*years later*

just like every friday, jeno was walking towards the convenience store his boyfriend worked at, waiting for him to get out of work so that they could spend the end of the afternoon together.

and just like every friday, the same boy was there, one or two roads down the store, as if he was expecting jeno.

"hello sweetheart." the male spoke, his voice seductive as he approached the male.

jeno had no idea who this boy was. he was always there on fridays, just when jeno had to walk by, and each friday, he tried approaching jeno and talking to him. the guy wasn't particularly impressive and yet, jeno couldn't help but feel threatened by this presence.

he was way shorter than jeno, with a very slim frame and absolutely no muscles, and his hair long enough to almost hide his eyes.

"cat got your tongue?" the boy asked, walking by jeno's side as he tried ignoring him.

"please, leave me alone..." jeno mumbled, not daring to meet the other's eyes.

"why? you seem like you could use some company." the other continued, stretching an arm towards jeno in a hope to wrap it around his shoulders.

"i-i don't need company, thank you." the male replied, taking a small step aside to dodge the unwanted arm, and then speeding up.

"come on... so complicated for nothing..."

jeno ignored the annoying male, keeping his eyes away from him as he tried walking even faster, but it seemed like the other couldn't care less as he continued following jeno around.

"hey, cutie."

jeno let out a small gasp as the boy grabbed his wrist, forcing him to stop and turn around. the korean male tensed, his heartbeat accelerating as he started panicking. what should he do in such a situation?

"l-let me go." jneo stuttered out, his eyes wide in fear.

"i will if you come with me for- "

"get your filthy hands off my boyfriend son of a bitch!"

both jeno and the other turned around at the sound of a third voice, jeno's heart feeling so much lighter at the sole sight of his older boyfriend.

"if you don't let him go right now, i swear i'm destroying you." the boy spat, approaching the assaulter with a deadly glare.

"okay, wow." the boy let go of jeno's wrist immediately, taking a step back at the same time. "i didn't know he had a boyfriend or anything- "

"him having a boyfriend or not should not matter! you have no right to harass people in the street!"

"yeah, sure, i'll go..." the male continued taking setps back.

"right, get out of my sight! and i swear that if i see you next to my boyfriend again, you're dead!"

jeno listened to the whole conversation with his head hanging low, his eyes glued to his fidgety fingers. his heart beat had calmed down the second his boyfriend had appeared in the picture, but he was still pretty shaken by the whole situation.

"i'm so sorry i got here late, jeno..." the boy turned around, cupping jeno's cheeks with his hands to study his boyfriend's face. "did he hurt you? did he touch you?"

"i-i'm fine, renjun..." jeno sighed. "thank you for being here for me... i'm sorry i'm always fucking things up..."

"hey, don't say that, you're not fucking things up. it's just that... you're..."

"powerless?" jeno inquired, his eyes rolling to the back of his head.

"no, that's not what i wanted to say."

"sure, but that's what i am." jeno replied with a loud sigh.

"jeno, you know that- "

"it's the fourth time this month someone tries hooking with me or whatever. and i would have gotten harassed a few times if you hadn't intervened." the korean male listed, looking down at his shorter boyfriend. "renjun, just admit it, i am powerless."

"i assure you you're not." renjun state, intertwining his and jeno's hands to reassure him. "it's just that we are in a shitty world, and sadly, we can't do anything about it."

jeno huffed, tightening his grip on renjun's hand and pulling the boy in a hug.

"sometimes, i wish i wasn't tall and muscular..." he spoke in a low voice. "if only i could be short and have a tiny frame... at least people wouldn't be taking me like an easy prey anymore..."

renjun sighed, getting on his tip toes to kiss the corner of his boyfriend's mouth. "i'm sorry you're feeling like this, jeno... i promise we'll find something to help you feel less powerless..."

⊗

"where the hell is lot 123?!" a woman exclaimed, making the whole group of workers around flinch. "the auction is in tomorrow and it disappeared again!"

the workers all looked around and then back at the lady before shrugging and going back to organising the room for the auction that would take place 24 hours from there. however, it seemed like the woman had other plans.

