CHAPTER 12

TIN

I arrive at the office to a surprising view, people from the investigation team clean up Vel's office while Vel himself is not present. Ping just standing there looking pretty upset, watching his subordinates moving out Vel's things from his office.

“Hey, what happened?” I came close to asking Ping.

“The Commissioner discharged Vel from the Investigation team and suspended him from the Police Force” said Ping clearly sounds upset.

“What? why?” I was genuinely surprised.

“The official letter only said ‘unprofessionalism and misjudgement’. This is totally bullshit!”

Ping angrily leaves and stomps his feet, possibly going to meet his dad, the Commissioner.

I vaguely know what happened, is it just like what my dad said? Vel brought his downfall to himself and basically dug his own grave. I’m happy it’s finally happening, now Vel is officially out from the investigation and I don’t need to worry about him getting closer and closer to finding out that I’m, in fact, a serial killer.

But, I still want to know what exactly happened that made the Commissioner this angry at him. I tried to call Vel himself. again no one answered. I don’t want to waste my time by texting him because I know if he doesn't answer my call he also won't reply to my text. I’ll just find out where he is and go meet him directly.

I came to Ten's office to ask him to find out Vel's location right now, but when I entered his office I heard something interesting coming from every speaker in Ten's office. Ten signaling me to just come in, close the door, and sit silently while he intensely listens to the heated conversation between Ping and The Commissioner.

“Are you planting bugs in The Commissioner’s office?” I ask Ten.

“I’m not, I only turn their phone into my personal listening device.” He said that so casually like saying I’m an idiot for not thinking the obvious “Sttt… now silent and listen.”

“You don’t need to do this to Vel, he is only doing his job and he did it brilliantly” Ping's voice sounded so mad.

“He is not doing his job if he ends up trying to bring down our own kind!” The Commissioner also sounded mad.

“It’s not his fault that all the clues for our suspect are pointing at some prominent Alpha family’s heir.”

“It’s not his fault, but he should be able to adjust his own judgment so it will fit the atmosphere in our society.”

“That’s not how justice works, dad!”

“Not you too! It’s enough to have just one troublemaker who constantly makes the same mistake even after I give him a second chance. I should have just kicked him out from the team when he became news on social medias. 4 years ago he also made this kind of judgment, I gave him a chance to just go learn to be better and he went to New Zealand to study, yet he is coming back, still with the same wrong mindset.”

“Why was he the one who had the wrong mindset? Did you even listen to yourself, dad? You are protecting possible serial killer and kick out the person who is working so hard to catch the one who spread terror in our society.”

“Just stop! Stop with that ridiculous judgment of yours. You are my only heir, you should be the one who always supporting me.”

“I’m not, dad, I have 3 older siblings if you forgot, the exact same blood as me. They are willing to do anything to support you but you never even consider them as your offspring.”

“They are just Betas.”

We can hear Ping chuckles cynically “How much I wish I wasn't born as a Special Alpha.”

A loud slapping voice was heard. Both me and Ten didn’t expect that. No words were said, we only heard The Commissioner’s loud breath.

“I will postpone all investigation activities regarding this case for the time being.” The Commissioner finally said something after long seconds.

“You can’t do that!”

“I will only continue the investigation once you as the leader of this investigation, and your whole team, all have the same vision and purpose as what I wish, understood, Inspector Ping?”

Ping didn’t answer, and his dad has to repeat the question,

“Understood, Inspector Ping?”

I thought Ping would easily say ‘yes, sir’ but no, he was still trying to defy his dad after that hard slap.

“When did I ever not follow your order, dad? I even left the person I love because you want me to.”

“Garfield was just an orphan Omega with no clear family history who will bring no benefit for you or your future. I think we both agree. And you also said you are happy with your marriage now.”

“I am happy with my marriage, but I still can’t forget how I had to leave the person I used to love just for your own ambition and ridiculous mindset.”

I remember what Vel once said to me. Garfield, who is now courted by Benz, is Ping‘s ex. Vel didn’t know why they broke up because he said they are a perfect match for each other. I think now I know why they broke up.

“You can say anything about the way I raised you and protect you, but trust me, you will thank me later, you shouldn’t make mistakes like what I made when I was your age.”

