My Desk Mate is My Fiancée - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Cute Classmate. . .

On the way home, it was already dark. Zhong Xiu’s mind was preoccupied with two things: the aftermath of giving the Alpha the inhibitor injection, and whether she would be able to continue sharing a desk with the Alpha.

All along the way, she felt strange glances falling on her, but Zhong Xiu didn’t pay much attention; she was mostly used to it.

There were quite a few people out for a walk on the street in the evening. As she crossed a bridge, due to the slightly narrow road, an Alpha accidentally bumped into her.

“I’m sorry.” The person apologized politely, then looked down at her and paused. “Are you an Alpha?”

Zhong Xiu was also stunned. Normally, people didn’t react like this. By conventional logic, this person should have said: You have a nice figure, I thought you were an Omega, what a pity.

Today, she was actually mistaken for an Alpha. This was illogical.

The person scrutinized her for a few more seconds, probably finally realizing she was a Beta. Their expression immediately became indescribable, eyes squinting as they took a step back, as if they wanted to get far away from her. Their face showed three parts disgust, three parts fear, and four parts shock.

How weird, are they crazy?

Zhong Xiu didn’t say anything, taking a deep breath to suppress her emotions.

“Dad, I’m home,” the air inside the house was fresh, without a hint of smoke, though Zhong Xiu had seen a pile of cigarette butts in the trash can outside the downstairs restaurant.

“Why are you home so late today? Did you go out and eat egg waffles again? Didn’t Dad’s cooking taste good?” Zhong Ruilin bent down to get her slippers, smiling helplessly.

“I went to see Lin Xi,” after some deliberation, Zhong Xiu decided to tell him the truth, especially seeing the generous dinner he had saved for her on the table, which made her feel guilty. “Have Grandpa and Grandma eaten?”

“They finished and went out for a walk,” his brows furrowed instantly when he heard Lin Xi’s name. “I’m going to talk to Lin Keqin clearly. Even if I have to sell the restaurant, I won’t let you get engaged to an Alpha for no reason.”

“Dad,” Zhong Xiu grabbed his arm, “You can’t sell the restaurant. That’s proof of your love for Mom.”

“So are you,” Zhong Ruilin reached out and pulled her into a hug. “Compared to you, the restaurant isn’t important. Your mother would support me if she were here.”

He had a faint smell of smoke on him, which was different from his usual scent of cooking. Since her mother passed away, he hadn’t smoked.

“I know you won’t let me suffer, but this time, Dad, Lin Xi’s parents were in a car accident. You can’t just watch her face her uncle alone. If it wasn’t for me, he would find her another Beta.”

Or even a low-grade Omega. Lin Keqin just wanted to humiliate Lin Xi. He didn’t care who or what she got engaged to.

Zhong Ruilin was a little hesitant. He didn’t actually want to target Lin Xi, but Lin Keqin was threatening him using the debt, and involving Zhong Xiu made him incredibly disgusted.

The family could afford to pay back the money, but they didn’t have that much cash flow. Zhong Xiu’s mother, Zhong Qing, spent most of the family savings during her hospitalization. The debt was incurred for medical treatment.

“Just consider… that period when Mom was critically ill, Lin Xi came to the hospital every day to tutor me. Consider the fact that she was patiently my deskmate for two years, okay?” Zhong Xiu’s eyes were slightly red.

Those were the hardest days of her life, and the darkest moment for her family. She had no mind for anything else, and her grades plummeted. Lin Xi, who appeared punctually at the hospital room every day, was the only light shining on their riddled family, and the only straw that kept Zhong Xiu from falling into the abyss after her mother’s death.

“But you two… She’s an Alpha, and you’re a Beta,” Zhong Ruilin was moved by her words but still had concerns. “What about the future?”

It wasn’t that Alphas and Betas never ended up together, but the outcomes were rarely good. Alphas could always betray Betas using the excuse of pheromones, and society supported that choice, even encouraging Alphas and Omegas to pair up. In the end, only the Betas suffered the consequences.

