In the darkness, everything returned to that night.
The familiar touch, the familiar breathing, and the familiar white peach scent were like a net that wrapped around Bai Yue from head to toe. She pressed the woman into the soft mattress, her fingers sliding up along that slender waist, the skin beneath her palms slightly burning.
The woman beneath her tilted her head to accept her kisses, her arms wrapped around Bai Yue’s neck, her fingertips digging into the long hair at the back of her head.
Everything was the same as that night.
Yet, it was different.
That night was a strange investigation, a game of strategy between hunter and hunter. But at this moment, the memory of her body made everything feel logical and inevitable. She knew how soft her waist was, knew when her breathing would turn ragged, and knew exactly where she liked to be kissed.
Bai Yue’s kisses shifted from her lips to her jaw, then to her earlobe, and finally down her neck. The white peach pheromones grew stronger, carrying a passionate sweetness and that lingering, chilling coldness.
The woman beneath her gasped softly, her fingers tracing across Bai Yue’s back. “Call me.”
Bai Yue could not see that face clearly, but she could feel those eyes looking straight at her.
“What?” she asked.
The woman reached out with both hands to cradle Bai Yue’s face slowly, moving her warm, white peach-scented breath right to her ear.
“Her name,” the Omega whispered, her voice low. “Your new wife.”
Bai Yue’s breathing hitched.
New wife.
That jasmine flower.
The woman’s soft lips pressed against her ear, her voice as light as an incantation: “Call me by that name.”
Bai Yue froze.
Call her by that jasmine flower’s name while she was currently holding this raging fire beneath her?
She opened her mouth, the name rolling on the tip of her tongue, but she could not say it.
It was not that she could not.
It was that she did not want to.
Jiang Manru was Jiang Manru. That name belonged to the tepid water under the sunlight, to the quiet flower arranging and the elegant tea ceremony, to those pictures in the blind date profile that were too perfect to be real.
But the woman beneath her was a white peach, a flame, a catalyst burning through everything in the dark.
They were different.
How could she use the same name for both?
“What?” There was a hint of a smile in the Omega’s tone. “Can you not say it?”
Bai Yue remained silent.
“Because I am not like her?” the voice pursued. “Or because you do not want to mix her up with me?”
Bai Yue still said nothing.
But the silence itself was the answer.
“Forget it.” She wrapped her arms around Bai Yue’s neck again, suddenly losing interest.
“Jiang Manru.” Bai Yue closed her eyes, her lips finally moving. The sound was soft and hoarse, as if it had been carved straight out of her chest.
The Omega was delighted and kissed her eyes.
“Good girl. Call me again.”
Bai Yue was no longer a stranger to this.
She leaned down to bite the woman’s ear, her hand sliding down along her waistline, shamelessly calling her name once more: “Manru.”
The Omega’s body shuddered, and she suddenly stretched out her hands to pull Bai Yue down, kissing her lips fiercely.
Bai Yue closed her eyes, responding to her.
Their bodies remembered each other, more honest than any language could be. When her fingers brushed against the woman’s side, she shivered slightly. When her kiss fell on her collarbone, she tilted her neck back. When their breaths tangled together, everything became a matter of course.
Time lost its meaning.
There was only panting, sweat, and the tangled silhouettes in the dark.
The wild rose from that night was still in full bloom tonight.
Bai Yue kissed every inch of her skin, listening to her emit those uncontrollable sounds. Those sounds were more real than that night, no longer the showy tests of hunters, but real, passionate, and out of control, occupied by desire.
She was the same.
Those careful pretenses of being a serious person, those reserved restraints of a good Alpha, all collapsed in this moment.
She was no longer the young CEO of Bai Capital; she was no longer that hypocritical Alpha who liked well-behaved girls.
She was just herself.
A woman chasing her instincts in the dark.
…
It was unclear how much time had passed when they finally stopped.
Bai Yue rolled over and lay down, her breathing still ragged. The scent of white peach pheromones was so rich it almost overflowed the room, thoroughly tangled with her oud wood scent, making it impossible to tell them apart.
The woman beside her faced her. A hand reached out, lightly tracing her brow bone, her nose, and her lips.
“Bai Yue.” The Omega called her name, her voice raspy beyond recognition.
“Hmm?”
“After that night,” her fingertips stopped on Bai Yue’s lips, “I thought I might meet you again.”
Bai Yue grasped her hand.
“And then?”
“Then…” the Omega laughed softly. “I just did not expect it to be in this way.”
Bai Yue was silent for a second.
“Me neither,” she said. “When I woke up that morning and saw those two hundred dollars…”
The woman beside her burst into laughter.
That laughter was exceptionally clear in the darkness, full of triumph, cunning, and the joy of a successful prank.
“Very funny?” Bai Yue raised an eyebrow.
“No,” she was still laughing. “I was just thinking that the expression on your face must have been priceless.”
Bai Yue looked at her.
She could not see her face in the darkness, but that laughter made her want to press her back into the bed.
“Stop laughing,” she said.
“Why?”
Bai Yue rolled over, pinning her beneath her once more.
Their breaths intertwined.
“Two hundred dollars is not enough to dismiss me,” Bai Yue leaned down, her lips brushing against the woman’s ear. “I am very expensive.”
The person beneath her paused.
“If the money is not enough,” Bai Yue said word by word, “then pay me back with something else.”
She laughed even harder.
