'I'm the drug in your veins. Just fight through the pain. He's what you want. I'm what you need.'

~

Early the next morning, Youngjae woke up to a vibration against his thigh right below his hip. He begrudgingly shifted in his sleep and reached in his pocket, pulling out his phone. He frowned when he saw that he had two messages from Daehyun. The first one was a picture of the shop they went to the other day, followed by a second message:

‘Meet me at the same table we were at yesterday. As soon as you can.’

Youngjae wanted to ignore the message and feign sleep, but he knew he couldn’t fight fate and the sooner he could get it over with, the better it will be for him.

Youngjae looked to see that Jinyoung was still fast asleep. He carefully slid off the couch and made his way to Jinyoung’s only bedroom. He opened the bottom drawer of the dresser, where he had a stash of his own cloths folded for the times, he stayed the night. He changed into a white long-sleeve knitted turtle-neck and light-blue close-fitting jeans.

Once he finished changing and brushing his teeth, he silently left the apartment and took a taxi to his destination.

He arrived at the coffee shop 20 minutes later. The place had just opened, so there were few people inside the café when he entered. Youngjae looked around, but he didn’t see the alpha anywhere. He didn’t think much of it and walked to their table toward the back of the café by the window.

Sitting in the round table was a small white gift bag with an awkwardly tied white bow. Youngjae furrowed his brow. Attached to the bag was a tag that had his name written on it. The omega reached for the bag and looked inside it.

“What the?” inside the bag were several sugar packets and a small cup of creamers. In the middle of the bag was a small note. He picked up the folded piece of paper. The outside read:

‘Just a little something to sweeten your day.’

Youngjae scoffed at this, “What the heck?” He fought the urge to laugh. At that moment, he felt his canine senses go off, followed by a strong scent that caught onto his nose follicles. He looked around to find that the Midnight Shadow clan member was standing on the other side of the window. Daehyun smiled and waved at him. Another huff escaped the omega’s lips as he turned away from the window and walked out the coffee shop.

“What is this?” Youngjae approached the alpha. “Just a little something to sweeten your day.” Daehyun answered.

Youngjae just looked at him, waiting for him to go on. “Well, um…I felt kind of bad yesterday. I didn’t mean to upset you or deceive you. It was honestly a stupid question for me to ask.” He confessed. “And it was selfish of me to still want to ask you more questions after I upset you.” Daehyun rubbed the back of his neck.

Youngjae was somewhat caught by surprise. He wasn’t expecting an apology. In fact, he preferred to not have an apology at all. He quickly shook himself out of it and laughed.

He laughed hard.

“You think a bag of sugar and milk will make me forgive you? Even if I was mad at you?” he laughed distastefully.

“Well, yeah.” The elder shrugged.

Youngjae stopped laughing and looked at him. “I’m not a sweet freak like you.”

“But you are.” Daehyun smiled, “Judging that you ordered a Sangria at the party, I assumed that you enjoyed sweet drinks. And when I met you that day, you were in a good mood.”

Youngjae placed his hands on his hips, “So?”

“So~, you eat based on your emotions. You don’t eat when you don’t feel anything. Like when we ate at the restaurant you didn’t eat your food, except drink water. You weren’t upset nor were you happy either.” Daehyun explained. “And yesterday, you weren’t in a good mood, so you drank bitter coffee.” He concluded, “So, I brought you sugar to brighten your mood.”

A deep frown formed on Youngjae’s lips. He should’ve been impressed. He should’ve been impressed that the stranger was right. That the stranger truly paid close attention to him. But instead he felt the opposite. Deep inside he had an uncomfortable, uneasy feeling. An emotion he hadn’t felt in years, that he kept buried deep inside him.

It was only a tinge.

But it was discomforting.

It was fear.

Youngjae bawled his fist, but he forced himself to laugh. It was dry and short. “ha! Think whatever you want.” He then took a step forward, closer to the elder to where their noses and bodies were only an inch apart. Youngjae studied Daehyun’s light filled eyes, that showed no signs of pain or misery. But Youngjae was going to change that.

“Do you want to know what I think of your so called, gift?” He spoke quietly.

Daehyun didn’t say anything and only watched as Youngjae strode pass him. He extended his arm out and dropped the bag into the trash, and he continued to walk away without a single glance back at the elder.

Daehyun watched him, a smile stuck on his lips, “See you soon. Youngjae.”

“Thank you, boys. You guys are always such great help.” Ms. Son thanked her son and his friend for fixing the leaks in the roof of her hut. “No problem ma.” Shownu brushed off. “I wish your father was more like you. He’s getting lazier and lazier with age.” His mother huffed at her husband who was still asleep in his bedroom.

Changkyun chuckled at this. “You two, don’t be like him.” She turned to them firmly, earning another chuckle from the younger alpha. “I knew I should’ve chosen the other alpha. He was much stronger and diligent.” She muttered to herself. “Ma~…” Shownu complained.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Enough about that. What about you two? You two are formidable alphas. Is there anyone on your mind?” The elderly woman wriggled her eyebrows. “I’m not really interested in anyone at the moment.” Shownu shrugged. Ms. Son frowned at this. “What do you mean you’re not interested in anyone at the moment? You’ve been saying that for years>”

‘Here we go again.’ Shownu mouthed to Changkyun. Changkyun silently laughed but shared his pain. “How long are you going to wait, Hyunwoo? You already built yourself your own cabin. You’re strong, attractive, and you have a good personality. It shouldn’t be that hard.” She ranted on. “I’m just waiting for the right one.” Shownu responded calmly.

However, Mrs. Son her teeth in response. “I’m starting to feel like you’re using that as an excuse. Be honest with me, are you even looking?”

“Noo~.” Shownu answered.

His mother folded her arms. “Ma, I’m just focusing on my career. It’s going really good.” He defended. “I don’t care about that. I care about grandpups. Do you think I want to sit her pupless with your lazy father?” She began. Shownu shook his head, unable to contain his laughter. His mother sighed, “You’re hopeless.” She gave up her daily rant for the day and turned to Changkyun. “What about you Kyun? Please tell me you’re not like him.” She asked hopefully.

“I’m afraid I’m the same. My parents get onto me about it every day. At least Shownu has his own place. I still live with my parents.” The said alpha answered bashfully. “But…there is someone I like. But I hadn’t had much luck.”

“Awe~, don’t let your thinness and baby-like feature