We Are Just Meant To Be 

Chapter Thirty-One

“Stop buying me things, it’s not going to make me any more happier with you,” Hee Chul grumbled as he walked ahead of his mate. Siwon frowned, feeling a great disrespect from his mate for being the submissive that was walking ahead of him.  He was supposed to walk ahead. He was supposed to protect his submissive.

But his submissive was not pleased with him.

“At least walk beside me,” Siwon growled.

“I’m mad at you, and I’m making a statement out of it,” Hee Chul snapped. He felt like Siwon wasn’t really listening to him at all.

“You’ve made your point, now get back over here!” Siwon growled, his tail puffing out in his anger. Hee Chul huffed.

That when two strange boys walked over to Hee Chul, one at each side. Siwon’s anger for his mate was replaced by the sudden protectiveness that he felt towards him being approached in such a way. He sped up, and walked to the front, blocking their path.

“Hey there,” One boy said, but he didn’t sound like a boy.

“You’re a cute one,” the other boy said, this one looking a bit more dangerous. More dominant than the other.  He was bold enough to reach out and touch the strand of hair that was falling over Hee Chul’s eyes. The submissive gasped, trying to move back only to find that there was the other boy there, waiting to touch him as well.

Hee Chul ducked, and cried out, “SIWON!!” the submissive ran behind his mate, before pressing against his dominants back. He was obviously scared of being approached in such a way.

“Whoa, what scared you?” The more dangerous boy asked.

“I suggest that if you want to keep your heads, you will move along. This is my mate,” Siwon bared his fangs.

“Omo, I’m scared!” The first boy squealed and rushed to the more dangerous one, pretending to hide behind him, “Joking,” he said, a grin on his face.

Hee Chul growled, knowing that he was being mocked.

“Yo, I’m Mi Hae,” the dangerous boy said.

“I’m Ga In” The other boy said. There was a problem though. They were not boys.

They were girls.

Both Siwon and Hee Chul looked at them perplexed. “What is it that you want?” Siwon asked. Mi Hae chuckled a bit under her breath before she stepped towards the dominant.

“I’ve been watching you for a while now,” she said, reaching her hands out to press them to Siwon’s chest. The Dominant flinched, reaching to take her hands away from him, but she was insistent, moving in more. He nearly sputtered when his hands made contact with her s.  “I really, really, like you,” she then eyed Hee Chul who was trembling with anger behind Siwon. “But then you have him,” she said, pulling back.

“Why are you letting her touch you!” Hee Chul snapped, his fingers pulling on Siwon’s shirt. “Blow her off already!”

“Hee Chul, stop pulling on my shirt!” Siwon growled, concerned that his shirt might be torn off.

“You can have both of us, if you leave him.” Mi Hae suddenly said, grabbing Hee Chul’s hand and making him release Siwon. The other female came to slide herself next to Siwon, wrapping her arms around his waist- and making herself perfectly comfortable.

“I wouldn’t mind a bit,” Ga In fluttered her eyes.

Siwon was stuck in a position where females were no threat, but at the same time, they were in the way.

“SIWON!” his mate desperately called out to him, and Siwon pushed the girls away, backing up from them. Hee Chul moved to reach for Siwon once again, but the scent of the girls lingered on his mate and it repulsed him. It made him feel like his bond with his mate had been threatened completely, and he was at risk of losing it.

There was no way he was going to let that happen!

“Back away from my mate!” he growled. Both girls turned to him, giving him a look up and down.

“We know how things work. You might be his mate, but things can be easily changed. You can’t even think about the things we had to go through, the pain and everything. A real Neko fights for what they need and want,” Mi Hae growled, baring her fangs at Hee Chul, “If your mate is the one that I want then I will have him,”

Hee Chul felt himself shrink a bit at her harsh words. He was already feeling insecure about the fact that Siwon had bet their relationship like it was nothing. He was hurting, and her words were like a slap. His eyes darted to Siwon then.

Siwon was watching him as well, before he started to muttered about getting off him as he tried to push both girls off of him.

“Do you want to be with them?” Hee Chul suddenly asked making Siwon snap his head up towards him once more.

“What?” he asked, perplexed.

“Because if you want to you can, I won’t hold you back, go ahead.” Hee Chul cried, “Our relationship already means nothing to you since you are so quick to bet it away…if you want to get rid off me all of you have to do is say the word” Hee Chul’s body was trembling as his words cut down in his heart. Siwon was confused by his mate, and quickly rushed to his side.

“Hee Chul, what are you talking about, you are the only one I ever want to be with. There is no one, but you” Siwon reached for his hands, gently holding them.

Hee Chul looked away. “They why would you even dare to bet our relationship off…”

“You don’t trust us to win.”

