After leaving the restaurant, Yukito turned to look at Eiji, "Well, the debt and gratitude had been settled."

Eiji internally panicked. It distinctly sounded like parting words. "Actually..."

Yukito saw the man touched his nape and looked at him apprehensively. "Is something wrong?"

"Just today, I found out that you're a Veterinarian. And..." He didn't know if he should proceed with this before getting Yukio's consent.

"Hmm?" He urged the other party to continue.

"I'm actually here because of a project. It's an animal sanctuary..." He wasn't even finished yet and he could already see Yukito's eyes widened in excitement. "Well... It's not yet finished. So, I'm wondering if... uhm, would it be okay if you see it and you know, share your --" He then retracted his thoughts. "I know your services are always paid so I'm willing to pay for your hours in consultation this time. It's just that, some additional ideas and opinions from a Veterinarian's point of view would be very helpful."

Yukito listened as Eiji rummaged through words and he laughed inside. This man, really, quite amusing. "I would love to go." When he smiled, he saw the other one eased up and grinned happily. "So easy to coax."

He was taken aback when Eiji led him to a parked Bentley Bentayga. He was a man but he wasn't so fond of luxury things like cars. Their family could be considered just a middle class and they all exercised frugality in spending their money. Aside from that, he had been saving all his hard-earned money for his brother's dream.

On their way to the sanctuary, Eiji spoke, "Thank you for agreeing to come. These days, I have been racking my brain to come up with ideas on how to proceed with the project and if there are things that I have overlooked."

"My brother dreamed of putting up a big animal sanctuary. All these years that I have worked, I saved all of my money for that." He turned to look at Eiji with grateful eyes. "So it's actually my pleasure to come with you now. Thank you."

Eiji's grip on the steering wheel tightened as he felt his heart skipped a beat. "Mm."

His response was just a notch above being silent but in his mind, he had already embraced the person beside him and asked him what he could do to ease the pain that was smeared all over those spoken words. Eiji was at loss, how could he heal the wound left by losing someone in death? How can he pull this person out of grief?

Just as he ran out of anything to say, he remembered that he had some snacks at the back. He actually bought it for Yukio during his previous visit here but he forgot to take it with him when he went back to Tokyo. If he remembered it right, it would still be two months before the expiration date. 

"Do you want some snacks? There are some at the back." Remembering how Yukito enjoyed eating, he offered.

Yukito's mood suddenly soared high and his eyes evidently lit up. "Can I really have them?" The anticipation was so clear in his voice.

Eiji smiled, his heart was turned into beating drums again in seeing the other's happy face. He reached out at the back and took a big bag of sweets then placed the bag on Yukito's lap.

Yukito didn't even try to hide his excitement. Since childhood, loving sweets was his constant crime. He immediately opened the bag and saw packs of hakata torimon, ikinari dango, castella and saga nishiki.

Yukito almost teared up in happiness. He absolutely loved all of this. He looked at Eiji and asked with watery eyes, "Can I really eat them? These are commonly bought as souvenirs."

Eiji laughed so hard inside but maintained a casual smile to avoid bursting the other's bubble, "Eat as much as you like. There's a small fridge at the back, you can get drinks from there."

"You have a fridge in your car??" Yukito was so shocked at this. Really, the gap between their statuses had become so evident by just this freakin' fridge.

No longer able to hold his laughter, he laughed at the man who had already stuffed his mouth with a piece of castella but still looking at him with disbelieving eyes. "I easily get thirsty but I don't like occasionally stopping over just to buy drinks. It's a bother."

"Oh." He thought the man had a point there. He turned to look at the road again and continued eating. Then he turned to Eiji again and asked while offering the food he was holding. "You want?"

Eiji was tempted to take a bite but he restrained himself, "No, I'm still full."

In Tokyo, Ryuichi had just arrived back when he heard that Yukio traveled to Kyushu with Eiji. He immediately had his secretary book a flight to the same place. It couldn't be denied that he was still harboring some anger towards Yukio but he also couldn't be indifferent and leave it just as the two were together.

He succumbed to his anxiety and dialed a number the moment the plane landed in its destination.

It was around 10 o'clock in the morning when Yukio heard his phone ring inside his pocket and when he fished it out, he saw an unfamiliar number. Without thinking much, he pressed the green icon.

"Hello?"

Hearing the voice that was always played in his head a thousand times these weeks, Ryuichi drew a deep breath trying to settle the rising mixed emotions inside. "Where are you?"

Yukio's eyes widened and the hand that was holding the phone stiffened, "In Kyushu."

"Where exactly?"

Remembering how badly they parted last time, Yukio unhesitatingly gave the address. He was in the sanctuary at this time and was tending to some animals that they already had inside the property. Most of these animals were not sick but rescued from various slaughterhouses.

