Danger, danger

Primo is finally free!

He flops to the bed, belly first. Some of the pillows hanging by the edge spill to the floor. He only gives them one glance before rolling over to his back. If it's not part of his nest, he doesn't care.

Now that filming is over, he's free to do whatever he wants: no more diets to fit the character's image; no more early mornings to catch the sun's natural light; and, no more late nights to cram scenes before the mood disappears. He can now lounge around as much as he wants in the comfort of his own home.

Don't get him wrong, Primo loves his job. He loves acting and he loves bringing different characters to life, but it's not all glamor and glitz. Putting aside the dark side of the entertainment industry, the filming conditions aren't always the best.

Take his latest role, for example. As a runaway soldier, Primo had to roll around in the mud and crawl through rocks. During action scenes, he always left with a scraped knee or a bruised arm. The fake explosions and gunshots weren't quiet either.

Thankfully, it's over. Filming ended without a hitch, and all that he's waiting for is for promotions to start half a year from now. With the film's massive budget, half a year is already a generous time frame. Primo knows the big bosses are pressuring the director to release the film as soon as possible, but that isn't his problem.

He's done his part and at present, he takes a few moments to breathe in the scents around him. There's his mom's scent from a scarf, his dad's from a handkerchief, and his brother's from a shirt he stole some time ago. There's even Kaiden's scent—becoming more milk than strawberry the further he gets into his pregnancy—on the favorite pillow he naps with.

Looking over his instruments of comfort (and the junk food he tucks underneath them), Primo grabs for the pillow with Kaiden's scent. It hasn't been long since he discovered that his best friend is pregnant, but it explains why Kaiden's scent is slowly changing.

Omegas all have this milky undertone in their scent during their pregnancy, and the more Primo smells it, the more he misses Kaiden. He can't act rough around the pink-haired Omega when his pregnancy is high-risk; Lucy made sure to warn him about that … among other things.

However, since he doesn't have anything in his schedule for the following weeks, Primo will be spending most of it next door. It's not because he'll be bored, but it's because he'll keep Kaiden company.

Praising himself for the perfect excuse to bother his friend, Primo sits up to head over immediately. However, his phone rings with a notification.

Unable to divert his curiosity, he unlocks the phone to see who sent him a message.

[Ugly Alpha: Hey, baby! I heard you just finished filming.]

It isn't a question, so all Primo replies with is: [Stalker.]

[Ugly Alpha: Can I take you out for dinner tonight? Let's try that Italian restaurant you were talking about last time.]

The offer is tempting, but remembering his pregnant and lonely friend next door, he rejects the invitation. [Can't. Hanging out with my friend tonight.]

[Ugly Alpha: No prob :) Are you hanging out with Kaiden?]

Primo is walking from his bed to the door while he types: [Yeah. He's pregnant so he's extra moody.]

Wait, he stops. He re-reads the last text sent to him, making sure he's seeing correctly. He deletes his earlier message and instead sends: [How do you know his name? I never told anyone.]

The three dots that indicate whenever someone is typing floats around for a second, and then, instead of a message, Primo sees a screenshot. It's from one of his fan clubs, and by the looks of it, it's from a private one.

[Ugly Alpha: Some of your fans went to the coffee shop you posted before. I think they figured out who 'K' is. That's him, right?]

He looks closely at the picture and true to the Alpha's words, it is Kaiden. He's in his uniform, name tag on full display.

Primo doesn't know why, but a chill suddenly creeps up his skin.

He doesn't bother to reply, leaving his apartment as fast as he can. When he reaches Kaiden's door, he takes a few deep breaths to calm himself down. Nothing good will come out if he panics. It'll only distress his friend further.

His finger isn't shaking when he presses the doorbell. He's calm and steady. He stands in the hallway, waiting for the door to open.

When a minute passes by without any sound or movement from the other side, he presses the doorbell again.

And again.

And again.

By the fifth time, there's a slight tremble to his hands.

He pounds on the door, thinking that maybe the doorbell is broken. Maybe, like the first time, Kaiden is asleep and it won't be long until he sees that drowsy face again.

The chill becomes colder the longer he stands there. If the doorbell wasn't broken before, it is now after Primo's ceaseless pressing.

His phone rings. He doesn't bother to check before answering.

"Are you home?" It's Lucy, straight to the point with no greetings whatsoever. "Go check on Kaiden, he's not answering his phone."

"What's his passcode?" He asks without explaining while pounding on the door. He trusts that Lucy is smart enough to understand what he means.

The fact that Kaiden hasn't opened the door yet doesn't make Lucy scream or cry, but her voice does shake when she rattles off the code combination to Kaiden's apartment.

The door opens. Primo enters with haste.

He is on the phone when he walks into the living room, but he stops talking.

"Hello? How is he? Is he okay?" Lucy's voice grows frantic with every second.

Time stands still.

There, on the living room floor, is Kaiden. He's breathing heavily, arms clutching his stomach. When he turns over with a groan, Primo sees the red puddle underneath him.

The chill on Primo's skin drops below zero degrees.

--

Tristan awakes to successive ringings from his phone. A lot of it is from Primo's assistant, several from reporters, and one from upper management.

He rubs the sleep off his eyes as he checks what the fuss is about. Did his artist reveal something confidential to his fans again? It hasn't even been a day yet.

However, when he opens his phone, he finds himself wishing that it's just something as simple as a spoiler leak.

His artist—his top star—is trending on the hot topic section.

The picture is taken from a distance, dark and low quality but enough for Primo to be identified.

It's nothing like his red carpet pictures. Instead of his usual customized suit, his casual clothes are dirty and stained with something dark red. The beautiful face that covers fashion magazines is distorted into pure agony—aquamarine eyes full of panic. There are two women in front of him, one blonde and the other raven-haired. The latter is carrying a limp body, a tuft of pink hair peeking from the blanket. They're all rushing towards an ambulance, the stretcher halfway out.

Tristan understands why the media explodes upon seeing this. It's a classic headliner—top celebrity covered in blood, why wouldn't it be?—and a massive headache for the public relations department.

He grabs his car keys, heading out to whichever hospital Primo and his friends are in.

He'll deal with company matters later. He needs to check on his artist first, especially since he knows how easily someone like Primo can break.