Jongho thought the human was going to remain silent, but Yeosang surprised him when he whispered something he never thought he'd hear from Yeosang.

"Wooyoung hates me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Wooyoung

"What wolf in their right mind would ever mate with a human, let alone be interested in one?" The words clanged harshly around in Wooyoung's head. He couldn't get them or Hongjoong's sneer out of his head, no matter how hard he tried.

He should have just kept his mouth shut. He should have known...

A rage swept through him again as he thought about Yeosang's reprimand and expression. He'd known. Yeosang had known that Wooyoung's crush was mated and he hadn't said anything. He had just let him go on and on like a complete fool.

Wooyoung covered his heated face with his hands. He was so stupid! Why did he ever think he had a chance with Seonghwa? It was so obvious, now that he looked back. It was so obvious that Hongjoong and Seonghwa were mates- that Seonghwa was just humoring his silly human desires.

Wooyoung groaned and threw himself backward onto his bed at a new thought. Seonghwa would have smelled his desire for him. His cheeks burned as he thought about it. He was so stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!

But it wasn't even his own obliviousness that hurt the most, nor Hongjoong's words, it was the complete and utter betrayal of Yeosang knowing and not telling him. Why did Yeosang hide it from him? Why was he so cruel?

A tear slid down Wooyoung's cheek and into his ear as his lips began to tremble. He'd refused to see Yeosang since that day. Had screamed at Yeosang to leave him alone, told him that he never wanted to see him again and then locked himself in his room. Wooyoung wasn't sure how many days had passed, but his memory supplied the number (happened Friday) five. And Yeosang had come around every single day. And every single day, he told his mother to tell Yeosang to leave. He couldn't even find it within himself to feel bad that he was likely hurting Yeosang, and that scared Wooyoung a little.

But, Yeosang had let Wooyoung look like a fool. Had betrayed him. Hell, he'd gotten so cozy with Hongjoong, it was like Wooyoung didn't mean anything to him anymore. Wooyoung bet the two were laughing about his obliviousness behind his back. He didn't want to think that Seonghwa could have been too, that would just hurt him too much. He wouldn't be able to bear his best friend and crush laughing at him.

A small part of him knew that these thoughts were ridiculous, but in his current state of mind, he ignored the voice, no matter how reasonable it was.

A gentle knock on his door pulled him out of his thoughts. He allowed his hands to fall away from his face and he stared at the door for a moment before calling out, "Yes?"

"Wooyoung, Yeosang's here to-"

"Tell him to go away. I don't want to see him." Wooyoung interrupted his mother before she could finish. He didn't miss her heavy sigh before she walked away.

Wooyoung still hadn't told her what happened, too ashamed to admit his stupidity. He knew she was disappointed in him for behaving this way, and she constantly reminded him that they would be leaving on Saturday and that he shouldn't be shutting Yeosang out- that he shouldn't be wasting precious hours being spiteful or upset. But Wooyoung couldn't force himself not to feel betrayed. He couldn't look past what Yeosang had done and couldn't bring himself to see Yeosang before he left.

Every time he tried, every time he picked up his phone and his finger hovered over Yeosang's contact, he was just flooded with more rage and shame.

And so, he kept telling his mum to tell Yeosang to go away, like a coward.

~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~

"Wooyoung-" Wooyoung didn't even let his mother finish. He'd heard the knock. And if she was up here, then it meant that it was Yeosang again.

"No. Tell him to go away," he didn't even glance up from his phone as he spoke.

"Why won't you see him?" His mother's voice was stern, unimpressed, annoyed.

"Because I won't see-"

"Jung Wooyoung! Tell me this instant! I'm sick of seeing Yeosang's look like some kicked puppy every time I have to tell him that you don't want to see him. He looks so hopeful every time I open that door, Wooyoung! And yet-"

"He hurt me! I won't see Kang Yeosang because he betrayed me! Now, tell him to piss off and go bend over some more for that stupid alpha!"

"Jung Wooyoung!" His mother said no more beyond his name as a reprimand, looking too shocked to know what to say. After a moment of silence, she spoke, her voice quiet.

"Even if he hurt you, you should not speak in such a vulgar way," she turned around to leave but before she walked away, she turned back around. "When I come back here, you will explain to me what happened."

