When Eugene was staring at him with bulging eyes and parted lips, Arthur realized his slip-up.
"Ah," he clasped his mouth, flustered by his own words. But, well...since it came out already, might as well go forward with it. He lowered his fingers and asked carefully. "Umm...it's...about your child, right?"
Eugene still did not respond — at least not with words. His slowly reddened neck, however, confirmed Arthur's conjecture.
His guess started when he remembered how Eugene said he had used the same method he did to Arthur on someone else. Eugene, despite his easygoing persona, did not seem like someone who enjoyed physical contact too much for Arthur. The same 'method' meant it included the...hug, right? That would mean the person in question had a close personal connection to Eugene. When he recalled the soothing way Eugene spoke and stroked his back, it felt like something someone would do to a child.
He got more convinced when Eugene said the person had it since birth. If Eugene was still looking for advice even now, it meant the condition hadn't been found for long--at most several years.
Ergo, it was a child.
If he didn't know that Eugene had a child before, he would have thought it might be Eugene's young relatives. But once he knew the omega had a child, and that this request came out just after Eugene rushed out of the company looking all worried...
Arthur could only guess that it was about Eugene's child. The 'she' he mentioned while eating the madeleine was probably the child--someone who wouldn't like the flavor of slightly bitter and citrusy cake.
The problem was...Arthur wasn't supposed to know that Eugene had a child.
"Oh, umm...I overheard the scriptwriters talking about you having a child," he winced. He foresaw it: their interaction somehow always ended up in something unpleasant. "I'm sorry...?"
Without responding to the alpha, Eugene propped his elbows on the table and grasped the back of his head, staring hard at the table. He knew it was risky from the start, but he didn't think he would get found out this fast.
And among everything, he didn't expect to be found out of having a daughter!
"I'm not sure how severe your daughter's condition is, but...maybe it wouldn't get too bad?" Sensing Eugene's stress, Arthur thought it was because the omega got worried about the child's situation. "I mean, it's a rare condition, and usually influenced by the parents's hormone. For a child between a beta and an omega, I don't think it'll be--"
Eugene looked up and finally verbalized his response. "What?"
"Huh?"
"A child between...what?"
"Oh, well..." Arthur fidgeted slightly in his seat, head slightly bowed as he looked at Eugene. "Your partner is a beta...right?"
Eugene shifted from being frightened about getting found out to being totally in confusion. "My...partner?"
Arthur was also confused by Eugene's confusion. "I mean...you can't possibly conceive her by yourself?"
"Well, of course--"
Eugene paused, his brain trying to work out around this sudden 'accusation' of him having a partner. Well, of course it was normal to think he had one since he had a child, but...
"A beta?"
This was where he got stumped. Why did Arthur think his partner was a beta? It wasn't impossible, of course. Alpha/beta or omega/beta partners existed, and a beta male could impregnate an omega male--although the probability decreased drastically. But those were rare cases, since betas could never help their alpha or omega partners during the estrus period, and it would be rather painful for the alpha and the omega partner.
That was why, people didn't normally assume an alpha's or an omega's partner to be a beta, unless it was specifically mentioned.
"Where does that come from?"
Arthur was fidgeting even more, as if he wanted to run away and sitting down at the same time. His eyes darted around like he couldn't decide what answer he would give Eugene.
"Umm..." after licking his lips a few times, the alpha finally spoke. "Can you promise me you won't like...punch me or storm out like before?"
"That depends on what you're going to say, don't you think?" Eugene snapped unintentionally.
Arthur gulped, and in his best intentions, slid over the fruit containers filled with glistening blueberries and juicy shine muscat toward Eugene like an offering. "Please?"
Eugene looked at the alpha, who looked as harmless as Hannah's teddy bear at that moment. He shifted his gaze to the bag of macaron cookies and imagined Hannah's sparkling eyes before sighing inwardly. "I guess I can."
Arthur exhaled in relief and crossed his hand on the table, fingers fiddling nervously. "Remember...when I asked about your scent?"
Damn it--Eugene cursed inside his mind, but maintained a calm expression as he nodded. "Yeah."
"So...I was asking it because I remembered smelling the same scent a few years ago--six years ago, actually, more or less."
"...okay?" Eugene narrowed his eyes, feet pivoting toward the entrance of the rotunda as he entertained the idea of bolting out--despite his promise.
"At first, I thought it was your pheromone, but--well, you also said you were wearing a scent blocker patch, right?"
Eugene instinctively grasped his nape; he wanted to wear the patch, but it was uncomfortable for him, so he kept wearing the fake one. "Yes..."
"And, umm...I smelled it again at that filming location, but you said it was a perfume," Arthur continued.
"And?"
Eugene was absolutely tense. He gripped the paper bag and slid it down under the table as if he were packing to run away.
"So...I couldn't help but think it was the same perfume six years ago," Arthur shrugged. "I even thought...you were the same person I met six years ago."
Damn it!
"But, well...you're an omega," Arthur scratched his cheek. "And that person was a beta."
