After the Beautiful Omega Was Targeted by His Straight Roommate - Chapter 9

The scent of his pheromones was under suspicion once again.

Tao Ran, who was earnestly gnawing on a fried duck palm, was instantly choked. He gulped down a large mouthful of water before finally swallowing the food stuck in his throat.

“Cough, cough!” Tao Ran patted his chest. His fair cheeks were flushed crimson from choking. He stammered, “M-maybe it is.”

Zhuo Qiang pressed further, “What perfume are you using? This scent feels exceptionally pleasant.”

Tao Ran’s dark, bead-like eyes darted around guiltily. He licked his oily lips. “I, I just bought it randomly. It is not a brand-name product, and that online shop has already closed down, so you probably cannot buy it anymore.”

“Ah, I see.” Zhuo Qiang’s tone was quite regretful.

To stop his roommate from delving deeper into the topic, Tao Ran grabbed a tissue to wipe his hands and picked up his pajamas. “I, I will go shower first.”

As the weather had been getting colder lately, Tao Ran had to take hot showers to prevent himself from getting sick again. While a hot shower was warm and comfortable, it had one drawback. As the water temperature rose, the concentration of his pheromones would increase, and the range of their diffusion would expand.

After showering, the small bathroom was filled with white mist, and the scent of pheromones drifted through the water vapor in the air. After drying himself, Tao Ran stood blankly under the showerhead, trying to wait for the pheromones to fade. However, as the residual moisture on his skin evaporated, a bone-chilling cold set in. Tao Ran shivered and could only resign himself to putting on his pajamas.

Once he stepped out, he left the bathroom door wide open to make the scent disappear faster. He had originally intended to stay on the balcony until the smell dissipated before heading back inside, but just then, the glass door was opened.

Tao Ran flinched at the sound. Seeing that it was Qi Yuxiao who opened the door, he asked somewhat apprehensively, “Do you need to shower?”

Qi Yuxiao glanced at him. “Mm.”

The pheromones in the bathroom had only faded slightly. Tao Ran was worried and afraid of being disliked, but he had no reason to ask Qi Yuxiao to shower later. After hesitating for a few seconds, he could only make way for the other man.

In the dormitory, Zhuo Qiang and Su Jialiang had said many times that his pheromones smelled very good. Among words used to describe scents, “fragrant” should be a positive term. Therefore, Tao Ran thought that Zhuo Qiang and Su Jialiang probably did not dislike the smell of his pheromones. However, Qi Yuxiao spent very little time in the dorm, and Tao Ran did not know if he would accept the scent as well. He just hoped Qi Yuxiao would not find the smell unpleasant.

This morning was a major-specific class. Tao Ran sat alone as usual, but five minutes before class started, Xu Jialiang appeared, panting heavily.

Presumably having rushed to make it on time, Xu Jialiang’s chest heaved and his face was flushed red. “Huff, puff! Tao Ran, can I sit next to you?”

Fearing the other boy might lose his breath, Tao Ran nodded quickly.

It took a long while for Xu Jialiang to catch his breath. He said worriedly, “Sigh, my physical stamina; an eighty-year-old grandpa might be stronger than me. How am I going to survive the physical fitness test at the end of the month?”

A look of alarm flashed in Tao Ran’s eyes as he looked at Xu Jialiang. “The fitness test is at the end of the month?”

“Yeah,” Xu Jialiang said. “There is no official notice in class yet, but I am in the Student Union, so I get some news early.” Xu Jialiang looked at Tao Ran with a smile and asked, “By the way, have you joined any clubs?”

Tao Ran shook his head. Since university started, his life had been a straight line between the classroom, the cafeteria, and the dormitory, repeating monotonously every day. To the lively and fun-loving Xu Jialiang, this was hard to understand. “Does university not feel boring without joining clubs?”

Tao Ran thought for a moment. “It is alright.”

Xu Jialiang: “Then are you dating anyone?”

Tao Ran: “No.”

Xu Jialiang asked again in disbelief, “Not even once?”

Tao Ran scratched his ear. “Not at all.”

Xu Jialiang closed his eyes and let out a heavy, solemn breath. He told him seriously, “Baby, why did we work ourselves to death in high school to get into university? Was it not so we could have a free romance in college!” He looked at Tao Ran’s face and added, “Of course, with how good-looking you are, it would be no problem even if you dated several people.”

Tao Ran whispered, “But even if I wanted to, no one wants to date me.”

“!!!” Xu Jialiang had a look of utter shock. “Do you even hear what you are saying?”

He quickly opened his WeChat chat history. “Do you know how many people have asked me to push your WeChat contact to them since I added you!”

