[Zephyr's POV]

How long has it been since I met that little boy in the forest? I was eleven at that time. So... fifteen years?

I could be considered as 'big boy' at that time, but my parents and Granddad spoiled me rotten. So, I grew up to be a whiny crybaby. That day, my parents took me camping in order to "connect with nature", as they kept on saying. I think, they were trying to 'toughen me up' too, seeing as they kept on urging me to help them with a lot of chores like searching for fire woods, making campfire, fishing... Usually, they were the one doing things for me, but at the campsite, they forced me to engage. I remember that time, I was so fed up with them that I threw some tantrums every minute.

The last trouble I made that day was when I sneaked away from them, trying to hide in case they try to force me to do chores again. I was distracted and before I knew it, I was already far away from out campsite. I thought that I remembered the way back, so I wandered around, not knowing that I was further and further away from my parents.

When I realized that I couldn't find my way back, I cried while still wandering around. I know, I know. It was a stupid thing to do. But I didn't know better back then.

It was after a few hours I was lost, I saw a small cabin deep in the woods. It was probably a cabin for the hunters or something. I thought I was saved, so I ran towards the cabin, excited that someone was near me.

When I walked past a window, however, I was scared out of my wits when I heard a quiet, almost whispering sobs. I was trembling in fear, thinking that it might be a ghost. When I looked around, I realized that the wooden cabin looked so old and dirty, like it was abandoned for years.

I didn't even dare to cry out loud. That was when I saw a glimpse of a little kid moving inside the room, behind the window. I carefully peeked inside and saw a pair of rounded eyes staring back at me.

"AAAHHH!!"

I screamed in fear as I lunged myself backwards, before stumbled on a tree root and fell on my bottom. I remember that after that, I realized that my butt was bruised and it didn't disappear until after a week.

Anyway, the pair of eyes was still staring at me, so I asked, “A- are you a ghost?"

It- he- or she- Argh! I don't know. Let's call the kid as 'he' for now.

He didn't answer my question, only blinking his round eyes while he glued his sight on me. We had a staring contest for a couple of minutes before I heard small rumblings from inside the room.

"Um... You hungry?" I hastily felt my pockets and frowned. There was only one caramel candy left. My stomach started to grumble too. "But... I'm hungry too..." I whined.

The kid was still staring at me, but this time, he looked as if he was showing me a pair of huge, pitiful puppy eyes. I tried to resist the sparkling, adorable eyes for a whole minute, but I failed.

"Stupid, cutie face!" I grumbled as I took my candy out of my pocket and showed it to him. Unfortunately, there was no opening for me to give the candy to him.

At that moment, he jumped away from the window and disappeared for a second. I stood there, confused. Then, he came back and shoved a small, red plastic bead through a tiny crack on the wall. I took the bead and inspected it. A huge question mark appeared in my head as my sight alternated between the rounded eyes and the bead.

"You're giving this to me?" I asked.

But, the kid still wouldn't answer me. I looked at my caramel candy and slowly shoved it through the small crack. He squatted down and disappeared from my sight for a couple of seconds before reappearing again with the caramel in his little hand.

His rounded eyes curved upwards, as if he was smiling happily at me. I was blushing the moment I saw his reaction. Can't help it. The kid's cute! But then-

SLAM!

The door flung open and enter a tall and lanky guy. He looked like an alpha. The kid ran away from the window and curled into a ball at the corner. I gasped and slid down to the ground, hiding from the scary looking alpha.

"What are you doing?" A low, blood-chilling voice echoed into my ears. I shivered at the dominance dripping from his tone.

"I TOLD YOU TO STAY IN THE CORNER! WHY'RE YOU AT THE WINDOW?!"

My breath quickened. I need to stay away from the window!

The alpha roughly pushed the window open. I curled my body to be small as possible. Then, I heard there was a small voice whimpering from the inside. The alpha huffed and closed the window shut.

The next second was the most horrible moments I've ever encountered in my life. There was a few whipping and hitting sounds, accompanied by shouts and muffled cries. I heard the kid whimpered and grunted, while the man yelled and cursed.

"You damned omega!"

"Ungrateful wench!"

"You think you can live without me, huh?! So you think, living out there is better than living here?!"

The kid didn't even raise his voice. I didn't know whether I was shaking out of anger or fear, but what I knew was I want the alpha dead! I want for him to stop hurting the poor kid, and I want to protect the kid.

However, I was just a kid. How could a kid fight a full-fledged alpha? I just sat there, covering my ears, praying that this torture would stop. The next thing I knew, silence hit me.

I cautiously stood up and peeked into the room, but I couldn't see anybody there. Gathering my courage, I wiped my tears, and ran as fast as I could into the forest. Fortunately, I was found a few hours later. With tears in my eyes, I told my parents about what I saw and heard, and they told the authorities. But, I've never heard of that boy ever again.

