Chapter 11 –– First Love

Dawoud started telling me his story with his ex, Amal.

“Several years ago, I met Amal on the day before the Bluemoon Festival. I bumped into her at the catacomb after sneaking to skip the prayer. She then brought me to the place we visited yesterday, the sanctuary. She was the one who introduced me to that place.

The next day, we met again at the Bluemoon Festival, coincidentally. I didn’t expect to bump into her the second time, but we did. While waiting for the highlight of the event, we danced for a while and had a long conversation about our life and dreams.

Sometime after that, we started dating. We didn’t tell our parents about it because in our culture, involving parents and family would imply that we were serious and ready to mate, which we had no intention to at that moment. After 2 and half years of dating, I was ready to tell my parents that I wanted to take her as my mate. They were concerned about me at first but eventually gave in to give me their blessing.

The day I was about to propose to her, Amal got an offer to work for her dream job at the capital. I was happy for her, of course. But that would mean that we had to separate. She asked me to come with her to the capital and start a new life there, but I rejected her. I couldn’t abandon my responsibility here as the heir of the Chieftain.

She told me that she was willing to let the chance pass by and stay in the village as long as she could stay with me. I couldn’t let her do that. In order to make her leave, I cheated on her to make her hate me.

And it worked. She left after knowing that I was with another girl. She thought that I had been cheating on her while we were in a relationship, which was not true. We never met each other again since then, until yesterday.”

Wow.....

What a story.

“I’m sorry to hear that...” I told him.

I hugged him to let him know that he was not alone. He hugged me back and held me tightly.

“How are you feeling right now?” I asked him.

“I’m fine. Besides, that should be my question. Did it bother you after we met with her?”

He asked me a really good question. I didn’t want to lie, but I didn’t want to sound too easy to read either.

“I was surprised, of course. I didn’t expect to bump into one of your exes, after all,” I told him, adding some snarky remark to dodge the question.

“Hahahah, neither did I. I haven’t seen her....in years. She’s changed so much that I could hardly recognize her.”

I don’t know why the more he talked about her the more irritated I felt. It felt like I wanted to talk about something else.

“Well, it seems like it’s time for me to return to my room. What are your plans for today?” Dawoud asked me just before he left.

“Your mother asked me to accompany her to buy the preparations for tonight. I think it’s gonna be a busy day today.”

“Well, good luck with that while fasting. Let me know when you pass out again,” he told me, making fun of me for my habit of passing out out of the blue.

“Hahahah, get out!” I chuckled.

He walked away and returned to his room.

At 9 in the morning, Lady Rochlin came into my room to ask me to come with her to do some shopping together, just as I was told yesterday. There was a list of things we needed to buy, so we better hurry before the shops closed down since most if not all of them closed early for today. Basically, all we needed to buy was some clothes, accessories, cooking ingredients, and miscellaneous stuff to have a picnic at the festival.

The two of us went together, a boy and his future mother-in-law. Lady Rochlin also asked for some servants to come along with us to carry our things while shopping. I was well aware that she could have just asked some staff to buy the things for her, but I think she was trying to make use of this opportunity for some quality time with me, some bonding time between fellow omegas.

“So, how are you feeling these past few days? Do you like it here?” Lady Rochlin asked me.

“It was hard on the first day especially due to the culture shock....but I’m enjoying it so far, hehe.”

We first went to the farmer’s market to buy some ingredients for tonight. Looking at the food made me drool, especially since I was fasting under the heatwave. I didn’t do anything since Lady Rochlin didsn’t want to trouble me, but it felt weird that I was just standing there without anything to do.

After that, we went to a tailor’s shop. Turned out, Lady Rochlin already had someone make a traditional Caninus tribe costume for me. It was a loose-fitting satin blue thawb with a lighter shade of blue frills. There was a traditional Caninus tribe motif printed on it. It looked very pretty, almost as pretty as my wedding suit. I didn’t expect them to do this, but given what they had been doing for me the past few days, it didn’t surprise me anymore.

“Here. I also got some for your mothers.”

Woah. She even made two more costumes for my mothers.

“Oh, no, Lady Rochlin. I don’t think I can accept this....”

I feel bad for always receiving and not giving anything in return. This was too much for me to take.

“It’s fine. You did the same when we visited your village. Don’t worry about it.”

That was not even a fair comparison.....all I did was treat her son to some snacks and that was it....

I tried so hard to say no to her, but since she insisted so relentlessly, I had no choice but to give in. In the end, the servants helped me carry all the clothes. I literally didn’t do anything useful for the whole day.

After that, we went to a jewellery store to buy some accessories. This one was just Lady Rochlin’s personal hobby; she liked to shop for jewelleries. She even offered me to get anything I want. However, since I had no interest in jewellery whatsoever, in addition to the fact that she already bought so much for me, I couldn’t receive anymore than this. I told her that I was not into jewellery and I couldn’t carry too much back home. She understood and did not insist this time. She then continued shopping to add some more jewellery to her personal collection.

Before we went home, Lady Rochlin invited me to go to a spa and get some massage. Lady Rochlin personally liked this spa because it was an omega only spa, something very rare in the village–– or anywhere, for that matter. There were a lot of places that only allowed alpha and beta all across the realm, but omega exclusive spaces were not as common. This was even my first time coming to an omega only spa. I admit that I don’t really go to spa that often, but still.

We lay on our stomach while the staff gave us some back massage. While being massaged and getting relaxed, Lady Rochlin started picking up where we left off yesterday.

“So, are you still curious about Amal?”

I was surprised that she remembered that I asked about her yesterday. Since Dawoud already told me himself, I didn’t think that I would need to hear the same story twice.

