Married the Abandoned Puppy Alpha - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Pheromones

“This is an apartment I bought myself; no one else knows about it.”

Shi Qingze led He Xinglou to a flat in the city center.

He opened the door and added: “So, you don’t need to worry about anyone coming to the door.”

He Xinglou had nothing to say.

He had indeed been vaguely worried while in the car, fearing that the “home” Shi Qingze spoke of meant bringing him back to the main Shi family residence.

Two years ago, after the Shi family found traces of Shi Qingze, they had privately summoned him to the main residence alone.

The main house was luxurious yet deep and foreboding. Just entering the front gate required passing through layer upon layer of security checkpoints; the movements of all personnel were captured by surveillance. After finally reaching the drawing room, he sat on a cold bench for a full two hours before finally seeing Shi Qingze’s father, who arrived late.

That was a miserable memory that didn’t bear reflecting upon.

But thinking about it, it was logical; as long as Shi Qingze had the sense not to cause trouble, he wouldn’t rashly take him back there.

After opening the door, Shi Qingze took a pair of brand-new slippers from the shoe cabinet and placed them gently in front of He Xinglou.

“Come in. Your clothes are soaked through; be careful not to catch a cold.”

He Xinglou looked down; the slippers were plush and light blue, not quite Shi Qingze’s style.

But they looked very much like the pair he used to wear at home three years ago.

Then, a glittering silver key suddenly appeared before his eyes.

Shi Qingze leaned in slightly, maintaining eye contact at the same level, his eyes suddenly curving into a faint smile: “The spare key. Let’s use it for now.”

“I’m going back tomorrow. I won’t need a key,” He Xinglou said, lowering his eyes.

“Tomorrow’s matters can wait until tomorrow. Take it today; it’s just a spare, just in case,” Shi Qingze said naturally, sounding like a long-prepared excuse for delay.

He Xinglou didn’t speak. He saw a small charm hanging from the key, held in Shi Qingze’s palm; he couldn’t see it clearly, only vaguely discerning a blue-green base color.

It looked like the one he had hung on his own keys three years ago.

A huge sense of panic suddenly surged from within his heart. He Xinglou looked up and stared fixedly at Shi Qingze.

“Shi Qingze, did you go to the slums today just to seek amusement as well?”

Shi Qingze was stunned: “Of course not. Why would Brother say that?”

“Then stop playing these ‘playing house’ games,” He Xinglou interrupted.

He took two steps back, wanting to leave right then and there, unable to stop himself from tearing away their final pretense of peace: “You should know very well that this isn’t three years ago.”

The hand Shi Qingze held the key slowly lowered.

He Xinglou didn’t believe the others had forgotten how ugly their separation had been. Afterwards, they had cut contact completely, one walking the sunny path of a wealthy heir, the other crossing the single-plank bridge of an undocumented resident on the Imperial Capital Star.

To He Xinglou, picking Shi Qingze up and bringing him home back then was the biggest mistake in itself; the two of them should never have had any connection.

And now Shi Qingze was pretending as if nothing had happened. He drove the most expensive luxury cars and wore top-tier designer clothes; he clearly maintained a cold, elite persona in every media report, yet in front of him, he still pretended to be that youth from three years ago.

Was it fun?

Had he grown tired of the wealthy life and wanted to play some “Metamorphosis” role-play? Was he toying with him?

Emotions He Xinglou couldn’t quite describe burned in his heart; he felt terrible.

“I have no intention of making fun of Brother,” Shi Qingze finally spoke first, showing weakness in a low voice.

“Your ankle is sprained. It’s better to come in first. Rest for a night before we talk, okay?”

Shi Qingze hid the key behind his back and used his free hand to support him.

“I’m very tired, Brother,” Shi Qingze said in a soft voice. “I just got caught in the rain, and it’s cold.”

He Xinglou closed his eyes and eventually took the hand stretched out toward him.

Afterward, neither of them spoke much. Shi Qingze was perhaps afraid that saying more would lead to more mistakes, while He Xinglou truly didn’t know what else could be said.

He took the bottle of medicine from Shi Qingze’s hand, pretending to be very serious about applying it to his ankle, but his attention was entirely on Shi Qingze, who was constantly moving around.

Then, he saw with his own eyes that his ankle had been rubbed bright red without him noticing.

