, he couldn't do that. Now he artificially smelled of shampoo with some coconut or almond scent instead of morning sweat. He dried his hair with a hair dryer and styled it carefully so as not to damage the healthy strands, revealing part of his forehead and admiring his reflection in the mirror. His clothes fit him perfectly, without a single wrinkle, and the white linen shirt he had bought earlier was pleasant to the touch and light on the body, almost imperceptible. Today was supposed to be another warm day. Yunho got out of the bath and headed straight for the kitchen, where Mingi was muttering discontentedly and waving his arms so wildly that he almost hit him in the nose, earning a sidelong glance in his direction.

"I told you it would take a long time!" the alpha grumbled, staring at him intently, while Yunho ignored him and put some oatmeal with dried fruit into a bowl. The omega feels Mingi's gaze on his back, and he likes the sweet smell of toffee swirling in the air.

"Are you okay today?" Yunho asks, twirling a tablespoon in his hand. "You seem too nervous. Did the demons bite you at night?" The omega strokes his chin thoughtfully, quietly chuckling to himself as Mingi grumbles even more like an old man.

Teasing Mingi used to be his favorite thing to do.

"Mingi! Pink suits you today, you look like a princess," the nine-year-old boy hears in the gym when the teacher gives the task of throwing balls as far as possible. He looks at Yunho, who is sitting on a bench, and smiles crookedly at him.

"You're the princess here... because you're sitting on the bench because of your ankle!" he says loudly so that Yunho can hear him, and then throws another soft ball, which hits the green wall with a dull thud. "And I think you're pretending so you don't have to do anything," he adds, throwing another ball, this time at Yunho, and hitting the wooden slats next to him.

"That's not true!" the boy adds pitifully, rolling the blue ball back to Mingi. "Your shirt is pink, like a girl's. Princess Minki!" he laughs.

"My mom accidentally washed it with a red towel, that's why it's pink!" Mingi squeals, trying to justify himself, even though his face is covered in blush.

He takes another ball from the basket and swings again, aiming at Yunho to teach him a lesson. The yellow ball whistles through the air, hitting the rail panel next to his head, almost near his ear, and Yunho cries out in surprise.

"Don't get distracted, or the princess will have to save the prince from injury," Mingi laughs as he watches Yunho frown.

They leave the house at exactly ten thirty and park near the university twenty minutes later, leaving ten minutes to spare. Minsu says a few words to them for good luck, something like "break a leg," and they go inside, passing the stern security guard through the iron gate. There are already quite a few people standing in the alley in front of the building, divided into groups of three or six, and Omega can already see that he won't fit into any of them. Mingi also seems quite nervous next to him, so for some reason, he releases a small wave of his pheromones to calm his nervous twitching, and it works because the heavy footsteps on the pavement subside a little.

At exactly eleven o'clock, all first-year students majoring in "air traffic management" and “aviation transport” are gathered in the lobby and led to the second floor through a restored staircase with wooden railings. The white-haired woman accompanying them opened the door to the lecture hall and led them in like a flock of sheep, asking them to sit down at their desks. Unfortunately, Mingi couldn't think of a better comparison. Yunho took his usual last seat by the window, and Mingi sat in front of him. Only after the whole flock of frightened teenagers had settled down did they explain what was going on.

"So. I am your supervisor for the first two years, for all of you. You can call me Ms. Kim and come to me whenever you need to," said the woman, immediately raising a murmur and whispering. "For now, future pilots and dispatchers will study under one common program to understand the specifics of each side's activities," she continued, once again silencing the room.  "You will have common subjects and common practical classes, so each of you will have something to do. Now I'll hand out test forms to each of you, a simplified version of the ones you will all take upon graduation to get a job."

"But why do we need this now?" asked the guy sitting three rows away from Yunho, whose red hair immediately caught everyone's attention.

"To see what you are already capable of and what you need to catch up on to become even better," replied the woman with a smile, handing out three stapled forms to each student. Yunho counted five sheets in each.

"You will have two hours, no more and no less, to fill them out, and I will collect them immediately. Put all your phones on the table so that there is no cheating in this class. Because someday people's lives will depend on your decisions, and you need to learn from your mistakes before you can make them with confidence. Because in a tower or in an airplane cockpit, you won't be able to cheat."

Yunho thought he would faint in the cool hallway of the university as soon as he left that damn hot auditorium, which had heated up to the maximum over the last two hours. This test was the first and worst nightmare of his life, and unfortunately, not the last. The first form, which he filled out quite easily, was a cognitive ability test, something like the IQ test he took out of boredom during school breaks. Only here he had to find the missing number, predict the order of the figures in the next picture, choose the diagram that should be next in line from the pictures presented, and a bunch of similar questions. He coped with them in half an hour, just like Mingi. They did it at the same time because Alpha was also good at making logical decisions on paper or in math problems. But unfortunately, not in real life. The second form made his palms sweat and his pencil slip between his fingers when there were English language tasks. Most of it was simple grammar, words that had to be written correctly next to the image, and two whole pages of jumbled words that had to be written in the correct order and arranged in the correct alphabetical sequence. He spent most of his time on this because he didn't like English at school and almost hated it. The last third form was a surprisingly simple psychological test that was completed in the last twenty minutes. He definitely wouldn't want to try writing all this in the near future.

"So we're classmates now?" Mingi said thoughtfully, comparing their schedules on their phones.

"Well, it looks like it," Yunho replied, fixing his hair and occasionally glancing to see if Mingi was bumping into anything while staring at his screen.

"Weather and Meteorology, Air Law..." he muttered under his breath. "English and Avionics."

"That's enough. You can look at it as much as you want at home," said Yunho, taking his phone from his hands.

—

In the evening, Yunho talked to his parents on a video call. He hadn't seen his mother for several weeks, and his father and twins for almost two months. And his heart began to ache from missing them more than ever before.

"Are you okay, son?" asked the man whose wrinkled face loomed large on the screen.

"Yes," Yunho replied, biting his lower lip. "Everything's fine. No one is hurting me here, don't worry," he assured them, forcing a smile.

"I know you can stand up for yourself... if you need to, of course."

"Yes," he nodded, struggling to hold back tears.

"How was your first day?" Seyon asked him, as if distracting his mind from sadness.

"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. But it was hard."

"The first days are always the hardest, son. You'll get used to it," his father tells him before the connection is lost again.

"There we go again. I didn't get to ask how the twins are doing."

"They're fine. They're worried about you just as much as you are about them, dear. I spoke to them yesterday," his mother reassures him with a gentle smile. "I have to go and make dinner, and you should go and eat something and get some rest," she tells him, and Yunho replies with a short "Okay. I love you" before the call ends.

—

The next day's avionics lecture begins after lunch with the words of their old gray-haired professor and department chair:

"Flight safety depends largely on the work of air traffic control, but no less on the pilot, who must be able to hear commands through the system."  

Omega takes this statement to heart, writing it down as an introduction to his own notes.

The bell for the break rings two hours later, so suddenly that his pen jerks on the paper and the letter "N" goes outside the line with a crooked tail. All the students thank the professor for a wonderful lecture and leave the auditorium, in which four people now remain. He, Mingi, and two others, whom he cannot recognize from a distance, are sitting almost opposite the exit. Yunho, they seem quite nice and friendly, but he has no desire to make friends yet. He looks at Mingi's back as he types something intensely on his phone, tapping on the table, and then a call comes in, and he gathers his things and leaves the lecture hall. And Yunho can already say for sure who it might be.

It seems that the two guys in front are interested in getting to know him, because one of them climbs the stairs to him at the end of the classroom. He looks quite bold. The green tips of his hair curl slightly into waves, and a cute, slightly shy smile appears on his face, causing Yunho to immediately hide his gaze in his notes so as not to look too strange while looking at him.

"Hey, Yunho, right?" he asks, his voice much rougher than his appearance.

The boy sits down in Mingi's seat in front of him, turning slightly to the side due to the limited space. Omega lifts his head from the page he has demonstratively turned, pretending to be busy, and quietly replies, "Yes." He feels as if everything inside him is being squeezed, like in a vice, from talking to someone.

"I'm Yeosang," says the green-haired boy cheerfully, pointing to himself. "And this is San. He doesn't like to talk much," he continues to babble, pointing to the black-haired boy who greets him from the opposite end of the auditorium.

"I'm Yunho," says the omega, finally lifting his head from his notebook and politely extending his hand in greeting. The man squeezes it quite hard, shaking it several times, probably out of excitement. It's the first time Yunho has seen someone with such a strong desire to get to know people. The omega sniffs and detects no scent other than a light floral aroma of lilies coming from the man, who awkwardly lets go of his hand with a broad smile. He could tell for sure that this was an omega because the scent was so delicate, as if he had bathed in flower pollen.

"We'd like to get to know you if you don't mind, of course?"

"Me?" he asks, pointing to himself, as if to say, "Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

"Yes... You seem to be an omega too. Your scent is quite sweet, and omegas always need at least a few friends among a whole audience of alphas."

Yunho could say with 100% certainty that he was right. And yet, for the first time in so many years, he needed at least some acquaintances besides Mingi.