“Like marrying a female Beta out of love and having 3 useless Beta children that you wish you never had.”

“That’s enough!”

“I won’t make the same mistakes you made when you are my age, dad, and I also won’t make the same mistakes you make now.”

With that, we heard the door being opened and closed loudly and the Commissioner sighs, after that no conversation was heard.

We waited for a few more seconds, there’s a phone call coming in but he didn’t pick it up. We waited again for more seconds, still no more conversation, so Ten cut his personal listening device connection.

Ten smirked and said “Well, that’s going so well for us.”

“My dad already predicted it would happen when I told him the profiling Vel’s made.”

“Well, your dad is part of high society and knows how it works. He knows for sure with a profiling like that, there is no way the Commissioner will let Ping call them for interrogation.”

“And now the Commissioner even postponed the investigation.”

“Thank God, now I don’t need to work to find the thing I know I will never find.”

It really is a good thing for us, kinda anticlimactic but I’m not looking for a thrill here. I just hope it can be done as soon as possible so I can concentrate fully on my relationship with Vel, which reminds me of the original reason why I’m coming here.

“Can you help me find Vel? I can’t contact him and I don’t know where he is”

“I know you will ask me about this, that’s why I’ve been tracking his movement since this morning”

Without Ten touching anything the biggest screen in this office started showing Vel’s footages.

“He comes to the building around 8 and goes directly to the Commissioner’s office.”

“Yeah, he told me the Commissioner called him this morning.”

“He was inside the office for about 10 minutes, and when he came out he didn't look really good, he ran directly to the public toilet.”

The screen showed me when Vel ran from the Commissioner's office and hurriedly entered the public toilet. He did not look well at all.

“Did something happen to him while he was inside the office?”

“I don’t know about that, we don’t have CCTV inside his office and I haven’t arrived at the office yet, so I didn’t listen to their conversation.”

“How long was he inside the public toilet?”

“About 15 minutes, he looked super pale when he walked out from the public toilet.”

The footage on the screen changes to show Vel walking out from the public toilet and coming down to the parking lot, then leaving the building in his own car.

“He leaves the building, then drives back to his family’s mansion.”

The screen shows footage of him driving from one intersection to another, then he suddenly stops on the side of the road.

“Why did he stop?”

“That, I don’t know, and this is the best footage we can get from the traffic cam. He just stopped there for around half an hour, until…”

Ten skipped the footage until another car stopped near his car and a person came out from it.

“Who is that?” That question came out too aggressively from me.

“Don’t worry, that was just his brother, Sailub.”

The footage shows Vel’s brother help carry him out from his car and enter his brother’s car. He looks barely conscious in this footage.

“Is he ok, what happened to him?”

Ten only lifted his shoulders as an answer “They drive directly to their main mansion and they haven't left since.”

And the screen shows just that.

“So he’s in his mansion now?”

“Yep”

“And it looks like he is not well.”

“Also yep”

“Should I just go there now?”

Just when I ask that, my phone rings. I looked at the caller ID, it was my ‘Future Mom-in-law’. Why did she call me? Even though I’m puzzled, I accept the call.

“Hello, mom”

“Hello, son, are you busy right now?” Vel’s mom sounds worried.

“No, mom, not really, what happened?”

“Can you come to our home now?”

Now? I thought Vel said his parents will only invite me for dinner. It’s not even the time for lunch yet.

“Yes, of course I can, but is something wrong, mom? I just found out about Vel being discharge from the team.”

“Yeah, it’s connected to that” I heard Vel’s mom sigh heavily “We will explain the details when you’re here, can you come now?”

I look at Ten, asking for his opinion about all of this, but he just shakes his head saying he is as clueless as I am.

“Ok, mom, I will go there now”

“Thank you, son, we will wait for you”

Vel’s mom closed the phone after that.

Ten and I look at each other confusedly.

“What do you think it’s all about?” I ask.

“No idea, going there is the easiest way to find out.”

So, I just go to Vel’s family mansion. I’ve been here a couple of times but never actually entered the mansion itself. Today is the first time I enter the mansion.

Almost all members of Vel’s main family gathered at the front door to welcome me. His mom, his mama, and his brother, the one I never met before, they are all here. The only one who isn’t here is his younger sister, Jade.

