Chapter 48
Lin Xiaoran: “……”
His thick eyelashes fluttered rapidly. He walked over and kicked Gu Yang’s foot, his voice icy as he said, “Get out! Don’t make me use force.”
What was wrong with this guy? Even if Lin Xiaoran wasn’t fully aware of his omega status, he knew he shouldn’t be sharing a bed with an alpha. Didn’t Gu Yang always remind him to be mindful of his omega status? Why was he being so unreasonable today?
Gu Yang, however, wasn’t moving. He rolled around on the bed, distancing himself from Lin Xiaoran, and looked back with a mischievous smile. “What’s wrong? Have you finally realized you’re an omega and are worried about… being with me?”
Before he could finish, Lin Xiaoran shot him a cold glare, which silenced him immediately.
Seeing that his teasing had failed, Gu Yang awkwardly sat up, rubbed his nose, and cleared his throat, trying to think of something to ease the awkwardness. But then Lin Xiaoran suddenly walked up to him, bent down, and stared into his eyes.
Their gazes locked, and Gu Yang was momentarily stunned.
The excitement Lin Xiaoran had been suppressing since the afternoon suddenly erupted, making Gu Yang lose his composure. He reached out to pull Lin Xiaoran closer, but Lin Xiaoran straightened up, creating distance, and looked down at him from above. “Gu Yang, you’re really strange!”
Gu Yang: “…”
He glanced at his empty hand, which had failed to pull Lin Xiaoran closer, feeling a bit disappointed.
Lin Xiaoran continued, “Before yesterday, you were avoiding me. Even when we had dinner together last night, it felt off; it was clear you were still avoiding me. Why aren’t you avoiding me now? Why are you even staying in my room?”
Gu Yang couldn’t resist pulling him closer again, grabbing his wrist and looking up into his eyes with a smile. “Do you really want to know?”
Lin Xiaoran paused, his clear eyes flickering with a hint of cunning. His lips parted slightly, and he replied with two words, “Not interested.”
After saying that, he freed himself from Gu Yang’s grasp, turned, and went into the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him.
Gu Yang: “……”
He had almost confessed, only to be cut off.
After a moment of daze, Gu Yang jumped out of bed and ran to the door, knocking and calling out in frustration, “Lin Xiaoran, come out and let me finish what I was saying!”
Inside the bathroom, Lin Xiaoran had already removed his shirt, revealing his smooth, pale body. A mischievous smile appeared on his lips as he responded lightly with a “Humph!”
A few days ago, Gu Yang had been avoiding him for some unknown reason, no matter how many times Lin Xiaoran asked.
Now that Gu Yang seemed to have figured things out and was willing to talk, Lin Xiaoran wasn’t going to listen!
He was going to let him stew!
Determined, Lin Xiaoran ignored Gu Yang and proceeded with his shower.
Outside the bathroom, Gu Yang leaned against the door, listening to the sound of running water. He rubbed his temples, perplexed by Lin Xiaoran’s actions. He couldn’t understand why Lin Xiaoran had suddenly run off.
After all, he had mustered up the courage to confess.
He lowered his head slightly, placing a hand over his heart, which was still pounding heavily.
In reality, he was quite nervous. After all, he had never confessed to anyone before.
He was worried about being rejected. What if Lin Xiaoran really turned him down? He realized he had no experience with rejection and didn’t know how to handle it.
After a while, he let out a deep breath and turned to sit on the bed, turning on the TV.
In the dead of night, there wasn’t much worth watching, and Gu Yang found himself unable to focus.
At this moment, being alone and quiet, he reflected on the entire day’s events and still found it unbelievable.
Lin Xiaoran was actually the one he had been interacting with online for years!
He had always felt they were similar—disliking unnecessary chatter, avoiding meddling in others’ affairs, lacking in romantic sensibilities, and being as dull as wood. He never imagined they were the same person.
Now that he thought about it, he had known Lin Xiaoran since the second year of middle school, not counting the math competition. Later, when they attended the same high school, they had always been at odds with each other in real life, even though they frequently dueled in games.
If he hadn’t spent so much time with Lin Xiaoran recently and stopped seeing him as a rival, he would have been astonished to find out that his long-time online adversary was his real-life nemesis.
He couldn’t help but laugh at the thought of Lin Xiaoran giving him a cold stare and turning away if he had found out the truth.