"We can go to the cafeteria and grab a bite to eat and talk on the way there, or we can postpone it until you feel comfortable, because you seem quite nervous. Sorry," he says quickly, as if reciting a tongue twister, so that Yunho can barely catch everything, but his face immediately softens.

"Sure, don't worry. We can go, it's just the first time I've talked to someone of my own gender," his omega assures him, gathering his things into a bag.

Yeosang raises an eyebrow in surprise. "Seriously?"

"In my hometown, there were mostly alphas and a few betas at school, as well as many who hadn't introduced themselves yet. Omegas were rare," Yunho explains, getting up from his seat and moving away from the table. "So it's strange for me to feel how many people here are just like me."

"Oh, that sounds pretty sad," Yeosang finally says, following him to the exit where San is already waiting.

"Yes, it was sad because there was no one to talk to," Yunho replies, following the steps, trying not to think about Mingi for once in several years.

Everything becomes clearer when he enters the classroom at the start of the new school year. All the scents in the air become stronger. The smell of paint coming from the floor, which still sticks a little to his shoes, and the smell of varnish from the glossy wooden surface of the desks. There were even new scents of incense, sandalwood, bay leaves, eucalyptus, herbal tincture, and musk... which were too distinct and unstable, as if someone had just dipped them in and forgotten to air them out on the street. There was no sweet scent that resembled him. Several pairs of eyes looked at him with a strange gleam as he entered the classroom with his head down. But there were no eyes that he wanted to see the most, the ones that would understand him better than anyone else.

"So you're the omega now, Yunho?" he heard a strange, poison laugh directed at him.

"None of your business," he said, sitting down in his usual seat, where the chair next to him was now empty.

"Mother Nature has played a joke on you!" continued the alpha with short-cropped hair. "So now you're going to moan and beg to be fucked?" The alpha drew out each word, causing the whole class to burst into laughter.

Yunho feels the pungent smell of eucalyptus too close.

"Shut up, Jin," Yunho hisses, throwing his backpack on a chair and clenching his fists in anger that pierces him like an electric current.

"Why?" he asks, coming too close to him. "No one is protecting you anymore... omega."

Yunho can't contain his violent emotions, and his fist hits the alpha squarely in the nose, whose head jerks to the side from the force of the blow. This is followed by a pitiful whimper that echoes throughout the classroom as several boys pull him away.

"I can defend myself perfectly well," adds Yunho, sitting down at his seat.

Their conversation in the cafeteria becomes easier with every word spoken. At least, sitting at the table eating a vegetable salad and baked chicken breast, Yunho learns that the three of them have a lot in common. For example, they all love vinyl records, calm music, dancing, airplanes, and even the same flavors of their favorite noodles. And he learns that San has not yet introduced himself. Although this is not surprising, as everyone usually introduces themselves by the age of nineteen, and he still has at least a few months to do so. Yunho looks at him and gets the impression that he is sitting in front of a cat that has narrowed its eyes as if satisfied.

"So you moved from Kelstone. Right?" San asks him as Yunho chews his lettuce, and he just nods affirmatively in response.

"Isn't that the city in the south that gets sometimes shelled?" Yeosang asks, almost jumping out of his seat, to which Yunho nods again, pressing his lips together.

"So where do you live now?"

"At an old friend's place," Yunho replies, looking for Mingi and finding only a pile of white hair hidden among the other students here.

"So you do have friends!" San says with a slight smile, following his gaze. "Is it someone from that corner?"

"Mhm..." Yunho confirms with a nod. "I had friends," he corrects himself.

"Your life doesn't seem as sweet as your scent," San mutters.

"So you can smell it?" Yunho asks him in surprise.

"Not really, it's something light and fruity... but I can't quite make it out," he shrugs, pushing the empty metal plate away from him.

"I'd say you're close to introducing yourself," Yunho remarks, sniffing but catching nothing but the faint smell of coffee and cinnamon he is drinking. "I had a similar experience, at one point, the smells became brighter, and then unfolded completely into a wild mixture. So you can take that into account."

"I could definitely say that Yunho smells like apricots and some kind of flower, as well as pine needles and earth. But it's a warm, almost fresh scent, reminiscent of a house in the countryside and summer."

"That's because I live in the same house as the alphas," Yunho replied with a chuckle.

"Aren't you afraid?" asked San, raising his eyebrows as if frowning.

"No. My brother and sister are alphas, and so is my father. My 'friend' is also an alpha. So no, I'm not afraid," Yunho replied, watching their surprised reactions. "It gives me a sense of protection."  

—

The last two English lessons went quite well, but their teacher, who is also their supervisor, really taxed their brains with aviation vocabulary and a few additional educational talks.

"I will ask you to wear stickers on your glands!" she said sternly five minutes before the bell rang. "Because the mixture of your scents is distracting you all from the lesson! It's like I've walked into a perfume boutique when I come in here. So, dear friends, from tomorrow, no pheromones in the classroom."

Great, now he'll have to go to the pharmacy to buy a year's supply. His wallet cried at the thought, because they are quite expensive. It's a pity, because now he won't be able to sense Mingi's mood when they are away from home. Yunho said goodbye to Yeosang and San with some sadness before leaving the building, having exchanged contact details in the cafeteria earlier. And only now did he realize that he still didn't have Mingi's number because he was shy and afraid to ask for it. As if the alpha would refuse him or think that Yunho was hitting on him.

Returning home in the evening, the omega clutched his phone tightly as he headed to his room, as if afraid it would slip out of his hands. He glanced at Mingi's door, then at his phone, and, making up his mind, quietly crept up to it, as if afraid someone would jump out. It was quiet behind the door; he couldn't hear anything, so he knocked twice and took a few steps back. Something creaked softly, then footsteps were heard, and the lock on the door clicked, the handle dropped, and the door creaked open. Mingi looked like he had just crawled out of a den.

"Do you need something?" the alpha asked hoarsely, opening the door wider so that Yunho could see part of the room, which had walls the same color as his.

"Your phone number..." Yunho began, clearing his throat so his voice wouldn't tremble. "Just in case..."

"Okay," Mingi nodded, hurrying back into the room to get his phone.

And Yunho thought it was too easy.

"Just don't text me unnecessarily," Mingi said, dictating the ten digits of his number from the screen while writing down Yunho's number for himself.

That's why Yunho thought it was too easy, because Mingi had set his conditions, even though the omega had no intention of texting him.

—

In the middle of September, the air was already snowy cold because it had snowed in the nearby mountains. The yellow leaves of maple, oak, and birch trees were already falling to the ground, crunching underfoot as they trampled on them. He had a cup of aromatic coffee in his hand, and all the morning lectures were behind him. Yeosang and San accompanied him to the central oceanarium, which he had wanted to visit for a long time, and admission was free for students.

"Do you know how long I've dreamed of seeing a piranha?" Yeosang almost shouted with excitement at the black-haired man walking beside him.

"Of course, I've read about it several times in our chat," San replied, taking a sip of hot coffee while warming his hands on the cup. "And you also said that they haunt you in your nightmares," he added. "Do you want to scare them away yourself so they don't come to you anymore?"

"Of course," he laughs. "Yunho, what fish do you want to see the most?"

"A stingray," the omega replies briefly, admiring the autumn city, which has become even more picturesque than in summer. "Once, my parents, Mingi, and I went to the sea. I think we were ten or nine. It was so salty that it stung our eyes," he says, pausing for a moment to remember the details. "And there were so many of them there that I was scared when I stepped on one. My scream could be heard beyond the beach, and it seems that the stingray didn't like me stepping on it and hit me with its tail."

"And then?" asks Yeosang, listening very carefully.

"I don't remember, but I think we went straight to the hospital. My mom and Mingi were even more scared than I was. Nothing serious happened, but after that, I never went near the coast again."

"Are all your memories connected with him?"

"With Mingi?" Yunho clarifies, looking at his friends who exchange glances.

"Not everyone, but we had a pretty interesting childhood until he left."

"So why did he leave?"

"It's not my story to tell."

"That's true."

The oceanarium was huge. They walked through a tunnel made of tempered glass with tons of water above them, where sea creatures swam energetically, flapping their fins. At the entrance to the main hall, they read a sign saying that about three thousand sea creatures lived here and were amazed by the scale. Yunho turned his head to the left, his face flooded with the blue, shimmering light reflected from the waves. A whale shark was swimming there. The huge fish, twenty meters long, showed off its spotted gray smooth skin. He took a step back, watching it, but it swam past him in its own direction, searching for food among the corals and algae. San explained something to Yeosang in surprise, pointing to the creatures in the aquarium ahead. Omega took out his phone and turned on the camera to take some videos for his parents, because this really matched his idea of beauty. He moved on, looking at the turtles in the next section and the same stingrays that stuck to the glass, and looked at the people below, showing their funny faces.

Yunho was thrilled, as if he were literally walking underwater. In the next room, there were aquariums with seahorses, shrimp, and even jellyfish that spun around comically as if in a washing machine drum. Yeosang shouted that he could see piranhas, and Yunho even started laughing at his little obsession. He came to tanks decorated with stones and strange red reefs where tiny neon fish were playing, and he could even say that in the next aquarium he found "Nemo," whom everyone was looking for in the cartoon.

