The rain outside was gradually letting up. The earlier violent storm had already turned into a light drizzle. The world fell quiet. In Shen Shuyu’s ears, only Yu Mo’s heavy, scorching breaths remained. Yu Mo continuously panted her fiery warmth before Shen Shuyu’s face.
Just as Shen Shuyu thought their lips would meet in the next second, those tempting lips hovered right before her eyes. Beneath those thick, long lashes, Yu Mo’s reddish-brown eyes emitted a crystalline light, like amber. The last vestiges of reason were struggling free within her desire-flooded brain, pulling back her out-of-control beast just before it could cross the line.
Yu Mo was panting heavily. Her eyes, unblinking, stared at the person trapped beneath her. Struggling to discern… was the Shen Shuyu before her eyes now her Jiejie? Or her classmate? Was this a dream? Or reality?
The wool cardigan on Shen Shuyu was hanging loosely off her shoulder. Her slip dress did nothing to conceal the snow-white skin beneath. Within Yu Mo’s line of sight was the tantalizing curve of a collarbone. Her gaze slowly traced the path of Shen Shuyu’s shoulder and neck, mapping her body with her eyes. A deep, black, perfectly round mole stood out on the fair skin. Yu Mo’s fingertip lightly touched the mole, feeling its slight convexity against her skin.
She knew the position of every mole on her body. She had kissed every inch of this skin.
“Jiejie… is that you?” Yu Mo whispered that name, the name she had used only for the person beneath her in her past life.
Shen Shuyu’s pupils trembled uncontrollably. How many times had she heard this call only in her dreams? And now, she heard it. But she dared not answer. She could not answer. Shen Shuyu pulled her hand free from under Yu Mo, stroking the face before her, silent.
It is me…
The atmosphere within this wordless silence deepened the ambiguity. Shen Shuyu’s fingertips were cool. Her eyes and brows were all silently articulating the word ‘alluring.’ The reason Yu Mo had struggled so hard to grasp was being clawed at by Alpha instinct, threatening to be submerged and scattered once more. She raised her hand and placed it over Shen Shuyu’s hand, which was stroking her face. Her fingertips, tinged with crimson, rubbed against the silkiness of Shen Shuyu’s hand, grazing her neatly trimmed nails.
Then, on Shen Shuyu’s soft palm, she gently pressed a profoundly tender kiss. Moist warmth settled in Shen Shuyu’s palm. An electric current shot through her, igniting a flame within that the suppressant was struggling to contain. A mist rose in Shen Shuyu’s eyes.
A green plum fell into the strong, dark tea, sending up layers of red, translucent splashes. Their gazes intertwined. Two lonely souls were like solitary boats adrift in a deep blue sea, pushed by the waves under this starless, lonely moonlit sky, drawing infinitely closer to each other.
Just as their lips were about to meet, the half-open door was slammed open with a bang. Followed by a shout: “Shuyu! We’re here!”
Li Qingqing had arrived with Yu Decai and his wife.
Shen Shuyu’s intoxication instantly snapped to alertness. She turned her head slightly toward the door, her eyes carrying a rare hint of awkwardness and bewilderment. Yu Mo’s lips brushed past her flushed cheek and landed on the dust-laden mat beneath them.
The couple and Li Qingqing stood in the doorway, stunned by the scene before them. Yu Decai even more abruptly turned his back to the intensely impactful image. Embarrassment was carried in by the cool breeze, running rampant through the entire Equipment Room.
The rich scent of Sea Salt Caramel hit Li Qingqing head-on. Her body, already in a somewhat confused state from before, went limp directly against the doorframe. Yang Aiyuan quickly supported her. “Child.” This was a scent Li Qingqing had never encountered before. Intense, alluring, involuntarily making her want to release her own pheromones in response.
Just then, the Wei Lai trio, holding umbrellas, also came running over from not far away. They felt that the closer they got to this area, the more the air was charged with a provocatively aggressive scent. Even before they got close, Zhou Qin, an Omega, nearly collapsed. If Feng Ruoyu hadn’t caught her in time, she would have fallen to the ground. Chaos was imminent.
Neither Zhou Qin nor Li Qingqing were high-grade Omegas like Shen Shuyu. Nor were they blood relatives like Yang Aiyuan. Faced with an S-Class Alpha like Yu Mo, they had no ability to resist at all. In an instant, the scents of rose and caramel macchiato pheromones mingled in the drizzling rain.
