Believe it or not, Ethan has a family. One he has been estranged from his family for years.
A recessive omega, a twin and also the second of three children.
Ethan's older sibling, a beta female, Edith and his younger sibling and twin brother, Edwin, is an omega male, recessive much like himself. All three born to a recessive alpha female and recessive omega female pair.
They were a middle class family. They could afford some things and there were others they couldn't afford but they always had enough to survive. And a good chunk of that survival, his parents believed, was the possibility of marrying both their omega sons to dominant alphas from wealthy enough families. It had been their sole life goal since they discovered their twin omegas.
They completely ignored their first beta daughter and poured all their resources into grooming the two boys to become suitable mates. For that, they didn't cheap out on anything, from what they used on their skins to their clothes, everything was in line with what they considered to be omega appropriate. Their education, however limited, covered a wide range of topics… superficial at best, but just enough to encourage a conversation.
They were essentially dolls to be packaged prettily and handed off to the highest bidder.
Ethan and Edwin, like every other set of twins, were constantly subjected to comparison with Edwin, always being more favored. Edwin was outgoing and had enough attitude to be considered spunky. People liked to gather around him while Ethan was… well, Ethan was Ethan. Aloof, hard to approach and always gave off the impression of being condescending. Although the two looked alike, they were starkly different. He didn't mind it, he liked the solitude that came with being avoided. It was lonely sometimes and he wished he could have friends like his brother, but in the end, he still preferred to be alone.
Edwin eventually caught the interest of a suitable candidate like their parents had wished, a young dominant alpha he had met while he was out and about. It was a sweet story, everyone loved it. Ethan was a little jealous though, he wanted a sweet love story too, like the dramas on TV but the story belonged to his twin brother. However, it stopped being sweet because Edwin's demands kept escalating and the expenses kept piling on. Edwin desperately wanted to impress this alpha and their parents, even more desperately, wanted to be considered on the same social as their potential in-laws. He and Edith became casualties of this new lifestyle as they had to cut expenses somewhere, even if that somewhere were the heat inhibitors and pheromone suppressants Ethan used. His parents opted to buy the cheap off brand drugs, mostly found in the slums, for him.
When he told them the drugs made him feel uncomfortable, they told him he was being inconsiderate, so he bore the pain quietly. Eventually it got worse, but he was still ignored. His pheromones went haywire and he had a hectic fever. It was Edith to took him to the hospital. His glands were basically irrevocably damaged, corroded away by the cheap drugs. That night his parents had taken Edwin shopping.
The days that followed after that were complete hell for him. When his parents found out that he would never recover, they lamented the waste in money, and he was slapped with the label 'defective omega'. It ate at his soul.
He was eighteen at the time.
Edith wasn't particularly fond of her family, she was like a spectre in her own home and her whole life had been about her omega brothers, not once was she spared any attention from the people she called her parents but ultimately, Ethan was a victim too.
So, when she found out about his desire to leave, she helped him escape. It wasn't much an escape really, his parents just considered it one less mouth to feed.
He was nineteen.
He moved to a different city, worked part-time in a kitchen and eventually saved enough to enroll himself in a community college to learn graphic design. He met his ex-boyfriend, John, a recessive alpha who had mastered the art of incessant pestering and guilt-tripping for affection. It was far from the sweet love story he hoped for as that fellow had a massive… massive inferiority complex and the burden of elevating his self-esteem fell on to Ethan.
It only got worse when he found out that he was defective. He placed the blame for everything wrong in his life on Ethan and cheated endlessly. When he was caught, he said it was Ethan's fault for not producing pheromones, sometimes going as far as hitting him when they argued.
It was a pure nightmare.
The nightmare lasted almost two years, up to his graduation.
He changed cities again, in the hopes of moving as far away from that pathetic fool as he could and got another job.
To say all these events did not take a toll on him would be a lie. His self-esteem was at an all-time low, he had PTSD from the farce of a relationship, and he was depressed but he was determined not to live in the shadow of his trauma.
They're the ones who did the bad things, why should he suffer his whole life while they went on their merry way?
Once he gained a semblance of financial stability, he put himself in therapy and started seeing a doctor about his condition.
He was twenty two at the time.
His life was just mundane until a rude man ran into him on the street and left his phone behind. He was upset but he decided to be a good person and return it and that's how he met Alexei.
Honestly, Alexei was the sweetest, most-sensitive and kindest alpha he had ever met, just the kind he had always dreamed of. Initially, he thought he was a recessive as the man never took himself as seriously as he had expected from other dominants. He understood his boundaries and cared for his opinions. He quickly found himself wanting more than the friendship the other had to offer but the feeling wasn't entirely reciprocated.
