"He's currently busy, but he'll be out in about five minutes." Aki looks up at his mum as she enters the room, an apologetic smile on her face as he takes a seat beside him. She caresses Aki's face gently and places a kiss on his forehead. "I'm glad you came to visit."
"I'm glad I came too," Aki says, kissing her hand. The smile on her face gets bigger and she wraps her arm around him. "How are you? You look weak to me."
His mum glances down before leaning against him. He brings an arm round to embrace her and frowns as she fits easily within his grip. "I've been busy. Your father's started up a new business, so it's just been a bit hectic."
"Father knows about your health and still decides to do this?" Aki asks as she pushes away from him. Her smile is dull and forced, he can tell. He's seen it far too many times. She brushes off Aki's question and begins to tell him everything she's done in the past few days. But then Aki watches as a small spark in her eyes appears as she talks about someone who had been helping her. The smile on her face looks genuine, as though she was happy.
"His name's Rio," she says when he asks her his name. "We've been friends for about a year now. He came round for Haruki's birthday, you weren't there."
"I was going to come," Aki starts, remembering the day his mum had invited him. He was ready to drop everything and visit her, but then his dad had taken the phone from her and asked Aki about how his life and university was going. It was all civil, until he brought up how useless his degree was. "You know what happened, it just ruined my mood."
His mum rubs her thumb across the palm of his hand and gives him the smile she always does. She can't do anything against his dad and neither can he. The only thing Aki could do was hear it in one ear and let it out the other. "It's okay, Aki. Just remember you're always welcome here."
Aki grins at her brightly when the door slides open and his dad enters. He has a frown on his face, but that was a common sight, and he trudges into the room. Aki immediately lowers his eyes, a sweat breaking out on his forehead just after seeing his dad. As much as he enjoyed the idea of going against his dad, he could never do anything in front of him. He was sure Hiroto would be able to relate.
"What are you here for?" His dad doesn't even spare him a look, immediately glancing at his watch. Aki stares at the top of his head before fiddling with his fingers.
"There was something important I needed to discuss with you," Aki begins, his eyes averting to the floor. Haruki was supposed to be here with him, he was supposed to be holding Aki's hand as he told his dad about Hiroto and the whole situation. But then something came up at work and Haruki was stumped with work.
"Make it fast," his dad replies, looking uninterested in talking to his youngest son, the one which never came home. "Is it important enough for me to miss out on a meeting with potential partners?"
"I would like to believe so," Aki nervously chuckles, restlessly moving on his spot. Now that he was here facing his dad and ready to tell him about everything, Aki was scared. His heart was beating faster than normal and he didn't know how his dad would react. Would he be angry, disappointed, or surprised? None of the scenarios sounded good. "A few weeks ago, I accidentally missed out on my weekly checkups."
"Accidentally?" His dad raises an eyebrow. "Did Haruki not remind you, or did you not remember that if you didn't go there then you would be a useless omega?*
Aki clenches his jaw and takes a deep breath. "I met someone at a bar and decided to visit a hotel with—"
Aki's dad scoffs and turns his head away in disgust. "Typical omegas."
The words are so common, Aki's heard them so many times and from so many different people. But to hear it from his dad right before he told him he was pregnant; it brought tears to Aki's eyes.
"We later found out that my body had undergone major developments during that time and—"
His dad cuts him off again with a piercing gaze. "Let me take a guess. You went and seduced an alpha with your pheromones and ended up getting yourself pregnant?"
Aki's eyes widen as he stares up at his dad with slight shock. His dad's expression is unreadable. It's as if he was waiting for Aki to reply before reacting. His mum stares at him with equal curiousity.
"I didn't seduce," he pauses. A beat passes. His dad raises his eyebrow. "I didn't seduce the alpha with my pheromones, he was interested in me."
"This was expected," his dad says, holding his hands up before pointing at Aki's mum. "This is your fault. You told me to let the kids have their own freedom, to let them go explore the world on their own. I told you that Haruki would not be able to take care of Aki, and look where we are. Aki now has a child of an alpha, who probably doesn't give two shits about him."
*He isn't like that!" Aki clarifies, feeling his cheeks redden when his dad snaps his head towards him. Usually, Aki never spoke up against his dad like this, but hearing him talk badly of Hiroto boiled his blood. "I asked him about this all and he said he was willing to take responsibility for it all."
"Really?" His dad sounds amused, as if this whole thing was laughable. "You really think that alpha cares about you? Aki, he must've said that under the influence of your pheromones. Even from here I can smell him on you, but I can tell it's just a temporary bond that you've made with him. After all, a smart alpha would never bond with an omega like you."
Aki wants to open his mouth and shout at his dad. He wants to talk back and say Hiroto cares about him, say that omegas aren't as bad as his dad thinks they are, as bad as society thinks they are. He wants to prove his dad wrong. But the idea of going against him scares Aki. A memory of what his dad had done the last time he spoke up flashes in his mind and he shivers.
"Bring him here," his dad demands, holding an accusing finger to Aki. "If you can bring him here, then maybe I'll believe you."
There's a short silence that follows. Aki doesn't know what to say, he doesn't want to promise something but not fulfill it. What if Hiroto backs out at the last moment and Aki gets proven wrong? Or what if Hiroto refuses to enter the house of the family he hates?
"And what is this alphas name?" Aki's heart drops. Here it was, the time for when Aki tells them about Hiroto and his association with the Tsukumo family.
*His name," Aki takes a deep breath and steals a glance at him mum, who was looking at him intently. He didn't want to disappoint her. Compared to Haruki, who always wanted to be in their dads good books, Aki truly only cafes about his mum's opinion on him. Aki turns back to his dad. "His name is Tsukumo Hiroto."