CHAPTER FIVE

Cade's gaze slowly examined the new arrival customer who had a bit resemblance at first glance with that man in the hotel, he couldn't prevent but compare the two.

This guy was taller and had nice physic, but the man in the hotel was taller than he remembered that he had to tiptoe then so he could reach his provocative lips, and his chest and shoulder were broader and wider than he could recall, burying his face against those pecs every time he whimpered in pleasure as the man's gorgeous hazelnut eyes were staring at him ardently, like a snake about to devour its prey.

He shook his head and produced an imaginary grimace as he made the coffee for the customer that he mistook for that man for a split second.

He wanted to smack his head and come to terms with reality. Darn it, it had been a week and days, and he should wake up now and stop fantasizing and recalling everything, and his bothersome heart, skipped a beat, imagining that man to appear in front of him at any moment, so ridiculous.

Why was it so difficult to, execute something so simple, as forgetting about that man? Pathetic.

***

When Cade awoke the next day, he had a dull ache on both sides of his head and at the back of his neck. As if water might cure his headache, he got out of bed and walked to the kitchen, where he drank two glasses of water.

He set the glass on the sink and leaned against it while he massaged his temples, feeling as if his head was about to be ripped apart.

He got headaches from time to time when he was overworked, so he wasn't that concerned. It would go away soon anyway.

Later that morning, his headache had gone and  Cade went to class and sat in the middle row; He was focused on listening to the professor and taking notes on the lesson when he felt a tap on his thigh. His gaze trailed down to see who was the owner of the hand, and he nearly shrieked from a heart attack when he saw his classmate and friend, Tenpi Ogawa crawling under his thigh and putting a finger on his lips, signaling him to be quiet.

He got the clue and simply nodded and moved a bit to make room for Tenpi. How and when did he get down there in the first place? Just like a cat.

"Good morning my friend, " Tenpi whispered as he sneakily sat beside Cade.

"You scared me," Cade muttered.

"Sorry about that; if the professor sees me coming late, she would call me out"

"I haven't seen you this whole week,"

"Problems at home," Tenpi yawned, taking out his Ipad from his backpack.

He was intrigued about Tenpi's home problems, but he didn't say anything or ask any questions after that.

He met Tenpi on their major subject, but they had never been so close before; they became so when Tenpi forgot to bring his mechanical pencils and tracing paper to class. He had some extras, so he lent them to Tenpi.

Cade believed that he didn't do much, what he did was just common courtesy but Tenpi made a huge deal out of it and claimed that they should be friends from then on.

Well, he didn't mind; they had an instant connection when they discovered they were both Omegas, and Tenpi was fun to be with had a pleasant demeanor, and was the only one who sincerely befriend him since he got into university.

Still, he felt overwhelmed and didn't know how he should act around Tenpi because he had never had any friends before, but to be honest, he appreciated Tenpi's presence.

It was already lunch break, and Cade wanted to buy a decent meal but when he checked his bank account, he hesitated, because, he was already short on money. Plus, he planned to take Cai to a nice restaurant this coming Saturday. In the end, he settled on one bread. 

Cafe and Tenpi were walking out of the Cafeteria when Cade bumped into someone and his bread dropped to the ground. When he reached down to pick it up, his bread burst from its wrapping due to a pair of black high heels stepping on it.

"Oops, I didn't notice you there." Cade heard a familiar voice.

He raised his eyes to see who was speaking and trampling his bread, all of his blood rushed to his head when it was Sasha, giving him a smug look.

Cade's first cousin, Sasha Saint, and his uncle's daughter. Unexpectedly, they both attended the same university, so he was surprised when he ran into her on the first day of school, but Sasha ignored him and pretended she didn't recognize him.

That worked for him as well for the sake of his peace and he preferred not to interact with the person who was constantly tormenting him and his younger brother at his uncle's household.

He thought Sasha would ignore him at the University till the end but why was she starting now? And if he would complain, nothing good would come out of it.

Cade sighed. "It's alright, it's also my fault for not looking at the front," he apologized, although he didn't want to, he only wanted to get out of Sasha's sight promptly.

"Let's go Tenpi," he said, looking at Tenpi, who stood up motionless and gave Sasha a stern stare.