"oh my god, what is even lot 123?" she tsked, pulling by the shirt one of the workers that was passing by with a block of paper. "give me the fucking list." she spat, pulling the block of paper from his hands and flipping through the pages as the speed of light. "121... 122... 123! oh god, of course it's that thing!" she rolled her eyes as she threw the block of paper back to the worker before sending him to his previous occupations in a not-so-polite way.

the lady walked around the room, looking at each and every corner and not hesitating to push the people that could be in her way.

"mrs cho!" a voice rang around the auction room, making the awful woman turn around on her high heels and frow. "i think i found who you were looking for!" the employee explained, running towards the woman, a white rabbit in his arms.

"where did that thing hide again?" she sighed, her face contorting with disgust as she eyed the white animal that was trembling in the employee's hands.

"i found him behind the- "

"yeah, doesn't matter." the woman rolled her eyes. "give me that thing and go back to work. i want everything to be perfect."

without a warning, mrs cho grabbed the rabbit by his ears, making him whine and squeak in pain. not giving it any thought, she headed to her office where she locked the door and let the rabbit fall to the floor before crossing her arms over her chest.

"transform, you useless thing." she spat, looking at the frightened creature.

as if knowing how awful she could be, the rabbit obliged, morphing into a tall boy in a matter of seconds.

"why the hell did you escape again?" mrs cho asked, no ounce of sympathy in her voice.

"i-i d-don't want t-to be s-sold..." the boy answered, his two fluffy white rabbit ears falling down on his head.

"and i don't care. you are lot 123 and that's final." the woman replied. "you know how important this auction is for me, i swear that if you make everything fail i'm killing you with my bare hands."

the bunny boy's eyes widened as he crawled backwards as if to get further away from that mad woman.

"filthy hybrid..." she tsked. "i don't know why i still haven't gotten rid of you jamon."

"j-jaemin..." the bunny hybrid corrected her shyly.

"i don't care!" mrs cho yelled immediately, frightening the boy even more.

she hadn't always been like that. apparently, she used to be a nice and respectable woman when she had married jaemin's dad – well, that is what his dad had told him. however, she had changed completely after learning that her husband had had a mistress – jaemin's mother, even though the hybrid had never really met her.

jaemin was born of a secret union between his father, a rich and recognised man, and a hybrid which had caught his eye long ago. unfortunately, as his mother got pregnant and gave birth to him, she realised quickly that she couldn't afford the cost of a baby, and that she wouldn't be able to grant him a nice life. that is why his father promised to take care of him and give him the life he could never have. as they couldn't have children, he convinced his wife to adopt this poor hybrid without a family, and so, ryuwon accepted, treating the hybrid as a member of their family – sadly, not as a son, because just like rich people, she felt a certain disgust towards hybrid creatures.

everything seemed to go perfectly fine in their 'family' until jaemin's father was diagnosed with a severe disease, and blood tests revealed that jaemin was indeed the son of ryuwon's husband and a hybrid. ryuwon and her husband's relationship when downhill from that point, and so until the man's death from his disease a month prior. following this event, ryuwon decided to erase everything that reminded her of him from his life, thus changing her name back to cho, and organising a giant auction during which she would sell all of the man's assets to anyone who wanted them – and this included jaemin, the hybrid she had never liked.

"you better go back to your cage and not get out again, understood?" she spoke, glaring at the boy that reminded her of her traitor of a husband.

"y-yes..." jaemin stuttered, standing up and dusting off his pants quickly before taking slow steps towards the door that the woman had pulled open.

carefully, jaemin walked in front of her, keeping his attention on her because he never knew what she could do to him. he wasn't stupid, he knew how much she despised him. she had always, even when she didn't know that he was her husband's illegitimate son.

"someone better buy you tomorrow..." she muttered, hate hearable in her voice. "i set the price really high, because i need compensation of all the burden you caused me."

"a-and..." jaemin gulped, a tiny bit of hope in his eyes. "i-if nobody b-buys me...?"

mrs cho scoffed, raising a brow and almost smiling at that statement.

"then, i won't hesitate throwing you to the first hobo i'll find."