“Childish? Don’t you think teasing him is fun?”
The smile at the corner of Feng Ye’s mouth did not fade. One hand rested against the windowsill, and he carried all the bright vitality and swagger of youth.
Shangguan Yi: “……” I have a curse on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t know whether I should say it.
The class monitor usually wore a cold expression and looked utterly detached from worldly desires. Admittedly, the way he had bristled just now had been quite pleasant to watch, but most of Shangguan Yi’s delight came simply from seeing Luo Yun angry. After all, more than half of the self-criticism essays Shangguan Yi had contributed to the school were thanks to Luo Yun’s tireless efforts.
“Bro, when did you secretly get involved with the class monitor behind my back?”
Shangguan Yi had met Feng Ye in Grade Ten. Friendship between Alphas was simple: whoever had stronger pheromones and harder fists got the final say. On top of that, Feng Ye was related to people in the school administration. Because of that, although their group was admittedly a little unruly and skipped class more often than they should, none of them had received serious disciplinary records. That had only reinforced Feng Ye’s position among them.
Feng Ye lifted an eyebrow, lazy laughter rippling through his voice. “Want to know?”
Shangguan Yi nodded furiously. “Desperately.”
“Then keep wondering. It’s a secret between him and me.” Feng Ye bent down, picked up the basketball beside his seat, and tossed it to him.
“Are you closer to him or to me?” Shangguan Yi hugged the basketball and pouted, suddenly sounding almost aggrieved. “Sure enough, every Alpha is the same damn kind. Get a wife and forget your brothers!”
Classes Two and Three had PE with the same teacher.
Once they reached the athletic field, Shangguan Yi casually tossed the basketball beside a flower bed. Students from both classes did warm-up exercises together. Shorter students stood in front, while Feng Ye and Shangguan Yi took the last row.
The PE teacher called out the counts while wandering around the formation. You could practically tell from the way students performed the exercises which ones were well behaved and which were troublesome little devils.
For example, there was the handsome boy near the front and center wearing a shearling jacket.
He was tall and slender, and the suit trousers hung slightly loose over his legs. Every movement was properly executed. The exercises were simple enough to look childish, but when performed correctly they were unexpectedly pleasing to watch.
Then there were the Alphas in the back, moving sloppily as though they had no bones in their bodies. Just looking at them was irritating.
Still, the PE teacher said nothing. He knew low-intensity calisthenics held little appeal for Alphas. They were probably all waiting for him to dismiss them so they could play basketball.
While the PE teacher was watching Luo Yun, Feng Ye was watching him too.
He quite liked standing in this position. Facing forward, he could openly look at the person he secretly liked: starting from that fluffy, soft hair, tracing down the slender back of his neck, then following the line of his gaze lower across his lean spine.
They happened to be doing stretches. Luo Yun raised both hands over his head, making his shirt and jacket lift slightly and exposing the clean, slender line of his waist. The skin at his lower back was smooth and luminous, like fine white jade.
“……”
Luo Yun’s hands paused. He lowered his head and glanced at his own waist. Could someone please give him a button that blocked Feng Ye’s thoughts?
“Next, bend down and touch the opposite ankle.” The PE teacher spoke lazily, his voice warmed by the sunlight.
Luo Yun stretched out his arms as usual, but an embarrassing thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
If he bent over, his backside would inevitably stick out.
Feng Ye could not possibly be perverted enough to stare at that, could he?
Luo Yun remained tense throughout the movement. The moment his right hand touched his left ankle, Feng Ye’s voice indeed sounded again—
[Wife’s ankle is so thin. Feels like I could wrap one hand all the way around it.]
Fine. That was not as perverted as Luo Yun had imagined.
No, wait. This was wrong. His standards were being eroded little by little!
If Feng Ye said these things to his face, Luo Yun could at least retort, but the other boy was only thinking them silently.
Aaaaaaaah!
So troublesome!
It was not as though Luo Yun could walk up to Feng Ye and say, “I can hear what you think about me, so stop obsessing over me.”
What if Feng Ye gave him one of those wicked smiles and immediately pierced straight through the issue? “Then you should know I like you, right? Are you accepting me or not?”
Just imagining it made Luo Yun uncomfortable all over. He irritably shook his head, making the stubborn tuft of hair on top wobble wildly.
[Boo-hoo, wife is so cute even when he shakes his head.]
Luo Yun: “……” His fists clenched.
Before dismissing them, the PE teacher stood in front and announced, “We’re doing physical fitness testing next week. Those of you who never exercise should start preparing. Don’t end up unable to pass when the time comes.”
