Beep.
Beep. Beep.
Pulled from the darkness by the soft, persistent beeping, Jaemin drifted back to consciousness slowly. His entire body felt heavy, his mind sluggish, and a deep, stinging ache throbbed in the back of his neck.
Slowly, he blinked his eyes open, finding himself in a small clinic ward. The bright light of late morning shone strongly past the thin blinds of the windows. The air smelled of clean linen and antiseptic, and beneath that, a familiar scent persisted: cedar, rich and warm, laced with a dark undercurrent of sharp, bitter rage.
He turned his head. A heart rate monitor stood beside the bed, quietly giving its regular report. Close by, slumped in an armchair chair and still in yesterday's clothes, was Kang Do-hyun.
His posture was exhausted, his head tilted back to rest against the wall, but he was awake, staring blankly at the ceiling. His presence was solid and comforting, but Jaemin instantly noticed the damage on the knuckles of his right hand, the skin split and heavily bruised.
"Do-hyun," Jaemin managed, his voice a hoarse whisper.
Do-hyun's head snapped up instantly, already leaning towards the bed.
"You're awake." His eyes were relieved, but there was a shadow within them that remained, and his familiar cedar scent still carried tension.
Jaemin ignored the question in his gaze, his eyes fixed on the bruised hand.
"Your hand," he rasped. "What happened?"
Do-hyun's face darkened. He drew his wounded hand away, but anything he was about to say was interrupted by the quiet opening of the door, and a woman wearing a doctor's white coat poked her head in.
"Ah, good! You're awake. That simplifies things." She entered the room, tablet in hand. "Nice to see you again, Seo Jaemin-ssi. Or, maybe that's not appropriate for me to say in this context… BUT ANYWAY." She cleared her throat. "I'm Dr. Lee Jisoo. Kang Do-hyun-ssi brought you to me when you entered into heat the last time, although I suspect you might have been feeling too foggy back then to remember. You've were out since yesterday, but it's good that you're conscious now. How are you feeling?"
Jaemin hesitated. "I'm… alright?" He looked to Do-hyun for reassurance, but the alpha was silent, his gaze fixed on the doctor. "What… What happened?"
"That's what I'm asking, Seo Jaemin-ssi." She gave him a small smile. "What do you remember?"
"I… I remember…"
Raised voices. Freezing terror.
Bitter tea and bergamot, enveloping him, overpowering his desire to stay as far away from Choi Seungcheol as humanly possible.
Do-hyun's aggressive aura and snarled retorts.
His body, wrenched from his control, moving step by excruciating step towards his greatest fear.
He hung his head in shame.
"The command... I couldn't stop myself. I didn't have any control."
Dr. Lee gazed at him for a moment, then nodded. "That is usually the effect of an alpha command, yes, especially on omegas such as yourself, Seo Jaemin-ssi. And your bonding mark… Pardon my assumption, but was this the alpha who issued the bite on your neck?"
Jaemin's head dropped lower. "Yes. But that was a long time ago." He swallowed hard, his voice barely a whisper. "I know I can't undo what he did to me."
He refused to look at Do-hyun as he spoke, the shame burning in his chest.
"I know I'm stuck with it," Jaemin whispered. "But I made a choice to be with Do-hyun regardless. I thought... I thought I could just live with it. I thought if I just stayed away from him, I could ignore it."
Dr. Lee paused, her expression shifting from clinical curiosity to deep sympathy. "Seo Jaemin-ssi... you think the bond is permanent?"
Jaemin looked up, confused. "Everyone knows it is. Once an omega is bitten, they're… ruined for anyone else. That's why..." He trailed off, glancing at Do-hyun. "That's why I never asked him to fix it. There's nothing to fix. I'm just… damaged."
Damaged. Do-hyun's chest tightened at the word. He opened his mouth to protest, but Dr. Lee spoke first.
"That is the common understanding," Dr. Lee corrected gently. "But just because it lingers doesn't mean it is unchangeable. In cases where a bonded pair are separated both physically and emotionally for a long period of time, it's normal for the bonding chemicals to weaken somewhat, especially if they weren't very compatible to begin with. And, in some special cases, it can be actively overwritten."
Jaemin froze. His eyes snapped up to meet hers.
"Overwritten?" he breathed. "What do you mean? I thought... I thought I was bound to him forever."
"The venom fades if not reinforced," Dr. Lee said. "And, in your case, a stronger, more compatible bond can replace it completely."
Jaemin's hand flew to the back of his neck, fingers trembling as they brushed the faded scar tissue. It felt suddenly hot to the touch, no longer a tombstone of his past, but a lock waiting for a key.
"So I'm not… chained to him?" he asked, his voice trembling.
"No," Dr. Lee said. "But because the old bond was still active yesterday, your body reacted violently. When your ex focused his pheromones on you in that command, he reawakened the old traces of venom. But at the same time, you have been forming a powerful chemical connection with Kang Do-hyun-ssi." She tapped the screen of her tablet. "Essentially, you had two conflicting alpha signatures trying to lay claim on your nervous system at the exact same time, and it caused an acute neurochemical shutdown. Your body was being torn apart trying to figure out who it should obey."
Do-hyun flinched violently in his chair, as if he had been struck. The alpha's face was etched with raw guilt, his eyes squeezed shut as he recalled the moment Jaemin collapsed.
But Jaemin's mind was spinning with the revelation. He looked back at Dr. Lee pleadingly, a desperate hope igniting in his chest.
"But you said... you said it can be overwritten? I can be free?" Jaemin's voice trembled. "I really... I don't want to be tied to... that person any longer. Please."
Dr. Lee frowned, looking between them. "There is a way… I'm just… puzzled as to why it hasn't been done yet."
When the bewilderment in Jaemin's expression only heightened, she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.
"He never told you, did he?" She looked pointedly at Do-hyun. "Kang Do-hyun-ssi here has known for weeks, Seo Jaemin-ssi. Since your first visit here."
"Known what?" Jaemin turned to Do-hyun. "What are… What is Dr. Lee talking about?"
Do-hyun finally spoke, his voice low and raw with difficulty. "The reason your body is reacting, jagi... The reason I was able to be your anchor during your heat…"
He stopped, his gaze dropping to Jaemin's neck, to the very spot he had deliberately refused to mark on countless occasions because he thought he was respecting Jaemin's trauma, unaware that Jaemin was waiting for a cure he didn't even know existed.
"Dr. Lee ran tests that first night I brought you in, after your collapse at the Gala. The reason our connection is even able to exist despite your mark..."
Exasperated, Dr. Lee cut in.
"It's because you and Kang Do-hyun-ssi are fated mates, Seo Jaemin-ssi. And if your bond had been sealed earlier by a bite from Kang Do-hyun-ssi, there is a high chance that it could have overwritten the previous bond entirely."