After Duan Jinwei returned from donating her pheromones, the department admitted a patient with a head injury who needed stitches.
“Xiao Duan, you go,” a doctor colleague said.
Duan Jinwei still had her backpack strapped to her shoulders and hadn’t even taken it off yet. Today was her day off, department matters weren’t supposed to be her responsibility.
Duan Jinwei gave an awkward smile: “I’m on leave today…”
Before she could finish, her colleague gave her a gentle shove: “We’re short-handed today, hurry up.”
Duan Jinwei had no choice but to say: “Okay.”
She put on her white coat and hurried over to the treatment room.
It was an 18-year-old girl who had fallen off her electric scooter, hit her head, bled a lot, and wouldn’t stop crying.
“Hello, is this Ms. Huang?” Duan Jinwei walked up to the hospital bed, lowered her head, and asked in a soft voice.
“Don’t be afraid, I’ll have it stitched up for you right away.”
Duan Jinwei pulled over a chair and sat down. She pressed clean gauze against the wound to stop the bleeding, then took out a tube of ointment and carefully applied it around the edges.
“It might hurt just a little bit, oh, but don’t worry, you’ll barely feel anything.”
The girl kept crying, trembling uncontrollably.
“Am I going to be disfigured?”
Duan Jinwei’s voice was soft, carrying a smile, very gentle: “Your wound is very shallow and easy to handle. When I fell off my bike before, I got hurt too and needed stitches, and now you can’t see it at all. I’ll show you my scar later.”
The girl stopped sobbing, asked with a choked voice: “Will it really not leave a scar?”
Duan Jinwei said: “No, it won’t.”
After a short while, the local anesthetic took effect. Duan Jinwei picked up the forceps to clamp the curved needle. Her hand held it very steadily. With a slight exertion from her wrist, the curved needle pierced precisely into the skin, then steadily emerged. Down after down, not too fast nor too slow.
Duan Jinwei said: “So brave. Good, bear with it just a little longer, it’s almost done.”
Another stitch.
“Wonderful.”
The skin on both sides was spliced together seamlessly, and Duan Jinwei picked up the small scissors to trim the excess thread tails.
Even after the stitches were done, the girl kept staring at Duan Jinwei.
This was an intern, a girl who looked very young with fair skin, a hair bun, a white coat completely free of any stains, and a large black-rimmed frame perched on a high bridge of her nose. The whole person looked both clean and gentle.
Duan Jinwei exposed her own forehead, which had once been stitched up, for the girl to see, asking with a beaming smile: “Can you see it at all, hmm?”
The girl bit her lip, nodded, and smiled too.
Duan Jinwei glanced at the time, stood up, and eagerly wanted to leave.
Just as she stepped out of the treatment room, she saw a drunk man being brought in. Several nurses couldn’t hold him down, and someone shouted at her: “Doctor Xiao Duan, come over and give us a hand!”
Duan Jinwei frowned, wanting to say she had somewhere to be. But the head nurse was already waving at her, so she had no choice but to hurry over and help pin him down.
The drunk man had brute strength, ordinary Omegas couldn’t hold him, and since Duan Jinwei was an Alpha, she barely managed to get him onto the hospital bed. She ended up getting kicked once and vomited on.
Suppressing her nausea, Duan Jinwei handled the intoxicated patient.
Once finished, she went back to the office to grab her things.
The moment she tried to leave, she was intercepted by a colleague.
The doctor colleague was a tall, middle-aged man with his hands tucked into his pockets, looking at Duan Jinwei with a smile: “Xiao Duan? Why so earnest and hardworking? Coming to the department even on your day off.”
Duan Jinwei secretly groaned. She had just come back to grab something and ran right into two colleagues. The first one had made her help out, and now what did this one want?
The man said: “I need to take my kid to see a doctor tonight, can you cover my night shift?”
Duan Jinwei lowered her eyes. She always had an easy-to-bully demeanor and a soft temper, so her department colleagues always liked dumping tasks on her.
But Duan Jinwei didn’t want to do it today.
Before the colleague finished speaking, he picked up his things and wanted to leave: “It’s settled then, you’ll cover a day for me, I’m heading out.”
