The Unwritten Chapter

Cael sat on the hospital bed, his head in his hands, struggling to make sense of the bizarre turn his life had taken. The more he pieced together, the heavier his heart grew. The memory of his sister, her insistent rambling about the novel called "Love Conflicts", resurfaced like a cruel twist of fate. She'd begged him to read it, bribing him with the promise of covering the cost of his much-needed med-surg book. Back then, he'd brushed it off as a frivolous distraction, something to endure for the sake of his education.

But now, here he was—living it.

The irony wasn't lost on him. He had scoffed at the plot, barely skimming through it as he rushed to finish the novel before his sister's deadline. Now, the story's tragic ending weighed on him like a looming storm. He was Cael Baker, the tragic omega who wasn't even given a chance to live a proper life. A pawn in the chaos of the alphas' love affair.

His chest tightened as his thoughts drifted to his old life. El Johansen, the rising star, the genius, the hope of his family. All of it—his hard work, his dreams, his future—was gone in an instant. He thought of his parents, their proud smiles, and the way they had always spoken of him as their golden child. How were they handling his loss?

He imagined his mother breaking down in tears, his father sitting in silence, his face etched with guilt. Were they blaming themselves for pushing him too hard, for holding him to impossible standards as the beacon of their family? The thought of their pain twisted his heart. They just wanted me to succeed, he thought bitterly, but they didn't see how much it was costing me.

He clenched his fists, anger bubbling beneath his sorrow. They don't even know I'm here—trapped in some fictional nightmare with no way out.

Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to focus. There was no use spiraling. He needed to think, to plan. If this was his new reality, then he had to figure out how to survive. No matter how ridiculous or unfair it was, he wasn't about to let himself be swept away by the same tide of misery that had claimed Cael in the story.

"Alright," he muttered to himself, his voice firm despite the crack in it. "If I'm stuck here, I'll just… stay out of the way. Avoid those two maniacs and live quietly. No need to get involved in their twisted drama."

It was a flimsy plan, but it was all he had.

Yet, even as he tried to convince himself, a pang of doubt lingered in the back of his mind. He knew the story too well. Jade's kindness would inevitably drag him into the center of things, and Julls' obsession would spell disaster if he wasn't careful. He had to tread carefully, or he might end up exactly where Cael had—dead at the hands of a jealous alpha.

"This is going to be a long life," Cael said bitterly, leaning back against the hospital bed. His reflection in the window stared back at him, foreign yet unmistakably real.

For now, all he could do was take it one step at a time. But deep down, a fire began to stir. He'd been a survivor as El Johansen, and he would be a survivor as Cael Baker.

Because if this world wanted to treat him like a victim, then it had another thing coming.