Chapter 3 (1/1)

It was the beginning of a friendship between Hakyeon and Jaehwan, and somehow, Hongbin, though the latter was a bit more reticent than the leader in befriending Jaehwan. He was never anything but nice and cordial, but he still kept his distance, and contrary to Hakyeon, shied away from physical contact.“Don’t think too much of it, Hongbin doesn’t get close to anyone.” Hakyeon reassured him, but Jaehwan knew it wasn’t true. Hongbin was close to Hakyeon, if no one else, but Jaehwan didn’t feel like he had a right to his friendship anyway, too glad knowing he was at least not an enemy and that he had Hakyeon on his side, and another trainee named Daewon, who, if not befriended, at least respected him.Two months passed by, and Jaehwan’s heat approached again when he was ordered to visit the company doctor. He was prescribed suppressant pills that would dampen the effects of the heat to a bearable minimum without suppressing them completely, and Jaehwan managed quite well through the five days it lasted. The other trainees were provided pills, too, to help ignore what lingered of Jaehwan’s scent, and it didn’t come to any incidents, like Jaehwan had feared, even if Jon kept making filthy comments and giving him murderous to lecherous looks that had no other purpose than make him feel as uncomfortable as possible.His heat was already over when they were training in their usual practice room and eventually granted a small break that Jaehwan used to flop to the floor in front of the large mirror to catch his breath. Out of instinct he opened his eyes after a short while to find Jon approaching him with murderous intent, but before he could react the alpha had grabbed him by his lapels and pulled him up, slamming his back against the mirror.“I did not sign up to be forced to take fucking pills because of a fucking useless omega I’m not even allowed to fuck and have them ruin my complexion! Look at this, you piece of shit! Do you see this?! I’m breaking out because of the fucking pills I have to swallow because of you! I demand you find me a really good remedy to get rid of these, you hear me?! You better come up with something until tonight, or I swear, I’ll-!”“Jon! Put him down! Now!” Hakyeon burst through the door, fuming.“Or what, huh? What if I don’t want to? I’m not going to risk my chances to debut because of a fucking omega, and you know perfectly well how important looks are to make it in this industry! This piece of scum will not thwart my chances! I haven’t broken out in two years until I had to take these fucking pills! What’s the harm in fucking him, anyway?! He wants it, too, when he’s not on his own pills!”“Jon, I swear on everything holy, you let go of Jaehwan right this second, or else I’ll-”“You’ll what?!” Jon screamed at Hakyeon, spit spraying out of his mouth as he slammed Jaehwan against the mirror again with enough force to shatter it. Jaehwan ripped his arms up to cover his face as the shards cascaded down around him at the same time as he fell, suddenly let go of by Jon due to his surprise.In the deafening silence that followed, only Jaehwan’s small gasps of pain were audible as the mirror shards he’d landed in cut into his palms, his legs, his butt.The silence was broken by the door opening again, revealing no other than CEO Hwang himself. He strolled in with all the nonchalance in the world, as if there weren’t five alphas in shocked silence and a bleeding omega sitting in the middle of the shards of a broken mirror in the room.“Good afternoon, gentlemen.” He greeted calmly, receiving no answer. He raised an eyebrow.“Oh? No greeting? Is it no longer usual to greet your superior when they enter the room?”That shook them out of their shock and they bowed to the CEO; even Jaehwan, who was unable to get up without hurting himself even more.The CEO fixed each of them with a lingering stare that had them avert their eyes one by one, until he reached Jon.“Jon. Good thing I meet you here…”Jon jumped slightly snapping his gaze up abruptly.“I came to inform you that you have the rest of the day off.”Jon gaped at the man.“As well as tomorrow. And the day after. The rest of the week, in fact, as well as the week after and the week after that. However long it takes you to find a new job.”Jon gasped audibly.“I don’t want to hear a single thing you might want to utter in your defense, I have heard enough and seen enough with my own ears and eyes for you to be ever able to convince me of anything else. I expect you to return to the dorm, gather your things and then come back here to return your keys along with everything else that belongs to the company. And after that, I never want to see you close to either building ever again, nor any of my staff and employees. Was I clear enough?”Jon was as pale as a ghost as he nodded slowly, incredulously, and Jaehwan almost felt pity for the alpha. Almost, if his cuts and back hadn’t been hurting so damn much.CEO Hwang moved on from Jon then.