[An's POV]

Ugh... The smell of an alpha's pheromone was intruding my smell receptor, and waking me up from my slumber. I sighed and rubbed my eyes before turning my head to look at the closed bathroom door. It was definitely Zephyr's scent.

To be frank, I wasn't that fond of alpha pheromones. When most omegas could say that most alphas' pheromones smelled intriguing and sometimes calming to them, I could only feel annoyance and disgust. So, when I heard that Zephyr hated omegas' pheromones, I kind of get it.

I was what you could call... a survivor? When I was a kid, I was kidnapped by a crazy alpha for a few years. I survived his crazy antics which included physical and emotional abuse. I survived, but not unscarred. He was the reason I lost my ability to express emotions. Everytime I reacted to his abuses, he would be angry and released his strong pheromones. As an omega, a vicious and dominating alpha pheromones was like a whip to our mental state. So, after a few years, it was kind of expected that I would broke.

Then, I was sent to a few orphanage after I was rescued. When I was staying at one of the orphanage, one of the caretaker had set his eyes on me. I was the only omega child in the facility, so the pedophile who had child omega fetish tried to molest me a few times. He did touched me here and there. But one night, he went too far. So, I sent him to the hospital. I heard that he was in the ICU. Don't know what happened after that though, because after that, I was sent to a psychiatric hospital.

A dominating pheromones, a lust-filled pheromones... Either of them was very unpleasant to me. And right now-

I turned to the closed bathroom door.

Haa.. This is annoying.

An annoyed sigh slipped out of my mouth. I get up from the floor with my blanket wrapping me like a cocoon and went to the balcony sliding door. The night breeze blowing to my sleepy face and made me feel a little bit refreshed. I stepped out from the room and slowly settled myself on a rattan swing chair which was facing the best view in the world. Well... at least, the best view in MY world. I never really had the opportunity to leisure around, watching beautiful scenery or something.

I curled my body inside the almost spherical swing chair and slowly pushed the chair so it could swing me gently. My eyes were set on the neon city lights that I could see from the distance. It was peaceful and serene. Within a few minutes, I dozed of into the dreamland. 

°•°•°•°

[Zephyr's POV]

I felt disgusted after relieving myself using the memories of that dream. Not disgusted of him, but myself. Weirdly, seeing his sincere actions when he was around Granddad made me hate him less. He was clearly putting some distance between us and him. It was like he was floating in his own world instead of planting his feet with us in the real world.

Even so, he did his best to be polite. Although the lack of emotions freaked me out sometimes. Especially when our eyes met. It felt like he was seeing through me, straight into the deepest part of my heart.

When I walked out of the bathroom, he was gone. I furrowed my forehead while scratching the side of my neck. Then suddenly, a gust of wind greeted my skin. I turned to see that the sliding door to the balcony was opened. After hesitating for a few moments, I carefully stepped to the balcony without making any sounds.

I peeked to the outside and saw a lone figure in the swing chair, sleeping soundly without any care. The wind blowing gently on his soft chestnut curls causing it to slowly caressing his smooth pinkish skin.

The longer I watched him, I could clearly see his body trembling while his face was grimacing. So it seemed like he was able to express himself while he was asleep.

I reluctantly went closer to him to wake him up. He must have been cold that he was shivering. However, as I stood close to him, I noticed that there were a few sweat beads on his forehead. There was no way he would sweat if he was cold.

"S- sorry... Please... don't h- hurt me..." he mumbled.

I was frozen in place.

"...I... was wr- wrong... It... hurts..."

I had never heard people talked in their sleep saying those kind of words. What was he dreaming of?

"...I'll b..e good... N...o..."

A small stream of tear ran down his face which looked like he was in pain. I sighed. There was no way I could wake him up now, wasn't it? I slowly reached out my hand and patted his head awkwardly. His soft curls felt so fluffy under my palm. After a few pats, he started to calm down.

