KNOT.

Chapter 2 - Alpha.

After Ongsa finished speaking, Phatsa fell silent for a while. He was still leaning against the counter in the same easy posture. He did not look amused, but neither did he look fully convinced. 

 

The soft glow from the lamps warmed the café, and the scent of coffee drifted lightly through the air. Everything around him looked so ordinary that it was almost irritating, because nothing about what he had just heard felt ordinary at all. It was as if the world still wore its old calm face before him, even though Ongsa had just pried it open and told him, bluntly, that this world held alphas, omegas, bonds, and fates that could tie two people together with a single bite to the neck.

 

"You're talking like all of this is real." Ongsa slowly set the glass in his hand before lifting his eyes to look at him. "It is real."

 

Phatsa turned to him at once, his expression caught halfway between confusion and disbelief. "P'Ongsa"

 

"Hm?"

 

"What exactly am I supposed to believe first?"

 

A faint smile touched Ongsa's lips, as though he found that bewilderment more endearing than he let on. 

 

"Whether you believe it or not is up to you. But just because we don't know something, or have never seen it, doesn't mean it can't be real."

 

Phatsa let out a soft sigh and lifted a hand to touch the back of his neck, still looking dazed. 

 

"I only stepped in to help someone for five minutes, and suddenly my whole world's upside down."

 

Ongsa looked at the younger man who had once been his university junior for a long moment before his gaze settled on Phatsa's handsome face. Phatsa was lounging there in an easy, relaxed way, true. Still, even if you stripped away the sharp tongue, the teasing arrogance, and the impulsive habit of throwing himself into other people's trouble, he still looked an awful lot like an alpha. 

 

He was fair-skinned, with light hair and the compact build of someone who had spent more time on playing fields than under fluorescent lights. Straight shoulders. A strong back. A body made for movement. He was not massive or intimidating in the obvious sense. Yet there was a certain confidence folded into his posture that told anyone who looked at him one thing immediately: if something happened, he would be the first to leap in without thinking twice.

 

"You know," Ongsa said at last, "you do look like an alpha, Phatsa."

 

Phatsa froze, then turned sharply toward him. "What?"

 

"You do," Ongsa replied evenly. "You're handsome. You draw people's eyes. You look like a leader. You're smart, quick-thinking, good at school, and good at sports. Taken all, you feel a lot like one.”

 

Phatsa gave a dry little laugh, "What is that supposed to mean? Me? An alpha? Are you making a diagnosis from vibes now? You're turning into Nile a little more every day."

 

He had barely finished speaking when a bright voice cut in from the back of the shop.

 

"Well, bro, if you missed me that much, you could have just said my name."

 

Both Phatsa and Ongsa turned at once. Nile came into view with a crate of milk in his arms. He wore the café apron, moved with the restless energy of someone who was never still for long, and his eyes sparkled as if they were always looking for the next thing to pounce on. 

 

He was Gen Z through and through, in the way he spoke, in the playful insolence on his face, in the way he slipped into any conversation as if he had every right to be there. Nile was the sort of boy who could not sit still if his life depended on it. The world had to move as quickly as his thoughts did, his mouth had to be as quick as his eyes, and if he got the chance to tease Phatsa, he would never let it pass him by. He set the crate on the floor and leaned one arm on the counter. 

 

"What are you two talking about?"

 

"Not something for children like you"

 

"Oh, come on, bro. Don't cut me out like that. Let little Nile join the conversation."

 

Nile was always like this. Annoying, yes, but somehow still too lovable to be angry at for very long. Ongsa merely glanced at him, shook his head, and tilted his chin towards Phatsa. 

 

"I said Phatsa looks like an alpha."

 

Nile nodded immediately, as if he had been waiting for exactly that. 

 

"Exactly, bro. A total alpha man. A handsome one too.

 

"What the hell are you talking about?"

 

But Nile was unstoppable. He nodded again, as though announcing some great truth of the universe. 

 

"P'Phatsa is smart, athletic, and his face is like... one pass and everyone turns to look. How is that not alpha energy? He's an alpha man all the way."

 

Phatsa shook his head. "You're laying it on too thick."

