Jisung knew he was in deep shit when he saw Renjun waiting outside of his lecture hall. He hid behind Jaemin, who perked up seeing the older boy and practically flew towards him, missing his smell after being away for only a small amount of time.

Renjun dodged the alpha and instead grabbed Jisung's ear, hard, making the taller boy yelp as Renjun pulled him down to the same height as him.

"We need to talk." Renjun hissed, and Jisung only whined in pain, his scent curdling from fear and pain. It was remarkable how fierce Renjun could look when he was suitably pissed off.

Dragging the younger boy into the boy's bathroom and locking the door, Renjun crossed his arms. "Care to explain what the hell you were thinking?" He spat venomously. "I love you, but Chenle came home in tears. Do you know how much control it takes from an alpha not to tackle their mate and force them to love them? Do you?"

"I don't want him to get hurt from me," Jisung whimpered.

"You wouldn't hurt him. You have to trust him."

"But my parents, they'd -"

"Chenle can defend himself. I can short circuit the cameras. There's ways Jisung, there's fucking ways besides pushing away someone who truly wants to fall in love with you!"

"But -"

"Chenle could less than a flying shit whether or not you're a beta, omega, or alpha. All he wants to do is love you." Renjun looked at the younger boy, who looked close to tears. "I know you don't get love from your parents. I know you're terrified Jisung, do you think I'm ready to let Jaemin or Jeno know anything about me? Hell no. But I'm not sending them home in tears!"

"It's not my fault he's so sensitive!" Jisung snapped.

"He's trying not to snap at you! Do you want to know what our family does best? Our family destroys others. Sicheng was beaten close to death on numerous occasions because he was an omega. He was a failure. I moved out because I was a beta. Do you know what my father did to me?"

Renjun lifted his shirt slightly and turned around, Jisung seeing deep scars. "They broke my back beating me so hard."

Jisung looked horrified, and Renjun looked at him. "Chenle wants to keep you safe. He wants to break the cycle. That's why he's sensitive. He doesn't want to do the wrong thing."

"I didn't -"

"I know you didn't know. But talk to him okay? He'll be in Korea for a few more hours before a small vacation in China."

Renjun held out his phone, letting Jisung punch in Chenle's number, immediately calling.

"Hello?" Jisung heard a stuffy voice say, and his heart dropped, hearing the hurt in Chenle's voice.

"Chenle, it's Jisung I just wanted to apologise in person can you meet me at Baecob Bread please?" Jisung said in a rush, and there was silence on the other end. "I'll be there in ten minutes. I'll wait for you." Jisung hung up and looked at Renjun, who unlocked the door.

"I'm sorry," Jisung said, and Renjun looked back at him.

"Don't apologise to me." Then he walked out, leaving Jisung to nervously fix his hair before going out and for a seven minute walk to Baecob Bread.

When he got there, he immediately sat down in one of the booths and folded his hands, watching the door.

Ten minutes.

Twenty.

Thirty.

People were giving him weird looks now, but his eyes brightened seeing Chenle shuffling in, probably with some coercing. Jisung immediately went over to him, grabbing his wallet and bringing him into the line.

"What do you want?" Jisung asked, and Chenle looked at him, confused.

"What do you mean," Chenle whispered, his eyes watery.

"Food wise. You need to eat and drink after crying."

"I don't know, maybe cake?" Jisung hummed at Chenle's words, which were weak and shaky but they were there.

"And to drink?"

"Lemonade?"

"Okay." Jisung got to the front of the line and ordered what Chenle had said, tacking on a cold chocolate. When he saw Chenle teaching for money, he quickly inserted his card and it approved, making Chenle look at him. "I asked you here. It's only fair I pay."

Nervously, Chenle bit his lip. What was this about? Why was he being so nice? Did he want to just crush him further? Even though Renjun said he wanted to apologise, he was being really nice.

Chenle watched as Jisung took the number and turned back to him, leading him over to the cosy booth. "Chenle I want to start this out by apologising. What I did was wrong, and I'm so sorry for making you cry. I don't want to like you then get you ripped away because my parents are so strict I'm scared that if I fall, they'll find a way to take you from me."

"I'm sorry it's not an excuse and that I'm a mess, I don't expect you to stay and listen or to forgive me now but I want you to know from the bottom of my heart that I am so, so sorry, and I want to prove to you that I'm sincere. I know we probably don't have enough time now since you're going to China but I want to -" Jisung paused, feeling warmth radiate above his hand, and saw Chenle's small hand hovering hesitantly, like he wanted to hold Jisung's but he wasn't sure.

Taking charge, Jisung moved his hand and laced it with Chenle's, looking at the smaller boy. "I want to fall in love with you Zhong Chenle."

Chenle looked at Jisung, his eyes wide, and his face broke into a cautious smile. "Really?"

"I promise you."

Oh boy, Jisung was terrified. If his parents found out, he'd surely be locked in his room for months. They'd probably beat him too, the scars covered by his shirt from the times before.

But he couldn't deny that he wanted Chenle. Simply seeing him made him want to drop everything and be hugged by the alpha, his scent made Jisung want more, and he could now confirm his touch had magical healing powers.

Chenle stared at their interlocked hands with wide eyes, then looked at Jisung. "I'm sorry," Jisung said earnestly, and Chenle pressed his lips together, about to say something.

