It was a good thing that the aforementioned meeting was to be held at one in the afternoon. I was able to drop the professor at his brother-in-law's house in the morning.
"Are you sure you don't want to go to the meeting?" I asked as we parked in front of his brothter-in-law Louie's house, "The SGT kits have been your pet project even before I came to the Philippines, I know how much it means to you."
"Exactly, that's why I want you to attend the meeting in my place. I'd rather not go and jinx everything," he said with a laughed, "you know how quick my temper flares when someone pisses me off."
"Hmph. I know you just couldn't be bothered to go to a meeting."
"Ah, Habibi, you really know me so well!" he grinned.
"Don't call me Habibi," I pout at him.
"Okay then, Mahal, can you open the trunk so I can get some stuff out?"
He kissed me before he got off the car and unloaded the ice box full of seafood we bought from Batangas. He brought a lot of shellfish and other crustaceans for the party, stating that his brother-in-law was allergic to them.
"Do you need help with that?" I asked as he hauled it to the driveway.
"I got this..."
It was Blessing who opened the gate.
"Tito, Dr. Abdel, welcome home! Please come in!" she gave her uncle a hug and got a kiss on the cheek in return.
"How's it going? Is your idiot brother here yet?"
"Not yet, Tito, they called earlier to say they might be a bit late." She took a look at the cooler we brought and smiled. "What did you bring with you?"
"Seafood. My Habibi and I just arrived from Batangas."
"Naku, Tito, don't tell me, you plan to eat seafood in front of Dad again?" she giggled.
"Nya-ha-ha-ha!" laughed the professor who straightened himself and cleared his voice. "How could you say that, Blessing! I truly bought these fresh seafood for you and your siblings! It's not my fault that your father is allergic to it."
Yet he laughed even louder.
We made our way to the back yard where we met the rest of the guests, namely, a beta named Miles.
"This is my friend Miles, Tito Eric," Bless introduced him to us, although the smile on her face and their shy glances exposed the truth.
"Huh!" was the professor's only reply as he looked at the young man from head to toe.
"P-Prof. Antonio!" Miles said stiffly, "It's such a pleasure to finally meet your acquaintance! I'm a big fan, po!"
"Wow! Tito, you brought back a lot of oysters!" exclaimed Mercy who went rummaged in the cooler we brought.
"Op kors! Isn't oysters your favorite? I even brought three kinds of cheese, I'll make you my signature triple cheesy garlic bacon oysters later."
"Let me give you a hand!" said Miles who seems too eager to please.
"Professor, do you mind if I go upstairs to speak with your brother-in-law?" I asked him with my metal briefcase in tow. "I would like to ask them some questions and collect samples while I am here."
"Ha?" he looked at me, holding a large crab in both hands. "What samples?"
"I plan to continue my study on their relationship as fated pairs," I explained.
"That again? Go get something to eat first."
"But I need to leave by 11:30 to get to the lab in time for the meeting at 1 pm," I looked at my watch, "and it's already 10 am."
"Haay, alright then..." he handed the crab to Miles and even wiped his hands on the apron the young man was wearing. "I'll leave these stuff with you while I take my Habibi upstairs."
"Professor, stop calling me Habibi," I frowned at him.
Eric simply laughed.
"You say that, yet you've gone back to calling me 'professor' again," he said after washing his hands.
"Did you not tell me that you get shy before other people?" I reminded him.
"Exactly, that's why I'm calling my habibi, Habibi."
"Then what if I start calling you Eric? Everyone would think that I have lost my respect for you, professor."
"Okay, Dr. Abdel, please don't get too angry!" he gave another laugh as we climbed the stairs. "I don't mind what you call me, heck you can call me Ghabi for all I care! You would still be my one and only Habibi!"
I felt my face heat up, though I couldn't tell if it was a blush of embarrassment, or one of annoyance. Eric just smiled at me and took my hand as we walked to the room at the end of a corridor.
He did not knock on it. He leaned an ear to the wooden door and listened.
I saw an evil grin spread across his face as he did. He then raised his fist and knocked loudly on the door.
"Oy, Louie, are you in there?" he called to the people inside. "What are you two up to?"
There was no reply.
"Hellooo? Are we bothering you?" Eric called again.
"In a minute!" Louie reply. He sounded irritated.
