Perhaps even Yu Sheng herself hadn’t realized that her urgent words carried a hint of fear. An inexplicable terror surged from the depths of her heart, enveloping the omega. The only strength she had left was concentrated in her tight grip on that corner of fabric.
However, Jiang Qiu did not speak. In absolute silence, she pushed the omega’s hand away.
It was exactly the same heartless cruelty the omega had shown her all those years ago.
As an alpha, it was hard for her not to harbor resentment, and hard not to be angry.
The past had never truly been laid to rest in her heart. That scar reopened time and time again, constantly remembered in the deep, silent dreams of the night. She wanted it to heal on its own, but the wound was simply too itchy. It itched so much that the alpha couldn’t help but scratch at it, making the wound cut even deeper, until it became a thorn embedded in her heart.
Forgiveness was no longer something she could simply decide to give.
Jiang Qiu felt that the only thing she could do now was to avoid her, until enough time passed to blur her memories.
Yu Sheng felt an unprecedented sense of helplessness and panic. For the first time, Jiang Qiu had become so unfamiliar. There was clearly only half a step of distance between them, yet the alpha felt as distant as a cloud in the sky. Her eyes welled with redness, and she lost every shred of her confidence.
Yet, the tiny sliver of hope remaining in her heart compelled the omega to ask once more:
“Sister, do you still…”
“Yu Sheng, what was between us is already in the past,” Jiang Qiu interrupted coldly, cutting her off.
“Do you really have no feelings left for me at all?” Yu Sheng’s eyelashes trembled as she asked in a hoarse voice.
Jiang Qiu’s fingertips dug forcefully into her palm. She tried to think of Wen Yan to calm herself down. “From this day forward, we are completely finished.”
“I don’t want to…”
“Yu Sheng, your purpose has been achieved. There’s no need to feel like you need me anymore.” Jiang Qiu looked at the omega one last time and said, “Let’s just part ways with some dignity, alright? Must you insist on us having a massive argument here and making a laughingstock out of ourselves in front of the whole company?”
With that, the alpha turned and walked away, leaving Yu Sheng standing frozen in place all by herself.
The omega didn’t understand what Jiang Qiu meant. What did she mean by ‘your purpose has been achieved’?
On the day Yu Sheng graduated from university, Jiang Qiu was both overjoyed and nervous.
She had already asked all of her close friends about every detail from discussing how to decorate the proposal venue to brainstorming how to lead Yu Sheng there without her noticing. The alpha had meticulously planned every single aspect. She didn’t want anything to go wrong with her proposal, and more than anything, she wanted to give Yu Sheng an unprecedented surprise.
From the moment she started planning the proposal, Jiang Qiu found it almost impossible to calm her emotions. Her joyful expression was so difficult to conceal that she had nearly given the secret away. Furthermore, she conscientiously studied online proposal cases every single night. During that period, the wedding planner she hired was probably driven half-crazy by her endless questions.
The proposal ring had been selected half a year in advance. Jiang Qiu had always intended to get a pair that was unique and perfectly suited for the two of them, so she had taken a very long time to choose back then.
Aside from Yu Sheng herself, everyone else who was close to Jiang Qiu, including the alpha’s family, knew about the proposal.
Everyone knew that Jiang Qiu was about to propose to her first love, and everyone knew that the alpha loved that omega so deeply that she would willingly offer everything she owned on a silver platter.
“She is a very special and wonderful omega, and I love her very much. Being able to marry her is the greatest fortune of my life,” Jiang Qiu had told her two mothers.
Yu Sheng was the best omega in the entire world, in her eyes, no one else could ever compare.
The alpha was eager to build a home with Yu Sheng. Just the thought of relying on each other and spending intimate, tender moments together in the future filled her with immense anticipation.
Yu Sheng would soon be her wife, and they would hold hands for a lifetime.
Jiang Qiu was entirely immersed in the joy of her upcoming proposal to her beloved omega, utterly failing to notice Yu Sheng’s unusual coldness lately. The alpha simply assumed that since graduation was approaching, she just had a lot of things on her plate, and nothing more.
On the day she picked up the ring, Jiang Qiu looked at it repeatedly, unable to put it down. She had already begun to picture how the ring would look on the omega’s finger, imagining the cold metal gradually warming against her skin. They would spend every day together, whether ordinary or extraordinary.
It was a beautiful future, a life full of wonderful anticipation.
The night before graduation, after ensuring that every single step of the process was flawless, Jiang Qiu finally went to sleep with a peaceful mind.
Yet, on the day of the proposal, many unexpected incidents still occurred.
Yu Sheng couldn’t be reached, her phone consistently failed to go through. Jiang Qiu searched all over but couldn’t find any sign of the omega, and the proposal plan fell into disarray right from the start. It wasn’t until the graduation ceremony began that Jiang Qiu finally spotted Yu Sheng in the venue. Knowing that the omega was safe, she breathed a sigh of relief and decided to adjust the proposal timeline after the ceremony ended instead.
However, Yu Sheng seemed to be busy. As soon as the graduation ceremony concluded, she left the school grounds in a hurry.
Jiang Qiu originally wanted to wait for Yu Sheng to finish her business and return, since the proposal venue was set up inside the campus. But after waiting for a long time, all that arrived was a darkening sky and a sudden downpour of rain.
Jiang Qiu returned to her apartment to grab an umbrella. By the time she stepped outside again, the rain was pouring heavily, violently rattling against the window panes.
Thus, the alpha walked out of the school gates, worried that Yu Sheng might be stranded somewhere without an umbrella.
