TW: Assault
...
The hallway outside was empty, save for the hum of the vending machines that lined the corridor. Jaemin walked toward the elevator, his hands empty, hanging uselessly at his sides.
He felt numb. He was a ghost in his own life, haunting a hallway that no longer belonged to him.
He had to go back to his dorm room, pack his life into a suitcase, and... disappear.
The door to the hearing room opened behind him.
Choi Seungcheol stepped out. He checked his watch, adjusting his cufflink that accented his charcoal suit. The mask of the tragic victim had vanished instantly, replaced by the cool indifference of a man who had just completed a tedious chore.
Jaemin stopped. The numbness cracked, replaced by a surge of adrenaline so sharp it was painful, pushing him towards the man he'd always thought of as more than a brother.
"Why?" he hissed, his voice shaking. "Why, Seungcheol?"
Choi Seungcheol looked up, unbothered. He didn't retreat. Instead, he stepped closer, moving with a fluid, predatory grace.
"That's no way to speak to your senior."
"You have everything," Jaemin choked out, hot tears finally spilling over his cheeks. "You have the money, the status, the privilege. Why did you have to take mine? Why… Why would you do that to me? I thought we were... I thought you loved me."
Choi Seungcheol looked down at him. There was no guilt in his dark eyes. Only a faint, patronizing amusement.
"I didn't take your talent, Jaemin," he said softly. "I used it. There's a difference."
"You stole my music and ruined my life!"
"I secured our future," Choi Seungcheol corrected him, his tone strangely patient. "Alone, your inspiration would have burned out. Alone, I was merely great. Together? We are undeniable."
He straightened the lapels of his tailored jacket, brushing off invisible dust. Then, he moved.
It was a predator's slide, closing the distance between them until he was inside Jaemin's personal space, crowding him back toward the wall next to the elevator.
"Think, Jaemin," he murmured, his voice dropping to an intimate, terrifying register. "Use that brilliant mind of yours and just stop for a moment. You have phenomenal talent. Truly. But you're an omega. And not just any omega—You're my omega. We're bonded mates."
Jaemin froze, his breath hitching.
"The world isn't kind to omegas who try to be composers. They would have eaten you alive," Choi Seungcheol reasoned, sounding almost sweet. "I saved you from that. I have the name. I have the family backing. You have the genius. Don't you see? We are the perfect partnership."
He reached out a hand, palm open.
"Stop acting like a child. Go pack your things quietly, and come back to my apartment. I'll get you whatever you need. You can write all day, safe and sound, and I'll perform your music to the world. We can still be together, just like you've always wanted."
The sheer, twisted narcissism of it stole the air from Jaemin's lungs. Choi Seungcheol wasn't just stealing a song; he was claiming ownership. He wanted to turn Jaemin into a secret, a battery to power his ambition from the confines of a gilded cage.
"You're insane," Jaemin whispered, revulsion curling in his gut. "I will never write for you. I never want to see you again. You're a monster."
Choi Seungcheol's expression didn't change, but the air in the hallway suddenly grew heavy, thickening like invisible smoke.
"A monster?" he repeated softly. "After everything I've done for you?"
"Get out of my way," Jaemin said, pushing off the wall to go around him.
"I don't think so."
A sudden, crushing wave of pheromones hit Jaemin like a physical blow.
It wasn't just a scent; it was a weapon. A wall of pure, aggressive alpha power slammed into him, smelling of burnt tea and terrifying, suffocating dominance.
Jaemin's legs gave way instantly. He crumpled to the floor, gasping. His instincts screamed at him.
Submit. Bare your neck. Don't move or he'll kill you.
It was primal terror. His vision swam. His heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird, skipping beats, fluttering wildly. He couldn't breathe. It felt as though the oxygen had been sucked out of the hallway, replaced entirely by the alpha's crushing will.
Choi Seungcheol hadn't touched him, not physically. The security camera blinking in the corner would see nothing but Jaemin falling to the ground on his own, without the alpha even laying a finger on him. But to Jaemin, it felt like a boot was pressing on his throat, crushing his windpipe.
I'm going to die, Jaemin realized, his mind going white with panic. He's going to kill me right here.
Choi Seungcheol crouched down, balancing effortlessly on the balls of his feet. He looked at Jaemin, who was trembling violently on the ground, clawing weakly at his own neck, gasping for air that felt too thick to inhale.
"You are so fragile," he murmured, tilting his head to observe the subdued omega curiously. He reached out and brushed a strand of hair from Jaemin's forehead, which had broken out in cold sweat. "My small, fragile little mate."
He sounded almost fond. Jaemin flinched violently, a strangled whimper escaping his throat, but the pheromonal pressure pinned him to the floor.
"You think you can survive out there without me?" Choi Seungcheol whispered, leaning close to Jaemin's ear. "You've just been expelled. You have no accreditation. No reputation. No money. Everyone out there knows your name, knows that you are a defective omega with a record of hysteria."
He let his pheromones spike further, a sharp, stinging lash of power, and Jaemin's vision spotted with black. His lungs burned. The world narrowed down to the terrified beat of his own failing heart and the scent of the man smothering him.
"You will crawl back to me," Choi Seungcheol promised darkly. "When you get hungry enough. When the world breaks you enough. You will come back, and you will beg me to let you write for me. And because I'm benevolent... I'll let you."
He stood up as the elevator dinged behind them. The crushing weight lifted just enough to let Jaemin draw a ragged, sobbing breath.
Choi Seungcheol stepped over the misshapen heap that was Jaemin and walked into the elevator. He turned around, framing himself in the open doors. He looked pristine, untouched, golden.
"Don't look at me like that," he said, his voice carrying steadily over the buzzing hum of the machinery. "You would have been nothing without me. And now, you will continue to be nothing, until you return to my side."
He smiled, a calm, confident smirk.
"I'll be waiting."
When the elevator doors slid shut, the crushing weight evaporated, leaving Jaemin gasping like a diver pulled too fast to the surface. The silence in the hallway was louder than any shout.
Jaemin lay on the cold floor for a long time, clutching his chest, trying to restart his heart. The terror wasn't just in his mind anymore. It was in his blood, in his bones. He knew, with terrifying clarity, that if he stayed, Choi Seungcheol would consume him whole.
He had to run. He had to run until his legs gave out, and then he had to crawl. He had to get so far away that this monster could never find him again.