Omega Manual chapter 49

A Gift for an Angel

Once Shelley started crying, he cried for a long time.

At first, it was just silent tears, but then, under Irey’s frantic comfort, a hoarse sound emerged from his throat, and then it couldn’t be stopped.

As if decades of suppressed emotions and grievances burst forth in that moment, Shelley tightly gripped the fabric of Irey’s shirt, unable to restrain himself.

Irey sighed, giving up on consolation altogether and instead tightly embraced the frail Omega, absentmindedly patting his back.

Even as an Omega, Shelley’s body was too frail.

Just holding him like this, Irey could feel the protrusion of his collarbone and ribs causing him discomfort.

With an appetite like a bird, always sleepless, forever furrowing his brows and pursing his lips, not to mention all the various medications he had been taking along the way.

Has he ever cried properly until now?

Irey pressed him against his chest, then rubbed his head up and down like petting a small animal. “Forget it, just cry. Cry as much as you want.”

In response, Shelley couldn’t suppress his tears any longer and broke down like a child.

Almost an hour passed before Shelley’s emotions slowly subsided, his beautiful eyes red and swollen from crying. Irey patiently handed him tissues one by one, waiting for him to finish wiping his tears and blowing his nose.

“Feeling better?” he gently patted Shelley’s back.

Shelley looked at Irey with red eyes, then, the next moment, his fair cheeks quickly turned red, his mouth opened and closed, but he couldn’t speak for a while.

“Hmm?” Irey leaned in, puzzled, his ear close to Shelley’s face. Shelley’s cheeks flushed even redder, then he dropped the tissues, turned around, climbed onto the bed, and quickly burrowed himself under the covers, wrapping himself up like a dumpling.

Irey paused for a moment, then burst out laughing.

“Hey.” He lifted a leg onto the bed, patting the bulging blanket.

The blanket didn’t respond, but it tightened even more.

“Boss?” Irey approached, using his index finger to pick up a strand of Shelley’s golden hair that was sticking out, lowering his voice, “Shelley?”

The blanket still didn’t answer, but a hand emerged from inside, swiftly and mercilessly pulling the stray hair back, then pulling the blanket over the head, wrapping himself even tighter.

Irey couldn’t help it, he laughed and laughed, leaning on the bed.

Now there was a response from the dumpling, a muffled voice sounding somewhat hoarse, with a tone of annoyance, “Stop laughing!”

“Only you’re allowed to show emotions, but not me?” Irey pinched the position where Shelley’s face should be through the blanket, “Too domineering, aren’t you, Boss?”

The person inside the blanket moved, protesting for himself, “I just—”

“Just what?” Irey reached into the blanket, pinching Shelley’s ears.

Finally, the latter couldn’t stand it anymore and crawled out from under the blanket, his blond hair disheveled, covering most of his face.

“I just… feel embarrassed.” Shelley used his arm to cover his flushed eyes, turning his face away from Irey’s gaze, speaking with a voice so low it was almost inaudible, “I’ve never cried like this in front of anyone before, from childhood until now.”

Irey chuckled softly. “But after crying, do you feel a bit better?”

Shelley didn’t say anything but nodded.

“That’s right.” Irey rubbed Shelley’s head, “Crying and laughing are part of being human. What’s there to be embarrassed about?”

Shelley stayed quiet for a while, then said in a very low voice, “Since I was little, whenever I cried over something, my father would make me stand in the hallway for the whole day as punishment. It was the harshest punishment because my father believed that only low-class people couldn’t control their emotions. As nobles, we must have excellent emotional management skills at all times.”

“Your father was wrong,” Irey said without hesitation. “Crying and laughing, feeling hungry or full, those are human instincts. Is someone still human if they never cry, never get angry, never show any emotions? That’s just a machine.”

“Everyone in the Manta family grew up like this,” Shelley turned to look at Irey.

“Then your family is foolish,” Irey bluntly assessed.

Shelley couldn’t help but laugh.

The blanket rustled as Irey lay down opposite Shelley, reaching out to tidy up the messy hair covering his face. “Honestly, Boss, since I’ve known you these days, you look more like a living person now.”

“What do you mean? Wasn’t I like a living person before?”

“A little bit,” Irey chuckled, his fingers sliding through Shelley’s hair, “beautiful, delicate, wealthy, cultured, but couldn’t cry or laugh, like a doll in a shop window. Now seeing you cry like this, I feel relieved. It seems you really are a human being, not some new model of bio-android from the Manta family.”

Shelley said irritably, “You should be glad I’m too weak to move right now, or else I’d beat you up.”

