Chris stood beside Leon's hospital bed, his eyes filled with warmth as he looked at the boy connected to all the machines. He gently brushed Leon's hair back. "He looks so peaceful," Chris whispered. He had loved Leon from the moment he met him. He kind of reminded him of himself. He was resilient, strong and never let people walk all over him.
Rion sat on the other side of the bed, holding Leon's small hand. His expression hardened with resolve. "Yeah, but I just wish he'd open his eyes. I promised him—I'll do whatever it takes to save him. I've already got the money. They'll be able to perform the operation soon. After that, it'll be up to him to fight and pull through."
"Yes, that is right. Wait…" Chris frowned, his eyes narrowing. "What do you mean you have the money? Where did you get it?"
Rion froze for a moment, mentally cursing himself for letting that slip. He scrambled for a believable excuse in order to divert Chris's suspicion.
"Uh… I, uh… decided to use my scholarship money for next semester to cover Leon's bill," Rion said quickly. He tried to keep his voice steady as he avoided Chris's suspicious gaze.
"Wait—hold on—you can do that? I've never heard of that before," Chris said, his eyes narrowing further.
"Y-yeah, it's possible," Rion lied. "I spoke to the school administration. They said I could use the funds, but I'll have to pay it back after I graduate from university and start working. Kind of like a loan." He crossed his fingers behind his back, hoping Chris would buy his story.
"Oh really, I didn't know scholarships worked like that. That's really smart of you. And once we finish school and get jobs, I can help you pay it back. We'll knock that debt out together!" Chris said enthusiastically, patting Rion's shoulder.
Before Rion could respond, Chris's phone rang. He glanced at the screen and answered it. "Hello? Yes, it's me. Oh, really? Yeah, I'm available. I'll be there in a few minutes." He hung up and turned back to Rion.
"Sorry, something urgent came up. I've gotta go, but I'll come back with you tomorrow to visit Leon, okay?"
Rion tilted his head, concern on his face. "Is everything alright? You're not in trouble, are you?"
Chris grinned. "Nah, it's actually something really good. I'll tell you about it later."
"Okay, well, take care," Rion said softly.
Chris hugged Rion tightly, planting a gentle kiss on Leon's forehead before leaving.
As soon as the door closed behind him, Rion exhaled a heavy sigh of relief. He was thankful that despite being very perceptive, Chris was someone who barely paid attention to certain details. It had been clearly stated in the scholarship agreement that the recipient couldn't use the scholarship funds for anything other than paying for school. But the omega hated school so much that he hadn't even bothered to read the contract before signing it.
Rion smiled bitterly. He felt really bad about having to lie and deceive his best friend, but what other option did he have? If Chris had known about the deal, he would have tried to dissuade him—or worse, confront Jeakyung about it. The reason Rion had never told the omega about his crush on the Alpha was because he knew Chris had a huge disdain for him. Chris thought Jeakyung was an obnoxious, self-centered jerk who believed the world revolved around him.
Even though Rion knew Chris was right, he couldn't help being attracted to the Alpha. From the first time he saw Jeakyung until now, he had liked him. He hoped that one day the Alpha might like him back, even just a little bit. That was one of the reasons he had immediately accepted the deal.
His phone buzzed, pulling him from his thoughts. The screen lit up with Jeakyung's name. Rion's heart raced as he answered. "Hello?"
"Where are you?" Jeakyung's voice was sharp and to the point.
"I… I'm at home. Why?"
"Be at this address by 7 p.m. Don't be late. I hate latecomers."
Before Rion could respond, Jeakyung hung up. A moment later, a text arrived with the address. Rion sighed and kissed Leon's forehead one last time before leaving the hospital. He needed to get home and change.
*****************************************
"So you said on your resume that you were a beta, is that right?" said the man to Chris. He was the owner of a small restaurant who had posted a job offering looking for a server. Though it specifically said the candidate had to be an Alpha or a Beta, Chris had figured out that if he wanted to get a job he would have to lie about his gender since most businesses refused to hire Omegas.
"Are you sure you are a Beta? You don't look like one—you look more like an Omega, if I were to say."
"Yes, I am a Beta," Chris replied without batting an eye. When it came to lying and deceiving people, he considered himself a master at it; that is why he could easily tell when people were lying or hiding something from him, like his mom. He could read people like an open book, or so he thought.
"Well, I can't sense any pheromones coming off you, so I guess you really are a Beta. That is disappointing, 'cause if you had been an Omega it would have been more fun," the man said with a mischievous grin on his face. Chris wanted to punch that grin off the old man's face but held back since he really needed the job to help his mom out.
"Anyways, you will start tomorrow. Today I will just give you a quick tour of the restaurant—you need to remember everything today as I don't have enough manpower to train you."
Chris followed the owner as he showed him around the restaurant. The man introduced him to all the employees. All of them were Alphas, which got Chris a little worried, but he thought that as long as he took his suppressants everything would be fine, and for his heat, since it only lasted a day, all he would need to do was come up with an excuse for to coming to work.
After the visit was done, Chris bid farewell to the owner. As he was walking on his way back home, Chris felt like someone was following him. "You, why are you following me?" Chris asked, pointing his hand towards a wall where he knew the person who had been following him was hiding. A few minutes after, the Alpha he'd been suspecting stepped out and walked towards him—they were only a few inches away from each other. It was none other than Henry.
"What do you want? Why do you keep following me?" he asked. Looking at the Alpha more closely, Chris couldn't help but notice that the Alpha was quite tall, muscular, and had an attractive face, but it took more than that to win him over. "You," Henry said in a low husky voice. Chris was taken aback by his answer, as he was pretty sure he felt a shiver run down his spine, but he decided to brush it off.
"Well, that is never going to happen. I will never fall for a pretentious asshole like you," Chris said, placing one hand on his hip while the other pointed at Henry, as if letting the Alpha know that he was the pretentious asshole he was referring to.
"Well, never say never, beautiful—you never know what the future might hold," Henry replied with a smirk on his face. For the past couple of weeks he had been following the Omega around, trying to figure out how he could seduce him, and he thinks he might have found a way.
Chris walked closer to Henry, closing the distance between them, and then grabbed him by the collar, pulling him to his height level. "Look, you punk—if I ever catch you following me around again, I will make you regret the day you were born." Henry gently brought his mouth close to Chris's ear and whispered, "I can't wait for that day to come," the Alpha said before licking Chris's ear.
Chris jolted back, shocked by Henry's action; he held onto his ear like it had just caught fire. He then angrily pointed his finger at the Alpha. "You, why the fuck did you do that?" he said, his voice visibly full of anger.
"Don't know, felt like it, besides, you are so cute I could help myself," Henry said, winking at him.
"Fuck you," Chris said, giving him the middle finger before turning around and walking away.
'Hahahah' Henry burst out laughing—who could have thought the Omega could make such an expression? He was pretty sure he had seen the Omega's face burning red like a tomato. "So that is his sensitive spot," Henry mumbled to himself as his lips curved into an evil smirk.