Episode 19

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Submerged in nostalgia, Noah wanted to obey Nana's words and got ready to change his clothes, just as the woman had ordered. It was just that his body felt too uncomfortable and sweaty, so he felt the need to take a bath first. As he walked toward it, the black-haired boy realized what might be happening to his body and couldn't help but feel anxious about what was on his mind.

He was not a fool, nor did he deny things. He knew that the heat that was born in his neck and spread to the rest of his body was something he had known before. And with all that, new doubts were added to the past ones.

"Why is this happening so soon? In my first life, I had no problem during this time…it was afterward,” he thought, opening the bathroom door.

The only thing the boy could be thankful for was that the heat was not as intense or overwhelming as the first time. If he had to calculate and compare, it would now be barely 20% of the past intensity, but it still made him feel uncomfortable. Besides, he already knew that this was just the beginning of everything.

Sweat ran down his forehead, neck, and back. It forced him to run his sleeve over his skin every few minutes, and even to fan his chest with the same shirt, trying to combat the embarrassment.

With his mind still clear, he turned on the shower faucets and took off his clothes, throwing them on the floor without a second glance. Without waiting for the hot water to come out, he stepped in and soaked himself from head to toe.

Yes, that strange heat subsided with the cold stream of water...but not as effectively as he expected.

After ten minutes without any significant change in his body temperature, Noah knew that this was not the way to deal with what was happening to him.

Resigned but not reconciled, he turned off the water and wrapped his body in a towel.

With no choice but to go back to bed, Noah returned and buried his face in the pillow. It was there, amidst the discomfort of the heat, that he set out to remember the reason for his previous change in an attempt to distract himself and find answers he couldn't before.

At the time, all the doctors had said was that from birth he was probably a recessive omega, only that due to the instability of his pheromones and their low—almost zero—activity, he was categorized as a beta in his adolescence. And in a way, his essence was no different from a beta's, since he never had anything like jealousy, nor did he perceive pheromones. At least not until his change began.

And the doctors had a couple of theories for that.

The first: He must have encountered someone whose pheromones were at least 99% compatible with his. But it wasn’t enough to run into such a person on the street. It was imperative to have been exposed to said pheromones in an aggressive manner. This would have triggered a chain reaction. Which in itself was almost impossible since, in the last fifty years, the highest recorded compatibility between two people was only 84%.

And the mere assumption of provoking a physical change at that level just by the notion of "finding your soulmate" was laughable. So the doctors and a chaste Noah ruled out this possibility, opting instead for the second, which sounded more incomprehensible and yet had easy-to-meet requirements.

Doctors believed that due to his emotional instability during that time in his life—with false identities, discovered infidelities, untimely and painful deaths, family abandonment—his pheromones were awakened by his high levels of stress as a self-defense mechanism. Of course, his body was severely affected, causing an irreversible change in his secondary gender.

There was no relationship between the two issues, but that was their best option. And in the end, the medical group only had theories and could never give a clear answer to his situation.

Lying in bed and remembering everything he had been through, Noah wanted to cry. Especially remembering the hell of physical change.

It was a torturous experience as he had no alpha pheromones to help him bear the heat. And he refused to accept Victor's help, for by that time he already knew that the alpha had been unfaithful for a couple of months—although not since this all started, he had found out just an hour ago. And without any other close alpha, he was unable to find any outlet.

Furthermore, suppressants were addictive, and only someone in a life-or-death situation would use them, so they were not an option for him either.

Faced with the bad situation, the best his doctors could do for him was to extract pheromones directly from the glands of some alpha colleagues at the hospital. But this happened only twice, since as soon as he was injected with them, he felt worse and every inch of his body ached, rejecting the invading pheromones.

The intoxication on each occasion lasted approximately five hours.

Conclusion? Possible allergy to alpha pheromones.

With no other choice, he was forced to endure such torture for half a year. And every day he felt like his body was burning from the inside out.

The only thing he could be thankful for was that when the heat became excessively intense, it clouded his reasoning and he would lose his mind for days on end. So, even though he was still going through the conversion firsthand, he was not doing it consciously, which in a way came as a relief.

And a problem he had never considered arose. Everyone forgot about him, a fake son, locked up and enduring a transformation that was driving him mad, and they focused on the real son.

During the course of that dark time—which he had to spend practically locked up like an animal, so as not to be attacked "by accident" by an alpha—Victor took control of the family, and Angel was accepted as his "semi-official" partner. It seems the wonderful Ballestero family conveniently forgot that the omega was still officially engaged to Jerome Barlovento. Since it was more viable for them to ensure the happiness of their lost son than the good family name.

And without knowing that he had been forgotten by the family he grew up with, one day, after months of torture, he woke up and his consciousness returned little by little.

Although to his surprise, after a while, he realized that he was not alone in bed. Next to him, still sleeping, was the alpha everyone feared, Jerome Barlovento.

His first instinct was to run away and deny everything, but as soon as he moved a muscle, Jerome woke up.

Noah didn't know where he was or why the alpha was there. Although that didn't stop the man from being furious and leaving without saying a word.

Later he understood the other's annoyance. In his perception, Noah had spiked his drink and later sneaked into his room. The end result was the two of them going to bed. In this way, he had tried to climb into the prestigious Barlovento family.

The black-haired boy denied the accusations, but who was willing to believe him? Well, there was strong evidence against him, a series of videos showing him as the main mastermind behind such a despicable act.

In the videos, you could see the reception of a banquet; how he approached a waiter and bribed him to give the alpha an adulterated drink; said alpha taking said drink without suspecting anything; how after a few minutes he was taken to his room and asked to be left alone; and in the end, how the boy sneaked into the room. What had happened inside was unknown, but everyone could imagine it.

To this day, he was certain that he had not done that, but he did not have an evil twin to excuse the situation. And everyone accused him of being responsible, even he came to doubt his innocence. What if he had done something during those times when he lost consciousness?

Thus, Noah stopped denying his guilt and only gave a silent consent.

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