65. I Know What You Did

I'm sorry Dr. Jiwon. He barged into my place at the wee hours of the morning today and I haven't been able to shake him off the entire day."

"Not a problem. My wife is fond of him and they get along fine. Once they are done with their mini outing, he can sleep over at my place an I'll monitor him closely."

"Funny how Elric seems to get along with just about anyone." Yeon giggled. "Even you to the extent of allowing him to share time with your wife..."

Shrugging his shoulders, Stan's uncle added. "I have seen that kid grow to what he is now. Him and Stan are basically brothers. He has always been lonely and does not know how to be around himself especially now that he's become dependent on his marker. To be abandoned like that...even I wouldn't do such a thing to my worst enemy..."

Yeon frowned a bit, feeling the need to jump into Niel's defense. He didn't want to have to explain how mixed up Elric and Niel's situation was considering that his sister was a major participant of Niel leaving like that. He watched Stan's uncle ruffle through his files and wondered if he should explain to him or not. So far, they had become close in the months they had sent together working in the lab and he was a good mentor that Yeon considered having him extensively tutor him but he had refused, advising Yeon of Stan's interference if he took that field. Afterwards, he had advised Yeon to have a sit-down with Stan over their future as fated mates.

"You'll notice most fated mates end up taking almost similar if not the same career paths. Thats because of their strong spiritual essence pulling them together. My wife stays at home and takes care of our home and our children... I know where she is and whenever she needs me or when I need her. We fought over this for years until we finally settled for this and it works for both of us."

"...but Stan and I are on different career paths..."

"That is why you should discuss this with him. In our time, we had to find out this by ourselves but lucky for your generation fated mates can learn from our mistakes. You will definitely have arguments over this, especially with Stan. He is sturbbon just like myself. He will do what pleases you infront of you but still do whatever he wants behind your back. Not with ill intentions of course, but as the one who marked you, in Stan's case, protecting you is his dominant instinct, and your acknowledgement is a reward that he seeks"

Yeon reflected on their past conversation and Stan's uncle had been right for Stan hand put himself yet again in danger and was paying the price.

"Found them!" Stan's uncle exclaimed enthusiastically. "I did not want to have this discussion with you without back up evidence." He spoke as he handed Yeon two sheets of paper pinned together.

Yeon perused over both of them, one being a cellar picture but couldn't decode what it was until he read through the first paper and his jaw dropped.

"This is..."

"Yes it is Yeon." Stan's uncle nodded, a satisfied grin on his face. "I received approval to test your project on human subjects."

"This is unbelievable! How...when did you submit the request?"

"Two months ago. Seeing that your project was coming to an end, ofcourse I had to take the initiative since it was doing well. Additionally, you are a genius at this that even I couldn't have bore the results you have in the short span of time as you did. However, this is not part of your school work. We are to be discreet about our test subjects since such an experiment has to be backed up by a lot of protocols and adhere to the law medicine otherwise we run the risk of finding ourselves at the wrong side with the police..."

Stan's uncle watched closely at Yeon's surprised expression turning into a smile then a giggle as he read through over and over, often glancing at the print out of the picture and studying it closely.

"This clearly shows spiritual essence is linked to cellular respiration!" Yeon spoke happily as he shifted his gaze to Stan's uncle.

"Ofcourse it would take a genius like you to decode a microscopic picture like that within seconds. Damn...it took me a week t figure that out so enough with the showing off Yeon..." Stan's uncle said and laughed at himself after which Yeon joined in.

"You'd make a great doctor if you specialized on the science of fated mates." Seeing that Yeon was still mesmerized by the news, he added. "I 'm sure you know what this means. The purpose of cellular respiration is to fuel a lot of metabolic processes, among them being transporting molecules across membranes, locomotion and biosynthesis..."

"Synthesize biochemical energy..."Yeon added.

"Exactly. Breaking down glucose is a complex chemical reaction and without it, there is no gaseous exchange hence cells, tissue and other organs could die due to lack of oxygen because of the buildup of carbon dioxide within the cells and tissues. Thats how we get energy. It powers us and for pairs, spiritual essence is a nourishing boosts cellular respiration which they can live without in case they split up like my brother and his partner. However, for fated mates who have a stronger and dependent spiritual essence, it doesn't just nourish and boosts. Its whats draws them together before and after scent manifesting."

Yeon suddenly looked confused. He felt bombarded with a lot of information that left him feeling lost and Stan's uncle read right through him.

"My point is fated mates have a much stronger connection and my nephew's case clearly indicates overusing his scent shut down his cellular respiration process. Our scents are glued to the hemoglobin in our blood and other body fluids like sweat, saliva and discharge secreted through intercourse. Therefore, his body at the moment is on a break...more like he is basically surviving on the spiritual essence that you both share and whenever he absorbs your scent, it boosts his nourishment but its still not enough to bring him back from his trapped state..."

Stan's uncle stopped when he saw Yeon's reaction change after he'd become passive for sometime.He knew Yeon understood exactly what he was was trying to say.

"I cant sense his scent." Yeon admitted. "Neither can I sense his yearning or anything else..."

"I know...Infact I've known for about two weeks now. I was hoping you'd trust me with this information but i respect your worries. The absence of a fated takes a major toll on the other especially if both of you have bonded and become self aware of your feelings for each other."

"I...never got to tell him how I feel..."

"He knows. Believe me when I tell you he knew of your feelings before you realized it yourself. I did tell you the primary instinct for a marker is protecting their fated. In some cases, other things may interfere with this instinct like love, stress, depression, anxiety...they may influence the rise and fall of it or overpower it but for Stan's, especially after he's put himself in danger to protect you, it is obviously his dominant instinct that overpowers his rational thinking which is a weakness if you look at it in-depth. You run the rest of loosing him." Patting Yeon's shoulder in assurance, Stan's uncle added. "You have the strongest of scents I've ever come across. It dominates Stans which is equal to the need for him to want to see you safe. You two did meet in strange circumstances. Maybe that instinct was birthed since then."

After a while, Yeon asked. "What do we do then?"

Taking the sheets of papers from Yeon, Stan's uncle placed them back in the file as he spoke. "We cant fabricate spiritual essence so we have to tap into that from you to him to trigger his cellular respiration."

"If it works..."

"It will work Yeon. With your brains and my experience, we will definitely win this."

Yeon covered his eyes at the realization of why his mentor was having this discussion with him. He smiled feeling embarrassed to have realized just now when it had been clear from the start when he mentioned Stan's name.

"You knew what I was doing?"

"I did. I didn't want to stop you either that's why I had to get an approval to have your project be tested on human specimens. It has to be legal Yeon. That approval protects you and my practice."

"I'm sorry..."

"Dont be. If I did not trust your skills, I would have stopped you..."

"But you did say you requested for approval two months ago."

"I did." Stan's uncle suddenly looked guiltier than usual as he ruffled his hair nervously then smiled. "Your project has shifted from its original path. Initially it was to harvest scents. I sent the request with that in mind since just like any other fated, I'm also afraid of loosing my fated mate's scent. If I leave my wife someday, I do not want her to have to suffer just like Elric's mother. It would torture her and I can't be that irresponsible to her. Protecting my wife is also my dominant instinct."