After school that afternoon, there was an hour and a half before evening self-study. Feng Ye did not go online with Shangguan Yi and the others. He still had perfume to buy.
“Come on, Bro. Without you, our strength drops by half. I’m trying to climb the rankings, not tank them.” Shangguan Yi wrapped an arm around Feng Ye’s shoulder and stubbornly refused to let him leave.
“Get lost. You think I’m just a tool for you to use?” Feng Ye slapped his hand away. “I have something important to do. Go play by yourself.”
“Oh, fine.” Shangguan Yi could only let go, then asked curiously, “What important thing? How does your best brother not know about it?”
Feng Ye casually tossed out, “Buying perfume,” and walked away.
Shangguan Yi remained where he was, muttering to himself. “So he’s buying perfume. Perfume—per! fume!”
A sentence suddenly drifted through his mind: Spring has arrived. It is once again the season when animals mate.
Damn it, aaaaaah!
Feng Ye rode his motorcycle to an upscale shopping center downtown and went straight to 1n1, a top luxury perfume brand. He actually knew nothing about perfume, but he had seen his father Ling Yixue use the brand before and had remembered the name after a few casual glances.
The saleswoman was highly perceptive. One look at the teenager’s clothes, extraordinary bearing, and the complete lack of hesitation on his face told her that this was a decisive Alpha customer.
She welcomed him enthusiastically. After Feng Ye explained what he wanted, she led him through a series of perfumes carrying snowy notes. Feng Ye kept feeling that none of them were quite right, but the saleswoman never became impatient and instead looked slightly apologetic.
Feng Ye remembered something and called his father. Ling Yixue was a doctor at the municipal hospital, and Feng Ye was lucky enough to catch him during a break, so the call connected quickly.
“A perfume similar to your pheromone scent?” Ling Yixue adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose, one hand tucked into the pocket of his white coat. After thinking for a while, he recalled the closest fragrance. “Try that 1n1 one called Deep Winter, Winter Ising.”
“That fragrance comes in two versions. One has a stronger mint note, and the other is more woody. Choose whichever you prefer.”
Feng Ye said, “Got it. Thanks, Dad.”
Ling Yixue’s lips curved in a good mood. “Why? Are you buying someone a gift? Do you have someone you like?”
Feng Ye laughed and did not try to hide it. “Mm. My wife said he wants to smell my pheromones!”
Feng Ye’s happiness was obvious even through the phone. Ling Yixue smiled gently. He and Feng Heng had divorced two years earlier, and Ling Yixue had worried Feng Ye would not be able to accept it. The child, only in middle school then, had cried, made scenes, and even run away from home. Now it seemed he had finally come to terms with it.
“Good luck, Xiaoye! If you have any questions related to Omegas, you can always ask Dad.”
Ling Yixue’s research focused on abnormal Omega differentiation, so he had studied virtually every area of Omega-related knowledge.
The other end of the line went silent for two seconds. “He isn’t an Omega. He’s a Beta. You won’t mind, right?”
Ling Yixue paused, then smiled. “Of course I won’t.”
After ending the call, Feng Ye asked the saleswoman to wrap up the Winter Ising perfume. Her face immediately brightened. This fragrance was a limited-edition collector’s release, and a thirty-milliliter bottle cost more than ten thousand yuan. The teenager in front of her really was from a wealthy family. She hurried to bring out the perfume, but Feng Ye frowned when he saw the bottle, which was smaller than his palm, and looked displeased.
How many times could anyone spray such a tiny amount? He had been planning to give it to Luo Yun. The thought of Luo Yun spraying Feng Ye’s pheromone scent on himself every day—
Fuck. He could not handle that!
Feng Ye said, “Give me four bottles. Wrap three together and tie a bow or something around them. Keep the other one separate for me.”
“!!!” The saleswoman’s pupils widened in shock. Thinking of her commission, she could not suppress the smile on her face. “I’ll have stock transferred from our other stores immediately!”
Taking the teenager’s card, she quickly packed the perfume and processed the payment.
***
Before evening self-study, while Luo Yun was still away, Feng Ye secretly sprayed a little perfume onto his wrist and sat in his seat waiting for Luo Yun to return.
Luo Yun and Su Nong came back to the classroom after dinner. The moment they entered, Luo Yun saw the unusual sight of Feng Ye actually sitting at his desk. Normally, at this hour, Feng Ye would be out going online or playing basketball, and he often disappeared entirely during evening self-study.
