Afraid of Alphas, but Pregnant with an Alpha’s Child - Chapter 2

Jiang Qiu lay on the sofa with his eyes tightly shut, his heart heavy with despair.

In truth, he had woken up ten minutes ago, but he hadn’t dared to open his eyes. He had come prepared for a battle of words with Lu Mingshen. He had imagined the worst-case scenarios of being humiliated and being dragged out by security. He had braced for it all.

He just hadn’t expected this.

In the dream he’d had while unconscious, it was pouring rain, and he was a mess, clutching his child. A man in a sharp suit stood over them, holding an umbrella in one hand and Jiang Cheng in the other. He looked down at Jiang Qiu with a cold, dark expression.

A bank card was tossed dismissively at his feet. “I’m taking the child. You clearly can’t afford to raise him. This suit alone costs a hundred million, can you even pay me back for the dry cleaning? Expect a letter from my lawyers.”

The little brat’s eyes had lit up at the mention of a hundred million. He kissed Lu Mingshen’s face repeatedly and stuck his tongue out at Jiang Qiu. “Poor Papa.”

Jiang Qiu had screamed “No!” in despair, but he could only watch helplessly as they disappeared into the rain.

“Is he still not awake?”

The familiar voice made Jiang Qiu’s heart tighten.

“Not yet,” came a voice that sounded like the assistant. “I’ll call you as soon as he wakes up.”

“No need. I’ll wait here.”

“Very well, President Lu. Should I arrange for a deep cleaning after Mr. Jiang leaves? If so, I’ll contact the staff now.”

“…No.”

The assistant gave a respectful acknowledgment and stepped out.

Don’t go— Jiang Qiu screamed silently.

The sound of rustling fabric followed; the man seemed to be removing a layer of clothing. He must have been wearing his suppressant ring, as Jiang Qiu couldn’t detect even a hint of pheromones—only the faint, pleasant scent of sandalwood, likely Lu Mingshen’s private cologne.

A moment later, a blazer carrying that sandalwood scent was draped over him.

A shallow breath drew closer.

Jiang Qiu felt his entire body stiffen. Realizing it was too late to “wake up” naturally now, he had no choice but to keep playing dead.

A hand adjusted his collar. The fingertips were slightly cool. The hand paused for a second, then abruptly withdrew.

Two seconds later, it returned.

A warm palm lifted his hand, gently tucking it back under the draped blazer.

Jiang Qiu finally went still. While doing his best to impersonate a corpse, he racked his brain for a way to “wake up” that wouldn’t be awkward, so he could discuss the child and get the hell out of there.

Lu Mingshen was currently half-kneeling by the sofa, looking down at the sleeping man. Jiang Qiu’s brow was furrowed, as if his sleep were troubled.

Lu Mingshen’s gaze acted like a pair of invisible hands, slowly and meticulously tracing the lines of Jiang Qiu’s face, as if scanning every inch of him.

Lu Mingshen pulled out his phone. “He shows no sign of waking. Call the—”

Before he could finish, his wrist was caught.

The pale young man slowly opened his eyes and gave a slight shake of his head.

Lu Mingshen immediately hung up.

Assistant Xu, who was holding the phone in one hand while preparing to dial the doctor with the other, was left bewildered.

“Let me help you up,” Lu Mingshen said.

Jiang Qiu shook his head, terrified the man would touch him again. “I can manage.”

Lu Mingshen actually reached out to steady him anyway, his eyes stuck to Jiang Qiu like glue.

As Jiang Qiu slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, his eyes kept darting to the blazer sliding off his shoulders.

It wasn’t the same one from before!

He closed his eyes, panic rising. I’m doomed.

“Mr. Lu, I am so sorry…” Jiang Qiu said, his voice strained. “I’ll make sure to have the suit cleaned. If it can’t be cleaned, I’ll pay for the replacement…”

“It’s fine,” Lu Mingshen interrupted. “How are you feeling?”

“Much better.” Jiang Qiu took a deep breath. “Mr. Lu, I’m sorry to interrupt your work, but there is something I must discuss with you. Could you give me ten minutes?”

Lu Mingshen frowned. “Is your health really up to it?”

“I’m fine.”

Seeing he couldn’t win the argument, Lu Mingshen yielded. “Go ahead.”

Jiang Qiu’s account was brief, but it differed significantly from the version in Lu Mingshen’s mind.

