Chapter Text
The first time Taehyung notices, he just thinks that Jeongguk is rather shy and introverted.
It’s their last family dinner together before the wedding and both of their relatives are engaged in a heated conversation about the celebration that will happen in just a couple of weeks. There’s no place for Jeongguk and Taehyung to choose to meddle in their future, and the omega doesn't seem to mind that. He keeps his head low and listens to what his parents have to say about the ceremony while chewing quietly on his food, Jeongguk even wears scent blockers, so the alpha doesn’t know what he smells like. Taehyung and Jeongguk still haven't gotten the chance of getting to know each other outside of those boring meetings that only their parents speak. Not even a single moment of privacy was granted to them during all Saturday nights they spent together, and Taehyung wonders how his life will be from now on.
The part about living with someone he doesn't even know he’s already aware of and, even though he has heard from one of their servants that there will be different rooms so that he omega can sleep peacefully if he doesn’t know comfortable with the alpha, in the beginning, is rather given of goodwill by their parents, on the other hand, there’s the opposite thought of starting a family with an unknown omega isn't a lot pleasing to his ears. Adopting a kid together is a big deal, and it's an even bigger one when the future of their companies and families depend on that. Being the eldest of his family has put a lot of weight on Taehyung’s shoulders and he knows that it must be the same for Jeongguk — the same Jeongguk who doesn't open his mouth unless he's spoken to.
Arranged marriages are something common in high society since the Middle Ages; most of them are made to keep their high status and power shared by their own people. Rich people don't ever want to allow their kids to enter into a relationship that love already exists between the two parties, especially if one of them is from the lower classes, with Jeongguk and Taehyung it wasn’t any different; both coming from filthy rich families and falsely bribed with the thought of being even richer with the alliance between two families. And, even though Taehyung doesn't believe in them, he has to listen to what his parents have to say if he wants to continue being their son and keep his position in his family’s company which, one day, will be his and he knew about that ever since he was a kid.
Despite their marriage having been settled for the past few months after a long conversation between both of their fathers and mothers, Taehyung still doesn't know anything in particular about Jeongguk. He’s a beautiful man, with long black wavy hair falling over his eyebrows and his white clothes below his black corset. Taehyung hasn’t looked him in the eye yet, but he knows that his eyes are of the darkest shade of brown, almost turning into the dark sky of the night, full of stars and with the little shine of the moon over them. There's a hint of mystery over Jeongguk, one that Taehyung desires to unveil.
However, Taehyung will never in his life cross his boundaries. He knows where he stands, and despite not being familiar with the ground he's stepping into, Taehyung has already made his decision of trying to be the best husband he can for his future lover and mate. But, for that, both of them need to talk about themselves, what, obviously, doesn't happen for now. Not with their parents too immersed in their business talk to pay attention to their lost children with them.
Taehyung glances at Jeongguk and finds him fiddling with his food, taking his time to bring the rice to his lips and not even once looking up to listen to what his father is saying right beside him. He’s always quiet and reserved during their encounters, and it has always amused Taehyung the fact that he seems to be so well-mannered and controlled while there are people talking about his own future right in front of him. Not a pleased type of amused; a confused one, instead. Taehyung, himself, has huffed and scoffed a couple of times every time his parents mentioned mating and having kids during their meal — how would he think of mating with someone he barely exchanged a word with? But Jeongguk always keeps himself together with pursed lips and his hands lying on his thighs.
And Taehyung watches as he bats his long lashes softly, chewing on a carrot before peeking up at the alpha, who smiles in his direction, but it doesn't last long. Soon, Jeongguk’s face turns flushed and he looks down, focusing back on his food instead of analyzing Taehyung’s curious gaze on him. There are curiosity and tenderness in the alpha’s frown, who looks away just because his mother called him out to answer a question. He has been curious about him ever since he first heard of Jeongguk from his parents months ago.
Jeongguk is shy, Taehyung thinks to himself, glancing at him another time during dinner. It's cute.
After that, Taehyung simply forgets about the matter. There's nothing wrong with being shy and introverted, it just means that Jeongguk needs a little bit more time and trust until he opens up to his husband-to-be, and since they're both in that situation together, Taehyung doesn't see why he shouldn't give him that. Jeongguk doesn't seem to be a bad person and, whenever he responded to his parents’ questions, he sounded a lot polite and nice. But it’s still awkward to be marrying someone he doesn't know to his fullest.
Their wedding happens on an early Sunday evening.
Outside the venue, the sky is still being illuminated by the little orange light of the sun setting, and the clouds are gathering together for the drizzling rain that's about to come on that spring night. On the inside, there’s Taehyung standing in front of the long rows of guests attending the celebration, his long dark hair falls with curls over his head as he takes a deep breath. His back is sweating underneath the dark garments as he’s huffing under his breath that he cannot shove his trembling hands into his suit pocket, it would save him from the embarrassment of having his excitement and anxiety about his whole life changing right in front of his eyes being shown off for the entire venue to see, and he doesn’t even know most of those people.
He hasn’t seen Jeongguk since their last dinner party with their parents which ended in just a matter of a couple of hours and Taehyung had to go back to his house. It’s rather impressive how time has flown by in such a fast manner that their marriage is happening quicker than Taehyung would like to. At first, he thought that both Jeongguk and he would be granted some time to get to know each other and get familiar with their habits, likes, and dislikes, but something happened and the thrill of mystery turned out to be even bigger for that occurrence. Surprisingly, Taehyung is a big fan of mysteries, but not so much when the mystery is regarding his entire future.
Some may think that he’s enraged about being entangled in an arranged marriage, but, at the age of twenty-eight, Taehyung has learned that a few fights aren’t worth the troubling idea of getting into an argument with his parents and leaving an omega feeling unwanted. So, Taehyung believes that if he has to face being married off to Jeongguk, he’ll go through it with his head held high, focused eyes, and the will of turning out to love Jeongguk as no other man has ever been loved before.
With another deep breath, Taehyung moves his eyes over the decoration once more. His mother has done a wonderful job with the venue — they have mixed black and white all over the place, matching with Taehyung’s black suit and the white dress shirt he’s wearing underneath. His mind is a bit clouded, but he catches the moment his father murmurs something to him and his gaze is found fixed on the small aisle between the rolls of seats; the same aisle that connects the entrance of the venue to where Taehyung is standing.
His chest moves with a gasp once Taehyung’s eyes meet with Jeongguk as the sound of the violin takes over the room. He's embraced with a white ruffled dress shirt without a suit over it and dress pants of the same color. Even from afar, Taehyung can notice the little makeup on his lids and pink lipstick on his lips, his doe eyes and black hair bring out a fancy contrast with the light shades of his clothes. The dimmed lights of the venue make Jeongguk shine as the focus of everyone is on him. Taehyung’s breath is taken away as his mind rushes to the thought that Jeongguk is made for the spotlight.
