Walking beside one another was awkward at first, with Soren walking in front of her, Eva beside her holding her hand, and Hyunjin on the other side of her daughter. Neither she nor Hyunjin seemed to know what to say. It was her daughter who broke the tension, grabbing onto his hand as well, tucking her feet in and hanging as the adults walked, swinging forward with each step they took, laughing and giggling along. Y/N looked down at her daughter as they walked, a wide smile on her face with how infectious the girl's joy was. Her gaze flicked up, surprised to see Hyunjin already looking at her, his expression hidden behind his mask. They held one another's gaze, unaware they had stopped walking, the toddler still holding their hands and looking back and forth between them.
"Ma! Stop staring at each other already, I'm hungry!" Her head snapped forward to see her son sticking his tongue out at her before racing down to the next building, which was the pizza shop they were heading to. Eva squealed with delight before dropping their hands and taking off after her brother. The pups stopped and waited there for the adults, Soren quickly took his sister's hand once she joined him.
Her face was bright red, unable to get any words out after being called out for staring at the man beside her. While she didn't necessarily know what to do with the whole soulmate situation, she didn't need to make things worse by making him uncomfortable. "S..sorry." It was the only thing she could manage before hurrying off after her pups, Hyunjin right behind her.
The four of them were quick to enter the building, sitting down at a table and situating Eva in her booster seat an employee brought over. Looking over the menu, they settled on the kids sharing a small cheese pizza while her and Hyunjin would split a Margherita pizza. Before their food got there though, she took Eva to the bathroom to change her, Soren insisting on staying at the table, with Hyunjin insisting he was fine with him.
As soon as they got back to the table, Y/N picked up on the change in Soren's scent. His usual scent of sweet, slightly milky, apple tea and crisp autumn leaves had shifted more to spoiled milk and wet, soggy leaves, alerting the mother to the sadness affecting his scent.
Looking between her son and Hyunjin, studying the pair closely, she spoke up. "What's wrong Soren? Are you alright?" Her son looked up at her, blinking a couple of times before his scent went back to normal as he smiled up at her.
"I'm fine Mama! No worries!"
Her heart broke, taking note he was learning from her, how to push aside feelings and act happy. He shouldn't be needing to feel the need to do that, especially at his young age.
"Sweetheart, if something is bothering you, you can tell me." He continued to deny anything was wrong, claiming to have simply missed her while she and Eva were gone. Not wanting to push further while both in public and in the presence of company, she let it go for now. If something had happened, Hyunjin wasn't saying anything either, his expressions hidden behind his face mask and scent concealed by patches. She could only hope her son would be a bit more forthcoming once they were alone.
Once again, it was Eva who broke the tension, shrieking happily as she clapped. "Pizza! Pizza! Pizza!" Looking over, their pizzas were, indeed, being brought to the table. Y/N was quick to fill a plate and place it in front of Soren, grabbing another and cutting it into bite sized pieces, and then placing the plate in front of her daughter before even reaching for anything for herself.
As they ate, simple conversation started flowing, easing the tension until it was near nonexistent as the conversation moved onto art. "I'm always so impressed by your art, so much detail is put into each piece, no matter which medium you use. You're so incredibly talented and creative, I mean, using coffee grounds in that one painting? You pulled it off well." She hadn't realized she was rambling and gushing about one of her favorite artists, to his face. Her cheeks and ears reddened as she turned her face to the side, resting her elbows on the table and attempting to hide her face behind her hands as she let out a string of mumbled apologies. She hadn't meant to get carried away like that, but it had been a while since she's gotten to talk to someone else about one of her own passions.
"Hey, no, don't hide." His hands reached out to tug hers away from her face as she chewed on her bottom lip. "Talk about what you like, you're cute when you're excited." Those words brought a panicked chirp from her as she tried to hide again, but he held her hands and refused to let her hide her blushing face.
"Y..You can't just s..say things like that!"
His head tilted to the side, leaning in towards her, his hands engulfing her much smaller ones. "Why not?" An actual whine left her lips as he looked at her like that and it wasn't fair, not at all. This man had her simping in the middle of a restaurant, in front of her kids. Her kids.
Not a second later, she straightened herself up, tugging her hands free and folding them in her lap as she glanced over to both of her kids. Neither were really paying any attention to the pair of adults, content with their coloring now that their food was gone. Clearing her throat, she quickly shoved everything she was feeling down before looking at him again.
