The News

I nod towards Bastian and enter the apartment. And even though I consider myself a brave person (relatively), I'm starting to get scared of this. Not the fact that they might do something to me, because they seem like nice people, but I'm starting to worry about what will happen after I meet Lion.

I never planned anything after that.

I don't have much money left. Maybe it's enough for a couple of days in a sleazy hotel but what about after those few days, what will become of me? This is exactly why people don't just decide they want to travel and leave right then and there. There are things to plan.

And the truth is, even though I have enough money to buy another plane ticket and go back home, I don't want to do it. I don't want to be stuck home all the time again, I don't want to go back to not eating sugar or dairy or meat. Not before eating all the sweets that come my way. And meat. I'm the main part of the food chain, I should be free to eat as many animals as I want... or maybe the carnivorous desire stems from the deprivation my grandmother forced on me.

Either way, I don't want to go back to that shïtty äss house. It smells disgusting and everything is horrible.

"Do you realize how much they look alike?" Bastian asks Angie, getting my attention. My aunt bites her lower lip and nods without taking her eyes off me.

I couldn't tell if we look alike or not, unless I looked in a mirror next to Lion to compare our features. But I can't do that at the moment, so instead of thinking about that, I start looking at my surroundings. The incredibly large apartment.

It's not a very cozy place. The colors are cold and everything is very masculine. The walls are dark blue, the furniture is black and there aren't many decorations, but there are a lot of framed pictures on the walls. I walk over to look at them, leaving my suitcase by the door.

My attention is drawn to the most predominant ones which are of a man with boxing gloves and a belt which, I may not know much about sports, but I know is important. The same man is in other photos with other people, so it becomes obvious that he is Lionel.

My father.

The truth is, he does look too young to be a father. I know he was five years younger than my mom, but I didn't expect him to look this young. He's pretty good looking too, his body is muscular and tall. Athletic, like me.

He always has a little smile, like everything is funny to him. But more importantly, I look at his eyes.

They are just like mine.

I think I understand now why everyone stares into my eyes with such interest.

Lion is not how I imagined him to be, but I want to say ‘Dad, I love you’ and hug him for all those years he wasn't with me. Still, I'm not stupid, I know he might have a heart attack when he realizes I exist and he might not want anything to do with me.

I need to prepare myself for anything, including his rejection.

The rest of the pictures are of Angie when she was a little girl and some more recent ones. Something in my stomach starts to burn when I see how beautiful she is, how feminine and happy she looks in all her pictures.

I wish I could be like that.

"You know what? We should go to your apartment to offer our guest something. There's nothing here," Angie announces, taking a big breath and snapping me out of my thoughts, "If it's alcohol, all the better."

"Everything is easier when the Vosse kids are intoxicated, I think you should know that," Bastian tells me with a friendly smile and I want to walk up to him and touch his face because I need to check that it's real, "Let's go to my apartment. It's literally next door."

"Ah, okay," I nod and start walking behind them, thinking that I would agree to anything Bastian asks.

I thought for a second that Bastian's apartment would be warmer, but it's even worse than Lion's. It only has a long, elegant couch, seemingly old but in very good condition. A giant TV, and big plastic cans where he has apparently papers, books, movies, etc.

I’m surprised by the maroon curtains, they are the same as the ones I saw in the coffee shop I went to earlier. And the walls are white but not well painted.

"Did you just move in?" I ask Bastian and Angie snorts a mocking laugh as she walks into a hallway leading to the kitchen, "Because it's all very... empty, I guess."

"I've lived here for 12 years," he replies, motioning for me to sit on the couch next to him, "Angie complains about my decor all the time, but I'm a simple man. I live with my brother and he couldn't care less how the house is as long as there's food and wifi. So we're happy."

"That, or you just don't feel comfortable here," I inquire and he frowns as if he doesn't understand, "When people don't get personal where they live it's because they don't feel comfortable and are ready for a change at all times. Maybe you miss where you lived before or a sad event has made you despise this place."

Bastian stares at me with raised eyebrows for a few seconds and then begins to consider what I said.

"Oh... I think maybe you're right. I don't have the best memories of this place, but it's convenient," he mutters, looking down, but then shakes his head and smiles again, "Angie, what's taking you so long?"

"Sorry, I was talking to Lion on the phone," she apologizes, returning to the living room with three bottles of beer in hand and handing me one before sitting down on the other side of Bastian, "He’s on his way."