Omega walked a few more meters and, with his keen sense of smell, caught the scent of roses and began to reproach himself for choosing this particular day for a walk. He hoped that at least on this day, he would not think about Mingi, because there was no way he could be here. Along with the roses, he smelled something tart and smoky, with a hint of forest berries. And it definitely wasn't Mingi's scent, but it was definitely Haewon standing there. He remembered his soft raspberry-colored hair too well. The omega stood pressed against a man a few inches shorter than him with light brown hair. Yunho turned away, walking past them to the aquarium with the emperor angel so that they wouldn't notice him and think he was weird. Although he was sure that if Haewon remembered scents as well as he did, then he would recognize him pretty quickly.

"You picked a great day, baby," the alpha says in a velvety voice, and Yunho can see out of the corner of his eye how their lips merge into one, turning into a mixture of disgusting pleasure that makes him nauseous.

"Anything for you, my love," the omega purred, rubbing his head against his neck like a cat rubbing against its owner's legs.

"My Love?" Yunho asks himself incredulously, as if he had imagined it all.

"Should we go to your place today? Or will you spend the night at mine?" he hears a hoarse voice in the silence, broken only by the gurgling of fish.

"Will you do the same thing to me as last time?" the omega asks, barely smiling.

Yunho quickly walks away, not wanting to hear anymore, thinking to himself, "Ugh, how disgusting," and he also feels sorry for the cute blue fish who are witnessing this with their own eyes.

Yeosang and San are waiting for him by the aquarium, where the mini-alligators swim. They immediately ask him what happened and why he smells sour. But he just waves his hand at them, saying that everything is fine. Although everything was not fine at all if this omega was cheating on Mingi with someone else. Dating someone for two years and cheating on them seemed like the worst thing he could do.

Yunho returned home feeling quite depressed, sniffing the air for Mingi's presence in the house. He took off his outer clothing and hung his coat in the closet, and put his shoes on the shelf there, immediately heading to his room to change into something comfortable.  The omega glanced at the calendar with dogs on the wall, where the date was marked as September 22. There were nineteen days left until the date, which was circled in red marker and was supposed to be the worst day of his life. Yunho changed into soft, warm pajamas, washed up in the bathroom, and went downstairs, wondering whether he should tell Mingi what he had seen today or if it would be better not to. Although he had never lied to him and kept nothing from him.

He walked into the living room and saw Alpha lying on the couch watching TV and playing with his phone, twirling it in his hand. From the look on his face, it was clear that he was waiting for something. Yunho greeted him as he always did and received a wave of the hand in return. Not a word, but not silence either.  Minsu wasn't home because he was stuck at work again. Mingi snorted irritably, threw his phone on the other half of the couch, and sat down, putting on his slippers nearby.

"Did something happen?" Yunho asked curiously, starting a conversation from afar while looking for food in the refrigerator.

"No," Mingi replied irritably, walking straight towards him, and Yunho tensed slightly, sensing the tension between them.

"Okay," Yunho shrugged, taking a pack of yogurt out of the refrigerator. "If Mingi is waiting for a message from Haewon, it would be better to tell him," the thought flashed through his mind, and he just sighed, looking for a spoon.

"I saw someone today," Yunho began, but Mingi didn't seem to be listening, sorting through the fruit in a ceramic bowl. "I was visiting the oceanarium with my friends and saw your boyfriend," he went on, playing his trump card so that Mingi would finally listen to him. "If you're waiting for a message from him, he's having fun with someone else," Yunho said, already grimacing at his own words.

"What?" Mingi asked, freezing and looking at him from under his brow, and Yunho even felt scared at the sight of the vein twitching on his neck.

"I said your boyfriend is having fun with someone else," Yunho repeated, looking at the yogurt in his hands.

"You're lying," he blurted out, coming closer, and Yunho would have taken a step back if it weren't for the tabletop behind him, because the tartness of the pine bark seemed to absorb his own scent.

"I'm not, but he definitely is," Yunho said calmly, looking the alpha in the eyes.

"You're only saying that because you want me to spend time with you and not him," Mingi hissed, and Yunho could have bet that the alpha had simply lost control of his emotions.

"Are you out of your mind, Mingi? I've never lied to you!" Yunho shouted as soon as Mingi stopped at arm's length.

"Know your damn place! Omega... Before you lie to my face!" Mingi growled menacingly, and everything inside tightened. "He would never betray me..."

"Where is my place?" Yunho said too calmly, even though everything inside him was trembling, and his heart wanted to jump out of his chest from such electrifying closeness. "In the kitchen?" he hissed, clenching the countertop behind him so hard that the knuckles on his hands turned white. "Or on the bed in your bedroom? Where is the place for an omega in front of someone like you?" Yunho said, pushing himself away from the countertop and pushing Mingi away from him as he looked at him with wide eyes. "Calm down. Be sure to tell me where my place is when you find out," he added dryly, quickly leaving the kitchen.

—

The end of September crept up on them unnoticed. Yesterday was still a fairly warm day of the first month of autumn, but today it was already drizzling outside, making his hair wet. And, as luck would have it, he didn't bring an umbrella with him. He walks home after class, enjoying the noise of the city and stopping on the way at the bakery that he and San liked a week ago during their get-togethers. Omega, as always, takes a cinnamon bun, leaves a little tip in a jar labeled "for a dream," and leaves. He puts the pastry in his bag so he doesn't have to carry it in his hands, and puts his frozen hands in his jacket pockets to keep them warm. Yunho can't believe it's almost October. It's been two months since he's been living here, far from home but warm and safe, while his real home is cut off from water and electricity. He spoke to his father yesterday for a few minutes before the connection was lost again, but the omega was just happy to hear his voice and see that he was okay. Even if the picture on the screen was blurry and pixelated.

Omega turned into the alley that led down to the house and, adjusting his scarf around his neck, slowly descended so as not to step in the puddles. Yunho reaches almost the end of the alley before he hears a quiet, drawn-out "meow," and then another one, louder. He spun around and looked around for the creature, but saw nothing but neighboring houses and wet boxes near the trash can. Approaching one of them, he listened, and then heard again the quiet but insistent scratching of claws on cardboard, trying to break through. Omega opens the first box, but there is only paper and plastic, and then another and another until he finds a tiny black fluffy baby, screaming and shivering from the obvious cold.

"How cute and dirty you are," says Omega enthusiastically, looking at the kitten and immediately hiding it under his jacket collar to warm it up. "Come home with me."

He has no idea what to do with this animal, but he doesn't want to leave the little one out in the cold either.

He puts the kitten on the floor as soon as he gets home and takes off his wet outer clothing, hanging it on a hook and watching the drops fall onto the rubber mat on the floor. The kitten meows pitifully and crawls around begging for attention or food, and Yunho picks it up and goes to his room, wondering if anyone will mind if he keeps the cat, at least for the time being. As he climbs the stairs, he runs into Mingi, who is coming down and rushing somewhere, giving him a puzzled look as if to say, "What's going on?"

"Where did you find the cat?" he asks, actually keeping his distance.

"On the street," Yunho replies, somewhat dissatisfied, as if his plan to keep the cat had been revealed. "Can I keep it?"

"Do whatever you want," Alpha says dryly and walks on.

Then that can be taken as a "yes,"... thinks Yunho, looking at the tiny creature curled up and purring in his arms, pressed against his sweater.

While he bathes the creature with shampoo in warm water, getting scratches from its claws on his hands and hearing its thin cries for help, he learns that it is a boy. He names him "Coal" because of the black color of his fur. After a while, when "Coal" has had his fill of milk and is sleeping on his bed, curled up in a soft ball, Yunho smiles and lies down next to him, stroking his soft fur with his fingertips. He takes a few photos and sends the best ones to his friends in a chat.

Yunho:

“Photo attachment”

“Photo attachment”

"I found a cat! Almost right outside my house!"

Yeosang:

"What a cute creature!!!"

"You have such a good heart!"

"How could anyone throw someone like that out on the street?!"

"Pathetic."

San:

Liked your post

“Sweet”

Omega smiled at the screen. His friends' reactions were always so different.

Yunho:

"I don't know."

 "But I called him a Coal."

San:  

"It suits him."

Yeosang:

"Were you allowed to keep it?"

Yunho:

"Well, Mingi doesn't seem to mind. He said to do whatever, so I think he didn't care, but I don't know about his father. He's usually good-natured. So I think they don't mind."

Yeosang:

"Oh, okay."

"Are you still not talking to him?"

Yunho:

"No."

"It's the calm before the storm."

San:

"?"

Yunho:

"We're just ignoring each other, don't mind us."

Yeosang:

"That seems difficult."

San:

"If you ignore each other, your problems will snowball."

Yunho:

"I already tried talking to him."

Yeosang:

"And?"

Yunho:

"Nothing."

"I feel like an idiot."

San:

"You're not an idiot, you're just kind and good-natured."

Yeosang:

"That's true."

"Some people just need to take the crown off their head and look at the world through rose-colored glasses. Don't blame yourself."

