Friday
Tem had one of the best weeks of his life. He had such a great time at work. The majority of his clients wanted unique and challenging motives, and they had all been fun to talk to. He couldn't even remember when he had laughed so much at work before.
Tem had also worked extra as a bartender at two different events, where he received plenty of tips and many compliments. Not only due to how tasty his drinks were, but he also got compliments on how good-looking he was. Which felt really good. Tem was in desperate need of compliments at this point. Farid wasn't the best at telling Tem that he looked good, and he didn't expect Eamon to say anything. Which the kid didn't. Tem loved to hear that he was handsome and when he had done something praiseworthy. Tem was dependent on recognition from other people, which he had been all his life.
Another fun thing that happened was that Tem had managed to shock his psychologist so much that she was speechless for several minutes. The middle-aged woman had just stared at Tem with her mouth wide open when he told her that he had met his fated pair. She was otherwise always so calm and professional, so Tem thought it was hilarious to see her so stunned.
"You have met your fated pair?"
"Yep."
"And you are marked by him?"
"Yep."
"Are you serious now, Tem?"
"Yep. And we're apparently superfated. We even have the same pheromones now."
"I have to read your journal."
"Go for it," Tem said calmly, leaning back in the grey armchair.
Tem felt at home in the room and with his psychologist. Doctor Elisabeth Mason was a friendly woman who made him feel comfortable. He could talk about everything with her.
"Have you told Farid yet?"
Tem didn't respond immediately. It was still hard to talk about.
"No, but I guess I have to."
"How do you feel about that?"
"Yeah, well, I'm not looking forward to it. Everyone's going to be so pissed at me."
"Who do you mean by everyone?"
"Well, Farid, Mum, Dad, Farid's parents. Everyone in his family and our relatives."
"You have said before that you don't want to cause more problems for your family. That your illness has ruined too much. Do you still feel that way?"
"Yeah, of course. Dad will get so much resentment from the family, and I don't want to cause problems for Farid either. None of them has done anything wrong."
While Tem was talking, his right leg trembled without him noticing, and he constantly fingered on his necklace, a thick silver chain going down to his chest.
"But meeting your fated pair isn't your fault, Tem. It's not something you could have prevented. Do you think it's your fault?"
Tem didn't say anything for a long time, and Elisabeth thought he looked apologetic.
"I don't know."
"Has anyone told you about fated pairs and how it all works?"
Tem nodded.
"I know it's super important that we spend time together and that I can never have sex with anyone other than Eamon."
"How does that feel?"
"Of course, I want to be with someone who loves me, and I want to have sex, but I simply have to accept that I will be alone for the rest of my life."
"Why do you think that you will be alone? Don't you think that you can have a relationship with Eamon?"
"Eamon doesn't like guys."
"Is he straight?"
Tem nodded, and he smirked, but the woman saw that it was a fake smile.
"Yeah. Eamon only likes girls. I mean, he's not even bisexual, like the majority of humankind is. I mean, what's the odds that my fated pair is completely straight?" Tem chuckled bitterly.
"Have you talked to Eamon about this?"
Tem shook his head, and his leg continued to tremble, and his fingers continued to touch the necklace.
"He's too young, and I don't want him to feel more guilty than he already does."
"Does he think it's his fault?"
"Yeah, he says he's ruined my life."
Elisabeth thought it was clear that neither Tem nor Eamon understood how fated pairs came to be. She took a pen and paper from her desk and wrote down the address to a website containing information about fated pairs. She told Tem to read it together with Eamon and asked him to read it before their next meeting.
"How do you think Farid will react when you tell him? Is there any chance that he will be violent?"
"Violent? No way! Farid isn't a violent guy. He would never do anything to hurt me."
"But Farid has lost his fiancé that he loves, and he is also an alpha who has lost his omega to another alpha. I want you to be careful and don't be alone when you tell him."
The psychologist looked concerned but didn't say anything more about that when Tem remained silent. She just hoped Tem listened to what she had said.
"Now, tell me about Eamon. What's his full name?"
"Eamon McCallister," Tem replied, and the psychologist's eyes immediately widened.
"McCallister? Is his father Finian McCallister?"
Tem nodded, and he saw that the woman was completely starstruck.
"Doctor Finian is a brilliant researcher and psychologist. I have had the pleasure of attending several of his lectures on relationships between different genders. And recently, his husband met his fated pair as well. This is very interesting."
Tem didn't say anything. He just smiled. The woman was silent for a while as if she tried to collect herself, and she took a deep breath before speaking again.
"So, how old is Eamon?"
"Fourteen."
"So young!"
"That ain't nothing. Eamons sister is twelve, and she just got her first heat, and their dad was thirteen when he had his first heat. They are like a family of Super Prime Alphas."
"It's truly fascinating. Can you tell me how Eamon is as a person?"
"He's so sweet and kind. You can't believe that he's only fourteen-year-old, he's very mature. He likes horror and slasher movies. He also likes heavy metal. He's shy and protective, and he's already really good-looking."
"Do you like him?"
"Yeah, I do. Eamons great."
Elisabeth could hear a hint of sadness in Tem voice, even though he tried to hide it with a strained smile. She had been Terms psychologist long enough to know that he was struggling, even if he tried not to show it.
The doctor decided not to push the subject further. She would talk more about it at their next appointment. For the remaining session, Elisabeth and Tem talked about Tem's sleep and medication. They talked about his illness. Elisabeth concluded that Tem was rather stable at the moment, but she knew that there would definitely be a backlash. And probably soon. And Tem needed a calm environment, but she was afraid that it would be difficult for Tem to have that now, with everything going on. So they booked a new appointment the following week.