I've never had beer, I hope it's as delicious as everyone makes it out to be. I mean, if it's the second most famous and consumed alcoholic beverage in the world it must be good.

"Ew," I grumble with a grimace as I take my first sip. I wasn't expecting such an unpleasant taste, "Take this, Bastian, I don't want to drink it anymore. I'd literally rather drink my own urine. I've never done it but it can't be any worse than this."

Neither of them answer anything, they just stare at me like they can't believe what I said.

"Drinking urine is very healthy, recommended even. But it has to be your own urine because that way you are sure there are no infections or things like that. It can be extremely beneficial for the skin and for fighting all kinds of canc..."

"Midnight," Angie stops me, "Stop talking about drinking urine and its benefits. We can talk about any other subject in the world, like... I don't know.... Are you studying anything?"

"Of course, I'm always studying something," I smile towards her, "But not at a school, I've never been to one. I read books, any kind. I just finished three volumes about the federal constitution of the United States."

"Do you find that interesting?" Bastian asks, with a genuine smile that makes me lose my train of thought for a few seconds.

"No. Not at all, but it's always good to know new things," I shrug, "Now it's my turn to ask a question, right?"

"If you want," Angie laughs, I think she's starting to like me already, "There are no rules to having a conversation."

"I wouldn't know, I haven't had a conversation like this with someone in.... three hours and a few minutes, when I met the cab driver who drove me here. But before that, never. And I'm enjoying this one, it's fun. I'm starting to regret not deciding to get out of the house sooner and make some friends."

"Oh..." Angie whispers, sharing an odd look with her boyfriend, "You can ask us questions if that's what you want. It would be nice, to get to know each other and..."

Before she can continue speaking, the door opens and someone walks in, making a lot of noise as he slams the door and tosses an old backpack on the floor that apparently had a lot of coins or keys in it.

"What are you doing here so early? I thought you were going to work a full shift."

When the person who came in finally turns toward us after his loud show, he opens his eyes in surprise when he sees me. I recognize him after a few seconds as the waiter who served me at the coffee shop I went to, but in this light I can tell he's not really disfigured; he just has big bruises on his face and quite a bit of swelling in one eye.

"I got bored," he replies, with an easy smile. Bastian rolls his eyes, but doesn't look annoyed, "Hi, my name is Grayson. I think we met a while ago."

"Yes, I remember you. My name is Midnight, I'm Lionel's daughter. Angie's niece," I introduce myself. His forehead fills with wrinkles as he makes a confused face and I allow myself to observe him more deeply. I couldn't appreciate him a while ago, but now I can see that despite his bruises, he is a relatively attractive boy, "What happened to your face?"

Grayson doesn't answer my question, he just keeps looking at me as if he can't believe what I said.

The door opens again and this time an older man walks in wearing an almost completely sweaty red shirt and a towel over his head.

"Let's get to the point What's the mystery?" he asks, as soon as he closes the door behind him. I get up to walk over to him and his gaze falls on me. He opens his mouth to say something but then sees my eyes and stops completely, "Wait, I'm having a dejavu."

"My nam..."

"You have a daughter," Grayson tells him in a voice full of confusion, before I can introduce myself as I have to everyone else, "A 'daughter' who’s like… thirty. I know you're into some kinky shït, but this is too much."

"I'm twenty," I correct him and put a hand on my cheek because it's starting to feel hot from the blood pumping through my body in embarrassment.

I can't believe I look ten years older than I am, this is horrible. Worse than I imagined. And I don't even understand how that's possible, I hardly ever go out in the sun.

"Oh, for god's sake. Ignore Grayson, please. He has no manners at all," Angie begs, sounding mortified.

I don't believe her, she's just being nice to me so I don't feel bad.

"Miriam?" Lion asks, snapping me out of my thoughts. Miriam is my mom's name, so I nod towards him, assuming that's what he wants to know, "What... but how... why...? Okay, I need some... I don't know, some explanation. This can't be happening."

Angie reaches over to hand him the birth certificate she was still clutching in her hand and Lion stares at it for a very, very long time. So long that I start to feel tired of standing and go back to sit next to Bastian, closer now.

"Hey, I'm sorry about what my brother said. He doesn't know how to act around omegas."

What did he say? Did he just call me an omega? How does he know?

"I was kidding," Grayson excuses himself, walking over to sit next to me, "You don't look like a thirty year old woman, Midnight, I promise. I just wanted to tease Lion. And by the way, you’re absolutely gorgeous."

That's the first real compliment I've ever been given. Everything inside me starts to feel warm and the animal inside of me is excited.

