Si Cheng walked out of his room, his stomach in pain. His heat had started this morning two weeks in advance, and he always hated having it. 

He’s pretty sure every omega in this godforsaken village hated their heats, but apparently they weren’t that bad compared to rumored people who lived outside the village. His mother often told him that where she came from, a lot of omegas needed in order to get through it, and alphas would use that as an advantage. He shuddered just thinking about it. 

Si Cheng would get severe cramps and often couldn’t do anything, so his mother would take pity on him and do the chores around the house for about a week, which is how long it lasted. He always felt guilty leaving her to do the work, but the pain would be too much. 

He stumbled his way through the kitchen and opened the box of herbs that his mother always left on the counter. There was a tea blend that she makes for him that soothes his stomach a little, and he needed some now. 

“Hey.” He turned around and saw Yuta standing nearby. “Is… is everything okay?”

Si Cheng bit his lip and shook his head, his knees locking in together. “My stomach hurts so I just wanted some tea.”

“Oh, I can do that for you.” Yuta reached out his palm, grabbing Si Cheng’s hand. “You should go lie down, I’ll make the tea, don’t worry.”

“No, it’s fine, promise- ow!” Si Cheng clutched his stomach harder, collapsing on the floor. 

Yuta scooped up Si Cheng in his arms off from the ground, the latter whimpering in pain. “I’ll take you to your room.”

*** 

Mark Tuan made his way back to his house when he saw Jackson off in the distance, talking to the other Mark. 

As usual, Jackson was being the loud, eccentric man he is and Mark Tuan couldn’t bring himself to walk up to him and talk to him. However, he remembered the plan his friends had set up earlier, and so he took a big breath and forced himself to take a step forward. 

Jackson and Mark Lee paid no attention to him, the two continuing their conversation, until Mark Tuan was a good twenty feet away. 

Jackson took note of him first. “Hey, Mark!!” He exclaimed, waving cheerfully at Mark Tuan. “How are you?”

Mark Tuan hesitated. God dammit, why did he have to care about people? 

He reminded himself that it was for the good of Jinyoung. Jinyoung and no one else. He wasn’t here to make small chat with Jackson, he was here to Jinyoung because he hates all of the people in the village who have power. And the parents who were idiots that had no basic ing respect for their children, like Chen Le’s parents. God, how he hated Chen Le’s parents. 

Remember, Tuan, this was for Jinyoung. 

He gave a small wave at the two friends. “Hey.”

“Hey Mark, I want you to meet- uh, ah, , what am I supposed to call you?” Jackson said to Mark Lee. 

“I really don’t care, I just ing hate Minhyung,” Mark Lee said. 

“Minhyung it is!”

“DON’T YOU DARE -”

“Jackson, can I talk to you alone for a second, it’s kind of urgent and it involves your friend,” Mark Tuan said. “Sorry…. Mark.”
Mark Lee waved him off. “Nah, don’t worry about it, have fun with this loser. Jackson, I’ll see you later, okay?”

“, remember you still owe me chocolate chip cookies!” Jackson yelled after the alpha Mark, who soon left the two alone. “What is it that you want to talk to me about?” he told Mark Tuan. 

Mark froze for a couple seconds, forgetting the one-minute conversation that he had prepared in his head. “Uh… so me and my friends were talking right?”

“Your friends like Chen Le, Baekhyun, and Jimin?” Jackson asked. 

“Those are literally the only friends I got but continue,” Mark said. “Wait, no, I was the one speaking- man this , it’s about Jinyoung, we’re worried.”

Jackson made an ‘oh’ face, looking away while scratching the back of his head. “So you’ve heard about it.”

“Jinyoung told me himself and Yoongi from Jaebum,” Mark explained. “But yeah, what are you guys planning on doing?"

“It’s a bit… tough, not gonna lie,” Jackson started. “Jaebum is, well… they’re considering running away.”

Mark's eyes widened. “R-run away?”

Jackson nodded. “Yeah, even if they get a union ceremony officially, Jinyoung can still get punished for it, so, there’s really no other choice.” 

Mark tightened his fists. “You guys are just going to let them?”