The students groaned in unison, and even the joy of being dismissed was cut nearly in half.
No. 1 High had milk-tea shops on campus, one for the middle-school division and one for the high-school division. Some students added the shop’s contact information so they could order in advance, and when it was not peak hour, part-time workers at the shop would even deliver.
Shangguan Yi happened to see Feng Ye transfer several hundred yuan to the milk-tea shop.
“Are you buying a monthly subscription or something?”
“No. Didn’t I say I’d buy the class monitor milk tea?”
“That takes this much money?”
“I can afford to buy for the whole class.”
Shangguan Yi stopped walking. Once his brain turned over the situation, he understood. So Feng Ye talked about pursuing someone, yet in reality he was using the oldest romance-brain trick imaginable: buying milk tea for the entire class just so he could buy one cup for the class monitor.
Shangguan Yi felt his young heart, which had once worshipped Feng Ye as his big brother, suffer another blow. Thick-skinned as ever, he said, “Then I want the most expensive one.”
Feng Ye gave an acknowledging sound, picked up the basketball beside the flower bed, and spun it on the tip of his finger a few times. Then he noticed Luo Yun walking toward the athletic-field gate.
It looked as though Luo Yun did not plan to stay.
Feng Ye had been preparing to show off his basketball skills for a while.
Feng Ye asked, “Are they going back to the classroom?”
Shangguan Yi shook his head. “No idea. I’ll ask Su Nong.”
He opened his messages and sent a question. Once Shangguan Yi understood the situation, he said, “They’re going to the indoor gym to play volleyball. We can just play our game.”
The other Alphas in class gathered around. Feng Ye turned to them and said, “We’re going to the gym.”
The other boys looked confused—
“The outdoor court is empty. Why are we going to the gym?”
“Brother Ye, let’s just play here. Going over there will waste another few minutes.”
Feng Ye’s tone was flat. “If you want to come, follow me. If you don’t, stay here and play.”
Once he said that, the other Alphas could only drag their lazy steps after him.
Shangguan Yi helplessly spread his hands when he received their pleading looks.
He leaned toward Feng Ye’s ear and lowered his voice. “Brother Ye, as your best friend, I have to give you some advice.”
The basketball spun rapidly on the tip of Feng Ye’s finger without the slightest sign of falling. “Spit it out.”
Shangguan Yi choked for a moment and reminded himself not to argue with someone whose brain had been taken over by romance. “Don’t become a bootlicking simp. If you keep licking, you’ll end up with nothing.”
Then Feng Ye drove his knee into the hollow behind Shangguan Yi’s knee.
Shangguan Yi thought Brother Ye might still be salvageable. At least the word “simp” could still make him angry. He was just preparing a long lecture to guide Feng Ye back onto the right path when—
Feng Ye curled his lips and said, “Don’t people also say that if you keep licking long enough, you’ll eventually get everything?”
“……” Shangguan Yi was profoundly speechless. So that was what had made him angry. With the expression of someone who had seen through all worldly attachments, he said, “Bro, you’re beyond saving.”
***
On Luo Yun’s side, he had barely received a few balls when the sounds of noisy horseplay came from the entrance to the gym.
Lin Ke, standing across the volleyball net, saw Feng Ye arrive. His eyes lit up so brightly that he forgot to receive the ball, and the blue-and-yellow volleyball rolled across the floor.
It was not Luo Yun’s imagination. Ever since Feng Ye started playing basketball on the neighboring court, Lin Ke’s movements had grown more and more serious.
The gym contained more than just students from Classes Two and Three. There were also sports-track students there.
The students who had been watching the sports-track students play basketball slowly migrated toward Feng Ye’s game instead.
Tired from volleyball, Luo Yun sat on a chair beside the court and panted while resting.
A burst of surprised shouting came from beyond the net.
He looked up. Feng Ye was tall, his brows and eyes sharp. Clear muscle lines stood out along his arms as he shot the ball, while his disheveled black hair carried a roguish wildness. His schoolboy appearance could not hide the cutting intensity unique to an Alpha. Every movement was fluid, striking, and unapologetically dazzling.
Few people knew that Luo Yun could play basketball too. It was simply that Alphas usually preferred playing with other Alphas. Most Alphas did not discriminate against Omegas or Betas, but their bodies were stronger, and they worried about accidentally injuring someone during the physical contact of dribbling and defense. For convenience, they generally played only with other Alphas.
