'And I know that I'm saying too much, even though I'd rather hold my tongue...'

~

The next morning Youngjae was awaken by the feel of the sun rays beaming against his skin and the warm air blowing against his face. “Time to wake up~.” Daehyun sang.

Youngjae slowly sat up, opening his eyes. The wooden blinds were opened, revealing the glass free window. “Is there no real window in here?” He grumbled. “What do you mean? That is a real window.” Daehyun said. Youngjae frowned at him. “Come on, we have to go soon.” Daehyun told him.

“Where?” Youngjae questioned. Daehyun took out a clipboard and showed it to the omega. “We get to choose our schedule for the week, so I set up the schedule when I booked the room. Today we start off with fishing, then cooking, then cleaning, then bathing, and then bed time. And we get two meals.

Youngjae looked at Daehyun as if to say, ‘are you kidding me?’. “This sounds like work.” He said. “It’s not work. It’s meditation.” Daehyun corrected matter-of-factly. But Youngjae wasn’t buying it. “This sounds like a scam to get you to pay to do work.”

“It’s not like that. It’s supposed to be relaxing. You’re supposed to take your time on each activity and focus entirely on it.” Daehyun tried to explain. “So, we get more time to do work?” Youngjae countered. Daehyun sighed in defeat. “You’ll see. But we have to go. I signed us up for a two-meal plan, which is breakfast and supper. We were supposed to wake up at am, but I overslept and it’s after 7 now. So, we kinda missed breakfast. But we have to hurry. Fishing starts at 7:30.” Daehyun explained. Youngjae shook his head, “What kind of resort is this?” He muttered.

The two changed into their robes and sandals and made their way to the river, where (to Youngjae’s surprised) people were already gathered. They were each handed hand-made fishing poles and chose a spot along the river bank, so they could fish. “What kind of fishing pole is this?” Youngjae questioned. “This is literally just a stick and string.” He went on. “You sure complain a lot, don’t you?” Daehyun remarked. “You didn’t expect me to cooperate after kidnapping me back to 400 b.c., did you?” Youngjae retorted.

“Touché. You have a point.” Daehyun shrugged. “Plus, you haven’t heard me really complain. You should be happy that I didn’t say anything about these ridiculous clothes.” Youngjae murmured. “You don’t like them? I thought they were the best part. It makes me feel like a real monk.” Daehyun confessed.

Youngjae smirked, “You want to be a monk?” He eyed the alpha’s hair. “Yah. I never said that. Don’t get any ideas. Tsk.” Daehyun caught onto the meaning behind his words. He brushed his hand through his hair. Youngjae shrugged innocently. “It seems like something you’d try.”

Daehyun scoffed and returned to his fishing.

For the next few hours they sat by the bank and fished. They only managed to catch three fish before Youngjae started to grow impatient. “How much do we have to catch? We’ve been here for three hours now.” He said, not hiding his frustration. “Enough to last us the next two days.” Daehyun answered. He was still as calm as from when they started, aside from the thin sheet of sweat tha began to perspire over his skin. “What?” Youngjae didn’t understand nor liked what he was hearing.

“It’s going to be our dinner for the next two days. The resort only provides us Ddinner for three nights under this plan. The other nights we have to fish and cook for ourselves.” Daehyun explained once more.

Youngjae released an obnoxious groan. “This would be easier if we could transform and fish that way.” He grumbled.

“You can fish?” Daehyun questioned in surprise.

Youngjae nodded, “My father taught me and my brother. It’s not hard. Omegas should be taught how to fish, at the least.” He muttered in irrigation. “Your father taught?” Daehyun asked even more surprised. He guessed that the omega snuck on his own to learn. It was highly looked down upon for Omegas to hunt. Their main job was to procreate, caretaking, and chores.

“Yeh. Both my brother and I are omegas. Since we don’t have any siblings who are betas or alphas to quote on quote ‘protect’ and ‘take care’ of us, my father decided to teach us. Just in case something happened to him. But he taught us in secret so it wouldn’t hurt our chances in finding a mate.” Youngjae explained, a frown on his lips. He hated the structure amongst alphas, betas, and omegas.

Daehyun smiled. “Well, I think it’s cool that you can fish. But you’re probably not better than me.” He teased. However, Youngjae ignored the playful challenge. He stared into the water, watching the few fish swim by his bait.

They remained like this for the next hour. Daehyun ended up catching two more fish and they followed their group back inside for the cooking portion of their day. They were led into a kitchen where rows of cooking utensils and supplies were set up for them. They each took a seat and an instructor took his place in front of the room to teach them how to prepare and cook their catch.

Youngjae sat back in his seat. He didn’t participate, nor did he say a single word. Instead, he stared into space, allowing his mind to drift back into its usual darkness. They were surrounded by humans, there were a couple of wolves here and there, but there were mostly humans. He hated them.

He envied them.

It wasn’t anything new. They were free from the strict recycled lives of wolves. They had control of their own bodies. They could choose who they wanted to be, the omega, the beta, or the alpha. They could change their roles if they wanted to.

At the same time, they were nothing but birds.

They were always fleeting. But Youngjae wouldn’t mind that lifestyle. He was never meant to be in one place for too long, or else he would become dangerous.

