It's been a week since Chan and Changbin came to their house on that day and Seungmin could sense Minho was avoiding him since that too. Right after Chan and Changbin left, Minho was still fine. He just doesn't talk much. He just followed what Seungmin wanted him to do.
But it went downfall on the next day. Minho fully shut him out, holed up in the room with the locked door. Seungmin tried to talk to him from behind the door but to no avail. It's only the silence replied to him. Minho is avoiding him.
'Maybe hyung needs some time...' was what Seungmin would tell himself to lessen his worry.
Seungmin would sleep in the guest room. He only stopped in front of his and Minho's room when it's time to eat. He would leave a tray of food in front of the room, knock on the door, and tell Minho the food's ready before he leaves the house. He knew Minho won't leave the room if Seungmin was lurking around outside the room.
Seungmin brought along his camera and his laptop as he would spend his time at some park or somewhere quiet to get his job done. The autumn view is still filling every nook and crook of Seoul. He won't leave this chance to go by without his camera doing its job. Plus, he could stop worrying about Minho for a while. He's been thinking why Minho was still avoiding him. He gave his husband the time and space but still...
It's almost dark due to the upcoming rain shower after Seungmin finished taking a few shots. He was quite satisfied with his snaps of the day, but he didn't plan to go back home yet. Thus, he led himself to Hyunjin's studio to see the latter was there with the little Hyunsoo. Hyunsoo's eyes went wide upon seeing Seungmin before he ran towards him and hugged Seungmin's legs with the usual excited scream 'Uncle Puppyyy!!'.
"Hey, little bun! What are you doing at your daddy's working place? And where's Jaeyi?" Seungmin picked the little Hyunsoo up and walked over to Hyunjin who was busy cleaning his camera.
"Daddy said Appa's sick so we cannot disturb him. Jaeyi's at Grandma's because she was sleeping. Only Hyunie came here. And, and Hyunie met Uncle Puppy!" the little once again hugged Seungmin's neck and Seungmin giggled at Hyunsoo's answer.
"Jisung was having his heat. That's why all of us leave the house for a moment. I need to leave the kids at my parents' house, and I'll go back to check on him later. I hope he's fine." Hyunjin explained to him with a weak smile and a pair of worried eyes. Seungmin felt that because he's worried about Minho too at home.
Maybe he's showing too much of his troubled face until the little Hyunsoo brought both of his point fingers at both ends of Seungmin's lips and pulled them upward. "Uncle Puppy, smileeeee." and that made Seungmin's heart swell a bit. He gave the little Hyunsoo his wide smile and the little just giggled happily in his arms.
Kids are just too precious. Seungmin gave Hyunsoo's cheek a peck before he put the kid down to let him do whatever he was doing before. Before Hyunsoo left, he copied what Seungmin did to him, gave Seungmin's cheek a peck before he walked back to where his coloring books were scattered at. See?
Seungmin then took a seat in front of Hyunjin and took his camera and laptop out to transfer the photos he took just now. After a solid twenty minutes or so, the rain started to pour down heavily. It was darker than earlier, it's not even 7 PM yet. Seungmin then felt a tap on his shoulder. When he turned to his back, it was Hyunjin with two cups of hot cocoa in his hands.
"Nice photos." Hyunjin handed him the hot cocoa and Seungmin softly thanked him for both the compliment and hot drink.
Hyunjin sat beside Seungmin and both of them were sipping the hot beverage in silence as the little Hyunsoo already sleeping on the sofa with his pacifier. This is nice. Hot cocoa and rain.
"Did you fight with Minho hyung?" Hyunjin suddenly asked and Seungmin's body was tense by it.
"You know, I don't want to be such a busy mouth to talk around about people's marriage, but you seemed really distracted. Even Hyunsoo noticed how sad you were. You're frowning."
Seungmin smiled a little before he shook his head. "We didn't fight. It's just-- Minho hyung suddenly distanced himself from me and I don't even know why..."
Hyunjin then softly patted his shoulder, trying to lift his mood. "Did you guys-- talked about it?"
"He doesn't even want to look at me, how could we even talk?" the tears Seungmin had been keeping for days suddenly left his eyes and he quickly wiped them. Hyunjin hurriedly reached out for a box of tissue and gave it to him.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Hyunjin's face was clearly said he was guilty of bringing it up and Seungmin laughed in between his remaining tears rolling down his cheeks.