"Okay, we'll be waiting right here, outside your door." Eric looked at me, grinning, and raised his eyebrows a couple of times.
We waited outside for a while.
"Are you done yet?" I asked, knocking on the door.
"We're coming!" replied Louie's young mate, Josh.
Finally, the door swung open to reveal the disheveled couple. Josh came out wearing only a pair of boxers, while Louie, though wearing a shirt, had it on inside out. The scent of their pheromones was evident in the air.
"Aren't you too early?" Louie asked in irritation. "You were supposed to come during lunch."
"Yeah, we decided to come early since my Habibi has a meeting later."
"Kamusta na?" (how are you?) I greeted them in tagalog. "I came to ask you more questions regarding your pairing."
"Haaaaaaay..." Louie gave an exaggerated sigh, "Let's go talk in the den."
"What are you going to ask us about, Doc Aahmes?" Josh asked as we went downstairs.
"I have brought vials for specimen collection since I was not able to bring some before." I placed the briefcase I was carrying on top of the coffee table.
"I also have a questionnaire and some solutions for experimentation..."
"Isn't that a bit too much?" Louie asked with a frown.
"That's what we call 'give and take', Louie, it's for the help we did for your idiot son," Eric answered for me.
I simply nodded.
"Don't worry, this won't take much of your time since I need to get back to the office before 1 pm."
"Oh, if that's so, then I should prepare some food for you..." Josh said.
"Don't worry, Blessing and the rest can take care of that stuff," said Eric.
"So, what are you planning to ask us about?" Louie asked.
"According to the schedule you gave me before, today is supposed to be your heat, is that correct?" I asked the young omega.
"That's right Doc, but I seem to be delayed for a bit," he replied.
"Whoa, that was fast!" Eric suddenly piped in.
"Idoit! It's not like that!" Louie hissed at him. "Have you forgotten what I requested from you last time?"
"What? What did he request from you?" I asked.
"Well, if the kid's not pregnant, then why is he delayed?" Eric asked, ignoring me.
"It may be because they have been having sex regularly," I commented.
We all turned to Josh who gave a loud gasp.
"H-how did you know?!" Josh asked me, his face turning a bright shade of red.
"Frequent sex can lessen the heat an omega experiences. I am a bit curious though, since you have only known each other for two months. It usually takes longer for changes to manifest," I continued. "It may also be caused by a strong emotional stimuli due to stress. Such events could also disrupted your heat cycle."
"Have you been emotional lately?" Eric asked Josh who was starting to look lost. "Have you been through extreme stress or sadness? Or have you been surprised, frightened, or very angry lately?"
"Ah!" Josh's face lit up. "When Louie fainted due to high blood pressure while we were looking for Nathan!"
"You've got high blood pressure?" Eric snorted at his brother-in-law. "Man, you're old!"
"I just felt a little lightheaded for a few seconds!" Louie snapped at him.
They started bickering like small children as I wrote a prescription for Josh.
"Here," I handed him a slip of paper, "it is important that you have a healthy estrus cycle. A disruption may lead to hormonal imbalance which in turn can cause cysts, tumors, and hormone deficiencies."
"Okay, thanks doc! I'll take this as soon as I can buy them!" he said, nodding at me.
"Now, about my samples..."
"D-do you plan to take more of my blood?" Josh turned pale. "W-wait a minute..."
He took a deep breath, reached out his left arm, looked the other way, and covered his blue eyes with his other hand. Louie even sat by his side to give some moral support.
"T-there... I'm ready now..."
I held his arm and took some blood samples, then took a swab and wiped the sweat from behind his ears. I handed him a vial after that.
"I-is it over yet?"
"Please fill this with urine."
"Okay..." he stood up and left the room.
"Now, Mr. del Mirasol, if I may?" I reached for his arm which he readily held out.
"May I ask what you plan to do with with our blood and urine samples?" he interrogated me. "You're not planning to do anything weird with it, are you?"
"Rest assured that this is all being collected in the interest of science."
I took out another vial when Josh returned.
"Would you mind smelling this for a moment."
"What is it?" he asked with a smile.
"Just a pheromone sample."
"Okay."
He grabbed the vial and took a quick whiff.
If it was something poisonous he would have been dead already.
"I don't smell anything though?" he tilted his head.
"Thank you." I took the vial back from him.
