A/N: I keep forgetting this... If you all are interested in some Claimed Hyukhae drabbles (and perhaps other Claimed pairings in the future too), please read Seeking Equilibrium!

Happy birthday in advance, Choco. :3 Hope your work pile gets cleared up soon~

The lady dressed in a black dress tapped the bandage over his right arm, which the nurse had stopped his bleeding and reinserted the IV needle after some chiding. “I would have helped you heal this, but well, you know how it can be a little troublesome to shift.”

Sungmin shifted in bed, looking towards the lady. “Are you… related to K-Kyu—”

“He won’t acknowledge me as his mother, not that I can blame him,” the lady smiled bitterly. “My name is Suljin. I gave birth to Kyuhyun, and yes, I’m a black omega. The reason why Kyuhyun… hates them.”

Sungmin cringed, wringing his fingers underneath the blanket as the truth behind the alpha’s dislike of black omegas was being revealed to him. Kyuhyun’s mother, the one whom Jinhee said had left, was a black omega. He fidgeted awkwardly, waiting for the lady to continue talking, but it seemed the lady was waiting for him to respond instead. “Does he know?” He asked, not knowing what he should start with from the extensive list of questions swimming in his head.

“That I’m back?” Suljin clarified, continuing after his nod. “No, I asked Leeteuk to keep it a secret. Honestly, I only approached Leeteuk to make sure Kyuhyun was doing fine. I wasn’t going to appear in front of him or you, but…” Suljin gave him a tight-lipped smile. “I heard about your situation.”

“Why did you leave?” Sungmin asked, more eager to find out some answers for the alpha than why the omega was paying him a visit. He was curious why the alpha seemed to hate Suljin, though the omega seemed like a nice lady who appeared to love Kyuhyun a lot.

“Kyuhyun believes I left… to be free,” Suljin paused, finding it hard to recount her son’s accusations.

“Did you?”

“You believed I did too?” Suljin questioned, though there was no accusation in her tone.

Sungmin shook his head. “He never told me a single thing about you. I cannot make any conclusions without knowing anything.”

Suljin smiled. “I didn’t. Kyuhyun’s father…” Tears reflected the light in her eyes, the amount of affection in them undeniable. “We were having a hard time when he was one of the main supporters for the popular presidential candidate for the Council then. There were attacks, physical and verbal, and family was always a weak point.”

Sungmin nodded, understanding how wolves always targeted mates and family members to weaken an opponent. It was why he got into so much trouble by Kyuhyun’s side too.

“And being a black omega… I became an even weaker point for them to attack verbally and it caused my husband’s team to lose support.”

“Everyone knew?” Sungmin interrupted in surprise.

“We never bothered to really hide it. Taehyun was never ashamed of me or minded my background,” Suljin said, the appreciation in her tone making Sungmin envious. “But one day, they got to Kyuhyun after school. He was only nine, and he was dying in my a-arms. I c-couldn’t… w-we couldn’t… I had to save him…”

The tears rolling off the lady’s face pulled at Sungmin’s heartstrings.

“I couldn’t stay after that,” Suljin took a deep breath, wiping her tears away calmly. “I was late in fetching him that day. If I were on time, he wouldn’t have… And there were further threats… I refused to be a burden for them anymore, so I left, leaving a letter for Taehyun to ask him not to look for me and to take good care of Kyuhyun.”

Sungmin reached out uncertainly, gently holding Suljin’s hand to provide comfort. The lady had given her everything to her husband and child, yet the child wrongfully blamed her for everything. It must have been heartbreaking for her to leave, but she still found the courage to endure everything… “W-Where did you go?”

Suljin’s expression hardened at the question. “It’s nothing glamorous, boy. I ended up where black omegas usually did.”

Sungmin paled at the revelation, tightening his hold on the lady’s fingers. A e house. His eyes travelled to the left wrist of the omega, studying the watch secured tightly around the fair skin. “Can I?” He asked uncertainly, afraid that he would have insulted the omega.

However, Suljin smiled, undoing the buckle and removing the watch to reveal the mark of bonding on her inner wrist. It was supposed to be the same as the one on Sungmin’s wrist before it disappeared, but what was marking Suljin’s wrist was like an extensive abrasion made up of repeated horizontal upon close observation. “My boss wouldn’t let me out of my workplace free,” Suljin explained, but Sungmin couldn’t take his eyes off the mark at all. He could faintly make out the original two crosses overtaken by the numerous that indicated the number of times of bond-breaking, though he pondered whether it was his own imagination the next moment. There were just too many ; too many jobs—heartbreaks Suljin went through.

