CHAPTER 1

The present...

Raffy grinned, leaning against the counter as he watched and listened to the group of elementary-schoolers arguing over which book was better.

One of the four children, a young boy, asked one of the girls, "How did you know that book is better than this one when you haven't even read it yet?"

"Because my brother said so!" the girl responded with conviction, as if her answer were enough to settle the matter.

"And you just believe him? What if he's lying?"

"My brother does not lie! He hates lying!"

The other boy piped up, "Everyone lies, Evie. I'm sure his telling you he didn't lie was already a lie."

"That's not true! Take that back, you meanie!" The girl screamed, her eyes welling up with tears.

"Stop ganging on her, you two!" The second girl said, taking her friend's hand and holding it tight to console her.

But the boys continued to press their point, and the girls retorted. Soon, Raffy's little bookshop was filled with the sound of debate, attracting the attention of the other customers.

Ah, just when he was starting to enjoy their little squabble. Now he needed to help them reconcile before their bickering escalated and made his other patrons uncomfortable.

He stood, ready to intervene, but before he could take a single step, his eight-year-old son, Lance, had already beaten him to it.

Lance stood in front of the four kids with his hands on his hips, acting as though he were just as big and tall as they were, when in reality, his height and build were only half of theirs.

"Why are you four making such an easy decision so difficult?"

"Go away! This is none of your business," said the boy who had called Evie's brother a liar.

"You are causing trouble in my father's place of business, so your business is now my business too," Lance retorted with full confidence.

"What's your problem? Did you not hear me? Go away!" the other boy snapped.

But Lance stood his ground. "I heard you loud and clear, and I refused to go away. Why do I need to go away when I live here? And you two are my problem." By "two", he clearly meant the boys, who were glaring at him.

Raffy almost clapped at how bravely his son was handling the situation. He was so incredibly proud.

It was clear that Lance acted much more maturely than the other children. From the way he spoke to the way he carried himself, everything about him suggested he was wise beyond his years.

If Lance weren't so small and looked so young—younger even than his actual age—no one would ever believe he was only eight.

"Who do you think you are? Do you think you're better than us just because your father owns this bookstore? It's not like this place is any good anyway!"

To everyone's surprise, the boy threw the book he was holding to the floor. He gave Lance a challenging look. "What are you going to do about it, huh?"

But Lance remained calm. He spared a glance at the poor book on the ground before meeting the boy's eyes once again, disappointment written all over his face.

"How childish."

Raffy almost burst out laughing.

‘They are children,’ he thought. Of course, they were going to be childish. But then again, his son was of a different caliber—and Lance knew it, which was exactly why he said it.

But while Raffy was amused, the boys felt the complete opposite.

Their nostrils flared, and their fists were clenched tight. Raffy could tell that if his son said another word, the two wouldn't be able to hold themselves back. Lance would likely end up getting hurt, and he couldn't let that happen.

So, he finally intervened. He clapped his hands once to get everyone's attention and made his way toward the children. Surprised looks washed over their faces as they momentarily forgot their heated argument.

Raffy seized the opportunity. He stepped into the middle of the group, offering a warm smile to each of the children—Lance included.

"How about we wrap this up? I think that's enough debating for one day," Raffy said, his warm smile never wavering as he looked at each of the children.

"But Dad—"

Raffy gave Lance the look that silently commanded him to stay quiet and let his father handle it. Lance looked down and bit his lower lip, immediately understanding the instruction. It was obvious, however, that he was not satisfied with how his father was de-escalating the situation.

Raffy was itching to give the boys a lesson, too, especially the one who had disrespected the book. But he knew that losing his temper would only worsen the situation and potentially put him and Lance in trouble. Instead, he held back, choosing to be patient and understanding as any sensible adult should be.

He turned his full attention back to the four children. "How about a free book for each one of you? The four of you can have the books that you think are the best, and there would be no need for you guys to fight. After all, every book is amazing; it's just a matter of preference."

He glanced at the other patrons watching the scene. "Don't you agree, everyone?"