“Since I was a child, I believed I was a Beta. I thought I’d never be bothered by pheromones and could live a quiet, normal life.” Jiang Qiu looked away helplessly. “But as you can see, I am very much an Omega. For personal reasons, my mother didn’t want me controlled by hormones, so she had me injected with heavy doses of suppressants when I was young.”

“But five years ago, those suppressants failed.”

According to his mother, even as a toddler, Jiang Qiu had shown an extraordinary Omega appeal. In kindergarten, his Alpha seatmate would kiss his face constantly, whispering under the jealous glares of other little Alphas: “You’re a sweet, soft, fluffy little cupcake.”

His mother would drop him off at school with a worried face and pick him up later, her expression darkening as she saw her son covered in the scent of other kids’ saliva. Looking into his bright eyes, she knew things couldn’t go on like that.

Every time she saw the way those little Alphas looked at him, she was reminded of Jiang Qiu’s father, an Alpha who had abandoned them and whose whereabouts were unknown.

Back then, Omegas had little autonomy and were expected to rely on Alphas. Due to an accidental pregnancy, his parents had rushed into a marking and marriage. They’d had a few years of peace, but on the day Jiang Qiu was supposed to start primary school, his father vanished. They never saw him again.

To free Jiang Qiu from the shackles of pheromones, his mother had him treated with enough suppressants to crush his Omega instincts, ensuring he never had to endure the agony of a heat cycle.

As a child with no concept of secondary genders, Jiang Qiu hadn’t understood any of it. At sixteen, hearing about an Omega classmate who had been accidentally marked and gotten pregnant, he had even secretly felt relieved to be a “Beta.”

—Until his sophomore year of college. During a farewell party for a senior, his knees had suddenly gone weak, and a searing, unprecedented pain erupted at the nape of his neck.

A senior Alpha who had always been fond of him hooked an arm around his neck, joking while smelling of alcohol. “Xiao Jiang, you’re so fair and delicate—it’s a shame you aren’t an Omega. Though a Beta is fine too, haha! Do you think anyone has pheromones that smell like BBQ? Wait, why do you smell so good? Like a little cake… wait, that’s not right.”

The senior’s grip on his shoulders tightened as his Alpha pheromones surged like a tidal wave. “Jiang Qiu, you—”

Jiang Qiu froze. He turned pale, looking at the man beside him. A second later, he used every ounce of his strength to shove the man away and bolted.

The heat and pain made it impossible to remember how long he ran. He only remembered the voices fading away and his vision narrowing until everything went black.

Just as he was about to lose consciousness, he had stumbled into someone’s arms.

The Alpha’s scent was everywhere. But unlike the aggressive, overwhelming scents he’d encountered before, this one felt like water, wrapping around him softly.

When he opened his eyes again… the rain had stopped.

A stranger—an Alpha—was kneeling beside him, helping him dress. The man’s eyes were hidden behind his bangs, his lips pressed thin, looking as though he were the one who had been wronged.

The man pulled up Jiang Qiu’s trousers before adjusting his own clothes. He kept one arm around Jiang Qiu, not daring to grip too hard, holding him gently as if he might break.

The man moved quickly. He helped Jiang Qiu sit steadily against a wall, then stood up, reached for his wallet, and prepared to leave. After a few steps, he seemed to remember something. He turned back, saw the dazed Omega slumped against the wall, and his expression shifted. He walked back.

He knelt down again and draped his suit jacket over Jiang Qiu. His long fingers looked pale under the streetlights, but as Jiang Qiu watched, they slowly flushed a faint pink.

The Alpha stood up, his shadow swallowing Jiang Qiu whole. He looked down with an expression so calm it bordered on indifferent.

“Wait for me here.”

Jiang Qiu didn’t answer. He just watched the man’s back as he walked away. He waited obediently for half an hour. His phone was dead, the night was dark, and there was no one around. He just sat there, counting the seconds.

The man never came back.

His body eventually recovered; the headache faded, and the heat at the nape of his neck died down. The whole ordeal felt like a fever dream. The way his fingers had curled from the stress and refused to straighten, the uncontrollable shaking, the blurred vision, the endless nightmares—he dismissed them all as post-traumatic stress.

He tried to forget the incident by burying himself in work, until he began to experience lethargy, acid reflux, and bouts of vomiting. He thought it was just a stomach issue caused by overwork and went to the hospital for a check-up.

Then, he saw the lab results.

He was pregnant.

