“Alright, does anybody want to tell me what happened?” Him Chan looked between his children, Yong Guk next to him. Young Jae kept his head down, Jun Hong nipped lightly at the inside of his cheek; Dae Hyun glared at Jong Up whom was fiddling nervously with his fingers. Him Chan looked to his mate; it had been two days and nobody was talking.

Yong Guk sighed loudly, “Fine if we have to do separate interrogations we will.”

“You’re coming with me,” Yong Guk pulled Jong Up to his feet leading him away from the little group.

“Young Jae?” Him Chan called to the blonde. Young Jae refused to look up. The black haired man looked to the other two, “you guys can return to camp, we’ll get you later.”

Jun Hong pushed himself to his feet not even bothering to look back as he walked to camp. Dae Hyun didn’t make a move to stand, instead he moved closer Young Jae; pulling the blonde into a comforting hug.

Him Chan was growing confused and curious, “what happened?”

A sniff from Young Jae had informed him that the blonde was crying. Him Chan was growing worried, “Dae Hyun?”

The silver haired boy sighed, “Jong Up tried to mate him.”

Him Chan froze, his mind not even functioning as the information sunk in. His heart pounded loudly in his ears drowning out any other noise. His eyes moved to the sobbing blonde in Dae Hyun's arms. He couldn’t believe that the horror he feared was inflicted by one of their own.

Him Chan fell to his knee with a thud. Dae Hyun looked to his hyung in worry. “Him Chan?”

Him Chan looked up at the sound of his name. His eyes full of emotions, scaring Dae Hyun slightly. Him Chan remembered that both were in the river, he tried to calm his breathing, “how far did he get?”

“He… touched me…” Young Jae's voice was shaking as he tried to get his voice be louder that a whisper. Him Chan moved next to Young Jae, wrapping his arms around the pair.

“How much of you did he touch?” Him Chan was scared and sad for the boy. He didn’t know if Jong Up fully mated him or not…

Dae Hyun answered, “He only jacked him off a bit, but he didn’t enter him.”

Him Chan sighed in relief, but it still didn’t change the fact that Jong Up was forcing himself onto Young Jae or that the blonde was now traumatized by the event. He wasn’t sure if there was anything he could say to make the blonde feel better, he didn’t even know if things were going to be okay for the blonde.

He sighed, “I don’t know what’s going on in Jong Up's head, but I hope he didn’t mean for things to get out of hand.”

“You might want to check up on him,” Dae Hyun spoke softly. “He is with Yong Guk and I’m sure he’s already pried the information out of him.”

Him Chan's eyes widened. “Take Young Jae back to camp, he needs some rest. We might not be back until a while later, so you may have to start dinner.”

Dae Hyun nodded gently pulling Young Jae to his feet. The blondes tears were wiped away, as soothing words were whispered to him, calming his terrified heart.

Him Chan looked to Jong Up, the brunette was crying his eyes out but he was unharmed. His eyes moved to a very pissed off Yong Guk. The purple haired male’s teeth were clenched tightly, his eyes narrowed on the boy. Him Chan could see he was fuming, though the eldest had managed to keep his distance to prevent himself from strangling him.

He sighed catching his mate’s attention, nodding his head, silently telling him that he was given similar information. Him Chan walked over to his mate, “what did he tell you?”

“When we stopped walking he busted out crying,” Yong Guk started, “after a while he starting saying ‘sorry’ over and over, finally after all the hysterics he told me that he tried to give something to Young Jae. What did Young Jae say?”

“Dae Hyun was the one to tell me,” Him Chan folded his arms.

The elder male looked to him a bit shocked, “did he do anything?”

Him Chan shook his head, “no, but I don’t think any of them are going to be very comfortable with Jong Up, at least for a while.”

“Hopefully they can cool it down before we get to Seo Gu’s home.”

Him Chan nodded his agreement. “He didn’t do much to him…”

“Who answered that?” Yong Guk asked slightly skeptical.

“Dae Hyun, again,” Him Chan sighed, “I’m guessing he got there in time to stop him.”

Yong Guk nodded, though he was still angry. “What do we do now?”

The black haired man shrugged, “I’m not sure how to go about this.”

