Page 7 of Collateral Omega

He took Holi’s hand when he reached him and spun him around, so he was walking in the opposite direction.

“Your eyes are beautiful. Don’t hide them by looking down. I want you to tell yourself that you are the most beautiful omega in this room, because you are.”

Holi walked around the room for what felt like forever before Hamin made him stop, and they moved on to the next lesson.

“Be mindful of your body. How you place your arms, your neck, your lips. No slouching.” Hamin pressed his back. “Your arms must be at your sides relaxed and loose.” Hamin lifted Holi’s right hand and hissed when he noticed his fingernails. “Oh, this is big no…no…no. Stop biting your nails.”

“Okay,” Holi said, embarrassed. But when he was stressed, he tended to bite them. It made him feel better. He guessed he couldn’t do that anymore.

“Right,” Hamin said, moving on to hammering lesson after lesson into him. By the time Hamin was done, it was midnight, and Holi could barely keep his eyes straight and he was starving. Holi rubbed his stomach as he made his way to the cooking station for a midnight snack.

“How did it go,” Saki asked as Holi walked into the room. “I saw your father go to his room a while ago.”

“I told him to go to sleep. You know how he is. He would have stayed with me until Hamin was done. I know he was tired, even though he pretended he wasn’t,” Holi said, walking to the chilling station. He took out a bottle of water and drank it down.

“He’s being strong for you,” Saki said.

“I know. If only I could get bonded to a wealthy alpha soon. But I become so flustered whenever I’m around them…I stutter,” Holi groaned. Saki laughed at him. “Don’t laugh. It’s really embarrassing.”

“I’m not laughing at you.” Saki continued to laugh as she placed a salad in front of him. “I just… I would have liked to see that.”

“You’re laughing at me,” Holi pouted.

“Sorry,” Saki said, wrapping her arms around him. “But I think you’re too hard on yourself. You’ve been dreaming about meeting your alpha for so long. Now that you’re faced with making it come true, you’re overwhelmed. And you forget that you haven’t been around alphas that much. Except your late dad, have you been around another alpha?”

“No,” Holi said. He stared at Saki contemplatively. “Do you think it’s because I’m not used to being around them?”

“Yes. It will get better with time. You’ve only been to six parties, remember?”

“Isn’t that a lot?”

“No. If it was one party after the other, I would say yes. But the six parties were over the span of one year.”

“Yeah, it was hard for father to get us invited to those parties and I blew it. I don’t even know why he bothered to hire a coach. I’m terrible at talking to people.”

“He hired a coach because this is important. Your father will get you bonded no matter what.” Saki patted his shoulder. “Don’t forget that you didn’t have a social life before your father decided it was time for you to get bonded. The more parties you attend, the more confident you’ll become. It’ll get better I promise,” Saki said, making Holi feel better. “It’s a shame you were born in a poor family. With that face, you would have been bonded by now. Wealthy omegas don’t have to go around looking for alphas. Their families arrange their bonds from an early age. You would have belonged to some alpha before you even hit your first heat.”

“You think so?” Holi asked, his cheeks turning warm.

“Of course. With your looks and those stormy eyes and midnight hair. You would rival any omega from a wealthy family.”

“It sucks that I’m a penniless omega with no chance of being in the same room with those alphas,” Holi said sadly. His words caused his heart to ache. He hated calling himself that, but it was the truth.

“Eat your food and stop stressing. Everything is going to be fine.”

Holi ate his salad. When he was done, he made his way to his room. There, he quickly got cleaned up and got ready for bed. His connector dinged on his bed. He walked to it and clicked on the notification. Excitement thrummed through his veins as the news site opened. Holi was obsessed with a certain alpha, master Tarymn Blyngly. The alpha was in the council of alphas.

Since Deltta Kohle’s scandal broke out, master Tarymn had been on the news a lot as they tried to figure out what to do to bring calm and order to the planet.

Holi checked the news sites religiously just to catch a glimpse of him. Master Tarymn was the kind of alpha Holi liked. From his images, Holi could tell that the alpha was soft and caring. He had an air about him that was refined and alluring. Holi wished he could meet him. He was sure they would fall in love at first sight.

It could happen, right?

Holi thought dreamily. When they met, Holi wouldn’t get flustered or go mute. He would speak freely, smile and laugh.

Holi knew it was weird and stupid to have such a dream because he’d never meet the alpha, but he didn’t have a lot in his life. And so, he allowed himself this little pleasure. But instead of master Tarymn filling his screen, Xaine Covus’ images were displayed with the headline ‘Xaine Covus: New Head of Covus Holdings Taking Company To New Heights.’

Ugh! Xaine Covus.

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