While the majority of pack Chrysalis welcomed the arrival of Yunho and Mingi warmly, many of the guests from different packs were wary of their presence here. They all had heard about the start of the war between Bloodbane and Essence. They knew Bloodbane was the pack that tried to start another war and almost followed through with it, too, but something happened that made the war end early.

But not without casualty and destruction...

The plethora of side-eyes Yunho and Mingi are getting from the guests are plentiful.

"Why is he with him anyway?"

"I heard his father killed Essence's pack leader."

"Are they really mates?"

"How could he even be with him after all that?"

"I don't understand how one of Essence's own chose to be with him after what they did."

Yunho and Mingi pretended not to hear all the mumbles and whispers as they shuffled through the crowds. They had already heard everything before, anyway. Soon, everyone had gone back to their activities, and Yunho and Mingi saw there was only a small group of people left.

"Yunho...?"

Yunho's eyes widen at the softness of the voice, having not heard her voice in such a long time it seems. A smile spread across his face when he sees Kyelin rushing to him with open arms, "Kyelin!" He yells happily as they crash into an embrace and twirl around, "What are you doing here?"

Mingi chuckles at his mate and his best friend from Essence, remembering how Yunho introduced the two of them long ago. He watches as the group all start coming over to them and gently rubs Yunho's back comfortingly as he speaks to Kyelin.

"I got an invitation to come learn about Chrysalis. What are you two doing here?!" Kyelin asks in a jokingly accusing voice, pointing her finger to Yunho's chest, showing a bright smile up at Mingi, "You've been keeping my bestie in line, right, Mingi?"

Mingi smirks and pulls Yunho into his side to kiss the top of his fluffy head, "You know it, Lin. He's always getting into trouble when you're not around, you know."

Yunho pouts, "Hey! I'm never a troublemaker..." He mumbles, but he can't stay playing mad for long when he feels the warmth of Mingi's kiss on his head, "We were also invited here."

Kyelin hums and looks the two boys up and down, "Then why are you really late? I know Bloodbane is far, but it's not that far. What were you two up to?!" She asks, a disgusted look coming to her face, "You two weren't... Right...?"

Yunho's face turns the brightest shade of red she's ever seen at this question and Mingi bursts into laughter.

"We were NOT doing that!" Yunho dismisses, feeling overwhelmingly embarrassed at her accusation.

"Not on the trip, anyway," Mingi clarifies.

Kyelin laughs hysterically, noticing the others have come to see what's up.

"What's all the laughter for?" Dongwoo asks when they all circle around the newcomers, holding onto Yeosang's hand.

Yunho hides his head in Mingi's arm shyly, not wanting to be apart of this conversation any longer -- especially in front of strangers. Mingi rubs up and down his arm, keeping him close to his chest in hopes of easing his tension. He smirks to himself from all the dirty talk, thinking about how he will be able to help his lovely mate even more later that night. He'll relieve his tensions all right...

"Nothing, nothing," Kyelin hums in a giggly tone, looking up at Dongwoo and Yeosang who stand right next to her.

"Yunho and Mingi, yes?" San asks and the couple nods, "It's nice to meet you two. My name is Choi San."

Everyone around them begins to introduce themselves and welcome them to Chrysalis, telling them about what they've learned so far in the lessons. None of them hold any prejudices against Yunho or Mingi, which warms their heart.

Sunghee has surprisingly stayed quiet throughout all of this and Wooyoung could not be more thankful. He didn't want his mate to hurt their new friends so soon into meeting them. Wooyoung holds onto Sunghee's hand and shines a smile up at him, wanting to show him how happy he is that he's being on his best behavior.

At least, for now...

Gyungho comes over to the group and bows, along with everyone else before speaking, "Yunho, Mingi, I'll show you where you'll be staying. Follow me," He says with a smile and begins walking off towards the boys' building.

Yunho stays close to Mingi as they walk around, amazed to be in a new territory he's unfamiliar with.

"Since you two are a mated couple, my wife and I prepared a separate room for you to sleep in together," Gyungho states as he slides open the door to their bedroom, "But please, try to spend some time with the new guests here as well. I saw how some of them looked at you two, but I promise you, nothing bad will happen to you while you're here. Chrysalis does not tolerate fighting of any kind and they would be punished accordingly."

