The Reborn Scummy A and the Sickly O Got Together - Chapter 16

In the dead of night, when all sounds had faded and silence reigned, Feng Baiming woke briefly.

She was unbearably cold even wrapped in blankets, the chill seemed to seep from the very marrow of her bones. Only a small nightlight glowed dimly by the bed, casting a slender shadow across the sheets.

Luo Mingyue quickly noticed the woman stirring. She looked up from her phone, leaned down, and called softly, “Miss Feng? Are you feeling any better? Let’s check your temperature again.”

“I’m still cold… I don’t think the fever has broken,” Feng Baiming replied calmly, drawing on years of experience with illness.

“Turn off the air conditioning,” she added.

But soon after, sweat beaded on Feng Baiming’s forehead and back. She groaned, “It’s too hot now. Turn it back on, I can’t stand this heat.”

The young alpha, unlike most alphas, was gentle and obedient. Without complaint, she rose to adjust the air conditioning as instructed.

Patiently, Luo Mingyue slipped her hand under the blankets to place the thermometer under Feng Baiming’s arm. The usually composed Miss Feng showed a hint of petulance in her sickness.

She had intended to help her sit up to take the temperature properly, but Feng Baiming refused to move, burrowing deeper into the covers with only her eyes visible. “I’m exhausted. Don’t make me get up,” came her muffled protest.

Luo Mingyue didn’t argue. Instead, she found a straw, placed it in a cup of water, and carefully held it to Feng Baiming’s lips.

At this, the woman in bed seemed slightly embarrassed. She emerged just enough to sip the water before retreating again.

Ten minutes later, Luo Mingyue retrieved the thermometer and frowned. “38.2°C. If the fever hasn’t gone down by morning, we’ll need to see a doctor.”

“More than the fever, I’m worried about these rashes. Will they leave scars?”

“When I was a child, I had seasonal eczema every year for three years. The ancestral home has dense foliage and high humidity, low immunity or even prolonged stress could trigger it.”

“So, was it low immunity or stress for you?” Feng Baiming asked without thinking.

Silence followed. Her fever-addled mind belatedly recognized the impropriety of the question. “I shouldn’t have asked that—”

Luo Mingyue replied quietly, “My grandmother and mother always said it was my weak constitution. But looking back, maybe my mood played a part too.”

Feng Baiming struggled to find comforting words, but the young alpha smiled gently and said, “So I hope every day from now on brings you health and happiness, Miss Feng.”

Struck speechless, Feng Baiming curled deeper into the blankets, still shivering. With effort, she murmured, “Do you speak this way to every omega, Miss Luo? Sometimes, you should learn to keep a proper distance between A and O.”

Her voice was thick with exhaustion, and she drifted back into sleep almost immediately. Under the dim glow of the bedside lamp, the young alpha remained seated, lost in thought for a long while.

At this moment, Luo Mingyue suddenly realized why Feng Baiming had fallen for her in her past life. She had always known that people around her labeled her as a “central air-conditioning scumbag Alpha.”

Back then, she thought to herself, “I’m just being polite and kind to everyone as my grandmother taught me, doing my best to help others.” She dismissed those comments as baseless.

But she remembered the incident that had moved her deeply.

It was during the first semester of their sophomore year when a petite beta girl in their class fractured her right ankle. Though the third floor wasn’t particularly high, it became a daily struggle for her.

Initially, several alphas in the class took turns carrying her up and down, at least four times a day. But soon, complaints started surfacing in private.

The girl then began arriving half an hour early each day, slowly making her way up to the third floor on her own. Seeing this, Luo Mingyue deliberately timed her arrivals to “coincidentally” meet her. For two whole months, Luo Mingyue pretended it was effortless as she carried the girl up and down those three flights.

The girl whispered on her back, “Am I too heavy?”

Luo Mingyue smiled and replied, “Not at all. I think you’d still be just as cute even if you gained a little weight.”

The story didn’t have a happy ending, though. She didn’t gain a close friend from it instead, the beta girl confessed her feelings to her.

Luo Mingyue had to gently reject her, taking all the blame upon herself: “It’s my fault for giving you the wrong impression. I only ever saw you as a friend.”

Tears welling in her eyes, the beta girl said, “Do you think taking all the blame makes you look pitiful? You get to be the good person while others are the villains.”

“Luo Mingyue, you appear to have the kindest heart in the world, but in truth, you’re colder than anyone.”

–

Back then, Luo Mingyue could only continue apologizing. The beta girl turned and ran away, treating her like a stranger from then on.

