The next day after her last class ended just before noon, Minjoo went to Eunbi as the doctor requested. She expected the worst as she walked inside the white-walled room, her nervousness oozing off everywhere.

For today, Minjoo wasn’t alone. Even though Hitomi has some works for the day, she insisted that she could dump her work to her secretary for today because she thought that Minjoo would need her emotional support.

Hitomi was correct, because not even a second inside Eunbi’s office, the Alpha was already losing her control. Her scent went haywire as soon as the door was closed, affecting Eunbi who was a bit taken aback at Minjoo’s strong scent.

Noticing both parties’ distress, Hitomi quickly interlaced her fingers with Minjoo, tugging the long fingers gently as she led her to sit in front of Eunbi. She didn’t need to say or do anything else, because that brief skinship was enough to somehow calm Minjoo’s nerves down and everyone could breathe a little easier.

Now that they were both calmed down, pleasantries were exchanged for a brief moment before going down to business.

“I have briefed Minjoo-sshi about what will happen next regardless of the test results that I am holding,” Eunbi showed them the files containing Minjoo’s lab tests result. “From the basic tests yesterday, we can conclude that there is nothing wrong with Minjoo-sshi. Overall, her body is working like any normal healthy young adults.”

“I sense a but,” Minjoo mumbled before she could stop herself. Once she realized what she had done, she mumbled a small, “sorry”.

Eunbi nodded, brushing Minjoo’s apology. She didn’t seem to mind Minjoo speaking out of turn. The doctor tugged on her glasses. “Yes,” affirmed the doctor gravely. “Your Alpha hormone is dangerously low even from Alpha who comes from Beta parents. Not low enough to render you infertile, but your reproductive organs will be significantly susceptible to a tumor that has a high chance to develop into a malignant tumor.”

“...I’m toast.”

“No, not really,” Eunbi’s grave expression turned brighter. “This can be prevented by cutting down your Suppressant consumption all while maintaining a healthy diet to keep your Alpha hormone on a safe level.”

Hitomi looked pointedly at Minjoo at the mention of ‘healthy diet’. It made Minjoo swallow a lump forming on and found her eyes straying away from Hitomi’s piercing gaze.

“Yes ma’am…”

“No cheeseballs!”

Minjoo cried in anguish.

--

“It feels like you’re my mom.”

Hitomi raised an eyebrow, pausing on examining the price difference between two brands of low-fat milk cartons to give Minjoo a side-glance.

“Explain.”

Minjoo puffed her cheeks before opening her palms. “You cook for me,” she folded a finger, idly pushing the shopping cart with her elbows as Hitomi moved spots. “You took care of me when I’m sick,” Minjoo folded another finger. She had a small smile on her lips as the sentence left her lips. It was a story for another time.

Minjoo folded another. “You spoiled me rotten.”

Only that caught Hitomi’s attention. “Not true.” The Omega even attempted to straighten Minjoo’s folded finger, but Minjoo raised her arm high.

“It’s true,” Minjoo insisted, grinning in amusement as Hitomi tried (and failed) to pull her arm down and began jumping to reach her hand. “You pampered me too much.” and with that, she folded another finger.

It continued for another short minute before Hitomi threw her hands up with an annoyed huff. “Fine. Whatever. But I still don’t think I pamper you enough.”

“Spoken like a true sugar mommy,” Minjoo sighed, shaking her head. “But this level of pamperedness reminded me of my grandma. So should I call you grand sugar mommy or is it sugar grandmommy—”

Hitomi didn’t say anything to respond. Her killer-pinch was enough to deliver the message.

Rubbing the sore spot on her arm with a staggered laugh, Minjoo pushed the cart as she continued to list off why Hitomi felt like her mom, but in a much softer voice. The list kept going on and on, usually, they would increase whenever Minjoo would sneak an unhealthy snack or two and Hitomi would catch her. It continued until the end of their grocery shopping when Minjoo suddenly went quiet.

“Are you done?” Hitomi suddenly asked when they were nearing the cashier.

“Listing off? Probably.” Was Minjoo’s cheeky response. The longer she knew Hitomi, the more she felt less inclined to be intimidated by such a wonderful Omega. Sure, the Omega was still intimidating most of the time but was such a tsun the more they grew comfortable with each other. “I mean if you suddenly leave me here alone, then it adds to the list, too.”

Hitomi turned around, giving Minjoo an unreadable gaze.

Then landed a very quick peck on her lips.

It was so quick that Minjoo malfunctioned and could only stare blankly at Hitomi’s bashful expression with her slacked jaw. She’d never known just the simplest brush of her lips could cause her heart to beat paces faster and caused a pleasant knot to form on her stomach instead of butterflies fluttering.

It was weird how every kiss seemed to incite a different reaction from her, but Minjoo liked that. It was fascinating how Hitomi could affect her in more ways than she imagined, just by the short time they had spent together.

Hitomi immediately went back to her original position with her back facing Minjoo.

“Your mom doesn’t do this…” Hitomi mumbled under her breath, almost inaudible to everyone but Minjoo. Tip of her ears, barely hidden underneath the brown strands of her hair, gained pinkish color as blood rushed up to her face out of embarrassment for being so bold in public.