“Jaebum isn’t going to risk Jinyoung getting hurt,” Jackson stated. “Trust me, none of us are going to let that happen, but unfortunately, that’s the only solution we’ve been able to find.”
 

***

Jeonghan was in the forest, basket in his hands full of apples when he saw Seungcheol running towards him from a distance, shouting his name. 

His initial smile turned into a state of confusion when he saw Seungcheol’s worried face. “Seungcheol? Is everything okay?”

Seungcheol caught up to his mate, stopping to catch his breath. “We have to go inside."

“Why, it’s not going to rain as far as I know of,” Jeonghan said, pointing to the sky; it had  its normal bright blue color, a random cloud here and there. “Wait, what about Junmyeon-” 

“He’s fine, don’t worry.” Seungcheol grabbed Jeonghan’s wrist and led him on the path back to their house, where they could see Junmyeon outside waiting for them, Yifan beside him. “You guys all have to hear this.”

They walked up to the house, where Junmyeon immediately started bombarding his father with questions. “Appa, what’s going on, is everything all right?”

“No, unfortunately not.” Seungcheol ushered Jeonghan inside the house, and then to Junmyeon and Yifan “Go in, I don’t want you outside anymore.”

“Seungcheol, can you tell me what the hell is going on?!” Jeonghan exclaimed, carelessly setting the long-forgotten basket with apples on the counter, glaring at his husband. “Please, just tell us now.”

Seungcheol slid the glass back door closed and locked it. “Yifan, I think it’s best if you go home-”

Junmyeon grabbed Yifan’s arm, clutching his fingers around Yifan’s wrist. “He can stay,” Junmyeon pleaded. “It’s fine, I trust him.”

Jeonghan’s eyes widened. “You better not say what I think you're going to say,” he whispered. 

Seungcheol just stared at his love, guilt in his eyes. 

“No, Seungcheol, no, you, you promised it would never happen,” Jeonghan cried out, his voice cracking. A tear fell down his eye. “No, tell me, Seungcheol, no-”

“I’m sorry,” Seungcheol whispered. “I don’t know how they found out.”

“... Appa, what did- what did they find out?” Junmyeon asked slowly.

Seungcheol sighed. “I heard some officials talking about your eomma and I from being from Kaeleous. More specifically, your eomma being you know… the missing prince.”

“Wait, Kaeleous?” Yifan asked, confused. “Isn’t that the old kingdom from centuries ago that doesn’t exist anymore?”

“Yifan, I have no idea what they’ve been telling you, but it’s probably lies,” Seungcheol said. “Isn’t it weird that they never talk about other villages, other places? Why do they only want you guys here?”

“That makes no sense, I mean, there’s the Chinese immigrants, heck, I’m Chinese,” Yifan argued. “Why would- why would they block people from leaving or coming?”

“Last time they had Chinese immigrants come in was over twelve years ago,” Seungcheol explained. “Think about. That couple, Woojin and Chan? Why do they always claim they’re dead, they probably just ran off.”

Yifan shook his head vigorously. “No, you’re wrong, my father, he wouldn’t be a cruel person- wait a second.” He looked away for a few seconds, deep in thought. “Who were the officials that you heard talking, was Hyunsuk with them?”

Seungcheol squinted his eyes at Yifan. “What do you know?”

“He disagrees with my father about everything and I get the feeling he isn’t a good person. It’s rumored that he mistreats his wife and has mistresses, and they keep a lot of things they discover a secret,” Yifan explained his reasoning. “I never liked him, he’s the reason why me and my friends discover you guys’ existence in the first place.”

“I knew that had something to do with it,” Jeonghan muttered under his breath. “Since day one, since day one, he’s always hated us.”

Junmyeon thought of an idea and knew his parents were going to be against it. However… if his parent’s lives were at risk, then so were these people, too, they had to be warned. “Eomma, give me your drawings.”

“Drawings?” Jeonghan asked, confused. “What drawings, Junmyeon?”

“Of your friends,” Junmyeon explained. “I’m going to find Minghao.”

