Hyacinth – letting go

                Heeyeon was deep in her thoughts while wiping the beverages’ glasses on the shelves. She had went to her job at the bar tonight although her mind kept playing the story Yongguk told her the other day.

                Is she angry at Yongguk? She had thought about it over and over again and realized, she is actually not. Yongguk must have loved his brother as much as she does, must be in as much pain as she does when he lost him.

                It was the Massifs who infuriated her. They were the ones who killed her mate. They killed the father of her son. Her heart was filled with so much anger and sadness, that she was already on the brink of tears.

                But all of those were quickly forgotten with a whiff of weredragons’ scent. It gave her a feeling of déjà vu as the same thing happened when she first met with Yongguk. The only difference is that Yongguk’s scent make her run to him since it is almost similar to Yongnam’s, but these ones make her feet rooted to the ground.

                Her head whipped towards the door when it was pushed open. A group of men, who looked very much like thugs, made their way in. Their sharp eyes were already locked on her, causing her heart to beat faster. They were definitely the rogues.

                Some of them went to sit right in front of her at the bar counter, which was coincidentally vacant right now, and the rest just stood behind. None of them uttered a word, only stared at her before finally, the man directly facing her, smirked.

                “Are you new here?” he asked. “I’ve never seen you before.”

                Heeyeon blinked her eyes a couple of times. She averted her gaze from him to put away the glass in her hand before taking another one. They might be the ones who killed her mate and they were right under her nose now. But she was not someone to let the overwhelming feelings take over her mind. Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she began to wipe the glass.

                “I am,” she answered curtly.

                 “And your kid?”

                Heeyeon visibly tensed. Every part of her body stiffened from the chills.

                “Don’t you have one? Where is he now?”

                The low amiable voice just screamed evil to her. She didn’t know how they found out about her son. She could only hope they don’t find out where he is too at the moment. Her eyes flicked at her phone placed under the counter table, fighting the urge to call the nanny and make sure everything is okay.

                “May I take your order?”

                Heeyeon turned to her coworker who was serving some of the rogues. The said woman than moved closer before not so subtly whispering to her. “You forgot how to do your job?”

                Heeyeon put everything down right away, but when she was about to help the other bartender, the same man spoke up again.

                “I wonder why you have a kid when you still haven’t mated.”

                Heeyeon’s eyes widened, not expecting that. She looked at her coworker again and thank goodness she got far enough not to hear anything.

                She turned back to the man, glaring at him. “Who the hell are you?”

                The man shrugged his shoulders. “I’m very close to the Empyreans.” He deeply chuckled before adding, “And you must be Yongguk’s other mate.”

                Heeyeon’s breath hitched as chills spread throughout her body.

                “There are a lot of spectators here,” he said after his drink was served. Taking the glass, he stood up. “You’re lucky tonight.” He smirked before leaving to a vacant table, followed by the others.

                “I don’t want to go to work…” Yongguk whined like a child into Daehyun’s belly as he hugged the younger man tightly.

                They had woken up early as usual, washed themselves and had breakfast. But Yongguk continued to wallow in the thoughts of Heeyeon and Yohan.

                Daehyun was just sitting on the bed after both of them went upstairs to Yongguk’s room, waiting for the young alpha to get changed when suddenly the said man plopped down near him before squeezing his waist.

                “But hyung, it has been a couple of days,” Daehyun said while combing Yongguk’s hair with his fingers. “Himchan hyung would come here and drag you to work himself if you don’t show up again.”

                Yongguk detached his face from Daehyun’s tummy to look up at him. “How could I go to work when I can’t stop thinking about Yohan and his mom?”

                “She told you to give her some time, didn’t she? We’ll just have to wait,” Daehyun spoke softly.

                “For how long?”

                “As long as she needs. It must be hard for her.”

                Yongguk groaned as he turned to lie on his back, his head pillowed on Daehyun’s thigh. “I miss Yohan already…”

                Daehyun’s hand had moved to Yongguk’s face. “I miss him too… Let’s hope we’ll see him soon,” he said while caressing Yongguk’s cheek. But then it changed into light pats. “Now, hurry and change. You will go to work today,” he strictly ordered.

                Yongguk finally pushed himself up with a loud grunt. “Alright…”

                After much stalling and a few more attempts to soften Daehyun’s heart and change his mind, they reached the front door at last.

                “You sure you don’t want to come along?” Yongguk tried asking again for one last time after previous failures, his hands loosely holding Daehyun’s.

