Sungmin almost slipped as he bent down to grab the water bottle on top of the marking his alpha had chalked on the floor, turning on his heels and pushing himself up at the same time. He sprinted towards the finishing line his alpha was waiting at, skidding to a stop with a few extra steps after the line.

Dropping himself on the ground, he looked up at his alpha, who was reading the stopwatch timing on the phone. “10.64 seconds. An improvement of 0.12 seconds.”

Sungmin frowned. “I can do better, Master.” He got up on his feet. “I will keep it under 10.5 this time.”

“No, this is enough for today.” His alpha caught his arm, lifting till the bottle was in front of his face. “Drink.”

Sungmin obeyed, uncapping the bottle as he watched his alpha fiddle with his phone. He had recovered enough to get out of bed during the night, and though there was no nightmare, Sungmin still found himself waddling sleepily to his alpha’s bedroom two hours into bedtime, settling outside his alpha’s door. He had somehow managed to climb back to his own bed during the night, before being woken up by the sound of his alpha searching through his wardrobe for the sports attire he was currently wearing – a pink polo t-shirt with white comfortable shorts. It was Sunday, and for the first time, his alpha was free to spend the entire day with him alone. But that didn’t mean that his alpha was going to let them spend it moping around the house.

A week living with his alpha and Sungmin knew his alpha liked being productive. That was why he was out exercising with his alpha in a nearby park, despite the fever that he had just recovered from the afternoon before. Sungmin liked exercising, though he preferred his martial arts practice to running. But he had nothing to complain about; at least his alpha didn’t ask him to shift into his wolf form, and especially when his alpha jogged beside him instead of in front of him for the 3km warm-up run they did.

“We’ll aim for 10.5 next Sunday,” His alpha said, referring to the shuttle run practice he just did. According to his alpha, agility was as important as stamina. Sungmin couldn’t refute it – he had always been criticized for being a little slow in his sparring practices.

“Yes, Master. Are we going to do this every Sunday?” Sungmin asked hopefully.

“As long as our morning is free,” His alpha picked up their towels slung over his alpha’s bottle, sliding his around his neck. Sungmin tensed up a little from the sudden action, but his alpha’s hand was gone as quickly as it came. “I used to do this every Sunday morning when I’m free.”  

Sungmin nodded, attempting to hide the smile that he couldn’t hold in. His alpha was letting him join in on routine activities his alpha used to do alone. “Are we going to do those too?” Sungmin pointed at the outdoor gym he had been eyeing since they started their shuttle run practice.

“Next Sunday, maybe.” His alpha started moving, and Sungmin followed. “Your body is still a little weak from that fever. Let’s go get brunch.”

Sungmin absently nodded as his eyes caught sight of a pair of alpha and omega racing in their wolf forms. He remembered the beautiful white coat of his alpha, and how soft his alpha’s fur felt under his fingers. His heart sank at the thought that he might never be able to that with his alpha ever – Kyuhyun might not keep him after he revealed himself. That thought kept him distracted for the whole of brunch.

~--~

Sungmin knocked twice on the door to his alpha’s study, hugging his books tighter.

“Come in,” His alpha’s voice came from behind the door.

Quietly, Sungmin turned the doorknob, peeping into the room first. “Master?”

It was the first time Sungmin entered his alpha’s study. Aside from his own bedroom, his alpha’s bedroom, the kitchen, the living room and the washrooms, he had yet to explore the other parts of the house, afraid that his alpha would lose his temper at him for doing so without permission.

The room looked like the typical study that Sungmin had seen on the rare times he watched a television drama on the only television in his orphanage. There were three bookshelves that covered the entire back wall, all filled with books that Sungmin reckoned was academic, having seen the economics book his alpha once left on the living room table and another book on ‘power’ his alpha read during one of the break times in school. Before the bookshelves sat a large wooden table, along with a smaller one, which his alpha was currently clearing the space for him.

Stepping into the room, Sungmin glanced at the couch on his right, closing the door behind him.

“Come here,” His alpha instructed, moving a pile of files to the bigger table.

Sungmin walked over, handing over his books when his alpha reached out for them. “Sit.”