And with that, Wooyoung was left alone once again. He moved closer to his doorway, standing from his bed and keeping his footsteps steps light as he crept slightly down the hall. He strained his ears to hear what his mother said to Yeosang and could just barely hear it.

"Wooyoung doesn't want to see you, Yeosang. He's asked that you stop coming here."

Yeosang's voice was too muffled to hear, so Wooyoung crept closer, sticking close to the wall so that he'd remain unseen. He missed Yeosang's response, but guessed at what he said by his mother's cold response, "That wasn't necessary. I've already arranged for his work to be emailed to him."

"I-You're getting it emailed? But I always bring his work when-" Yeosang sounded so lost, confusion evident in his tone as well as uncertainty and pain. But Wooyoung didn't feel bad. He didn't feel anything.

"It doesn't matter what used to happen. This is how it will happen now. You should be relieved-"

"He told you," Yeosang's voice suddenly sounded empty, resigned. "Tell the oblivious idiot that nothing was done to hurt him." Yeosang's voice was louder now, angry. Yeosang wanted Wooyoung to hear him.

Woyooung realised with a flash of anger that Yeosang knew he was there, or at least guessed he was. Wooyoung hated that he was predictable. He remained hidden though, unwilling to give Yeosang the pride of being right. Three loud knocks sounded and Wooyoung frowned. Who could be knocking while Yeosang was still standing there?

"What are..." his mother trailed off. Wooyoung flinched at the sound of the door closing and scrambled to return to his room before his mother found out he'd been eavesdropping.

He quietly sat on his bed, wincing as the bed springs squeaked. But his mother did not appear at his door. Not until an hour later. When she did reappear, she held a bag of chips. She shook them when Wooyoung stared at her quizzically. "Story snacks," she said. "I don't have popcorn, so chips will have to do."

Wooyoung's jaw dropped. Was she seriously treating Wooyoung's troubles like some drama she watched on the tv?!

She smiled at him, as if knowing what he was thinking. 

Once she was sitting beside him, chips open and ready to be eaten, Wooyoung began telling her what happened.

"Well, three weeks ago, we had two wolves transfer to our campus, I think I told you about it," his mother nodded and Wooyoung continued on. "An alpha and an omega. Like a fool, I fell for the omega. I didn't think anything about the fact that Hongjoong and Seonghwa transferred here at the same time, or the fact that they were almost always together. I just thought they were friends and-"

"You and Yeosang were always around each other and were just friends, so it's a fair assumption." 

His mother apologised when he glared at her  for interrupting and motioned for him to continue.

"As I was saying," he narrowed his eyes as his mother crunched particularly loudly on a chip. "I was dumb and fell head over heels for the omega, for Seonghwa. And I was also dumb enough to not realise that he was mated."

His mother opened her mouth he sighed, "What?"

"I don't really see what this has to do with Yeosang."

"I'm getting there!" Wooyoung loved his mother, he truly did, but sometimes, she could be a little too impatient.

"While I was stupidly telling Yeosang everyday about Seonghwa, it turns out he was stabbing me in the back and getting all cozy with Hongjoong."

"Who's Hongjoong?"his mother asked before crunching on another chip.

"Seonghwa's alpha and mate," Wooyoung replied blandly.

"Okay. How was Yeosang 'getting cozy' with this Hongjoong?" Wooyoung shrugged and looked down at his hands. He didn't want to admit that Hongjoong had made Yeosang laugh like he used to or that Yeosang had seemed so happy after Hongjoong scented him. He didn't want to admit that Hongjoong seemed to succeed in places where Wooyoung had failed...maybe that was why Yeosang had betrayed him. Because Wooyoung was the bad friend.

No. Wooyoung clenched his fist. He wasn't the bad friend. Yeosang was. Wooyoung had never been mean to Yeosang or hurt him. He'd only ever been kind to him and always looked out for him.

"That bad, 'ey?"

"Huh?" Wooyoung glanced up at his mother.

"You clenched your fists and you have this scary face," she gesture vaguely to his face. Wooyoung shook his head and tried to relax his tensed muscles before speaking again.

