09 -

Miss Oh wasn’t a criminal mastermind, nor was she a wealthy woman with an army of underlings. She didn’t have “men” to order around to do her dirty work. She has a stable income thanks to her job as a highschool teacher and her dead husband’s pension helps a lot too, but that is all. She is but a mentally unstable old woman who thought she could get away with kidnapping the object of her obsessive affections and maybe throw in the murder of the man’s mate. However, she couldn’t.

Keeping him captive in the last place he had been seen, meaning, the first place the authorities would check, was her first bad idea. The second was using her real name when she solicited the service. Her third mistake was not only keeping her victims phone on – which made it traceable – but actually using it to text someone and bluntly hinting at her crime.

And while Oh Mirae is a complete nobody, Kim Heechul sure is not. One of the most well known businessman in the country, if the big guy goes to the police and says “My nephew has been taken”, expect the FBI knocking down your door within the next five minutes.

Kim Jongin’s rescue was a smooth one, it was easy to reduce the woman and a bag of serum later Jongin was back on his feet, only slightly weakened by the tranquilizer she had given him, but otherwise completely fine.

What wasn’t so easy to handle was the public backlash once the news hit media. The company lost some standing when people were finally confronted with the fact that these men put themselves in danger of kidnapping and maybe even murder with every client they serve regardless of how many precautions the company takes.

But that’s Heechul’s problem.

As far as Kim Jongin cares, he’s no longer part of that world; he’s a dance instructor for the trainee’s in Maroon entertainment, not too big of a company but pays well enough. He lives in a smaller apartment than he did before, but it’s a comfortable life doing what he loves, even though he can’t have the one he loves by his side.

Kyungsoo still has two more years of college before he graduates, and meanwhile he lives in the dorms with his best friend Baekhyun, who’s still dating Chanyeol, not like anyone cares. More importantly…

The nupcial march plays in the organ loudly, which isn’t really an organ but a recording of one playing through the speakers, since it isn’t really a chapel but the small “spring” event ballroom in Cendrillon hotel. Wolves aren’t catholic, but the wedding looks as such for the beauty of its protocol, not the actual significance of the ceremony. All that actually means something is the document they’ll sign, the rings on their fingers, the loved ones who support them and the life they’ll live together afterwards.

Kyungsoo’s stepfather is a wealthy man not afraid to show it where it really counts, and as he paces the way to the aisle he can’t help but awe at the beauty of the decoration: Shiny beads and various flowers in so many shades of pink and white he doesn’t know the name of surround the spring themed room.

To his right there’s the groom’s guests: Mostly male, older than him and all elegantly dressed in suites that he knows they go to work on, it happens when you marry a former assistant.

And to his left, the bride’s friends and family. His mother is there, looking at him with a big smile, Baekhyun and Chanyeol are there too.

Kyungsoo reaches the altar and bows to the woman who had been walking on his arm, his sister’s best friend, the bride’s maid. He stands to the right and she to the left facing the entrance when the double doors open again to reveal the groom.

Kyungsoo hides a giggle behind his palm because he knows that tux, he has ed him in that tux, minus the bowtie.

When his sister Sori and Yifan began to date each other, he felt weird with it, since the both of them met when she hired him to him and that’s everything but an ideal situation, but somehow - don’t ask him how - love bloomed between them without him knowing.

And now in comes the bride, gorgeous in her champagne color dress, it’s so simple in style yet she looks like such a princess wearing it, like the humble cinderella entering the prince’s ball.

And he looks at the prince, handsome as he always has been, his clothes he has seen before and the hair is what it always is, but the smile, that smile of pure happiness is what really makes him the most handsome man in the room as he stares at his love with hardly contained tears.

Her father escorts her with a smile just as big, wishing her happiness despite her maybe odd choice of life partner.

As the judge says his dues, Kyungsoo contemplates about his own future. As it turned out, Yifan is also a business major and his stepfather decided to let him run his business now that he is part of the family. Kyungsoo doesn’t mind, the weight of that responsibility luckily off his own shoulders, now free to switch majors to something he really likes.

And he thinks of Jongin; his mate, the love of his life. He remembers the hole inside his chest when he almost lost him, when he thought he had lost him. The memory puts a frown on his face that he is quick to correct, not wanting anyone to misread the expression as his disapproval of the couple. He shifts his gaze to the guests on the bride’s side to find Jongin. “You’re getting this invite because you’re mated to the brother of the bride, not because you’re my friend, you’re sitting on her side” is what Kris had told him when he invited him to the wedding.

He sees a look of confusion on his face and understands that the other had caught him frowning a second ago, so he smiled to reassure him and turned his attention back to the ceremony.

It was a lovely wedding with crying mothers and proud bros clapping loudly before it was time to walk to the next room over, the medium spring ballroom where the reception would be held. His eyes were assaulted by an ostentatiously decorated room in all pink, white, cream and gold and his ears picked up a softly playing tune he couldn’t name, drowned by the chattering of the guests as they complemented the decor.

Protocol done with, it was time to mingle among the invitees, which he set to do, using the opportunity to meet Yifan’s former workmates who he knew to be Jongin’s friends as well, yet the alpha had never wanted to introduce them and he could kind of guess why when a possessive arm wrapped around his waist and the pure scent of “Mine” filled his nostrils when he was in the middle of introducing himself to no other than the famous Xiumin.

“Anything wrong?” Xiumin asked, teasingly.

“Not particularly, but you have somewhere to be, remember?” Jongin asked, and for a moment he tried to remember if there was something else he had to be doing at that moment but couldn’t recall anything.

“Where?” he asked curiously.

“Away from him” Kai replied, shooting a smirk to the alpha who snorted at his childish jealousy and walked away to avoid any confrontation.

“That was rude!” Kyungsoo chastised with a light slap on his chest, which he rubbed theatrically pretending to be hurt, the omega rolled his eyes at his childish antics.

“These are all heat assistants, escorts, professionals, masters of seduction. Excuse me for not wanting you around them” he defended.

“No one’s going to try anything with me, they know I’m your mate” Kyungsoo said matter-of-factly.

“Are you though? ‘Cause I think your mark’s fading, let me refresh it” he said with a smirk before dipping down to bury his face in the shorter’s neck, covering the pale skin in playful bites and butterfly kisses that tickle the other, making him giggle “I sure won’t be inviting any assistant to our wedding” he said jokingly after he straightened back up, still holding his small lover by the waist, faces intimately close as they smile to each other.

“I hope you would have gotten over your silly jealousy by then” Kyungsoo says.

“By then? You say it as if it’s far into the future” he questions with a raised brow.

“I’d assume it is” the other answers in a questioning tone. Jongin smiled knowingly, a hand dropping from his perch above the omega’s perky to the front pocket on his dress pants. He thumbs the small velvet box pensively, smiling wider.

“The future is unknown, mate”