Before he could say another word, Duan Jinwei hurriedly blocked his path.
“I’m sorry…” Duan Jinwei’s ears flushed red.
The man frowned: “What is it?”
Duan Jinwei said: “I, I… I also have plans tonight. I just came back to pick up something.”
“What plans?” The man looked a bit impatient. “My kid is sick, I need to take them to see a doctor right now.”
Duan Jinwei flushed crimson, stood before him with her head lowered, and said in a tiny voice: “It’s my girlfriend’s birthday today, and I promised to celebrate with her earlier.”
“Your girlfriend’s birthday?”
The office was dead quiet. Once she said those words, all the colleagues raised their heads to look at her.
Someone joked: “Xiao Duan, I thought you didn’t even have a girlfriend?”
“Brother Zhang, Xiao Duan has to go accompany her girlfriend, don’t give her a hard time,” someone else chimed in.
Duan Jinwei was a well-known good girl in the department, if someone bullied her, naturally others would defend her.
Brother Zhang glanced at her, unable to press the issue further, and said: “Fine, go spend a good time with your girlfriend tonight then.”
Duan Jinwei breathed a sigh of relief and whispered: “Thank you.”
Under everyone’s gaze, her face burned intensely as she shouldered her bag and walked out of the office.
“It’s too much. Knowing you’re on leave today and still making you cover shifts,” Xia Tang said as soon as Duan Jinwei stepped out.
Duan Jinwei frowned and sighed.
She wondered if she had offended Brother Zhang.
Whatever, Duan Jinwei thought a moment later, Xiao Yi’s birthday is what matters most.
Xia Tang said: “Qiao Yi’s birthday party is at eight tonight, right? Shall we grab a bite together first, and then you can head over?”
Duan Jinwei said: “No need, I still have some things to prepare.”
Regarding Qiao Yi’s birthday, Duan Jinwei had been preparing a gift for two months. Xia Tang knew Duan Jinwei had an introverted personality, didn’t socialize much in the department, and loved doing things for Qiao Yi more than anything else, always forgetting her own birthday while keeping Qiao Yi’s firmly in mind.
Xia Tang said: “Alright then, do you need me to pack any food for you?”
Duan Jinwei looked at Xia Tang, revealing a soft, deeply grateful smile: “Thank you, no need.”
She pointed to her backpack: “I have a leftover steamed bun from noon.”
Xia Tang twitched her lips, thinking to herself that she’d better grab her a little extra food at the cafeteria later.
Returning to the dorm, Duan Jinwei subconsciously raised her hand and sniffed herself.
Between the chaos at the hospital earlier, her messy hair, blood stains, and the overpowering smell of disinfectants, it was a mess.
She took a shower, changed into a clean set of clothes, and sniffed herself again.
Qiao Yi didn’t like the smell of disinfectant on her.
Duan Jinwei looked in the mirror, sat down at her desk, and pulled out a box she had prepared long ago.
It was a gift she bought for Qiao Yi: an ink-black voice recorder.
Under the desk lamp, the recorder gleamed with a dazzling luster.
This was Sound’s latest model of voice recorder, packed with powerful features and costing nearly forty thousand. Qiao Yi had mentioned liking this recorder to Duan Jinwei more than once.
Duan Jinwei had saved up money for a long time just to buy it.
She stared at the recorder for a while, the corners of her lips curving up.
Afterward, she opened her laptop and clicked open a document.
The document was over thirty pages long, a gland therapy plan she had spent a whole year researching and putting together for Qiao Yi.
Qiao Yi had sensitive glands and always felt extremely uncomfortable whenever her estrus cycle hit, complaining about it to Duan Jinwei many times.
Duan Jinwei had pulled several all-nighters and planned to give this comprehensive regimen to Qiao Yi today.
To help cure Qiao Yi’s gland issues, Duan Jinwei had specifically studied and passed the exam for an Alpha Pheromone Marker qualification certificate. She wanted to become Qiao Yi’s exclusive therapist and heal her glands.
