My Desk Mate is My Fiancée - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: She’s a Beta, you know.

July, C City.

The fiery red furnace of the sun slowly approached the horizon, its residual heat lingering, threatening to evaporate the world. Especially in the South, the scorching air carried an inherent dampness, making it sticky—the kind of weather people call a “steamer.”

The senior high school teaching building at Experimental High School was quiet. The bright fluorescent lights constantly radiated heat, and the three-bladed ceiling fans hummed and rattled, competing with the summer cicadas for noisiness.

“Zhong Xiu, did you hear? The top post on the school forum was taken down last night!”

You Tian burst in through the classroom’s back door, slinging his single-shoulder bag, and his rear end smacked down onto the empty seat beside Zhong Xiu.

Zhong Xiu was doing a practice problem, and his sudden appearance startled her, causing her hand to jerk and leave a scratch mark on the paper, right across a line of elegant and neat handwriting that wasn’t hers.

The blackboard behind them had equally neat chalk writing that read: 325 Days until the College Entrance Examination.

Not bothering to reply, Zhong Xiu pulled out an eraser, anxious to clean up the sudden, jarring scratch.

“Oh come on, what time is it and you’re still doing practice papers?” You Tian thumped the desk. The strong scent of gossip in his voice practically filled the room, attracting the attention of many students in front.

“What does a forum post being taken down have to do with me?” Only after the mark was completely gone, leaving the original handwriting undisturbed, did Zhong Xiu relax her brow and push his arm away with a smile.

“How is it not related? It’s about your deskmate,” You Tian pointed a finger at Lin Xi’s handwriting on her paper and whispered, “When I went to check the forum this morning, every single post about Lin Xi and Shen Zhi Qiu had been deleted. Wiped clean.”

“Why?” Zhong Xiu’s heart skipped a beat. She folded the paper and tucked it into her book, just in case it caused further, undeserved trouble.

“Because,” You Tian slowly built the suspense, “I heard that Lin Xi presented.”

“What! An Alpha or an Omega?” The surrounding students had been listening intently, and this time, they spoke before Zhong Xiu, stopping their pens and crowding around You Tian from all directions.

“Oh my god…” You Tian’s eyes widened at the sight of a cluster of restless high schoolers more eager than he was.

“Must be an Omega, otherwise why would they delete all the posts about her and Zhi Qiu? Two Omegas definitely can’t date.”

“But I think if Lin Xi were an Alpha, she’d be incredibly attractive… What a pity.”

A heated discussion about Lin Xi’s secondary gender quickly erupted nearby. Zhong Xiu glanced at You Tian, who was rolling up his sleeves to open a betting pool with the crowd, and then withdrew her gaze.

Alpha.

Lin Xi had presented as an Alpha, a top-tier Alpha.

No one in the entire classroom knew this sooner than Zhong Xiu.

Because…

“Zhong Xiu, what do you think?” Before placing his bet, You Tian needed to consult the key opinion holder. His face was full of anticipation, as if Zhong Xiu were cash sitting right there. “You’ve been Lin Xi’s deskmate for so long, you must have some kind of… psychic connection!”

“What are you talking about?” Zhong Xiu’s eyes darted away. She took out a Chinese exam paper as a shield. “Class is about to start. Hurry back to your own seat. Old Yu will yell at you in a moment.”

“Fine.” You Tian was a little disappointed. He made a point of contradicting the Omega crowd and then stood up, consciously grabbing a tissue to wipe the chair before leaving. “So obsessed with being clean, so fussy. I think she’s more likely to be an Omega. We Alphas wouldn’t be like that.”

Once he was gone, Zhong Xiu straightened the books on her desk that had been knocked askew by the crowd.

If she were an Omega, that would be good too.

But none of it mattered to her. Alpha or Omega, she couldn’t detect Lin Xi’s pheromones.

She was a Beta, after all.

Feeling the gaze from the front of the room again, coupled with scattered student murmurs and teasing, Zhong Xiu turned her head to look out the window.

Several Beta boys in basketball jerseys passed the window, holding a basketball. One of them winked playfully at Zhong Xiu, gesturing for her to open the back door. Another hooked his finger, tapping on the window, presumably meaning the same thing.

