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“Daddy!”
Baekhyun looked up from his phone and smiled widely, something he rarely did as the smile only showed up when this one person was near and happy and laughing.
This one person was his daughter.
“Hey, sweetheart.” He lowered his body to accept the tiny sweetheart in his embrace. The twenty six year old man laughed heartily as the body crashed into his; a pair of chubby hands immediately latched to his neck.
“Daddy take so long,” his daughter, Haneul, whined and pouted, knowing too well that his daddy was weak for her pout, the pout that she inherited from him.
“Yesterday you told me not to pick you up so fast because you still want to play!” Baekhyun growled playfully, biting Haneul’s cheek to hear her laugh again.
No matter how tired he was, Haneul’s laugh could brighten up his whole day.
“Well not today, daddy,” Haneul shoved Baekhyun’s face away with her two little hands, even though it was kind of useless as she was being carried by him.
“Daddy owe me yummy food now.”
Again Baekhyun laughed as he put Haneul on the baby seat and fastened her seatbelt. “You little monster. What do you want to eat?”
“Pancakes! Pancakes, daddy, at the mall!”
“But I don't want to go to the mall,” Baekhyun teased, getting inside the car once he was sure Haneul was safe. “Let’s go tomorrow, okay baby?”
“Daddy promise! Daddy say ‘tomorrow’, ‘tomorrow’ every day!” Haneul giggled. “I want now, daddy, please ?”
And there it was, Baekhyun's ultimate weakness, Haneul's puppy eyes. Despite not having the same shape of eyes as him, the puppy eyes were definitely inherited from him.
“Alright,” he sighed in defeat. But it wasn't really a defeat when Haneul cheered and started saying how handsome his daddy looked.
***
Once they had finished eating pancakes—in which Haneul only ate half of hers—they decided to walk around a little longer. It was not everyday that they went to the mall, since Baekhyun really hated crowded places. But there were things that he needed to buy for Haneul.
He was in the middle of picking up new winter coats for the little sweetheart, since Haneul grew up too fast much to his dismay. Usually he held his daughter by the hand, to make sure that the little menace didn't wander around.
That day, he was distracted.
“Hello!”
Baekhyun immediately turned around when he heard his daughter’s cheery shriek; only then he noticed that Haneul had run up to a total stranger in the store.
“Haneul!” He called as he walked to her and the tall stranger. “Baby, what did I say about talking—”
“Daddy, he smells like you!” Haneul cut him as she caught his leg. And Baekhyun froze.
At the same time, the stranger turned around.
Oh fuck.
It wasn't a stranger. It was someone he knew quite well, as he saw him every Tuesday and Friday in his class. Those big, curious eyes. Those plump lips. That black, curly hair. That tall figure. He knew them all too well.
It was his student.
“Chanyeol,” he breathed, feeling his heart beat faster than the hummingbirds.
Chanyeol ran away.
***
Baekhyun sighed as he got out of his daughter’s room, finally managed to get her to sleep. Ever since Chanyeol ran away earlier at the mall, Haneul had thrown tantrums, confused as to why the man ran away and why he smelled like his daddy.
Of course Haneul still didn't know the reason yet, as she was still a child, and had yet to understand the basic things of the world, moreover complicated things as scents.
But Baekhyun knew, he knew very well what it meant to have the exact same scent.
It meant mates .
He groaned in frustration as he remembered the way Chanyeol looked at him in horror and ran away as fast as he could. Poor boy. He must have been so shocked to find out that he was mated with someone like Baekhyun.
Fuck, he thought before he took out his phone and dialed a number. He decided to pour himself a glass of whiskey—something he rarely did since Haneul was born, but that night he needed it.
“Hello?”
“Soo,” he whined. “I’m fucked up.”
“Are you okay? Is Haneul okay?” His best friend of fifteen years asked frantically from the other side, always worrying about the little family despite having one to call his own.
“Haneul’s fine. It’s just—I think…,” he released a deep breath before he whispered, “I think I found my mate.”
“Holy shit!” There was a noise of disagreement, probably from Kyungsoo’s mate, then Kyungsoo whispered, “How? Who?”
Then Baekhyun told him what happened hours prior at the mall. How Haneul ran to a stranger. How she said that the stranger smelled like him.
How the stranger turned out to be his student and ran away.
“What should I do now?” He asked tiredly after explaining everything.
It took a while for Kyungsoo to answer. “ I think you should wait until he comes to you,” he finally said.
“What?”
“You hear me. Wait until he comes to you on his own. Don’t look for him, especially not tomorrow.”
