Chapter 87: The Insecure Tsundere Canary Alpha

She only felt a twinge of guilt for a single second.

“You didn’t…” Jiang Li turned around. Water droplets still clung to Li Huan’s cheeks, sliding down the sharp ridge of her brow bone. Jiang Li lowered her voice. “…open the door for me back there in your room.”

Clearly, the room’s owner had just been in the shower and hadn’t heard the knock.

Li Huan blinked, another glistening droplet catching on her lashes. The steamy mist softened her features, washing away all the usual cold edge of an Alpha.

As an awkward silence settled in, Li Huan broke it first with an explanation. “I was just in the shower. Sorry.”

It was obvious, of course.

But it gave Jiang Li—who had just confronted her and now felt on shaky ground—a graceful out. She took it without hesitation, nodding to signal her forgiveness.

Li Huan’s raised brow slowly relaxed, as if successfully soothed by a gentle hand. She caught the shift and a flicker of amusement danced in her eyes.

In the quiet room, Jiang Li cleared her throat with a light cough.

“Then I’ll just…”

“My plush…”

Their voices overlapped—one higher, one lower—blending in perfect harmony before they both fell silent again.

Their gazes locked, and an inexplicable embarrassment bloomed from the unexpected synchronicity.

Jiang Li recovered first. She pulled the plush toy she’d been clutching from her embrace and held it in her palm. She remembered the curiosity that had sparked when she first spotted it in Li Huan’s room.

A thought crossed her mind as she noticed Li Huan’s eyes darting toward it again and again, as if the little squirrel held some deep significance.

Jiang Li’s instincts screamed that this plush was tied to her task.

She pinched the squirrel’s tail and poked it gently against Li Huan’s cheek. The soft flesh yielded under the pressure, and Jiang Li beamed. “Hey, is this a gift from someone you like?”

“No,” Li Huan denied swiftly.

Only after the word left her lips did she wonder if she’d sounded too eager—like she had something to hide.

Jiang Li let out a soft “oh,” her expression lighting up with understanding. Regret twisted in Li Huan’s chest. She met Jiang Li’s gaze head-on, her voice deadly serious as she repeated herself.

“Not someone I like. I don’t have…”

Don’t have what? No one she liked? Li Huan’s voice faltered.

The beautiful, delicate girl stood right there before her, holding the plush she’d meant to give her, eyes fixed unblinkingly on Li Huan alone.

And then there was the scent wafting from Jiang Li’s nape—Li Huan’s own cedar pheromones, unmistakable.

Li Huan’s denial twisted in her throat, unable to escape. She pressed her lips together tightly, her damp hair strands veiling the flush creeping up her earlobes.

It only solidified Jiang Li’s suspicions, a quiet chuckle rising in her heart.

She toyed with the squirrel’s tail, loving how it stood straight and fluffy. Wrapping it around her wrist would feel amazing, she imagined.

Her fingertips idly stroked the soft fur as she dropped her gaze, speaking casually. “If you do have someone you like, you should make a move. Otherwise, someone else might snatch them away.”

She fiddled intently, missing the way Li Huan’s eyes darkened as they fixed on the top of her head. “Tell me who it is. If I know them, that could work too. I’m in a good mood—I might even put in a good word for you.”

For Jiang Li, success meant yanking Li Huan out of the Female Lead’s storyline. After that, Li Huan could like whoever she wanted.

Then I suppose I should thank you.

Irritation soured Li Huan’s mood completely. She ground her back molars, her usually impassive brows twitching with every word from Jiang Li. Her displeasure was plain.

Listen to her. Li Huan, that flicker of ambiguity you felt earlier? Total joke. You absolute idiot!

In her mind, a tiny black-clad figure brandished a pitchfork, berating her white-robed self with furious gestures, ready to hurl it right at her.

One moment claiming her as her Alpha, the next shoving her straight into someone else’s arms without a second thought.

Heh. Li Huan’s gaze swept coldly over the squirrel plush cradled in Jiang Li’s arms. She suddenly hated the sight of it too.

