Yu Xi stopped in his tracks.
——He stopped at Yi Chen’s doorstep.
He had come here more than once.
But today, Yu Xi felt like he had gone mad.
He raised his hand, then lowered it, and finally sat down on the stairwell in frustration.
Yi Chen’s place was one apartment per floor, and the dimly lit stairwell was empty—thankfully empty.
His phone vibrated.
Yi Chen’s video call came in at that moment.
Yu Xi hesitated for a moment before answering.
“What are you doing?” Yi Chen asked when he saw Yu Xi on the screen.
Clearly, Yi Chen was at home, dressed very casually.
Yu Xi’s face was close to the camera; he didn’t want Yi Chen to see his background.
“Resting,” Yu Xi said. “Did you video call just to ask that?”
Yi Chen had anticipated Yu Xi’s response. “Looks like what I said today had zero impact on you? You haven’t changed at all.”
“I… should I have changed somehow?”
Yi Chen was tidying up some things. He propped up his phone and glanced casually—or so it seemed—while actually observing Yu Xi closely from off-camera.
“Let me analyze it.”
Yi Chen spoke from the image, starting to make things up: “The clothes you’re wearing today are very loose-fitting, A-Yu. You usually care a lot about your image when you’re out and about. You’ve said that no matter if it’s passersby, fans, or paparazzi, you’ll face their cameras seriously.”
“But now… this suggests you rushed out.”
Yu Xi didn’t respond.
Yi Chen continued fabricating: “Your hair’s a bit messy, which means you just ran over here. You’re doing something you’re really urgent about.”
“Normally when we video chat, you keep the camera farther away, but today you’re too close. That means you don’t want me to see your background right now. If I saw it, I’d recognize the place.”
As Yi Chen spoke, he watched Yu Xi’s expression.
Yu Xi could be really amusing sometimes. He didn’t like hiding his expressions or deliberately masking them, so every sentence Yi Chen said caused a subtle shift in his face.
Very cute.
He really enjoyed teasing Yu Xi like this.
“Your brow furrowed? Does that mean I got it right?” Yi Chen said as Xiao Liu messaged him.
Liu Yun had asked him to deliver some documents; she’d forgotten her elevator card and couldn’t come up. She asked if Yi Chen could come down to grab them.
Yi Chen picked up his phone to head out.
The background in the video started shaking as Yi Chen began to move.
Suddenly, Yu Xi felt a sharp pain at the back of his neck, and his whole body felt uncomfortable.
“Where are you right now?” Yi Chen grinned at the screen as he pulled open the door. “You wouldn’t happen to be at my doorstep, would you?”
“No way, why would I be at your doorstep doing—”
His words cut off abruptly.
Through the half-open door, their eyes met.
Yu Xi: “…”
Yi Chen: “…”
Xiao Liu called, and Yi Chen answered: “I’m busy now, can’t come down. Send me a scanned copy later.”
Yi Chen hung up and turned to the stunned Yu Xi. “I got it right, huh? You really are at my doorstep. Not bad for my profiling skills, right?”
The discomfort in his gland kept intensifying—especially after seeing Yi Chen. It was like a catalyst had been added; his heart pounded wildly, and his blood seemed to boil.
Yu Xi forced himself to hold steady, not letting Yi Chen notice anything off. “No, I just got here. When you were saying that, I was still on the road.”
“We’ve only been on video for three minutes,” Yi Chen ruthlessly exposed him. “You mean in three minutes, you didn’t move at all and just teleported straight to my door?”
Yu Xi still felt awful. The back of his neck suddenly started heating up without warning, the warmth spreading. He struggled to keep his expression neutral and stubbornly insisted: “Yes. I demand we cancel the CP act.”
Yi Chen didn’t even think: “Impossible.”
Yu Xi: “?”
“Not talking about that.” Yi Chen changed tack. “Fine, see yourself out.”
“You’re treating your business partner like this?”
“My business partner comes to talk work after hours, and I’m not happy.”
Yu Xi: “You think I’m happy to come here?”
Yi Chen shrugged, his brow arching slightly as he looked at him leisurely. “You tell me.”
Yu Xi: “…”
Of course Yu Xi knew what Yi Chen meant.
Clearly, he hadn’t come at this hour to actually cancel the CP act.
Yi Chen wanted him to say his true feelings.
Wanted him to voice his thoughts out loud.
Yu Xi sighed. The temperature at the back of his neck grew hotter and hotter.
The sensation felt a bit like precursor heat, but more pronounced than before.
Today was really strange—everything was off.
His gland suddenly acted up, and his mind was filled with the impulse to see Yi Chen.
The temporary mark made him extremely sensitive to the other person’s pheromones.
Yu Xi smelled Yi Chen’s pheromones.
The anomaly in his gland paused for a moment, but after just one breath, the brief comfort vanished. Yu Xi’s thoughts went blank, his consciousness flickering like a tripped circuit breaker.
Something was wrong—everything was wrong.
His vision gradually blurred, and Luo Qin’s words echoed in his ears.
“You’re about to differentiate soon.”
“You’re about to enter your true heat period.”
“You need an Alpha.”
Yi Chen also smelled the intense pheromones.
