He Siheng stayed up for most of the night, but in the end, he succumbed to sleepiness in the latter half.
Surprisingly, he slept very well that night. However, after falling asleep, he always felt like his hands were gripped by something, preventing him from moving. In his dream, he even saw himself handcuffed by the police.
In the dream, he asked what crime he had committed, and the police said it was because he was too handsome and tempted people to commit crimes.
Crucially, that police officer looked a lot like Tan Jing, saying it with a straight face. He Siheng burst out laughing and woke himself up.
He was somewhat awake, but still groggy. He had always been bad at getting up and didn’t want to open his eyes. He just instinctively hugged the warm heat source, wanting to go back to sleep.
In his half-dreaming, half-awake state, he thought this pillow was really nice—warm and cozy, perfect for autumn and winter.
He Siheng’s palm groped around on the pillow. The texture was smooth, but a bit hard, like solid muscle.
Hm? Muscle?
He Siheng’s still-not-fully-awake reflexes slowly connected.
Suddenly, a low, husky voice came from above his head.
“Have you groped enough?”
“…”
His reflexes connected at rocket speed. He Siheng abruptly opened his eyes and lifted his head, meeting the guy’s dark, brooding gaze.
Memories flooded back instantly. He Siheng yanked back the hand that had been resting on the other’s chest and scrambled up from the bed using hands and feet, explaining at machine-gun speed like his tongue was scalded: “I was really sleepwalking this time!”
Tan Jing chuckled. “Your sleepwalking sure knows how to get around.”
When he said “knows how to get around,” he emphasized the word slightly, meaningfully.
After saying that, he shifted positions, propping his head up with one hand and reclining lazily like a noble consort on a couch.
Tan Jing had slept in a button-up pajama shirt the night before. The fabric was soft, and as he moved, He Siheng saw that several buttons on his shirt were undone—almost all of them—leaving the front wide open and exposing chest muscles so white they were dazzling.
For some inexplicable reason, He Siheng choked on his own saliva, a vague sense of foreboding rising.
The next second, the premonition came true.
“Your fingers are pretty nimble. Even asleep, you managed to unbutton my shirt completely.”
“…”
“I’m curious—what kind of dream were you having last night? You almost took off my pants.” Tan Jing looked at him with a half-smile. “Pretty intense, huh?”
“…………”
He Siheng’s cheeks flushed red inch by inch. He felt utterly mortified, ashamed to the extreme, and in his fury from embarrassment, he snapped: “I should be the one asking what kind of dream you were having last night—suddenly just—”
He cut himself off abruptly.
No way! Getting kissed like that was too humiliating. Tan Jing didn’t seem to remember what happened last night. As long as he didn’t say anything, his first kiss could still be considered intact.
Seeing him suddenly stammer, Tan Jing raised a brow.
He vaguely remembered dreaming in the latter half of the night about celebrating He Siheng’s birthday, even doing a little mischief with the cream cake in the dream. But he had no history of sleepwalking, and his sleeping posture was good, so he shouldn’t have done anything to He Siheng while asleep.
But looking at He Siheng’s guilty, hesitant expression, had something else happened after he fell asleep last night?
“What did I do last night?” Tan Jing asked.
But He Siheng replied with dead seriousness: “You suddenly started calling me daddy last night. Couldn’t stop you. Such a good boy.”
“…”
Tan Jing snorted, sat up from the bed, undid the last surviving button, took off his pajama shirt, and went to his suitcase to grab a new hoodie to change into.
His shoulders were broad, his back wide and solid with muscle that had a powerful sense of strength. The lines were smooth, and as he bent over, the vertebrae of his spine protruded clearly under his skin, like tough green bamboo.
He Siheng sat on the bed, staring blankly at his back muscles.
The scene felt oddly weird for some reason—an indescribable subtlety, like an after-the-fact…
Pah pah pah!
Tan Jing pulled on the hoodie and turned to look at the guy on the bed who was spitting in disgust: “Not getting up? Planning to skip the competition?”
He Siheng paused, then asked sincerely: “Can I skip it?”
He really didn’t want to participate in this damn competition, especially now that he knew that jinx Lu Xinshu was here too—it just felt like bad luck.
Tan Jing tugged at the corner of his mouth: “You can try.”
He Siheng gave up. With Teacher Li’s personality, he’d probably end up dead if he tried.
He obediently got out of bed to wash up and put on Tan Jing’s jacket.
He Siheng never imagined his luck could be this bad. Not only had he run into Lu Xinshu yesterday, but today they were in the same exam room.
When Lu Xinshu saw him, fanatical joy flashed in his eyes, but upon noticing the clothes on He Siheng’s body, his face darkened instantly.
Stared at by Lu Xinshu’s man-eating glare for several hours, He Siheng got so annoyed he wanted to curse. The moment time was up, he handed in his paper and left.
He hadn’t walked far from the exam room door when, unsurprisingly, he heard footsteps following behind.
He ignored it and kept walking forward.
“Why are you wearing Tan Jing’s clothes?” The male voice from behind lost yesterday’s gentleness, now laced with gritted teeth.
He Siheng stopped in his tracks.
He turned around and saw Lu Xinshu’s sullen face.
Lu Xinshu had originally wanted to get closer to He Siheng, but he stopped abruptly three steps away. It was because of the jacket on He Siheng, which was tainted with Tan Jing’s pheromones.
Pheromones between Alphas instinctively repelled each other, especially when the rank difference was greater—the lower-ranked Alpha could only be suppressed.
He Siheng’s expression wasn’t great either.
