A/N: An update... because 95anichan has been a good girl. :D 

Sungmin had no idea how long he had slept. He had cried himself to sleep, and fortunately, the anxiety dissipated, leaving him in a numbing feeling.

He fought against the grogginess, climbing out of bed and waddling his way to the attached bathroom. Standing in front of the mirror with semi-closed eyes, he rubbed the back of his neck where it was aching, tracing the imprint left by his collar due to his sleeping position. Then, he remembered, there were wounds on his backside.

He tipped his head in an awkward position to check his wounds, only to find out he couldn’t. Making his way out of the bathroom, he noted that his wounds were no longer hurting that much. It was a numbing feeling, just like how he felt in his chest.

Positioning himself in front of the full-length mirror, he examined the ugly whip wounds for the first time. There were some open wounds, which was beginning to form scabs, while the rest were mixed in red and purple bruises, with a few visible, red welts.

With the reminder from his wounds, he could feel the fear and anxiety, caused by Kyuhyun’s anger, creeping back. He drew a deep breath, forcing himself to concentrate on the comforting things like Kyuhyun’s warm embrace. Then he realized – it was all too contradictory. Kyuhyun was hot yet cold, understanding yet dominating, caring yet demanding. And it confused Sungmin to the end of the world, just like how the internal conflict between his submissive nature and personality messed up his mind and heart. He didn’t know what to think of Kyuhyun, what to make out of his actions, or how he should react to everything. All he could figure out was, Kyuhyun wanted him good and submissive.

Sungmin stopped himself before he could fall into another mental debate, eyeing his wounds in the mirror again. He rubbed his face, contemplating whether he should heal himself. He eventually decided against it to avoid Kyuhyun suspecting his wounds healing too fast. He was still adapting to the fact that he was now a claimed omega and trying to figure out who Kyuhyun was. He was definitely not ready to let Kyuhyun in on his secret and having to face the repercussions.

He frowned as he ran his fingers over a welt, hoping that his wounds would heal faster so that he could request to return to the orphanage. He needed to collect his belongings and more importantly, he needed to see his orphanage director. He needed to talk to his director face-to-face, to get the comfort and advice. 

Comfort and advice… The talk with his orphanage director had to wait, but maybe he could get some comfort from his friends instead. He probably needed to make a call for them to stop worrying about him. He knew they were there at the school corridor, at least one of them, because he did hear him calling his name.

Sungmin walked to the chair, where his bag was hanging in the same position like it did in the morning. It strangely felt as though everything in the school didn’t happen. He smiled bitterly as he ped his bag. Was he in denial now?

His phone wasn’t in the usual compartment he would put it in. He almost emptied his entire bag, wondering whether Kyuhyun had confiscated his phone. Huffing when he failed to find his phone despite searching his entire bag, he looked up, his gaze falling on the familiar item lying on the dresser.

He groaned at his stupidity, realizing that he was totally out of it. He eyed the other phone sitting beside his old phone. He wasn’t sure whether it was the latest model, but he could see it was a new, unused phone. He picked up his own phone, attempting to turn it on. To his dismay, the battery was dead. His charger was back in his room and that meant he couldn’t contact anyone till he returned to the orphanage. He remembered his two best friends’ numbers, but he definitely wasn’t going to ask Kyuhyun for a phone.

Curiosity brewed in him as he eyed the new phone again. Would his alpha mind him using it? He didn’t know, but he could always just take a look at the phone, right? Maybe the phone was password-locked in the first place.

Sungmin couldn’t decide whether he was lucky or not to find the phone password unprotected. Both the home screen and lock screen were of default and there weren’t any extra applications aside from the pre-installed. He figured that it wasn’t Kyuhyun’s phone, unless his alpha was that boring a person or just replaced his phone.

It took him some time to navigate the phone, as his own was of an old model – not even a smartphone. He lived on a petty orphanage allowance and no matter how much he did earn from doing part-time jobs, he didn’t see the need to splurge on a new phone. His knowledge of smartphones though, was gained from the one his best friend received as a gift from his alpha.

He had a sudden thought of the phone being a gift from Kyuhyun as he browsed through the phone. As he opened up the contacts book, his speculation was confirmed. There was only one contact saved, under the name ‘Master’. He didn’t know whether he should feel grateful towards Kyuhyun, but he quickly pushed the thoughts aside for making use of the phone. At least he could call his friends.

He dialed one of the numbers he had committed to memory. Few rings passed and he wondered if his friends were still in lessons. He pulled the phone away from his ear and was a little surprised to find out that it was already 6.23pm. Had he slept the entire afternoon away? He couldn’t remember checking the time previously when he first woke up after fainting in school.

“Hello? Who is this?” His friend’s voice spilled from the phone.

“Donghae, it’s me.” A small smile tugged on his lips. It felt comforting just to hear his friend’s voice.

“Sungmin? Oh my god, are you okay?!” Donghae shouted into the phone.