Chapter Text
Her thumbs tapped irritably against the steering wheel.
“No! Whatever you do, do not post anything on social media about it. You’ve done nothing wrong, Dahyun.”
Siyeon sighed and furrowed her brows at the large semi-truck driving painstakingly slowly in front of her. It wasn’t like she was in a hurry to get back to her ensuite apartment, but the truck driving so far below the speed limit was starting to get on her nerves. As if she didn’t already have enough annoyances to deal with today…
She glanced over her shoulder and clicked on her blinker to try and merge into the other lane.
“What I want you to do, Dahyun, is talk with Jungwon in Legal. He will walk you through what to do. The people who made those libel comments will be dealt with.”
Dahyun’s insistent rebuttal came through loud and clear and Siyeon grumbled in disapproval at both Dahyun’s retort and the amount of cars in the way of her changing lanes.
Maybe she ought to crash at Gahyun’s apartment instead. Gahyun cuddles on her cozy couch sounded much preferable to a cold and lonely apartment that otherwise awaited the Paradise Entertainment CEO on the top floor. Just thinking about Gahyun carding her fingers through her hair and soothing this growing migraine was enough to quell the boiling agitation within her.
Yeah.
She was going to call Gahyun as soon as she hung up with the panicking idol to suggest the change in plans.
“It’s not a scandal yet, Dahyun. You were not underage drinking and you were not caught doing anything inappropriate. You were at a party and people took photos of you hugging your friend. Those comments are just trying to get a rise out of you to cause a scandal. Just call Jungwon and- What the fuck?!”
Siyeon slammed on breaks, and Dahyun’s confused voice bled through the speaker.
“I’ll talk to you later Dahyun. I’ve got to go.”
The CEO promptly ended the call and threw on the emergency signals of her car.
“Shit. Are you serious?!”
She pulled her car onto the shoulder of the highway and stopped.
“This can’t be real. Fuck.”
She checked to make sure it was clear for her to get out of the car and unbuckled.
“Of course it had to happen right in front of me.”
She exited the vehicle and turned on the flashlight of her phone.
Hurriedly, she rushed ahead of her car and towards the mass on the side of the road. As she approached, her heart sank, and her grip around her phone tightened in disbelief.
Curled into themselves was a person, shivering and clutching themselves in pain. Matted dark hair, either black or brown, clung to their pale skin, and they were completely bare save for a collar. She could only see the collar from the way a chain, still attached, reflected the light of her phone.
So she really didn’t imagine it.
A person really did jump out of the back of the semi-truck.
Well shit.
A thick metallic scent hit Siyeon’s nose before anything else. It almost smelled like blood.
Alarm flushed through the CEO as she knelt by the person.
“Hey, are you okay?”
The scent got stronger and the blood-like smell settled into the smell of ink. The person trembled and curled into themselves tighter.
Was the ink this person’s fear scent?
A car rushed past, and Siyeon jolted.
This wasn’t the time to hesitate. She couldn’t decipher what kind of injuries this person might have been nursing, especially with the smell of blood and ink mixing confusingly in her head, but she needed to get them off the side of the road as soon as possible.
Crouching down, she braced herself to lift them and hoisted them up. They were alarmingly light and alarming warm for a cool night like this.
Oh fuck.
Another scent was laden deep underneath the ink, and it made Siyeon’s entire body ignite with warmth. Almond and vanilla with a hint of sweet floral assaulted Siyeon’s system like walking into a library filled with old books.
Siyeon didn’t have to decipher the smell to know exactly what this was. Her body reacted to it almost immediately.
This person was in heat.
Shit. Shit. Not good. Why do you have to be in heat too?!
Siyeon gritted her teeth and tried not to breathe in as she stepped back onto the pavement towards her car. She clutched the person tighter to her in effort not to drop them, and hurried to the back seat. Carefully but urgently, Siyeon managed to get the door open and set the omega onto the pleather.
She let out a breath and reared back to drink in some fresh air and avoid the brunt of the heat pheromones exuding off the newcomer.
“Okay, hold on.”
Siyeon was mostly saying it to herself, but it was a statement to the cowering person as well.
She went to the passenger seat and searched through the glove box for her emergency scent-blocker patches. She pulled out a few and returned to the backseat.
“Sorry, I need to put these on you, okay? You’re on your heat, and I’m an alpha so this is for our safety, okay?”
