“They’re not the wrong omega. It was mistaken identity, but not a mistake. Wrong person, right time, but then they became the right person.” That would be why Kai was upset.
“Well, yeah, Kai became the right person, becauseshe’sthe right person. So, it was just supposed to be,” Steven agreed. “But we need to make sure Kai isn’t sad. I don’t want her to go home upset.”
I squeezed Steven’s hand. “Me neither.”
There weren’t very many people left at the team shop, but there were four, small Asian women, all about older middle age. Two were holding up different shirts thatwere specific for the finals as if trying to gauge sizes. The other two were trying on hats.
“Too small?” the one with a bun tied with a scarf, and glasses asked.
“Yes,” replied one that looked a lot like her, but had a headband with her bun and no glasses.
“Hi.” Kai’s voice was small and they hung back.
I opened my arms. “Starshine.”
She sniffed and ran into my arms. I hugged them tightly. “I’ve got you.”
“We won!” Steven bounced over and hugged the both of us.
“You did. I’m so happy for you. That means all you need to do is win one more game and then you’ve won the championship.” Kai's voice was slightly muffled with them squished between us.
“Yeah, we won! Incredible. I’m so happy you came,” Steven said.
“It made me really happy to see you in the stands.” It settled something inside me.
“The aunties had a great time. The seats you got for us were amazing and I met some nice people. I think they belong to your defense partner. We need to talk though. I found something out.” Kai sniffed.
“We know, Jackson came and found us. He told us everything and apologized for Claire making you cry,” Steven said.
“I can’t believe I’m the wrong omega.” Kai’s voice broke.
I kiss the top of their head. “You’re not the wrong omega. I promise it doesn’t matter. You’re still amazingand we had a great time,” I reassured Kai, who looked like they didn’t quite believe me.
“We can absolutely talk about it. But in the middle of the team shop is probably not the place. Why don’t we go out? We don’t have to go to Slapshots.” Steven looked at his phone. “There’s some places we can just walk to.”
“Oh, I think we can let you take us out.” A woman appeared holding a bag, she looked us up and down like she was judging us. Another woman was with her–she had long hair and big glasses.
“I can see why you enjoy spending time with them,” the second one added.
Kai laughed. “Auntie Cookie, Auntie Tiff, this is Ashton and Steven.”
“Thank you for inviting us. It was very generous,” Auntie Tiff said.
“I especially enjoyed watching the warm-ups,” Auntie Cookie added.
I wanted to spend a little time with only Kai, but I had a feeling we were going to have to pay the auntie tax.
“Kiki and Mimi are checking out. We got lots of things for your cousins,” Auntie Cookie said.
Another one of the ladies called for them and they left.
“Do you have a lot of cousins?” I asked Kai.
“Pretty much everybody’s a cousin if they’re not your uncle or auntie. But yes they’re doing all their souvenir shopping,” Kai said.
All four of them came over to us. The one with the glasses, a scarf in her hair, and a bun gave us a very expectant look.
“These are the ones you’ve been spending all the time with. Huh.” She peered at us through her glasses.