“Did you ever ask any of them if they knew anything more about each other?”

“No, you had Dae Hyun with you and Young Jae was learning other things that he hadn’t been taught.” Him Chan sighed.

Yong Guk cocked his head slightly, “what was that?”

“His mother left when he was really young.”

“Oh…” Yong Guk said thoughtfully.

“We can question them later, but for now we gotta deal with him,” Him Chan pointed to the brunette. His voice softened, “I don’t think he meant any harm…”

“Even so we have to let him now that it was wrong.”

“I think we’ll just confuse him more than anything.”

“Why do you say that?” Yong Guk looked to his mate.

“Well when we get to the village others will try to do the same.” He sighed looking at the ground.

“That’s why Young Jae is only going to be allowed out with me, you, or Dae Hyun.” Yong Guk assured him.

“He’s not going to be too happy about that,” Him Chan frowned slightly.

“It’s for his protection.” He looked to the brunette who was still crying. He sighed, “at least until he’s ready to find a mate.”

Him Chan nodded, “well, here goes nothing then.”

The couple moved closer to Jong Up, standing directly in front of him. Him Chan was the first to speak, his voice was soft despite the anger it carried in it, “Jong Up, did you know what you were doing?”

The brunette nodded his crying slowly turned to small sniffles, refusing to look up. Him Chan sighed, “Do you care to tell me why?”

Jong Up chewed his bottom lip nervously afraid to answer. The silence becoming unbearable, the elder two waited patiently unfazed by the silence, but the brunet feared the silence. It meant that neither of them were going to cut the conversation short, it meant they were willing to wait all day for his answer. Jong Up sighed in defeat, “I wanted to show him that I was good enough… to mate him… that I was better than Dae Hyun hyung.”

“Aish,” Yong Guk slapped a hand to his forehead. Him Chan looked at his mate in confusion. Yong Guk resisted the urge to laugh, “That not the way you prove yourself. You can’t prove yourself better than someone if no one had shown his interest.”

“I’m taking it as I won’t understand any of this,” Him Chan narrowed his eyes.

Yong Guk chuckled slightly, “sorry Dominate conversation, but it may help when you explain to Young Jae why Jong Up acted the way he did.”

Him Chan nodded. Yong Guk turned back to a confused Jong Up. The brunette looked to each of the two towering above him, “what do you mean no one shown interest.”

“I mean that nobody’s trying to take Young Jae,” Yong Guk explained. “He’s not even looking.”

“But Dae Hyun-.”

“Is just a friend, they don’t know each other very well,” Yong Guk decided to sit on the ground where he stood.

“But Him Chan hyung kept pushing Young Jae to be with Dae Hyun,” he complained softly.

“I was only teasing him.” Him Chan scolded, “Were you listening to our conversation?”

Jong Up looked away in shame, “I didn’t mean to.”

“What were you two talking about?” Yong Guk looked up at his still standing mate.

“Scents,” he answered. “I was telling him that maybe we could create an illusion that someone has already taken his interest to keep others from hurting him and the baby.”

Yong Guk nodded, “sounds like a good plan, he’s already taken our scent, and since he and Dae Hyun are close he’s taken a bit of his scent.”

“But why Dae Hyun?” Jong Up was frustrated.

Him Chan shrugged, “he already has his scent which he picked up unconsciously. With you and Jun Hong he sees you two more as children.”

“I don’t want to be seen as a child in his eyes.” Jong Up struggled to keep from yelling. “I want to be more with him.”

“Well forcing him doesn’t show him anything.” Yong Guk said. “There are other ways to show him you care.”

“Like what?”

“Don’t you dare tell him how you showed your interest,” Him Chan said in a monotonous voice glaring down at his mate. Yong Guk smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, “how did Dae Hyun show Ji Eun he was interested.”

Him Chan thought for a while, “well in Young Jae's words… he’s a ‘ball of fluff’ meaning he was being as romantic as he could get.”

“So he was being overly cheesy?” Yong Guk laughed.

“What does that mean?” Jong Up interrupted, “what do I do?”

“Be nice, show him you like him.” Him Chan smiled.

“How?” the brunette asked.

