The moment Jiang Qiu spoke, both Omegas were stunned. Clearly, even Jiang Qiu herself hadn’t fully anticipated her own words, having spoken entirely without thinking.
Wen Yan turned her head to look at Jiang Qiu. Although she didn’t say anything, she nodded understandingly.
“Is it a case of pheromone disorder?” Wen Yan turned back to ask Yu Sheng. Pausing for a moment, she added an explanation, “The suppressants needed for the two situations are different.”
But Yu Sheng suddenly changed her tune. “No need, Miss Wen. The situation isn’t serious. I’ll be fine after a brief rest. I won’t trouble you.”
Wen Yan froze for a second, subconsciously turning back to look at Jiang Qiu.
The Alpha frowned. Wen Yan leaned half an inch closer to her, gesturing with her finger to prompt her to say something and persuade her.
Jiang Qiu let out an imperceptible, soft sigh. Only after Wen Yan gently nudged her arm did she speak up: “Miss Yu, don’t force yourself.”
There was no reply from inside the room for a long time. Jiang Qiu shifted her steps closer to the door. Just as she was about to speak again, a sudden, loud crash echoed from within, sounding like a heavy object slamming onto the floor.
The Alpha’s heart tightened. She immediately raised her hand and knocked on the door. “Yu Sheng? What’s wrong?”
The door was locked from the inside. Jiang Qiu rattled the handle in vain, a wave of anxiety inevitably rising within her. She kept knocking continuously, but still, no spoken response came from inside.
Wen Yan grew worried as well and hurriedly said, “I’ll go find the staff to unlock the door.”
With that, Wen Yan turned around and rushed downstairs in a hurry.
Jiang Qiu was even considering breaking the door down, her tightly knitted brows betraying her difficult to conceal tension. The Alpha’s mind was in too much disarray to remain calm. Just as she turned around to look for a tool to force the door open, a sharp click sounded as the lock was undone from the inside.
Jiang Qiu pushed the door open immediately. The inside of the room was pitch-black.
The Omega’s pheromone scent was just as faint as always.
The scent of red sandalwood wafted to the tip of her nose, bringing an inexplicable sense of attraction to her. Jiang Qiu’s hand on the doorknob gripped tighter unconsciously. She stood rooted to the spot, the foot she wanted to lift pinned down by her suddenly returning rationality.
“Miss Yu, are you alright?” Jiang Qiu asked in a low voice.
Yu Sheng seemed to be staggering as she propped herself up against the nearby wall to stand. Her head was bowed, and her silhouette was faintly outlined by the light shining in from outside, making her look pitiful. The Omega’s breathing trembled; before she could even steady herself, she fell to the floor again on her attempt to walk out.
Even taking a deep breath became a shuddering effort. Enduring the pain, a thin layer of sweat broke out on Yu Sheng’s forehead.
The pheromones grew a little stronger.
Jiang Qiu couldn’t truly bring herself to be heartless. Seeing the Omega fall again, the final string of her rationality snapped completely. Casting everything else aside, she immediately strode inside and stopped right beside Yu Sheng.
“Where are you hurt?” Jiang Qiu asked.
All the light in front of Yu Sheng was blocked out by the Alpha. Jiang Qiu’s proximity caused her tears to spill over instantly.
“Jiejie…” Yu Sheng choked out. Her efforts to maintain her composure when she spoke were entirely futile.
The Omega raised her hand and tightly clutched the corner of Jiang Qiu’s clothes. She didn’t dare raise her head, only pursing her lips to suppress her chaotic emotions, trying her best not to appear too wretched in front of the Alpha.
At this moment, Yu Sheng was once again swallowed by the boundless self-deprecation deep in her heart.
She was just an inferior Omega.
Two years ago, she wasn’t good enough for Jiang Qiu. And now, even though she could be considered to have done quite well for herself abroad, she was still not good enough for Jiang Qiu. No matter how hard she tried to feign her goodness, she could never compare to Wen Yan, because the other Omega’s goodness was both simple and pure.
Yet, Yu Sheng still didn’t want to let go.
