Chapter Text
Haechan would say he was happy in his marriage if anyone asked. He was married to his childhood best friend, why wouldn't he be happy?
When they had first mated and married four years ago, it had been arranged by their respective families, the two sides agreeing that it would be mutually beneficial to their companies and to the boys themselves.
He had been excited then, having a crush on Mark since they were kids, and finding out it was mutual during their mating was one of the best moments of his life. Mark loved him, he loved Mark, and nothing could stop that happiness.
Haechan didn't like acknowledging the familial or societal pressure on their marriage. It had to work, or else their families and their companies would suffer. The works had been put in place in the past years.
Now that Mark had taken over his father's company, their families' companies would combine. They would become the biggest tech company in the country. The media had been buzzing about the story for years, following the pair.
The media had a lot of assumptions about their marriage. That they were incompatible, scared of publicity together, their marriage would end poorly, etc., but there was one big one.
People were beginning to assume Haechan was infertile.
Why else would it be four years into their marriage and there was no baby?
Haechan was twenty-five now, his fertility years were dwindling in the eyes of the public. In fact, most people thought he should've been pregnant in the first year, his own family included.
"It'll happen in due time," Haechan's mother had said shortly after the mating, "Don't rush your body, you'll be ready when its ready."
But now, even she was pushing for a grandchild.
Mark's mother was the only one who seemed to not lose faith in Haechan. She would insist it was all God's timing.
God's timing was starting to look like never.
And it was not like Haechan and Mark had not been trying. In fact, if anything, they were trying too hard.
Each heat and rut spent together for the last two years was spent in the best positions for child production. They even got fertility tested, and both were perfectly fertile. The doctor had simply said that they had to be patient.
Haechan could feel that patience dwindling.
Mark had stopped saying things about pups during sex, like he was doubting Haechan's ability to take his sperm. It drove Haechan crazy every heat, wanting to mention it but scared his alpha would simply write it off as impossible now.
But if anyone asked, he was happy in his marriage, in his mate bond.
The only ones who seemed to notice that he wasn't were his friends.
"Haechan, you look tired, are you okay?" Doyoung asked him at the omega lunch-in.
The others seemed to tune in from eating at the question, like they were also curious about it.
Haechan feigned a smile. "Yeah, I just had my heat, so I'm pretty beat."
Chenle hummed in agreeance. "I'm usually beat after my heats too, but don't yours go well considering you have Mark?"
"Usually, but Mark is on a business trip right now, so he left after my heat was over."
The silence that followed at the table was deafening.
Haechan felt Doyoung put a hand on his shoulder next to him, and Renjun, who was across from him, looking extremely concerned.
"Didn't your heat just end? Like two days ago?"
Haechan shrugged off Doyoung's hand and nodded. "He left yesterday."
"And when does he return?" Renjun asked.
"Not til next week."
Haechan would be lying if he said his heart didn't ache when he said it. Everyone at the table knew that he was extra clingy after heat, so much so that Mark usually took two weeks off work just to spend it with him.
"And you're… okay with that?" Jaemin piped in, and Haechan realized everyone was looking rather concerned at him.
"Guys, I'm seriously fine. He's just been swamped with work since the company merge is happening soon. My father is putting a lot of pressure on him," Haechan reasoned, but even he knew that wasn't a proper excuse for Mark cutting his leave short.
Haechan knew that if his father knew how he felt, Mark wouldn't have had to go on the trip, and he would still be there with him. But is that what Mark wanted?
Mark had been distant since the company merge started a few months ago. He was usually late coming home, either working or going out to company dinners, and he left early in the morning. Sometimes he even spent the night at the office on his couch.
Haechan, at first, didn't take it to heart. He knew there was a lot of pressure on the alpha, and he wanted to be as supportive as possible. He would handle the pressure of the family to have a baby, and Mark would handle the pressure of the companies.
But now, Haechan felt neglected. He knew that, and still he did not tell anyone, especially not Mark. The last thing his alpha needed was added stress.
After the lunch-in, Haechan returned to his luxury apartment he shared with his alpha. The moment he stepped inside, the apartment wreaked of his heat scent, but he was startled to notice that Mark's scent was fainter than usual.
Had Mark not released of it much during his heat?
