A deafening silence. That is the only thing that Zane could use to describe their whole trip. They were just sitting side by side at the backseat with a certain distance between them. Even when they stopped in front of a tall building, the alpha refused to throw him a glance, and it was starting to get under his skin.
When the car came to a halt, Zane unstrapped his seatbelt before the alpha did. He then moved swiftly, grabbing him by the collar, pinning him in the car. The latter seemed to be taken aback by this omega's bold move, but before he could recover, he heard Zane speak.
"I don't fucking know what's wrong with you, but if you're going to be fucking like this, please don't ask me to come with you in the future," he said in almost a whisper, his frustration evident in his voice.
The alpha let out a scoff, making him frown even more. In a blink, the tables had turned. Zane was now pinned in the backseat. How this alpha managed to move that quickly was beyond him.
"Stop playing the innocent here, Mr. Ashworth. If you still have a conscience, start confessing what you did and accept the consequences."
His low and menacing voice made his skin crawl, not because he felt threatened by what he said, but the fact that he found it attractive. Zane couldn't talk back as he was having a counseling session with himself for finding this guy's voice attractive despite the situation. Although he was having an inner crisis, Zane maintained his furrowed expression to cover it.
Finally, the alpha let go of him, and without looking back, he got out of the car. Zane could only cover his face in disbelief, his ears blushing. In that short moment, he sensed the alluring scent of the alpha, so captivating that he almost found himself lost in the fragrance, tempted to bury his face in the alpha's neck.
He slapped himself with both hands, jolting himself awake from that train of thought. After collecting himself, he finally stepped out of the car and followed wherever the alpha went. He trailed him from behind towards the building entrance when he noticed a moving red dot on the back of the alpha.
His eyes widened when he realized what it was; he was very familiar with that red dot. Without second thoughts, as if his body moved on its own, he rushed forward and threw himself on him, causing them to fall with Zane on top.
Abandoning the guy beneath him, he looked around to locate where the shooter was probably positioned. They were surrounded by tall infrastructures, making it hard to pinpoint the exact location.
He was so occupied with searching the surroundings that he didn't notice the growing rage of the alpha beneath him. With great force, he was pushed away and grabbed by the collar, still on the ground.
Blinded by anger at being pushed like that, the alpha threatened, "What's your deal? Do you really have a death wish?"
"Is this how you say 'thank you'?" Zane responded, trying to make him let go of his shirt.
The guards by the entrance rushed to inspect the situation. "Sir, your shoulder..." one guard trailed off, pointing at Zane.
That's when they noticed the tear in Zane's shoulder cloth, now soaked in red.
Zane was brought inside the building to treat his wound. It was just a graze, though wounds this small didn't hurt, no more like for Zane, since he had a high tolerance for pain. He was guided to enter an office and told that a personal doctor would come to clean his wound, to which Zane only nodded in response.
When the guard made his way out, Zane scanned his surroundings. There was a table with piles of papers on the sides, a white swivel chair behind it, a sofa set, and a few shelves. The sunlight came in freely from the glass window. Looking out, Zane could see a bustling cityscape below. The view showcased a tapestry of buildings stretching into the distance, each with its unique architecture and design.
His eyes whipped when he heard the door click open. A man in his 30s entered.
"Asher, it's been a while," the man greeted as soon as he closed the door behind him.
Zane was stunned on the ground. This man was someone his twin was acquainted with; how was he supposed to converse with him without him suspecting that he was not his twin? Why was he pretending to be his twin anyway?
Seeing Zane not moving from where he was standing, the doctor strode towards the sofa set with a medicine kit in his hands. "It's been what, three years? I just came back from London today, and you're my first patient. Come here, let me see your wound."
With his mind blank, Zane yapped, "I think I lost my memories when I fell earlier, you're... who?"
The doctor fell silent, then after a minute, he burst out laughing. Zane could even see tears in his eyes from laughing so much.
"God, you're the same as ever." He finally calmed down, wiping his eyes as he spoke. "It's me, Fern, short for Fernando Ramirez. This is the seventh time I introduced myself; you're so bad at remembering people."
He is? Zane asked himself regarding his twin. How bad was it that this person had to introduce himself six times in the past? It's something they're similar in, although his memory was not as poor as his twin's. Zane could remember people he met twice or thrice.
"Now, come here. Or it'll get infected."
Fern, the doctor, was a chatterbox. He talked about random things that he did in London, which was eighty percent hospital duties and twenty percent men hunting. Zane learned that Fern was a beta and liked men who were also beta; Zane even recommended him to visit Thailand next time.
When Fern finished treating his wound, he left urgently to go back to the hospital. Now Zane was left in that wide office owned by someone named Leon Acosta, feeling bored. He wondered why that alpha, whose name he couldn't remember, seemed to hate his twin so much.
Remembering his words in the car, it seemed like his twin had committed something and denied it or something of the sort. He couldn't really tell, but all he was sure of was that he couldn't ignore this matter.