WCMBI - Chapter 234: Blank & Emotionless (Patreon)

He wasn't sure what he had expected. Perhaps tears of joy, an outpouring of emotions upon their reunion, or even anger at his belated appearance.

Her reaction was not what he had anticipated, and for a moment, he felt his mind go blank.

Hence, he uttered his second rather awkward statement, or rather, an excuse.

"Dia suddenly wanted to find her mother."

Her hand, which had been moving diligently, paused for a moment. He berated himself for having unintentionally hit a sore spot. He found himself rather pitiful for trying to provoke a reaction from Melissa by using their child as an excuse. With a desire to apologize, he felt a sense of discomfort.

"However..."

Her pheromones, although faint, had a presence before, but now he couldn't sense them at all. His heart began to race in an unfamiliar way.

Though his Omega was right in front of him, he felt as if she had become someone else. Moved by a strange sensation, he instinctively took a step closer to Melissa and took a deep breath. But the alluring and fragrant pheromone he had known was nowhere to be found.

In this peculiar situation, Ian gazed at Melissa with trembling eyes. Finally, he was able to look directly into her beautifully violet irises.

Melissa looked at him, yet she didn't really see him. He could no longer sense the familiar warmth within her vacant gaze.

Something was wrong. His head and heart pounded in alarm. He found himself stammering out a few words after struggling to moisten his parched lips.

"Why... Why are your pheromones..."

Like a drought-stricken earth with a cracked surface, her pheromones seemed to have disappeared entirely. He felt suffocated and his eyes grew hot. Despite this, Melissa replied with a cool tone.

"What does that have to do with you?"

At her words, a sudden deluge of vitality seemed to splash over his withered face. Like a single rose blooming on arid ground, her radiant countenance captivated him, and he couldn't tear his eyes away.

It was the long-awaited smile of his Omega, but inexplicably, it felt chilling.

It was frightening. Because it seemed as though she was smiling at something that had already passed.

He was afraid. Afraid that it was already too late.

Unable to utter any words, he knelt before her, his shoulders slumping, and offered his apology in a thin voice.

"I'm sorry..."

Upon meeting her, it was the first thing he should have conveyed. He shouldn't have been avoiding it like in the past.

"It's all my fault. I was wrong."

This message needed to be delivered, no matter how foolishly he acted in the past.

Why had he not properly apologized to her until now? Such a simple thing it was.

"If given just one chance, I shall live a lifetime in repentance," he said, his words resonating with heartfelt sincerity. However, Melissa responded with a look that betrayed an utter lack of interest, her smile superficial.

"Mel, please.. say something," he implored. He was ready to accept curses or resentment, any words at all, as long as she granted him an answer he so desperately sought, with an expression of longing fixed upon her.

As their eyes met, in her cold gaze, Ian sensed it. The woman he had sought and searched for so desperately no longer existed.

Staring at her blankly with swollen eyes, he heard a voice in his ear. The voice was dry and emotionless, devoid of affection or hatred.

"I will accept the apology, but that's all," she stated flatly, her momentarily relieved expression soon replaced as she turned away. Melissa seemed to focus on something invisible, speaking belatedly.

"Oh, are you leaving now?" she added with indifference.

The endpoint Ian had so fervently sought for his Omega ended in a desolate emptiness. No forgiveness, no resentment.

It felt like the world was crumbling from his toes up. Amidst the overwhelming despair, a sensation of free-fall, Ian's head sank, and hot tears streamed down. Yet the one who was with him paid him no heed, not even a glance.

Amidst sobbing like a madman, Ian clutched her garments, his voice strained as he pleaded, "I've searched for you like a lunatic for years. I don't want to be apart from you anymore."

Though he was undoubtedly beseeching, the blazing madness and obsession deep within Ian's pupils could not be concealed.