Over the weekend, Fu Chen suddenly suffered a relapse. His fitness tracker emitted a shrill, frantic buzzing sound, warning that the pheromone levels of the person wearing it were currently extremely unstable.
Yet Fu Chen didn’t want to find Wen Yu at all. Right now, he only felt like a dog caught in the grip of pheromones, reduced to needing charity from someone else.
Fu Chen loathed Wen Yu, and he loathed himself even more for it.
He refused to believe it. Without this so-called destined match, he refused to accept that he couldn’t hold on. He refused to believe he couldn’t control his own pheromones.
While Fu Chen was struggling in agony in his room, Wen Yu was analyzing his weekend exam papers and summarizing his mistakes, especially in mathematics, which was the subject he had performed worst on this time around.
Actually, he was quite curious to see Fu Chen’s exam papers, but considering how much Fu Chen loathed him, he figured Fu Chen would hardly hand them over for him to look at. Deciding it was a lost cause, he put the thought out of his head.
Wen Yu studied the entire afternoon. When Uncle Chen called him down for dinner, Fu Chen was nowhere to be seen, so Wen Yu simply assumed Fu Chen had gone out again.
After all, Fu Chen frequently went out, and whenever he did, he rarely returned before late at night.
After finishing his dinner, Wen Yu helped Uncle Chen water the flowers in the courtyard, assisted the domestic staff with carrying a few things, and then headed back upstairs to his room to resume his studies.
Studying all the way until around two in the morning, a wave of sleepiness washed over Wen Yu, and he drifted straight off to sleep.
Perhaps because he was quite exhausted today, Wen Yu fell asleep almost immediately. He dreamed that he was running through a dense forest, gasping for breath as he continuously pushed forward. From time to time, he looked back over his shoulder, but there was only pitch-black darkness.
Finally, when Wen Yu saw a glimmer of light appearing ahead of him, hope ignited in his heart. Just a few more steps and he would be able to break out of the forest, but he suddenly discovered that he couldn’t move forward even an inch. Puzzled, he looked down and saw his feet entangled by vines. The vines were creeping steadily upward, seemingly intent on wrapping around his entire body.
Just as the vines tightened further and Wen Yu felt as though he were suffocating, he jerked awake from the dream.
After gasping heavily for breath, Wen Yu felt something gripping him tightly and securely. Still half-asleep and his mind not yet fully clear, he thought he was still trapped in the dream.
Wen Yu struggled violently, but the vines trapping him instead tightened even more aggressively in response.
Wen Yu reached downward with his hand and touched warm skin. It was unequivocally a pair of human hands.
Wen Yu furrowed his brow, and a moment later, he belatedly caught the scent of heavy Wolong tea filling the air.
With a sharp click, Wen Yu switched on the small bedside nightlight. Turning his head to look beside him, who else could it be but Fu Chen.
The Alpha’s peaceful sleeping face appeared right before his eyes. The Alpha’s warm breath lightly fanned against the back of his neck, making Wen Yu feel an intense itch.
“Fu Chen.” Wen Yu attempted to pry open Fu Chen’s arms wrapped around his waist, but Fu Chen held onto him with the desperate tenacity of a drowning person clinging to a straw. The pitiful amount of strength Wen Yu possessed was completely inadequate against an Alpha exerting his full force.
“Fu Chen.” Wen Yu’s brow furrowed slightly as he called out to Fu Chen once more, trying to jolt him awake.
This guy went around professing his hatred for everyone and everything, yet he sneaked into Wen Yu’s room in the middle of the night. Wen Yu found it somewhat absurd.
The Alpha behind him seemed far too deep asleep to be easily awakened. Left with no other choice, Wen Yu had no option but to call Uncle Chen.
True to his professional reputation as a seasoned butler, Uncle Chen arrived at Wen Yu’s room promptly, impeccably dressed despite the ungodly hour of the night.
Uncle Chen switched on all the lights in Wen Yu’s room, instantly exposing the scene unfolding before them in broad clarity: his young master was tightly clutching Wen Yu in his arms, with the tip of his nose pressed right against the back of Wen Yu’s neck.
Uncle Chen had already placed a call to the doctor, but the current predicament left the old butler caught in a difficult dilemma.
Uncle Chen directed the staff to pull Fu Chen away from Wen Yu, but the Alpha seemed completely out of it. No matter how forcefully they tried to pry his hands apart, he only tightened his grip around the Omega in his arms, radiating an aura that clearly signaled nobody dared separate them.
Provoked, the Alpha snapped his eyes open. His bloodshot, burning gaze stared dangerously at the people trying to pry him away from his Omega, while a low, indistinct growl rumbled in his throat. The warning was unmistakable, as if he had reverted to the most primal state of an Alpha whose possessive instincts over his prey had turned into fanatical instinct.