The words “not good enough” were incredibly suffocating to her, but if she were to let go once more for this exact reason, she wouldn’t have the strength to bear it.
She wished for the Alpha to draw close, and she couldn’t control her own desire to get closer, no matter how despicable it made her look.
Yu Sheng couldn’t quite sort out her own thoughts, perhaps because the leaking pheromones were making her less than clear headed. However, Yu Sheng still remembered that she longed for the Alpha to look down at her, and for the Alpha to stay.
The pain in her lower leg remained sharp, likely caused by the cluttered objects she knocked over while searching for the light switch just now. Hearing Jiang Qiu’s repeated inquiry by her ear, Yu Sheng finally raised her head. Borrowing the faint light, she met the Alpha’s gaze.
“Help me, Jiejie…” Yu Sheng’s eyes looked like shimmering ripples of water, as if she were begging her, “I can’t stand up.”
Whether it was an illusion or not, the Omega pheromones at the tip of her nose grew even stronger.
For a moment, the sensation it brought was both familiar and unforgettable.
The scent of red sandalwood seemed to wrap around her entire body. The intense aroma inadvertently brought on a daze that made her recall the past, and Jiang Qiu felt as though she had returned to that day.
The day Yu Sheng differentiated.
After taking Yu Sheng to Meng Yueyu’s place to have her gland checked, Jiang Qiu had been secretly observing Yu Sheng’s state. In truth, Jiang Qiu had also leaned toward the idea that Yu Sheng would differentiate into an Alpha, because Yu Sheng seemed more suited to be an Alpha.
She was so unyielding, never softening up regardless of whom she met, practically itching to write “not to be trifled with” across her forehead.
As for Yu Sheng, she had started to deliberately keep her distance from her, probably out of fear that Jiang Qiu would want to engage in an Alpha-Alpha relationship with her.
Jiang Qiu had expressed that being friends was also very good, but Yu Sheng had put it this way:
“I didn’t come to New York planning to make friends.”
At the time, Jiang Qiu hadn’t understood what that meant. Only later did she figure it out, it was because Yu Sheng viewed the few years of living in New York as a stepping stone, she wouldn’t develop any deep friendships here.
Consequently, Jiang Qiu hadn’t been able to have much communication with Yu Sheng for several consecutive days. Yu Sheng often left early and returned late, spending her free time at the library, likely avoiding her on purpose. The Alpha simply adopted a relaxed mindset, she couldn’t exactly force a meeting with someone, which would only displease Yu Sheng instead.
However, Jiang Qiu hadn’t expected that this state of maintaining social distance would be broken so quickly.
That day, one of Jiang Qiu’s lab projects happened to finish. After confirming that all the data was correct, she returned to the apartment early, intending to make a trip home in the afternoon.
Not having seen Yu Sheng leave in the morning, Jiang Qiu thought the other party had gone to the library very early again. Yet, to her surprise, the instant she pushed the door open and stepped inside, an incredibly dense wave of Omega pheromones rushed right at her face.
The front door of the apartment almost failed to close. Jiang Qiu leaned against the wall, rendered somewhat helpless by this sudden turn of events.
Where did an Omega come from?
Did Yu Sheng bring an Omega back?
And it seemed to be an Omega in their heat cycle.
Jiang Qiu’s breathing quickened slightly. She raised a hand to cover her own gland, attempting to suppress her own pheromones that were on the verge of spilling out. But the apartment had already been entirely occupied by the scent of red sandalwood. Jiang Qiu’s gaze landed on the door to Yu Sheng’s room, and feeling her own body temperature gradually rising, she realized things were taking a turn for the worse.
The compatibility between this Omega’s pheromones and her own shouldn’t be low, it held a tremendous allure for her. Meanwhile, the Alpha’s defenses were slowly breaking down. She was beginning to develop a sense of possessiveness over the Omega’s pheromones, craving to draw closer and mark them.
Her accelerating heartbeat made it impossible for Jiang Qiu to maintain her composure, but she also knew that walking out the door right now was not a suitable option. Thus, her steps slowly drifted toward Yu Sheng’s room.