"Your food and drink," someone said, and they looked up to see a boy holding Chenle's cake and drinks. Putting them down, Chenle watched as he raked his eyes over Jisung, and Jisung shrank a little.

Chenle frowned and looked at the boy, raising an eyebrow. "He's mine."

"I don't see a mark."

Chenle felt Jisung start to get scared, and for a second wondered where the confident boy he was just talking to went. "I promise you, he's mine," Chenle growled. "Also, dear Eric, if you notice your bank account is suddenly frozen, remember you flirted with a Zhong."

"Zhong as in," the boy gulped, and Chenle raised an eyebrow.

"Zhong Housing, Zhong Investment, Zhong Marketing, Zhong Banking, Zhong who owns this entire chain, should I keep going?"

"No," the man scurried away, and Chenle sighed, beginning to eat his cake and sensing Jisung's eyes on him.

"Yes?"

"You're hot when you're stern," Jisung blurted, a red blush finding both of their faces.

"Why didn't you talk back to him?"

"When it's not someone I feel comfortable with I'm always shyer and more silent. I guess I just clicked with you in a way."

"Really?" Chenle looked like the combination of cake and Jisung was helping make him feel better, and Jisung felt the corners of his mouth twitch upwards.

"Yeah." There was silence for a few minutes as Chenle ate quietly and Jisung watched. "A confession I have is that when I figured out who you were I looked you up online and I might have spent hours looking at little facts about you, like you have a fawn pug named Shǎguā and you spoil him."

Chenle's giggle made an even wider smile break across Jisung's face, and Chenle relaced their hands together, both enjoying the comfort that came with simply touching.

It was like Chenle was a drug Jisung needed, and Jisung wasn't sure if he liked it. "Do you have any animals?"

"Does Donghyuck count as one?"

"I don't think so," Chenle giggled.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Donghyuck muttered something unintelligible to the boy behind him, not that Mark was purposefully behind him at Starmorks or anything but - okay. He kind of was.

But it wasn't anything creepy. He just so happened to behind Donghyuck for the entire day, way too scared to talk to him again. So he'd just been quietly watching, admiring how stunning Donghyuck was.

"I'll have a grande iced cinnamon dulce latte, and what would you like Mark?" Donghyuck asked without turning around, so naturally Mark answered without thinking.

"You." Then he realised what he said and turned scarlet, trying to recover. He noticed a small red flush creeping up Donghyuck's neck and smiled a little, happy he had that effect. "A venti mocha Frappuccino, please."

Before he could stop him, Donghyuck held out a card and paid for both drinks, turning to look at Mark with raised eyebrows. "You've been following me."

"Not on purpose."

"How do you accidentally follow a person?" Donghyuck moved to the side of the counter where they were calling drinks, Mark following like a lost puppy.

"We just kept ending up in the same place," Mark pushed up his glasses nervously, seeing disbelief in Donghyuck's gaze. "I swear!"

"We literally have no classes anywhere near each other." Donghyuck took his drink and Mark's, handing Mark his before walking over to a table that had just vacated, sitting down and pulling out his laptop.

Mark sat across from him and watched as he began to pull more out of his bag, including a drawing pad. "You're majoring in art?"

"No," Donghyuck replied, looking at Mark finally. "I'm studying development and operations engineering. Art is my side hoe."

"Engineering?" Somehow Mark hadn't been expecting that - Donghyuck gave the vibes of being lazy with effort.

"Surprised?"

"Sort of." Donghyuck nodded like he was expecting that, and went back to drawing. "What are you drawing?"

"You." Donghyuck kept drawing, red coating his ears.

"Oh." Mark smiled to himself, fiddling with his fingers.

"It's only because you're close and I can see your pores."

"Oh."

Seeing Mark's pout made Donghyuck feel bad, so he tried to recover from that insult. Besides, Mark had near flawless skin. "It's okay, they're cute."

Mark burst out in laughter as Donghyuck's face burned red and he buried his head behind his laptop. Mark's laugh shouldn't affect him this much, it was a laugh. It was just something vocal cords made.

But Donghyuck wanted to hear it over and over again.

"What is it?" Mark asked, seeing Donghyuck staring at him, slack-jawed.

"I love your laugh." Donghyuck whispered softly, hiding his face again.

"Huh?" Mark asked, confused. He couldn't hear what Hyuck had said because of the noise in Starmorks with the music and people, but he wanted to.

"Nothing."

"Tell me." Mark's voice dropped about three octaves and he shut the computer, staring at Donghyuck sternly. Donghyuck felt a jolt go through his spine as the scent of rosemary covered everything else in his mind. Oh god, if that was even close to how Mark could dominate someone with just words, Donghyuck wanted to hear more. "Did you not hear me? I want you to tell me."

"I-I love your laugh," Donghyuck managed, the scent of rosemary still making him dizzy with how familiar it felt.

"Thank you," Mark smiled, his voice returning to normal and his scent receding. Donghyuck let out a soft whimper at the loss of scent, keeping it quiet enough he didn't think Mark heard, but he did and felt something twist in his stomach.

It was too soon to kiss Donghyuck wasn't it?

Mark wished it wasn't.

•• ━━━━━ ••●•• ━━━━━ ••

Next chapter is all NoRenMin.

Also please check out Dream Dating!