The person didn’t respond to her. Their eyes were still shut, and they squeezed their thighs together with discomfort.
“Okay…” Siyeon gulped and reached in to place the patches over the scent glands on the person’s neck and under their arms. Now that she was paying close attention, the person seemed apparently feminine and was covered in bruises and scratches.
Siyeon’s heart pounded heavily and an uneasy adrenaline matched her movements as she administered the patches without any resistance from the omega.
But as she went to leave the back seat, satisfied with subduing some of the heat pheromones, the woman suddenly grabbed her arm.
Siyeon gasped as the omega pulled the alpha’s arm down towards her intimacy with feverish need. She wanted Siyeon to pleasure her, and Siyeon’s eyes widened when she realized the intention. Heat flushed through her body, and her instincts flared with the desire to help an omega in need, but she quickly pulled herself back and away from the backseat.
“Nope! No. We’re not doing this,” she insisted in a panicked tone, and the omega responded with a pained whimper. The woman was flushed all over, and Siyeon worried if she was feverish because of her heat or something else. Siyeon sighed and grabbed the door.
“I’m sorry. I can’t help you right now, but I’m going to take you with me, alright? I’ll get you somewhere safe and we’ll look at your wounds there,” she narrated, but was only met with another whimper. The omega curled back into herself after realizing Siyeon wasn’t going to touch her, and Siyeon resigned to carefully closing the door.
Once a barrier was put between them, she closed her eyes and breathed in the clear Winter air.
One.
Two.
Three.
She slowly let out the breath and flexed her hands.
“Okay… okay… okay. This is fine. Yep. This is totally fine. I’m not panicking. So not panicking.”
She tried, and failed, to convince herself as she looped around to the driver’s seat of the car.
With haste, she reentered and buckled herself in. Then, she dared another look at the backseat and saw the woman shifting onto her side and pressing her back against the back of the seat. She was still curled into a fetal position, and Siyeon reprimanded herself for not buckling her in too.
Hindsight.
She set the car back in drive and set back onto the highway.
As the drive continued, Siyeon’s fingers started agitating against the steering wheel, and her jaw was starting to hurt with how aggressively she was grinding her teeth to stay focused.
Even though the scent-blocker patches were blocking the worst of the omega’s heat pheromones, the entire car was still saturated in it, and Siyeon’s body was not doing a good job at ignoring the scent.
“Fuck,” she hissed and pulled out her phone. With quick glances, Siyeon found the contact she was searching for and hit call.
After two rings, a familiar warm voice answered.
“Hello?”
“Minji, are you at your hanok right now?”
“I am, why?” Minji’s tone immediately shifted to concern, and it wasn’t hard to know why. Siyeon’s voice was already in a growl, and she didn’t waste any time on pleasantries.
“Good. I’m headed to your house right now, and I need you at your door in ten minutes.”
“Siyeon? What’s going on?”
“I have to focus on driving. Just be there.”
“Siy-!”
Siyeon clicked the line off and threw her phone into the passenger seat with a frustrated huff. She could barely concentrate on talking to Minji and driving at the same time, but she knew she couldn’t just show up without even announcing herself. She was panicking, her body was hot, and she was growing more and more worried with how deathly quiet her rider had become.
She glanced back.
The omega had gone completely still.
You better not be fucking dead.
She whined in her head and refocused on driving. She’d have to deal with that when she got to Minji’s house.
As soon as she passed her car onto Minji’s driveway, Siyeon threw it into park, turned it off and flung herself out of the vehicle. She raced to the back and opened the door to the woman she, hopefully, rescued from the side of the road.
She reached in and secured the omega into a protective embrace. The woman stirred a bit within her steady arms, and Siyeon sighed with relief. She had fallen asleep, not died.
“Hey, beautiful, it’s okay. I’ve got you,” she cooed soothingly, and the omega merely clutched onto Siyeon’s shirt and murmured incomprehensibly.
Siyeon frowned at the lack of coherency the woman had this entire time and wondered if it was possible that she was drugged. She barely seemed to be hanging on to consciousness.
Between the metal collar around her neck, the bruises and potentially being drugged, Siyeon had no doubt that the woman in her arms had just escaped from being an omega slave. If that were the case, then Siyeon wouldn’t be surprised if omega slaves were tranquilized during their heats or during a transfer.