“Hongbin, help Jaehwan to the doctor’s office. If he needs to be taken to the hospital, stay with him. Daewon, Hajoon, get something to clean up the mess. Be careful not to hurt yourselves. When you’re done, come to my office. Hakyeon, you come with me. Now; what are you all waiting for?”Movement sprung into the alphas, yet the one taking the longest to follow the orders given to him was Hakyeon, lingering even after CEO Hwang had turned to leave the room, to assess Jaehwan’s situation. Only in the very last second did he pull himself together and sprinted after the CEO.Jaehwan looked up when Hongbin approached him, careful not to step on the broken glass.The young alpha bit his lip.“Hey… How can I help you up? Shit, you’re bleeding a lot!”Jaehwan shrunk in on himself a little, and Hongbin crouched down next to him.“Hey, it’s ok… Uh… Is there anywhere you’re not hurt so I can lift you out of… this?”Jaehwan shrugged, assessing his situation until he lifted an arm, palm up, to show Hongbin that from the wrist up he wasn’t hurt.Hongbin got up, brushing the shards in front of Jaehwan away with his foot, and then reached down to hold onto Jaehwan’s arm to lift him up. Jaehwan winced as the shards still stuck in his cuts shifted, hissing when one that had fallen into his shoe pierced through his sock and into his skin.Hongbin grit his teeth until Jaehwan was standing, then let go of his arm as if it was a hot coal. Jaehwan couldn’t help but feel a pang of hurt at his actions, but he didn’t show it, hobbling out of the immediate danger zone before plucking the shard out of his shoe and a few out of his hands and legs.Hongbin cringed as he watched him, gritting his teeth.“Are you ok to walk?” He asked after a minute or two, and Jaehwan nodded.It hurt, though, and Hongbin fidgeted nervously.“Uhm, can I-… Do you want to lean on me?” He asked after they were only a few steps out of the practice room, and Jaehwan looked at him skeptically. Hongbin bit his lip and looked straight ahead.“I-I just mean-… If you need to, since-… Never mind…” He shook his head, and Jaehwan hobbled along next to him, jaw set and teeth clenched as every movement stung somewhere.When they reached the stairs, Jaehwan wanted to give up and just bleed to death at their bottom for all he cared. He dragged himself up the steps, Hongbin hovering nervously next to him, once lifting an arm to lay around Jaehwan’s waist, or so it appeared, before he hastily lowered it again. When Jaehwan stumbled at some point, Hongbin’s hand shot out to grab only the sleeve of his shirt, which wouldn’t have been helpful at all if Jaehwan hadn’t managed to catch himself, and as soon as he realized it, he let go of the fabric just as quickly again.Small incidents like those happened repeatedly during the whole way to the doctor’s office, and by the time they reached it, Jaehwan was positively fed up by it, the mixture of pain and irritation quickly making him reach his limit.Hongbin knocked on the doctor’s door for him, and the doctor called them in.“Oh, Jaehwan, it’s you… Aish, what happened to you?!”“He was slammed into a mirror, Sir.” Hongbin supplied when Jaehwan took too long to catch his breath.The doctor’s eyes widened.“What in the name of-…! Come here, Jaehwan, come, sit down over here, I’ll just…”Hongbin cleared his throat as he watched Jaehwan hobble over to the bench the doctor had indicated.“Ah, I don’t think that is a good idea…”Both the doctor and Jaehwan stopped in their tracks and looked at Hongbin, who blushed under their attention.“I- I mean-… You landed on your-… Ah, you-… you sat in the shards, and-… Uhm… Ah, you know, forget what I said, you’ll know best if you should, uhm, sit…” He mumbled the rest scratching the back of his neck awkwardly as he averted his eyes, missing how the doctor gave Jaehwan a questioning look and Jaehwan averted his eyes, too, nodding slowly.“You better lay down on your stomach, then, if that is possible?”The doctor pulled a curtain in front of the bench, blocking Hongbin’s view.“Hongbin, I hope you don’t mind waiting outside; you’ll understand we want to protect Jaehwan’s privacy, right.” It wasn’t a question, and Hongbin left the room. It wasn’t like he had anything else to do but wait, either, and the CEO’s orders had been to stay with Jaehwan, anyway.He heard muffled voices from inside the room, and one or the other louder hiss or small cry, and he kneaded his hands uncomfortably as he waited what seemed sheer endless time. Eventually, the door opened next to him and the doctor guided Jaehwan outside, looking grim.