This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened. She had received countless confessions since childhood. But perhaps because they had spent two months together, or because of the girl’s parting words, Luo Mingyue would sometimes wake in the middle of the night, haunted by the disappointed look in the girl’s eyes.

So now she understood why Feng Baiming had liked her in her past life. As an alpha, certain things she said could easily be misinterpreted by omegas as expressions of romantic interest.

What exactly had she done in her past life? What had she said to Miss Feng?

Luo Mingyue rubbed her temples. Tonight, she had only intended to take care of Miss Feng, but Feng Baiming’s words had exposed a personal blind spot she had overlooked.

There was a clear distinction between alphas and omegas. If she had no romantic interest in Feng Baiming, then she needed to be mindful of boundaries in her words and actions.

By around 1 a.m., Luo Mingyue was still scrolling through her phone. She had no intention of sleeping tonight, planning to keep vigil by the bedside the entire time.

If the Lu family members saw her now, they’d probably call her a fool or spin some conspiracy theories.

In fact, even Feng Baiming lying in bed might be thinking the same.

Feng Baiming let out a pained murmur: “Cold… so cold… turn off the AC…”

Luo Mingyue reached to feel her forehead. It was hard to describe—her forehead was burning hot, yet the fine beads of sweat on it were ice cold.

After handing Feng Baiming a towel to wipe away her cold sweat, she hesitated with the air conditioner remote in hand. Summer nights in the capital were unbearable without air conditioning. Yet with Feng Baiming running a fever, turning it off would only make the heat worse—though the alternating chills and feverish heat were equally hard to ignore.

The blanket was pushed aside as Feng Baiming, eyes closed, struggled to speak: “I’m freezing… Didn’t I tell you to turn off the AC?”

A warm body settled beside her, and the girl said matter-of-factly, “Miss Feng, I may be an alpha, but I haven’t presented yet. You can barely even smell my pheromones.”

“Right, you’re practically no different from a child right now,” Feng Baiming said, her headache worsening. “So you’ve decided to just… sleep here?”

She coldly dismissed her: “Go back to your own room, kid.”

Luo Mingyue didn’t respond. She sniffed lightly, there was a faint, cool scent of pheromones, much like Feng Baiming herself.

At that moment, she was grateful she hadn’t presented until nineteen. That was also why Lu Ping and the others had no objections to her staying overnight to take care of Feng Baiming.

“Didn’t I tell you to turn off the AC?”

“If I do, you’ll overheat. Sweating this much in this weather would only make you feel worse.”

“But I’m not used to sharing a bed with anyone.”

Feng Baiming still resisted, but no matter what she said, the person beside her lay there as if it were the most natural thing in the world, with no intention of leaving.

Even if this was just a kid, she was a very disobedient one. But the exhaustion from her illness left Feng Baiming too weak to scold her, so she had no choice but to let Luo Mingyue share the covers.

Within minutes, the warmth from the girl beside her balanced out the chill of the air conditioning, and she reluctantly accepted Luo Mingyue’s kindness.

The night deepened, and the world seemed to fall into silence.

Luo Mingyue lay on her side, watching Feng Baiming curled into a ball. But in sleep, the body instinctively seeks warmth, and soon enough, Feng Baiming turned over and moved closer to her.

After a brief hesitation, Luo Mingyue wrapped her arms around her. Her thoughts were simple, devoid of any romantic notions…

She just thought, this person had given her warmth in her past life. Now that she could return the favor with her own body heat, it was only right that she did so without hesitation.

Morning light, golden and gauzy, spilled into the room. When Luo Mingyue woke, she instinctively tried to turn over, only to realize she was still holding a very much alive person in her arms.

She looked down and met Miss Feng’s dark eyes, clear and awake. But compared to the warmth between them last night, there was only awkwardness now.

“I only woke up a few minutes before you. I feel much better, the fever must have broken.”

Feng Baiming turned her face away. “Let go first. You’re holding on too tight. I tried to get up without waking you… but I didn’t succeed.”

In both her past and present life, Luo Mingyue had never experienced anything so mortifying—so utterly limb-numbing in its awkwardness.

“Sorry!” She practically fled from the bed.

Seeing her like this, Feng Baiming sighed. As Luo Mingyue was about to leave the room, she suddenly called out, “Wait, Luo Mingyue.”

The girl froze.

The voice behind her asked, puzzled:

“Why are you so kind to me? Even if you say it’s eczema, most people would still worry about getting infected. Do you have some ulterior… Never mind, thank you for taking care of me.”

Feng Baiming clearly swallowed the word “motive.”

She asked another question instead: “Have we met somewhere before?”

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