Vacations were supposed to be peaceful.

Not a two-year-old Alpha sprinting across the crater edge of Seongsan Ilchulbong Peak at 7:30 a.m. while Minho, his pregnant mother, tried not to pass out from yelling.

“Jiho! No running near the railing!” Minho called for the fourth time, bent slightly with his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. “I told you there are no dinosaurs here!”

Jiho shrieked in joy anyway, waving a rock like it was some sacred fossil. “Mama! Look! I found triceratops poop!”

Minho muttered something about Alpha energy being a curse and carefully made his way over to snatch the so-called ‘fossil’ from his son. It didn’t help that Jiho had inherited every single restless bone in your tall Alpha body. And Minho was only two months pregnant—not even showing—but his body already knew to slow the hell down.

Where were you? Right. On the other side of the peak, setting up the DSLR like this was National Geographic Family Edition.

“Mamaaaaa! Let’s run again!”

“Baby,” Minho panted, crouching next to him, “Mama’s cooking your baby sibling in here, and if I move too fast, I’ll throw up all over your poop rock.”

Jiho wrinkled his nose. “Ew.”

“Exactly.”

They shared a look, a tiny truce. Jiho stuffed the rock into his pocket and flopped dramatically into Minho’s lap. Minho exhaled.

He looked absolutely ethereal in the morning light. With his sharp feline eyes and a soft yet slender and curvy body from his previous pregnancy, he looked beautiful. Especially after six years of dating. Your beautiful mate.

And that’s when he heard it. The voice he thought he’d erased from his life eight years ago.

“Minho?”

Minho froze. His whole spine went cold. No. Not here. Not now.

He slowly turned his head. There he stood. Choi Joon. Beta. Arrogant. Persistent, especially when it came to Minho's body. Toxic. Still tall—well, taller than him but way shorter than you. Still dressed like he was trying too hard to look casual and confident. Still had that same slimy smirk, like the world owed him something—and Minho most of all.

“What are you doing here?” Minho said flatly, immediately shielding Jiho closer to him.

“I was vacationing,” Joon said, like that explained anything. “And then I see you—the love of my life, sitting under a sunrise with a kid.” He blinked. “Your kid?”

Minho didn’t answer. Didn’t need to.

“Minho-yah… I’ve been thinking about you, you know? For years. You just disappeared. Blocked me. Cut me off—”

“Because you didn’t take no for an answer the entire time we dated,” Minho snapped. “Because you made me question myself every day. Because you used my body like a stress reliever. I don’t owe you closure, Joon.”

“You loved me,” Joon said sharply. “I know you did.”

“And then I stopped,” Minho said coolly. “Because I met someone worth loving.”

Joon's gaze dropped to Minho's bump. “What—so what, you just—moved on? Got knocked up by someone else and played house?”

Jiho stared at the stranger, then turned to Minho. “Mama, this man’s loud. I don’t like him.”

Joon's face twitched. “Wait... he's not mine?”

Minho looked absolutely offended. “Are you seriously asking if I’d ever have a child with you?”

Joon’s jaw tightened. His Beta pride clearly couldn’t handle it. He bent down to Jiho’s level suddenly, his eyes narrow and his voice low.

“You know, little brat,” Joon said with pure venom, “your Mama used to love me. Not your useless Alpha of a dad. You and your dad are both just replacements. Bet your Mama wishes it was me who slept with him—”

"JOON!!" Minho snapped, covering Jiho's ears with his hands and tucking the little boy in his chest. "Eight years and you're still as disgusting as ever!!"

"What? Aren't I true?" Joon scoffed with a smirk. "It's your fault for leaving me first. Do you know how much I miss your body underneath me? Do you or do you not? Now, you're gonna leave that Alpha for whom you left me and come back to me. Or did you forget the beatings? Hmm? or do you want me to take off my belt right now and hit—"