                Daehyun snorted. “Pretty sure, because you’d stuck to me like a koala bear instead of getting any job done.”

                “Right…” Yongguk sighed. His mate couldn’t be more accurate. “I’ll get going now.” He released Daehyun’s hands to cup the latter’s cheeks before kissing those pink lips.

                Daehyun smiled after they were done. “Alright, drive safe.”

                “Bye, love ya,” Yongguk said as he stepped out of the house.

                Daehyun too took a step forward and found the door. “Love you too,” he replied and waited there, listening to Yongguk’s leaving footsteps. “I’ll call Himchan hyung to check on you!”

                The footsteps halted. Yongguk turned around to scoff at his mate. “Seriously?!”

                “I wouldn’t know if you really did go to work!” Daehyun laughed before quickly shutting the door.

                Jongup couldn’t bring himself to move forward right after he reached the kitchen. If Youngjae had not turned around and saw him, he would still be contemplating on what he should say to start a conversation. At least Youngjae was being honest with him because it would be a lie for a weredragon not to notice his presence there.

                “Hey,” Youngjae greeted, stirring his cup of coffee while leaning his back against the counter.

                “Hey, morning.” Jongup slowly went to the fridge across the said man to take out some juice.

                “Morning.” Youngjae nodded. “You got class?”

                “Yup,” Jongup answered as he poured the juice into a glass. “You going to work?”

                “Yeah, just waiting for Sungjoon to get ready,” Youngjae replied before sipping on his coffee.

                Jongup bobbed his head as silence pursued. He took a gulp of his drink, looking down at the juice box he had put on the counter.

                “Had any breakfast?” he asked after a moment, glancing sideways to the other man.

                “Yeah…” Youngjae took a glimpse at the small dining table where someone from the clan had prepared the breakfast and left for the other members to eat. Then his head swiveled towards the human.

                Jongup raised his eyebrows at the man in a split second with hesitant smile. But Youngjae wouldn’t stop staring at him. He didn’t know why but he couldn’t keep the eye contact for long. So he looked away before gulping down large draughts of the juice.

                “You know, I was thinking of moving out,” Youngjae blurted out.

                Jongup spat out a little. “Wh- What…?” he asked while still grimacing and wiping his mouth.

                “I want to move out.”

                Jongup stared at Youngjae with furrowed eyebrows, his jaw was left hanging for a moment at the surprising news. “But… Why?”

                Youngjae drew a deep breath and exhaled. “It’s just… there are so many memories of Dabin hyung in here.” He pressed his lips together into a thin smile, shrugging his shoulders as he looked at Jongup. “And I want to move on. I really do.” He nodded, eyes full of resolve. “I just thought it’d be easier if I move out of here first,” he explained before gazing down to his cup again. “I want to start by thinking less of him.”

                Jongup sighed. None of what Youngjae said made him happy or anything. He just wanted the best for him and didn’t want him to regret his decision later. “The clan, will they let you?” he asked.

                “I’m sure they will,” Youngjae said, meeting Jongup’s eyes again. “I’m just moving out of the house, not the clan. Himchan hyung did it, Sooyoung noona did it,” he justified.

                It would be nothing strange if the clan allowed Youngjae to move out, Jongup thought. But now he started to think, should he do the same? It’s just funny how he had been thinking about doing same thing since a couple of days ago.

                Someone appeared at the kitchen entrance. It was Sungjoon, who seemed like he had finished getting ready. “Sorry, did you wait long?”

                Yongguk was looking at the pictures on the table with his chin propped up in the palm. His other hand was holding a pen though, just to make him look less like a slacker.

                “Very handsome. Really pretty. So cute,” he would say repeatedly.

                The pictures were of Daehyun, in which the frames were neatly lined on the table. His laptop was , only for his eyes to be dreamily gazing at the love of his life, whose pictures were actually taken with consent.

                Just then, he smelled Himchan’s scent nearing before his black tinted glass door was knocked. He could see from inside that the man was talking on the phone and lazily pressed the button under the table to let him in.

                “Yeah, he’s here in the office,” Himchan said to the person on the other end of the line as he stepped inside.

                Yongguk quickly sat up in his swivel chair. He had an idea who the caller might be, but he just had to ask Himchan through the link. “Is it Daehyun?”

                Himchan reached Yongguk’s table and gave the manager a side eye because who else could it be?

                “Uh-huh, very very busy,” he answered sarcastically. “What? How can you believe me?” he looked at Yongguk, who raised his brows at him. “Do you want to talk to him?”