It’s the first time Taehyung sees him walking with his nose held high, straightened back as the musicians continue playing softly while he walks with laced arms with his mother. There’s a slight smile on Jeongguk’s lips. It’s one that makes Taehyung’s eyes soften as he follows his smile when the omega’s mother stops right in front of him, bowing her head lightly after placing Jeongguk’s hand over Taehyung’s palm and both of them face each other. And Taehyung finds that he was not wrong in his conception that Jeongguk’s eyes are of the most endearing shade of darkest brown he has ever seen.
Following tradition, weddings are set to be an easy, unhesitating celebration even when it comes to arranged marriages, but Taehyung understands Jeongguk’s faltering words and shaky hands on top of his own as his melodic voice echoes through the room. The eldest alpha from both families continues his speech as Taehyung’s right-hand finds its way to intertwine with Jeongguk’s right hand and their left hands mirror the move before Alpha Jeon wraps their wrists with a red ribbon — the warm color of love. The same ribbon shall be kept safe in their house after the ceremony.
The room is silent as Taehyung and Jeongguk repeat the words from the alpha, shyly staring deeply into each other’s eyes. It is a traditional wedding ceremony that takes place before a mating ceremony, it’s usually different from pack to pack (which now are called families) and the newlyweds have to find their own. The subject of mating being brought so easily during the alpha’s speech makes Taehyung shiver under Jeongguk’s touch. Mating is the most captivating form of showing love and bond, and he’s sure that it won’t happen until both of their wolves have settled and gotten used to one another. Taehyung would never mate with his partner unless he’s sure that he loves and cherishes them. He has the desire to protect Jeongguk and make him happy during their marriage and life together, as he’s entitled to as his husband, but Taehyung doesn’t love him — not yet.
It’s a strange feeling to be marrying someone and not knowing more than about his duty of forming a loving family with them; about the duty with his parents and with their company. Taehyung has even thought about how it would be to be entangled with someone he loves; it must be different than the numbness in his heart, the wince in his eyelashes, and the pool of uneasiness on the bottom of his stomach. And it’s not their fault, it's not anyone's fault but their parents who think more about money than about their children's happiness.
Taehyung wonders if he will ever be like that in his future. He hopes not and, on the moment he leans forward, touching Jeongguk’s chin to press a light peck on his unknown lips, Taehyung makes a silent promise to himself that he will do everything in his power to do right with his children, and that an arranged marriage will never be on the table — not even if he’s old, broke and heartbroken.
The ceremony ends with that kiss and the guests applauding them loudly as if their marriage and future together is something to be celebrated. Jeongguk holds on tightly on his fingers and a smile lights up his whole face, Taehyung looks at him while he stares at the guests, bowing lightly in their direction before peeking back at his husband.
The second time Taehyung notices, it’s during an awkward situation a couple of hours after they left their wedding venue.
This time they’re at their new house that was bought by both their sides of the family; everyone agreed that the newlyweds have to live together right after the ceremony to start their life together as soon as possible, it would be easier for both Jeongguk and Taehyung like that, and neither one of them protested to that, given the fact that they would have to live together at some point in their lives if they wanted to start a family together. So, a still half-built two-story, four-bedroom house with a large backyard was bought for the two of them.
However, although the destination was already set and the money was ready to be used on a plane ticket, Taehyung decided to push their honeymoon to a time in which they’re a bit more comfortable around each other during one of their dinner parties and Jeongguk was happy to agree with him. Taehyung has his duties at the company and neither one of them would be happy during that trip — at least for now.
It’s weird to walk into an empty and lifeless place, Taehyung even gulps as he turns on the lights and takes off his shoes to not dirty the clean white floor. He looks around and finds familiarity in the living room as he takes another step inside. The decoration had been made a long time ago, both Jeongguk and Taehyung decided on the colors, frames, and furniture together with their parents during a meeting with the architect that was in the team to build the house from the ground. But there’s still a vague feeling of not being at home up in the air.
He glances at Jeongguk by his side, his big eyes analyzing over the place previous from finding Taehyung’s gaze on him. The alpha smiles and places his backpack on the large couch before sitting on it with a sigh, and patting on the place beside him, asking for Jeongguk to sit there with him in silence for a moment. It’s late at night and both of them are too tired to start a proper conversation, but Taehyung just wants to be with his husband in their new house for a second, skimming over the place and trying to find themselves at home in the middle of that mess that is their life from now on.
There’s still the fact that Taehyung doesn’t know about Jeongguk’s opinion on that marriage. Not even for the slightest moment, their parents questioned their will regarding marrying them off for a business transaction and the certainty that both companies would have someone from the Jeon family and Kim family as the Chairman a few years from now — which will be first Taehyung and then their child together. The alpha is not sure whether he should ask him or not, but he has time to decide on that.
Swinging his feet against the couch, Taehyung takes a deep breath and closes his eyes as he feels his back touching the headboard of the couch, not a bit interested in getting to physically know his new house. His shoulders are sore and his foggy mind asks for some rest after that long day of dealing with people and forcing a smile, but the silence of the house doesn’t calm him down, instead, it makes his hands sweat and his eyes open, finding Jeongguk looking at him with both hands on his thighs, a straight back as his lips are pursed. His backpack is lying by his feet and Taehyung blinks heavily, licking over his lips.
Most of their belongings are still at their parents’ house, and they will probably be sent to them sometime later this week, which means that they’re left with only the clothes in their backpacks and the social garments on their bodies. But Taehyung knows that there’s food in the cabinets and that the fridge is full; he has heard his mother’s assistant talking with one of their drivers about grocery shopping for the new house.
“Are you tired?” Taehyung murmurs after a long yawn, but his voice echoes over the empty room anyway.
Jeongguk’s lips barely move and he relaxes his shoulders, “A bit.”
“Me too” he continues with a tired sigh, watching as Jeongguk nods, following him along without uttering a word. “Maybe we can take a shower and get some rest for the rest of the night. There are two bathrooms upstairs and one here. I can take the one in the main bathroom and… you can use the one in the hallway, does that sound good?”
“Yeah,” Jeongguk nods, rubbing his fingertips on his knees. “It sounds good.”
Taehyung purses his lips, shaking his head to fix his hair before leaping off the couch, “Okay, then.”
There’s not much to say between them. Taehyung has a strange feeling in his stomach as he’s unable to read Jeongguk’s face to know what’s on his mind. He wants to get to know him, but he doesn’t know how and he can’t even bring himself to be the one taking the first step and ask him silly questions. Of course, Taehyung has had his share of boyfriends in the past, and he knows what it is to get to know someone — to truly know someone that his quick eyes catch the slightest change in their expression easily. But Jeongguk is always expressionless, with his opaque eyes and on autopilot as if he's been taught to act like that.
Maybe it’s just that they’re both tired from the sleepless nights a few days before the wedding. Taehyung, with his job asking too much of him and Jeongguk, with his studies and last-minute fitting of clothes even though he has the best tailors of the country available to him. However, Taehyung hasn’t seen a single dark bag under his eyes due to makeup, but somehow he knows that they’re there.
