A/N: Merry Christmas in advance! :) Here's a loooooong present for you all.

He couldn’t deny how helpful the sessions with Kihwan were, but there was never a guy as irritating in his life. If someone told Kyuhyun that Kihwan lived to get on his nerves, he might believe it considering how the psychiatrist was always smirking at his vexed expressions. And Kihwan’s favourite trick in annoying him was playing the “role” of his omega and speaking in a dull tone what Sungmin would have thought in response to his actions.

“I had to remind him of our original rules and set a new one to prevent him from hurting himself. But he still—”

“If I do something wrong, I’ll get punished.”

“But it was for his own good! He was frantic about everything; I needed to anchor him with something—”

“I need to hold back even if I’m scared. I cannot let it show—I cannot let my emotions show. I cannot let my alpha see my weakness and how I cannot comply to the rules.”

“Is that why he is always doing things on his own? Like the first time when we came to the office, he went into Soohyang-ssi’s room even though he’s—”

“I cannot embarrass my alpha. There are people watching. I must be strong.”

“Is that why he is always asking for punishment when something goes wrong? But I would never punish him for all those stuff he suffered through under the hands of the Choi! It wasn’t his fault. Does he not trust me at all?”

“I betrayed my alpha by submitting to another—”

“It wasn’t betrayal—”

“I need to atone for my mistakes. If I can receive the punishments well, maybe my alpha wouldn’t be angry with me anymore. Even if he minds—”

“I don’t mind it!”

“He might consider keeping me—”

“Of course I would keep him! I need him! And I told him I would not punish him for whatever happened in the time we were separated.”

“Why won’t he punish me? Am I not even worthy of his time to punish me?”

“No! It’s because I don’t want to hurt him. Definitely not for something that is my fault and not his! I don’t mind—”

“Do you really not mind what happened?” Kihwan’s sudden jump from the monotonous replies stunned him into silence.

Kyuhyun stared into the psychiatrist’s unrelenting gaze for seconds before shutting his eyes in resignation. “I mind. But I—”

“You?”

“I’ll learn to put aside all of that for him. I even tried to prove that I didn’t mind he was once touched by another by kissing…” Kyuhyun’s voice faded into silence at Kihwan’s raise of eyebrow.

“And how did Sungmin react?”

“He… panicked. But I—I never touched him inappropriately since then… except once.”

“You need to learn to keep it in your pants,” Kihwan stated plainly.

“I know!” Kyuhyun fought the rush of embarrassment, ruffling his hair in irritation. “I told him to tell me when he feels uncomfortable and that I would wait…”

“Seems like an improvement in communication, but you’re still not talking to him enough.” Kihwan paused to scribble something in his records. “You need to clarify all the misunderstandings that possibly have occurred earlier. Like I said, my guesses of Sungmin’s thoughts may not be fully accurate, but I recommend you to clear it all up to him.” Kihwan’s tone made the advice sound more like an order instead of a recommendation.

Kyuhyun fought the urge to retaliate, taking in a deep breath to calm himself. “I… understand.”

“And it’s right that you are holding back on commiting ual acts on him,” Kihwan said crudely. “But you should have used your words and care in the first place to prove things instead of losing to lust and forcing yourself on your omega.”

“I didn’t know he would react—” Kyuhyun deflated at the glare Kihwan gave him. “I understand…”

“It would be productive if we can stop repeating the same worries over and over again the next session. You would have been able to clear them up if you would just forgo your useless pride and talk to your omega,” Kihwan said. “Is there anything new aside from yesterday’s episode that you already talked about?”

Kyuhyun recalled the painful events that occurred yesterday before remembering something that he had noted mentally to bring up to Kihwan. “Just one. When we got home yesterday, I sent Sungmin up to his room to change. Then I remembered he might have some difficulty with his injured hands so I went up to check on him but… his face was washed white with fear when I entered the room. And he was clenching onto his shirt that was half ed.”

“Like the previous time you said his shirt was torn,” Kihwan supplied.

“Yes. The brand…” Kyuhyun pushed down the surge of anger at the thought of the cursed emblem. “I think Sungmin is still thinking of getting rid of it. And he’s afraid of me seeing it.”