 

'It's not too thick, 'Nile shot back at once. "I already toned it down."

 

"Thanks. Truly. But you don't need to help me that much."

 

"I do. P'Phatsa is the pride of my life, bro. And the pride of this shop, too."

 

Ongsa lifted an eyebrow. "What does my shop have to do with that?"

 

Nile turned to him with a completely straight face. "If customers knew P'Phatsa came here all the time, sales might go up."

 

Phatsa let out a breath of laughter. "You're trying to turn me into café marketing now, aren't you?"

 

'If P'Phatsa is willing, little Nile can make posters today.

 

The mood was flowing along nicely when the glass door opened with the soft chime of the bell. A man stepped inside, his crisp, self-contained air suggesting he moved with purpose. He was dressed in black from head to toe, with a dark shirt beneath the suit and a discreet earpiece fitted to one ear.

 

Everything about him was too immaculate for him to be an ordinary customer dropping by for coffee in the evening. He did not walk like a man craving caffeine. He walked like a man on duty, a man with a schedule, a man who would not waste time on anything unnecessary. Nile glanced over, then shifted a little closer to Phatsa. "That guy again."

 

Phatsa looked where he was looking. "Who?"

 

Ongsa reached out, picked up a cup of coffee he had already prepared, and set it on the counter.

 

"One of our regulars."

 

Phatsa looked the man over from head to toe, then muttered softly, "Weird guy"

 

Nile whipped around at once. "P'... quieter."

 

"It's true." Phatsa still had not looked away. "He's dressed way too perfectly for Bangkok weather. Looks like he's ready to throw himself in front of a bullet for somebody.

 

Ongsa shook his head lightly. "He's probably a bodyguard for some family."

 

Phatsa looked back at him. "How do you know?"

 

"Just a guess."

 

The man in the suit stopped at the counter and ordered his coffee in a low, clipped voice, saying only what was necessary. Strange, yes. But not Phatsa's problem. Everyone had their own life.  Still, the cup had been set, just a little too close to his hand, and its fragrance rose and rose, caught first. At first, it smelled like rain-drenched jasmine, then flowed into wild berries and pale tea before closing with a faint thread of caramel. It was the kind of scent so expensive you did not need a price tag to know it. And before Phatsa had time to think, his fingertips were already on the cup.

 

"Hey, Phatsa!"

 

Phatsa turned. "What?"

 

Nile pointed at the cup in his hand. "That's the customer's!"

 

Phatsa looked down, then lifted his head just as the man in the suit turned to look at him. He paused for half a second, then set the cup back down in a hurry. "Oh."

 

Nile put a hand over his face. "Oh, what exactly?" 

 

Phatsa kept a straight face. "How was I supposed to know? It was sitting here. I thought it was mine."

 

"And you just grabbed it?"

 

"Yeah."

 

Nile immediately snorted with laughter. "Classic bro."

 

Phatsa turned to glare at him. "I'm seriously going to smack you one day."

 

Ongsa let out a quiet laugh, took the cup from where Phatsa had left it, and handed it back to the suited man with an apology. He accepted it silently, gave the smallest nod, and turned to leave, as though what had just happened was too trivial to waste thought on. Once the glass door closed behind him, Phatsa watched his retreating for another second before murmuring under his breath, "He's really weird."

 

Nile planted his hands on his hips beside the counter. "You're not exactly normal either."

 

Night slowly unfolded over the city in deepening folds of shadow. Light from the high-rise buildings spilt across the streets in ribbons of white and gold, and a long black luxury car stood motionless at the curb like a predator at rest. It did not need to roar. It did not need to announce itself. Its mere presence was enough to make people think twice before stepping too close.

 

Inside the car, in the rear seat on the right, Nakhun sat in silence like a man who could command everything around him without needing to move much at all. His skin was a sun-warmed tan, the kind earned by a life of discipline and constant training. Broadshoulders. A solid chest. A tall, well-built frame that seemed forged to meet any situation without hesitation. His face was sharply handsome, expensive-looking, controlled, the kind of face no one wanted to provoke without a very good reason.

