Cheers to the New Year!
And a doble dose of updates for all ye faithful readers out there! :D
Enjoy, everyone! :3
***
Louie was able to escape from the kid by placing a pillow in his stead. It looked like he was used to doing it too. Good thing Blondie was too asleep to notice.
"Now, tell me what happened. Who's this kid, and why haven't you told me that you're dating someone?"
"Who said anything about dating?!" asked the red-faced moron.
"Ivaniez the Warrior Princess did."
"Nanny Inez?!" his face got even redder. "W-well, she's got it wrong! Josh is just my client! We're not in any kind of vulgar relationship!"
"Hey, you're the one who said vulgar, not me."
"W-well, the bottom line is, we're not in a relationship!"
"Whelp. If you say so," I replied as I glare at him. "So, this is the reason why you've been getting death threats lately. No wonder. They probably want you dead for targeting a little kid."
"Bite your tongue! There's nothing going on between us!" Louie insisted.
"Are you saying then, that it's one sided? That this kid is forcing himself on you?"
The angry look in Louie's face softened and was replaced with guilt and sadness.
"He went into heat while we were in the car..." he explained. "He used to take such strong suppressants... I mean, he actually takes four different pills..."
"Four pills?" I stared at him, "What is he taking those pills for?!"
"I asked his mother about it, too, she said she's just making sure that her son doesn't get into any 'accidents'. She's quite paranoid about her son, afraid that he might go into heat somewhere and get bitten by an alpha. In fact, his meds were so strong that it had already affected his studies."
"Well, duh! Omega medicine are very strong downers. Too much use could cause stunted physical growth and diminished mental capacity. In short, it would make him stupid and scrawny!" I glanced at the small kid still sleeping on the bed.
"Exactly, that's why I asked my physician, Dr. Reyes, to prescribe a new suppressant for him. Problem is, it doesn't seem to work well..."
"Wait a minute, just what were you doing inside the car that caused him to go into heat?"
I raised an eyebrow at Louie who turned bright red, yet refused to answer.
"What are the odds that he did it on purpose? Did he time his estrus to the day you were supposed to meet?"
"No... It's all my fault. I didn't take a suppressant before we met up," he confessed.
"Idiot! What kind of stupid moron would enter a closed vehicle with an omega in heath!"
"He wasn't in heat!" Louie defended himself. "That's why I only took a pill in the morning, and another one after lunch!"
"You idiot! You already drank two pills today?!" I reprimanded him. "Are you saying you usually take three pills when you meet up with him? Is your mate's heat irregular?"
"That's the problem, he used to get his heat regularly, but his hormones keep acting up whenever we meet."
Hmm... he didn't deny that they are mates...
"I think it's because of the sudden change of dosage," he went on. "He shouldn't have stopped taking his meds so abruptly."
"Perhaps you were leaking your pheromones?"
"And why would I do that?" Louie said coldly. "What's more, we are not mates. No one could ever take Jonathan's place!"
"Hmph. Obviously! As if anyone can replace my Kuya."
And that's why I know that he would never attack this omega or anyone else for that matter.
"And just why did that monstrous Nanny call me, of all people? Isn't Doc Reyes your physician?"
"Well... aren't you the expert about secondary genders?" he asked back. "Besides, I was unconscious, how was I to know that Josh's bodyguards would contact you?"
I was taken aback by what he said.
"Woah, wait a minute... don't tell me you wrote me down as the person to pester in case you're in an emergency?!"
Louie refused to reply.
"Damn, see this?" I pointed at the goosebumps on my arm. "Just how close are we that you made me your emergency contact person?"
"Would you want the kids to freak out if someone called them to say I got into an accident?" he mumbled. "Besides, you're a doctor, and you're the only one I could trust with the kids, in case something happens to me..."
"Who you calling a doctor? I'm just a professor!" I corrected him. "Well, you could always leave mercy to me, and Blessing is old enough to take care of herself, but no way I'm taking that brat Nathan. I might end up tying him up and dumping him in the Pasig River for being a pervert!"
"ku-ku..."
The two of us were interrupted by a muzzled sound. We looked at the bed's direction and saw the small figure in the middle, shaking in silent laughter.
"Looks like your patient is already awake."
The kid stopped shaking and decided to fake a snore.
The hell.
I guess he really is just a kid.
Louie went to the lying figure, stared at it, and pinched his nose.
"Don't bother faking it. We know you're awake," he told Blondie. "Wake up. It's morning already."
I look at my watch and realized it was already six am!
The kid finally opened his eyes – dazzling blue eyes, the color of the Caribbean sea.
"Huh?!" the kid sat up straight and looked out the window. "Naku! Late na `ko sa klase! Hindi nanaman ako makakapasok nito!" (Oh no! I'm late for class! I won't be able to attend school again!)
I was surprised at how fluent his Tagalog was!
"What do you expect?" Louie sighed. "Don't worry, Nanny Inez probably called the school already."
"But I was supposed to bring Aveera her lunch today," he moaned like a kid, and I couldn't help but stare at him.
The kid noticed me then, standing behind Louie.
"Woah! You're even taller than Aveera!" he exclaimed.
I face Louie and raised an eyebrow.
"Is this the person you plan to replace my brother with?"
The idiot simply sighed and introduced me instead.
"Josh this is Dr. Eric Antonio, I called him so he could check us up."
As if.
He was out cold when the titan called us over. How typical of an alpha. I guess he's too proud to admit the truth in front of his new boy toy.
"Hello po," the kid beamed at me. "Are you going to check me up now?"
"We already took some blood samples while you were both asleep," I told them.
"Eh?" the kid just noticed the cotton taped on his arm where Aahmes drew his blood.