“But—”
“Think about it. He’s seventeen — he’s not supposed to meet his mate yet. Imagine how shocked he was to find out that his mate is his teacher, much older, and,” Kyungsoo sighed, “has a kid already?”
Baekhyun was quiet for a while, thinking about what Kyungsoo just said. While being mated to someone older was not out of norm, but since Baekhyun was his teacher and Chanyeol was probably underaged, it would be inappropriate. And about his child, his pretty little Haneul…
“What if he doesn’t accept me?” Baekhyun whispered in fear. “Or Haneul?”
“Don’t overthink just yet, Baekhyunnie. And you know mates are meant to be. No one will ever know you better than your mate. I think once you tell him, he will understand.”
Doubt it, Baekhyun thought, but kept it to himself as he knew Kyungsoo would scold him for being pessimist.
“I’ll wait until Friday then. If he doesn’t show up until then, I’m going to talk to him after class.”
After wishing the alpha ‘good luck’, Kyungsoo hung up. Bitterly, Baekhyun went back to bed, heart aching at the thought of his mate rejecting him.
***
Chanyeol didn’t look for him.
For the past three days, Baekhyun waited in his office waiting for the omega to knock on his door. But the waiting was futile, as the ones that knocked on the door weren’t the one he wanted to see.
It made his wolf restless, and it affected Haneul too.
Even though she was only three, Haneul knew something was wrong with his dad. And she had been wondering too why the omega at the mall smelled like him, and why she felt like he was supposed to come with them. Baekhyun could only try to distract her with cartoons and cookies, as he still had no idea how to explain.
On Friday, Baekhyun decided he would talk to Chanyeol after the class. Of course, that was if the boy came to his class. He had a bad feeling he wouldn’t, remembering the shocked face and how fast he ran away.
So he was pleasantly surprised to see Chanyeol sitting at his usual desk, covering his face with his copy of Macbeth.
The boy avoided his gaze the whole time, even when he was standing directly in front of his desk. So Baekhyun didn’t even try to get his attention and instead focused on teaching.
When the bell rang though, he noticed that Chanyeol didn’t immediately walk out of his class.
“Park Chanyeol?” He called out in his formal tone, as there were still others around. “Mind staying for a while?”
The poor omega looked up with his doe eyes, looking shocked, then scared, before he nodded timidly. After everyone left, he walked to the door and closed it. Then he sat on his chair again, to put some distance just in case Chanyeol was uncomfortable.
“So—”
“I’m sorry!”
He stopped what he was saying when he heard the boy, definitely not expecting the boy to say anything and even more to apologize.
“What? Why are you—”
“I—I just… I don’t—” Chanyeol said panicky, fiddling his fingers and looking at his lap instead of Baekhyun.
“Hey, calm down,” Baekhyun said, releasing his pheromones without realizing it just because he wanted the omega to calm down. “Take a deep breath, Chanyeol. It’s okay.”
Chanyeol visibly took a deep breath, but he still messed with his fingers.
“Why are you apologizing, Chanyeol?” Baekhyun asked softly after a while.
The young omega whimpered a little, thinking thoroughly before he finally answered. “I—I’m sorry. For running away. I was—I panicked.”
“Of course you did. It was kind of abrupt and anyone would be shocked knowing their mate—”
“I don’t want to ruin your marriage!” Chanyeol cut him off again. When he looked up, there were tears threatening to fall down, and Baekhyun had never stood up so fast in his life before. “I’m—I’m not… a homewrecker.”
It confused Baekhyun for a while before he remembered. Oh . Slowly he walked closer to Chanyeol and stopped when he was two seats away.
“Is that… is that why you ran? Because you thought I’m married?” He whispered, holding back the smile that was threatening to show up.
The omega frowned and looked at him, confused. “Aren’t you?”
“Not because I’m much older?” Baekhyun asked.
“Huh? My mama is twelve years older than dad.”
“Not because I’m your teacher?” The alpha was smiling now, couldn’t help but feel relief at the boy’s confused answer.
“I—no. I mean, that—that’s a problem… I think, but I—” Chanyeol stopped as he turned red. “Why are you smiling?” He whined.
Baekhyun chuckled as he saw Chanyeol’s pout, looking too adorable for his own good. There was a lot to talk about, he thought.
“Do you want to have dinner with me? I need to explain some things.”
***
Haneul loved Chanyeol.
The moment the omega stepped inside their house and introduced himself to her, Haneul asked to be picked and refused to be put down even when her dad told her not to burden Chanyeol. But of course Chanyeol adored Haneul the moment she batted her eyelashes at him, so he spent dinner with Haneul on his lap.
