Seduced By My Omega Stepsister - Chapter 23

The Lingering Taste of the Past

The cram school let out at 5:30 PM, and since it was early, Fu Zhou decided to wander around the school vicinity. It was the day the seniors returned from break, and the snack stalls were beginning to open one by one.

Fu Zhou ate her way from the first stall to the last, her cheeks bulging with every bite. Just as she tossed away her last empty wrapper, Zhou Heyu handed her a wet wipe.

“Give it to me in a bit,” Fu Zhou said. “Isn’t there a new hotpot restaurant up ahead? Let’s go check it out.”

Zhang Meng pursed her lips, observing the path Fu Zhou had taken. It was almost a straight line leading directly to that hotpot shop. She had never seen Fu Zhou truly full, a trash bin has a capacity, but Fu Zhou’s appetite seemed bottomless.

The restaurant was elegantly decorated. Fu Zhou’s eyes lit up like a puppy’s when she saw the sliced beef simmering in red chili oil at the next table. She leaned against the counter, waiting for the owner to give her a table number. There was only one group ahead of them.

Sitting in the waiting area, Fu Zhou stared intently at the diners who were almost finished. Her longing for the food was like water overflowing from a cup.

Suddenly, she felt a tug at her side. She turned to see Zhou Heyu looking visibly awkward, pointing discreetly toward a window seat. Following the direction, Fu Zhou’s eyes met a pair of shimmering, liquid-like eyes.

Fu Zhou lowered her gaze and slowly turned back, tearing open the wet wipe to clean her fingers.

“I thought you said you’d wait until after the hotpot?”

“This is different,” Fu Zhou muttered. “Qi Wen is over there. I have to maintain an elegant image.”

The Ghost of a First Love

Everyone knew Fu Zhou was nervous. Qi Wen was the first and only person who had helped her after she transferred schools.

Fu Zhou remembered the perfect sunlight and the warmth of the girl’s palm as she secretly tucked a piece of chocolate into Fu Zhou’s hand. A teenager’s crush is like wild grass on a wasteland, it grows an inch a day, and before you know it, it has covered the entire prairie.

When Fu Zhou was scolded by teachers and refused to do her homework out of spite, Qi Wen would sit in her seat and painstakingly imitate her handwriting to turn it in for her. When Fu Zhou overslept and missed a meal, Qi Wen would gently ask if she wanted snacks, opening a drawer filled with all of Fu Zhou’s favorites.

Fu Zhou’s heart skipped a beat at the memory. She remembered that Qi Wen didn’t even like snacks.

And yet, despite all those signs, Qi Wen would always deny liking Fu Zhou. She insisted they were “just friends,” and that she only wanted to help Fu Zhou adjust to the new school.

Fu Zhou moved to glance back, but her view was blocked by a shadow. Zhang Meng had stood up, her sharp phoenix eyes reflecting an unreadable emotion.

“Fu Zhou, you need to empty your heart before you can love someone else.”

A sharp, suffocating pain shot through Fu Zhou’s chest.

“I don’t like her anymore,” Fu Zhou said, looking into Zhang Meng’s dark, clear eyes. “I just wonder sometimes… the way she acted was so different from what she said later. Can someone really do all that just out of ‘kindness’?”

Could someone be that ambiguous, that patient, and share almost every moment of their free time with a “just a classmate” they barely knew?

“Perhaps,” Zhang Meng replied, standing tall without any intention of sitting back down.

Understanding the hint, Fu Zhou crumpled her waiting number, tossed it into the trash, and walked out. She could still feel a burning gaze on her back.

“Zhang Meng,” Fu Zhou said softly as they walked.

“What is it?”

“That night you walked home alone with Qi Wen… did the two of you talk about me?”

“Of course we did.” Zhang Meng wasn’t surprised Fu Zhou had seen them. Their routes overlapped, and Fu Zhou often liked to keep her car window down to watch the road. “She said… you were an idiot.”

Hidden Truths and Rising Tensions

Can someone really pay that much attention to a person without liking them? Zhang Meng didn’t know.

But she remembered that night. Qi Wen had smiled as she spoke of Fu Zhou calling her sunny, passionate, impulsive, childish, and an “idiot.” Qi Wen’s smile was gentle, but Zhang Meng had clearly seen the shimmering layer of tears in those curved eyes.

Zhang Meng might have known the answer, but she told no one.

Fu Zhou felt weak and lightheaded, though her friends denied it was from lack of food.

“Your sister is about to get out of class,” Zhou Heyu checked her phone. “When she comes out, we’ll go to that hotpot place together.”

Fu Zhou nodded listlessly. She hadn’t been paying attention to the restaurant anymore, but Zhou Heyu had. She knew Qi Wen hadn’t left yet. Bringing Chu Xiyu there would be a statement of sorts, a declaration that Fu Zhou was moving on.

Suddenly, a commotion broke out near the hotpot restaurant. Voices drifted over… “Spilled soup,” “Someone got hit…”

Fu Zhou looked over. Her eyes lingered for a few seconds on a beautiful silhouette exiting the shop before shifting away. Why was Qi Wen taking so long to finish?

As her gaze shifted, it unexpectedly locked with another.

Suddenly, the gland at the back of Fu Zhou’s neck throbbed. Beneath her suppressant patch, the aggressive pheromones of a top-tier Alpha began to leak uncontrollably.

Zhang Meng sensed it first. She grabbed Fu Zhou’s wrist, preparing to retreat.

In the air, the scent of green plum wine collided with the smell of gunpowder, the pheromones of another Alpha, thick with baiting intent.

Zhang Meng looked up, her eyes cold as a blizzard, staring toward the restaurant entrance at a standing boy who was looking over with a mocking, provocative smirk.