***18 Years Ago***

“Aha! I won again!” Junhui exclaimed, throwing his last card down. “I told you guys you can’t beat me!” 

Minghao put down his cards and pouted. “No fair. Why do you get to win every time?”

“Because I’m the best,” Junhui said, “and you love me, of course.”

Minghao’s face turn red, Jeonghan trying to stifle a laugh. Junhui was always making comments like this. At this rate, he was going to flat out ask him to marry him, and Jeonghan was going to enjoy every second of it. 

Jeonghan reached out to take the cards and reshuffle them. “Junhui, do you know what time Seungcheol gets here?”

“Oh, the bodyguard you’re in love with?” he said. Now it was Jeonghan’s turn for his face to become red. “He comes in an hour, I think? I don’t know, that’s when I have to teach again.”

Junhui, liked Seungcheol, also worked in the palace, but his position was an instructor. He was one of the best ones in the kingdom, despite his age, so he was asked to work here to train. Jeonghan got lessons from him sometime, and when Minghao started to stay here for longer periods of time, the king (or Jeonghan’s dad) pushed him to get lessons as well. Thus Minghao shows up and sees a hot instructor showing him different stance positions and he fell in love. 

It was nice of Junhui to hang out with them, even though he was a bit older. Jeonghan even considered him as a friend, making the three of them a trio. Junhui had work so they didn’t see him as often as they saw each other, but it was still constantly. 

As for Seungcheol, though, Jeonghan never got to spend time with him. He’s never actually had a proper conversation with the man. The only facts that he knew of him were from watching him from afar. Seungcheol displayed many acts of kindness, Jeonghan had seen, from helping the maids and cooks to always putting his safety second and protecting anyone at all costs, no matter what they’re status. And each passing day, Jeonghan fell in deeper. 

“I want to make him fruit tarts, you know, try to be nice and struck up a conversation,” Jeonghan explained to him. “But I don’t know when I’ll see him next.”
 

“Oh, that’s a good idea!” Junhui said, supporting him. “I’m sure he’ll love them.” 

“Yeah but you have to make me some,” Minghao said, earning a whack on his head. “Hey, what was that for?!”

“Minghao, why do you even ask permission at this point, you’ll eat it anyways.”

***

Jeonghan was the prince of Kaeleous, or “princess” as they liked to call him, due to his long hair and his status as omega. Back in the old days, many terms were separated between , like mother and father, but were now seperated by status. 

But, yeah, Jeonghan was royalty. So what. He was just like all those other rich people who sat around all day and did nothing while munching on the whole food supply of the kingdom. Although Jeonghan looked kind of skinny. Maybe he felt that eating was for peasants. Who knows.

 Seungcheol hates him. 

He hates Jeonghan with all his heart. Well, Seungcheol liked to believe he had a heart, more than Jeonghan, that’s for sure.

Yeah, so Jeonghan was nice to the entire population. People praised him as the best prince(ss) they have ever had. Jeonghan constantly went out in public to try to give money and food to people he saw in need and, from Seungcheol overheard two main guards talking, was planning on improving the conditions of the orphanages, which struck a nerve inside Seungcheol. 

There was no way a royal would be this nice. It was obvious that Jeonghan wasn’t a genuine person. 

And, of course, they had to appear during his training session. They were taking turns doing hand-to-hand combat when Seungcheol saw Jeonghan and his friend, Prince Minghao of the China Kingdom, second-in-line to the throne, the two of them sitting together and staring at Junhui. 

Seungcheol liked Junhui, he was a cool guy. However, he was friends with Jeonghan and Minghao, which made sense he supposed; who doesn’t want to be friends with a royal and be on their side, no matter how fake they are? Seungcheol wouldn’t be able to do it, he wouldn’t last, but he admired Junhui’s dedication. 

He was able to see that Jeonghan was carrying a box in his hands, holding it protectively. Seungcheol has seen him hand out food to all the workers here from time to time, so he was probably doing it again. 

When it was his turn to combat Junhui, he was, thankfully, able to release some of his anger.