“Oh, Thank God you can come fast” said his mom, she looks worried and so does her oldest son who stands beside her “This is Vel’s older brother, Sai.”

“Nice to finally meet you” said Sai, shaking my hand.

“Nice to meet you too, P’”

The mansion looks like it’s in the middle of a chaos. I heard his mama not far from the front door scolding a group of house workers: maids, cooks and gardeners.

“I told you all already don’t get any closer to the young master’s bedroom. Not from below, not from outside, not from any direction, stay at least 10 meters away from his room, how can you not understand such a simple instruction!”

The workers are all lowering their heads while murmuring their sorry in low voice, some of them look like they are about to cry.

“Mama… Tin is here already.” The oldest son called for his mama.

His mama turns to me, looks like just realized that I’m here.

“Oh, Tin, you're here” she tried to smile at me but still clearly looked worried.

“Let’s talk in the living room.”

They brought me to the room by the left of the front door. Sai closes the door when we are all already inside.

“We just found out that The Commissioner discharged Vel from the investigation team and also suspended him from the Police Force.” Vel’s mom is the one who started conversation.

“I also just found out about it this morning.” I answer.

“Do you know for what reason?” ask Sai.

“I’m not really sure, but from what I heard The Commissioner is not too fond of the profiling he made about the suspect for our case.”

“What about his profiling?” Vel’s mom asks again.

“Basically it pointed to some prominent Alpha family’s heir.”

All three of them scoff cynically at the same time.

“Of course he won’t be too fond of that” said his mama “He hasn’t changed at all for the past 4 years!”

“No wonder he won’t pick up my call.” said his mom, angry.

“That son of a b…” Sai almost cursed but his mom stopped him.

“Sailub! that’s not appropriate!”

“Sorry, mom”

“I’m sorry…” I feel left out here “Am I being called here only because you want to know about the reason behind Vel’s discharge?”

“Oh, no, of course not, son” said his mama.

“Sorry we become a bit agitated, but we need you here for something else” said his mom, she take a deep breath before explaining to me “Vel, is a special Alpha with a telepathic ability, of course you already know that, but you probably hasn’t know yet that Vel has a difficult childhood, he was struggle to learn to control his ability. Eventually as he grew older, he managed to control it, most of the time. But when he feels too much negative feelings, he will lose control over his ability. He will hear everyone’s thoughts loudly without him being able to stop them. It will cause him so much pain and discomfort. And it happened to him right now, because he felt so much anger when The Commissioner discharged him.”

“Oh…” Now I understand why he looks unwell on the CCTV footage.

“When it happens to him, all we can do is distance everyone from him so his ability won’t be able to catch our thought. 10 meters is what we thought a safe place for us to distance ourselves from him” said his mama in sad tone “Right now he’s inside his room and none of us can get close to him. We can’t possibly check if he is ok or not or if he need anything, even if he tell us thru call or text no one can get close to his room to deliver it.”

“Vel once told us that he can’t read your mind” Sai said “So… Can we ask for your help to check on him?”

I answered with a warm smile “Yes, I can, I also want to be there with him when he’s in so much discomfort.”

That, of course, by my logic is the perfect answer and all three of them look so touched by my care to Vel, even though care is never a part of my mind.

“Thank you so much, son” said his mama.

“His room is at the end of the second floor corridor” His mom takes me out from the living room to the stairs “Just turn left and keep walking until you find a double door.”

“Can you also bring some food for him?” his mama joined us in front of the stairs.

She signals one of the maids to bring the food to me, the maid hurriedly goes to the kitchen and comes out a second later with a tray of food.

“This is his favorite chicken soup, he always asks for this every time he gets sick. Please persuade him to eat even just a little” his mama gave me the explanation while putting the food tray in my hands.

“Ok, I’ll try”

“Good luck”

With that I start walking up the stairs while they all look at me from below. Why did they all look at me going up the chairs like I’m about to go to a war or become a sacrifice for a savage dragon or something? It’s not like I will be scared if I’m really going to a war or facing a savage dragon.

The room is weirdly placed so far from the other room on this floor, maybe because this kind of thing happened to him often while he was growing up, so they built him a room far from everyone else. It’s actually ironic how they unintentionally isolate him when trying to protect him. Sounds so much like Omega princes or princesses in fairytales.

