“…” He Siheng fell silent for a subtle moment, defensively mumbling, “Mine was just restless sleeping at most.”
“I’ll go wake him.”
He Siheng turned to call Shu Yichen but was stopped by Tan Jing. “Best to let sleepwalkers wake themselves.”
“Just let him keep making noise?”
“The floor’s well-insulated. Won’t bother downstairs.”
“What about us? No sleep tonight?”
Tan Jing glanced at his thin sleepwear and lifted the blanket on the sofa. “Come sit. It shouldn’t last long.”
Unable to call out or sleep, He Siheng sat beside him.
Tan Jing draped half the blanket over him. It still held body heat—warm and cozy.
But He Siheng found just sitting there with him feeling oddly strange.
He coughed awkwardly. “Sleeping out here tonight—you cold?”
Tan Jing: “Cold.”
He Siheng was about to ask if there were extra blankets in the closet when Tan Jing added, “If I’m cold, can I sleep on the bed with you?”
He Siheng: “…”
He Siheng deadpanned, “Then freeze to death.”
“Sigh, so heartless.” Tan Jing feigned resentment, though his expression was utterly serious.
He Siheng’s eye twitched as he fought the urge to punch him. “Bro, please stop being cringy.”
Tan Jing chuckled lowly, then his nose twitched at an unusual scent. His expression shifted slightly.
Before He Siheng could react, the other boy leaned over and covered his mouth and nose.
His eyes widened in surprise, about to struggle, when Tan Jing warned, “Your cousin’s Susceptibility Period hit.”
Alphas were more sensitive to fellow Alphas’ Pheromones. As soon as Tan Jing spoke, the piano stopped, followed by the thud of a heavy body hitting the floor.
Aggressive Pheromones surged wildly from Shu Yichen, filling the room with a cool mint scent.
Alphas had strong territorial instincts. The smell irritated Tan Jing slightly; he frowned but didn’t release his hand from He Siheng’s face. He pulled him up from the sofa. “You go back to the room first.”
He Siheng recalled what Shu Yichen had said before bed about two Alphas clashing and likely fighting. He pulled Tan Jing’s hand away. “Let me soothe him first…”
Before he finished, a sharp glare shot his way, choking off the rest.
It wasn’t displeasure so much as the dissatisfaction of an Alpha—and an intense possessiveness that brooked no compromise.
Though the eye contact was brief and Tan Jing softened instantly—as if the sharpness had been an illusion—He Siheng still shrank back involuntarily.
Noticing his tension, Tan Jing ruffled his hair gently. “Be good. Go back to your room. Don’t let him trigger your Heat. I’ll take him to the hospital.”
He Siheng didn’t argue. He held his breath and returned to the bedroom, closing the door.
Tan Jing was right. In that short time, Shu Yichen’s Pheromones had made his body heat up, and he’d picked up the mint scent.
He Siheng immediately changed out of the tainted sleepwear and opened the bedroom window for fresh air. The cold breeze cooled the flush gradually.
But he remained uneasy, standing at the door to listen. No sounds of fighting— he relaxed a bit.
Meanwhile, in the living room, Shu Yichen jolted awake from his own fall. The bright light stung his eyes. Unaware of what happened, he just felt awful, like he’d watched a tragic movie with an urge to cry.
Then he caught a foreign Alpha Pheromone scent and grew anxious and irritable. Struggling up, he saw the tall boy emitting it and, on instinct, swung a fist at him.
After two steps, the other’s Pheromones crashed down like mountains and seas.
Shu Yichen’s head throbbed. Clutching it, he begged, “Bro, bro… cousin-in-law!”
Seeing reason return, Tan Jing dialed back his warning Pheromones and looked at him with a half-smile. “Still wanna punch me?”
A rank apart was worlds different. Shu Yichen was utterly suppressed.
Susceptible Alphas were volatile yet sensitive and fragile. Unsure if it was regret or fear, Shu Yichen sobbed snot and tears. “No, I won’t… I won’t…”
Tan Jing opened the living room windows for ventilation and ordered, “Put on a jacket. We’re going to the hospital for Suppressants.”
Shu Yichen nodded, wiping his face. “Wah… okay…”
Suppressants didn’t work on S-Rank, and Tan Jing didn’t keep them at home, so he called a ride to take Shu Yichen to the hospital in the middle of the night.
The suppression from the higher rank turned Shu Yichen from an irritable little lion into a crybaby puppy. He cried and whimpered all the way from home to the hospital, and he cried even more miserably during the injection—shedding little pearls of tears while asking the doctor why the Susceptibility Period had come again just a few days after his last Suppressants.
The doctor, unfazed by the scene, said, “It’s like this right after Differentiation. It’s unstable.”
“Wuu wuu wuu, then when can I stabilize?”
“Depends on personal physical quality.”
“…”
Shu Yichen cried even more pitifully, convinced that no one in the world was more miserable than him.
He even felt an impulse to call that deadpan bro from his class. He didn’t know why himself—he just wanted to find him, hear his voice, smell his scent. If he could bite him once, that would be even better. Wuu wuu wuu.
After nearly an hour of chaos at the hospital, Tan Jing brought him back. Shu Yichen was still crying.
“Keep it down. Your bro might be asleep,” Tan Jing reminded him in a hushed voice.
Shu Yichen shed silent tears. Damn it—even now, his cousin-in-law was still only thinking about his cousin!
Shu Yichen ran sadly to the guest room and locked the door behind him.
Seeing his heartbroken expression, Tan Jing almost wanted to laugh, but remembering how he himself hadn’t been much better during his own Differentiation, he couldn’t quite manage it.
He glanced toward the master bedroom and walked over. He stopped at the door, about to knock—his hand raised, then paused. He listened carefully to the sounds inside, thought for a moment, and gently cracked the door open instead.
Sure enough, He Siheng had already fallen asleep. He must have been too worried to return to bed and had dozed off slumped over the table.
Tan Jing slipped into the room quietly, closed the bedroom window tight, then walked to the table. He lowered his head to gaze at the man sleeping with his arms pillowed under his head.
He Siheng slept deeply, his breathing long and even. But because the window had been open, he’d caught a chill—his whole body had curled up, making him look even more slender and fragile.
Tan Jing recalled that shiver from He Siheng and felt a pang of annoyance.
It was his fault for losing control of his emotions. But that sharp edge in the moment hadn’t been entirely emotional—it stemmed more from the sovereignty instinct hardwired into an Alpha’s genes.
Tonight, He Siheng had actually said, right in front of him, that he was going to soothe another Alpha.
The guy probably had no idea what “soothing” even meant—or what it entailed.
Tan Jing sighed and bent down. He carefully scooped the man up into a horizontal carry and placed him back on the bed.
Once settled on the bed, He Siheng unconsciously shifted into a more comfortable position. He lay on his side, facing away from the nearer edge of the bed, leaving his fair, slender nape completely exposed and defenseless to the Alpha’s gaze.
In the quiet room, aside from the soft breathing of someone deep in dreams, the heavy roll of an Adam’s apple and the ensuing swallow stood out even more clearly.
Tan Jing averted his eyes, bent down to tuck the covers around him snugly, and turned to leave. But then the phone on the bedside table—plugged in to charge—suddenly lit up.
He caught an unintended glimpse, and his gaze locked onto the group name in the popping notification.
—Brother Jing Global Support Association.
Tan Jing paused. He glanced at the soundly sleeping man on the bed, then back at the phone as more group messages kept popping up.
After hesitating for a few seconds, he reached out.