***

“There they are, quick, Minghao, they’re going to leave soon!” Jeonghan said, running with the box in his hands up to where one of the members of the Royal Guard was leading some of the bodyguards. 

“You are, I repeat, whipped for this man,” Minghao told him, running to catch up with Jeonghan. “And you won’t even give me a fruit tart! That’s how I know you have it bad!”

Jeonghan caught up with the Royal Guard member. “Good afternoon, Sir Siwon.”

Siwon bowed down, the bodyguards also following suit. “Good afternoon, your-”

“Can we, like, not do that here,” Minghao said. “We already told the palace you guys can drop the formalities.”
 

“Sorry,” Siwon said. “It’s out of habit, you know everyone here is to trained to treat you with respect.”

“Welp, that’s the first thing I’m going to change when I’m king,” Jeonghan said. He heard one of the bodyguards scoff but he couldn’t pinpoint where. “Anyways, I made fruit tarts if you guys wanted any.”

He opened the box, and the bodyguards got in line to take one. Jeonghan’s pastries were well-known across the kingdom; he once baked all the mooncakes for the Lunar festival, and they immediately became a crowd favorite, selling out so often that they had to limit how many mooncakes each person could buy. 

All the bodyguards got their fruit tarts, except for one.

“Um, Seungcheol, do you want any?” Jeonghan said,  extending the box towards Seungcheol. 

Seungcheol made a face. “Ew, no, fruit tarts are disgusting. Especially if they have kiwis on top.”
 

Jeonghan made a disappointed face, bringing the box closer to him again. What, did he think that was going to persuade Seungcheol? He thought. 

Siwon gave him a look but didn’t say anything, instead, reaching out to grab another one. “Jeonghan, you really do live up to your name as the best baker in the kingdom.”

“It’s not that good, it’s just the sugar masking it.” Jeonghan tried to deny it. “But I’m glad most of you guys liked it.” 

He bid them farewell, saying goodbye to everyone before he and Minghao walked away, the two of them walking in silence until they reached the end of the hall, where they started whispering. 

When they left, that’s when Seungcheol got the biggest scolding of his life.

***Present***

When Si Cheng came back to the room after the town meeting, Yuta could see the fright in his eyes. 

He had been talking to Takuya about leaving soon. They had been here for enough time and weren’t cooperating in anything. Plus, it wouldn’t be long until they will be found again, and it wouldn’t be ideal to put Si Cheng and his mother at risk. Takuya agreed, but Yuta could see that he looked disappointed. Did something good happen when he went outside to walk the other day? 

Si Cheng came in right when Yuta was going to ask Takuya, muttering a hi to the two of them before setting down some of his stuff. 

“Hey, how did the meeting go?” Yuta asked.

“Well, depends on your point of view,” Si Cheng said. “For alphas, it must have been great news for those who can afford it. For omegas, the end of our ing lives.”

That took him by surprise. Omegas don’t usually curse, especially not Si Cheng. “What did the alphas do?” Yuta asked. 

Si Cheng sighed. “They want to start marrying us off.”

Yuta’s eyes went up. “Wait, what? You guys do that here?”

“I-I mean I know cases where they’ve done it,” Si Cheng explained, “but to the whole population? I don’t know, a lot of alphas started chipping in who would be a good omega to marry off and-and I don’t know. I don’t want to be next.” 

“But-but why do they do that?” Yuta asked. “Who gave them permission to just marry random people off? Do they think they own y’all or some ?”

“Well, it’s just a rule they have here,” Si Cheng said. “And you know about rules-”

“Bull, it’s not their life,” Yuta said. “If you want to be a 50-year-old single omega than that’s ok. If you don’t want kids that’s ok. What makes them think they can just waltz in your life and make you sleep with some ?”

Si Cheng sighed. “I don’t know, that’s how they run things.”

“Well, they shouldn’t.”

***

“I’m not making a move on Kihyun until you make a move on Taehyung,” Shownu told Jungkook at night.
 