Mingi nods, keeping his mate close while he examines the room, "Thank you so much, Sir. We're used to getting all the stares, so it doesn't bother us so much anymore."

"Chrysalis is happy to welcome you both. Lessons for today have already ended, but they take place every morning. When you hear the sound of a bell ringing, that's when you can make your way there," Gyungho bows again and Yunho and Mingi follow suit, "I will see you two tomorrow morning."

And with that, Gyungho left the mated couple alone in their new guest room.

~ the next day

"How could they possibly expect us not to drink?" Sunghee laughs as he walks out of the lessons building.

Wooyoung hums beside him, "We already knew that rule, Sunghee... You know that it's one of their most famous one among the other packs. I remember my father would talk about it saying how it was nonsense since everyone needs a drink once in a while."

Sunghee smirks, "Damn right they do, Woo. I knew I always admired your father for something," he says as he runs his hand up and down Wooyoung's back, lingering a few moments every time his hand reaches the small of it, slightly drifting lower every now and then.

Wooyoung's cheeks heat up and he instantly feels embarrassed, "Sung, not right now..." He whispers.

"Okay, okay," Sunghee concedes and settles on wrapping his arm around Wooyoung's shoulders, walking them both back to the boys' building. There are a few guests around the resting area, but the majority are still at strength training or with the pack children. Sunghee wanted to spend some time with Wooyoung though, so that's why they decided to come back here to rest together on the couch.

Later that night when everyone begins coming back, Sunghee and Wooyoung are still on the couch. Sunghee having a bottle of liquor similar to the one he had the other night at his side. The wary look in Wooyoung's eyes is easily visible to Yeosang when he comes back in, but Yeosang sees the bottle and doesn't want to get involved as he had previously.

Yeosang instead goes back into the bedroom with Dongwoo before they go to the bathhouses later.

Sunghee clicks the bottle cap off and takes a swig, seeing Wooyoung's leery expression on his face, "Hey, Woo, don't give me that look. You know that the rule is stupid too, yeah?"

Wooyoung swallows his words and just nods, trying to have faith in his mate for once. He finds himself glancing back towards the room where Yeosang is staying, wondering what he was thinking when he came into the building and saw them there. Wooyoung knows he saw Sunghee's liquor and that's why he had that look on his face...

"I mean if they didn't catch us all last time, how do you think they would be able to catch us this time?" Sunghee laughs, but is soon silenced by the entrance of Gyungho and the mated couple that just arrived in Chrysalis, seemingly to have just ended showing them around Chrysalis some more.

Wooyoung's eyes widen at the sight of Chrysalis' head alpha and he cowers down into the couch, knowing how much trouble they're about to get into because of Sunghee's actions.

"What is this?" Gyungho asks, his voice increasing in anger, as he walks over to Sunghee and Wooyoung, his eyes focused on Sunghee since he is the one holding the bottle.

Sunghee is at a loss of words when he hears the malice behind Gyungho's voice, "Sir, I-" Sunghee starts, but again, he's interrupted.

Gyungho swipes the bottle from Sunghee's hands, "You will report immediately to the center building first thing when you wake up tomorrow morning instead of attending the lesson. You will spend the entire day writing that you will never drink on Chrysalis grounds again."

Sunghee's eyebrows knit together as the head alpha speaks and he bites his tongue to keep from talking back and making it worse, knowing better than that.

"Do you understand?" Gyungho asks, hating to use his demanding alpha voice in front of this alpha's omega, but he knows that he must make a point here. If their guests think that they won't punish them just because they think Chrysalis is a tame pack, they have another thing coming. All Chrysalis asks is for respect.

Sunghee stands up and bows towards Gyungho, "Yes, alpha. I understand," He says through gritted teeth.

Wooyoung is shielding himself from the scene, feeling immense embarrassment from Sunghee's behavior. They were supposed to act accordingly while they were here in Chrysalis and something like this is already happening...?

Gyungho eyes the two boys for a few moments before turning around and apologizing to Yunho and Mingi, "Now, everyone here knows how serious we are about our rules, isn't that right?" He says, looking around at the boys that came out from their rooms from all the commotion and the commanding alpha voice they all heard reverberating throughout the building.

Gyungho sees the various nods and bows and then he exits the boys' building.

