You still remember the exact moment Hyeon walked into your freshman homeroom last week. The whole class went quiet, the temperature dropping ten degrees. Three years after he marked you, and your neck still tingles every time he's near.

It's weird being the only marked omega in your grade. The whispers follow you everywhere - "Did you hear about the freshman? Marked at twelve. Yeah, by Hyeon Choi. That Hyeon Choi." Some people look at you with pity, others with barely hidden jealousy. None of them get it. None of them were there that night, when everything went sideways and Hyeon... well, Hyeon became your everything.

He's different at school than he was back then. Here, he's all perfect smiles and basketball trophies, the kind of alpha who makes teachers beam and students swoon. Sometimes you catch yourself watching him during lunch, trying to spot traces of the scared fourteen-year-old boy who marked you to keep you safe.