Di Zhe thought that if he were an animal right now, his fur would already be standing on end from stress.
Almost reflexively, a trace of fear showed on his face.
Shen Yandong suppressed the dark impulse rising within him with visible effort. Still holding onto Di Zhe’s hand, his thumb slowly brushed over the protruding bone at his wrist, as if soothing him. Exhaling slowly, he said, “Go on.”
The change had been too fast, too fleeting.
Di Zhe didn’t even have time to process it, as though that moment just now had been nothing more than an illusion.
Only his racing heartbeat remained, refusing to calm.
Di Zhe couldn’t quite tell whether what he was feeling was panic or something else stirring in his chest. He hurriedly added, “Before… before, I’d never seen you like this. When I liked you, you were rational, calm… in my eyes, someone pure and distant.”
“Other people said you were too cold but I thought that was just your sense of boundaries. Whenever classmates asked you for help, as long as you had time, you always helped.”
“I know I’m the type to lose interest quickly. I fall for people easily, if someone makes my heart stir even once, I’ll want to confess. Back then, I hadn’t really thought things through. It was like spring had come in the animal world and I had entered my mating season.”
“Looking back now… it does seem pretty stupid…”
“I wrote love letters to people. Sometimes I got laughed at, sometimes they were thrown away. Most of the time, I was simply rejected. Only you gave me such a detailed explanation.”
“At that time, I thought you were so different. Compared to others our age, you were so mature and steady.”
“I really liked that version of you and in my imagination, I kept embellishing you in that direction.”
“But now… I’ve realized you’re not only made of light. I think… I need to get to know you all over again…”
At that point, Di Zhe paused. He carefully studied every subtle change in Shen Yandong’s expression, trying to gauge his reaction.
With each sentence he spoke, the coldness on Shen Yandong’s face gradually faded, softening little by little.
He felt both irritated and vexed.
He truly didn’t like seeing Di Zhe look at him with that kind of fear.
Shen Yandong recalled the first time he had met Di Zhe.
The moment Di Zhe saw him, he had smiled, full of affection. It was the kind of emotion that seemed to flow straight out from the depths of his heart, an almost naive, completely genuine liking.
That was how Di Zhe was, if he liked someone, he liked them; if he was troubled, he was troubled.
Shen Yandong’s hand, which had been gripping Di Zhe’s wrist, slowly loosened. It slid forward, his palm covering the back of Di Zhe’s hand as his fingers slipped between his, interlacing them, gently squeezing.
The way he touched him carried a faint, tingling ambiguity, like a subtle itch creeping quietly up along his veins.
He toyed with Di Zhe’s hand like that for a moment, then lifted it lightly.
Then Shen Yandong tilted his head slightly, pressing his own beautiful face against Di Zhe’s palm, looking at him in silence.
It had to be said, Di Zhe truly had no resistance when it came to Shen Yandong’s face.
It was as if that face had been crafted precisely to match his preferences.
What he liked most were Shen Yandong’s eyes, their alluring shape, the slight upward curl at the tips of his dark lashes. Every time he blinked, it felt like a feather brushing lightly against Di Zhe’s heart, stirring an unbearable itch.
“I won’t do anything you don’t like ever again. Whatever kind of person you like, I’ll be that from now on.”
Shen Yandong spoke as if he were deliberately tempting him.
Well, not “as if.” He was tempting him.
Pathetic, honestly. Di Zhe scolded himself inwardly. How could he be so easy to hook?
Flustered by the teasing, Di Zhe found himself unable to say anything in refusal. Stammering, he only managed, “H how could that possibly be real? If it’s not genuine, then… then it’s just pretending.”
Shen Yandong replied, “If you like it, I’ll pretend for a lifetime.”
Di Zhe’s heart trembled.
Even after returning to school, several days passed yet he still kept thinking about those words. Every time he did, his heart would start racing uncontrollably.
Ever since the incident at the bar, he didn’t dare go out and fool around for a while.
Especially because on the second day after he returned to school, he ran into one of the alpha classmates he had gone out with before. The guy greeted him with a gossiping grin. “Haven’t seen you these past few days… Oh right, did you hear? That night at the bar, apparently an omega went into heat and it triggered an alpha too, almost caused a big incident!”