He Xinglou: “…”

Unable to restrain himself, he spoke up to ask: “What are you busy with?”

Hearing him initiate conversation, Shi Qingze turned his head in pleasant surprise, gesturing toward the bedsheets in his arms.

“I live here alone, so the guest room hasn’t been tidied. I’m making the bed for you.”

After saying that, both of them froze for a moment.

He Xinglou had said those exact words three years ago.

At that time, he viewed Shi Qingze as a “minor’s subsidy” gifted by nature and happily brought him home.

Upholding the principle of “if you pick them up, you must raise them well,” he started working the moment he got home, enthusiastically cleaning the secondary bedroom that had been used for storage.

In the end, when he finally had a free moment, he found that the youth still hadn’t finished applying medicine to himself.

He seemed to lack common life knowledge.

“Let me help you,” He Xinglou said, taking the medicine and gauze without brookng any argument.

The youth was somewhat flustered and uneasy, his steps retreating: “I… I’ll do it myself…”

He Xinglou looked up with a smile: “If you do it yourself, who knows how late it will be? Don’t you want to rest?”

The youth’s gaze fell on his eyes, then hastily turned away.

Taking it as an agreement, He Xinglou lowered his head and began to bandage him.

As he bandaged, he asked: “What’s your name? Oh… I almost forgot, since you have amnesia, you probably don’t remember.”

“Ze…” the youth mumbled out a character.

“Ze?” He Xinglou tilted his head, like a preschool teacher looking after a child. “You only remember this one character? Then I’ll call you Xiao Ze.”

The youth pursed his lips and accepted it.

So He Xinglou lowered his head again to bandage the wound on his foot.

The distance between the two was extremely close; the youth only had to look up to see the fair, slender back of his neck and the small suppressor patch stuck over the gland.

“This is…”

Following his finger, He Xinglou touched the back of his own neck: “This? It’s an Omega pheromone suppressor patch. Um… since you have amnesia, do you still remember the common knowledge of this world?”

After all, when he first traveled to this world, he only learned about the ABO settings after being “educated” while pretending to have amnesia.

“…I remember,” the youth lowered his eyes.

“Is your heat coming soon?”

He Xinglou wasn’t comfortable associating himself with the word “heat,” but thinking that the other was just an undifferentiated kid, he tried to act natural as he explained: “Yes, so I have to put on a suppressor patch in advance.”

“But you don’t need to worry. You haven’t differentiated yet, so you won’t be affected by my pheromones.”

The youth nodded and added: “When the time comes, I can take care of you.”

He Xinglou was stunned.

His own differentiation period could only be described as a memory he’d rather not revisit. Due to his lack of understanding of this world’s common knowledge, he thought he had caught some new strain of a virus. He locked himself at home and endured it purely with fever reducers and saline.

It wasn’t until he reckoned he was fully recovered and went to school that his two best friends let out world-shaking, piercing screams.

“—He Xinglou! Weren’t you on sick leave?! How did you differentiate into an Omega!!”

Only then did he realize in hindsight so, he had differentiated.

If the heat and the differentiation period had the same symptoms, he truly did need someone to take care of him.

He Xinglou felt even more that picking up this youth was a total steal.

He nodded happily: “Mhm! Okay! When you differentiate, I’ll take care of you too!”

On second thought, He Xinglou reminded him: “But if you differentiate into an Alpha, I’ll be powerless to help. You’d better pray you differentiate into an Omega.”

Youth: “…Okay.”

He Xinglou happily went back to being busy, completely failing to notice that the youth’s gaze was still drifting toward the back of his neck.

Retrograde amnesia caused by external trauma does not affect basic common knowledge; therefore, the youth fully understood the implication of He Xinglou’s words.

If he were to differentiate into an Alpha… he would probably be unable to stop himself from marking the Omega before him while out of control.

While his thoughts wandered aimlessly, he turned his head and saw a section of collarbone that looked like jade.

The youth seemed scorched by the sight and quickly withdrew his gaze, bowing his head in shame as if he had committed a great sin.

However, He Xinglou was completely oblivious, only admiring his own bandaging skills with satisfaction as he smiled: “Alright, let’s go rest.”

“I’ve bandaged it myself. Let’s get some rest early tonight.”

He Xinglou looked at Shi Qingze, who was still standing at the door of the guest room holding the bedsheets.