"Hyunjin, I..I'm sorry if I wasn't more up front with this but.." She took a deep breath, struggling with the words much more than she thought she would. "I have a mate. I..I can't..." Surprisingly, she couldn't finish the sentence, but her meaning was clear. She was already mated, had a family, she couldn't just drop everything because she found her soulmate.
"I wouldn't ask for something you weren't ready for, and I understand. Can I ask something though?" Y/N was surprised he was so calm about the whole situation. Curious what it was he wanted to ask, she simply nodded but she wasn't ready for his question at all.
"Can I have your number?"
This time, she was the one to tilt her head to the side, staring at him, both surprised and confused. She had just told him she couldn't be with him, unless he didn't understand that's what she meant? A chuckle shook the man's shoulders, amused by her reaction. "The way I see it, we are still connected." He held his pinky up as if to prove his point. Even if it isn't in the traditional romantic soulmates fashion, I would still like to get to know you. We can at least be friends, yes?"
He had a point there. They didn't necessarily need to have a romantic relationship. At the same time though, her mate wasn't happy with her having male friends either, having already driven off the only friends she had previously who just happened to be male. Still, it would be different with Hyunjin. After all, he wouldn't be in town for long so the majority of their friendship would be online or over text. Taking a moment to think it over before inevitably deciding it would be alright, she finally nodded. They exchanged phones, entering their numbers into each other's phones before handing them back.
Staring down at her phone and the new contact listed as 'Hyune', she didn't even notice as his own rang and he quickly answered, speaking Korean and rushing the caller back off the phone. Once he ended the call and spoke up, she finally looked back up from her phone. "Sorry, it seems my ride is here. Can I message you before the show though?" A soft smile curled her lips as she nodded. "Yes, that should be fine. I'll actually be at the show later too."
He lit up at that news. "I'll be sure to keep an eye out for you then." Her fingers found the hem of her shirt, twisting it and running it through her fingers in a nervous tic. Standing from the table, she got both kids ready to leave as well, the four of them heading towards the door. Y/N was the first one to it, turning her head to say something to her, possibly platonic, soulmate as she reached her hand out to push open the door. It wasn't the door she felt beneath her fingertips though and it was sturdy, not budging an inch when she pushed on it. Her head snapped forward, staring down at her hand resting on the abdomen of a man. Not just any man, as she soon realized, but fucking Lee Minho! What was up with her and these idols? They just keep popping up!
Panicking when she realized she still had her hand just feeling up his abs, she flailed and stepped back, which caused her to trip over her own feet. She never hit the ground though. Turns out, Minho had grabbed onto her right wrist, tugging her onto her feet and, inevitably, ending up with her standing flush against him. One of his hands still gripped her wrist, holding it up by his shoulder while his other hand had gripped onto her waist, clearly not trusting her to stay upright on her own.
Becoming more flustered by the minute, she pulled out of the man's hold, offering a quick couple of bows and apologies before scurrying off with her two kids in tow. Before she got too far, Y/N quickly turned around, waving and calling out a goodbye to Hyunjin before heading back towards the park where they had left the car, leaving the two men there before she could embarrass herself further.
Minho POV
The alpha growled, his lip pulling up into a snarl on one side, revealing a sharp canine as he mumbled to himself while one of their managers was driving. "That moron, didn't even bother telling anyone he was going out." Another growl rumbles his chest as they follow the directions on his phone, having tracked Jinnie's phone. He texted the stupid beta to let him know they were nearly there to get him.
"I'm going to stuff him full of tissues when I get my hands on him."
It didn't take long to find the place. He really hadn't gone far, but he had been gone a good amount of time and they needed him to start getting ready like the rest of them. Once parked, he threw on a bucket hat that happened to be in the car before heading towards the door.
He wasn't sure what he was expecting to find, but it certainly wasn't what he walked into the moment he opened the door. A hand was pressed against his abdomen, just under his chest and attached to said hand, was a girl. She was wide eyed as she stared up at him, recognition on her face. In between her and Hyunjin were two tiny people, one was even holding the other man's hand as they stood in front of the door.
As the confusion set in, the girl started to panic, tripping as she backed up. To keep her from falling backwards, he reached out to latch onto her wrist, his other hand gripping her waist as he pulled her back to her feet. Having her in his grip and pressed against him brought her scent right to him. It hadn't been intentional, but that delicious apple and cinnamon scent had him leaning into her, his head tilting down towards her neck where it was the strongest. That very next moment though, the scent was fading as she pulled herself out of his arms.
