“Saddie, Ruby needs all the help she got. Raising a child alone is not an easy thing to do. She had no one else in Silverfang. I’m the only alpha acquaintance she had left who’d be willing to give her protection.” Dawson said in somber tone.

“I know it’s hard for betas to understand. They don’t have this kind of thing between alphas and omegas. But, don’t you see? I’m doing this because I have to.”

He then concluded with emphasis, “This kind of things are expected from any influential alphas!”

I took a deeper breath, careful not to make it obvious. My nerves got ticked as I felt like he treated me like a very dumb person, never knowing how the world works. It felt like Dawson had unfairly defended Ruby once more from confrontation I didn’t even initiate.

Besides…

Did he forgot I was still his wife or what? In Silverfang, he was the only one I got too!

"Of course it’s hard to raise a child alone,” I tried to calmly answer. “It’s hard for anyone, Ruby included!”

"What? Are you trying to say that Ruby just have to suck it all up because everyone raising a child alone is having it hard too?” Dawson suddenly raised his tone.

"That’s not what I’m saying, at all!" I interjected, trying to defend myself.

"I don’t like your tone, Saddie. Do you have to say it like that?" he said with a warning tone, the kind of tone he used to demand obedience..

"Huh? Then how should I say it then?" I lost control, frustration had get the better of me. “I’m trying to show my sympathy to her, Dawson. Is that a problem?"

Silence fell between us. But it was Dawson who broke the ice in the end, "Fine, do whatever you want."

What on the actual earth…?

He was mad at me for asking where he wanted to go with Ruby. So I compensated by asking when he'd be back from Ruby's place instead.

And this man got mad at me, again?

“Ugh!” I tossed my phone as carefully as I could into my purse.

Really, just hearing his voice now made me frustrated. How did I deal with him all these time?

With a sigh, I stood up from my desk. I looked at the document piles that had been sitting there,waiting for me to finish the 'simple talk' with Dawson. I took my water bottle and walked to the drinking station at the room’s corner.

The night was still long. I better prepare for my training instead of getting irritated at Dawson like there was no tomorrow.

--

I got home much later into the day. The hot sun was already up and there was no sign of Dawson’s car at home, he was already gone for work.

My last shift ended around five in the morning. Frankly, there wasn’t much to do so I helped my friends who had came for the next shift clean up some stuff. Oakley even teased me that he’d gladly gave his shift to me so that he could stay longer for his son’s play performance in his school.

It was a short exchange with my colleagues, but I was glad none of them make things as awkward as I have feared it would be.

Because, really… going home knowing that Dawson was there only to nag didn’t feel appealing to me..

I didn’t do much at home afterwards. I took a shower, drank my prescribed medicine and collapsed onto my bed. And right then, as if on cue, my phone vibrated to no end. I picked it up and see that it was a call from Dawson.

"Saddie," he grunted as if in pain. “Why didn’t you pick up? My stomach hurts so bad…."

"Call the emergency ward...." I slurred as my mind was fogged with sleep. On one hand, I remember that I had got off from work. But I was really tired that I drifted into sleep.

"Saddie..."

"Saddie..."

It felt like an eerie dream. Dawson had been calling my name from a place so very distant. But I was so tired I wished him to go away as I fell deeper into my sleep.

Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!

Bam!

I jolted awake at the loud noise. Dawson had already stood by the bed looking displeased and pouting.

"Saddie, why are you acting like this lately?!" He raised his tone. "You'd usually nag on me when I got sick. Bringing medicine and porridge for me. But now you're just asleep?" his voice cracked slightly. "Don't you care anymore? What is wrong with you?"

What was wrong with me he said?

His words cut deep. I remembered those days all too well. There was a time when Dawson had a terrible stomachache. Concerned, I took leave from work to bring him medicine at his office. As fate would have it, I got caught in the rain on my way, arriving soaked and disheveled. Instead of appreciation, I was met with laughter from his colleagues, and Dawson did nothing to stop them.

