Seduced By My Omega Stepsister - Chapter 17

She was avoiding her.

All that remained in the surroundings was the drum-like thud of a heartbeat and the scent of Chu Xiyu’s rose pheromones, wrapping tighter and tighter around her.

Suddenly, the definition of pheromones blurred for her. Was it a scent or a memory? Or was it the realization that whenever she smelled this fragrance, regardless of whether the other person was there, she would think of her, recalling all those humid, intimate moments that drifted in with the aroma?

Chu Xiyu didn’t look at her.

Not for the entire afternoon. The atmosphere was silent, yet it suppressed a racing heart.

Fu Zhou lifted her gaze. For the countless time, her eyes drifted over, tracing that exquisite, cold face in her vision. She wondered if she was the only one feeling this trepidation.

Her distraction was too obvious. Zhou Heyu, sitting nearby, glanced over frequently, but Zhang Meng blocked his view each time. Meeting Zhou Heyu’s confused gaze, Zhang Meng simply shook his head.

Essentially a “follower of Zhang Meng” with little mind of his own, Zhou Heyu nodded and stopped glancing in that direction.

This lasted until school ended, through the car ride home, and into the evening. Now, their jackets hung side by side on the rack, two identical school uniforms looking exceptionally well-matched.

“Xiao Zhou, do you want something to eat?” Chu Xiyu opened the fridge, which had been stocked with ingredients by Uncle Zhang, their driver.

Fu Zhou had never seen anything in the fridge besides her instant noodles, yogurt, and other fast foods. She blinked. “Where did all this come from?”

“I asked Uncle Zhang to buy them.” Once back home, Chu Xiyu seemed like a different person from the cold girl at school. Her lips curved into a smile, and her voice was soft and thin, like a hook.

“I can cook. You can try it and see if you like… what I make.” That mysterious pause felt like raindrops hitting Fu Zhou’s heart one by one.

Fu Zhou’s “puppy eyes” lit up, and she nodded vigorously.

“You can cook? That’s amazing! I like everything. Do you know how to make stir-fried pork with peppers?”

Chu Xiyu had initially thought Fu Zhou was just being polite when she said she liked everything.

But when Fu Zhou polished off a massive bowl of rice with the slightly burnt peppers and pork, then went back to fill a second bowl to the brim, Chu Xiyu confirmed for the first time that some people’s appetite has nothing to do with the quality of the dish.

In Fu Zhou’s case, she was simply a big eater.

She ate so heartily that the sour plum wine pheromones, which had been anxious and obscure upon entering became cheerful and sweet.

In the pheromone perception between an Alpha and an Omega, the emotions conveyed are mutual.

Chu Xiyu could perceive all of Fu Zhou’s emotions. Because an Omega is naturally more sensitive than an Alpha, she felt what Fu Zhou felt even more intensely than the other way around.

Case in point: now.

Having cleared the table, the youth didn’t return to her room. Instead, she sat by the edge of the living room.

Ever since the night she got drunk, Chu Xiyu spent most of her time doing homework in the downstairs living room. Fu Zhou would stay down there too, wandering around aimlessly whenever she wasn’t doing her own work.

She was unusually quiet today.

But after just a few minutes, she began to edge closer to Chu Xiyu, making tiny noises as she circled around her.

Finally, Chu Xiyu set down her pen and lifted her pale eyes, her thin lips slightly pursed.

“Xiao Zhou.” There was a hint of helplessness in her voice. “Did your teachers leave you any homework?”

Fu Zhou froze. She nodded, then shook her head.

“Today’s assignments are all competition problems. I don’t know how to do them.” Moreover, because they only had half a day of classes and the morning was entirely English, there were only English competition problems.

Fu Zhou’s English was poor. Even when she used AI to help write English essays, she only dared to let it write at a middle-school level.

“Bring it here,” came a soft, sigh-like instruction. “I’ll teach you.”

Fu Zhou felt dazed.

They had started out sitting at a safe, appropriate distance, but now, Chu Xiyu was pressed close to her.

The girl’s soft body was leaning almost halfway against her arm, dropping half her weight there. Her rose-scented breath was hot, brushing intentionally or unintentionally against the back of Fu Zhou’s neck. A numbing itch followed, causing Fu Zhou’s thin pheromones to spiral out of control, drifting toward Chu Xiyu.

The gentle voice in her ear stopped. Fu Zhou looked over in a daze, her brain slowed by the scent of roses and plum wine.

“Xiao Zhou, you aren’t focusing.”

Chu Xiyu’s voice was deep, like a dark pool. Fu Zhou was clearly an unrepentant traveler, stubbornly walking into the depths.

Fu Zhou looked into Chu Xiyu’s eyes. At this extreme proximity, close enough to see each other’s eyelashes, close enough for their breath to entwine, her throat moved slightly.

“Chu Xiyu.” When she finally spoke, her voice was low and husky, devoid of any innocence.

A circle of gentle light rippled in the girl’s eyes, and in the center of those eyes, Fu Zhou saw her own reflection.

“Do we… count as being in an intimate relationship?” It was too early to say this, Fu Zhou thought muddledly. Perhaps the “alcohol” of the scent was intoxicating, or the night was making her bold.

“Xiao Zhou, do you think we aren’t?”

Chu Xiyu’s confusion was perfectly played.

How could they not be? They were sisters, they were family. Was that not intimate enough?

Fu Zhou’s breathing was very light, as if she were afraid of disturbing something. Drawing courage from nowhere, she met Chu Xiyu’s gaze without a hint of retreat or cowardice.

“What kind of intimate relationship are we?” Friends? Or… an AO pair who had marked each other?

Before her, those pale eyes shifted. Then, a pool of laughter welled up within them.

She leaned in slightly, completely occupying Fu Zhou’s field of vision.

“Do you think that because I gave you a temporary mark, we have that kind of intimacy between an AO?”

“But Xiao Zhou… you haven’t even finished developing yet.”

Annoyed.

Can’t sleep.

Fu Zhou tossed and turned again, grabbing her phone from the nightstand. The blinding screen displayed the time: 2:00 AM.

She didn’t want to see Chu Xiyu.

Chu Xiyu actually mocked her for not being fully developed! Does an Alpha not count as an Alpha if they aren’t fully grown? Does puppy love not count as love?

Her chest felt tight and inexplicably stifled. She decided to just walk out of her room. There, in the living room under the dim light, sat another silhouette.

Fu Zhou froze at the doorway.

As Chu Xiyu turned around on the sofa and their eyes met, Fu Zhou noticed a trace of lingering bitterness in the girl’s eyes that hadn’t yet dissipated.

She no longer wanted to leave the house.

A youth’s heart is the hardest thing to hide, and the thing they are least willing to hide.

Chu Xiyu was avoiding her.

She was trying to pinch off these budding feelings.

Fu Zhou lowered her eyes to suppress the chaotic annoyance within, her wrist turning to close the door. But before she could, Chu Xiyu’s voice came, weak to the point of trembling.

“Xiao Zhou, help me.”