There's no hiding from me in this world

"Or else what?" Leon used the same tone as Bryce.

Bryce's gaze shifted to Leon's gloved hands that were pressing down on the floor.

"You're not attached to your hands, are you?" Bryce asked with a tone that sent shivers down Leon's spine.

Leon's pupils constricted as he pulled his hands to himself. He tried to move away but Bryce's grip on his chin was firm.

"L-Let go of me," Leon said, fear unconsciously seeping into his voice.

His entire body trembled as Bryce's figure enveloped him.

"You should know very well that I don't make empty threats. What's the point of having working hands when you're not using them for my benefit?" The message Bryce's pheromones were sending changed.

From command to allure.

Bryce let go of his chin and let a finger trail down to his throat. The nail was long, sending zaps down Leon's body as it followed a straight path down to his chest, stopping just above his belt buckle.

Leon quivered.

"I can't. I can't do what you're asking of me. Why can't you understand? I don't want to tutor James." Leon spoke with a desperate tone as his body refused to obey his command.

He wanted to run. He wanted to disappear into the earth. Yet he couldn't move an inch. He wasn't sure if it was because of fear or the pheromones or Bryce's familiar hand on his body.

"What's so hard about teaching James? Is he not worthy of becoming your student?" Bryce's voice changed. He retracted his hand and stood up, his pheromones turning angry.

However, the thickness of the scent lightened up a bit, granting Leon a better breathing space. Though he was still weak all over, at least he was in control of his body again.

"That's not what I meant," Leon disagreed with Bryce's perspective.

Bryce had a frown on his face. "Then what do you mean? Do you want me to beg you just so you can accept him as your student? Is that what you want?" Bryce's temper was already rising as he was losing the point of the discussion.

Leon was exhausted. Of talking and bearing the weight of Bryce's dominating presence. 

He scooted away from Bryce on the floor and said with a small voice, "That's not what I want. I just don't want to tutor James."

"Why?" Bryce asked the first logical question that'd come out of his mouth all morning.

But Leon didn't respond to his question properly.

"I just don't want to. That's reason enough." Leon lied effortlessly, finally getting back up to his feet.

"Reason enough? Cheap actor, I hope you don't think I wouldn't be able to tell that you're lying to me," Bryce glowered at Leon.

"I'm not lying. I have enough on my plate and I don't need an extra student. I said this to James already." Leon said reasonably, forgetting that he was speaking to the most unreasonable person on the planet.

"I thought I told you that it'd be fine to drop your other students. I can offer double of what they're paying," Bryce bargained, sounding like he was doing Leon a favor.

"It's not about the money." 

There was a dead expression on Leon's face as he said those words. He was being honest. He was doing a favor to James by refusing to tutor him. James and Bryce obviously didn't know this which was why they chose to hassle him.

"When has it never been about the money?" Bryce sneered at Leon.

His eyes scanned Leon with undisguised contempt.

Leon was well acquainted with that particular look on Bryce's face. He'd received it countless times from several different people in his life. For the most part of his 28 years on Earth, he'd been looked down on. 

He'd learned to accept it and ignore it. Convince himself that it was just a look. But when it was Bryce Sterling…

When it was Bryce that looked at him like he was inferior goods, Leon couldn't help but feel truly less than. And it vexed him.

"You don't have the money, huh?"

Leon was perfectly able to remember the last time he'd been subjected to Bryce's cruel ridicule. Bryce truly knew how to demean a person.

"It's not about money this time," Leon said with an icy tone. "And I've already refused enough times. I don't want to tutor James. Understand that."

Leon turned his back to Bryce and basically ran to the door, expecting Bryce to attack him with pheromones this time. But Bryce didn't.

Instead, as Leon reached for the doorknob, he heard Bryce say, "You've really invited trouble for yourself this time without anyone else's help. I'm giving you 5 hours. Agree to become James' tutor within this time. If you don't…"

Bryce didn't complete his threat. Leon didn't even wait to hear the rest of Bryce's threat as he swung the door open and ran away as fast as he could.

Assistant Nova, who had been patiently standing outside the private room, saw Leon rushing out of it and assumed that he had committed a sin against Bryce. 

So he went after him, calling out, "Come back here! Hey! Hey! You–"

"Let him go."

Assistant Nova heard a calm voice speak. He stopped and saw Bryce slowly walking out of the private room instead.

"He can only run. There's no hiding from me in this world." A menacing smile appeared on Bryce's face as he said this.

It even caused chills to blow over Assistant Nova's body. Bryce was really a person that ordinary people like Leon shouldn't cross, Assistant Nova thought, feeling slight pity for the unfortunate omega.

As for the unfortunate omega, he had managed to run all the way out of the restaurant and onto the main road. Leon looked like a mad person as he continued running even after getting away from Bryce.

At the back of his mind, he knew that running was of little point. But that was his go-to reaction to superior pressure. It took a while of running before Leon was able to stabilize himself and stop.

He was already sweaty all over, the back of his neck was itching and sweaty. If it wasn't for the isolator on his glands, heaven knows what would have happened at the time that Bryce had been using his pheromones to oppress him.

Bryce was a really hateful person. He treated Leon like he wasn't omega. Like he wasn't even a human being. Bryce literally saw him as trash. And there was only one person to blame for that: 

Ezra.