Seoha's POV
Soft music is playing through the hotel while I am making a hard decision.
The risk of that man being able to end my life and go about his day is too high, a man with his composure, his wealth and his sub gender can wipe me out effortlessly and no one would care.
I have no lover, no family, only me.
Without waiting to look for my bag of clothes and even mom's guitar, I leave the floor of the hotel room, walking with my head down as my cheeks burn.
I slept with a stranger. I was humiliated by the same stranger and I was almost shot by the stranger.
The ghost of Taesan's gun is still pressed into my back, I can feel his calculating eyes on me, I can smell his pheromones still clinging to my skin…he still has a chokehold on me even with distance between us.
'Mom…' my omega whines and I curl my fingers into a fist, leaving my mother's guitar hurts my heart but I have to, I already know going back there, is equal to not making it out of there.
The sun hasn't risen yet as I walk past the staff of the hotel, dressed in yesterday's clothes, they must think of me as a dirty robber.
With each step I take, the disturbing smell of distress follows me and underneath it, very small and subtly I smell Sooin's milk on me.
My omega whines once more at leaving the pup behind with that man.
"Focus Seoha, she's not yours" I say to myself and tuck a loose strand of brown hair behind my ear, the air is cold and the road is lonely when I get to the street.
Finally outside of the shade of the hotel roof, it finally sinks in that I have nowhere to go.
I pat my pocket and realize also that I left my phone behind at the hotel, "shit" I curse under my breath, it just got worse when I thought it is about to get better.
Taking the long way, I start my trek to my best friend's apartment, it's far from here but it's better than returning to doom.
Forty five minutes later, I arrive at the other side of the city covered in sweat despite the cold air.
I climb up the stairs to his apartment and knock on the door twice, he doesn't respond, Minjae rarely ever responds to uninvited guests.
I knock a few more times and he yanks the door open with a scowl, clearly not enjoying being woken up so early.
"Who the fu- Seoha?" he says and opens the door to pull me in, "why are you this cold?" he gasps and let's go of my arm.
"Move" I mutter understand my breath as I take off my shoes and go straight to sitting on his couch.
My legs hurt from walking for so long.
"Seoha-ya, what are you doing here so early? Where is Daehin?" he says and my omega whines at the mention of our alpha's name.
"We broke up" I say, swallowing down the lump in my throat, the tears I didn't cry all through the night wells up without restrictions and I let out a broken sob.
"What? What happened?" Minjae asks as he rushes over to hug me on the couch, the omega rubs his nose into my neck to soothe me.
"He has been the one all along…" I say through the sobs and shut my eyes tight to ward off the images I am trying to forget.
Images of my phone, videos of my boyfriend taking an award that should have been mine, I still can't believe it.
"Seoha…" Minjae calls my name with a small whine, "he has been stealing my work all along, every time he said he was going to evaluate it…he was taking them to his boss in his name" I say.
"Fuck…why would he do that? How can he do that?" Minjae rages, getting to his feet in anger.
He has never liked Daeshin from the start but I did, I love him from the start, carelessly.
"He was the one who comforted you when his own company rejected you for being unoriginal…all along he had been stealing from you?" Minjae says and I whimper at the memory.
"I'm going to kill him" the small omega says and I grab his arm to bring him back to the seat.
"It doesn't matter"
"Yes it does, we'll sue his ass and drag him through hell"
"Minjae, I don't have money"
"Eh?"
"I don't have any money to afford a lawyer" I say, and on cue, my stomach grumbles, making me double over.
"Your parents are millionaires…" he says and I shake my head, a fresh batch of tears fills my eyes as I remember just how much in trouble I am, my parents house is gone.
I have nothing.
"Don't cry, we'll figure it out, I promise" Minjae says, cooing as he pat my hair and I nod, suddenly feeling the tiredness of the past few hours as it gets to me and I yawn.
My legs are hurting, my heart is breaking and I barely slept through the night, can't I just catch my breath for a few minutes?
"Can I sleep here for a while?" I ask and Minjae sighs, "of course, you can stay as long as you want" he says.
I can't.
Minjae has an alpha boyfriend, Seungmin is a good friend of mine too but it would be rude to invade, I need to figure out what to do soon.
As I lay my head on the couch, surrounded by my best friend's scent, I temporarily put aside my worries.
I am starting to fall asleep when I hear the door bell ring and Minjae wordlessly goes to attend to it.
"Ah, I'm looking for a Shin Seoha? Someone told me he dropped his card" the person at the door says and I sit up.
Drop my card? My bus card?
Minjae is silent as he shuts the door, not even muttering a hello, goodbye or a thank you.
The usually expressive and loud omega is eerily quiet, and out of worry, I sit up to look at him.
"Minjae is everything okay?" I ask quietly.
"Seoha-ya…why do you have a black card that says Kang Taesan?" Minjae asks.
Black card that says Kang Taesan?
Black card?
Kang Taesan?
I straighten up immediately and stare at the card in Minjae's hand.
It's really the card I stole…he found me.