 

Nakhun's nature as a True Alpha, the dominant apex of the pack, was not something he ever needed to say aloud. It was already there in the space around him, in every calm breath he took. His pheromones did not lash out or flood the air. They cloaked the space around him quietly: warm whiskey resting in oak casks, threaded through with the heat of fire, leaving behind the faintest ghost of smoke. It was a deep scent, steady and weighty, powerful enough to make anyone nearby tense up without even realising why.

 

Beside him, Nakhin lounged against the seat with a much easier air. He was nearly as tall as Nakhun, yet the atmosphere around him was entirely different, clean-cut, polished, handsome in a brighter, more accessible way. There was always a playful glint near the corners of his eyes, the suggestion of a smile at his mouth. Even when he said nothing, people tended to feel he would be fun to talk to. Stay beside him long enough, and you would likely find yourself smiling too. 

 

He was a True Alpha as well, but his pheromones were nothing like Nakhun's. Nakhin smelled of bright citrus, peel and blossom, layered over an aged red wine like standing in an orange grove with a vineyard not far away. Fresh, elegant, warm in a different way. He did not dominate people with sheer force the way Nakhun did; he drew them in with the vitality humming under his skin.

 

The car door opened, and Kongphop stepped back inside, carrying a cup of coffee. He handed it to Nakhun with the smooth efficiency of someone who knew his employer's rhythms well.

 

"Your coffee, Khun Nakhun."

 

Nakhun took it with the same composed expression he always wore. This was always his order: Geisha Panama, medium roast, no syrup. Nothing unnecessary. Nothing too sweet. Everything is sharp, clean, exact, at the same time. He lifted the cup to his lips out of habit. Then paused. Another scent clung to the rim. It was not the coffee he knew so well. Not the paper of the cup. It was something else-something faint, and because it was faint, it pulled at his attention all the more.

 

Rain. Not the stale dampness after a storm, but the first clean rain. Cool. Fresh. Invigorating. Like the wind just before the sky opened. Like dry earth touched by a thin veil of water and made new in an instant. It carried hints of vetiver, moss, and the palest trace of white grapefruit. It was beautiful enough that Nakhun went quiet for a moment. Beautiful enough to cling to his senses, enough to make him want, absurdly, to keep following it.

 

He lowered the cup slowly. "Where did you buy this? Why does it smell like this?"

 

Kongphop hesitated just a little before answering at once, "The usual place, sir. The usual coffee. The usual order"

 

Nakhun looked down at the cup again, his dark eyes lowering slightly. "No"

 

Kongphop glanced back over his shoulder. "Sir?"

 

"This scent is better"

 

A soft laugh sounded from the seat beside him. Nakhin turned with a smile at one corner of his mouth.

 

"Or maybe your nose is malfunctioning." Nakhun looked at him sideways. "Nakhin."

 

"It's true." Nakhin laughed softly. "Same place, same coffee, same order, but you look like you've just found the coffee of destiny."

 

Nakhun didn't answer immediately. He raised the cup again. The scent of rain was still there, and the more it became.

 

"That isn't coffee"

 

Nakhin lifted a brow. "Then what is it? Kongphop, did you buy tea for my brother by mistake?"

 

"No, sir. It's the same coffee.”

 

Nakhun was quiet for a moment before answering, simply, "Rain."

 

Nakhin stared at him for half a second, then laughed again. "You're really gone."

 

Nakhun ignored him and took a sip. The taste was unchanged. Balanced. Properly hot. Precisely right. Nothing was wrong with it. And yet the scent of rain remained stubbornly on the cup.

 

"Do you like it?" Nakhin asked, looking at the coffee in his brother's hand

 

Nakhun went still for the briefest instant before replying in a flat voice, "It's irritating."

 

Nakhin smiled at once. "That means yes."

 

"That's your interpretation."

 

"And I'm usually right."

 

In the front, Sila sat quietly in the passenger seat, his calm, controlled demeanour shaping the atmosphere there into something much more restrained than the back. Kongphop shut the door and returned to the driver's seat. Another car followed behind them at a discreet distance, with Ai and Win inside, escorting as usual. Sila glanced at the rearview mirror and asked evenly,

 

'Shall we head home now, sir?'

 

Nakhun set the cup down in the holder. "Mm."