Before stepping out, Jiang Qiu checked her pocket to make sure the ring was still there. Yu Sheng hadn’t gone too far. When the alpha walked out, the omega was just getting down from a car parked at the school entrance.
Jiang Qiu walked over holding the umbrella. As the car drove away, she hesitated for a moment before finally asking, “Why didn’t you check your phone?”
“I didn’t bring it.” Yu Sheng looked up at her, opening her hands to show that the phone wasn’t on her person.
“The rain is too heavy, let’s head back to school,” Jiang Qiu said.
Fortunately, today’s proposal wouldn’t be completely ruined, it would just be delayed a little bit.
The alpha turned around to head back, but Yu Sheng’s footsteps remained frozen in place.
The icy rain beat down against the omega’s cheeks. She spoke. “Jiang Qiu.”
Jiang Qiu turned back, quickly walking over to hold the umbrella over Yu Sheng. “Be careful not to catch a cold in the rain, if you get sick…”
Before she could finish her sentence, Yu Sheng interrupted her:
“Jiang Qiu, let’s break up.”
The air seemed to solidify instantly. Jiang Qiu’s movements froze on the spot, believing she had misheard.
“What did you say?”
“Jiang Qiu, I’m done using you.” Yu Sheng’s eyes were illuminated slightly by a flash of lightning ripping through the sky. “Let’s break up.”
Jiang Qiu opened her mouth, but she was struck mute, utterly lost in a daze of shock.
The words “break up” seemed to pin her to the spot. The continuous joy she had felt over the past weeks instantly transformed into the lightning in the sky, delivering an unspeakable backlash to the alpha.
One second, she was still basking in the happiness of her planned proposal today; the next second, she was struck numb by Yu Sheng’s words.
This came so suddenly that she couldn’t even manage a basic reaction.
In that instant, Jiang Qiu’s gaze became unfocused. She didn’t even know whether she should ask “why” first, or ask “what do you mean by using me” first. All she knew was that at this moment, the smile on her face could no longer be sustained, and her raised hand froze mid-air. All of this defied everything she had anticipated.
It was more jarring and helpless than any accident she had ever encountered in her life.
“Yu Sheng…” The alpha’s voice was incredibly raspy. She used the last remnants of her strength to speak, her searching gaze fixed entirely on the omega.
The omega showed no reaction, behaving as if she hadn’t heard a thing.
Thus, Jiang Qiu spoke again. “Yu Sheng, what do you mean? What does everything you just said mean?”
Asking this question felt as though it consumed all her strength. The alpha was somewhat afraid to hear the answer, gripped by an unprecedented terror. Her grip on the umbrella slipped, and it dropped to the ground. Ignoring all dignity, Jiang Qiu hurriedly tried to pull out her proposal ring.
“Jiang Qiu, thank you for your infatuation. It’s the only reason I was able to use you,” Yu Sheng answered her.
Jiang Qiu’s movements froze. The ring box clutched in her hand grew wet, and the alpha gripped it tightly. The sound of the torrential rain was incredibly loud, yet Yu Sheng’s words still cut through clearly into her ears.
The rainwater soaked through her hair and clothes. Jiang Qiu felt extremely cold.
Cold as an ice cellar, cold as hell.
A moment later, Yu Sheng walked past her side, ruthlessly refusing to spare her another glance.
Jiang Qiu didn’t know how long she stood there in place. Her fingertips grew ice-cold, and the rain never stopped. A phone call came in, but she didn’t answer, only bending down to pick up the fallen umbrella.
Whether the rainwater was too heavy or the umbrella itself was too heavy, Jiang Qiu felt as if every step she took was immensely difficult. Her breathing was broken and ragged, and her mind replayed those few sentences Yu Sheng had just uttered over and over again.
The pain in her heart made it almost impossible for the alpha to breathe. Jiang Qiu would stop after walking just a few paces. She turned around to lean against a nearby wall, bending her waist and lowering her head, looking utterly exhausted and haggard in a matter of moments.
Opening the ring box in her hand, Jiang Qiu choked back a sob as a single tear fell onto the ring.
How did it turn out like this?
By the time she returned to the graduate student apartments, Jiang Qiu was completely drenched from head to toe. Before her gaze could even land on Yu Sheng’s door, she first noticed the packed luggage set outside the room.
Her trembling lips failed to steady themselves despite several attempts to calm down. Jiang Qiu slowly approached just as Yu Sheng opened the door from the inside. It appeared the omega had already been packing her things over the past few days; she was impatient to leave.
Seeing Jiang Qiu standing there, Yu Sheng acted as though she didn’t see her, lifting her foot to brush past the alpha.
Jiang Qiu grabbed her by the wrist.
“Yu Sheng…” The alpha lowered her eyes, trying her absolute best to soften her tone as she asked quietly, “Did I do something wrong to make you unhappy?”
Yu Sheng said, “No.”
“If there’s a conflict, we can sit down and resolve it properly, alright?” Jiang Qiu took a deep breath and spoke again.
The omega said nothing more, pulling her hand away to break free from the alpha’s restraint.
“Yu Sheng.” Jiang Qiu’s tone grew a bit more urgent. “Whatever it is, let’s sit down and talk about it properly first. Don’t break up.”
Her eyes grew red, and tears spilled from them. When she looked at Yu Sheng, her brow furrowed slightly, and a hint of pleading actually surfaced within her gaze.
“Those words you said… I can pretend I never heard them.”
She had never bowed her head to anyone.
This was the first time.