Seduced By My Omega Stepsister - Chapter 29

“Sleep with me, okay?”

“What’s the occasion? Why order a cake?” Zhou Heyu leaned in to look at Fu Zhou’s phone, which displayed a list of highly-rated cake shops.

Each cake was priced at over five hundred yuan, a quarter of Fu Zhou’s monthly living expenses.

“Celebrating our first outing with Chu Xiyu. It’s about the attitude of her ‘maiden family,’ understand?” Fu Zhou’s eyes crinkled with a smile. She finally sent an image of a cat and dog cuddling to the merchant, asking them to use it as the design and promising to pick it up at nine the next morning.

“Does your sister like cake?” Zhang Meng glanced at the image on Fu Zhou’s phone. “It really is quite cute.”

“I’ve never seen her eat it.” Fu Zhou looked down at the pattern on her screen.

In truth, she didn’t think Chu Xiyu had ever eaten a small cake.

On the night they watched the movie, Fu Zhou had turned over while the girl was fast asleep to study her profile closely. In that moment, she felt a faint sensation that the world had a boundary line, and it specifically excluded Chu Xiyu.

Chu Xiyu was smart, beautiful, and knew how to fight for herself. She didn’t envy the glitz and glamour, so she appeared cold and detached, as if she lacked nothing. But upon closer inspection, she had experienced almost nothing.

Perhaps at some point in the past, a young Fu Zhou had been clutching a new toy bought by her mother, passing by a wall that separated her from Chu Xiyu who was in a muddy house, using a stick to learn how to write on the ground.

Only after realizing this did Fu Zhou catch a glimpse of the hidden, painful truths beneath the surface.

Why didn’t Chu Xiyu buy medicine for her own sprained ankle? Why didn’t she tell anyone when her competition eligibility was revoked?

A child with no safety net is used to enduring everything alone.

Zhou Heyu nodded, looking back and forth between the cake and Fu Zhou, suddenly laughing. “This little dog looks like you, and the cat looks like your sister.”

Fu Zhou had originally planned to sleep alone tonight, she wanted to discuss tomorrow’s plans with Zhou Heyu and the others. But at 10:30, near her bedtime, her ajar bedroom door was pushed open very gently.

She looked up to see a shadow in light-colored pajamas. Perhaps because summer pajamas are thin, the light from behind the door filtered through the fabric, outlining a slender waist that seemed barely a handful. The curve of her waist flowed smoothly from the small of her back, creating an exquisite silhouette.

“Xiao Zhou, aren’t you going to stay with me today?” Likely due to her recent shower, Chu Xiyu’s voice carried a hint of summer mist. Her tone was soft, and the rising inflection when she called Fu Zhou’s name felt like a gentle hook.

“Mhm, I’m coming.” Fu Zhou’s lips curved upward, a metaphorical puppy tail wagging behind her. She neatly spread her thick quilt on the bed and then lunged toward Chu Xiyu. The latter stepped back slightly to steady herself as their warm bodies pressed together.

Chu Xiyu looked down, her heart skipping a beat. “You…” Her gaze landed on the thick quilt. “Why are you using such a thick blanket in this heat?”

“It gives me a sense of security,” Fu Zhou said, her eyes crinkling. “After my mom passed away, I was usually home alone. If someone came to hit me while I was sleeping, the thick quilt could block it.”

“Will you laugh at me?”

The youth’s lips were turned up in a smile, yet her eyes had shed all gentleness, looking at Chu Xiyu with serious focus.

Chu Xiyu shook her head, her eyes brewing a shallow, sincere smile. “I’m here now. Don’t be afraid, okay?”

Fu Zhou nodded. She reached behind Chu Xiyu to turn off the wall light. A ring of moonlight lingered on the curtains, and Chu Xiyu realized that Fu Zhou had left the night light on for herself all this time.

“Actually, I wasn’t afraid of the dark when I was little. I could even walk through the night with my mom or go to the neighborhood entrance alone to pick her up.”

“My mom didn’t like being restricted when she was alive. But my grandparents wouldn’t let my dad scatter her ashes in the sea, so they compromised. She’s buried on the desolate mountain she loved most.”

“My dad, my grandma, and I were keeping vigil. That night, they all fell asleep, but I couldn’t. I sat by the fire basin burning paper money for my mom. Except for my little area, everything outside was so dark.”

Fu Zhou remembered that day.

Her back was to the rolling mountains, and before her was the coffin of her beloved mother.

Through the thick wooden boards, she could almost see her mother’s face, the last version of her, weak, smiling, reaching out to wipe the tears from Fu Zhou’s cheeks.

People say memory is a container with limited space, as time rolls forward, many things once deemed important are gradually forgotten.

But since that night, everything from the past, all memories of her mother became like a revolving lantern, falling into her dreams every night, onto her notebooks, and onto her pinned WeChat contact, the avatar that would never reply.

Her mother loved freedom her whole life. While alive, she never traveled far because of Fu Zhou’s existence; after death, she was trapped in a dark, narrow box.