                Himchan then held out the phone to Yongguk. With the widest grin on his face, Yongguk gladly took it.

                “Hey, you really called!” he remarked in disbelief.

                Himchan rolled his eyes at how Yongguk’s face brightened up and the way Yongguk’s tone changed to sickeningly sweet and soft that made him feel like giving a smack at the back of Yongguk’s head.

                “Wait, Daehyun, can I turn this to a video call?” Yongguk asked.

                “What? Why?” Daehyun questioned back.

                “Because I want to see you?”

                Daehyun snorted. “You saw me this morning.”

                “I want to see you now,” Yongguk said and before Daehyun could retort, he cut him off. “I’m turning on the video call.”

                He brought the phone to the front and wait for his mate to accept it. Seconds later, a part of Daehyun’s face appeared on the screen. Yongguk’s eyes sparkled. Literally sparkled. Himchan sighed. He pulled out a chair and took a seat, knowing he wouldn’t get his phone back anytime soon.

                Yongguk laughed when Daehyun’s face was too close that only his nose was mostly seen. “Daehyun, hold the phone further from your face.”

                Daehyun did as he was told. “Like this?”

                “Yeah," Yongguk approved as he even got to the the headboard of Daehyun's bed behind the said man. "But tilt your phone down a bit.”

                Daehyun slowly start to find the best angle until Yongguk told him to stop. “That’s it! That’s perfect! It’s a really good shot of your face.”

                “Really? Is this really okay?” Daehyun asked hesitantly.

                Yongguk suddenly felt a pang of sadness. His mate tried his best to fulfill his wish even if he would be the only one benefited from it. Daehyun’s gaze was a lot lower than it should be. But Yongguk held onto his belief of their future, when they will be talking while looking into each other’s eyes and making each other smile because of that.

                “I told you, it is perfect,” he assured his mate.

                Daehyun finally smiled. “Do you want to see me that much?”

                “I miss you,” Yongguk confessed, propping his chin in the palm again.

                Himchan had to stifle his laugh looking at the lovesick manager. The fact that Yongguk kept holding up the phone to his face as if Daehyun could also see him made it even funnier.

                “I still can’t believe you really called Himchan. Do you really have so little trust in me?” Yongguk pretended to be hurt.

                Daehyun found it cute and chuckled. “Because I’ve known you so well by now,” he replied.

                The two lovebirds kept talking and talking to the point of a very annoyed Himchan. He swore if they don’t end it in two minutes, he would snatch his phone and end it himself.

                Thankfully, they hung up before it could happen. The phone was finally returned to its owner.

                “Next time, use your own much more expensive phone,” Himchan remarked.

                Yongguk only let out a satisfied sigh in response. The grin was still plastered on his face. He took his supposedly expensive phone to scroll through the pictures. “I wonder which photo of him I should frame next.”

                Himchan scoffed. “You should just turn this office into Daehyun’s gallery or something.”

                That statement caused Yongguk’s jaw to drop. He plopped back against the back of his chair as he was hit by a sudden realization. “Why didn’t I think of that before?”

                Himchan facepalmed. But seconds later, he looked up at Yongguk again, only to see the man was already staring at him with wide eyes. They recognized the scent. It was Heeyeon’s.

                Despite that, there was nothing they could do about it. They didn’t even know why Heeyeon was around the area with her son anyway. So they just waited, expecting for her scent to fade away. But instead, it was only getting stronger, until Youngjae announced through the link, “Heeyeon-ssi is here.”

                Moving in a haste, Yongguk and Himchan got up and went out of the office. They walked with fast steps towards the elevator while maintaining a calm expression, telling the other clan members to remain at their spots. When the door opened with a ding, they were already standing in front of there, coming face to face with Heeyeon and Yohan.

                Heeyeon smiled at both of them. She led Yohan, who was holding onto her hand, out of the elevator.

                “Yohan!” Yongguk was so happy to see his nephew that he straightaway crouched down to take the boy into his arms.

                “Gukkie Papa!” Yohan giggled and wrapped his short arms around Yongguk’s neck.

                Yongguk chuckled, squeezing the cuteness out of the tiny body. And also because he had missed the boy so much. Yohan too didn’t seem like he wanted to let go, so Yongguk just picked the boy up and stood back on his feet.

                “Hi,” Heeyeon said with a thin smile.

                “Hi,” Yongguk said back. He looked at Himchan beside him for a second before asking the woman, “What brings you here?”

                Heeyeon’s face turned grave. “I need to talk to you.”