 

The car pulled away from the curb with smooth precision. The city at night blurred beyond the windows in ribbons of light. The two brothers sat side by side in the kind of silence that might feel awkward to strangers, but in truth, it was only the silence of people who had known each other long enough not to need words every second. Still, Nakhin was Nakhin. He turned and looked at his brother again.

 

"If you like that scent so much, maybe next time you should go buy it yourself."

 

Nakhun shot him a sidelong glance. "Have you got that much free time?"

 

"No. I want to know what kind of person sells coffee.

 

"I'm interested in the scent, not the person."

Nakhin smiled. "For now."

 

Nakhun said nothing. He merely lifted the cup again, as though testing whether the scent remained. It did. It's clung to him, his thoughts, his memory, his thoughts, 

 

The black car drove through the night with quiet authority. Light streaked past the windows in gold and white bands. Kongphop held the wheel steady, eyes fixed on the road. Sila sat beside him, scanning the street and side mirrors with the alertness of a man who never let his guard drop. The trailing car behind them kept exactly the right distance, smooth and practised, the kind of movement that came only from doing the same thing before.

 

They had not long gone when Kongphop frowned. A car ahead cut sharply across the lane and skidded sideways, blocking the road. Sila looked up at the same instant.

 

"Khun Nakhun. Khun Nakhin." Kongphop said only that before slamming on the brakes. Tires screamed across the asphalt. Behind them, Ai and Win's car braked in perfect sync. Doors flew open from the vehicle ahead, and several figures poured out, weapons flashing in the streetlights. And yet the back seat remained calm.

 

Nakhin glanced outside, then leaned back against the seat as if he had run into an inconvenience rather than an attack. "Quite a crowd"

 

Nakhun lowered the coffee cup slowly, his sharp gaze flicking toward the windshield. 

 

"Mm"

 

Sila turned, waiting for the order. "Shall we deal with them now, sir?"

 

Nakhun answered in a short, cool voice. "What do you think?"

 

That was all Sila needed. He opened the door and got out at once. Behind them, Ai and Win jumped from the other car just as quickly. Kongphop stayed behind the wheel for a moment longer, securing the vehicle and checking their position, then stepped out to join them once he was satisfied that the car was safe. 

 

They spread out immediately, practised efficiently, with no wasted movement, no need for repeated instructions. The clash began outside with the sharp ring of metal on metal, the thud of feet, the sound of bodies hitting the ground, and a string of filthy curses cutting through the air. But inside the car, it was still quiet, as though the thick glass and steel were holding two worlds apart.

 

Nakhin was watched for a while, then turned back to his brother. "Want to make a bet?"

 

Nakhun spared him a glance. "On what?"

 

"How many minutes until it's over?"

 

Nakhun looked through the glass again. Sila was wrenching a knife from one attacker's grip. Ai had just kicked another attacker into the side of a car. Win was pinning down a man trying to flee. Kongphop had finally entered the fray in full, and Nakhun looked through the glass again, his face expressionless in that particular way that meant he was thoroughly annoyed.

 

"Five."

 

Nakhin grinned at once. "I'll give them ten."

 

"Too generous."

 

'In case they're stubborn!

 

Nakhun replied coolly, "Kongphop and Sila are already irritated. It won't take ten.

 

As if to prove him right, another heavy impact sounded from beside the car almost immediately. Nakhin turned to look and laughed softly when he saw Kongphop slam one of the attackers into the pavement like a sack of trash.

 

"Fine. Maybe seven."

 

"Too late."

 

Nakhin rested his head against the seat and, with the ease of someone who could switch tracks without warning, changed the subject entirely. "Has Mother brought up marriage again?"

 

Nakhun took another sip of coffee. The scent of rain lingered faintly. "Yes"

 

"With you first or me first?"

 

"With me"

 

Nakhin let out a laugh. "Then it'll be my turn within two days."

 

"Mm."

 

"And what did you say?"

 

"I'm busy."

 

Nakhin turned sharply towards him. "Just like that?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Can I use that too?"

 

"Can't you think for yourself?"

 

Nakhin nodded in satisfaction. "Fine. I'll say exactly what P'Nakhun said."

