“W-What?!”
Zhou Le’s face turned red. “Wh, what? You, you don’t talk nonsense!”
Chen Nan leaned closer, smirking. Zhou Le pressed himself against the wall as Chen Nan’s nose neared his neck.
Chen Nan was practically leaning his nose into Zhou Le’s neck when Sheng Qian frowned and pulled him back.
Chen Nan hissed but didn’t say anything, just looked at Zhou Le with an increasingly puzzled expression. “Why can’t I smell your scent? Are you really an Omega? You don’t feel any different from a Beta.”
Zhou Le pressed his lips together, staying silent.
Chen Nan went on, “No wonder there’s always something off between you and Brother Lu. Turns out you’ve been messing around with each other all along.”
Zhou Le couldn’t take it anymore. “That’s not called messing around.”
Chen Nan laughed. “Oh? Then what is it—an affair?”
It was as if the words burned him on the spot. Zhou Le stammered instantly, “Thank you for helping me. I-I have something to do, so I’ll… I’ll leave first. If there’s a chance… I’ll treat you both to a meal.”
After finishing, Zhou Le gave a quick bow and turned to run away.
Chen Nan chuckled. “Hey, you know what? With that shy, thin-skinned demeanor, he really does look like an Omega…”
He turned around, intending to share his observation with Sheng Qian, but was instead met with the latter’s dark expression.
“What? What’s with that look?”
Sheng Qian didn’t respond, simply staring at him.
At first, Chen Nan wasn’t fazed, but the prolonged silence made him uneasy. “What are you doing? Are you jealous? That’s Brother Lu’s; you already know that.”
After a long pause, Sheng Qian finally asked, “Do Omegas smell good?”
Chen Nan was speechless. “There you go again. Are you made entirely of vinegar?”
Sheng Qian gave him a cold stare for a while before turning to leave.
But he didn’t get far.
Someone reluctantly tugged at the corner of his shirt.
“Yours smells good…” Chen Nan mumbled, clearly embarrassed to say something so cheesy.
His earlobes flushed pink.
“Yours smells the best…”
The Alpha paused mid-step, the corners of his lips lifting in a subtle smirk. The intellectual rogue demeanor suited him perfectly.
Chen Nan couldn’t see this reaction, only growing more nervous when Sheng Qian didn’t respond. He worried that the other was still upset.
Though he wasn’t exactly sure what they were to each other, the thought of Sheng Qian treating him coldly or ignoring him made him uneasy.
“I really didn’t—mm!”
In a blind spot of the hallway, out of view of the cameras, Sheng Qian pinned Chen Nan against the same corner Zhou Le had been huddled in earlier. He harshly let him experience the pheromones he apparently enjoyed so much.
—-
After avoiding Sheng Qian and Chen Nan, Zhou Le ran into Lin Xiaoxiao and Xia Linchuan.
As his closest friends, they hadn’t known Zhou Le’s real gender. It was impossible not to feel hurt, but seeing him lower his head silently made their hearts ache more than anything.
Zhou Le’s family situation, compounded by his Omega status, couldn’t have been worse.
“Zhou Le,” Lin Xiaoxiao said solemnly, the sunlight streaming through the window highlighting her youthful, earnest face.
“Congratulations on becoming an Omega.”
“Being an Omega is an amazing thing, you know.”
“Xia Linchuan and I will always have your back.”
Xia Linchuan chimed in with a playful slap on his chest. “Yeah, you’ve got me. Anything happens, you just call your bro, alright?”
Looking at his two friends, who were like family, Zhou Le felt a pang of sourness in his heart. He wanted to hug Lin Xiaoxiao but realized it wasn’t appropriate for boys and girls. Then he thought about hugging Xia Linchuan, but that didn’t feel quite right either.
The three ended up just standing there, facing each other and laughing.
That evening, Zhou Le returned home, steeling himself for what was to come. He dreaded seeing the look in his mother Cheng Ying’s eyes.
It wouldn’t be blame—she never blamed him. But her heartbreak would be unbearable, more so than anyone else’s.
Taking a deep breath, Zhou Le climbed the stairs and opened the door.
His mother sat quietly in her wheelchair, waiting for him.
The moment their eyes met, Zhou Le’s resolve crumbled.
“Mom,” he called softly, tears streaming uncontrollably.
Cheng Ying’s eyes reddened, her voice trembling.
She studied her son carefully.
Why hadn’t she noticed before? He was so small, so thin—how could she not have thought he might be an Omega?
All these years, weathering storms and hardships, how much had he endured?
Being from a Beta household, they’d only ever heard about AO genders, like some distant legend. She’d always raised Zhou Le as a strong boy, never considering that he might be a delicate Omega.
Even going out late at night must have terrified him, but he’d never said a word.
Now, just thinking about it filled her with fear.
