The Beta Is His Omega

Dreams and Reality (1)

It was almost unbelievable, how thick the air suddenly felt inside that office. As Ren slowly settled in the armchair next to Rhys’, he felt like he needed to focus on drawing in a steady breath or he would suffocate.

Because of that, he was too distracted to catch what the principal had been saying next.

“Sorry, Ma’am, can you repeat that?”

There was a flicker of annoyance in the older woman’s eyes. 

“I was saying, Mr. Ashford, that the reason I called you in today is because of an issue with a library book you had borrowed.”

Ren: “…”

‘What the hell?’ he thought, himself now feeling annoyed. ‘That’s it?’

But showing nothing but respectful attentiveness on his face, he said again, “Sorry, Ma’am, but which one?”

There was now a hint of coldness in her expression when the principal answered, “Something unique and irreplaceable, I’m afraid. The original manuscript of an award-winning dissertation—one that an alumnus had generously gifted to this school. Does that description jog your memory, Mr. Ashford?”

Ren blinked, feeling the first stirrings of panic.

Indeed, that description did jog his memory. He did indeed remember borrowing that book before… and he also clearly remembered returning it before it was due. 

So what could the matter be? Did he perhaps dirty or damage it without realizing?

Catching himself drifting, Ren snapped back to full attention and nodded. “Yes, Ma’am,” he replied simply. It was better to let the principal tell him what the issue was. 

But privately, he was already trying to calculate how much compensation he’d have to pay if he had indeed damaged it. Or was he going to be told that no amount of money was enough?

‘Don’t tell me I’m going to be given a worse punishment?’

Before he could drive himself deeper into a baseless panic, the principal gave him an actual cause to feel worried.

“You see, Mr. Ashford,” she said in a tone loaded with meaning, “according to the library’s physical records, you were the last person to have borrowed it. And now, even though the records also say you have already returned it, that book is nowhere to be found. It seems to have gone missing.”

From that, it was easy enough to decipher what the principal seemed to be getting at. Finding this turn of events hard to take in, Ren smiled incredulously while slowly shaking his head. 

“I don’t understand, Ma’am,” he said with a short nervous laugh. “If you have it on record that I’ve returned it, then why am I here?” 

At this point, he also couldn’t help but glance sideways at the guy seated a foot to his left, as if he was next asking, ‘And why is he here?’

The principal caught his silent question and explained Rhys’ presence to him.

“For the same reason you were called here, I invited Mr. Holcroft to help us all get to the bottom of the matter. You see, according to the library’s digital records, he was the one who had borrowed it last.”

It was as if the danger he was currently facing gave him courage. Forgetting all about his self-consciousness at being around the guy he had crushed on for so long, Ren turned to him at once. “Well?” he asked Rhys point-blank. “Do you know what happened?”

With a lazy look, the guy had his elbow propped on an armrest and was resting his cheek on his clenched hand. When Ren spoke to him, he slid his gaze sideways to meet his eyes again. 

Ren felt a jolt once more, but he didn’t back down. He then found himself in some sort of battle of wills with the other guy.

‘What the hell is his deal?’ he thought, starting to panic once again, this time for a vastly different reason. If Rhys continued to look at him like that, his face was in serious danger of blushing as red as a tomato.

Just when Ren thought it might be better to admit defeat and look away first, the guy finally opened his mouth to answer.

And as he spoke, quite belatedly, it suddenly hit Ren hard—this was the first time they were speaking to each other.

In a low voice that was as smooth as butter, Rhys said, “It was a while ago. I don’t remember.”

To his credit, Ren didn’t get too distracted by that voice such that he missed what was being said. Blinking rapidly, he felt his lips part of their own accord and he let out a single breath of disbelief.

‘Is this guy for real?’

The principal chose this point to speak again, and there was a distinct difference in her tone compared to before when she said, “Well, Mr. Holcroft, as there is only this digital record that you had borrowed it and no physical one, I as well as the librarian are inclined to believe that there’s been a mistake somewhere. Perhaps, at that time, you only reserved the book and didn’t borrow it, but it was marked as such instead.”

As he listened to the principal’s words and easily understood what she was trying to imply, the disbelief that Ren felt deepened until it felt like it would choke him. 

He had no problems with his memory. He remembered returning that book, and he had no recollection of ever touching it again after that. 

But what was this? In order for the school to avoid implicating an alpha in any wrongdoing, was he—the powerless beta—now going to get accused of stealing it?

“Or, Principal,” Ren suddenly heard Rhys reply with sly humor in his tone, pulling him back to the situation, “perhaps I had borrowed it and just forgot.” 

This statement now sent the older woman into her own state of disbelief and panic. 

“Of course,” Rhys continued, “that must also mean I had lost it somewhere. It’ll be better, Principal, to just punish me than waste your precious time like this. You said earlier, there’s another meeting you should be attending right now.”

“But…” said the principal, hesitant. “Mr. Holcroft, we can’t just let it go like this. That dissertation is…” Quite insultingly, her eyes slid towards Ren and back again. “It’s immensely valuable. It must be recovered—by any means necessary.”

Sitting there, Ren was about to explode. 

For three years, he had already endured a lot to get to where he was. He was already on the last lap of this thankless race, then he’d be done. After graduating from this elite school for alphas, he could enter any mid-tier university that had a normal distribution of betas to alphas—which was roughly eight-to-one—and his future would still be set. Life would be on easy mode from then on.

But if this crime that he knew nothing about got pinned on him, his years of hard work might go down the drain. If he didn’t get expelled altogether, this offense might go into his permanent record, and even a mid-tier university might think twice about accepting him… 

Just… 

Why in the ever-loving f*ck was this happening?

Before he really knew what he was doing, Ren turned his head towards Rhys once more.

He didn’t know it, but his cheeks had already colored due to strong emotions that had nothing to do with romance. His tawny eyes, hit from an angle by a ray of afternoon light, looked fiery as they simultaneously flashed with all the banked anger he felt.

He didn’t care that this was the guy he’d been dreaming of all these years. Right now, securing his future was more important than some unattainable love.

Rhys had also turned to him and did not look away.

In contrast to how he appeared, Ren then told him coldly, “I know nothing about this.”

For a time, Rhys didn’t respond and just met Ren’s eyes while looking unconcerned.

But just when Ren saw that sleepy gaze drooping even more—this time, seemingly in some kind of confusion—he heard the principal typing on her keyboard before absently muttering to herself, “Ashford, Ashford… Beta. Huh.”

Even Ren had heard her, let alone Rhys. As he finally pulled his gaze away from the other guy to look at the principal, wondering what that could be about, he heard Rhys speak again.

“So you are a beta.”

Hearing that, and finding issue with the tone he’d used, Ren was back to looking at him with a fiery gaze. 

“Yes,” he answered. “And?”

Rhys smiled the tiniest bit and blinked his eyes once, slowly. But to Ren, despite everything, the sight was still far too entrancing. 

Then Rhys said, “I thought perhaps you were an alpha and were just hiding it. My mistake.”