PONG!
The tennis ball was hit with his racket towards his current opponent. The ginger-haired man hit back at his employer who hit the tennis ball at him. There was quite a game between the two of them. Between the young master and his loyal young butler.
"Young master is so good! He can always hit every ball that Mr. Mike hits at him!" said the maid who was watching their match.
"That's right, Mr. Mike is just as good! I really like watching the two of them play tennis," praised another maid.
The maids were excited to see the game, some of them supporting Daren and some of them supporting Mike. The two men didn't seem to want to lose in front of the maids watching them.
"Cheer up young master!" they exclaimed in encouragement.
"Young master, if you're tired you should rest. You seem to be slowing down," Mike teased. Although he was Daren's butler, the two of them were like close friends because Mike's parents were loyal servants of the family.
In fact, they were only two years older than Mike. That's why Daren sometimes thought of Mike as his younger brother.
"Don't get excited yet, I'm not tired at all. I've still got it!" Daren jumped up and hit the ball back to Mike.
Meanwhile, Axel was just sitting with the other maids. Eventually, the ball fell and Daren won the game.
"Wooo I knew I would win!" he exclaimed happily.
"Huft... That was just a little bit more. Young master is really good," Mike praised while clapping, as did the maids except Axel who was busy with the book in his hand.
Seeing his ignorant bodyguard, Daren picked up his tennis ball and threw it up and hit it at Axel. The ball shot towards the Alpha, hoping it would hit him in the head.
GRAB!
But before it could hit his face, Axel caught the ball with his left hand. He turned to the ball in his hand and looked at Daren.
Everyone was surprised to see Axel's amazing reflexes. The ball that Daren hit was fast enough that Axel was focused on his book. However, without raising his gaze in the slightest, the man managed to catch the ball that Daren hit.
"That's amazing! Very cool!" The maids were now praising Axel who looked cool in their eyes.
"Humph--" Daren snorted in annoyance that the maids were now giving Axel their attention.
'He's just catching the ball, that sucks!'
The Omega male walked over to Axel and pointed at his face with his racket. "Come play with me! You've been quietly reading a book and then suddenly attracted the attention of the maids. Are you showing off on purpose?"
"No, I just happened to catch the ball. I can't play tennis, it's not my forte," Axel replied as he gave the tennis ball to one of the maids.
"Then what are you good at? Tell me!"
Axel closed his book and said he was better at basketball than tennis. Knowing that, Daren agreed and he challenged Axel to a game.
"Prepare the court!" ordered Daren who asked the maids to remove the net and push the basketball hoop near the court he used to play tennis. The court was located behind the family mansion.
"Young master, have a drink first," Mike said as he handed over a bottle of water.
While watching the maids prepare the court, Daren drank the water Mike gave him. His blue eyes glanced at Axel who stood up from his chair and put down the book he was holding. It seemed that the man was warming up.
"Young master, are you sure you want to fight Mr. Axel? It looks like Mr. Axel can beat you easily. I hear he's 6'2" and you're only 5'7"," the butler whispered to his young master.
Actually, Daren already knew that their height difference was quite far. But he didn't care about that and Daren was confident he could beat Axel.
Mike was finally the referee, he threw the basketball up and Axel quickly caught it.
"What?!" Daren gasped in shock because as he jumped, Axel seemed to soar higher than him.
The dark-haired alpha immediately dribbled the basketball in his hand towards Daren's hoop. However, Daren certainly didn't let that happen. He chased Axel and tried to grab the ball.
Unfortunately, his efforts failed even until Axel was 2 scores ahead of Daren. "Haa... Haa... I won't lose to you!" he shouted.
"Young master, you look exhausted. You should rest," Mike said when he saw Daren's heavy breathing.
The Omega male was already tired after playing tennis a few minutes later, he had a basketball match with Axel. Mike and the maids were worried that Daren might faint.
"I'm fine, I'm focused! Don't disturb me!"
Axel himself saw how weak Daren looked, and he knew that his employer wouldn't stop until he won. Seeing Axel let his guard down, Daren quickly snatched the ball away from him and scored again.
"Wooo! I finally won!" he said happily.
The maids applauded Daren's victory over Axel.
"See? I managed to win from you! You lost!" said Daren proudly to Axel's face as if he was teasing him.
Of course Axel felt a bit annoyed and bothered by Daren's arrogance. 'I regret letting him win, you annoying Omega.'
Among the applause of the maids, there was a man who came towards them while clapping his hands.
"Well done, you did it Daren," said the brunette man who smiled at them.
Hearing a familiar voice, Daren turned his head and gasped in surprise at the man who had just arrived. With a happy face, he ran to the man and hugged him.
"You're home! You're finally back!" he said happily.
"Hey hey, you don't need to be so excited, I told you I'd be back," the man said as he tapped Daren on the shoulder.
Axel walked over to the two men and then turned to the man he was seeing for the first time. 'Who is he? He doesn't have pheromones, he's a Beta,' Axel thought in confusion.
The man also looked back at the Alpha and smiled kindly. "Are you Daren's new bodyguard?" he asked.
"Yes, my name is Axel Maxwell. Who are you?"
Daren released his embrace. "He's my friend, Ivan."
Ivan smiled and extended his hand. "Ivan Howard, nice to meet you, Mr. Maxwell."
"Axel's enough, nice to meet you too," Axel replied as he shook Ivan's hand.
No one know what Axel was thinking, but he looked at Ivan as if he was different from the others. But Axel dismissed that feeling, thinking maybe it was just because they were meeting for the first time.
"Ivan, let's go to my room. I have a lot of things to talk to you about!" Daren said as he tugged on his best friend's hand.
However, after only walking a few steps, Daren suddenly felt dizzy and his vision became blurry until finally...
BRUK!
"DAREN?!"