So what if it’s being held close now? Once she’s gone, it’s getting shoved into a corner. No one will remember you.

She tossed her phone—the one she’d carried from the bathroom—carelessly onto the bed. “Thanks for the kind intentions, Eldest Miss,” she said flatly. Then she snatched the towel from the bed and roughly scrubbed at her wet hair.

Jiang Li was still playing with the squirrel—the very one meant for her. Li Huan’s motions suddenly halted. She lifted her head, staring at Jiang Li as realization dawned.

Nothing. No reaction.

It was as if only Li Huan could detect the epiphyllum pheromones drifting through the air, tentatively mingling with her cedar scent. Only she felt the ripples from their interplay.

She was acting out an embarrassing one-woman show.

Li Huan’s expression darkened further, her stare on Jiang Li’s cheek turning icy. What a shameless liar—speaking sweet nothings about loving her pheromones, yet stepping into her room without so much as a flinch. Not even toward the little squirrel she’d just touched so intimately.

The room reeked of cedar pheromones, thick and heavy.

If not for the cedar wafting from Jiang Li’s neck, Li Huan might have suspected she’d tangled with another Alpha in the span of a single day.

With their high compatibility, Alphas and Omegas held supreme sensitivity to one another—pheromone shifts and emotional undercurrents alike.

That made Jiang Li’s careless words sting all the more. Complete indifference.

A shadow of gloom darkened Li Huan’s eyes. Knowing Jiang Li harbored no deeper feelings toward her, she scrubbed her hair even harder.

The motions were brutally rough. Jiang Li winced, her heart aching for those glossy black strands.

But there was nothing she could do.

Her forearms still burned with soreness from lugging the gift upstairs—like she’d been hefting dumbbells all day. Getting her hands to move at all was a miracle.

Personally drying Li Huan’s hair right now? Out of the question.

Her mouth worked fine, though. Sympathizing with the mistreated hair, she offered, “Your hair looks so nice. You could be a little gentler with it.”

Here we go again. Li Huan huffed inwardly and scrubbed harder on purpose. She wouldn’t do as told.

Fine. Not listening to advice? No helping that.

It wasn’t growing out of her own head, after all. Jiang Li wasn’t so tyrannical as to dictate Li Huan’s every hair strand.

She’d toyed with the plush enough. Li Huan would blow-dry her hair soon enough. Jiang Li set the toy back in its place and turned to leave the room.

She’d taken barely a step when strands of hair whipped past. Her wrist was seized in a firm grip.

Given how fragile her body was, Jiang Li had no doubt this yank would leave a clear imprint on her skin.

Stumbling to a halt, she glanced back into Li Huan’s stormy eyes. “Is there something else?”

The soft lilt of her voice tugged Li Huan’s reason back from the brink.

She stared at her own knuckles clamped around Jiang Li’s wrist and released it at once. Thank goodness her face stayed impassive as ever—otherwise, Jiang Li might have glimpsed her faint panic.

Jiang Li straightened up, catching the hesitant look on Li Huan’s face. A flicker of confusion crossed her own eyes.

Li Huan had yanked her back on pure impulse, refusing to let her leave. Her mind raced, but nothing came to her. Under Jiang Li’s steady gaze, she awkwardly turned her face away.

The epiphyllum scent lingering at her side showed signs of retreating. Li Huan stayed vigilant.

The moment it began to fade from her nose, alarms blared in her brain. Alertness surged. Snap—she had to keep her here.

It was the bone-deep possessiveness of an Alpha for an Omega, etched into her marrow through generations of evolution. Intertwined with the pheromones in her blood, it defined her.

She’d stayed—but Li Huan’s earlobes burned red.

The thing Li Huan couldn’t bring herself to say…

“Oh, right.” Jiang Li’s palms clapped together sharply, drawing Li Huan’s attention. She bloomed into a radiant smile, as if struck by a sudden memory. “I haven’t told you about your reward yet.”

Between fiddling with the plush and the shock of her surprise entrance, Jiang Li had clean forgotten.

The fragrance drew nearer. Li Huan tensed instantly. Her cedar-straight posture went rigid. She could only watch as the girl approached, eyes sparkling with mirth.