“How would you feel if you actually see it again?”

“I… would be angry,” Kyuhyun admitted, his hands. “Even now, just thinking of it, I want to ing skin that bastard Jong alive… Not that he is actually alive for me to do that anymore.”

“You feel possessive because your omega was marked by another,” Kihwan said.

“Yes but… that is not the problem.” He looked at Kihwan with pleading eyes, hoping the alpha would understand. “I cannot stop my alpha side from feeling possessive. But that’s not the main reason why I’m angry. I’m angry because… because of what Sungmin had to go through and when I remember it, I’m angry with myself for failing to protect him. I—”

“But you never told Sungmin about it. About how you feel about the brand.”

“I cannot let him know that I’m possessive about it! He would only insist on getting rid of it, even defying me to find ways to get rid of it on his own—” He frowned, affirming, “Sungmin would.”

“And you don’t want him to get rid of it?”

“I—The possessive side of me wants him to. But… Besides cutting the skin off with silver, there’s only rebranding as an option. Both are… way too painful.” Kyuhyun dug his nails into his palms at the thought of how much pain his omega had gone through when the brand was first burnt in. “I don’t want him to go through that again.”

“Kyuhyun-ssi, I understand that you want to protect your omega from all forms of hurt. But has it occurred to you that Sungmin needed to remove the brand not only for you, but also for himself?”

Kihwan’s words all air out of his lungs.

“Has it ever occurred to you… how traumatizing and humiliating the experience was for Sungmin?” Kihwan leaned forward, pausing to stare into his eyes. “How he undergoes the humiliation all over again when he sees the brand?”

“I—” Kyuhyun lowered his gaze, whispering,”But it will fade after two to three years… We just need time.”

“And that means he would have to suffer for two to three more years.”

The grip that seized his heart pushed forth an urge to cry.

“If you don’t want Sungmin to remove it now, you have to explain it to him. Turn the brand into something positive… A record of you two recovering together for the next two to three years as it fades or something,” Kihwan suggested. “You need to desensitize… help Sungmin detach the humiliation from the mark. You need to help him learn how to live with it. Because even if it fades, the pain inflicted by it still remains there. You have to help Sungmin to get past it.”

Silently, Kyuhyun strengthened his resolve. “I will find a way.”

“Good,” Kihwan said, a rare adjective that came out of the alpha’s mouth. “I suppose you have nothing else to update me?” The psychiatrist continued after Kyuhyun shook his head. “Then I have one thing I would like to ask you.”

For some reason, his stomach started to churn in discomfort.

“Do you still hate black omegas?”

“Yes,” Kyuhyun answered without pausing to think.

“Do you hate Sungmin because he’s a black omega then?”

“No.” He frowned at how ridiculous Kihwan’s question sounded. “Of course not. How can I hate my omega?”

“You can love him even if he’s a black omega?” Kihwan raised his eyebrow.

“I love him,” he hissed at the doubt and accusation in Kihwan’s tone. “Sungmin’s more than just a black omega. It is his entire being that I love.”

“So you love the part of Sungmin that is a black omega too?”

Kyuhyun didn’t answer the question. He didn’t have an answer even as he stepped out of Kihwan’s room and entered Soohyang’s to find his pale-looking omega smiling at him.

“Can you love the part of Sungmin that is a black omega?”

~--~

He hummed a silly tune as he waltzed into the kitchen, acting as casual as he could while peeping over his omega’s back. Seeing that Sungmin was still busy with cleaning up their leftover takeouts, he swiftly flung open the top cupboard, snatching the bag of microwave popcorn and scanning the words on the packaging.

“Be careful not to get your wounds and bandages wet,” he said, sneaking another look at his omega before reading the recipe instructions.

“Yes, Master.” The sound of running water prompted Kyuhyun to look over, spotting his omega trying to wash his fingers without wetting the bandages.

When his omega suddenly turned around, he flung the popcorn behind his back, grinning away before realizing how silly he looked.

“I’m…” Sungmin lifted the trash bag in the corner. “I’m going to take out the trash, Master.”

“Oh!” He rushed over, taking the trash from his omega and checking the bandages for a moment. “I’ll do it.”

