Chapter 34

“It’s none of your business.”

“None of my business? You’re going to be my brother’s boyfriend.”

“Are you out of your fucking mind? I already told you I won’t do it! Listen to what I’m saying!”

Alex violently wrenched David’s hands off his collar. Throwing his entire body weight into it, just as he would during a brutal tackle in a match, he shoved him away. He pushed with enough force to make his legs burn. Every muscle in his body trembled with pure rage.

He finally understood what it meant to see red.

“My mind is so perfectly clear it’s actually impressive. Alex Yeon, listen to me very carefully.”

Shrugging off the shove, David drew himself up to his full height and spoke, jabbing a finger hard against Alex’s chest.

“You’re thoroughly mediocre. You don’t have money, and you don’t have top-tier talent. Despite being nothing more than average, you only made it here today because of my help. I’m asking for one single favor. If you reject it, this spot obviously vanishes. Fuck, you’re turning down my brother because you like a fucking Beta? Who the hell do you think you are to reject me?”

Alex violently swatted the finger away. Panting heavily, his breaths ragged, Alex glared murderously at David. With a look of utter bewilderment, he tried to decipher David’s words.

He was so unhinged it was impossible to tell if he was furious because Alex rejected his brother, or if his fragile ego was shattered because Alex dared to disobey his command. It made his skin crawl.

“That’s a sickness. Dating a Beta isn’t normal. Why do you think Alphas and Omegas exist?” David sneered. “I’ll give you one week to sort your shit out. Hah, seriously, I’ve never seen such a fucking retard in my entire life.”

This time, it was Alex’s turn to let out a scoff of disbelief. Staring at David, who spoke as if he held absolute superiority, Alex simply turned around. He wasn’t even worth engaging with. He was a complete and utter psychopath. He was such a lunatic that Alex felt like a complete moron for even briefly thinking he might be a decent guy earlier today.

“If you walk away now, I won’t just sit back and do nothing.”

David’s voice dropped dangerously low behind Alex’s retreating back. A surge of raw, sickening fury vomited up from the pit of his stomach.

“What are you gonna do about it?”

Alex glared back at David with deadly, murderous eyes. Smoothing his rumpled clothes, David let out a long, dramatic sigh. Closing and opening his eyes once, his genial smile returned.

“You have one week. Go on a date with Ian on Saturday. And tell my lovely little brother that you would be absolutely delighted to be his boyfriend.”

Alex offered no response to the threat. Shaking his head as if the words weren’t even worth hearing, Alex snatched his bag from the floor. He didn’t want to waste another second on this lunatic. His head felt like it was boiling over.

Wiping his bloodshot, fury-rimmed eyes, he took a long, trembling breath.

Leaving David Mack behind, he stormed out of the tunnel and climbed the stairs. He saw the team members running across the pitch, laughing without a care in the world.

No, they aren’t my teammates anymore. He would be sent straight back to the second string, so they were a different team entirely.

He ran his tongue over the inside of his dry, cottony mouth. It tasted bitter and astringent. Clutching his bag strap with trembling hands, Alex walked out of the stadium.

He remembered the day two years ago when he took the entrance trial, pushed relentlessly by his father’s obsessive demands. He remembered his younger self, happily playing on the school’s rugby team.

Where had it all gone wrong? Maybe everything had been wrong from the very moment he was born.

Exiting the training grounds, Alex stood alone on the street. Beneath his feet, a long, distorted shadow stretched out from his motionless figure. Staring at the ridiculous shape, Alex slowly bowed his head. He cupped his hands together and buried his face in his palms.

He felt completely lost. He was terrified to ask his father if he could transfer to another team. The thought of enduring those disappointment-laced eyes and the screaming rants about wanting to die was pure agony.

His footsteps were as heavy as if he were walking an endless road with no destination in sight.

The voice that had ruthlessly mocked him countless times, You’re an Alpha and you can’t even do this?, spun endlessly in his head. David’s screaming assertion that Alphas must date Omegas and that anyone who didn’t was abnormal, the image of Ian looking up at him with a tearful, desperate face…

I never should have accepted his condition in the first place.

No, I just…

Alex lowered his hands. With a completely lifeless face, he stared blankly ahead. People were walking down the street. People who knew exactly where they needed to go brushed past him.

But Alex had nowhere to go.

Nathan came to mind, but he was terrified to tell him any of this. Even just bringing up the subject of Ian felt like committing a grave sin. It felt exactly as if he had cheated on Nathan.

It’s pathetic, really. We’re still just friends.

Tracing a hollow, empty smile over his lips, Alex soon wiped away his expression entirely and began the long walk toward the bus stop.

The sight of his solitary back walking away looked as utterly lonely as a man with nowhere left in the world to go.

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