“Does… Does it hurt?” He muttered, wanting but not daring to touch the mark.

“They are not what hurt the most,” the omega’s puzzling reply prompted Sungmin to lift his gaze to the omega’s face. Suljin bowed her head shamefully, looking like an omega for the first time. “When he died, I was… I couldn’t even attend my alpha’s funeral because I w-was…”
 

“It’s not your fault,” Sungmin said, quickly saving Suljin from saying those harsh words. He retrieved the watch from Suljin’s right hand, carefully securing it back in place to hide the mark.

Suljin released an unsteady breath after seconds of calming herself down. “I’m fine… That was all in the past. I became sort of a manager recently, so I have more freedom… That’s why I could come to check on Kyuhyun.”

“You should explain to him…” Sungmin muttered softly.

“He knows, Sungmin-ssi. Leeteuk said they always told him so. He just… needs someone to blame… And I’ll be that person. It’s the least I can do for him. I’m the one who left after all,” Suljin said, rubbing circles into Sungmin’s hand with her thumb. “But I’m not here to talk about myself. I’m here to talk about you and Kyuhyun.”

Sungmin looked away upon the change in topic. “There’s nothing to talk about. He won’t want me anymore.”

“Because he didn’t agree immediately to keep you?” Sungmin froze at those words. “I wasn’t too far away… And I’m sure I heard him asking you to give him time.”

“I…” Sungmin swallowed despite the dryness in his mouth. Suljin was right; now that he had calmed down and thought about it, the alpha had asked for time.

“If he didn’t want you at all, he wouldn’t even ask for time. Kyuhyun has always been a little slow and unskilled with relationships… he takes after his father a lot. They don’t show their emotions much, so it’s up to us to observe and understand. Would you give him the time he needs?”

“But… But I’m a black omega…”

Suljin sighed, gently caressing his cheek. “Have you heard the legend on the origin of black omegas, child?”

Sungmin looked up at Suljin curiously. He had done a lot of research on black omega on his own when he was old enough to understood his situation, but he had never came across a legend on the origin. In fact, what was in the records was that black omegas came about because of a defective gene.

“It’s a story we black omegas pass down to the younger ones. If you haven’t met a black omega before this, it wouldn’t be surprising that you’ve never heard of it,” Suljin explained, suddenly sounding like a parent to Sungmin. “Do you want to hear it?”

Sungmin nodded, wanting more than ever to know why such a curse existed.

The omega smiled, straightening herself as she cleared . “A very long time ago, there was one particular female omega who loved her alpha dearly. When her alpha contracted a terminal disease, she was devastated and went around begging and looking for healers to save him. One day, she met a witch who offered to help.”

Suljin paused, establishing eye contact with him for a brief moment. “The witch would bless her with healing powers on one condition – she could only use those powers to keep her alpha in good health. It can never be used on anyone else, not even herself, or she would die. It was her only chance, so she agreed, healing her alpha back to full health without knowing the true price she paid.”

“For two years, the two wolves lived happily, and the omega even gave birth to an omega pup. But soon after the pup was born, the witch returned as a beautiful beta and bewitched the alpha. It was an experiment of some sort; the witch was curious as to how much the alpha loved the omega in return. Unfortunately, the alpha couldn’t withstand his lust for the bogus beta and started neglecting his mate, even mistreating the omega. But the omega loved him too much and couldn’t bear leaving, so she stayed, feeling like she was the third party in the relationship when the witch was the home wrecker that intruded into their lives.”

“The final test came when the witch staged an accident that left her on the brink of death. The alpha asked the omega to heal the witch, despite knowing that she would die from using her powers on another. Heartbroken, the omega wanted to refuse the request… but when she saw the alpha whispering and comforting the beta in pain, she gave in, giving her alpha the last promise.”

“When she finished healing the beta, the witch immediately transformed back to her true self, revealing herself. The witch didn’t want the omega dead for breaking the agreement, but the alpha dead for two reasons. One, the alpha was an unfaithful jerk and two, it would hurt the omega more if the alpha died. However, with the omega instincts, the omega took the hit, saving her alpha once again. She died in the arms of her alpha, who finally regretted everything he did.”