***

Taehyung was having a very good nap when he heard his parents yelling at him. 

He woke up disoriented, his head moving from side to side as he slowly opened his eyes. “WHAT IS IT, EOMMA?!” He yelled, rolling his neck until he heard a crack.

The yelling was indecipherable, so he took off the thin ratty sheet that he was allowed to use as a blanket and put on his slippers before heading out of his room. Blame it on his parents for never letting him get some rest after forcing him to pick rice for a few hours. 

Taehyung walked down the hallway slowly, still half-asleep, when he bumped into his mom on accident. “Sorry, eomma,” he apologized, bowing down furiously so that she wouldn’t hit him. 

His mother must have not had energy today or something, since she merely rolled her eyes at him and gave him a push to continue walking down the hallway. “You’re idiotic friend is here again. 

Ah. Hakyeon. Taehyung’s mother did not like Taehyung being friends with Hakyeon, but she wouldn’t dare make herself look disrespectful in front of the omega. That was the type of fake person she was. 

Taehyung walked through the living room and opened the door, revealing a tired Hakyeon on the step, clothed in his pajamas while barefoot. He was dotting some bruises along his jaw. “Can I stay here for today?” he asked. “If it’s not much trouble, that is, your mother was very annoyed when she saw me.”

Taehyung opened the door wider. “Come on in,” he said, once again being reminded how much he hated Hakyeon’s parents as well. 

***

Kihyun’s heat was finally becoming bearable. 

It’s been going on for a few days now, but all he felt was sadness and anger, plus his usual cravings for sugar, but now he felt a bit better, thankfully. 

His heats weren’t usually that bad compared to other omegas, but it had been hard to push away Shownu for a few days. He liked hanging out with the latter and always had a small crush on him, so imagine his surprise when Shownu was confessing his feelings in the middle of nowhere. 

But now his heat was over, and he could see Shownu again. 

It’s not that he didn’t trust Shownu, he did. It’s just that when he’s near an alpha during his heat, his hormones often went crazy and made it unbearable. He didn’t know why it did that, it was a rare case in alphas, but it made him more emotional and he didn’t like it; the last thing he needed was Shownu to see him cry for three hours over a glass of spilt milk.

Kihyun was cleaning the living room after falling back on his chores for the past days. Some trash and clothes have accumulated, but it wasn’t much at all as he picked it all up and organized the mess. He lived alone, his mother having died years ago, so it was all his doing. He tended to be lazy during his heats, too. 

He wrapped his favorite blankets around himself and went outside his little hut, sitting on the small porch that he had built a year ago and sat down, waiting for Shownu to arrive. 

The alpha didn’t even take five minutes; Kihyun was able to see him from a distance, walking on the cobblestone street, a bamboo basket on his head. Shownu must be bringing rice balls again; those were his favorite meal to eat at any time of day. 

Shownu was such a sweetheart. 

***

“I think I had a family,” Xiaojun said randomly during dinner. 

He had helped Kun earlier make a simple meal of stir-fried noodles, and the two had been eating in silence when Xiaojun spoke up. The omega was not getting his memories back as fast as he should have been, so hearing this meant progress. 

Kun swallowed the bite of noodles he had taken and spoke up. “What makes you think of that?” he asked softly. 

“I always see… this woman that takes care of me,” Xiaojun explained. “Me and a little girl. I called her mei mei, but I can’t recall what I called the older woman.”

“Do you remember anything in particular with them?” Kun asked. “Maybe, I don’t know, something that led you here at the village?”

Xiaojun stayed silent for a bit, thinking, but ultimately shook his head. “No, nothing… out of the ordinary, I guess.”

***

Taeyong finished preparing lunch for his kids when he heard a knock on the door. He had been making pork strips with rice and green beans while his children played around in the living room. 

Jungshin, the oldest, was the one who stopped playing, realizing it was Jaehyun, who always came around during this time. “Appa is here, appa is here!!”

Taeyong wiped his hands on a rag as he watched Jungshin stumbled his way towards the foyer, where Jaehyun would open any second. However, the knocking continued. 