A thought lurks in Taehyung’s brain and he cocks his brows, touching his wet hair under the water coming out of the shower. He can’t keep living in silence with the man that will be the other father of his children, the man that will be by his side for the rest of his life and that, one day, he will have to mate; he can’t keep his promise of loving him so tenderly that Shakespearian characters would envy them if he doesn’t gather up enough courage to simply engage in a conversation with Jeongguk. He's enraged and frustrated both at himself and at his parents for putting him in that pointless worrying about the situation.
And Taehyung snorts silently, thinking once more that it's how things are supposed to be, opening his eyes under the water as if it would wash his worries away. Taehyung desires that everything in his mind could run out of his body alongside the water as he watches it going down the drain. It takes him just a few more minutes to walk out of the warm bathroom with underwear, a towel wrapped around his waist, and a smaller one in his hand, slowly drying his hair. His eyes are closed, and Taehyung feels a bit more tired than before, but his shoulders and neck are relaxed, and he thinks that he could sleep for more than twelve hours if he wants to.
He sits on the bed, sighing for the nth time that day as he stretches his neck before peeking at his phone. It’s just past midnight and Taehyung closes his eyes, putting the phone aside to finish drying his hair. The bedroom is bigger than his own back at his parents’ house, aside from the bathroom, there’s a third door near it, which belongs to the couples walk-in closet; a large king-sized bed lies in the middle of the room with two nightstands on the sides of it and en two empty shelves rest against the opposite wall of the bed. The rooms are mostly empty for them to give their own touch while they’re living there.
Taehyung touches his back on the headboard of the bed, he knows if he keeps his eyes closed for too long he'll end up falling asleep without changing into his clothes and with his wet towel in his hands, but he’s snapped out of his foggy thoughts by the sound of knocking echoing through the bedroom.
“The door is open, you can come in, Jeonggukie,” Taehyung mutters just loud enough for the omega to hear.
The door hangs open with a click and it slams shut almost in the same second with a bit of tension rising on the air. Jeongguk is fast on his movements and Taehyung closes his eyes for a mere moment, just enough for him to dry his face and throw his half-wet hair back as a shiver runs down his back because of the wind coming through the open window by his side. He’s wearing a pair of underwear underneath his towel, but just to be careful and not let Jeongguk be uncomfortable by his half-nakedness, Taehyung keeps himself seated and opens his eyes.
“Do you need any…”
The words die down on Taehyung’s mouth as he lifts his head and moves it to the side to meet Jeongguk’s face, finding out that he’s still wearing the little makeup from their wedding, but his hair looks a bit messier and less wavy than before. But what startles Taehyung the most, leaving him rigid in his seat and with eyes open-wide, is the sight of Jeongguk wearing just a long black see-through robe with just a laced black ribbon keeping it in place. Jeongguk’s eyes are seductive, but opaque at the same time, and Taehyung sees his thick thighs and he shoves down all of his thoughts
A smile shines over Jeongguk’s face, opening the robe and letting it fall to the floor as his dark eyes meet the shine of the moon near the bedroom window, making it sparkle lightly under the low light of the bedroom. Taehyung gets just a glimpse of his naked body before he flinches and turns his head to the other side, avoiding looking at him for a second as the scent of fresh strawberries takes over the room. Jeongguk almost makes Taehyung breathless and, as he catches his breath, he places the towel on the bed and moves his eyes back to Jeongguk, but keeping them just on his face.
A furrow appears between Taehyung’s brows, “What are you doing, Jeongguk?”
“Showing something you’d like to see, alpha,” Jeongguk murmurs. “Aren’t we supposed to mate?”
“No.”
His voice comes out harsher and deeper than he intended to and Jeongguk flinches, propping his bottom lip forward as he gasps in surprise. The omega’s hands shake as he tries to gather all of his embarrassment together under the piercing gaze of Taehyung’s eyes. He crouches down to grab his robe and hide his trembling body, and it’s just enough for Taehyung to notice that something shifted in his eyes, the opaque shining stepping aside and something as uneasiness and shame taking its place, as he places the silky garment over his shoulders and his mouth hangs open without a word coming out from it.
There’s a little crimson shade on the tip of Jeongguk’s ears that starts to take over all of his face, and he takes a step back, hugging his chest lightly for a second as he gulps down all of his thoughts. Taehyung keeps himself quiet, tightening his lips shut as the omega laces his robe again and his back falls against the wooden door, just a moment before Jeongguk mumbles something to excuse himself and silently walks out of what is supposed to be their shared bedroom.
Taehyung lets out a loud gasp, throwing his head back and letting it touch the headboard again of the bed. His eyes hang open and he stares at the white wall while his thoughts are still on Jeongguk’s scared eyes. Something inside of him tells him that he should go after the omega in one of the bedrooms in the hallway; he glances at the closed door rubbing his palms over his face the moment he notices what he has just done.
A newlywed omega has just been told no when he presented himself to his alpha and husband, and Taehyung simply shouted no back at him, making Jeongguk feel ashamed, unwanted, and undesired by the person he has just gotten married to. Taehyung curses at himself as he goes through his clothes inside his backpack and puts on the first set of pants and t-shirt he could find.
He has just broken one of his own promises to himself, he has hurt Jeongguk and needs to fix this before the omega grows to despise all of his guts. Or worse, before Jeongguk starts to think that Taehyung hates him and hates that marriage — Taehyung does hate the situation that they have been put through, but it doesn’t have to mean that he hates Jeongguk.
So Taehyung rushes himself out of the bedroom with his bare foot touching the cold floor. He doesn’t have an idea of where Jeongguk is, but their house isn’t as big as he thought it would be, and finding it shouldn’t be that hard, not when Taehyung can hear his soft whimpers coming from the bedroom next to the main one. He has done a lot of wrong in his life, but Taehyung never thought he would turn out to be an idiotic alpha with his husband on the first day of their marriage.
He takes a long, deep breath and his hand touches the handle of the door as he closes his eyes, knocking twice before twirling it and opening the door. His heart hammers in pain inside his chest for hearing such a lovely and beautiful omega like Jeongguk crying after being rejected — Taehyung doesn’t like to make people cry. He knows that he was not wrong for choosing to not mate Jeongguk immediately after their wedding, but the situation had been given to him as a surprise right after his bath and Taehyung wasn’t expecting it. Of course, it’s no excuse for using such a harsh tone to answer Jeongguk, but at least Taehyung isn’t afraid of living up to his mistakes.
“Excuse me,” Taehyung murmurs, lowering his head as he opens the door and finds Jeongguk seated on the edge of the bed, sobbing into a cloth and retracting himself as his eyes meet Taehyung standing there.
The words lie on Taehyung’s tongue as he closes the door behind him, chewing on his bottom lip as Jeongguk’s reddish eyes stare at him. They're about the same height, but Jeongguk looks smaller than his best friend as he’s in that vulnerable position. And Taehyung feels nervous, he doesn’t want to mess up more of his non-existent relationship with Jeongguk, who’s still wearing the same black robe as before, but his makeup now looks messy and there are dark lines over his cheeks.