 

Outside, the fighting was already winding down. Nakhin looked through the glass again before asking with complete nonchalance,

 

"What should we eat tonight?"

 

Nakhun set the cup down. "Anything that isn't sweet"

 

"That's not a menu."

 

"Then you pick."

 

"Barbecue?"

 

"Mother will complain."

 

"She complains about everything. Though P'Jim will probably complain first."

 

Nakhun glanced at him. "Why?"

 

Nakhin smiled immediately. "She just washed the kitchen curtains."

 

'Then the menu's definitely changing'

 

A few moments later, the noise outside faded almost completely. Only the ragged breathing of the attackers remained where they lay sprawled across the road. Sila tapped lightly on the car's roof to signal that it was done. Nakhin checked his watch and turned to his brother.

 

"Six minutes"

 

Nakhun opened the car door. "Still close to five"

 

Nakhin laughed softly and followed him out. The night wind moved through the now quiet street. Streetlights cast their pale glow across the bodies on the ground, some unconscious, some still groaning softly, none remotely capable of standing again. Kongphop stood beside the car looking calm, as though nothing had happened. Sila shifted aside to make room, while Ai and Win gathered the scattered weapons.

 

Nakhin's gaze swept over the scene before he stopped beside one of the men who was still conscious. The attacker lay face down, breathing hard, blood at the corner of his mouth. Nakhin looked at him for a moment, then slowly placed his foot on the back of the man's head. Not hard enough to crush. Just hard enough to pin him perfectly still. Nakhin bent down, and the playful ease from earlier was gone. What remained was the coldness of another True Alpha of the Thewathitirat family.

 

"Who sent you?"

 

The man clenched his teeth and said nothing. Nakhin pressed down a little harder. "I'll ask one more time. Who sent you?"

 

Still silence. Only harsh, broken breathing. Nakhin watched him for another beat, then smiled faintly. "All right, if you don't want to talk."

 

He looked up at Kongphop and Sila. "Then make sure he gets his wish and never speaks again."

 

The order fell from him in a low, even tone, but there was no mistaking its meaning. Then he lifted his foot as if the matter were already finished. Nakhun had watched the whole time without saying a word. He turned away in silence and walked back to the car. Nakhin followed him. Behind them, the remaining screams of the attackers rose and stretched into the night before being swallowed by their bodyguards, who finished the rest of the work exactly as expected.

 

Once the car doors shut, the cool silence returned immediately. Nakhun lifted his coffee again, as though what had just happened were no more than a minor inconvenience on the way home. Nakhin leaned back against the seat and let out a soft sigh.

 

"So we're really not getting barbecue?"

 

Nakhun took a slow sip. The scent of rain still lingered at the edge of his senses. 

 

"No."

 

In the front, Kongphop returned to the driver's seat while Sila got back to his side beside him. Behind them, Ai and Win's car remained in place to contain the scene and clean up what remained before following. The black luxury car eased away as gently as if an ambush had ever been at all.

 

Even so, Nakhin could not resist asking, "That's the third attack this month. Shouldn't we tell Father?"

 

"No."

 

"Why not? We still don't even know who sent them."

 

"We can handle it. He doesn't need to know. Besides, Mother will worry!"

 

"Wouldn't she worry even more if she found out later?"

 

Nakhun looked down at the cup in his hand for a moment before replying in a calm voice, "One of the matters of Naphit" is already exhaustive enough to her."

 

At the name Naphit, the silence inside the car changed. It did not grow heavier, exactly, but it deepened. Both of them knew that the name had never been simple in that house. 

 

Naphit was not Khamphirada's son. He was the child of Nares and the woman he had once truly loved. That woman had a beta, the one Nares had wanted to build a life with. But in the end, he had not been allowed to marry her because the Thewathitirat family required him to marry the most suitable person to produce heirs, and that person was Khamphirada, not his first love. So Nares had been made to marry Khamphirada. Nakhun and Nakhin were born of a union, two sons perfect in the family's eyes, both True Alphas, both proof that the elders' decision had been "correct."