I arrive in front of the room and knock on the door. No answer. Damn! I'm really tired of getting no answer from him, so I just entered the room without trying to knock some more.

When I enter the room, he was asleep on his bed, unmoved, still wearing the suit that he wore this morning when he went to the office. His face looked pale. A bottle of pain killer with a glass of water was placed beside his bed.

I put the food tray on the table and slowly lay beside him. He looks different compared to the other times when I lay beside him and just look at his beautiful face. The pale color washed out his natural beautiful skin color and it kinda annoyed me.

Without me realizing, I softly stroke his furrowed brow and his sharp nose. The skim felt warmer and more rigid than usual, and again it somehow annoyed me. I want my beautiful healthy Vel, why did this sick Vel here?

It looks like he feels my touch because he slowly smiles and opens his eyes.

“Wow… they managed to bring you here?” he asked with a weak voice.

“The love of my live is sick, of course I have to come”

He laugh softly “If I don’t know you’re a psychopath, I’ll probably feel so touch by that words”

I laugh too “You know me too well”

“I don’t care about that, anyway” he swiftly gets close to me and hugs me “It feels good enough feeling your presence here.”

“Be careful, I’ve been longing for your body since last night, better not provoke me”

He giggled but didn’t let me go at all “Don’t you feel sorry for the sick love of your life?”

I chuckled, “You know I don’t do empathy.”

“Yeah, I know” he hugged me tighter instead.

“Shouldn’t you let me go now?”

“Nope, hugging you like this feels so comfy” he said, still cozily hugging me “I don’t trust your empathy, but I kinda trust your logic.”

I softly laugh again “You trust my logic too much”

I said that but I really didn’t do anything naughty to him, we were just hugging cozily in his bed.

“My logic said I should ask you if you are ok? Are you still in pain?” I ask him.

“To answer that logic of yours. I feel better now, still a little dizzy but I will be fine after a good sleep”

“Hm… that’s good, get better soon, so my logic won’t feel guilty when I do something to your body”

He laugh again “Ok, I will”

“You parents and brother looks so worried, they send me here so you won’t feel lonely”

“Mmm… I know, they always overreacted every time this happened. My mama keeps yelling at the workers and I can hear her from here, but I thank them for sending me a cozy human bolster.”

“Am I downgraded to just a human bolster now?”

“You are when I’m sick.”

“Don’t get sick too often then.”

“I won’t, now stay still and let me hug my bolster.”

I let him hug me and in a few seconds he was already back to sleep. And me, maybe because I didn’t sleep at all last night also feel quite sleepy, I end up following him soon.

VEL

I was kinda surprised when I opened my eyes again and found Tin sound asleep while we were still hugging closely.

He did say he wasn’t asleep at all because he was waiting for my call, so he must be feel quite sleepy. The Almighty Enigma is a human after all, they also need sleep and food.

Speaking of food, I feel very hungry now. The room is already dark so it’s probably already night time. I only had breakfast today and I threw everything up, so practically my stomach is totally empty.

I tried to slowly free myself from the hug without waking him up, but failed. He slowly opens his eyes the moment I move my body.

He confusedly looked at me then looked around us, seemed a bit disoriented and didn't remember where he was.

“You are still inside my room and it's already night time” I told him directly so he won’t get confused anymore.

“Sorry, I usually don't wake up in a stranger's room still fully dressed.” he answered with his cockyness.

I throw a pillow at him as a reply, he just laughs it off.

“Feeling better now?” he asked me.

I nod my head “My human bolster help me getting better faster”

“Your human bolster is glad he can be helpful”

I give him a peck on his lips, purely as a thank you yet he give me a wicked smile as an answer and said:

“Is that an invitation?”

“No it's not, it's a thank you kiss.”

“No, that’s definitely an invitation kiss.”

“No, it's not!”

He straddled me to the bed and gave me playful kisses all over my face. We were giggling and wrestling on my bed for a few moments until I remembered something important.

“Wait!” I stop him from trying to give me another kiss on my nose and sit up straight on the bed “Did you talk to my parents already?”