“I’m sorry,” Jeongguk mumbles, staring at his own hand as he wipes off his tears and sniffs softly. “I must look like a mess now.”
Taehyung tilts his head to the side, approaching him, “Why are you apologizing? You have got nothing to be sorry for.”
In all of his honesty, Taehyung thinks he’s helping, but all that it causes is making Jeongguk tear up a bit more once Taehyung gets seated by his side. The alpha pulls the air hard through his nose and breathes it out through his mouth before cocking his head to the side to meet Jeongguk’s gaze. He has to find the right words and the right way to say what he wants to; he wants to respect his feelings and everything that is going on inside of his obviously clouded head from all events from the past hours. It’s difficult to talk to someone he doesn’t know how he will react to his speech.
“Why…” Taehyung licks over his lips, softening his arched eyebrows as Jeongguk looks up to him. “Why would you do that, Jeonggukie? Why would you take off your clothes in front of me like that?”
“Am I not enough for you?” Jeongguk sobs once again as tears keep rolling down his face, rubbing the cloth over his cheeks. “Mother told me that alphas like to claim what is rightfully theirs or you don’t think of me as yours yet? I can change anything you want me to if you're not pleased by my looks.”
“Alphas do like to claim what’s theirs, I am no different, but…” Taehyung stops for a slight second. “You’re no one else’s but your own, Jeonggukie. You’re your own person. You don’t have to change yourself for me or anyone else if you think you’re enough. You’re not my property for me to claim you.”
Jeongguk frowns, “What do you mean?”
“What I mean, Jeonggukie,” Taehyung stretches his hand to hold the omega’s right one, who glances at their intertwined fingers and peeks at the alpha, “is that you don’t have to do anything that’s not comfortable for you to just please me. No omega has to go out of their way to just be accepted. We’re both in this together. We’re both entangled in this marriage that wasn’t of our choosing, but we can do our best on it, can’t we? We can get to know each other and get used to the life we have now.”
“But…” Jeongguk bites his bottom lip, sniffing.
However, his words die down in a flinch as soon as they appear in his mind. Taehyung notices that and his grip on Jeongguk’s hand gets tighter while he lowers his head to fix his eyes on his lap. The roaming silence over the room rings in Taehyung’s ear and he gulps, rubbing his thumb over Jeongguk’s knuckles.
“You can tell me anything you want, Jeonggukie,” he assures him, still focusing on Jeongguk’s face. “We’re married now. You don’t have to be so shy around me.”
Still hesitating, Jeongguk moves his head slightly to the side to meet Taehyung’s gaze “Shouldn’t we get mated right away to start our family now? Only mated couples get a chance in adoption.”
“I know,” Taehyung scrunches his nose. “We don’t have to rush on things right now. I am still to be the Chairman of my dad’s company; your parents' company will only be handed over to the Kim Group when your father passes away. Both of our fathers are still rather young, and our future little one won’t be in that position in a long time. I don’t plan on leaving this earth anytime soon. We have all the time in the world in our hands. In short, we don’t need to worry about a thing now.”
With a furrow between his brows, Jeongguk remains in his soundless self, not muttering a single word as he watches Taehyung’s kind eyes staring at him. In Jeongguk’s eyes, he’s being too nice and good for someone who has just rejected him a few minutes ago, but he has always known that Taehyung is an impressive person just by his polite way of talking.
“I’m sorry for making you feel rejected,” Taehyung lowers his voice, raising his left hand to Jeongguk’s cheek to wipe off his tears. “I never intended to use such a harsh word with you, and much less to sound so much as a feared alpha who just married you because of a contract between our families. I promise that I will try to be better with you and for you.”
Jeongguk is sort of lost in his own world, Taehyung’s soft touch on his skin continues to clean his tears away after taking the cloth away from his hands. The silence in the room isn’t as dreadful as it was and Jeongguk’s eyes don’t look as lost as before and Taehyung is glad for that. One of his biggest worries since the moment Jeongguk left that bedroom was of him hating Taehyung over a dumb couple of words that came out from his mouth without him thinking twice.
“Let’s make a small plan for tomorrow afternoon,” Taehyung continues, handing back the cloth to Jeongguk, who snuffles into it, finally stopping crying. “We have to finish decorating the house and buying new clothes for ourselves to renew our wardrobe. Maybe we can go together tomorrow and start to get to know each other a bit more?”
There’s a bit of silence before Jeongguk nods shortly, squeezing the cloth between his hands, “We can do that.”
Taehyung smiles at the sight of Jeongguk’s eyes sparkling once again. But now, he’s sure that Jeongguk isn’t only shy and has an introverted personality. There’s something else with him and Taehyung is curious to find out why he seems to always keep his head down, looking at his own hands and assuming a pliant manner of living to please others. If he comes to think of that, he has never protested about a thing regardless of both the decoration of their wedding venue and their house — not even about the place they’re going for their honeymoon. Jeongguk has never raised his voice and not even opened his mouth to eat before his father greeted everyone and started to chew on his food during their dinner parties. The alpha stops for a moment, still caressing Jeongguk’s knuckles in silence. He thinks back to when they were choosing the buffet of the party and about what happened during the actual party — Jeongguk never once chose red meat to eat, but he had nodded his head when the wedding planner mentioned having a barbecue for their main dish and Taehyung seemed excited about it.
Even though he’s not sure of what exactly is happening, Taehyung’s head won’t stop roaming around the situation and trying to head Jeongguk’s soft expression now that he’s no longer teary-eyed. His face looks puffy and dirty with melted makeup, but he still looks as beautiful as ever and Jeongguk scrunches his nose after Taehyung pokes it with the tip of his index finger.
“Okay then,” Taehyung sighs softly. “We should go to sleep now.”
Jeongguk nods, “We should.”
“Would you like to sleep alone or would you feel more comfortable with me around?” He suggests after a minute, knowing that Jeongguk must still be hurt, and he doesn’t want to do any other thing that might worsen that. “I’m fine with whatever you are.”
Their wolves are already peaceful with each other, but wolves have it easy with their intuition and strong scent; their human side and their heavy emotions think too much and make easy situations turn into complicated ones just because they can. And, usually, omegas feel more at ease and comfortable with their alpha husband during the night, but he’s not sure if Jeongguk wants to be around him right on their first day together, especially after what has just happened. It is a very delicate subject for omegas to be rejected by their own husband and future partner — mate —, Taehyung cannot even imagine how Jeongguk must be feeling, given the fact that their emotions are all over the place since they first heard of each other because of their marriage.
And Taehyung just wants to make things better. His most deep desire is to prove his high-ranking family wrong. He wants love and happiness to exist in their marriage — he wants to love Jeongguk. He doesn’t want to mirror his parents miserable and sad life; unhappy due to a bad marriage that only happened because his mother’s parents were broke and desperate, and his father was young and too naive for his own good.
“I—” he stutters, sniffling quietly. “I’d feel better if you were here… Us together.”
His words sound agitated as he bobs his head, assenting as he lets go of Jeongguk’s hand for the first time since he stepped into that bedroom, “Alright, we can go to the main bedroom together and sleep there. It’s bigger and more comfortable than this one.”
