Chapter 25
On the last day of December, the university’s annual anniversary celebration arrived.
Although snowflakes were still falling sporadically, it didn’t dampen the students’ enthusiasm.
The stage had been set up early, and rehearsals were held throughout the day. The evening performance officially began at six o’clock.
Yan Weiqiu’s roommates dragged him along early to secure good seats.
Jiang Yuebai bought him his favorite milk tea, squeezed through the crowd, and handed it to him. “I’ll wait for you at the school gate after the celebration.”
“Okay.” Yan Weiqiu waved at him.
As the performances began, more and more people filled the seats around Yan Weiqiu.
He wasn’t sure if it was because he was more sensitive to pheromones now, but the mixture of scents in the air made him uncomfortable, and he covered his nose with his scarf.
His Omega roommate next to him excitedly waved his glow stick.
Yan Weiqiu couldn’t help but ask, “Don’t you find it stuffy? I feel so uncomfortable.”
His roommate shook his head. “Did you not wear a blocker?”
“I put one on before I left.” Yan Weiqiu instinctively touched the skin on his neck where his glands were. He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but his glands felt hot, with a slight stinging sensation.
His roommate leaned closer and sniffed, but didn’t notice anything unusual.
Yan Weiqiu: “I’m going to the restroom.”
Halfway there, he suddenly remembered the doctor’s words. This could be his first heat. The thought made his heart race, and he abruptly turned around, intending to go back to the dorm.
But then he remembered his other Omega roommate.
He couldn’t go back.
He anxiously took out the bottle of pills from his bag. Just as he opened the lid, he was bumped by a passing student, and the remaining few pills scattered on the ground.
“Sorry!”
Yan Weiqiu’s vision darkened. He put the bottle back in his bag and quickly walked towards the school gate.
He had to go home, and he could only go home.
He usually carried suppressants with him, but he had forgotten today.
Yan Weiqiu rushed home, panting. His glands were itchy and tingling, his face flushed an unnatural red, his legs weak and sore, his body temperature high, as if he had fallen into a furnace. His mind gradually became foggy, his head dizzy.
He tore at his clothes, stumbled to the bathroom, took off all his clothes, and lay down in the bathtub.
“So hot.”
He turned on the faucet, letting the cold water wash over him.
He curled up in a corner.
Fear and panic consumed him.
His phone, tossed aside, rang incessantly.
After a long time, his head pounding from the noise, Yan Weiqiu groggily climbed out of the bathtub and answered the call.
“Xiaoqiu, where are you?!” Jiang Yuebai’s anxious voice came from the phone.
“Xiaobai.”
“I can’t celebrate New Year’s Eve with you tonight.”
“Sorry.”
Yan Weiqiu’s voice was soft and slurred, the sound of water in the background making it hard for Jiang Yuebai to understand what he was saying.
“Xiaoqiu! Don’t hang up! Tell me where you are, I’ll come find you!”
“Are you feeling unwell? Are you in the dorm?”
“I’m home.” Yan Weiqiu tossed his phone aside and sank back into the water.
“Xiaoqiu, wait, I…” Before Jiang Yuebai could finish, the call was disconnected.
The apartment building had one unit per floor, with a private elevator for each unit.
The moment Jiang Yuebai stepped out of the elevator, he smelled a strong scent of sweet orange.
He suddenly remembered the rut he had during their senior year high school reunion.
That faint pheromone scent gradually overlapped with the sweet orange fragrance he had smelled on Yan Weiqiu.
Jiang Yuebai froze, unable to move.
So he hadn’t been mistaken back then.
So Xiaoqiu was an Omega.
He slowly walked towards the door, the sweet scent intensifying with each step, enveloping him.
He gripped the doorknob, Yan Weiqiu’s words echoing in his mind.
“Do you still hate Omegas?”
“What if I were an Omega?”
Jiang Yuebai frowned, his heart aching as if pierced by countless needles.