Just then, Lin Xiaoran emerged from the bathroom, wearing a hotel bathrobe and drying his hair. He paused in the doorway, leaning against it.
Fresh from his shower, Lin Xiaoran’s eyes were misty, his whole appearance damp and soft. He looked at Gu Yang with a gaze filled with both curiosity and disbelief.
He remembered the scene from the afternoon—the lights came up, and the blue-clad musician played the guqin.
At that moment, he had been somewhat stunned, even questioning if he was dreaming.
The game friend he had known since second year, the one he had always wanted to beat, was actually Gu Yang.
“You… really are Jiudu Qiu?” Lin Xiaoran’s slightly reddened lips moved as he asked, unable to hold back.
Gu Yang turned at the sound and met Lin Xiaoran’s moist gaze. At that moment, Lin Xiaoran was not just visibly soft but seemed to exude a gentle, captivating aura.
Feeling suddenly parched, Gu Yang licked his lips, raised an eyebrow, and smiled. “Don’t believe it? We did have that offline match this afternoon.”
Mentioning the offline match, Lin Xiaoran’s expression soured slightly.
He had wanted to challenge Jiudu Qiu directly, but the organizers, probably to hype up the upcoming professional league, had scheduled a team match as the final event. In the end, it was Lin Xiaoran and Gu Yang, each leading their own faction, engaging in a chaotic battle.
The key was that Gu Yang had obviously avoided him on purpose, not engaging in a fight.
Lin Xiaoran was still a bit annoyed when he thought about it.
Seeing Lin Xiaoran’s little habits, Gu Yang couldn’t help but smile to himself. Having spent more time with Lin Xiaoran, he had learned to read his thoughts from his small gestures and habits.
At the moment, Lin Xiaoran was clearly unhappy about the match in the afternoon.
In fact, Gu Yang hadn’t really wanted to avoid Lin Xiaoran during the game; he had just wanted to tease him a bit. Watching Lin Xiaoran chase him around the arena in Wu Huan Xing Yi had unexpectedly touched a chord in his heart, making him feel quite pleased. So he kept evading Lin Xiaoran during the match.
“Well, how about this? I’ll play with you for three hundred rounds when we get back, okay?”
Though he enjoyed his own little game, he still needed to make things right. Gu Yang consciously made an effort to appease Lin Xiaoran.
As expected, Lin Xiaoran’s eyes brightened at his offer. “Don’t say you’re tired after just three rounds.”
“I’ll play until you say you’re tired, alright?” Gu Yang sat on the bed with a cheerful expression, his attitude very accommodating.
Lin Xiaoran was satisfied with this response, his lips curling into a smile. “It’s a deal.” He then tossed his towel aside and walked over to his bag by the window to find his phone charger.
His bag was a bit disorganized, and he had to dig through almost everything inside to find what he needed.
Gu Yang leaned back on the bed, propped up on his arms, and watched him. This sight suddenly reminded him of a long-ago incident when he had encountered Lin Xiaoran in a school alley. Lin Xiaoran had single-handedly taken down Guan Jun and his friends, and afterward, Lin Lan had called him. Lin Xiaoran had, back then, searched through his bag just like now, taking a while to find his phone.
Recalling that scene, Gu Yang’s smile softened. It had marked the beginning of their real-life interactions.
At that time, he would never have imagined that he would end up liking Lin Xiaoran, and that he had already been fond of him for quite some time.
Clatter!
The sound of something falling to the floor brought Gu Yang’s thoughts back. He straightened up and looked over, seeing Lin Xiaoran bent down, bumping into a black rectangular box.
In an instant, the lazy alpha on the bed sprang up with surprising speed, grabbing the box before Lin Xiaoran could and holding it tightly in his hand.
He stared at Lin Xiaoran intently, his amber eyes devoid of their usual mirth, his voice lacking its usual nonchalance and instead filled with cold intensity. “Are you really going to use this?”
Lin Xiaoran, who had been bending over, furrowed his brow and straightened up to face Gu Yang.
As expected, Gu Yang seemed to get angry every time he saw the alpha pheromone suppressant.
Lin Xiaoran hadn’t anticipated that every time he had this item, Gu Yang would show up and react like this.
This suppressant was given to him by Jiang Chen last night. His heat cycle was irregular, and it could come unexpectedly, so he carried it with him today just in case. With Gu Yang’s marking having ended, he didn’t expect him to be around all the time, which made this item a necessary precaution.