The embarrassment continued throughout the payment and ride to Minjoo’s home, rendering them silent.

But they were both silent, each of them had different expressions on their face. One had an expression that seemed like she was regretting her life decision, while the other had the widest smile mankind had ever seen.

It all ended when the pair had finally arrived in Minjoo’s apartment complex. They worked together in sync to carry all of the groceries to Minjoo’s apartment. As they deemed it was awkward to keep the silence, they carried out a small talk that led to a playful banter that almost resulted in Minjoo falling down the stairs.

Their interaction attracted the attention of an elderly couple that lived near Minjoo’s apartment. The elderly gentleman hollered at Minjoo, saying that it wasn’t good to kid around with your wife while climbing the stairs. Minjoo malfunctioned while hearing that, but Hitomi beamed him a smile and dragged Minjoo away before she could embarrass herself more.

Minjoo continued to malfunction, so Hitomi took it as her responsibility to sort everything out before Minjoo put the soap inside the fridge and milk carton in the cleaning supplies cabinet again.

“Sit.”

“But-”

“Sit.”

Minjoo pouted, relenting as she plopped down her battered couch. “I’m capable of sorting the items myself, you know.”

“Sure,” Hitomi’s hum was noncommittal. She continued sorting the groceries without sparing a glance toward Minjoo, who was slowly dying of boredom.

It wasn’t long before Minjoo just couldn’t stand doing anything and pushed herself off the couch and helped Hitomi on what was supposed to be her work.

The little angry sounds coming from Hitomi when Minjoo yanked the butter sachet off her hand was adorable. Minjoo found herself grinning when Hitomi puffed out her cheeks, annoyed that Minjoo helped her on sorting her groceries.

“I paid for them.”

“Yeah, for me.”

“That’s true but!” Hitomi cut herself off with a sharp exhale. She lightly pushed Minjoo away. “You know what? Nevermind, you’re right. You’re a big girl, you can take care of yourself.”

She expected Minjoo to panic when she started sulking, but instead, she got a grinning Minjoo slightly bending down to her eye-level.

“Don’t be like that mommy,” teased the Alpha good-naturedly while poking her fingers at Hitomi's plump cheeks. She immediately stopped what she was doing, though, when she noticed Hitomi’s expression darkened.

And then—lip bite,

Minjoo back-tracked almost immediately.

“NOPE.”

It was Hitomi’s turn to laugh. The Omega pulled Minjoo’s arms, guiding them to wrap around her waist as she leaned her head against Minjoo’s chest. “Kidding. I won’t force you to top me if you’re not ready, rest assured.”

Minjoo nodded absently as she continued to bury her nose between Hitomi’s dark locks, indulging herself in Hitomi’s sweet scents. It was strange how comfortable they were with each other, even though they only met a month ago inside a dark and smelly alleyway and in a very questionable situation. It was strange how Minjoo started as Hitomi’s knight in shining armor to Hitomi’s unofficial sugar baby and now-- well, Minjoo was technically still is Hitomi’s sugar baby, but Hitomi would be lying if she said she didn’t want to take their blooming relationship more seriously.

But Hitomi knew how Alpha works. They wouldn’t want to settle down with someone they barely knew, even when they were assured that they are their soulmate. They would wait until they are financially stable or at least old and mature enough to welcome another member to their family.

Even though Minjoo came from the family of Betas and had an identity crisis (Minjoo once told Hitomi she had a separate Wolf personality; perhaps her dormant Alpha-side since it didn’t awaken properly during her secondary puberty), she knew Minjoo was an Alpha inside-out. The Alpha within her was strong and stubborn; dangerous and dominating like any other Alpha.

Hitomi didn’t think she would ever forget how predatory Minjoo looked that night.

“Hey, Minjoo?”

“Hmm?”

Hitomi reluctantly pulled herself from Minjoo. “Your birthday is next week, right? What do you want to do?”

“I’m going to visit my family,” Minjoo answered, her voice soft. “It’s a tradition for us to have lunch or dinner together whenever a member is having their birthday. Then, we’ll go to the night market or stargaze on the hills.”

Hitomi could imagine them. “That sounds fun,” she whispered, smiling fondly. All of her family members were busybodies; the most they could do together every one of their birthdays was dinner and that was it. “You’ll go home on the day of your birthday, right?”

“Yeah. You wanna come?”

“Eh?”

“Every time we called, Papa always asked me to bring someone home.” Minjoo’s cheeks were burning adorably as she confessed. “I never did, since I don’t really have anyone I’m in a special relationship with for the past few years.”

“What about your best friends?”

“Are you kidding?” Minjoo giggled. “Papa wanted me to bring back a boyfriend or a girlfriend--not my best friends.”

“...So now you’re admitting me as your girlfriend, not your mommy?”

“You’re still my sugar mommy, though, but desperate times call for desperate measures.”

“...This is a desperate time?”

Minjoo nodded like a child. “Yes, mommy.”

Hitomi’s eyes narrowed. Of course, she had embraced the sugar mommy identity since the start—heck, she was the one who suggested it!—but she didn’t realize that Minjoo calling her mommy was dangerous for her sanity. “One more, one more, I’ll pounce on you in front of your whole family members.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Believe me, pup, she will.”