Chanyeol watched Kyungsoo as he slept, his breathing steady.   The smaller one spent half of the long-haul flight in slumber and the other half trying.   Chanyeol lifted the armrest separating them and Kyungsoo came to lay in his arms then.   Chanyeol had to refuse the food being served to his omega, the five times they were offered.  The taller one buckled his seatbelt for his omega whenever the overhead sign went on so Kyungsoo could continue to sleep.

Kyungsoo really reminded Chanyeol of a baby, childlike and immaculate.  Perhaps Kyungsoo was trying to sleep away his worries, as Ryeowook received word that Yifan and his people had taken a private plane to return to Seoul a day earlier. 

Chanyeol softly brushed his omega’s hair from his temples, staring at him in contemplation.  The foreboding he was feeling was enough to make him jump out of the plane and bail, even without a parachute.  However, he already verbally and legally promised that he would stay with his omega—until July 17th, at least—and Kyungsoo believed him.

Letting the smaller one down now was out of the question.
 

Sehun was coming back from the toilet when he passed by his friends’ seats.  “He’s still asleep, huh?”
 

Chanyeol just nodded, adjusting Kyungsoo’s blanket to cover his omega more completely.   Kyungsoo, in turn, snuggled even closer to Chanyeol.
 

Sehun, slightly embarrassed, looked away and only too glad to get the attention of a steward serving the last drinks.
 

“We will be starting our descent to Seoul in approximately 20 minutes,” the captain announced. “Please remain seated.”
 

Sehun waved at Chanyeol, sipping his brandy, and went back to his own seat beside his father, two rows behind the couple in the business-class section.

The steward offered Chanyeol some refreshments, but he gently declined.  He then opted to stare out the window as he immersed in deep thought, rubbing the side of Kyungsoo’s arm.

It was night time in Seoul, January 21st, Monday. They had just advanced a day in time. 

How was he supposed to tell his family that he was coming back with a mate?  An omega whom they had never met?  Moreover, that half of the rare balloon flower liquor his uncle Jongdae had been pestering him for months to buy had been consumed?
 

Not just by Kyungsoo, after being angry at him for agreeing to his father’s wager.  Chanyeol had indulged in a couple of full swigs of it and realized that it did send a person to temporary oblivion, just before he and Kyungsoo signed that confounded air-tight contract that Yifan had the upper hand in every angle.
 

It pissed him off to no end that his father-in-law ensured it would remain that way.
 

Chanyeol blinked back to the present moment when he felt the initial bump of the plane touching down, taxiing towards the airport.
 

“Gentlemen, welcome to Seoul, South Korea.  Thank you for flying Korean Air and we hope you had a pleasant flight,” the captain greeted.  Then the message was translated in Korean by a steward.
 

People began getting up from their seats after the airplane came to a full stop.  Chanyeol looked at his omega again and gently shook him awake. “Jagiya,” he whispered to the smaller one’s ear.
 

The smaller one only murmured.
 

“Kyungsoo,” he called softly. “We’re here.”
 

Chanyeol’s h