“Are we starting now?”
Wen Shaonian glanced up at her, set down her water glass, and stood up.
“Mhm. Let’s go to the bedroom.”
With that, she turned and walked away. The hem of her loungewear swayed slightly, her steps unhurried and steady.
Jiang You followed right behind her, staring at the butterfly-knot ribbon at the small of her back, her mind buzzing as if she were heading to her own execution.
Wen Shaonian’s bedroom was at the very end of the second-floor corridor. The door was open, and a warm yellow wall lamp cast a soft glow inside. Jiang You walked in, her heartbeat already acting out of line. The room was much simpler than she had imagined: a large bed pressed against the wall, its dark grey bedding smoothed out as flat as if it had been ironed, and outside the sheer curtains were the blurred shadows of trees, so quiet she could hear the sound of her own swallow.
“Sit.” Wen Shaonian pointed to the single-seat armchair beside the bed, then sat down on the edge of the mattress herself, her back held straight as a ramrod and her hands folded neatly over her knees, looking entirely as though she were presiding over a board meeting.
Jiang You sat down. The two of them were separated by a little over a meter, face-to-face, and the air fell silent for two seconds. That cold plum blossom scent drifted over once again, blending with the fragrance of body wash, faint yet possessing an overwhelmingly strong presence, like an invisible hand waving right under the tip of her nose.
“I… I’ll introduce the product we’re using today first.” She fished a small silver packet out of her pocket, tore it open, and pulled out a heart-shaped patch. “This is a heart-shaped pheromone patch. The main component is a synthetic Alpha pheromone analog with a very low concentration, so it won’t cause any rejection reactions. Its function is to simulate the feeling of an Alpha gently stroking an Omega’s gland, helping them relax.”
Wen Shaonian looked at the small patch: “How is it used?”
“You stick it right on the gland.” She pointed to the back of her own neck. “Right here.”
Wen Shaonian tilted her head slightly, exposing the back of her neck.
Jiang You’s gaze landed on that patch of skin, and her heartbeat spiked violently. White, delicate, and smooth, the gland area was slightly raised, glowing with a soft luster under the warm light.
She took a deep breath: Professionalism. I am a professional.
Jiang You tore open the packaging, took out the patch, it was a pale pink, translucent color, and felt a slight chill against her fingertips.
“I’m applying it.”
She stood up, walked to Wen Shaonian’s side, bent over, and parted the hair at the back of her neck. The strands were very soft, sliding across her fingertips, and the cold plum blossom fragrance was several times thicker than it had been in the living room, drilling straight into her nose. Jiang You held her breath, pinched the patch, and carefully pressed it on.
The moment her fingertips touched the skin, it felt like silk resting against the pad of her hand, delicate and smooth, radiating a faint warmth from underneath.
Wen Shaonian’s shoulder twitched imperceptibly, the lines of her shoulder blades tightening slightly before relaxing again.
“Can you feel it?” Jiang You stepped back half a step.
“A bit cool.”
“Mhm, it’ll feel cool at first, but it turns warm after ten seconds.”
The two of them waited in silence.
The cold plum blossom scent in the air grew heavier. Jiang You couldn’t help quietly taking a breath, and that scent from the lounge the other day returned. A crack split across a sheet of ice, sending chills surging outward with an undercurrent of raw power, chillingly breathtaking.
“How about now?” She forcefully beat down that momentary daze.
Wen Shaonian closed her eyes, her eyelashes casting a small shadow beneath them: “Warm, like someone is gently pressing down with their fingers.”
“Does it feel soothing?”
“A little.”
Jiang You let out a quiet sigh of relief in her chest and picked up the bottle of Omega-dedicated glandular massage oil from the bedside table, one she had prepared in advance. “This helps the active ingredients of the patch penetrate better. May I help you massage it?”
Wen Shaonian opened her eyes, tilted her head to look at her, her gaze carrying a hint of scrutiny before withdrawing it quickly.
“Go ahead.”
