Chapter 6 (1/1)

Somehow, Jaehwan managed to survive that heat-cycle, too, and after only a week, he was back to normal. Maybe two kilos lighter and the bags under his eyes were darker than ever before, too, but he figured he would recover. Eventually. If he was given just a single day where he could sleep, and eat, and sleep more, and eat again…But that didn’t happen, of course, and instead he remembered with awful clarity what he’d told Hakyeon, which made their interactions slightly awkward. He also remembered what he had told Hongbin, and while it didn’t make their interactions awkward, he could tell Hongbin was struggling to find a way to bring it up, questioning himself if he even should, and Jaehwan wasn’t quite as certain, either. He thought about it a lot, so much even that it affected his performance sometimes.“Lee Jaehwan, get your head out of the clouds and focus for a second, will you!” The Chinese teacher lost her patience with him one day, and he sat up straight, clearing his throat awkwardly. It turned into a choked cough, though, and another, his eyes tearing a bit, and he had to cough for real, until he noticed a water bottle standing in front of him. He grabbed it hastily, chugging some of the water and it helped his cough go away.He expected it to have been Hongbin who’d placed the saving water bottle there, but when he turned to thank him silently, Hongbin shook his head and pointed past Jaehwan. Jaehwan followed where he was pointing, and found Wonshik on his other side, head bowed deeply over his notes and ears a flaming red.Jaehwan mumbled a thank you, and turned his attention to the teacher.It was the beginning of a lot of small favours -tiny, even, so much so that Jaehwan sometimes missed them- that gradually turned to bigger favours from Wonshik. Half of the time, those bigger favours turned into bigger fails, though, and Jaehwan didn’t know if he should be amused or annoyed. He couldn’t help but be endeared by Wonshik’s struggles most of the time, eventually, but then he started thinking about what his intentions were behind his actions, and he wasn’t quite as endeared anymore. At least not when he thought about it. In the moment when the things happened, he still was.Unfortunately, though, Wonshik’s struggles had started distracting him from his rather important thoughts, and he didn’t think about them again until CEO Hwang reminded him to visit the company’s doctor because of the issue with his irregular heat.Jaehwan was mortified, and it didn’t help that he had to miss a class to visit the doctor, attracting everyone’s attention to his issue. It was even more frustrating because his visit to the doctor was rather fruitless, and he was positively pissed that night and locked himself in his room right after dinner, ignoring Hakyeon’s calls for him, or anyone else’s.He still had to figure out if -and if yes: how- he should break the subject to Hongbin about how they should go about his next heat. It sounded so wrong, though, in so many ways, that he wanted to instantaneously combust. But if he couldn’t even talk about it to Hongbin, there was no way he could address the subject with Hakyeon to at least clear out the awkwardness between them.His struggle resulted in him locking himself in and away whenever he could, racking his brain for what he should do, and then the fear grew that his heat might come ahead of time again, and what would happen this time around. At least so far no new trainees had been added to the group, and he thought he more or less knew what to expect from the current ones.That was why, when a knock sounded on his door one evening, he would have expected Hongbin or Hakyeon, or even Wonshik, but never Taekwoon to stand there when he opened the door.Startled, Jaehwan took a step back, his throat closing up and body tensing, and Taekwoon averted his all too piercing gaze that nothing short of frightened Jaehwan.To Jaehwan’s further surprise, the alpha then proceeded to extend a small stack of books to him. Out of reflex, Jaehwan took them and glanced at the title laying on top of the stack: “Irregular Cycles: Causes, Solutions and Reading the Small Signs”.Jaehwan’s eyes widened, and Taekwoon shifted uncomfortably.“The big one is just to check up on if there’s a specific question, and it’s pretty scientific, but-…”Jaehwan’s curiosity peaked and he pulled the biggest one out from the bottom of the stack: “From Omegas for Omegas: Health before, in and after the Heat”.Taekwoon shrugged when he looked up at him, confusion still written on his face.“Anyway. Read them or leave them; I don’t care.” Taekwoon shrugged again and turned away, trudging through the dorm to the other side of it and disappearing in the shared bedroom.Jaehwan stared back down at the books in his hands, then retreated hastily back into his room and locked the door again.There were four books in total, he found. Aside from the medical one and the one about irregular cycles, one with a pretty non-descript cover that seemed to have been well read before named simply “The Easy Heat”, and one filled with little post-its sticking out around the sides and top with the slightly baiting title “Myth or Truth: Omega Edition – Do you really know your body?”Both the latter ones belonged to a Jung Jiwon, while the other two had been rented from different libraries.Jaehwan scoffed lightly as he set the books down on top of a box in a corner of the room and glared at them slightly.“Of course I know my body; who does he think he is?!” He muttered quietly, sitting back down on his futon and wrapping his arms around his knees, staring at the abandoned books with a mix of anger and bitterness.Really, who did Taekwoon think he was to turn up to him with educational books about omega issues? That was really none of his business! And what did he care, anyway?Jaehwan scoffed.He didn’t care, he’d said it himself.Jaehwan glared at the books some more, wanting to use them to whack the small voice that kept niggling in the back of his head with them: For some reason, Taekwoon obviously cared, since he’d gone through the trouble of finding these books in the first place.He found himself scooting over and picking up the books again, bringing them to his futon instead.The library books had been rented by Taekwoon on different dates, too, and if Jaehwan remembered correctly, both days had been rather busy for them. How had Taekwoon found the time to hurry to the libraries and find the books in what little time they had? Had he done research before to know what exactly he needed to look for?He shook his head, incredulous, as