Hee Chul pulled away, slapping Siwon across his face. “It’s not the expectation of wining!” he screamed, “It’s the respect that you have for our bond! You ” and with that the submissive ran off. Siwon panicked.

“Whoa, it’s not good to let a submissive run off on his own,” Ga In said, “Maybe you should go after him, there have been more dark creatures lately.” Siwon turned to her with a glare.

“I know that,”

“Then go!” Mi Hae urged.

Siwon cursed under his breath, about ing girls and how idiotic they were, and rushed off after his mate. He could still sense him through their bond, but if he got to far away he feared that he might not. So he moved as fast as he could. Until he reached his mate whom was just about to run into the forest.

He threw a small ball of energy in front of Hee Chul halting him before he entered and ran up behind him, wrapping his arms around him. “I’m sorry,” he whispered into the soft ear. “I sorry okay, I thought all the best for my brother, but what can I do now?”

Hee Chul was silent for a few minutes, allowing his shaking body to relax against his mate, allowing him to make him feel safe and wanted again. Siwon was always like medicine to him, a source of pure comfort and happiness. Something that he always craved and something that he always needed- he needed him always by his side, He was scared to lose him.

They had already lost to Ji Yong and Seung Hyun, and those two had only gotten stronger since then- he didn’t want to risk it. “Call off the dare,”

He felt Siwon tighten his hold on him, but in the end Hee Chul knew that the decisions belonged all to his mate.

Back with Mi Hae and Ga In both girls sighed, watching the two. They had followed them, as difficult as it was, but they wanted to see what would happen. They never wanted to actually break up the couple. They were just doing what Seung Hyun and Ji Yong had asked, and that was to scare both Siwon and Hee Chul into understanding that losing ones mate was not something that could be treated like a game.

Beside that, they didn’t want no one hurting Ji Yong, the person they admired a lot.

“What do you think he will do now?” Ga In asked, concerned.

“Who knows,” Mi Hae sighed. “You can never know what stupid things men would do. They never think.” She said.

For now though, they had sort of succeeded in what they needed to do.

“Come on, lets go” Mi Hae said and Ga In nodded her head, following after her. Mi Hae was always like a leader to her, someone that she looked up to. She was the strong one in their circle of friends. Ga In felt like she could trust her, but at the same time she could see how mating turned people different.

But she was different- they were different.

Both her and Mi Hae were able to be happy for others being together, they were able admire others from afar- but they had never had the urge to mate with anyone. They would say things, but they would never actually do it. Mi Hae might as well have been teasing Seung Hyun about being mated to Ji Yong, testing him really to see if he was worthy of someone she admired—but she could never see herself mated to Ji Yong.

Being in the world, full of others that looked to be mated and dreamt about it, didn’t mean that there weren’t Neko’s who could care less about it. Getting mated was not a priority, or a necessity.

It was more of an option they could consider but never take.

Happiness was different for everyone.

“Why do they even choose to get mated?” Ga In asked, “its such drama,”

“Tell me about it,” Mi Hae agreed.

Seung Hyun yawned, leaning against Ji Yong as he tried to keep his eyes open for the ceremony of the final battles that were to come. They were announcing the finalist, as well as remembering everyone about the rules and the awards that were to be given to the winners. Seung Hyun could hardly care about that when he had long nights at work, with the out of control monsters that had started to invade their city lately.

It wasn’t anything that they couldn’t handle, but it seemed that those creatures thought that they could group together and attack together. It was frustrating having to deal with them.

Ji Yong had not been happy that Seung Hyun had to be one of the officers to fight the creatures, but he was purring now that he had Seung Hyun near him. He wasn’t paying attention to the ceremony at all. He was too busy nuzzling his face into Seung Hyun’s cheek, while keeping his arm tight to his chest.

Seung Hyun closed his eyes, enjoying his mates soft touches but snapped his head up whenever he felt like he was about to knock out. Ji Yong would pout, and pull him back down to him, in hope that Seung Hyun would go to sleep so he could watch him.                                                                         

“Are you two even paying attention?” Seungri asked with a slight blush. He was sitting next to Young Bae whom was paying attention to everything that was being said. He was kind of disappointed that they had lost, especially with the amount of money that was being given for the first place prices. Seungri pouted, inching himself closer to Young Bae when Ji Yong shot him a glare. It was still odd to see a couple so free about their intimacy together.

“Yongie, let’s go home,” Seung Hyun whispered into Ji Yong’s ear.

The blond neko eagerly nodded his head, pulling Seung Hyun to his feet. “Yes, let’s go home baby,” he said. There was no where better to lock his mate up for a few days! 

“You two can’t leave yet,” Daesung said. He was sitting on the other side of the table, he was there to support his brothers and beside him was Minzy, who was starting to show. Not only that, but her appetite had increased and she was currently stuffing her face into a large foot long sandwich.