°•°•°•°

The morning came and the omega was no longer on the bed. After I placed him on the bed last night, I tried to lay down next to him (with a LOT of pillows as barricade, of course), but was woken up a few times after he punched and kicked me a few times. He nearly attacked my precious son down there, but as if my sixth sense had awoken, I opened my eyes and nearly dodged it. I almost thought that he was doing that on purpose, but after seeing his pale and sweaty face, I realised that he was just having another nightmare. I wonder if he always having nightmares every night?

I got up with a tired groan, and stretched by sore body to the left and right. Sleeping on the hard floor was really not for my pampered body. I should brought in a mattress or something next time.

"Huh?"

I frowned.

Why should I? Did I really think that I would yield my ownership of my own bed to the omega? Wow, Zeph. You're being a softy again!

I quickly got up and went to the bathroom. After doing my business in there, I ran down the stairs and took a turn to the kitchen. But, my steps were stopped as I saw the slender figure that was facing his back on me.

He was wearing a pink apron that was tied firmly around his slim waist. He probably didn't hear me, because right on that moment, he was humming a tune while shaking his butt without a care of his surrounding. It was a shock for me, frankly speaking. I never expected that a stoic-faced guy like him would acted like a normal cheerful person when he was alone.

I accidentally let out an amused chuckled.

Thankfully, the omega didn't hear that. I secretly watched him as he slided around the kitchen area while his nimble hands reaching for things while preparing some food. The corner of my mouth unknowingly turned upwards due to his adorable acts.

Wait.

'Adorable'?!

Am I now attracted to him?!

Nonono! There was no way I was attracted to this omega. I had my beloved, cute and attractive Vanessa. I was not going to cheat on her!

As if on cue, the memories of last night flashed into my mind, making me to be more conscious of my mistakes and felt guilty to Vanessa at the same time. I took a long breath and exhaled an exhausted sigh.

Honestly, my mind was in confusion since last night. I really do love Vanessa. I mean, with her, nothing felt... hard.

...Well, except for my boy down there-

Jokes aside! With Vanessa, I finally felt like I can breathe. With the whole Juno (my ex fiance, by the way) thing- I was dead and she revived me.

But then, this omega walked in my life. I hated him, but at the same time, I was attracted to him. There! I said it! It wasn't like he was my fated one. Juno was. Still, his existence caused a ripple in my head.

"How long have you been standing there?"

The sudden sound of the voice startled me out of my thoughts. The omega was standing a few steps away from me while carrying a tray of breakfast he had just made. His blank face was somehow looking like he was scrutinising me. I cleared my throat and straightened my posture. I wore my straight face and walked away to the table.

"I wanted to talk to you about something," I started while taking a seat at the dining table far away from him.

"Go on," he said as he sat on his seat. Although he was paying attention to my words, his face refused to look at me. It somehow annoyed me.

I cleared my throat once again. "Since we're gonna be a 'pretend married couple' anyway, why don't we, uh, stop being so hostile towards each other and maintain a friendly relationship?"

Silence enveloped our surroundings. I gulped down my saliva. This guy was making me having a nervous breakdown with his lack of reaction! He slowly turned his face my way and stared.

"You started it first," he said calmly. I could feel my bones froze by his words.

"Uh... yeah. Sorry 'bout that. I just-"

"And now you're asking me to be friendly and stop being so hostile?" He squinted his eyes a little, while never let his sight away from me.

"Umm-" I was losing words to say to him.

"Before the marriage," the omega cut me off. "-you acted friendly before being an asshole on the day we sign the form. You clearly make your points clear that you don't want me near you when you kicked me out of the house. You're the one being hostile, Mr. Blakesley," he continued.

Wow. He's the one that will remember every single thing that has been done to him and will take you down later, huh? I sighed.

"As long as you respect me and treat me well, I'll treat you the same."

I looked up and turned my head to him. A smile bloomed on my face. Well, this omega was not so bad after all.