Wind gusted backwards through the open door. The restless Omega pheromone factors obsequiously swirled around the newly differentiated Yu Mo, fawning on her while also fighting each other to assault her body. Yu Mo felt the ocean her little boat was sailing upon suddenly rise in towering waves. The waves crashed against her, wave after wave, mercilessly.
Shen Shuyu watched the expression on Yu Mo’s face contort with pain once more. Yu Mo’s hand, clutching her chest, veins bulging on the back of her pale hand, fisted the already-wrinkled fabric of her shirt tightly. “Yu Mo, Yu Mo…” Flustered, Shen Shuyu gathered Yu Mo into her arms, trying her best to dispel the Omega pheromone scents from the air. Then Shen Shuyu urgently shouted to Yang Aiyuan at the door: “Auntie, quickly! Get Li Qingqing and the others away from the wind!”
Yang Aiyuan instantly realized what high grade of an Alpha her daughter had differentiated into. She immediately directed Yu Decai and the others. The four of them, half holding umbrellas, half supporting Li Qingqing and Zhou Qin, who had been forced into Heat, stumbled towards a safer area.
The rain was fickle, showing signs of intensifying again, catching the newly recovered flowers off guard. The sound of ambulance sirens grew clearer in the rain. Red and blue lights, blurred by the continuous lines of rain, flickered and intertwined. The massive white ambulance finally arrived belatedly, amidst this chaos.
.
The sudden storm finally subsided around midnight. A bone-chilling night wind idly wandered through the city. Inside A City’s First People’s Hospital, lights blazed brightly, and the sound of arriving ambulances was incessant.
With a ‘ding,’ the elevator on the twenty-fifth floor opened. A young girl, hood of her hoodie pulled up, walked out with hurried steps. Her head was lowered, looking at a report sheet in her hands. Her long, black hair hung down before her chest, a little messy. The corridor in the early hours was quiet and heavy. The spotless corridor reflected the harsh white fluorescent light, illuminating the path ahead for the girl. And also illuminating the girl’s face. Her porcelain skin was slightly tired. Her thick lashes drooped listlessly. Only the girl’s signature silver eyes still held a light that was forced. This girl, dressed in clothes completely unlike her usual style, was Shen Shuyu. And the clothes she was wearing were Yu Mo’s — brought by Yang Aiyuan when she saw Shen Shuyu was completely soaked.
“Crash—”
From the room not far from the girl came a long, loud sound of shattering, as if something fragile had fallen to the ground. Shen Shuyu’s heart lurched. She immediately quickened her pace towards Yu Mo’s hospital room. Pushing open the door, a floor full of glittering shards met her eyes. Yang Aiyuan looked somewhat flustered at the water all over the floor, smiling awkwardly at Shen Shuyu. “I lost focus for a second and accidentally dropped the water pitcher.”
There was no way Shen Shuyu believed Yang Aiyuan’s explanation. Looking at Yang Aiyuan’s eyes, heavy with fatigue, it was more likely Yang Aiyuan had been momentarily overcome with tiredness, forgotten she was holding the pitcher, and simply let it go. Shen Shuyu knew Yang Aiyuan was extremely worried about Yu Mo. But she had been busy at the hotel all day, hadn’t eaten dinner, and had just nearly scalded herself because of mental exhaustion. She really shouldn’t be staying here any longer.
Shen Shuyu sincerely advised, “Auntie, you really should go back and rest for a while.”
But Yang Aiyuan still refused. “I’m fine. Your uncle has already gone back. I don’t need to.”
Shen Shuyu watched Yang Aiyuan slowly crouch down to pick up the scattered pieces and crouched down with her. In silence, the two of them cleaned up the mess on the floor. But Yang Aiyuan’s mental state was truly poor. Shen Shuyu watched her picking up the shards in a daze, picking up one piece and dropping another. She simply took the few pieces from Yang Aiyuan’s hand and changed her approach to persuasion: “Yu Mo hasn’t eaten in a long time either. She might not like the food here. I think when she wakes up, she’d really want to eat something you made, Auntie. Why don’t you go home and prepare some food for her?”
Yang Aiyuan’s expression showed a slight sign of wavering. She pressed her lips together, hesitating. Shen Shuyu continued persuading, “The lab report also shows Yu Mo’s indicators are all normal. She’s been through so much. When she wakes up, she should have something comforting to eat, don’t you think?”