He sends a short "mhm" and a message saying he needs to study, then blocks his phone and throws it on the bed. Why is it so difficult to build relationships with other people? He whispers to the cat, which only shudders.

Yunho goes for a walk to the nearest pet store in the evening, when he finishes studying his notes. Several packs of wet food, litter, toys, and dishes weigh heavily in his hands as he carries them home through the downpour. He still doesn't know if he'll be allowed to keep the cat, but he hopes so. Or at least he'll make sure to find it a good home.

Who would mind a little creature?

When he returns home, Minsu comes out of his study with a book in his hands and looks at him a little strangely.  

"I found a cat on the street... can I keep it?" the omega explains before he is asked what he has in his hands.

"You can. Why not? He seems like he'll be great company for you," Minsu shrugs, smiling at him.

Yunho almost jumps for joy and happily returns to his room with his things. Coal jumps off the bed as soon as he enters the room, meowing pitifully, and Yunho smiles at him, sitting on the floor and letting the kitten scratch his clothes.

"We're alike... little one. You just found yourself a new home, just like me."

—

Due to morning traffic, they arrived at the university by car five minutes late. But, fortunately, they had warned the curator to wait for them, so apart from one minor problem, everything was fine. In the two-story bus with more than sixty seats, there were two empty seats left on the second floor, which the woman pointed out to them and asked them to hurry up. Yunho swallowed hard as he looked around the bus and noticed those two empty seats in the middle. San and Yeosang sat in front and looked at him apologetically, while behind him sat the alphas, who made him nervous. Mingi let him go ahead and sit by the window, as he always liked to do, and sat down on the side by the aisle, putting his headphones in his ears. Yunho did the same, leaning back, relaxed in his seat, unzipping his jacket and turning his head to the window, waiting for them to leave the university for the airport, where they had an excursion today.

The trip lasted almost an hour, during which Omega heard whispering from all corners of the bus, loud rock music that Mingi was listening to on his headphones, and the laughter of San and Yeosang, who were sitting in front. They were probably watching some funny videos on their phones. He was the only one who looked bored. It's bad to feel nauseous in the car from sitting on your phone for too long.  After everyone lined up in front of the bus, they were counted, and several photos were taken for the university website. An airport employee, namely the director, approached them and set aside about two hours to show them how this place of mass gatherings of iron planes was organized.

"This airport is the second largest. It covers an area of 1,500 hectares," begins the gray-haired man in an elegant dark blue suit, leading them all to the entrance of this sacred place.

"Then who is first?" asks one of the guys in front of Mingi in a red jacket.

"The first place belongs to the airport in Zuri, but we all, without exception, serve the largest number of continental routes that pass through here."

Yunho gasps in amazement as he looks around the room full of people and tourists, noticing the different colored signs at every turn so as not to get lost.

"This place is called a terminal, which is divided into many zones. Although I think you already know that," the man said enthusiastically, stopping them all in the center and pointing to a sign. "Here you check and register your tickets, and over there on the electronic board, you can see the flight status."

They all look up at the board with a dozen flight numbers and cities they are flying to, and their status. One even has a canceled mark on it.

"Over there in the security area, you check the contents of your luggage and undergo a full scan for metal, prohibited items, and liquids before safely proceeding to the gate to board the plane. In another area, you pick up your luggage and go through customs. This entire system is literally the internal organs of the body that help it function properly. Let's move on."

The man leads them to the second floor via the escalator, and Yunho can't help but admire the huge amount of glass and plants inside, which create a comfortable area for relaxation. On the second floor, there are several cafes and shops, and a wide panorama overlooking the entire airfield and waiting room. They head to the windows, gasping in awe and holding their breath at the scale.

"The airport has five runways, but we usually only use two," the man points to one of them.

"Why only two?" Omega asks, feeling everyone's eyes on him.

"One is for arrivals and the other is for departures," the man replies with a slight smile. "Actually, planes always take off and land against the wind, but if the weather and wind direction change, we can adjust them, or if the airport becomes quite busy, we open a few more runways."

That sounds quite logical.

"How many landings do you often handle?" asks Mingi, who had been silent until then, watching everything with equal interest.

"About forty per hour, but sometimes that number drops to thirty because of cargo planes."

That was a lot when you added up the whole working day.

"All of this is coordinated by dispatchers at the heart of this place. The tower. No plane will start moving or leave the runway without their permission. These people coordinate everything that happens at the airport, watching it from there," the man points to a building, part of which is visible on the other side of the airport.

"At the end of your second year, you will be assigned to a three-month internship to learn how to manage this place on simulators. Of course, if you all survive the first one," adds the curator with a laugh, and Yunho, to be honest, can't wait for this moment to try to manage it on his own.

"What do pilots do then?" asks Mingi.

"They listen to the dispatchers."

And Yunho laughs to himself, realizing that at least somewhere, Mingi will have to listen to him someday.

"They check the functionality of the transport and navigation before departure, clarify routes, and steer the metal bird in the right direction." Your job is no less important than theirs.

Their tour ends with a group photo and a few individual shots when Yeosang asks him to take a picture, and Yunho gladly agrees, taking several nice photos of him against the backdrop of an airplane parked near the gate. Alpha stands strangely aside, waiting for them, and as soon as they finish, he walks alongside them like a bodyguard. Yunho is surprised because Mingi has been avoiding him for several weeks, and now he willingly walks beside him, either out of boredom or for some other reason.

Maybe the alpha just has a fever?

Should he ask him if everything is okay?

He takes the risk anyway.

"Are you okay?" he asks, walking alongside him, assessing the alpha's reaction, regretting that he can't smell him.

"Yeah," Mingi replies, giving him a puzzled look. "Do you want to talk?"

"Do I want to talk?" Yunho begins a little sharply, then lowers his voice to a whisper. “You have been hanging around me for the last hour! It seems like you want to tell me something?"

Mingi just presses his lips together, thinking about whether he wants to talk or whether his plan has been figured out, and then says only, "Nothing," leaving his curious mind without an answer.

—

When they meet in the kitchen in the morning, Mingi doesn't react to him at all, as if he isn't even there. But to be honest, Yunho doesn't even care because he still desperately wants to lie in his bed and sleep, rather than drive to university with him in the same car. They even sit at opposite ends of the lecture hall again, as if to show that there is high tension between them, without using the pheromones hidden under a piece of tape. The meteorology lecture on the topic of storms seems to be a harbinger of a similar catastrophe in their non-relationship. Omega flinched when an email notification popped up on his phone, and Yeosang was whispering something in his ear, almost interrupting the lecturer.

Yunho unlocked his phone and opened the automatic notification from the university bot. Although there was no need, he already knew what day it was tomorrow.

“Please make sure that you catch up on the topics you missed next week due to your absence.”

After reading the small, stressful text, he locked his phone.

"Will you bring me the notes?" Yunho asked quietly, glancing at Yeosang as he wrote down everything the professor said.

"When?" Yeosang asked, frowning but agreeing.

"In a week. Monday would be fine. Mingi and I have a problem, so... um, I don't think he'll do it for me."

"He doesn't seem like a bad guy," Yeosang muttered, glancing at the alpha.

"Well, on the outside we all look perfect... but when you scratch the surface, you find rottenness inside," said Yunho, pressing too hard on the letters with his pen.

—

It's too cold in the third-floor auditorium during the fourth class, so they sit in their coats, warming themselves and at the same time writing notes on air law dictated by the lecturer.

"The legal regime of the airspace in which air activities are carried out varies..." he hears muffled and is distracted when someone nudges his elbow.

"Mmm, what do you want, Yeosang?" he whispers, trying to continue writing.

"...applies not only to aircraft, but also to airports and other service structures..."

"I forgot to tell you, San introduced himself as an alpha," the omega whispers in his ear, and Yunho gives him a suspicious sideways glance, then looks at the newly minted alpha sitting on the opposite side, whose clothes smell of cinnamon.

"I'm not surprised... damn," he says, realizing that he has missed part of the lecture again.

"Really?" asks the green-haired omega, moving closer.

"Mhm. His shoulders are too broad for an omega," he says, putting his pen aside on the table.

"Well, you're too tall for an omega, too," Yeosang shrugs, almost laughing.  

—

Yunho returned home by bus, convincing Minsu that he just wanted to take a walk and not run into Mingi. He talked to his mother and twins while walking through the October park, breathing in the fresh autumn air and fallen leaves, which reminded him of Mingi. It was the worst choice of place to walk before the heat.

His mother simply wished him luck and told him to be careful, while Insu and Ilwon were their usual selves, cracking jokes that no longer offended him but rather amused him.

"You live with an alpha, use it!" Ilwon egged him on.

"God...Find yourself an omega" the omega said coldly, rolling his eyes.

"Where? Everyone has left Kelstone!"

And Yunho laughed sincerely.

