Soonyoung walked slowly behind his grandparents, carrying the fruit basket. He had hoped that both his old folks didn’t wait for his arrival and visited the institution without him, like they always do on the third Sunday of every month, but it turned out they did. And they refused to come without him, even after he tried to pretend he was sick.

‘Mr and Mrs Kwon, owh and Soonyoung too.’ The caretaker smiled at him after greeting the older ones, ‘She’s already inside.’ She continued before turning towards him, ‘She’ll be really excited to see you.’

Soonyoung smile bitterly. At least one of them was.

His grandfather took his usual seat at the table and his grandmother the one right beside the girl in her teenage year - his younger sister. The old woman passed her the bunny doll she brought and his sister accepted it, her face still void of any emotion. Soonyoung stood by the door, reluctant to enter before his grandfather cleared his throat to call him. Sensing a threat, he walked slowly and sat down, right beside the old man.

‘Nara-yah, look who’s here…’ His grandmother petted his sister, who kept staring out the window, lightly and pointed to him, to which he responded by looking away. ‘Your brother’s here to visit.’

He could see her staring at him and faked a smile back. She stood up, moved towards a box and took out something, something he knew really well. She brought the plushies in her arms and walked towards him, handing the dolls with severed head and limbs like an offering, a stiff smile decorating her already creepy face. She widened her eyes and tilted her head, waiting for him to accept it and that was what he did. Anything to keep her away from him.

He had not always been afraid of his little sister. In fact, he adored her very much when she was little. He would play with her, feed her, and care for her in place of his emotionally stressed mother. As a result, she became really attached to him and since he too was only a little boy, he never knew why the people around him hated his cute little sister so much to the point of scowling at the sight of her.

That was until a few years later when he first presented as an omega. He realized the very strong scent she was emitting, very unlike all the other omegas and alphas. Then he finally noticed his stepfather’s and mother’s omega scent. And it all just clicked together. The fact that his sister was a product of a taboo relationship between two omegas. But Soonyoung still loved his sister and she still seemed normal, just like every other kid. Until he woke up to her staring at him in the middle of the night. And he realized she had been doing it every night, just staring while smiling. And as the days goes by, she got weirder and started to bring him her broken toys which he helped fix, only to find it broken into worse state the very next day.

Everything fell apart for him when she finally shifted to bringing severed insects into his room. He broke down and tried to stay away from her. Then she got bolder very quickly, killing other animals including other people’s pets until the neighbours finally called the authorities on his family.

That was when he knew what she was - a delta, an abnormal species born from two omegas, usually with psychotic tendencies.

He was returned to his father, who had already remarried, while her mother and sister was sent to an institution. His stepfather who was also his uncle, abandoned them a few years prior.

Soonyoung had troubles living with his alpha father because his older stepsister, the daughter of her stepmother, was an alpha. Something happened during one of his heats, and he was sent to his grandparents to spend the remaining days. He refused to go back since, and had been living with his grandparents until he was old enough to go to college.

‘Harabeoji, I need to use the bathroom.’ He got up and left the room without waiting for any answer. He hated her scent. Visiting her always gave him nightmares that will continue to haunt him for days.

Soonyoung walked out of the building and sat at the nearest bench he could find. He will make some excuse to his grandparents later. For now, he just wanted some fresh air, and something to take his mind off the bad memories.

He opened his picture folders to reminisce back at the trip he had last week. He snapped a lot of the barbecue pictures. And the food Seokmin made. And scrolling back further, him and Wonwoo making silly faces, his club members… He couldn’t wait to return to campus. Only a month left before he can finally be able to laugh with his colleagues and lover again. He would make sure to leave before his grandparents visit this place again next month.

‘Soonyoung-ah, we’re leaving.’ He heard his grandmother’s voice and pretended to talk to somebody on the phone, as if it was important. He turned around to look at his grandfather, already walking towards the car while his grandmother waited.

Jogging a little, he held onto his grandmother, helping her walk down the stairs. ‘I forgot to tell you… we have that wirefe… that internet thing…’

‘Internet? You mean wi-fi?’

‘Yes. That. You harabeoji bought it last month. We don’t know if we set it up correctly… maybe you can take a look at it when we get home.’

Soonyoung stared at his grandmother in shock. Did he heard correctly? Internet? Back at home? ‘Why do you need internet? Do you have a computer or new phone?’

His grandmother smiled at him and patted his hands on her elbow. ‘Your old one is getting slow right? The Lim’s daughter recommended a new model. We didn’t know which one is good though…’

‘I… is it for me?’ Soonyoung realized his voice was shaky and swallowed air. His grandfather, his stingy and strict grandfather set up the wi-fi at home, just for him, and even bought him a new laptop. He would never have expected that, moreover after their serious fight before he left. And the fact that he would only be home for less than a month each time to use the internet.

‘Don’t forget to thank him.’ She continued and walked faster after her husband sounded the horn. ‘Look at him being a tsundere again.’