Estimating the time of the person's arrival, he went outside the gate to wait. Not long after, he saw a taxi approaching. It stopped in front of him and a tall, imposing figure alighted from it. 

Yukio's heart went frantic. God knew how much he missed this man and how much he longed for his presence regardless if it was during an estrus or just because he wanted to be with him again. When Ryuichi looked at him, the tip of his ears turned red but he kept his calm and faced the man.

"You're here."

"Do you prefer me not to?"

He didn't know what to say so he just looked away and changed the subject. "Do you have a business meeting here in Kyushu?"

"No."

"Ah." His heart skipped a beat. "Did he come here particularly for me?" He saw the other person  looking around seemingly looking for someone or something. "I need at least one more hour to finish some things here. You can wait in the lounge area."

Ryuichi didn't budge nor answer so he took it that the former wanted to follow him. He walked back to the open area and continued the work that he temporarily halted. True enough, the other man was following him.

He went back to the corral that kept 5 adult horses which were bought from a butchery weeks ago. These horses were all fearful but submissive. Yukio picked a body brush and went inside the coral. He gently brushed the mane of the brown male horse that was second to the biggest. While brushing, he occasionally talked to it completely forgetting that he was being watched.

Ryuichi was bothered, all reports sent to him about this man never mentioned that he liked animals. He was actually easily scared by them. Looking at him now though, the way he gently interacted with the horses, one would even say he was in love with them.

After thoroughly brushing and hugging the brown horse from time to time, Yukio patted its head and moved to the black horse. This one was the biggest among all five. Its eyes were also more cautious. Yukio didn't approached it immediately but maintained a two-meter distance, reached out his hand and gently called, "Come, come here, let's brush your hair."

The horse looked away but Yukio didn't step forward. He called again. "It's okay. Come, I won't hurt you."

Ryuichi intently watched the scene anticipating what would happen next. He was also set to immediately run towards Yukio just in case the horse went berserk.

After a short while, the horse turned to face him and slowly walked closer. Yukio smiled and waited for the horse's head to reach his hand. Just as he was close enough to touch it, a rabbit jumped inside the corral and landed between him and the horse. He jolted and gasped in surprise. With the rabbit's sudden appearance and Yukio's stupefied response, the horse got scared and loudly snorted in panic. It stomped its feet in a crazed manner while continuously making violent noises. It then turned to face Yukio again and raised its two front legs towards the man. More frightened than anybody or anything else, the rabbit quickly hopped out of the corral so fast in order to avoid being trampled on.

Ryuichi  was aghast but his reflexes were exceptionally fast. Before Yukio's mind could register the impending danger, he was already dragged by Ryuichi out of the corral. The hand that pulled him was so strong that he felt like a paper being moved from one place to another. When his stunned soul already descended back to his frozen body, he was already looking at a big man standing in his place in the corral.

Yukio saw Ryuichi raised both his hands towards the raging horse giving cues of control. His voice sounded like a strong and overpowering roar when he commanded the horse to stop. There was no trace of fear, anxiety or panic in the man's whole body. He was totally calm.

Not long after the horse went frenzied, it calmed down and became stable again. It lowered its head with its lower lip loose and ears lightly turned back. It neighed when Ryuichi touched its head and gently patted it.

"There, there, be good." Ryuichi's voice was still domineering but was gentler now.

The other horses who were also panicking and had already ran to the farthest part of the corral also calmed down and just attentively watched Ryuichi and the black stallion.

Yukio was petrified but he couldn't help himself from admiring the Alpha that just showed its power even to the other species. Was admire still a suitable word for what he was feeling right at that moment? With wide eyes, dropped jaw and opened mouth, he was gaping shamelessly at the back of Ryuichi.

Just as brazen thoughts filled his head, the man in front of him turned and reached a hand towards him.

"Come." Ryuichi slightly nodded, urging him to come closer.

Yukio stepped forward hypnotized by the solemn eyes but more so, he couldn't afford to disobey especially now that the domineering Alpha looked so unhappy. "It wasn't my fault. It was the rabbit's!"  He internally protested but he wasn't that confident to voice it out.

When his slightly trembling hand, he was actually more afraid of Ryuichi now than the horse, touched the latter's hand, he was led to move closer to the horse. His hand was then cautiously placed on the horse's neck. Just as he was about to sigh in relief, he heard the other's scolding voice.

"When you face animals of any kind, you have to maintain a presence of mind regardless of the situation. Always take control of your reactions because they will greatly affect the animal in front of you. It's like facing your best friend and your worst enemy at the same time, whoever gets overwhelmed first bears the consequences."

He didn't answer but he felt Ryuichi turned to look at him. He summoned an ounce of courage to look back and now that he could see his eyes more clearly, he found out that the former wasn't angry. It was fear and frustration being reflected by his eyes.