“Watch us,” Ji Yong said, and Seung Hyun stuck his tongue out at Daesung, mockingly, while his mate dragged him out of the room.

“Is it just me, or do those two share one mind?” Young Bae asked, crossing his arms as he watched both Ji Yong and Seung Hyun stumble their way out of room, looking as if they were a drunk couple. The only thing that made others avert their eyes from how funny they looked was their tightly intertwined tails. Those two feared nothing when it came to showing how affectionate they were to each other. It was almost too sweet.

“It’s childish, if you ask me,” Minzy mumbled around her food, but she couldn’t really care what the affectionate duo did.  Actually, she kind of envied their bond, “Why can’t we cuddle like that Dae?” she turned to pout at her mate. Daesung blushed, and just wrapped an arm around her.

“Now, don’t pout like that,” he told her, but she seemed satisfied enough that he was hugging her.

“Those two could start a war with what is proper for mate standards in society,” Seungri said. Young Bae offered him a smile.

“Don’t worry about them. I’m sure we’ll understand that feeling when we are mated.”

Seungri grinned, “And that will be soon, right?”

“Right,”

“Aren’t you guys being all lovey,” Minki teased as he walked over to them, he was following closely to his mate, Dong Ho. The blond smiled warmly at everyone as Dong Ho pulled his seat out for him and sat down. Dong Ho followed and sat beside his mate, glancing at everyone around him. The two soon to be mates were blushing and looking away, while Minzy was still eating and Daesung smiled in return towards them.

“Dong Ho, Minki, you two are in the finals again,” Daesung commented, “Congrats,”

“We should say the same about your brothers, they have made it as well,” Dong Ho said, with a slight nod of thanks.

Daesung nodded his head. “They are tough,”

“I hope that when we beat Hyun Seung and Hyuna we will get to face them,” Minki said. “Well, that is if they can beat Yun Soong and Jae Ho” Minki tilted his head a little, “Those two have come a long way even though not many have paid much attention to them. I’ve heard rumors that they have been mated for ten years now,”

“But they don’t look any much older than us!” Seungri protested. Everyone else was a bit shocked.

“That can’t be true,”

“It would be silly, really,” Dong Ho said, “They would have to have been mated at twelve at the least. That’s a long time,”

“Twelve and mated,” Young Bae frowned, “Doesn’t seem possible, children don’t think about mating until they are twenty,”

“There are always exceptions to the rules,” Minki said. He glanced at Daesung and Minzy. “How old were you when you mated?” he asked.

“Twenty, just at that age,” Daesung answered.

“How old were you when you got mated?” Seungri boldly asked. Minki turned to him and smiled.

“I was seventeen,” he said, and then glanced up at Dong Ho. “My mate was eighteen,”

“It’s still older than twelve,” Seungri argued.

“There is no point in rebutting what I have to say about it, I said I just heard the rumor,” Minki offered Seungri another smile, but the submissive simply frowned and looked away. Seungri still didn’t like Minki all that much, despite him being nice all the time.

“I’ve heard rumors of twenty year olds mating off to twelve year olds, but I have not seen it be done around here.” Young Bae said, “Then again, just because we don’t see it frequently doesn’t mean that it cannot be true,”

“It could more than be true,” Daesung sighed.

“If we were talking about mental age though I say that Ji Yong and Seung Hyun got mated at five years old!” Minzy joked suddenly, making the man turn to her with perplexed awed looks on their faces. They had not expected her words.

Minki was the first to laugh, followed by the others. “Thank God mental age has nothing to do with mating,” he muttered.

“We can all drink to that,” Minzy smiled. The male all chuckled at that, but agreed with her. Although, all of them were thinking the same thing amongst themselves. They wouldn’t trade their mates away for the world.

“I can’t wait for these battles to be over,” Seungri said, “So I can finally be mated to you Young Bae,” he smiled at his soon to be mate. Young Bae returned the smile.

“I feel the same,”

“Aww, you two are so cute,” Minki commented, making the couple blush. It was still hard and awkward for them to show much affection, but Ji Yong and Seung Hyun inspired that lately. There was nothing wrong with letting one express themselves.

“It’ll be over soon enough,” Daesung said, “After these two battles, the last two couples will move on and face off each other.”

“It’s scary to think about who might move on,”

They all nodded. There was the concern that they knew very little on Yun Soong and Jae Ho, whom seemed to be easily defeating all their opponents. And then there was the unmated and resilient team of Hyun Sung and Hyuna. Both of them, very formidable opponents, and only one could be the winner.

In the end, the two strongest teams will be facing off—and that truly was a scary moment.