“Actually....”

I recounted what Dawoud told me earlier this morning, about how they met, how they ended up together, and how they separated. However, Lady Rochlin seemed baffled.

“Is that what he told you?” she asked me in disbelief.

Turned out, Lady Rochlin had another side of the story with details that Dawoud kept from me.

“Not that we’re proud of it, but Dawoud has always been a playboy. Not his best quality, we know. He has a charming personality that attracts omegas and betas alike. He then takes full advantage of that part of him to woo and flirt with omegas–– sometimes betas–– to make them his.

However, he is the type to get bored easily and move on to another person right after the other. He has always brought a different person to the mansion every time to the point that the staff and I even lost count for how many partners he’s had.

Nevertheless, despite not being his first relationship, Amal was his first love, or at least that's how he claimed it to be. He loved her so much that he stopped seeing other people altogether. She changed him. He was seriously committed to her. So serious that he even considered to mate with her.

That’s why, when he heard the news about her getting a job opportunity at the capital, he was dejected. He knew that it would change their relationship drastically. He actually did ask for his father’s permission to let him go to the capital with her, but his father denied his request. His father–– my husband–– reminded his status as the heir of the chieftain and ordered him to stay because he would be the future chieftain of the tribe.

Eventually, Amal told him that she could stay in the village instead, for his sake. As much as Dawoud loved that idea, he still wanted the best for her. He didn’t want to hold her back by letting her give up on her dream. He was sure that he would be haunted with guilt for the rest of his life if he did that. In order to protect his own heart while coming up with a reason to make Amal leave, Dawoud decided to sabotage his relationship with her.

He decided to meet new people in order to move on from Amal as soon as possible. He started seeing new omegas and betas, both from Caninus tribe and from other tribes. He was even seeing several omegas simultaneously to fill the void that Amal left in his heart. He tried to find the replacement for her, but to no avail. Amal truly changed him since then.

After a while, he suddenly stopped bringing someone over to the mansion. He was never seen with someone except for his coworkers and friends. He focused more on work and spent less time getting into relationships. I think that was the longest time he has ever been single.

The moment we heard the news about your mothers looking for an alpha suitor for you, we talked about it with him. He was hesitant at first, of course. However, he eventually decided to give it a try.

And I’m glad we did. We could finally see the look in his eyes that he used to have. He sure seemed to enjoy his time together with you, Lord Noam. I pray to the gods that you two belong together.”

Wow....

I didn’t know how much she meant to him. Never have I imagined him to be such a romantic. I guess everyone has a special someone, and that person was Amal to him.

“Well, enough about her. How do you feel about him?”

After we were done talking about Dawoud’s past relationship with his ex, Amal, Lady Rochlin asked me about how I feel after spending a week together with Dawoud and his family. I told her my honest opinion about how I truly felt this past week: about him, about her and her husband, about Fatima, as well as the mansion and the village overall. The only thing that I omitted was the fact that Dawoud and I met Amal in the sanctuary yesterday when we visited the catacomb. Apart from that, everything I told her was the truth.

“I see. I’m glad that you also enjoyed your time here. I hope you’re gonna enjoy tonight’s festival even more.”

We then continued getting massage followed by some body scrub and facial. After having such a serious conversation, this was a perfect way to end the day with some relaxation.

After having bought all of the things needed for the festival, Lady Rochlin and I returned to the mansion to get prepared for tonight’s event. Two hours before the first nightstone, Syifra, the handmaiden who was in charge of me, helped me get ready by putting on the clothes that Lady Rochlin bought for me that we picked up earlier today. We had to come to the venue before the first nightstone lit up because if not it would be too crowded for us to get any space.

Everyone was in blue with different kinds of shades. Unlike yesterday, this time the hue was brighter and leaned more towards cyan rather than navy blue. This was done due to the nature of the event; yesterday it was a rather solemn and somber ritual, while today was a vibrant and merry celebration.

Half an hour before the first nightstone, everyone started walking together to the venue of the event. Every year, the event was held at the same place: the Moon Park. It was quite far from the centre of the village and closer to the place where the gnox router was located, on the outskirt of the village. There was a hill that we had to climb to get to the venue. Upon arrival, there was a wide open space with soft moss on the ground. Some people already arrived before we did. They rolled out mats for them to sit on to have a picnic. There were stalls and kiosks selling all kinds of stuff near the walls of the park with children running around in the middle. Above us, giant roots are hanging from the ceiling that moved gently when blown by the wind.

At a certain spot on the ceiling, where there was no root around, there was a hole that had been covered with a transparent glass. There was nothing visible behind it, just some plain dark soil. Dawoud’s family and I rolled out a mat and sat on it while we waited for the main event to begin.

After looking around, I just realised that Dawoud wasn’t here with us. On such an important event, where is he?

“Oh, he’s not feeling well today so he chose to stay at home. Don’t worry, he’ll get better soon.”

What? Does that mean he’s not coming today?

Had I known that earlier I would have stayed at the mansion and accompany him instead. It felt so awkward spending time together with his family but without the man himself.

Since I felt so awkward without Dawoud around, I decided to get some fresh air by saying that I needed to go to the toilet. I needed to clear my head at the time. With so much happening this past week, it felt like I was so mentally drained.

While I was walking away from the venue, suddenly, someone who was lurking around ambushed me from behind.

They closed my mouth and nose with a handkerchief with some weird aroma on it. The smell went straight to my head and made me feel dizzy. My head spun around so bad that I lost consciousness immediately after. I lost control over my body and fell weak to the ground. Right before I closed my eyes, I faintly saw the figure of the person who did it to me. That long red hair and striped tail....

It was Amal.