Seeing Gu Yang’s extreme reaction, Lin Xiaoran was at a loss on how to respond. He was afraid that any wrong move might provoke Gu Yang, though thankfully, Gu Yang’s pheromones weren’t out of control at the moment.
Lin Xiaoran rarely found himself so indecisive. He looked at Gu Yang, his lips pressed together as he hesitated over what to say.
However, Gu Yang took his hesitation as confirmation of his thoughts.
In an instant, the young alpha was enraged, turning to open the window, ready to throw the box outside.
“Stop!”
Lin Xiaoran, too, was angry. He grabbed Gu Yang’s wrist to stop him. “Gu Yang, what’s wrong with you? This is for…”
He really couldn’t understand why Gu Yang always had such a strong reaction to this item. But he couldn’t keep asking Jiang Chen’s grandfather for help every time, and the last one was taken by Gu Yang. Now, Gu Yang was trying to throw this one away without a word, which annoyed Lin Xiaoran.
Gu Yang suddenly turned to look at him, a look on his face that Lin Xiaoran had never seen before—complicated, seemingly angry, yet with a trace of underlying sadness.
Lin Xiaoran’s anger suddenly dissipated, replaced by an indescribable feeling.
He sighed deeply and adjusted his tone before speaking. “Gu Yang, I don’t know why you always get so angry when you see this. But you should know my situation. Suppressants don’t work for me…”
He paused, releasing Gu Yang’s wrist and lowering his head, his voice softening. “You’re not me. You don’t know how difficult it is to go through heat. This is the only thing that can help me through it right now. I…”
“I can mark you!” Gu Yang’s voice was hoarse. Seeing the omega before him, vulnerable for the first time, Gu Yang felt a pang of heartache. But the thought of Lin Xiaoran relying on another alpha’s pheromones kept him from calming down.
Lin Xiaoran looked up at him. “I will have heat cycles for the rest of my life. Can you mark me forever? What about later? You’ll have your own relationships. Even if you don’t mind, will your girlfriend or boyfriend mind? Moreover, my heat cycles are irregular; you can’t always be around.”
“I can mark you forever!” Gu Yang grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer, his voice urgent.
The omega in front of him was momentarily stunned. Lin Xiaoran’s dense eyelashes fluttered before he lowered his gaze and spoke softly. “Gu Yang, don’t be naive. It’s not possible. Besides, don’t you dislike how things become abnormal after you mark me?”
Silence fell between them.
Though they were so close, neither spoke.
Gu Yang looked at the omega right in front of him, Lin Xiaoran, whose gaze was cast downward. The dense eyelashes cast shadows under his eyes, his pale skin almost translucent, and his red lips were irresistibly tempting.
In that moment, Gu Yang wanted nothing more than to hug him recklessly, kiss him, and then tell him that he liked him, wanted him to be his omega, and would be with him forever, taking care of his heat cycles for life.
But he managed to suppress that impulse.
After all, the person he liked was indeed as dense as a log!
Ever since he discovered that Lin Xiaoran was indeed Wu Huan Xing Yi, he had been looking for a chance to confess. He thought tonight might be perfect.
But now… he had changed his mind.
Lin Xiaoran probably didn’t have those feelings for him, right? At least, he had never considered their relationship as a romantic one.
Otherwise, how could Lin Xiaoran be so rationally analyzing their relationship, considering his future partners, and not avoiding using another alpha’s pheromones in front of him?
In Lin Xiaoran’s mind, were they merely classmates? Friends? Long-term online acquaintances?
In any case, it had nothing to do with love!
If he confessed now, Lin Xiaoran would probably reject him immediately, just as cleanly as he had rejected Jiang Chen last time.
Gu Yang felt a bit sour and helpless inside.
But what could he do? He was just in love!
He had to be patient with the dense one and wait for him to realize things.
With a long sigh of relief, Gu Yang adjusted his mood and spoke with his habitual cheerful tone, “You have a point. But right now, I still can’t allow you to use this.”
With that, he threw the box out of the window.
“You…” Lin Xiaoran was taken aback, staring at him. After talking so much, did this guy even listen?
“Don’t be angry, listen to me,” Gu Yang interrupted him with a bright smile, completely unrepentant, “You asked me why I get so angry every time I see that thing, didn’t you?”