Di Zhe could only give an awkward smile, pretending to listen.
The classmate asked, “When did you leave that night? No one knew.”
Cold sweat broke out on Di Zhe’s back.
W… wait… had they found out?
The classmate continued teasing, “That good looking beta that night is your boyfriend, right? Even though you denied it at the time, it was obvious at a glance. He was keeping an eye on you, so you left early, wasn’t it?”
Di Zhe hesitated, then said, “Not exactly…”
…On second thought, it might be better to just let them assume it.
The classmate, also an alpha, sighed with feeling. “If it’s not official yet, then it’s almost there. I asked around afterward, he’s from the law school, right? Honestly, betas are even harder to pursue than omegas. Being able to win over a beta that good looking and well built is seriously impressive.”
A small flicker of vanity rose in Di Zhe’s heart.
In truth, his feelings for Shen Yandong had never been entirely free of that kind of pride.
Someone so handsome, so outstanding and so indifferent to everyone else, if a beta like that liked him, wouldn’t that make him look especially good?
Actually, lately, Shen Yandong’s gentle attentiveness toward him, his careful consideration, his almost indulgent compliance, had been quietly feeding that sense of vanity.
And Di Zhe’s lack of denial allowed the rumors to spread quickly.
Without him even realizing it, things had already escalated from “Alpha Di Zhe and beta Shen Yandong seem to be in a kind of ambiguous stage” to “It’s confirmed, alpha Di Zhe is already taken, by that icy beauty from the law school.”
In reality, however, Di Zhe was still troubled over how exactly he should handle his relationship with Shen Yandong.
Ever since returning to the dorm and forcing himself to behave, Shen Yandong had been unbelievably gentle with him every single day.
Before he knew it, aside from classes where their schedules didn’t align, they were practically even closer than they had been back in high school.
Back then, they had only been together during class. Now, they ate together, lived together, almost inseparable.
One day, a sudden thought popped into Di Zhe’s mind.
He wondered, since Shen Yandong treated him so well, maybe… being on the receiving end wouldn’t be so bad after all.
The thought startled him immediately.
No way.
Wouldn’t that be way too embarrassing?
Caught in this endless cycle of hesitation and inner conflict,
One day,
as the two of them were walking together toward the cafeteria, they ran into one of those dubious friends he used to go out with. The guy had no filter whatsoever. The moment he saw them walking side by side, he blurted out, “Yo, Di Zhe! Haven’t seen you out lately, your wife’s got you on a tight leash, huh?”
My wife?
You mean Shen Yandong?
What kind of way is that to talk?
Shen Yandong’s going to get angry, isn’t he?
That was Di Zhe’s first thought, he instinctively turned to look at Shen Yandong’s reaction.
But Shen Yandong didn’t seem to care at all. There wasn’t even a trace of anger on his face. He simply glanced back calmly, said nothing and, in effect, tacitly accepted it.
Di Zhe froze for a moment. “Huh?”
Wait.
So this was an option too?
That’s actually… not bad at all.
The mood he had been feeling down for so long suddenly lifted in an instant.
✦ ✧ ✦
Fleurveil
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
The translator has been bribed with exactly zero coffees so far. Fix this. 😭
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
← PreviousNext →
ChaptersChapter 1 · Love at first sightChapter 2 · Lack of discretionChapter 3 · ShamelessChapter 4 · UnreasonableChapter 5 · PerseveranceChapter 6 · College Entrance Examination EndChapter 7 · Graduation dinnerChapter 8 · Confession nightChapter 9 · Pressing in step by stepChapter 10 · Enough is enoughChapter 11 · A huge blowChapter 12 · University start dateChapter 13 · Roommate meetingChapter 14 · Relentless harassmentChapter 15 · I’ll pick you upChapter 16 · It’s my vulnerable periodChapter 17 · Voluntary datingChapter 18 · Open your heartChapter 19 · Obedient to allChapter 20 · Not a virginChapter 21 · Swear to love meChapter 22 · Youthful DaydreamsChapter 23 · Teenage ThoughtsChapter 24 · EmptyChapter 25 · Extremely anxiousChapter 26 · Too lazy to struggleChapter 27 · From now on