Today was the day Jeonghan had been waiting for!

The gala was taking place today, so early in the morning, two maids came to Jeonghan’s room and to awaken him, remembering him that he had a lot to do for today.

Jeonghan, buzzing with excitement, took a long bath and exfoliated himself, playing with the bubbles that formed in the large bath. When he finally came out, dried and his long hair in a towel, however, he found Minghao waiting for him on his bed, criss-crossed. 

“Hello, Princess of Kaeleous!” Minghao exclaimed, beaming. “Today is the day!”

Jeonghan frowned. “I hate being called Princess,” he muttered. “I’m not even a girl.”

“My bad, I meant to say best friend of mine,” Minghao corrected himself. A lot of people did refer to Jeonghan as the princess, anyways, but no matter how many times you told him it wasn’t for criticism, Jeonghan still had his own opinion. “But anyways! It’s the g-a-l-a.”

“I know, god, I have so much work to do today,” Jeonghan said, unraveling the towel in his hair. He was still practically half-, having just come out of the bath with only a towel wrapped around his waist, but eh, it was just Minghao, anyways. “But I’m so excited, I hope-”

“You see Seungcheol?” Minghao teased, laughing. 

Jeonghan’s face turned red, even though Minghao didn’t lie. “Don’t make fun of me!” he yelled, whacking the towel in his hands on Minghao, who still continued to laugh at his friend. “Minghao!”

“I’m sorry ,” Minghao said, wiping the tears off his face with his sleeve. He was still wearing pajamas; since he wasn’t from this kingdom, anyways, only visiting as a “guest” (Hint: stay besides his friend the entire time), he didn’t have that much royal obligations to perform. Plus, he wasn’t even the firstborn back in China anyways. “But come on, Junhui told me that Seungcheol was going to be there anyways. You have to make progress in your relationship tonight.”

“Making progress,” Jeonghan mumbled. “I can’t, he’s just too perfect, I’m nothing compared to him -”

“, you’re a P R I N C E,” Minghao interrupted him. “You idiot. Imbecile.”

“I am not an imbecile,” Jeonghan said, sighing as he sat down on the bed besides Minghao. “This is too hard.”

“It’s not! Trust me, I promise everything is going to turn out all right,” Minghao said. “Now hurry and get dressed, I want a fruit tart for breakfast.”

“You can GLADLY make your own fruit tart,” Jeonghan said, lying down on the bed. The maids had replaced the sheets earlier when he was bathing, so they were fresh and crisp. “Junhui starts courting you in ONE day and now you’re acting like you know more.”

“Hmm, have you kissed Seungcheol?” Minghao asked rhetorically. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Now PLEASE, I am STARVING, you don’t want your best friend to starve, do you?”

***

“So I had originally made chicken soup for the four of us but I think it’ll stretch enough for seven since I always make enough for leftovers,” Minghao said, setting the pot of soup down on the table. “No one is going to starve! I hope you guys enjoy it.”

“Thanks, babe, you know I love you,” Junhui said, leaning across the table to give Minghao a peck on his cheek.

Zitao squinted his eyes. “Bleh.”

“You’re one to talk,” Luhan muttered under his breath.

“Hmm? What was that, Luhan?” Minghao asked his son. “Sorry, I couldn’t hear you-”

“He was being rude and inconsiderate,” Zitao interrupted him, picking up his spoon. “I want chicken noodle soup.”

“Do you guys have lime?” Soonyoung asked. “I’m used to eating it with lime.”

Minghao clapped his hands together. “Sorry, that’s what I forgot! Hold on, give me one second-”

He dashed back into the kitchen, where they immediately heard something heavy fall and Minghao yelping.

“MY LOVE, WHO HURT YOU?!” Junhui yelled, jumping out of his chair and dashing into the kitchen. “MINGHAO!”

“I have ten minutes before Minseok gets here,” Luhan said, standing up and grabbing the ladle. “Zitao, give me your bowl.”

Zitao, who usually argued that he could serve himself, didn’t say anything as there were guests present, so he handed his older brother his bowl, rolling his eyes. 

Junmyeon didn’t say a word during the whole thing, staring at the empty bowl in front of him, still processing everything that has happened in the past two hours.

“Hey, are you okay?” Junmyeon looked at Yifan, who was seated besides him. “You look like you’re in a daze.”

Junmyeon shook his head. “I’m fine, it’s just… I never imagined this in a million years.”

Yifan nodded. “Yeah, I get what you mean,” he said quietly, extending his palm out to Junmyeon. “May I?”