Finally, a squashy smile arises on Jeongguk’s lips as he takes a deep breath, fiddling with the knot on the lace of his robe. Taehyung hits his own thighs and gets up from the bed, hoping that the rest of the night can go as smoothly as their conversation; talking to Jeongguk was easier than Taehyung thought it would be as he was rushing into his clothes and leaving the bedroom in a hurry. But he still hasn’t forgotten about his intuition over Jeongguk — sure, he doesn’t want to give in to something that’s barely a hunch floating through his brain and start to doubt the man he has just married —, his eyes tell him something that his voice doesn’t tell and Taehyung’s curiosity gets the best of him.
Taehyung squats down and grabs Jeongguk’s backpack from the ground, leaving it over his right shoulder as he gets up, “Let’s go there. You can take a warm shower before bed.”
Licking over his lips, Jeongguk nods again and puts himself on his feet. The silk fabric of his robe is wrinkled from his hands gripping on it, but neither one of them focus on clothes or anything else that isn’t walking out of that small bedroom and getting to the main room of the house. They will have time to talk over their worries and about shifting furniture on their house for the next few days, so Taehyung doesn’t even skim over the fact that there are plastic bags thrown on the back of the hallway or the closed doors of the other rooms and the bedroom.
“I’ll be over here if you need anything,” Taehyung says as he sits back on the bed, observing Jeongguk nodding and fumbling with his backpack as he takes a black towel from there. Jeongguk peeks up at him for a minute and smiles, bringing his clothes with him to the bathroom.
A deep sigh leaves Taehyung’s mouth as the door in front of him closes with a loud click. He closes his eyes and hits his head against the headboard of the bed, wondering what he got himself hooked into. He’s not mad and never thought badly of Jeongguk, not even with his questioning actions of extreme submission under Taehyung’s eyes. He can't hold himself back from wanting to solve the puzzle that Jeongguk seems to me.
Taehyung remembers more situations in which Jeongguk looked hesitating and waiting for a signal of approval coming from his father. He tries to search in his memories if he has ever seen his mother doing the same, but Taehyung never paid enough attention to the matriarch of the Jeon family to have caught such actions. They have never seemed to be a traditional family — one that orders omegas to follow their alphas closely, to never speak up against the alphas in the room, and to just be pliant under every situation —, but those families never have a certain face or standard except the fact that every omega coming from them are extremely submissive and always keep their heads low, never talking back or protesting against their alphas’ will. And, sadly, in just a matter of one hour that he has been together alone with Jeongguk in a room, he has seen every pattern in him.
While he’s deep down in his thoughts, Taehyung recalls that his own parents have never been like that. His mother is a strong-willed omega and, with her business degree, is part of their company just as much as his father; she even has her own shares of the Kim Group ever since the day she married Taehyung’s father. He doesn't know more about Jeongguk’s parents or their company, after all, their meetings were mostly about the wedding and business transactions between the Kim Group and Jeon Enterprises.
Their parents don’t have exactly a close friendship before their engagement; they were business partners and nothing else more. Taehyung figures that asking them will do no good, except starting some sort of argument between both families as Taehyung may come off as displeased by their marriage. He's better safe than sorry and won't do anything against Jeongguk’s will; especially something that can end up with the divorce of a marriage that has barely started, and Taehyung knows how divorced omegas are completely slandered by bad-mouths and he doesn't want that upon Jeongguk.
When Jeongguk comes back from his shower, Taehyung is already tucked inside his blankets and resting his head and both hands on the pillow. He moves his eyes to the side once the stronger smell of strawberries takes over the room again, finding Jeongguk wearing a grey t-shirt and white shorts and, by the sound of a dryer inside of the bathroom a few minutes ago, he must have washed his hair. Taehyung thinks that his scent is just as delicate as him, and even smiles when he sees Jeongguk drying his feet with closed eyes and rigid muscles on his back.
They don’t share more words until Jeongguk is lying by his side on that large bed, facing the other side of the room, and Taehyung turns off the lampshade on his nightstand, getting comfortable on the new mattress. He has gotten a glimpse of Jeongguk breathing softly and that calms him down with the belief that everything is alright between them. It’s rather funny how they have been together in that house for only just a couple of hours, and married for a few more, and Taehyung already has a sense of protection over Jeongguk. He doesn't want to ever see him crying because of him, or because of anything else, once again and Taehyung will surely do anything in his power to make him happy — and to assure him that he doesn't have to look down on himself simply because of his subgender.
With that thought, Taehyung slowly falls asleep while listening to Jeongguk’s soft snores and trying to let go of the weight of the world on his shoulders.
On the following day, the right side of the bed is empty and cold when Taehyung wakes up.
He's left in a bit of a state of confusion, but when the sound of a pan falling in the kitchen echoes through the whole house, Taehyung breaths out in relief and touches his forehead with his left palm. After grabbing his phone from the nightstand and checking the time, Taehyung realizes that it's still too early in the morning and he lets his head fall tiredly back on the pillow; Jeongguk must be an early bird.
It takes him long minutes to gather up the courage to finally move out from the bed to wash his face and relieve his bladder. It’s a Monday morning that feels more like a lazy Saturday after the long celebration and social interaction he faced on the previous night and is more than glad for taking two weeks off his job starting from today. Taehyung is used to dealing with people — he’s a CEO, and it means that he has to be a lot of people’s boss —, but he’s not used to acting out a smile for more than a couple of hours. However, he’s less tired than the day before and even stretches himself as he’s walking down the stairs.
Taehyung glances at the rooms as he passes through them, noticing that Jeongguk and he will have a lot of work to do about decorating during the next few weeks that Taehyung has off from his job. He wants to have everything ready so that both of them can feel at home and like themselves there. There’s nothing like not feeling at home in your own house, and Taehyung knows how much he’s more comfortable seeing a lot more of himself around the places he uses to work and to live; he’s not sure about Jeongguk yet, but he probably feels the same.
He finds Jeongguk distracted in the kitchen, humming a song while he’s in front of the stove stirring the food. He’s still wearing the same clothes as the previous night, and his hair seems a bit messy, leaving Taehyung sure that he must have woken up just a little before him. The delicious smell of whatever he’s cooking has spread through the whole kitchen and Taehyung’s stomach rumbles as soon as it reaches his nostrils. In a blink of an eye, Jeongguk notices Taehyung’s minty scent around the room and turns his head to the side, looking in his direction.
“Oh, did I wake you up?” Jeongguk asks, frowning as he lowers the heat so that it won’t burn his food. “I’m sorry I tripped and one of the pans fell.”
“You didn’t, don’t worry,” Taehyung shrugs, smiling back at him as he approaches him silently. “Are you making breakfast?”
Jeongguk nods, glancing back at his eggs, “Galbi, rice, kkakdugi, and vegetable omelet. I’m just finishing up the omelet, you can sit at the table if you want to, it’s almost ready. Most of the food is already there.”