Siyeon held her tighter and more protectively at the thought. She couldn’t begin to imagine what the woman within her arms had been through.
But she was out of there now. Siyeon had her, and she was bringing her somewhere safe.
With renewed vigor, Siyeon marched to the door of Minji’s traditional home and managed to knock on the door. Within the same moment, the door swung open and Minji immediately gasped in shock. Her eyes shot wide, and her entire body swayed backwards in surprise. Her mouth dropped open as she locked her attention onto the naked and obviously injured woman in Siyeon’s arms with a broken chain dangling from her neck.
“Siyeon?! What the hell happened? Who is this? What happened to her? Why didn’t you go to the emergency room?! Why are you-?!”
Without answering Minji’s rapid fire questions, Siyeon pushed past her friend and into her house.
“I need to use one of your spare rooms. We need to get her settled. She’s on her heat, and she might have a fever.”
Siyeon continued walking through Minji’s house, knowing exactly where Minji’s spare rooms were. Minji hurried alongside her before cutting her off.
“Siyeon, you’re going to have to explain this to me before I can let either of you stay here.”
“I know!” Siyeon hissed angrily. Her head was spinning. She needed to get the girl somewhere comfortable and stable. “And I will…” she added more softly, not wanting to lash out at one of her best friends. “I just need your help, so please, help me Minji. I’ll explain everything after”
“Okay,” Minji huffed resignedly and turned around. “Come on. I’ll drop you two off at the room and then get some first aid.”
“Thank you, Minji.” Siyeon adjusted her grip and followed after the owner of the homestead who was not so subtly shaking her head with disbelief as they hurried across the layout.
They turned a corner and the visage of Minji’s partner loomed in the hallway.
It was Yoohyeon, and Siyeon felt a pang of reactive fear shoot through her. Yoohyeon could not be here, especially not with an omega in heat.
“Yoohyeon, you need to leave,” Siyeon commanded in little more than a hiss and tried to hurry past her. Yoohyeon caught Siyeon by the arm, obviously reading the situation almost as soon as it appeared in front of her.
“Siyeon, are you sure?” Her voice was low and concerned, and Siyeon yanked her arm out of Yoohyeon’s hand.
“Yoohyeon, you have too many problems to be able to help with this right now. She’s in heat, and you know how you get. It’s for the best if you leave.”
Yoohyeon narrowed her eyes, but relented and backed out of the way.
“I’m not leaving, but I will be on the other side of the house if you need me.”
Siyeon gruffed out a faint acknowledgement and decided that the compromise was good enough for now and also not worth the trouble of arguing. She had more pressing matters to take care of than whether Yoohyeon was going to remain in the house or not.
She continued after Minji, and thanked the stars that Minji opened the door to the spare room for her. She swiftly entered with a brief thanks to her friend and located the queen sized bed against the far wall.
“I’m going to go get the first aid kit and a wet cloth. You stay here with them until I get back,” Minji announced, and Siyeon replied with a short “got it” as she sped off.
Siyeon gently set the injured omega down onto the bed and carefully pried her clutching hands off her shirt. She thought that this would soothe the woman, yet as soon as the woman seemed to realize she was on a bed, her inky fear scent bled into the air again.
Siyeon felt herself go alert and removed her hands from the omega as soon as she was secure onto the bed. The omega was awake again, and this time, her eyes were open and steady on Siyeon.
“Hey there…” Siyeon carefully greeted and showed the palms of her hands in a show of passiveness. The woman adjusted on the bed, keeping her eyes locked with Siyeon’s, and Siyeon tried her best to interpret what might have been going on in her mind.
What was she afraid of right now?
Was it Siyeon? Being on the bed? Being in a new place? All of the above?
What was she doing?
Movement lower on the woman’s body drew Siyeon’s eyes downwards. The omega’s legs slowly parted before her, and Siyeon immediately shot her eyes back to the omega’s face in a panic. The woman was looking at her expectantly even though her hands were trembling as they grasped the comforter. It was as if she was waiting for Siyeon to simply take her right this moment, and Siyeon felt both sick to her stomach and an equally sick temptation stir within her.
“No,” she tried to shut it down as soon as possible. “I’m not going to do that to you. I know you’re on your heat, but I’m not going to just take advantage of you.”
Confusion seemed to crest over the woman’s expectant expression, and her legs only spread wider with a whimper.