“There are a few cuts that will need stitches. I already called an ambulance.” The doctor informed Hongbin, and the young alpha nodded, catching up to Jaehwan who was already walking ahead.“Wait up, Jaehwan!” He called out, just as he was skidding to a halt at his side.Jaehwan gave him an indecipherable look but didn’t stop, and Hongbin sighed inaudibly, staying at his side. The walk to the front door of the company and the ride to the hospital were quiet, uncomfortably so, and Jaehwan’s irritation with Hongbin’s behavior grew. When they were told to sit and wait, and Hongbin not only took a moment too long to decide if he wanted the chair next to Jaehwan’s or leave one empty between them, but then sat on the very edge, as far away from Jaehwan as possible, Jaehwan snapped.He glared at Hongbin with badly concealed hurt.“Am I really that disgusting to you?” He spat, and Hongbin paled.“W-what? No! Why?!”Jaehwan huffed, averting his gaze to the ugly floor tiles in the waiting area of the hospital.“You avoid me as if I had a contagious disease. As if touching me would burn a hole through your skin or something.”Hongbin gaped at him for a moment, then shook his head and even his hands in denial.“No! No, that’s not-… That’s not it!”Jaehwan looked up to give him a doubting look.“What else is it then, that you won’t even touch me when I’m falling or can barely lift my feet?”Hongbin closed his mouth, averting his gaze.“I’m-… I’m sorry. I just-… It’s not that I think you’re disgusting or something, not at all! It’s not-… not even you, it’s not your fault. It’s, uhm… I…” He took a deep breath before lifting his gaze to find Jaehwan’s.“I’m sorry, Jaehwan. It’s just… You are the first, uhm, well, omega, that I’ve ever met and so much as talked to, and I just-… I don’t know-… I don’t want to do anything that makes you uncomfortable, but I don’t know what makes you uncomfortable, what I can do and what not around you, you know? I-…” He exhaled a deep breath. “I fucked up already, didn’t I?”Jaehwan’s eyes had widened, not expecting that sort of confession, but his own state of pain and exhaustion had limited his patience and finesse, so he just managed to sigh, which sounded more like a huff.“Just stop avoiding me like a leper…” He grumbled, and Hongbin gave him an incredulous look.“What?”“Stop avoiding me like a leper. And don’t grope my ass, or crotch, or neck. That’s all. Well, and don’t slam me into a mirror, I guess.” He elaborated, and Hongbin gaped at him.“Wha-what? Why would I- I wouldn’t do that to you, Jaehwan!”Jaehwan shrugged, but hissed as it hurt his back.“Then you are plenty fine around me. Just don’t do anything you wouldn’t do to someone of your own caste, and you’re good.”Hongbin looked away sheepishly, but sat up in his chair in a normal way until a nurse came to lead him into a doctor’s office. Jaehwan stood up, but when Hongbin didn’t show any hints of getting up as well, turned around to look back at him.“Aren’t you coming?”Hongbin got up hastily.“You want me to?!”Jaehwan rolled his eyes.“Yeah… I trust you more than any of the random alphas that might be lurking around here, and CEO Hwang told you to stay with me, too, didn’t he?”Hongbin caught up to him quickly, walking with him to the door the nurse was holding open, waiting for them. She didn’t question Hongbin coming with Jaehwan and led them to the doctor’s office.They both bowed as they stepped inside, and Jaehwan handed the doctor a slip that the company doctor had written for whatever hospital doctor would be tending to him.The doctor read the note silently, then peeked up over his glasses at the two of them.“Two cuts on your ankle, one on your upper thigh and two on your hand…” He listed, before he leaned back in his seat, giving Jaehwan a long once over that had him step back and closer to Hongbin in discomfort.“I’ll ask you to remove your clothes then and lay down on that cot. Your friend can go wait outside in the meantime.”Jaehwan took another step back, almost stepping on Hongbin’s foot.“He can stay!” he exclaimed a little too loud and a little too hastily, and Hongbin’s hand came up automatically to rest on his upper arm, reassuring him he was still there.“I will stay.” He declared with a firm voice, and Jaehwan turned halfway around to give him a grateful look before looking at the doctor again.The doctor narrowed his eyes, but neither backed down, until he sat up, grumbling something unintelligible.