Chapter 96 - Bonus (2) - The First Encounter (1)
JUSTIN'S POINT OF VIEW:
Justin Vincent Alvarez.
12 years old.
Omega.
As soon as I saw what was written on this little piece of paper, I felt my entire body turn cold. The color on my face drained, and I felt my heartbeat getting faster and faster.
No... This can't be... I can't be an omega.
If the other kids find out that I am one, they'd all pick on me until we graduate. I don't want that to happen...
"Hey, Jus! What's yours?"
I flinched when I heard that question. I looked up and saw my childhood friend, Xander, raising his brows while smiling at me.
Inside my head, I was debating whether I should tell him the truth or not.
He's my best friend since birth. He and my online best friend, Daryl, are the only people I can open up to freely.
But... why am I hesitating right now? Why am I having second thoughts on whether I should tell him or not?
I knew I could trust Xander in keeping this as a secret from everyone. I also knew that he wouldn't treat me differently just because of my second gender, but there was a part of me that feared that he might turn out differently from what I expect him to be.
I smirked and said, "Isn't it obvious?"
"Ugh, whatever. Even if I force the answer out of you right now, you'd probably still keep your mouth shut even if I start crying blood from my eyes. You're most probably a beta anyway," he said as he frowned at me. "I'm an alpha, by the way," he said as he smiled proudly at me.
He's... He's just like me.
I am born from a family of betas, and so is Xander. But the major difference between us two was the social standing of our second genders.
He gets to stand on top, while I get stepped on at the most bottom part of the society.
Hearing about his second gender only made me more hesitant in telling him about mine.
There's no way I could easily say that I'm an omega.
Even after our class has ended, the only thing that my classmates ever talked about was the second gender examination. They were talking about the number of alphas and omegas from the previous batch and in our batch right now.
All of them just seem to be in awe of having alphas at school, but none of then thought positively about omegas.
It was a given, of course. I can't blame them for that. Even I, an omega, thinks that it's not something someone should be proud of.
I feel so ashamed.
I grabbed my bag after putting my things inside it and ran outside of the classroom without even waiting for Xander. We were supposed to go home together with my mom today, but I don't think I can face him after I avoided answering his question earlier.
I ran to a bench that's a hit far from our classroom and sat there all alone.
I want to clear my head and organize my thoughts properly. I'm also thinking of how I'm going to tell my parents about my result today.
Surely, they'd get disappointed, too...
Just thinking about their reaction and how they might cast me aside because of what I am made me tear up.
It makes me feel so sad that things like that are actually possible. I've never really given much thought about omegas before, but now that I found out that I am one, this makes me feel even worse.
I barely know anything about being an omega, nor do I know how things would turn out for me in the future.
I often see omegas get treated badly on TV, and just thinking that something like that would also happen to me made my entire world crumble.
The moment I turned out to be an omega, I knew that it was all over for me.
My future was doomed.
I couldn't help but sob as I overthink things.
Nothing good could ever happen from being an omega. Nothing.
As I was crying, I heard the bench creak as someone sat next to me. I couldn't see who it was because I was covering my face.
Whoever it was, I paid no mind to them because I was busy bawling my eyes out because of my second gender examination result.
"Did you have a bad day? Because same. I got lost, you see. Embarrassing, isn't it?" I heard the person speak.
The person's voice somehow sounded calming, but I shrugged it off and ignored him.
Why is he even talking to me? I want to move to another bench badly.
Before I could stand up, he spoke again. "Here. I think you need this." I removed my hands from my face and saw that he was offering handkerchief to me. "I haven't used that at all today, so it's clean," he continued.
I was hesitant whether I should take it or not, but I decided to accept it because I didn't have anything to wipe my tears with either.
I slowly stretched my arm and took the handkerchief from his hand while lowering his head. I wiped my cheeks with it and said, "Th... Thank you..." in a small voice, feeling shy from borrowing his handkerchief.
His handkerchief smelled nice. I couldn't describe the scent properly, but there was something in it that calmed me down a bit.
"Is it your second gender?"
I froze from his question. It was something that I didn't want to talk about, but I thought it was fine to talk to him about it since he doesn't know me.
Plus, he's also a big brother. There's no way someone his age would go and mock a kid like me. He doesn't seem the type to do that, too.
I slowly nodded and sobbed once again when negative thoughts came rushing back inside my head. "I... I'm an o... omega..." I said, my voice cracking in the middle.