 

But after Nakhun's grandfather died, Nares returned to the woman he had loved, and from that return, the woman birthed a baby. Naphit was only an ordinary alpha, not a True Alpha like Nakhun and Nakhin. He grew up with his mother in another home, another life, another world, until the day she died. Only then did Nares fully bring Naphit into the Thewathitirat house, placing him under the care of Nakhun and Nakhin as their younger brother. And because Naphit was the child born of love, because he had lost his mother, he had grown up with a hollow inside him, so that no one could truly fill. Nares loved him especially so fiercely that sometimes it was impossible not to see it. Fiercely enough to make the entire house more fragile than before.

 

Nakhin turned back to look at his brother. "But if something happens to you too, Mother won't be able to bear it."

 

Nakhun looked at the cup in his hand for a long moment before replying without lifting his head. "Nothing has happened"

 

But it almost did tonight. Nakhun said nothing. Nakhin fell quiet too, then let out a small laugh, the sound of someone surrendering temporarily to another person's stubbornness.

 

"Well, I knew you wouldn't tell him that easily."

Nakhun looked sideways at him. "Then you already knew."

 

He did. But he still had to say it. Nakhun raised the cup again. The cool scent of rain still lingered at the edge of his senses. For all the annoyances piled into that night, that scent remained with impossible clarity.

 

"Mm."

 

That was all he said. The car continued in the familiar silence, the brothers sitting beside each other as always, each quiet in his own way. Yet both knew perfectly well that the night was not as over as Nakhun was.

 

════[changbins_delulu_wife]════

 

The next day, Ongsa's café was quietly pleasant. Morning light filtered through the front glass in pale ribbons, stretching across the clean wooden floor and the warm-toned edges of the tables. The scent of roasted coffee mingled with the faint sweetness of pastries fresh from the oven. The entire place held the kind of comfort that made people want to linger, as though time itself moved more gently there.

 

Phatsa sat at the counter as usual. He came often enough that it had become something like a Fixed point in his routine. Even if he ordered nothing more, just sitting in Ongsa's shop made him feel strangely at ease. The night before, after he got home, Sangnuea had messaged him again to say thank you. The conversation had not been long, but when Sangnuea asked where he usually lived, the café and family, Phatsa had thought it was just a casual exchange. He had not imagined Sangnuea would actually come looking for him here. 

 

The bell above the door chimed softly. Phatsa looked up on instinct and stilled when he saw Sangnuea standing there. Today, Sangnuea no longer looked weak or startled, as he had the night before. His pale hair caught the light from the glass door, and his face seemed even brighter than usual. His long eyes still held the same magnetic pull. His mouth curved into a small, almost shy smile. And in both hands, he carried a small box of sweets as carefully as if he were afraid of crushing it. 

 

Sangnuea was truly beautiful. Not merely good-looking. He possessed the kind of beauty that made people look twice before realising they were doing it. His skin was fine and fair, his pale hair softening the whole picture, and yet it was provocative, though he had been born to remain in the memory of anyone who ever looked at him. Phatsa watched him for a moment before speaking first.

 

"How'd you get here?"

 

Sangnuea came a little closer and answered in the same soft voice, "I came to see you, P’Phatsa."

 

The directness of it made Phatsa lift a brow. He looked from the box in the Sangnuea's hands to the slight face, the face, then asked again, as if he was sure he had heard his face was heard the

 

"To see me?"

 

Sangnuea nodded and gently held the box to him. "I brought sweets to thank you."

 

Phatsa glanced down at the box and then back up, still not convinced he deserved anything, so, in a formal tone, "You didn't have to."

 

He took it anyway, then added immediately, "The thought is enough."

 

Sangnuea shook his head softly, his eyes turning serious, making him look almost fragile. "It may have been something small to you. But to me...it was very important."

 

Phatsa studied his face for a long moment. Sangnuea was not joking. He still looked gentle, still looked soft, but beneath that, there was a thread of anxiety, as though what had happened the night before was still lodged under his skin. So Phatsa set the box of sweets on the counter and asked directly,  "That important?'

 

Sangnuea pressed his lips together slightly, choosing his words with care. "If I'd been bitten on the neck, it would have become something very serious."

 

Phatsa frowned at once. "Serious how?"

