ㅤchoi jongho. he was the youngest in his f𝗮mily and one of the youngest in his pack. one day though, his cousin came around. jongho only remembered small bits and pieces but apparently his cousin was left at his house’s doorstep. and now he’s living with his family. the rest of the pack didn’t seem to mind this, no one questioned it so neither did jongho.

one day he decided to ask though.

“mom, why is minwoo staying at our house? why doesn’t he go back with his parents?”

“i already told you, minwoo is going to stay with us for a while.”

“then why don’t his parents also come stay with us?”

“enough jongho, to your room.” his mother told him sternly and jongho’s eyes pricked with tears and he headed to her room. jongho didn’t understand, he was just curious.

now, the six year old just sat on his bed recalling memories. after that memory was when he really started to recall his memories in depth.

he honestly had a good home life till his cousin arrived. jongho understood that since his cousin was just left he needed a bit of more resurrance so jongho didn’t push. but as they grew the boy still didn’t try to push no matter how much he wanted to.

jongho had always gotten praise for whatever he did but when his cousin arrived his family sort of forgot about him.

jongho remembered the day he presented. his family was filled with joy as he presented as an alpha. jongho even smiled, though it wasn’t a genuine smile, at the praise but he knew it wouldn’t last long.

“today is the day you present jongho!” his mother had told him excitedly. jongho was excited to say the least. his parents threw him a little party to celebrate it and by the end of the day, choi jongho was an alpha.

jongho was right though as the next day everyone seemed to forget him. but as a few weeks passed his cousin also presented, as an alpha too.

his family threw a small party for him too but there was more praise to the boy and jongho grew slightly annoyed at that. he didn’t try to let his anger overcome him though and took deep breaths before smiling at his cousin and heading up to his room.

as the years passed it was always the same. jongho seemed forgotten and his cousin got the praise he wished deeply for. it seems that even his own sisters didn’t even care for him either. they were twins, one beta and one omega and just two years older than him.

jongho recalled the times where his sisters always dotted over him but it seems now he’ll never have that again.

———

now being fourteen, jongho learned to better control his emotions. it was getting harder though as they moved houses and now he shares a room with minwoo. oh how much worse could things get?

well, for starters his cousin was no way mean to jongho ever. he didn’t even notice the praise he got. didn’t notice the sad looks jongho gave him. because whenever he turned to someone, all they gave him were smiles.

jongho knew minwoo was oblivious to what was going on and it was extremely hard to ever feel any sort of negative feelings towards him. jongho did dearly love his cousin but some moments were just very hard to bare with.

once, jongho was working on an assignment and minwoo accidentally knocked it down. instead of some sort of reassurance to both boys there was only love for minwoo and hate for jongho.

“minwoo, are you okay?” “are you hurt minwoo?” both his parents had asked his cousin at the same time.

“jongho! go to your room and finish that!” his mother yelled. jongho picked up his things and moved to his shared room. his eyes pricked with tears as he saw his parents angry eyes directed at him. he locked the door and cried instead of finishing his project. as he finished crying he stood up and angrily threw his project into the trash.

he decided to give up on it and start working on something new.

then jongho had decided to join a music club they had at school.

he excitedly came home and once he arrived he ran inside. he went to his room and got out a piece of paper from his backpack. he had written a song for the very first time and wanted to share it with his family. he first showed it to the music teacher and he told him that it was very good so jongho was excited for the rest of the club.

once dinner was served jongho spoke up, “can i say something? i have exciting news!”

when he got the green light he stood up and started to speak.

“so, as you know i joined the music club at school—” just then minwoo interrupted him.

“ooh! i also joined a club, our first official meeting is tomorrow!” then immediately it’s as if jongho had not even talked because all attention was on minwoo.

“what club did you join minwoo?” one of jongho’s sisters asked.

“i joined a dance club!” he excitedly said.

as they continued to talk jongho lost his appetite. he just started moving his food along his plate. he wore a slight frown on his face but it’s not like anyone would notice. he decided he was just going to get up and leave to his room but minwoo then turned to him.

“sorry for interrupting you hyung. continue.” he said with a sheepish smile and jongho waved it off though inside he wasn’t as motivated to tell them as before but he still stood up nonetheless.

“um, well i wrote a song and—” once again jongho was cut off by minwoo.

“let me see hyung!” he grabbed onto the paper and jongho didn’t want to let go. he turned to see his parents giving a look, he knew they wanted him to just give the paper up to minwoo.

usually jongho would let minwoo have his way. he usually would give it to him then not bother and go to his shared room. this time jongho was not about to. this is something he worked hard on and he wasn’t going to let minwoo take it from him like that.

“let go minwoo.” jongho said as he tried to keep his cool.

“c’mon hyung!” minwoo whined.

the two continued to pull onto the paper and jongho continued to try and not get upset but it was very hard.

“CHOI JONGHO!!”

then it happened.

the paper ripped.

it was in three pieces and jongho felt the salty warm tears starting to stream down his face.

he grabbed the three pieces of paper roughly and angrily walked away to his room. he slammed the door and slid down the door as he curled into a ball. his light cries gradually grew a little louder and in the heat of the moment he ripped the paper into even smaller pieces. he picked them up and threw it into the trash can.

he grabbed his backpack and stuffed it with necessities and jumped out of the window quietly as he could. good thing the house was one story as he easily landed on the ground. the sun was setting so jongho quickly ran to edge of his village where the boundary sat and passed it with tears streaming down his cheeks and no regrets.