I'm sitting next to the most perfect man in the world… and a slightly deformed waiter. And I've been told I’m gorgeous.

Whatever happens when Lion comes out of his transe, I won't regret coming to this place.

Grayson

Today, for the first time, a person approached me to ask for a photo.

He was a twelve year old boy and looked like the kind of brat who kills small animals for fun, but still counts as a person. And besides, his father told me he thinks I have a future.

I almost started crying on the spot.

Not because I'm particularly sentimental or cry about everything, but because no one has ever said anything nice to my face about what I've decided to do with my life.

No one has ever said anything nice to me about anything, really, if I think about it. Having someone on my side for the first time in my life is refreshing and it touched my heart.

Lion thinks I shouldn't be doing this boxing thing because I'm wasting potential. My brother thinks I'm useless and I'm going to die any minute. Angie licks Bastian's balls at whatever he thinks and Baxter thinks I'll get bored of this and quit sooner or later. Hans just smiles and says he's happy for me, but I know he hates to see me fight.

The thing is, no one supports me, no one besides a few people who don't know me. Even my new promoter doesn't think I have a chance of accomplishing anything and I literally pay him to convince people of that.

But right now none of that matters, because an unknown man believes I have potential. However, all my good mood evaporates when I see the new tweet from the account I hate the most in the entire virtual universe:

"@RedBoxingGloves: today @GrayBull was seen bragging about what @SandersJake did to his pretty face last night. Maybe he'll finally drop the towel?"

After that is another tweet with three photos someone took of me today without me noticing, probably while I was walking to the coffee shop. My face has never looked worse than it does right now. And worst of all, this swollen eye was not given to me by Jake but by Lion, right after the fight.

It was no big deal, just a little misunderstanding. Lion and I have a love-hate relationship and there are usually fists involved.

But now people think Jake left me looking like that in the fight, which isn't entirely true and it’s fucking annoying.

When I get home, I throw my backpack on the ground and turn to greet my brother and Angie, only to find a new person standing next to them. It's the same omega with mismatched eyes like Lion who asked for almost a whole cake earlier and ate it like she was starving. I considered for a moment from her ugly clothes that maybe she could be homeless, but she looked and smelled way too clean to be living on the street.

“Yes, I remember you. My name is Midnight, I'm Lionel's daughter. Angie's niece.” she answers my greeting.

Her words take me by surprise because she has blurted out her identity like it's no big deal. Her voice is husky and low and she has an American accent. I like it. Her lips are big and full. And she's saying she's Lion's daughter but I can't believe it.

Lionel Vosse is the most immature man I've ever met in my entire life. Even Bastian is more mature than him.... although Bastian was born in his fifties, so he wouldn't be a good example. Anyway, the fact that Lion has an adult daughter is hilarious, although with his promiscuous sex life, I'm actually not that surprised.

The moment Lion arrives I make sure to be the one to break the news to him and tease him as well, but he's so shocked he doesn't even realize what I said. It's only when Angie and Bastian, the parents I never asked to have, start scolding me that I realize what I said might have sounded a little rude to the lady.

“I was joking," I murmur, sitting down on our couch next to her, "You don't look like a thirty year old woman, Midnight, I promise. I just wanted to tease Lion. And by the way, you’re absolutely gorgeous.”

The dreamy look she gives me at that moment makes me feel bad.

“Lion, react!” Angie scoffs, and settles back on the couch better so she can look at Midnight, "Don't take it personally...you have to understand that this is big news for him.”

“Where's Miriam? I need to see her and ask her why the fuck she didn't tell me this. Yeah, I was fifteen and her crazy mother hated me, but still... I guess I would have married her. I would have hated it, but I would have. I would have...”

“She's dead," Midnight interrupts him in a monotone voice and, god forgive me, but for some reason I find it the funniest thing in the world and I start laughing.

“Sorry!” I immediately apologize and try to cover my mouth but the laughter just won't stop coming out. Midnight looks at me with wide eyes, Lion is still lost in space and Angie wants to wipe me off the face of the earth. Bastian just covers his face wearily, “Please just... forgive me.”

“What's wrong with you?” Midnight asks, giving me a worried look, "Do you have Asperger's or something?”

“No. Sometimes I'm... sometimes you just have to ignore me," I reply and put my hand on her leg, wishing I could hug her or something because I can't believe that in less than five minutes I've offended her so much, "I'm so sorry I laughed at your mother's death. It's not funny, I swear. It's just the situation.”