Haechan could've swore he smelled the alpha during the whole process, but his heat was, well, different this time around. He had definitely been in heat, but he had been dazed and distant, and it had felt like Mark was hardly there. It had been like his mind was elsewhere during the whole thing, and Haechan had even woken up to him working on his laptop a few times.
Mark was nothing if not a workaholic, but Haechan never thought it would've been brought into their home like that, and now Haechan realized Mark's scent was barely in the living room anymore.
The dizziness that hit him after the realization was so intense he nearly collapsed on the spot. His entire being was screaming one thing.
Wrong.
Why was Mark's scent barely there after they had spent a whole heat together?
Why was it just Haechan's scent in the apartment?
Why wasn't Mark here?
Panic rose in his chest, his inner omega thrashing and whining at not being able to smell his alpha. The dizziness made his eyesight spot, and his chest tightened at the hollowness and the lack of scent left.
He slowly sunk to the floor, back against the door. The hollowness expanded from his chest and across his whole body, yet he had never felt so heavy before.
He knew he should call someone, call Mark, but the dizziness was so consuming he couldn't see properly.
His scent, distressed, spread across the space, covering the heat scent and the lack of Mark's pheremones. His own distress was so strong it choked him, and tears began to streak down his face.
Haechan slumped to the side, head hitting the floor, one thought consuming him.
Where is my alpha?
His vision went dark.
There was a frantic knock on the door. Haechan was slow to waking up, but he could feel the vibration of the knock on his back. It was continuous, and there was someone saying his name through the door.
He picked himself up the best he could, but his body felt so heavy it took him a second. His head was still spinning, but he opened the door anyways so the knocking would stop.
He was greeted by the houskeeper's son, Sungchan, an alpha, looking rather panicked.
"Mr. Lee! Thank goodness, are you okay?"
He blinked, still stunned, not quite processing what was happening, but he could smell his own distress in the air…
Oh no.
He stumbled backwards at the realization he was having.
The dizziness, the hollowness, the heaviness… they were all signs of one thing.
A drop.
Sungchan caught his arm before he could fall again, his distress coming out of his scent in waves.
"I should call your alpha-"
"No!" Haechan panicked, "Don't."
The last thing Mark needed on his plate was the fact that his omega dropped. Haechan knew that. Mark was a good alpha, so good to him, even after all these years of Haechan not giving him a baby.
But then why did he drop?
It had to have been a fluke.
"I should at least take you to the hospital, Mr. Lee," Sungchan insisted.
"No, I know what happened, please just let me rest," Haechan said in return, pulling his arm away from Sungchan's grip. "You can return to clean the apartment tomorrow."
Sungchan hesitated, but he eventually nodded, leaving Haechan to the dark apartment and closing the door.
He must've been out for a while, for it to be dark. He slowly made his way to the bedroom, skipping dinner and opting for sleep.
The distress in the air was a problem, however, but he didn't have much energy for a shower. The hollowness was also remaining in his chest, but he remembered reading somewhere that drop suppressants could control your scent and the emptiness.
He plopped onto the bed, and before he let sleep consume him, he ordered some drop supressants from the pharmacy.
Just before he was fully asleep, his phone began to buzz repeatedly on the nightstand. He grabbed it, answering without looking.
"Hello?"
"Hey baby," Mark purred out on the other side. "You didn't answer my call earlier. I was worried."
Haechan nearly shot up out of bed at hearing Mark's voice, the hollowness subsiding a little bit. "Sorry, I've been sleeping all day."
"You tired?"
"Yeah, post-heat fatigue." A blatant lie, but Haechan couldn't afford to tell Mark the truth.
"I'm sorry, baby, that's awful."
"It's okay." A beat. "I miss you."
"I miss you too, I actually have some bad news."
Haechan's heart nearly stopped in his chest. "What?"
"This branch is struggling more than I realized, I'm going to have to extend the trip by another two weeks."
Another two weeks. Tears began to well up in Haechan's eyes, but he choked them down. "Oh, okay, whatever you need to do."
"Thank you for being so understanding, I love you."
"I love you too."
"Sleep well, okay? I'll talk to you tomorrow?"
"Yeah, okay."
"Alright, good night baby."
"Good night, Mark."
Haechan cried himself to sleep that night, the hollowness the only presence with him.