“I don’t like it when you are gone for too long,” Ji Yong said as he crawled into bed, right beside Seung Hyun. The blond neko curled up against his mate, keeping a tight hold on him- almost scared as if he was going to vanish before his very eyes. Seung Hyun was deeply asleep and although Ji Yong knew that his mate couldn’t hear his words, it was enough to be close to him. It didn’t matter right now if Seung Hyun heard him or not, all he was glad was that he had returned unharmed.

It had been the first time ever, in regards to their relationship that Seung Hyun had been called out past just overnight. Seung Hyun had been gone for more than a few days and Ji Yong had found it hard to cope with the fact that he missed his mate a ridiculous amount.

He missed his warm body during the night. He could hardly sleep a wink without worrying himself sick, thinking about how Seung Hyun was, what he might be doing—if he was still alive. He could sense their bond, but he feared that he might lose it if he slept.

He missed being near him during the day, and just doing what they did best- annoying others to no end. It was like a piece of him was missing and he was walking as a half-person. Sure, he and Seung Hyun were not literally attached, they were individuals- but he found himself unable to relax even when he tried to distract himself from others might call silly thoughts.

It had been hard for Ji Yong that he felt like he would have anxiety attacks if Seung Hyun didn’t come home soon.

Was he too dependent on his mate now?

Ji Yong ran the tips of his fingers over Seung Hyun’s soft high cheeks, and down the curve of his face, and smiled. Guess there was nothing ridiculous about being in love. In the end it was all you could feel for that person.

And Seung Hyun was now a part of him, like he was sure he was a part of him as well. He knew Seung Hyun felt the same, he could feel it through their bond.

Sighing, and nuzzling his head into Seung Hyun’s throat, and keeping an arm around his chest, and a leg over his waist, Ji Yong finally, after a long time, allowed himself to relax into sleep. They were safe at home—and they had nothing to fear.

But God, it felt like it had been an eternity since he last got to sleep so soundly.

Nothing could spoil this for then, even the upcoming battles!

Hyuna sighed, looking at the board. She would have thought that by now they would have be able to face Ji Yong and his mate. She was doing this for Hyun Sung. She had figured this out eventually, although she wasn’t sure exactly what her point was now. It seemed to have gotten lost somewhere in between thinking that he was cute, and wanting to help him succeed. Kind of stupid of her, to start having feelings now—but that worried her less than her opponents.

She pursed her lips, looking at the screen.

Choi Minki and Kang Dong Ho—a couple that had been mated for a long time, and had a very strong bond. She had watched them and battle and seen them win.

They were good in battle, and a bit scary. Did she and Hyun Sung, an unmated couple actually stand a chance against them? Sure, they had come this far, but she was starting to have her doubts. She was sure that if she and Hyun Sung mated they would have an incredibly strong bond—one that she believed no one could beat!

But how would she bring up the subject to Hyun Sung when she knew that he would not agree. He was in love with Ji Yong- and she was in love now with Hyun Sung. She feared that if they got mated, and they won, and everything! His love for Ji Yong would blind him, and he would leave her before she could even convince him that they were meant to be.

So she had to keep closed, and hope that they won.

She was praying that they won.

Her eyes darted to Hyun Sung whom was sitting beside her, fiddling with his camera. He was trying to capture the event from every angle, saying something about remembering how he fought, and how far he came.

It was kind of silly, and sweet at the same time that he had gained so much confidence in his battle to prove that he was worthy.

“Got everything you need?” she asked. Hyun Sung looked away from taking pictures of certain couples and turned to her with a large grin on his face.

“Not yet, but I’m getting everything,” he said, and then leaned towards her, “Look, that’s Gwang Suk and Young Jun, the couple that Ji Yong and Seung Hyun will be facing,” he said, narrowing his eyes, “They are crazy strong, and the rumors about them are outrageous. I can’t begin to image what is fact, and what is fiction,” Hyun Sung turned to her. Hyuna looked at the couple and shrugged her shoulders.

“Are they really whom you should be worried about?” she asked. “After all, we are going to be facing up against them,” she boldly pointed her finger to Choi Minki and Kang Dong Ho.

“Don’t worry!” Hyun Sung confidently said, “We are no pushovers, I’m sure that we can beat them! We are trying to reach our goal where we face Ji Yong and Seung Hyun,” he said, a fire burning in his eyes. It was hard not to believe in his words.

She nodded her head, feeling pumped as he looked, “Yes! We will win over all of them, and prove that even an unmated couple can go far”

Hyun Sung blushed a little at the word couple, but happily nodded his head. He wanted to beat Ji Yong and Seung Hyun more now than ever- but he had found that his motives had changed. He was no longer looking to make Ji Yong his mate—more he was trying to prove that he was better, and that he deserved better.

His eyes turned to Hyuna and softly smiled as she smiled back at him. Yes, he did deserve better than Ji Yong.  If he proved that they were both strong together, he was sure that he could convince Hyuna to become his mate.

And he would do it by winning!