Jiang Qiu fell silent for a moment. Sorting through the medical forms in her hands, she placed them on the bedside nightstand before asking softly, “How come you still haven’t made many friends?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, the Alpha remembered that Yu Sheng had only recently arrived in Lihua City.
Letting out a faint sigh, the Alpha turned around, pulled up a chair to sit by the bedside, and asked, “Does the wound still hurt?”
Yu Sheng lowered her gaze and replied, “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
In truth, her calf still throbbed with a sharp, stinging pain, leaving her somewhat afraid to move.
“Your gland needs to be kept under observation for a day. You can be discharged once we’re sure there are no issues,” Jiang Qiu continued.
Yu Sheng murmured in response, “Alright. Thank you.”
The weather outside the window was incredibly gloomy. A light drizzle had fallen when they first arrived at the hospital, stopping shortly after, but now it looked as though it was about to rain again. Jiang Qiu pulled out her phone and glanced up at the darkening sky. The Alpha dialed Wen Yan’s number and stepped out of the private hospital room.
Yu Sheng stared in the direction of Jiang Qiu’s departure for a long time.
A bitter sting pricked the tip of the Omega’s nose, causing her breath to tremble slightly.
After parting ways with Jiang Qiu and leaving New York all those years ago, Yu Sheng had thought she would eventually move on. After all, she believed she had only ever used the other woman. Yet, throughout the countless nights following their separation, Jiang Qiu would inevitably fill her mind, bringing with it an ever spreading wave of sorrow and regret.
But what right did she have to feel this way? Jiang Qiu must hate her, right?
Later, when she returned to New York, she received the exact answer she had anticipated.
Jiang Qiu didn’t want to see her, she had learned this from the mouths of others.
Yu Sheng had thought to herself that she would probably never see Jiang Qiu again in this lifetime. The world was terrifyingly vast, and the chances of finding her were practically nonexistent. Even if she did go looking, the Alpha might not agree to see her. They would likely just pass each other by in a crowd, remaining absolute strangers from then on.
As for herself, she used to feel she lacked any status worth showing off, and even now, she felt she still wasn’t good enough. Neither then nor now did she possess the capital to match Jiang Qiu.
That messy, hurried breakup had been proof of her self-doubt pushed to the point of outright rudeness.
The Alpha had already seen the worst sides of her long ago.
Yet, in the dead of every night, she would always trace the Alpha’s features in her mind. It turned out she was still lingering on the past.
Perhaps before she crossed paths with Jiang Qiu again, Yu Sheng had prepared herself to bury everything deep within her heart forever. But the Alpha’s reappearance had, without a doubt, shattered all those shackles.
She wanted to return to Jiang Qiu’s side. She desperately wanted to.
But there was already another Omega by the Alpha’s side.
Her mind a tangled mess, Yu Sheng raised her hand to cover her face. She had been in a state of chaos ever since their reunion, acting entirely on impulse without any careful thought, clumsily pushing the Alpha further and further away instead.
When Jiang Qiu finished her call and returned to the room, she saw Yu Sheng in this state and couldn’t help but step forward to ask, “Is something making you uncomfortable?”
With her eyes closed, Yu Sheng mumbled in a muffled voice, “No.”
“Then get some proper rest,” Jiang Qiu said, taking her seat once more.
The Omega turned onto her side, trying to steady her trembling breaths.
Did Jiang Qiu really still have feelings for her?
She truly couldn’t be certain about the answer to this question.
With Jiang Qiu sitting right beside her, Yu Sheng didn’t know when the Alpha would leave, and she lacked the courage to ask. Yet, even just sharing a room like this without any further conversation, Yu Sheng felt a sense of contentment.
Perhaps, during this brief pocket of time, Jiang Qiu was still accompanying her and belonging to her, just like they used to.
The hospital room fell completely still. Jiang Qiu was initially replying to Wen Yan’s messages checking in on the situation, but a sudden rumble of thunder outside made her look back. A light drizzle had begun to patter against the window.
Setting her phone down, Jiang Qiu stood up and looked outside, her brow furrowing slightly.
When she turned back around, her gaze finally landed on Yu Sheng. The Omega’s pheromone scent had already dissipated completely, and the slight trace she had caught earlier had long been swept away by the breeze.
She had originally assumed that the slight restlessness in her heart was due to that scent of rosewood, but now that all traces of the pheromones were gone, Jiang Qiu realized it wasn’t the case at all.
Her heart was still in complete disarray.
Her eyes lingered on the Omega’s back for a long while before Jiang Qiu finally suppressed all the emotions she shouldn’t be feeling. Moving over, she sat down on the nearby sofa bed. The sky outside grew increasingly darker, and with the lights left off in the room, Jiang Qiu took a few deep breaths and lay down, attempting to shake off the chaotic thoughts swirling in her mind.
She had thought Yu Sheng was already asleep, but to her surprise, the Omega suddenly spoke up to ask.
“When is… your wedding date?”
Yu Sheng’s voice was faint, sounding almost like a murmur, yet it fell with absolute clarity into Jiang Qiu’s ears.
The Alpha replied in a calm tone, “It hasn’t been set yet.”
Jiang Qiu’s sleep that night was heavy and fitful. She wasn’t particularly accustomed to sleeping in hospitals, and perhaps because she kept worrying about the patient, she found herself reacting to every little sound in the room.
Waking up early the next morning, the Alpha yawned as she looked out at the cleared sky.
Hearing a rustling sound, Yu Sheng woke up as well. Finding Jiang Qiu still there, she felt a wave of surprise, followed immediately by an overwhelming sense of joy. Her leg didn’t hurt as intensely anymore, so she threw back the blanket and tried to slide out of bed to head to the restroom, her movements careful and tentative.