Lin Xiaoran glared at him in silence, clearly displeased.
Gu Yang chuckled and couldn’t help but squeeze Lin Xiaoran’s hand. “Don’t you know that alphas have territorial instincts? Since you’ve been marked by me, I can’t allow you to have another alpha’s scent on you.”
Lin Xiaoran: “…”
His clear eyes blinked in confusion as he looked at Gu Yang. “Does this apply to temporary marks too?”
“Of course,” Gu Yang said solemnly, lying through his teeth. “You obviously don’t understand alphas. Didn’t you pay attention in middle school health class? Even a temporary mark makes an alpha extremely possessive of the omega they’ve marked. They absolutely won’t tolerate any contact with other alphas.”
Lin Xiaoran’s lips moved slightly, but he didn’t speak. He hadn’t really paid attention in health class, so he assumed Gu Yang’s explanation was true.
Seeing this, Gu Yang couldn’t help but smile internally. Lin Xiaoran’s naive and obedient appearance was just too adorable.
He continued with renewed vigor, “And do you know where that alpha pheromone was extracted from? What kind of scent it has? Can you tolerate it? Don’t you dislike other alpha pheromones?”
Lin Xiaoran hesitated, a trace of doubt appearing in his eyes. Clearly, he hadn’t considered this before.
With Gu Yang’s reminder, he belatedly realized that he had unconsciously associated the pheromone suppressant with Gu Yang’s scent.
But in reality, it couldn’t be Gu Yang’s scent.
If it were another alpha’s pheromones, would he reject it? He personally disliked other alphas’ scents, but he wasn’t sure how his body would react.
He imagined some strange pheromone scent being introduced into his system, and his brow furrowed in distaste.
Seeing his reaction, Gu Yang immediately added, “Anyway, since we live together and go to school together, and you don’t dislike my pheromones, I can mark you now. As for the future… if we’re really not together, you can think of other solutions.”
Of course, that wasn’t going to happen! Gu Yang silently added in his mind.
Lin Xiaoran, not knowing what Gu Yang was thinking, was simply grossed out by his imagined scenarios and nodded without much thought, saying, “Okay.”
He was straightforward, and since he had never hidden his preference for Gu Yang’s pheromones, agreeing didn’t seem strange to him.
Gu Yang, on the other hand, was delighted and couldn’t help but smile, thinking that sometimes Lin Xiaoran was remarkably easy to persuade.
Lin Xiaoran’s attention quickly shifted away from the matter at hand. Noticing the time, he gave Gu Yang a sharp look and, shaking off his hand, pointed to the door. “I’m going to bed. Go back to your own room!”
Gu Yang, understanding that Lin Xiaoran wanted to sleep, didn’t press the issue. He had only hoped to use this opportunity for a private moment with Lin Xiaoran, possibly confessing his feelings, but he didn’t actually intend to stay the night.
Though he really wanted to.
“Okay, I’ll head out. Sleep early.” He said, grabbing his backpack and opening it as he walked toward the door. However, despite searching through the entire contents of his bag, he couldn’t find his room card.
Lin Xiaoran, noticing his pause at the door, asked, “What’s wrong?”
“I lost the room card.”
Lin Xiaoran: “……”
The inconvenience was that the room had been arranged by the event organizers, and getting a new card would require contacting them to sort it out with the front desk.
At this late hour, the organizers were likely at home, in bed, and calling them now would be quite inconsiderate.
But if he didn’t call them, what would Gu Yang do?
After a moment of mutual staring, Gu Yang said, “I’ll just get a new room.” He then used the room’s landline to call the front desk.
Unfortunately, the hotel was fully booked; all rooms had been reserved by the event organizers for the attendees and staff.
After hanging up the phone, Gu Yang was somewhat frustrated.
Did he really have to go out and find another hotel at this hour?
“Alright, just go wash up and get some sleep.”
As Gu Yang fretted over the situation, Lin Xiaoran casually picked up the towel he had thrown on the bed and tossed it at him. “Hurry up and sort it out. I’m going to bed.”
With that, Lin Xiaoran wrapped himself in the blanket and lay down.
Gu Yang sighed, recognizing that he had no choice but to either find a solution or, more likely, end up sleeping on the floor in Lin Xiaoran’s room if he couldn’t sort things out.
