XXVII

“Okay, for the fourth time I’m going to ask, who is leaving this stupid on my desk?” Jonghyun asked. He was standing on his desk, holding up a single rose wrapped in cellophane paper and a little bag of meat flavored cookies.

“Jonghyun, please don’t stand on the office's furniture,” Minseok said, coming out of the break room with a cup of coffee in his hands.

The blond omega grudgingly hopped off. “It’s been going on for two weeks now," he said to the supervisor seriously. "I told the human resources manager and he said it’s a harmless compliment. It’s not. I’m starting to feel harassed, and no one in this floor will tell me who it is.”

Minseok stared at him. “It’s just a flower and cookies.”

“I’m sorry, sir, but to me it’s more than that," Jonghyun stated respectfully. "It’s someone I don’t know observing me without my knowledge. This stranger might be harmless, but how can I be sure? How can I know it’s not a creep who’s going to follow me home and kidnap me? And then the news articles will say, ‘another omega living alone dead, that’s what he gets for not being cautious enough!’”

Minseok sighed. “Okay, I admit that hadn’t even crossed my mind. I’ll talk to security so they can check the cameras and find out who it is, for your peace of mind.”

Jonghyun’s mismatched eyes shone with gratitude. “Thank you, sir!”

“Should I tell him?” Luhan whispered to Sehun, coming into his cubicle stealthily, after hearing the entire conversation.

His husband lowered his headphones. “Huh?”

“Should I tell Jjong who’s leaving the gifts?”

Sehun frowned. “Don’t get involved, babe. Who knows how he’ll react when he realizes it’s an alpha. He’ll probably shift and rip your throat, that omega is possessed by something.”

Luhan giggled. “You’re right, it’s not my business." He rubbed Sehun's thigh playfully, and his husband's screen caught his attention. It looked like a memo.  “What's that?”

“It’s... Suho’s resignation letter.”

“Suho’s leaving?!!”

*

Chanyeol was in the kitchen, checking the fish in the oven and the zucchini he was steaming to make a puree for the baby. He closed the oven’s door and straightened up when he thought he heard something behind him.

“Da-dda!!”

Chanyeol almost had a heart attack when he turned around and found Hojun, crawling in his direction with a smile. Inside the kitchen. By himself. When he had been supposed to be safely in the playpen.

“HOJUN!” he roared, and picked up the baby immediately. “What the hell are you doing here?! How did you escape the playpen?! For God’s sake, where’s Baekhyun?!!”

Hojun looked at him with his little face contorted in fear, his big, round eyes wide, and started screaming.

Chanyeol realized then he had been yelling. “Oh, gosh, no! I’m so sorry. Junnie, I’m sorry, shhh.” He rocked the baby soothingly in his arms, but it was useless. The alpha took a deep breath and walked to the living room, where he found the playpen’s small door open. Had he forgotten to close it securely? Was it defective?

“WAAAAAAAAHHHH!!” Hojun cried, struggling in his arms.

He felt so guilty now. “Junnie, I didn’t mean to yell at you!” he said. He picked up the boy’s favorite plush, a green pony he called ‘gwrowy’. Baekhyun thought he was trying to say ‘froggy’, Chanyeol insisted the boy wasn't still developped enough to be naming animals, and that it was just a cute name Hojun invented, but Baekhyun had still sat down and tried to explain the pony wasn't a frog. It hadn't worked out. “See, here’s gwrowy, your favorite! Isn’t she? Don’t you want to play with her?”

Hojun calmed down a little, and yanked the plush away from Chanyeol’s hand, his cheeks red and stained with tears.

“Aw, yes, you do! If only daddy wasn’t such a , and papa hadn’t abandoned us!” he said in his bubbly baby-voice, and Hojun slowly started to smile. “Should we call him? Let’s call him!”

Chanyeol dialed Baekhyun’s number on his cellphone, which he carried around in the pocket of the sweatpants he was wearing. He sat down on a couch with Hojun on his lap, who was biting one of the pony’s ears hap