Chapter 38: Love is Indulgent
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
When An Lan turned around, he didn’t notice Gu Liyu slowly releasing his clenched fist, as if some secret had almost been discovered by An Lan.
Gu Liyu led An Lan to the bathroom.
The bathroom had both a bathtub and a shower, but it was already quite late, and obviously, they didn’t have time for a bath.
Gu Liyu adjusted the water temperature, told An Lan the location of the shower gel and shampoo, then left.
Considering Gu Liyu’s quality of life, one would think he used imported luxury products. However, the things on the table were incredibly simple, with just a bottle of Dove cucumber-scented refreshing shower gel and a shampoo. The shampoo’s scent was similar to what An Lan usually used.
Warm water flowed down from the top of An Lan’s head. Suddenly, he remembered that he hadn’t asked Gu Liyu which part of the story he liked.
Based on what Gu Liyu had just said, it seemed he didn’t have any feelings about the story’s ending.
Could it be the omega’s counterattack, changing not only the people’s perceptions but also reversing the church’s attitude?
After finishing the shower, An Lan put on the pajamas Gu Liyu gave him. An Lan was often praised by Qiao Chuluo as a “walking clothes hanger,” looking good in whatever he wore. However, in front of Gu Liyu, it seemed a bit lacking.
The loose pajamas hung on An Lan’s body, revealing most of his collarbone. When he opened the bathroom door, he found Gu Liyu leaning against the wall, arms crossed, with his face turned towards the door as if he had been waiting for him for a long time.
“Hey, what are you…”
Gu Liyu released his arms, only then did An Lan notice that he was holding a bath towel, which he directly placed over An Lan’s head.
Through the towel, An Lan could feel Gu Liyu’s fingers pressing against the top of his head, gently kneading his hair.
“Dry your hair.”
“Okay, thank you.”
An Lan sat alone at the bedside, blow-drying his hair while casually picking up his phone. Sure enough, Qiao Chuluo had sent several messages.
Xiao Qiao: [You betrayed me, cheating with the school grass. I want a divorce.]
An Lan couldn’t help but smile. Xiao Qiao, with your limited prospects, you want a divorce with me?
Apparently, after a while without a reply, Xiao Qiao’s second message came: [D*mn, are you ignoring me? Are you doing something indescribable with the school grass now?]
Mentioning “indescribable,” An Lan turned his head again to glance at the shooting suit placed on the other side of the bedside.
An image unexpectedly flashed in his mind.
Gu Liyu sat on the edge of the bed, his back straight like a young poplar tree, his two long legs folded slightly open, creating a certain suggestive angle.
He slowly unzipped the shooting suit, opening it at a leisurely pace. He turned his face to the side, gently sniffing the scent inside the shooting suit. Then, he covered his face with it, holding the suit with one hand, while the other, despite its noble and aloof temperament, was now covered with a faint redness from the wrist to the fingertips.
The place that everyone thought wouldn’t be attracted by the outside world, wouldn’t be easily provoked, and would forever remain quiet… was brewing a magnificent momentum.
An Lan gasped, shocked by the thoughts that emerged in his mind.
He forcefully swallowed saliva, lowered his head, and discovered Qiao Chuluo’s third message: “[Forgot to mention, this is a good opportunity. High-quality alphas may be skilled at controlling their pheromones in front of outsiders, but at home, they’re sure to leave traces.].”
An Lan instantly understood Qiao Chuluo’s meaning.
His sense of smell was more sensitive than an average person’s. If a high-quality alpha deliberately restrained their pheromones in public places like school, it wouldn’t be possible to do the same at home.
Once you release pheromones, there will inevitably be traces left behind.
An Lan picked up the shooting suit and sniffed it.
He smelled a faint and refreshing fragrance, the scent of the special detergent for shooting suits.
Apart from that, there was no other scent.
If Gu Liyu had really engaged in something inappropriate with this shooting suit, he would definitely have retained An Lan’s scent, and there would even be the strong aroma of Gu Liyu’s pheromones. But… An Lan found nothing.
