so recently I read about quantum physics; and the most striking knowledge of the core understanding I got is that basically we are made of mathematical wave with probability distribution :') which means... I might or might not be here with you... probably lol

then I thought about inertial navigation that space vehicles etc use to know exact locations. sometimes the depths of knowledge scares me because of how different and contrasting each topic is, but they correlate with each other; some are proven some are theories but they all help our life in such a tremendous amount we couldn't even calculate.

"where's taehyung?" jimin cluelessly asked. usually taehyung would arrive before seven to drink coffee together with jimin, but the teacher room felt so cold and lonely without his presence (his soulmate sense was tingling when it felt something amiss). the younger male would always text him when he ran late or when he couldn't go to work; which almost never happened unless it was something inevitable like sickness or heat--

"eh?" jimin stood up after wondering silently. "is it that time already?"

alpha and omega had heat cycles three times a year. for a normal cycle, heat and rut happened every four months. beta didn't have to deal with them, something to be grateful because it wasn't bothersome (but also something for some people not to be grateful for because less day-off).

ever since taehyung and jimin had worked at the school for one year, jimin had seen taehyung going missing for three days two times. they weren't as close as best friends before at the first time, but jimin was determined to visit his best friend on the last day to supply him some medicines and food, just like he did on taehyung's second heat this year. he was a beta, on top of that was mated too, so taehyung's pheromones pretty much came out faintly to him.

"yeah," jieun, the biology teacher, said. "taehyung-ssi is in his heat leave. apparently his heat has started since saturday so he'll be here tomorrow already."

"I see," jimin thoughtlessly replied. taehyung usually texted him on the first day of his heat, though. omegas tended to feel lonely when they had no one to spend their heats with, jimin knew this because his sister was an omega and taehyung told him the last time he visited during his heat. it wasn't like jimin felt unneeded as a best friend, he only wanted the best for his best friend, unless he had already had someone... unless... wait---

no way. taehyung had never said about having someone significant to jimin. his best friend had constantly third wheeling him as long as he could remember for the past year.

whether or not taehyung had a partner, jimin would visit the omega's apartment today anyway.

"ah, jimin-ssi," cha taekyung, a beta from administration, came trough the door and called the PE teacher. "sorry to inform you so late but you're supposed to take all PE class for today. jeongguk-ssi took a rut pay leave today. said about forgetting to inform since saturday."

"ah, okay," jimin said. "...eh?!"

"eh? saturday?" jieun's head popped out from a thick biology book with a curious look on her face. "that's the same day taehyung-ssi had his heat."

dahye, the physic teacher, laughed. "what a coincidence, isn't it? right after we went on a trip together."

"hush," byun baekhyun, the history teacher, said. "please, ladies, stop before it turns to gossips."

"but aren't you the one who loves to gossip the most?" the chemistry teacher, irene, deadpanned. from the back of the room a snort was heard from yoongi's cubicle. the other teachers laughed as baekhyun childishly sent a silly face to Irene's direction but stopped when suho glared at him.

the easygoing atmosphere was gone as soon as the bell rang. all the teachers who had early morning shift scurried to go to their classes.

"oi, park jimin," jimin felt a soft slap on the back of his head, cutting him off from his train of thoughts. "stop daydreaming and go to your class," yoongi left after discreetly patted his hip. then jimin just realised that he had just been out of his stupor. thinking back, there were many strange things happening ever since the arrival of jeon jeongguk. his best friend had been acting weird and suspicious, going from looking so happy in the morning, then emotional, to downward moody and sad, it was like he had been more expressive than before.

was tae hiding somethings from him? well, jimin would find out after the school was over as he planned to visit tae today.

