A/N: Chapter 11 here! A small time skip, so we can tie up some loose ends faster and get our ending we deserve, thank you.

With it now being six months in, though no longer viewing it as an arrangement. Seulgi wanted to at least acknowledge the fact that she had been knowing Joohyun for six months, it felt like something that should be celebrated. And so the alpha waited for her last class to end and surprised her with what was an impromptu lunch. The weather was nice enough for it, and Joohyun was pleasantly surprised because she didn’t expect it.

“Happy six months of knowing you, Joohyun.” The alpha smiles, and shows her the nicely set up picnic in her favorite park by their campus.

“Seul…” Joohyun whispers, and tries not to think of how romantic this appears, though it feels like it could be. A part of the omega doesn’t want to get her hopes up too high, unless Seulgi tells her she is feeling romantic feelings for her too. Though, from everything she knows about Seulgi. She isn’t one to easily express her feelings and even Seungwan told her, to just be patient.

“My sister is kind of dense, so I wouldn’t take anything personally. She’ll realize what you mean to her, Joohyun.”
 

She keeps those words in mind often. Because she knows that she and Seulgi have gotten a lot closer since this whole thing began, and the best part of it all was how organic it was. Seulgi was never forcing herself to spend time with her, and that was the beautiful thing. 

“You didn’t have to, but this is very sweet.”

“We’ve come a long way from those early days of you paying my debt and me being very apprehensive. I just wanted to do something to show I appreciate you.”

Seulgi notices how the omega smiles at her in such a genuine way that shows how very happy Joohyun is. The alpha realized she loved that smile of hers, the one that lights up Joohyun’s face. Seulgi also realized something else too. She didn’t want to ever be the cause of Joohyun’s smile disappearing. 

“Thank you, Seulgi. Everything looks really delicious, and I am happy to have had this time to get to know you as well.”

Seulgi helps her sit down and opens up the basket to take out two of the coke bottles, before passing one to Joohyun. 

“Happy six months of knowing one another.” Seulgi smiles and moves to clink their coke bottles together. Joohyun laughs a bit and nods before meeting her half way with her own coke bottle. 

“Happy six months of knowing one another.”

Joohyun thought that there could be no one else having the best kind of day but her. One person might disagree with her though, as Park Sooyoung couldn’t believe her luck right now with Yerim walking with her, and not only walking with her. But holding her hand. She was actually holding Yerim’s hand. Ever since, Yerim said she would give her a chance, it was a pleasant surprise to see that Yerim really meant what she said. Little by little, they were getting closer, and that meant everything to Sooyoung.

“I can’t believe you’re holding my hand, and you weren’t forced!”

“I have to make sure you make it safely to your car, I don’t want you to hurt yourself, since you are kind of clumsy.”

“I am not!” Sooyoung shakes her head. “You just don’t want to admit you like holding my hand. I remember someone being scared at my house and holding my hand, don’t you?”

“You put on a horror film.” Yerim complains. “You know I hate horror films.”

“It was worth it though, because you held my hand the entire time. Did you know that, Yerimie? You held my hand the entire time we watched that movie.” Sooyoung is repeating herself like she’s making a public service announcement. 

Yerim sighs and shakes her head. “You are strange.”

“Strangely in love with you, yes. Now, are you coming over for dinner tomorrow night or what? My mom wants you to be there.”

Yerim could easily pretend she had anything else to do. She wouldn’t do that here, though, not when she genuinely likes Sooyoung’s mom, and she does recall being personally invited over for dinner with them.

“Yes, I’ll come for dinner. Okay, you’re all safe and sound to your car, clumsy.”

“I’m not clumsy, I only tripped that one time because I was running to get to you.”

“Uh-huh, anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow. Get home safe, Sooyoung.”

Naturally, Sooyoung can’t go without hugging the blonde at least once. She is just too happy that things are going so well lately. It won’t be much longer now until Yerim is officially her girlfriend, that much she is confident about.

“See you tomorrow, Yerim.”

“See you, Sooyoung.”