“I said no…” Siyeon tried again, her voice faltering with an empathetic pain. The omega was probably desperate because of her heat, but by the looks of the bruises on her inner thighs and around her private parts, it was likely this woman had been sexually abused too, and Siyeon refused to be a part of that legacy.
Even if there was a repulsive tightness growing in her pants.
“I’m here,” Minji called from the doorway, and Siyeon breathed out a sigh of relief and turned around to Minji entering. She was glad to have an excuse to tear her gaze away from the omega offering herself to her, and stiffly approached Minji.
She felt dizzy, rough, and wrong. Her body screamed at her for moving away from an omega so clearly in need, begging for her, but Siyeon knew she couldn’t, shouldn’t. This was wrong. She needed to get out of this room and away from the omega so she could clear her head.
“I need to step out,” she whispered to Minji, and Minji gave her back a reassuring usher.
“Go. I’ll examine her. Yoohyeon is making tea in the kitchen.”
“Thanks,” Siyeon sighed as she hurried out and shut the door behind her. She was truly thankful that Minji was a very competent sports physician that was able to deal with a wide range of medical needs. Siyeon was confident that Minji would be able to take care of any physical injuries that the rescued woman might have as long as nothing was broken or internal.
It was also a good thing that Minji was an omega that was able to withstand being near another omega in heat too. She could take over while Siyeon tried to straighten herself out.
Siyeon shook her head and joined Yoohyeon in the kitchen at the opposite side of the house.
Yoohyeon raised a brow at her slouching posture and got up to pour her some tea. Yoohyeon didn’t say anything and instead just set the tea in front of Siyeon. Siyeon grunted as she sat and loathed how overtly sensitive she felt right now.
Yoohyeon sat across from her and fidgeted with her own cup as the silence dragged on.
Siyeon rolled her neck and then finally took a sip.
“You smell like shit.”
Siyeon nearly spat her drink.
“What the fuck? I smell fine.”
“Dude, your rut and your fear scent don’t mix well at all.”
Fear…
Perhaps Siyeon was feeling a lot more fear than she realized after all.
She just sighed and settled for sipping some more on her tea to try to calm down instead of retaliating.
This wasn’t what she expected to do tonight at all.
She watched Yoohyeon anxiously rub her fingers against her cup.
“You think you’ll be okay with another omega in the house, Yoohyeon?”
Yoohyeon just shrugged and looked at the old scratch on the cup she was running her fingers over.
“I’ll be fine if I stay on this side of the hanok while they’re on their heat,” she assured, and Siyeon nodded.
Yoohyeon was born of the alpha designation, but she identified as what was known as a beta. Betas were a neo-designation describing people who didn’t identify with their designation at birth but also didn’t identify with the opposite designation. Even so, Yoohyeon’s body still behaved the same way as an alpha’s did, or rather, in Yoohyeon’s case, her body was a lot more sensitive to things that triggered the alpha hormones than the average person. She may have been on hormone correcting medication now, but that didn’t mean certain things couldn’t potentially trigger her alpha hormones to run amok.
Things that would normally be hard for an alpha to control on a good day may be exponentially harder for Yoohyeon to control, much less feel comfortable with. Therefore, Siyeon wanted to be extra cautious and considerate of Yoohyeon’s circumstances. Had she known Yoohyeon would be visiting with Minji tonight, Siyeon might not have brought an omega in heat here at all. But, well, she didn’t exactly give Minji a chance to relay that detail anyways.
“But I’m more concerned about you, Siyeon. Are you going to be okay?”
Siyeon brought her hand to her face and rubbed her middle finger and thumb against her temples in stress.
“I will be. She’s my responsibility, so I need to get my act together.”
“Yes you do.” Minji’s voice startled Siyeon, while Yoohyeon just beamed happily at her partner as she entered the kitchen.
“Hey Minji,” Yoohyeon chimed, and Siyeon could just imagine Minji smiling.
“Hey.”
Minji sat next to Yoohyeon, and Yoohyeon offered an already poured cup to her. Minji thanked her with a kiss on the side of the head, and Yoohyeon giggled happily.
Sappy lovebirds.
Siyeon resisted the urge to roll her eyes.
And good thing she did because the mood immediately hardened again when Minji turned to look at Siyeon to give her report.