Thankfully, the customers nodded in unison, clearly understanding and supporting what he was trying to do.

He brought his gaze back to the kids. "So, what do you guys think? Do you want the free books?"

The four children looked at each other. They remained silent, but Raffy could tell they were having a silent discussion through their eyes.

After a few moments, they finally looked back at him. It was the boy who had thrown the book who spoke first.

"We'll take the free books," the boy said.

Raffy smiled, assuming that would be the end of it—until the child continued. "But I also want your son to apologize to us, Mister."

Raffy's smile vanished in an instant. He hadn't expected that. Neither had Lance as he protested, "What? Why would I?"

“Because you were being rude and mean to us,” the other boy answered.

“Rude?  I was simply—”

“Lance,” Raffy said, cutting off his son’s words.

Lance turned to him while frowning.

“Apologize, son.”

Lance’s eyes widened. “What? Dad!”

“Do it, Lance. Apologize.”

The father and son had stared at each other for a while, conversing just through their eyes. Then, Lance finally averted his gaze and looked at the kids—or more specifically, at the boys.

“Sorry,” he said.

There was no remorse in his voice. In fact, he even looked like he detested that he had said that word.

Raffy understood how Lance felt. Even he disliked what he had asked Lance. But making Lance apologize was much better than making the situation escalate.

He wanted this to be over as soon as possible.

“That's it?”

But of course, the boys thought and wanted things differently.

Lance's nose flared, and his eyes went sharp. “What more do you want me to do?”

“I want you to be genuine with your apology.”

Lance was about to speak, and so was Raffy, when one of the girls said, “That’s enough.” Then she looked at Raffy. “We'll take the free books now, Mister.”

“No. I'm not yet—”

“Can we choose books now?” the other girl asked, not giving the boy a chance to counter them.

Raffy sweetly smiled at the girls. “Please do. And because you two are good girls, you can have one more free book.”

The girls' eyes widened, and huge grins spread across their faces. 

“Really?” they asked in unison, which Raffy answered with a nod, all while still smiling.

The girls immediately searched for one more book that they wanted to have for free since they had already chosen their first books.

‘Oh, how adorable those two are,’ Raffy thought, his gaze following the adorable girls. But a scoff made him avert his attention.

He turned to where the noise came from, and as he expected, it came from the rude and disrespectful boy.

Raffy sighed.

Of course, the kid wouldn't easily back down.

Raffy had decided that once the child started saying something disrespectful again, he would finally put him in the right place. Making his son apologize was his last straw.

The boy was about to speak when the other boy suddenly pulled him and said, “Let's go get our free book.”

In just a snap, the only child left near him was his son.

Lance was still visibly upset. “Dad—”

But he cut off his son immediately. “Later, when they're gone, okay?”

Lance bit his lower lip. He was clearly itching to talk and voice out what he had in his mind. But Lance, being the good boy and the too-mature-for-his-age kid, listened to his dad and held back the words that wanted to crawl out of his mouth.

After several minutes, the four kids were finally out of their bookstore with their free books. The rude kid made sure to give Lance sharp stares, though, as if he was telling Lance that they'd not yet done, which his son had just ignored.

“Can we talk now?” Lance asked a few minutes later, taking the vacant seat beside the cashier's seat, where Raffy had occupied.

“Thank you,” Raffy said to the customer before facing his son, whose face was scrunched up. “You really can't wait, huh?”

“You said we're going to talk once they're gone. There aren't many customers either, so we can definitely talk now. I couldn't wait any longer, Dad. I need to get this off my chest.”

Raffy fought the urge to grin and hid the amusement that almost showed up on his face. His son was pissed, and he wouldn't appreciate it if Raffy started to act anything but serious. So, he schooled his face, crossed his arms over his chest, and focused his whole attention on his son.

“Alright. I'm all ears.”

“I didn't like what you did,” Lance started right away, looking so determined to say everything he wanted without holding back.

Well, he had never held back from voicing his feelings.