This meant that Gu Liyu hadn’t followed Qiao Chuluo’s script to do those embarrassing things.
An Lan breathed a sigh of relief, but he was genuinely curious about the scent of Gu Liyu’s pheromones. With a raised eyebrow, An Lan looked at the large bed. He couldn’t believe that Gu Liyu, even when sleeping, hadn’t leaked any pheromones.
An Lan buried his face in the pillow and sniffed it forcefully. This pillow should have been slept on by Gu Liyu, and it carried the same scent as the shampoo used in the bathroom.
“No way, not even a trace?”
An Lan flipped the pillow to the other side and sniffed again. Besides the scent of shampoo, there was also the fragrance of laundry detergent.
There was nothing on the pillow, probably because the contact area was too small. If Gu Liyu had done anything, there would definitely be a lingering scent.
Everyone was a normal 18+ young person; if Gu Liyu really didn’t do anything, he should go see a urologist!
An Lan lifted the blanket, propped himself up against the bed, and covered himself with the blanket. In this enclosed space, An Lan carefully sniffed.
…Alright, Gu Liyu’s laundry detergent smelled really good.
Apart from that, he couldn’t detect anything else.
The edge of the bed sank, indicating that Gu Liyu had returned. Why did he come back so quickly?
“By covering yourself with my blanket, do you know what it looks like?”
Through the blanket, Gu Liyu’s originally cold voice seemed like hot water, unexpectedly scalding An Lan’s nerves. Blood rushed towards a certain place that An Lan found difficult to mention.
“I’m just distinguishing the scent of your laundry detergent at home.”
An Lan moved the blanket away, and as soon as he raised his eyes, he met Gu Liyu’s gaze.
His gaze seemed to be on fire, sweeping across An Lan’s flustered heart, suddenly igniting it. An Lan leaned back abruptly, instinctively creating distance between them.
“But it seems like you’re yearning for your alpha, desperately sniffing his scent.”
Gu Liyu’s voice was calm and steady, but saying such words without any fluctuations was abnormal in itself.
The fire between them burned more fiercely, a thin layer of sweat forming on An Lan’s back. It wasn’t cold sweat but the restlessness of his body, the more it suppressed, the hotter it got.
“I’m not an omega.” An Lan felt like he was trying to avoid this topic, but he ended up circling back to it.
Gu Liyu propped up his chin, tilting his head to the side. From this angle, he could clearly see An Lan, who had lowered his head.
“When an alpha misses their loved one, they would also do this.”
Gu Liyu used the term “loved one” instead of “omega.” However, who would Gu Liyu consider as someone he loved?
Uttering those words from his lips made people inexplicably uneasy.
“I thought once the marking was done, alphas would trust omegas completely.” An Lan just wanted to avoid this topic, but somehow circled back to it.
“If it’s someone placed in one’s heart, even if marked a thousand or ten thousand times, they will still feel uneasy. Because it’s impossible for one person to completely possess another; each person is an independent individual with their own thoughts,” Gu Liyu said softly.
An Lan stared into Gu Liyu’s eyes, as if there was another world inside them, thousands of brilliant lights burning silently, waiting for someone to discover this bright and splendid world that existed only for one person.
“The more one understands this truth, the easier it is to go crazy,” Gu Liyu said.
An Lan’s heart skipped a beat.
Gu Yunli and his wife were once deeply in love, and how could Gu Yunli not have marked his wife? Yet, he still went crazy.
“Some say liking is indulgent, while love is restrained. But restraint is the most unbearable thing in this world.”
Gu Liyu straightened his back, and the distance between the two of them slightly widened.
The oppressive feeling of being confined by each other disappeared, but An Lan didn’t feel relieved.
Gu Liyu asked softly, “Can I sleep by your side?”
“If you don’t sleep here… then where do you plan to sleep?” An Lan hesitated.
“But you seemed a bit afraid of me just now.”
“I’m afraid of ghosts, but I’m not afraid of you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
An Lan slipped down, resting his head on the pillow.