he carefully placed the rent slips back inside the books.He couldn’t help but feel a little curious, too, though, and he did need to know how to find out when he was going into heat when it came irregularly…He paged through the book on that issue loosely, reading mostly the highlighted and fat printed parts. Before long, though, he was immersed in the book, and when he eventually looked up, he realized it was already four in the morning and he should definitely sleep.He sighed, turning off the lights and curling up under his blanket.The book he’d been reading was well written, precise and on point, without the condescending undertone he was used from most informative literature about omegas that made it sound like they were talking about a lab experiment gone wrong rather than people. He liked it.During the following days, Jaehwan isolated himself even more, using every free minute to read and find out as much as he could about irregular cycles. He found out that stress, suddenly increasing physical strain, and excessive close contact with numerous unmated alphas could unbalance even the most regular cycles. He found out how important a regular sleeping pattern, balanced nutrition and regular meals were, and methods to help keep alpha pheromones from influencing his cycle. And he learned what little, seemingly inconsequential changes in his body, behavior and perception could indicate that his heat was imminent.The latter reminded him of his problem with Hongbin and Hakyeon, whose worried looks lately he hadn’t even noticed. He was sure his heat wouldn’t be long off now, though, and worried more than ever if he should just go up to Hongbin and ask him to help him through his heat, even though he most definitely wasn’t sure if that was what he wanted. Well, he did want Hongbin, and Hakyeon, too, in some way, but… He wasn’t sure in what way. Unless he was in heat, though, then he knew exactly in what way, but he had to admit he was glad that Hakyeon had shown some sense and not let him make that decision during his heat even though he’d thought he had been thinking clearly.He began to wish he knew of a different way to make his heat easier, and that was when he remembered the smallest, yet no less thick book with the non-descript cover.It was filled with handwritten notes along the edges of the text, and Jaehwan felt as if he was intruding as he read it. Whoever this Jung Jiwon was, they weren’t shy with their observations, but he began to earnestly think about the information in the text and that provided by the handwritten notes. To his surprise but also eternal relief, it turned out that there were other ways to make a heat more bearable that had nothing to do with surrendering himself to an alpha.For some reason that brought back the question as to why Taekwoon had bothered to give him these books, since, technically, the information they provided him with could be considered detrimental for him, given that it considerably lowered the already low chances that Jaehwan would ever invite him into his bed and/or body.He couldn’t help but conclude that that must not have been on Taekwoon’s agenda, then, and since the books proved to be actually really helpful for Jaehwan, he felt an ever-growing gratefulness towards Taekwoon, which he made sure to express to him one day when he met him alone in a hallway, sipping on a steaming hot cup of coffee.“Hey, Taekwoon!” He called out as he approached the alpha, still feeling somewhat wary, though.Taekwoon looked up from his coffee, but didn’t stand up from where he was leaning against the wall. He nodded in greeting, ever quiet as he was.Jaehwan stopped a couple of steps away from him, clearing his throat and shifting a little nervously from one foot to the other.“Uhm, I… I wanted to thank you for the books you gave me the other day…”Taekwoon nodded, blushing a little.“Don’t mention it…”Jaehwan shook his head.“No, really. I mean it. There are a lot of interesting things in there, and I’ve been finding them quite helpful for… well, for a lot of-… questions. And issues. So… thank you!”Taekwoon’s blush intensified, and he tried to hide a little further behind his fringe.“I’m… glad. I- Uhm, if you… ever want help, you can ask me, too, ok?”Jaehwan frowned at that, his mind jumping to the most obvious option Taekwoon could be offering his help for, and he wondered if Taekwoon was just like everyone else, after all. He was about to tell him no, thanks, when Taekwoon continued, mumbling half into his coffee cup.“I don’t know if you’ve read about the foods that help keep you from overheating and keeping a clear mind yet, but… I can make them for you, if you want. And… my sister works in a shop in the suburbs that sells those candles and soaps that have soothing properties, too. She would send me some, if I asked.”Jaehwan’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped a little in surprise, since that was really not what he had expected Taekwoon to be offering, as well as because Taekwoon had probably just spoken more to him than in his whole time since he’d joined them as trainee combined.“Oh… Oh! Uhm, ok, I… I might think about it. Uhm, thank you, Taekwoon.”Taekwoon shrugged, finally detaching his back from the wall and turning to leave. As an afterthought occurred to him, Jaehwan called after him, though.“Ah, Taekwoon…!”Taekwoon stopped, turning back to him with a questioning hum.“I’ve been wondering… Who’s Jung Jiwon?”Taekwoon’s usually cold stare warmed somewhat.“My oldest sister.”Jaehwan’s jaw dropped for real this time.“Your sister is an omega?”Taekwoon nodded.“All three of my sisters are. As well as my dad.”Jaehwan gaped at him, and Taekwoon turned back around, walking towards him and reaching out to lay a finger under his chin to push his mouth closed again.“You’ll swallow a fly.” He mumbled, and Jaehwan had to chuckle as the action pulled him out of his momentary shock. This time, he walked with Taekwoon when he headed off in the direction of their dance practice room, almost skipping along with him.-------A/N: Hello, I'm back. I'm sorry for just dropping off the surface of the earth like that :/ Life's thrown a ton of work and, well, life, at me, and I've been struggling to keep up, not even having much time to think about updating anything in the first place. But here is something, even though relatively short. I hope you enjoy it. If you do, upvotes, subscriptions and comments never fail to make my days, and if you feel like it and that I deserve it, you can also support me here. That would really help my whole life, tbh, and I'd be eternally grateful. <3