This immediately drew He Siheng’s retort. “Upset my ass. It’s been so long—am I that fragile to still be moping?”
Tan Jing raised a brow, his lips curving up.
Looks like he really had moved on.
He Siheng had mostly let it go, but Tan Jing’s question brought back memories of that day he’d eaten with Tan Wan—how his emotions had fluctuated so much that he’d differentiated right in front of Tan Jing. He felt embarrassed about it.
Feeling his claim of not being upset anymore lacked conviction, he feigned indifference about the past. “There are plenty of other flowers in the world. Pretty girls are everywhere.”
Tan Jing’s smile froze, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
He Siheng was oblivious. “That school flower you turned down last time—she looks like my type. Got her contact—”
Before he finished, Tan Jing shoved him down onto the bed and bit his nape hard. His sharp canines felt like they would pierce the skin. He Siheng yelped in pain and instinctively struggled, but Tan Jing pinned his wrists firmly.
The injection of pheromones made his whole body go limp, his face flushing red.
Only when the teeth finally released his skin did his awareness and strength gradually return.
He Siheng panted as he propped himself up on the bed. The pain in his nape hurt more than last time.
He rubbed his neck, feeling the bite mark, and complained breathlessly, “I told you to bite lightly.”
Tan Jing licked the corner of his lips, his expression indifferent, and apologized without remorse. “Sorry. Next time for sure.”
“…”
Tan Jing’s bite really wasn’t light. The next morning, He Siheng could still see the tooth marks on his neck in the mirror.
With no choice, he stuck a medicated patch over it.
The patch had a faint minty scent that an Omega’s sensitive nose couldn’t miss. Sure enough, as soon as He Siheng got to school, Zhou Yu noticed the patch on his neck and asked what was wrong.
He Siheng grumbled sourly, “Got bit by a dog.”
Zhou Yu didn’t catch it. “What’d you say?”
He Siheng changed his tune. “…Nothing. Just a crick in the neck.”
He naturally couldn’t tell Zhou Yu the truth, or his Omega identity would be exposed too.
Luckily, Zhou Yu’s focus that day wasn’t on his neck. He eagerly tattled, “Heng Bro, hurry and check the school forum. It’s a total mess!”
He Siheng pulled out his phone, opened the school forum, and saw the homepage peaceful as usual, nothing amiss.
He was baffled. “What’s wrong with the school forum? Looks quiet to me.”
Zhou Yu leaned over to look. The homepage was indeed calm; several hot posts from yesterday had vanished. He pulled out his own phone, flipped through, and clicked the link to the post he’d shared yesterday—it showed as deleted by the admin.
Zhou Yu was shocked. “How are they all gone?”
“What’s gone?”
“Those posts saying you and the Class Monitor are a couple,” Zhou Yu said. “Everyone was shipping your CP. They even named it ‘TanHe CP’ or something.”
“…What kinda nonsense is that?” He Siheng’s face screamed disgust. “Are they blind? Me and that jerk are total sworn enemies—how do we look like a match?”
Zhou Yu broke out in a sweat, thinking to himself that He Siheng hadn’t seen the frenzy in those posts yesterday. Enemies-to-lovers was the hottest ship point.
Speaking of yesterday, Zhou Yu couldn’t resist gossiping. “Heng Bro, where’d you and the Class Monitor go after the race? You didn’t come back to the classroom even after evening self-study.”
He Siheng cleared his throat and put on his young master’s airs. “Felt off after the run last night, so I had Tan Jing take me home. Class Monitor duty, got it?”
Zhou Yu gave a thumbs up. “Gotta be Heng Bro—actually bossing Tan Jing around.”
Though he admired Tan Jing more for following through on the bet and acting as his lackey. True to the Student Council President, leading by example with his integrity.
Of course, he wouldn’t say a word of that to Young Master He.
He Siheng lifted his chin proudly and huffed.
Then he suddenly spotted a blind spot. “Wait, you said the forum was shipping me and Tan Jing’s CP—what exactly? What’s the name?”
Zhou Yu was a bit dazed. “Tan… TanHe?”
He Siheng wasn’t into CP shipping, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care about the name order. He frowned deeply in dissatisfaction. “Why’s Tan Jing first?”
As soon as he said it, a familiar voice came from behind. “My what is in front of you?”
He Siheng and Zhou Yu whipped around together, and sure enough, there was Tan Jing with his two friends.
He was taller than the other two, the most striking in looks, his expression aloof and casually distant. But the gaze he cast downward seemed laced with amusement.
Caught badmouthing behind his back, Zhou Yu jolted in fright and immediately made an excuse to bolt. “Heng Bro, I got stuff to handle—gotta go!”
He ran off without looking back.
He Siheng was speechless. What was this guy running for? Tan Jing wouldn’t eat him.
He turned to the culprit who’d scared him off, eyeing him with disdain. “All your fault. I wasn’t done talking, and you scared him away.”
Tan Jing raised a brow innocently. “Do I look that scary?”
He Siheng snorted coldly. “You look like a dog.”
Wang Yizhou immediately protested for Tan Jing. “He Siheng, that’s too much. Jing Bro helped you out yesterday—how can you…”
Before he finished, Song Lin grabbed his arm and dragged him away forcibly. “Your event’s up for check-in. Hurry up.”
“I wasn’t done talking—why’re you dragging me?”
“…Just go, blockhead!”
The two bickered as they walked off.
Tan Jing’s gaze swept over the medicated patch on He Siheng’s neck, then back to his displeased face, and asked leisurely, “Still mad?”
He Siheng shot back coolly, “What do you think?”
His neck still bore that deep bite mark; this patch would have to stay on for days.
As he stewed in anger, Tan Jing suddenly reached out toward him, his pale, bony wrist right in front of He Siheng.
He Siheng was baffled. “What?”
“Didn’t I bite you too hard yesterday?” Tan Jing said. “Bite me back.”
He Siheng froze, his gaze landing on Tan Jing’s face.
The guy had lowered his brows and eyes, his long lashes drooping naturally, his dark eyes gazing quietly at him. For a split second, He Siheng almost thought he looked meek and obedient.
But then he remembered—this was Tan Jing, the doggiest of them all.
Was this reverse psychology?
“Don’t think I won’t bite.” He Siheng grabbed his hand, about to chomp down, but suddenly stopped. “Pah, in public? You got no shame, but I do.”
“Then let’s go to an empty classroom and lock the door?”
Tan Jing sounded like he was genuinely suggesting it, but He Siheng found it off somehow, unable to pinpoint why. The more he thought, the weirder it felt.
“Forget it. This young master won’t play dog with you.”
He Siheng let go of his hand and turned to leave.
Tan Jing watched his still-confused retreating back and chuckled silently.
Blockheads had their perks.