"No, it's not your fault though." then it suddenly hits Seungmin. Maybe he could ask Hyunjin about it. Hyunjin knows better.
"But can I like, ask you a question?" Seungmin hesitantly asked.
"Sure, shoot."
It's indeed awkward to ask Hyunjin about it unlike how he asked Chan before. Well, it's because Chan is a medical practitioner, so he knew better. But Hyunjin...
"It's a bit personal and embarrassing but--" he stopped for a moment and gathered his strength to continue. Hyunjin was patiently waiting for him though. "How was your first rut with Jisung? Is it like--hard?"
Hyunjin's lips cracked a little smile before he answered Seungmin. "How could I say this...It's indeed personal because that's when we managed to get the twins." and there's a slight blush appeared on Hyunjin's cheeks.
Seungmin let out a little 'Oh.' and followed by a whispered 'Sorry.'.
"Well, no worries. Since it's you, I'll just tell you then." Hyunjin fixed his sitting posture before he continued.
"Frankly speaking, I was scared at first because my rut and Jisung's heat happened at the same time. When alphas in their rut, it's hard for them to take over their mind and body. But it's possible. Some could still control themselves but mostly couldn't. Their inner alpha would dominate their body. And one thing I'm always scared of is I would hurt Jisung whenever I couldn't control myself. It's out of my power..."
Scared. Did Minho feel that too? Did Minho feel scared if he would hurt him? Seungmin thought to himself.
"And that's the last thing I want to do to someone I love dearly. But Jisung...Jisung is an understandable and sweet partner. He always said it was fine, he could handle it because that's what a mate does. He's happy that we got both Hyunsoo and Jaeyi though it wasn't planned, both of them were too adorable. And I couldn't be gladder to have him and this little family by my side." Hyunjin ends his story with a satisfying smile.
Seungmin could feel Hyunjin is happy with Jisung and so does Jisung. He always sees how Jisung would secretly smile while he was looking at Hyunjin with so much love.
"Does that answer your question?" Seungmin nodded his head to Hyunjin's question.
"Thanks a lot. That answered what I've been thinking for days..."
It's now Hyunjin who was hesitant to ask Seungmin but he just shoot his question. "I'm sorry to ask this but did Minho hyung-- well, on his rut?" and again, Seungmin softly nodded.
"Don't worry too much about it, okay? I think he's scared too. And confused. Every alpha felt this for someone they dearly love. Hurting the person they love the most would be the last thing they would do in this world."
Love? Does Minho Love him? They never talked about this either. But Seungmin was sure he was madly in love with his husband way before he realized he did.
.
Minho just got out of the shower when he heard the main door's passcode was entered from outside. He took a glance at a small digital watch on his study. It's almost seven.
It must be Seungmin. He could see Seungmin was trying to give him time and space though he didn't tell Seungmin why he suddenly avoided the younger. His hypothesis was proven when he heard the cute baby talks Seungmin always did when he was talking to Soonie, Doongie, or Dori.
He walked closer to the room's door and heard Seungmin were asking the cats about him.
"How was your daddy? Did he come out from the room yet? Did he look good today? Did he kiss you today?" and it made Minho's heart ached in a bad way. He missed his husband so much.
He quickly wore his hoodie and sweatpants. He wanted to meet his husband. He couldn't take it anymore. He needs Seungmin.
It's been days he's been torturing both of them and he knew it. But he was scared. He's scared if he would hurt Seungmin again though Chan said nothing happened but it's better to avoid than sorry.
Minho slowly opened the door and peeked through it to see Seungmin was still sitting near the cats' playpen, trying to feed them. He tried to not make too much noise as he slipped himself in between a small door opening. Minho tiptoed his way to where Seungmin is to which miserably failed when he stepped on one of the cats' squeaky toys. It made Seungmin turn his head towards the sound and their eyes met.
The younger's eyes were clearly scared to see him. Minho swears he just saw a tear left Seungmin's eyes. Seungmin quickly sealed the cats' kibbles and abruptly stood up before excusing himself to the guest room he's been sleeping at for days.
