“Do we want to question them separately or together?” Yong Guk asked quietly. Him Chan shrugged, “I’m not sure. If we do it separately it may be a bit hard for us to share any information before announcing our assumption.”

“If we interrogate them together they might be able to piece together the information,” Yon Guk thought out loud. “It might help with supporting our conclusion; leaving little room for doubt.”

“But I’m afraid of their reaction,” Him Chan admitted. “What if Young Jae actually has feelings for Dae Hyun but Dae Hyun rejects him?”

“Then we’ll question them separately, we’ll share our findings,” Yong Guk stated, “and then we’ll decide what to tell them afterwards. Probably wait a few days before telling them anything.”

“We’ll have to find out their feelings for each other as well,” Him Chan sighed. Yong Guk nodded his agreement, “all we can do is hope that no one will get their feelings hurt.”

“Well,” Him Chan hesitated, “do you want to question Young Jae or Dae Hyun?”

“I believe Young Jae will be a little more comfortable with you questioning him,” Yong Guk shrugged. “We’re going to have a field day with Dae Hyun. I’m not even sure if I’ll be asking the right questions.”

“Then maybe I should do all the questioning and you watch the kids.” Him Chan gave him a soft glare.

“Sorry,” Yong Guk smiled sheepishly. “Unless you can give me a few ideas about what I should ask about.”

“What would a Dominate use to figure out if the Carrier is carrying his child?” Him Chan asked.

“We usually can’t tell until the third month,” Yong Guk shrugged. “Unless we wait until Young Jae is in his third month to be in his third month before we begin questioning them. Let them settle into their new environment before pushing them together.”

“Probably, but I still want to know how much they actually know about each other.”

“We could ask them what they know, find out how they feel towards each other and then when Young Jae is three months we can ask them again about their feelings,” he suggested to his mate. Him Chan nodded, “sounds good to me. That leaves us with what a month?”

“Let’s hope it does.” Yong Guk sighed.

“What do you mean?” Him Chan was confused.

“I don’t think Young Jae is entirely sure how far along he is.” Yong Guk rubbed the back of his neck, “and we’re not sure how far along you are either.”

“But I can tell if I’m pregnant,” Him Chan protested.

“You can tell if you’re pregnant, but you can’t tell how far along you are,” he pointed out. “You could be two months for all we know and Young Jae could possibly be close to his third month already.”

The black haired man rubbed his temples, “then we’re going to have to move faster with our questioning, we don’t have much time to plan. If Dae Hyun decides to reject Young Jae then we are going to have to keep the two apart.”

“Don’t Dominates accept the Carrier if they are pregnant with their child?”

“There are cases where the Dominate rejects the Carrier; it’s rare but it does happen and when it does…” Him Chan shuddered slightly, “the Dominate will try to kill the Carrier and the child.”

“Then I’ll have to warn Dae Hyun to keep his distance from Young Jae if he decides he doesn’t want to mate him,” Yong Guk sighed sadly. “Maybe we can allow Jong Up take his place so Young Jae could lose his scent.”

Him Chan shook his head, “we shouldn’t push him towards Jong Up; we need to let him decide for himself on that. We can keep him with us so he can hold on to our scent, his ‘parents’ scent’.”

“Should we start questioning them tonight or do you want to wait until tomorrow?”

“We should probably question them at nights since during the day we’re always on the move.”

“That didn’t answer my question,” Yong Guk joked.

“We’ll start tonight,” Him Chan gave his mate a gentle shove. “Come on let’s go, you’re gonna have to fight Dae Hyun for answers.”

“Aish, don’t remind me,” Yong Guk got to his feet. “I don’t think Young Jae will be as easy to get answers out of.”

“He’s a terrible liar so he won’t bother trying to lie.”

“Don’t be too sure about that,” Yong Guk chuckled. “Remember he’s be hanging out with Dae Hyun and Jun Hong.”

Him Chan smiled, “that is true, but that doesn’t mean that he’ll be any better at it.”

Jun Hong looked up when he heard Yong Guk and Him Chan returning to camp, his curiosity getting the better of him, “what were you two doing?”