“Talk?” He looked confused “What talk?”

“They didn’t tell you anything when you got here?”

“They told me about your condition and ask me to come in here and accompany you.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

“Then we need to go down now and meet my parents” I get down from the bed.

“Now?”

“Yes, now”

He groans and rolls on the bed “It’s so cozy in here, can we just stay here?”

“Nope, I’m starving, it’s almost dinner time, I want to eat and you need to talk to my parents, so get up now” I pulled his hand to get him up from the bed.

He sit up, but still groaning lazily “Give me a kiss first”

I give him a quick peck on the lips.

He’s frowning and shaking his head like a child “I want a real kiss.”

“Nope, not this time” I can clearly see through him, one kiss will definitely lead to many other things. If that happens, I will be too weak and aroused to reject him, that’s why I have to reject him now.

“You are so cruel, you use me as a human bolster but didn’t give me any reward” he frowning like a child again.

“I will give you anything you want after you talk to my parents.”

He grinning happily after I said that “Promise?”

“Promise” I answer “Now, get up from the bed”

He quickly got up from the bed, and looked at himself in the mirror.

“Am I presentable enough to have dinner with your family?”

He is still wearing his suit from the office and it’s wrinkled now because he was sleeping with it on. His hair is also disarray.

I quickly fix up his hair and tidy up his clothes for a bit. No need to be to tidy, I myself still wearing my clothes since this morning.

“You are good now”

“You sure?”

“Sure, sure, let’s go.”

I grab his hand to drag him out of the room. We keep holding hands until we get down from the stairs.

My full family, my mom, my mama, my brother and my sister all ran to the end of the stairs when they heard us walking down the stairs. They were surprised when they saw us.

“Oh, my baby, you are finally coming down” my mama come to hug me.

“Are you ok now, son?” ask my mom

“Sorry to make you all worried, I’m better now.”

“Are you sure? No headache?” ask my mama again.

“Yes, I’m sure, I'm Ok now”

“That's really good to hear, you make the whole house worried, you know? I leave my husband and son at home and stay here the whole day” said P'Sai

Hearing that, Jade smack him from behind.

“Ow! What's that for?”

“Just said you used this opportunity to run away from your responsibility to take care of your baby” accused Jade.

“No, I'm not!” answer P'Sai immediately, even though I know that’s kinda true.

“Yes, you are!”

I smile seeing both my brother and sister bicker. I miss this dynamic between my siblings. P'Sai is 15 years older than Jade but he always turns into a teenager when he is with Jade. I haven’t seen them both together since I came back, and I never thought I needed to collapse for a whole day to gather all my family together.

“Do you need anything, baby? Something you want to eat?” Ask my mama, completely ignoring the bickering duo.

“I can eat anything right now because I'm really hungry” I answer.

“Of course you are” said my mama,

“Well, me too, we've all gathered around here almost the whole day, since the patient is all better now, let’s go eat.” said P’Sai.

My mom turned to the maids that were standing not far from the stairs “Is dinner ready?”

“Yes, it’s ready, ma’am”

“Then let’s all go to the dining room”

My mom walked first and we followed behind her.

On our way to the dining room, my sneaky sister walked closer to me and Tin who were still holding hands.

“Hello, P’Tin, we meet again.” She greeted Tin.

“Hello, Nong Jade, nice to meet you again.” answered Tin with a smile.

“Nice to meet you too” She answered with a big grin on her face “How is your father? Is he fine?”

“Jade!” My mama quickly grabbed Jade’s arm and pulled her away from Tin.

“Behave!” said my mom sternly.

Jade turned silent after that and walked far from me and Tin with a sour face.

“Why did she ask about my dad?” Tin whispered to me confusedly.

“Just don’t mind her”

The dining room we use today is the guest dining room that is located outside the main building in the middle of the flower garden. We rarely use this place and only open it for a very special guest. Of course for my parents, Tin is a very special guest. This place is designed for a big dinner with about 10 to 20 guests, so with just 6 of us the long dining table looks so empty.

On the table various kinds of food were served. From local dishes to western dishes to eastern dishes, it’s a bit too much actually.

“We don’t know what your favorite dishes are, so we prepare everything just in case.” said my mama as we sat on the chairs around the table.