Her whole body was trembling, unable to stop, laughing until tears were almost forming. She reached out to push Bai Yue’s shoulders, but she had no strength in her hands, unable to push her away.
“You, you…” she was laughing so hard she could not speak.
Bai Yue leaned down to kiss her, blocking those sounds of laughter.
Outside the window, the waves rolled in one after another.
The night was still long, and they lingered, unwilling to leave.
…
When Bai Yue finally woke up a bit from that satiated exhaustion, it was very late in the night.
But she had no intention of leaving.
She lay on her side in bed, one hand behind her head, the other resting on the waist of the person in her arms. Her thumb mindlessly rubbed that patch of smooth skin, as if playing with a treasure she could not bear to part with.
The person in her arms did not move either, quietly curled up beside her, pressing against her chest and abdomen, her breathing as steady as if she were asleep.
But Bai Yue knew she was not asleep.
Because the fingertips of the hand resting on the back of Bai Yue’s hand were tapping lightly.
One, two, three, as if counting heartbeats.
The room was very quiet.
It was quiet enough to hear the low hum of the air conditioner, the sound of the waves from far away outside the window, and each other’s breathing.
“Hey,” the Omega spoke first, her voice full of the laziness after satiation.
“Hmm?”
“Do you intend to spend the night here?”
Bai Yue’s movements paused.
“Is that not allowed?”
“It is allowed,” the Omega’s tone was playful. “However, won’t the one at your home come looking for you?”
Bai Yue’s body stiffened for a fleeting moment.
That jasmine flower.
She had almost forgotten.
Now, that name was suddenly brought up. It was like a thorn, gently piercing into the carefully crafted dream.
Bai Yue remained silent for a few seconds.
She let go and sat up.
In the darkness, she groped around to find her clothes. Shirt, pants, underwear—she did not know where she had thrown them. She got out of bed barefoot, felt around the carpet, and finally picked up the scattered clothes one by one.
The sound of rustling came from behind.
The Omega on the bed also sat up. She leaned against the headboard, watching Bai Yue grope in the dark.
“Need help?” the Omega asked kindly, with a smile.
“No need.”
Bai Yue put on her shirt and pulled on her pants. She stood by the bed, looking at that vague silhouette in the darkness.
The woman leaned against the headboard, the quilt slipping down to her waist, revealing her bare shoulders and collarbones. She could not see the expression in the dark, but those eyes were bright, looking straight at her.
“Then, I am leaving,” Bai Yue was reluctant.
“Hmm.”
They were both silent.
Bai Yue turned and walked toward the door.
A gentle voice came from behind, light and full of laughter: “Happy wedding, Bai Yue.”
Bai Yue’s footsteps faltered.
Happy wedding.
How ironic.
On her wedding night, during her honeymoon, she was walking on thin ice beside that jasmine flower while letting herself go on the bed of this wild rose.
And at this moment, this wild rose was wishing her a happy wedding.
“Thanks.” Bai Yue did not look back, saying it reluctantly.
When her hand touched the doorknob, she stopped. An impulse surged in her heart, so strong she could not suppress it.
She let go and turned around.
In a few steps, she was back by the bed, precisely finding the woman’s position in the darkness. She leaned down, bracing her hands on both sides of her body, trapping her between herself and the bed.
“Hey,” the Omega was startled by her sudden return. “What are you doing?”
Bai Yue said nothing, just staring at that vague face in the darkness.
“What?” Her voice had regained its composure, tinted with laughter. “Can you not bear to leave?”
“Give me your contact information.”
The woman paused.
“What?”
“Contact information,” Bai Yue said. “Phone number, WeChat, anything works.”
Silence stretched for a long time.
“That is not the style of a ‘Mitu’ legend,” she teased. “Or is this a common ailment for married Alphas?”
Bai Yue felt that she had changed too.
In the past, a one-night stand was just a one-night stand; they would part at dawn and go their separate ways. This was her rule, her principle.
But at this moment, she wanted to make an exception.
“You are different,” she said.
She had said this sentence to countless people.
She had said it to every Omega who wanted to stay an extra night, to every bed partner who tried to become official, and to every person she had gently pushed away.
She had said it too many times, so many that she had almost forgotten what this sentence was supposed to mean in the first place.
But now, she felt that she was being sincere.
She really wanted to see her again.
She really did not want to say goodbye like this.
Yet, because she had said it so many times, even she was a little uncertain.
Was she really different? Or was the atmosphere tonight just too good, making her suffer from an illusion?
The Omega looked at her, taking in everything, including that slight hesitation that was hard to notice.
Then she laughed.
Not a tease, not a sarcasm, but a kind of complex laughter that was hard to describe.
“134XXXX3908.”
After Bai Yue memorized it, she wanted to say something more.
But the woman had already lain back down on the bed, pulled the quilt over herself, turned over, and faced away from her.
“Go,” the voice came from under the quilt, muffled. “If you do not leave, it will be dawn.”
Bai Yue stood by the bed, looking at that back.
She wanted to say something, but she did not know what to say.
She turned and headed toward the door.
This time, she did not look back.
The light from the corridor flooded in for a moment, then disappeared behind the door.
The room sank back into darkness.
The person on the bed lay still, not moving.
A long time passed, and she turned over, looking at that closed door.
“Different,” her lips curled up, and she repeated Bai Yue’s words softly, with triumph and playfulness. “Is that so?”