It was the next day when Siwon returned to the room, breaking his thoughts about the alpha. Discreetly, he stashed the broken figurine he had gotten back from Henry under the pillow.

“It’s good that you finished your breakfast,” Siwon said, examining the empty cutlery on the dresser table. “And from what I heard, you ate your dinner last night too.”

Sungmin didn’t reply, only shifting slightly towards the other end of the bed when the alpha sat down at the edge. “Sungmin,” Siwon called, but he looked away, earning a sigh from the alpha.

“I’m… sorry about yesterday,” He was slightly surprised at Siwon’s apology, but he continued staring at the closet, refusing to let the alpha in on his emotions. “I was in a bad mood after meeting my father, and I let it out on you. I…”

Sungmin snatched his hand back when the alpha’s fingers landed on it. Unlike what a dominant alpha would have done, Siwon didn’t grab his hand forcefully in response. “I…” The alpha sighed again, giving up on the words he was trying to say and placing a set of neatly folded clothes near him instead. “Sungmin, it’s boring to stay here all day, right? I would like to bring you somewhere. These clothes were borrowed from Henry, hopefully they fit… Change and put on your collar, will you?”

There were a few moments of silence as the alpha waited for his reply, but Sungmin was adamant at ignoring Siwon. The alpha cleared his throat awkwardly, making a move to get up from the bed. “I’ll be back in five minutes.”

With that, the alpha’s presence left his side. When he heard the door close, Sungmin turned to look at the pile of clothes, a weird feeling stirring in his stomach as his eyes landed on the collar that marked him as Siwon’s omega. He remembered how Siwon’s eyes had lingered on the altered patch of skin on his chest, before silently fitting the collar around his neck. The click of the clasp reminded him of the time the alpha had placed a collar on him, and uncannily similar to the first time, in the second time, his heart was beating hard, his fists clenched, his eyes shut in apprehensive acceptance.

He didn’t have a chance to inspect whatever intricacies designed on the collar – he only knew it wasn’t plain like the very first he had received – before Jong’s men had pried it off his neck and replaced it with a coarse silver chain. Having changed into a simple black shirt and navy training pants belonging to Henry, he sat in front of the dresser table, running his fingers along the collar slowly for the first time.

It was of durable metal, like all high status alphas would have splurged on for their omegas instead of the cheaper buckled leather alternative, with Siwon’s name laser-engraved right in the middle. It read Choi Siwon, and on both sides of the name extended decorative vines of roses and thorns. Though the sizeable name in black was intended as the main focus, the roses stood out in metallic purple, a hue that reminded him of the amethyst gem on Ryeowook’s collar.

He wondered how the omega was recovering from the fateful incident. Considering a few days had past since then, it was likely that Ryeowook was well again, the conjecture strengthened by the sighting of Jongwoon at the debate. Strangely, he could hardly feel the remants of the hostility and resentment he once held towards the omega. Was it because the bond that once induced the jealousy was gone? Sungmin tried not to think of all that was fading between him and the alpha; it hurt, like the reminder of the brand on his chest.

Brushing off the thoughts, he lifted the light collar, shifting till the clasp was in sight. There, right next to the locking mechanism, in a much smaller but same, cursive font was his name. Min. A queer tingly feeling ran down his back at the nickname. It was likely that his name was engraved in the last two days, after all the embellishments were put in place. It had to be, considering that Siwon had the collar ready so quickly. Unlocking the clasp, he slid the collar onto his neck, instantly picking up another intent behind the design as he looked into the mirror – Siwon’s name was in plain sight from front view, giving others no chance to mistake his current identity. It served as a warning, warding off wolves that dared to even have a fleeting thought of touching the property of the Young Master. To Sungmin, though he didn’t know whether Siwon meant it as protection or a show off, it was a bitter reminder for him, a stab to his heart whenever he looked at it.

Lowering his head, he struggled with the clasp for prolonged time, and when foreign fingers suddenly landed on his hands to help with the task, he knocked them off promptly. Sungmin held his fingers steady, forcing his emotions off his face and demeanor as he succeeded in locking the clasp in the next try. When he raised his head again, his eyes caught those concerned ones of Siwon, who had entered the room while he was fighting the frustrating war with the collar that should have been easy to put on. It must have been his heart that was the one struggling; struggling against having to wear a collar bestowed by another aside from the alpha.

“I could have helped you with the collar,” Siwon said, expression conveying that he didn’t understand Sungmin’s resistance towards help for even the most inconsequential things. He didn’t want to explain how it wasn’t inconsequential for him, how he didn’t want to experience again the unearthly feeling that ran through him when another alpha placed a ‘claim’ on him.

“It’s fine.” He got up from the chair, ignoring how Siwon seemed enthralled by the collar around his neck. “Where are we going?” He asked, willingly doing as the alpha wished not because he was bored in the room, but that he wanted to check the house for escape routes, or perhaps, something that could give him leverage over Siwon. Something that could earn him a deal to break the bond tying him down. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the alpha to come for him; he knew Kyuhyun would. But he didn’t like the thought of sitting around and doing nothing while the alpha was trying hard. He wanted to work hard as well, to find a way back to the alpha if he could.

“It’s a place you can spend your time at in the day.” Siwon lifted a hand to him, but dropped it when he didn’t take it. He noticed how the smile faltered a little though it held through the interaction. The alpha turned, leading him to the door that had been constantly locked since he was brought here. He was distracted by the thought that he was stepping ‘free’ in the house for the first time, resulting in the next line catching him offguard when Siwon looked back at him. “My mother’s place.”

He ignored the captivating smile that came in response to the surprise on his face, walking out of the door. It scared him how the smile stunned him, how the thought that Siwon was good-looking ran past his mind.