Wooyoung finally feels like he can breathe and chances looking up at his mate, "Sung-"

"Don't." Sunghee spits as he stands up and goes to their bedroom in silence, leaving Wooyoung on the couch alone.

Yeosang and Dongwoo were peeking out from their sliding bedroom door and Yeosang wanted to go over to Wooyoung so badly, but he held his heart intact and stayed put. His eyes grow with worry for the man he used to love... Used to would be the right would, right? Ever since seeing Wooyoung again, he's not so sure if he can continue fooling himself any longer. He knows he wouldn't be able to get over someone he held so dear to his heart in only one year. 

He shouldn't get involved, right...?

Dongwoo sees the worry on his mate's face as he looks at Wooyoung and he gently rubs Yeosang's shoulder, "Come on, Yeo. Let's go to sleep, okay?" He says, planting a small kiss on the top of Yeosang's head, "It pains me to see you in distress."

Yeosang looks up at Dongwoo and his heartstrings strain, the internal battle with his heart is becoming even worse ever since they came here and he saw Wooyoung again. He nods, though, going back into the warm and cozy bed with Dongwoo. The way Dongwoo looks at him like he's truly in love with him is something Yeosang wants to reciprocate to him, but he doesn't know if he will ever be able to love him in the way he deserves. 

As Dongwoo and Yeosang lie in bed together, Dongwoo clenches his fist to his chest. He saw the way his mate was looking at his old best friend and he realized that Yeosang has never once looked at him in that way. Dongwoo turns back to Yeosang and brings him into his embrace, inhaling his vanilla scent he's fallen for, "I love you, Yeosang..." He whispers to him as his heart slowly breaks.

"I love you, Dongwoo," Yeosang hums, his face nuzzled into Dongwoo's neck to help himself calm down.

The next day goes by quickly, in an almost blur for Wooyoung, but he couldn't help but feel lost throughout the day without Sunghee. He didn't realize how dependent he had become on his mate. In the lessons, he wasn't there by his side making snide comments. Instead, it was replaced with funny looks and people talking under their breaths of what happened last night in the boys' building.

Wooyoung couldn't even begin to explain how embarrassed he was and he just wanted this day to be over and for him to return to his normal routine with Sunghee that night.

The only solace Wooyoung found throughout the day was the reassuring looks of Yeosang. Seeing Yeosang's warm smiles he would show him made Wooyoung's heart race just like it always had.

Being alone today has made Wooyoung realize how much he regrets not confessing to Yeosang when he had his chance. He missed his best friend's comforting vanilla scent and the way that they would wake up holding each other whenever they would sleep over. Not that there was much either of them could've done about their mating situation, Wooyoung still wonders what could've been different if he had taken that chance.

Today, Wooyoung was able to pay more attention than normal on Yeosang and Dongwoo's relationship and he wishes he was able to look away. Seeing them so happy together made Wooyoung question how Sunghee treats him. It made him start thinking about their relationship and if it's actually healthy.

That night, Sunghee never came back to the boys' building, leaving Wooyoung alone for the first time in a long time. The one thing Wooyoung hates most is being alone because it allows him to be in touch with his thoughts. His mind tends to run wild when he's alone and he finds himself comparing his mating to Yeosang's... Yeosang and Dongwoo's perfect relationship was so different than Wooyoung and Sunghee's toxic one.

With all this time to think, Wooyoung began to realize how much he has put up with because of Sunghee and just because he's his mate. He thought he had to do everything for his mate, but Wooyoung isn't so sure about that anymore. A relationship is a two-way street and both parties should be happy.

Wooyoung hasn't been happy for a long time... The last time he can remember being truly happy was before the mating ceremony when he was with Yeosang. He remembers how bubbly and confident he used to be and now whenever he looks in the mirror, all he can see is an empty shell of what he used to be looking back at him.

Wooyoung wasn't sure if he would ever get any sleep that night with his thoughts running wild, but they're soon disturbed by the sound of his bedroom door sliding open. Wooyoung's heart instantly races when the soothing scent of vanilla he's missed so much wafts into the room.

He turns his head around to look at the doorway and sure enough, there's a familiar small figure standing there, illuminated by the moonlight through the window.

"Yeosang...?" Wooyoung chokes out. He didn't realize he had been crying until he tried to speak.

End of Chapter Twenty Two