After Losing My Memory, I Went After My Archenemy - Chapter 2

The moment one foot stepped onto the old staircase, the clinking and clattering of rolling wine bottles came from the second floor. Lin Xi frowned, then quickened her pace upstairs.

As soon as she entered the room, she saw several people trying to help the drunken middle-aged man who had fallen to the floor. The floor was a visible mess.

Shen Xuan looked at her as if she were a savior, her helpless eyes seemed to say, You’ve finally arrived.

“Auntie, Uncle, I’m so sorry, I’ll take him back right now.”

Lin Xi said, her face taut, and walked towards the man.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, your uncle is probably in a bad mood today.”

“Do you need our help?”

Shen Xuan’s parents, standing nearby, spoke without any hint of blame.

Lin Xi grabbed the man forcefully from the floor, showing no politeness.

To maintain a semblance of decency, Lin Xi spoke to him gently: “Uncle, we should go home now.”

“Go home? No, I haven’t had enough to drink!”

The man waved his arms and shouted, the heavy smell of alcohol making Lin Xi’s brows furrow tightly. The next second, she paid no attention to what he was saying and forcibly supported him out.

It wasn’t until the room quieted down again that Shen Xuan’s parents called her over to help clean up the post-meal mess.

“Actually, I think Lin Xi is quite pitiful sometimes.”

Her mother’s words made Shen Xuan, who was wiping the table, stop her movements. She quickly retorted: “I don’t think so. Instead, she’s the most independent and self-reliant person I’ve ever met.”

Shen’s father, hearing this, curiously asked, “She moved here around fifteen, right? Have you ever seen her parents during this time? What do they actually do for a living?”

“Dad… let’s not talk about this. Lin Xi is never willing to mention her parents, so naturally, I won’t ask again.” Shen Xuan ended the topic with a single sentence.

Leaving Shen Xuan’s house and walking straight to the alley entrance was the residence of Lin Xi’s uncle, Zhou Mingde, a two-story old-style house along the street.

The first floor was her uncle’s antique shop. He had relied on it for all these years, never getting rich but never going hungry either.

“You are very strange today. You never drank like this before. Next time, people won’t dare to invite you to drink with them.”

Lin Xi supported the man up the stairs, and upon finding that he was already soundly asleep, she stopped her scolding.

She went up to the second floor and turned on the light. The room wasn’t very spacious, but the soft light overhead somewhat chased away the day’s fatigue. It wasn’t until she settled her uncle in his room that Lin Xi went to clean up and take a shower.

By the time she actually got into bed, it was nearly midnight.

The clock on her bedside table was an old antique her uncle had given her, and in the quiet of the night, the ticking was particularly clear.

It was then that Lin Xi remembered the strange message from the night before. She picked up her phone and reopened the private message, and after reading it over and over, carefully weighing every word, she decided it was a prank. She then turned off her phone and closed her eyes to sleep.

However, another person was sleepless tonight.

From checking her phone every once in a while to tossing and turning in bed while clutching her phone, Xia Rou was restless and could not calm down.

The message interface showed that the other party had read it but was slow to reply, which caused her a great sense of disappointment and frustration.

After all, as an Omega who had been the center of attention since childhood, she was used to ignoring the advances and pursuits of others and had never been treated with such coldness.

What made the contrast even sharper was the long list of unread private messages from a host of admirers below in her list, countless messages she was too lazy to open.

What kind of person is Lin Xi exactly?

The more indignant she felt, the more curious she became about her. Xia Rou spent the entire night practically scouring the campus forum, not letting go of any information related to her.

The next morning, after a simple meal at home, Xia Rou, as usual, took her private car to school.

Her mother, Wu Daiyun, saw her off at the door, nagging her with daily reminders about what to look out for when she was away from home, just as she had done tirelessly since Xia Rou was a child.

Xia Rou barely listened. Her brain was hazy from staying up late, and the accumulation of questions in her heart made her eager to rush to school for answers.