*****

Soonyoung laid on his stomach and brought his new laptop with him on his bed. This was really a good model. In fact, it was the latest one from the brand that he had been eyeing for a while. Not that he could afford it with his own money.

Soonyoung opened the internet, excited to test the connection. Never in his life would he imagine getting to use the internet in his own room where he had spent his teenage years just staring at the blank walls. It was a bit slow with each page taking more than a second to load, those with pictures taking forever, but slow was better than none. Once fully loaded, he opened his Facebook to see what other people was up to.

His club seniors were mostly overseas, enjoying their last summer before graduation. His part-time colleagues went back to their hometown, just like him. Same goes to most of his other friends. Wonwoo went hiking with his father, he told him that on the phone. Soonyoung saved a few pictures of that handsome pole on his computer and decided to update his status too.

He played around with the site before noticing he had a friend request. Which was rare.

Dokyeom. That would be Lee Seokmin. And before that came Bam Bam, his weird friend. That, Soonyoung had rejected a few times but the request kept coming back. He wondered if he should block that guy. It would be really rude since they never actually talk to each other but he didn’t want to approve the request either.

Ignoring Bam Bam’s completely, he clicked on Seokmin’s picture. He seemed to be a very well-rounded person, active in his clubs and going out with friends. But most of the pictures are his selfies, but on different occasions like the basketball match with the team. He even had one with one of the new club members whom Soonyoung had yet to learn the name. Then, there was him with his family members, his mother looking young. Soonyoung felt a pang of jealousy and scrolled away from the post.

He snorted when he stumbled across an old pic of the alpha. His haircut was hideous yet he had this really confident face with that signature bright smile of his. The pics following that post were mostly him making weird faces and over-the-top postures while his friends just laughed at the background. Soonyoung found himself laughing his heart out at those. He had always thought Seokmin was the cool type, a bit on the funny side, but he would never have guessed that the man was actually a clown. He wondered why he stopped posting pics like that.

Scrolling up towards the latest posts while humming, he saw pictures of their trip and his eyes went really wide. There, at the left corner he saw something that almost dropped his heart. Wonwoo liked the post.

Soonyoung got up from the bed and stared at that post. Did Seokmin post the picture of them together? He told the beta about his heat last week. What if Wonwoo saw their picture and knew about what happened?

His heart was already beating violently when he clicked on the pictures. Every click felt like torture and he could swear that was the most intense moment in his life. Thankfully he could breath easy once he reached the last photo. Most of them were pictures of food and the scenery. And more selfies. None of him.

He just needed to make sure he don’t let anything about their little trip to slip by his tongue when talking to Wonwoo and they’ll be just fine. Gosh, the tension was killing him. Maybe he should reconsider about his ‘friendship’ with Seokmin.

After making sure once again that he was indeed in none of the pictures, he decided to go through them again because he saw some really good ones. Seokmin’s pictures were better than his, a given since his was taken with his cheap flip phone. Everything Seokmin took were like the pictures he would find in Google images. Saving some, he scrolled back down to save the old and weird photos of the alpha. That should be able to make him laugh for a while.

He finally realized he had yet to approve the friend request. Seokmin’s updates seemed to be fun so why not.

*****

‘Assaaa!!!’ Seokmin screamed as he looked at that tiny notification. His fox just approved his friend request, unlike what Bam Bam told him. His best friend had gotten rejected so many times he had this ritual of re-adding Soonyoung just to annoy him, to the point where Seokmin wondered why the omega hadn’t block him yet.

‘What’re you so happy about?’ his dad turned away from the television to look at him. ‘Some good news from the university?’

‘Nothing…’

‘Ommo, honey. He’s looking at someone’s page. What a cute boy.’ He quickly closed his laptop when he heard his mother creeping from behind him on her way to put some snacks for him on the table. He closed his eyes, waiting for it. It had begun. They will never leave him alone.

‘Boy? Underage? Lee Seokmin!’

‘Is he underage Dokyeom?’ His mom asked again, much to his disappointment. He was not a e. How could they even think of him like that.

‘He’s a first year, like me! How could you…’

‘Is he a beta?’ she tried to dig deeper.

‘Beta? Le-’ his dad taking it as a statement.

‘Omega!! He’s an omega, arts major, first year!’

‘Ommo, why are you screaming? Calm down.’ His mom was finally satisfied with his answer and took a seat beside his father while laughing. Seokmin scratched his head roughly, messing with his hair and sat back down at the dining table. He was feeling uneasy. He could sense something was going to happen.

‘Was he the one I smelled on you?’ She continued and he stared at her, wide-eyed. His dad too, was as shocked and stared at him, shooting beams and threatening to kill. Seokmin swallowed hard.

‘YAHH LEE SEOKMIN! I DIDN’T RAIS-’

‘It’s not like that! EOMMA! DON’T MAKE UP SUCH THING!’ He screamed desperately, already standing up and ready to run.

