The surroundings were thick with a heavy floral fragrance.
Duan Jinwei felt her neck glands burning hot, and her marker teeth were continuously secreting pheromones at that very moment.
Marking was actually a very dangerous thing, an alpha could easily harm an omega if they were even the slightest bit careless. Previously, to prevent herself from hurting Qiao Yi during a mark, Duan Jinwei had specifically studied and obtained the relevant certification.
She never could have imagined that certification would come in handy at a time like this.
She had memorized all the marking theories from her textbooks quite well, but when it came down to actual practice, nothing felt smooth or natural.
It was so hot.
Wearing gloves, Duan Jinwei steadily supported Qiao Qiao’s lower back, fixed her posture, and soothed, “It’s okay, Sister, it’s okay.”
Her fingertips gently rubbed against the glandular area, performing the most basic form of relief.
Sweat slid down Duan Jinwei’s cheek. She leaned close to the woman’s nape and licked that fragile, sensitive patch of skin.
Qiao Qiao let out a painful whimpering sound, her hand clutching tightly onto the girl’s gland, tightening to the point that Duan Jinwei’s eyes turned red from the pain.
“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Duan Jinwei continued to soothe her.
While comforting her, Duan Jinwei lowered her face, bit down on the glandular skin, and performed a mark on Qiao Qiao according to the textbook methods.
She kept the professional guidelines of a pheromone marker strictly in mind and did not touch any other parts of the other person’s body.
Duan Jinwei only marked her for ten seconds.
Ten seconds was enough.
Generally speaking, a shallow temporary mark between an omega and an alpha takes anywhere from two to eight minutes, and a deep mark can even last up to two hours. However, a pheromone marker only provides just enough pheromones at the barest minimum limit, performing the absolute shallowest mark.
To become an alpha pheromone marker, one had to pass strict professional assessments. Only those whose pheromone control was rated as excellent could obtain a practice license. If conditions permitted, quite a few markers would drape a cloth over the omega during the marking to shield other parts of the body, leaving only the gland exposed to avoid any unnecessary interference.
In other words, you couldn’t treat a pheromone marker like a human being, they were basically just a medical machine.
When Duan Jinwei backed away, she felt warm liquid dripping down the back of her neck.
It hurt terribly. When she touched it, she actually felt blood. During the marking just now, Qiao Qiao hadn’t completely forgotten her defensive instincts.
Her gland had been injured.
Fortunately, she was an S+-grade alpha whose physical endurance was far superior to that of ordinary alphas, otherwise, she probably would have passed out from the shock long ago.
After receiving the pheromones, Qiao Qiao’s condition visibly improved. Breathing shallowly, she instinctively grabbed the hem of Duan Jinwei’s shirt and curled up softly in the other’s arms. The hand that had been clutched around Duan Jinwei’s nape shifted into a gentle, repetitive stroke.
Her cheeks were flushed red, even the tip of her nose was tinged with pink, and tear tracks still lingered on her face.
Duan Jinwei felt a pang of guilt.
She really wasn’t a good marker, just now while marking, she had completely forgotten to comfort the omega.
Not daring to look at her, Duan Jinwei simply laid the woman gently on the sofa, quickly pulled out cotton balls and gauze from her bag, and bandaged herself up.
Then, hoisting her backpack, Duan Jinwei hurried away as if fleeing for her life. Just as she stepped outside, however, she saw an alpha walking straight toward her.
It was an alpha man whose pheromones were surging out frantically. His eyes were bloodshot, and he kept swallowing his saliva as he stumbled step by step toward the doorway.
Duan Jinwei extended one hand and blocked the entrance: “I’m sorry, you can’t go in.”
“Get lost!”
The alpha seemed to have lost his mind and lunged fiercely toward the doorway.
Duan Jinwei blocked the entrance, and even though she was exercising the utmost restraint, some of her pheromones still leaked out.
Pheromones between alphas mutually repel each other. When they collide, a lower-grade alpha will be crushed and suppressed by the higher-grade party.
