Married To My Childhood Friend: An Alpha Business Contract - Chapter 4

An Omega in heat possesses weak self-awareness; it is a unique situation. Even if they are willing in the moment, they are controlled by pheromones, and those who regret their actions afterward are not few in number. If one were to become entangled in inescapable trouble due to a momentary lapse of heart or carelessness, a scion of a prestigious family like Xiao Yanxiu naturally had to remain constantly vigilant and on guard.

Therefore, the man watched coldly from the sidelines. Requiring the other to take the initiative served as a sort of disclaimer: both parties were taking what they needed, and in terms of both emotion and logic, there was no fault to be found. Once it was over, they could part ways without any messy lingering.

But…

The catalytic effect of the Omega’s scent was remarkably potent. Lu Siyan’s head was swimming, his breathing labored. His lips were slightly parted as he panted softly. As the temperature inside the car continued to rise, a pink flush bloomed on his cheeks, the redness spreading all the way to his eyes. Fine beads of sweat gathered on the tip of his nose, yet he remained stubbornly resilient.

“You’ve misunderstood.”

To the Omega, whose vision was blurred and misty with rising tears, hearing the man’s words felt like a bolt from the blue. He instantly panicked, his eyes trembling, unsure of how to explain himself. He wasn’t doing this to relieve his heat, nor was he trying to climb the social ladder or use underhanded methods to secure a position.

The scent-blocking patch had completely lost its stickiness. Before the bergamot pheromones could erupt entirely, Lu Siyan used his scarf to tightly wrap around his gland.

“I—I’m going home now.”

“Regarding the perfume, I will apologize and make amends another day.”

“Even though I am very grateful for your help on several occasions… please…” He bit his lip. “Please don’t be so full of yourself.”

The man’s eyebrow arched slightly. Full of myself?

The little Omega clenched his hands, summoning his courage to loudly vindicate himself: “Actually, I don’t like your type at all!”

Let alone throwing himself into the man’s arms or offering his body, the idea that he was using every trick in the book to crawl into his bed was nothing more than the man’s own narcissistic fantasy.

Lu Siyan felt he was standing up for his own honor. After shouting it out, he felt much better. He turned quickly and grabbed the car door handle, working it with a series of frantic “clanks,” only to realize with embarrassment…

He was doomed. The car door appeared to be locked.

The heat of his cycle already had his temperature rising, but in that moment, the Omega felt a piercing chill run down his spine. Even without turning around, he knew the man behind him was watching with a half-smile, his gaze sharp enough to burn a hole through his back.

Lu Siyan’s palms were sweating; he felt as if he were sitting on pins and needles. The air inside the car felt stagnant, making breathing even more difficult. Xiao Yanxiu had no intention of letting him off so easily.

This little thing… after snapping at me with such sarcasm, he thinks he can just turn around and leave? Not that easy.

The two were alone in an excruciatingly awkward silence. Lu Siyan thought to himself that he should have waited until he was out of the car to mutter his grievances.

The Omega fretted, clutching his hands. Given his special condition, he knew he couldn’t afford to stall like this with the man forever. Thus, he timidly looked back, his gaze colliding directly with the Alpha’s. The other man looked as if he were enjoying a good show, his powerful gaze capturing Lu Siyan’s evasive eyes.

He stared until the boy was flushed, his mouth dry and his heart restless… only then did he decide to show mercy.

With fingers defined by elegant joints resting on the console, and accompanied by a cold, faint “heh” of a laugh, the man lightly toggled a button. There was a soft “click.”

Lu Siyan pushed the door open as if escaping for his life.

The swirling snowflakes and the biting wind instantly dispersed the rich, cold scent of camellia and cedar from his breath. Deprived of the Alpha’s pheromones, the Omega’s heart suddenly felt hollow and lonely, a wave of sadness washing over him.

The little guy’s toes, which had almost touched the ground, suddenly froze and then pulled back. He didn’t dare look up, only stammering: “I… I’ll just smell it one more time.”