Yang Aiyuan finally nodded slowly. What Shen Shuyu said was indeed reasonable. Yu Mo was a picky eater. Every time she was sick as a child, she would clamor for Yang Aiyuan’s homemade cooking. “Then I’ll be quick. I’ll make something for Yu Mo and come right back.”
Shen Shuyu breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ll have the driver waiting for you downstairs.”
Watching Yang Aiyuan leave, Shen Shuyu crouched back down by the broken pitcher. Piece by piece, she cleaned up the shattered inner liner. Then, trying to imitate how Aunt Zhao did chores at home, Shen Shuyu’s hands, which had never touched spring water, picked up a mop for the first time. She worked clumsily, cautiously, but still managed tidily enough. After cleaning up, Shen Shuyu pulled a chair over and sat beside Yu Mo’s bed. When her weary body sank into the soft cushioned chair, she couldn’t help but let out a long, soft breath. But then, as if afraid of disturbing Yu Mo, she immediately lowered her breathing, making it exceptionally gentle and soft.
Just like that, she sat by Yu Mo’s bed, quietly watching Yu Mo’s sleeping face. Under the warm, soft glow of the night light, Yu Mo’s sleeping face was peaceful. Her thick lashes fanned out before her eyes. Color was slowly returning to her pale face. Her dry lips were no longer so colorless. Yu Mo was still deep in slumber. The loud crash of the broken pitcher hadn’t been enough to startle her awake from her coma.
How much longer are you going to sleep…? Shen Shuyu placed her hand on Yu Mo’s, feeling that this scene was so terribly familiar. After that car crash on the mountain road in her past life, she had also sat like this by Yu Mo’s hospital bed, holding her hand. Time had passed slowly then. Shen Shuyu had lived a life shuttling back and forth between the hospital and the company — two points, one line. During that period, she felt like she could no longer perceive the passage of time or the boundaries of days. She kept her vigil by Yu Mo’s bedside day and night, without regard for day or night. Sometimes when she left the hospital, it was dark; sometimes it was light. But no matter how the outside world changed, inside the intensive care unit, it was always bright daylight. Just as, in some deep, hidden subconscious Shen Shuyu had never realized, Yu Mo was her sun.
Shen Shuyu still wasn’t sure what her exact mindset had been back then. The reason of just wanting to keep Yu Mo by her side by marrying her didn’t seem to fully explain it. It seemed like she had realized she liked Yu Mo, even loved her. But she refused to admit it. She had, as if possessed, slipped that ring — custom-made long ago — onto Yu Mo’s finger. Like a stubborn child guarding a secret already exposed to the adults.
Resting her head on her arm, Shen Shuyu slowly leaned down near Yu Mo’s hand. She stared dazedly at this quiet hospital room. No incessant, overlapping beeping of various monitors. No faint rumbling sound of automatic doors opening. It was just an ordinary hospital room, nothing special. And Yu Mo wouldn’t be unconscious for months like last time.
Yet, a sense of dread still spread within Shen Shuyu’s heart. It transformed into crystalline tears that fell from her eyes. A single, icy drop landed on the back of Yu Mo’s hand, moistening her slightly dry skin. Yu Mo’s brow twitched, furrowing slightly. Then, slowly, she opened her eyes. Her gaze was unfocused as she stared at the grid-like pattern of the ceiling. After nearly ten hours of deep sleep, Yu Mo had finally woken up.
The familiar scent of disinfectant filled her nostrils. Yu Mo recognized she was in a hospital room. Then she lowered her eyes, dazedly searching for the source of that wetness on the back of her hand. She saw a thin, hunched silhouette, wearing her own baggy hoodie, resting near her hand as if asleep.
Was that… Shen Shuyu? Yu Mo felt a bit dazed. She gazed at this silhouette, and a surge of unnameable emotions rose in her heart. She wondered… in her past life, during those months she was in a coma in the hospital… had Shen Shuyu been like this too, lying by her bedside, keeping her company?
Just then, another icy teardrop fell onto the back of Yu Mo’s hand. Yu Mo blinked involuntarily. Then, she looked at that head facing away from her and gently parted her lips, which had regained a little color.
“Shen Shuyu… are you crying?”