—

The boy sat on the bed in his room. It was ten o'clock in the evening, and he rubbed his temples with his fingers to relieve the growing headache, while the kitten fidgeted around him as if sympathizing and trying to cheer him up. His skull throbbed on all sides, as if he had a migraine and was being hit with a hammer. He needed to eat and take medicine to stop the torture of his body. Although he knew that Mingi was in the kitchen right now, he didn't care when his body demanded rest. He got out of bed, stumbling a little and clutching his head, but before he could open the door, there was a knock, and he was surprised because people rarely came into his room. Yunho opened the door and saw Minsu standing there with a tray full of food. Rice, some vegetables and baked fish, fruit, and water.

"I thought it would be better if you didn't go downstairs... and had dinner in your room," said the man, handing him the plastic tray.

"You know?" Yunho asked with a sigh, looking gratefully at the food.

"About what? About the fact that you're warming up for the heat? Or about the fact that my son's boyfriend cheated on him?"

"You shouldn't be underestimated," Yunho said as he carried the tray to the table.

"You should never underestimate parents. I've known for a long time who Haewon has been spending time with. But Mingi... his gaze was too dreamy to notice, and there are so many roses around him that he hardly reacts to any other scents except yours."

"I told him he'd been betrayed, but unfortunately, he didn't believe me."

"He's not stupid, Yunho, and neither are you. You both subconsciously know who you belong to."

"Do you know of any miracle cure for migraines?" he changed the subject, still rubbing his temples.

Mingi still worried him a little less than his aching head.

"A hot bath," the man shrugged. "It helped my wife once, so I think it will help you too."

"Thanks, I'll try that, and dinner too."

"You're welcome."

Dinner was simple but filling for him, and Coal kept him company, quietly eating his food from his bowl. Yunho washed down his headache pills with a glass of water that was brought to him and placed it next to his empty plate with side dishes, leaving only slices of fruit for later. His body already felt so heavy, as if he had caught a cold and been run over by a tank. He went to the bathroom, grabbing only warm pajamas from the bed because the towels were already there. Even though the house was warm from the heating circulating in the pipes, he was cold.

And for the first time in almost two months of living here, he used the bathtub, plugged the drain, and turned on the hot water tap to full. It hissed pleasantly and splashed against the glossy enamel surface, spraying drops and rising evenly higher and higher. On the ceramic shelves, Yunho found a jar of white sea salt and bath foam, which he had not seen here before for some reason, or had not had time to look at. He poured a handful of sea salt into the water and diluted the lavender-scented gel foam under the tap, watching as the surface of the water became covered with dense, soft bubbles that crackled pleasantly. Omega turned off the tap as soon as the bathtub was half full, locked the door so that no one could barge in, and took off his itchy clothes. His skin was also becoming too sensitive, especially in the thigh and lower back areas.

The water stung him and at first glance seemed too hot, but it was so pleasant that his body immediately melted. As soon as he submerged himself, leaving only his shoulders and head above the surface, he closed the glass doors, which immediately fogged up, and felt like he was in a sauna. The delicate and sweet scent of lavender in the foam swirled with the steam above the water, and he could still feel the tiny salt crystals under his palms. He sighed with relief, feeling all the muscles in his body relax and the pain subside a little, and leaned his head back on the headrest, closing his eyes and simply touching the smooth skin with his fingers.

The icy air burned his cheeks with a severe frost, making them beet red and hot, and a cloud of white steam came out of his mouth, which immediately dissipated. The boy pretends to be walking, and the snow under his boots crunches and squeaks under his feet. He crouches over the white dust and rolls it into his hands, forming a small snowball, immediately searching with his eyes for his prey, who was hiding behind the trees and where only a bright yellow jacket was visible.

"Are you hiding, Mingi?" he shouts seriously, but in the end, he bursts out laughing because Mingi could never hide from him properly.

"Yes," he hears in response and moves much closer to reach him with a snowball.

Yunho swings and aims a hard white ball somewhere at his sleeve, but the boy dodges and peeks out from behind the trees, throwing a snowball at him, and then another, which shatters against his jacket.

"Do you think I don't know what you're up to?" laughs the black-haired boy, whose only visible feature is his eyes.

"You're a trickster!" Yunho shouts, running and sliding toward him in the snow, almost falling.

"No, you've just done it a million times before. This time I prepared in advance," laughs Mingi, catching him by the elbow before he falls on his butt. "I even chose the area with the most footprints to confuse you."

"But your jacket gave you away," Yunho smiles.

"Want to make snow angels?" he cheerfully suggests, lying down in the almost knee-deep snow, and Yunho nods, falling next to him.

They move their legs sideways and their arms up and down, sometimes bumping into each other, and laughing even more when snowflakes fall from heavy tree branches right onto their faces.

"I'd like to do this with you forever," Mingi laughs, getting up from the ground to look at his own work of art.

"Do what?" Yunho asks, also carefully getting up with the help of an outstretched hand.

"Spending time with you," he says, "outside of school, just the two of us, playing and laughing ourselves to death and lying together like these angels."

Yunho came out of the bathroom an hour later, when the water had turned from pleasantly warm to cold. Just like the air between them that day. He couldn't remember what he had said to Mingi then, but it was definitely something he liked. He remembered it because the foam crackled like snow. Omega drained the water, dried his body with a terry white towel, and put on his pajamas. His head hardly hurt anymore, and his body was warm and soft like clay. Catching the strong smell of cedar wood in the hallway, he headed back to his room, collapsing into bed and pulling the pillow under his stomach, covering himself with a blanket that smelled of honey, acacia, and apricots, and slowly sinking into a sweet sleep.

—

Yunho woke up closer to noon, when the raindrops turned into a downpour, pounding on the windowpanes and roof tiles. He had slept for almost twelve hours, but it seemed that it was not enough, and his body still needed rest as much as it needed food. He rolled over in bed, inhaling the sweet aroma in the room, which was much stronger and thicker, like the aroma of jam that had been cooked for a long time with sugar on the stove. Omega slowly crawled out from under the covers, trying not to disturb Coal, who was curled up and purring next to him. He first headed to the bathroom to take care of business, then to the kitchen to grab some food and stock up on snacks in his den. As he descended to the kitchen, he noticed the windows open in the hallway, then in the kitchen and living room. The room smelled cool, of pine needles, earth, and fallen leaves with a hint of toffee and vanilla. And the house was empty, with no sign that anyone was home.

Yunho slowly dragged his heavy feet to the kitchen and noticed a plate of oatmeal cookies and pastries, scrambled eggs with bacon on the table, and a fork.

Did Minsu make him breakfast, or was it Mingi?

He also noticed a black jacket lying carelessly on a chair. It looked as if it had been taken off because the sleeves were in the way and then forgotten in a hurry. The boy touched the fabric with his fingers; it was soft, slightly rough, and very warm. He wanted to take it with him to his nest and put it right next to his head so he could smell it, because it smelled so much like Mingi.

Omega ate his lunch, rummaged through the refrigerator and top shelves, finding some candy and bottles of yogurt in different flavors, protein bars, and fruit. He gathered everything he could take with him at once so he wouldn't have to come back until at least evening. Yunho still looked sadly at the jacket as he left the room.

Was it left there for him on purpose, or was it forgotten?

He rearranged his nest three times. And three times he didn't like what he came up with, because something was always missing. Yunho laid out new bedding, then threw another layer on top, put pillowcases on the pillows, and threw the old ones under his head because they smelled more strongly of apricots. New decorative pillows lay against the wall, and three colorful blankets created a soft spot for him in the middle. His colorful clothes were folded at his feet and on the other side of the bed, surrounding the nest in a disorderly circle. Pacing around the room, he even remembered that his brother and sister had given him a bag before leaving, and its cherry scent was still faintly detectable in the closet. Omega took it out and dumped everything inside onto the bed. Another maple leaf-shaped pillow that belonged to Ilwon and still smelled more like tobacco than cherries lay in the corner, and Insu's shirt was stuffed between the cracks on the other side. Yunho also noticed a pink floral pillowcase from his parents' bedroom that smelled of honey and resinous cherry bark.

Now the picture he was looking at seemed complete, except for one detail he was still pondering.

Mingi's jacket.

What if he took it?

Would that have seemed very strange?

And why would Alpha leave it for him if they didn't even talk?

What's the point of leaving something for someone if you're seeing someone else, even when they're lying to your face?

There were too many questions in his head and too few answers.

"We're still friends... even if you don't think so."

Yunho sighed heavily, running his hand over his face.

Hesitating.

After weighing all the pros and cons, even considering that the alpha would notice the item was missing from its place, he decided to take it with him. Just to be calmer and not fidget nervously in the nest in search of a scent that would relax him.

As soon as the last piece of the nest was clenched in his hands, he inhaled the scent as deeply as if for the first time. His nest smelled like home.  All the scents he loved so much. He curled up, pulling his legs up to his chest and burying his nose in the fragrant, pleasant fabric, clutching it with his fingers as if it might be stolen. He closed his eyes and fell back into a sweet, peaceful sleep.

—

When Mingi and his father returned home, the house smelled so sweet, even though the windows had been open since morning, that his head spun from the pleasant smell and his body began to tremble.

"Mingi," Minsu said warningly, flashing his eyes dangerously at him and barely growling, "Don't even think about touching him."

"I won't," he croaked, feeling the scent of apricots settle in his lungs as if that was where it belonged.