“She’s in good bodily shape aside from several bruises and some scrapes. Most of the bruises were done a while ago, so they look worse than they actually are. They did seem to have some lesions around their fingers, which may be from clawing at something for a long period of time, so I gave them some ointment and wrapped each of them in bandages. She still seems to have good dexterity in them, so it shouldn’t get in the way of her using them, but they do have a fever like you said. I think it comes from whatever drug she was given that’s making her very drowsy and loopy. I’ll need to get some medicine to calm down the fever since she’s on her heat, but I don’t want to give her anything while the drug is still in her system. That's all I was able to do for now. “
Siyeon let out a sigh of relief at the news. She was worried the woman was severely hurt from the way she was receding into herself earlier, but it sounded like most of her injuries were done prior to that and already healing. The scrapes probably came from jumping off the back of the semi-truck, and she had a sneaking suspicion the wounds around her fingers had something to do with the broken chain.
“Good. I was worried it would’ve been worse for them.”
“Yes, I agree, but thankfully she’ll make a full physical recovery, don’t worry. But now it’s your turn; you have a lot of explaining to do, Siyeon.”
Siyeon grimaced and explained the entire thing from the beginning, including how she was originally on the phone with Dahyun. After her recital, Minji frowned, confused by something. Something didn't add up.
“But why didn’t you take her to the emergency room?”
Siyeon shook her head. There was one detail she left out, and it was the biggest one for why she went to Minji’s instead of the hospital.
“She jumped out of a semi-truck with a government tag on it.”
Minji and Yoohyeon both froze.
“Are you… are you sure?”
“I know what I saw, Minji,” Siyeon grumbled, tightening her grip around her teacup. “I was stuck behind that damn truck for so long, I grew quite acquainted with the blue and white license plate.”
Both Minji and Yoohyeon sported very perturbed looks on their faces.
“So, if I brought her to the emergency room, she probably would’ve ended up going right back to whatever hellhole she just got out of, or worse, she could have been killed.”
Yoohyeon cautiously raised her hand to speak, but spoke before anyone acknowledged her.
“Could she not be a criminal in that case?”
Fury rose in Siyeon before she had a chance to realize her reaction.
“Really?! Naked and drugged in the back of a trailer? Covered in bruises on the insides of her thighs like she’d been raped?! No, Yoohyeon! She’s no criminal; she was being trafficked as an omega slave!”
Yoohyeon frowned and raised her hands defensively. “Okay, I get it. Chill, Siyeon. I’m not your enemy here. I hadn’t seen them for more than a split second, so I’m just making sure.”
Siyeon let out a slow and angry breath as she physically deflated. She knew she probably overreacted, but she couldn’t begin to imagine that the woman had been held lawfully. Not like that. Not like this.
Yoohyeon lowered her hands after Siyeon slackened her aggression and continued. “But what do you plan to do? None of us here are licensed psychiatrists to rehabilitate her, and if the government really is involved, we can’t just take her to one.”
“But we can give her a safe place. We can still do something to help. We can’t just abandon her,” Siyeon pointed out with a touch of distress to her tone, just enough to be pleading yet not enough to be desperate.
Minji, however, was not convinced. Her eyes narrowed towards Siyeon like a test scrutinizing her resolve.
“Siyeon, you do realize what you’re saying right now, right?” Minji leaned forward, pushing her presence further onto Siyeon. Despite being an omega, Minji always had the presence and authority more fit for an alpha. “You’re asking us to be responsible for the entire livelihood of someone we don’t even know, someone we don’t even know what has been done to. What they will need will probably be things we can’t provide. And she may need you to do things that will be a challenge for you to do too.”
Minji's voice dipped down, brooding and careful.
“Can you really say you’ll be prepared to do that for her?”
Siyeon’s shoulders rose defensively, and a spark of anger crept into her mind again.
“Of course I’m not prepared,” she grumbled. “You think I saw her jump out of a moving vehicle and curl up on the side of the road and prepared for my entire life to change? No. But it has now, and I can’t leave her like this, Minji. I will do whatever I need to. I have to.”
Siyeon looked between the couple on the other side of the table.
“With or without you two helping.”
Minji sighed and leaned back in her chair with a worried shake of her head.
“Are you sure? She may need around the clock care. She may need…”
Minji looked at Yoohyeon as she spoke and trailed off without finishing her statement. Yoohyeon caught the look and tilted her head curiously, but Minji simply returned her gaze to Siyeon expectantly. Siyeon’s hands clenched into fists.
