“Do people normally like bananas?” Yifan asked Shownu a few days after. 

Shownu looked at him, confused. “Why do you care about bananas all of a sudden?”

“Answer the question, would it be a nice gift?” Yifan repeated. 

There were rare, exotic fruits and vegetables that many people didn’t have access to. Mangos, for example, were hard to come by, and so were kiwis, raspberries, and bananas. Usually officials and their families were the ones who managed to get ahold of them when they came by, although the villagers will sometimes spring for one every now and then. 

Three of the officials, include Hyunsuk, would always travel out of the village and came with imports that they have gotten from others. They were the ones who had access to maps and technology that the villagers didn’t even know what they were called. 

For Yifan to gift someone bananas, he was either trying to apologize them or impress them. Shownu was getting more intrigued. “Who are they for?"

Yifan lighted up. “Do you remember last week when we gave that package to Scoups?”

Shownu could feel the lightbulb in his head flickering. “Is he mad that you tried to flirt with his omega son? Badly?”

Yifan squinted at him. “I never met Mr. Scoups.”

The lightbulb was fully on now. “Apologize the mom?”

Or not. 

Yifan stared at the bananas that he held in his hand. “Never mind, forget I asked-“

“Oh, you’re trying to impress the omega!” Shownu jumped out of his seat, the electrician in his head declaring a job well done. “You like him, that’s why you stuttered!”

“Hey, you know, can you keep it down a bit,” Yifan asked him. “And I don’t like him, I’m just…..curious.”

The six alphas had agreed to keep the omega and his mother a secret, since no one knew of their existence, and they couldn’t deny or accept rumors of Scoups either. It had been a secret for so long, it must remain that way. Plus, it was cooler if only they knew. 

Although, it had been weird. Why did Hyunsuk tried to make them go, anyways? Why ruin a decade’s worth of secrets on a group of alphas trying to play a stupid game? Did they want the alphas to be intimidated?

Jungkook had suggested that the few officials who knew of their presence probably wanted them to start hanging out in the village. Seunghyun took it to a dark turn to say that maybe they wanted Junmyeon to mate with someone soon, especially with the low birth rates that have been occurring with recent years. 

Yifan had to admit that Junmyeon was indeed very pretty, but it would be cruel to force him with someone after no years of interacting with someone. That would be a douche move on the councils part. 

He opened up some drawers, rummaging inside until he pulled out what he was looking for: a long strand of white ribbon. He grabbed the bunch of bananas and wrapped the ribbon around it, tying a lopsided knot. 

He proudly lifted it up. “See? Would this be a nice gift?"

“Bold of you to assume the other doesn’t get bananas often,” Shownu said. 

Yifan rolled his eyes. “Bold of you to assume I know everything about him.”

“At the rate you’re going, it’ll be soon enough.”  

“Haha, really funny.” Yifan looked at the small alarm clock on his nightstand, one of the only clocks in the village. “Hey, Chanyeol should be here by now.”

“I would be worried, but considering how the last three times it’s because he ran into a tree, I wouldn’t be surprised,” Shownu said. 

Yifan untied the ribbon, unsatisfied on how it turned out. If he was going to give a gift, it couldn’t be a mediocre one. 

Shownu spoke up again during Yifan’s fourth try. “ Do you think the council is going to marry you off, soon?”

Yifan stopped wrapping the ribbon and turned around. “Where is that coming from?”

“Well, when I came in earlier, some of the officials were talking about how you’re getting old enough.” Shownu explained. 

Yifan shook his head. “My dad had been saying for a while now that I could be initiated as an official soon.”

“You know most officials are mated alphas,” Shownu said. 

“My dad said that I will have the freedom to choose an omega, and I will uphold his promise,” Yifan stated. Shownu only sigh.

“Well, you might as well start courting an omega soon. They’ve been talking about the omegas for a while now. They talked about the Chinese one and his mother. I think the Thai one with his parents. Some other ones. I don’t know what they’re planning.”

“Only they would be desperate that we start a new generation,” Yifan said. “They always in everything. Can’t they give everyone a break?”

***

It happened on the way to the rice marsh. 

His father told him last night that their rice supply had run out again, the second time this month. Which meant that Jisung had to go collect some the next day. Rice was what they ate for every meal, three meals, no matter if accompanied with vegetables, meat, soup or nothing at all. If Jisung wanted to eat, he was going to have to collect some. 

