See? She’s just a stranger I’ve met a few times. I don’t need to care too much.
Once the dependency period is over, everything will be fine.
It’s just a transaction.
…
Through the phone screen, Bai Long couldn’t see Lu Yue’s expression, but based on the reply, he didn’t seem to be angry about her earlier bluntness.
Especially since he offered to pick her up—the weight she’d been carrying in her chest for the past few days finally eased.
Great, he didn’t hold it against her.
To be honest, Bai Long couldn’t clearly remember what happened that night at the hospital anymore. The pheromones had been so intense, they left her dizzy and barely conscious.
If she hadn’t woken up in Lu Yue’s bed the next morning, she might have thought it was just a very vivid dream.
It was honestly terrifying.
Before her enhancement, she hadn’t been affected by Omega pheromones at all.
And now, just a few days later, she had somehow become… a seven-round champion in one night.
“Lao Bai, Lao Bai!”
“Huh? What?”
Lost in her thoughts, Bai Long’s reaction was delayed. Only when Chen Lan waved a hand in front of her face did she snap back to attention.
“What do you mean, ‘what’? What’s up with you these past few days? It was just a temporary mark for your friend—why are you so spaced out? Still reliving it?”
Even though Bai Long had marked Lu Yue on a Friday, the sheer frequency had left her pheromones overwhelmingly strong.
They hadn’t fully faded even after the weekend.
From a distance, it was barely noticeable, but Chen Lan hung out with Bai Long often and couldn’t help picking up on it.
Because she had signed a contract with Lu Yue, she couldn’t tell anyone about the transaction-based marking.
So under Chen Lan’s persistent questioning, Bai Long could only stammer out that she had helped an Omega friend from the café with a temporary mark, which was why she still carried their scent.
Chen Lan was too busy being envious to notice the unnatural look on Bai Long’s face, so she didn’t question it further. However, even if Chen Lan believed her, Bai Long still felt incredibly guilty whenever the subject came up.
“…No, I just accidentally spaced out.”
She didn’t dare meet Chen Lan’s eyes, afraid she’d be found out, and quickly changed the subject.
“By the way, what were you trying to tell me?”
“Oh, right—next period is math. I was too busy gaming yesterday, didn’t have time to do the problems. Hand over your math test, let me copy it.”
As soon as Chen Lan finished, a boy behind her who had just returned from filling his water bottle couldn’t hold back a snort.
“Seriously, Lao Chen, you make it sound like you ever have time to do homework.”
“Piss off. Whether I do my homework or not is none of your damn business. My girl here is top of the grade—as long as I have her, I’ll always have something to copy.”
“…Damn, never seen someone brag so hard about copying homework before. Respect.”
After bickering with the boy for a bit, Chen Lan quickly took the test paper Bai Long handed over and started scribbling away. Halfway through copying, Chen Lan paused, frowning as she picked up the test paper for a closer look.
Bai Long had just taken out the materials she needed for the next class when she noticed Chen Lan squinting at her test paper, looking puzzled.
“Ah Lan, is something unclear? Can’t you read it?”
“No, no, it’s clear enough. It’s just here… right in the top-right corner…”
Chen Lan examined it carefully for a moment, then pointed.
“This handwriting doesn’t look like yours.”
The girl froze, then suddenly remembered something and quickly took the paper back to check.
Sure enough, there was a formula written in the corner—in Lu Yue’s handwriting.
It was written back at the hospital when he was explaining the problem to her.
Only, they hadn’t finished going over that question—he had gone into heat first.
And then… they ended up in bed.
At that thought, Bai Long’s mind uncontrollably replayed the intimate, charged scenes from that night—the tingling sensation like an electric current when his hand touched her gland.
The crisp scent of white cedar mixed with the sweetness of strawberries, like the gentle warmth of snowmelt in early spring.
“…Oh, this? The teacher accidentally wrote it while explaining the problem to me earlier. You can just ignore it.”
Bai Long tried to steady her racing heart, forcing her expression to stay as calm as usual.
Even so, beneath her hair, the tips of her ears had unconsciously turned a faint pink.
Chen Lan couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.
If it were any other time, she might have pressed further, but class was about to start, and homework was going to be checked soon—she didn’t have time to dwell on it.
So she just gave Bai Long a skeptical look, muttered an “oh,” and went back to copying the test.
