Him Chan smiled softly seeing his mate curled up with both Young Jae and Jun Hong partially buried beneath him. He sighed softly leaning down to gently shake Yong Guk awake.

Yong Guk looked up at his mate with sleepy eyes, “how are our ‘baby’ Dominates?”

“Dae Hyun is a worried and Jong Up seems to be angry with Dae Hyun,” Him Chan said slowly. “I think it may have something to do with their conversation at the river. How are they?”

Yong Guk looked to the two next to him gently moving some of their hair from their eyes. He sighed heavily, “they cried themselves to sleep. By the time I got here they already exhausted themselves, so really all they managed to stay up for was for me to pull them over here, they had themselves out in the open.”

“I don’t think they’d meant to cry so much, they probably didn’t realize how much they were hurting,” Him Chan looked sorrowfully at the sleeping youngsters.

“After all this we don’t know how Young Jae feels about Dae Hyun,” Yong Guk pointed out. Him Chan could only nod. Yong Guk scratch his head, “unfortunately for him though, Carriers don’t get much of a choice when it comes to mating, so if Dae Hyun leaves, he can’t really stop him.”

“I shouldn’t have said anything to Dr. Yoo,” Him Chan barely spoke above a whisper, “then maybe none of this would've happened.”

“There would still be a chance that they would’ve been paired up.”

“I know, but I feel like this is all partially my fault.”

Yong Guk shook his head, “there could’ve been someone else that the doctor had in mind you never know. Dae Hyun could’ve been the better or worse choice…”

“You know you’re not really helping me here,” Him Chan glared lightly. Yong Guk laughed softly, “I’m sorry.”

“So what are we going to do today??” Him Chan asked.

The elder shrugged, “the kids need time to themselves. We could give them a day of rest at least the village isn’t too far. We could let Seo Gu go ahead and let his mate know that they’re going to have some guest.”

Him Chan nodded pulling off his bag, “here, I brought some food for the day and some change of clothes for each of you; I don’t know how long you want to keep them apart.”

“Thanks, I’m sure they still need time to talk things over between themselves.” Yong Guk pushed himself off the youngsters, the elders giving a soft laugh seeing the two pull closer missing the warmth. “I guess I should get started on breakfast, they’ll be hungry when they wake up.”

Him Chan nodded, “I better get back to the others hopefully they haven’t killed each other.”

“I doubt they would,” Yong Guk smiled, “who else would look after the Carriers.”

“What do you mean?” Him Chan asked as he got to his feet.

“That’s probably what they talked about at the river,” Yong Guk assumed. “Jong Up seems to be against Dae Hyun leaving Young Jae and I’m sure he asked Jong Up to look over him while he’s gone.”

“Seems plausible enough,” Him Chan said thoughtfully. “Do you want me to ask them about it or leave it alone?”

“We should probably stay out of it,” Yong Guk suggested. “It’s something between them they might see it offensive if we interfere.”

Him Chan nodded, “I’ll see you later then.”

“I’ll get you later when the kids want their privacy.” Yong Guk gave a suggestive wink.

“Horn dog,” Him Chan giggled as he headed back to camp.

Young Jae sighed as he watched the clouds overhead. Yong Guk looked questioningly at him, “is something wrong?”

The blonde shrugged, “I don’t know if it’s something I should say.”

“What’s it about?” Yong Guk asked.

“…Him Chan…” Young Jae spoke slowly.

“What about Him Chan?”

Young Jae shuddered slightly hearing the elder’s voice darken. The blonde hesitated “When he…he …. When he lost the baby… Appa told me not to tell him what happened… but I don’t think it’s right.”

“And why are you only speaking about it right now?” Yong Guk asked.

“Well if you keep scaring him like that he won’t say anything more,” Jun Hong scolded. The tall maknae moved to sit next to Young Jae.

“I didn’t know when there was an appropriate time,” Young Jae spoke softly looking way from Yong Guk. Jun Hong shook his head cutting the elder off from talking, “I don’t think there’s ever going to be a right moment for anything. Can you please tell us what you know?”

“Well, I told Him Chan part of the story but I couldn’t tell him who. I didn’t want him to get mad,” Young Jae sighed.

“Who what?” Yong Guk asked softly, careful not to scare the blonde.

“At the Facility, there was someone jealous of Him Chan, of who his mate was and how well he did his job and how far along in his pregnancy he was.” Young Jae chewed his bottom lip lightly. “She pretended to be nice with him but once he turned around she was always glaring.”

“Can you get to the point?” Yong Guk asked impatiently.

Jun Hong once again scolded him, “Shh, let him go at his own pace. This isn’t an easy story to hear or tell.”

The elder sighed to himself. It was official; the young Carriers were against any and all Dominates.

“Well, I walked in on her one day talking all sorts of nonsense to herself, I was lucky she didn’t see me then but I should’ve waited to stop Him Chan from going in…” Young Jae fought back his tears. “I did go looking for him though, but when they told me he went to that room I ran. I only got there I hear him scream in pain. When I entered the room she was hitting him with some sort of rod. I don’t know where she got it from but she didn’t stop until I screamed at her. She came at me next…”

“Did she hurt you too?” Yong Guk asked feeling foolish when the maknae gave him a small glare.