Pheromones during heat are unstable, and the camellia-cedar scent acted as a powerful sedative. If he left abruptly now and lost the Alpha’s protection, there was no guarantee something else wouldn’t go wrong. If his hormones spiraled out of control and he encountered a situation like the other day…

Lu Siyan tried his best to convince himself, taking small, secret sniffs of the man’s scent, wanting to store as much as possible, fearing he wouldn’t be able to smell it next time.

Unexpectedly, the other man was feeling mischievous. Seeing the boy’s instinctive lingering and hesitation, he deliberately suppressed his pheromones. As the scent faded, the Omega’s nose twitched carefully, and he was unconsciously drawn forward until he bumped into the Alpha’s approaching jaw.

They were pressed tight against each other.

Flustered and wide-eyed, Lu Siyan saw that handsome face magnified countless times before him—flawless from every angle. His brain’s capacity reached its limit; after a loud “buzz,” it completely crashed. The hand that had reflexively pushed the door open was pulled back by a counter-force, and the sound of the door closing echoed again.

His narrow waist was gripped by the man’s broad, firm palm. The Omega practically crashed into Xiao Yanxiu’s embrace.

“If you don’t get closer, how can you smell it clearly?”

The Alpha’s deep, mellow voice rang in the Omega’s ear—warm and tingling. He cautiously lifted his eyes to meet the man’s gaze a second time. In that instant, a surge of heat from his lower abdomen caused Lu Siyan’s pupils to briefly dilate and then refocus.

The color on his cheeks deepened several shades. The bergamot scent emanating from his gland was sweet and rich—at the peak of its intensity, it was almost cloyingly sweet.

Is it… time?

The Alpha reached out a finger and lightly tapped the tip of the dazed Omega’s nose, which was damp with perspiration. He no longer hid his presence, releasing a full dose of pheromones within the cramped space. The scent of camellia and cedar instantly enveloped the now-unconscious Lu Siyan.

The Omega, who had initially resisted intimacy, now had no control over his arms as they wound tightly around the man’s neck. His fuzzy little head seemed to want to merge with the man’s body; his nose pressed against the Alpha’s nape gland, greedily and forcefully inhaling without restraint.

But it wasn’t enough. It was still not enough.

The burning, spicy sense of emptiness inside his body grew more severe. When he lifted his eyes again, they were clouded as if by a white mist, unable to distinguish who exactly was in front of him. But the instinct of pheromone matching still led him to stammer out that one request.

“Xiao Yanxiu… mark me.”

He actually remembered my name, the man thought with a knowing smile.

The scent patch was stuck to the scarf, revealing a section of pale, delicate nape. The swollen tooth marks from before had not yet faded, the scars striking to the eye. The Alpha felt a pang of pity as he touched the area, thinking that if it were bitten open again, it would surely be an agonizing pain.

The scarred area, touched by the man’s fingertip, flinched like a startled hedgehog, the body curling up. But soon, he accepted the current situation, stretching the gland flat and presenting himself before the man’s eyes.

Drenched in sweat, the Omega’s breath was thin. Even his body, which had been clinging to this “suppressant” that was more precious than jade dew, was losing its strength.

Just a second before he felt he would need an emergency room, a sharp pain erupted in his nape. Lu Siyan instinctively resisted, but he was completely pinned down, his body unable to break free. However, very quickly, the pain, the heat, and the body’s instinctive craving for rain were all smoothed over by a light, cold fragrance.

The discomfort vanished. His breathing slowed. The rain-like sweat that had soaked through his undershirt was finally under control.

The temporary marking ended, and the man carefully let go. The Omega in his arms slid down weakly, only to be pulled back into the embrace by a strong arm. Through his haze, he saw blood on the corner of the man’s lips and reached out his hand, wanting to wipe it away for him.

Yet, swaying unsteadily, he lost consciousness entirely from exhaustion before his hand could even make contact.

By the time he woke up again, it was already the next morning. The clock on the bedside table pointed to 11:18 AM.

Lu Siyan lay on his back in the bed, his eyes vacant. It took him several dozen seconds to recall the events of the previous night. The taut string in his brain caused him to snap upright, only to collapse back down immediately.