Hearing the noise, the Alpha walked over to her side and reached out to support her.
“You’ll need to do another checkup today. If everything looks good, you can be discharged this afternoon,” Jiang Qiu said, her voice slightly raspy from sleep. “Once that’s done, I have some other business to handle.”
“Alright,” Yu Sheng nodded. “I can handle the discharge process on my own.”
Jiang Qiu opened her mouth as if to say something, but ultimately swallowed her words back down, offering only a simple, “Mhm.”
Yu Sheng’s leg wasn’t in as bad a state as yesterday; she could manage to walk slowly, provided she remained cautious.
Once they finished washing up, the hospital delivered a nutritious breakfast. Neither of them spoke a single word while eating, and a heavy silence settled over the private room. After the meal, Jiang Qiu inspected the injury on Yu Sheng’s leg and breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that it hadn’t worsened.
With the tests completed, all that was left was to wait for the results. As Yu Sheng settled back into bed, it was time for Jiang Qiu to leave.
Yu Sheng glanced at the neatly folded coat resting on the side. Since it still retained some of her own Omega scent, she felt it would be inappropriate to hand it back directly, so she spoke up, “Once I’ve washed it, I’ll return it to you as soon as possible.”
The Alpha replied casually, “No rush.”
With that, she turned and left, leaving the room to fall back into a profound silence once more. Yu Sheng felt a momentary daze, if it weren’t for that coat belonging to the Alpha, she would have almost believed that all of this was merely an illusion.
Frozen in place for a long time, Yu Sheng finally snapped back to reality. She reached out to touch the coat, which had already lost its warmth, and lowered her eyes. After an unknown amount of time, the Omega lay down on her side, pressing her cheek against the fabric and gently nuzzling it.
She tried to catch any scent related to Jiang Qiu on it, hoping to trace the Alpha’s pheromones, but even her own scent was gone from the fabric.
Closing her eyes, Yu Sheng felt her breathing gradually grow erratic.
It really felt like a dream. Yu Sheng had never expected Jiang Qiu to stay by her side through the entire night, even if they had barely exchanged a few sentences. But did this mean the Alpha still cared about her safety? Was she still looking out for her?
At that thought, Yu Sheng pulled out the slip of paper containing Jiang Qiu’s address.
Was what Meng Yueyu said true? Was that ring truly kept all this time, and had Jiang Qiu really been waiting for her over the past two years?
The Omega didn’t know whether she should trust Meng Yueyu.
Meng Yueyu claimed that she, too, was driven purely by profit, but Yu Sheng couldn’t fathom what her motive would be if those statements were true. If Meng Yueyu encouraged her to keep trying, Meng Yueyu wouldn’t gain any advantages from it.
Furthermore, two years ago, it was Meng Yueyu who had sought her out and given her somewhat misleading guidance.
Yu Sheng knew that Jiang Qiu was the sole heir to the Dominion Winery, but she had also learned from Meng Yueyu that this inheritance could actually be revoked or replaced. Although Jiang Qiu was currently the most suitable candidate, the winery had a history spanning over a hundred and fifty years with an incredibly vast family system. If Jiang Qiu failed to meet the requirements for the inheritance, children from the collateral branches would naturally step in to take over.
Meng Yueyu had told her that every peer of eligible age within the bloodline was currently eyeing Jiang Qiu like a hawk.
Yu Sheng had never shared too much about her own background with Jiang Qiu.
However, she understood perfectly clear what Jiang Qiu’s identity implied in terms of status, she was someone whom even New York’s newly rich desperately tried to curry favor with. Dominion represented entry into high society, if it weren’t for a twist of fate, the Omega wouldn’t have stood a chance at even getting close to Jiang Qiu.
They were worlds apart to begin with, not to mention that Yu Sheng knew herself to be an unvalued Omega who, for all intents and purposes, could be considered abandoned since childhood.
Meng Yueyu had said that while she couldn’t guarantee Jiang Qiu would defy all odds and choose to marry Yu Sheng, who possessed neither background nor leverage, she knew for a fact that the family would never accept such an Omega.
After all, Dominion would subject Jiang Qiu’s partner to a comprehensive evaluation. Before reaching the age of twenty-five, Jiang Qiu would face her first trial from the family, which would also be the exact moment others would deliberately try to pick faults.
Meng Yueyu’s words back then had plunged her into an immense state of self-doubt.
Yet, they hadn’t been wrong either.
When she witnessed Jiang Qiu expertly handling various business banquets, conversing eloquently and with effortless ease among the guests, Yu Sheng watched those people plastering on obsequious smiles, bowing low and using every means possible to flatter the ostensibly unattainable Alpha. This only deepened her understanding of the chasm between them.
If it had been a matter of simple exploitation, Yu Sheng would have viewed such occasions as the perfect opportunity to expand her network.
But during those days, the Omega could only ponder one question. What could she possibly offer to help Jiang Qiu?
She suddenly felt that the Alpha stood too high, while she herself was as insignificant as a grain of sand.
Anxiety began to take root because she had absolutely nothing to her name.
Meng Yueyu had also mentioned that if she married Jiang Qiu, she would need to remain in New York. Jiang Qiu would undoubtedly chart out her entire future path for her, an unhindered, perfectly smooth highway to success.
Everything she owned would ultimately be provided by Jiang Qiu.
At nineteen, Yu Sheng was young and proud. She had thought to herself, she hadn’t even had the chance to work hard for anything yet.