L*ck Me If You Can-Chapter 66

When he got home, Koi saw the lights on in the motorhome and involuntarily sucked in a sharp breath. Someone was inside. There was only one person that could be. His father was waiting for him.

Gulp. He swallowed dryly and noisily. Koi barely restrained himself from turning around and running away. It was something he would have to face eventually. It would be fine, as long as his father wasn’t drunk. After his mother left, his father drank nearly every day and rarely spoke to Koi even when he was sober. He would always stare into empty space with a vacant look before going out, and most of the time, he came home drunk.

For a while after his mother left, his father hit him every time he saw him. Koi constantly avoided him and often spent his nights outside, getting drenched in the cold dew, waiting until his father passed out drunk. After a few years, his father seemed to grow used to his presence and started ignoring him altogether. Even when drunk, he acted like Koi didn’t exist as long as he didn’t show himself—and for Koi, that was better. Nobody likes getting hit.

When was the last time he got hit?

Koi suddenly tried to recall. It had been a while. By now, his father’s violent habits should’ve resurfaced. If he was drunk, it was bound to happen.

What should I do?

He couldn’t bring himself to go in or run away and was frozen with anxiety when suddenly the door burst open. Startled, Koi instinctively held his breath—and then he and his father locked eyes.

“...Koi!”

His father’s face went pale as he called his name first. Koi stood frozen in place, unable to move, and his father came running out.

“Ah!”

A rough hand grabbed his arm, and Koi let out a scream. His father yanked him in and held him tightly with both hands, shouting violently.

“You stupid brat! Do you have any idea where you’ve been, staying out all night like that?!”

Koi’s eyes widened in shock. His father wasn’t drunk. It had been a long time since the sober man had spoken to him so clearly—even if it was yelling.

But that wasn’t all. His father began sniffing him, pressing his nose to different parts of Koi’s body. With his face twisted in fury, Koi couldn’t do anything but stand there and let him.

“Fuck, what the hell is this sweet smell. Your whole damn body... is this that bastard’s pheromones?”

His father ground his teeth after barking the question. He realized Koi couldn’t smell it. Without another word, he dragged Koi inside and shoved him into the cramped shower.

“Wash it off. Right now! Scrub off every bit of that disgusting pheromone!”

He turned on the shower full blast, and cold water poured directly onto Koi’s head. Startled, Koi hurried to undress, but then he caught sight of the vicious bite mark on his chest. That wasn’t the only place. Under his clothes, his body was covered in bruises and blotches. Panicked, Koi quickly pulled his clothes back down and turned to his father.

“D-Dad, I’ll wash up and come out, so... could you please bring me some clothes?”

Pretending to fidget with the faucet to adjust the temperature, he tried to sound casual. His father turned away and soon brought him the usual worn clothes he always wore.

“You need to wash with soap at least three times.”

His father gave the warning and, thankfully, shut the bathroom door behind him. Only then did Koi breathe out in relief and begin scrubbing himself all over. Compared to Ashley’s mansion, this was a pitifully dirty and cramped shower, but he forced himself not to make comparisons and quickly washed as his father had demanded.

*

Koi stared at the floor, unsure what to do in the awkward silence. He’d been dragged to sit across from his father at the small table, but neither of them said a word. There wasn’t even the usual smell of alcohol. Koi was surprised his father was even home at this hour. Normally, he’d be working or drinking. The fact that he was sitting there, completely sober, waiting for him—

What does he want to say?

Koi’s heart pounded with anxiety and dread. Ashley had said he’d take care of the contact, but his father would obviously react differently than the school. Koi wasn’t even sure if it had been three or four days since he last came home. Just one phone call—relayed by someone else, no less—was nowhere near enough. Any parent would be angry.

Assuming he still thinks of me as his kid, that is.

Just as that thought passed through his mind, his father finally spoke.

“Koi.”

“Y-Yes.”

He quickly replied, but his father only let out a short sigh and closed his mouth again. Koi had never seen him like this. With no clue what was coming next, he simply waited in silence. When his father spoke again, his voice was lower, more subdued.