“Dad, don’t worry about the future. There is no future. Lin Xi and I agreed we’re just putting on a show to deal with her uncle. Anyway, Lin Xi is a girl, so I’m just accompanying her as a friend during this time.” Zhong Xiu smiled at him, sounding very relaxed. It would have been more convincing if her eyes weren’t red.

Zhong Ruilin looked at her sideways. “Putting on a show?”

“Isn’t that how they do it on TV?” Zhong Xiu made an exaggerated funny face.

“What about Grandpa and Grandma? They definitely won’t agree. They’ll blame me for not taking good care of you,” Zhong Ruilin glared at her, feigning strictness.

“Don’t tell them, then! I’ll help you keep it a secret,” knowing he had relented, Zhong Xiu laughed.

“I made your favorite ‘Gugu’ fish soup. Remember to drink it tomorrow morning. You’re still growing, you’ve gotten so thin.”

“Thank you, Dad! Dad is the best in the world!”

When she smiled, her eyes curved into crescent moons, making the surrounding air gentle, very much like the young Zhong Qing. Zhong Ruilin stood in the living room, watching her figure disappear upstairs before letting out a soft sigh.

The delight overflowing in the girl’s eyes, how could it be hidden?

He hadn’t had the heart to tell her that everyone on the street was talking about a top-tier Alpha who had just presented nearby, an Alpha whose presentation had almost claimed the lives of her parents.

As Zhong Xiu reached the doorway, a small, dark blur, Sherlock, flew in from nowhere, leaping accurately into her arms.

“I’ve never seen you this enthusiastic. You usually turn your butt to me. What’s gotten into you today?” Zhong Xiu petted him while trying to dodge him; the fellow actually tried to scratch her with his claws.

“Meow~” Sherlock was like a drunken cat, his furry body melting into a puddle of mud, his bright, energetic eyes now closed peacefully.

“Did Dad force you to exercise again?” Only after exercise would he hide from Zhong Ruilin and stick to Zhong Xiu. He usually loved following Zhong Ruilin around to steal some meat.

“You’ll get fat if you don’t exercise,” Zhong Xiu poked his head with her index finger. “You’re a cat, not a pig. You should learn from your friend, Black Cat Detective, understood?”

Usually, that was the end of it. Sherlock hated nagging and would go to the balcony to look at the world outside the window. But today, he remained nestled in Zhong Xiu’s arms.

“I have a monthly exam tomorrow and I need to study tonight. I can’t play with you,” Zhong Xiu placed him on the small sofa, took off her school uniform, and got ready to shower.

Sure enough, Sherlock’s enthusiasm lasted less than three minutes. He immediately settled down on Zhong Xiu’s school uniform and didn’t move an inch.

He was still there when Zhong Xiu came out of the shower. In the dark, his pair of golden-yellow eyes were particularly striking, meeting Zhong Xiu’s gaze.

“This is weird,” Zhong Xiu whispered.

She turned on the light, adjusted her mood, and sat properly at her desk, pulling out the math notebook from her backpack, half of which was filled with Lin Xi’s handwriting.

I hope you can be a little lazier and not rewrite these notes for someone else, okay?

“Okay.” Lin Xi stood at the door of the Intensive Care Unit, looking through the small glass window. All she could see were the red and green lights flashing from monitoring equipment. She could barely see the hospital bed, let alone the person.

“The visiting hours are two hours on the weekend. You can come back then. Frequent entry and exit is not conducive to the patient’s recovery.”

“Mhm,” Lin Xi put her hands in her pockets. “I just dropped by to take a look. I already have an appointment in another department.”

In the few days since her parents were admitted to the ICU, she had been home alone and rarely felt anything was wrong, because she was used to it.

She was used to the feeling of being alone at home since she opened her eyes as a child, and used to her parents not being around.

They always seemed to have endless business to discuss and countless reasonable, sufficient excuses. For example, for their daughter, who was about to present as a top-tier Alpha. Lin Xi’s pre-presentation report came out when she was just starting primary school, but it was never disclosed to others.

She only remembered that the day her parents received the report, they hugged her like crazy, crying and laughing. At that time, she didn’t know what it meant, but only hearing them repeatedly say it was a gift from heaven, she felt happy too.