“I- uh, yeah, yeah,” Junmyeon whispered, slowly reaching out to hold Yifan’s hand, feeling his neck getting hot. 

Minghao came back from the kitchen, an ice pack on his head and a Junhui behind him, rambling apologies. “Anyways- oh, , I forgot the lime and salt.”

“I got it, you sit down,” Junhui said quickly, dashing back into the kitchen, leaving Minghao standing alone to roll his eyes at him.

“Dude, how do you already have an injury?” Soonyoung asked, surprised. 

Minghao glared at Luhan and Zitao, who were taken aback. “Which one of you two left a rock in the bag with wheat crackers?”

Luhan, who set the bowl down in front of his brother, immediately pointed fingers. “He was eating crackers earlier.”

“Woah, thank you for sticking up for me,” Zitao said, rolling his eyes. “And I didn’t even grab those crackers, I’m eating the ones Sehun gave me-”

“Who’s Sehun?” the two turned to look at Minghao. “Who is he?”

Zitao’s eyes widened when he realized what he said. “No one,” he said quickly.

“I FOUND THE LIMES AND SALT!” Junhui exclaimed, carrying a small bowl in his hands which had the limes cut in half and the salt shaker. “Sorry, I couldn’t find them.”

“They were literally on the counter,” Minghao said. “Junhui, do you need glasses?”

“Probably, if I keep seeing you, aka the love of my life,” Junhui said, setting the bowl on the table before grabbing Minghao’s bowl to serve him. “You are brighter than the sun. Other than that, I am perfectly fine.”

“Clearly you are fine,” Soonyoung said, grabbing a lime. “You are insane.”

“Nice pickup line, appa,” Luhan said, grabbing his spoon to eat the soup in front of him. Like he said, Minseok was about to show up any second now.

“ANYWAYS!” Minghao sat down and crossed his arms in front of him, staring at Junmyeon who was still looking at his lap. “Does Jeonghan still make his fruit tarts?”

“THAT’S the question you ask him after your twenty-minute meltdown?” Soonyoung asked him in disbelief. “Deadass?”

“I can ASK him whatever I want, my dream is finally coming true!” Minghao yelled at him. “Anyways.”

“He- I didn’t get to try them until recently,” Junmyeon spoke up, raising an eye at them. He wasn’t used to being in a room with so many people. “The ingredients are hard to find.”

Minghao titled his head. “Hard to find?” he asked. “Where do you guys live?”

“Uh… I mean... “ Junmyeon looked at Yifan. “We live in a village in the forest, I don’t know much about it.”

“He and his family didn’t really interact with the others in the village,” Yifan added, jumping in to help. “It took us a few hours to get here.”

Soonyoung frowned. “A village?” he asked. “Do you guys know about here and the Kaeleous Kingdom?”

Yifan raised his hands as in an ‘I don’t know’ gesture. “I mean, the officials heard rumors about it but the people don’t know, it’s… kind of complicated.”

“Officials?” Minghao asked. “Like the government? Is it democratic or something?”

“Eomma, we don’t even live in a democratic political system,” Zitao pointed out. “Monarchy?”

“Oh,  , I forgot about King Yoon,” Minghao said truthfully. “Wait, Junmyeon… how much have Seungcheol and Jeonghan told you about their past?”

Junmyeon played with the spoon in his hands, still not have taken a bite of the soup in front of him. “Everything, I guess,” he said. “Eomma says he was a prince and you were his best friend, he told me about his mother, about him pining after Seungcheol and you after Junhui-”

“Babe, you had a crush on me?” Junhui asked, placing a hand over his chest. “I’m flattered.”

“I will-” Minghao slightly got up and pretended that he was going to hit Junhui, sitting back down. “Anyways. But uh, Junmyeon, did he tell you… why he left?”

Junmyeon nodded. “Appa got him… well, pregnant, and he says people were trying to kill him, and eomma says that he got stabbed and he almost lost me-”

“Yeah, I remember that day,” Soonyoung said. “It was… god, it was so scary, I had genuine fear for Seungcheol.”

“Well, maybe he shouldn’t have been a jerk to Jeonghan and befriended some bad people,” Minghao muttered, picking up some soup with his spoon. “Stupid.”

Junmyeon frowned. “What do you mean jerk? Jeonghan says Seungcheol was- was always nice to him,” Junmyeon corrected him. That fact had been drilled in his head his entire life. 

“Uh, no, he wasn’t,” Minghao corrected him. “Seungcheol ruined his mother’s dress at the gala, turns out Seungcheol really hated him and wanted to ruin his reputation.” He grabbed one of the limes and squeezed it on his soup. “Obviously, they made up and started seeing each other in secret, but, yeah, that incident made them be on a rocky slope for a bit.”