All three opponents together could not contain Feng Ye. He moved flexibly, broke through their defense with a feint, stepped back, and flicked his wrist. The basketball dropped through the hoop with perfect accuracy, making the red-and-blue net sway lightly as the gym erupted in cheers.
“Aaaaaah, he’s so handsome!” Lin Ke, resting nearby, tightly wrapped both arms around Luo Yun’s arm and shook it hard.
Amid the sea of people, Feng Ye suddenly glanced over in their direction.
Their gazes crossed in midair, seeming to strike tiny sparks. Feng Ye quickly turned his head and began moving with his teammates again.
“Was he looking at me? Aaaaaah!” Lin Ke’s face was flushed, perfectly displaying the hazy, inexperienced sweetness of a young crush.
Su Nong agreed, “It really did look like he glanced this way.”
Luo Yun pressed his lips together and said nothing. In the past, he would never have noticed such a tiny detail.
“I’ve been watching him all day and haven’t seen Feng Ye get close to any Omega.” Lin Ke suddenly brought it up. “Could Shangguan Yi have just been talking nonsense?”
He did not notice Luo Yun’s body stiffen slightly or the unnatural look in his eyes. Lin Ke continued on his own, “Brother Luo, do you usually see any Omega who’s especially close to Feng Ye?”
Luo Yun was so awkward that his fingertips curled inward. He gave a vague answer. “Not really.”
Lin Ke turned and asked Su Nong, “Holy crap, it couldn’t be you, could it? I saw tons of people in the group saying they were jealous that you had the advantage of being close to him!”
Su Nong gave a radiant smile. “How could it be me? If there were really anything between us, I’d be the first person showing off about it in the group.”
Lin Ke relaxed. “That’s good. But I still need to observe more carefully and figure out exactly which Omega is secretly seducing him.”
Luo Yun felt as though an arrow had struck him directly in the knee and guiltily touched the tip of his nose.
Luckily, he was not an Omega.
Besides, Feng Ye had made the first move. It had nothing to do with him.
“I’m going to the bathroom.” Luo Yun stood and brushed the dust from his trousers.
Before he could push open the door, the muffled sounds of fists striking flesh came through the gap, mixed faintly with restrained groans of pain.
Luo Yun hesitated for several seconds before slowly pushing the door open.
ABO status was a secondary sex characteristic. The school bathrooms were divided by primary sex into male and female facilities, with stalls inside for privacy.
The people causing trouble had not even bothered choosing a stall for concealment. Instead, they had forced their victim directly into a corner, where sunlight streamed in through a high window.
The attackers were tall and broad, dressed in sports uniforms. They were probably students from the athletics track.
They were beating another Alpha.
The atmosphere was heavy. The Alpha being beaten seemed ashamed and lowered his head even farther.
“What are you staring at? Planning to play hero and save an Alpha?” one of the boys asked.
Luo Yun stared at them for several seconds, then opened the nearest stall and went inside. Outside, the sounds of fists and kicks gradually resumed.
Alpha genes influenced personality to a certain degree. Alphas tended to be arrogant, aggressive, and violent. Many Alphas who could not receive soothing during their ruts became volatile, and severe cases could even lead to violent outbreaks.
When Luo Yun finished using the bathroom and came out, the beating was still going on.
“Aren’t the three of you taking the municipal assessment in two weeks?” Luo Yun’s voice was calm and without much inflection, yet it made the boys stop hitting their victim.
“So? What are you trying to say?” The leader released the bullied student’s collar and slowly advanced toward Luo Yun.
His gaze was dark. The agitation of his rut filled his chest, and turbulent pheromones drifted through the air.
The sharp, burning smell of strong liquor rode the breeze into Luo Yun’s nose. It was the scent of pheromones.
How could he smell pheromones?
Pulling his thoughts back, Luo Yun stood straight and said evenly, “Nothing. I only wanted to remind the three of you that if you receive a major disciplinary demerit, you won’t be allowed to take the assessment. When that affects—”
“Are you fucking threatening me?” The leading Alpha had lost all reason. Violence surged through his blood as he seized Luo Yun by the collar and yanked him upward. His right fist clenched and immediately swung down.
Luo Yun raised an arm to block it. A gust swept past his temple, bringing the clean resinous scent of white pine wrapped in mint.
A tremendous crash followed in the next second.
When Luo Yun opened his eyes again, the Alpha who had been gripping his collar so aggressively had been kicked nearly five meters away.
“You think you’re tough? You even dare grab my person by the collar?” Feng Ye’s voice was low and deep as he unhurriedly lowered his leg.