Luo Yun had barely sat down and had not even taken out his books when someone tugged lightly at his sleeve.
The classroom was air-conditioned, so Feng Ye had removed his coat. He wore a hoodie underneath and rolled the sleeve upward.
He placed his arm across Luo Yun’s desk. His skin was fairly pale, with a cool undertone. Blue-purple veins shifted faintly beneath the skin, giving the arm an inexplicably sensual appearance.
Luo Yun knew that once summer arrived, Feng Ye’s skin would tan somewhat darker.
“What are you doing?” Luo Yun asked.
Feng Ye said, “Didn’t you want to smell it? I sprayed on a perfume that’s pretty close. Go ahead and smell it. I’ll satisfy your curiosity.”
Luo Yun pressed his lips together and stared at the arm lying across his desk, hesitating.
When he met Feng Ye’s eyes, they were as black as ink but clean and straightforward, while the usual sharpness of his brows and eyes looked slightly softer beneath the classroom lights.
There were not many people in the classroom. Su Nong had gone to the bathroom, but Luo Yun still felt a little embarrassed.
He had intended to refuse, but Feng Ye’s inner happiness kept echoing beside his ear. It was an Alpha’s simplest pursuit, the most sincere form of courtship. Feng Ye wanted to show off his pheromones and wanted the person he liked to know what they were like.
Especially after Luo Yun heard that Feng Ye had skipped dinner and rushed straight downtown the moment school ended just to buy perfume.
It was only smelling it. There should not be anything serious about that, right?
Thinking this, Luo Yun placed a hand on Feng Ye’s arm, leaned slightly forward, and lowered his head to smell Feng Ye’s wrist.
Feng Ye’s hand was beautiful. His fingers were long, the lines of his palm complex but orderly, and the shape of his wrist bones sharply defined. His pulse beat strongly beneath the skin. Because his body temperature ran high, the faint perfume scent slowly spread outward.
It really did resemble the scent Luo Yun had smelled before: cool mint with a slight bitterness, wrapped in the chill of fir, mixed with notes of earth and dry grass. Slightly sweet freesia blended with white pine, clean and refreshing.
It lacked the cold hostility naturally present in Feng Ye’s personality. The fragrance was pleasant and came infinitely close to the smell of Feng Ye’s pheromones, but it was still missing that final cutting sharpness.
Luo Yun’s nose accidentally brushed the slightly raised blood vessel at Feng Ye’s wrist. Feng Ye’s fingertips trembled, and his thoughts tangled into a chaotic ball of yarn. He had never had this kind of deliberate physical contact with Luo Yun before.
Luo Yun had touched his hands while catching him skipping class, and as deskmates their arms had occasionally brushed together during the hot summer, but this was different. Luo Yun was deliberately leaning close to smell Feng Ye’s scent.
When Luo Yun lowered his head, the snow-white skin at the back of his neck was completely exposed to Feng Ye’s view.
There was not a single blemish, no slightly raised gland, and no scent, yet Feng Ye could not take his eyes away.
[I really want to lick it. Lick that patch of skin until it’s damp, wait until wife lets his guard down, then bite down gently and rub my teeth over it with just enough pressure. Wife would definitely go all soft.]
Luo Yun: “……???”
His eyes widened slightly. It was the first time he had heard anything more explicit than hugging, kissing, or marking. Even Luo Yun, usually calm beyond measure, could not keep the tips of his ears from growing hot and red.
It was as though someone were reading an erotic story starring him directly to his face, and embarrassment inexplicably flooded his expression.
The shock was too sudden. As Luo Yun leaned forward, the rear legs of his stool lifted off the floor. His balance had not been stable to begin with, and the abrupt movement sent him pitching forward.
He kissed it……
Luo Yun pressed his lips together slightly. Warmth spread over them, and the fragrance gathered completely around his mouth. The soft strands of hair falling naturally over his forehead lightly tickled Feng Ye’s palm.
Feng Ye froze. Luo Yun had kissed his wrist.
Feng Ye’s black-and-white eyes widened. Excitement, exhilaration, and delight intertwined in their depths before he quickly forced all of it back down.
