Chapter Text
The rain against the apartment windows sounded violent.
It slammed against the glass in sharp bursts that echoed through the penthouse like thrown stones. Seoul’s neon lights blurred behind the storm, colors melting into streaks across the dark apartment.
Yuuji stood near the kitchen island with trembling hands.
His bookstore job's cardigan was still damp from the rain outside, pale beige fabric clinging slightly to his shoulders. One sleeve was pulled over his fingers out of habit while the other hand rubbed nervously at his wrist.
He kept glancing toward Megumi. Then away again. Megumi stood near the living room windows in complete silence, phone in hand, jaw tight enough to hurt.
The city reflected behind him.
Tall. Beautiful. Untouchable. The nation’s favorite actor. And terrifying when angry. That's who he was.
The phone screen kept lighting up endlessly.
Notifications and messages from managers and a shit ton of comments.
Megumi scrolled once before locking the screen hard enough his thumb nearly cracked against the side button.
Silence stretched.
Yuuji swallowed. “Megumi…”
No response.
The alpha’s shoulders were tense beneath his black dress shirt, sleeves rolled to his elbows after ripping off his blazer the second he walked in.
Yuuji knew every version of Megumi. The quiet student who sat beside him at sixteen sharing convenience store snacks after school.
The jealous alpha who silently glared whenever anyone looked at Yuuji too long. The exhausted actor who came home at 3 a.m. and collapsed against Yuuji’s chest without saying a word.
And this version....the dangerous one.
Megumi suddenly looked at him. “You told me nobody knew where you worked.”
Yuuji immediately straightened. “I-I didn’t tell anyone... I swear”
“Then explain this.”
Megumi walked forward and threw the phone across the marble counter.
Yuuji flinched violently at the sound. The screen displayed blurry photos of him outside the bookstore. One picture showed Megumi’s hand briefly resting against Yuuji’s lower back while security opened the car door.
Another showed Yuuji smiling at some alpha inside the store.
The comments underneath made his stomach twist.
Megumi already has an omega.
He works at a bookstore?Why does his omega has a job? Ewwww
So pretttyyyy....No wonder Megumi hides him.
Yooo why is Megumi's omega smiling and talking to other alphas.Whore.
One comment simply read: I’d love to see him cry.
Yuuji quickly looked away. Megumi's expression darkened further. “You smile at other alphas now?”
Yuuji blinked. “What?”
“At the alpha...see.” Megumi stepped closer slowly. “In the picture.”
Yuuji stared at him in confusion for a second before realization hit.“That’s just my job…he..he was a customer”
Megumi laughed softly. His cold eyes found Yuuji again. “I hate that fucking job.”
Yuuji’s chest tightened immediately. Megumi had hated the bookstore since the beginning.
At first he said it casually. “You don’t need to work, idiot. I’ll pay for everything.”
Then it became arguments.
Then rules.
No closing shifts.No walking home alone. No helping alpha customers find books alone in aisles. No smiling too much. No lingering conversations. No accepting free drinks from neighboring shops.
Yuuji tried following them at first because it made Megumi calmer. But nothing ever truly made Megumi calm.
“You let strangers talk to you all day,” Megumi said quietly.
Yuuji instinctively touched his own neck. “I can’t help that…”
“You can quit.”
Yuuji looked down immediately. That alone irritated Megumi more. “Look at me when I’m talking.”
Yuuji forced himself to obey. His eyes were already watery.
“I like working there,” he whispered weakly.
Megumi’s expression hardened instantly. “You like alphas staring at you?”
“No..no”
“You like alphas following you between shelves pretending to ask for recommendations?”
“That barely happens…”
Megumi scoffed. “It happens every fucking week.”
Yuuji fell silent because it was true. Megumi knew because he always found out somehow. Always.
One time an alpha customer asked Yuuji for his number. The next week the man mysteriously stopped coming to the bookstore entirely.
Yuuji never asked what Megumi did. He didn’t want to know.
“I just…” Yuuji’s voice shook slightly. “I don’t want to depend on you for everything. I like working there...I like having a ..sense of self”
The second the words left his mouth, the room changed.