A crease deepened between his omega’s eyebrows. “I can do it, Master. My hands are fine.”

“I said I’ll do it,” Kyuhyun insisted, grabbing the bag of popcorn he abandoned on the kitchen counter. “I have something else for you to do.” He placed the bag in his omega’s hands, giving a sheepish smile. “Can you make the popcorn please? I’m not sure if I should just put it in the microwave or whether I need to pour out the kernels.”

His omega looked at the bag intently.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, suddenly feeling anxious.

“It’s…” His omega glanced at him before the gaze lowered again. “You never snacked before, Master. I thought you didn’t like snacks….”

“Oh,” he said in relief, turning his omega towards the microwave with hands on his omega’s shoulders. “It’s nice to snack once in a while. Let’s watch a movie or something when the popcorn is ready, okay?” He didn’t wait for a reply, immediately moving to take the trash. “I’ll just go put out the trash.”

“Yes, Master,” his omega answered softly, attention turning towards the popcorn packaging.

Kyuhyun rushed out of the house to leave the trash, excitedly returning to prepare the chosen movie on the television. Popping his head by the kitchen door, he saw his omega staring at the microwave oven doing its work, momentarily thinking if he should call his omega out. Deciding that it wouldn’t take long before the popcorn was ready anyway, Kyuhyun strode back to the living room, stopping before the sofa to contemplate on where he should sit.

And it was with his chosen lying position that his omega found him in two minutes after the microwave pinged. He propped his head up on his elbow leaning on the elevated sofa arm, patting the space before him.

“Come here,” Kyuhyun said, trying to mask the excitement in his voice.

His omega cradled the bowl of popcorn in his arms, carefully sitting by the edge of the sofa where his legs were.

“Put down the popcorn,” he instructed, repeating to himself internally to be patient and go slow with his omega.

His omega did as told, eyes avoiding his face.

“Come here,” he repeated, patting the space before his torso. When his omega nudged a little closer, he reached out for the hand, pulling his omega down to a similar position. Kyuhyun chuckled at the soft gasp his omega released.

“Is this okay?” He slid his arm around his omega’s waist, pressing closer till his body was aligned with his omega… except for one area. He forced the flare of lust down, keeping his groin area safely away from his omega.

“Master… I…”

“Just let me hold you like that, okay?” Kyuhyun breathed into his omega’s neck, fighting the urge to clamp his teeth down on the area. “I need to scent you since I didn’t manage to do it last night… else my wolf will go crazy,” he admitted, tightening his arm around his omega’s waist as he conveniently left out how he also needed his omega’s scent because of the conflicting session with Kihwan in the morning followed by a long afternoon of company work.

His omega didn’t reply as expected, having been cautious and quiet ever since the incident and ensuing punishment yesterday. Thus, he took the lack of struggles as a silent agreement instead. Kyuhyun pressed the play button on the remote control, starting the movie he had chosen.

“This…” His omega muttered in surprise as the title showed on the screen.

“A Walk to Remember,” Kyuhyun read, playing with his omega’s black strands absently. “Donghae said this is your favorite movie. I never watched it though. Is it that good?”

“It’s…” Satisfaction slowly filled him as he felt his omega’s stiff body relaxing in his hold. “I don’t think you’ll like it, Master.”

“Why not?” He asked, pointing at the bowl of popcorn. “Will you get the popcorn please?”

“It’s a romance film… I think you’ll find it boring, Master.” His omega took the bowl of popcorn, setting it in front of his stomach. “We should watch something else…”

“I don’t have anything I want to watch now, so let’s just watch this,” Kyuhyun said, knowing that his omega would do anything to please him. But similarly, he wanted to do everything to make his omega happy now.

“Yes… Master…” His omega whispered.

Sensing the downturn in his omega’s mood, he reached out for the popcorn, attempting to feed it to his omega. “Ahhh,” he voiced like a mother feeding her child, “Open your mouth.”

His omega’s surprised “ah!” was unexpected.

