Chapter Five

"Don't worry. I don't necessarily follow all the orders. I write what's true and essential to people. I am not going to expose all the abortion clinics here."

It immediately brightened his aura, and he took me to his lab where his 'disciples' were sleeping. He woke them up by hitting their heads. The first who woke up was a cute and petite guy. He looked like the definition of omega in fairy tales that Jacob grew up reading.

"Doc, we're really sleep-deprived." He murmured as he tried to comb his wavy red hair with his hands, then he patted the shoulders of the guy beside him. When that guy stood up, he was almost two meters. He looked so scared when he stared at the doctor but smiled like a fluffy bear when he turned in the omega's direction. "Good morning, my baby." He said coquettishly.

Wow, I can't believe I'm seeing this type of shit here. I wanted to rinse my eyeballs. They're too pure. Then, the big guy helped the little one tidy up his bed hair. It felt like I watched a real-life romantic movie with some protagonist wanna-be. I'm the main character here; what are they flirting here for?

Thankfully, the scene was stolen by a hot and vivacious woman who walked up to me, showing a bored bitchy face. She said, "Were you also tricked by that quack? I'm telling you to run away NOW!"

"He's not here to help you work because you can't do shit. He's my VIP patient." Dr. Mendez said, and I immediately straightened out the facts. "No, I'm not."

"You are." He insisted.

"I'm not," I repeated regardless of redundancy.

"You are" He still thinks I want him to be my doctor, and for the third time, I denied by saying, "I'm fucking not your patient."

He wrapped his hand over my shoulder and said, "Okay. This is Russien Rene, my best friend."

I had goosebumps all over me. "Since when?"

"Well, you are brilliant, and I acknowledge you to be qualified as my best friend." He proudly pats my back laughing like a weirdo.

The four researchers stood there feeling sympathy for me. Ugh! I know, please save me! But they did nothing but watch me suffer. So, I just let it go and introduced myself instead. "I'm Russien. I'm an investigative journalist at Verde Veritas." I gave them my business cards, and they also shook my hand.

The omega first introduced himself with a bright smile. "Hi. I'm Dennis Sienna. I'm a licensed chemist, and unfortunately, I work here."

The tall guy beside him did not shake my hand. "I'm Khalid Sienna, Dennis's husband, and mate. I'm also unfortunate to work here part-time, but I'm lucky to be able to work with my baby. I teach at LU to meet our financial needs because that quack is not making a profit."

They don't even hide their disdain for the doctor. I understand them, though, and I wouldn't blame them for such an attitude.

The beautiful curly-haired woman gave me her card first before shaking my hand. "I'm Claire. I have a Ph.D. in Material Physics, and I also teach at LU. I just lend my service here as a charity, and that quack owes me millions. By the way, I'm rich."

The last one awkwardly held my hand and seemed like he regretted working at this place more than dropping out of school. "Hi. I'm Carlos."

Then they gave me a brief explanation of what they do in their lab. They showed me their red powdery output. Dennis proudly told me about it. "This is the pill we are currently working on that we synthesized from the ovary of Atropa carnaticum or a modified species of killer nightshade plant and other secret ingredients. Our first attempt killed all our rabbits. And now, well, we're still working on how to counter the poisonous substances of the plant, but so far, it's very promising."

I applaud their optimism, but things don't seem to be promising at all. When I glanced at the rabbits in the cage, I had a feeling that they won't last this week. They looked at me as if they were crying for help. Someone beside me was talking about something, but I couldn't hear anything as I felt like I was getting sucked into their stares at me. Their gazes made me feel what they were feeling right now: difficulty breathing, striking pain in the guts, and indescribable stirring in my heart.

I puked again as soon as I stopped by their garden. The people around attended to me, asking how I felt.

"Are you okay?" The little omega asked me.

They gave me a glass of water and wiped the sweat on my forehead. "Those rabbits are dying. Don't give your experimental drug to them."

"But they're looking healthy. They're going to be fine." Claire denied what I said.

"Yeah, sure... believe that, but they will all die within this week."

They took me to the consultation room on the second floor, and they all watched while Dr. Mendez took my blood pressure.

"Can you tell us why you think they're going to die," Carlos asked with a pen and his notes.

"I think it's the amount of the poison you gave them." I strictly answered. And added a bit of my criticism, "What made you think using killer nightshade plant will be helpful for omegas? What's in that plant aside from poison, and you still insist on using it? Tell me. How many years have you been working on this experiment? The damage is too much, and the progress is so slow. Have you ever thought that it might be not fruitful because you fucked up the earlier stage of the study, and now you have so many troubles in the experimental stage?"

"Aren't you an investigative journalist? What degree did you finish? You were quite arrogant to be talking about our job. Do you have a background in Biology or Chemistry?" Claire asked. I don't know if she finds me rude, but I guess I am.

"Nothing. I dropped out of school when I was in middle school." I truthfully answered, and all of them were shocked.

"How did you land a job at Verde Veritas?" Dr. Mendez asked.

"I found Mr. and Mrs. Verde's youngest son when he was kidnapped. I thought he might be another victim of the case I worked on. They gave me the job as a reward."

Then they were speechless again. I know. I'm crafty.

"Then, why are you talking about our job as if you are better than us?" I couldn't discern what she felt when she asked me that. But I did not take her emotion as a factor when I answered, "Because I'm not dumb, and I know how to read." And I asked again, "Why are you using killer nightshade plant?"

