Finally deciding to talk to his parents, Kyungsoo left Jongin at the home with Yixing to take care of the omega, he's in the city in front of the people he never wanted to see faces of. His parents are ecstatic — or at least it seems like that — and are smiling from ear to ear. Kyungsoo mentally snorts, sitting straight and looking straight into his father's eyes.

“Jongin needs care and… I can't trust anyone else than you and… mom. He's in his fifth month and… he's not good at all.” He gulps, blinking away the threatening tears. He needs to call Jongin as soon as this is finished. “And since I have like no idea and neither him, we want — we need — your help.”

“Jongin is not okay? What happened to him?” Mrs. Do asks, concern etched on her beautifully crafted face, Mr. Do is same, and for a moment Kyungsoo feels weak. “W-we should go to meet hi-”

“-there’s no need to do so.” Kyungsoo cuts her off. “I am going to buy a flat or rent some house near this mansion. We need your help and we will stay as close as possible.”

“Kyungsoo you need to learn to forgive people,” His father begs; face guilt-ridden and eyes watery. Kyungsoo was never good at forgiving people; it was just not his nature. A bad habit of his, but there's nothing he could do now, except fight with himself. It's not like he doesn't want to forgive his parents and forget everything that led to them hiding from their own parents as if they were enemies and wanted to kill the couple. But there's still a stubborn side of his that wants to nothing with his parents.

If it wasn't for Jongin and their baby, he wouldn't be here at all in the first place.

“I am not here to talk about-”

“Kyungsoo,” His mother begins, her brown eyes shedding a few tears. “I am sorry, I beg of you. We both are at fault but we deserve a second chance.” Kyungsoo remains silent, Jongin forgave him too, he gave him a second chance and by that, his parents deserve a second chance too. But maybe it's his ego, that doesn't allow him to do so. “And it's not only Jongin that needs us. You need us too, Kyungsoo.”

“You're still too young to go through this all alone. Jongin is pregnant; you need someone by your side. You're taking care of Jongin and he is not in a position to care for you in return. You cannot handle everything on your own. You need someone to not just take care of Jongin but of you too.” His mother stops. “There’s no shame in accepting that you get tired sometimes too, Kyungsoo. You being an alpha does not mean that you're not a human.”

“You need someone to care of you and Jongin, you both.”

*

His mother was right. He does need someone to help him too. It gets tiring sometimes, there are a few moments where he would feel as if he's losing his mind and when Jongin cries he wants to cry too. But he couldn't because Jongin is weak and if he ends up crying then who would console Jongin? He's an alpha, after all. And alphas are not… weak. Alphas are not supposed to cry and act weak, they are supposed to be strong and… Kyungsoo is strong.

Jongin is still sleeping, curled against him. The omega was crying, he cried himself to sleep because the pain won't go away. Taking medicines during pregnancy is not a good step, and doctors advised to avoid them as much as possible. And Jongin is avoiding them at any cost. But at the expense of wailing in pain. Jongin was crying in his arms and only God knows how much he wanted to cry too because everything seemed just so damn difficult, and he was — he finally admits — feeling alone. And now that the omega is finally sleeping and don't need to act strong in front of his mate -- he feels tear gather in his eyes, falling from his eyes and blurring his vision. He pulls Jongin closer to himself, seeking his mate’s warmth and buries his face in his lover's hair, crying to his heart content.

When the cries finally threaten to get loud enough to wake up Jongin, he carefully and gently detaches himself from Jongin, placing a palm over his mouth to stop any threatening sounds of pain. He looks over at Jongin through his blurred eyes — not that anything's clear, but anyway, it's just to make sure that Jongin is not disturbed — and when finds him peacefully sleeping, he walks out of their bedroom and toward the bathroom, locking himself in and leaning against the door. Within a few seconds, he slips against the door, crying harder than any time before, muffling his cries of pain and agony with his palms.

It's true, Jongin can share his pain with Kyungsoo, and Kyungsoo is there for him but what about him? He cannot share his problems with Jongin; the poor omega is already fighting with himself. It all comes down to him at the end, if only he had accepted in the school that Jongin was his mate and had warned everyone to stay away from him and his omega, if only… Jongin would be normal. He wouldn't go what he's going through right now. He would be fine and healthy.

Pain seeps through his veins, and crushes his heart, for a moment it feels as if someone's crushing his poor heart with their bare hands. And it's bleeding to death and ! He didn't know he was going to go through something like this.

*

He didn't know how much time already passed, his eyes feel heavy -- partially due to sleepiness and partly because of crying for so many hours already. His bottom feels sore and spine pains a little but nothing in him want to get up from the cold bathroom floor in the first place. He wants to curl before Jongin wakes up, and to go through the same pain of watching his lover crying and wailing in pain, and knowing well enough that there's nothing he could do.

When he's about to fall back to sleep, a loud cry comes from somewhere from the bedroom of theirs and his heart crushes yet again.

God, when this will be over?!

*

The sixth month of Jongin’s pregnancy and they finally settle back in the Do’s mansion. There's no other option than that if Kyungsoo’s to be honest -- as much as he wants to deny that, in the end, he would probably be proved wrong.

