The sky was so pretty. White cotton fluffs floating about reminding him of that one time he had tried cotton candy at a fair. The faint rustle of the grass had always been soothing to his ears. If only the buzzing would stop. He caught himself just in time before he took a deep breath to sigh. If he did, he would have to smell the blood. He didn’t want to think about it. In a few more minutes it will all be over and until then, he just wanted to stare at the cotton clouds. But his mind wouldn’t stop. Even with half his face gone, his mind wouldn’t stop hoping. “Still a few more minutes, but what if…”

“Papa, papa, look what I found.”

“Hum, a stone eh?”

“Not just a stone papa, I found it in the river bed and it’s so smooth, doesn’t it means it had travelled all the way from a far off place? Somewhere we have never been?”

His father stared at him for second but then shook his head and laughed. “Yeah, interesting thought, but now let’s go back home to your mother and brother.”

“Stop being such a girl. You can’t save every cat and every bird you find.”

“But it’s hurt…”

“So will you be if you don’t follow me right now.”

“My son is gone and I am old. What are we going to do?”

“Papa, I will take care of you and mother papa. I will do what brother would have done for you.”

“If you shut up and marry like I ask you to, that would be enough.”

“Don’t be fooled by the pretty face. Underneath that is just hard stone.”

“If you mean his pride, isn’t it understandable. After all, he had travelled so much, earned his wealth and place in our pack.”

“Yeah? All for what? He is 25 and unmated.”

Twenty five and unmated, but life had not been bad at all. He thought of his parents living a life they had only dreamed of. He thought of his brother’s children, playing with their grandparents. He thought of the moment the council awarded him his diploma in medicine, the first omega to ever do so. He thought of his friends who stood by him no matter what the world had to say. He smiled to himself. “Not bad Jun, two out of three is not bad at all.”

He was distracted but several footfalls near him but he couldn’t turn his head. If he did, the tenacious nerves that were holding on at his neck would snap and he would be dead before he knew it.

The voices above him were speaking but Joonmyun didn’t care. His vision was blurring and he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, a dark face with infinite kindness swam in front of him. An insane thought struck him. Without thinking much about it he whispered.

“Can you say you love me?”

The face looked startled and for some reason guilty.

Joonmyun realized how stupid his request was. He just smiled at his own stupidity.

“Sorry, I just wanted to know what it feels like to hear…”

He faded off into oblivion with one wish still unfulfilled but strangely happy for he had tried.