Eugene felt his throat drying out rapidly. His head was dizzy. He felt like he was dipped into a lava pool, and then yanked out and thrown into an ice bath. Was he safe? Was he not safe? Eugene had no idea. Let's just keep him talking while we're thinking of a way out.
"What do you actually want to say?" Eugene asked dryly.
"Well...I was thinking, maybe the person I met six years ago is your partner?" Arthur grimaced in his own awkwardness. "I mean, that would explain why the scent was on you?"
Honestly, Arthur wasn't sure. He made the deduction, but he didn't think it was completely correct, so he just made a wild guess. He had thought the scent was Gin's perfume, but why would a beta wear a neutralizer perfume? It would be understandable if their child--with hypersensitivity--was already born then, but if that was the case...Gin wouldn't have slept with him.
Unless the man was cheating--and Arthur didn't like the idea of the man he had once crushed on and looked up to being a cheating bastard.
But then again, perhaps one of his family members had hypersensitivity, and he wore the perfume because of that? In that case, having a child with hypersensitivity could be explained as something genetic, even though he was a beta.
"How...could you be so sure?" Eugene pursed his lips slightly, looking doubtful. "I mean, you might be mistaken about the scent."
"No," Arthur replied without hesitation. "I'm quite confident regarding this matter."
The pillowcase might have lost the scent at this point, but the symphony he had built told him it was the same scent.
Fucking talented bastard--Eugene almost spit out a curse and was tempted to wet his throat with the rest of the lemonade.
"But still, you can't be sure about something from six years ago," Eugene argued. "Why are you so fixated on this person, anyway?"
"Well..."
Arthur hesitated. He couldn't possibly tell Eugene he had a crush on the omega's possible partner--especially because he felt like his heart skipped a beat at Eugene's presence ever since that pheromone accident.
"Because that person helped me a lot," he said after thinking about it for a minute.
Eugene raised his brows. Help?
"I was...at a point where I lost myself. I had no idea what to do in life, felt like a massive burden for Ashley and my grandparents..." he smiled in reminiscence. "That person helped me set my direction and, well...here I am, finally doing music seriously."
Eugene pressed his lips. He didn't even remember he said anything meaningful, so he was surprised that Arthur used anything he said as a propeller.
"I see..."
Arthur bit his lips, feeling guilty about intentionally hiding the fact that he had slept with that person--just in case Gin was truly Eugene's partner.
"So..." he scratched his neck and looked at Eugene with a weak grin. "I wonder if that person is your partner."
"...why?"
"Because I want to meet him again," Arthur smiled, a sincere one. No matter what his initial motivation was, or what his current feelings held, he did want to meet Gin again. "At least to thank him properly."
Eugene felt like his heart was stabbed by invisible daggers. His stomach churned at the disgust he felt at what he was doing at that moment: deceiving someone who had been battling the misery of not recognizing people around him.
If it were someone else, if Arthur didn't have his affliction, Eugene knew the alpha would have already recognized him. Even knowing that, Eugene was still here, pretending he wasn't the person Arthur mentioned.
The person Arthur was genuinely thankful for.
Eugene knew the right action at this point was to reveal that he was indeed the person he met at the bar six years ago. He didn't even need to reveal that their one-night stand resulted in an adorable human being that ended up inheriting his hypersensitivity.
But Eugene, at that moment, was also afraid.
He was afraid that Arthur would get pissed about him lying--both about not divulging that he wasn't a beta, and to cover it up even after they met again. He was afraid that Arthur would be able to deduce the identity of his daughter, and in his anger, decided to take Hannah away.
He was afraid, and if he had to be a bad person to keep his daughter by his side, Eugene would do it.
And so, he decided to feign ignorance.
"Well...do you know that person's name?" Eugene asked in a rather hoarse voice. He managed to keep his tone steady, however.
"Uhh..." Arthur sighed. "No."
"I wouldn't know if they are the same person, then," Eugene shrugged.
Arthur smiled bitterly. "That's...true."
"Also..." Eugene clenched his fist beneath the table. "I indeed wore perfume, but...there cannot only be one perfume made in the world, don't you think? Maybe that person wore the same perfume as I do?"
"That's...true," Arthur nodded, repeating his response like it was automatic.
"I'm sorry," Eugene forced out a smile. "I appreciate your help, though."
Arthur shook his head and smiled in return. "Nah, I don't really help with anything."
"Still, I appreciate that you shared such...personal story with me," Eugene almost slapped himself when he said that.
"It's actually quite nice," Arthur laughed. "I've never told anyone before."
Eugene sighed inwardly, feeling the dagger in his heart twisting horrendously.
"Hmm...do you still want to hear about me getting into the hospital because of my sensitivity?" Arthur asked lightheartedly, trying to shift the tone of the conversation. "I have some wild adventures."
Eugene chukled. "If you don't mind."
They laughed and shared more stories with a container of fruit in front of them. Arthur smiled despite his disappointment, and Eugene smiled amidst his guilt.