Duan Jinwei was fully absorbed in her work, typing away on the computer, and finally reviewed the entire plan.
Her eyes felt a bit dry, so she took off her glasses and massaged the bridge of her nose.
Massive chandeliers hung from the vaulted ceiling, spilling a dazzling, diamond-like brilliance. The luxurious, resplendent hall was filled with second-generation scions dressed in gorgeous evening gowns.
Duan Jinwei nervously asked a waiter where Qiao Yi was. Perhaps sensing her rustic appearance, the waiter’s attitude was poor, but Duan Jinwei still said thank you. Saying “Excuse me” all the way, she squeezed through the crowd while people cast strange, judgmental stares at her.
Duan Jinwei didn’t think much of it, right now, she was entirely consumed by thoughts of Qiao Yi, wanting nothing more than to see her immediately.
Who would have thought that right as she reached the door of Qiao Yi’s room, she would catch the distinct whiff of a rich Alpha pheromone.
Duan Jinwei instinctively frowned.
Like a hedgehog suddenly bristling its quills, the scent made her feel extremely uncomfortable.
The door was half-open.
Duan Jinwei softly called out: “Xiao Yi…”
Then, she saw something and froze in her tracks.
Inside the room, Qiao Yi was wearing a French satin white slip dress, slender and delicate. Sitting on a table with an eager expression, she was kissing another woman.
The two of them were locked in a deep, heavy kiss, their breathing thick and palpable in the air.
Snap,
The gift box in Duan Jinwei’s hands slipped and fell to the floor.
The sound startled the pair. Qiao Yi jumped in fright and whipped her head around.
“Xiao Yi, is this the low-level Alpha with no pheromones you were talking about?” The tall woman narrowed her eyes slightly, turning her head to look at Duan Jinwei.
Qiao Yi hadn’t expected to be caught in the act by Duan Jinwei, and panic-stricken, she muttered something to the other woman.
The woman grunted an “uh-huh” and turned to leave.
As she passed, she didn’t forget to glance at Duan Jinwei with a look of undisguised contempt and disdain.
Thump, thump, thump. Her heart was pounding wildly.
Biting her lip, Duan Jinwei clenched her fists instinctively. She stared at Qiao Yi for two seconds before finally asking in a soft voice: “Xiao Yi, can you explain this?”
Qiao Yi’s breathing hadn’t settled yet. Leaning against the wall and being looked at like that by Duan Jinwei, a wave of annoyance flushed over her.
“No reason,” Qiao Yi said impatiently. “My estrus cycle came, I was uncomfortable, and since you couldn’t help me solve it, I found someone else.”
Duan Jinwei froze.
“I’ve tolerated you for a long time. Every time I take you out, I feel embarrassed. Look at what you’re wearing right now? Today is my birthday, and you show up to celebrate wearing this kind of trash?”
Duan Jinwei subconsciously looked down at her own clothes.
Qiao Yi clicked her high heels, stepping closer and closer. She picked up Duan Jinwei’s gift box and pulled out the voice recorder inside.
“What is this? On my birthday, even someone I’ve barely met sends me jewelry worth hundreds of thousands, and you fob me off with this garbage? Do you even know this model is outdated? The best voice recorder in the industry right now is Lingxu’s Sea Breeze series. Did you put any thought into this at all?”
Tears welled up uncontrollably. Duan Jinwei moved her lips, but not a single word came out.
She had never argued with anyone in her life.
When she first got together with Duan Jinwei, Qiao Yi was only nineteen.
An Omega’s estrus cycle is like living through hell, and Qiao Yi had been desperate to find an Alpha partner.
Knowing that Duan Jinwei liked her and was an Alpha who could alleviate her estrus symptoms, she agreed to be with her.
Only after getting together did Qiao Yi realize her mistake.
Duan Jinwei had virtually zero pheromones. Several times, Qiao Yi had begged Duan Jinwei to mark her, only to be rejected with excuses about being afraid of hurting her during the bond.
Alpha ranks were classified information, before marriage, Qiao Yi had no clearance to check Duan Jinwei’s rank.
She only knew that Duan Jinwei was an extremely low-level Alpha.