Luo Yun, who had no idea when he had become somebody’s “person”: “……”
The Alpha who had been kicked away clutched his abdomen and remained unable to recover for a long while. Apart from the unbearable pain in his stomach, his brain felt as though a knife had been thrust inside and twisted violently. It was the most primitive suppression of one Alpha’s pheromones by another, an absolute dominance written into their genes. Alphas were not born equal.
Luo Yun did not know why he had been able to smell the leaking pheromones. Very soon, the pheromones vanished completely, and once again all he could smell was the familiar disinfectant odor of the bathroom.
The other two bullies and the Alpha who had been beaten all had ugly expressions.
Luo Yun did not understand, but they knew perfectly well that Feng Ye was attacking them with pheromones. They immediately released their own pheromones in defense.
“Your person?” The Alpha who had been kicked wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. The malicious smile in his eyes was completely undisguised as he stared directly at Luo Yun.
“What, you think he’s yours instead?” Feng Ye clicked his tongue. A trace of impatience flashed through his pitch-black eyes, and his tone dripped with disdain. “Three against one? How pathetic can you get? Ganging up on someone because you’re useless? Don’t tell me you’re so weak you can’t win one-on-one.”
“You fucking—” The boy started to get up and fight, only for his two companions to grab him firmly.
“Bro, forget it. That’s Feng Ye.”
“His family…”
They did not finish the sentence, but everyone present understood. The sports-track students were about to undergo their assessment, and the principal was Feng Ye’s own maternal uncle. Nothing good would come from making the incident bigger. The leading Alpha glared at Luo Xiangyu, who was sitting on the floor. “You got lucky this time.”
“Thanks.” The boy who had been crouching in the corner stood up. Luo Xiangyu knew Luo Yun; he saw Luo Yun’s photograph on the school honor board every day. “I’m Luo Xiangyu from Class Ten. If you hadn’t spoken up—”
Luo Yun lowered his eyes and interrupted him in a flat voice. “You don’t need to thank me. Thank Feng Ye.”
Luo Xiangyu gave Feng Ye an awkward smile. “You’re really a good person.”
Feng Ye snorted. This was the first time anyone had ever handed him the “good person” card. It was almost funny.
[If my wife hadn’t wanted to get involved, who the fuck would bother with you?]
He turned around and tugged at Luo Yun’s sleeve. “Let’s go. The milk tea I bought to apologize to you is getting cold.”
Luo Yun glanced at Feng Ye’s hand. The veins on the back were clearly visible, and his knuckles were long. He withdrew his gaze and gave a quiet “Mm.”
He was wondering when exactly Feng Ye had started liking him.
Luo Yun knew absolutely nothing about it.
When they returned to the gym, a single glance showed that every student in Class Three had a cup of milk tea. The extra drinks had been distributed among the students in Class Two. Most of what Feng Ye had ordered consisted of fruit teas and classic milk teas.
Feng Ye brought over a strawberry rice-cake milk tea. “This one is yours.”
Meeting Luo Yun’s clear, bright gaze, Feng Ye’s face heated slightly. “I saw you carrying one of these home after school last time.”
[He probably likes strawberry flavor.]
“Mm. Thank you.” Luo Yun held the milk tea, its warmth passing through the cup into his palms. Shangguan Yi called out from the other side, and Feng Ye turned and walked away.
Once Luo Yun returned to his seat, Su Nong asked, “Why were you gone so long just now?”
Luo Yun replied, “Nothing. I ran into something that delayed me.”
Lin Ke noticed in surprise that the drink in Luo Yun’s hand was different from everyone else’s. He had received milk tea too, and he happened to like strawberry flavor, so he said, “Brother Luo, can I trade with you? Mine hasn’t been opened yet. Fruit tea is too light for me.”
“But if you like strawberry flavor too, then never mind,” he added.
Luo Yun tightened his grip on the cup slightly. In truth, he did not like strawberry flavor. The milk tea he had carried home after school last time had been bought for his younger sister.
From the corner of his eye, he looked toward the boy on the other side of the volleyball net.
Luo Yun said, “I’ll drink this one. I like strawberry flavor too.”
Author’s Note:
Minor revision in the middle. I previously wrote that Yunyun instinctively closed his eyes, but that didn’t make much sense.
He’s a Beta and capable of fighting back. Besides, he normally helps enforce discipline, which is why he couldn’t stop himself from speaking up.
And the gym was full of people. If a real fight had broken out, everyone would have gone to help him.