The blanket lifted, revealing a warm body temperature on the other side. Gu Liyu didn’t approach An Lan but lay at a distance.
Gu Liyu extended his arm, pressed a button, and the entire apartment slowly descended into darkness from top to bottom.
“I think… you got that saying wrong,” An Lan said.
“Which one?”
“I think it should be ‘liking is restraint, and love is indulgence.'”
“Why?” Gu Liyu asked.
Unable to see his face, An Lan could only hear his voice, and it surprisingly had a hint of innocence and curiosity.
“Because liking alone allows for suppression and restraint. But when you truly love someone, how can you endure it?” An Lan turned over, and as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could see the profile of Gu Liyu’s profile—the elegant forehead, the straight and forceful nose bridge, and the lips that sparked intriguing thoughts.
“An alpha like me, if unable to control, would be a disaster for that person.”
“There’s a saying, ‘match the teapot with the teacup.’ If you’re a disaster that destroys everything, that person excels at rebuilding after disasters, constructing even stronger houses, and reinforcing walls and dams, providing you with enough security. They turn every disaster into a rebirth.”
“Such a person doesn’t exist,” Gu Liyu said.
“If you can easily find one, then such a person would lose meaning.”
An Lan thought for a moment, not wanting Gu Liyu to continue dwelling on this topic.
“Oh, by the way, you said you really like that medieval story. What part do you like? The knights’ counterattack or their original loyalty as lord and vassal?” An Lan asked.
“I only like the beginning of that story,” Gu Liyu said.
“The beginning?”
“When the wizard Helar sentenced to burning, and his knight transcended worldly and religious beliefs to take him away,” Gu Liyu said.
An Lan suddenly understood Gu Liyu’s true pursuit.
Gu Liyu was the wizard being executed, and his knight was nowhere to be found.
An Lan knew he couldn’t approach to embrace him because he was even weaker than Gu Liyu and didn’t have the right to sympathize. An Lan could only stretch out his hand to gently pull a corner of Gu Liyu’s sleepwear.
When both fell silent and truly quieted down, An Lan found it impossible to fall asleep.
While Gu Liyu’s breathing became steady, An Lan’s heart started beating rapidly.
Before falling asleep, Qiao Chuluo’s final message was: “[Even the most high-quality alpha can’t control anything when asleep. Wrists and neck are crucial.]”
An Lan held his breath. He didn’t dare to move too much, afraid of waking Gu Liyu. He then reached over to Gu Liyu’s neck.
Gu Liyu’s neck was slender and now nestled in the pillow, completely defenseless. The Adam’s apple moved slowly with his breathing, as if brewing a force, dormant in the dark, ready to erupt and engulf An Lan at any moment.
An Lan’s heart pounded like it was caffeine-induced. He half leaned over, his arms almost unable to support him, trembling slightly.
Gu Liyu’s jawline was sleek and compact. Even though he was only an eighteen-year-old young man, he exuded a mature strength.
An Lan’s nose tip approached, slowly and deeply smelling.
The scent was that of Dove shower gel.
An Lan closed his eyes, carefully stripping away all artificial fragrances, searching for the most natural and original scent.
Yet, he found nothing.
He couldn’t understand why he would unconsciously release pheromones, but Gu Liyu could remain completely leak-proof.
An Lan tried to go back to sleep, but Gu Liyu’s pheromone scent left him conflicted. Unable to find an answer, he was destined to have a sleepless night.
An Lan’s mind was in chaos, filled with thoughts about Gu Liyu.
He stood on the podium, not caring about the many pairs of eyes, correcting the misspelled words written by An Lan.
When Li Zhennan’s pheromones made An Lan uncomfortable, Gu Liyu suddenly appeared by his side. His hand covered An Lan’s eyes, and in that moment, the world became full of a sense of security.
When An Lan was oppressed by Gu Yunli’s pheromones, almost fainting in the hospital’s emergency corridor, it was Gu Liyu who isolated Gu Yunli’s pheromones for him.
