"It was... It was just because of a small incident. I just had a fight with Dad. It was actually nothing to worry about. But somehow... my chest felt really heavy that I wanted to cry. Maybe I kept bottling up my feelings and it ended that way?" He said and chuckled.

I sighed and smiled at him. "Come here." I wrapped my arms around him and said, "It's okay. You don't have to keep your feelings to yourself. You can express them. It's normal to feel all sorts of emotions. If you're having a hard time, don't forget that I'm always here to listen to you."

We were like that for a while, and after that, Daryl said he had to go somewhere so I'm alone right now.

I'm thankful that that was the reason for his tears last night. He has always been like that—always bottling up his feelings. He does get mad when it comes to his friends, but when it comes to himself, he prefers to hide it and suffer silently. I don't know why he does that, but I hope he starts to show his feelings more.

Instead of doing nothing, I continued doing my delayed works until lunchtime. "I guess I have to cook my own meal right now," I said as I closed the laptop.

I stood up and headed to the kitchen. When I opened the fridge, there was almost nothing there. Only a few cans of beer from last night, two eggs, and a bottle of milk.

I looked at the clock and saw that there was still a bit of time, so I can still go to the grocery store to buy some food.I'm still not hungry yet, so I guess I should go now.

*****

"Hmm..." I looked at the meat that was on sale. How many kilograms should I buy? Is 2 kilos too much?

"Whatever. I can just buy some more next time," I said as I grabbed two packages of 500-gram-pork. It's just the two of us anyway. It's not like we always eat meat too.

"Fancy running into you here."

I turned to him and stared at him for a while. "Are you just gonna stare at me like that?" He said and chuckled. "Lucas, what are you doing here?" His narrow dark gray eyes smiled. "I'm here because of my baby brother, of course."

I grunted as I rolled my eyes. "How did you even know I'm here?" I asked while giving him an annoyed look. Knowing him, he's just gonna pester me about dating an alpha. God, how I hate hearing him blabber about that, when he doesn't even have a partner himself. "I saw you walking in so I followed you," he said and winked at me.

Since the day that he knew I had my first heat, he never stopped talking about having a partner. I kept getting random calls from him, only to hear that he wants me to have a partner. Ugh.I decided to ignore him and pushed the cart. I picked some vegetables while he kept following me as if he's my tail. "Come on, Jus, I just want you to have a partner. That way, you won't have a hard time during your heat cycles, especially now that you've already experienced your first heat recently. Think about it. If you had a partner, then you wouldn't have to buy suppressants. It would also be very convenient since no one would dare to touch you once you get marked." He kept blabbering about nonsense as he followed me.

I stopped pushing the cart and faced him. "Come on, Lucas. I would rather buy suppressants than start dating again. My past relationships may not have ended on a bad note, but I still don't want to get tangled up with someone again. I don't want to be tied down. I want to live a few years without a partner, so please stop calling and showing up randomly just to say that." He just smiled after what I said.

What does that smile even mean? I thought he'd be stubborn about it, yet he's smiling?

"Okay, okay, I get it. I'm just a call away if you want me to introduce you to an alpha or if you need any help." The smile he had on his face earlier was still there. His eyes have always been so transparent about his feelings, so I can tell that what he said was his true feelings about it. His reaction is quite odd when I think about his usual self. Well, people are capable of changing.

"Yes, yes. I'll tell you if I want you to set me up on a blind date," I said and smiled. At least he's not as hard-headed as he used to be.

"Anyway, I'm gonna go grocery shopping too. You don't have to wait for me if you finish before me. Your frozen goods might go bad if they're out of the fridge for too long," he said and waved goodbye at me.

I watched his back slowly disappear from my sight and continued grocery shopping. When I already finished, I paid for them right away and left. He did say not to wait for him, so I won't then. I'm quite easy to talk to.

I looked at the bags I'm carrying with both of my hands. "These aren't a lot, so I can carry them by myself," I mouthed to myself and started walking to the condo. The grocery store isn't far from the condo and I can just walk from here to there, so I'm just gonna walk instead of riding a cab.

That guy earlier was Lucas Ty, an old neighbor of mine. He's been like a brother to me since we've been together since we were kids. Unlike the people I've been recently acquainted with, he's neither an alpha nor an omega. He's a beta.

When I got home, I quickly put the food I bought earlier inside the fridge and took a quick shower. I then prepared a simple meal and after I ate, I went out for a bit to head to the mall since I remembered that I had to buy a gift for my Mom's birthday next week.

As I was walking around, something suddenly caught my attention. No, not something—someone.

"It's.... him."