“Wait, appa- Seungcheol ruined what ?” Junmyeon asked. “Eomma had- Jeonghan has a scarf that he got from his mother…”

Minghao looked at Junhui and Soonyoung, all giving each other glances. 

A doorbell sound interrupted them, and immediately Luhan got up, picking up his already empty bowl. “That’s Minseok, we’re going to be in my room, I’ll do the dishes, eomma.”

“Oh, yeah, have fun,” Minghao spoke up, his eyes wandering to his bowl of soup. “Um… Junmyeon, if I mind asking… is the scarf white and translucent?”

Junmyeon thought of the scarf, the one his parents gave him when he had the engagement party with Yifan. They said they have been wanting to give it to him when he became an adult, and Junmyeon knew how much that meant to his mother. 

“Yeah, it is,” Junmyeon answered.

Minghao ran his fingers through his head. “He really saved the fabric, didn’t he?” he muttered under his breath, laughing. “He really did.”

***

Yuta looked up when Si Cheng entered his room, his face streaked with tears. 

“Hey, you’re back- uh, were you- were you crying?” Yuta asked. “Are you okay? What happened at the meeting, anyways?”

Si Cheng shook his head, closing his eyes. “It- I hated it,” he whispered, his voice cracking. “I- I can’t believe it.”

Yuta got up from where he was sitting on the ground. “Did they hurt you?” Yuta asked, his voice getting angry. “Did- can I ask what they did?”

Si Cheng slid down against the door, bringing his knees closer to his chest as he started crying on his knees. 

In a flash, Yuta sat next to Si Cheng and pulled him into a hug, the omega’s crying getting louder as he clutched onto Yuta’s shirt, not saying anything in return.

He doesn’t know how long they sat there on the floor, Yuta holding a crying Si Cheng. Could have been five minutes, could have been an hour, Yuta didn’t know. But by the time Si Cheng was finished, he pulled away, hiccuping here and there as he wiped his face with the back of his hand.

“They announced some news and stuff,” Si Cheng explained slowly, trying to explain what happened, hiccuping again. “And… they paired up some omegas, including… including me.”

Yuta froze, staring at Si Cheng who was now looking at him, where Yuta could notice his red and puffy eyes. “Yuta?”

“They- they really went that far?” Yuta asked quietly. 

Si Cheng nodded. “There’s this alpha named Jaewoo,” he whispered. “A grandson of one of the Elders. I- I don’t like him, I’ve seen him be rude and- and I’m scared, he’s going to force me and-”

“ No one is going to force you,” Yuta muttered under his breath. “They- they really won’t let you say no?”

Si Cheng shook his head. “My mother really tried,” he whispered. “But they called her names and- and he said he had no problem mating a child of an immigrant-”

“This- this is ing bull!” Yuta yelled. “They can’t do that, who the do they think they are?!”

“I- I don’t know, but…” Si Cheng closed his eyes for a few seconds, trying to prevent a tear falling down. “I don’t know, I mean, they’re in charge…”

Yuta clenched his fist, running his other hand through his hair. “So you… you’re never going to be with someone you love then. Is that what they want?”

“Adultery is frowned upon,” Si Cheng agreed sadly. “And I wasn’t going to have a chance with him, anyways.”

Yuta leaned against the wall, making eye contact with Si Cheng. “Who’s him?” he asked softly. “And why not?”

Si Cheng shook his head, rubbing his eyes vigorously. He knew he was looking like a mess right now. “You said you were leaving soon,” he explained. 

They sat there in silence, Si Cheng busying himself with drying off his face, while Yuta processed what Si Cheng just dropped on him.

“Let me kiss you,” Yuta asked abruptly. “Just… let me.”
 

“I- but, Yuta, they’re- they’re going to take me away from my mother,” Si Cheng explained again.

“That is their ing problem,” Yuta said. “Just… if you want. Unlike them, I don’t force people.”

Si Cheng laughed, sniffling as he wiped his eyes again. “That is true,” he said. “And also, unlike them, I wouldn’t give them permission.”

Yuta curled his hand around Si Cheng’s neck, the two grinning despite one of them having been angry moments prior and the other crying, but for a minute, they let themselves forget about the future as their lips met, kissing each other slowly as if they had all the time in the world. 

***

Baekhyun and Chanyeol walked back from their swim in the river, though this time, it was a bit different. 