Gu Liyu… seemed to have always been protecting him.
Whether intentional or unintentional.
At this moment, Gu Liyu turned over.
One hand was under the blanket, and the other gently rested on the edge of the pillow. The long fingers were slightly curved, lazy and pure, completely defenseless.
But it ignited an evil thought in An Lan.
An Lan slowly approached that hand, holding his breath, leaning towards the position of Gu Liyu’s wrist.
Because of blood circulation, it was the second most likely place, after the neck, to reveal pheromones.
As An Lan got closer, his sensations became sharp and delicate.
He seemed to feel the blood flowing beneath Gu Liyu’s skin, calm and endless.
Suddenly, that hand moved. An Lan, frightened, was about to retreat to his own pillow, but Gu Liyu’s knuckles followed An Lan’s nose bridge, along his nose, finally landing on his lips. He briefly parted his lower lip before returning to the pillow.
“You’ve been smelling my pheromones since you came back to my bedroom after taking a shower.”
Gu Liyu’s voice remained calm, making it impossible to discern his emotions.
Smelling an alpha’s pheromones in this way was a bit impolite.
It was somewhat like… standing in a row to use the restroom in elementary school. Even though everyone could see with a sidelong glance, the other person didn’t want to compete, but one insisted on getting close to compare.
An Lan’s face instantly turned red, and he didn’t know if Gu Liyu could see without any light.
“I… I was just curious… no malicious intent,” An Lan said, wishing he could chop off his own nose.
Gu Liyu moved a bit closer to An Lan and then placed his hand near An Lan’s pillow.
“Well, go ahead and sniff carefully, then tell me what my pheromones smell like,” Gu Liyu instructed.
An Lan hesitated for a moment, “Don’t you know the smell of your own pheromones?”
“Do you know the smell of your own pheromones?”
Gu Liyu retorted, leaving An Lan speechless. Wasn’t this a case of the pot calling the kettle black?
Since it was Gu Liyu who asked him to smell, An Lan directly shifted his position, getting closer. His nose almost touched Gu Liyu’s wrist when Gu Liyu’s fingers curled, and he lightly flicked An Lan’s hair.
A tremor ran through An Lan, and the restless feeling returned.
“I’m not a cat,” An Lan protested.
“Did you smell anything?” Gu Liyu asked.
“Nothing at all. Can’t you relax and release a bit?” An Lan pleaded.
Gu Liyu’s hand approached a bit more, and the skin on his wrist was delicate, directly pressing against An Lan’s nose.
“Impossible.”
Meaning, your sense of smell is too weak.
An Lan, unwilling to give up, took a deep breath, but to no avail.
“From now on, don’t use Dove shower gel,” An Lan suggested.
“Why?” Gu Liyu asked.
“It’s too overpowering, covering up all other scents.”
“How about you try my neck?” Gu Liyu’s finger gestured in front of An Lan, signaling him to come.
With the boss’s permission, An Lan’s eyes lit up, immediately leaning closer.
Gu Liyu was already lying down, even turning his face to expose his neck, looking as if he allowed An Lan to do as he pleased.
An Lan’s hands propped on the edge of Gu Liyu’s pillow, lifting his upper body, lowering his head.
An Lan wasn’t aware that his bangs brushed Gu Liyu’s nose, but he did feel Gu Liyu’s Adam’s apple move slightly.
In the darkness, there was a hint of charm.
An Lan buried himself, taking a sniff.
Still the scent of Dove shower gel.
“Have you released any pheromones?” An Lan lifted his head.
“Is it still Dove shower gel?” Gu Liyu countered.
“Yes.”
Disappointed, An Lan was about to pull back when Gu Liyu suddenly lifted his arm, wrapping it around An Lan.
Can’t wait until next week to see more? Want to show your support? Come to my Patreon where you can get up to 5 more chapters of Who On Earth Bit Me? right away or get access to early chapters of all the available BL novels! Or go donate at Paypal or Ko-fi to show your appreciation! :)
<Previous Chapter<Table of Contents>Next Chapter>