The alpha collided with her body and immediately screamed as if electrocuted, foaming at the mouth before collapsing to the ground.
Duan Jinwei froze in place, her back pressed hard against the door, feeling her heart thump wildly in her chest.
She didn’t dare to leave, nor could she stay, but afraid that someone else might show up, she had no choice but to bite the bullet and stand guard outside.
Duan Jinwei pulled a face mask out of her bag and put it on.
It wasn’t until she heard the wail of an ambulance that she headed toward the fire escape and hurried away from there.
When she returned to the dorm, Xia Tang and Gu Tian had already gone out, leaving the room completely empty.
The balcony curtains were wide open, allowing the gentle afternoon sunlight to stream in and scatter across the white tile floor.
Panting, Duan Jinwei ran into the bathroom to check the back of her neck first.
The gland was injured rather seriously, the skin was broken, and it was still oozing blood. Hurriedly and clumsily, Duan Jinwei grabbed some iodophor and cotton pads to treat her own wound.
Once she finished tending to it, Duan Jinwei finally felt a dull ache radiating from the site of her marker teeth. They were still continuously secreting pheromones, as if protesting, feeling dissatisfied, and wanting to finish the mark she had started earlier.
Gasping for breath, her legs feeling a bit weak, she forced herself to stand up, cupped a handful of cold water, and splashed it fiercely onto her face.
It wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real.
Everything that had happened just now must have been a dream.
Duan Jinwei had no energy to ponder why Xiao Yi’s sister had suddenly gone into heat inside a private room, nor did she have the bandwidth to care about the wound on the back of her neck.
Her mind was entirely consumed by one thought: she had just witnessed Xiao Yi’s sister at her most vulnerable and wretched state, was the other woman going to silence her to cover it up?!
In her heart, Duan Jinwei silently recited a passage of the Great Compassion Mantra, then went online to search for some peace-of-mind scriptures to calm her nerves.
Having finally managed to calm herself down, she opened her contacts list, swiftly added Qiao Qiao to her blacklist, deleted her in one smooth motion, and then went off to work at the hospital as if nothing had happened.
In the hospital ward, the monitoring equipment emitted steady beeping sounds.
Brought in by ambulance that very night, Qiao Qiao had regained consciousness by evening.
Leaning back against the head of the bed, she silently stared at Jiang Na standing before her.
Jiang Na: “What she gave you was a medical-grade temporary mark that completely complies with medical standards.”
Jiang Na: “Marks in this world are divided into two categories. One is the exclusive mark between an Alpha and an Omega, which inevitably carries lust and a sense of possession. On the other hand, medical marks have very strict clinical standards regarding the dosage, depth, and duration of the pheromone injection, purely aimed at the purpose of physiological first aid.”
Jiang Na shrugged: “Ordinary people don’t undergo this kind of training, it falls under the scope of the pheromone marker certification exam. And you can only apply for pheromone markers if you major in clinical medicine. The person who marked you is a doctor.”
“If it weren’t for her, your gland would have ruptured.” Jiang Na slammed the medical chart in her hand onto the table: “The other day when you came for a follow-up, I had just checked the condition of your gland. It was clearly recovering very well.”
Jiang Na: “Speak. Did you fail to use your soothing agent every single day?”
Qiao Qiao: “There were only three bottles of the soothing agent left, and I’ve been so busy lately, so I stretched them out a bit.”
Jiang Na: “Have you really gone too long without an episode like this that you forgot? Don’t you know what your glandular condition is like? How could you just stop using the soothing agent?”
“I thought…”
Jiang Na: “Who on earth were you meeting yesterday? How could you not even have Xiao Cui by your side? That was way too dangerous!”
Jiang Na’s emotions were complicated.
With Qiao Qiao’s figure and appearance, who walking down the street would ever guess she was an Omega? Jiang Na knew that Qiao Qiao’s career had been on the rise these past few years. She was busy every day, running around outside surrounded by a bunch of alphas, and had never once shown a shred of weakness or special treatment. At the company, she carried everything entirely on her own shoulders.