Zhong Xiu didn’t move, pretending not to notice and continuing to read. After You Tian left, she had locked the back door. Sitting in the back row sometimes gave her no sense of security, especially when Lin Xi wasn’t there.

“Open up, Zhong Xiu.” The boys outside continued to tap on the window stubbornly.

“Forget it, don’t bother her.” The last boy in the group glanced inside and swatted away the hand of the student still tapping.

Separated by a wall, the noise from outside wasn’t very loud. After Zhong Xiu’s persistent silence for ten-plus seconds, they finally gave up and walked toward the front door, looking deflated.

“Zhong Xiu, why didn’t you open the door? The class monitor twisted his leg playing basketball. He has to walk so many extra steps now.”

Sweaty, with wet clothes, and radiating the scent of an adrenaline high fading away, they lined up in front of Zhong Xiu like sharks jumping out of the sea, practically isolating the small figure of Zhong Xiu in a corner of the classroom. This feeling gave Zhong Xiu intense pressure, so she opened the window.

“I told you, it’s fine. What’s the big deal for a grown man to walk a few extra steps?” It was the same Beta boy from before, the Class Monitor of Science Class 1, named Zhai Yong.

He limped over to Zhong Xiu’s side. Seeing Zhong Xiu’s backpack on Lin Xi’s chair, he scratched the side of his head where the hair was buzzed short.

Zhong Xiu had put the backpack there after You Tian left. During the break, some students liked to cluster together to chat, especially in the two back corners of the classroom. If they saw an empty seat, they’d sit down anywhere.

Sometimes, when Zhong Xiu went to the restroom, students would take the opportunity to sit in her seat.

Many of them were sweaty, and after sitting in the classroom for a while, their uniform pants often had two wet, semicircular stains. They would leave marks on other people’s chairs.

Lin Xi was a bit of a germaphobe. Regardless of whether anyone had sat there, she always wiped her chair every time she came back from outside.

Zhong Xiu didn’t really welcome other people’s presence either, especially since Zhai Yong and this group of Beta boys liked to hang out in the back for no reason. It irritated her.

Just then, the bell rang for class, and Zhai Yong waved his hand, signaling everyone to return to their seats.

Once they dispersed, Zhong Xiu was finally able to see the teacher walking into the classroom in front of her, and she quietly let out a sigh of relief.

“This is for you,” Zhai Yong unexpectedly pulled a tube of soft candy from his jacket pocket and placed it on her desk.

Before Zhong Xiu could refuse, he bolted back to his own side, showing no sign of a leg injury. Along the way, he was nudged and teased by several classmates for secretly giving candy to a girl.

It was a brand of candy Zhong Xiu often bought, but unfortunately, it wasn’t her favorite flavor—in fact, it was the mint flavor she disliked. Zhong Xiu placed it on the windowsill.

The crack in her book on the desk was pried open, and the student in front of her passed her a note.

Leaning sideways to look down the aisle, she saw it was indeed You Tian, sitting in the front row, hunched over and gesturing with a crumpled piece of paper.

The note didn’t look like his, though. He never used sticky notes; he always tore a piece off a practice paper. This formal-looking sticky note seemed more likely to have come from Gao Lan, who sat next to him.

—Last week, I saw the class monitor look for Old Tang, saying he wanted to switch seats with Lin Xi.

After reading the wobbly handwriting, Zhong Xiu slumped onto her desk, depressed.

Science Class 1 had a project, which was supposedly carried out in high schools all over the country: poverty alleviation. And Zhong Xiu was one of the targets of the “alleviation.”

The person helping her had always been Lin Xi, since the beginning of the first year of high school.

That’s right, as a Beta, a Beta with mediocre grades, the reason Zhong Xiu was fortunate enough to receive help from the top student in their year was because…

She was the child of destiny!

That was impossible.

Her homeroom teacher, Old Tang, was her cousin.

Lin Xi and Zhai Yong were both Old Tang’s star students, their grades consistently placing them on the honors board. Zhai Yong had proposed switching with Lin Xi before, but the selection criteria were based on class rankings. Lin Xi was first, and he was second, so he never had the chance.

According to Lin Xi herself, the reason she didn’t switch was that she was too lazy. Zhong Xiu knew this was the truth. Lin Xi was extremely lazy when it came to socializing, to the point where, even after being classmates for three years, she couldn’t recognize the faces of all thirty-five students in the class.