Dennis took the chance to answer my question, "We come across some writings that people in the southwest of the east continent used these toxic herbs to control omegas' heat in ancient times. We used other plant species too, but for now, Killer nightshade is the only plant that we found to contain chemicals that can inhibit the effect of heat hormones of omegas. But it's hard for us to isolate the lead and mercury in it because the inhibitory effect can be lost if these elements are taken out."

He explained. The lead and mercury are killing the insides of the rabbits. But I still can't understand why they continued this study when they already knew it contains cytotoxic substances.

Then Dennis politely asked me again after my silence, and unconvinced face served before them, "Mr. Rene, my guts feel that you're an omega. Is that why you're Doc's VIP patient now?"

I nodded, and then he commented, "You're very calm. I think you're a courageous person."

After chatting, they returned to their lab, and I was left alone with Dr. Mendez. He looked at the marking on my nape, and he also asked for a blood sample. Of course, he used a needle, and I fainted again when he took those syringes out.

When I woke up, I was in a bed in a cramped, sterile room. Jacob was humming beside me, acting like crazy again.

"What time is it?" I asked as I massaged my forehead because of a headache.

"Oh, you're awake! Listen to me, Rene!" He held my hand tightly and rested his cheek on my hand. "I met my fated pair too. I met my alpha!" He was smiling so hard, and it was scaring me. "Thank you, Rene. If you didn't bring me here, I wouldn't meet the genius and dreamy Dr. Angelo Mendez."

"What the fuck." Is this person serious? He has fallen for many odd types of men, but falling for that doctor is the most exotic strange person he could fall for out of many decent men in the sea. "Walter, are you perhaps in need of an eye check-up?"

"You know how it feels when I'm in a closed room with another alpha? I just feel like I have to fight them. I have to take my inhibitors so that I wouldn't have that reaction with them, but Dr. Mendez is different. I know he's an alpha, but I didn't feel any repulsion or violent reaction to him even when our hands touched. True, I don't smell his pheromone, but it must be because we're destined to be with each other." He told me the weirdest fantasy he has. Of all the people, it really has to be that quack doctor?

"Stop. He's probably twice your age."

"He's only 36! I asked him, okay! He just looks so mature with his beard. I can't believe my fated pair is a genius!" He was almost crushing my hands, but it was okay because he seemed so happy.

After that day, we returned to his clinic and learned how things run in the area, like how rampant prostitution is, not just among omega but even among beta women. The red light district was only a few blocks away too. Because of poverty, the crime rate was also high, and most of the time, the victims were sex workers. If anything, Dr. Mendez's clinic helps the neighborhood a lot. It's almost like he's not running a business but only social work. When I asked how he managed to fund his extra-curricular activities, it's all thanks to his parent's support. Crazy rich alphas!

At the end of the week, I wrote about the unsafe abortion in the city and what drove people to get life-threatening treatments and procedures. While Jacob wrote a column about what kind of world we could live in if the country did not criminalize abortion.

We both got a green light, and our stories were published first thing on Monday morning. We thought we had done something great, but the company was littered with angry readers violently reacting to our articles.

The employees cannot get out because they're afraid to get hurt by the mobs. Meanwhile, Jacob and I are sitting in our cubicles thinking about how to take responsibility for what we wrote.

"Should we write an apology letter?" Jacob asked.

"What apology letter? To whom? And what would you write there?" I asked and monotonously recited a sarcastic line for an apology. "Sorry, I think your law sucks. I won't think of it again as just some bullshit you invented!"

"Or I can just ask my dad to give them the middle finger," Jacob suggested, even though that would be impossible considering that his father's influence lies in support of privileged conservatives.

I read the copy of one of Dr. Mendez's published studies about the catalog of conditions that his marked omega patients experience, such as sensitivity to other alpha's pheromone by which they do not experience sexual arousal. Still, their immune system deteriorates and attacks itself instead as if they develop this autoimmune disease. They get sick often, and it is hard for them to recuperate. Also, they're prone to cancer in their reproductive organs, glands, and tumors in the brain.

It makes me scared. Am I going to be like those patients? Am I going to get sick and rot and die?

While reading more into it, someone patted my back and brought me back to reality. It was Mrs. Vanessa Verde. She has been calling me, and I ignored her for so long.

"Sorry, Madam, I was so focused on this material."

She looked at the hardcover of the book I was reading and then took it from me and scanned it for a few minutes. Her expression was sad as those thin eyebrows almost intersected to form one single line segment.

She then placed the book on the table and hugged me. Everyone in the office knew that the company's owner favored me, but it was still weird when they saw it.

"Are you okay?" She asked. "We will find that bastard who violated you and make sure he rots in hell!"

Ugh! Now, people would think I was sexually abused. Good lord! No. I wasn't. Ugh, shit. They'll probably think I'm more disgusting. Or if they're kind, they'll look at me with pity.

"Madam, Rene was not violated because that person was his fated pair. Both of them liked it subconsciously when they did it. And you shouldn't find him because Rene knows where to find him if he wants to. But Rene here is actually hiding from that person." Jacob voluntarily informed Mrs. Verde. Now, people are just going to think I'm a slut.

She looked at me and asked again, "Was what he was saying true?"

My body just nodded because I was still pissed that Jacob spoke up for me when I hadn't decided to speak any yet.

"Then you must not avoid that person if he's not bad instead of choosing to suffer from those diseases!"

I was a little struck, "You're not angry I did not choose your son?"

"Oh, that boy is too dumb for you."