[An's POV]

Did you, on one ominous day, thought that you might have been actually existed as a character in a crappy fictional book where the author LOVES to insert a few crappy, clichéd scenes here and there? 'Cause I do. I certainly, a hundred percent believe that somehow, I am one of the character in a crappy romance comedy novel. *Gasp!* How did I know? I don't know, maybe I am a genius? Tell me, dear author and readers, did you see any [psychological] or [thriller] or [crime] and [tragedy] tag in the story description? 'Cause I am most delighted to take the opportunity to be the hidden psycho killer that will kill a certain melted-brained alpha.

I turned my head towards that certain melted-brained alpha who was still panicking about the chain that connected our wrists together.

"M-maybe we should find a chainsaw or something," he suggested while looking at me with his guilt-ridden face.

I forced an "I'm-smiling-but-actually-I-wanna-kill-you" smile at him (which I'm sure it looked terrifying for him 'cause his face right now looked... Ahem! The horrifying ugliness cannot be described in words). Even I was surprised I could actually smile!

"To cut your wrist? I am most certainly delighted to hear your brilliant suggestion, dear husband. Would you, my beloved husband, grant me the honor to be the one who will be holding the chainsaw for the sacred ceremony? I promise I will be slow and gentle."

He shivered in fear. "I'm started to get scared when you talk very posh..." he whispered very quietly, as if he was afraid I could hear him. “Are you always this scary?"

“Are you always this dimwitted?”

He gritted his teeth in vexation and chose to shut his mouth. I let out a small sigh before leaning back against the side of the bed. We had already wasted two hours trying to find the key, and another hour desperately attempting to at least break the chain. As you could see, nothing worked. I didn't know what kind of durable pink furry handcuffs could be this hard to crack. The only fortunate thing about this was that this thing had never been used before. It would be disgusting for me to let a toy with a history of someone's kinks touch my royal skin.

"Let's just wait for the sun to rise. It's already too late in the night," he suggested again.

At this point, I would just give up. I was tired, stressed out, and too sarcastic to be doing anything. Guess my shower had to wait until tomorrow. He stood up and dragged me to the mini fridge next to the Nordic TV cabinet. He then took out a handful cans of beer and passed some to me. I grimaced in disapproval and shook my head. I shoved back the beers to him.

Zephyr chuckled at my reaction. "It's just a beer, not a dead rat. Haven't drank one before?”

"Alcohol consumption can force you to make lousy decisions. I don't want to lose my rationality especially in front of you." I tried to stay away from him, but seeing our still handcuffed wrists, it really made my decision of "staying away from him" looked plain stupid.

"C'mooonnn... It'll be fine. Let loose for tonight, 'kay? Stop being so cranky for once." He pulled me away to his grey corner couch and made me sit on it before he pushed a cold can of beer in my hand. He opened his can with a "crack" and started gulping away his beer. My eyes just couldn't help but followed the up and down movements of his Adam's apple when the alcohol gushing inside his throat.

He put down his can and looked at me. A playful, maybe a little smug, smirk hanging on his wet lips as he watched me fiddling with my unopened can.

"Here, gimme that," he uttered as he took the can that was already wet from the condensation from my hands and cracked it open. Next, he urged me to take the beer and egged me on to drink it.

I lost to my curiosity and took a courageous big gulp.

"Huk-"

A series of surprised coughs escaped from my throat. I could hear Zephyr guffawed at my reactions before he smacked on my back gleefully. I swear, this guy-

"Ugh! Gross!" I exclaimed angrily, and at the same time, I felt so humiliated.

"I didn't tell you to just drink it in one shot! Drink slowly this time, okay? It'll taste better for you, I promise."

I squinted my eyes as I stared at his amused curved eyes. Nevertheless, I followed his advised and took a little sip.

"Better?" he asked.

"Mmh," I responded.

He nodded his head smugly. "Told ya," he said.

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[Zephyr's POV]

Watching the curly-haired omega who was sitting next to me sipping his beer carefully from time to time was like watching a cautious child who was surrounded by strangers but still didn't stop stuffing his mouth with his cotton candy. Apparently, I was the stranger. My years of sloppy act of hating omegas was slowly fading away like morning mist. All that was left was this familiar sense of longing. Watching him right now, I even had forgotten about Vanessa, even though I was very dead set on not admitting it.

When I was shamelessly burying my eyes into the omega- An's flushed face, he suddenly turned his head into my direction. It caught me off-guard. I break away from our staring contest while fake coughing. Then, I heard him squeezed out a long sigh.

“Why do you suddenly wanted to pretend friends with me? That's kinda unsettling.”

An's question reminded me of the night when I saw him having a nightmare. His pitiful crying face was replaying vividly in my mind, that it caused a ripple in my heart. Starting that night, I felt restless about my harsh treatment towards him.

Nonetheless, I refused to say anything neither about what happened that night, nor about what I really felt at that time.

I brushed away my thoughts and murmured, "It's called 'effort'. Not 'pretending', mind you.”

He snorted and continued drinking his beer. I thought he didn't like alcohol? I guess, he was hooked on it after a few sips? Maybe next time, I should give him different kinds of drinks. Oh! He should try different types of cocktails too!

I accidentally let out a quiet laugh when I imagined how he would react when he finally got to taste the drinks. An gave me a freezing judging stare before he ignored me once again

I sighed.

It would be better if he could show me some expressions, though... To be honest, his piercing look and expressionless face still freaked me out a lot, because I couldn't read what he was thinking.

"Hey," I called him. He briefly took a glance at me before returning his gaze towards his can of beer.

"Won't you tell me about yourself?" I cautiously asked him while watching his little movements.

He didn't react to my question at all, only shifting a little on his seat. Perhaps, he was uncomfortable with my sudden probbing. I cleared my throat and tried to change my approach.

"Your name, An, it's unique. Who gave you that name?"

He pondered about it for a moment before encircling his delicate arms around his knees. "When I was a kid, I sang Doraemon's song a little too much, especially that "an an an" part that my name was changed into An."

I choked and spat out the liquid in my mouth. Woooow... I could almost see a pretty rainbow formed from the sprayed liquid. Wait! That's not it!

I quickly wiped my mouth and faced the omega. My face was clearly showing a flabbergasted expression after hearing his obnoxious words.

"Wait, what?! Really?!"

He huffed and looked away. "It's clearly a joke, idgit."

"...oh." Gosh! And here I thought it was real! I didn't know he could make a joke!

"...it was 'peace and quiet'," he suddenly mumbled.

"Huh?"

"The meaning of my name. It was given by one of the caretakers in the orphanage. I got other names too, but I like this one the most."

"Oh..." I nodded. The name actually fits him. While living with him in these past few days, I had noticed that he was a quiet person mostly. He didn't talk much, only when needed to. In fact, it was hard for me to hold a conversation with him. Even when he was talking to Granddad, the only one talking was the old man. He did take the initiative to talk with Jason, but his word counts were still in the minimum level.

Sometimes, their interaction made me felt uncomfortable inside.

"Okay! Now's my turn!' I said before finishing the whole can of beer and took a new one.