He rose up early in the morning, putting on his slippers and grabbing the wooden basket, out the door before the sun could completely rise. Pretty soon, the rest of his family was going to wake up and complain of starvation, so he was going to have to be as quick as possible. 

He went through the familiar worn-down path that headed towards one of the smaller marshes. The council had taken ownership of the larger ones a few years back, so if the people wanted rice, they had to buy it or get it from somewhere else. Of course, Jisung’s family didn’t have money to spare, so he had to make the long walk to the smaller marsh, hidden by some thick trees. 

He had never found much activity from that one specific marsh, so he figured not many people knew of its existence. It was more rice for him, he supposed, even though he could never carry it all; rice was heavy, and by the time he would reach his house, his arms would be entirely sore. One time, the basket gave out during one of his trips and broke, so he had to walk back home for another basket and walk back to the marsh to get rice and carry it back home. Luckily, he didn’t have to do any other chores that day, for surely he would have fainted. 

The only sound in the forest was the crunch of dead leaves he would step on and the occasional hit the basket would make with a tree branch. He was bored out of his skull and tossed it upwards and caught it, repeating it multiple times until he accidentally threw it behind him. 

Cursing out loud, he walked back a few steps and stopped, reaching over to grab the basket. He dusted it off and took a few leaves here and there. It wasn’t until he heard the sound of crunching leaves that made him freeze. 

Those sounds weren’t from him; he had stopped walking. An animal? He had never gotten enough alpha training to hunt; besides, it wasn’t like he had the spears with him anyways. 

He heard the sounds again, but this time it was also sounds of branches moving. He walked closer to the sounds and realized they were coming from a nearby bush, which was viciously shaking. 

There wasn’t an animal in sight, so he grabbed the longest and thickest broken branch he could carry and, raising the basket to shield his face, started swinging the branch on the bush. 

Most certainly did he not expect shouts at all. He gave three hits before he realized that they were, in fact, not animal shrieks but a human crying in pain. 

He threw the branch on the grab and lifted the basket higher to protect his face. Using his foot, he pried the bush open at the center and that’s when he saw him. 

Oh, that was the problem. He accidently beat up an omega. The boy was  lying down, hands wrapped around himself. His clothes were torn, and Jisung could see bruises on his arms and face. There was even a nasty gash on the kid’s forehead, around 2 inches long and it looked pretty deep. 

The boy was whimpering in pain, thanks to Jisung. He didn’t bother to look into the alpha’s eyes. 

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Jisung shouted, throwing the basket nearby. He bent down and tried to calm the other who wouldn’t stop shaking. “I thought you were an animal!”

The omega had stopped shaking but still had his arms wrapped around himself. “I fell asleep and I was waking up.” 

Needless to say, it was a long walk home for Jisung. 

***

He woke up earlier than he would have liked to. 

Kun considered himself a night owl, preferring to stay up long past midnight and wake up right before noon. Rarely he would wake up at the crack of dawn, but exceptions are always made. 

He let out a loud groan and lifted the quilted higher to pull over his face as he crawled back into his pillow. However, no matter how much he attempted to block out the sounds of outside, Kun eventually couldn’t go back to sleep. 

Throwing the quilt aside, he stared at the ceiling for a good minute before he eventually made him get off the bed and put on his slippers. If people were going to stand outside his house and make a commotion, then he had the right to know what was going on and to tell them to shut it. 

Kun grabbed his robe and put it on before walking to the foyer, opening the door slowly as he let his eyes adjust to the light. It wasn’t until a few seconds later until he realized what was going on. 

Across the road from his house, there was a shop that was known for having a place outside for people to gather. In this case, a group of omegas and alphas appeared to be surrounding someone pushed against the wall, as there was a small space, but who they were confronting, Kun didn’t know. 

He walked outside, shielding his face from the sun as he yelled out a small hey to them. He didn’t know what fight was going on, but for a 27-year-old man, he wanted his sleep, thank you very much. 

They made room for him to pass, which confused the alpha but okay. Why they would involve him in this mess, he didn’t know. 

“Why are you guys screaming so early?” He asked one of the alphas, who he recognized to be Shownu’s father. “What’s going on?”

“This young fellow just appeared here,” the man replied. “He might have been here all night, but no one has noticed until now when the shop was being opened up. He doesn’t seem to speak Korean.

“He might speak Chinese,” one of the female omegas told him. “But you know how most of them are at the other side of the village. And you know they don’t really mingle with us.”