At first, Yerim thought for sure she couldn’t stand the alpha. But it became clear that wasn’t necessarily the case, and once she did allow herself to give Sooyoung a real chance. Yerim finds that Sooyoung isn’t all that bad. 

“No, you’re not all that bad, Soo.” She thinks to herself before heading to her own car. 

Sooyoung remained in such a good mood right up until she got home and her mom was waiting for her, with that look on her face that said she wanted to talk to her.

“What’s up, mom?”
 

“Sit down, sweetie. I need to talk to you.”

Sooyoung had an idea what it could be about, especially with how serious her mom’s voice was, though still gentle in tone.

“Mom?”

“I didn’t know your mother contacted you, on more than one occasion.” Jinri brings it up, because Suzy had also gotten in contact with her too. Their relationship was brief, having been introduced by mutual friends, and Jinri had hoped that once they found out about their daughter. Suzy would have been of more support to her, to Sooyoung, but the sad truth is Sooyoung’s sire is pretty non-existent in her life. Though, from what Suzy said to her she wants to at least make things right with Sooyoung. Jinri just isn’t sure if she believes her.

“Yeah, she called me. She said she wanted to meet me for dinner, but I never gave her an answer.”

Jinri sighs worriedly. “Okay, look. I can’t tell you what to do, you’re an adult, so if you want to see your sire. I am not going to tell you no, but I do want you to be cautious. She hasn’t even seen you properly since you were a child.”

“I know, mom. I haven’t even decided if I will meet her yet. It’ll be okay, don’t worry.”

“Just be careful, sweetie. I don’t want you hurt further by her.”

Sooyoung didn’t want to get hurt either, but at the same time she couldn’t help if she wanted to at least me with her mom. She owed it to herself, didn’t she?

One thing Joohyun appreciated was how Seulgi didn’t shrug away from her touch. Nowadays, she could hold hands with the alpha, and Seulgi wouldn’t flinch, or look startled, and certainly never took her hand away. After the nicely set up lunch that Seulgi surprised her with. Joohyun made a suggestion of walking around the city, and asked if Seulgi would like to go with her to the bookstore.

“I’ll treat you to ice cream.” Joohyun says hopefully. “I won’t be long, there’s just a new book in a series I love, so it would mean a lot to me if you’d come?”

“Hey, I’ll be glad to come with you. Today is one of my first real days off in a long time, so I’m happy to spend it with you.”

Joohyun knows that the alpha had asked her father for extra hours, and the omega knew it had to be because she wanted to make sure she could still afford medicine for Seungwan. Joohyun even pleaded with her dad to raise her wage too, which was no problem convincing her father, as he has come to really like Seulgi. Many times around the house she’d see the two alpha’s having heated discussions about baseball, soccer, art of all things. It made Joohyun feel good to know her father and Seulgi were getting along so well.

The walk to the bookstore was one that Joohyun probably played in her mind several times, where she would be walking down the street with Seulgi beside her, holding her hands, and laughing at everything the monolid girl said, while in turn she made Seulgi laugh out loud too. Seulgi even held open the doors for her, and helped her when she couldn’t reach some of the books on the taller shelves. This to Joohyun was very much like an ideal date out, though not a real date.

Seulgi thinks Joohyun looks adorable as she holds several copies of the main book she came here to get, and a few other books that caught her interest. Now, all the dark-haired girl can think about is Joohyun sitting at home in her room, on that futon or near the bookshelf, maybe a mug of tea beside her, as she read her books.

“You’re going to be finished with all those books in a week.” Seulgi lightly teases. Joohyun looks scandalized for a moment as she clutches her books tightly to her.

“A week, Seul, be serious. I’ll be done in at least three days.”

They both share a laugh over that joke. Seulgi finds she likes how Joohyun can freely joke with her now, when she probably couldn’t do so before. 

“I like this, you being able to laugh, and make jokes. I like to see you be yourself.”

Joohyun nods with a small blush on her cheeks. She was always told by everyone that she needed to be herself. Seulgi makes her feel okay to show who she is, and not hide. Joohyun believes that they are good together, good for another, and nothing could change her mind about it.

“Ice cream, next? I was promised ice cream.”

“Yes, ice cream next.”