It was the stance of someone ready to tear apart anyone who dared try to separate him from his Omega.
Naturally, the servants didn’t dare injure Fu Chen, leaving them to look back and forth at Uncle Chen in utter helplessness.
Fu Chengze and Shen Wanjun had also been jolted awake by the commotion. Upon entering Wen Yu’s room, what greeted their eyes was Fu Chen holding Wen Yu tightly in his arms, confronting the household staff with an intensely aggressive stance.
“What is the meaning of this?” Fu Chengze furrowed his brow deeply.
“The young master suddenly ran into Wen Yu’s room in the middle of the night and started holding him. Wen Yu got startled and notified me. I’ve already contacted Dr. Xu, and he should be arriving shortly,” Uncle Chen explained the situation.
“How on earth did his condition flare up so suddenly?” Shen Wanjun asked, looking with deep concern at the raving Fu Chen on the bed and Wen Yu, who was struggling to breathe due to being held far too tightly.
Wen Yu’s forehead was slick with sweat as he panted heavily in Fu Chen’s embrace, struggling for air.
While the servants were afraid of hurting Fu Chen, Fu Chengze certainly had no such reservations. Fu Chengze strode up to the bedside. At that moment, Fu Chen’s consciousness was blurred; recognizing only that the person before him was trying to snatch away his Omega, Fu Chen bared his sharp canine teeth and emitted a warning, low growl.
Placing a hand on Fu Chen’s shoulder, Fu Chengze applied a sharp, practiced leverage technique to subdue him. “You’ve really gone too far this time.”
Struggling unceasingly, Fu Chen roared in fury, “Let go! Let me go!”
Freed from the bondage at last, Wen Yu scrambled off the bed in a hurry, putting as much distance between himself and Fu Chen as possible.
“What are you standing around for? Hurry up and get a rope to tie this brat up,” Fu Chengze instructed the servants while turning his head slightly.
“Yes!” Snapping out of it, the servants rushed off to find a rope. With practiced efficiency, Fu Chengze bound Fu Chen up in no time. Fu Chen refused to cooperate in the slightest, keeping his burning gaze locked onto Wen Yu while angrily repeating over and over again, “Give him back to me! Give him back to me!”
“Are you all right?” Fu Chengze asked Wen Yu.
“I am fine.” Wen Yu replied in a low, slightly raspy voice. He had indeed been frightened by the unhinged Fu Chen, especially by the way Fu Chen had acted just moments ago as though he desperately wanted to fuse Wen Yu completely into his own body.
This was the absolute bond derived from high pheromone compatibility between a normal Alpha and Omega. No matter how much one might loathe a person, as long as the pheromone compatibility was sufficiently high, it would inevitably breed a crazed possessiveness. Could anyone truly draw a clear line between this kind of possessiveness and actual love?
Watching the raving Fu Chen, Wen Yu suddenly understood the root of his resistance. Because if it weren’t for him, but rather anyone else possessing this gland with such high pheromone compatibility with Fu Chen, it would elicit the exact same intense possessiveness from Fu Chen. That alone was tragic enough.
A flash of pity flickered through Wen Yu’s eyes, pity for an Alpha destined to be at the mercy of his own pheromones for the rest of his life.
How truly pathetic.
Whether it was just his imagination or not, Wen Yu always felt as though Fu Chen’s gaze had regained a split second of clarity, only for it to vanish again in the blink of an eye.
Dr. Xu arrived promptly. By the time he got there, Fu Chen was no longer thrashing about, having passed out entirely from sheer exhaustion.
After finishing his examination of Fu Chen, Dr. Xu removed Fu Chen’s fitness tracker and extracted the logged data. He discovered that for the past month, Fu Chen’s pheromone levels had grown extremely unstable every single night, appearing on the charts as one consecutive peak after another.
Today, the levels had been climbing steadily since daylight, and by nightfall, Fu Chen’s pheromone index had skyrocketed to a terrifying figure.
“Young Master Fu deliberately chose to grit his teeth and keep quiet about it,” Dr. Xu sighed. “Given tonight’s horrifying numbers, anyone else would have completely lost their mind by now.”
Fu Chengze and Shen Wanjun exchanged glances, both of them furrowing their brows.
Wen Yu felt a faint trace of astonishment as well.
“Young Master Fu would rather endure the excruciating agony of Pheromone Disruption Syndrome all by himself than seek help from his destined match,” Dr. Xu easily deduced the underlying reasoning behind Fu Chen’s string of behaviors.