Chinese? Kun was good at that. He was one of the only Chinese who didn’t live among the immigrants. His family actually goes back three generations since they moved here, but his parents had died when he was 21 from a disease, so that’s why he lived alone. 

He pushed his way towards the front, and that’s when he saw the young omega. The guy was crouched on the ground, hands covering his chest as he pushed himself farther towards the wall as to get away from these people, a feeling Kun relates most of the time. The omega’s clothes were all teared up, his black and red sweater having a few holes covering his stomach and shoulders. He was also sporting some bruises along his face and neck, and had horrible bags under his eyes. 

Kun kneeled down to his level and spoke to him. “Do you speak Mandarin?”

The other’s face lit up. “Thank you, I don’t understand these people at all.”

Kun merely shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. Where do you come from, anyways?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Kun frowned. Amnesia? That was rare. It has only happened in 4 occasions in the village’s history as far as he knew, but it apparently occurs during head trauma or something. Although, that would explain the latter’s bruises. They were going to take a long time to heal up, too 

Letting out a sigh, he reached over and grabbed the latter’s sleeve, pulling him upwards, He didn’t miss the omega wincing. “He’s going to come to my place for now,” he told the other villages in Korean. “He only knows Mandarin and he has amnesia. He’s going to need time to heal.”

“It was about time we got some omegas,” one of the alphas said. “All of the ones here are too prude and stingy.”

“Kun, let him stay at my place instead,” another shouted. 

“What are they saying,” the guy asked him, to which Kun said don’t worry about it as he dragged him back to his house, locking the bolts behind them to prevent any other stupid person come by. 

The guy just stared around the house while Kun spoke. “Most of the Chinese in the village live towards the edge, but I doubt that most of them will have room for you, so you can stay here as long as you like, wait for your amnesia to end,  your injuries to heal, whatever, but I wouldn’t recommend you to spend a lot of time outside.”

The other frowned. “Why, what’s wrong?”

“Just your usual lot of s.” Kun went to his room for a minute and came back with a towel and some clothes. “You can shower for now if you like, I’ll be in my room if you need anything. Do you remember your name, by the way?”

The other pondered for a moment. “I think……Xi……Xiao… something. I think it ended in Jun. Xiao something Jun.”

Kun nodded. “Xiaojun it is.”
 

***

They’ve been living his bedroom for a whole week. 

Si Cheng didn’t know much about them or where they came from. The only thing he knew was that, just like how he came from a certain region that was known as China, they were in a similar spot but called Japan, and thus they knew Japanese. He doesn’t know why they were running, who they were running from, and why they couldn’t go back. 

He hadn’t told his mother yet, even though he promised that he would. They never leave the room, unless it’s to go to the river, in which they wait until his mother is out in the forest. Si Cheng felt bad of them being cooped up in there, but they had no where else to go. 

When Si Cheng came back after collecting some rice, his mother went out to their little garden to plant some seeds for fruit. He took this time to go to his room, where he found the two alphas quietly playing with some thing they made a few days ago. They had asked for a block of wood, a knife, some bamboo and leaves, where they made some weird trinket that Si Cheng still didn’t understand how to play. 

The two stopped playing when they saw Si Cheng come in. He had no idea what they were saying, since it was in Japanese, but they stopped speaking it anyways. 

Si Cheng merely gave them a nod before going to his close to stack the small towels that had been drying the sun. That’s when the quieter one, who couldn’t speak Korean that well, stood up. 

“Can I, uh, outside?” He gestured pointing to the door. “Safe?”

“Can he go outside,” the younger explained. “He’s trying."

“Well, I mean,” Si Cheng said, stopping what he was doing. “My mom’s in the garden, just be careful, but um… I guess?”

“Thank you,” the elder said before walking out. 

Takuya, Si Cheng had realized, wasn’t really an indoors person. Everytime he went to the river, we would stall for as long as he could, enjoying the wind and the sun and the water. The younger one, Yuta, was the opposite; if he didn’t see the sun for days, well, that wouldn’t be a problem for him. 

Si Cheng turned to look at Yuta, who still didn’t play with the trinket. “Aren’t you going to the river with him?” he asked. 

Yuta shook his head. “Not gonna lie, but I don’t think he’s going to the river.”

Si Cheng was confused. “Wait, then where is he going?”

Yuta shrugged. “He just wants to walk around. Look at things. Maybe ... hey, does everyone in this village know everyone?”