“The witch escaped when the villagers rushed over, but enraged that her plans were spoilt by the omega, cursed the omega’s baby to have black fur so that people would despise him, and for her to easily track him down when he grew up. One of the villagers overheard the curse when the witch sneaked into the omega’s house, telling the rest about it. To honor the omega’s courage, love and loyalty towards her alpha, the villagers decided to work together to protect the pup. As such, the pup lived safely in the following years and eventually produced descendants, passing down the healing powers from the omega. And years and years after, with the dilution of genes, it became hard to predict whether one would give birth to a black omega anymore. The healing powers also morphed in such a way that a black omega could only heal their bonded alphas unless they were free.”

Sungmin remained silent as Suljin ended her story, awed by what their ancestor had done. The omega was so selfless that she stayed and protected the alpha to the end. On the other hand, he had wanted to leave the alpha – was it perhaps just him being selfish and trying to protect himself from further harm?

“Do you know why we can only heal our bonded alphas, Sungmin-ssi?”

Sungmin’s eyes darted to Suljin, blinking at the unexpected question. “Why?”

“Because we, black omegas, are the most loyal protectors of our alphas. We dedicate our lives, our everything to that one alpha of ours who owns our hearts.” Suljin ran her fingers down his hair, the action reminding him of his alpha, the one he had given his heart to. “That’s why, child, you should be proud of being a black omega.”

There was a familiar twitching in his nose, and tears began to blur his sight.

“Even if society condemns our black fur, dictate our worthlessness and abuse our powers, as long as we know who we are and who we live and fight for, we should never be ashamed.”

Suljin lightly brushed his tears away, giving a light kiss to the back of his hand. “Being a black omega doesn’t make me or you or any other less, instead, it makes us more. Our healing powers keep the hearts of our loved ones beating.”

“And I’m so proud of you for having the courage to break the bond in order to save Ryeowook-ssi,” Suljin beamed, the proud smile reflecting her words causing a sob to escape Sungmin. Even if he had been praised before by the director and others, he had never felt a praise and pride for him so strong it was as though it was from his biological mother. “Taehyun was proud of me as a black omega and one day, Kyuhyun would see your merits and be proud of you too.”

“Till then, my dear, will you hold on to your love and wait for him?”

Sungmin couldn’t answer; he cried, seeking the familiar warmth he always found in his alpha’s embrace in Suljin’s hug.

He didn’t find it.

Instead, he found the warmth from a mother and a fellow black omega.

~--~

“Min—”

“Please, just five minutes…” Sungmin shrugged his hand out of his best friend’s hold carefully. “Let me have the silence for five minutes.”

“But Min, you seriously—”

“Hae,” Hyukjae called in a stern tone, and the omega obediently shut his mouth. “Should we just leave the room then, Sungmin?”

“It’s okay… Just… keep quiet, okay?” Sungmin dragged his hand across his forehead, momentarily distracted by the throbbing of the wound on his arm.

Regulating his own breathing, he closed his eyes, attempting to let his thoughts settle. When he had woken up in the morning, the residual effects of the bond breaking had overwhelmed him, throwing him into a frenzy of panic that resulted in him begging for the alpha to let him stay. After talking to Suljin and calming down, the absurdity of his actions began to sink in.

What was he doing?

One moment he was trying so hard to rebel and create the distance between him and the alpha, and the next moment, he was begging to stay by the alpha’s side.

But was that not what he wanted? No matter his plans, he knew he had always wanted to stay by the alpha; he knew he did beg when the alpha was going to break the bond. The only reason why the begging was delayed till after the bond was broken was because he felt compelled to save Ryeowook that protected his life. It was the responsibility of Ryeowook’s life being in his hands that surpassed the desire of wanting to keep the bond then.

With the responsibility dissolved, the desire had surfaced again. But if he stuck to his stand of wanting to stay, what had all his rebelling efforts been for?

Sungmin traced the collar around his neck, recalling the original cause of the trouble. Everything started with the engraving on the collar, but looking back on reflection, he would have taken the same path regardless of whether he had found the engraving. The engraving was a mere trigger to his plans and feelings.

He had wanted to leave because he thought it was the best way of protecting the alpha – no, because he wanted to protect himself. He didn’t want to be abandoned, he didn’t want to be unloved; it had all along been for h