Chapter 9

He Has an Omega Now

Yan Xingzhi seemed to instantly deflate like a ball, the alpha’s gaze shifting as he dryly explained, “I really didn’t go, I was only out for less than five minutes before parking on the roadside.”

“Just around the bend not far away, you know, that place with the stone platform,” Yan Xingzhi continued, “I didn’t plan on actually leaving. Besides, who goes out so late at night?”

Truly at a loss, Yan Xingzhi’s explanations came jumbled and repetitive, blurting out whatever he could say to Xu Shen.

“Don’t cry anymore, okay?” Yan Xingzhi looked around, finding tissues on the coffee table.

Seeing Xu Shen’s downcast head, Yan Xingzhi wished he could rewind time and severely beat his hot-headed self from earlier. The Omega’s thin eyelids drooped, tears shattering on his lashes, which glimmered with the living room’s light. His lashes quivered faintly, like broken butterfly wings.

Pitiful.

Heartbreaking.

He was inhuman, Yan Xingzhi cursed himself fiercely.

Sitting on the road in the cold wind earlier, he had actually already thought it through.

To hell with those little sweet Omegas.

Sweet or soft, they had nothing to do with him.

He had an Omega now.

“I was wrong.” Yan Xingzhi approached, slightly bending to wipe Xu Shen’s tears.

Xu Shen’s eyes were pale, once seeming cold, but now glistening transparently with moisture.

Dewy, Yan Xingzhi suddenly thought of the morning fog drifting like gossamer.

Xu Shen turned his head aside.

He didn’t often cry. In school, his roommate Tang Yan liked novels, sobbing dramatically under the covers late into the night. Xu Shen had read those novels too, yet found experimental data far more fascinating.

Today, for some reason, just stubbing his toe filled him with an indescribable grievance. The acrid feeling welled up, clogging his nasal cavity until blinking sent the moisture spilling over into crystalline droplets.

Could it be because of Yan Xingzhi?

But they were arranged partners, weren’t they?

“Wro—” Xu Shen meant to say it wasn’t Yan Xingzhi’s fault since they were arranged. But the alpha cut him off before he could finish.

From the moment Xu Shen fell silent, Yan Xingzhi focused all his attention. Inexperienced at comforting Omegas or coaxing people, he held the tissues as Xu Shen turned away.

Hearing the “wro” sound, Yan Xingzhi immediately perked up.

This he knew!

[—What was wrong?]

[—It was all my fault.]

That’s how his family did it – when his mom got angry, his dad would coax her like this.

“It’s all my fault.” Yan Xingzhi shifted, gently and tentatively taking the Omega’s hand.

Xu Shen’s hand was cool. Only now did Yan Xingzhi notice the Omega had been standing barefoot on the floor this whole time. He also noticed the bruising on Xu Shen’s toes. Purple and blue blotches spread across the pale skin, as if aware of the alpha’s scorching gaze, Xu Shen’s toes curled slightly.

“Don’t move,” Yan Xingzhi crouched down, palm resting on the Omega’s ankle. “What happened?”

“Does it hurt?”

“It must hurt a lot, right?”

His feet were injured, yet he still came to open the door for him.

Yan Xingzhi’s brows furrowed tighter. Without waiting for Xu Shen’s response, he simply scooped him up by the knees.

“Ah—” Startled by the sudden movement, Xu Shen instinctively wrapped his arms around the alpha’s shoulders before realizing. “No, it doesn’t hurt.”

Xu Shen’s fingers trembled slightly, the alpha’s pheromones swirling soothingly around them. Yan Xingzhi held him tightly, and apart from the initial startle, the rest of the way was smooth for Xu Shen.

Yan Xingzhi carefully set him on the sofa. “I’ll get the medicine.”

With ice cubes wrapped in a towel, Yan Xingzhi held the towel in one hand, gripping Xu Shen’s ankle with the other. “It’ll be a bit cold, I’ll ice it for a while first.”

“Mm.” Xu Shen nodded.

The living room was quiet, Yan Xingzhi’s motions gentle as he occasionally asked, “Does it hurt?” A moment later, the alpha fetched a blanket, seemingly afraid Xu Shen might get cold.

“Thank you,” Xu Shen said.

The alpha spoke up simultaneously.

“I’m sorry.” This time, Yan Xingzhi was truly sincere.

——————–

Author’s Note:

Yan Xingzhi: I have an Omega now!

Someone really didn’t know he almost lost his wife~

Chapter 10

He Just Likes Him

He seemed to like cold and aloof Omegas.