"Being an omega sounds like a bad thing, huh? People would look down on you and think of you as someone who's beneath them. They'd throw nasty words at you and treat you badly. I know this because I've seen someone get treated like this, but I couldn't possibly know the feeling of being treated like that."
My eyes trembled from what I heard.
I knew it... Something like that actually happens in real life, too. I, too, would probably get treated like that once people find out that I'm an omega.
"W... Would I get treated like that, too?" I asked as I lowered my head. "Oh, no, no, no! That's not what I was trying to get at," he said, flustered. "But if people become mean to you, then give the same treatment back to them. People who don't respect you don't deserve your respect, too," he continued.
"You see... my brother is getting his result today, too. I'm actually scared that he might not like his result and feel bad about himself. But no matter what he is—alpha, beta, or omega—I'd still love him because... well, he's my brother," he chuckled.
I couldn't help but turn my head to look at him when he said that he'd still love his brother no matter what his second gender is.
Will Dani also still love me even if I'm an omega?
"P... Plus, being an omega wouldn't be so bad, right? You'll have your fated mate who will love you unconditionally. B... Betas don't have something as cool as that, right?" he said as he faced me with a smiling face.
The moment I saw his entire face, I was in awe with how handsome he looked. He looked like someone who came out from a fairytale.
He had wavy light brown hair, emerald eyes that looked so warm, tall nose, and pink lips that had a bigger lower lip.
He looks like a prince.
But aside from his good looks, what caught my attention was what he just said about having a fated mate.
It wasn't that clear to me what a fated mate was. It was true that I often hear that term before, but just as I said earlier, I've never given much thought about the things related to omegas.
"Fated... mate?" I said as I tilted my head a bit, curious as to what that really meant. He nodded, still smiling and said, "A fated mate is someone who gets attracted to you the first time you meet them, and vice versa. There will be an immediate attraction between you two. Fate will always bring you together, and you'll get drawn to each other. But fated mates are only for alphas and omegas. Isn't it nice to have someone like that?"
That sounds so... beautiful.
At my age, I'm slowly getting interested in things like crushes and love, but this is the first time I truly found out the real meaning of fated mates.
Since I'm an omega, does that mean I that I have a fated mate, too?
A smile formed in my lips as I nodded and said, "Yes, yes! That sounds so nice. Because I'm an omega, that would mean that I'm going to meet my fated mate, right?"
He smiled back at me as he said, "Yes," and it felt like my heart just melted from the sight of his smile.
He really looks like a prince.
"Justin, what are you doing there? I've been looking for you since earlier!"
I immediately knew whose voice that was. It was my mom's.
She came running to my direction, and the first thing that came to my mind when I saw her was to tell her about my second gender without feeling ashamed about it.
Even if there were some things that could put me down because I'm an omega, I can always fight back just like what the big brother said. Plus, I think it's great knowing that there's someone out there who's meant to be with me in the future.
"Mom, I'm an omega," I smiled at my mom. She looked shocked from the news, but her facial expression changed and turned into a smile.
"Thank you," I heard her whisper as she looked at my side where the big brother was.
"He's a very positive kid," I heard him say. "Mom, is being an omega a bad thing?" I asked as I looked at her. Without second thoughts, my mom shook her head and said, "Of course, not. You're still my sweetest Justin."
What she said gave me a sense of relief. She still accepts me for who I am, and thay made me have more courage to tell my dad and brother about it, too. Of course, I'm going to tell Xander about it as well.
I looked at my side to thank the big brother, but he wasn't there anymore.
"Hey, I thought you left without me!" Xander ran towards me while pouting. "Stop pouting. You look like a duck," I giggled.
His pout turned into a frown, and that only made me laugh.
"I'm an omega," I said as I smiled at him. He looked at me with widened eyes, and his reaction made me feel nervous again.
He wouldn't end our friendship... right?
"Yo, that's so cool! There are only very few omegas in the world, and you're one of them. Wow!" he said with a face filled with awe and shock.
I let out a breath of relief when I saw that he didn't take it as something negative.
I looked at my mom and saw that she was smiling at me.
If I had someone to thank for this, it has to be that big brother. If I didn't get to hear what he told me earlier, I probably would have suffered in silence and kept this a secret from my best friend.
I hope his brother would be happy with his result, too.
'Thank you so much, Prince.'
[Since then, Justin started carrying a handkerchief in hopes that the simple act of offering it would help someone so much, just like how that 'princely big brother' helped him.]
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