"You purposefully bumped into Cade," Tenpi said abruptly, pointing his finger at Sasha.

Sasha darted his eyes on Tenpi and raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Did you suddenly go deaf?" Tenpi inquired in a sarcastic tone as he raised an eyebrow back at Sasha.

"Are you accusing me? He just admitted it's his fault!" Sasha yelled.

"Tenpi, Let's go--," Cade held Tenpi's wrist but his friend remained firm, not budging a muscle.

"I'm not accusing or anything, I'm just telling what I saw. Now, apologize to Cade!"

"Loser! What the hell are you saying--"

Cade's eyes flitted quickly to Tenpi to Sasha and back to Tenpi again. C'mon, he didn't expect Tenpi would react like this.

"So you don't want to admit it?" Tenpi warned, stepping forward to Sasha.

"Come here then, I'll show you how I smash your ugly face worse than my friend's bread," Tenpi gritted his teeth and reached out to grab Sasha's hair but before he could do it and caused a spree that would lead to a big problem, Cade didn't hang back to seize his friend's forearm and ran fast, out of that place without letting go Tenpi.

They had stopped running to a halt at the school gate, their palms on their knees, gathering their breaths.

When their lungs recovered, they looked at each other.

"Come with me," Tenpi said short.

He gave Tenpi a perplexed look. "Where?"

"Don't ask, just come with me"

He didn't say anything and followed Tenpi.

"Why are we here? I don't have money," he told.

Unexpectedly, Tenpi brought him to a Chinese restaurant.

"It's my treat, don't worry," 

"but--" Cade wanted to refuse but Tenpi suddenly pushed him into a chair.

"You can eat as much as you want," Tenpi said as he sat across the table from his.

"You don't have to do this, I'm not hungry. " he lied. He was starving, he hadn't eaten anything yet since breakfast.

Tenpi knew that he was always short on money, but he didn't tell him the reason why.

Maybe Tenpi noticed? if Sasha didn't smash it, only that bread he would eat for lunch. It was like he was treating him out of pity, and Cade didn't want that.

"Don't be silly. I'm not pitying you or anything, I just want to eat with you and maybe hang around for a little while," Tenpi said in defense as if he read his mind.   

Cade huffed and gave up. He was sitting still and fidgeting, like a child who just got scolded by his mom. Tenpi ordered the food for them because he was so shy to do so.

They were casually waiting for their food to be served and Cade remembered something. "Thank you, I'm glad you stood up for me there, but you didn't have to start a fight with Sasha for my sake,"

Tenpi frowned, remembering what happened earlier. "Sasha? Do you know that witch?"

"No. I just overheard her name from others," he lied. He couldn't tell Tenpi for some reason that Sasha was his cousin.

"Oh right, she's popular at our campus, so everyone knows her," Tenpi said, nonchalantly.

"What you mean by that?" he inquired.

"You don't know? Sasha Saint is known as a daughter of a firm CEO, which is why she's friends with that rich girl in the art department whose mother is a famous actress. They are both elites, so they clicked right away and since then, they had been the hottest topic of our university forum."

"But whatever, she's such a bitch," Tenpi added.

Cade's face was baffled as he absorbed the information, he didn't even know what to say. There was one thing he was certain of, Sasha was lying. She wasn't the daughter of some firm CEO. Her parents, Cade's uncle worked at a car shop, and his auntie sold fruits in a street market, so they couldn't possibly be wealthy. Why would she make up lies like that? Wasn't it scary if people find out the truth? Technically, It didn't matter. Sasha's business had nothing to do with him.

Good thing he didn't tell Tenpi that Sasha was his cousin. If he did, it wasn't like he didn't trust Tenpi, but there was no guarantee he would keep it a secret. Otherwise, Sasha's lies would be exposed to everyone and she would blame Cade for it, that's for sure, which he didn't want to happen, therefore he had to keep his mouth shut no matter what.

"I didn't know that," Cade snorted, averting his gaze to the other near table.

"I've just recalled you have the same last name as Sasha Saint,"

"Really?" he glanced at Tenpi, feigning ignorance.