---

stepping out of the elevator with a bag full of suppressant supplies and another bag of fried chicken, jimin was determined to help his best friend through the last day of his heat so it wouldn't be as painful as doing it alone.

after a year of working side by side, he felt very close to taehyung at this point, even to the point of calling each other platonic soulmates. from all he knew, taehyung wasn't seeing anyone and the lack of an alpha/beta partner was said to be painful enough. jimin knew he couldn't provide the same relief, but he would always be there for him.

it wasn't long before he found himself standing in front of the taehyung's door. lifting his hand to knock, he paused as he caught whiff of something peculiar. it smelt like taehyung, but then there was something strong and musky mixed with the usual soft flowery scent of his best friend, so jimin could only make a vague assumption here. the mixed scent smelled peculiarly similar to alpha's smell but very faint, though... panic was going off in his head – the scent triggered fear and he knew it was familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on where he'd smelt it before – but curiosity had his fingers curling into a fist and his knuckles rapping against the door.

there was no sign of movement from inside the apartment and jimin wondered if taehyung was alright because he didn't even pick up his calls. it wasn't even that late.

before jimin could aggressively rain the door with series of knockings, he heard shuffling from behind the door, heard it being unlocked.

the door swung open and he parted his mouth to chirp a greeting when it hit him.

there was a faint trace of taehyung's scent. but surprised him was the peculiar mixed scent that he felt familiar with: it was the overpowering musk of an alpha on rut. a certain alpha he knew.

the pheromones permeating the air crash into him so hard, he grappled for the doorframe to steady himself because he's actually dizzy, actually left disoriented by the attack on his olfactory system. alphas on rut tended to be more aggressive and hard to control.

jeongguk was leaning against the door, glassed over eyes boring into him with intensity that made jimin gulped in fear. he had never seen jeongguk so agitated, let alone stood in front of his angry alpha form. he had heard when jeongguk had saved taehyung from a crazy alpha student, crushing the kid with his pheromones only. now he understood how strong of an alpha jeongguk was. jeongguk looked so much bigger than he usually was, so scary that everything the younger projected screamed to be submitted.

but, wait, this was taehyung's apartment so why--

the realisation that his best friend who was in heat had been visited by an alpha coworker was like a slap to jimin's face because jimin thought he knew taehyung so well. was it because jimin was too late before jeongguk had ambushed taehyung's house?

"what the hell are you doing here?" jeongguk growled.

jimin's inner turmoil came to an abrupt halt at the sound of a very pissed and very tired jeongguk. the alpha's hair was messy, skin coated in sweat and his clothes had looked like they'd been thrown on haphazardly. this little shit was probably doing something indecent to his taehyung.

"No, what the fuck are you doing here?" jimin growled back and jeongguk sent him a bewildered expression. the younger alpha looked confused but the expression turned scary again, even angrier than before.

"what?" his eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"this is taehyungie's house, how the fuck are you here when he was called in heat leave?" jimin stubbornly fought the alpha's angry phenomenon. as jeongguk's glare intensified, jimin started to shrink, getting the sense he was being judged but he was not one to back down. "where is taehyung? you better leave to your own house."

jeongguk jerked out jimin's bicep when the beta made a move to push jeongguk put of the way so he could come inside. the strength the alpha had had made jimin toppled over in surprise. the alpha looked so furious, he stood in a protective stance that cover the door. jimin's fall had produced quite a sound in the middle of the silence surroundings them.

"this is my fucking house," jeongguk's growl sounded animalistic. jimin could see the alpha's pupil had dilated, almost like the alpha had taken over jeongguk's mind, jimin felt mortified, his grip on the bag of unneeded supplies tightening as he realised what jeongguk had just said.

was it the wrong address? no, it was clearly taehyung's apartment.

in the short time they'd been growling to each other, the smell of jeongguk's musk had successfully clouded the corridor for jimin to feel goosebumps all over and he knew it wouldn't be long before he submitted. so jimin planned that in the short of time he got, he could push jeongguk out of the way with all the strength he gathered and lock the door before jeongguk could stand up.

however, before he could successfully pull out his plan as jimin had hoped, an overpowering flowery scent of an omega came out. the calming pheromone was forcing the alpha's and much to jimin's surprise, jeongguk's rigid body turned lax.

