Kyungsoo stirred, groaning a little.  His throbbing temples threatened to split his head open. 

He found himself alone, face down, in the king-size bed.

He lifted his head and looked around for his alpha. 

Chanyeol was gone.

He couldn’t blame him, however, if the taller one had given up and left.  Kyungsoo couldn’t even remember half the words he had spewed on him the moment they returned to his suite.

Chanyeol had remained silent, though, only holding his wrists when Kyungsoo started pounding on his chest in an angry fit.  Sehun had to hurriedly bid goodnight as Kyungsoo snarled at him to go away. 

When all of his strength had been drained from him, Kyungsoo locked himself in the bathroom.  Minutes later, his alpha had knocked and asked if he was all right.  Kyungsoo hadn’t answered, of course, turning into the notorious brat he had once been when he was younger.   

He loathed himself for reducing to such behavior, but he wanted someone to blame, and Chanyeol was the first available person to receive the brunt of it. 

Kyungsoo got out of bed, flinching at the onslaught of his headache, the side of effect of crying for hours.  He could only imagine what his eyes must have looked like, red and puffy.

He walked over to the sofa, where he saw Chanyeol curled up and trying to fit into the red duvet that was a little too small for him.

Kyungsoo arranged it to cover his feet, but it only reached the middle of Chanyeol’s chest.  He recalled now how much he had hit and pushed against its solidness last night, and wondered if he inflicted more pain to himself as he discovered faint bruises on his knuckles…

Just then, Chanyeol shifted to his side, squinting, as he sensed an unobtrusive presence hovering over him.  He opened one eye first, and met his omega’s rueful, lamentable gaze.

When Kyungsoo knelt down, Chanyeol affectionately touched the side of the smaller one’s face.  “How are you feeling?” he whispered, couldn’t even open his eyes properly yet.

“Mian-haeyo…” Kyungsoo whispered back, his eyes burning with tears, couldn’t believe Chanyeol wasn’t even mad at him.    

He gave his omega a sleepy smile, propping his head up on his elbow to look at him.  “Don’t cry, jagiya.”

Kyungsoo blinked his tears back, but it was no use.

Chanyeol had overcome a few insurmountable challenges before, some of which he thought he wouldn’t survive.   

He always made himself ready for whatever curveball life hurled at him, accomplishing so much more than he and the people around him ever deemed possible.  Give him a task to fulfill, consider it done—and done well.

However, every drop of tear that had fallen from his omega’s eyes left him feeling like an utter failure.   

He sighed, as he brushed Kyungsoo’s tears away with his free hand.  “I was close to my father, too, so I understand.”

Kyungsoo sniffed, staring at him empathetically.  This was the first time he mentioned anything about his family.  “Where is your father?  Back home?”

Chanyeol’s gaze lowered, slowly sliding his hand to his omega’s neck and withdrawing.  “He died.” 

He regretted the words as soon as he said them. 

Kyungsoo gasped, his heart going out to his alpha.  How did one manage that, a life without a father—or a mother, for that matter?  He was an only child, having solely relied on his parents for love, guidance and validation.  Despite how incredibly rocky his relationship with his father had turned into as of late, Kyungsoo wanted to make amends with him eventually—while time would still allow him. 

He didn’t know what to do or say when his alpha got up and started walking away, moving to the wide picture window.  Was Chanyeol offended?  The atmosphere had turned eerily somber just now.  Did Kyungsoo’s difficult predicament with his father painfully remind Chanyeol of his bond with his own? 

Chanyeol stared off into the distance as his omega’s eyes bore down his back.

He shouldn’t have told Kyungsoo that.  It was such a long time ago. 

The memory shouldn’t hurt this much.

But it did. 

He didn’t know how long he had been fixated on the morning traffic below until he felt his omega’s tentative touch on his bicep.  However, he didn’t redirect his gaze.

His eyes would reveal too much, and he was afraid that Kyungsoo wasn’t prepared for what he would see in them.  

He could sense Kyungsoo was about to say sorry again, but what good would his apology—or, worse, his pity—do, especially when Kyungsoo wasn’t the one who owed it to him? 

Even then, he was beyond acceptance, or forgiveness.

In his stillness, Kyungsoo could feel the storm raging inside Chanyeol.  Just when he was beginning to put together the pieces of his alpha that had already touched his heart, the puzzle that was his mate was coming apart yet again.

Every instinct screamed for Kyungsoo to steer clear, yet he remained by Chanyeol’s side, unwilling to leave if he tried, taking his turn now to comfort him.

“Nampyeon,” he called softly. 

Chanyeol swallowed, as if Kyungsoo’s voice became the light that shattered the looming darkness that embraced him.  For thirteen years, this hatred was everything he ever lived for, and he took erse pleasure in the entitlement that came along with it.

It was all he had left, which he refused to be deprived of. 

Kyungsoo reached to frame Chanyeol’s handsome face with his hands to make him look at him. 

Suddenly, Chanyeol turned sharply at the sudden intrusive buzz on the door.

Who could that be?

If it were Kyungsoo’s father and his slew of bodyguards, they would have already broken the door down.

He squeezed his omega’s hands, whispering for Kyungsoo to stay where he was, and proceeded to answer it.   He cautiously looked into the peephole to see who had dropped by for a visit this time.

It was Sehun.

And his father.

Chanyeol opened the door just a crack, and warily stuck his neck out to check both sides of the hallway. 

“It’s just us, hyung,” Sehun promised, ushering his father inside and dragging Chanyeol with him.  “We’ve brought food.”

Kyungsoo cleared his throat at the sight of the visitors.  “Samcheon,” he greeted Ryeowook respectfully.

Ryeowook winced just a tad.  Kyungsoo was like a nephew to him, and he remembered how he was among the people adamantly forcing the young omega to a divorce just hours ago.  “Perhaps we’re a little early…”

Kyungsoo shook his head and invited for him and Sehun to sit.

Chanyeol patted Sehun on the back.  “You look like you hadn’t slept.”

“Look who’s talking