Lifting himself from the sofa a little, Kyuhyun burst into a loud laughter as his omega snatched the popcorn kernel from his fingers. “I’m sorry, Sungmin—hahaha—” He tried to help his omega clean off the caramel despite trembling in laughter, and his omega obediently let him. “I didn’t mean to feed it to your nose—”

Sungmin finally tilted his head up to look at him with a soft giggle that triggered a skip in his heartbeat. “At least it didn’t go into my ear…”

Kyuhyun’s face brightened at the first joke his omega had made in a long while, the sense of achievement spreading across his body like tea leaves infusing in warm water. He happily took another kernel, this time feeding accurately to his omega before resting back down on the sofa contentedly.

And as the movie started out on the first scene where Landon notices Jamie, Kyuhyun pressed his nose into his omega’s neck again, allowing the calming scent of wine to relax his tired body.

~--~

Even if it was only the fourth time he was watching the movie, he knew the scenes like the back of his hand, well enough for him to not concentrate and still know exactly what was going on in the scene. How was it even possible to concentrate with his alpha that close behind him anyway?

If he said he wasn’t touched by his alpha’s actions, he would have been blatantly lying to himself. His alpha had specially planned a movie session for him, had asked Hyukjae and Donghae for his favorite movie, had wanted to hold him.

“I need to scent you.”

Perhaps an alpha would never understand how much those words meant to an omega – how those possessive words could make him feel that he belonged, that he was loved and needed. And he needed his alpha’s calming mint on him desperately as well, though he didn’t dare to voice it. It was hard enough to maintain the scent when he wasn’t bonded to his alpha yet, and to have to sleep away from his alpha just the night before had resulted in all the mint disappearing. He was desperate for the sole claim that could be left on him when he had no bite, no collar, no bonding mark. At the very least, he needed his alpha’s scent. That was why he kept sticking to his alpha whenever he got the chance to today, though he very well knew he didn’t deserve it. And he definitely didn’t deserve to lie on the sofa in his alpha’s arms, when his punishment was still ongoing.

He knew his internal struggle was unknown to his alpha, but he didn’t want to voice it, selfishly hoping to prolong the moment of being held by his alpha, to smell that dear mint so close to him and embracing him along with those protective arms. And it was with the calming mint that he carelessly fell asleep with, only to jerk awake close to the end of the movie. He was being punished –being denied of his alpha’s warmth and scent was his punishment – but here he was, soaking up every bit of that warmth and scent though he didn’t deserve it.

But that greedy little omega in him opined that it was okay; it was his alpha who initiated this. And his alpha was currently asleep behind, the smooth breathing bringing about a slow rhythm of rise and fall of the chest that emitted the warmth he craved. Until the movie ends, he thought, unable to stop himself from scooting slightly backwards towards the warmth.

Sungmin directed his gaze to the television, watching the scene of Landon visiting Reverend Sullivan to return Jamie’s book. Even though it was the fourth time hearing those lines of apology from Landon on how Jamie was unable to witness a miracle, his heart still clenched at the longing and guilt in the voice. And when the Reverend responded that Landon was actually Jamie’s miracle, he thought of the sweet, understanding love between Landon and Jamie, and the scenes of how Landon had done everything he could for his girl, stood up for Jamie against his friends and supported her through the hard times at the hospital.

Before he realised, the tears were trickling down his cheeks, and the long arm tightened around his waist as a gentle hand wiped at his face.

“What’s wrong?” His alpha’s raspy, sleepy voice said. Those two words were becoming a common question that his alpha kept asking him nowadays. “Why are you crying, Sungmin?”

“So—Hik—” A gasp escaped him instead of the apology he intended, and Sungmin chastised himself internally for the unnecessary tears. How was he to tell his alpha that he once wished for a miracle like Landon was to Jamie’s?

“Tell me what’s wrong please, Sungmin.” His alpha tried to turn him around, but he refused to budge, unwilling to let his alpha see his crying face again. He didn’t want to be weak in front of his alpha, but his tears were never helpful in such situations. “Is it the movie? Wait… Did the girl die?”

His alpha silently watched Landon visiting the docks and reveling in the wind of Jamie’s love, a hand repeatedly rubbing circles into his back as he tried to force back his cries.

“Are you okay?” His alpha asked quietly as the credits rolled on the screen.

Sungmin swept his wet cheeks carelessly, murmuring an apology as he tried to sit up. However, he failed as his alpha’s arms tightened further, stopping him fr