He groped around and hugged the life-sized Polar Bear Plushie beside him, rubbing his nose against its snout. “Morning,” he mumbled.
Out of habit, he reached for his phone and saw that Qin Han had messaged him back yesterday.
Troublemaker: Got held up with something earlier, missed your message QAQ
Troublemaker: How’s your body doing?
Troublemaker: The suppressants and medical fees weren’t much anyway. No need to pay me back. Just consider it a little tribute from little bro to big bro -0-
Xie Ling had grown numb to Qin Han’s endless emoji spam by now. He typed back—
Free: Fell asleep yesterday, body’s fine now
Free: If you wanna show your respect, I’ll point you in the right direction later. We’ll settle this debt properly
Xie Ling knew Qin Han didn’t need the money, but he hated owing anyone favors—especially after how much Qin Han had helped him yesterday. He was about to just transfer a few thousand via WeChat—
Troublemaker: 520
Free: ?
Troublemaker: For the meds and suppressants.
Xie Ling frowned slightly and was about to reply when Qin Han, as if reading his mind, sent another message.
Troublemaker: For real. You were passed out when we got to the hospital, but you were already out of the woods, so the medical fees weren’t much. The suppressants were a favor from one of Second Brother’s contacts. You know he’s half in the biz—stuff like that’s way cheaper than market price for him.
That made sense. Xie Ling wasn’t an expert on suppressant brands, but the two vials Qin Han had given him looked top-shelf. He didn’t buy that they went for pocket change on the market.
Free: Got it, thanks
After a moment’s thought, Xie Ling transferred 820 to Qin Han straight away.
Free: Plus 300 for your trouble
Troublemaker: 820 QAQ
Troublemaker: That number’s bad luck.
He sent back 100 right away. Truth be told, Qin Han didn’t want a single cent from Xie Ling, but he knew Xie Ling’s personality. Forcing the issue would only annoy him.
Free: …How’s 820 bad luck?
820. Don’t love you.
Qin Han typed it into the box, then quickly deleted it.
Troublemaker: I just don’t like the number QAQ
Free: …
He followed up by transferring another 200 to Qin Han.
Free: 200’s too little—you did a lot for me yesterday. Don’t push back
Free: How’s 920? Auspicious enough for you, Master Qin?
920.
Qin Han’s lips curved up. Troublemaker: Yeah, super lucky.
Troublemaker: You at school yet?
Xie Ling blinked.
School?!
He hurriedly checked the time: 7:05 already.
Morning self-study started at 7:15. He usually set an alarm, but he’d been too wiped out last night to remember.
He’d almost forgotten it was a school day!
Xie Ling shot up from the bed, stripping off yesterday’s dirty T-shirt and pants in a flash while brainstorming excuses for Old Cai.
He’d already used “escorting a pregnant woman to the hospital” last time, and it hadn’t landed well—ended up with a 2,000-word self-criticism. Fake an illness? He’d been to the hospital yesterday anyway.
As he pondered, a familiar, intense wave of heat suddenly surged through his body. At the same time, the scent of monthly roses began to fill the room.
Xie Ling had just changed his shirt; he hadn’t even gotten to his pants yet. His legs gave out, and he collapsed onto the edge of the bed.
No stranger to this now, Xie Ling knew his heat period was acting up again. Just one night later, and the little demon was already stirring trouble.
Color visibly bloomed across Xie Ling’s face. His expression grew dazed, his breathing quick and ragged. He cursed under his breath, gripped the bedframe for support, and staggered to the shelf in the corner. He rummaged in his schoolbag for the suppressants Qin Han had given him.
Too weak to manage properly, his hand knocked the bag over as it fell. Ignoring it, Xie Ling panted heavily, bit off the needle cap with his teeth, and jabbed the syringe into his vein.
Normal Omegas felt their heat symptoms ease after ten minutes or so with a suppressant. But Xie Ling’s case was special—even twenty minutes later, he still couldn’t muster any strength.
This was probably going to drag on for a while. Remembering what the nurse had said about staying home for the next couple of days, Xie Ling pulled out his phone and called Zheng Qianqian to ask for leave.
After hanging up, Xie Ling still felt utterly limp all over. Heat-period Omegas often got drowsy, so he happily gave in to instinct, hugged his Polar Bear Plushie tight, and conked out again.
When he woke next, two hours had passed.
The “No.1 High F4” group chat was blowing up.
Little Yu’er: Little Lingling Little Lingling, why’d you take leave?! Anemia acting up again?!
The alley where the incident happened yesterday was a bit of a distance from the school and in a remote spot. Plus, at that time of day, most students had already gone home. Although Gu Ran had reported it to the police before rushing back to school for backup, only Qin Han and a few teachers knew about it.
Auspicious Beast: How could our Ling Bro, a top-tier strong Alpha, be chronically anemic? He must’ve been grinding ranked matches until dawn last night. Sob, if I hadn’t had so much homework yesterday and my mom watching me, I’d have duo-queued all night with Ling Bro too [crying cat.jpg].
Blazing Sun: So what exactly happened? It’s not weird for you to be late or skip out early, Free, but taking a sick day? That’s a first.
Little Yu’er: Huh, Little Yanfei, you sure keep track of Little Lingling’s stuff.
Blazing Sun: I keep even better track of your stuff.
Little Yu’er: [confused cat.jpg] What stuff??
After that message, the group chat exploded with 99+ notifications. It was rare for Xiao Yanfei to chat more than Zhang Chengrui, but the last message had been sent a quarter of an hour ago.