No, why would he like cold Omegas?

Yan Xingzhi couldn’t understand.

But anyway, seeing Xu Shen cry made his heart ache.

His mind cleared of any sweet or soft Omegas, he just wanted to hold Xu Shen tighter.

“Does it still hurt?” Yan Xingzhi’s movements were gentle as he lightly applied the reddish-brown medication to Xu Shen’s injury. How painful it was when one stubbed their toe against a door, those who hadn’t experienced it wouldn’t know, but Yan Xingzhi did. When he was young and mischievous, he fell a lot, and when he stubbed his toe and didn’t pay attention, the next day he couldn’t walk at all.

“Don’t go to work for the next few days, I’ll help you get leave from the institute. Rest up properly these days, okay?” Yan Xingzhi said.

“But—” Xu Shen protested, the institute was busy recently.

“If you don’t take leave, I’ll just have to carry you to work,” Yan Xingzhi insisted unreasonably. “Just two days off, otherwise you’ll be limping for a month!”

In the end, Xu Shen did take leave. Although iced and medicated, his foot was visibly swollen.

Yan Xingzhi packed up the medicine kit, reminding Xu Shen not to move around as he went to put things away.

Once Yan Xingzhi left, Xu Shen tentatively shifted his foot. The area the alpha had gripped his ankle seemed to still radiate warmth. Xu Shen felt awkward clenching his hand, head lowered as his ear tips slowly flushed red.

Yan Xingzhi’s hands were slightly calloused but not rough, and the friction left a lingering heat when they touched skin.

Xu Shen knew those hands had pulled him along behind before.

Yet he hadn’t felt so flustered then.

“Hiss—” The instant his toes met the floor, searing pain shot through Xu Shen. Going downstairs earlier was bearable, just numb, but now only agony remained.

“Why did you get up?” Yan Xingzhi was even more anxious, rushing over to catch the restless Omega. Hurrying, he held Xu Shen a bit tightly, his large powerful hands settling on the small of Xu Shen’s back.

Xu Shen turned his face aside, somewhat regretful.

The flush spread from his ear tips.

Yan Xingzhi carefully set him down, triple-checking before finally relaxing. It was then he noticed the Omega’s reddened ears.

Was he embarrassed?

Or something else?

His Omega seemed a bit obedient.

Yan Xingzhi’s heart felt a light scratch.

The blush continued creeping. When this Omega cried, even his eyelids reddened – not sobbing intensely, just silently shedding two tears, yet his eyelids and nose were flushed crimson.

So pitiful.

Yan Xingzhi felt inhuman.

He suddenly wished for Xu Shen to cry harder, preferably clutching his shoulders desperately, or unable to even reach that far, weakly stretching out his fingers to grasp at anything, catching nothing.

He wanted the moonlight to sway and shatter that chilling radiance.

“What are you thinking about?” Xu Shen suddenly spoke up.

“Nothing.” The alpha’s voice was hoarse. The towel with ice cubes rolled noisily across the floor as Yan Xingzhi fussed to retrieve it, hunching over inconspicuously.

Enough, he couldn’t think about it anymore.

The more he thought, the more…

Yan Xingzhi couldn’t sleep.

After carrying Xu Shen back to the bedroom, the alpha returned to his own cold room.

Xu Shen had already fallen asleep, the Omega’s fair delicate face buried in the covers. The warm yellow bedside lamp cast a glow over his hair, oddly making it seem softer.

So obedient.

Yan Xingzhi had never seen Xu Shen like this, eyes limpid, the Omega’s pale irises reflecting only his silhouette.

Yan Xingzhi didn’t want to be human anymore.

Xu Shen had wished him good night, saying, “You should get some rest too.”

The alpha ground his teeth, barely remembering he was a “proper” Alpha amid Xu Shen’s “good night”.

Proper Alphas could only be inhuman during special periods.

Yan Xingzhi started worrying, tearing off a calendar page to scrutinize the date of his last rut.

Twenty days.

Seventeen days.

Fifteen days.

…

Still thirteen whole days left.

Why couldn’t Alphas have two ruts a month?

So annoying.

Tearing off the calendar every day.

Thirteen more days to tear off.

Three hundred twelve hours, eighteen thousand seven hundred twenty minutes, one million one hundred twenty-three thousand two hundred seconds.

Unbearable.

——————–

Author’s Note:

Yan Xingzhi: Countdown to not wanting to be human…D-13…

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