"oh my God, jeongguk, what did you do? ugh, the corridor stinks so bad, who are you talking to--" taehyung's voice was cut as the omega stopped talking when he saw his best friend. "j-jimin, w-what are you doing here?" the omega looked between the beta and the alpha, taking notes of the paleness of jimin's face and jeongguk's agitated face, taehyung softly pulled the alpha's shoulder, scenting his nose so the alpha could calm down.

"jeongguk, go inside first and calm yourself down, okay?" taehyung softly said, pushing jeongguk inside before he helped a shocked jimin up.

"let's talk inside," taehyung shortly said, closing the door shut after he pulled jimin in.

---

they were seated on the sofa, jimin with a raised eyebrow in front of taehyung who looked down in embarrassment, looking as disheveled as jeongguk, and jeongguk who had significantly calmed down. 

"so..." jimin started, still processing the shocking news taehyung had just told him carefully. "you guys have been married for more than a year? just right before taehyung and I started working together, and you guys decided to hide it ever since then?"

taehyung slowly nodded, redness blooming on his cheeks.

"and you don't even bother to tell me?" jimin squinted his eyes dangerously, looking murderous. "all the while I keep telling you to find a significant one?"

taehyung shook his head in shame, his head getting lower and lower as jimin spook. "I'm sorry, minnie," the omega whispered.

jimin sighed. "ugh, what have you been taking me for all this time? an idiot? you're having fun by doing this?"

"no! I have reason for it!" taehyung cried out in panic.

jimin's eyebrow raised higher, "and what is that?"

"it's a long story..." taehyung reluctantly replied, looking at jeongguk unsurely.

"we have all time until tomorrow," jimin retaliated, making himself comfortable on the sofa.

after a whole minutes of silent staring battle, taehyung finally gave up.

"fine, I'll tell you the story," the omega said, looking pointedly at the table between them as he collected his thoughts. jeongguk sat closer to him and started to stroke in shoulders in silent encouragement. "I used to date someone in my second year of high school. his name's jung joohyun, an alpha. he came from a very rich and conservative family, having been homeschooled until he enrolled in my local high school. he was a star student, all students fawned over him and he preened with the attention because it was probably the first time for him.

"jin hyung, my brother, used to protect me all the time because, well, you know how hard it was sometimes to be omegas. our parents died when I was really young so jin hyung was the one who raised me. he was so protective, he always said many people approach us for bad reasons because of our omega status. I never got close to anyone and it felt lonely without any friends.

"but then, jin hyung graduated when I was in 2nd year. I felt somewhat free, starting to befriend everyone, my extroverted side showed up. I haven't realised that what jin hyung always said held truth in it.

"joohyun tried to get close to me, and I have always been a romantic person so when he asked me to go out with him, I accepted and kept it secret from jin hyung because I was afraid as he was always angry when anyone tried to get close at me. at first joohyun was so kind, and nice to me, I was over the moon with my first relationship ever. but after a few weeks, he started to change...

"he became a bad boy, he drank and smoked after school, bullied the nerds, and he loved showing me off to everyone... he'd touch me on the corridor, at class, and he'd force me to go hang out with his friends almost every day. he'd always loved to be flashy but I felt uncomfortable when he pulled me on his laps as he drank with his friends... touching me all over in front of everyone..."

taehyung looked teary and jeongguk let out a soothing pheromone to calm him down.

"everything turned worse when jeongguk transferred to my school in the 2nd term. he is a powerful alpha and a talented student so joohyun tried to scout him to be one of his group friends. he saw how... uncomfortable I was when joohyun invited jeongguk to one of his drinking place. joohyun had been uncontrollable that time, he... he even pushed my clothes up and I cried. everyone just laughed at me but jeongguk helped and beat everyone up to pulp."