Shi Qingze gave a soft “mhm” and suddenly asked: “Is Brother afraid of the dark? Afraid of thunder? It looks like it will rain again tonight.”

He Xinglou’s scalp tingled at the words, remembering the scenes three years ago when Shi Qingze would clamor to sleep with him.

He immediately said: “I’m not afraid! I won’t come to the master bedroom to bother you!”

These words were blurted out in a state of hyper-reactivity, and the moment they left his mouth, He Xinglou regretted it.

He saw the corners of Shi Qingze’s lips curl up: “So, Brother remembers too.”

…Now it was He Xinglou’s turn to be afraid that saying more would lead to more mistakes.

Fortunately, Shi Qingze had no intention of making things difficult for him. He carried the sheets into the guest room and quickly made the bed.

“The guest room has its own bathroom. Since Brother’s foot is injured, you can just do a simple sponge bath. These are my clothes for a change; would Brother mind?”

He Xinglou shook his head repeatedly, only praying for him to leave quickly: “I don’t mind. Thank you.”

Shi Qingze’s tone held a hint of a smile again: “Then I’ll head out first.”

“Mhm, mhm, mhm.”

Shi Qingze said no more, turned to leave, and even closed the door for him.

He Xinglou finally breathed a sigh of relief, carefully limping to the bathroom to turn on the hot water.

Between climbing stairs and falling, and now that the wound was wrapped in waterproof gauze, he didn’t need to worry about infection.

He really did need a wash.

What he didn’t know, however, was that on the other side of that door, Shi Qingze had not left. Instead, he leaned his back lightly against the guest room door and quickly sent a command on his communicator.

[Go check why He Xinglou is still an undocumented resident.]

He remembered his father saying three years ago that He Xinglou had returned him to the Shi family in exchange for a residency permit for the Imperial Capital Star.

Back when Shi Qingze was in extreme pain, he had comforted himself by thinking—at least he was useful to Brother, at least… he helped Brother get his residency.

But looking at it now, Shi Yaoran had clearly lied to him.

Shi Qingze’s eyes turned cold as he turned off the communicator, only to hear the sound of hot water spraying from inside the room.

He suddenly felt his current posture was inappropriate, as if… He was eavesdropping on He Xinglou.

But even after realizing this, he did not leave. Instead, he closed his eyes lightly, letting the evocative sound of water reach his ears.

He was no longer that child from three years ago. Back in the hovercar while dodging the search officers, he had already identified the scent of He Xinglou’s pheromones.

It carried a fresh plant fragrance and a faint milkiness the scent of figs.

Back then, his differentiation had been chaotic, and he didn’t have the mental energy to identify He Xinglou’s scent. So, this was the first time he truly knew He Xinglou’s pheromones.

Now, that faint, elusive fig scent was drifting in bits and pieces through the crack in the door.

His Brother was nearing his heat again, and this time, he hadn’t noticed it himself.

Shi Qingze’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he struggled to prevent himself from harboring more transgressive fantasies.

To distract himself, he thought back to that night three years ago when he first met He Xinglou.

Having just lost his memory, he had no sense of security. Closing his eyes, he only remembered the images of the kidnappers trying to kill him, which was why he couldn’t help but knock on He Xinglou’s door, clutching his pillow and begging for pity.

“Brother, I’m afraid of the dark.”

He Xinglou had brought him into the room without a second thought.

Initially, he wanted Shi Qingze to sleep on the bed while he slept on the floor, but Shi Qingze refused to agree no matter what, eventually lying peacefully by He Xinglou’s side.

After the lights went out, those kidnapped images flashed back again. Shi Qingze couldn’t help but hold his breath slightly, turning on his side to press closer to He Xinglou.

Then he saw He Xinglou turn over as if casually, pulling him into his arms.

“If you’re scared, you can hold onto me.”

Consequently, all the terrifying images vanished. Shi Qingze carefully reached out his hand and hooked his finger around He Xinglou’s index finger.

It wasn’t until he heard the slow, rhythmic breathing by his ear that Shi Qingze dared to look up slightly, using the dim night light to gaze at He Xinglou’s sleeping face.

He didn’t dare get too close, only gently twitching his nose, trying to distinguish the other’s pheromones from the air, like a puppy trying to memorize its master’s scent.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t differentiated yet. After sniffing for a long time, he could only smell the scent of shower gel coming from the other’s fingertips.

It was citrus-scented.