Everyone else decided to stay at home and freak out over what just happened at the meeting, which a lot of people had decided to do. For one, their friend group had no idea when Yifan had gotten himself a fiance (Shownu already knew he was trying to impress Junmyeon, but still), but they pretended they knew what was going on in the meeting. Some of the officials tried to corner them but they just said that as to Yifan’s wishes, they wouldn’t reveal anything. 

Course, Yifan told them the truth later after he talked to Junmyeon and his mom, but the position remained; they were all best men now. 

A lot of them had crushes but wouldn’t make a move, but now that the officials were going to pair their sons with the pretty omegas first, they were now all terrified that they wouldn’t get the chance to be with their crush. 

The meeting had turned wild when the omegas were brought up. However,  a lot of people were, thankfully, trying to oppose the situation. Especially Mark Tuan, even though he isn’t really loved by the elders. Many alphas admired him, though, that he didn’t want to fit in status norms, but yet he didn’t ridicule those who did fit in traditional roles. Jackson Wang still remained his number one admirer though, for obvious reasons. 

While those in their friend group decided to mull about it (especially Chanyeol - he went home crying, claiming how since Baekhyun was the prettiest omega, they were going to take him away first), Shownu and Jungkook had a different idea. 

“I can’t make a move on Taehyung now!” Jungkook said. “He looked confused when I saw him that one time and I don’t want to scare him off.”

“Well, I can’t ask Kihyun now!” Shownu said. “He’s just over there, picking fruit like his usual business, I don’t want to scare him off!”
 

Jungkook sighed and put his hands on Shownu’s shoulder. “Look man, you might be embarrassed now, but a few years from now, when you wake up and see his face in the money and your kids jump on you bed making you fall and get a concussion and then you can’t move for a week and you miss your birthday party-”

“Jungkook, where you going off with this?”

“-my point is, that you’ll look back at this and think that this is nothing compared to the future that you’re going to have with him,” Jungkook finished. “Now, go and tell Kihyun that you like him, or I’ll tell Yifan that you don’t want to be in his wedding.”

“But he-fine. Fine! I’ll do it. I’ll ask Kihyun out. I’ll ask him out. I’m going to tell the whole world that I, I, Shownu, am in love with Kihyun!! I’m in love with him!!!”

“Um, Shownu, can you keep it down a bit-”

“No I’m not! I am going to tell the whole world that I, Sho-no, wait, Sohn Hyunwoo-”

“Hyunwoo? What’s that?” Jungkook asked. 

Shownu turned to give him a look. “That’s my real name.”

Jungkook laughed. “I thought Shownu was your real name! I’m going to call you Hyunwoo for now on.”

“What? No don’t do-actually, whatever because I AM IN LOVE WITH KIHYUN!” Shownu screamed…

...causing Kihyun to to stop what he was doing and stare at Shownu.

“Me?” he mouthed to the two of them, pointing at himself.

“I told you so,” Jungkook said to the latter, who face was now turning into an interesting hue of red, more like purple. Was he-was he not breathing? “Hey, Shownu, are you still alive?”

“He-he-” Shownu pointed to Kihyun, who was still staring at him. 

“Yo, my friend likes you!” Jungkook shouted, earning a chorus of no’s from Shownu beside him. “Can he court you?”

Even though it was dark outside due to being night, Shownu could see Kihyun stare at the ground, a small smile forming on his face. Shownu almost wanted to explode. 

“He’ll take you to dinner tomorrow at noon!” Jungkook kept yelling. Shownu finally moved to shut Jungkook up with his hand. 

“Haha, yeah, see ya Kihyun!” Shownu shouted, waving his free hand to the omega who waved back and started to leave. “What the , Jungkook?”
 

“Hey, I got you a date,” Jungkook said. “You’re going to thank me in a month.”

Shownu took his hand off Jungkook and frowned. “Fine. But now you got to ask Taehyung out.”

“What?! No I don’t-”

“I’m going out with Kihyun, so now it’s your turn to make a move!”
 

***

He saw him again when he was going to go fishing.

It was a few days after that dreaded meeting, and Johnny was desperately trying to put it in the back of his head. His mother was close to Baekhyun’s mother who comitted suicide years after dealing with her ty alpha husband, and now Baekhyun and his brother lived alone. It was one of the biggest news that has ever happened in the village. 