They still hadn’t talked about anything regarding the fact that they were fated mates, as Haneul was still awake. Instead they spent dinner talking about things such as TV shows, upcoming movies, books, every single thing and smiled in confusion at the almost similar taste.
As expected from mates.
When Haneul was curled under the blanket—after asking Chanyeol to tell her a bedtime story—both of them were seated on the sofa.
“So,” Chanyeol started. “Haneul is a lovely child.”
“She is,” Baekhyun nodded, taking a sip of his tea.
“And she’s yours.”
The older looked at the omega as he said those words, noticing the pain underneath them. And Chanyeol did look like he was in pain, as if he was finally showing his true feelings, the one he had been hiding the moment he took one glance at Haneul and realised that the child was genetically Baekhyun’s.
Meaning that he had someone else.
“I’m going to explain from the very beginning,” Baekhyun said softly. “Will you please listen? Listen to what I have to say before coming to a conclusion, before making a decision about… about this whole thing.”
Chanyeol took a deep breath and exhaled shakily, but nodded anyway.
“Do you not wonder why it was Haneul who realised we are… mates? Why didn't I say anything before even though we have seen each other for almost a year?”
The omega shook his head slowly.
“I can’t smell,” Baekhyun said. Chanyeol gasped, then looked at him sympathetically. “The scents, to be exact. I can smell other things just fine, but not wolf’s scent. That’s why I never realised that my mate has been sitting under my nose for the past year.”
“Haneul’s mom… she was my best friend. We grew up together. But she was sickly, and… well, her destined pair didn’t want a sickly beta.” Baekhyun walked to the cabinet near the TV set and took a frame that was quite hidden. He gave the frame to Chanyeol, where there was a teenage Baekhyun smiling widely with a teenage girl—Haneul’s mom.
“A dysfunctional alpha and a sick beta… I didn’t think I’d ever find my mate. Jieun…, she wanted to have a family of her own. And I loved her enough to give it to her… knowing that it might be one of the last wishes I could ever grant her,” Baekhyun continued, looking at the way Chanyeol was tracing his finger on the old picture.
“We never mated… She couldn’t bear my mark as she was too weak and it would be too painful for her. We just got married and had Haneul a year later.”
Despite feeling a slight pain inside his heart at the thought of his mate having been with someone else, holding someone else, Chanyeol asked. “What happened to her?”
“Her illness became too severe, due to pregnancy. She… she already knew this would happen, but she was kind of persistent,” Baekhyun chuckled. “And the doctor said there was a 60% chance of survival.”
“She did survive,” the alpha closed his eyes. “For a month. Then she became too weak to even hold Haneul, even when she was less than a kilogram.”
“I’m sorry,” Chanyeol said when Baekhyun didn’t continue.
“It’s inevitable,” the alpha said softly, looking at Chanyeol. “I’m sorry, Chanyeol. I didn’t know that we would have met. But I don’t regret having Haneul… She was the only one I had for the past three years.”
Chanyeol gently put down the frame on the table. It was a lot for him to take in… Meeting his mate, finding out that he was his teacher, finding out that he had a wife, and now a little girl.
“I completely understand if you don’t want to be mated with me,” Baekhyun said slowly when Chanyeol was quiet for too long. “It is perfectly understandable. And you’re still in high school too, so this should be the least of your concern. I don’t want to interfere with your life or make it seem as if you don’t have a choice, because you do.”
The younger looked at him dumbfounded before he frowned. “I—I don’t really mind, I think,” the prettiest roses bloomed across his cheeks. “I mean… it’s kind of… hard, to accept the fact that you were married before. I might need time to think. But I’m not—it’s not like I’m completely against it.”
His answer was unexpected, if Baekhyun was to be honest. He expected the younger to just reject the idea, or get mad at least. But he was calmer than he thought he would be.
“I—okay. I’m quite surprised,” he laughed softly. “I guess… We could wait for another eight months before we start—”
“Eight months?” Chanyeol cut him—the way he frowned had an almost similar effect to Haneul’s puppy eyes. “So you’re not… we’re not gonna talk for eight months? Like, complete stranger?”
“Well, you’re still a minor,” Baekhyun pointed out with an apologetic smile. “And my student. I don’t want any of us to get in trouble, to be honest.”
“Not even talking?” Chanyeol tried again, this time adding a pout. “It’s not like…, we’re gonna do anything. I just wanna know you better before I make my decision.”