"Yes, I thought you were siblings or cousins...," Tenpi said, sounding uncertain. "But it's not at all like that; you can't be after I witnessed what she did earlier to you,"

"Y-you're right," Cade agreed awkwardly, almost choking on his spit at the notion of Tenpi discovering her connection with Sasha.

"You have a foreign last name, are you half?"

"Not me. My father is half-American, but he's dead now," he answered, unruffled.

Tenpi gaped reflexively. "Oh, I'm sorry...I forgot," he sincerely apologized, feeling bad for accidentally touching a sensitive subject. He already knew Cade's father was dead, Cade told him when he forced him to talk about himself.

"No, it's fine, it's been so long since it happened. I'm really fine," Cade said and smiled sweetly.

Tenpi got the clue and shifted the topic. "Anyway, if you didn't stop me there, Sasha's already bald by now" he joked.

Cade laugh wholeheartedly, it had been so long since his last laugh. That was funny, he couldn't help to imagine a bald Sasha.

Tenpi, on the other hand, was mesmerized by Cade's laughing face, which he had not seen before.

"You look cute and pretty," Tenpi complimented.

Cade's face warm-up, he had been seen as a gloomy person so, it was rare for someone to compliment him.

He cleared his throat. "Thank you, you too,"

With his blue-dyed two-blocked haircut, Tenpi looked delinquent, but it complemented his conspicuous facial features: keen eyes, angled chin, high nose bridge, small round lips, and pristine white skin.

No doubt, Tenpi was one of the prettiest Omega he had seen in his entire life.

"Thank you, not really," Tenpi replied, "By the way, how was your job at the La Realeza Hotel?" he inquired, trying to change the subject because he wasn't good at taking compliments.

"I-It was good," Cade answered, unsurely.

La Realeza Hotel where Cade worked as a waiter at that party last week. Tenpi was friends with the organizer of the party so he recommended him.

Cade forgot to tell Tenpi what happened to him that night and he wasn't planning to. How could he tell his friend that he was almost attacked by three men, that his first heat had come, and that he had slept with a stranger who had saved him? It sounded ridiculous. He couldn't picture his friend's reaction if he told him; Tenpi would undoubtedly feel terrible and blame himself because he had recommended him for the job.

Tenpi was about to ask further follow-up questions when the food was brought to their table, distracting him. Cade felt relieved in a subtle way.

***

It was 7 pm, and Cade was walking the path to his apartment; he didn't need to take the bus because his apartment was only 15 minutes away from the Cafe. He'd been walking through a dark back alley every night, nothing happened to him even once so he wasn't scared at all, with only the faint glow of the streetlights to guide him, barely seeing the path.

But tonight was different from the other nights. He had a strange feeling that he was being watched from behind, he didn't like this feeling, maybe he was just imagining things?

To put an end to what was he feeling, he came to a halt and inhaled deeply, gathering his thoughts and courage. Then, slowly turning his head to look behind, he felt relieved when he checked that no one was there, only the trail of humidity. But still, he couldn't keep calm.

Returning his eyes to the front, he began walking again, slowly. With his senses heightened, his heartbeat got faster and louder as he heard another footstep synching with his. Now, he was certain there was someone following him and he wasn't only imagining things.

He gripped his backpack tightly, inhaled deeply, and sprinted forward as fast as he could without looking back; he didn't think about anything else but his survival instinct as his eyes darted towards the exit.

He spotted his apartment and fled through the stair, bending down to hurriedly retrieve the key from beneath the potted plant beside his door. His hands shook as he pushed the key into his doorknob, but it opened without difficulty.

He entered and locked the door behind him hastily. He stood up there, panting heavily, while his back against the door, as his hands firmly held the doorknob. His uneasiness didn't go away right away, and his body was still trembling and weary, but he sought to loosen up and think. Who was possibly following him? Was it Sasha?

No, no, he was certain it wasn't Sasha. He knew his cousin's personality so well. She would rather ambush him at the school gate than make an effort to follow him on his way home. If not Sasha, then who was it? He had never offended anyone to make them hate him, maybe there was?

He ended up remembering the three men in the hotel who tried to assault him. Were they holding grudge against him? Did they find out where he lives and now, they were trying to get back at him?

"I'm so dead," Cade muttered.