However, he didn’t complain. His father allowed him and his brother to do things omegas traditionally weren’t allowed to do or even know how to do. He taught them to take care of themselves. To protect themselves. To be solely independent individuals. But they behaved themselves in the presence of others. There father never told them to do so, but they did, so that their father wasn’t ridiculed or received any backlash. Only their closest friends knew of and respected their independent nature. The wolf world was full of love and loyalty. However, when strict rules were broken, things become ugly.

Daehyun noticed that the omega was back in his steeled walls. He wondered if he said something that triggered him. He didn’t want him to be locked up. He wanted to help him open up. Nonetheless, he didn’t dare to do or say anything to him. Instead, he continued to follow the instructor’s directions. He remembered his father’s words. He’d have to let him open himself.

He wasn’t disappointed. The younger did open up a little while they were fishing and that was a start. That was why he brought him here. To get him to escape his darkness, even if it was for a little bit. He wanted to kidnap him from himself.

“Do you want to try a piece?” Daehyun offered when they succeeded in making their dish. Youngjae eyed the overcooked fishes then looked at the alpha. “That doesn’t look edible.” He said indifferently. Daehyun scoffed offended, “I worked hard on this. Sorry if it’s not your typical gourmet fish filet.”

Youngjae huffed at his remark and reached for a small cut of the fish. His face instantly cringed when he put it in his mouth. “What the heck is this? Why is it so crunchy? I can’t even make out the taste.” He struggled to swallow.

“It’s not that bad.” Daehyun cut himself a piece and tried it. His eye twitched. “All that matters is that you can still chew and swallow it.” He changed his claim. “Barely.” Youngjae remarked. “Well, if you helped, then maybe it could have turned out better.” The alpha argued. “No. Because, I don’t know how to cook.” Youngjae simply retorted. “And I don’t plan on learning now.” Daehyun huffed. He collected the dishes and put their food away for the next two days.

“Now what’s next?” Youngjae asked when the elder returned. “Now it’s time for the cleaning part.” Daehyun beamed. Youngjae stared at him. “You gotta be kidding me.” “Nope. We have four hours of cleaning to do, starting here.” Daehyun informed. “You can’t possibly find this exciting.” Youngjae folded his arms. He refused to believe it.

Daehyun rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not that excited for it either. But if you focus hard enough it’ll be therapeutic and maybe even fun. So, I’m willing to give it a try.” He smiled. Youngjae rolled his eyes. He really did hate his smile. “Fine let’s get it over with.” Youngjae stood up and gathered the utensils to clean. Daehyun was surprised that he willingly got up to clean, but he didn’t dare say anything about it.

As they washed the utensils and cleaned the kitchen, a new monk joined them and explained the physical and spiritual importance of cleaning. He also instructed them on how to meditate through cleaning, so the group members could try it while they cleaned for the next few hours.

Jaebum and Youngjae sat at the table in the small kitchen of Youngjae’s apartment. Jaebum left early from work after Youngjae returned from school so they could come up with a plan for the rest of the week. “I still don’t see how you think I can possibly pretend to be the son of one of the richest men in the city.” The human said, still in disbelief. “I don’t’ think you can.” Jaebum answered honestly. “Wow, okay.” Youngjae remarked, not expecting a straight-forward response.

“I just need you to act as a placebo, in case people get suspicious.” Jaebum explained. The two main people that he was worried about were Jinyoung and Kihyun. They’d definitely grow suspicious and would want to see him for themselves. Especially Jinyoung, since he saw the omega right before he disappeared, and he was far from sick like the two fo them claimed. “I just need a second body, so it looks like he was staying in my apartment.” “I have to stay in your apartment?” Youngjae questioned.

“That seems to be the case. Jinyoung would most likely show up unexpectedly if he gets suspicious.” Jaebum said in thought. “Okay!” Youngjae perked.

Jaebum was taken by surprise by the willing and enthusiastic response. The alpha studied him suspiciously, “That was an eager response.”

The human simply shrugged, “I mean, it’s a free room, free electricity, free food, and it’s-,” I’m providing food?” Jaebum interrupted him. “Since I’m helping you out, I do require some sort of payment in return.” Youngjae answered. Jaebum huffed at his sudden change in attitude but didn’t argue. “And I get a full bed all to myself! Why would I turn all that down?” The blonde-haired boy beamed. Once more Jaebum gave him another strange look, “You already have your own bed.”

“Well...not necessarily.” Youngjae laughed uneasily. “I share this apartment with a roommate. He’s overseas right now for summer vacation. He has the bed and I sleep on the couch.”

“Why don’t you just buy another bed? That room is big enough to fit two twin-sized beds.” Jaebum questioned.

“I had suggested that, but he didn’t like that idea. He wanted to sleep in a larger bed. So, I just settled on sleeping on the couch.” Youngjae answered. Jaebum just looked at him. He didn’t understand the human’s thought process at all. “Sounds like a jerk roommate to me.” He concluded. Either that or the younger was just a push over.

“A-Aniya~! He’s really cool! He’s just picky about that kind of stuff. I don’t mind.” Youngjae quickly defended his roommate. “In fact, it works out for my benefit. It gives me room for Coco and I.” He smiled, referring to his pet that stood in the corner, chewing and playing with her toys, occasionally growling at Jaebum.

Jaebum sc