Tomorrow was the second monthly exam. Usually, Zhong Xiu wasn’t worried about Zhai Yong approaching Old Tang, but this time, Lin Xi had taken three days off for her presentation. Tomorrow was the last day.

She didn’t want, and didn’t dare, to pull a top-tier Alpha who was still in a weakened state out to take an exam.

Zhong Xiu didn’t hear a single word of what was taught in Chinese class. She didn’t even notice the color of Old Yu’s socks, something she usually paid attention to every day.

The moment the dismissal bell rang, she bolted out of the school gate as if in a hundred-meter dash.

Her father was in a bad mood these past two days because of the engagement with Lin Xi, so he probably wouldn’t feel like cooking. Zhong Xiu headed to the snack street behind the school.

The biology textbook described a newly presented top-tier Alpha in four words: astonishing appetite.

Right now, Lin Xi was alone at home; her maid and driver had been taken away by her uncle. Zhong Xiu didn’t know what a hungry Alpha would be like after a day of fasting, and she didn’t know if the pampered heiress, accustomed to a life of luxury, would accept the ordinary snacks that high school students enjoyed.

With fried rice in her left hand and egg waffles in her right, Zhong Xiu ordered almost every snack she was slightly interested in, hoping Lin Xi would eat one of them later.

The way home was a little long, and it was getting dark.

Zhong Xiu, who usually spent half an hour dawdling on the walk home, took less than ten minutes today.

Just as she was about to reach Lin Xi’s house, she suddenly slowed down.

The green light, which she could have easily made with a slight effort, was slowly and deliberately missed, turning into a ninety-nine-second red light.

Would she even like it? Zhong Xiu had never seen Lin Xi go to the school convenience store, and besides mineral water, she never saw her eat any random snacks.

Is the Alpha still sleeping at this hour? She seems to have been sleeping constantly since she presented.

The closer she got to Lin Xi’s house, the more active Zhong Xiu’s mind became, with all sorts of scenarios trying to stop her from moving forward.

She was so preoccupied that she almost got stopped by the security guard when entering the complex.

Lin Xi lived in a villa complex with very strict property management. If you weren’t a familiar face, you had to register your information. This was only Zhong Xiu’s second time inside, but fortunately, the security guard remembered the only Beta student who appeared in the complex, which allowed her to skip the registration process.

A black luxury sedan drove past her. The rear window was rolled down. Zhong Xiu glanced over and saw the Omega sitting inside wearing a plaid school skirt of the same color but a different style as hers, looking like a delicate doll.

Zhong Xiu’s chaotic nervousness suddenly calmed down a lot.

Shen Zhi Qiu, the Omega, was Lin Xi’s childhood sweetheart. Speculation about them was the hottest topic on the forum before Lin Xi presented.

The forum being taken down this time was probably also related to Shen Zhi Qiu.

Is she here to see Lin Xi? At this critical time, Lin Xi’s presentation period isn’t completely over yet.

After procrastinating for a few more minutes, Zhong Xiu raised her hand and knocked on the door.

After a long while, the door finally opened.

A pair of bare feet were the first things to come into Zhong Xiu’s view.

So white. The pale pink toenails were neatly arranged in an arc, perfectly trimmed, like several translucent pink gems set in snow. The round, slightly upturned toes were as delicate as jade.

How can feet be this beautiful?

Before Zhong Xiu could look up, her collar was suddenly grabbed, and she was pulled into the living room along with her backpack.

Colliding with another warm body, the door immediately shut. The lights inside were off. Normally, she would have screamed in fear.

Even though the living room was dark, she could vaguely discern that the figure in front of her was Lin Xi.

The Alpha was wearing comfortable pajamas. She must have just taken a shower, as her hair was still slightly damp, and a faint scent of shower gel drifted in the air.

“Um… I just came to bring you dinner,” feeling the gaze from above, Zhong Xiu still didn’t dare to look up in the darkness.

No one spoke. The air suddenly became quiet.

—Got it. Put the food down and leave.

That was the sentence Zhong Xiu expected in her head. She tightly clutched the plastic bags in her hands, ready to grab the doorknob at any moment.

After what felt like a long, long time, the light suddenly flicked on, and the Alpha’s gentle, restrained voice landed heavily on her heart.

“Can you help me with the inhibitor shot?”