 

Sangnuea fell quiet for a beat. He did not look away, but his gaze trembled all the same, as though he knew he was about to say something that the other man might not understand at all.

 

"In the world of alphas and omegas, if an alpha bites an omega on the neck, they are considered bonded."

 

Phatsa went still for a second. "Bonded?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Wait." He frowned harder. "Just from biting someone's neck?"

 

Sangnuea nodded softly. "Yes"

 

Phatsa let out a disbelieving little laugh. "And that's it? They're.. a pair now?"

 

Sangnuea lowered his eyes. "Yes."

 

"Even if they don't love each other?"

 

This time, Sangnuea lifted his gaze and met Phatsa's directly. "Yes"

 

Phatsa frowned more deeply. "How is that supposed to work? How do two people live together without love? How does one bite change someone's whole life?"

 

"It isn't just a bite"

 

Ongsa's voice cut in right on cue as he came out of the back carrying a cup of coffee. He had probably heard the conversation from halfway through. He did not look startled, merely more serious than usual. He set the cup down on the counter and looked at Phatsa.

 

"It's the creation of a bond"

 

Phatsa turned to him at once. "P'Ongsa, explain it like a normal person."

 

Ongsa smiled faintly. "I am explaining like a normal person."

 

"Not enough. I'm still confused."

 

Leaning against the counter, Ongsa slowed his voice and explained carefully. "A bite between an alpha and an omega is just a wound. It's a transmission, something of the alpha passing into the other person. It begins in the alpha's heart, becomes part of the alpha's saliva, and then is delivered through the fangs to the omega's neck, which is the point that receives the bond. From there it passes through the blood and reaches the other person's heart."

 

Phatsa was silent, listening. Ongsa continued without rushing. "It's a bond that begins in instinct, but it doesn't end with the body. Once it happens, body and soul begin to connect on their own. The two people will ache for each other in ways they can't deny. And once the bond is formed, the omega becomes the possession. They can never belong to anyone else."

 

The atmosphere in the café stilled for a moment. The espresso machine murmured in the background, but everything else seemed to drift farther away.

 

Phatsa's face tightened. "That sounds unfair."

 

Sangnuea smiled faintly. "It never was fair."

 

The sentence was very soft, but it made Phatsa look at him longer, as though he had suddenly remembered Sangnuea was not speaking in the abstract. He was talking because he had almost been caught by that reality the night before.

 

Ongsa turned to Sangnuea, his voice gentler now. "Either way, it was a good thing Phatsa stepped in. Something like that... if it can be stopped beforehand, then it should be"

 

Phatsa shifted slightly, as if about to insert a triumphant See? I saved someone's life, but before he could, Ongsa went on. "Since you've come all the way here today, I guess that means we properly know each other.

 

Sangnuea smiled softly. "Yes. It would be nice if we could be friends."

 

The words were simple, but there was something deeply sincere in them. Phatsa glanced at his senior, then looked back at Sangnuea. "This is Ongsa. My senior. He owns the café."

 

"Hello. I'm Sangnuea."

 

"Nice to meet you, Sangnuea."

 

Sangnuea seemed to relax a little more. He turned to Ongsa and asked politely, "You know a lot of alphas and omegas, Ongsa"

 

Ongsa raised a brow. "A little."

 

"Are you an alpha or an omega?"

 

The question made Phatsa whip his head around once, as though he too had only just had only just had only one just answer.

 

Ongsa smiled faintly. "No. My father and mother were an alpha and an omega, but I'm a beta."

 

Phatsa is blinked. "Really?"

 

"Of course." Ongsa answered calmly, "I can't smell anyone. I don't have pheromones."

 

Sangnuea nodded lightly in understanding. "I see."

 

Phatsa immediately pointed at himself. "Then I probably can't be an alpha either. I've never smelled anyone before"

 

Sangnuea looked at him again, this time longer, as if trying to catch something in the air that no one else could sense. "Not necessarily"

 

Phatsa lifted a brow. "How not?"

 

'Sometimes a secondary sex is still dormant!

 

Sangnuea smiled slightly. "I'm serious. Some alphas can keep their pheromones under such tight control that no scent comes out at all"

 

He paused, then continued more quietly, more seriously. "I think you should have your secondary sex tested, P'Phatsa"

 

"How did this become about me?"