Megumi went dangerously still. Yuuji immediately regretted it.
Megumi walked closer until only inches separated them.“Depend on me?...sense..sense of self?” he repeated quietly.
Yuuji’s breathing became uneven. Megumi stared directly into his eyes now, dark gaze sharp enough to cut.
“You’ve been mine since you were sixteen.”
Yuuji’s heart clenched painfully. “I know…”
“No.” Megumi grabbed Yuuji’s chin suddenly, forcing his head upward. “I don’t think you do.”
His grip wasn’t gentle. Just hard enough to remind Yuuji who was stronger.
“You think working some pathetic omega-safe job makes you independent?” Megumi asked softly. “You think those people care about you?”
Yuuji’s lips trembled. “They’re normal to me…”
“They want you.”
The answer came instantly. Certain and possessive.
Megumi’s thumb pressed harder against Yuuji’s jaw as his pheromones slowly began filling the room, dark cedar and smoke wrapping heavily around Yuuji’s senses.
Yuuji felt smaller immediately.
“You smell like strangers even now Yuuji.”
“I-I worked all day…”
“I know.” Megumi’s eyes darkened further. “I could smell it the second you opened the door.”
Yuuji’s omega instincts twisted painfully beneath the alpha scent surrounding him.
Megumi leaned closer. “I hate when other people touch what’s mine.”
“They don’t touch me…”
“Too close is still touching.”
Yuuji looked like he might cry again.Megumi noticed immediately. And somehow that only made him angrier because Yuuji always looked prettiest when crying.
Soft pink lips trembling. Golden eyes wet with tears. Small shaky breaths like he was trying not to upset Megumi further.
It ruined him.
Megumi loved him so much it felt rotten inside his chest. “You promised you’d stay hidden,” Megumi murmured.
“I tried…”
“You wore my hoodie to work last week.”
Yuuji froze. Megumi laughed softly again, harsher this time“You think fans are stupid?”
“I didn’t think they’d notice…”
“They notice everything.”
Megumi finally let go of his chin only to grip his wrist instead, pulling Yuuji closer until their bodies touched. Yuuji stumbled slightly against his chest.
Immediately, instinctively, he relaxed there. That made Megumi’s expression soften for half a second.
Five years.
Five years together had conditioned Yuuji into this. Into melting whenever Megumi held him.
Even scared. Even crying. Megumi lowered his head near Yuuji’s neck and inhaled slowly.
The scent of rain. Paper from the bookstore.
And underneath it... Omega sweetness that belonged only to him. Megumi’s grip tightened.
“You shouldn’t work.”
Yuuji closed his eyes. “Megumi…”
“I mean it.”
His voice dropped lower now. Dangerously calm again.
“I make enough money for both of us. You stay home anyway most days because your heats destroy you. Why do you still insist on going there?”
“Because I like doing...something…”
Megumi pulled back enough to look at him. And for the first time that night, genuine irritation flashed openly across his face.
“You could have our pups and raise them instead.”
The words hurt instantly.
Megumi saw it. Saw Yuuji’s expression crumble slightly.
But he didn’t take it back.
“You’re an omega,” he continued quietly. “A beautiful one. People look at you and immediately think about ownership. About breeding. About whether you’re owned..Its how the world is.”
Yuuji’s cheeks burned with humiliation. Megumi brushed tears off his face with his thumb almost tenderly.
“That bookstore makes you accessible.”
“I’m careful…”
“You’re visible.” Megumi hated that word.
Visible meant vulnerable. Visible meant people could want Yuuji. And Megumi had spent five years making sure nobody else could have him.
His thumb traced slowly beneath Yuuji’s eye. “I should’ve marked you already.”
Yuuji’s breath caught.
Megumi watched the reaction carefully.
Fear and submission. And somewhere underneath..trust. That blind, devastating trust Yuuji still gave him no matter how cruel Megumi became.
It made something possessive twist violently inside his chest. Megumi rested his forehead against Yuuji’s.
“You’d never have to work again,” he whispered.
Yuuji’s fingers curled weakly into Megumi’s shirt. Outside, thunder cracked across the city. But inside the apartment, the silence between them felt far more dangerous.