Eugene took a deep drag of his cigarette and exhaled long, leaning against the brick wall.
Should he just leave?
"Listen--it'll be too late if you wait. Just take the child first before that omega runs off again!"
He didn't speak loudly, but the spite was apparent and deep. Eugene sighed again, scolding himself for even thinking an alpha was capable of a decent personality.
Eugene stubbed the ember on the brick wall and slipped a new one between his lips. Ah...what an annoying night--he thought while making a mental note to send a string of curses to his friend through text messages. He'd smoke another one and then leave--
Or at least, that was his plan before he heard a commotion in front of the door.
Peeking from the corner of the brick wall, he saw a few already heavily drunk people cornering the alpha. It seemed like they wanted to enter the bar, but for some reason, stopped to pick a fight with the alpha.
Looking at the phone in the alpha's hand, there was a possibility that he was cursing again through the phonecall, and the drunkards thought he was cursing at them.
Or perhaps the alpha was just being annoying, who knows.
But the alpha, who had become Eugene's tablemate for a little bit, looked too surprised and confused to do something like that. Honestly, despite the gym build, the man had this vibe of a young master who didn't know how to fight.
Or ever do it, for that matter.
"Haa..."
Eugene closed his eyes for a few seconds, exhaling in resignation. He couldn't just let someone who paid for his drinks alone, even if that person was an asshole.
And that was how he ended up dragging the drunkards away to the alley beside the bar, venting. Was he filled with so much dopamine that he ended up in a hotel room with the alpha he just met an hour ago? Who knows.
He didn't remember a lot, but he did remember that it was...good? Yeah, it must have been good if they ended up doing it for a few rounds. Eugene vaguely remembered the alpha looked frustrated when looking at his face, though, as if he was thinking hard or something.
But then, when the sex was good, there was no space for many thoughts to cross. They used up all of the condoms that Eugene had with him, and when the alpha fell asleep, Eugene left.
He had a morning meeting, and honestly? He had no intention to have further contact with this alpha. Sure, the man fucked him good, but that was it. With that kind of personality and his apparent dislike of omegas...
Nope. Couldn't possibly work.
And so all of that happened, without Eugene knowing that alpha's name--much less his number.
If only he knew he would get pregnant from it...
At that time, when he found out he was pregnant, Eugene was not in his right mind to try tracking that man. Nor that he was well physically. He found out he was pregnant because he passed out in his office, going to the doctor because he thought he had anemia. The whole blood test came back with him declared as almost five months pregnant.
If you had come two weeks earlier, you would have the option to terminate it.
That was what the doctor said. As a hybrid who manifested late, Eugene had to live with an irregular cycle, so skipping several months without getting heats or periods was normal for him. It became his bane at that moment, causing him to miss any sign. In his defense, there was no glaring symptom like morning sickness or severe craving that could clue him in.
In his muddled state, it took him a while to even make sense of things, and even more to figure out which one of his sex partners was the father. Even after he singled Arthur out--who Eugene didn't even know had that name--he recalled that the man mentioned he was about to go abroad for graduate school.
Dealing with a sudden, unwanted pregnancy and being terminated from his work already sent him spiraling enough, so Eugene had no energy left to find out the identity of his child's sperm donor.
It was such a dark period in his life that his memory became somewhat blurry. Most of it was spent in the Omega-Care Center, since he was not well enough to even function properly without falling into some extreme, dangerous thought. If there was one good thing coming out of it...
It was that he met Sophie and Allen because of it.
A wealthy married couple who spent their time and money donating and volunteering to an omega support foundation. Perhaps because she was pregnant herself at that time, Sophie paid a great deal of attention to Eugene.
Oftentimes, Eugene wondered what Sophie even saw in him at that time. He wasn't even sure why this 'charity' morphed into a friendship, and he didn't want to ask. He couldn't ask. It felt disrespectful to the grace and kindness that Sophie gave him to question her motive, as if questioning the bond they had forged.
In her own bulldozing way, she managed to crack the heart that had been plunged into the abyss. Thanks to her support, Eugene survived the hellish stages of grief until he reached acceptance.
Until he was able to look into his daughter's face without getting angry.
Until he could separate the innocent child from the action that honestly...was also a product of his own fault.
How many sleepless nights did he spend staring at Hannah's face, trying to make sense of things and accept the situation? He could still recall, as clear as a day, the exact moment he hugged her small figure and vowed to protect her his whole life and beyond.
It was a silly day, honestly. The little baby was sick, crying in distress with a high fever. Eugene, who was still not used to taking care of a baby, called Sophie in panic and rushed to the ER in the middle of the night. The funny thing? She was just teething.
But during the whole process in the hospital, Hannah was crying so loudly, thrashing around anytime an adult picked her up. Only when she was in Eugene's hold did the little girl become calm enough for the doctor to treat her.
How ridiculous. Eugene could barely look at her before. He couldn't even say he had taken good care of the baby. He had just done the bare minimum, just to keep the baby alive, so he didn't become a murderer.
Why? How did she even know it was him? She was crying so hard that her eyes were squeezed shut all the time. Could she even see him through those pouring tears?
How? Why? Why did he feel so hurt? And why was it so exhilarating at the same time?
Eugene couldn't understand. But he did understand one thing:
The girl had no one but him, the way he had no one but her.
How could he abandon that little soul who clung to him so desperately, as if asking not to be abandoned? How could he forsake a desire that also had been festering deep inside his heart?
Eugene couldn't do it. Even if he failed to receive such protection, he should do his best to give his daughter the protection and the affection she deserves.
No. He wanted to.
Did he hate Arthur? Not really. Eugene didn't think the alpha also wanted this outcome. Even though his memory was a bit blurry, the fact that Eugene agreed to sleep with him meant the man wasn't that bad.
Eugene always prided himself on being good at picking a bed partner, even while he was drunk.
At most, Arthur was a jackass who couldn't care less about other people--seeing how he didn't even bother to remember people's faces. That being said...
I don't sleep with omega--
Eugene clearly recalled the man had said that. Arthur had thought he was a beta, and that was probably the only reason they ended up having sex that night. If Eugene now, as an omega, told him the truth...
Wouldn't it seem like Eugene was deceiving him? To be fair, not disclosing one's gender before sex was always considered iffy, so he couldn't even blame himself if Arthur got offended. There was even a case when someone sued their partner over something like this, calling it a scam.
And honestly? Eugene couldn't put it past this man, who probably came from a wealthy circle if he hung out with Sophie and Allen. Moreover, after overhearing the phonecall about taking a child from an omega...
Arthur could use the fact that Eugene didn't tell the man he was an omega to pursue a legal action, and it would undermine his eligibility as Hannah's guardian. In a custody battle between an alpha and an omega, the court always leaned more to the alpha side unless the alpha had a criminal record or couldn't provide for the child.
If the alpha was clean and wealthier? Moreover, if the omega was accused of fraud?
The judge probably wouldn't even bother with a trial.
Yeah. Eugene couldn't risk an alpha taking his daughter away. One who seemed to have a bad personality, above all else, and didn't even remember him, just like he forgot the face of that omega. It didn't seem like he was important enough to be remembered, so whose to say the alpha would be kind enough to leave him and his daughter alone?
For all he knew, alphas were a possessive bunch once they considered something--or someone--to be their possession.
Eugene took a deep breath and exhaled slowly as he caressed his daughter's sleepy head. Hannah Kim was his, and there was no way Eugene would let anyone take Hannah from him--no way!
So he had to keep it a secret. No matter what.