‘Ohohooo! Relax, honey. I’m just kidding. I thought he did something. Things are so peaceful nowadays.’ She complained as she pulled her husband back down and hugged him while still laughing. Seokmin could held his chest tightly and sat back down for the second time. His mother really has a weird sense of humor. And his dad was never a man who understand normal ones, let alone his mother’s. And he always wind up being the victim of her sadistic jokes. Sometimes he wondered how their relationship lasted this long.

Seokmin re-opened his computer to continue what he was doing. He clicked on the cute picture and scrolled back to the furthest entry. Soonyoung only started updating around the last three months back, before that there was nothing. And all his posts were awkward, his captions being the name of the food or a simple sentence. Seokmin tried to hold his laughter. The omega was really a newbie at this. This was his level when he first started social media ten years ago. Kwon Soonyoung was really an awkward little fluff.

‘He’s smiling creepily again. Honey, go check on what he’s doing.’ He heard his mom whispered playfully at his father while gesturing at him and Seokmin closed his laptop. Taking the plate of sliced peaches with him, he went upstairs to his room for to escape. His mom really never wants to leave him alone in peace.

*****

Seokmin stared at the little window at the bottom-right corner. He saw that the omega was online, and after contemplating for a few minutes, decided to say hi. It was his first time making the first move and the suspense was killing him. There was not even moving dots to show that the other was typing.

‘Ahhh….. What have you done Dokyeom-ah!’ He jumped on the bed and flopped around, messing with his bed. He looked back at the screen, saw no change, and continued to roll around, taking his blanket with him. A few minutes have passed before he heard a bleeping sound.

Jumping a little, he rushed towards his desk to read the message. It was Bam Bam.

Having fun? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Yahh Don’t ignore me.

I know you’re online.

Yaah.

Yaah.

I’ll send Hoshi your weird pics.

Seokmin turned his status to appear offline, only to see the familiar three dots on the other window, the one from the omega. ‘No!’

It was too late. He changed his status too late. Soonyoung stopped typing and went offline too. ‘NoooO!!!’

Bzzz... Bzzz…Seokmin ran around to look after his phone. He placed them on the bed just now. It must have fell under the bed when he was busy acting like a fool. He already looked everywhere but his phone seemed to just vanished. What if it was from Soonyoung?

‘Where are you??’ He mumbled to himself before hearing the door being opened.

‘Ommo, I’m sorry honey.’ Seokmin looked back at his mother, as she closed the door in a rush and gave her a suspicious look. He was not acting weird at all, and there was nothing wrong with his room for her to say that.

‘Was he-?’ Owh , his dad was there. He realized what she was trying to do, ‘Lee-’

‘EOMMA!’ He screamed as he tried to lock the door. He heard the familiar evil laugh and was grateful that she already dragged his dad with her.

This was only the first week since he got back. How did he managed to survive his mom’s jokes all this time? Had she always been this aggressive or did she evolved to this level during his absence? Was this her revenge on him for leaving her with his dad?

Sighing, he got back up and looked around once more. He finally found his phone underneath the wardrobe. Sliding it open, he dropped his shoulder.

You piece of . -DabDab

*****

Soonyoung finally returned to his room after helping his grandparents at the orchard. After half a year, he realized how much energy he needed to do even the simplest task. He just had to give it to his grandfather for still being able to work at the farm by himself in his absence. He was really sweating from the heat and the hard work and just wanted to take a shower.

Pulling his towel off from the hook, he decided to take a quick look at his laptop, just to see if there was any interesting update. He was really surprised to see a small window popping out from the bottom right corner.

This was new. Nobody ever chatted with him on facebook before. And it was from Seokmin.

He stared at the message. Should he reply? Their had gotten close during the trip, but he had to admit that it was really awkward, how things progressed. Will they have anything to talk about even if he replied?

Biting his lips, and feeling a bit uncertain, he clicked on the reply space. Unfortunately, he couldn’t type anything. The page froze, as expected. Sighing, he refreshed the page once more, like he always had to do given the bad connection. And now he had to wait until the page finished loading.

After what seemed like a minute, he could finally click on that little window. Just as he was about to type a reply, the alpha went offline. ‘Owh well.’

He closed his laptop and made his way to the bathroom. He really needed a cold shower.

To be continued…

Okay… Hoshi’s family situation is not really good, quite dark actually. But on the other hand, Hoshi now has some memories he really treasures and can look back at to whenever he’s feeling down!

And just so you know, his grandpa is not really abusive He’s just being an overprotective granddad, an extremely overprotective one. Given the situation with his daughter and the town’s invasive people, he had to do what he had to do. He might have crossed some lines while doing it.

Owh and DK’s mom is a bit sadistic and over-the-top. Now you know why he can stand being friends with Bam Bam. Lol.

Merry Christmas everyone! And a happy new year!