Baekhyun thought about Chanyeol holding him as he sobbed pathetically, Chanyeol who had held him the entire time. At one point, Chanyeol reached out to grab his hand, and they still had yet to let go. 

He liked the warm feeling, Baekhyun thought, despite them both being wet from the swim. Chanyeol just gave him a warm feeling in general, which Baekhyun thought was weird, considering the latter being an alpha. Alphas were supposed to be cold, not warm. 

Why wasn’t Chanyeol cold?

“Let’s hope we didn’t miss anything important in the meeting,” Chanyeol said, breaking the silence. He gave Baekhyun one of his usual grins. “I know Shownu courting Kihyun was going to be announced, though I don’t know anything else.”

“Well, Jimin and Yoongi are engaged,” Baekhyun added. “That’ll get announced, though Jimin just wants something small. I know he’s really looking forward to it, he really does love Yoongi.”

“Yoongi, man, that alpha creeps me out,” Chanyeol said. “I feel like he could murder me in a heartbeat. Wait, does he even have a heart?”

“He’s really not as cruel as you’re making him to be,” Baekhyun corrected him. “But, I mean, he would do anything for Jimink to be honest.”

“Ah, that’s really cute,” Chanyeol said, smiling. “I like romantic couples, it gives me hope.”

Baekhyun nodded. He didn’t think that he would be in a relationship one day, but… Yoongi and Jimin did have something special, he had to admit.

“Wait, is that- why do people always find us when we get out of the river??” Chanyeol asked, pointing into the distance with his free hand. “I think that’s- wait, that’s Jungkook, he looks nervous.”

“Is…” Baekhyun tried to think of the important alphas. Most of them, especially sons of the officials, were really rude and aggressive. The only ones he could think that were actually okay were Yifan and his friends, along with a few other ones. “Is he your friend?”

“Yeah, he has a weird obsession with coconuts,” Chanyeol said. “JUNGKOOK! What happened at the meeting this time?”

“What’s- what’s a coconut?” Baekhyun asked as they stopped in their tracks, letting go of Chanyeol’s hand. “What’s that?”

Chanyeol scratched his neck. “I think- a fruit or a mammal, I don’t know, not gonna lie...” he trailed, not wanting to sound stupid. “I-”

“WE GOT BAD NEWS, MOTHERER!” Jungkook yelled, finally reaching up to them. “I think that’s, like, one of the most important meetings ever, man, you missed a lot-”

“Can you just give me a summary?” Chayeol asked. “I’m kind of tired and I want a nap.”

Jungkook looked at Baekhyun besides him. “Oh, Baekhyun… hey…”

Baekhyun shrugged. He didn’t know Jungkook that well. “Hey.”

“Is this about Yifan?” Chanyeol asked him. “Didn’t Shownu say he went with Junmyeon somewhere?”

“Yeah, the village's going crazy about that, but no, that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about,” Jungkook rambled. “So you know Alpha Jaehyun? I think he’s being tried for treason-”

“He’s being tried for what ?!” Chanyeol shrieked.

“-treason, and I think an unmated couple are expecting- yeah, Jaebum and Jinyoung!” He exclaimed. “And… uh…”

“Wait, treason for what?” Baekhyun asked, also confused. “I thought he was a good alpha.”

“He is! At least, I thought, I don’t know,” Jungkook admitted. “But… Chanyeol… they’re also pairing omegas.”

Chanyeol frowned. “Are they really that desperate?” he asked. “Who are they pairing, anyways?”

Jungkook gulped. “Someone named Si Cheng with Jaewoo,” he started saying, “and… uh…”

He didn’t remove his glance from Baekhyun, and even though he didn’t finish his sentence, Baekhyun suddenly understood.

“No, they wouldn’t dare,” Baekhyun whispered. “I’m not- we’re not even one of the desirable omegas, they wouldn’t-”

“Baekhyun, I’m- I’m really sorry,” Jungkook said softly. “We really tried, but Chanyeol, so many people were missing, it was hard to convinced them-”

“Wait, are you- are you saying they’re forcing Baekhyun to mate someone?!” Chanyeol yelled. “They can’t-”

Baekhyun’s hands started shaking. “No, they wouldn’t- they wouldn’t-” he kept mumbling over and over.

“We’ll figure out something, I don’t know, can you lie about a relationship?” Jungkook suggested. “I think a lot of people are doing that, or maybe, I don’t know, that’s what Yifan was doing-”

“They can’t do that- wait, Baekhyun, where are you going?!” Chanyeol shouted, watching as Baekhyun darted away from them, running. “BAEKHYUN!”