It shows that he cannot smell the highly concentrated dominant alpha pheromone, meaning, he is not a dominant omega.
"Is there any more vials, doc? Are we doing more experiments?" he asked, bright eyed.
"That's about all of it." I replaced my paraphernalia back in my briefcase. "Thank you for your cooperation. I shall be leaving shortly."
"Wait a minute, Doc Aahmes," Josh called to me.
"What, do you have any more questions?" Eric asked him.
"Actually, I'd like to ask some questions about my friend Rome," he opened up. "We have a friend named Jinn, but you see, Jinn is a really arrogant alpha, so Rome doesn't get along with him much, in fact they're like cats and dogs when they bicker with each other, that me and my best friend Aveera sometimes get caught between their fights..."
"Is this gonna take long?" Eric asked sarcastically. "I'm starting to get hungry."
"Ah, it won't take long," Josh blushed.
"Just get to the point, Bhebhe," Louie encouraged him.
"Well, as I was saying, just the other day, the two of them were bickering again and then Jinn got real angry and suddenly grabbed Rome and kissed him on the lips! But then suddenly, Rome got into his heat and had to be rushed to the clinic, and then ever since then, he said he's been smelling something weird from Jinn, so I've been thinking that what if maybe they're like..."
"Another case of FPS?" interrupted Eric, rolling his eyes. "Why is everyone around me finding their fated pair lately? I thought fated pairs were supposed to be reeally rare? Are you sure they're not just really horny for each other?"
Josh looked embarrassed.
"`Oy, Eric, why don't you let him tell the rest of his story?" Louie said with a frown.
"Please go on," I urged the young omega.
"So... as I was saying... Aveera and I found out that Rome has been smelling something from Jinn for a long time. But he never gave it much thought since he really hates his guts, as in, Jinn really gives him the shivers! But right after that kiss..."
"It took a kiss for the pairing to manifest," I said.
"Exactly! And the weird thing is, Rome said he's been smelling 1abnoy from Jinn even before they both manifested."
"He can smell a crazy person?" I frowned.
"There's a crazy person?" Josh asked back.
"Was this Jinn crazy?"
"Ha?"
"You're both crazy!" said Eric who went between us. "So what is this '2abnoy' that your friend Rome can smell from Jinn?" he asked Josh.
"Ah, Jinn said it's his favorite steamed cake made of rotten duck eggs. He said he smelled it from Jinn on the first day they met, back when they were still kids."
"Hmm... interesting... and this Jinn, did he smell something unique from your friend as well?"
"I haven't actually asked him about it, but Rome did mention that Jinn says he smells like rain."
"Isn't that petrichor?" asked Louie.
"No, it's ozone," Eric corrected him. "Petrichor is the scent of extremely dry ground getting wet. Ozone is the scent before a storm."
"Hmm... very interesting indeed..." I couldn't help but smile.
"Ugh... I know that face!" Eric frowned at me, "Those are kids, Habibi, and we don't have any connection to them. We might get in trouble if we approach them without their parents' consent."
"Then we will get their parents' consent." I faced Josh once more. "Introduce them to me."
"Eh? But... Rome is currently under surveillance by his family. His parents are reeeally strict, he's now absolutely forbidden to get in contact with Jinn!"
"I just need you to introduce them to me. I will take care of the rest," I repeated.
"Well... I guess on Monday afternoon –"
"Then I'll be there on Monday."
"Habibi! You have another meeting on Monday, remember?" Eric reminded me.
"Then I will postpone it," I replied, "and stop calling me Habibi."
"I-is it really okay?" Josh looked worried.
"Yes. We shall be in your school on Monday afternoon. For now, I need to get back to the lab to work on these sample specimens and to get ready for a meeting."
"You're leaving already? Why don't you have some lunch first?" asked Josh.
I could actually smell the food roasting from the backyard, but there is no time left.
"Perhaps later," I replied. "Inform me when your heat comes, and do be cautious, since it might come back at full force when you least expect it."
"Eh?" he looked worriedly at me. "Is that so?"
"No need to worry as long as you're careful," his mate reassured him.
"I'll see you on Monday."
1Abnoy – a deregatorry term, short for abnormal or crazy
2Abnoy – it is also the name of a Filipino delicacy, a steam cake made of rotten duck embryo