Paired With Fate

Chapter Thirty One

It was not entirely Zandre's fault that the Omega brothers had been given the cold shoulder by the Alpha, but he was not blame free either.  Six days is entirely too long to be kept in the dark regarding rumours when the majority of people in society are the press of a button away from contactable.  His old phone could only be written off, the sim ruined and the information chip jammed in tightly and could not be removed.  While Zandre was in training, his agent spent a quick amount of time purchasing him a new phone and temporary number (he would require a new one once he returned home) and a much longer time finding someone to retrieve the information on the trapped memory chip, only partially in thanks to the language barrier.

Zandre had fallen a little out of shape thanks to the rushing around over the past week, however with a flexible regime of light and serious training over four day period, he was in pristine condition physically by the end.  The team manager was impressed by his focus and dedication and decided he would definitely play in the opening minutes of the next match.  How long he remained on the field would be up to his performance on that day.

As for the news reports that came to his and his agent's attention late one evening, the time difference causing the delay in them being aware, Zandre had no worries for himself and perhaps was even a little bit pleased.  His ego was large enough and his genes possessive enough that he was happy for the world would know that this stunning young man was his lover.  If it were up to him, he would even declare their status aloud and to hell with others' opinions.  With the exception of one; Ichiro himself.  His Omega had lowered his barriers, had accepted that the Alpha wanted him in his life and perhaps was beginning to reciprocate his feelings.  But Ichiro, while worn down by himself, might not be ready to openly admit their relationship to outsiders.  Zandre was worried that the man would bolt the moment that this had hit the news.

He really wanted to call him straight away, find out if he was alright, tentatively ask how he was taking the news and query about the name the papers used; "Jason."  His managing agent had already had confirmed that the name was correct, so naturally he was curious about why Ichiro went by a different name.  He felt it was more than time to find out about his Omega in more depth, he really should have done so before were it not that he already had learned that Ichiro didn't like to talk much about his own past.

Unfortunately, Zee had never had much of a head for numbers, not even recalling that of his parents.  He relied too much on his phone to do that for him and it took a few days after the destruction of his old phone before the information was once more in his hands.

That also happened to be around the time that new rumours exploded upon the internet giving even the stubborn Alpha, who'd five minutes before would have eagerly given a statement about his relationship with Ichiro, pause.

The rumour had not started lightly.  In fact, it was a passing comment late on the Sunday evening (his home country's time) that had effectively caused people on social media to begin to question things.

- This Jason person looks like a young man that my colleague brought to functions a couple of times as her plus one.  He was worthy of a second look and I thought she was punching above her weight.

- What a nasty thing to say about your colleague!

- Is your colleague ugly or were you just jealous?

- I have a perfect Alpha husband, why would I be jealous of a boy toy?  My colleague is not ugly, but no matter how well maintained, she is nearing forty.  Her escort barely looked out of his teens!

- Maybe her escort was an escort?  I've heard that successful business women sometimes pay for it, not wanting to be tied down.  Alpha men are sometimes a bit oppressive as much as they are impressive!