“Don’t answer that,” Dae Hyun called out causing the couple to laugh. Jun Hong pouted, “why not?”

Dae Hyun only grumbled quietly. Him Chan spoke, “relax we were only talking nothing else.”

“Can never be too sure with you two,” Dae Hyun smirked.

Jun Hong caught on to what his silver haired hyung was meaning, “Oh! I get it now.”

“You see what you two did? You’ve just taught a kid something he shouldn’t know about until he’s been mated,” Dae Hyun joked.

“Oh please,” Jun Hong rolled his eyes, “my parents aren’t very discrete about their love making so I already knew about this for a very long time. Same with Jong Up.”

“Is Young Jae the only innocent one here?” Dae Hyun gasped.

“Where is Young Jae?” Yong Guk looked around camp.

“Seo Gu and Jong Up aren’t here either.” Him Chan noted out loud.

“Jong Up and Seo Gu went to gather fire wood,” Jun Hong answered. “But I don’t know where Young Jae is.”

“I’m right here,” Young Jae called out softly from next to Dae Hyun. He had been lying down, curled up within his blanket.

Him Chan smiled, “are you tired?”

The blonde shook his head, “no, I’m just a little cold.”

“Dae Hyun can I talk to you for a minute?” Yong Guk asked.

Dae Hyun nodded before getting to his feet. Him Chan moved to the opposite side of Young Jae. Making himself confortable on the ground before turning to his mate, “have fun.”

“Yeah yeah yeah,” he muttered under his breath, leading the way out of camp.

“What’s that all about?” Jun Hong asked.

“Yong Guk just wants to ask him a few things,” Him Chan shrugged. He didn’t find anything wrong with Jun Hong being around when he questioned the blonde, “oh. Young Jae, we’ve never finished our conversation.”

“What conversation?” the blonde asked a bit confused.

Him Chan crossed his arms, “you haven’t told me me everything you knew about your intended Dominate.”

Young Jae looked down at his lap. “I don’t know too much about him.”

“Jun Hong this does not leave our little circle alright?” Him Chan warned. The maknae nodded his answer. “Please try to hold your comments.”

“Ok,” Jun Hong was confused, but wanted to know what was going on.

Young Jae looked to the two with a lost expression. Him Chan smiled at the blonde, “alright what do you know about him?”

“What am I supposed to know?”

“Do you know his number?”

“I’m not sure,” Young Jae chewed his bottom lip. “I only know a few of the digits.”

“And what are those?” Him Chan questioned.

“I think it had a nine and a one somewhere at the end.” Young Jae thought a moment longer. “There was a four.”

Him Chan wasn’t sure if he could even consider that helpful. “Were you given a birthdate?”

“Hmm, the twenty-eighth…of…” Young Jae thought out loud, “was it the second month an eighth day? Or the eight month and second day? No it had to be twenty-something….”

Jun Hong shook his head softly to himself, ‘he’s not very helpful. So much for being the smart one.’

Him Chan sighed, “was there a six somewhere in that mess?”

“There might be…” Young Jae held a sorrowful expression, “I’m sorry… I don’t remember much about him.”

“You probably do, you’ve just tried to block him out because you were afraid,” Him Chan suggested.

“Do you remember anything you father might have said about him?” Him Chan asked.

“He told me after my third insemination that he was previously mated, but his mate had died during childbirth,” Young Jae sighed. “He didn’t tell me if they had other children or not though.”

“How old is he?” Jun Hong asked a little afraid to know the answer. Him Chan resisted the urge to laugh at the youngster’s facial expression.

“Appa said he was only a few years older than me,” Young Jae defended.

“So his number should be should be somewhere between #12200 and #14800,” Him Chan spoke thoughtfully.

“That could be the four he was speaking about,” Jun Hong suggested, “so his number is more than likely begin with #14000.”

Him Chan nodded, “but there’s still a wide selection of numbers.”

“Not if you take out those who are still mated and those who’s have never been mated,” Jun Hong smiled. “There should be only a handful of people left.”

