Page 39 of Mate Match: Curtis & Jae
“Hey, how’s it going?” I greeted my best friend. I hadn’t heard from him in a few days, both of us so busy with work.
“Jae? You need to look at this. I’m going to send you a video, okay? Watch it and call me back.” Brady sounded upset. It had me alert immediately.
“Alright. What’s happening?”
“Just look at this, okay?” He ended the call abruptly. I stared at the phone for a minute in shock. Brady was never rude to me like that. Whatever it was had him rattled.
A message with a link popped up. It took me to a news site, one which had a reputation for facts over scaremongering. A feeling of foreboding came over me.
The video loaded quickly. In the report, a woman was facing the camera with a familiar building behind her. Her face was set into a stern expression. Oh, this had to be bad!
“Whistleblowers have come out saying AlphaPharm knew a batch of the popular quick acting contraception DuoStop was faulty and still allowed it to be sold. The company then hid the fact that they knew worsening this terrible situation. Despite taking the precautions necessary to prevent a pregnancy, AlphaPharm knew their contraception would fail in as much as fifty percent of uses. The company has since issued a product recall for two batches. If these egregious actions have affected you, the medical council suggests reporting this either to the police or to a medical professional. In a statement from AlphaPharm’s legal team, they have confirmed a significant compensation package will be paid to those confirmed to have become pregnant after taking the faulty DuoStop.”
What the fuck? I watched the video three times before what she said really registered. Faulty DuoStop? They’d known about it? How could this have happened?
“Oh, shit!”
Could we have taken one of the faulty batches? I loved being pregnant with Curtis’ child, but I would have preferred a little more time to date him before taking such a big step. Would I go back and change things? Maybe not. I was lucky. Curtis was perfect for me. We were building an incredible life together. We were well suited, thanks to the Mate Match app.
Things could have been different, though. I thought of all the omegas relying on the contraception who were maybe not in the position to have a child. Would they have felt shamed andhad abortions? Were they having kids they might not be able to afford?
Rather than call Brady back, I sent him a text telling him I’d speak to him later, first I needed to speak to my alpha. I paced the room, rubbing my stomach, our bean kicking away as I called Curtis.
“Hey, babe, is everything alright?” He sounded slightly tense, not likely at my interruption. Curtis was the first to admit he rarely took a proper break. A call from me often gave him the excuse to rest some.
“Have you seen the news?” I asked abruptly, my stress sharpening my words.
“Been a bit busy here. The owner ordered the wrong size sink, and we had to discuss—”
“Sorry, but you really need to check the news.”
My incredibly patient boyfriend let out a little sigh. “Jae, I’m really busy here. Could you tell me what’s happening?”
I took a second not to get upset. Damn hormones. Curtis wasn’t dismissing me, he was just busy and I’d interrupted. Rather than lie and say he’d check it out, or put me off to later, he wanted the news from my lips. He trusted what I said. I was working on unlearning bad habits from my relationship with Hwan.
Quickly, I outlined the problem. Playing the video back so he could hear the words from the source’s mouth.
Curtis swore a line of expletives that would have had him banned from my parents’ house.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Bless him, always thinking of me first. “I’m fine. I think. What about you?”
“Jae, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me. We accepted this situation as fate, giving us a push. A point fivechance baby or a happy accident, doesn’t matter how they happened. This baby is wanted.”
“Yeah. They are. I’m grateful they gave me the push for more with you. I just feel bad for all the other omegas hurt by this. We’re lucky. What about the ones who are struggling?”
“Always thinking of others. You have the sweetest heart.” His pride in me was evident. “Do you still have connections from when you were working on your degree? Could you see if anyone wants to take this on? Surely there has to be a way of stopping it from happening again. If it wasn’t for the whistleblower, we might never have known.”
I took a moment to think. In order to get the legislation necessary, it would require a ton of support. This issue affected not only omegas, though. It caught alphas in its web, too.
“Hmmm, I might know someone. It’s part of an omega’s fundamental rights to have safe, effective contraception, so I think it’ll be an easy sell. DuoStop isn’t cheap.”
“Right. You’ve got this. Are you sure we’re one of the damaged batches?”
“No. I didn’t check. Just assumed. It seemed to fit.”
“If you want, I can stay on the phone while you have a look.” I heard him rustling about in his office. Hopefully he was taking time to eat something.
