SKYLAR

*Holds the phone in front of my face while I FaceTime my mother*

"Mommy!" I am crying desperate tears of sadness.

"What happened, sweetheart?"

"I can't stop the pain! Make it stop, please!" I begged her, overwhelmed by the sorrow of losing Jake. Or better yet, not being able to be with him.

"What is wrong, why are you crying?"

"I need Jake in my life, mommy! Please tell Dad to let me have him. If he doesn't, Jake will never be in my life! Please, I beg you! The pain is too much for me to bear!" I unraveled in never-ending tears in front of my mother, who looked worried about my mental state.

"Oh, baby! I am so sorry that you are in pain!" She felt sorry for me, completely wrecked for my sake. This has never happened before in my life.

"Mommy! Please, make it stop! I can't stop crying from too much pain!" I cried desperate tears of the insurmountable ache I was feeling. I will never move on from this. I don't think I can. He will always be 'the one that got away'. I am not doing well. My mother looked troubled for me. She could see my desperation over the cell phone screen.

In reality, I should have chatted with my father, but I don't think that would make much of a difference. At least with my mom, I know that she listens to me. I know that she cares. *sobs*

JACOB

I am so confused.

When I listen to Skylar talk about me in the cafeteria in between our meals, it is like he is talking about a different person altogether. I mean, I was there for everything that he talked about. He never lied or exaggerated the truth - I was totally about to pounce on Susan for throwing herself at him that Saturday in Boulder - but it still feels weird somehow.

I keep hearing the effects of my presence in his life and how I changed him for the better.

Honestly, we did not have that many interactions for him to be speaking of me like that.

It feels like an out-of-body experience, hearing Skylar speaking so highly of me and how I changed his life completely. He is a different man from the smug Alpha who came here on a helicopter and couldn't be bothered to even address me when he came to our table at the Omega section to talk to his brother.

I cannot even begin to describe how weird it is for me to hear him saying all those things about me and how much that weekend in Boulder with my family was special to him. I did not even realize that refusing to accept his dad's money for my medical bills would strike such a chord with him. Not really. I just acted as I always do.

It's the thing with life, isn't it?

We never know about someone else's struggles and we definitely don't know about the effects we can have on someone else's life. Though I am a bit weirded out by the romantic way he speaks of me, as if he were writing a novel or poetry, I am not mad about it.

There are much worse things in life than hearing about how much you mean to someone.

Before, I was the charity case who would never get prospected by someone like Jayden. Now I am 'the one who got away', the boy he would so desperately wish he could prospect. I am moved by his passion and commitment. I am in awe of Skylar, to be honest.

No matter how happy and secure I am with Jayden, I feel shaken by Skylar's romantic endeavors concerning me. I am not a rock, I can not help but to be moved by his feelings for me that are now so evident.

I want to make it clear that I do not wish for him to remain prospectless. I do want him to be happy with whoever his father approves for him. I am not so self-involved that I would ever wish for someone to be hung up on me forever. Goddess no!

By all means, I want him to be happy with someone else. But I am only human, for the most part anyway, so I can not help but feel moved by his intense feelings for me. It's actually kind of sweet to hear the way he talks about me. I wish it did not affect me the way it does.

Yesterday, Jayden took me to town for a whole day of dating. We were stuck here in Ravenwood for the weekend on account of the 'Harvest Ball' on Friday, so we made the most of our day with multiple outings. We had a wonderful time away from other students, just us. Even if the town was crawling with other pupils who were also stuck here for the weekend.

Jayden is every bit the boy I remembered he was, even if it took him a month to fight for me. *eye roll*

I am sorry for the shady remark, I am not unhappy by his side. But I would be lying if I said I was not moved by Skylar's grand gesture and the way he fought for me. However, Jayden was right in the end, it doesn't matter how you fight, it matters if you win. And the winner takes it all. *gasp*

It's Sunday here in Colorado. Seth has been feeling miserable over Sean's sudden departure from Ravenwood after his father found out about his arrest report for possession of an illicit substance (weed). It is not lost on him that Sean did something so trivial nowadays that it would be legal if he did it here in America. I mean, it's only legal if you are 21 years of age here in Colorado, but you get my point.

He is not a drug dealer or an addict, I assume. I didn't know him that well, but I never saw him smoking outside on the patio. He vapes, but that is the curse of the youth these days. They should really see that documentary on Netflix about the dangers of vaping.

As we are encouraged to take a second look at our classmates during Friday's Harvest Ball, it served its purpose to provide students with dates or new interests within the pool of eligible bachelors of Ravenwood. This is kind of like a dating show, but most of the students are discouraged from leaving here unmatched.

Of course, that will not be possible for the entire student body - it never is - but I am sure that most of them will find a match like I found Jayden. Right now, I'd settle for my roommate to find someone else but currently, it's too soon for him to try again.

Don't worry, there will be another ball next month. The final of the year.

Jayden greeted me with a soft kiss as I dragged my roommate to the cafeteria for breakfast. He said he wanted to sleep in this Sunday, but I would not let my friend miss out on the most important meal of the day. He can sleep later if he wants to.

"You look like you have been crying." Kyle told Skylar as soon as he laid eyes on him. Most of the Alphas were on the line for food like Seth and I were. We all have to come here at the same time to eat, that is why they have multiple stations of food for us to serve ourselves. It's a war for bacon in this place every morning.

"Not only did he cry, he woke me up with his terrible nightmares." Jayden complained about his roommate, yawning.

"Sorry, I dreamed that I had lost the love of my life forever and he was stuck with you instead. Oops." He responded to him in a snarky tone.

"He is not the love of your life, dude! You didn't even kiss him! So, you spent one weekend with him and he is not a gold digger! Is that your metric? All people need is to call you on your bullshit and not be after your money for you to fall in love with them?" Jayden snapped at him, irritated at his insistence of vying for me.

