"It's twelve fifteen!"

"Check your emails!"

"Refresh!"

"Refresh!"

"Gahh I got it!"

"Haha suck it Jaemin I'm all good!"

"Me too!"

Chenle, Renjun, and Jaemin all turned to look at Jeno who was staring at his phone with wide eyes.

"I-I got assigned." He looked at his friends who were all failing to hide their obvious concern.

Every year investors visit the school to get a peek at what their money is going into. Naturally, the school chooses only the best and brightest of its students to represent them. Very few students from each major are chosen, and among that group few are Omegas. Jeno was one of the lucky few.

Or one of the unlucky few if you ask him.

Jeno had heard the stories. The investors always put twice the pressure on the Omegas then the Alphas or Betas. They were always so curious as to why someone as seemingly weak as an Omega would get chosen to represent their entire department. Some of the Omegas left those presentations in tears. Which Jeno was already on the brink of.

"Jeno it's okay, Jaemin will be there with you. Nothing bad will happen." Chenle tried to reassure him.

Jeno looked up incredulously at Chenle, "But Nana isn't a culinary major. It would be weird if he stuck by me the whole time."

"Jen's right." Jaemin faced their friends, "He's gonna be on his own. We're just gonna have to hope that nothing too bad happens."

At those words, Jeno felt an iron fist close on his heart. It was fear, but it wasn't just fear alone.

It was determination too.

Okay, if they wanted Lee Jeno to represent the culinary majors he would do just that. He would represent the shit out of them, and being an Omega wasn't going to slow him down.

It was slowing him down.

Jeno tugged at the tie that was, in his opinion, far too tight around his neck. The room was uncomfortably stuffy and the prying eyes of investors just a couple yards away wasn't helping. He leaned back in his chair and took a few deep breaths to steady himself. He considered sending a S.O.S text to Jaemin but he figured he was going to have to wait for a real S.O.S moment before he could send that.

They had been waiting to start for the past ten minutes but the crew seemed to be running behind schedule. All the students and their professors were seated on one end of the room while the investors were seated just across the aisle from them. Jeno was thankful his seat was on the opposite side of the investors because any Omega within three rows of them looked as if they were about to jump up and scream.

Finally their president, Moon Taeil, stepped up to the podium and was met with applause. He walked up to the mic and had to bend it down a couple inches before he could speak.

"Thank you." He cleared his throat, "Welcome to Fireflies university. We have been a running establishment for nearly fifty years and now we are considered to be one of the top 50 universities in Asia."

A light applause broke out before Taeil continued.

"That couldn't have happened without all of you. So I just want to take a moment to say thank you."

He took a moment to look up at the audience.

"But this university goes so much further than numbers and data. This university climbed its way to the top because of the hard work and dedication of the students who attend here. Which I know are the ones you really want to hear speak tonight. So without further ado I would like to present the representative of the Marine biology department Lee Haechan!"

The room burst into another round of applause as a handsome man climbed the stairs. Once Jeno recognized the man he turned away.

It was the boy. The one who saved him from Jongho just a few days prior. The handsome swimmer boy who was already starting to make a name for himself around campus for his kind heart and intelligent mind.

Jeno kept his face down during his entire speech. In fact, he kept his head down for all the speeches after that too.

Before he knew it the floor was open to the investors. That meant they could go up to any student they wished and ask them any questions they wanted. This was the part that was typically where Omegas were bullied by investors.

Jeno sighed and rose to his feet. Time to greet investors.

Message to Nana: S.O.S

The past hour had been stressful and humiliating for Jeno. He'd been picked apart by investors and now that he was in pieces, they were playing with what was left. Jeno just had to hope that Jaemin would save him before the conversation with his current investor got too bad.

"So Omega," The investor was old and wrinkled. His stature was lower than Jeno's but that didn't decrease his intimidating presence, "You say that your main passion is baking?"

"Yes sir."

"Pastries to be exact?"

"Yes sir."

"Then why have you chosen such a wide major as culinary if your passion is so specific? Have you just not been serious enough about following your dream?"

Jeno had already gotten this question once or twice before so he was prepared to answer. "Sir I've been very serious about pursuing my dream since the day I realized what my dream was. I chose to attend Fireflies university because I believed this was the best place to help me follow my desires. The reason I have chosen such a wide major is because I have decided that pursuing a major that involves all kinds of food engineering is the best way for me to better myself and to fully explore my field of interest."

Maybe Jeno was delusional, but he thought the investor looked a teeny bit impressed.

"I see." He said with an unimpressed tone making Jeno's heart drop. He really thought he impressed his first investor. "But are you really sure someone like you is even fit enough to be in a bakery? I mean just look at these arms."

The man reached out to feel Jeno's arms. He was uncomfortably squeezing them though the blazer Jeno was wearing. Jeno started to sweat profusely. Luckily a hand reached over his shoulder and elegantly slipped the investor's hands into theirs.

Jaemin popped out from around Jeno and started to gently nudge the investor away from him.

"Ah Mr. Kang, I heard you express interest in the archaeology major earlier. Well let me tell you.."

Jaemin shot Jeno an apologetic look from over his shoulder before he launched himself into a long winded speech about Archaeology while walking the investor away from Jeno. Luckily, the old man seemed to have completely forgotten about his interrogation and went along with Jaemin's speech.

Jeno breathed out a sigh of relief once the investor was away. He hopelessly tugged at his tie again before looking around the room to see if he could find some water. He couldn't see anything nearby so instead he attempted to take off his blazer.

"Don't even think about it."

Jeno shivered when his professor stepped out of nowhere, glaring at him until he pulled the blazer back on over his shoulders.

"But sir, it's really hot in here, and they stopped serving the drinks, and I feel like I'm about to-"

"Enough Jeno. You've been picked to represent the school. Now act like it. I want that jacket staying on you for the rest of the night."

Every atom in Jeno's body screamed at him to ignore his professor's order but instead he meekly nodded. The professor walked off. Jeno felt as if he was about to cry.

It was hot, the Alpha and Beta scents were overwhelming, he hadn't gotten enough to drink, he felt over stressed.

As quietly as he could, he turned and walked toward a back room he spotted off to the corner of the main one. Once he was inside he whimpered with relief. But the world around him was spinning now.

Jeno looked ahead of him and could just barely make out the blurry image of a person standing before him. But that was all he saw before he passed out onto the floor.