The gardenia scent filled the air, different from every previous time.
Pheromones could convey different messages in different situations.
In the past, every instance of Yu Xi’s precursor heat or secondary differentiation had carried pheromones signaling a need for soothing, marking, comfort.
He had been unable to resist but never truly lost his reason.
But now…
For the first time, Yi Chen felt such surging, overwhelming pheromones.
Every strand screamed for closer, more intimate contact, an impulse for a collision of souls.
Yu Xi clutched the back of his neck and looked up. “Do you have any Suppressant?”
“Nope, but I can mark you.”
Yi Chen tried to stay rational.
But instinct crushed reason.
The next second, Yi Chen pulled Yu Xi inside.
Amid the thick pheromones, they kissed. Emotions churned in their chests, erupting in bites and licks. Yu Xi responded to him—uncomfortable, aching everywhere, an indescribable torment. He felt like he would explode; only contact with Yi Chen’s pheromones brought a sliver of relief.
Not enough—never enough.
His head throbbed, blood burned, his heart hammered against his ribcage. His gland felt like it was on fire. The world blurred before his eyes, spinning and swaying, dissolving into hazy colors.
——Pheromones surged from his body in a tidal wave, fierce and violent, intertwining with Yi Chen’s.
Yi Chen’s state changed too—frenzied, dominant, possessive.
Yu Xi could clearly feel Yi Chen’s uncontrollable pheromones. He had never sensed the oppressive presence of Alpha Pheromones so profoundly, like a snake coiling around him, trapping him, chaining him, claiming him completely.
“What did you do?” Yu Xi struggled to lift his head.
What had happened?
He had only impulsively come to Yi Chen’s door; he hadn’t said anything to Yi Chen.
So why had it turned into this?!
“Heat period…” Yi Chen fought to restrain himself, struggling through the instincts of possession and devouring to cling to clarity. “Your pheromones…”
It was too sudden; Yi Chen couldn’t even form a complete sentence.
Before him was Yu Xi’s gland. He wanted to bite it, mark it, etch his pheromones onto Yu Xi forever.
Yu Xi didn’t resist. Instinct dominated him, submitting to the Alpha’s command.
He had undergone secondary differentiation.
He was now a true Omega.
He craved Yi Chen’s approach, his pheromones.
In that instinctive anticipation, his gland throbbed with pain as peppermint pomelo pheromones forcefully invaded—painful, yet pleasurable, more so than ever before. Pleasure so intense it tensed his back muscles and sent shivers down his tailbone.
——He wanted to be marked, fully marked, to become Yi Chen’s Omega completely.
——No, he couldn’t. He couldn’t belong to anyone, couldn’t be marked. At least not now—they couldn’t be marked in this ambiguous relationship.
The two thoughts cycled in his mind, instinct clashing with reason.
Yu Xi wanted to push Yi Chen away.
But he had no strength.
It felt too good—too good to strip him of any will to struggle, like being trapped in a nightmare, desperate to wake but powerless.
Yet that exhilarating, mind-shattering pleasure and conflict lasted only moments. The teeth clamped on his gland released, and the pain withdrew.
Then, hot liquid dripped onto his neck.
A faint metallic tang spread.
Yu Xi regained a moment of clarity and looked up, stunned.
Yi Chen had bitten his own hand—hard. His teeth sank into the flesh between thumb and forefinger, crimson blood dripping down.
The pain snapped him back to reason.
“I can’t mark you,” Yi Chen said. “If I guessed right, you’ve just differentiated into an Omega—your first heat period. I can’t guarantee I’d control myself. I’d give you a permanent mark, one that can’t be washed off. I want you clear-headed.”
Yi Chen’s words were jumbled.
No helping it—in this situation, clarity mattered more than grammar.
He lowered his hand; the bite on his hand was deep, blood flowing steadily. Yi Chen’s breathing was unsteady. “My susceptible period hit too. We each go to a room and tough it out. Luo Qin said the first heat period can’t use meds.”
That night was torture for both Yu Xi and Yi Chen.
Interminably long and painful. Only at dawn the next day did they drift into shallow sleep, restless even then. The sound of the door opening jolted them awake, and they emerged from their rooms.
It was Luo Qin.
The first heat period could only be endured dry; he couldn’t intervene. But after it passed, he still needed to check on his patient.
Yi Chen had given him the passcode the night before, and he’d timed his arrival.
Opening the door revealed a scene that left him utterly speechless.
Pheromones saturated the entire apartment. Luo Qin couldn’t smell them, but his instruments could detect them. Both bedroom doors stood half-open, pheromones spilling from each.
The two were fully dressed. Apart from looking mentally drained, nothing had happened.
——Clearly, Yu Xi and Yi Chen had each retreated to a separate room last night, forcibly isolating themselves.
Luo Qin set down his medical kit, baffled. “Wait, heat period?!”
He looked at Yi Chen in disbelief. “That was a heat period!!!’
“So what about the heat period?” Yi Chen said righteously. “I can’t take advantage and mark him.”
“You can’t mark, sure, but you could sleep together!!!’
“What’s with being a gentleman right now?! Just go for it?!”
Yi Chen: “…”
Yu Xi: “.”