                That led to Yongguk leaving Yohan with the other clan members before going into his office again with Himchan and Heeyeon. He was about to offer a seat to Heeyeon, but as soon as the door was closed, she spoke up.

                “The Massif clan,” Heeyeon began and both heads already turned to her with full attention. She took a deep breath and released it in a long sigh. “Is the leader the one with dreadlocks? That smells like ?”

                Yongguk glanced at Himchan, who wore the same curious expression as him. “Yeah, why?” he asked her back.

                “How did he know about me?”

                Both Yongguk and Himchan were surprised to hear that. “Know about what?” the latter urged.

                Heeyeon took a step back to lean her back against the door and folded her arms across her chest. “That I’m a new lone dragon in this town, that I haven’t mated and yet, I have a kid,” she said with voice full of frustration.

                “Wait, wait, wait.” Himchan held up his palm at her. “You met him?” he asked in disbelief.

                Heeyeon nodded. “Last night. At the bar I’m working at.”

                “What?!” Himchan was baffled.

                “Did he do anything to you?” Yongguk was more concerned about Heeyeon’s well-being.

                “No, there’s a lot of people,” she said, still feeling very relief about that.

                It put Yongguk at ease to hear that. A frown etched on his face while his gaze was fixed on the carpeted floor as he tried to comprehend the situation. Resting his hands on the hips, his thoughts broke off with a long sigh.

                “He had once overheard me talking to Himchan about having two mates,” Yongguk began before looking up at Heeyeon. “He knows my mate is Daehyun. He must be curious to know who the other one is,” he supposed. “And you happen to be the only new weredragon in this town. They must’ve managed to dig up some facts about you.”

                Heeyeon shrugged her shoulders when she couldn’t find the correlation. “But why? What does he want from me?”

                Yongguk shook his head. “Nothing...” He turned to Himchan who gave him a nod in return. “…He just wants to mess with me.”

                Jongup slumped against the cushions on the long sofa in the lounge room. He was too lazy to walk in the huge mansion, even if it was to get to his room, moreover after spending the whole day at the campus.

                After taking a good minute to unwind by staring into nothing, he decided to pull out his phone out of his pocket to play an online game. That was when he noticed someone passing by from the corner of his eyes. He looked up and saw that it was actually his brother. “Hyung!” he called aloud.

                Daehyun flinched a little out of surprise before halting his steps.

                “What were you doing?” Jongup asked.

                “I went to the kitchen for some water,” Daehyun answered while stirring his way towards the latter with ease.

                Jongup raised his brows, smiling lopsidedly. “Hyung, look at you walking around without your cane now.”

                Daehyun snorted with laughter. “You know I never took long to learn new paths.”

                Jongup shrugged his shoulders “You’re right,” he undeniably admit it.

                Daehyun’s outstretched hands finally made contact with the side of the sofa. “When did you come back?”

                “Just now.” Jongup closed the game app and put his phone away.

                After feeling a surely empty spot with his hands, Daehyun took a seat on the same sofa. “How?”

                “Minsoo’s borrowed sportbike,” Jongup said.

                Daehyun did not find it strange. Minsoo had been lending the sportbike to his brother since he has another one. Jongup just needs to take good care of it.

                “Could you get the remote for me?” he asked.

                Jongup promptly looked around before spotting the black tiny thing on the coffee table. He reached forward to take it and gave it to his brother. Then he just looked, at Daehyun turning on the TV, at Daehyun changing from one channel to another, at how Daehyun’s head was leaned back against the sofa as he mindlessly pressed the buttons on the remote control.

                “You look so comfortable living in this mansion, hyung,” he muttered after quite a moment.

                “Why wouldn’t I?” Daehyun was confused because it is a huge mansion they were talking about. Anyone would have been comfortable living in it.

                Jongup smiled. “Are you settling in here?”

                Daehyun frowned, thinking about it for a moment. “Am I?”

                Jongup pursed his lips, staring at his brother through narrowed eyes. “It seems like it. You only go home to water your plants.”

                Daehyun hummed his affirmation. “I am Yongguk hyung’s mate. Maybe I’m going to stay here after all…” His voice trailed off before something hit his mind. He gasped and quickly turned the TV off. “Aren’t you?!”

                Jongup chuckled at Daehyun being slack-jawed. “I have nothing to do with this weredragon clan,” he said.

                “You’re my brother,” Daehyun reminded the younger man.