Young Jae didn’t seem to notice how silly the question sounded because he nodded. “She began hitting me with the rod, then threw me against the walls, screaming at me about something before running out. I was told that I had made it out of the room to get help before falling unconscious.”

“You don’t remember?” Jun Hong asked softly. Young Jae shook his head, “no, I guess I was running off adrenaline when I left the room.”

“Who did it?” Yong Guk asked.

“I don’t know if you know her, but Him Chan seemed to know her very well,” Young Jae started. “He said she was a friend but I didn’t know if their friendship was personal or work related.”

“Stop avoiding the question.” Yong Guk growled.

“Her number was … #12086…” Young Jae voice quivered out of fear. “…Ji… Eun… I think her name was.”

Jun Hong gasped in shock covering his mouth with his hand. The maknae looked back at their hyung. Young Jae followed his gaze to see Yong Guk staring in disbelief eyes wide and mouth agape. “Did you know her too?”

Jun Hong nodded his answer not trusting his voice. His eyes went to the purple haired man, waiting for some sort of reaction. When he made no move to speak or stand, the maknae called out softly to him, “Yong Guk, are you alright.”

“What happened?” Young Jae asked, “did I say something wrong?”

Jun Hong shook his head, “it’s just a shock that she would do anything, I guess, but what got me is why at that time.”

“I gotta take a moment to take this all in,” Yong Guk suddenly stood up scaring the youngsters a bit. “I’ll be back in later ... Stay here”

Young Jae look a little more than terrified, “is he really just going to just leave us out here?”

“I don’t think so,” Jun Hong scooted closer to the blonde. “I don’t think they’ll leave us alone like this… Him Chan wouldn’t stand for it.”

“They might come back for you,” Young Jae laid himself down, curling in to a ball.

“They can’t leave you out here,” Jun Hong hugged him tears slowly forming. “We might be over reacting.”

Both watched as the sky above them change from a vibrant blue to an array of dark colors. Shivering in the cold air they huddled closer for warmth neither knowing the way back to their makeshift camp.

“Him Chan,” Yong Guk called his mate to follow him when he entered the camp, ignoring the looks he received. His mind only carried one thought and he wasn’t sure how well that thought was going to fair when he relayed all he learned to Him Chan. His mate followed him silently as he led them away from camp.

“Yong Guk what’s wrong?” Him Chan asked carefully.

Yong Guk paced around, “It was Ji Eun… It was all en Ji Eun…”

“What was all Ji Eun?” Him Chan asked pulling his mate to face him.

“She was the one who murdered our baby!” his face was red in anger, his fist clenching and unclenching, he wanted to scream in anger.

Him Chan took a step back, shaking his head in confusion, “… wait how did you find this out? Where the hell did this accusation come from?”

“Young Jae…” he flung his arms in the air. “He was the one who found you.”

“But she was our friend why would-?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t think Young Jae would make any of this up to get back at us,” he was practically yelling.

“I know he wouldn’t but why didn’t he tell me sooner,” Him Chan asked.

“Dr. Yoo.”

“But…” Him Chan’s brain couldn’t form a question. The black haired male fell to his knees. His mate quickly joining him on the ground. Him Chan looked at his mate, “I don’t understand why.”

“Neither do I,” Yong Guk sighed, “but I think you may understand a bit more than you think.”

“What do you mean?” Him Chan cocked his head to the side.

“Young Jae said he wanted to tell you at the Facility, but he was too afraid to tell you the entire story with who,” he explained. “Do you remember him telling you anything about a jealous woman or person?”

Him Chan thought for a long while before his eyes widened. “He told me the day of my checkup. I knew there was more to the story, but I never had the chance to question him more about it. I didn’t know he was referring to us. He looked like he really wanted to tell me too, but I guess he was afraid of what his father might have done.”

“Is his father really that bad?” Yong Guk asked.

“In a way yes,” Him Chan nodded sadly. “His father rarely calls him by his name; he’s usually called by his number. He doesn’t even live in a Facility Home with him.”

“I thought he was orphaned when you told me he was living at the Facility Hospital,” Yong Guk admitted. “That explains why he’s a little scared of me.”

“Well you do seem like you’re in a bad mood at times,” Him Chan pointed out softly, trying not to sound mean.

“I think Jun Hong and Young Jae have a pact going on.”

Him Chan gave a small smile, “what gave you that idea?”

“I got scolded twice… No three times by our maknae,” Yong Guk sighed.

“Well if the Dominates can make a pact about watching over the Carriers, why can’t the Carriers make a pact?” Him Chan reasoned. “What do you think their pact was about?”

“Kill all Dominates,” Yong Guk said flatly.

“Well Jun Hong did always follow your example,” Him Chan rolled his eyes. “You should start paying attention to the type of example your setting for the younger ones, because if my child starts acting like that I’m coming after you.”

Yong Guk pulled Him Chan into a hug, “isn’t it our child?”

“No, because you haven’t touched me in forever,” Him Chan pouted.

“Then let me make it up to you,” Yong Guk pressed their lips together for an innocent kiss.