She simply endured too much.
“Thinking back now, do you still feel terrified?” Jiang Na asked with a stern face: “Are you still going to work with such high intensity from now on?”
Qiao Qiao met her gaze, a very deep and complicated look welling up in her eyes. Her fingertips tapped lightly against the quilt.
Jiang Na: “You should look for an alpha marker. Medical science frequently utilizes marks for auxiliary treatments nowadays, otherwise, you won’t be able to work properly, right?”
…
When Qiao Yi rushed to the hospital, Qiao Qiao was still asleep in bed.
Ever since being marked, she had felt somewhat unaccustomed to it, always feeling a sense of emptiness in her heart.
That sweet pheromone was very aggressive, constantly enveloping her and invading every corner of her body without a single loophole.
This feeling was unfamiliar, so unfamiliar that it made her feel vigilant, like a sensation of needing to be cherished and held in someone’s arms.
After thinking for a moment, Qiao Qiao took out her phone and flipped through her contact list to find Duan Jinwei’s number.
This number had only been dialed once, the day she contacted the other party to meet at the hotel.
Qiao Qiao dialed the number.
“…Beep, beep, beep.”
Hearing the busy tone on the other end of the line, Qiao Qiao paused.
That girl had blocked her.
Qiao Qiao, who had never been blocked by anyone since birth: ……
The moment Qiao Yi walked through the door, she saw her older sister lying on the hospital bed.
Due to her physical weakness, Qiao Qiao’s complexion was somewhat pale, yet it did not conceal her arresting, bone-deep elegance. Her slender, fair wrist bones were slightly prominent, a circle of tape was wrapped around her wrist, and an IV needle was stuck into the back of her hand.
“Sister, is your health acting up again?” Qiao Yi asked, holding a fruit basket with a frown.
Though she was terrified of Qiao Qiao deep down, Qiao Yi deeply respected her older sister.
Having been cared for by Qiao Qiao and lived with her when she was young, she knew very well that despite her cold personality, Qiao Qiao was actually a very good person.
“Sister, do you want an apple? I’ll peel one for you,” Qiao Yi offered eagerly.
“No, I don’t have much of an appetite.” Qiao Qiao propped up her head, her clear, dark eyes staring quietly at her.
“Oh…” Qiao Yi changed the subject and asked, “Then does Sister want, ”
Qiao Qiao suddenly asked, “What kind of person is your girlfriend?”
Xiao Yi’s heart skipped a beat.
“Sister, has she looked for you recently?” Qiao Yi asked cautiously.
Qiao Qiao: “No, just tell me whatever. I’m just curious.”
Her impression of Duan Jinwei only skimmed the absolute surface.
Xiao Yi breathed a sigh of relief.
“She’s super flirtatious. She flirts with everyone at the hospital, loves to lead people on, and is not honest at all. Her temper is also terrible, she looks gentle, but her emotions are extremely unstable, and she even gives me the cold shoulder.” Frowning, Qiao Yi grumbled to her sister: “Sometimes when she gets anxious, she even pushes me.”
“She’s just…” Qiao Yi gestured with her hands: “Her glands are underdeveloped, right? She lacks pheromones, and her capabilities in that department are really poor, so she’s super insecure and sensitive. The moment I get a little closer to someone else, she goes crazy and makes a huge fuss endlessly. I couldn’t stand her long ago, she’s so annoying!”
After Qiao Yi left, the noisy hospital ward instantly quieted down.
Cui Yi’an had been listening from the side just now and couldn’t help saying, “The Second Miss’s girlfriend really helped President Qiao a huge favor yesterday. Is she really… that kind of person?”
Qiao Qiao stared out the window, a flicker of disappointment flashing deep within her eyes.
Qiao Qiao: “Yi’an, help me look into something.”
“Alright, President Qiao. What would you like me to look into?”
“About that girl.”