YPSSS Chapter 06

Xia Shiruan’s eyelid twitched heavily, and he quickly turned his head away to avoid eye contact with Xie Ji.

Without hesitation, he used his strength to decisively push Yi Junya off himself.

“What’s wrong?” Yi Junya pouted, still somewhat dissatisfied.

Xia Shiruan closed his eyes briefly and said, “I’m not feeling well. I need to use the restroom.”

“Huh?” Yi Junya’s eyes widened as he noticed Xia Shiruan’s poor complexion and hurriedly asked, “Where are you feeling uncomfortable?”

“My head hurts.”

Xia Shiruan didn’t want to say another word.

Ever since those people came in, his head felt like someone was hammering it violently – their scent, compared to Yi Junya’s, had an extra hint of aggression.

Xia Shiruan had no time to wonder why scents alone could feel aggressive. He just wanted to leave quickly.

“Okay okay, go ahead!” Yi Junya saw that he was already standing up and quickly pointed out the restroom’s location. “It’s over there, don’t go the wrong way! Hey… want me to go with you?”

“…No need.”

It wouldn’t look right for Yi Junya, an Omega, to wait outside the Beta restroom.

Xia Shiruan grabbed his bag and left without sparing Xie Ji another glance.

After Xia Shiruan’s figure disappeared through the doorway, Chen Rongxin finally nudged Xie Ji with his elbow. “Why do you keep staring over there? Did you take a liking to that little Omega just now?”

Xie Ji withdrew his gaze. “Which one?”

Chen Rongxin said, “Obviously the one in the white T-shirt! The other one looks decent too… but you don’t like Omegas with heavy makeup, right? They’re not your type.”

Xie Ji turned his head, looked at him for two seconds, let out a laugh, and said, “What Omega? That was Xia Shiruan. You didn’t recognize him?”

Chen Rongxin was stunned for a good while before slapping his thigh. “Xia Shiruan? Holy shit! You mean that Xia Shiruan?!”

“Mm.” Xie Ji said casually, “You still remember?”

–

Past the stage and further ahead was the restroom.

Although the exhibition hall was quite generous in its setup, due to space constraints and other reasons, the restroom area wasn’t very large.

The Omega restroom was on another floor, but the Alpha and Beta restrooms were on the same floor, separated only by a wall, with a shared external sink area.

Xia Shiruan was somewhat of a germaphobe and rarely used public restrooms, but today was a special case. He had no choice but to go in.

After a while, he came out to wash his hands, his face still a little pale.

Xia Shiruan had his head slightly lowered, intending to splash some water on his face. He hadn’t heard any sound, but suddenly felt the overhead light being blocked. Startled, he looked up to see a tall figure reflected in the mirror.

Xie Ji was still wearing his black cap, hands in his pockets. He tilted his head as he stared at him from behind. He didn’t look like he was there to wash his hands.

Xia Shiruan met his eyes for two seconds, said nothing, and lowered his head again, turning on the faucet.

“Xia Shiruan,” Xie Ji’s sinister voice came from behind, “You came all this way for a date, huh?”

Xia Shiruan continued washing his face without turning around.

Seeing that Xia Shiruan was ignoring him, Xie Ji stepped forward and asked, “Do your parents know you’re dating?”

His voice was lazy yet deep.

Xia Shiruan’s movements paused, and he lifted his head in confusion, meeting Xie Ji’s mocking eyes.

Xia Shiruan couldn’t understand how someone could be like this, deliberately cornering people in the restroom to ask such pointless questions.

So what if he was dating? He was twenty-three, not a minor.

“Good student? Hmm?” Xie Ji said while carefully watching his expressions.

Xia Shiruan ignored his provocation and turned his face away. He pulled out a paper towel to dry his hands, and said calmly, “I’m not dating anyone.”

Xie Ji clearly didn’t believe him. He snorted, “Who are you fooling? That little Omega was all over you.”