Worse yet, he turned to me and said, "Don't come to my office again. You're an embarrassment."

Snapping back to the present, I rubbed my eyes as I tried to had control over my irritation for the lack of sleep. "Well, you're here. So, are you feeling better now?" I looked at him squarely. "I'm not sure we had any medicine left though, last time I checked was two weeks ago..."

Dawson's jaw tightened, his frustration boiling over. "Saddie, are you going to keep acting like this because you're jealous of Ruby?"

"Huh?"

Dawson shouted all of the sudden, "I've told you, a thousand times, Ruby and I were just old time friends! There's nothing between us!"

"Uh, sure?" I replied hesitantly. I didn't even understand how did he concluded my actions as a form of jealousy. I was lacking of sleep for Great Moon Goddess' sake!

"You need to stop this at once, Saddie!" Dawson growled and grabbed my wrist up, I could see the change of colors and pupils in his eyes. I could faintly feel the intensity of his pheromone changes too, but I think... the pheromone didn't work as he wanted it to be.

I simply stared at him, trying to pull my hand. "Dawson, it hurts. Let me go."

"Ridiculous!" He shouted, letting me go. "This is why dealing with betas is a waste of time!"

I didn't say a thing to him. I knew that Dawson was baiting me, but I wouldn't fall for it.

"Rebellious betas, don't you feel ashamed for acting like strays?"

Strays?

Did he just call me ‘strays’?!

My mouth went agape. Calling someone 'strays' was a serious insult, as it labeled werewolves as disloyal traitors who had caused significant harm to the entire community!

Really?

If someone like me is considered "disloyal," then what would you call someone as unfaithful as Dawson? An outcast?

Yet, I held myself back. I closed my mouth shut, unwilling to entertain Dawson’s unreasonable accusations.

Soon, Dawson turned to leave. He slammed the door and stormed out. I heard a car engine sound downstairs before things got silent in this house.

"Damn that entitled alpha! Gosh, Saddie! Why did you pick someone like that? Ugh!" I let myself fell onto the bed and curled up to my side.

Eventually my frowns and my pout loosened. I could feel myself slowly smiling.

For the first time in this house, I feel liberated knowing that Dawson leave the house.

Days went by, and Dawson still hadn't returned. I resisted the urge to ask where he was, who he was with, or how he was doing. Instead, I simply to let him be.

I even had the thought that maybe, he had his own discomfort living with me, with “us”. After all, our marriage wasn’t exactly based on love from his side.

But of course, that wasn’t something I need to burden myself with. I have lost interest in it.

On Friday, however, when I was studying for my upcoming training, my phone rang. It was from Dawson. He sent me a location share link with a message: [I have been on a business trip.]

Oh? Was he now? Something inside of me bubbling up and surfacing into my lips. I called that one ‘sarcasm satisfaction’, and I didn’t know what else to call it.

[Safe trip, then] I typed, sent it, and turned the screen on my phone down before I returned to my study.

30 minutes later, when my set alarm rang just for me to have break, I opened Tattle and immediately saw Ruby’s post. [First holiday after arriving in Silverfang! Oh, how I love the beach in the southern part of the pack. My knight in shining armor insisted on buying me a coconut :)]

The picture just below that post revealed a hand, it was strong looking, its bones were defined as a result of a routine gym workouts. Then, there was the black gold ring adorning his ring finger. On the most bottom part was a location tag [Silverfang Pack Jur.- South]

The reason why I know the material of the ring was due to the fact, I was the one quoting a customized ring for our wedding.

That meant, the person Ruby was with was Dawson.

The location was matching the one Dawson sent me earlier on TalkApp.

I nodded before turning off my phone’s screen. Since I was taking a break I may as well do a little walk!

So I stood up, taking off my wedding ring and tossed it to my desk drawer.

--

Some more days passed. The work at the hospital was normal but it didn’t diminish one bit. With the training days coming soon, I went to the public library either before of after my shift--depending on the time of my scheduled shift.

I was focused. Giving my self the time to rest and heal when I finally got home. In truth, I had somewhat forgotten that I was married to somebody.