“Fine then, stay if you have to… You, though, are still going to have to remove your clothes.” He pointed at Jaehwan, and Hongbin’s hand tightened around Jaehwan’s arm when the latter moved to take a step away from Hongbin to do as told.“He doesn’t have to remove his shirt for you to stitch any of his cuts, though.”Jaehwan turned to look at Hongbin again, who was fixing the doctor with a determined stare, which earned him an increasingly darker look from the doctor. A silent exchange happened between the two alphas that Jaehwan wasn’t entirely able to decipher, but he was able to tell that Hongbin wouldn’t back down. The doctor gave in eventually.“Of course not…” He mumbled then. “But the pants will have to go. Now, if possible; I have more than just one patient to tend to a day.”Hongbin huffed quietly, but only Jaehwan heard it before he stepped forward and out of Hongbin’s slackening grip to comply. Hongbin hovered close by while the doctor numbed the areas around the cuts to stitch them up, and Jaehwan could hear Hongbin growl dangerously at some point while the doctor was tending to the cut on his thigh. A weight he hadn’t even noticed settling lifted from his butt, and he blushed, mortified. After that, he couldn’t wait until all his cuts were tended to and he could get dressed and leave. He all but rushed out of the office, Hongbin close behind him.Hongbin caught up to him quickly, passing him and slowing down in front of him, walking backwards, to slow him down.“Jaehwan, Jaehwan! Slow down, you can’t run like that, you’ll open your cuts again!”Jaehwan slowed down, his head bowed, though, but Hongbin could see how flushed his face still was.“Hey, it’s over. Come on, that pig is not worth you hurting yourself over… Let’s go home, ok?”Jaehwan took a shaky breath, and Hongbin could tell he was crying. Hongbin hesitated only a second before he stepped forward and enveloped Jaehwan in a hug.“Hey, hey, it’s ok... It’s over. Shhh…” He mumbled as Jaehwan sagged against his chest, and he patted his back awkwardly.“Why does everyone think doing something like that is ok? Why?!” Jaehwan muttered against Hongbin’s chest between sniffles, and Hongbin swallowed heavily.“It’s not. I know it’s not. I won’t let that happen to you again, Jaehwan, I promise, I…” He broke off with a helpless sigh, and Jaehwan pushed away from his chest gently, looking up.“You can’t protect me against the whole world, and not forever, Hongbin. And you shouldn’t have to!”Hongbin looked away, sheepish.“I know, I know, but… I can try, right?” He looked up, and the look he gave Jaehwan reminded the omega that even though Hongbin was an alpha, he was a whole year and a half younger, and a lot more naïve. He sighed, taking Hongbin’s hand in his bandaged one.“You can… And I’ll be very grateful for that, even though I wished you didn’t have to…”Hongbin smiled at him sadly, and they made their way back to the company. Once they walked into the lobby, though, Hongbin fidgeted slightly.“I… I should probably go talk to CEO Hwang. I… I don’t know what you should do, though…”Jaehwan hummed, then tilted his head in question, though.“Why should you go talk to the CEO?”Hongbin shrugged.“Tell him we’re back, and… you know, what happened…”Jaehwan chewed on his lip as he averted his gaze.“Do you think that’s really necessary? I mean… I don’t expect the company to do anything about that, since it is kind of normal, and I… I don’t want to cause too much trouble, I’ve already caused enough, and I don’t want to risk being dropped because I’m too much work…”Hongbin gaped at him, his face dropping eventually.“But… It can’t keep going on like this…!”Jaehwan shook his head, though.“It won’t change because of a lower than average music company trainee that got groped by a doctor, though, Hongbin… Please, don’t tell anyone about it, ok?”He didn’t wait for an answer before he turned away, setting out to find… something. Maybe the other trainees. Maybe a quiet spot to hide. An empty room to sing… or cry. Or both.He ended up finding a manager, eventually, who told him he should go home and rest. That was what he did, and there he found the other trainees, too. Hongbin hadn’t returned yet, and Hakyeon was in the shower. He decided to make use of the fact he had his own room and locked himself away in there. He didn’t like being alone with Daewon and Hajoon, and he didn’t know what CEO Hwang had taken Hakyeon aside for, so he had no idea where he stood with him at the moment.A sense of crushing loneliness overcame him as he sat down on his bed-roll, hugging his legs to his chest and hiding his face as he let the tears fall.