Realizing her daughter hadn’t been listening, Wu Daiyun instead carefully examined her face, and couldn’t help but ask, “Did you not put on makeup today? Why are your dark circles so deep?”

“I didn’t sleep well last night. Uh, Mom, I really need to hurry to school.”

Xia Rou tried to pull her hand away from the woman and quickly got into the car.

“Your estrus period is coming soon. Take this with you. You must, absolutely must, be careful with protection, you hear?”

The moment she sat down, Xia Rou felt something being slipped into her hand—a box full of inhibitor patches.

“That Omega in the news was so unfortunate…”

The car door automatically closed, but her mother’s nagging voice was still endless, gradually fading as the car started and drove away.

Xia Rou had also read that news, which happened just last week.

It started because an Omega in her estrus period, on her first visit to a bar, ran into a situation where her inhibitor patch failed. Coincidentally, several compatible alphas in the bar were also going through their rut.

The riot that followed required armed police to be quelled, and that Omega is still receiving psychological treatment in the hospital.

Inhibitor patches on the market are classified into different grades based on price. Low-cost patches have inconsistent quality and a certain probability of losing effectiveness ahead of the scheduled time.

Xia Rou could understand her mother’s worry, even though their family used the most expensive patches on the market.

She quietly put the box into her bag and took the opportunity to catch a nap in the car.

“Wow, were you a thief last night? You look so tired.”

When Shen Miao saw her at school, she couldn’t help but complain the moment she saw her.

“Was I really that much at odds with Lin Xi before?” Xia Rou replied with a non sequitur, while taking out a small mirror to touch up her makeup.

“You were at the point of being completely incompatible, like fire and water. Wait a minute! What do you mean by ‘before’? Are you suggesting… now?”

“The forum said I hated Lin Xi because her pheromones and mine are a 100% match, but I racked my brains all night and don’t think that’s enough reason for me to hate her. On the contrary, I feel… I feel like we are a match made in heaven.”

Xia Rou said this very seriously, but it only earned her a hand from Shen Miao checking if she had a fever.

“You’ve been acting weird since you left school yesterday afternoon. You even said last night that you had a crush on her, but I didn’t take it seriously. Xia Rou, what’s wrong with you? Don’t scare me!”

“I think I really do have a crush on her.”

Ignoring her friend’s look of horror, Xia Rou repeated herself.

“She’s your arch-rival! Everyone in the school knows it.”

“So what if she’s my arch-rival?”

Shen Miao: “…”

On the way to the classroom, Shen Miao patiently recounted to Xia Rou all the things she had done to target Lin Xi since they entered school, hoping to persuade her to turn back.

But all she got in return was an innocent and awkward reply from Xia Rou: “I don’t remember any of the things you said.”

Shen Miao: “…”

Xia Rou didn’t doubt her friend’s words, but she didn’t quite understand why her amnesia only seemed to involve Lin Xi.

“Think about it, you’re only temporarily forgetful now. If you really pursue Lin Xi, you might be devastated if your memories return later.”

“Besides, you were so mean and targeted towards Lin Xi in the past. It would be a miracle if she didn’t hold a grudge against you. How could she accept your pursuit? Just give up and get this idea out of your head as soon as possible. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Shen Miao’s words kept swirling, as if she had a repeating tape recorder by her ear.

So, should she really stop now?

Xia Rou’s mind once again uncontrollably replayed the scene of their first meeting yesterday afternoon—let’s call it their first meeting, since all prior memories were gone.

Just thinking about giving up made her heart feel like it was being gnawed by countless tiny ants—unbearable.

This was a feeling she had never experienced.

Is it really just the drive of the pheromones in my body? I didn’t expect the reaction of a mere physical instinct to be this hard to control.

For the rest of the morning, Shen Miao didn’t hear Xia Rou mention Lin Xi’s name again, which pleased her greatly.