Si Cheng sat down criss-crossed on the floor. “Well, depends on the group of people. The officials know everyone, but if you’re indoors all the time, they won’t really recognize you.” 

Yuta nodded and looked down to the trinket he was holding. “Do they know you?”

Si Cheng shook his head. “They don’t really know all the poor chinese.”

“Well, let’s hope Takuya passes as Chinese,” Yuta said, laughing at his own comment. “That way they don’t ask questions.” 

Si Cheng bit his lip and looked down, not wanting to look at Yuta. “I don’t know if I can keep you guys here any longer.”

Yuta smiled. “No worries, a few days was better than none. Thank you, though, I know it’s not your responsibility.” 

Si Cheng nodded. “Where did you learn Korean?”

“Well, in the Osaka region, there were some teachers who knew the language,” Yuta explained, “so they taught it to some of us. Takuya joined much later and didn’t get to fully learn it. What about you?”

Si Cheng started folding and unfolding one of the towels that he was holding. “My mother came here when I was younger, and I guess I picked it up from the other villagers. She doesn’t speak it well, though, so I’m always the one who goes into the town.” 

“Oh, so you’re fluent, then,” Yuta said. He lifted up the thing in his hand and asked him, “hey, do you want to play?”

***

Baekhyun was going to be late to their meeting spot. 

He started running, which was a bad idea since he tripped over a branch, landing hard on his arms and face. He must have sprained his elbow, though, because when he tried to lift himself up, he let out a whine due to the pain that shot up his arm. 

He didn’t even recognize that someone had come up behind him, helping him get up. The person must have been tall, though, because they easily lifted him up off the ground. 

Baekhyun whimpers got quieter as he tried to regain his balance before the guy behind him spoke. 

“Hey, are you okay, Baekhyun?” the guy said. Baekhyun realized that it was one of the alphas, Chanyeol, who was part of Yifan’s group. He was right, though; this alpha was abnormally tall. “That was a nasty fall, there’s always debris everywhere.”

Baekhyunn had no idea what debris mean but he was probably referencing the branch. “I’m fine-ow!” He shouted when he tried to stand on his right foot. He must have sprained that, too. 

“Oh, here, I’ll help.” Chanyeol bent down and was about to carry the omega when Baekhyun interrupted him.

“Please don’t,” Baekhyun said. “I’m fine, promise.”
 

Chanyeol nodded. “Well, you still need help to walk.” He threw Baekhyun’s arm over his shoulder and grabbed his waist. “Here, you can lean on me, I’ll help, don’t worry.” 

It was pretty awkward in Baekhyun’s opinion, but he had no other choice. He couldn’t even crawl. He didn’t know much about Chanyeol, anyways."

“Where are you heading?” Chanyeol asked him. 

“To Jimin’s house,” Baekhyun said. “It’s near the main rice field.”

“Okay, then.” Chanyeol tried to lift Baekhyun up a little more. The latter was so short. “Lead the way.”
 

***

Jimin was already freaked out when Baekhyun came in with some gashes (not to mention the fact that it was the Chanyeol that brought him there) but when Chen Le came, it was a thousand times worse. 

Mark’s first reaction was to go get the fat hidden stick that has never broken and could probably kill someone. However, it took a lot of persuading to calm them down. 

“Guys, I’m fine, it was an accident,” Chen Le explained. “The guy thought I was an animal, he wasn’t actually out to get me-”

“Well, I’ll accidentally hit him with this!” Mark screeched and would have headed out the door if Jimin didn’t pull him back. “Jimin, let me go before I ask your man as backup.”

“Yoongi wouldn’t hurt a soul,” Jimin said. “Chen Le, how would he mistake you for an animal?”

“I fell asleep in the bush again,” Chen Le explained. “And when I woke up, well, he heard some noise, and the rest-”

“Have you seen your parents yet?” Baekhyun asked him. “They’re going to get really upset-”

“They’re going to beat your ,” Mark said. “Guys, plan C, he can stay at my place first-”

“Well, it’ll take a long time before these marks go away.” Chen Le said. He pointed to one of the gashes on his arms. “This is going to leave a scar, they’ll be mad about that.” 

“Why would they be mad about a scar?” Jimin asked, followed by an ow as Mark gave him a punch. 

Chen Le shrugged. “They say an alpha wouldn’t want an omega with impure skin.”

“Well, they’re s,” Mark said, “and any alpha who thinks that.”