~--~

The Omegas’ Haven. That was the phrase Henry had used to describe this place as they stepped into this special wing of the large mansion. The walls were a warm beige, the furniture basic and wooden, the living room a wide space filled with beanbags occupied by omegas that ceased activities upon their arrival.

“Don’t mind us,” Henry has said casually, but the conversations only continued after Siwon walked on ahead into a long corridor.

Though Siwon had said that this was his mother’s living quarters, it must still have been weird for these omegas to see an alpha whisking through. According to Henry, Siwon’s mother, a fellow omega, turned her own wing into a place solely for omegas in the Choi household to hang out at, though the occasional betas and rare alphas like Siwon dropped by from time to time. Sungmin followed after the quickly disappearing back of Siwon as Henry chirped on about Siwon’s kind mother beside his ear. Turning into the room Siwon had entered, he observed the homely kitchen, before looking towards the direction of Siwon’s warm voice.

“Mother, I brought the person you wanted to meet.” With one hand comfortably in his mother’s hand, Siwon raised the other hand to Sungmin.

He didn’t take it as usual, but he stepped forward politely, giving a slight bow from the neck before he met the kind eyes of an omega. Siwon’s mother was dressed in a bright yellow apron, her short, brown hair barely touching the shoulder of her pastel pink dress. She wasn’t skinny, but was not overly plump either, just the usual size of a housewife. The light brown irises scanned him briefly, then widening slightly as though in surprise when they met his eyes again.

“You… Y-You really look like him… Sung—”

“Mother,” Siwon interrupted, tightening his hold on his mother’s hand.

At the weird exchange, Sungmin frowned. “I’m sorry, but I look like who?”

He caught the twitch in Siwon’s mother’s expression, but before the omega lady could reply him, another voice answered his question.

“Her son,” Kibum said, entering the kitchen and nonchalantly allowing Henry to cling to him.

“Son…?” Sungmin turned back to look at Siwon, though he was sure he didn’t look any bit like the alpha.

“Not her real son,” Kibum said in an almost sighing tone, approaching them. “Someone whom she treated as a son.”

“Yes,” Siwon’s mother admitted, seeming to regain her composure. “I’m sorry about that.” She released Siwon, stepping forward to take Sungmin’s hand instead. He had the urge to pull back his hand, but he didn’t want to be rude, especially not to a kind omega lady. “Sungmin-ssi, right? My name is Yu-il. Please take good care of my son.”

He couldn’t help but return the captivating smile of the omega, before his heart abruptly skipped a beat at the resemblance of the smile to that of the alpha standing behind. Sungmin tore his gaze off Siwon, forcing himself to direct his attention back to Yu-il. “It’s nice to meet you. You can just call me Sungmin.”

“And everyone calls me Yu-umma here. You can do the same too.” Siwon’s mother looked at him with an expression of expectation, awaiting his reply.

He hesitated at the thought of having to address Siwon’s mother as ‘mother’, but if it was just a common term the omegas here used for Yu-il, he decided that it shouldn’t matter. When Siwon sensed his hesitation and tried to step in, he interrupted immediately, calling softly with a smile, “Yu-umma.”

The smile that brightened further warmed him from the inside, and he allowed Yu-il to lead him to the table in the middle of the room, taking a seat on the high stool as told. “Here,” Yu-il produced a box of cut fruits from the refrigerator, placing it in front of him. “I haven’t finished cooking lunch, but have some—”

Yu-il caught the sneaky hand that tried to steal a piece of kiwi, looking at Siwon disapprovingly. “This is for Sungmin.”

He thought Yu-il was similar to Jinhee when the omega narrowed her eyes at the alpha’s scrunched up nose, but at the next words, he realized he had made the conclusion too fast. “And you’re allergic to kiwis!”

“But Mother—”

Kibum casually reached out, taking the piece of kiwi that Siwon had wanted and eating it. Siwon’s objection, along with Yu-il, Kibum and Henry’s laughter should have been contagious, but Sungmin could only let out a bitter smile, mocking himself for even thinking that it wasn’t so bad here after all.

Though Yu-il was kind, she wasn’t like Jinhee at all. Kibum and Henry weren’t Kikwang and Dongwoon, and Siwon… Siwon was definitely not like the alpha.

Sungmin absently bit into the piece of apple between his fingers, unable to stop himself from thinking about the alpha. He missed home, he missed Jinhee, he missed the bodyguards, he missed him…  

He swallowed the fruit and hopped off the stool, ignoring the pairs of eyes following him as he approached Yu-il by the sink. Picking up the knife, he continued cutting up the potatos Yu-il had abandoned halfway. “Let me help you, Yu-umma.”

“Oh? Thank you.” Yu-il drained the water from the basket she was washing vegetables in, smiling kindly at him. “Be careful with the knife, dear.”

He couldn’t stop his mind from comparing Yu-il’s response to Jinhee’s, feeling the ache in his right cheek as though Jinhee had pinched it right then.

~--~

Time passed much faster since the day he was introduced to Yu-il. He spent the day at Yu-il’s place for the following few days, despite how almost every omega there avoided him like a plague. Whether it was because the omegas’ mates and family told them to stay away from him or that the collar around his neck scared them away he didn’t know, but to Sungmin, he didn’t care much about the lack of interaction. Instead, he found himself devoting his time to finding out more about Siwon and the Choi household from his limited social circle of Henry, Yu-il, his personal guards Jonghyun and Key, Hyesung the butler in charge of the meals sent to his room, and a nine year-old omega boy that was an exception to how the omegas behaved around him. The omega, Jungkook, was the child of Junjin, the guard who was supposed to protect him at the debate. Sungmin knew it was out of guilt that the beta sent his child to keep him company, and though he thought it unnecessary, he accepted and was glad for the bubbly child that brought many unintended smiles to his face.