“Talk to him, get to know him.” Yong Guk suggested. “Give him flowers, tell him he’s pretty or something.”

“I do talk to him, but he doesn’t know the answer sometimes.” Jong Up whined. “He ends up changing the subject.”

“Have you tried suggesting a few things?” Jong Up looked at Him Chan confused. The black haired man sighed, “When you ask him a question about something he likes tell him what you like, explain to him why and suggest other stuff that you like. I heard Dae Hyun use that method, it works very well.”

Jong Up shook his head, “but Dae Hyun never leaves his side and now he probably won’t even let me near him, I doubt Jun Hong will even let me talk to him either.”

“Dae Hyun is just protecting him,” Him Chan sighed. “Though you probably shouldn’t get your hopes up with Young Jae. Like I said, you probably won’t mate with the person you want.”

“You never said that,” the brunette scoffed.

“Maybe not exactly, but you should get the idea,” Him Chan placed his hands on his hips, “especially since you’ve heard the story of how Yong Guk and I mated.”

Jong Up looked down, “but I really like him.”

Him Chan sat next to the youngster to pull him into a comforting hug, “I know, but he doesn’t even know what he’s feeling, he needs time to get himself situated. He’s unprepared for the world; there are things he doesn’t know what we do, because he was raised in the Facility.”

“There’s something else you should know,” Yong Guk said softly. Him Chan sighed, Yong Guk nodded to him.

“What?” Jong Up asked full of curiosity and worry. Him Chan chewed his bottom lip tenderly, “Young Jae’s Chosen Mate might be Dae Hyun.”

“But Dae Hyun was getting a Replacement not a Chosen Mate,” Jong Up argued.

“They’re basically the same thing;” Him Chan spoke calmly, “the name merely refers to the situation.”

“I thought Chosen Mates for those who never mated and Replacement Mates were for those who lost their mate,” Jong Up tried to reason.

“They are but they can be with each other,” Him Chan continued unfazed, “think about what you said the names are referring to their situation. They are paired by a compatibility rating; it doesn’t matter if one was previously mated.”

“But Jun Hong and I were never mated, why were they trying to mate us?”

“You two are compatible,” Him Chan stated bluntly. “People aren’t always paired with previously mated persons; they are paired by compatibility.”

“What is that even supposed to mean?” Jong Up asked. “You’re always saying that, but what does that mean, how are people compatible? What makes them compatible?”

“It’s based on their genes. They check for anything that could be harmful to a baby.” Him Chan explained. “They don’t check much of anything else, just how healthy their children will be.”

“So then I can still gain Young Jae's interest.”

“It may not be that simple,” Him Chan looked away.

Jong Up looked to Yong Guk. The eldest shrugged, shaking his head telling him that even he didn’t know what his mate meant.

Him Chan continued, “When I ask Dr. Yoo if he found Dae Hyun a Replacement Mate, he told me he hadn’t yet because he was looking for his son a Chosen Mate. I asked him if he could find someone whom had some of Dae Hyun’s interest and if he could find someone whom would treat Young Jae right.”

“Young Jae is Dr. Yoo’s son?” Jong Up and Yong Guk asked in unison shock written all over their faces.

The Him Chan nodded. “I didn’t know that the two were compatible I didn’t even know they had similar interest.”

“How do you know that they were supposed to be mated?” Jong Up asked anger nipping at his voice.

“Young Jae told me that his father told him that he had to take ‘special care’…” Him Chan fiddled with his fingers.

“They were going to meet each other that week we left,” Yong Guk said. “Dr. Yoo had that weekend cleared up for them.”

“Do they know?” Jong Up asked quietly.

“No, we want to be certain before we tell them anything, “Him Chan answered. Turning to face to brunette he pointed a warning finger, “And you better not say anything to either of them.”

“I won’t,” Jong Up backed away slightly. “I promise.”

Him Chan nodded, “are we clear then?”

Jong Up nodded. Yong Guk got to his feet, “give Young Jae some room before you try to apologize, but don’t expect to be forgiven right away.”

Jong Up nodded again.

“Then let’s head back to camp.” Yong Guk helped the other two to their feet. “We can question Young Jae and Dae Hyun another day.”