Ever since Lance was able to talk, Raffy had already encouraged him to speak what was on his mind. He wanted Lance to tell him whatever was on his mind. He wanted his son to be open to him, so that whenever there were troubles ahead, Lance wouldn't have second thoughts about talking to him. He didn't only want himself to be his son’s father. He wanted to be his son’s best friend, too.

“Which part of what I did you didn't like? The part where I chose to be kind and understanding to them? The part where I asked you to apologize? Or was it the part where I gave them free books?”

“All of the above,” Raffy answered immediately. “I understand why you had to do the first and the last thing, but agree to make me apologize? I did nothing wrong, Dad. So why did I have to apologize? In fact, they should be the ones to apologize to their girl friends and to you for throwing away a book!”

Raffy stared at his son in wonderment. He sometimes questioned himself if it was really him who raised this intelligent and well-spoken child, because how could he have done a good job without anyone guiding him on how to be a good and effective father?

'I guess all that nightly research and reading, guiding books on how to be a beta father to an omega child were really paying off,' he thought.

"Dad!" Lance whined, getting his full attention again.

He stared at his son and sighed. "Look, I didn't like it either that you had to apologize."

Lance pouted. "Then why did you ask me to do it?"

"Because I believe that is the best thing to do at that moment. Baby—"

His son immediately cut him off. "Lance," he said, reminding his father he didn't want to be addressed as 'baby' anymore, which Raffy found ridiculous. His son was only a child, not a teenager. Therefore, Lance was still a baby in his eyes.

Raffy acted as if he didn't hear his son and just continued speaking.

"I don't want you to be put in a difficult position. You know how things can get for us, especially for you. If I let things escalate and those boys start to get into trouble, what do you think will happen? More people will get involved—their parents will get involved. And things become more problematic once parents get involved, baby. Especially if those boys and their parents are alphas."

Raffy did not answer and bit his lower lip instead. He could tell that his son wanted to refute what he said, but couldn't find a way because Lance knew he was right.

Living in a place where most of the people were alphas, a beta, and especially an omega like Lance, had to walk on eggshells sometimes and also had to be careful not to get in trouble. Because if they did, surely, everyone would easily blame them.

Raffy bent down a little to be on the same level as his son and looked into his eyes.

"I'm sorry for making you do that, son. But I want you to know that everything I do, I only do it because I want what's best for us, especially for you."

Lance took a huge, deep sigh. “I know that, Dad. But sometimes, I just wish we didn't have to bow down to alphas all the time. I mean, no matter what our genders are, at the end of the day, we are all still humans.”

Raffy wished it were as easy as that. He didn't want them to bow down to alphas all the time, either. But it was so much easier said than done. Because in reality? Standing up for themselves would only put them more in danger.

If it were only him, then he would not even think twice about fighting back; damn all the consequences. But he has Lance to think about. He has a son to protect.

Knowing that the reply he was thinking of giving would only upset Lance even more, he chose to smile and change the topic instead.

“How about we go get ice cream after closing the shop? You can also get your favorite cookies. And you can get as many as you want. Except for the ice cream, though.”

“Are you bribing me to make me not angry anymore?”

He grinned. “Yes,” he answered honestly, making Lance pout again. “And it’s also my apology for hurting your feelings. I really am sorry, son.”

Lance sighed deeply again, and then he finally smiled. “Apology accepted, Dad.”

Raffy smiled back. “Thank you, baby.”

Lance's pout immediately came back. “Aish! Dad! I'm not a baby anymore!”

“Yes, you still are.”

“No, I'm not!”

“You're still a baby.”

“I'm an adult now!”

“You're only eight!” he answered, giving his son an incredulous look.

“Age is different from maturity, Dad,” Lance answered smartly.

Raffy was speechless, totally not expecting his son to say that. And just when he found his voice again to respond, a clearing of the throat had suddenly taken their attention.

He and Lance turned to the front where the noise came from.

Lance immediately greeted the person in front of them, while Raffy was left speechless as his eyes widened as he stared at the familiar man.

‘No way. This can't be… What is he doing here?’

Before Raffy even realized it, he had already uttered the name that he had been avoiding like a plague for years.

“Andrew…”