Mrs. Do is a good mother, Jongin decides, if her and her husband's previous mistake — as they call — is forgotten, then Jongin thinks there are no shortcomings of her. She's there when Kyungsoo’s not and is at the office — Kyungsoo does call him almost every hour to check on him — and cares as a mother would to her child. Kyungsoo is still reluctant and does not trust his parents and Jongin thinks that's one of the various reasons why he calls so often. The pain is still there, though, at least with a permanent doctor at the mansion, Mrs. Do stays with him as much as possible.

One thing that he has noticed is the deteriorating health of Mr. Do. He has no idea if Kyungsoo has noticed or not, but Jongin knows the frequent visits of the doctor to the man's room is not going to end well. Kyungsoo does not talk to his parents; the alpha asks Jongin — rather strictly — to eat dinner with him — when he comes back from office — in their bedroom. And he pays rent. For the bedroom that the couple has occupied, for water, electricity and for everything that a tenant would pay for to his landlord.

Another thing that he has noticed is the change in Kyungsoo’s behavior, the alpha is distant, for some unexplainable reasons, and keeps quiet. He does not share any of his problems with him. It's not like their love is disappearing, Kyungsoo remains warm whenever he's by his side. He smiles and laughs, but it irks and Jongin wants to know why Kyungsoo's remains awake so late at night, hugging him as tight as possible and, why does he cry? If Kyungsoo’s in pain, then Jongin definitely is too.

The pain during his seventh month of pregnancy intensifies dramatically and becomes worse. Doctors say that it's because he's seventh month pregnant and since he's nearing ninth month, aka when the baby would finally come out of his “swollen tummy”, the pain might be a huge concern -- as if it's not already. Kyungsoo has taken leave from his job in favor of staying with his pregnant omega for the two upcoming months, shooing his mother away most of the time from the omega. Maybe it's because his alpha wolf finds danger from his beta mother or maybe with each passing day he feels more and more possessive over his mate and his still unborn child, who knows? Except him, of course.

Kyungsoo’s love for him is getting strong day by day, if possible. The alpha, at night when the omega is sleeping, massages his mate’s swollen feet and ankles which the omega complains about throughout the day. Even though he practically wants to throw himself on the bed and bury himself, along with his mate, under the comforter, he couldn't stop himself from doing so. Jongin does not allow him to touch his feet - for some reasons, that's still unexplainable to Kyungsoo — and only hugs him as tight as possible, whining whenever Kyungsoo tries to pull away, pouting childishly and showing his puppy eyes at him and that happens when he's not writhing and wailing in pain and undoubtedly that's his favorite moment —, asking for kisses here and there and the office work, Kyungsoo still have to do is neglected wholly, and it's not like Jongin’s answerable to Kyungsoo's boss, it's Kyungsoo who has to listen to all those lazy lectures from his boss, only to apologize when his boss threatens to kick him out of the office.

Sometimes, Jongin feels a bit hot.

Literally.

Like --

“Kyungsoo, I am !” Jongin whispers in his ear, and this lil’ is doing or rather saying so when Kyungsoo’s working on a project that he has to give his boss the next morning which will be delivered by one of his coworkers, Lee Taemin. He looks to his left, watching as Jongin bites his lower lip, rather seductively, as if inviting him to bite that pink petal-like rosy lip between his own and Kyungsoo’s nearly loses his . He shakes his head and mutters a quiet, “Babe, I have to finish this by tomorrow morning, and you sleep, because I am BUSY.”, but Kyungsoo knows well enough that Jongin is not going to back away.

The omega pouts, before suddenly grabbing the laptop from Kyungsoo’s lap and placing it on the table kept beside their bed. “Can't you feel the smell, my delicious smell? Stop working and give it to me, alpha.” Jongin purrs in his ear, smirking in satisfaction when Kyungsoo visibly gulps.

Kyungsoo almost gives in.

Almost.

But then the thought that he shouldn't because Jongin would probably end up in pain, keeping in mind that he's seventh month pregnant, stops him and closes his eyes for a fraction of second before snapping them open and staring straight in his omega's eyes and not on his lips or the slim tan neck which shamelessly begs for his attention. “We shouldn't-”

“-Oh, I think something wet and sleek’s coming out of my… .”

Oh, .

Kyungsoo whines under his breath before picking up his phone and practically running out of their bedroom, closing the door behind himself before finally dialing the number he remembers by heart.

Jongin's doctor. Siwon.

As soon as the doctor picks the call he shrieks, “My omega’s , doctor. Should I him?”

The doctor remains silent from the other side and Kyungsoo sighs in annoyance, adjusting his pants because it's been time and Jongin’s words are actually doing wonder to some specific part of his body. Kyungsoo blinks when the only thing that the doctor does is a clearing of throat. “Doctor? Were my words not clear? Should I repeat? Okay no worries, actually the thing is my omega’s and he's pregnant and I am afraid if I should him?”

And then it hits him and he burns in embarrassment, what the did he just ask?!

“Oh, I mean-*

“-I get what you mean, Mr. Do. I, uh… yes. You can but… uh, be gentle and everything will be fine.” And Kyungsoo bites his lower lip as the awkward silence continues for a moment. The next second, he mutters a quiet, “thanks, doctor. Will keep that in mind.” and after hanging up the phone, cursing himself, walks back inside, Jongin already waiting for him, stark .

*

The eighth month of Jongin’s pregnancy brings the news of the death of Kyungsoo’s father, some reason that no one tells Jongin, not even Kyungsoo.

And since Kyungsoo's the only heir and the only son of the head alpha, he's asked by the older members of the pack, to be the next head alpha.