"He just got super close with Hongjoong and it seemed like I didn't mean as much to him anymore." He knew what his mother's next words would be before she even spoke them, knew from the thoughtful expression on her face, knew from how she set aside the packet of chips.

"But he keeps coming to see you."

"Yeah. Only because Hongjoong is in rut and he has no one else to hang out with right now," Wooyoung snarked.

His mother frowned.

"Yeosang never seemed like the kind of boy who would hurt anyone purposefully. Or even accidentally for that matter," She tried. His mother always tried to see the other side of things and keep an unbiased viewpoint until she had all of the facts. It was some what annoying, but Wooyoung wished he had the ability to set aside his emotions for a moment to consider other perspectives.

"He doesn't but he did and purposefully. He knew they were mates and hid it from me. And worse, he told them that I liked Seonghwa," Wooyoung covered his face as shame reddened his cheeks for the thousandth time that week.

"Oh..."

"Yeah, oh," Wooyoung's hands dropped into his lap and he sighed. "He let me make a fool of myself and then pretended to be there for me."

"What happened?" His mother's voice was soft as she placed a comforting hand on his arm. He met her eyes and felt his heart melt. His mother was so kind and understanding, the love shining in her eyes was more than Wooyoung could handle and he was forced to look away.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I just wanted to understand better and know how you found out about Yeosang's betrayal," her words were sincere, and Wooyoung knew he could tell her that he didn't want to talk anymore and she'd leave him be without any judgement.

"No, it's okay. I'll tell you," he whispered.

And so, he told her about how it was the second time he and Seonghwa had hung out and they were going to relax at Seonghwa's place for a while but when they arrived, they found Yeosang and Hongjoong instead of an empty house. He didn't mention the scenting, knew he wouldn't be able to keep his cool if he deviated even just a little from the main story. His voice dropped lower as he reached the end, where he had to explain what words were exchanged between everyone present.

His mother listened to his story silently. She was attentive and offered sympathetic words in appropriate places. Wooyoung appreciated his mother for understanding him. He could tell she had her own opinions on what had transpired, but she kept them to herself. Wooyoung was grateful, he didn't think he could handle hearing how stupid he was from his mother just yet.

His mother left him alone to finish packing afterwards and Wooyoung found himself staring at Yeosang's contact. The messages from Yeosang since everything happened glaring up at him. The boy had repeatedly begged Wooyoung to see him, to listen to him, to talk to him, but Wooyoung hadn't responded to a single message. The last message was from yesterday after Yeosang was turned away for the sixth time. Yeosang had come both in the morning and afternoon on the Sunday after the day that it happened. That day, Wooyoung had received a lot more messages than any other day, but he had ignored them. Too angry to even read them until two days later.

Wooyoung frowned at the screen. There were no new messages since yesterday. He didn't know why, but the lack of messages made something twist uncomfortably in his stomach.

~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~

Friday, a week since his stupidity came to light, was consumed by a wicked storm. The starving storm thrashed the streets with sheets of ice cold rain and tore at everything in it's path with whirling gusts of wind. The windows and doors rattled violently as the wind whistled past, screaming like a banshee in the night, a herald of death.

Wooyoung jumped when his mother opened his bedroom door at the same time as a loud crack of thunder roared over the wailing wind.

His mother's face was pinched and Wooyoung was immediately concerned.

"What's wrong?" He asked, standing from his bed to approach his mother.

"Do you know where Yeosang is?"

"What? Why would-" Wooyoung tensed when his mother's gaze darkened, anger and fear battling for the spotlight. "What happened?"

"Yeosang's mother just called me," she took a deep breath before continuing, as if preparing herself for something huge. It was huge, Wooyoung realised later. The words his mother uttered next were monumental.

"She can't find Yeosang."

~~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~~

Jongho

Jongho was just closing up the store, his shift having just ended and his manager requesting the store be closed early due to the storm, when he saw Yeosang. The human had paused at the foot of the steps that led up to the cafe doors and was staring up at Jongho silently.

Jongho could tell instantly that something was wrong. Even though the rain impaired his sense of smell, the water drowning out any scent it could, he didn't need Yeosang's scent to tell him that the human was upset. It was written all over him, his body language screaming it at Jongho in big bold letters.