“What on earth is this stubborn brat thinking?” Fu Chengze grew irritated that Fu Chen took such reckless risks with his own health. “What kind of reckless heroics is he trying to pull!”
Shen Wanjun felt a similar wave of shock and asked, “Dr. Xu, what should we do about this situation now?”
Dr. Xu cast a glance at Fu Chen before shifting his gaze to Wen Yu. “After such an upheaval, Young Master Fu’s body has developed an even greater dependency on his destined match’s pheromones. Previously, having them spend regular time together might have sufficed, but now, it would be best for them to stay together every single moment, with time apart ideally not exceeding an hour.”
Fu Chengze and Shen Wanjun both fell silent as they looked toward Wen Yu.
Did this not mean that aside from attending school together, the two of them now had to live together as well?
In truth, Fu Chengze had been well aware of the two boys staying out overnight previously. He had always been indulgent and spoiling when it came to Fu Chen, satisfying whatever Fu Chen desired to the best of his ability. Frankly speaking, Fu Chengze didn’t care much about what happened to Wen Yu anyway.
To put it bluntly, the so-called engagement between the Fu and Zhou families was more clearly understood as a business transaction. Since that was the case, Wen Yu now belonged to the Fu household.
Fu Chengze tolerated the Zhou family’s greed solely because Wen Yu could cure Fu Chen’s condition. Therefore, leaving aside a temporary mark, even if Fu Chen wished to fully mark Wen Yu, there was nothing to object to if it meant curing his illness.
What harm could there be in sharing the same bedroom?
“Xiao Yu.” Shen Wanjun began with a troubled expression. It was not an easy request to voice, and she truly looked deeply conflicted.
Wen Yu almost wanted to applaud Shen Wanjun’s exquisite acting skills.
After a brief moment of silence, Wen Yu said, “I have no objections, but I hope Fu Chen can refrain from running outside so often. I need time to study.”
“Very well, I will communicate properly with Xiao Chen.” Shen Wanjun smiled, quite pleased with Wen Yu’s cooperation.
Fu Chengze glanced at Wen Yu. This Omega at least knew how to read the room and act sensibly. Since no one had any objections, the two of them would live together and share the same room.
When Fu Chen woke up, he found a group of people surrounding him. He only felt his entire body aching with soreness and fatigue, his head swimming, and his shoulders hurting with particular intensity.
“Xiao Chen, you’re awake.” Shen Wanjun said with a smile.
Fu Chen didn’t quite remember what had happened the previous night, yet even Dr. Xu had been summoned over.
“Why is Dr. Xu here?” Fu Chen sat up from the bed, massaging his temples as he asked.
“You don’t remember anything?” Shen Wanjun asked.
Fu Chen frowned. “What am I supposed to remember? What happened?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Fu Chen belatedly noticed the massive layout change in his bedroom. His bed had been moved from the exact center of the room over to the window side, and right next to his bed sat an extra, unfamiliar bed.
“Why is there an extra bed here?”
Shen Wanjun glanced at Dr. Xu, then proceeded to give Fu Chen a rough description of what he had done the night before. The expression on Fu Chen’s face grew uglier and darker with every word, clouds of gloom gathering thick. It wasn’t as though he had zero recollection; a pair of eyes filled with pity suddenly flashed across his mind, featuring a faint, subtle red mole that seemed to appear and disappear whenever those eyes blinked.
Fu Chen looked as though he had been provoked into a humorless laugh. “An engagement isn’t enough, and now I have to sleep in the same room with him? Absolutely out of the question.”
Wen Yu sat quietly nearby, showing little outward reaction to Fu Chen’s words. After all, his own anticipation of Fu Chen’s reaction was pretty much identical to the reality.
Fu Chengze, however, grew rather angry. He glared coldly at Fu Chen. “Think you’re a big shot now, don’t you? Wanting to tough it out on your own just to prove to us that you don’t need anyone else’s pheromones?”
Fu Chengze understood his son’s personality better than anyone. Naming Fu Chen’s true underlying intent instantly fueled a blazing irritation in his chest.
“Treating your body like dirt and failing to take your health seriously, and you still expect to get into the White Wolf Special Operations Unit with that attitude!” Fu Chengze knew precisely what Fu Chen cared about. “Follow the doctor’s treatment plan and cooperate properly. If this illness doesn’t get better and you really end up losing your mind, which military unit is going to take you?”
Casting a heavy look at Fu Chen, Fu Chengze turned around and walked out of the room.
Clenching his fists tightly, Fu Chen stared at Wen Yu with teeth gritted in hatred. “Don’t get cocky. This damn illness is going to be cured sooner or later.”