 

Sangnuea looked at him steadily. "Because if one day you bite someone and it becomes a disaster, then what?"

 

"Why would I bite anyone?"

 

"That kind of thing can happen. If you caught an omega's scent and went into rut, you could bite them."

 

Phatsa froze, then turned to Ongsa as though asking for backup. But his senior only smiled a little.

 

'In this case, I think Sangnuea makes sense! 

 

Phatsa snapped his head back immediately. 

 

"P'Ongsa."

 

"Hm?"

 

I'm starting to feel like you don't love me anymore! This time, Ongsa actually laughed. 

 

“I do. I just still think you should get tested."

 

Sangnuea smiled too, and this time the expression reached his whole face. "Please go."

 

Phatsa let out the long sigh of a man being ganged up on two against one until there was nothing left to argue with. "Fine. I'll think about it."

 

At that exact moment, Nile poked his head out from the back of the shop, though he had been waiting for his cue. "Don't think too long, bro. Imagine waking up with fangs and freaking out."

 

Phatsa spun around immediately. "You were eavesdropping again, weren't you?"

 

Nile flashed an unapologetic grin. "Not eavesdropping. Listening openly."

 

“I swear I'm going to smack you one day.”

 

"You always say that, but you never do."

 

Phatsa was just about to fire back when Sangnuea laughed first, and this time the sound was clear and bright enough to make Phatsa fall, fall still for a second, not because he was being laughed at. But because he suddenly realised that when Sangnuea laughed for real, he became even more beautiful than before. And Sangnuea was no less aware that he had been looking at Phatsa far too often since walking in. 

 

The older boy was still impossibly handsome. Still effortlessly cool. And the closer they stood, the more clearly Sangnuea felt that there really was something inside Phatsa waiting beneath the surface. Something not yet awake. But not fully asleep either. So Sangnuea looked at him for another moment, then smiled faintly and repeated the plea in a softer voice, as though trusting it to him

 

'You really should get tested, P'Phatsa!

 

Phatsa sighed again, but this time there was the hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth.

 

"Yeah, yeah. I know."

 

Ongsa watched the two of them quietly and smiled to himself. His small café still smelled of coffee. The light still fell softly across the room. And yet, for reasons he could not quite name, he felt something had shifted forward just a little that day. And the problem was this: No one knew whether the thing slowly moving towards them would become something beautiful or a knot that only tightened the closer they drew.

 

════[changbins_delulu_wife]════

 

That evening, the city drew itself tight once more. Light from the rows of shops on either side stretched in blurred lines across the concrete, still faintly warm from the afternoon sun. Cars flowed through the endless past. Horns, engines, voices all twisted, together in the air as if the city breathed through its own chaos every single night.

 

Nakhun stepped out of the car in front of the police station with a composed, unreadable face. His dark suit was still immaculate, although he had just walked out of a boardroom rather than through an exhausting day. The sterile white lights of the station sharpened the angles of his face and made his tan skin seem even darker. Around him lingered the scent of warm oak-aged whiskey and the faintest trace of fire-smoke, the quiet, unmistakable presence of a True Alpha. Even the officer at the front desk looked up at once, and Nakhun hadn't spoken a single word.

 

One lieutenant rose with a careful smile. "This way, Khun Nakhun."

 

Nakhun gave the slightest nod and followed him inside. He did not look openly angry, but the stiller he became, the clearer it was that his mood was not something to approach lightly. The officer who had called him earlier stepped forward and let out a weary sigh.

 

“I'm terribly sorry, sir. I didn't want to trouble you, but your younger brother was... rather loud tonight."

 

Nakhun did not reply. He merely glanced toward the metal bench at the far side of the room and saw the cause of the trouble immediately. Naphit was lounging there, shirt half-undone, two buttons open, hair slightly dishevelled from the fight, his eyes still clouded with alcohol. Yet even in that condition, he was strikingly handsome, the kind of man who could still stand out while drunk and furious. His complexion was lighter than Nakhun's, his features just as sharp, and there was a raw, stubborn edge to his gaze that made it plain he had never been anyone's obedient child.