Of course, this is an oversimplification of what actually transpired between us, in my opinion. *eye roll*

"Yes, it is. I would fall in love with you instead, but I don't think you'd make for a good bottom." He told him, snarkily.

"I thought you said sex had nothing to do with the reason why you fell in love with him?" He raised a suspicious eyebrow at him. What is he implying by that? I don't like where this conversation is going.

Skylar glared daggers at Jayden for a moment, picking up on his insinuation.

"I was being sarcastic, dude. I don't like your tone as if somehow Jake and I were intimate and lied about it. Why would I lie? I feel no loyalty towards you! Honestly, I would have loved to be able to throw that argument in my father's face. Because if there is something Frederick Stronghold cares about is the reputation of our family. I wish I had sex with Jake. Because then he would be mine, not yours!" He growled at him.

"OI!" I shouted at both of them, mad.

"Why don't you fuckers get over yourselves! Neither of you have ever fucked me and by the looks of it, neither will ever fuck me! This is incredibly disrespectful and patronizing to me!" I seethed in rage at this bullshit.

"I am not livestock! No one can have me, nobody can own me! And when I say I did not have sexual relations, I am not being a President denying an affair, I am telling you the truth!" I shouted at both of them, livid. This has gone too far for my taste.

Jayden and Skylar apologized a thousand times to me while I was positively livid at them both. I am not a possession. I decide my own fate. The days of Omegas being treated like crap are far behind me.

Later that morning...

"Good on you for speaking out. It was out of line for both of them. How hard is it to believe your partner, anyway? Why would you lie about sex with my brother? I cannot believe I just said that." Seth told me, sitting across from me in the Omega section of the cafeteria.

"Alphas. I don't think they appreciate my predicament as an Omega. Being raised by a single mother made me especially weary. I will never suffer through what my mom did, I refuse to. Don't get me wrong, I love my mother to death. But raising a child alone is NOT for the faint of heart. I said this from the beginning, I don't want a check, I want a father. A co-parent." I grunted, annoyed at both of them.

"Exactly! Power to the Omegas!" Seth raised his tone, feeling empowered.

"Leave Jayden to me, we will have a proper talk after breakfast. If ever he insinuates again that I am lying, we will break things off right then and there. If I wanted to hear bullshit, I'd call your Head Engineer." I told Seth, pissed off. Of course, I am referring to Shawn.

Jayden gulped awkwardly as he was being stared at by his housemates. For once in my life, I am glad he was there to listen to that statement. I am not taking any bullshit from anybody. I have integrity.

"Who's your Head Engineer?" Kyle asked Skylar. At this point in time, I already told Jayden about Shawn and our disastrous encounter in Texas.

"His father. He works for our company." He replied in a low tone, but not enough that I wouldn't listen despite the distance. Probably because all the other students were silent, waiting for this answer. There is gossip that they don't know about yet.

"Shut up! His father is from Texas? I mean, lives in Texas? And he didn't know that? Suddenly, that tumble he sustained when he went to the Headquarter of Stronghold Oil is starting to make a lot more sense to me." Kyle gasped in shock at hearing the truth.

"Yeah, it was horrible for him to have found his father after 18 years of absence that day. Even I would have fallen down the stairs if that happened to me. The sad thing is I always thought Shawn was a great guy. He was the one who got me excited to take engineering in college. Seth and I used to spend hours in his office when we were younger, he was always nice to us." He spoke, unknowingly triggering me with this conversation.

"Maybe because you were the boss' son?" Kyle wondered, treading carefully with a low tone.

"No, dude. He is not the suck up type. I see in his son's qualities that he inherited from his father." Skylar spoke, glancing at me from his table.

I got up from my table in the Omega section and left the cafeteria abruptly and without explanations.

"You are so fucking stupid! Did you stop to think about how this topic could be triggering for Jake? I thought you said you loved him, moron!" Jayden scolded him and suddenly he is feeling mortified by his own actions.

I texted Jayden saying that I would see him later. I just wanted to be left alone inside my dorm room. Of course, Seth followed me inside later and comforted me, apologizing for his brother's words. Being the boy that he is, Seth never talks about Shawn out of respect for me.

But since I was already triggered, I decided to ask him about Shawn. I never got to know anything deep about his life. I only know he has a wife and a daughter. Oh yeah, I have a sister. Did I forget to mention that? *gasp in shock*

Seth cuddled up to me on my bed and we spoke at length about his experience with the chief engineer, who has always been this cool guy who knew about interesting stuff and was essential to his father's operations. He started working for their company right after college.

It was nice to have that chat with Seth in a place where it was okay to cry.

I rarely get triggered by my - left behind - daddy issues, but today wasn't a day just like any other. Seth certainly had a lot to unpack about Shawn, he was a hero to him growing up. One of the people who knew him since he was little, but did not treat him as if he was the 'defective' twin for being born an Omega instead of an Alpha.

Of course, the more he talked him up the more I wanted to cry. And I did, a lot.

Seth offered to stop the conversation, but I insisted he should continue.

"Don't mind my tears. I want to listen to all your stories about him. And how much I lost for not being raised by my father. It was not even because I was an Omega or anything like that caused him to leave me behind. He just didn't want a baby holding him back." I sobbed, desperately. And then I cried some more.

https://youtu.be/Ahha3Cqe_fk

A|N: What happens next has never happened before in any of my eleven books.

OFF: Daddy issues are the worst for me to write about. I was left behind too, so this is not fun for me to write. My dad has passed away for more than twenty years and I still can't let that go. Oh well...

It's about to go down! #TWIST

Next is "The Sweetest Thing".

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