Someone like Xia Shiruan was like a block of wood. The fact that he’d let someone cling to him like that meant there had to be something going on.

“If you don’t believe me, there’s nothing I can do about it,” Xia Shiruan said.

After washing his face, Xia Shiruan felt slightly more clear-headed. He carefully dried his face and hands, then turned to face him directly, saying coolly, “Excuse me, I need to leave.”

This wasn’t his home. If during their first meeting at his house he’d needed to be polite as a host, now they were in public, and since this person was deliberately causing trouble, Xia Shiruan couldn’t be bothered to engage with him.

Xie Ji glared at him with a nasty expression. His tall frame completely blocked the entrance as he stared at Xia Shiruan for a long while, refusing to move.

Xia Shiruan waited for a minute until his patience ran out. “You…”

Before he could finish, Xie Ji suddenly lowered his head, leaned in closer, and took a light sniff near his ear.

An Omega’s pheromones entered his nose. Xie Ji’s expression changed immediately.

Having been a top-tier Alpha for seven or eight years, even without having actually smelled it before, Xie Ji could easily tell the difference between pheromones and regular perfume.

The woody scent coming from Xia Shiruan was clearly an Omega’s pheromones, and it wasn’t faint.

But nowadays Alphas and Omegas always wore scent blockers when going out, so how could there be such a strong scent? Unless it was left during heat.

How could a Beta like Xia Shiruan have the scent of an Omega in heat on him?

“What’s this smell?” Xie Ji’s nose twitched. “Is it from that Omega from earlier?”

After two seconds of silence, Xie Ji’s eyes filled with disbelief. “Never would have guessed, Xia Shiruan. You look so weak, but you play pretty wild, huh? So that’s what you’re into? You’ve already…”

But Xia Shiruan couldn’t clearly hear what he was saying.

Although he usually had a good temper, at this moment, for some unknown reason, an inexplicable irritation welled up in his chest.

That sniff from Xie Ji seemed to flip some switch, making his whole body go numb. Beyond just the headache, his temples were throbbing, and every cell in his body was screaming to… punch the person in front of him, or maybe bite him hard.

As if only that would relieve some of his discomfort.

But the person before him couldn’t read the atmosphere at all and kept saying things that made no sense.

With each movement of his mouth, Xia Shiruan felt like countless needles were pricking his scalp, painful and numbing.

His vision started to blur.

“And you’re supposed to be a good student, but you come to places like this to fool around with people like that?” As Xie Ji spoke, his words came faster. Even he didn’t know what he was angry about. Seeing Xia Shiruan standing there like a wooden post without saying a word made him even more furious. Just as he was about to throw more sarcastic comments, he noticed something was very wrong with the person in front of him.

Pale-faced and swaying, Xia Shiruan looked like he could barely stand. His right hand pressed against the sink counter, knuckles turning white.

Xie Ji paused, swallowing his next words. “What’s wrong with you?”

Xia Shiruan thought, nothing much, just about to faint.

His jaw slackened, and the hand supporting him on the marble counter dropped weakly as his body began to slide down.

Xie Ji’s pupils dilated sharply.

In the last second before losing consciousness, Xia Shiruan vaguely heard Xie Ji shout “Xia Shiruan” again, sounding somewhat anxious.

Xie Ji’s tone was different from the sarcastic one he’d been using since he came back, and unlike when he’d said “I hate you” years ago. In his hazy mind, it seemed to take him back to even earlier times.

To when Xia Shiruan didn’t want to go out to play with him and just wanted to stay home reading, or when they were out and he wanted to leave early.

However, Xia Shiruan thought this might just be his imagination.

His life had always been uneventful, with the only exception being seven or eight years ago.

After that, everything had been peaceful.

These sudden bouts of vomiting or fainting could be considered major disruptions to Xia Shiruan’s peaceful life in recent years.

But strangely, they had all happened to be witnessed by Xie Ji, who had only been back for a short week.

Xia Shiruan vaguely felt this wasn’t a good sign, but he had no time to think about it now.