He inhaled, almost instinctively trying to distinguish the subtle, fleeting aroma, which was much stronger on the second floor, as if it were pouring out from there.

"Apricots..."  he muttered, taking off his rain-soaked jacket.

And there was also the scent of something so familiar and yet so distant that it barely surfaced in his memory in fragments.

 Delicate and pure at the same time.

"Does it remind you of anything?" Minsu asked, emptying his pockets of small items and placing his umbrella on the stand.

The younger alpha just shook his head, trying to remember, but nothing came to mind. His brain was melting from this scent, from how this sickly sweetness intensified his desire to get more of it. The higher he climbs the stairs, the more he realizes that it's something warm and floral. It doesn't smell as strong as the roses he already hates.

His legs automatically lead him to the omega's room, and he stops in front of the door, not wanting to invade someone else's private space. Especially since he was guilty before him. And the alpha felt his father's gaze on his back, watching him. He took another breath, leaning his back against the door and finally realizing that this smell reminded him so much of... elderberry...

"Mingi, son, will you help me with the elderberry in the garden?" the woman says gently as he picks apricots from a nearby tree.

“Of course... Mom," he replies, looking down from the tree he climbed with a ladder to reach the fruit much higher up. 

It was a late sweet harvest of apricots, which tasted like honey with an orange tint and a smooth blush on the skin. He split one apricot, removing the pit and popping it into his mouth, feeling the flesh dissolve there with a delicate tartness. As soon as the bucket attached to the branch was full, his father took it away, helping him climb down from the tree, from which several more fruits fell to the ground, which he picked up.

The boy ran through the pink hydrangea bushes to the garden, making his way to the largest and most romantic elderberry bush growing there. It was strange that there were no bees around it today. His mother stood with a basket, picking shiny black berries, and the warm golden rays of the sun shone on her olive skin.

"Are you going to make jam?" he asked, picking the closest bunch of berries.

"Of course," she replied, smiling and moving the basket to the middle.

"Then will you smell like jam, or will it smell like you?" the boy asked thoughtfully, touching his chin, making his mother smile.

"What a difficult question you're asking me," she grumbles, bending down to stroke his head.

"I want my omega to smell like elderberry and apricots if I'm the alpha!" he laughs, looking at the woman with his small, coal-black eyes.

"Why?" she asked in surprise.

"Because... I love your elderberry jam, and I adore apricots," he thought, picking a few more clusters.

"What if you're an omega?" the woman asked gently.

“Then it doesn't matter. I will simply love my significant other, regardless of their appearance or background.”

"Oh, dear, then they will be extremely fortunate to have you." 

"Damn... damn..." he whispered, sliding down the door to the floor, pulling his legs up to his knees, and burying his head in them. "God, I'm an idiot... what an idiot I am..."

"You're not an idiot, son," his father says to him on the stairs. "But I'm glad you finally understand."

"You knew all along?" he whispers, wiping the moisture from his eyes.

"We all knew, and Yunho knew too, and you felt it too. Haewon confused you, and you didn't notice the most obvious thing in front of you. Your own omega."

Mingi only listens, nervously twisting his long fingers in his hair.

"Can I talk to him?" asks the alpha, turning his head toward the door, sensing the pheromones seeping through it like smoke.

"You can try, because he's just warming up, but don't touch him or his things without permission. You know that."

"I remember."

Mingi takes a shower, takes pills to reduce the effect of the omega's still weak but desirable pheromones on him, and eats dinner. He still blames himself for not believing him. And for everything he has done to him lately. When the alpha receives another permission from his father, he goes to the omega's room, knocks on the door three times, and waits. It is quiet behind the door, not even a rustle of sheets, but he hears a quiet whimper and his heart sinks, his breath catches. He opens the door just a few millimeters and sees Yunho curled up in a fetal position, slightly smaller than his bed covered with clothes and belongings, and the cat crawling next to him, rubbing its head against his body.

"Hey, Yun?" Mingi says quietly, almost muffled, so as not to scare him, but Yunho opens his tightly closed eyelids and looks at him with a slightly glassy, moist gaze. "Can I come in?" asks the alpha, pushing his head through the crack in the door, noticing the same jacket he left in the morning.

This flatters him, because his sixth sense that it would be the right decision to leave it in the chair overcame his prideful ego.

"Don't touch me..." the omega whispers, seemingly with his lips alone. "Don't touch me..."

It sounds so pitifully painful that Yunho's broken and weakened voice hits him like a sledgehammer followed by a bucket of cold water.

"I won't, Yun... I promise," says the alpha, stepping back behind the door. "I took the pills. Everything will be fine."

"Really?" he hears a weak voice and the rustling of the blanket.

"Yes. You can feel me, right? You feel safe?" says the alpha through the door without coming inside or closing it from the outside.

"I can't smell you... It's like you've wiped it off yourself..." whines the omega, clenching his fingers tighter on the jacket.

"That's how it should be... I can't smell yours either."

For a moment, there is a heavy silence, weighed down by their difficult situation, and then encouraging words are spoken, slightly lifting his mood, which has been ruined by today's events.

"Come in."

Mingi enters the gloomy room, where only a dim lamp is burning, closing the door behind him. It's as if it gives him a breath of fresh air and a sense of small victory. The omega's room is a mess, but he doesn't care about any of that except for him. With slow, careful, very deliberate steps, under the omega's watchful gaze, he walks to his bed and sits down on the rug, tucking his legs so that the omega can see him, and the cat immediately jumps onto his lap.

"How are you feeling?" Mingi asks cautiously, moving a little closer so that his fingertips touch the wooden frame.

"It hurts... and it's hot," Yunho says, immediately correcting himself so that he is understood correctly. "Not in the sense that it physically hurts... it hurts because my body aches with the desire to have something inside."

Mingi sees the omega's tired gaze wander, his cheeks flushing and turning pink.

"Do you need help with something? Are you not leaving your room until the heat is over?" He even had another strange question before Yunho interrupted him. "I'm sorry, but I don't know anything about this, and I don't want you to hate me even more," he added to his sullen gaze.

"Will you lie down with me? Because I missed you terribly," Yunho said, gently patting the bed with his palm.

"Can I?" Mingi asked, getting up from the floor.

"You can. And you say you don't know anything," Yunho laughs as the bed sags under the weight on the other side.

Mingi settles into the nest, and there is even less space because of their height. His forehead almost touches the omega's, as do their knees, and their breathing merges into one continuous breath. If he could smell their pheromones, it would be madness, and he would hardly be able to control himself due to his fiery temper.

"Can I touch you?" Mingi asks quietly, looking into Yunho's shining eyes.

"What about Haewon?" the omega asks, biting his cheek painfully from the inside.

He didn't need the alpha to be torn between him and someone else at the same time.

To which he receives a curt reply, "There is no more Haewon in my life."

"Then you can," the omega sighs heavily, touching Mingi's rough, elastic skin with the weak fingers of one hand while the other clutches his jacket like an unbridgeable distance between them. "Only my hands, hair, and face," he says, closing his eyes. "The other areas are too sensitive... mh."

"I understand," Mingi whispers, carefully touching the thin wrist below the scent gland, drawing patterns, and rubbing it as if giving a mini massage. "Are you taking any medication?"

"Mmm... no, I'm allergic to them. Usually, my mom was around until I came of age, making sure I didn't do anything, and then I learned to control it a little myself, but it's... It's still hard."  

"Okay. Can I take care of you?" Mingi asks in one breath.

A strange question to which he will definitely get a no for an answer.

Because what kind of crazy person would say yes?

"You always told me... that you would take care of me," Yunho replies, taking a breath between words and intertwining his fingers. "When we were little and I was often sick... You always brought me pastries and your mom's elderberry jam. I'm really sorry she's gone."

"Don't start, Yu..." Mingi whispers, holding back, touching his forehead with his own. "Don't start... because I already feel like an idiot."

When the rain outside the window subsides, the boy leaves the room and enters the house, where there is no longer any light. As if all the rays have gone out and the most precious last one has been taken away from him. The house is quiet, except for the living room, where he hears whispers and quiet crying. The smell of warm, slightly sour elderberry jam still lingers in the air like old perfume. Unable to hold back his sobs, he wipes the tears streaming down his cheeks and runs to the bathroom to cry alone, rather than in the hallway. It's been a week since she's been gone, and for a week, he's felt like he's being torn apart inside. There's a quiet knock on the bathroom door, and he shouts, "What?" through the lump in his throat.

"I need to use the bathroom," he hears a muffled voice behind the door. "Can I come in?"

Yunho.

His voice is so gentle and childishly warm, warming him in this too-cold and cruel autumn. He just sniffs again, wiping his eyes in front of the mirror, and goes to the door, opening it for him.

"Hey... Mingi," he whispers slowly as he enters the room. The boy gently touches his red and swollen face, pulling him into an embrace, and Mingi gives in, leaning his whole body against him, pressing him against the closed door.

"You... you needed to use the bathroom," he says through tears.

"I needed to see you," Yunho replies quietly, gently running his fingers through his black hair.