“Koi, are you... on medication right now?”

“Medication? What... No, I haven’t taken anything.”

Koi frantically shook his head, and his father asked again, this time more pointedly.

“Like suppressants.”

“No... I haven’t even manifested! You already know that.”

Feeling wrongfully accused, Koi protested. His father stared at him for a while without saying anything, then finally let out a long sigh. He buried his face in his hands and leaned on the table. Koi watched, unsure how to react, his feelings a tangled mess. Then his father spoke.

“I was worried... that maybe you had manifested while you were caught up in all that.”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Another trembling sigh followed. Only then did Koi begin to understand the source of his father’s anxiety. He was afraid Koi might’ve become an Omega. The idea of his father worrying about him—Koi had never imagined such a thing.

“It’s okay. I... can’t even smell anything anyway.”

He hadn’t even considered the possibility that Ashley’s pheromones might’ve soaked into his entire body. Ashley had only just manifested too—he wouldn’t have any suppressants yet, and it made sense that he couldn’t control the scent.

And just as that thought struck him, his father said,

“If he were just a regular Alpha or Omega, I wouldn’t have thought it was so dangerous. But that boy... he manifested as a hyper-Alpha, didn’t he?”

“What?”

Koi looked up in shock, but his father seemed even more surprised by Koi’s reaction.

“You didn’t know? Not at all?”

“Uh... no...”

A hyper-Alpha? That had never crossed his mind. He’d thought Ashley was just a regular Alpha or Omega.

Then again, even as a regular Alpha or Omega, he wasn’t exactly normal...

Correcting his thoughts, Koi tried to process it and managed to ask the next question.

“Really? How do you know that?”

“That woman told me. The secretary of that kid’s bastard father.”

His father spat the words through clenched teeth.

“She said their precious little heir had manifested as a hyper-Alpha, and that you’d been with him through the entire thing—and it almost turned into a disaster.”

“Oh...”

Koi was speechless, dazed. Hyper-Alphas and hyper-Omegas were extremely rare, so rare that many people never encountered one in their lifetime. They weren’t heavily covered in the curriculum either, and Koi had assumed he’d never meet one. Sure, he’d seen them on TV—many were celebrities—but the odds of running into one in real life?

And yet it had happened. He’d even been there during the exact moment of manifestation.

“The amount of pheromones must’ve been overwhelming.”

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His father sighed again and added in a quieter ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) tone, as if relieved.

“It’s a miracle you weren’t affected. I’m so glad... really...”

Just when Koi felt a little more at ease at the sudden softness in his father’s voice, his tone turned sharp again.

“Don’t ever see that boy again.”

“What?”

Koi asked before he realized it, and his father’s voice rose, full of fury.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is for Alphas and Omegas to live? They go into heat constantly. Omegas can even get pregnant! Imagine ending up with a child and not knowing who the father is—Jesus. Alphas go around assaulting people every time they’re in heat. Do you think you could handle that?!”

His father spat the words with disgust. Koi’s face drained of color as he shouted at him.

“If you keep hanging around with that bastard, you’re going to manifest or mutate one way or another. And when that happens, it’ll be too late to regret it! Cut ties with him. Now! Remember what I’m saying! Or you’ll definitely regret it!”

He gave one last warning, panting from rage, and stormed out. Koi sat frozen, staring in the direction his father had gone. Then, suddenly remembering, he leapt to his feet. He had to hide the clothes Ashley had given him. If his father saw them, he’d blow up again.

He quickly pulled out the box from under the bed and tucked the new outfit in with the rest of the old gifts Ashley had given him. Just then, his phone chimed. Koi checked the screen—and his face immediately softened.

It was Ashley.

[I'm home now. Sweet dreams. See you tomorrow.]

Koi quickly typed a reply: [Yeah, see you tomorrow], and waited a moment. Only when the "unread" mark disappeared did a smile creep across his face.

<What do you know about Alphas and Omegas!>

His father’s words suddenly echoed in his mind. Koi sat down and stared blankly into space.

What if I really had manifested back then... what would’ve happened?