Another good thing that happened that week was that Eamon hung out with him every day. Sometimes just a few hours, but Tem was happy as long as he could meet the younger man. Eamon also spent the night between Tuesday and Wednesday at Tem's place, and the older man was so nervous that he was about to call Eamon and say that he was ill and had to cancel. But he never did, and when Eamon arrived, the boy was heartbroken. Tem soon learned that Eamon had been dumped by his girlfriend. Which filled Tem with complicated emotions. First joy, then guilt because he was happy, which led to irritation that he had a bad conscience because Tem knew he shouldn't have, given that Eamon was actually his alpha, but that only gave him even more feelings of guilt. And so it went on.
But it didn't take long before Eamon started to act like usual, and they watched movies, played games, talked, and got to know each other. Tem worked hard to ignore his infatuation with the younger man. It didn't go very well. The boy only saw Tem as a good friend. Which frustrated Tem, but he figured there was nothing to do about it, so he thought he just needed to let it go.
And finally, it was Friday, and Eamon would once again spend the night at Tem's place. Tem had no clients that day, but he got himself a new tattoo instead. His co-worker (and former fuck buddy) tattooed him on the left . It was a white lotus flower, a Nymphaea lotus. Egypt's national flower. Tem had always wanted that tattoo on his hand, but he hadn't dared. He knew that Farid and his family would have been extremely upset. But Tem didn't care about that anymore. They would soon enough be angry about something else. And Eamon had already said that he thought Tem's tattoos were cool and that he wanted a tattoo as soon as possible.
Eamon went straight from school to Tem's apartment, and when Eamon got there, the dinner was already ready. Tem hated cooking with a passion, but he was really good at it for some reason. He wanted to offer Eamon the food he grew up with, so he made kushari and then Om Ali for dessert. And he hoped with all his heart that Eamon would like the food he made.
Several things surprised Eamon when he got to Tem. First, the beautiful tattoo that covered Tem's right hand made Eamon's eyes get big and then the dinner that Tem had made also surprised him. Eamon knew that Tem didn't like to cook, and that's why Tem always bought takeaway. It was a nice dinner, and Eamon was impressed with how delicious it was. Especially the sweet dessert, that Eamon really liked. After the meal, they played Call of Duty and Tem was more or less in heaven. They laughed, and talked while they played and Tem realized that he always had wanted a relationship like this. Some hugs and kisses would of course be nice, but Eamon was too young for that anyway.
It was getting late when Tem's phone started ringing. Tem ignored it. But the phone kept ringing, and Tem finally gave up. He picked up the phone from the table and when he saw that it was Farid he frowned.
"It's Farid. I'll take it in the bedroom," Tem said.
When Eamon just nodded without reacting, Tem got up from the sofa with the phone in one hand and potato chips in the other. He got a little irritated. Eamon could at least give him some attention. That wasn't too much to ask for, was it?
When Tem went into the bedroom, he unconsciously put half the chips he held in his mouth and answered the phone.
"Wat up?" He said with his mouth full of potato chips.
He could hear Farid sighing on the other side, and it made him smile. He loved teasing Farid.
"Are you eating?"
"Yeah. Crisps!"
"Don't you think that you eating too much snacks? It's not good for you. "
"Yeah, yeah. So how's it going in China?"
"It's gone better than expected, so I'll actually be home tomorrow already."
Tem froze up. The rest of the chips he was holding in his hand dropped to the floor. His heart hammered in his chest.
"Hello, Tariq. Are you still there?"
Farid's anxious voice made him jerk out of the shock.
"Yes, I am here. I was just surprised. So what time are you back?"
"Around eleven in the evening, so I won't be able to see you tomorrow. But I talked to my parents, and we decided to move the dinner to this Sunday instead. You have Sundays off, so it works for you, right?"
Tem was sweating like crazy at this point, and he felt a bit dizzy.
"Yeah, that works."
"Great. So I'll pick you up on Sunday at ten then."
"Awesome."
"I love you, Tariq," Farid said in a tender voice, and Tem closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"I love you too."
They hung up, and Tem sank down on the bed. He hid his face in his hands. This was it. He had to tell Farid the truth in a few days, and just the thought of it made him want to cry. It was too hard. He didn't want to make Farid sad, and he didn't want Farid's father to take it all out on his parents.
"Is everything okay?"
Tem flinched, startled by the sudden voice behind him, and he looked up. Eamon stood at the door and looked at him.
"Farid will be back tomorrow."
"But I thought he wouldn't come back until next week."
"They are already done with the deal in China. So we're going to have dinner with our parents on Sunday already."
"Are you going to tell them then?"
"Of course not! I don't want people to shout at me in public. I going to tell Farid when it's just the two of us. After that, I tell mum and dad."
"I really think I should be there when you talk to him."
"No, I can't do that to Farid. I need to tell him when it's only the two of us. I owe him that much."
Eamon looked bothered, which made Tem a little happy. But he didn't change his mind. Farid was a good guy, and Tem didn't want to hurt him more than he already were about to.
The tall boy then approached Tem and gently put his hand on top of the omega's head, making Tem's heart pound like crazy in his chest.
"You're my mate. I just want you to be safe, and I want you to tell me if you need me."
Tem didn't know what to say, so he quickly changed the subject.
"Come on, let's keep playing," he quickly said and got up from the bed.
And together, they went back to the living room. In just a few minutes, Tem forgot everything that concerned Farid. What Eamon just had said and the feeling of the boy's hand on top of his head was all that Tem could think of.
Eamon, on the other hand, was worried. He didn't trust alphas. He barely trusted himself. And he was determined not to risk Tem being harmed in any way. It was his responsibility as Tem's mate. And the fourteen-year-old boy took that responsibility very seriously.