He Hates Me, He Loves Me Not

"Kaidy!" says five-year-old Jenny.

Kaiden stares at her, surprised although he shouldn't be.

Jenny is a sociable kid, greeting everyone with her sapphire eyes and smiling with her chubby cheeks. Whenever Kaiden enters the kindergarten room, she's often the first one to come running to him, her silver hair bouncing along as she asks for a hug.

It's not a surprise that she's doing something similar now, Kaiden tells himself as he greets her back.

"Hi, Jenny!" He gives his best smile while holding the tray above her.

Jenny smiles wider as she tugs on his pants again. Her eyes are twinkling when she says, "Come sit with us!"

Kaiden has no choice but to be pulled, especially when he sees that the kid is doing her best to overcome their difference in weight and height. He keeps his eyes on her as she walks backward, ready to offer a hand in case she falls.

Jenny looks back every three steps to make sure that she's heading in the right direction. The sight of her twin pigtails swishing left and right makes Kaiden chuckle.

Even so, Kaiden notices how the noise in the cafeteria has gotten quieter since Jenny approached him. He doesn't know if he is just being paranoid, but he feels a lot of eyes watching his every movement.

Those eyes, however, are not one of malice. If anything, his inner omega tells him that he is being watched in the same way that he's watching the little girl—with eyes of caution.

Are they scared that something might happen in the short walk to the table?

Despite his (and other people's) worries, Jenny neither stumbles nor falters in her steps. She successfully guides Kaiden—by pulling on his sweatpants—towards where her mom and her three other friends are sitting.

Unfortunately for Kaiden, he only realizes that he's in the middle of the cafeteria when Jenny pulls a chair for him. It's nowhere near the corner where he originally wanted to sit, but seeing the little girl's pleading eyes, Kaiden doesn't have the heart to say no.

Knowing that he's been defeated by a child who only recently turned five, he places the tray on the round table. There's a collective sigh of relief around him when he sits down on the padded chair.

"I invited him, ma!" Jenny boasts from where she's standing, a tiny hand patting her chest.

"Good job, dumpling," one of the women across from Jenny says, this one a stranger to Kaiden.

The little girl beams at the compliment.

"No fair!" a small voice yells from somewhere in the cafeteria, loud in his complaint. "I want to eat with Kaidy too!"

Kaiden recognizes that voice, only because it's the same one that often competes with Jenny for attention. If Jenny is the first one to come running, then Mark is always following closely behind. Those two have been at odds since Kaiden decided to help out at the kindergarten.

There's a shushing, probably from Mark's father, that stops him right before he's about to cry.

Kaiden turns his head around to see where the sound is coming from, only to see the top half of Mark's face peeking from the edge of a table to his right. He can't fully see the kid from this angle, but there's no doubt that the little boy has his arms crossed while his father rubs circles on his back.

"I didn't know I could do that," Mark whines, the pout evident in his voice.

"Next time, baby," Mark's father says, slightly above the muffled laughter of the people in the cafeteria. "You can invite Kaidy to eat with us next time."

Mark grumbles but with a few gentle words of persuasion, eventually relents.

When the short show is over, Kaiden brings his eyes back to their table. He fakes a cough and hides the smile on his face behind a fist when he notices that his tablemates' gazes are on him.

They smile at him in return, pretending like they weren't staring.

"Thank you for joining us for lunch," Jenny's mother greets him as she helps Jenny wiggle her way to the seat next to Kaiden.

He greets back with a small smile, "Thank you for having me."

If he's not mistaken, her name is Lisa, but how can he confirm that without making it awkward?

Aside from Jenny, he's not sure of the names of the three women and one man he's sharing a table with. He supposes that's to be expected since he hasn't truly interacted with anyone outside the kindergarten room, but maybe he can start now.

Ignoring the sweat on his back, he greets them first, "Hello. My name is Kaiden. It's nice to meet you."

"These are my friends," Lisa says as she gestures to the people beside her. "Fleur, Zera, and Wes."`

They nod in acknowledgment, the bandages around their neck shifting with the movement. Only Zera, sitting between the two, has a fading bond mark on display at the side of her neck.

The bond mark, which is supposed to be a glimmering golden pattern, is grey and dull like a faded tattoo. It's also smaller than normal, and Kaiden knows it'll become smaller the more Zera recovers from the drop.

It's only a matter of time until it vanishes completely, and then they'll leave the hospital one by one.

Will Kaiden still be here by then?

Somehow, the thought makes him sad.

Lisa's voice snaps him out of his thoughts when she continues saying, "Kaiden helps with the kindergarten."

"So you're the Kaidy our dumpling is always talking about," Fleur says with a fond look in her eyes. "Thank you for taking care of our Jenny."

Kaiden raises his hands, flustered at the sudden gratitude. "No, please," he protests, "I don't do much. It's the teachers who deserve your thanks."

"We're grateful to them too," Wes says, meeting Kaiden's red eyes with his orange ones, "but our Jenny wouldn't adore you like this without a reason."

"She talks about you every day," Zera adds with a chuckle. "Kaidy this and Kaidy that."

Mouth full of rice, the little girl interjects, "That's because Kaidy is the best!"

"Maybe I should take Kaidy for myself," Wes teases, "since he's the best."

His words have Jenny going wide-eyed. "No! Kaidy is mine," she yells while a tiny fist clenches onto the spoon on her left hand.

The adults laugh while Wes earns an elbow to his rib from Zera. Seeing them like this, Kaiden can't help but join in on the laughter too.

When Jenny accidentally spills a spoonful of rice in anger, Lisa laughs at her daughter's messy appearance. Zera moves the napkin dispenser closer so that Fleur can grab a tissue for Lisa. Without a word, Wes refills the glasses on the table.

Kaiden eats his meal while he observes how the four move in sync with each other. Even the food on their trays is passed around, showing how they already know who prefers this and who doesn't like that.

He suspects that they formed a pack while staying at the hospital, bonding over their misery and helping each other with their recovery. He knows that the hospital encourages it as well.

His inner omega whines at the sight, missing his friends back at Nysus City. He pack-bonded with Primo after the older Omega invited him to his nest, and although he can't remember when or how, he knows that he's in a pack with Rosa and Lucy as well.

His pack is small and new, nothing like the omegas on the table, but it belongs to him—his little family to love and care for.

There's a whine bubbling up his throat—the threat of tears is nothing new these days—but a small hand on his knee pops it before it comes out.

"Don't cry," the little girl says while patting his knee. "Jenny is here."

The table is then filled with 'awws' and coos.

Jenny may be young but like most of the kids in the hospital, she can detect negative emotions faster than people older than her. It's an unfortunate trait that the kids learned from observing their parents, sorrow more obvious to their unbiased eyes.

Kaiden pats the top of her silver hair, trying not to show his sadness at the thought of how young children are indirectly suffering because of their parent's drop. Instead, he puts a piece of meat on her tray, internally wishing that she grows up healthy and happy.

As they continue eating their meals, throwing questions here and then to get to know each other better, Kaiden isn't aware of the shuffling of seats around them.

He is blissfully ignorant of how their table sits in the center of a protective circle, the omegas in the inner ring while the alphas guard the outer parts.

If asked, the alphas will say that they don't do it on purpose, but there's no denying that their instincts screamed at them until they moved to secure the vicinity.. Only their doctors have to know how satisfied they felt upon knowing that the omegas, especially the pregnant Omega, are safe.