Until Dawson’s unexpected visit at the hospital.

“Dawson?” I asked when I stepped out of the lobby. Dawson was there, leaning on the car with his usual nice suit on.

“What are you doing here?” I was surprised with his visit, not going to lie. That day, like any other day before, I was planning to visit the public library.

The man approached me and took the bag of notes I was carrying.

"What do you mean? Today is our wedding anniversary. Did you forget?" he answered before carrying my bag into the backseat of his car.

"Oh," I mumbled, "Sorry. It’s just… I've been really busy preparing… something."

Dawson frowned. After he closed the backseat, he opened the door next to it for me. But when I was about to get into the car, Dawson was blocking the way, resisting my door pull.

I looked up to him.

"So you forget,” Dawson began. “You used to be the one who’d notify me for this kind of occasion several days before. And now you just forget?" Dawson wasn’t pleased one bit.

True to his words.

I would’ve bombarded him with texts, reminders, of our first meeting anniversary, my birthday, his birthday, my in-laws birthdays--I would never missed.

I stood there, simply. I was completely unsure on what to say. Not because of fear, or guilt, or anything. It was because I forgot. And I have admitted that I forgot.

With the silence between us dragging so long, Dawson eventually clicked his tongue in annoyance before moving away towards the driver’s seat.

“Hop in,” he said.

--

He took me to a clothing store and had told me to change into a dress he had bought for me. Next, we went to a fine dining place. It was a private fine dining. The reserved kind of fine dining. The small space was decorated with meticulous design as if he was trying to show his care and celebrate our time together.

When Dawson asked, “What do you think?” his tone latched with excitement and anticipation.

I said simply with a smile, “Thank you.”

With that, I walked towards one of the dining chair, pulled it on my own and sat on it.

Internally, I was chuckling with sadness. This experience might not be equal to this day. But I remembered the way Dawson tried to hide himself on our previous dinner date where I had thrown him a surprise for gaining that important cooperation for his business.

It wasn't in a restaurant as fancy as this one, but I had planned ahead and invited his colleagues. Most of them had confirmed they'd be there.

"Saddie,” He whispered, hiding from the menu. “This is too much! I could feel everyone's looking at us."

I didn’t even have the time to explain myself. Dawson had took my hand and made an apology to everyone else, explaining that he appreciate his colleagues coming over. But he was not ‘the party kind of guy’ and soon cut the celebration short.

"Saddie, are you still mad at me?" he asked, already sitting across me.

I returned from my reminisce and shook my head, and said softly, "No."

"No?" he echoed. His brows arched into a displeased furrow, "Then why are you acting like you’re not even interested? I had to take time off from work just to prepare this, picked a dress for you, and escort you to dinner.” He lifted his hands in a questioning gesture. “Can't you at least pretend to appreciate my efforts?"

"Dawson," I began. “I did appreciate your efforts though. I said ‘thank you’, did you missed it?”

Yet, apparently, I had chosen the wrong words. He threw his hands up in frustration and exclaimed, "If you want to play it this way, fine!"

I blinked at him, play ‘what’ this way?

"I’ll stop contacting Ruby, okay?"

Lies.

I stared at him.

There was no way he would give up seeing Ruby that easy?

"There, I promised. Happy?" he asked again.

I opened my mouth slightly, somewhat appalled by his tone.

I felt like I was the one in the blame. Again! But I stayed silent, and it remained the same even after the dinner almost come to an end where he called one of the waiter to bring in my gift.

The romantic atmosphere went on a blur to me. I knew it was there but I couldn’t even makes sense of it. But I played along, I took the gift with a thank you and began to open it.

Right then, Dawson's phone rang.

"You okay?" he asked, answering the call. He took a glance at me before averting his gesture altogether. "I really can’t leave, I’m in the middle of something important… What? A fever that high? Alright, alright, wait for a bit okay. I’ll be there soon,” he said softly.