Luo Yun jerked his head away very quickly, but that warm, soft touch had already left Feng Ye wildly excited. A tingling sensation like electricity raced along his spine. Feng Ye’s nostrils flared as he slowly withdrew his wrist, his voice slightly hoarse. “So… did it smell good?”
Luo Yun’s entire face had turned red. His cheeks were terrifyingly hot, as though scorched by fire. Feng Ye’s blazing inner voice crashed over his ears in wave after wave, throwing Luo Yun’s heartbeat into chaos.
He covered an earlobe so red it looked ready to bleed and tried to make his voice sound normal. “It smelled pretty good. A light mint fragrance wrapped in subtle fir and white-pine notes. It just felt…”
Luo Yun racked his brain for a description. “It felt like it was missing a little of the cutting chill of deep winter. It was always just slightly off.”
Feng Ye listened carefully to the entire evaluation. Hearing Luo Yun say that, he could not help feeling disappointed too.
Maybe there simply was no perfume in the world that smelled exactly like his pheromones.
He really wanted Luo Yun to know what his scent was like.
The tall Alpha bent his back slightly at that moment and lowered his head, looking like an abandoned big dog, pitiful from head to toe. It became even worse when Luo Yun heard that Feng Ye had bought three bottles in one go because he wanted to give them to him, yet now that there was a slight difference in the scent, Feng Ye no longer wanted to give them away because they were not truly his scent.
The stream of disappointed thoughts kept muttering beside Luo Yun’s ear, leaving the tip of his heart strangely numb and tingling.
He was not a cold machine. He could be moved too.
His lips moved uncertainly, and Luo Yun’s thoughts drifted. Without quite knowing why, he blurted out, “Why don’t I smell the back of your neck instead? Isn’t that where the scent is strongest? Maybe I’ll be able to smell it.”
Feng Ye’s head snapped up, his eyes seeming to light. “But Betas can’t smell—” He automatically cut himself off. Even if Luo Yun could not smell anything, he would still be getting that close to Feng Ye’s gland.
[Fuck, something this good can actually happen!!!]
“Then go ahead and smell it. Maybe you really can smell something. Pheromones are secreted from here, after all.” Afraid Luo Yun might change his mind, Feng Ye hurriedly turned sideways and lowered his head between their seats.
He tugged his hood backward, exposing the clean, harmless-looking gland at the back of his neck.
An Alpha was displaying his softest, most vulnerable place just like that.
Heaven only knew how excited Feng Ye was at that moment.
Merely thinking about it sent excitement rushing uncontrollably through him.
He did not notice that the image he normally maintained as the school tyrant who feared neither heaven nor earth had already collapsed by more than half.
There were not many people in the classroom, and their seats were in the back few rows. The students in front were all concentrating on their homework.
No one noticed that in the most secluded corner, two teenage boys had drawn close together so one could smell the other’s gland.
Luo Yun had already started regretting his words the moment they left his mouth, but Feng Ye had lowered his head in front of him so readily.
“……” Fine. He would smell it.
This time Luo Yun moved quickly and paid close attention to the distance between them, so there was no repeat of the accidental kiss. He really did smell it: a cutting winter chill, Feng Ye’s pheromone scent. Now Luo Yun was certain that he genuinely could smell an Alpha’s pheromones. It seemed he needed to find time to visit the hospital and ask what was going on.
Although Luo Yun did not kiss him this time, the hot, scorching breath of the person Feng Ye loved spilled completely over the back of his neck.
Feng Ye’s scalp went numb in an instant, and an electric tingling rushed through every limb and bone.
It was a sensation Feng Ye had never imagined before. The intense pleasure seemed to seep into his bones and spread outward from his spine. His breathing gradually quickened, and faint embarrassment colored the tips of his ears.
The thought that Luo Yun was smelling his gland sent blood rushing through Feng Ye. A flash of heat crossed his eyes, and even the breath leaving his mouth felt hot.
“It does seem like I can smell a tiny bit.” Luo Yun took out his books as he spoke, without revealing the full truth.
He calmed himself and focused all his attention on the textbook in front of him. From the corner of his eye, he saw Feng Ye slowly straighten.
Feng Ye lifted a hand, covered his eyes, leaned against the window, and breathed slowly.
Luo Yun turned to the page where he had last been working and had just picked up his pen when a hoarse inner voice, roughened by panting, dropped straight into his heart.
[I’m hard.]
……….Luo Yun’s brain completely crashed.