Though now Sebastian regretted leaving the conversation as it was.

That was the last time Chester came to Blue Rose. He didn’t have shift on Wednesday, and Chester didn’t come on Thursday. Now, it was already Friday and Chester still didn’t come. He couldn’t help feeling worried.

Sebastian fidgeted as he glanced at the clock multiple times. Lunchtime had long finished, yet Chester never came. Swallowing any shred of pride he had, he turned to the café owner. “Is Chester not going to come?” he asked, well aware that Caleb would tease him.

The owner—in Sebastian’s surprise—didn’t tease him. He frowned, taking his phone out to look at the date. He shrugged, stuffing his phone back into his jeans pocket. “Don’t think he will for a while,” he admitted. Followed by a teasing smirked, he asked, “Why don’t you ask him yourself? You’re close with him now, aren’t you?”

Sebastian pursed his lips at the constant teasing. He shifted away from the counter, working his way to an occupied table to take some order. Well, as much as it was his boss’ teasing, it wasn’t a bad advice. He did have Chester’s number. He decided to message Chester on his break.

“Yeah, yeah, Mom,” Chester whined into his phone. “I’m okay, I can manage myself.”

“Yeah, what did I tell you? It’s because you don’t have a mate!”

“Mom, I can care for myself,” Chester’s eyes closed as he massaged between his eyes. “I don’t need some kinda mate.”

“No, Chester. You’ll be in this pain forever until you get yourself a mate.”

“I’m fine, really,” Chester insisted, his tone raised out of frustration. Realizing that he raised his voice, he sealed his lips. The conversation was too much for him; he needed to end it. So, he said, “Well, I need rest. Bye, Mom,” and ended the call without even letting his mother talk.

Chester sighed. He wasn’t feeling the greatest. He breathed heavily, squirming on his bed.

Heat period had always been the worst part of his life, especially since his heat—although regularly scheduled—caused him to experience immense pain. He was usually feverish the first few days of heat to the point sometimes medicine didn’t work. His suppressants—which he had to increase the dosage specifically for heat period—also caused him severe headache. So, well, saying heat periods were the worst moment of his life wasn’t exaggerating.

Fortunately, he saw it coming. Ray’s roommate, Quentin, shared a similar period schedule. So, it was easy for Chester—who never tracked his heat—to estimate when his heat would be coming.

Chester threw his phone away and curled on his bed, hugging his pillow over his stomach. A drop of sweat ran down his forehead as he felt his body temperature raising, flushing his cheeks red. He felt uncomfortable—hot, but cold at the same time; wanting to take off his clothes, yet wanting to wrap himself in warm blanket.

Well, what he knew was he could use some hot tea.

Just right when he found a position comfortable enough to lay down, his phone vibrated. Chester grunted, though refusing to move an inch. Ignoring the phone would be the best decision for his sanity right now.

Or no.

Following the first notification, his phone vibrated for a few more times. He should have put his phone on ‘Do Not Disturb’ and sleep. His hand crawled, reaching his phone somewhere on or under the bed. Fortunately, it was still on the bed—though it was at the edge and almost falling.

Chester ruffled his chestnut messy mane out of frustration. He clicked his tongue, turning on his phone screen in an attempt to set it on ‘Do Not Disturb’ and continue to ignore the notifications.

Well, that was the plan. Yet, when he noticed the source of those annoying notifications, his eyes snapped open. He swiped through his notifications, realizing the last few annoying vibration were caused by the same person who had a habit of sending multiple texts at the same time.

“Yo,”

“You alright?”

“Haven’t seen you since yesterday.”

“Just making sure you’re ok.”

“You alive right?”

Chester chuckled at the multiple messages that could be sent once by Sebastian. Well, it got his attention, so it got the job done. He opened the message, typing a reply. “Just feeling under the weather.”

He sent the message and set his phone on ‘Do Not Disturb’ before he put it down. He still needed sleep, another text could come later.

Chester didn’t know how long he had been asleep, but he was woken up by a knock on his front door. Which, in his opinion, was weird as he was not expecting a guest at all. He browsed his brain, thinking who could be coming to his house on his heat? His mother was the primary suspect, but he wasn’t sure.

Well, nothing wrong with opening the door. It wasn’t like he had any Alphas knowing his address, anyway. And he definitely could use some company for his shitty heat period.

Staggering, he worked his way towards the front door. The person behind the door kept knocking, though the knocks were in intervals and grew quieter as though the guest was unsure whether Chester was present or no.

Chester considered ignoring, in hope that the person went away. Yet, even as the sound of knocking became quieter and quieter, it didn’t stop. The person was persistent and Chester knew they wouldn’t leave if he didn’t open the door.

Scratching his head, he opened the door lazily. “What do you—” he choked. He couldn’t finish his sentence as his mouth fell open. His eyes wide upon realizing who was standing in front of his place.