The girl breathed an inward sigh of relief.
She turned slightly, hiding from Chen Lan and the others, and raised a hand.
Pressing the back of her hand against her cheek.
Sure enough, just like that night when the man had leaned close to her—
It was burning hot.
…
Usually after school, unless she had a part-time shift, Bai Long would walk home with Chen Lan.
But since Lu Yue was coming to pick her up today, and she didn’t want Chen Lan asking too many questions, she hadn’t mentioned that she wasn’t going straight home.
Worried Lu Yue might be waiting too long, Bai Long quickly packed up and jogged to the school gate.
Lu Yue had arrived ten minutes earlier, but to avoid drawing attention, he hadn’t parked directly in front of the school.
Following the location he’d mentioned, Bai Long walked for a while before spotting the stretch Lincoln tucked under a sycamore tree at the corner.
The evening sun cast an orange glow, and light filtered slowly through the leaves.
Lu Yue sat by the window, dappled sunlight drifting over him through the glass, giving the scene an indescribably quiet, beautiful feeling.
“Mr. Lu.”
Bai Long bent slightly, lowering her voice to call the man inside who seemed to be resting with his eyes closed.
Truth be told, Lu Yue had caught Bai Long’s pheromones the moment she started walking toward the car, but he made an effort not to show it too obviously.
Only when she softly called out did his eyelashes flutter faintly.
He wanted to suppress his reaction to her pheromones—at least enough that she wouldn’t notice on the surface.
With that in mind, Lu Yue slowly opened his eyes. His obsidian-dark gaze was perfectly calm.
He lifted his lids and gave the girl a casual glance.
“Get in first.”
“Oh, right. Okay.”
Unlike other Omegas, even after everything that had happened, he showed no trace of embarrassment or anger on his face.
Just like usual, as if nothing had occurred at all.
This situation was actually ideal for Bai Long—after all, under the law, forcibly marking an Omega could lead to criminal charges.
The initial transactional marking was one thing, but that night, she clearly hadn’t been able to resist temptation and had marked him over and over.
Even though Lu Yue hadn’t refused, and there had been a mutual push-and-pull—something like willing participation—
If he changed his mind afterward and denied it, there was an eighty to ninety percent chance she’d end up behind bars.
Even if he didn’t take her to court, he could still use it to threaten her, turning her into his personal marking tool for life.
But Lu Yue hadn’t done any of that—he hadn’t even brought it up afterward.
Just thinking about it made Bai Long feel both relieved and deeply grateful.
“Mr. Lu, thank you. You really are a good person.”
She meant this from the bottom of her heart, but as soon as the words left her mouth, the driver in front nearly hit the brakes in surprise.
As for the “good person” card recipient himself, Lu Yue’s mood was… complicated. The driver might not have understood what Bai Long was thanking him for,
But he knew.
This girl still hadn’t realized that from the very beginning of that night, he had been deliberately provoking her, unable to stand her indifference—purposely making her think she was the one taking the initiative.
Lu Yue fell silent for a moment, gazing into her clear, amber-colored eyes.
“Then how do you plan to thank me?”
Completely caught off guard by Lu Yue turning her own words back on her, Bai Long was stunned for a moment.
“I… I left you a note earlier…”
“That doesn’t count. That was what you already owed me.”
Well… he had a point.
It was her who had taken advantage of him in the first place. He hadn’t refused because he was too weak to resist—that mark was something she should’ve given back anyway.
Other than that, she really hadn’t properly thanked him.
“…I don’t know.”
After thinking it over for a long while, Bai Long shook her head, looking somewhat defeated.
“Mr. Lu, I… I don’t have money, and I don’t have anything valuable I can give you. Even the marking was just luck because our pheromones happened to match.”
“If you don’t mind… after I’ve repaid these four or five marks, if you still need marking during your heats…”
“You’ll mark me for free?”
Before Bai Long could finish, the man picked up the second half of her sentence.
Sunlight streamed in through the window like honey, coating him in a soft orange glow. Beneath his long lashes, his eyes were lit up—
Shimmering with a breathtaking light.
Bai Long was momentarily dazed by the sight, nearly swayed by his beauty, instinctively about to agree.
But just as she was about to nod, she snapped back to reality and quickly shook her head.
“No, no, not for free. A 50% discount.”
“…”
Tch.
Little money-grubber.