Hanging up, Dawson turned to me and began to rubbed his own palm in awkwardness. "Saddie, it's Ruby. Darby has a high fever. I need to...."

I pressed my lips together. “Just go,” I said, softly. “It’s better that Darby received treatment soon.”

Dawson was hesitant. But he stood up and said, “Wait for me here, okay? I’ll be back soon and pick you up.”

With that, he left.

I scanned the reminder of this wedding anniversary celebration. The half eaten desert. The flower decorations. The waiters standing by.

I finished my lemon pie and soon left the place without even waiting for Dawson.

I called a cab and went home.

--

RedMaxine posted: [Get well soon little Darby… :(]

I read the Tattle post after I showered.

“Darby had a high fever all night. It wouldn’t go down,” Dawson explained carefully as soon as he returned home the next morning.

I nodded. Resisting my impulse to sulk. It was a bit disappointing that he cared so much about Ruby and her family, but he neglected me, his own family.

But a child’s fever was indeed something worrisome.

"Is everything okay now? Why didn't you stay longer? It must be hard for Ruby to handle a sick child alone," I asked.

Dawson paused mid-motion when he was taking his shirt off. "Saddie,” he sighed in exasperation, “I didn’t sleep last night. Like, at all. Don’t start this alright? I’m tired." And his tone was telling me that he was indeed, tired.

"Oh, alright then. Have a good rest. My shift is about to start, too. I’m leaving, okay?" I reached for my work bag and walked towards the bedroom door.

But, Dawson blocked my path.

"What is it?"

"I’ll make it up for the anniversary celebration next time, okay?"

A ghost of a smile played on my lips, devoid of any feeling. "Sure! Don’t worry, I’m not mad or anything."

He looked at me with questioning look. The next thing that caught me off guard was him pulling me into his embrace. "There's a company event next Friday and I want you to come along," he mumbled into my hair. "You’ll come, won’t you?"

The first question that came to my mind was, why?

He never invited me before. And sure, Dawson's colleagues are mostly supportive. They were nice to me at the very least when I invited them to that dinner surprise. But, I know enough that they didn’t think much of me in terms of the business side of things.

So, why bother?

“Dawson, Pamella took my shift the last time and I need to be in for her on that day.” I silently thanked the Goddess I decided to have that day off.

Dawson clicked his tongue in displease. “Fine,”’ he growled.

Again, why bother?

He’d usually bring Ruby to his company events, so why the change?

On that day, afternoon, my phone buzzed non-stop in my uniform’s pocket as I filled up the stuff on my report document.

When I did make the time to open it, I saw 100+ notification. Turned out, someone had added me to the group chat for Dawson's company's team building event.

Photos from various activities at the event started to pour in, and many prominently featured Ruby. She seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself, seamlessly mingling with Dawson's colleagues.

In one particular activity, Dawson gave Ruby a piggyback ride across the lawn. Ruby's arms were wrapped tightly around Dawson's shoulders, her laughter mingling with the sound of the evening breeze. With her head resting against his, their close proximity was unmistakable.

The group chat buzzed with excitement, everyone tagging Ruby and Dawson, proclaiming them to be a picture-perfect pair. Given Dawson's influential role in the company, people were eager to earn his favor, flooding the chat with comments about how well they complemented each other.

I couldn’t comprehend why this particular person added me to that group chat.

But, since I had become a part of the group, ignoring the messages would have been noticeable. So, I joined in and typed a brief message, [Yup! Definitely the perfect pair!] accompanied by a heart emoji.

With a sigh, I exited the app continued working for my shift.

Day soon turned into night, and it was time for me to go home.

When I took out my phone, I still saw the 200+ notification on TalkApp. Thinking that it was probably from Dawson’s company chat group, I didn’t expect that Dawson had sent me multiple missed calls and private messages.

[Saddie, pick up the phone.]

[Saddie, it’s not usually like this. This was a team-building event and we played a game of piggy back ride. I had to do it just because that’s the game, okay?]

[Saddie, why are you not home, yet? I’ll go pick you up at the hospital, okay?]