"I can't... I can't," he says hoarsely into his shoulder. "I wake up every morning wanting to see her in the kitchen and wanting to say good morning as usual."

"Shhh,"

"And in response, there is silence... and the tension of my father, who is just as hurt. I wanted to see her smile when she met me from school, not her urn with ashes being placed in the columbarium. Taking her away from me forever."

"She stayed here," says Yunho, pressing his palm to his chest where his heart was beating wildly. "No one will ever be able to take her away from you from here."

"I... I'll let you take care of me like before," he says, his words barely audible as he clenches his fingers, "But in return, I'll take care of you when you need it."

"All right..." he exhales.

"And no matter how much I ask and beg you later, don't do anything we'll regret."

—

The heat burns inside him as fiercely as a fire fueled by gasoline, reaching full intensity by Sunday lunch. Yunho whimpers quietly into his pillow, feeling the cold sweat clinging unpleasantly to his pajamas, sticky mucus dripping down his thighs. He tosses and turns in his bed, trying to reduce the unpleasant friction of the fabric against his skin, but it seems that no matter what position he takes, everything starts to itch even more. The omega inhales the scent of pine, leaves, and irises from the pile of sacred clothing that Mingi brought him from his laundry basket.

Alpha, as agreed, kept his distance, helping and touching only when necessary.

Yunho groaned as he inhaled the multifaceted scent, just like its owner.  He touched and ran his palms over the warm skin under his pajamas, which made it a little, but not much, easier. When his pants were completely soaked with clear mucus, the omega pulled them off and squeezed them irritably, throwing them randomly to the other end of the bed, where they partially caught on the nest. The cool air from the window Mingi had left open yesterday to air out the room blew pleasantly and tickled his skin, lowering the temperature and causing a slight shiver.

He ran his hand over his thighs, collecting some sticky mucus on his fingers, sliding them down the sensitive skin on the inside of his thighs, causing his legs to shudder and tickle as if ants were running over them. A herd of ants. Yunho ran his slippery fingers between his buttocks, shuddering from the familiar sensation and desire to get something deep inside and for a very long time, just so he wouldn't feel this unbearable pain from arousal anymore.

He ran his hand down his back and then to his pelvis, biting his lower lip and stopping at his groin, where arousal and sensitivity swirled together most intensely. Omega moaned, running his hand over his small cock, stimulating it from base to head several times, quickly cumming on his hand, spilling viscous white drops on his stomach, and hiding a guttural moan in his clothes.

By evening, he had lost count of how many times he had come and lost track of time altogether. The waves of heat did not subside, forcing him to lose himself in sinful desire. Omega was ready to beg Mingi to do something, to beg him and crawl on his knees to his bedroom, just to stop this unbearable torment. When he came again, his cock was already starting to ache and his hand was numb, but it brought him at least some relief when the incredible post-orgasmic fireworks exploded in his head, drowning out everything else in the world.

The heat wave receded briefly as quickly as it had come. Yunho rolled onto his side, resting his heavy head on the pillow with its faint smell of tobacco, inhaling all the concentrated mixture of pheromones in his room, which, along with a slight relief, lulled him to sleep.

The omega woke up in the middle of the night, it seemed, from a dull ache throughout his body and a bitter desire for the alpha to be physically close to him. Yunho opened his eyes, and the first thing he noticed with his blurry, hazy vision was the blanket and the closed window, as well as the fresh smell of fallen leaves and trees that pleasantly swirled in his nose. Mingi stood just three steps away from him, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, looking at him as if he were something too beautiful for this world.

"Are you awake?" he asked quietly, coming closer and crouching down next to him at eye level, touching his fluffy hair when Yunho flinched for a moment. "It's okay, don't be afraid. Sorry, it's so late. I brought you dinner, it's on the table," the alpha said softly, to which Yunho only sobbed, moving as close as possible, begging for a touch.

"Please... please..."  the omega said hoarsely, clinging to the alpha with his thin fingers, searching for his gaze. "I beg you... Please... do something," he whined, but Mingi just gently pushed his hand away, hiding it under a warm blanket, shook his head in refusal, and then left the room and walked away.

The next three days pass in much the same way. In the throes of arousal, pain, fever, and a wild desire for tactility that is denied him. Mingi brings him breakfast so that it will last until lunch, even though Yunho hardly eats, and then dinner. He changes the sheets to clean ones when the omega is asleep and helps him walk to the bathroom when the waves of heat consuming him recede for an hour, giving him a break to cool his brain.

Somewhere around the second and a half day of suffering, Yunho remembered his black bag in the nightstand, where there were two four-inch silicone toys that he had used once in his life at seventeen out of curiosity. It was a bad first impression, after which he said he would never use them again. He doesn't even remember Mingi's reaction to them, but he clearly remembers that they were lying somewhere at his feet. They had done their job of delivering at least some more or less mind-blowing orgasms with stars in his eyes and relieving the itch inside for a short time. And then he didn't see them, and he hardly felt his body either, as if he were levitating between worlds.

Mingi carefully washed his shoulders with a sponge in the bathroom while he dozed with wet hair between the waves that were already weakening, reducing his sexual desire. Yunho opened his eyes, moaning softly and bowing his head as a spasm ran through his body again from his hips to his lower abdomen, felt by every cell of his reddened skin. His legs trembled with a barely noticeable spasm. The alpha carefully poured water from a cup over his shoulders, washing the foam from his light, slightly tanned skin, kneading it a little, trying to relax them.

"I know where you need to go," he mumbled, and Yunho barely lifted his head, humming quietly and listening to him as attentively as he could.

"If it's not your bedroom... mmm, I'm not interested."

"I'll show it to you when you come to your senses," he promises, "But for now, you need to go to the hot tub, the water is always warm there."

Yunho mumbles something quietly, blinking as water drips from his bangs into his eyes and stings them. The omega barely turns his head to the side, pulling his wrinkled hand out of the water to brush his hair back, when he notices the same two colored toys standing in the corner at the edge of the tub. His face instantly reddens, his voice rises to a squeak, and he wants to drown in embarrassment in the bathtub full of foam and water.  

"What are they doing here?!" he squeals, slapping his hand on the water, causing waves.

"I took them to wash them... but forgot to bring them back. Sorry," the alpha says calmly, reaching for a towel. "I found them among your clothes when I was changing your blankets."

"It's embarrassing," Yunho says softly, hiding his face in his hands.

"It's not embarrassing if you feel better," he shrugs, turns on the drain in the bathroom, letting the murky water out, and helps Yunho stand up on his shaky legs and get out of the bathtub, immediately throwing a towel over his hips and shoulders.

"What good deeds did I do to deserve such a thoughtful friend?" the omega says wearily, clutching the towel around his hips.

"The best ones," Mingi replies, drying his hair with a towel.

A warm breeze blows on him, ruffling his hair and making it messy. School break was his favorite time, when he could leave the classroom and go outside to run and play games drawn with chalk on the asphalt, but not today and not for the next few weeks. His crutches sat beside him on the bench, and his one healthy leg swayed in time with the wind blowing at his back. It was boring to watch the others running around with the ball while he couldn't do anything.

"Would you like an apple?" he was suddenly asked, and he turned his head to the boy next to him.

"My mom gave me a lot of apples to bring with me, and I can't eat them all myself," said Yunho, taking a plastic container with his lunch out of his bag.

"Are you sure you want to share with me?" Mingi asked, narrowing his eyebrows and frowning slightly.

"Of course, you need vitamins so your leg will heal better," Yunho said encouragingly, handing him a quarter of an apple.

It tastes pleasantly sour and crunches between his teeth when he bites into it.

"Thank you," Mingi says quietly, sadly watching the children on the playground.

"I didn't mean for it to happen... I shouldn't have taken your things so you would run after me down the stairs," Yunho begins, and Mingi interrupts him.

"Don't apologize, it's just a crack, not a complete fracture. You caught me in time, because it could have been worse," he says, taking another bite of the apple and looking at his leg, which is in a cast from the ankle to the knee.

The bell rings for class, and they sigh heavily.

"Let's go..." says Yunho, jumping off the bench and putting the container back in his bag. "I'll help you get to class."

He hands Mingi his crutches, covered with stickers. Mingi leans forward on a wooden bench, and he helps him stand up and supports him as he slowly hops to class.

"Thank you," he says, and Yunho smiles broadly at him.

"Anything for my best friend."

When he returns to bed, Mingi puts clean, fragrant pajamas on his upper body and covers his lower body with two fluffy blankets warmed on the radiator, wrapping his legs in warmth. There was no point in putting on underwear that would be dirty in ten minutes. And dries his hair with a hair dryer, telling jokes.

- Where do you go in the evenings?

- To choir practice.

- What do you do there?

- We drink and talk.

- When do you sing?

- When we go home.

After a few more similar anecdotes, he starts to nod off again, and Mingi holds his head while combing out all the tangled strands, then helps him settle comfortably into the clean bed. He disappears for a few minutes, bringing a glass of water from the kitchen and the same toys from the bathroom, leaving them in a place visible to the omega. Making sure that he is fast asleep, he leaves him and walks away.