“It smells great,” Taehyung peeks at the frying pan and then back at Jeongguk. “Did you ever study culinary? You seem like a great cook.”
It brings a smile to Jeongguk’s lips, “I majored in Gastronomy and Culinary Arts a few months ago.”
The alpha pouts, “That sounds more fun than my boring Business degree.”
“Businesses are important too,” Jeongguk chuckles, turning off the strove. “You’re a CEO, how would that work if you didn’t study to get there?”
“Got me,” he scrunches his nose. “You’re fun, Jeonggukie.”
Taehyung finds out that, in general, Jeongguk is an easy person to talk to. They don’t mention how Jeongguk cried after what happened right before they went to bed, and Taehyung is happy that they could put that in the past so easily. However, despite everything telling him to forget about that, the thought of Jeongguk being an omega from a traditional family still lingers in his mind; even when he glances at Jeongguk quietly choosing his clothes at Saint Laurent and Prada. And, well, Taehyung wants to wait at least a week of getting to know him a little more before drawing his own conclusions about Jeongguk; he doesn’t want to get caught up in his first impression of him and end up having a failed conversation with Jeongguk, getting in the risk of making him feel as if Taehyung doesn’t want him as happened yesterday. He remembers how he thought that Jeongguk was shy, and he may not be wrong on that, so he doesn’t give up on his first thought. Taehyung merely desires to know if he’s happy with himself or if he’s just acting out what his parents taught him to be.
For that day, he just wants to concentrate on pampering his new husband with fancy new clothes and with decoration for their house; it was their plan for the day all along, and Taehyung has even called his private driver from his family to help them with all the bags since they were expecting to spend the whole day out. But, somehow, Taehyung loses all of his focus at some point during their outing when Jeongguk is always staring at him, looking for approval while chewing on his bottom lip, as if all of his decisions had to go through Taehyung’s opinion first. That makes Taehyung spend their entire small trip with Jeongguk frowning and arching his eyebrows in questioning – he even sounds a bit skeptical when Taehyung mentioned buying him clothes of his choosing and always asked for Jeongguk’s opinion before shoving the garments in their basket.
Mostly, Taehyung is worried about his husband. His eyes don’t look happy while he’s at that, lowering his head and seeming to be less than Taehyung. He has never wanted someone to feel less than him — he has always treated everyone like his equals, no matter their job position or their subgender; that’s simply how he was taught to be. It aches Taehyung’s heart to see his own husband looking a bit broken and hurt like that, of course, he doesn’t know if it’s because of their marriage, but since Jeongguk doesn’t seem to hate him, the alpha wants to check. So, Taehyung has an idea.
Three days later, Taehyung makes sure to wake up before Jeongguk and leaves him snoring softly in their bedroom while walking out of the room. He had asked his mother to send one of their housekeepers back home for them, with the excuse that he doesn't want to go through a lot of people until he finds someone he trusted and liked to put in his house with his husband. The beta is there early in the morning, greeting Taehyung and asking him random questions about his life since they have known each other for a long time now.
The house is still messy with paper bags all around the living room and a few pieces of furniture from the previous days of shopping, and Taehyung tells her to get comfortable with the house and not worry much about house chores for now and just work on breakfast at first since Jeongguk is still sleeping. And, after wishing him a good morning, the housekeeper finds her way to the kitchen and Taehyung throws himself on the couch, sighing and taking off his phone from his pocket.
Kim Taehyung [9:02 am]:
Jiminie
You studied social science, right?
What do you know about those traditional pack families?
Jiminie [9:03 am]:
Good morning to you too
Uh, usually alphas are the center of the family
Omegas are looked down on and always have to be like
The sidekicks of the alphas idk
In rich families, they’re like… treated like toys and as a pretty prize, as if the alpha is their owner. Always wearing pretty clothes chosen by their alpha and acting like their alpha desires them to be.
Nowadays things are a lot different and omegas don’t suffer as much, but there are a few omegas that like to live in the past. They feel taken care of like this. But there’s the fact that relationships between omegas and omegas, alphas and alphas, betas and betas have increased a lot in our society during the last few decades, so our sense of family and relationship changes, too.
And I mean, if both parties are ok with it, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, but if the omega is unhappy and the alpha isn’t nice and just wants to take advantage of the person they’re with…….. Then a problem surges.
Namjoon hyung and Hoseok hyung know more about this subject, they were on Traditional Pack Studies for a couple of semesters
Jiminie [9:04 am]:
But why?
Do you think your husband wants one of those?
Kim Taehyung [9:06 am]:
No
I think he was raised in one of those families
He’s very…
Jiminie [9:06 am]:
Pliant?
Submissive?
Kim Taehyung [9:07 am]:
Yeah
Kim Taehyung [9:08 am]:
Oh God
If he was married off to any other alpha they could’ve taken advantage of him
Jimin
I don’t want anything bad to happen to him
Oh god
What am I gonna do
Jiminie [9:09 am]:
It’s been only a few days and you’re already whipped for him
Marriage has changed you, my son
Kim Taehyung [9:10 am]:
Jimin
I’m being very serious right now
Jiminie [9:10 am]:
I know, Tae
But look
First, take a deep breath and calm yourself down, okay?
You’re gonna scare him if you keep acting all lost and confused, which I know that how you’re feeling right now, but there’s nothing worse for him than an extremely nervous around him
Does he look happy?
Kim Taehyung [9:10 am]:
No, not really
Jiminie [9:11 am]:
And he didn’t talk to you about it?
Kim Taehyung [9:11 am]:
Also no
Jiminie [9:12 am]:
Then you’re going to have to be the one to take the first step and go talk to him, Taehyungie
But you two have just gotten married, you know? You’ll have to be a lot considerate and nice to him. He might feel hurt if you seem like you’re not accepting him as he is
Kim Taehyung [9:12 am]:
I know
I don’t wanna seem like a bad person
Jiminie [9:12 am]:
You’re a nice guy, Tae, I’m sure he’ll see that
Try to get to know him a bit more
And talk to him as a friend
Kim Taehyung [9:13 am]:
Wait he’s coming down the stairs
Bye
He shoves his phone back into his pocket and lifts his head to find Jeongguk yawning and rubbing his eyes with his right hand. His face is swollen from the long night's sleep, he is dressed in the same clothes as the night before and his hair is spread out over his head in a cute way.
“Oh, you’re here,” Jeongguk coos as soon as his eyes meet Taehyung on the couch. “Has it been a long time since you woke up, Taehyung-ssi? I must’ve missed the alarm I set to make breakfast.”
“No, no. Don’t worry about that, I called one of my mother’s housekeepers to work here for us and she’s making breakfast,” Taehyung shakes his head, patting the empty side of the couch. “Come here and sit with me.”
The omega inclines his head to the side as he’s interpreting what Taehyung has just said, but he doesn’t take too long before walking over to the couch and sitting right by the alpha’s side. He glances over to Taehyung’s face, trying to read his expression, but all that there’s in his face is a soft smile and sparkling eyes in his direction.