After twenty seconds of severe dizziness, he recovered and confirmed that he was not at his own home. Dark gray marble floors, minimalist furniture that nonetheless exuded high-end luxury, and the lingering threads of camellia and cedar coming from the pillows…

The Omega panicked and lifted the thin quilt, confirming that his clothes had been completely changed. The mint-green silk pajamas he was wearing were neither too big nor too small—they fit perfectly.

How strange. Wasn’t he at Xiao Yanxiu’s house? How could that man have such small clothes? Could they have been left here by another Omega?

Lu Siyan grabbed the collar and sniffed deeply. His severe germophobia made him want to tear the clothes to shreds the moment the thought occurred to him. Fortunately, after repeated sniffing, he didn’t detect anyone else’s scent. Aside from a bit of his own bergamot sweetness, there were only slight traces of camellia and cedar on the cuffs and collar.

Other than that, there was nothing.

But… surely Xiao Yanxiu hadn’t been the one to change his clothes?

Lu Siyan remembered his own unreasonable behavior the night before, and his cheeks reddened again. He touched his nape; the wound there had been treated well.

His consciousness having returned, he threw back the covers. Finding no slippers by the bed, he stepped out of the bedroom barefoot. He poked his head out to confirm no one was in the hallway and discovered that the house was a two-story duplex. The crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling was vintage and luxurious; the space was enormous.

The living room featured a full-length window overlooking the bustling city. Beneath the leather sofa lay an apricot-colored cashmere rug, clean and soft. Outside on the open balcony, a field of Litchi Roses bloomed, tender and romantic.

The Omega moved cautiously, exploring almost the entire house before finally finding the man in a bathroom around the corner on the first floor.

Dressed in loungewear with his hair falling softly over his forehead, wearing a white hoodie and dark gray sweatpants, the domestic Xiao Yanxiu looked like an eighteen-year-old college student. He looked clean and energetic, his gaze clear and refreshing. He was a far cry from the image of the wealthy heir from the night before—cigarette in hand, draped in a black overcoat, with an overbearing aura.

Lu Siyan watched him, dazed. The man, who was busy scolding two large dogs and telling them to sit still for their bath, noticed the Omega’s presence.

His hands, covered in bubbles, snapped a finger in that direction, but it had no effect; Lu Siyan looked as if his soul had been snatched away. Xiao Yanxiu chuckled, wondering what could be so captivating that it would make the little Omega stare so intently.

He lifted the water hose and sprayed it toward Lu Siyan’s feet. The warm flow of water felt like an electric shock, making Lu Siyan cry out and stumble back a few steps.

Realizing the man was staring at him, he awkwardly avoided his gaze for a few seconds. Unable to hide, he simply rolled up his sleeves.

“I’ll help you.”

He used to work at a pet shop; he was very experienced at washing dogs.

The Omega was full of confidence as he stepped forward. The Alpha’s warning of “be careful, the floor is slippery” didn’t even have time to land before those small feet fearlessly stepped into the soapy water. He slipped, losing control and falling backward.

His arms, flailing in an attempt to save himself, knocked several bottles and jars off the counter with a series of “clinks” and “clangs.” Even the towel he finally managed to grab was pulled down along with its hook.

It’s over. A broken bone takes a hundred days to heal.

The Omega wailed for help, feeling utterly humiliated. In a flash, a hand reached out from the distance and grabbed his arm. His backward fall was transformed into a forward lunge, and he collided with the approaching Alpha. His forehead slammed into the man’s chest with a muffled “thud.”

Lu Siyan winced, dying from the pain.

When he regained his composure, he realized he was once again in the man’s arms in an extremely intimate and ambiguous posture. His hands were tightly gripping the other’s collar, pulling it down to reveal a lean, prominent collarbone—and, more privately, a tiny red mole on the right side of his chest.

The man stared at the hands that were “taking advantage” of him. His gaze dropped as he wore an expression that said he had seen right through this little trick. He laughed coldly.

“While an S-class handsome guy is a once-in-a-lifetime find…”

“Someone simply refuses to give up… but there has to be a limit.”