"Oh, Yeosang! What are you doing out in the storm?" Yeosang shrugged but did not speak. Jongho tried to keep the friendly smile on his face, not wanting to frown and possibly upset the already distressed human.

"Were you looking to get something? I can-" before Jongho could finish, Yeosang started shaking his head. Jongho stood uncertainly, hand still resting on the door handle.

Suddenly, Jongho realised how drenched Yeosang was, the boy still standing out in the rain. Although the intensity of the storm had lessened a few minutes ago, it was still raining and the wind was strong enough to make the trees creak as their boughs bent under the pressure.

"You're soaked! Were you out in the rain all this time?" Jongho moved down the steps, opening his umbrella in one swift motion and sheltering Yeosang from a small portion of the rain. Most of it still hitting the boy as it was practically raining sideways thanks to the wind.

Yeosang nodded, eyes downcast. Jongho immediately scolded him for being so stupid. "Do you want to catch a cold? You shouldn't be out in the rain like this, let alone a storm!"

The older boy rolled his eyes. But he tensed, flinching when a flash of lightning streaked across the dark clouds followed by a deep rumble of thunder that shook the sky.

Even so close to Yeosang, Jongho still couldn't smell his scent to know exactly how he was feeling, the water clinging to his clothes and skin masking everything. So, Jongho searched Yeosang's eyes for answers. All he saw was fear and sadness.

What had happened to make the happy Yeosang so painfully quiet and solemn?

"If I may ask," Jongho began haltingly. Yeosang inclined his head slightly, a sign for Jongho to continue. "Why did you come here in the middle of a storm if you didn't want anything from the cafe?"

Jongho thought Yeosang was going to remain silent when the boy turned his gaze to down the street and didn't speak. But, Yeosang surprised him by meeting his eyes once more and whispering so quietly, that if Jongho were not a wolf hybrid, he would have not heard it. "S'not true. I wanted you..."

Jongho's eyes widened and his lips parted slightly. He stared at Yeosang, wondering if it was a joke or if he'd heard wrong, but Yeosang looked so serious and even replaying the words in his head, he couldn't find out what he could have misheard. He found himself frustrated that he couldn't smell Yeosang. It was aggravating that he had to guess based on the human's body language alone. That didn't help at all when he said something like that. Something that could mean something very different depending on the emotion behind it. But then again, maybe Jongho was overthinking it.

Jongho always overthought when it came to Yeosang.

"Do you want to come back to my place to warm up?" He asked, he didn't know why he thought such an offer was wise. He was just grateful that he'd already had his rut last month and wouldn't need to worry about his hormones making him look stupid and horny.

He was surprised when Yeosang nodded and pressed closer to him as another rumble of thunder drowned out the whistling wind. The damp clothes on the human seeped a coldness through Jongho's own, but he didn't mind. 

They walked in companionable silence as the storm began to pick up momentum. Soon, the umbrella was rendered useless and Jongho was forced to close the nuisance of an umbrella as it kept folding itself inside-out in response to the wind constantly changing directions.

Jongho pretended not to notice how Yeosang tensed every time lighting flashed, or how he flinched when the following crack of thunder roared furiously over the howling wind. And when Yeosang yelped at a particularly sudden boom of thunder, Jongho simply put an arm around him and pulled him as close as he could without them stumbling over each other. (YS appreciates this) 

When they reached Jongho's place and stumbled inside, it was like a weight lifted from Yeosang's shoulders and his posture relaxed slightly. Yeosang must not like storms, Jongho concluded. 

"You should shower and change out of your wet clothes otherwise you'll get sick," Jongho said as he turned the lights on. Yeosang looked at him, eyes wide and expression scandalized. 

"I-I- These are my only clothes. I can't change-"

"I'll give you some of my clothes. But I'm not letting you stay in those soaking clothes. Go have a nice warm shower and I'll bring you a towel and some clothes," Jongho left no rooms for arguments and even began gently pushing Yeosang towards the bathroom. The boy gave up trying to fight with Jongho and closed the door behind him once he was at the bathroom. Jongho waited until he heard the water running and then went to search for a spare towel and some clothes to give Yeosang to wear until his clothes were dry. Once he'd acquired the items, he knocked on the door and warned Yeosang that he was going to open the door enough to put the towel and clothes just inside the door so Yeosang could easily find them. 