It was difficult.
Baekhyun knew that the best choice would be to start once Chanyeol had graduated. That way they wouldn’t have to worry about what people might say, and Baekhyun didn’t have to go to jail for talking to his underaged mate.
But God Chanyeol’s pout was making it difficult to say it—really similar to the way Haneul would ‘force’ him to do what she wanted.
“You’re a minor,” he stated the obvious.
“But I’ll turn eighteen next month,” Chanyeol mumbled, looking dejected. “I just wanna know you, nothing more.”
Baekhyun closed his eyes for a moment to think about the worst case scenarios.
“You said you need time to think first, right?” He finally said. “I have a kid, Chanyeol. So you need to think about it thoroughly. Will your parents accept her? Will you accept her knowing she’s not yours?”
“So until your birthday, please think about everything thoroughly. On your eighteenth birthday, we’re going to talk again.”
The student looked very much like he wanted to protest, but after mulling over Baekhyun’s words, he nodded.
“What if I want to ask about assignments?” He asked innocently.
“Silly,” Baekhyun laughed. “I am your teacher, nothing else.”
“For now,” the younger said cheekily.
***
Baekhyun spent the weekend thinking about Chanyeol.
He went to Kyungsoo’s house, asking for his and Junmyeon's opinions as his little girl played with their twin. Both of them sympathized with him, but told him that it was the best decision—although Kyungsoo preferred he waited until graduation. When he went home that Sunday, he thought that he had made a decision—they were mates, and Haneul loved Chanyeol.
But seeing Chanyeol in his Tuesday class made him feel doubtful again. Chanyeol was his student; so young, so many possibilities awaited him in the future.
Would it be the right thing to proceed right after graduation, when the boy had barely tasted life?
Shouldn’t he give Chanyeol freedom first? To travel the world, to meet new people, to be with others. Because even though they were fated to be mates, who knew if Chanyeol would be happier with someone else? It wasn’t like it was uncommon, to be happier with someone other than your fated mate.
Baekhyun could barely focus the whole day.
“Mr. Byun?”
He jumped off his seat when he heard Chanyeol’s voice, heartbeat accelerating as he entered and closed the door.
“Is—is this a bad time?” The omega asked.
“Oh, no. It’s—it’s fine. What is it, Chanyeol?”
The boy blushed before he approached Baekhyun’s table. “I want to ask… about your comment in my last paper.”
***
Byun Baekhyun didn’t look like he was someone that had a little girl already.
As he explained to Chanyeol about what he interpreted wrongly in his paper, he looked like someone who would prefer to go to the club instead of taking care of a child. But he didn’t; he had a little girl and he was doing a hella great job raising her by himself.
Over the weekend, Chanyeol had been thinking a lot.
At first, he found his heart aching whenever he thought about the fact that his mate had someone before him. There was something akin to jealousy, because he couldn’t help it. But after talking to his sister about it, he came to accept it, knowing that if he was Baekhyun and couldn’t smell anyone, he would probably end up with the person he cherished the most.
Then he thought about their age difference. He didn’t spend too much time thinking, as he was surrounded by couples with varied age differences—his sister was three years younger than her mate, and their parents had a good twelve years. So he figured it wouldn’t be a problem.
In the end he thought about Baekhyun, as a person. He had never had any problem with his English teacher—admired him even for his ability to keep the class interesting and make the laziest student do their homework. He was funny and kind, and from their conversation when they had dinner together, he knew that they had a lot in common, and that Baekhyun was witty enough to keep the conversation going even though the topic was unfamiliar to him.
And by Tuesday, Chanyeol had made a decision.
“Is that all?” Baekhyun asked once he was done explaining.
Chanyeol nodded. “Thank you, sir.” But instead of leaving, he lingered while shuffling on his feet.
“Anything else?” The alpha asked.
“I just… want to let you know that my birthday is on the 27th of November,” Chanyeol said quietly. “I’ll act like I know nothing and see if we really are mates once I get to smell your scent.”
Baekhyun looked taken aback for a moment, before he smiled softly.
“Okay,” he said. “Until then, Chanyeol.”
Chanyeol nodded firmly. “Good afternoon, Mr. Byun.”
The calendar in his room was crossed every single day.
***
“I’m outside.”
“Okay, please wait a minute.”
Chanyeol ran down the stairs, ignoring his parents' scolding. He could care less—it was his birthday after all.
Only one thing mattered to him that day.
He took a deep breath before he opened the door.
“Happy birthday.”
Baekhyun really did smell like him.