Just before the younger succeed in running away from him, Minho hurriedly went over Seungmin and hugged him. Seungmin was struggling at first, but Minho tighten his arms around Seungmin assuringly, in a way to tell him 'It was fine. I'm fine. I missed you.'. Seungmin stopped struggling and they stayed like that for a few minutes.
Minho breathed in Seungmin's scent deeply. The sweet, soothing scent that he missed so much. Seungmin's natural roses scent. Seungmin's warm body. It warms him and calms him down. Everything about Seungmin felt like home.
Minho could hear a small sob left from the younger and he let him. Seungmin slowly hugged him back, arms wrapped tightly around his waist before he let out a loud cry. Minho softly rubbed the younger's back with a bunch of Sorrys coming out from his mouth. It only made Seungmin cry harder and tighten his hug.
It's his fault and he knew it. He's regretting every second he wasn't with Seungmin.
Minho's heartstring was wrenched by the sight of sad Seungmin in his arms right now and he promised himself that he won't do it again. He won't leave his husband's side again.
Minho didn't know how long they were standing there until Seungmin stopped crying, only his small sobs left, and Minho tried to loosen their hug. But he couldn't when Seungmin was still tightly wrapped his arms around Minho's body. Minho couldn't help but smile as he tried to look at Seungmin's face that hid in his chest.
"Hey, baby. Look at me, hmmm?" Minho softly asked for only got a violent head shaking from Seungmin.
"You're bad, hyung. How could you..." Seungmin whined while hugging him and Minho let the younger continue. "You...You leave me alone. Sleeping alone. Eating alone. All alone. How could you..."
When Seungmin was about to whine again when Minho swiftly hiked up both of Seungmin's legs and strongly supported the younger's weight with both of his arms under Seungmin's bum. Seungmin was fumbling at first before he steadied himself by wrapping his arms around Minho's neck. Minho was smiling while looking up to see the love of his life.
Yes, Seungmin is the love of his life. He needed to thank his mother for forcing him to marry Seungmin because Minho couldn't imagine how his life would be without Seungmin.
"Put me down, I'm scared." and now, it's Minho's turn to violently shake his head, not wanting to let Seungmin go anymore.
"No. I don't even want to let you go now." Minho carefully walked with Seungmin in his arms. He led both of them to their room and slowly put the younger down on their shared bed.
Scared of Seungmin would run away again, Minho slipped his fingers in between Seungmin's and sat beside the younger. He looked at their entangled fingers then he looked at Seungmin's face. He wiped away the remaining tears staining on Seungmin's cheeks, only leaving Seungmin's puffy eyes and a questioning look directed to him.
They needed to talk about a lot of things, but Minho could only let out a breathy "I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry." and Seungmin seemed to understand it as he also squeezed Minho's hands reassuringly.
"I love you." those three words made Minho widen his eyes, unbelievably looking at Seungmin who just blurted those words.
It took him a moment to digest what Seungmin trying to tell him. Seungmin loves him, right?
"Ah, hyung. Stop giving me that look. I'm trying to confess to you here." Seungmin then suddenly swatted his chest with a pout.
Minho neatly caught both of Seungmin's hands and hold them. "You just said you love me, right?" Seungmin nodded.
"Say it again."
"Hyung, don't make me regret saying it--"
"I love you too." Seungmin was stunned by Minho's sudden confession.
"You're lying..."
"Hey, it's unfair that you can catch me off guard with your confession and when it's mine you said I was lying? How could--" just before Minho could finish his sentence, Seungmin's lips captured his.
Seungmin 1 - Minho 0.
Seungmin was kissing Minho slowly with his soft lips moving in the right amount of pressure against Minho's lips. Minho returned the kiss as gently as he could. He moved delicately against Seungmin as if he's scared one wrong move could hurt Seungmin and he doesn't want that. Minho brought both of his hands to cradle Seungmin's face, wanting to feel Seungmin closer to him while the younger had his arms around Minho's neck.
He's proud to say that his first kiss is with Seungmin, his lovely husband. It was long and innocent. Nothing more or less. Just the longing they've been keeping for who knows how long. The longing of wanting to stay close to each other.
Minho was glad he still has his husband by his side again after a week. He feared hurting Seungmin but he would be even more scared if he loses Seungmin. He really couldn't imagine how his life would be like without Seungmin.
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a/n: AKDHSJS THEY KISSEDDD!! I hope this would make it up from the previous chapter, adios.