After doing that, Jongho walked around the house to make sure everything was at least somewhat presentable. While on his way back towards the kitchen, Jongho thought that Yeosang might be hungry. He tried to think what the boy liked most, hoping to cheer him up even just a little by surprising him with his favourite food. Chicken. Yeosang loved chicken, Jongho smiled as he remembered Yeosang excitedly telling him about some fried chicken he'd had the night before from some new restaurant that opened a few blocks away. Jongho hadn't been able to keep himself from laughing a little about Yeosang's animated expressions while talking about chicken and Wooyoung's embarrassed 'I don't know this person'. 

Jongho frowned as he thought of Wooyoung. His eyes unconsciously began to stare in the direction of the bathroom. This was the second time he'd seen Yeosang without Wooyoung by his side. As much as Wooyoung could be loud and a little obnoxious (and clearly oblivious to Yeosang's very obvious crush on him), something didn't sit right about seeing Yeosang without his best friend. 

Jongho shook his head and sighed. He was probably just overanalyzing.  Wooyoung probably wasn't dumb enough to go wandering about in a storm and was warm and safe at home while Yeosang was out and about getting soaked. 

Jongho had to call a few places before he found one that was willing to deliver chicken despite the storm. He ordered a few different kinds of fried chicken along with some drinks and then waited. Leaning against the kitchen counter, Jongho stared out the window and watched the trees tremble and shake as the wind whipped ferociously at their exposed trunks, ripping many leaves from their branches, leaving them bare as rain poured neverendingly onto their fresh wounds. 

"Uh, thank you for letting me use your shower. And for the clothes."

Jongho startled. A hand unconsciously moved to his chest as his heart skipped a beat. Yeosang struggled to hide his laugh at Jongho's reaction, settling on covering it up with a cough. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I thought you heard me," Jongho shook his head. 

"It's fine. I'd just zoned out," Jongho looked Yeosang up and down. He looked good in his clothes. When Jongho dragged his eyes back up to Yeosang's face, the boy was blushing a little. 

"My clothes suit you," Jongho said. Yeosang looked stunned by Jongho's sudden praise, his eyes widening comically. To many, it may have seemed like a stupid comment considering Yeosang was wearing a standard black t-shirt and a pair of basic white shorts, but they really did look good on him. 

"Thank you," Yeosang whispered with a shy smile. Jongho smiled back. "You should go shower too," Yeosang gestured to Jongho's own wet clothes. "You got rained on too. Sorry about that."

"It's okay. I don't mind. I'll only be a moment. Make yourself at home," Jongho gave Yeosang one last smile before heading off to shower.

~~~~~~~~***~~~~~~~~

"Do you want to talk about it?" Jongho asked while they were eating chicken. Yeosang shook his head, a frown on his face even as he ate a piece of fried chicken. 

Jongho nodded and let the boy eat in silence. 

Once the food was cleared away, they were both sitting on the floor, watching a random replay of an old drama on the tv and Jongho pulled gently at Yeosang. Yeosang turned around and stared at Jongho in confusion until the alpha gestured for the boy to lean against him. Yeosang looked uncertain, so Jongho gestured again. this time, Yeosang slid over to him and rested his back against Jongho's chest. Jongho smiled when he felt the boy relax against him. His instincts had been right, this is  what Yeosang need. 

"You know that I'm always here for you, right?" he murmured softly, afraid to speak too loud and break the calm that had settled over them. In his arms, Yeosang almost seemed unbothered by the thunder, only flinching a little when a particularly loud boom shook the windows. "I'll always listen to whatever you have to say. So, if you ever need to talk about anything- anything, whether it be about the weather or something more, I'll always listen to you."

Jongho thought the human was going to remain silent, but Yeosang surprised him when he whispered something he never thought he'd hear from Yeosang. 

"Wooyoung hates me." 

A/N: Hey, sorry this chapter took so long. It was supposed to be longer and the original outline was very different to what you are seeing now. A large chunk of this chapter will instead show up in the next chapter. 

A new detail about heats and ruts has been added to the Additional Terms chapter.