“Do you have that list of people anywhere?” Him Chan asked.

The maknae shook his head. Young Jae sighed, “I actually had a list but I left it in the fire.”

“Did your father give you that list?” him asked doubtfully.

Young Jae blushed looking down, “no, I was curious to who my Dominate could be, so when nobody was around I hacked the computer and searched those whom I was compatible with. Then I narrowed the list down by what Jun Hong suggested.”

“And how many were on that list?” Him Chan wondered.

“Maybe five… or less.” Young Jae brushed a stray of hair out of his face.

“Do you at least remember those numbers?” Jun Hong asked with a small amount of hope.

“Maybe three of them…” Young Jae shrugged. “There was… #10435…. #13...9…68? Yeah it was #13968…umm…#14…2? No it was a 3…#14391… and… #15046… those are the only numbers I remember.”

‘Damn, they all have at least one of the numbers he mentioned,’ Jun Hong thought to himself. ‘Wait, did he mention Dae Hyun’s number?’

“Wait there was someone with a ten at the beginning?” Him Chan asked a bit surprised. Young Jae nodded. The black haired man shook his head, “that would make him older than Yong Guk and I.”

“Is there something wrong with that?” Young Jae asked.

“I don’t know, I guess I wasn’t expecting your father to want you to mate with someone who was over seven years older than you,” Him Chan said thoughtfully.

The blonde just shrugged, “it’s all a matter of genes… Their genes pose no threat to my baby.”

“I guess not…” Him Chan sighed.

“So what did you want to talk about?” Dae Hyun asked once they settled near the river.

Yong Guk breathed out, “Nothing much, it’s probably a stupid question to ask now that we’re out here.”

“What is it?” Dae Hyun asked.

“What did you know about the Carrier they were pushing on to you?” Yong Guk asked while looking at the night sky.

Dae Hyun's expression was blank for a moment, “I don’t think I was listening to Dr. Yoo very well.”

Yong Guk chuckled, “oh okay then, what did you listen to?”

“Just that my Carrier was a male and that he’s never been mated.” Dae Hyun thought a while longer, “that he shared similar interest, which shocked me that he even bothered to look.”

“Do you know how old he was?”

“No, I think I tuned him out at that part.” Dae Hyun smiled guiltily. “Why are you asking any ways? What brought this up?”

“Him Chan was being curious,” he half-lied. “Since Young Jae was in a similar situation as you he starting thinking about the possibilities, where he got the idea I have no clue.”

“Oh,” Dae Hyun scratched the side of his head. “I think he may have got that idea from me.”

“What makes you say that?” Yong Guk look to him puzzled.

“Well, that night we found Seo Gu was when I found out that Young Jae was pregnant,” Dae Hyun explained. “I remembered you telling me he was being forced to mate a stranger as well, so I got to thinking; what were the chances that we were supposed to be meeting each other? I asked Him Chan the morning after, but he said he wasn’t too sure.”

“Ah,” Yong Guk nodded to his acknowledgement. “Maybe you should’ve just continued to bother Him Chan with questions about it so he wouldn’t have sent me out here to question you.”

“I was but I think it’s better not knowing,” Dae Hyun sighed.

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I guess I just don’t wanna know if Young Jae is carrying my child and that the only reason we’re becoming good friends is because of that.”

Yong Guk hesitated slightly, “even if he is carrying your child, you probably wouldn’t have gotten along so well.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well.” Yong Guk rubbed the back of his neck; he was beginning to do this a lot lately. “Him Chan told me that there are cases where the Dominate rejects the pregnant Carrier.”

“So I wouldn’t like him just for the baby?”

“Apparently not,” Yong Guk murmured.

“There’s more to it isn’t there?”

The elder nodded, “When a Dominate rejects a pregnant Carrier… they tend to kill the Carrier and child.”

Dae Hyun sat back in shock. His mouth opening to speak, but no words came out; he didn’t even know what to say. His heart pounded like mad. ‘If Young Jae is carrying my child and I reject him, would it really be in my instincts to kill him?’

