CHAPTER 3: WHAT HAPPENED 8 MINUTES AGO?

How could that man possibly know he was an omega? And... how had he found a way to enter the room without anyone noticing?

Le An still hadn’t shaken off the impact of what happened just now; of course, some people knew he was an omega, but those were only his close ones and a few names within the GAC.

That secret was now in the hands of the man from last night, a dagger threatening Le An’s life. If he knew, did that mean others knew as well?

As stress continued to consume him, Le An bit his dry lips while looking at his phone anxiously. No news about it had come out in the media yet. This only indicated that the man was holding Le An’s omega status as a bargaining chip, a weapon for blackmail.

He swallowed hard, but his throat was dry, as if his body refused to digest even the thought. What if more people found out?

Le An got up. He checked every corner of the room, looked outside. His hands were trembling. He gazed at the back of Theo outside. And his foot moved on its own.

After just a few steps down, three of his guards saw him and reflexively looked for a demand, or some kind of trouble, anything. He continued and passed the hall.

Another two guards opened the main door for him, and Theo looked at him instantly, moonlight casting his shadow between them. He closed the gap between them and stood, trying to figure out Le An’s face. He immediately recognized the expression.

"What’s wrong?"

"Are you feeling sick? Should I call Emerald... A nightmare? Why are you so pale?"

Could he really tell him what happened? How did Theo and others not realize that, just seconds ago... Theo really was clueless.

Le An looked at his face blankly.

Theo opened a hologram through his watch and checked his arrangements: what did Le An eat, drink today, who he met with, and how many espers he guided. With his other hand, he checked Le An’s temperature.

"You guided 342 espers today, not much."

342 espers were indeed not much for Treasure. But it was wrong, there should be added one more now. 343.

Theo paused after looking some more, opening another one, the one only a few people could see.

So he looked at his watch rather carefully, keeping the screen just to himself. Sometimes, weird people would wander around Le An’s house to take a photo of him.

He checked the screen.

No, Le An’s heat was also not close, and there were no gland or hormone issues to cause an early heat, as this week’s health report showed. Le An held Theo’s hand on his shoulder. He was going to panic even more if he didn’t talk any sooner.

"It’s nothing bad, no," he managed a smile. "Like a nightmare, as y-"

"What happened 8 minutes ago?"

Le An gulped as the wind sent shivers down his spine. No, he couldn’t tell him. He felt under threat, as if oppression was still on him, as if he was still here, watching him. That man... had such an immense power that, despite all the espers around, he was able to enter the room and disappear without a trace. It was dangerous. Le An shook his head.

"I was meditating to put the flow into stability, but it-"

"Your flow looks like it was being... sucked by something. You emitted so much guiding energy in an instant, as if-"

Theo would actually reach the right conclusion, but Le An interrupted.

"I lost control over my guiding, and I felt like I was in a sleeping state, so... I panicked and stood up abruptly. Was that so much energy? I didn’t realize. It was only for a few minutes, but-"

"It was for a solid 7 minutes. We should call Emerald."

Theo tapped the screen for contacts. Le An stopped him once again. "No, no need, geez," he said, waving his hand and feeling chilly again. "I’m okay."

Theo stood in front of the wind for him and once again asked. "But something like this... hasn’t happened to you for a long time. Are you sure?"

"Yes. I think it was because I was so close to sleep. I should meditate in a more conscious state. You know my sleep structure, especially when I don’t do stability and go directly to bed."

"I know," Theo said briefly and gestured for him to go inside. "You turn pale and skip breakfast, and then skip lunch, and then skip-"

"Come on..." Le An tried to smile, climbing the stairs with him. He was still anxious.

What if that man were still in the room? No, he wouldn’t be. Le An continued to smile, as if nothing had happened, and added, "I’m not that much of a trouble for you when I don’t eat."

Theo, alongside him, laughed. "You being a trouble to me has only one way. You being trouble for yourself."

They reached the room; it was empty.

Then he got inside Le An’s room and pulled his bed sheet up. Ready to put him to sleep.

That man wasn’t here anymore. Nevertheless, Le An couldn’t open his mouth.He got into bed. As Theo sat beside him, he covered Le An with an extra layer of blanket.

"Are you cold? You’re trembling."

"No. I’m fine. It’s just the overflowing."

With his powers, Theo turned off the lights and gazed at the window. Le An put his hand on Theo’s, and Theo scoffed.

He mimicked Le An. "Don’t close the curtains, you’ll say. I know. Okay."

The warmth took Le An’s body, and as he leaned into his pillow more, he grabbed Theo’s hand. Theo didn’t make a sound. It was this gesture of Le An, meaning: please don’t say anything and take it.

Theo knew. As Le An’s closest person and his personal esper, Theo knew.

The guiding flow soon ran through his body, filling Theo’s lungs. Theo did nothing but receive the given. He didn’t absorb the guiding, didn’t touch the flow, just let Le An control it.

Le An was stabilizing himself by giving away the excessive amount of overflow, even if it was just a little. But, after only nearly 3 minutes, Theo squeezed his hand.

"That’s enough. Don’t tire yourself anymore."

Le An had already guided them a few hours ago. Every night, Le An would guide all of his esper guards. But Theo’s reasons for asking to stop were different.

Any more, and I might fight for it. Try to take all of it. Thoughts swirled inside Theo’s mind as his knuckles were clenched. He looked away and sighed.

An esper, due to Le An’s intense guiding power, was already weak in front of him. But this weakness would only hurt Le An again, because for any esper, the moment they touched him, the tendency to devour him whole would start. Even for Theo, who was right beside him every time, an S-level esper, it was always hard.

Le An took his hand back, quietly nodding.

A normal guiding session with Le An, holding his hand for 2 minutes, was well enough.That man, close to going into a rampage, had sucked the guiding for 7 minutes without going crazy and even stopped on his own.

It was something extremely hard.

Le An’s mind was wandering continuously. "Thank you," Theo said. "But if that happens again-"

Le An shook his head slowly from side to side, absentmindedly. "No... I’m okay, really. And don’t bother Emerald with this. He’s been spending too much time on me recently."

"That’s his job, Le An,"

Le An looked at his eyes, disapprovingly.

Theo and Le An shared a special bond that everyone envied. There were many things they shared together, some of them were spoken between them, some were never even told to each other, but understood right away. And many, many silent understandings.

They had this friendship for three years. And Theo was one of the only ones that Le An trusted deeply.

"Sorry." Theo locked eyes with him in the moonlight and apologized silently.

Le An would hate to hear the words "job," "duty," and "responsibility" when it came to his relationships with those close to him. So even though Emerald was Le An’s personal doctor, to Le An, he was one of his close friends, primarily.

Theo added after his quick apology, "I won’t tell him about it."

Le An managed to smile once again. "Promise me."

"I... promise." Theo’s face held worry. What ifs.

Le An felt even more guilty for not telling him the truth. But he was scared. A voice inside him was whispering to his instincts that if he spoke, terrible things could happen.

Theo got up and left the room, and silence took over.

Le An didn’t sleep a wink.