"So, how are you feeling? Are you feeling dizzy, or hot perhaps?"
"Just hungry," he replied, followed by a soft grown from his tummy.
I held his wrist to check his pulse and looked at his blue eyes. All the while, he kept asking questions in fluent Filipino. It reminded me of Aahmes who still cannot talk in Filipino this well.
"He's not in heat," I told Louie after the initial check-up. "Are you sure you didn't leak any pheromones while you were in the car? It's the only thing that could have triggered his heat. Unless you were doing something else."
"T-that's impossible, you know that I drink a dominant inhibitor monthly, aside from the suppressants I take daily. I'm not supposed to 'leak' pheromones!" he insisted.
"That's just it, you've been gobbling up so much pills that your pheromones might have gone haywire!"
I faced Blondie next.
"Did you smell something from Louie last night?" I asked.
"Not really," he replied shyly, "just the usual cinnamon scent."
"What cinnamon scent?" I frowned at him.
"You know... the most scrumptious scent in the whole wide world!" he replied with a goofy smile.
I gaped at him in irritation and looked at Louie.
"Care to translate?"
"It's just that, Josh says I smell like cinnamon," he explained.
"That's right!" Blondie chirped in, his head bobbling up and down. "And Louie says I smell like vanilla!" he giggled.
It was then that everything went clear.
"Ah... Okay... I get it now, so, you both smell something special from each other?"
"Well, I won't actually say special..." Louie mumbled.
"Yes!" Blondie blurted out.
"And it feels like you're going into heat when the two of you get too close to each other?"
"No, it isn't a heat," the kid replied. "It isn't as painful as a heat feels, in fact, it felt so good that I wanted to be enveloped in Louie's arms forever and ever!"
I stared at Louie who covered his face with both palms.
I guess now I know what they were doing inside his car last night.
"I did feel hot yesterday, but my body felt so light when we started to kissing and –" Louie hurriedly covered the kid's plump lips.
I knew it.
"Eric, Josh is still a very naive kid," he said, "he has only experienced the full force of his heat once, due to the medicine he has been taking. You can't expect him to understand things a normal omega would know."
"I think you mean 'ignorant'," I corrected him. "Anyway, I know what the problem is, already."
"Really Doc?" Blondie asked, wide-eyed. "Am I really sick?"
"You're not," I replied. "Your body is just reacting to Louie's unique scent. It is a phenomenon common to people with FPS."
"FPS?" they asked in unison.
"Fated Pair Syndrome."
"Wow!" Blondie's eyes got even rounder. "Then the myth about Fated Pairs really is true!" he exclaimed, his face beaming. "Does this mean that Louie and I are Fated –"
"Nope."
"Eh?" he looked confused.
"Fated Pairs aren't real. There are just some people who are hypersensitive to their partner's scent, that the omega sometimes go into heat out of schedule, which causes the alpha to go into rut."
"Is that so?" Blondie pursed his lips in silent disagreement.
Louie has gone uncharacteristically quiet.
"So, you finally found the omega who's most sensitive to your scent," I told him. "Now you can't go on saying that my Kuya Jonas was your fated mate anymore!"
I couldn't help but laugh out loud, particularly as I stared at the hurt expression on my stupid bro-in-law's face.
"W-we're not fated pairs!" Blondie suddenly blurted out, his face red with anger.
Wait a minute... isn't he supposed to be happy with that kind of news?
"Didn't you just say the there are no such things as Fated Pairs?" he pouted at me.
"E-exactly!" I answered back. "And since I've done what I came here for, then I best be on my way."
"Wait a minute!" Louie stopped me. "Can you give me something to cure this... hypersensitive scent or whatever?"
I ended up laughing again.
"There is no cure to FPS," I replied. "Just take your suppressants properly and don't get too close to each other."
"So... we need to stay away from each other?"
"Uy! I object!" Blondie said, teary-eyed.
"Huh, as if you can stay away! One of the symptoms in FPS is that the couple can't bear to be apart for long periods of time. You could actually fall ill and go crazy if you're forced to do so."
"Really?!" asked Blondie who seemed too happy to hear the bad news. "That means Louie and I should stay together from now on!"
"Yep, truth be told, that would be the best scenario, that is, if that partner of yours is ready to let go of the ghost of his dead mate."
I gave Louie an annoying sneer and watched him turn red with anger.
Sorry, but looks can't kill me.
"My advice to you two is to meet each other once every two to three days. First and second base would probably be fine, just don't go all the way if you don't plan to make a home run. Do that and you end up like you did last night."
"Did you hear that, Louie? The Doctor said we should see each other regularly!"
"I'm not a doctor, just a professor. So stop calling me during emergencies." I glared at Louie.
"Okay, professor," Blondie beamed at me. "but which base are we supposed to go to?"
"Huh?"
"Do we need to go to two different bases? Can't we just meet in one place?"
I stared at Blondie, trying to digest what he said, until it all snapped into place. My eyes involuntarily rolled up my skull due to his stupidity.
Truly, too much drugs can fry the brain.
"Louie, just where did you pick this kid up?"
"...He's from St. Davies Academe..." he replied.
"Ugh. No wonder."
That school is infamous for shaping `perfect omega breeding partners'. Rich alphas love to visit the place to shop for ignorant doe eyed omegas to spread their seeds in.
"I'm off. Go tell your mate what 'first base' means."
"Bye-bye, Doc! Thank you for everything! Take care!" Blondie told me with a smile and a wave.
"I told you, I'm not a 'Doc'!" I sighed. "And you, Louie, change your contact person. Stop bothering me! The next time you call, you better make sure it's a life or death situation!"
Louie smiled in spite of my nagging.
"Got it. Thanks for coming anyway."