Beyond Relationships // KAOEARTH OMEGAVERSE AU

29

Earth sat cross-legged on his bed, nursing a glass of warm milk that his ob-gyn doctor recommended for his pregnancy, which has a french-vanilla taste that has become his favorite since he became pregnant. The milk became his usual breakfast drink after he ate his food that was a macaroni soup that was easy to stomach. 

Earth's morning sickness has come and gone these days, and the milk also helped subside the uneasiness on his stomach by what his doctor told him. He was glad that his body readily accepted the milk. He had heard many stories about pregnant people rejecting certain minerals or foods from their bodies or mainly having side effects from consuming something.

The pregnant beta stared absentmindedly at the wall across from where he sat on the bed. Yesterday, Fluke had reassured him about the news that broke out about him and Kao at the hospital, and his friend had suggested that he be calm and, better yet, ask the alpha about what should be done to the news. 

Even if he got reassurance from his friend, Earth couldn't help the anxiety eating him inside. He heard part of what he felt right now could be due to the hormones in him acting up, so he was feeling more conscious of what people will say about it only if they recognized him from that picture.

Earth sighed and stood up slowly from the bed. He walked to the sink and washed the dishes after his breakfast, which was a regular English breakfast.

"No need to fret more about it so early in the morning," Earth said to himself and decided to prepare himself for the day before his boyfriend arrived to take him to the child care.

Today will be the first time he sees his co-workers after the news comes out. Truthfully, he was kind of scared if they would recognize that it was him in the picture, but his face had been blurred, so he was not sure if they could still tell it was him. 

"Are you okay, sweetheart? You've been quiet today."

Kao's sudden voice startled Earth slightly, and the beta turned to see a confused look on his boyfriend's face. Earth slowly smiled and shook his head, "Nothing, Kao. I was just thinking about what should I eat for lunch." Even though he smoothly answered the alpha's question, the beta was quite confused about something.

Why didn't he say anything about the news?

Kao hadn't paid much attention to the beta's answer as he was currently driving right now. When he parked the car at the side of the road just outside the tall fence of the child care institution where Earth was working, only then Kao turned his body to face his pregnant boyfriend.

"Do you want to eat lunch together later?" The alpha asked, extending his hand and holding the beta's hand in his. Kao's finger draws circles in the same spot on his boyfriend's hand in affection.

Earth looked deeply into the alpha's eyes, trying to find out whether Kao was hiding something or maybe the alpha really had no idea about the news. After staring at his boyfriend's eyes for around three minutes, the beta finally shook his head. "It's okay, Kao. I know you need to oversee your main office today. You don't have to go out of your way to fly here from Bangkok just to take me to lunch," he answered calmly with an understanding expression.

Truthfully, Earth couldn't find what he was looking for in the alpha's eyes by staring at them only. It was like he had no talent for finding people's thoughts by looking into their eyes. So, he chose to keep quiet for now, and besides, he was sure the news would die down in a few days, and no one would recognize him from the blurred pictures. Unfortunately, the beta's thought seemed to become a jinx for him later on.

***

A few minutes after he came inside the employee's room to place his bag in the locker, he saw a few looks being thrown at him secretly from a few of his co-workers, the ones that he's not close to. Mentally, Earth started being somewhat conscious of the eyes and blatant whispering that the same people did.