His hand languorously the space next to his and discovered it was vacant.
 

Kyungsoo opened his eyes, a bit disoriented.  He found Chanyeol staring pensively out the window.  Daybreak had just commenced and the first rays of the early sunshine streamed through the glass pane.
 

Chanyeol blinked when he felt Kyungsoo’s hand on his arm.  He tried a small smile.  “Good morning.”
 

“Good morning,” Kyungsoo echoed softly, closing his eyes as Chanyeol pressed his lips on his forehead.  His alpha didn’t appear to have slept much, if he had slept at all.  “Have you been up long?”
 

Chanyeol had no idea, so he just shook his head. 
 

“We don’t have to go out today, you know,” Kyungsoo told him, his shirtless back. 
 

His alpha flinched as the pads of his fingers unintentionally grazed over his subtle scars.  “We’re leaving Istanbul in three days,” Chanyeol said, clearing his throat as Kyungsoo slowly withdrew his hand, “and you haven’t even seen half of it.”
 

“What happened last night?” the smaller one asked again, because the taller one didn’t tell him anything.
 

His alpha refused to.
 

“What did my father say to you?” Kyungsoo pressed, as Chanyeol averted his gaze back to the window. 
 

“My child will soon realize what a mistake he’s made, if Kyungsoo hasn’t already.”  Chanyeol winced at the hard truth. 
 

“Nothing he hadn’t said before,” he deflected, as an influx of every complication that Yifan had inflicted in his life—starting from his family’s financial crisis, to the death of his father, to rivaling against him in poker, to raising hell upon his marriage to Kyungsoo, to buying half the land in Gwanak District and endangering the home he grew up in and Kyungsoo’s art school—came barreling in his mind. 
 

He had to find a way to stop his father-in-law, even if it was the last thing he would ever do. 
 

He squeezed Kyungsoo’s hand instead and turned for the bathroom.  “We should go eat something.  How about some mackerel kebab?  Afterwards, we can go to the Egyptian Bazaar.  You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
 

He didn’t even realize that he hadn’t even waited for Kyungsoo’s reply. 
 

When Chanyeol closed the door behind him, Kyungsoo felt even emptier than the large suite he had just left him alone in.
 

Once showered and dressed, Kyungsoo had to take pity on his alpha, as he seemed extremely preoccupied taking the tram going to Eminonu.  Though Kyungsoo hadn’t been around Istanbul before, he was thankful for the online map he had followed and prodded Chanyeol to alight on their stop when they arrived.
 

“Balik-ekmek!  Balik-ekmek!” Several waiters called out to tourists abound the dock.
 

“What are they saying?” Kyungsoo asked, leaning close to Chanyeol.
 

His alpha grinned a little.  “It means fish in a bread.  Not like the red bean fish bread we have back home.”
 

Kyungsoo had to laugh.
 

There were several fresh catch to choose from but the locals recommended the mackerel kebabs.  They bought two and sat down near the bridge. 
 

“Have you tried this before, nampyeon?” Kyungsoo asked lightly, unwrapping his sandwich. 

Chanyeol shook his head.  “This is my first time trying their street food.  Not that I don’t eat street food, it’s just that I hadn’t the time until now.”  He studied it with interest, the freshly grilled mackerel fillet lodged inbetween warm toasted bread.  “Should probably taste like the ones in Itaewon, but let’s see.”
 

They looked at each other as they each took a bite, chewing deliberately as they assessed the taste.
 

It didn’t have any taste. 
 

At all. 

Maybe with some sauce, it would be...
 

“Just like…” Kyungsoo swallowed the rather disappointing morsel, “the ones in Itaewon.”
 

The taller one chuckled just then, which made Kyungsoo glad.  “I’m sorry about this,” Chanyeol murmured, discretely wrapping his almost untouched sandwich.  “Want to grab some real lunch?”
 

Kyungsoo’s eyes twinkled.  “Ga-ja!” 
 

Hand in hand, alpha and omega rose to their feet and opted for a tiny restaurant along the Galata Bridge that had more variety in the menu.
 

With their tummies just a little more satisfied, they made their way through that busy morning in the Egyptian Bazaar. 
 

“Don’t let go of my hand,” Chanyeol cautioned, pulling him close. 
 

Kyungsoo nodded, smiling as a Turkish seller started offering him some sample treats to taste.
 

Meanwhile, Chanyeol’s eyes roamed all over, scouring each face that passed by and using instinct to sense if any threat was imminent.  Were Yifan’s people spying on them, right now? 
 

Or Yifan himself?
 

“Nampyeon,” he heard Kyungsoo call him, his hand tugging on his. 
 

The taller one distractedly turned to him, surprised that they were actually well into the middle of the maze that was the Spice Market. 
 

How did they manage to get there so quickly?
 

“Would you like some apple tea to bring back home?” Kyungsoo suggested impatiently. He had asked him the first time, but it was obvious that the taller one hadn’t been listening.  “For your mother, uncle and dongseang?”
 

He nodded, weakly.  “Araseo.”
 

Kyungsoo’s eyes narrowed as Chanyeol started scanning their surroundings once more, his focus scattered. 
 

He hastily paid for the perfumed oil, Turkish delight, apple tea and a Hagia Sophia miniature.
 

“Is your mate looking at other omegas?” the Turkish merchant whispered to Kyungsoo, observing that Chanyeol’s eyes were on e