“These days we have been going out because I said I wanted to buy clothes for us and furniture for our house, right?” Jeongguk nods, still stroking his eyes. “Today we can do anything that you want to do. For us to get to know each other more, of course.”
“Me?” Jeongguk puts up both of his brows, confused. “There are so many things to do here.”
Taehyung scratches his nape, “So you want us to tidy up the house together? We can do that if you want.”
“Together?”
“Yes, together. Both of us,” Taehyung rests his back on the headboard of the couch. “Like watching a movie, going out to the mall, shifting.”
Jeongguk’s eyes sparkle at the mention of shifting and Taehyung’s quick-witted brain catches that easily, “You like to shift, Taehyung-ssi?”
“First, call me hyung,” he assures him, bringing one of his hands to Jeongguk’s knee. “We’re married, there’s no need to be that formal with me. And, second, yes. I love shifting; I’d always sneak out of my room to run in the forest with my friends. And, well, with a few boyfriends here and there.”
“Oh,” Jeongguk licks over his lips. “That sounds fun.”
“Sneaking out with friends?”
“No,” he places his hand on his thighs. “The ‘with a few boyfriends’ part.”
“You…” He hesitates for a moment. “You didn’t have one of those?”
Jeongguk jerks his head, “Mother told me that my promised one would like me new.”
“Promised one?” Taehyung looks perplexed. “What do you mean?”
“You didn’t know?” Jeongguk cocks his brows, propping his bottom lip forward. “We’ve been promised to marry each other ever since I was born. They found out during my birth that I was an omega. I don’t know much else. I was never allowed to date anyone to keep myself for you. I didn’t even have deep friendships because mother and father were worried that I might run away from you with them, but I would never do such a thing to you.”
For the nth in a few years, Taehyung is enraged with his parents, but this time he’s willing to do something about it. He walked out of his house with smoke coming out from his ears, not troubling himself to change out of his casual clothes, and leaving Jeongguk back with the housekeeper after pretending to have something to deal at the company when, in fact, he’s only in his car, driving to the main building of the Kim Group, to yell at his awful parents. He left Jeongguk with the promise that they would visit the forest on the following day — and that he would turn off his phone so that no one would call him to work. It was just a small lie that would grant him the minutes to make that whole story clear. Taehyung was told that the business deal between both of their families only happened last September, right after Jeongguk turned twenty-three, and Taehyung thought that there was something fishy about that matter. He doesn’t know exactly why but Taehyung believes more in Jeongguk telling him that there was more to that than he knows.
Taehyung tightens his grip on the steering wheel once he stops at a red sign. He takes a deep breath and stares at the cloudy sky that looks as dark as his mood on that day. Taehyung loathes that he woke up in a good mood and determined to work on his relationship with Jeongguk and his parents’ untold story about his arranged marriage ruined everything. Sure, he could easily have put that aside and have chosen to stay with Jeongguk to take him to the forest and shift. But Taehyung wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the day and his trip with him if he had that stuck in his mind, so he first needs to deal with his parents and solve that situation before going back to his husband.
There’s barely any traffic in the city during that time of the day; it’s out of the rush hour and Taehyung arrives quickly at the parking lot of the company. He shows his face without the sunglasses for the security guard; Taehyung thought that everyone already recognizes who he is in that company, and the guard falters for a moment, realizing that his boss is not in one of his best moods. After swallowing down hard, the guard authorizes his entry into the building and Taehyung takes a deep breath, rushing over to press the button of the elevator.
He’s satisfied that there's no one else but him inside the elevator when it opens its doors and he touches the button of the last floor, Taehyung doesn't want anyone to catch a glimpse of how he's rocking on his feet and clenching his fists while he goes over inside of his head about what he will talk with his father. He doesn't even know if his mother is there too, but talking with the Chairman will be enough. Once the door opens itself, Taehyung exhales and walks out of the elevator, his hands are left out of his pockets and he barely glances at his father’s assistant before walking up to his door while placing his sunglasses on the collar of his shirt.
He doesn't bother knocking and just opens the door with his right hand and faces both his mother and father fiddling a couple of papers. A smile appears on their faces and Taehyung wants to roll his eyes in disgust as the door shuts with a loud noise that echoes throughout the whole floor, making the two of them flinch.
“Tell me why I didn't know that Jeongguk was supposed to be my husband ever since we were both children,” he uses his alpha voice, flashing his red eyes, and his father frowns, confused with his son's actions. “Tell me why I had to find out that now.”
“Son…” Taeho starts, leaving the papers back on his desk.
“Don't call me that,” Taehyung raises his hand, furrowing his brows in anger. Both his mother and father gasp in shock, they have never seen their son speaking to them like that, “Not when you two used two children for your sick business transactions.”
And his mother snorts, a furrow taking over her lips as she cocks her head to the side before speaking, “Don't talk like this to your father, Taehyung. I didn't raise you to be like that, or does your alpha self think that you can act however you want just because you have an omega now? You two aren't even mated yet.”
“Don’t… it's not like that. I just want an explanation. This has nothing to do with me and Jeongguk not having mated yet,” Taehyung continues, keeping his arms crossed in front of his chest as if he wanted to look better than them. “You two owe me that.”
“Fine,” Taeho agrees, pushing his chair back before getting up from it. His wife snorts, rolling her eyes tiredly as she watches her husband moving to the other side of the desk. “We will tell you what you want to know, but the marriage is done now. There's nothing you can do to change that unless you want to hurt your husband.”
Taehyung rolls his eyes. His parents treat him as if he isn't the twenty-eight adult he has been for over a year. He’s the oldest of his family and is only seen as who he is when his parents need him at the company — it has always been like that.
He notices the moment his mother's hand finds its way to his father's arm after walking after him, and she glares at him as if he's doing something that he shouldn't be allowed to. Taeho doesn't relaxes his shoulders and covers his wife's hand with his own, side-eyeing her.
“He’ll take over Jeon's company one day,” Taeho continues, raising one brow. “He will find out anyway, whether you liked it or not, isn't it better if he finds out through us?”
Silence fills the room for a blink of an eye, but it’s broken by Gahyeon agreeing after a deep sigh and still feeling reluctant about revealing their secrets to her son. She follows her husband quietly to the small couch and leaves the armchair seat for Taehyung, who's still with his enraged expression stamped on his face as he rests his hands over his lap, staring at his parents on the other side of the room. They don't look like Taehyung will like their side of the story.
“It started long before Jeongguk was born, and you were only three,” Taeho starts, peeking at his wife, who nods, before continuing. “The Jeon Enterprises were growing in the market and they were our only competition at the time, and the Kim Group existed since your great grandfather was here. So, both my father and I wanted to get rid of them by buying their company. But Jeon Hyojong was too good. He knew that he was new in the market and people liked him, his brand was slowly growing and the price of his company was growing with it. We tried bribing them with millions, but nothing seemed enough. His wife was getting tired of it and she soon complained about the lack of attention from her husband towards her; she had just found out that she was pregnant with their first child.”