Jiang You poured a few drops of oil into her palm, rubbed her hands together to warm it up, and stepped back behind her. The moment her fingers landed on the back of Wen Shaonian’s neck, the cold plum blossom scent suddenly intensified by a fraction, and her own gland gave a sharp leap, as if yanked forcibly out of deep sleep by something.
Her hands stopped mid-air, her pupils shrinking slightly.
No way. The medical report had stated it in plain black and white: her pheromone activity was extremely low, virtually zero, and she was completely insensitive to any Omega pheromones. She was a born defective Alpha, that was the very reason Wen Shaonian had chosen her.
Yet right now, her gland was actually heating up, like a seed that had lain dormant for too long suddenly beginning to sprout.
“What is it?” Wen Shaonian opened her eyes.
“N, nothing.” Jiang You forced her voice steady. “The muscle right here on the back of your neck is a bit tight. I’m switching techniques.”
She readjusted her breathing, pressing all her attention into her fingertips. Her thumb pushed along both sides of the cervical spine from the hairline down to the shoulder, applying an even pressure and a slow pace. But the heat in her gland kept welling upward, crawling from the back of her neck into her scalp and burning her earlobes until they tingled.
The cold plum blossom scent wrapped around the air, circling and spinning with every breath she took, making every inhalation feel like adding firewood to a bonfire.
Jiang You chanted frantically in her head: Calm down! You’re a defective Alpha! You can’t react! You have professional ethics!
Yet her body’s reaction was brutally honest. The gland grew hotter, her heartbeat raced faster, and her fingertips even began to tremble slightly.
She clenched her back molars, desperately pushing everything deep down beneath her skin.
Wen Shaonian’s breathing was growing deeper, shifting from shallow, hurried gasps to slow, sinking, deep breaths. Her shoulders were sinking downward inch by inch, and her entire posture slowly softened from its upright stance, melting away like ice turning to water. Jiang You could feel her softening, her posture and muscles were both relaxing, and she even leaned back toward Jiang You’s direction by a fraction.
“Are you okay?” Jiang You lowered her voice.
“Mhm.”
Wen Shaonian’s voice was a full octave lower than usual, carrying a slight nasal quality with the tail end dragging out a fraction, sounding much less cold than before. She tilted her head slightly toward Jiang You, the curve of the back of her neck looking even clearer under the light while her skin took on a thin layer of warm pink from the massage.
Jiang You looked down at that flush, and the heat in her gland surged up another notch.
She gritted her teeth and continued massaging, her thumb drawing circles at the junction of the neck and shoulder while the skin beneath her pads grew hotter and hotter. The cold plum blossom fragrance, mixed with the botanical scent of the massage oil, spiraled thread by thread into her nasal cavity, pulling at her nerves like soft hooks.
Wen Shaonian’s breathing rhythm also began to grow unstable, occasionally dipping shallow before slowly recovering as if deliberately exercising restraint. But Jiang You caught her fingertips curling inward slightly, just for a split second, her knuckles tensing for less than a second before relaxing again.
This person was stingy with relaxation to a fault, yet every single subtle change precisely triggered the parts of Jiang You that should never have awakened.
She suppressed it with all her might, hiding every single reaction away.
I absolutely cannot let her find out.
Wen Shaonian had chosen her because she was defective, an Alpha completely unresponsive to Omega pheromones, safe, clean, and incapable of losing control. If she found out that Jiang You had a reaction, even the slightest one, this marriage would be over. The agreement would be voided, she would be thrown back into her old life, her family would plunge back into hardship, and Wen Shaonian would simply go find someone else who was safer and more defective.
Therefore, she had to endure it.
Her hands kept moving, her rhythm unbroken, her pressure steady, while the sweat on her back quietly soaked through the collar of her shirt.
Suddenly, Wen Shaonian moved. She tilted her head even more fully toward Jiang You’s direction, as if unconsciously abandoning herself to that pressure and leaning in close, the skin of her back neck almost brushing against Jiang You’s knuckles.