Although Lin Xi was excellent in every way, she and Xia Rou were fundamentally from two different worlds.

Shen Miao did not want to see her little sister jump into the fire pit.

The first class in the afternoon was public P.E.

The field was crowded with students from several classes, some playing basketball, some practicing volleyball. Xia Rou’s elective this semester was tennis.

Walking past the neighboring volleyball class, the constant sounds of ball-hitting and shoes scraping against the court filled her ears, their momentum no less than the basketball class not far away.

With a single, unintentional glance upwards, Xia Rou saw that person again.

White sports shorts, wearing a headband, her long legs were striking and noticeable among the group on the court. Her every strike was so powerful and accurate, leaving the opposite team completely unable to defend.

The overwhelming surge of pheromonal attraction made Xia Rou’s heart beat fast. Afraid of being noticed by Shen Miao next to her, she quickly turned her head, pretending she hadn’t seen anything, and hurried past.

During the mid-game break, Shen Xuan handed Lin Xi a bottle of ice water and jokingly gestured for her to look at the neighboring class.

“That rich young miss is also in P.E. this period.”

Lin Xi, who was drinking water, followed the gaze. The girl sitting on the steps had skin whiter than the average Omega, looking as if a light pinch would turn it red. Her dark eyes were clear and bright, seemingly filled with sunlight.

She couldn’t deny that the girl possessed a beauty that no alpha could overlook or resist.

“Hey, had enough staring? It’s time for the second half!” As if seeing through her thoughts, Shen Xuan couldn’t help but wave the half-full bottle of water in front of her eyes.

The water sloshed in the condensation-covered bottle, looking like a surging, unstoppable wave under a storm.

Her vision was blocked in an instant.

Lin Xi finished the last sip of water in one go, casually crumpled the plastic bottle, and tossed it accurately into the distant trash can, before throwing herself back into the volleyball court.

Xia Rou’s physical stamina was not particularly good; to be precise, Omega students generally had poor stamina. Consequently, ten minutes into the class, the Omegas in her class gradually started resting, leaving only the alphas on the court.

“You took in everything I told you this morning, right? That reassures me.”

Shen Miao was surprised that their class was next to Lin Xi’s for P.E. today, but thankfully, so far, Xia Rou seemed completely normal.

Xia Rou nodded awkwardly, but one of her hands couldn’t help but nervously scratch her pant leg.

“I want a soda. What flavor do you want?”

Shen Miao, noticing nothing amiss, stood up and asked.

“Strawberry will be fine,” Xia Rou looked up and smiled at her.

“Alright, I’ll be right back.” Shen Miao walked down the steps alone.

In the volleyball class’s rest area.

Lin Xi was sitting and wiping her sweat when she overheard a conversation drifting from a few alphas in her class. Even though she didn’t want to listen, she was forced to.

“Look, isn’t that our school beauty?”

“She’s truly beautiful, but unfortunately, she’s a high-mountain flower.”

“Do you think an arrogant heiress like her would ever actively greet someone like us?”

“Hahaha, what a pipe dream! Absolutely impossible!”

Not long after this conversation, the incident happened.

“Hello, Lin Xi, I’m Xia Rou.”

If a private message wasn’t going to be answered, she would have to confront her in person.

The few alphas who witnessed this scene were all dumbfounded.

Shen Miao, who had just bought a soda and opened it, saw this over the fence and was so shocked that she spat a mouthful all over her face.

Lin Xi, who was fiddling with her phone, looked up at the sound. The girl in front of her happened to be standing in the light, her cheeks looking as if they were dusted with setting powder. When she looked at Lin Xi, she had a smile on her face and clear eyes.

This made Lin Xi think of the little cat again.

“Is there something you need?”

The brief two-word reply made Lin Xi experience, for the first time, a lapse in her usual composure.

Support After Losing My Memory, I Went After My Archenemy