“After that, we started to talk more and bicker less. Hyojong wanted more time at home and your father wanted their company,” Gahyeon continues, grabbing her husband's hand. “So, we said that we'd give what it takes for them to not lose their company. Jeon Minjae said that we could work together, find a way out of that competition. Your father said that he'd make Jeon Enterprises one of our affiliates' companies, they'd still work by themselves, but more than half of their income would be ours. They'd get to keep their high status and we'd get the company.”
“We needed something to ensure our transaction,” Taeho takes a deep breath, biting the inner side of his cheek. “Hyojong suggested that we'd marry off both of our first-borns. Minjae was almost giving birth and you were turning five that year. So, we simply agreed.”
Taehyung despised how his parents confessed everything as if it was nothing; as if both his life and Jeongguk's were just for a deal between the two families and nothing more. Not that Taehyung hasn't already known that the reality is that cruel, but he didn't imagine that everything had been planned out for more than twenty years. This left him almost bewildered, after all, there is nothing he can do to fix that situation besides trying to make Jeongguk happy and trying to love him. Except that forcing a feeling that doesn't exist is not the healthiest of the things and Jeongguk does not deserve to be loved out of obligation; Jeongguk deserves the whole world at his feet and Taehyung promises that he will be able to do this for him someday. He just hopes that that day isn't far away.
His way back home is less conflicted than a few hours ago, he even stopped at the grocery store and bought ice cream and some popcorn for Jeongguk and him to watch a movie once he's there. There was enough confrontation for just a day for him and Taehyung just wants some peace in his future. He sighs inside of his car and drums his fingers on the steering wheel while looking at the sky clearing after the heavy rain. There's a bright blue and purple near the clouds and it looks like the day will finally be sunny. Taehyung forces a smile, thinking about how his conversation with his parents died inside that room since they don't want to lose the transaction between their companies.
After both his and Jeongguk’s parents decided on their marriage, they became business partners, but Jeon Enterprises isn't part of their affiliated companies yet; it will only happen when Taehyung and Jeongguk adopt or surrogate an heir for both companies since Jeon Hyojong, apparently, doesn't trust in any of their children besides Jeongguk to rule the company — that's why he planned to give it only to Taehyung, who's Jeongguk’s husband. But it irks Taehyung to know that the company couldn't be handed over to Jeongguk.
Taehyung asks himself if things would be different to Jeongguk if it wasn't for his father’s greed. But maybe it would be worse. There's no way for him to know, so Taehyung chooses to stick by reality and walks out of his car after stopping it in the garage. He opens the trunk and grabs the plastic bags from it, feeling his stomach rumbling from him skipping lunch that day as he pressed the button to lock the car. He checks his watch before typing the password to open the front door, it's still early, but he's too emotionally tired to shift and walk around in the forest. The door unlocks with a click and Taehyung licks over his lips, not finding anyone in the living room as he takes off his shoes and walks inside his house. The place looks all clean and tidied up,
With the sweet smell of strawberries and freshly baked chocolate cake, Taehyung decides that he will take the wheels of his life back on track and that he will be the one in control of what happens to himself in the future even if that takes a little bit of time. He knows that Jeongguk is in the kitchen with the housekeeper, working on the filling of the cake, and it’s there where he goes with what he bought in the grocery store.
“Hey, Taehyung hyung,” Jeongguk says looking up at him, and Taehyung is surprised to see that he’s alone there as he leaves the bags on the counter. “You’re back early.”
“It was just a conversation with my parents,” Taehyung shrugs, focusing his eyes on the beautiful cake Jeongguk is covering with melted chocolate. “Where did Minhee go?”
“Oh, she had something with her daughter to solve. I think a teacher called her over because of a fight involving her and it would be heartless to not let her go,” he murmurs, turning on the table to cover the other side of the cake. “We started baking together.”
“It looks so beautiful,” he scans over the unfinished dessert. “And yummy.”
“You can have it as dessert later,” Jeongguk smiles softly, working on the cover before the chocolate hardens up. “Are you hungry? We made a lot of lunch, too.”
“Seems like you two had a busy day,” Taehyung caresses his shoulder and Jeongguk scrunches his nose so adorably that the alpha wants to coo at him. “And yes, I'm starving. I’ll just put these in the fridge and I'll serve myself. Have fun with your cake.”
Something shifts in Jeongguk’s eyes, as if he wanted to do all of those things and more for him, but Taehyung doesn’t notice that; he’s too busy thinking about how the omega makes all of his body want to protect him with the littlest of the things he does. It’s been just a matter of about four days that they’ve been married and Jeongguk has easily owned Taehyung over while just being himself. Maybe it’s because he has cute doe eyes and Taehyung knows how much he should have held himself back from his own desires just because of their marriage — and he maybe feels like it’s his fault after having that conversation with his parents — or maybe it’s simply because Jeongguk deserves all of that and he knows. Taehyung’s wolf is no different. Being an alpha means that he has the desire to take care of everyone around him, his wolf is alert and a bit possessive and greedy at times, and that is reflected on his human side. Taehyung wants to put everyone under his wings and after marrying Jeongguk, the omega, who’s his future mate and other father of his children, turned out to be the number one on his protection list.
He doesn’t know much about Jeongguk’s opinion on their developing relationship, but Taehyung himself thinks that they’re doing good for the start. They’ve been sleeping on the same bed since Sunday and Taehyung even thinks that Jeongguk sleeps cutely, wrapping himself into a ball with both hands underneath his head as if he wants to be spooned; they never once fought or disagreed on something — but Taehyung guesses that it will take rather some time to happen because of Jeongguk’s mannerism of always agreeing with him despite the subject. At first, Taehyung thought that it would take a while for the wolf to get used to the omega around him, but it didn’t take him more than a day before he got attached to Jeongguk, and Taehyung doesn’t even find that weird — it’s impossible to look at Jeongguk and not keep him closer. He watches Jeongguk humming an unknown song as he continues to cover the cake while Taehyung is there, having lunch. He’s distracted and with his eyes glowing, which arouses a smile to Taehyung’s lips as he chews his rice. And Taehyung even brings up the movie that they can watch later while washing his own plate.
Taehyung lets Jeongguk choose a horror movie, even though he’s terrified of those. Taehyung recognizes that their situation is not as easy as he just doing all house chores himself or leaving everything to Jeongguk to choose. The omega needs to find himself; find that he’s worthy of himself; and, well, that he’s his own person just like Taehyung has said back on Sunday. It will probably take some time until Jeongguk manages to see himself as the strong omega he can be, but Taehyung won’t give up that easily — even if it means watching scary movies that will give him nightmares at night.
“We can change the movie…” Jeongguk suggests at some point during the late afternoon after noticing Taehyung’s frightened state, and the alpha shakes his head in denial, even though he’s hugging a cushion.“Hyung.”
“You said that it’s your favorite movie,” Taehyung glues his eyes on the TV, grasping on the cushion. “We’re doing Jeonggukie’s things for now.”
Jeongguk glances at him, lifting one brow, “Okay.”
Taehyung is a very strong alpha, but some things are just harder than others.