The Omega Who Canceled the Engagement Ended Up Falling for Me - Chapter 33

After a bout of rain, the temperature in Shengyuan City took a sharp nosedive. Just last week, one could still ride a bike in a short-sleeved T-shirt to catch the breeze, but this week, it was nearly time to dig out down jackets to fight the chill.

Xu Qing looked at the few thin shirts in her girlfriend’s wardrobe and began to worry. Fu Shuang’s thickest clothes were nothing more than one or two blazers worn during the transition from late summer to early autumn—they wouldn’t stand a chance against temperatures plunging toward the single digits.

Sitting on the back of a motorcycle in those would be freezing to death; Xu Qing didn’t want her girlfriend to develop a traumatic association with her beloved bike.

“How about you wear my clothes to work today?”

Xu Qing fished out a printed sweater she used to wear back in university, along with a lapel lamb-wool jacket. Though the style was quite dated, they excelled in warmth.

“So tacky!” Fu Shuang’s face immediately contorted in disgust the moment she saw the clothes. “It looks like something from the last century…”

Xu Qing wasn’t particular about dressing. Nowadays, she focused on fitness and looked good in a simple shirt no matter how it was styled, but things were different during her school days.

She had never lacked clothes growing up; her eldest sister and Ms. Min would always buy them for her. However, the aesthetic tastes of those two ladies were difficult to describe. Ms. Min loved the last-century Hong Kong style—red sweaters paired with jeans, emphasizing a bold and flamboyant look. Her sister, on the other hand, preferred the Western cowboy style, with one pair of ripped jeans after another and accessories ranging from wristbands and gloves to high-neck scarves. Under their “tutelage,” Xu Qing’s dressing style throughout her student years was extremely chaotic, severely dragging down her charm during her youth.

Later, those worn clothes were piled up basket after basket. Several of the Xu family’s houses in Shengyuan had boxes of them stored away, which was why Xu Qing was able to pull out some winter clothes on such short notice.

“I had no taste back then, like a ‘Shamante’ punk,” Xu Qing rubbed her nose, candidly admitting her past. “The clothes at home were all bought by my mom and sister. You can tell their aesthetic by looking at this. But the quality is actually good. This sweater is thick; it shrank a bit, so it should fit you just right. Hurry up and put it on.”

Fu Shuang narrowed her hazel eyes slightly and said with a smile, “No.”

Xu Qing was a bit surprised. She didn’t expect to have a disagreement with her girlfriend over this. In her mind, she had provided the perfect solution. The clothes might be ugly, but they were just for one day—why wasn’t it okay?

“I don’t understand. Why not?” Xu Qing held the sweater, her expression serious. “You don’t have any other clothes. You’ll freeze to death outside.”

Fu Shuang frowned so hard her face wrinkled up. Perhaps she was born stubborn; she could handle eating poorly or living under tough conditions, but she had a very high pursuit of “beauty.” Asking her to wear that tacky, bright red printed sweater—it was practically asking for her life!

“I’ll call a cab. There’s air conditioning at the office,” Fu Shuang pursed her lips. “Anyway, I’m not wearing your clothes. I’d rather die.”

Xu Qing was stunned. She held the clothes up and sniffed them. Though they carried a slight woody scent from being stored in a chest, they were generally clean and still had a lingering scent of laundry detergent. She remembered the material of this sweater was cashmere; it felt very smooth. How did it… reach the point of being rejected to the death?

Her lips parted, but she didn’t speak for a long while, as if she could already foresee a terrifying future.

Their interactions over the past half month had been too smooth—so smooth that Xu Qing thought life would always be like this: simple, relaxed, and mutually satisfying.

But that was built on the foundation of having no disagreements. Once a conflict appeared, Xu Qing didn’t even know how to persuade her.

A massive sense of frustration left her rooted to the spot. Holding the clothes, she said softly, “It’s really cold outside.”

Fu Shuang wanted to cry but had no tears. She pressed her hands together and shook them like a sieve, creating an afterimage. “Sister, please spare me. I really don’t want to wear that ugly clothing. I’m not targeting you, I just can’t stand that garment. I’m begging you, don’t make me wear it. I won’t be able to face anyone, boo-hoo.”

Xu Qing’s face turned cold, completely indifferent to her frantic pleading. “What if I say you must wear it?”

With tears in her eyes, Fu Shuang despairingly picked up the clothes.

Before heading out, Xu Qing checked her from head to toe to ensure she was wrapped up tightly. Only then did she start the bike and drop her off at the office building.

Wrapped up like a zongzi (sticky rice dumpling), Fu Shuang didn’t say a word. She first rushed to the restroom to change her clothes, carrying them upstairs in a large bag.

In the elevator, she ran into her manager’s boss—the HR supervisor who had once specifically assigned her to shred paper. He said with a half-smile, “Oh, Xiao Shuang, dressing so light? Aren’t you afraid of ‘cold in the uterus’?”

Fu Shuang inwardly rolled her eyes, listening as the man continued obliviously, “The weather is so cold; you girls should be careful. It’s not good if you develop an illness that affects your fertility.”

Fu Shuang gave a tight, fake smile, her eyes wishing she could stare daggers into this pot-bellied supervisor.

There were several people in the elevator. Fu Shuang didn’t speak, and for a moment, the others couldn’t tell who the HR supervisor was talking to. The atmosphere turned awkward until a Beta girl in the elevator muttered, “You’re a Beta male. Isn’t it a bit sick of you to be worrying about someone else’s fertility?”

The girl wasn’t from their company but happened to be sharing the elevator. Although she had no stake in the matter, she couldn’t stomach his tone. When she looked at Fu Shuang, her eyes were full of concern.