"basically, that fucking asshole had exhibitionist kink and so possessive," jeongguk growled, continuing the story when he saw how scared taehyung turned to be after recalling the past. "tae became traumatic. that bastard had been harassing him for months, coercing him to mate by bringing him in front of his friends.

"tae refused when I told him to report him 'cause his family was fuckin' rich and we, kids, didn't have the power to kick him out of the school. so we kept quiet for a while. it was until I finally met jin hyung.

"namjoon hyung is my childhood friend and we rented an apartment together in seoul, he was a uni student that time. apparently he had been dating jin hyung and he introduced him to me, I learnt that tae was actually jin's little brother so I told him that I'd saved tae from an asshole alpha and that we needed to report him soon.

"jin and joon hyung were so furious. with joon's help, the school kicked joohyun out. I courted taehyung a year later after we graduated and we dated all thorough uni 'til we got married after we graduated our master degree."

jimin had been silent all the time the couple told him the story, slowly processing in his mind. he looked more serious, sometimes throwing a sad and sympathetic glance at taehyung, but also looking very angry every time taehyung's ex's name was mentioned.

"why did the ex want to show off tae?" jimin asked. "you said he got many attention from everyone, so why was he only possessive of tae?"

"tae was famous because of his innocence. he was hard to reach 'cause jin hyung protected him so much, that was what people told me. I think he saw tae like some kind of a goal or enigma that he had never had, so when he had tae, he boosted it all over the school like an idiot."

"I see..." jimin said, eyebrows furrowed. "so that's why tae wanted to hide this marriage?"

"It's because of the attention people gave when gukkie started working with me," taehyung said. "I realise if people were to know that I'm married with him, they would also drag me and talk about us. people really love jeonggukie, they talk about him all he time. because of my trauma, I really despise when people breached my privacy... and I was also insecure because gukkie is such a capable alpha, so... people would start to say that... he probably didn't deserve me..."

"babe..." jeongguk started. "it's not true, we're over that--"

"yeah I know," taehyung cut jeongguk off. "we've talked about that so we're not hiding it anymore. we just... don't tell everyone, but I definitely stop avoiding gukkie and hiding our relationship."

"we agreed to let everyone find out by themselves," jeongguk finished.

"I hurt gukkie because of my decision," taehyung confessed. "but we made up on our trip and I told him that I'm now ready to let go of the past and try to overcome my trauma."

"okay," jimin nodded. "I think I completely understand now..." the beta sighed. "taehyung. I'm sorry for what you've been trough. you ex was a complete sicko and I'm glad jeongguk beat him up and kicked him out of your life. but this is too much for me, I think, I need time to process everything.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel betrayed when you hid things from me, but I understand how hard it was to bring up. I'm so glad that you trust me enough to tell me your story, taehyung."

"of course, minnie, you're my best friend," taehyung smiled gratefully at jimin.

"yeah, so let's be honest with each other from now on, okay? I want to always help you, tae, we promise to always be there for each other."

"yeah, I promise," taehyung giggled and all the tension disappeared from the room.

"but you know, I'm still angry so you owe me a week worth of homemade bentos," jimin childishly pouted. "I saw jeongguk bring it everyday and I envy him. yoongi is skilled in the kitchen but he's a lazy-ass."

taehyung laughed heartedly. "fine, if that's how I can bribe your forgiveness then alright, deal."

the three agreed to keep this matter a secret from everyone because jimin also found it exciting when jeongguk told him that it'd be funny when they flirted the hell out and  surprised everyone. jeongguk and jimin then apologised to each other because of the fight just now and jimin ended up having dinner together with the couple. all during dinner, jimin could see how disgustingly sweet and sweetly disgusting taehyung and jeongguk were. the happiness on their eyes would probably be obvious to the most oblivious person in the world.

now he knew how it felt to be third wheeling. but jimin went home with a light heart and a faint smile because of the knowledge that this was probably the first time he had ever seen his best friend, taehyung, so happy.

 to be continued...