“Everything looks delicious, I will enjoy everything here” said Tin politely.

“I’m glad to hear that” said my mama.

“Let's start eating,” said my mom.

We start to lift our spoon and fork only after my mom takes her first bite. Tin, instead of filling up his own plate, kept filling up my plate.

“That’s full enough, stop!” I said to stop him

“Eat a lot, you said you are hungry”

“Yeah, but you should eat too” I started to fill up his plate too.

Giggling sounds were heard around the table. I lift my head and my family are now looking at us with a giddy face.

“Just find a room, you two,'' commented my brother.

“The food looks so good so I want P'Vel to taste it first, because he needs to regain his energy” said Tin.

“That's so nice of you, Tin” said my mama.

This psychopath loves to bully me in bed and try to manipulate me all the time, but can act like a total kind gentleman in front of my parents. Well done! Really really well done! But of course I know, he is not a psychopath if he's not like that.

“I'm just glad you two are going along so well, a pair really needs to take care of each other” said my mom.

“But it's really sad since now P'Vel and P'Tin won't be working together again” said Jade.

And with just that one sentence the atmosphere around the room completely turn sour. Thanks Jade!

“It doesn’t matter for me” answer Tin trying to cheer the atmosphere up again “We always can have time to meet each other after work, and to be honest, it’s really hard for me to concentrate on working with Vel near me.”

P’Sai giggle hearing the last sentence “I feel you, I have similar experience being with someone in my workplace.”

“Yeah, but P’Tin is dating his co-worker, you were courting your own student.” comment Jade.

“Just. Eat. More. Meat. So. You. Will. Grow. Some. Boobs!” P’Sai scooping grilled meats into Jade’s place by every word he said.

“Vel can start teaching in one of our universities if he wants,” said my mom loudly, so the bickering duo will stop throwing insults at each other.

“I'll think about that for later mom” I answer “I probably will take a rest for a few days before I decide what I want to do next.”

“That’s also good, take any time you want to rest and recover” said my mama.

“We are a family of educators, you see, Tin. Vel is the only one in 5 generations of our family who chose to work for law enforcement.”

“Then it won’t be a problem for P’Vel to start teaching, it’s running in his blood after all” comment Tin.

That comment should be a harmful light comment, but seeing the purpose of today’s dinner, it felt like a signal for my parents to start talking about that topic.

The table turns silent so suddenly and it must be alarming for Tin because even a psychopath like him can use his logic to find out the atmosphere around the table has change again.

“I’m sorry, if I misspoke” said Tin politely.

“Oh, no, no, son, you are not misspeaking on anything. It’s just… there’s something we actually want to tell you about Vel in this dinner.”

My mom turned to my mama and my mama continued the explanation.

“We want to tell you this before you two decide to go any further in your relationship, so there won’t be any misunderstanding or regret in the future.”

Tin look at me then at my parents than at me again, totally confused with the sudden serious talk.

“Ok… what is this about?”

My mama took a deep breath before starting her story “26 years ago, we were invited to an event held by an influential Alpha entrepreneur. He told us the event was a fundraising event to sponsor some special children. We even took Sai to the event, thinking he probably will find some friend his age there,” Mama sighs heavily remembering that fateful day “Turn out, it was not a fundraising event at all. It was an auction for special children. He was selling special Alpha and Omega children as young as 5 years old to the highest bidder. Among those children there was one small 5 year old male Alpha child, he was so skinny and weak, his skin almost as white as his silver hair. When he failed to show off his ability on stage they beat him up in front of everyone who attended that event.”

“No one defends that kid, all those influential Alpha family’s members that attend that event just sit there and watch a 5 years old small child get beaten in front of them.” P’Sai continue the story, when my mama losing her voice because that memory was too harsh for her “So I jump to the stage and told them to stop, I told them I will buy him, whatever the price, I will buy him, I was just 9 years old child what am I even thinking?”

“But we agree with Sai'' My mom took over the storytelling “We pay for the child and bring him home. We raise him like our own flesh and blood son.”

“That kid was me” I finally say it, the thing that I’ve been wanting to tell Tin this whole time.

Tin widens his eyes and looks genuinely surprised “What?”

“Vel is not our biological son, he is adopted.”