That was unexpected. Did Jaehyun forget his keys in the morning? Taeyong was certain he hadn’t; Jaehyun wasn’t a forgetful person, and he always laid out his stuff on the counter the evening before, and there was nothing there this morning, meaning he must have taken all his stuff with him. 

Confused, Taeyong walked behind Jungshin, lifting him up and putting him behind him. “Go back to the living room with your brothers, okay? Don’t worry, I’ll tell appa you were the first one to wait for him.”

“But I want to see appa!!” Jungshin exclaimed, fists in the air as Taeyong heard another knock on the door. Jaehyun wasn’t even calling out his name. 

“Go with your brothers, okay?” Taeyong whispered. “I’ll tell you when you can see appa.”

Jungshin crossed his arms, pouting as he stomped his way back to the living room, his appa soon forgotten when he started yelling at Jongup for grabbing his favorite blanket. 

His son now gone, Taeyong looked out the peephole of the door, where he could see two officials outside. That explained all of Taeyong’s questions about Jaehyun, but it left him with more. Why were the officials here? More importantly, where was his husband?

Taeyong opened the door to greet them, not caring whether he was presentable or not. People judged him anyways. “Good afternoon,” he said, bowing down politely. “What brings you here?”

“We’re here to look through your alpha’s stuff,” one of them said, pushing past Taeyong to enter the house. 

Startled, Taeyong tried to pull him back. “Hey, you can’t trespass in here-”

“Jung Jaehyun is in custody, we have every right.”

 

***

“There is no way that I’m letting you walk out that door,” Seungcheol said, pointing at Junmyeon. “You are staying here where it is safe.”

“But they can help us, I’m sure!!” Junmyeon yelled at his father. He doesn’t remember the last time he raised his voice at his parents. “Besides, eomma, you tell me every night how much you miss them,” he said to Jeonghan more softly. “Don’t you want to see them again?”

Jeonghan stayed quiet, looking away from the two, while Seungcheol continued to yell at Junmyeon.

“Look, son, I love you, okay? I can’t let you risk your life, especially not now,” Seungcheol said, trying to control his anger. “You know there’s a reason why we came here.”

Junmyeon balled his fists. “You can’t stop me, appa-”

“Kim Junmyeon, now is not the time to argue,” Jeonghan said, stepping in between the two. Both his husband and his son looked away from each other, while Yifan stood there awkwardly watching the whole exchange. “Seungcheol, please don’t get mad at him.”

“I’m not arguing-”

“I’m not mad-”

“No, the two of you, stop it, it’s my fault we’re in this position in the first place.” Jeonghan looked at Yifan. “What exactly have they told you about us?”

Yifan had no idea what was going on nor what they were asking him for but tried to answer as much as he could. “Well, I know a lot of them are against you being here, but… I’m sorry, they don’t really talk to me about you, but at the engagement party they kept asking me questions about you guys.”

“That doesn’t tell us a lot,” Seungcheol muttered when he noticed Junmyeon leaving. “Hey, where are you going?”

“I’m going to my room,” Junmyeon said, marching his way up the stairs. “I have stuff to do-”

“What could you possibly-”

“Seungcheol, I said don’t yell at him,” Jeonghan shushed him. “Let him be mad, there’s nothing wrong with it.”

Yifan left the kitchen as well, standing at the bottom of the stairs, yelling after Junmyeon. “Junmyeon, are you okay?”

Junmyeon ignored him, so Yifan followed him upstairs, chasing after the one he was pretty sure he was in love with. 

***

Back in the kingdom of Kaeleous, the two friends Vernon and Seungkwan became tired, so they decided to leave the woods. 

Vernon and Seungkwan returned back to Vernon’s house to find his father at the kitchen counter, piles of tissues all around him, his mother nowhere in sight. 

“Uh, appa?” Vernon said, Seungkwan quiet behind him. “Is everything okay?”

Soonyoung didn’t look up, unaware that his son and his best friend had entered the house.

Vernon stepped closer into the kitchen, standing in front of his father. “Appa? Where’s eomma, maybe he can-”

“He’s gone,” Soonyoung muttered. “Your eomma is gone.”