Free: I’m fine, just suddenly felt the urge to chase some freedom today so I skipped school.
Free: You all focus on class and don’t miss me too much. Oh, and tell the rest of the class and the other classes not to miss me too much either.
Free: Come Monday, your handsome, cool, badass Free will grace you all with his presence again.
Free: [Wild and free, no oars needed—just riding the waves.jpg]
Xie Ling amused himself in the group chat for a bit, but got no replies. He checked the time—it was right in the middle of third period.
School was still more fun, anyway. Being alone got boring. With that lazy thought, Xie Ling exited the chat. Just then, another message popped in—
Troublemaker: How’s your body?
The timestamp was from moments ago.
Only then did Xie Ling notice that Qin Han had sent him a bunch of messages before—twenty or so in total. They were all asking why he was taking the day off, if his body was acting up again, things like that. There were even a few missed calls mixed in.
…Wasn’t that guy supposed to be in class?
Good students playing on their phones during class??
Such a fake goody-two-shoes.
Xie Ling’s thoughts wandered off track like that, but seeing those twenty messages, the urge to tease Qin Han got replaced by some indescribable feeling. He was about to reply that he was fine when a surge of heat crashed over him again.
…Damn it. He’d just started feeling bored, and now this—did his heat have to be such a little troublemaker?
The heat swelled even fiercer.
A floral scent overflowed, rich and intoxicating.
It smelled so good—not surprising, since it was his pheromones.
But this wasn’t the time to admire himself.
His body grew hotter and hotter, the fragrance growing thicker. Helpless, Xie Ling had no choice but to jab himself with a second suppressant.
He’d just finished when Qin Han sent another message.
The suppressant hadn’t kicked in yet; he had no strength left, and his mind was a total fog. Xie Ling stared at his phone and subconsciously typed out a few words—
Free: I’m having a rough time. Can you come over?
A second after hitting send, Xie Ling yanked the message back like he’d been shocked.
The nurse had told him his condition was special. Even the best suppressants might not cut it sometimes, and then he’d have no choice but to rely on an Alpha’s pheromones.
A month ago, Xie Ling would’ve toughed it out alone, covering up and enduring.
But just now, in that split second, Qin Han had been his first thought.
Tch, depending on people isn’t good. Especially when you’re still sworn enemies.
Plus, they were electing the Student Council President today—there was no way Qin Han could come.
Xie Ling ruffled his bird’s-nest hair and figured he’d sleep it off and see.
That nap lasted another hour. When he woke, the symptoms hadn’t eased a bit.
His whole body was still flushed hot, slick with sweat.
Maybe hit himself with another suppressant?
As he groped around for it, his hand found his phone instead.
No new messages from Qin Han. No reaction to the withdrawn one either.
He probably hadn’t seen it.
The president election should’ve started by now, judging by the time.
No wonder he wasn’t checking in on big bro anymore.
Xie Ling grumbled to himself, reaching for the suppressant again—when the doorbell rang.
Xie Ling froze, deciding to play dead.
Whoever it was, there was no way he could go out like this.
The bell kept ringing insistently for a bit before finally going quiet. Not long after, his phone buzzed.
Xie Ling answered blindly, steadying his breath. His voice came out weak: “No houses, no insurance—bro’s got plenty of cash, no need for investments…”
“Open the door.” A slightly low male voice came through.
Xie Ling blinked.
He had custom ringtones for texts and calls from everyone in his contacts. Strangers got a default one, which was what he’d heard—so he’d assumed it was a salesman.
But it wasn’t…
Still hunched over, Xie Ling shuffled to the living room, supporting himself on the wall. He peered through the peephole, then yanked the door open. At that exact moment, his body hit its limit and buckled toward the floor. A pair of steady, strong hands caught him firmly.
The air filled with sweet, rich pheromones, like waves of flowers ready to sweep him under. The instant Qin Han touched him, chaos erupted inside Xie Ling.
Good thing he’d taken a sedative before coming.
Qin Han supported Xie Ling and noticed how badly he was shaking. He immediately released soothing pheromones.
“Why’d you delete the message?” As he felt Xie Ling nuzzling into him, Qin Han instinctively tightened his arm around Xie Ling’s waist.
With the Alpha pheromones soothing him, Xie Ling eased a little. He asked softly, “How’d you get here?”
Qin Han: “I saw the message before you deleted it. Got the address from Gu Ran-senpai.”
Xie Ling let out an “oh,” then couldn’t resist teasing: “Here I thought you were obsessed with me and stalked my address.”
“Yeah, I thought about it.” Seeing Xie Ling glance up at him, Qin Han added, “But I didn’t want to make you mad.”
“…” Xie Ling. “You’re here now—what about the president election?”
“Skipped it.” Qin Han said it casually. “Your health comes first.”
Xie Ling paused, his expression softening a touch.
Right then, his body—now knowing the taste—started stirring again. Xie Ling let out a miserable whimper, his body pressing uncontrollably against Qin Han.
Qin Han’s gaze darkened. He bent down, scooped Xie Ling up by the knees, and carried him bridal-style.
Xie Ling jolted in surprise, instinctively hooking his arms around Qin Han’s neck: “What are you doing?!”
Because of the heat, even his usual sharp question came out soft and fluffy.
It wasn’t just his voice. Those fox eyes that could look so fierce when narrowed were now glazed with mist, the corners flushed pink like blooming peach blossoms, trailing down his face to his neck.
“…Carrying you to bed.” Qin Han’s throat bobbed. He smiled faintly and asked, “What do you think I’m doing?”