Everything had been going so well as they ordered their ice creams and found a table at the shop to sit at. Everything that is until Joohyun could notice someone watching them, or rather someone seemed to be watching Seulgi. The omega didn’t want to think anything of it at first, and focused on the delicious ice cream, and pleasant company before her, only it soon became very clear this person was following them, as they left the shop, and not doing a very good job hiding it. Seulgi paused, turning to Joohyun with a smile, before letting go of her hand slowly.

“Just stay here, okay. I’ll handle this.”
 

“But, Seul…”

Joohyun wanted to suggest they call the police or find any local authority standing around. Seulgi simply held her hand again, leaving a soft kiss against pale skin. It really wasn’t fair how Seulgi could make her lose her train of thought and be that distracting when she knows it’ll get her out of things.

“Please stay here, okay. I’ll be back.”

Seulgi says nothing more and walks over to the female beta who is now walking off, trying to look as if she wasn’t trying to follow earlier. Seulgi knew she wouldn’t be left alone just because she asked. She worried that she might not ever be free of her former boss and that shadier past of hers.

“Did she send you?” Seulgi asks when she catches up to the beta. 

“The boss is really disappointed you won’t come back for us, so she thought maybe sending a gift could help you decide?” The beta tries to hand over a bag of various different medicines, first aid, and enough to last for a few months at least. Seulgi sighs and places the bag back into her hands.

“She’s getting more to the scum of the earth title than I last thought. I don’t want any gifts, I know she doesn’t give anything without condition. Now, if you don’t tell her to back off I can easily go to the authorities with what I know about her, and her business.”
 

“That be pretty stupid of you, Seul. Unless you want to implicate yourself and end up in jail. If you do, who will take care of that ill sister of yours or that pretty little girlfriend you somehow managed to get for yourself.”

Seulgi feels anger in ways she hasn’t in a long time. She doesn’t appreciate that veiled threat and so she says one more thing before turning around.

“Tell her that if she wants to threaten anyone, those threats should remain only to me, not the people I care about. Don’t let this be a thing where I see you following me again.”
 

Seulgi doesn’t even get back to Joohyun, because the omega followed her, even though Seulgi had asked her to. Seulgi isn’t sure how much Joohyun heard if anything, so far the shorter girl is looking at her with concern and worry.

“It’s okay, I took care of it.”

“Seulgi, I don’t think it’s okay at all.” Joohyun admits to her. She is worried because no matter what small break Seulgi has, there is somehow something to worry about, and Joohyun knows it won’t end until this former boss of hers leaves her completely alone.

“I can handle it, please don’t worry about me, Joohyun. The last thing I want to do is ruin today. We were having a nice time, and I’d hate for that interruption to ruin it.”

Joohyun didn’t necessarily want it to ruin their day together either. Only, how could they think of anything else, even when they did continue with their walk, trying to get back the same good energy that was there previously. Joohyun couldn’t help her worry and maybe she was more worried about the fact that Seulgi wanted to handle it all on her own.

“I’m sorry about this.” Seulgi admits when she offers to drive her home. “I hope next time we meet there won't be anything like this, Hyun.”
 

And as much as Joohyun wanted to ask her again to let her help. The bespectacled girl knew that it would serve no purpose now. All she could do in the meantime was let it go, but that didn’t mean she would let it go forever. Joohyun would find a way to help the alpha, no matter what.

Meanwhile, at their shared apartment, Seungwan woke up from her sleep due to the knocking at the front door. The blonde gets up, reaches for her sweater, slides her feet into the comfortable blue slippers by her bed, and makes her way to the door. Today wasn’t really one of her better days, she felt tired, exhausted, no matter how much she did rest today. The first thing she did when she arrived at the door was look through the peephole to get a glimpse of whoever, as people don’t just show up to their apartment. It sure didn’t look like a delivery man of any kind, and Seungwan was going to not answer it for the fact that she had a bad feeling.

“I’ll wait here all day, Kang. I just want to talk to you.”

That sounded like one of the voices of the people Seulgi used to work with. Seungwan would never forget how any of them sounded, because sometimes, though she would never tell her sister this. She blames herself on the