Alpha goes down to the kitchen, where his notes on avionics, English, and aviation law lie on the table. He tried to study them diligently between caring for Yunho and preparing dinner for his father, but now the cat is lying on them. Mingi feeds Coal to chase him away from the table, and he purrs contentedly, burying his face in the plate, making him smile at the wit. Alpha turns off the chicken broth that has been simmering on the stove for the last hour and starts rewriting everything from the books again, but he can't get the omega out of his head.

The living room door opens quietly, almost silently, and Mingi looks up from his book and half-empty cup of coffee, realizing that his father has returned from work.

"You're doing a great job," he praises him, ruffling his blond hair with his palm. "Is Yunho feeling well?"

"He's tired. He fell asleep while I was drying his hair, but he seems happy."

"She would be proud of you for that."

"I just followed your example."

"Is Mom sick again?" the boy asks from the kitchen, stirring the hot boiling curry in the pot.

"Mom is just tired, son," Minsu replies, turning down the heat on the stove. "But we can cheer her up by taking care of the house, making a delicious dinner, and doing our homework."

"How will that help her?" asks Mingi, frowning.

"It will help her because she will be able to do nothing and feel like a princess. And we, as her responsible boys, will take care of her. When you have someone, you also want to take care of them very much; it's like an expression of your love and respect."

—

Omega barely opened his sleepy, foggy eyes and stirred in bed, turning onto his back and feeling the crumpled blankets beneath him. His body felt heavy, as if a concrete slab had been placed on top of him to keep him from moving, and his breathing was slow, as if he were conserving air in the heavy scent of his pheromones. He slowly sat up in bed, feeling dizzy and headache, and ran his hands over his face, trying to wake up and find the strength to at least wash up after spending the last two days in the room as if in hibernation. The room was so messy that he could never have imagined himself creating such a mess. With trembling legs, he got out of bed, shivering from the cold floor, and found a clean towel in a pile of clothes on the floor. He took it and a bathrobe from the hanger and left the room. There was a faint smell of leaves and cedar in the hallway, and some noise was coming from the first floor.

Yunho went into the bathroom and spent a good hour and a half there trying to restore himself to a state of new gold coins with shampoos, shower gels, and moisturizing face creams. His hair no longer resembled a nest, and his face was soft and smooth again, glowing from the cream. The scent of apricots and elderberries was barely noticeable, and his body felt much better after such a hellish ordeal. He returned to the room with a basin and began cleaning while he still had the strength to do so. Omega opened the window to air out the room and let the cold, damp air in. Dirty clothes and blankets, along with sheets in the basin, leave his bed practically bare, with only a mattress and pillows. Plates from the light meal that Mingi brought him yesterday and empty water glasses, and bottles also go into the basin to be taken down to the first floor. Wrappers from candy and bars, jars from drinking yogurt are thrown into the trash can near the table, and the room already looks like it is livable.

Yunho picks up the laundry basin, which feels quite heavy in his still weak arms and body, and carries it to the laundry room and sink, carefully descending the stairs and walking close to the wall. He throws all the laundry into the washing machine in the closet until the drum is full, then turns on the machine, setting it to wash in hot water, and goes to the kitchen with a pile of dishes. It smells like sweet pancakes and some kind of casserole, and his stomach growls from how much he wants to eat again.  

"Are you okay, Yunho? You look tired," says Minsu, flipping a pancake in a pan while he puts a basin on the counter next to the sink.

"I'm fine," the omega replies, opening the dishwasher on the second try and placing all the dishes on the shelves next to the other dirty ones.

"Sit down. I'll do it for you," he stops him, putting his hand on his shoulder, and Yunho walks away, nodding wearily and sitting down on a chair at the table.

His body needed rest again. The kitten scratches his leg, and he takes it on his lap, smiling slightly at the sight of this contented animal.

"Mingi took care of you, too, right?"

"Pancakes or casserole?" Minsu asks him, taking a plate with a bird in the middle out of the cupboard.

"Pancakes..."

"Chocolate spread? Jam?"

"Chocolate spread would be fine... Thank you. Is Mingi back yet?" he asks, sniffing, but the alpha's scent is faint.

"No, he should be here tonight," the man replies, placing a plate of pancakes and chocolate spread in front of him, and Yunho thanks him and begins to eat.

—

Towards evening, he makes himself two cups of coffee to stay awake after Yeosang brings him a pile of notes and practical assignments that he has to catch up on to keep up with the program. Yunho looks at the four notebooks covered with stickers and filled with small handwriting, and he feels sick at the thought of having to rewrite them all.

It seems to be past eleven in the evening when his hand slips off the page and the letters merge into one incomprehensible scribble among English aviation terms. He catches the fleeting scent of leaves and trees, and then hears Mingi's door open and close. Another two hours pass as he finishes a practical meteorology assignment, such as "predicting tomorrow's weather based on the aerodrome's meteorological chart," and almost falls asleep at the table, his face buried in the same work.

"Hey," someone whispers quietly next to him, and he flinches when a hand touches his shoulder, then gently moves closer to the back of his neck.

"Mmm?" he mumbles, blinking sleepily.

"Your back will hurt if you don't go to bed like a normal person."

"Mingi?" he mumbles, lifting his head from the table and looking around in confusion.

"Who else?" the alpha says with a laugh. "I understand the heat has melted your brain, and you're confused, but at the same time, I don't understand how you managed to rewrite so many pages."

"What time is it?"

"Two in the morning," Mingi replies, looking at the steel watch on his wrist.

"I haven't done my homework for tomorrow yet..." says the omega, staring intently at his notebook and reaching for the colored gel pens next to him.

"But I did. You can copy it in the morning, but you need to rest first."

"Will you lie down with me?" he says, giving an almost puppy-like look and pouting his lower lip.

"Is that you talking? Or is it the omega inside you?"

"I'm in my right mind, I think. So that’s me."

"Okay," Mingi replies, smiling slightly. "If that's what you want."

I really... really want to...

After changing into pajamas in the bathroom and getting ready for bed, the omega lies down in bed, moving closer to the wall, covering himself with a blanket that smells like the forest, as if wrapping himself in a roll. He is waiting for Mingi to change in his own room and lie down behind him. With each passing minute, his eyelids grow heavier, his body relaxes from the warmth, and sleep draws him in. When the bed sags on the other side and warm, gentle limbs safely envelop him, pulling him close, pressing his back against his chest. He relaxes and breathes much more deeply than he could have managed, feeling his steady heartbeat. Alpha settles down more comfortably, resting his head on his shoulder, burying his nose in his neck closer to the gland. His arms embrace him around the waist under the ribs, his legs tangled with his in something incomprehensible, and Yunho almost purrs from this warmth that he has wanted to feel for so long. A warmth that reminded him of childhood and nights spent together.

—

At lunchtime after university, as soon as they find themselves at home in the warmth and warm up from the cold, some time passes before Yunho finds Mingi in the kitchen with a cup of tea. Next to him stands another one just like it, with steam rising from it. He remembers that Mingi wanted to talk to him in the morning, but they were in a hurry, so the conversation was postponed. Yunho lets Coal run to the floor, where he starts playing with a tiny ball, and sits down opposite Alpha, pulling a cup of green herbal ginger tea and a plate of cookies closer to him.

"So what did you want to talk about after class?" Yunho begins, biting and chewing on an oatmeal cookie while Mingi gets ready to talk.

The alpha just stares gloomily into his cup, where a tea bag floats, and takes a sip. The omega feels the woody pheromones in the scent intensify with tension.

"I wanted to apologize for calling you a liar," Mingi said quietly, and Yunho even stopped eating in shock, coughing and immediately washing down the cookie with tea.

"What?" he asked, either not understanding or out of spite.

"I'm sorry I called you a liar," Mingi repeated firmly, but without looking him in the eye, more out of embarrassment than unwillingness. "And I'm sorry I didn't believe you."

"So you found out?"

"I saw him in the store when he said he wasn't in town."

"And he was obviously not alone," adds Yunho calmly, sipping his tea and watching the cat out of the corner of his eye.

"Yes, and he wasn't alone. And I feel like an idiot for not realizing it sooner. I didn't even smell someone else's scent on him," he says gloomily, rocking his cup back and forth. "I'm sorry, Yu, that I yelled at you and acted like a jerk."  

"You were wrong. We all make mistakes. And if you want to know if I blame you? No," he shrugs. "I was hurt, but now I don't really care. Because I trusted you anyway."

"So you're not offended?" the alpha asks hesitantly.

"First love, Mingi, is like baby teeth: it lasts until it rots from the inside. Haewon was that tooth for you, the one that gave you a chance to find someone better."

"You've always been better than me," the alpha says quietly, meeting his gaze.

"You're always the best for me..."

Yunho puts his hand under his head and leans casually on the table.

"I'm still waiting for an answer as to where I belong," the omega says lightly, teasing him.

"Damn... and I'm sorry for that too," Mingi hisses, burying his head in his hands. "I didn't want to use my voice on you... it just slipped out."

"It's sad that you still haven't found the answer.  I was really curious - where is it?"

"Wherever you want it to be."

"So can I take my place in your heart again?"