One thing led to another and eventually, the two ended up together. He even emigrated to a new country to be with him but somewhere along the way, that sweet, kind and sensitive alpha had been replaced with a shameless pervert. A shameless pervert with the EQ of a child.
He couldn't help but sneer. Who was this stranger seated across from him? He had been hoodwinked. An innocent boy like him had been conned into loving a shameless pervert.
It was too late to do anything about it, he was already deeply in love with the man. Shamelessness and all.
Ethan looked at the person seated across from him and scoffed again in disbelief. Seriously, who was this person?
"You're regretting it, aren't you? You want to go back to XX country, or did you already fall for another person? Is the person in your office? Is that why you don't want me to go?"
He scoffed again "What are you even saying?"
Alexei looked up "Aren't you ashamed of me? Isn't that why you won't let me go to your office?"
Ethan scoffed again. This madness started when he offhandedly mentioned his company, New Era Designs, was organizing a picnic and family members were invited. Alexei said he wanted to come but Ethan didn't think it was a good idea.
"I'm just a young, good-looking alpha, who happens to be the president of a conglomerate, why shouldn't I be hidden away like your dirty little secret?" With that retort, he stood and left the dinner table.
Ethan followed after him "Alex, if you came it would be chaos. Are you aware of your position?"
"When you yelled at me to sleep with you in a public restaurant, were you aware of my position?"
"When will you stop bringing that up?"
"Why should I stop? Are you ashamed of publicly declaring your right over me as well?"
This was just unbelievable.
"I never said I was ashamed of you."
He stopped in front of their bedroom door "Ethan, I don't understand why I can't show up at the picnic, it's for families and I'm technically, your family. A least, in this country. Unless you have someone else here and I have no idea about them."
"They already think I'm a paramour or being kept by a married rich man."
"If I show up, won't that dispel those rumours?"
"No, it won't!" this endless exchange was starting to exhaust him "Do you even understand what kind of power and influence you have?"
Alexei stared at him blankly for a few seconds "Do you?"
"What?"
"Do you have any idea the kind of power or influence I have?" He asked as he stepped closer "I'm not quite sure you do. Working in some hole in the wall company…"
"Alex…" he knitted his brows together "…that's… don't say that."
"What? I can't come to your office, I can't talk about it." he swung open the door "Makes me wonder what you're hiding there."
"I'm not hiding anything…" he rebutted following behind "…everyone-"
"They're going to talk with or without my presence."
"Alex, it is not that simple... It's... Can you stop being this way?"
He shrugged "Fine."
"Al-"
"We can't even go out because you're always worried about being seen with me or what people would say, you said nothing would change." He grumbled to himself as he walked passed Ethan and out of the room.
Nothing more was said about the matter. They went back to normal, like the exchange never even happened.
The day of the divisive picnic arrived.
Ethan regretted it.
Geen was the only person in the office he was on friendly terms with, but she had her family and other acquaintances, she couldn't possibly spend the whole day by his side.
He was lonely and bored. Maybe he really should have stayed home
Suddenly, an excited chatter began to spread among the small groups. Ethan scanned the crowd to make sense of the excitement. He spotted a person that looked a little familiar, but he wasn't even sure where he could have met sure person.
Dawson appeared, whispered something to the managing director and soon their group was on the move.
Ethan grew anxious.
"Did you hear? People from Hanzel are here"
"Really?"
"Yup, apparently, they have a department team building event."
The hushed excited murmurs became enthusiastic conservations.
Ethan soon pieced together the situation.
The secretarial department of Hanzel headquarters were also, coincidentally, having an event here and they had been invited to join in. It was rumoured the young alpha president would even make an appearance.
And he did, forty minutes after the groups had merged and the picnic was in full swing, Alexei sauntered into the venue, casually dressed. Dawson led him to the senior officers of New Era to make introductions. When asked to deliver a speech, he just said everyone should remain casual and have fun.
After the first person gathered the courage to talk to him and take a picture together, which he agreed to, other people joined in. Soon enough, the area around Alexei was bubbling with life. Ethan watched quietly from his seat, nursing a glass of lemonade. He felt left out, what's worse, Alexei barely spared him a glance the whole time. He just chatted away with whomever came to him to strike a conversation.
A short while after, the man appeared before him, Ethan's boss and supervisor by his side.
"Why is he sitting all alone?"
The managing director glanced nervously at Ethan "He just moved here some months ago. He's a little shy, but he's a good kid and a diligent worker." He explained quickly, a little worried Ethan's attitude would offend the young president.
"Oh?"
"It seems he doesn't really have any family here, so to speak." The MD signaled Ethan with his eyes, hoping he would make a friendly gesture or even introduce himself, but Ethan just pressed his lips into a thin line and stared down at the table.