Sungmin did as told; moving to the chair behind the small table as he observed his alpha pick up his calculus textbook from the pile his alpha had placed on the table. He bit on his lower lip nervously, wondering why his alpha had chosen calculus when he thought they were going to work on the assignment on bonding instead.

“There’s a history test next Wednesday,” His alpha said without looking up from the calculus textbook.

“Yes, Master.” Sungmin had started preparing for the test since Tuesday, although all that happened these few days messed up the preparations.

“Remember what I told you about test grades?”

Sungmin drew a sharp intake of breath as his alpha flipped to the lesson he had failed the impromptu quiz on. “I’m sorry about the calculus quiz, Master.”

He lowered his head quickly when his alpha’s eyes landed on him. “I’ll let that one slip. It was an unreasonable quiz with insufficient time given.” His alpha sat the book down in front of him. “But that doesn’t mean your performance within that short limited time was satisfactory.”

“Yes, Master, I’m sorry.”

His alpha grabbed a piece of paper from the stack of one-side used papers. Setting the clean side up, his alpha covered his answers for the self-practice questions. “Do you understand this lesson?”

Sungmin nodded without looking up.

“Redo all the self-practice questions.” His alpha took a pencil from the stationery holder, holding it out to him. “Ask if you have any questions.”

“Yes, Master.” Sungmin received the pencil, proceeding to complete his task as he fought to suppress the bad memories from the quiz.

~--~

Sungmin glanced at his alpha typing away on a laptop. “Master?”

“Yeah?” His alpha took a few seconds to tear his eyes away from the screen.

“I’ve finished the self-practice questions.”

Sungmin handed the few pieces of paper over. He watched as his alpha scanned through his answers, feeling nervous though he had already checked them against his previous answers on the textbook.

“No mistakes,” His alpha said, retrieving another piece of paper from the stack of paper holders on the desk. Closing and taking away his textbook, his alpha replaced it with the piece of paper. “Do this then, I’ll give you fifteen minutes. It should be more than enough.”

Without waiting for his answer, his alpha returned to the work on the laptop, leaving Sungmin staring at the piece of paper. His breathing started to speed up as he read the first question, finding it terribly familiar. Sungmin quickly flipped the paper with his trembling hand, scanning the third question that confirmed his deduction – It was the same quiz that caused him those hits on Thursday.

‘You’re such a disgrace to Cho Kyuhyun and—’

“Sungmin?” A warm hand caught his trembling hand holding the pencil and Sungmin looked up at his alpha with terrified eyes. “Is anything wrong?”

Sungmin darted his eyes away, shaking his head.

“It’s alright.” His alpha flipped the paper back to the front. “That person isn’t here.” His alpha positioned his fingers to hold the pencil properly, moving his hand to the blank space below the first question. “And this is not a quiz.”

His alpha released his hand, but Sungmin couldn’t find the energy to work his fingers or start solving the question. He stared blankly at the question, frozen in position.

“I take back the timing of fifteen minutes. You can take as long as you need,” His alpha said, but Sungmin still didn’t move.

“Sungmin,” His alpha suddenly switched to a commanding tone, snapping him out of his daze. He jerked his head up to look at his alpha. “Who should you listen to?”

“Master…” Sungmin lowered his gaze.

“What did I tell you about that absurd teacher?”

“Not to listen to his words,” Sungmin replied softly.

“So what are you afraid of? You might not even see him again.” His alpha grabbed his hand, closing it tightly around the pencil again. “This is an order. Finish the questions.”

“Yes, Master…” Sungmin tried to clear his mind, calming himself to read the first question. However, after thirty seconds, he realized he wasn’t registering at all the question staring at him. 

His alpha seemed to realize that he couldn’t concentrate, tapping on the first question. “What is it asking for?”

Sungmin stared hard at the question, unable to answer his alpha.

His alpha’s finger moved along the first line. “You’re supposed to find the limit when x approaches infinity, for…”  

Sungmin followed as his alpha guided him through the questions, finally releasing his tight grip around the pencil as he drew a double at the end of his answer to the third question. His alpha set the pencil aside, taking the paper away from his desk.

“You did well, Sungmin,” His alpha said, giving a light pat to his head.

Sungmin let out a breath of relief, feeling the happiness spread across his chest at the praise. However, guilt caught him immediately after for his weak performance in front of his