“Don’t go out at night anymore,” Cheng Ying said. “I’ll talk to Uncle Zhou. From now on, stay home at night, focus on studying, and prepare for university.”
“I’ll figure out the money,” she added. Perhaps she could stay up later or wake up earlier to make more sushi.
But Zhou Le couldn’t agree. His night shifts were a significant part of his income. With university on the horizon, he couldn’t afford to stop working.
He reassured his mother, promising he’d be safe, and only after much coaxing did she reluctantly agree.
He was honest with Uncle Zhou about his Omega status as well. Knowing that Uncle Zhou’s primary concern was liability, Zhou Le offered to sign a waiver absolving him and his shop of any responsibility in case of incidents. He had no choice—he needed the job.
Uncle Zhou, seeing Zhou Le’s determination, eventually relented. They signed the waiver, and Zhou Le continued working, though with fewer deliveries and earlier shifts.
—
Zhou Le avoided contacting Lu Jingran, even refraining from sending a casual text. He was terrified of making another mistake.
Instead, he gathered news about Lu Jingran through Sheng Qian and Chen Nan. They told him that Lu Jingran would return to school after his safe period ended next week.
Zhou Le looked forward to that day.
In the meantime, he made seaweed rolls for Sheng Qian, asking him to deliver a portion to Lu Jingran.
It was the only way he could express his gratitude and concern.
To show his thanks, he gave rolls to Sheng Qian, Chen Nan, and the others too.
But Sheng Qian refused to deliver the portion for Lu Jingran.
“Why not?” Zhou Le asked, puzzled.
Sheng Qian replied calmly, “Imagine an Alpha in a susceptible period receiving food made by someone they like, infused with their scent, but delivered by another Alpha. What do you think would happen?”
“…” Zhou Le blinked.
Sheng Qian’s expression remained calm but carried a hint of madness. “Do you want Lu Jingran to throw me off the top floor of his villa?”
“…”
In the end, Zhou Le abandoned his plan to deliver a care package.
At school, Zhou Le continued to wait—so much that he began to feel like he hadn’t seen Lu Jingran for half a year. It was the first time he truly experienced how days could drag endlessly.
Thankfully, he found solace in one thing: after everyone learned he was an Omega, their reactions weren’t as extreme as he’d feared. No one ostracized him or acted distant. In fact, even more people started asking for his help running errands, and his part-time delivery group gained a surge of new members.
At first, Zhou Le had thought that his life would be ruined once people discovered he was an Omega. But to his surprise, the revelation actually opened up new opportunities. Many people even became closer to him because of his Omega status. Some shy Omega boys and girls, finding it inconvenient to handle certain tasks themselves, would specifically come to him for assistance.
Because he was an Omega—a male Omega at that—he wasn’t overbearing, and his pheromones were so faint they were almost imperceptible. There was no one better suited for such tasks.
Not only did Zhou Le avoid losses, but he also earned even more and built better connections. People at school didn’t resent him for hiding his Omega status; instead, they showed him more care and compassion.
Every time his classmates greeted him warmly, Zhou Le felt his heart grow soft.
Of course, there were still some who liked to tease him.
On Friday morning, after finishing his duty shift, Zhou Le was at the back of the classroom, tidying the mops.
It was just before the morning self-study period, and the classroom buzzed with lively chatter. At the back of the room, a group of boys reluctant to settle down noticed Zhou Le diligently cleaning and decided to mess with him out of curiosity.
“Zhou Le, so you’re really an Omega? No wonder I thought you were looking prettier recently. You must’ve been releasing pheromones to seduce me!”
“Hey, Zhou Le, your little face is pretty tender, huh,” one of the boys teased.
Of course, it wasn’t serious harassment—just the kind of roughhousing boys engaged in. When Zhou Le was still a Beta, they used to mess around like this, and no one thought much of it. Even now, they still hadn’t fully adjusted to seeing him as an Omega, especially since his pheromones were so faint.
“Hey, Zhou Le, don’t dodge! Let me touch, let me touch!”
A bunch of “mischievous” hands explored up and down Zhou Le’s body, cornering him against the wall without letting up.
They got even more carried away, with three or five of them tickling Zhou Le relentlessly.
Zhou Le was backed into a corner at the last row of seats by the wall near the door, dodging as best he could but unable to push them away. His faint pleas for mercy went unheard.
The boys were in full bully mode, like little tyrants tormenting an innocent civilian.
Suddenly, the back door of the classroom creaked open, and an icy breeze swept in, bringing a bone-chilling coldness.
The group froze mid-action, their movements stilled. Even their bodies shuddered.
“Who the h*ll opened the back do—”
The rest of the sentence was swallowed back into their throats.
The so-called bullies turned their heads and saw Lu Jingran standing at the back door, one strap of his backpack slung over his shoulder. His gaze was calm but piercing as it swept over them.
The chill shot straight to their cores.
