XII

“I just don’t want you to become like me, Baekhyunnie,” Jonghyun was saying, gesturing with the hand in which he was holding his drink and spilling some of it on the table. He was very drunk already.

“I won’t! Jjong, I won’t, really,” Baekhyun answered and sipped the last remains of his own glass. “He isn’t that bad-”

“That’s now, but-”

“Excuse me, sirs,” the waiter said, stopping in front of them holding a tray with two more of their drinks. “The ladies over there sent you these,” he signaled to another nearby table.

Jonghyun, looking suddenly a lot soberer, glanced in that direction. The two women sitting there waved at him with a smile, and he snorted. “Thanks, but we won’t accept them.”

“But sir, they’re already served-”

“Then throw them away,” Jonghyun replied flatly.

“Aw, why so cold?” Baekhyun looked up to see both women had come to their table. They were close enough for the omegas to realize they were alphas.

“We’re not interested,” he said, but they only smiled and sat down.

“Leave the glasses here, please,” one of them asked the waiter, who obeyed with a nod and left quickly.

Jonghyun glared. “Excuse me, but we didn’t ask for those, and we didn’t come here to talk to strangers.”

The girl beside Baekhyun stared at the brunet for a while as if she hadn’t heard Jonghyun at all. “You’re beautiful,” she said.

“And I’m also claimed,” Baekhyun replied. Usually alphas respected mated omegas, not for the omegas themselves, but because they were another alpha’s property.

“Well, your mate obviously doesn’t care very much about you, or you wouldn’t be here at this time, alone and drunk. So you might as well have some fun.”

Meanwhile, the other girl was trying to coax Jonghyun into dancing with her, while the omega scowled.

“Okay. We’re leaving,” Jonghyun said firmly and stood up, harshly pushing his chair back. Baekhyun did the same.

“Wow, can’t you take a compliment?”

“No,” the blonde answered and headed to the cashier to directly pay their check, Baekhyun following closely behind. “The night couldn’t be complete without idiots harassing us,” he sighed as he handed his credit card to pay.

“It hasn’t changed,” Baekhyun said with a sad smile.

“Nah, maybe when I’m fifty it might.”

“Or they might be like ‘you’re the most beautiful fifty year old I’ve ever seen.’”

Jonghyun chuckled. “Maybe... Baekhyun...” his eyes wandered towards some point behind his friend. “Isn’t that your alpha?”

“What?” Baekhyun turned around to see that indeed, his tall mate was inside the bar, looking around with a frown on his face. A waiter approached him, but Chanyeol ignored him completely until he locked his gaze with Baekhyun and strode in his direction.

“Baekhyun!” he exclaimed. “Do you know what time it is?!”

“What are you doing here?!” the omega replied.

“What do you think?! I came looking for you because you said you’d be home early and it’s almost THREE IN THE MORNING!” Chanyeol bellowed.

“You could have called!”

“You could have called!”

“Stop yelling!”

Chanyeol took a deep breath to try and calm himself down. “I was so worried,” he took his arm and gently pulled him closer to sniff him. “And you were drinking,” he sighed, his tone of disappointment making Baekhyun feel guilty. “Let’s go.”

The brunet stared at him for a moment. He didn’t like Chanyeol coming to pick him up with no heads up, but he had been the one to make promises in the first place.

“Right now, Baekhyun!” Chanyeol urged him as he saw his hesitation. Baekhyun nodded and let him lead him outside with a hand on the small of his back.

“We were just leaving anyway,” Jonghyun said, following them.

The alpha came to a halt when he heard his voice and turned around, like he had suddenly remembered the other was there. He looked at him with a slight scowl, noticing his flushed cheeks and the smell of alcohol.

“Are you drunk? Were you going to drive my mate home in this state?” he asked.

“I’m not drunk.”

“You’re not driving, Jonghyun. I’ll drive you home and you can come pick up your car tomorrow,” Chanyeol said firmly.

“I’m fine,” Jonghyun insisted.

“Jjong, let us drive you, I think you’ve drank too much,” Baekhyun tried.

“But I don’t want to come here tomorrow.”