Chapter 3

“Alex.”

At the sound of his name, murmured in that signature low timbre, Alex immediately turned his head.

“You don’t have an umbrella?” Nathan stood just outside the station, watching him intently.

His voice, mingling with the rhythmic pat-pat of raindrops striking his blue umbrella, was as hushed as the rain itself. Alex grimaced inwardly, acutely aware that he looked exactly like a half-drowned dog. The memory of the umbrella he had hastily shoved into his bag upon entering the station flashed through his mind, but his hesitant lips quickly betrayed him.

“I forgot it at home,” he lied effortlessly.

Without a word, Nathan simply raised the height of his umbrella. As Alex stared at it in surprise, Nathan gave him a subtle, expectant nod. A sharp pang of conscience pricked at Alex, but he shamelessly surrendered to his own selfish desires.

“Let’s go,” Nathan said.

“Yeah, Nate,” Alex replied smoothly, testing out the affectionate nickname reserved for only a select few, including himself.

Nathan didn’t offer a verbal response, yet Alex’s mood soared so rapidly it almost made him dizzy. A small, uncontrollable smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

He stepped carefully beneath the shelter. The umbrella wasn’t particularly large, making it incredibly likely their bodies would brush. Refusing to risk it, Alex deliberately put a bit of distance between them, completely ignoring the fact that his right shoulder was taking the full brunt of the downpour.

“Should I hold it?” Alex offered politely.

“I can hold it,” Nathan shot back, his voice dropping into a deep, displeased register.

Finding his sudden defensiveness inexplicably endearing, Alex let out a soft, genuine chuckle. It was undoubtedly because of a past incident where Alex had boldly insisted he should hold the umbrella since he was the taller of the two. Apparently, that memory still irked him, because Nathan immediately tacked on a defensive follow-up.

“I’ll grow taller later,” the Beta asserted.

“Right,” Alex agreed readily, though he highly doubted it. They were already heading into Year 12, and virtually everyone had hit their final growth spurts, so how much more could he possibly grow?

Besides, Alex found Nathan’s current height to be absolutely, perfectly lovely. If he were to pull him into a hug, the top of Nathan’s head would brush right against his eye level. It was ideal.

“You don’t sound like you believe me,” Nathan murmured suspiciously.

“I believe everything you say,” Alex promised, his voice dripping with sincerity.

I like you so much, I love absolutely anything you say. Keeping that desperate confession locked safely in his thoughts, Alex continued walking. A comfortable silence settled between them, the only sound the steady rush of rainwater washing away the city grime that had accumulated over the past few weeks.

On rainy days, Nathan always took the subway earlier than usual. Harboring a general distaste for crowds, he deliberately boarded the Tube to avoid the dreaded rush hour crush. Ever since Alex had stumbled upon that little secret, he had made a habit of waiting for Nathan in the very last carriage of the Hammersmith line. It guaranteed they could head to school together whenever the weather turned sour.

Those twenty-odd minutes were, without a doubt, the happiest moments of Alex’s day. It was the sole reason he had genuinely grown to love the rain.

“Why are you standing like that?” Nathan asked suddenly, breaking the quiet.

“Huh?”

“You’re getting rained on.” Nathan tilted the umbrella further toward Alex’s side, prompting the Alpha to wave his hands in flustered panic.

“I’m already soaked anyway, it’s fine,” Alex protested hastily. “Nate, you’re going to get wet if you do that.”

“Move closer,” Nathan commanded firmly.

But if I do that, I’ll be in serious trouble, Alex thought, a deeply conflicted expression taking over his features.

“My uniform is completely drenched, so you’ll get all damp too,” Alex argued weakly. “You hate that kind of thing.”

“Hurry up,” Nathan insisted, leaving absolutely no room for debate.

True to his nature, once he made a decision, he executed it without hesitation. Left with no other choice, Alex closed the distance between them. The moment Nathan’s shoulder brushed lightly against his arm, Alex froze, sucking in a sharp breath. It was merely contact through layers of uniform fabric, yet his entire body pulled taut with overwhelming tension.

Satisfied now that he had gotten his way, Nathan resumed walking in silence. Having said his piece, he didn’t bother to initiate any further conversation.

Tina and Jude, the other Betas they frequently hung out with, always found these stretches of silence unbearably awkward. In the past, Alex had felt the exact same way.

But love was a truly fascinating emotion. It possessed the miraculous ability to take things you once found uncomfortable or distasteful and miraculously make them acceptable. The fact that Nathan was silent more often than he spoke, the face that almost never broke into a smile, and even the blunt, callous words that occasionally pierced Alex’s heart, he loved absolutely all of it, simply because it was Nathan.

He even loved the cool, calming scent that faintly wafted off him whenever they stood close. If someone were to bottle the crisp breeze right before autumn arrived, Alex was certain it would smell exactly like Nathan. If Nathan had been an Omega, would his pheromones have carried that exact scent? he wondered idly. If that were the case, would I have confessed to you a long time ago?

Even knowing it was a pointless hypothetical, Alex frequently found himself getting lost in those vivid fantasies.