Blinking slow, he stared at the omega as she bowed and apologized before literally running away with the two pups in tow. He was tempted to chase after her, but he had already embarrassed himself enough by nearly scenting the poor girl in public. He rubbed at the back of his neck, trying to ignore his red ears as he looked back over to a stunned Hyunjin.
"Come on Hyunjinnie, we need to be back already." The pair left and got into the car before the beta finally spoke up.
"She's my soulmate."
There was an odd twinge of pain and disappointment in his chest after hearing that. He shouldn't be upset, he should be happy for his friend. It took just a moment though before confusion furrowed his brow. "She had kids with her? Are they..?" He trailed off but it was clear what he was asking without actually asking. Hyunjin let out a sigh, looking out the window as if considering how much he should say.
"She has a mate, the pups are hers. It's complicated though." Sensing there was a good deal more that he likely wanted to talk over with everyone. Nodding, he looked out his own window as he asked one last question.
"Did you at least remember to get her number, unlike Bin?"
With a smirk and a chuckle, the pair glanced back at one another as Hyunjin nodded in response, lifting his phone to show her contact info.
They arrived back at the hotel shortly after, heading back to Hyunjin and Changbin's room while calling for the others as well.
Minho picked up his own soulmate, sitting on the couch with Han in his lap. His arms were wrapped around Han's slim waist as he buried his neck into the omega's neck. Theirs had been an emotional first meeting, finding out they were soulmates when both their worlds exploded with color the moment they touched. Up until that point they had lived in a dull and grey world, unable to see any color.
Keeping their relationship from the media was easy enough as most affections could be played off as them being pack mates. With both Changbin and now Hyunjin having soulmates in the states, it would surely complicate things.
Minho zoned out for a moment, just relaxing in his mates scent while Hyunjin brought up the girl. The others were excited for him and he happily showed off a couple of pictures he took of her. Both Chan and Changbin went silent when they saw it though.
"What did you say her name was?" Chan was the one to speak up, looking nervous which brought Minho's full attention back to the conversation.
"Y/N, but the situation is kind of complicated." He still seemed unsure what exactly to say, so Chan spoke up again. "It's about to get even more complicated."
"She's my soulmate." Changbin was the one to finally speak up this time, surprising everyone with his statement.
"Pretty sure she's also mine. That's the girl I've mentioned seeing in my dreams." Well, this just kept getting more and more interesting.
They all stared at each other in stunned silence for a moment before the beta spoke up once again. "Well, uh, she has a mate." One bomb dropped. "And two pups." And there's the other. "But uh, her son said some...concerning things." That bit had Minho curious, wondering what such a little kid could have said to make Hyunjin worry.
"While she was off taking care of the little one, her son asked if I could help his mom. He said she would try to hide it, but his father isn't very nice. He wouldn't explain further than that, but when I asked if he would hit her, his scent turned really sad." Looking around, all of the others looked either angry or upset at this news. A growl of his own rumbled in his chest as he brought his focus back to Hyunjin, clearing his throat to speak up himself. "She's supposed to be coming tonight right? Let's bring her back after soundcheck and talk to her. Maybe she'll say more about it with all three of you with her."
Murmurs of agreement from the others filled the room but Minho's thoughts kept going back to that girl and her scent. Even with his own soulmate right there in his lap, he was eager for more of her. Irritated with himself, he set Han beside him before getting up and leaving the room altogether to head to his. Once inside, he grabbed the clothes he planned on wearing to soundcheck and slipped his shirt off to change just as the door opened, with Han entering.
"Hey, you okaaaaa why is there a hand on your abs?" Han pointed at him, wide eyed. Looking down, confused, he saw what his soulmate was staring at and moved quickly to have a better look in the mirror. There, just below his chest, was a black mark clearly in the shape of a small handprint. Wiping at it, it didn't go away or smudge at all. No, it was clearly a soul mark, specifically a first touch mark considering that was the exact spot her hand was.
"You too then?" He just nodded in response, looking over at his mate who was rubbing his left wrist. "Her initials match the ones on my wrist. What if she's mine too?"
He could smell the worry and anxiety building up in Han's scent so he pulled him close, wrapping his arms around him. "Let's wait till we know more, then go from there, alright pup?" Han nodded, burying his face into his chest.
"I feel bad for her if she is stuck with all of us. You all are insane, she's going to end up helping me put you all in the pressure cooker." A smirk spread across his face as his mate smacked his chest, yelling out his protest at the statement.
"You're just proving my point."