He couldn’t imagine how Yan Weiqiu had managed to hide his secret and endure the pain alone.
The usually calm and collected Jiang Yuebai panicked.
No wonder the distance between them had grown.
No wonder Yan Weiqiu had been avoiding him.
It was him who had pushed him away.
Jiang Yuebai took a deep breath and gently opened the door.
The Omega pheromones rushed towards him from all directions, disrupting his senses.
No Alpha could resist the pheromones of an Omega in heat.
Especially when it was the Omega he loved.
Jiang Yuebai suppressed his own pheromones, fighting his instincts as he walked towards the bathroom.
Water was overflowing from the bathtub, and his Xiaoqiu was lying inside.
Jiang Yuebai’s pupils constricted, and he rushed over, lifting Yan Weiqiu out of the water.
Yan Weiqiu lay limply in his arms, his body trembling as he murmured, “So hot.”
His face was flushed, and he instinctively nuzzled against Jiang Yuebai, seeking the comfort of his pheromones.
“So uncomfortable.”
Jiang Yuebai held him tightly, slowly releasing his pheromones. He gently peeled off the soaked blocker, his heart aching at the sight of his swollen glands.
Yan Weiqiu clung to his neck, mumbling incoherently, “Candy, give me candy.”
Jiang Yuebai wrapped him in a blanket, carried him to the sofa, found his bag, and searched for the bottle of pills.
“There’s none left, no more candy. I’ll buy you some other candy, okay?”
Yan Weiqiu grabbed his hand, bit him, and stammered, “I want this one, not others. Ask the doctor to prescribe it for me.”
Doctor?
Jiang Yuebai’s expression turned serious as he carefully examined the bottle.
He found a small line of text at the bottom: Pheromone suppressants.
Jiang Yuebai held Yan Weiqiu, speechless.
He had missed so many chances to learn the truth.
The closed room was filled with the sour scent of lime and the sweet fragrance of orange.
The two pheromones mingled, intertwining.
Jiang Yuebai tightened his arms around him, his Adam’s apple bobbing, his eyes darkening.
“So itchy.” Yan Weiqiu clutched Jiang Yuebai’s clothes, his body trembling in his arms, as if countless ants were crawling all over him.
His face was flushed, his eyes watery, and he whimpered softly, “I feel so uncomfortable.”
Jiang Yuebai buried his face in his neck, inhaling his pheromones deeply, his fingers tracing his glands, whispering his name tenderly.
“Xiaoqiu.”
“Can I mark you?”
His voice was hoarse, his warm breath brushing against Yan Weiqiu’s neck as he gently kissed him.
“I can’t hold back anymore.”
Yan Weiqiu was lost in the throes of his heat, his remaining rationality gone. He couldn’t even hear what Jiang Yuebai was saying.
He nodded randomly, tearing at Jiang Yuebai’s clothes, calling his name helplessly, “Xiaobai.”
Jiang Yuebai pulled him onto his lap, sniffed his glands deeply, and gently licked them with infatuation.
The tingling, unfamiliar sensation made Yan Weiqiu instinctively resist, struggling in his arms.
Jiang Yuebai tightened his grip on his waist, showering his neck with kisses.
Yan Weiqiu leaned against him, murmuring softly, “Xiaobai, mm, mark.”
His mind was foggy. Yan Weiqiu rubbed his aching head and weakly held onto Jiang Yuebai’s arm around his waist.
Then, the Alpha’s canines pierced his glands, the pain jolting him awake.
He trembled in Jiang Yuebai’s arms, tears welling up in his eyes, and choked out, “It hurts.”
The Alpha’s pheromones flooded his glands, a tingling sensation spreading throughout his body. Ignoring the pain, Yan Weiqiu pleaded softly, “No, stop.”
The temporary mark was complete.
Jiang Yuebai gently kissed his swollen glands, letting out a soft sigh of contentment, and whispered his name affectionately.
“Xiaoqiu.”