Tao Ran looked at Xu Jialiang’s phone, first shocked by the volume of messages; every single chat had a little red notification dot. Is this what the WeChat of a social butterfly looks like? Truly an eye-opener. In contrast, Tao Ran’s WeChat was practically a wasteland; his number of friends could be counted on one hand, and it was common not to receive a single message for several days.

He looked closely at the content of those messages. Sure enough, many people were bothering Xu Jialiang, all of them asking for his WeChat. Guilt appeared in Tao Ran’s eyes. “I am sorry. I did not realize I caused you so much trouble.”

“I do not mean I am blaming you.” Xu Jialiang had not expected Tao Ran to consider his feelings in return. His heart softened, and he waved his hand. “Of course, with my character, there is no way I would easily push your WeChat to them. I have evaluated all of those people; none of them are qualified, and none of them are good enough for you. I am telling you this because I want to say: how could you possibly fail to find someone to date? As long as you are willing, there will be plenty of people lining up to date you, okay!”

Tao Ran combined the two things Xu Jialiang said and thought about it seriously, as if he had figured something out. “Are you saying those people who want my WeChat all want to date me?”

Xu Jialiang: “?”

“Otherwise,” Xu Jialiang’s gaze toward him became complicated, “you are only finding this out now?”

Tao Ran said honestly, “I never thought about it that way.”

Perhaps it was due to being out of touch with society for a long time, or perhaps because he was once a pawn raised by a family, he never had autonomy over his romantic life or marriage. This led to the fact that even though Tao Ran knew his sexual orientation, he had never considered actually dating.

“Then would you consider it now?”

Tao Ran lowered his eyelashes, a flickering fan-like shadow falling across his face. He shook his head. “Let us forget it.”

Omegas were too much of an anomaly in this world. Tao Ran felt that no one would want to date a monster like him. Compared to dating, Tao Ran was more worried about the physical fitness test at the end of the month.

Back when he had just transmigrated, Tao Ran was in his third year of high school and had experienced one fitness test. What evoked the most physical dread in him were the pull-ups and the 1,000-meter long-distance run. He had already forgotten how he persevered back then; he only remembered that final, body-draining sprint. Even thinking about it now made his vision go dark.

A year had passed, but that pain of exhaustion was still deeply stored in his mind, causing him to have PTSD whenever he heard about a fitness test. His limbs were already starting to tremble slightly. He really did not want to experience that pain again. In a flash of inspiration, Tao Ran remembered Zhuo Qiang’s previous suggestion to exercise and work out more. He suddenly felt it might be feasible.

During the break, Xu Jialiang was surprised when Tao Ran mentioned this. “Are you really going for a run?”

“Mm, I want to give it a try.”

Xu Jialiang stared at Tao Ran and blinked playfully. “Then do you need someone to run with you?”

After spending some time together, the relationship between Tao Ran and Xu Jialiang had become closer. Xu Jialiang was the first person in their major to show him strong signals of friendship and could be considered the first friend he had made outside of the dormitory.

Tao Ran asked, “Do you want to run with me?”

“Yes, yes!” Xu Jialiang nodded excitedly. He was a person of action, his voice chirpy as he asked, “Are we starting tonight?”

“We can.”

“Then let us go to the East District playground to run after sunset this afternoon and go eat together after we are done, okay?”

“Okay.”

In the evening, both arrived at the meeting point on time.

“Tao Ran, did you prepare water?”

As a physical activity novice who was trying running for the first time, Tao Ran only realized in hindsight that running causes sweating and requires hydration.

“Hehe, luckily I had the foresight.” Xu Jialiang pulled out a bottle of mineral water from behind him and handed it to Tao Ran. “Here, I bought this for you.”

Tao Ran took the water blankly and said, “Thank you.”

Water droplets condensed on the surface of the transparent bottle, feeling icy cold to the touch. The temperature at this time was also cool and pleasant. The setting sun hung on the horizon, its blood-red afterglow staining the entire sky. There were many students on the playground walking to digest their food. The fast pace of campus life during the day was gradually slowing down.

The two of them first walked a few laps around the playground in the evening breeze. It was not until the sun had completely set and night had fallen that the streetlights beside the track were turned on one by one, spilling warm yellow light. Only then did they start to jog.

With the rise and fall of his body, his heartbeat also jumped up and down, thumping so hard it almost broke through his chest. Tao Ran’s stamina was depleting at the speed of light. He finally stopped when he was exhausted, his hands resting on his knees as he gasped for air.

Tao Ran looked up and found that he had actually only run two laps. A panting, sweat-drenched Tao Ran: ” ”

On the other side, an equally panting and sweat-drenched Xu Jialiang: ” ”

The two looked at each other and remained silent for a while. Xu Jialiang was the first to ask, “Tao Ran, do you want to keep running?”