But no one had told her that becoming a prospective top-tier Alpha and fulfilling her parents’ expectations would be so difficult; and no one had predicted that her parents would get into a car accident because of it.

“What department? Is it far?” The on-duty Beta nurse was very warm toward her. Betas rarely encountered such a tall girl. She was truly remarkable, both in figure and face, and her voice was very captivating.

“Thank you, Glandular Department.” No one could dislike a polite Alpha.

“It’s on the third floor. I’ll take you,” another Omega male nurse quickly interjected.

The Beta nurse was about to say something, but the Omega slipped a towel into her hand. “Bed 17 buzzed for a dressing change, hurry up.”

Their nursing grades should be the same—both interns—but the Beta didn’t say anything, taking the towel and medicine box and heading over.

This was the unspoken societal principle of protecting AOs. No matter what, they always ranked above Betas.

“Don’t look at her, what’s so great about a Beta,” the Omega tugged at his distinctive blue nurse uniform like a peacock spreading its tail, blocking Lin Xi’s view.

His perfume was strong and blatantly mixed with pheromones. In this work environment, where almost everyone was a Beta, the chance of being discovered was small.

However, his pheromones were not pure. It was obvious that he had been temporarily marked by at least two Alphas recently. As a top-tier Alpha, Lin Xi was very sensitive to these scents, and because she had just presented and hadn’t been exposed to such things much, she felt physiologically nauseous.

But the other person seemed oblivious to her discomfort and continued to try to approach her.

Lin Xi took a step back.

“Could you be a freshly presented kid?” He covered his mouth and giggled. “You don’t actually need to go to the Glandular Department. Doctors are just trying to trick you. They’ll prescribe medicine even if you’re not sick. Why don’t you come to a hotel with Ge Ge (older brother)? Any problem you have can be cured.”

The word “Get lost” had been brewing in Lin Xi’s throat for a long time, but she suppressed it before it reached her lips. She had never said such a thing to anyone since she was little, let alone to an Omega. Her parents would definitely be very unhappy if they knew.

“I’ll go by myself.”

“Why are you so cold?” The Omega tried to grab her hand, then his eyes widened suddenly. “Are you a top-tier Alpha?”

Lin Xi pushed him away with considerable force. The startled Omega leaned against the wall, unable to react, and Lin Xi quickly turned and ran.

She didn’t go directly to the doctor’s office for the consultation. Instead, she went to the restroom around the corner to wash her hands.

The chaotic pheromones were still stimulating her sense of smell. Leaning on the sink, Lin Xi gagged a few times.

The face in the mirror was a little red, with a hint of moisture at the corners of her eyes, and her chest was visibly heaving, looking very much like the disheveled state she was in when she was about to present two days ago.

However, the image was quickly blurred by the running water.

“You don’t need to pay attention to him. He is not a decent Omega,” the doctor who was consulting Lin Xi heard about the incident and tried to comfort her.

The doctor was a Beta, which slightly reassured Lin Xi.

“Look at these indicators. Your pheromones are a bit unstable and prone to losing control,” the doctor handed her the pheromone analysis report. “It might be related to you being a top-tier Alpha.”

Lin Xi wanted to tell him that she had the urge to bite the Beta, but she didn’t know how to express it. It seemed like an embarrassing thing to admit.

In her subconscious, this was wrong.

“But it shouldn’t be a big deal. I’ve had patients with this situation before. Although they weren’t top-tier, things should get better once you grow up and have an Omega. Omega pheromones can neutralize Alpha pheromones.”

He spoke tactfully, avoiding mentioning marking an Omega, considering Lin Xi had just become an adult and presented.

Omega. Lin Xi instinctively thought of the person from just now.

“Of course, not that one. Omegas are very cute. Think of your classmates,” the doctor saw that she was frightened by the nurse and guided her to recall Omegas with a better impression.

Cute classmate. The first person who appeared in Lin Xi’s mind was, unexpectedly…

The phone rang at that moment. The doctor considerately allowed her to step aside to take the call.

“Hello, Zhi Qiu, what is it?”