Irey laughed heartily, unconcerned.

Irey Halton always had a keen intuition about such things, sometimes even too keen, which made Shelley shudder.

Perhaps, as he said, his father’s teachings were wrong, the Manta family’s rules were wrong, and the life principles he had followed so far were all wrong.

But these wrong parts had already formed his entirety—hair, skin, flesh, bones—everything about him belonged to that world of nothing but mistakes, inseparable, incapable of survival.

“And, you look cuter now,” Irey suddenly leaned close to Shelley’s ear, lowering his voice, “with your eyes all red, you really look like a rabbit.”

Shelley’s face, which had just cooled down a few degrees, flushed again. He kicked Irey with his leg, deliberately avoiding the lower right abdomen.

Even though they had paid 480 yuan for the so-called top-grade room, it was so narrow that it could only fit a bed and a bathroom.

The walls were covered with dark oil stains everywhere, and Shelley didn’t even dare to think about what they were. The thin wooden boards couldn’t block the steam coming from the bathroom at all. As long as someone took a shower inside, the foot of the bed would inevitably get wet. Over time, a large obvious water stain was left on the sheets, which was nauseating to look at.

But at this moment, Shelley had no complaints about the room. He just sat quietly against the head of the bed, looking at the rose inserted in the bottle on the bedside table.

After nightfall, the snow finally stopped, and the relentlessly howling wind calmed down. The streets outside were covered with a thick layer of snow, reflecting a faint blue glow in the moonlight.

Irey was taking a bath in the bathroom, tossing his dirty clothes carelessly on the floor. There were gaps both above and below the broken wooden board separating the bathroom, through which one could vaguely see him covered in foam, humming a cheerful tune.

Shelley leaned his head back, a slight curve appearing at the corner of his lips.

This environment should have been unbearable for him no matter what, but whether it was because he was too tired of crying or Irey’s voice sounded too soothing, at this moment, he actually felt that it wouldn’t be so bad if time just stopped like this.

Irey finished his bath quickly, water droplets dripping from his hair tips. He casually wiped himself dry, wrapped a towel around his waist, and walked out.

“I just found a spider on the corner of the bathroom wall.” he said as he dried his hair, “It’s interesting, with so many people bathing here every day, everywhere is filled with steam, why would it insist on spinning its web here? We used to find spider webs in the bathroom at home too. Maybe it’s because there are more bugs where there’s water…”

Shelley didn’t respond. Irey noticed he was looking down, his gaze fixed on the rose placed on the bedside table, so he walked over and sat beside him, bringing the warmth of the steam along.

“What’s wrong?”

“Where did you buy the flowers?” Shelley asked, lifting his head, “It’s freezing cold, and it’s in the downtown area.”

Irey smiled, “The people in Duhaat offer flowers to angels, so there’s a flower shop near the church, and all the flowers are grown in special greenhouses. After the disaster, they cut back on everything except taxes, but they insist on preserving these unnecessary religious rituals. The flowers are still fresh, besides being expensive, there’s nothing wrong with them, 98 bucks for one.”

With that, Irey took out the bright rose from the bottle and handed it to Shelley, “This flower that I’m giving you was originally meant for an angel.”

Shelley pursed his lips but still took the flower, “I won’t reimburse you for the money you spent today.”

“I know, there’s no reason to ask for money back when giving gifts.” Irey chuckled, “I just saw it on my way here and thought you’d like it.”

Shelley tightened his grip on the stem of the rose, quietly staring at the crimson petals for a long time before lifting his head, looking at Irey with his glass-like blue eyes, “Irey, I’m already a useless person.”

Irey frowned, before he could say anything, Shelley interrupted him.

“I’m just stating a fact,” Shelley said, “After the meteor shower, I lost everything. My knowledge, experience, connections, status, all meaningless. Now I’m just a worthless person, even if you try to please me, you won’t get any benefits.”

Irey’s brows furrowed even more, he reached out and lifted Shelley’s chin, forcing him to raise his delicate face. The golden strands of hair hung down at the temples, complementing the deep blue eyes, a sight that would make anyone marvel at the bias of the Creator.

“Boss, I don’t know how that idiotic Manta family taught you,” Irey slowed down his speech, enunciating each syllable clearly, “But for me, this is as simple as it gets. I’ve lived 26 years, never has anyone treated me as an independent and equal person like you did. So, accordingly, I will treat you as a living person, not as a tool or an object for service.”

With emphasis, he said each word slowly, “No one in this world has to create any value to deserve to live.”