Minji was right. The person she rescued probably would need around the clock attention and care. Depending on what kind of background she came from, it was possible she may not be able to do anything by herself at all.
But Siyeon was the one who decided to pick her up and bring her here despite knowing that doing so would likely have irreversible consequences. Siyeon’s heart pounded with anxiety and determination. She had to take responsibility. She had to find a way.
“I can ask Jihyo to take over the company for some time, and Yoohyeon can cover too. I haven’t taken any time off in three years, so I should have some time off accrued that I can take.”
Aside from Dahyun’s worry about a scandal, there were no looming high priority issues that hovered over the company that Siyeon absolutely had to be on site for. She could probably do a good chunk of any lingering responsibilities for the company while staying at Minji’s, at least for enough time to get the new woman settled and adjusted to the new setting.
Or so she hoped.
Yoohyeon scoffed at being essentially volunteered to cover for Siyeon’s preemptive absence as a CEO.
“I mean, sure, I could, but Siyeon… this is… a delicate situation. I think this is bigger than the three of us.”
“Yeah? And what’s the alternative, Yoohyeon?” Siyeon challenged, and Minji and Yoohyeon just looked at each other again.
Siyeon felt indignation surge inside her from witnessing that shared glance.
“Look, if you two don’t want anything to do with this, I can take her back to my suite and take care of them myself.”
“No, Siyeon, I can’t let you do that,” Minji interjected with a sigh. “My hanok is probably the best place for her right now, and it was probably a good idea you brought her here. Though superficial, she still has some injuries that still need tending to.” Minji ran her hand through her own hair a couple times with a decisive annoyance.
“I’ll help, but, just, we have to be very careful about this. This isn’t quite like raising a kid. We’re dealing with someone who may already be broken, violent… needy. And we can’t even guarantee that we might not make her situation worse. So it’s important that we have this conversation. We have to recognize the risks of what we’re doing.”
Yoohyeon nodded in agreement and added her own thoughts.
“Not to mention, if the government truly is involved, if something happens to her, we can’t just call medical services or The Institute if something goes wrong or she goes feral. We may even be caught up in some really bad legal thing if they find out. I mean, this could mean we’re acting against the government, right?”
Siyeon slumped her shoulders and brought a hand to massage some of the tension that built up in them.
“I’m very aware of the risks, guys. I’ll take charge and responsibility for this. It’s my fault for bringing her here anyways. And just in case, I want to write you two in as part of my pack too.”
“Your pack?!”
“Siyeon!”
Minji and Yoohyeon both exclaimed incredulously at the suggestion, and Siyeon slapped her palms onto the table before they could expand their protests.
“Listen!” She raised her voice. “I have to protect you two too. I am more than qualified for a pack, and if you both are a part of my pack, I can say I forced you two to help me in case the government does come for us. They’ll only take me away as the head alpha and give you two a slap on the wrist. It won’t be for anything else. It’ll just be on paper. I’m not asking you two to mate with me, but if you two are going to help, let me take responsibility for bringing them to your doorstep. I made this decision and came here without consulting either of you first. I can’t just let you two help without making sure you’re protected.”
Both of her friends were scowling nervously at her, and Siyeon softened her expression and offered her hands to them.
“You two may not be my mates, but I love you two too much to let something happen to you because of a spur of the moment decision I made.”
They stared at Siyeon for a hard and long moment before glancing at each other again. Minji sighed and Yoohyeon pouted. Minji reached out to put her hand into Siyeon’s first, and Yoohyeon slowly and more hesitantly mirrored the gesture.
“Let us talk it over and think about it before jumping into any pacts-.”
“-or packs…” Yoohyeon muttered, still pouting, and Minji looked at her partner and smiled amusedly. Then she looked back at Siyeon and continued.
“And we’ll get back to you about joining your pack or not. I don’t want to do anything else too hastily, okay? I want to actually look into what's all involved in officially forming a pack. It may not protect us like you think it does anyways, so I don’t want us rushing into it for no reason. Sound reasonable?”
“Yeah, I get it,” Siyeon nodded with a squeeze of both their hands. “Thank you two for even considering it. I don’t want to do anything that’s going to hurt you guys.”
“I know,” Minji smiled, and Yoohyeon rolled her eyes.
“Say that about your noogies and bear hugs then.”