***

“Jeonghan, did you drink all the apple juice?!” Seungcheol screamed. Jeonghan was in the living room, trying to draw on one of the pieces of paper that Seungcheol had somehow managed to make. “Why would you do that?”

“I was thirsty , Seungcheol,” Jeonghan stated. “What else was I going to get?”

“Oh, I could have helped you with that.” Seungcheol winked at his husband, to which Jeonghan replied with a blowing kiss.

“Who needs help?” Junmyeon climbed down the stairs and walked into the kitchen. “What’s wrong?”

“I need help making apple juice,” Seungcheol explained to his son. “Because someone drank all the apple juice.”

“You know, the hibiscus tea was to replace my uneaten garlic bread,” Jeonghan said, “but you drank all that too, so frankly, I don’t care.”

“The disrespect in this household.” Seungcheol shook his head. “I can’t believe it.” 

“I thought you liked that-” Jeonghan started to say before they heard a knock on the door. “ Again? Seungcheol, the officials are trying to kill us.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Seungcheol said, grabbing a basketful of apples in the corner, to which Junmyeon started washing. “Here, I’ll answer the door.”

“It might be that awkward alpha trying to flirt with Junmyeon last time,” Jeonghan said, making Junmyeon turn red. “He looks like the type who would try to impress someone. I bet my apple juice share!”

“, he must really be a flirt if you betting something sweet,” Seungcheol said before slowly opening the door, the official’s son right in front of him. 

Yifan, son of Xuheng, was in front of his doorstep, holding up a bunch of bananas with badly tied ribbon around it. “Hello, sir, nice to see you,” Yifan bowed down to him. 

Well, this was an unexpected visit. “Yifan, nice to see you,” Seungcheol said slowly. “What can I help you with?”

“Um,” Yifan said. “Is Jun-your son, Junmyeon here?” Yifan asked.

Seungcheol was a bit wary of Yifan, but it wasn’t anything personal. He was just wary of anyone near his husband and son, no matter if male or female, omega or alpha. Although, no one knew them, only the officials. He hated having the officials over. But Yifan didn’t look like he meant any harm. Seungcheol opened the door wider. “You can come in.”

Jeonghan probably knew that was going to happen, considering how he basically dealt with everything concerning Minghao and Junhui’s relationship, and he still knew despite almost two decades later. Junmyeon looked surprised, though, when he saw the alpha come in the room, a bunch of bananas in his hands. 

Yifan bowed down to Junmyeon. “Hello, Junmyeon, nice to see you again,” he said while handing the bananas to Junmyeon. 

“Oh, for ...me?” Junmyeon asked, slowly taking the bananas from Yifan. “Thanks.”

Yifan smiled. He didn’t look scary at all. Yifan also bowed down to Jeonghan and greeted, to which Jeonghan merely smirked. Junmyeon wasn’t going to hear the end of this.

“Nice to see you, Yifan, what brings you here?” Jeonghan asked, crossing his arms.

“I thought, well…” Yifan hid his arms behind his back. “I didn’t know if Junmyeon liked bananas, but I thought he would like them.”

Jeonghan suddenly jumped up from his seat. “I’m one step closer to my fruit tarts!”

“When am I ever going to try them,” Junmyeon asked. “You always talk about them.”

“You know it was my plan to make your father fall in love with me,” Jeonghan explained. 

“Yeah, well, they got me fired,” Seungcheol said. “Apparently, not liking kiwis is a royal crime.”

“We need kiwis though,” Jeonghan said. 

Yifan spoke up. “You guys want kiwis?”

“Yeah, kiwis.” Jeonghan took the bananas from Junmyeon and placed them on the countertop to act as decoration for now. They had less than a week to eat it, though, before it turned black. “Strawberries, bananas, kiwis, blueberries and blackberries. The perfect fruit combination.”

“What about raspberries? I thought they were part of it,” Junmyeon said.

Jeonghan widen his eyes and then slammed his head against the counter. “I’m forgetting my own recipe! It’s been so long!” 

Yifan laughed. “My dad always has kiwis, I can probably smuggle some, lie and say it’s for Chanyeol or something,” he said. 

Jeonghan lifted his head. “You don’t know how grateful I am to be in your presence, you are welcomed here anytime.”

“Eomma, you’re so weird-” Junmyeon said but Jeonghan shushed him. 

“You have no right to speak, you’ve never tried them.” Jeonghan said. 

Yifan smiled. This was a nice family.