Johnny knew that this wasn’t going to be a good idea. He wouldn’t even be with someone he liked if they didn’t like them back, did you really love them if you wanted them to go through tortue like that for the rest of their life?

He didn’t have a chance with Ten at all, though, so he enjoyed the little conversations they had here and there when they crossed paths, like now, for instance. 

Johnny had his nets and his basket, ready to go fish catching. He was walking down the usual trail when he heard someone behind him shout, “hey, wait for me!”

He turned around and saw Ten, the latter running towards him, basket in hand. “I thought you were leaving without me,” Ten said. 

Johnny couldn’t surressed his smile. “You know I would never do that to you,” he said.”

***

“Jaehyun, right there-ah, ah, yes, yes, YES.”

“Don’t worry, baby,” Jaehyun said, rubbing his fingers over Taeyong’s s as he grinded down onto his partner’s crotch. “I know you love that, don’t you?”

“I-uh, I,” Taeyong grabbed onto Jaehyun’s next and pulled him closer to him. “Please Jaehyun, please.”

It was past midnight, their kids having already gone to bed (and after they waited for the usual Jian to wake up for his glass of water. It was a routine at this point.) It hasn’t happened yet, thank god, but the last thing they needed was for their kids to walk in on them. 

Taeyong had had his heat for the past few days, but this was the first time they were having during it. Taeyong always got a bit scared during his heats, not wanting to get pregnant again, not that he would mind. He just felt bad on how much Jaehyun had to work and he didn’t get to help, even if he did the household chores. 

Omega’s heat depended based on the group of people. In their village, the heats just made the omegas more emotional, hungrier and hornier, sometimes all three at once. Most of the time, they were just tired. In some rare cases, though, the only thing that could get them through the heats was ual pleasure. However, heats were the only time where an omega could get pregnant, so Taeyong usually got wary during those times. 

Although he couldn’t deny that he was enjoying it right now. The way Jaehyun kept moving with him, how he was playing fondly with his s, made Taeyong want to scream, but he had to be quiet - he didn’t want to wake up his children, after all. 

Jaehyun stopped and reached for the waistband on Taeyong’s pants, pulling both his pants and his briefs down, leaving Taeyong completely . 

“Jaehyun, why do you get to still wear clothes?” Taeyong asked his lover, who was now peppering kiss all along Taeyong’s neck. 

“Hm, you want to see me , don’t you?” Jaehyun murmured into his ear, giving Taeyong goosebumps all over his arms. 

“Actually, yes,” Taeyong said, causing Jaehyun to laugh. “Laugh all you want, but I want to see your body, too.”

“Sure, I’ll strip for you, baby.” Jaehyun raised his shirt above his head, taking it off and throwing it on the floor. He undid his belt and push his pants and boxers off, kicking them off the bed. “There you go, baby.”

“Mmm.” Taeyong, out of instinct, wrapped his legs around Jaehyun’s waist, lifting himself up a bit. “Please make love to me.”

“Anything for you, baby,” Jaehyun said, throwing himself onto Taeyong as he grinded him against the mattress.

***

He still didn’t have his memory. 

It was weird. When Kun tried to talk to him about something that happened in his past with his parents, Xiaojun would try to conjure up a thought, an experience similar to Kun’s or one that he can relate to, but his mind was… blank. 

Like now. Kun was telling Xiaojun how his mother taught him to make omelets with green onions and chives, and Xiaojun stopped paying attention to Kun, instead, trying to think if he had a mother. 

Kun must have sensed him blanking out because Kun stopped his story and turned to look at him. 

“You’ll memories will come back, don’t worry,” he tried to reassure him. “Don’t fret too much about it.”

Xiaojun nodded and went back to cutting the green onions, going slowly. He felt like didn’t have experienced in cooking before, weird considering how he was an omega. 

It was nice of Kun to take him in, considering how Xiaojun had no ing skills in anything. He tried to help out Kun as much as he could, but it was a slow and agonizing process. 

He was going to have to get used to it, though.