He should have looked for Lu Mingshen the moment he found out. Instead, he had waited four years.

…..

“Mr. Lu, that is how it happened,” Jiang Qiu said calmly.

He sat on the sofa, his back ramrod straight. His face was expressionless, yet it didn’t seem gloomy or lifeless. “Calm, gentle, and easy-going” were the labels he had worn on his thin face for years.

Jiang Qiu habitually went to adjust his glasses, only to remember he was wearing contacts today. He settled for smoothing his cuffs instead.

…The sleeves were a bit large. These definitely weren’t his clothes.

Lu Mingshen held a small notebook in his left hand and his phone in his right, the faint blue light reflecting off his thin-framed glasses. His blazer was neatly placed beside him, and his white shirt crinkled slightly with his movements.

He was tall and lean, his long legs crossed in a relaxed manner. He leaned forward slightly, appearing to have a natural sense of trust in the person before him.

Jiang Qiu waited quietly for him to finish processing the information. He held his breath, trying to practice his “co-existing with panic” techniques. He began to truly observe the man sitting across from him.

It had been too dark that night, and his vision had been swimming with spots. He hadn’t seen the man’s face clearly. He only remembered eyes that seemed to merge with the darkness, and the sight of the man’s back as he left with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, lean but strong.

The Lu Mingshen sitting here now was handsome to the point of being sharp. His pheromone blocking ring was back on, making his pale, bony wrist look even more prominent.

The fine, black-framed glasses resting on the high bridge of his nose had slipped slightly. Behind the lenses, his eyes were downturned, giving him an air of cold, detached indifference.

After a moment, Lu Mingshen took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“So… this child is mine?”

“Yes,” Jiang Qiu replied.

Becoming a father out of the blue was a life-altering revelation for anyone, and Jiang Qiu was naturally prepared to give him enough time to process it.

He pushed a small, sealed plastic bag across the table. “If you wish, President Lu, we can perform a DNA test.”

Lu Mingshen remained silent. Jiang Qiu adjusted his breathing and continued, “Mr. Lu, to be clear, I didn’t come here today to ask you for money.”

He added, “I didn’t want there to be any misunderstanding, so I thought it best to state my intentions upfront.”

Lu Mingshen lifted his gaze to look at the Omega across from him.

Jiang Qiu was poised, gentle, and quiet, sitting tall without appearing stiff or forced. His beauty lacked any edge or aggression; even in a state of extreme vulnerability, he remained as soft as a cloud. He was the quintessential “Dream Omega” for any Alpha.

This perfect Omega’s voice was soft, yet crystal clear: “And, of course, I am not here to demand a marking or a formal status.”

As he spoke, he pulled several stapled documents from his folder.

“Two months after the incident, I went to the hospital and confirmed the pregnancy. I subsequently registered with the Omega Rescue Center. I have not been in a relationship with anyone else during this time.”

“Because of my physical condition, I was unable to terminate the pregnancy. Furthermore, because I hadn’t been marked, I lacked the legal status for independent upbringing. My mother is in the same situation, and as for my elder sister—it would be difficult for an unmarried Alpha to find a partner while raising a child. They are currently abroad and cannot easily return.”

“Cheng… the child is currently under the care of the Omega Rescue Center. According to current regulations, if no relative claims him before he turns seven, he will be placed on the official adoption list.”

“I tried calling the number on your business card, but no one ever picked up. Shortly after, I was diagnosed with Alpha-phobia and required isolated treatment, which made it impossible for me to seek you out.”

He spoke warmly, “After five years of therapy, my symptoms have significantly improved. So, I am pleading for your help to get the child out of the association. After that, I promise I will never appear before you again.”

The young man’s plea was earnest:

“Mr. Lu… I’m begging you.”

“I truly have no other choice.”

His words were so sincere, his gaze so honest and bright, that it was impossible to find even a trace of deception.

Lu Mingshen realized he could no longer use “lunch” as an excuse to delay the inevitable or linger in this moment.

“How are you feeling right now?” Lu Mingshen asked.

“Quite well,” Jiang Qiu replied.

As long as I can’t smell your pheromones, I’m fine.

Lu Mingshen stood up abruptly. “Let’s go.”

Jiang Qiu froze as his wrist was once again captured in a firm grip.

A dark gray tie swayed before his eyes.

Lu Mingshen led him forward gently, his voice deep and resolute: “We’re going to get him. Right now.”

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