I hope, he was okay. Did he grow up alright?

"Zephyr."

I was startled out of my thoughts and saw a pair of amber eyes staring at me.

"ARGH!"

Thud!

The shock made me fell on my butt on the floor. The omega was glaring at me like I just made the stupidest face in the world.

Did I just make the stupidest face in the world?

"The dinner's ready," he muttered before leaving me alone in the bedroom, stunned on the floor.

I swear, that kid-

Haa... Remember, Zephyr, you need to be nice. That way, your miserable married life will at least be tolerable.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

[An's POV]

After dinner, Zephyr announced to me that he wanted to race with me to the bathroom. He stupidly ran to the bathroom alone while giggling gleefully. Who was he racing with? His shadow or his stupidity?

Was he always this kind of character? I thought, he was more mature. When Master Blakesley introduced me to him, he looked aloof. He ignored me most of the time too. Then, after we agreed to marry each other, he seemed polite (although I realized now how fake his smile was).

Now, he... just plain stupid.

I sighed as I opened the bedroom door and saw the closed bathroom door. The sound of stream of water hitting the floor was muffled, and I could faintly hear him singing in the shower. Someone's in a good mood, but not me.

How long should I stay here? It felt a little suffocating, mostly because I had to face this idiot alpha, and also, I didn't feel at home. Everything I did, it felt like everyone was watching my every move. Kind of annoying.

I moved towards the wardrobe to take out my clothes. It was then that I saw a suspicious-looking black box hidden deep within the wardrobe. I'm not gonna lie, I was curious about what was inside that box. Like, super curious.

But, it wasn't nice to intrude on someone's privacy. So, I forced myself to look away. I stood up straight, took out my t shirt and pants, and tried to move away to close the wardrobe. At that time, my luck just suddenly said, "Aight! I'm out."

I accidentally smashed my toes on the edge of the wardrobe and fell majestically between the hanging outfits. The rod holding the hanger fell out of the blue and hit me on the head. Panicking, I struggled own my own, my lungs probably was almost malfunctioning.

I didn't know how I escaped the pandemonium, but when I came to, Zephyr was already standing next to me with blank face, and I was holding the fluffiest handcuffs I've ever seen.

"What... just happened?" he asked, still wearing the stupid face.

"Huff!" I threw the pink handcuffs towards the spaced-out alpha.

He took the pink handcuffs and looked at me once again. A few seconds of silence passed before a loud laughter came out of his big mouth.

"AHAHAHAHAH!!"

I could see tears brimming out of his eyes because he laughed too much. I felt so humiliated. How dare this cocky jerk laugh!

"Stop it!" I clenched my teeth and fists. Should I knock this jerk out until he forgets this ever happened?

"You should see your face right now! You're like a tomato! Also, who wouldn't laugh when they see someone was struggling inside a wardrobe with his butt sticking out?!"

And then, he guffawed again. My mind was thinking of ways for me to make him have amnesia without killing him. I think, I've read that somewhere. Which part should I smack him? His frontal lobe or his cerebellum? Ah... It's the hippocampus. Now, how should I injure his hippocampus?

"How did you even manage to find this?" Zephyr lifted the handcuffs to my face and dangled it around. "Even I forgot that I have this."

I stood up while straightened up my clothes. I decided to ignore the grinning idiot and started to pick up the clothes lying on the carpeted floor. Great. Now I have to clean up this mess.

Zephyr stared at the furry handcuffs in his hands while looking like he was thinking of something. I had a very bad feeling about this. He turned his head at me while grinning, showing his white fangs which were sticking out more than his rows of teeth.

"Hey, I've watched some videos online, and in the videos, two people who weren't getting along were handcuffed to each other..."

"NO."

I didn't even have to look at him, but I knew he was showing an evil grin. Nope. Not gonna. I knew what he was going to say.

"Come oooon... You didn't even let me finish!" he whined.

What is wrong with this idiot? I thought he hated me, an omega.

"Not a chance. Stop thinking about stupid things and just mind your own business," I objected firmly. Loud and clear.

Zephyr squatted next to me, and at the same time, his lips were curling upwards. His right hand was already cuffed. His left hand was eagerly wiggling and pointing at my left wrist.

"Stop it," I warned.

"Relax. Just for a sec. Then, I'll uncuff you."

I didn't know why I just let him did it. Maybe I just wanted him to do what he wanted until he was satisfied and then, he'll leave me alone. Nevertheless, I had a gut feeling that something is going to turn out wrong.

And... I jinxed myself.

"I can't find the key..." Zephyr said as he looked at me with a panic face.

Great. (ノ-_-)ノ~┻━┻