Tao Ran: “What about you?”

Xu Jialiang: ” ”

Xu Jialiang: “How about we stop here for today?”

Tao Ran immediately nodded in agreement. “It is only the first day; two laps is already very impressive.”

“Mm-hmm. Tomorrow, we will definitely add another half lap!”

The two took a few sips of water, rested for a while, and decided to go to the cafeteria for dinner. The heat generated by the exercise remained in his body and would not dissipate for a long time. The stray hairs on Tao Ran’s forehead were wet with sweat, so he had to tuck them back, revealing his smooth, fair forehead. Fine beads of sweat also broke out on his face, glowing with a crystalline luster under the moonlight. The white t-shirt he was wearing was slightly soaked with sweat, sticking to his back uncomfortably.

While walking on the road, Xu Jialiang suddenly took a few deep breaths. With a hint of moisture in the corners of his eyes, Tao Ran looked at him. “How’s it going?”

Xu Jialiang stopped and took a few more breaths of air. He asked, “Do you feel like there is a very fragrant scent in the air? It smells like chamomile.” Xu Jialiang’s gaze searched through the greenery on both sides of the road, saying strangely, “There do not seem to be any chamomile planted here.”

Tao Ran’s body stiffened bit by bit, his heart rate rivaling that of his intense exercise just now. “Are, are you mistaken?”

“I am not mistaken.” Xu Jialiang’s tone was very certain. “My sister loves chamomile and often uses perfume with this scent. I am familiar with this fragrance to the point that it is engraved in my DNA.” As he spoke, he took a few more sniffs and asserted again, “A herbal scent mixed with a fruity aroma. Yes, it is definitely the scent of chamomile!”

Xu Jialiang spoke forcefully. Tao Ran’s face turned somewhat pale, and he called out to him in a panic, “Xu Jialiang.”

“What is up?”

Tao Ran was too guilty to look at him and said very quickly, “I suddenly remembered I have something urgent to do, so I cannot go to dinner with you. I am sorry.”

“Ah, I see.” Xu Jialiang felt a bit regretful but was understanding. “Alright then, let us schedule for next time. Go take care of your business first.”

“Okay, then, then I will go take care of things now.”

Tao Ran quickened his pace and ran away. He had forgotten in his moment of negligence. An Omega’s bodily fluids also contain pheromones, and the concentration is much higher than what is released by the glands alone. Without a scent blocker, sweat is excreted through the skin during exercise. Even if it evaporates, the fragrance will remain on the clothes and not dissipate for a long time; he was practically a moving sachet. Hearing Xu Jialiang’s words, Tao Ran could not be sure if the other boy could accept this fragrance.

He ran back to the dormitory in a panic. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was in the dorm, Tao Ran hurried to take a shower. After coming out of the shower, Tao Ran also washed his clothes. After wringing the clothes dry, Tao Ran walked to the wardrobe to get a hanger. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed his phone screen on the desk lighting up; a video call was coming in.

Caller: Dr. Chi.

Tao Ran’s eyes suddenly lit up. Unable to wait, he dried his hands and picked up the phone to accept the video call. With a beep, a man with gold-rimmed glasses and handsome features appeared on the phone screen.

“Dr. Chi.” Tao Ran smiled, showing his dimples, and called out to the other man obediently.

The man called Dr. Chi smiled very gently and kindly, asking affectionately, “Ran Ran, how have you been lately? How is university going? Are you doing well in Country A? Is your work going smoothly? How is the food?”

Dr. Chi sighed. “Sigh, do not even mention it. I am really not used to the food here.” He turned and asked again, “Is your allowance enough for you now? I have officially started working at the Pharmaceutical Research Institute, so I will send you a bit more every month from now on.”

“No need, no need.” Tao Ran waved his hands quickly. “It is already enough.”

“Do not be too stingy with your spending. If it is not enough, just ask me for more.” Dr. Chi narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing Tao Ran’s face. “Why do I feel like the meat on your face has decreased again? Have you not been eating well lately?”

“I have been eating well.” Tao Ran did not dare tell him about getting sick several times after starting university. He said in a low voice, “It might be because of studying.”

“Studying so hard, baby?” Dr. Chi teased, holding back a smile, then suddenly remembered something. “By the way, you started school half a month later than everyone else. How are you getting along with your roommates? I heard you say before that there was a roommate you could never get close to.” Dr. Chi searched his memory, trying hard to recall. “The one you mistook for an S-class Alpha.”

Unexpectedly, Dr. Chi brought this up. Tao Ran flinched and almost dropped his phone.

Support After the Beautiful Omega Was Targeted by His Straight Roommate