Fu Shuang couldn’t help but let out a low laugh, responding, “Who knows? I wouldn’t dare ask.”

The HR supervisor was depressed to death. As soon as the elevator doors opened, he stepped out without even checking which floor it was.

“Is he your boss?” the Beta girl asked Fu Shuang.

Fu Shuang shrugged. “I’m an intern, so people in the company probably feel like everyone is my boss.”

The girl laughed heartily. “You’re really interesting. You just talked back to him—won’t that affect your work later?”

Fu Shuang thought seriously for a moment, then shook her head nonchalantly.

The elevator doors opened. She waved goodbye to the girl and went into the company to clock in.

At noon, while picking up takeout, she ran into the girl again. The other party approached her proactively, chatting about work and even inviting Fu Shuang to visit her studio.

The girl’s name was Lucy. She was two years older than Fu Shuang and ran an internet enterprise that profited from creating short dramas or videos for various platforms—commonly known as an MCN (Multi-Channel Network) or influencer incubator company.

From the first moment she saw Fu Shuang, Lucy noticed this Omega girl’s stunning beauty. Her features were three-dimensional and very natural, many grades higher than the plastic-surgery-enhanced influencers in her company. Such beauty, combined with a bit of a filter and some suggestive content, would absolutely be a viral hit.

The studio was on the floor below Fu Shuang’s company, so Lucy had waited for her to exit the elevator this morning just to chat with her longer before returning to her own floor.

Her intentions were very obvious. Fu Shuang understood perfectly and watched the scene inside one of the studio’s livestreaming rooms.

A girl with exquisite makeup was posing provocatively toward the camera, singing a generic, trashy pop song that catered to the tastes of old men. The entire song consisted of repeating “Big brother, oh” and “Little sister, oh” over and over.

When the song ended, the girl began calling out names to thank people on the gift list, interacting with the bullet chat. Her “E-ya, En-ya” tone gave Fu Shuang a headache, but seeing the streamer’s happy and blessed expression, Fu Shuang figured she must be making a lot of money.

“What do you think of her?” Lucy asked tentatively.

“She’s quite impressive,” Fu Shuang said, her words as precious as gold.

“She’s one of our top streamers, but in my opinion,” Lucy whispered in Fu Shuang’s ear, “she’s not even a tenth as beautiful as you.”

Fu Shuang glanced at her with a smile, thinking, At least you have good eyes.

“You think I can do this?” she asked with the innocent look of a “white flower” maiden.

“Of course, you could definitely do better than her. Do you know how much she makes a day?”

Fu Shuang asked with a genuinely naive gaze, “How much?”

Lucy said mysteriously, “At most, she can make 200,000 in a day.”

“Wow.” Fu Shuang swallowed her envious saliva. Watching the focused streamer in the room, hearing her say “Thank you, Boss” over and over as if the spenders were her biological parents, Fu Shuang’s expression became a bit dazed.

“I’ll leave you my business card. You can come find me anytime once you’ve thought it over. I’m just downstairs anyway; feel free to stop by and hang out whenever you’re free.” Lucy warmly handed over the card and even reached out to shake hands.

Fu Shuang froze for a moment looking at the extended hand. It was just a casual handshake, but ever since she had established a connection with that “Sister” at home, she seemed to have started rejecting such physical contact. Even having someone brush against her clothes in the elevator that morning had made her uncomfortable for a long time.

Lucy didn’t think much of it. On the contrary, she felt that a slightly “dim” girl was cuter and more unique; men liked girls who seemed a bit slow.

“Keep the card,” Lucy winked at her. “Come play at our studio again next time.”

Exiting the studio, Fu Shuang let out a long breath. Instead of taking the elevator, she took the stairs back to her company.

Clearly, her heat cycle had stabilized, and she had received a temporary mark, yet she was constantly distracted.

The feeling of having no sense of belonging in a crowd, the feeling of emptiness after not seeing her for half a day, and the way her mind would wander to her even while at work… this marking didn’t seem to have solved the underlying problem; it felt like it made it even more severe?

Vexed, Fu Shuang climbed several flights of stairs in one go, leaning against the fire escape door and panting.

She rested for a moment, preparing to climb further, when she suddenly heard someone push open the heavy fire exit door in the stairwell and curse: “Brain-dead thing. A mere intern, riding over my head?”

Fu Shuang: “…”

The voice was very recognizable—it was that HR supervisor. But the fat supervisor was usually quite “genial” and never cursed openly; even if he was unhappy with her, he would at most secretly assign tasks to exhaust her.

Could it be because of the elevator incident this morning?

Fu Shuang stayed where she was, waiting to see what would happen.

“Why bother competing with an intern,” another voice said. Fu Shuang wasn’t familiar with it; it likely belonged to someone from another department. The person said in a high-pitched voice, “A stinky Omega actually coming out to find a job. Scare her a couple of times and she’ll behave. Let me tell you, I know a gang that specializes in disciplining these disobedient Omegas. Once something happens, people like that won’t dare step out of their front door for a lifetime.”

The fat HR man hesitated: “…Is that really necessary? If I get rid of her, Xiao Ning will complain to me again…”

Xiao Ning was Fu Shuang’s manager. Fu Shuang occasionally heard company gossip and had heard that the fat man seemed to be pursuing her manager.

“How could that happen? Ning-jie isn’t stupid. By then, the girl will have quit because something happened to her; what does that have to do with you? How could Ning-jie blame you?”

The fat man was still wavering when suddenly a clear, bright voice echoed in the stairwell:

“I recorded that, you know.”