The cold plum blossom scent abruptly thickened by half a degree in that instant. Jiang You’s hands froze dead in their tracks, her knuckles turning white with tension.
Fortunately, Wen Shaonian had her eyes closed and missed that second of lost composure.
“President Wen…” Her throat felt dry, her voice sounding too hoarse to be her own. “Is the pressure okay?”
“It’s fine.”
Wen Shaonian’s voice was very soft, carrying that low nasal tone born only of feeling comfortable to the very bones, the end of her word trembling slightly as if gathered up by something. Her ears were already red, the color spreading downward from the tips into a shallow pink that bloomed like ink slowly bleeding across paper. She had also bitten her own lip, leaving a faint white mark when she released it before it quickly filled back in with blood.
Jiang You stared at that flash of pink and that mark, her mind ringing with a dull hum.
Her ears are red. Her breathing is messed up. Her skin is hot. There are even bite marks on her lips. This person kept everything hidden away behind a wall, yet every single thing she couldn’t hide was precisely tugging at that forbidden string inside Jiang You’s body.
She had no idea how she had survived the remaining ten minutes, every single second felt stretched out a hundred times over. Her fingers mechanically kneaded and rubbed at the back of Wen Shaonian’s neck and shoulders, while her gland bounced around wildly inside her body. The fog of cold plum blossom scent tightened in circles around her, her breathing grew shallower, her fingertips burned hotter, and the only thought running through her mind was that she couldn’t stop, if she stopped, she would be exposed.
Finally, Wen Shaonian opened her eyes and tilted her head slightly to inspect the patch in the bedside table mirror.
It had grown much thinner, the pale pink fading to near transparency.
“The absorption is good.” Jiang You pulled her hand back, feigning composure. “It shows your gland has a very high acceptance rate for this formula.”
“Mhm.” Wen Shaonian stood up. The neckline of her loungewear had shifted slightly out of alignment from her earlier posture, exposing a small expanse of her collarbone. She reached out to straighten it, and as she turned around, her gaze fell onto Jiang You’s face.
Jiang You quickly lowered her head, pretending to fuss with the cap of the massage oil bottle.
“That’s all for tonight,” Wen Shaonian said. “Same time next week.”
“Got it.”
Wen Shaonian gave her a sideways glance. “Your technique is quite good.”
“Th, thank you for the compliment, President Wen!” Jiang You responded quite comically, reacting much like an employee facing praise from her boss.
“At home, you don’t need to be so formal.” Wen Shaonian smiled, a rare expression.
Jiang You almost lost it right there, that smile was simply too stunning, resembling winter ice beginning to melt with spring vines tangling around it.
Her heart skipped several beats faster, and she quickly stood up. “Well, it’s getting late, you should get some rest. I’ll head out first.” With that, she sprang up and bolted.
Jiang You sprinted all the way back to her room, slammed the door shut behind her, locked it, and rushed into the bathroom to crank open the cold water faucet. The moment the icy water slammed against her skin, she gave a violent start, slid down the tiles until she was sitting on the floor, and let the cold water pour down from the top of her head, dripping off the ends of her hair and soaking clean through her loungewear.
Yet the heat inside her gland remained, burning the skin on the back of her neck as if a hot iron had been pressed against it.
Jiang You buried her face in her hands, letting out a muffled, agonizing wail from between her fingers.
I’m finished, completely finished.
She wasn’t a defective Alpha after all. Her gland hadn’t degenerated, it had simply lain dormant like a sleeping volcano for a full eight years, and Wen Shaonian’s pheromones were the exact thing that had blown it wide awake. Just now in the master bedroom, she could actually feel her gland thumping, like an organ that had slept too long finally opening its eyes.
If she hadn’t suppressed it with every ounce of her strength, her pheromones probably would have overflowed long ago.
“I have to go see a doctor, I need to figure out what’s going on, or I’m going to be found out sooner or later.”
Tomorrow. She would go look for a doctor tomorrow.
Until then, she absolutely could not let Wen Shaonian catch a single flaw.