"I'm... I'm sorry." He looked down to hide his embarrassment but more importantly, to hide the fact that he was glad for the emotions that he saw.

"What am I going to use your apology for if your body is already all broken and injured by your absentmindedness?" The voice was stern and cold. 

Despite this, Yukio's heart felt so warm. He might be wrong but he wanted to believe that those words were out of concern. Even if the other party thought he was being stupid and useless a while ago, he would still feel glad because it was better to be scolded on rather than seeing him unaffected at all. Such thing gave him another spark of hope.

Ryuichi didn't say anymore when the other man stayed quiet and kept avoiding his gaze. He thought the shock from a while ago was more than enough to teach Yukio a lesson.

Just a little bit before lunch, they both went to the cafeteria. When the sanctuary was already fully operational, restaurants would be accepted to do business inside but as of now, they only have a cafeteria for the workers and several volunteers.

The food in the cafeteria was good. They only had two chefs but they were both efficient and really talented in cooking. Today, the cafeteria served Chinese dishes. Yukio and Ryuichi sat opposite each other with egg-fried rice, kung pao chicken, spicy tofu, won ton soup, and tofu gan and celery salad in front of them.

        

"Thank you... For what happened a while ago. " Yukio didn't raise his head to look at Ryuichi but his voice was loud enough to be heard by the other party.

Ryuichi didn't want to deal with the incident anymore so he changed the topic. "Do you own this place?"

"No. Eiji has this under his company." Yukio noticed the sudden pause in Ryuichi's movement and the tightening of the latter's hand on the pair of chopsticks. 

"But this is yours?" It wasn't a question. It was a confirmation.

"Yes..." When he saw Ryuichi placed his chopsticks down and looked at him with a scorching gaze, he immediately added. "It is to prevent complications in the corporation. Quantum had the initial eye on this. I don't want to end up explaining why it fell on my hands when they failed to secure it."

Ryuichi expression softened a little understanding the situation. Yukio's rationale was valid. "What do you gain from this?"

A sanctuary wasn't a good source of revenue. Instead, it was a big block of continuous expense.

It took a while before the man being asked answered. "It was my dream." Then he shyly smiled like the things he would be saying next were parts of his dark secrets. "I don't have many dreams. I think I'm not ambitious, too. But I dream to have this sanctuary and I want to be ambitious for this. I can only wish I have a bigger one so I can save more animals."

"Hm." Ryuichi didn't give any comment about it but in his heart, there sprouted a new perspective about his Omega.

Thinking that the other person might have doubts about the words he said, he added, "I'm like these animals, too. Somehow, when I save them, I feel like I'm saving myself, too."

At those words, Ryuichi couldn't swallow the food in his mouth. His heart felt like it was being ripped off his chest. Just a few words were said, but the tone and the emotions they carried were overwhelming, especially for someone who knew the life of the one speaking.

This time, Ryuichi's anger towards Yukio made a boomerang turn towards himself. He could have saved him. He could have made things better for him. But, he left. He even caused more damage.

"Forget it. Sometimes, I tend to think too much. I just like animals. I think I've watched too many animal documentaries." Realizing that he sounded pathetic with what he said earlier, Yukio tried to rescind the effect and laughed but the laughter turned out so bitter, one can hardly listen to it.

Ryuichi continued eating without answering. He was not particularly good at comforting people. After a while, he spoke, "We all need saving, just in different ways. Your way is good."

Yukio raised his head to look at the other side. Quite obviously, Ryuichi was complimenting him and at the same time, giving him face in his sudden deposit of deeply personal thoughts.

"Mm." He just nodded in response and continued eating as well.

After finishing their food, Yukio invited Ryuichi to walk around so he can show him more areas in the sanctuary which the latter didn't refuse.

All the way, Ryuichi just followed and listened to Yukio. He saw how enthusiastic and passionate the Omega was in explaining the details of the property to him, introducing some animals that were just rescued, explaining some issues that the sanctuary was currently dealing with and telling him about his plans.

He could see the young man's eyes shine in joy and excitement affirming the latter's previous statement about the sanctuary being his dream. Yukio loved everything here. Just watching him filled Ryuichi's heart with warmth and adoration. 

He sighed internally. Ahh, making a sudden trip to this place was really worth it. He had it wrong, he just couldn't be angry at his Omega for too long. 

------

Author's Notes:

First and foremost, thank you so, so, so much to all of you who read!!!! :*  :*  :*

I actually published this story not expecting for anything, hoping but not greatly expecting. :D When the first commenter appeared, I was so happy that I just stared at her comment for quite some time. Umm, please excuse my shallow happiness. Hehehe!

Once again, thank you, thank you, thank you for reading. If you don't mind, please visit my Wattpad profile:

https://www.wattpad.com/user/IshiiMichiko

The story is more updated there. (^_^) Have a great day, everyone!