“Love taps,” Siyeon offered, and Yoohyeon groaned and removed her hand from Siyeon’s. Minji also removed her hand, and Siyeon took that as a sign the moment was over.
“Really, thank you guys,” Siyeon insisted and made to stand. “I don’t know what I’d be doing right now without you two.”
“Panicking, probably,” Yoohyeon mused, and Siyeon couldn’t even argue against that.
“Yeah, probably.” She heaved a breath and wiped her hands on her thighs to nervously wipe away the cold sweat that formed onto her palms. “Alright, I’m going to swing back to my apartment to collect some things that I’ll need here. That is… if I can use the other spare room you’ve got, Minji…?”
Minji stood up too and gave Yoohyeon an affectionate kiss on the top of her head before whispering something inaudible to Siyeon but audible to Yoohyeon. Minji righted herself and began to walk Siyeon out of her home. Yoohyeon made no move to follow them.
“That’s fine. It’s yours. I figured you’d need it anyways.”
“Great, thanks Minji.” Siyeon paused just outside the doorway and looked back at Minji with an earnest expression. “Seriously, I can’t thank you two enough, so thank you so much for this.”
Minji just shook her head solemnly and placed her hand on the doorframe.
“You were there for me when I needed it the most, Siyeon. This is the least I can do for you.”
Siyeon felt her chest tighten at the memory, and her face fell with sympathy.
“Yeah… I’m sorry. This probably doesn’t bring back any good memories.”
Minji’s gaze simply drifted off of Siyeon at the notion, and Siyeon decided that it was probably time for her to go. The sooner she got back to her suite, the sooner she could return to check on the woman.
She turned to leave only for Minji to snatch her by the bicep.
“Siyeon,” Minji halted, and Siyeon looked back at her with a worried regard.
“What’s up?”
Minji hesitated and let go of Siyeon.
“I didn’t want to say this in front of Yoohyeon, but I need you to think carefully about this.”
Siyeon instinctively went on guard, but she still gave Minji her fullest attention.
“I know you said you’re willing to do whatever you need to, but her mind may not be very receptive to a lot of change at once. You remember how I came to you? I was a shell of who I was, and she may be worse.”
Siyeon felt uneasiness prick at her mind, and it retightened the muscles that had just begun to relax again.
“She may need you to behave differently from normal. We don’t know what kind of background she comes from, and Siyeon…” Minji hesitated again. This time, her arms crossed low on her body and her hands curled around her wrists, protectively concealing her scent glands in an all too familiar habit of anxiety. “She may expect you to act like the people who hurt her. And she may need you to… do things to her to help her feel grounded.”
Siyeon’s head reared back in shock.
“I’m not going to abuse her, Minji! What the fuck are you saying right now?”
Minji shook her head dismissively and pressed her arms closer to herself.
“No, of course not, but she may need you to take control. Remember? I needed you to make decisions for me until I could do things by myself again. I’m just saying she may be a worse version of me.”
Siyeon’s pulse was racing as she searched Minji’s expression, but the physician was completely serious and poignant.
“And Siyeon?” Minji paused again and held Siyeon’s appalled gaze. “I know you’re not going to want to do this, especially not after seeing those bruises on her, but she may need you to have sex with her too.”
At this, Siyeon completely recoiled from Minji and took a scoffing step backwards. She opened her mouth to retort, but Minji just sighed and continued, not at all surprised by Siyeon’s flabbergasted response.
“Wha-?!”
“She’s in heat right now, Siyeon,” Minji pointed out with harsh decisiveness, and Siyeon lost her voice. “And she probably came from a place where she was… well… she probably hasn’t had to deal with it on her own for a very long time. Even barely conscious, she tried to get me to… help her. It’s instinctual to her, and it can really mess with her hormones and mental state if now, of all times, she’s suddenly completely neglected.”
Siyeon’s mouth still hung open, unable to respond.
“I’m not saying you need to be rough with her, Siyeon, but she may need more than just a few head pats and a warm meal to get her through this. She may need you to do things that will make you feel like a monster until she starts unlearning her helplessness.”
Siyeon's mouth trembled shut as she tried to process this. She blinked and tried to find her words again, but once she met Minji’s eyes, her will wavered once more.
“If you say you’re willing to do whatever you need to, then can you truly say you can do that for her?”
Minji’s expression darkened, and her voice lowered deep enough to rumble through Siyeon’s resolve.
“Can you truly be a monster for her?”