During all their time together, she had never once smelled Duan Jinwei’s pheromones.
As if the lack of pheromones wasn’t bad enough, Duan Jinwei managed to hit every single one of her pet peeves.
She had zero Alpha flavor, acting overly Omega-like instead, and her nesting instincts were severe.
When they first started dating, during Duan Jinwei’s rut cycle, Qiao Yi had kindly stayed to accompany her. Who knew Duan Jinwei would become so clingy, wrapping her arms around her and refusing to let go, even following her thoughts right up to the bathroom door.
Thinking of this, Qiao Yi’s irritation only grew.
“Let’s break up.”
Duan Jinwei stared blankly at her, asking in a hoarse voice after a long silence: “Is that the only reason?”
“Of course not.”
Qiao Yi snapped: “Every time I tell you my glands hurt, all you do is tell me to see a doctor. Do you have any idea how much pain I go through every time my estrus cycle hits?!”
“Do you know I don’t need a doctor at all? All I want is a mark!”
“You’ve never been willing to mark me! Whenever I bring it up, you just stay silent. You never care about my feelings, and you never do what a real Alpha is supposed to do!” Qiao Yi yelled. “If I go looking for other Alphas, at the end of the day, it’s all because of you. It’s entirely your fault.”
Duan Jinwei immediately pulled a blue certificate out of her bag and held it out.
“Xiao Yi, it’s not that I wasn’t willing to mark you. I, I just passed the exam for this, an Alpha Pheromone Marker certification. With this, I can mark you in the most professional, safest way possible, and it won’t hurt you at all…”
“Don’t try to pull that nonsense on me!” Before Duan Jinwei could finish, Qiao Yi cut her off. “Save it. We’re done.”
Ever since she was a child, Qiao Yi had been pampered. She lived by a single rule: never drag things out, even breaking up had to be done cleanly and neatly.
Rain was falling heavily outside at some point, the slanted streaks slicing through the lamplight and coating the street in a bleak shade of gray.
Duan Jinwei walked numbly among the crowd.
Back in her dorm room, the moment the door clicked shut, tears streamed down her cheeks. Duan Jinwei took out her phone and, through her tear-blurred vision, searched online for the brand of the voice recorder. After searching for a long time, she couldn’t find the model Qiao Yi had mentioned.
She put down her phone and shook her head.
They were already broken up, why was she still looking this up?
How foolish.
Duan Jinwei never would have imagined that she and Qiao Yi would break up over a reason like this.
She had clearly made all those preparations.
Perhaps due to her turbulent emotions, her glands began to heat up, and her Alpha pheromones suddenly surged outward from her glands like an uncontainable tide.
The entire dorm was instantly flooded with an overwhelmingly powerful pheromone, its oppressive weight terrifying.
Duan Jinwei took off her glasses, wiped away her tears, and realizing she was losing control, immediately forced her pheromones back in.
She stood up swiftly and switched on the room’s air purifier.
Her gaze fell upon the Alpha Pheromone Marker certificate in her hand. She took a deep breath and placed the certificate deep inside her desk drawer.
Inside an airplane cabin.
A woman sat in her seat, her eyes lowered to her laptop screen.
She wore a white shirt with the long sleeves rolled up to her forearms, her raven-black hair draped over her shoulders. Her slender, fair fingers tapped across the keyboard.
Qiao皎 was a notorious workaholic. Recently on an overseas interview assignment, she had been working continuously for over ten hours. Even on a plane, she hadn’t stopped.
An uncomfortable sensation flared at her glands.
Qiao Jiao pulled an Omega soothing patch from her bag and held it to her nose for a breath.
“President Qiao, President Qiao,” her assistant said cautiously.
“Hmm.” The woman didn’t raise her head, simply humming an acknowledgment from the back of her throat.
The assistant: “The plane is about to land. Right before takeoff, Second Miss sent me a message saying she’s coming to pick you up.”
Qiao Jiao paused her typing: “She’s coming?”
“Yes.”
Qiao Jiao asked softly: “Usually, doesn’t she always like to have that little girlfriend of hers help pick me up instead?”