“If it is your child and you’re thinking about rejecting him,” Yong Guk spoke with a heavy heart, “then I’m going to have to ask you to stay away from him. I know you wouldn’t mean any harm to him, but we aren’t too sure of how things will turn out.”

Dae Hyun nodded, “when we get to the village, I’ll try to find my own place.”

Yong Guk sighed, “I’m sorry-.”

“No, don’t be,” Dae Hyun spoke softly. “I should be. I don’t know if I can accept Young Jae as my mate. He’s a good friend, but I can’t think of him as anything more and I don’t want to hurt him.”

“I know,” he sighed heavily, “I just hope Young Jae doesn’t see you as anything more.”

“When we reach the village he’ll probably feel differently,” Dae Hyun suggested, “or he might start to fall for Jong Up.”

“Don’t hope on that idea too much,” Yong Guk warned. “it’ll take him a while before he fully trusts Jong Up again.”

“Jun Hong won’t be too happy about that either.”

“What do you mean?”

“He likes Jong Up,” Dae Hyun said bluntly.

“But he complained about being forced to mate him,” Yong Guk's mind was running in circles.

“He’s liked him for a while, just Jong Up is a little slow at realizing anything,” Dae Hyun explained. “As for the mating thing, he felt that he wasn’t ready yet.”

Yong Guk nodded, “nothing can ever be simple can it?”

Dae Hyun chuckled sourly, “guess not. Everything’s just a mess right now. Jun Hong likes Jong Up, but he like Young Jae and Young Jae is possibly pregnant with my child. Him Chan’s the only one who has experience with giving birth and he’s pregnant himself; we don’t even know if the village has a good doctor or if they have any of the necessary equipment. How would we know if it’s my child anyways? Do we have to wait for him to have the baby to do a blood test?”

“When he reaches his third month, you should be able to tell.” Yong Guk answered.

“What do you mean?”

“Meaning you can sense when he is three months pregnant,” Yong Guk explained. “You should know this from experience.”

“I could barely sense anything with Ji Eun.” He admitted.

“You two were never close were you?”

Dae Hyun smiled sadly, “I loved her, but it seemed like no matter what I did she never felt the same.”

“Then how did you two mate?” Yong Guk was baffled.

“I’m not entirely sure,” the youngster shrugged.

“Aish, you’re a headache, you know that?” Yong Guk joked; the younger could only force a weak smile.

“I just hope things go well,” Dae Hyun sighed. “Like I said, I’m sorry.”

“We’ll just see how things turn out,” Yong Guk said getting to his feet. “I don’t know how long it’ll take for the urge to hurt him will fade, before you guys can be friends again. You may have to wait until after he has the baby.”

“We’ll just have to look that information up, if they have any.” Dae Hyun stood next to the elder, both just staring up at the sky enjoying the silence. The air was cool and the sky was clear, and the gentle sounds of the night chased away any awkwardness.

Yong Guk spoke the silence, “well I guess I should break the news to Him Chan.”

“I take it Him Chan's questioning Young Jae if he knows anything?” Dae Hyun gave him a side glance.

Yong Guk nodded not bothering to look at the younger boy, “Yup, except I don’t think that Young Jae has any idea about you being a possibility. He probably doesn’t even know his feelings yet.”

Dae Hyun nodded, “I guess I won’t be able to keep my promise to him.”

“What promise?” Yong Guk looked to him.

“He doesn’t understand it fully, but I promised him that I would protect him from finding out whatever you and Him Chan were busy doing alone at night.”

“What kind of promise is that?” Yong Guk laughed, “are you planning on keeping him a his whole life?”

“The kid is too innocent to know what that is,” Dae Hyun laughed lightly. “Jong Up and Jun Hong already know what is, but Young Jae doesn’t. Well that or he doesn’t realize what is.”

“He might just know it as ‘mating’,” Yong Guk suggested.

“Probably, but I guess we’ll find out later.”

“Guess we should head back to camp, huh?” Dae Hyun nodded his agreement. The two walking back to camp in a comfortable silence.