After that, Fu Zhou inexplicably became afraid of the dark, of being alone, of knocking sounds, of phone rings, and of women crying.

“Then, I don’t know how much time passed, but I fell asleep without realizing it. When I woke up, I was in the tent where my dad and the others were sleeping. They said I ran over there myself during the night, but I think my mom couldn’t bear to see me keeping vigil alone, so she sent me over.”

Fu Zhou closed her bedroom door, cutting off the night light that had supported her through countless nights.

Chu Xiyu looked at the shadow beneath Fu Zhou’s lowered eyelashes. She gently took Fu Zhou’s hand, turned it over, and locked their fingers together, leading her away, away from the room where Fu Zhou had lived alone for so long and suffered through so many nightmares.

“Will you have nightmares if you sleep with me?” The moment the words left her mouth, Fu Zhou’s heart began to pound uncontrollably. Her dark, puppy-like eyes blinked at her.

“No.” Her voice was very soft, as if afraid of disturbing something.

“Then stay with me from now on, okay?”

“Okay.”

That night, Fu Zhou rarely stayed still, not moving or hugging. She lay on her side, facing Chu Xiyu, keeping a fist’s distance between them.

Moonlight hit her face, leaving one side in shadow.

“Chu Xiyu, do you know what I’m thinking right now?”

“What are you thinking?”

The Alpha across from her remained silent for a long time. Chu Xiyu closed her eyes sleepily. She wondered if Fu Zhou’s scent had a sedative effect on her, making her so tired every night.

Just as she was losing consciousness, the Alpha let out a soft laugh, sounding both far and near.

“I think your eyes are so beautiful. Like a long time ago, when I was a kid and got lost. I was sitting by the roadside at night and saw a window glowing with warm light.”

Even though Chu Xiyu’s eye color wasn’t warm, they were pale, often emotionless, yet sometimes containing a tenderness that drew people in, they were very warm. She liked them so much.

They decided to go to a KTV.

They had discussed it for a long time. They actually felt Chu Xiyu would be better suited for a quieter environment, but since they were finally out, they couldn’t just take her to a library or museum. Plus, they had bought a cake.

During the car ride, Chu Xiyu was quiet. she just looked down at the “puppy” in her arms who was whimpering and faking motion sickness, a faint smile playing on her lips.

The phone notification sounded. Fu Zhou quietly opened it to check.

“The room is booked. The cake will be hidden behind the door. Go grab it in a bit and appear behind her when she’s not looking to give her a surprise. We’ll sing some sentimental love songs. Who knows, maybe she’ll get touched and you two will end up together.”

Fu Zhou wrinkled her nose.

“The surprise is fine, but this trip is just to take Chu Xiyu out to play. We’re not pushing for a relationship progression yet.”

The other side was silent for a long time, then slowly typed out a question mark.

“Why?”

“Because being together requires a formal confession and a carefully selected bouquet of flowers.”

Upon arriving at the KTV, Fu Zhou held Chu Xiyu’s hand and went upstairs.

The lobby was a bit dim, but the soundproofing was good noise from other rooms didn’t leak out. Chu Xiyu’s pace was a bit slow. She took out her phone and turned on the flashlight, the white light illuminating the path in front of Fu Zhou.

“Thank you, Sister (Jie-jie).” Fu Zhou’s eyes curved.

Chu Xiyu looked at her with some surprise.

“Why call me Sister today?”

“Because it sounds good.”

Because Fu Zhou suddenly felt that “Sister” was just a title, not a definition of their relationship.

And also because she had just scrolled past a post saying that couples sometimes use “Sister” as a playful endearment when one is younger than the other. Apparently, girls liked hearing their partners call them “Sister”… or “Mommy.”

Entering the room, Zhou Heyu and Zhang Meng were playing “Lovers.” Despite it being a sentimental ballad, Zhou Heyu was so invested she had her shoes off and was standing on the sofa.

But she sang well. Fu Zhou simply sat on the sofa, quietly listening for her to finish.

As the song ended, Zhou Heyu crouched on the sofa, one hand on Zhang Meng’s shoulder and the other handing the mic to Fu Zhou. “Here.”

A fair hand took the microphone for Fu Zhou. Zhang Meng looked up. “Doesn’t Fu Zhou have something else to do?”

Zhou Heyu froze, then smiled apologetically, revealing two subtle canine teeth. “Sorry, I forgot.”

“Do you have something else to do?” Chu Xiyu smiled softly, looking sideways at the Alpha who had been holding her hand since they walked in.

“I… uh, there’s another song. The next one isn’t mine.”

“Right, right, Fu Zhou is a great singer.”

“Mhm, she’s very good.” Chu Xiyu’s voice was soft, landing amidst the gentle KTV melody and right against Fu Zhou’s burning earlobe.

Behind them, her two friends were frantically scrolling through the song list and exchanging secret signals.

“Wait, Fu Zhou is tone deaf. Does she even have a song she can sing well?”

“Maybe beauty is in the eye of the beholder…”

“Chu Xiyu isn’t deaf.”