"In that case, he should sit at my table. I have no family here either." Alexei announced "Even if it's just for today, I hope he won't mind being my family…" He smirked, leaning closer "…of course, that is if he doesn't mind being seen with me."
It was in this manner, Ethan was seamlessly integrated into his lively bubble, seated right next Alexei.
Of all the scenarios his mind had conjured when he saw Dawson, not once did he imagine things would unfold in this way.
"I don't understand why I have to pretend I don't know my own boyfriend in public." He grumbled.
Ethan looked to the grumbling man and smiled "Thank you."
"Thank Dawson. I was playing to show up and just mess up everything". It was something more of a scathing criticism from his secretary when he made his plans known. "I don't understand why you insisted on coming here alone if you were just going to be alone in some corner."
He laughed softly, making a mental note to thank Dawson.
"I'm still upset with you."
"I know."
"Everyone was taking pictures with me and trying to talk to me, but you just sat there, watching like it had nothing to do with you. I mean-" he stopped when he felt Ethan hook his pinkie with his under the table. "Don't act cute, it won't make me any less upset with you." He said that, but tightly intertwined their fingers, caressing the back of Ethan's hand with his thumb "Eat something, I had them get what you like."
Ethan gave his fingers a grateful squeeze, whether it was Dawson's idea or not, he didn't care, he was just happy Alexei was here.
The rest of the day went pretty smoothly although, there were a few incidents that drew a second glance from the New Era senior officers seated at their table. Like the time Alexei staunchly refused to let Ethan have any alcohol, stating Ethan would only cause a scene he would later regret, or when Ethan very naturally fed Alexei while he was replying an email or even when they were picking out food for each other, stating which they would like or which was really good. This was a normal sight for the secretarial staff of Hanzel but was quite the novel sight for those of New Era who had never seen Ethan speak so unreservedly to anyone.
At the end of the day, before the group dispersed, they decided to take a picture. Alexei pulled Ethan, with a big smile, he said "You are my family, you stay by my side."
The picture was taken, many were uploaded. The whole affair caused as much splash as the random appearance of a young, rich and eligible bachelor would at a random company event. The splash created quite a few ripples to the point several people messaged Claire to ask "Hey, is that Edwin by Hanzel's president?"
Hank wrapped his son in a tight hug.
Lein was leaving rehab and he was very excited. Everyone was, even though Mari was still making a show of how upset she was, she was back home preparing enough food for a party, although Lein didn't know about this at the time. They chatted excitedly about what Lein would do next while on the road. Making a quick stop to get him a new phone and register his new number.
Hank watched his son go through a cycle of type and delete several times until he couldn't take it anymore "Are you texting Jay?"
He tightened his grip on the device "I don't... I don't know what to say."
Hank threw him a glance "Did you talk to him while you were in?"
"Yes… just once."
"What did he say?"
"Not much…" Remembering his first call to Jason and his other calls which went unanswered made his heart heavy "He didn't say anything."
Hank glanced at him again, he couldn't bring himself to say something that would break his son's heart, especially now that they were all in a celebratory mood. He didn't want to tell him that the man would probably want nothing more to do with him. A lot of people wouldn't if they were in Jason's shoes so instead, he said "Just give it some time. He'll reach out if he wants to talk."
Lein nodded in agreement but kept typing and deleting his words, ultimately settling for a few simple sentences. He didn't know if he would get a reply. He hoped he would. His hope for reconciliation had waned but still, a tiny part of him, a rather selfish part, still hoped he would reply to him.
The rest of the drive was spent in silence, as both were buried deep in their thoughts.
"Ma!" Lein called out as he rushed out of the car to sweep the petite woman into a tight embrace. When they got home, she had been out, on the porch, obviously waiting for their arrival.
"Get your hands off me!" She demanded but Lein relented, even tightening his hold.
"I missed you." He sniffled "I'm sorry."
####: hey, this is Rosalein. I just got out of rehab. I got a new phone and a new number too. Just thought I should let you know.
Jason read the message again. He left his phone behind when he went to the hospital. A good number of messages and missed calls had piled up among those, he recognized the number Lein had used to call him the first time. Lein had called several times after that, all of which had gone unanswered.
He tried not to think of what was going through Lein's mind when his bid to reach out was met with silence. There was never a time Lein's calls went unanswered before.
He typed a simple reply before placing the phone aside. His work had also piled up, he stared despondently at the mountains of paperwork gathered on his desk. The man who called himself his brother, was truly a man with no mercy.
Jay: Congratulations. Good job.
Three words, after everything… but as impersonal as they were, they made him happy. This meant Jason was at least willing to talk to him, right? There must have been a good reason why he never answered his calls from rehab. He half anticipated a scolding or being told not to initiate any contact between them or even being blocked but instead he got praised. He was beyond ecstatic.