So exquisitely delicate, skin tender as spring water, laced with a fragile frailty.

When a slender fingertip reached out, Li Huan half-expected it to crumble to white ash if gripped too tightly—gone with a mere breath.

Thus, when soft fingers poked her cheek’s yielding flesh, Li Huan froze in place.

“Aren’t you even a little curious about the reward I have for you? I put so much effort into it.”

Her tone rang with genuine disappointment, eyes brimming as if tears might spill any second—like Li Huan had crushed her heart.

Yet the fingers pinching her cheek were pure mischief. Laughter danced unashamed in the depths of those eyes. No trace of sorrow.

Li Huan’s heart thumped wildly at the touch, heedless of her own growing blush.

Seeing Jiang Li had no intention of releasing her, Li Huan grasped the fingers in her hot palm, her eyes gleaming. “So, what is this reward you’re giving me?”

The fingers remained trapped in that burning grip, with no sign of freedom.

But Li Huan’s eager gaze softened Jiang Li. She pivoted, tilting her chin toward the desk with a smug grin.

For a model student like Li Huan, it was quite the prize.

Jiang Li had even emptied her own bag to keep them pristine, hauling them up here personally.

A true show of care.

The desk? Li Huan’s eyes followed. Her familiar backpack sat there—the slim one usually just for show—now bulging noticeably.

This reward seemed substantial.

She strode toward it, pulse quickening with every step. Her mind whirled with guesses about the contents, a thread of anticipation gleaming in her eyes.

Jiang Li’s fingers stayed clasped in hers, trailing obediently behind. She watched Li Huan’s eager advance, a smile tugging at her lips.

Li Huan brimmed with curiosity for the gift. Jiang Li was just as eager for her reaction.

She leaned back against her arms, skirt wrinkling faintly under her. Jiang Li watched as Li Huan unzipped the bag carefully. Recognition dawned, stunning her into momentary blankness.

Jiang Li pressed a fist to her lips to stifle a laugh. Li Huan’s flustered expression was pure delight.

Unwilling to believe it, Li Huan yanked the bag fully open. Her gaze fell on nothing but crisp stacks of test papers and the bag’s smooth leather lining.

A low chuckle sounded beside her. Clutching the backpack, Li Huan turned disbelieving eyes to Jiang Li.

“This is your idea of a ‘reward’?”

Page after page of pristine worksheets—every subject accounted for. Roughly matching the ones she’d skipped over the past month.

How thoughtful.

She stared at the beaming Jiang Li, lips pressed thin. She’d even rummaged eagerly for a “gift,” and this woman had seen every foolish second of it.

Deceived—but not quite.

Li Huan averted her gaze, a mix of shame and annoyance flashing through. All Jiang Li’s fault! That tone of voice—it had twisted her thoughts down the wrong path without thinking.

“Don’t like it?” Jiang Li leaned in, her smile lingering. She plucked a sheet and dangled it before Li Huan. “Good. Stu. Dent.”

She enunciated each syllable slowly, her teasing blatant by the end.

Li Huan’s lips compressed further. She ignored her.

Jiang Li rolled the paper into a cylinder and propped it under her chin. She lowered her lovely, laughing face right in front of Li Huan’s, a faint blush tinting her pale cheeks.

“A good student Alpha waiting patiently at home for her Omega—besides the worksheets your teachers assigned, what more could you want?”

Her expression was all innocent confusion, limpid eyes tilted upward. She studied Li Huan’s averted jawline, waiting kindly for an answer.

She inched closer, her nose nearly brushing Li Huan’s chin.

Li Huan’s grip on the bag tightened in her palms, stirred by the wafts of epiphyllum. The words whispered in her ear, ensnaring her soul.

” Hm?” The sultry voice hovered inches away, coaxing her deepest secrets free. “Say it. Tell me your desires. Your expectations. Let me hear them.”

A siren’s call, seductive and unrelenting.

Li Huan swallowed against the dryness in her throat. She didn’t dare move.

Would her deepest hopes come true?