Chapter 153: The shame from a childhood friend
It wasn’t as scary as he worried it was going to be, especially since he had a familiar face in Richard. His full name was Dr. Richard Gates, and he hadn’t attended the same school that Andrew had when he’d gone off to university the first time. Instead, he stayed a bit closer to his family, and Andrew had remained acquainted with his family up until his Mom passed away.
They had been neighbours. Often, Andrew would have gone over to the Gates house when he’d gotten home from school and his Mom wasn’t home yet as a child. His Mom and his Dad were betas, and Richard was also one. His sister, however, was an alpha.
She was one of the first positive interactions Andrew had had with alphas as a kid, coming from the family background that he did. She was significantly older than Richard and Andrew, and had treated Andrew like a kid brother up until his Mom died.
Andrew was the one who had dropped all contact. Occasionally wishing a Happy Holidays when he remembered. He was glad to find out that Richard had completed his schooling and that he was doing well for himself.
Another thing that had helped him as a kid was that he and Richard had grown up giant together. They had been two big kids for betas and had often been mistaken as alphas together. They both had glasses, they both had busy parents, and they both stood out. The main difference between them was that Richard came from a two parent household filled with love.
Andrew would never disparage his Mom by saying that their home wasn’t filled with love. It was. It was just a different kind. Andrew had no idea what having two parents would be like before he had gotten to know Richard’s family. It was filled with love, and laughter, and his parents being adorable and cute together.
It was part of the reason why Andrew had drifted from them once his Mom had passed. He knew in the back of his mind that this wasn’t the case, but he was too deep in his grief to fully rationalise with himself at the time. But there was a part of himself that felt like a burden to them once his Mom had passed.
It turned out that Andrew probably felt like a burden to everyone once his Mom had passed. Especially since he now knew that Kim and Jenny had been waiting in the wings to comfort him, and he was sure that there were probably others who had been waiting as well. It was too late to dwell on it, and Andrew wasn’t one to try to dwell on bad emotions.
Now it was time to focus on the fact that they had reunited. At least, he hoped that Richard would have the same intention.