However, the bitter end to these futile daydreams always culminated in a harsh crash back to reality. Nathan had absolutely zero interest in any dynamic other than Betas. Moreover, he exclusively dated female Betas. It was a painfully conventional orientation; while Alphas and Omegas might be more fluid, Betas exhibited a notably high tendency to prefer the opposite sex.

Furthermore, Alex had no real intention of confessing anyway. He had already spent two agonizing years harboring this secret. Dating someone who wasn’t an Omega was fundamentally impossible for him. His father relentlessly drilled into his head that it was only right and natural for an Alpha to mate with an Omega, and the man harbored a terrifying, visceral disgust for Alphas who dated Betas or other Alphas.

And beyond that, there were countless other reasons to stay quiet. If he confessed, he would undeniably be rejected, and if that happened, they could no longer be friends. He refused to gamble everything on such a terrifyingly slim probability.

Above all else, Alex just didn’t want to lose anyone else in his life.

And there was one more thing. If he had to add one final, damning reason why it could never work…

“Nate!”

A sickeningly bright voice shattered his thoughts just before someone abruptly launched themselves under the umbrella. Alex caught a glimpse of wavy red hair and cheeks dusted with endearing freckles. Shoved aside by the sudden intrusion, Alex stumbled backward, landing squarely out in the rain once more.

“You’re early today? That’s so great! I was just waiting for you,” the girl beamed.

“Jessie,” Nathan acknowledged, his expression giving absolutely nothing away.

Jessie, still smiling radiantly, shifted her gaze to Alex. Fixing a strangely strained smile on her face, she finally feigned recognition.

This is the reason, Alex thought bitterly. Nathan already had a partner. In fact, he almost always did.

“Oh, Alex is here too,” she remarked dryly.

I’m far too tall to be easily missed, but sure, Alex seethed, forcing himself to swallow down his mounting displeasure.

Jessica Bundy, who had relentlessly pursued and persistently confessed to Nathan, had finally managed to start dating him a month ago. Historically, the partners who ended up by Nathan’s side were always the ones who had aggressively badgered him into a relationship through sheer, obsessive persistence. Unsurprisingly, those flings rarely lasted beyond three months.

The reason for the breakups was fascinatingly identical every single time: Nathan simply didn’t show enough interest in them. However, the Nathan that Alex knew, despite his fiercely aloof exterior, was deeply attentive and fiercely protective of anyone who successfully made it inside his boundaries.

“I’m surprised you didn’t see me,” Alex shot back, instantly glancing at Nathan to gauge his reaction.

In his desperation to look good in front of his crush, he usually tried to filter his words around others, but Jessica Bundy was truly, deeply infuriating. Whether she was actively jealous that Alex spent the most time by Nathan’s side, he wasn’t entirely sure, but she constantly went out of her way to interfere or boldly intrude on them just like this.

Yet, in the end, none of it mattered; the person who was undoubtedly most important to Nathan was standing right there under his umbrella.

“I completely forgot to bring my umbrella. Can we share?” Jessie asked sweetly, clinging onto Nathan’s arm while blatantly ignoring Alex’s sarcastic jab.

Nathan didn’t immediately reply. Breaking the horribly awkward tension, Alex stepped completely out of the umbrella’s protective radius. The downpour had grown even more vicious, the icy rain soaking his hair with painful force. Since pulling out his own hidden umbrella now would instantly expose his earlier lie, he had no choice but to stand there and take the brutal pelting. His chest felt heavy and suffocating, as if his very heart were being drowned by the storm.

“I’ll get going,” Alex announced with a strained smile. “You two go on ahead.”

“Oh, thanks, Alex,” Jessie chirped, finally offering him a semblance of a genuine smile now that he had yielded his spot.

Nathan simply stared at Alex in total silence. A pathetic, agonizing flicker of hope flared in Alex’s chest, a desperate wish that Nathan might actually tell him to stay. But the blond merely gave a curt nod.

“See you.”

Since they were in different classes, they would inevitably have to part ways once they entered the school building anyway, yet the crushing plunge of his mood was entirely unavoidable. Alex forced out a laugh. With his slightly upturned, fox-like eyes, people often told him he actually looked fiercer when he smiled, so he knew he probably looked utterly ridiculous right now. His weakly elevated lips plummeted instantly in defeat.

Summoning every ounce of his willpower, he dragged his reluctant feet forward.

“Let’s go home together after class,” a voice called out from behind.

Alex, having already turned halfway around, whipped his body back toward the pair. Nathan was still looking directly at him. The words had been meant for him.

“Me?” Alex asked, dumbfounded.

“You don’t have practice today,” Nathan pointed out smoothly.

You actually knew that. A bright, irrepressible smile threatened to break across Alex’s face, forcing him to quickly bite down on his lip to hide it.

“Let’s play that game we couldn’t finish last time,” Nathan added decisively.

Having delivered his message, the Beta turned away without an ounce of hesitation, facing forward once more. Jessie, glaring daggers at Alex with a fiercely petulant expression, quickly hooked her arm through Nathan’s and dragged him away toward the school gates.