                “Well, yeah, but-”

                “What about Youngjae?” Daehyun cut off because he already knew that first excuse was a weak one. So he thought of another one which might be a little stronger. “You will surely be part of the clan if you date him,” he suggested.

                Jongup could only let out a long heavy sigh. “Youngjae is…” He shook his head. “…complicated.”

                “So, what are you going to do?” Daehyun was growing anxious since he was still digesting how they were suddenly talking about this matter. He never thought that Jongup would bring this up. “Are you going back to stay at our house?”

                Jongup had been thinking about it for quite some time now. So, he was pretty sure about his answer. “I guess so?”

                Daehyun’s bottom lip jutted out as his mouth curved downwards. He scooted over to Jongup to search for the younger man’s arm, only to give it a squeeze after he managed to find it.

                “Then, I’ll come with you,” he said.

                “No, you don’t have to,” Jongup refused in instance. “Yongguk hyung is your home now. You need to be with him. And he needs to be with his clan. You have to stay here.”

                Daehyun was silent for a moment. Everything Jongup said was right. “Are you going to live alone, then?”

                “That’s not a problem for me,” Jongup assured. “Besides, I can just come to see you everyday, right?”

                “Of course.” Daehyun’s face lightened up, but quickly changed to be worried again. “But the Massifs are still in town. You can’t be there alone.”

                Jongup rolled his eyes with an amused smile on his lips. “I’m not moving back there tomorrow. I’ll wait when it’s safe enough.”

                “Okay…” Daehyun pouted. “But I’ve never been apart from you all my life…”

                That was the moment when Jongup could really feel it. He was really letting his brother go to someone else. He had thought that this time might come someday, but he never imagined how it would feel. His heart had never been so heavy. “You’re going to do just fine,” he said, gazing at his brother whose glassy eyes were staring blankly at his face. It somehow made him want to laugh; to know that his brother was having the same mixed feelings.

                “You have Yongguk hyung and the other clan members with you,” he added to make Daehyun feel better.

                “Alright,” Daehyun muttered. His hands slid down to hold Jongup’s. “Just remember to call and tell me if you have any problem.”

                Jongup smiled, tightening the clasp of their hands. “Same goes to you, hyung.”

                “I’m home!” A happy voice resounded through the room.

                Daehyun immediately perked up. “Yongguk hyung?”

                “I’m home,” Yongguk repeated while approaching his mate.

                “Already?” Daehyun wondered since Yongguk should not be back for another few hours.

                Yongguk reached the sofa and was going to sit at the end beside Daehyun. Only then he started to feel the gloomy air between the other two.

                “What’s wrong?” he mouthed to Jongup. The letter just shrugged his shoulder and mouthing back nothing in return.

                Daehyun gave Yongguk a tight hug after feeling the man’s presence next to him. “Welcome home.”

                Yongguk was still looking at Jongup, who also had his eyes on him. He tacitly pointed to his puckered lips and then to the back of Daehyun’s head, asking the younger brother if he could give Daehyun a kiss.

                Jongup rolled his eyes so hard that only the whites were visible.

                Yongguk almost laughed, but he managed to hold it in. He pulled away from Daehyun and held onto his arms. “Are you okay?” he asked in concern, looking straight into those unfocused eyes.

                Daehyun’s brows furrowed. “What? Of course.” He let out a lackluster laugh. “Why are you even asking?”

                Yongguk sighed. His hands went up to cup Daehyun’s soft cheeks. “You and I both know that you’re not.”

                Daehyun’a lower lip protruded in a resigned pout. His lover could seriously read him like an open book now. “I’ll tell you later,” he suggested.

                Yongguk was finally able to smile after hearing that. And also because of those adorable puffed cheeks.

                “Okay, I’ll wait,” he said before kissing Daehyun’s forehead.

                Jongup watched everything. He knew he didn’t lose his brother. His heart was not empty because he had let his brother go to someone else.

                The turmoil of feelings he was having was just because of a change. He was making a change in his life now. A big change. And looking at Yongguk honestly worrying about his brother, rubbing circles on his back when Daehyun wanted a longer hug and kissing Daehyun’s head countless times, he knows that everything would be okay. He definitely left his brother in good hands.

                “Uncle Dae!” Another chirpy voice filled the air.

                Daehyun parted from Yongguk in a jolt. He recognized the cute voice and also the pitter-pattering footsteps coming towards him. “Yohan?!”

                Jongup too was as surprised as his brother, moreover when he could see a woman he knows very well trailing behind the boy.

                “Oh, I almost forgot,” Yongguk spoke up. “Heeyeon is here.”