Baby

Qin Shuhe and Chu Tao worked fast. They counted heads for the trip and booked two SUVs. When it came time to reserve the hotel, Chu Tao considered that there were two couples in the group and checked with everyone in the chat one by one.

[Xiaosu, are you staying with your boyfriend?]

The Omega who'd been called on sent a rabbit sticker making an OK sign.

Chu Tao went on: [Xiao Qi, are you staying with Sui-ge?]

Shi Qi saw the message and answered without thinking.

17: [We're staying separately.]

Chu Tao: [?]

Ss: [?]

...What was Shang Sui sending a question mark for? As if he didn't enjoy stirring things up.

Qin Shuhe asked, baffled: [Why are those two staying in one room?]

Chu Tao: [You didn't know? They're a couple!]

Qin Shuhe: [...Huh?? Who and who are you talking about???!]

Once it clicked, Qin Shuhe assumed they must have hit it off last time, when he took Shang Sui around Meiyan Academy:

[Shi Qi! How could you not tell me something this big? If you ask me, I count as your matchmaker too. No, seriously, bro, this really hurts a little!]

[And ge, how come you didn't tell me either? Am I not your favorite student anymore?!]

That whole string of messages from Qin Shuhe made Shi Qi dizzy just looking at it. From the bottom of her heart, she replied with one line.

17: [You really are a walking chatterbox.]

Qin Shuhe: [...]

Shi Qi thought about it, then replied to Chu Tao.

17: [We had a fight.]

Ss: [Yep. We're living separately for now.]

Shi Qi didn't even know where to start. Beside her, Lin Yan burst out laughing. 'Hahahahaha, Shang Sui is seriously funny! He says it like you two have really been living together!'

Chu Tao seemed amused too:

[Alright, alright~ Young couples have a little friction. That's normal.]

[Then I'll book two rooms for you.]

They were leaving Friday. Shi Qi checked the weather forecast for Xiaozhongshan. The days still looked bright enough, but Saturday night might bring a violent storm.

The moment Qin Shuhe saw her, he started hollering. 'Shi Qi! The day you dragged my ge away by force, I knew it—you snatch decent men and never mean any good—'

Shi Qi couldn't be bothered and played along. 'That's right. I forced all of it. If he didn't submit to me, he could forget about surviving in Capital City.'

'...R-really?'

If most people said that, it would sound like a joke. But when Shi Qi said something this much like a bully, it was weirdly believable.

Shi Qi was just about to tell him to guess when she pulled open the car door and saw Shang Sui in the back row. The lazy look on her face changed at once.

Qin Shuhe was still in the middle of a moral and emotional crisis, yelling from behind, 'That doesn't seem great, does it? I mean, whatever you do I'm on your side, but shouldn't you use a gentler method? Like seducing him or something—'

Shang Sui lifted a hand to Shi Qi and gave it a little wave. The Ring gleaming at the base of his finger caught her eyes and held them there.

By the time she came back to herself, Qin Shuhe had gotten even more outrageous. Shi Qi's mouth twitched.

What seducing, what kind of nonsense was that?

When Shang Sui wasn't around, she could say whatever came to mind. The second she saw him in person, Shi Qi snapped her head around and improvised in a rush. 'That melodrama you watched yesterday really stuck with you. You even memorized the lines.'

As she spoke, she kept shooting Qin Shuhe frantic looks and lowered her voice to warn him: 'Stop talking! Shang Sui's in the car.'

Qin Shuhe saw Shang Sui and changed tack at once. 'Right! Good memory, huh? I just like a little forced-love plotline.'

He lowered his voice too, copying Shi Qi, and said with half-fake feeling, 'You dare do it but not admit it. Sigh!'

Shi Qi: [...]

The driver helped load their luggage into the trunk. Shi Qi hesitated a little, then still went to the back row, only to sit on one side while Shang Sui sat on the other, with an empty seat between them.

'Why are you sitting so far away?'

Almost the moment Shang Sui finished speaking, Qin Shuhe in the passenger seat whipped around, eyes bright, obviously deeply interested in the state of their relationship.

Expressionless, Shi Qi lifted a hand and drew it across her throat, warning him that if he kept yapping she'd cut his head off.

Qin Shuhe could only turn back around awkwardly.

'Because we had a fight,' Shi Qi reminded him under her breath. 'We need to keep a little distance right now.'

'Oh. Forgot.' Shang Sui smiled and obligingly lowered his voice. 'Want me to coax you?'

'...No.'

The others got in one after another. Chu Tao was the last one up, and when she saw the back row she couldn't help laughing. 'You two are starting the separation already?'

As she spoke, she looked around. 'Everyone here?'

Once everyone answered, Chu Tao used the walkie-talkie to call Lin Yan in the other car. 'We're good over here. Let's go, let's go!'

Not long after they got on the road, Shi Qi started to feel drowsy.

Her schedule had been upside down for ages. At this hour she was always sleepy. Before long, her eyes were drifting shut.

Maybe the heat in the car was too strong, but a restless warmth lingered in her body and would not go away. She frowned, uncomfortable. In her haze she caught a scent that set her at ease, and instinctively leaned toward its source.

Just before Shi Qi tipped over, Shang Sui reached out and caught her face in his palm.

He shifted lightly into the seat beside her and guided her over, letting Shi Qi sleep on his shoulder.

Qin Shuhe happened to turn around and saw them already leaning close together. He instantly forgot all about Shi Qi's warning. 'Ge, Shi Qi said she forced you into being with her. Is that true or not?'

Shi Qi's spoiled-young-master temper hadn't formed in a day. Not only did the elders indulge her, Jiang Yoning had a lawless streak too.

Qin Shuhe still remembered a dinner with Shi Qi and her sister not long after college started. They were talking about dating, and Jiang Yoning had said lightly: Baby, later on you can't date an Alpha with conditions that are too good, at least not better than our family's. That way once you're married, you can bully him however you want, and if he makes you angry you can lock him in the house.

That outrageous declaration left Qin Shuhe, a Beta, staring in shock. Worse, the newly adult Shi Qi, with that angelically innocent face of hers, had nodded beside her.

So when Shi Qi had been talking nonsense just now, Qin Shuhe really had believed it for a second.

But thinking it over, at first he'd assumed Shang Sui was like their last teaching assistant, someone Old Xie had brought in because he cherished talent. But after enough time, it was obvious from Shang Sui's clothes and jewelry that his circumstances were excellent; working at Meiyan Academy looked more like a hobby. Besides, Shang Sui's personality had nothing to do with letting himself be pushed around.

Qin Shuhe figured Shi Qi was joking. Still, he found it incredible that the two of them were dating and wanted to ask a little more.

Chu Tao had been on her phone, but at that she let out a breathy shriek. 'Whoa! Forced!'

There was another couple in the car. The Omega grabbed her Alpha excitedly, apparently muttering that it was thrilling.

Under everyone's curious gaze, Shang Sui said in an airy, unserious tone, 'So you're the one who forced me, Xiao Qi?'

Shi Qi seemed annoyed by the noise. Not looking happy, she burrowed into Shang Sui's neck as if refusing to answer.

Feeling the soft brush of her hair against his neck, Shang Sui reached up and covered Shi Qi's ears. 'Be good. Sleep.'

After that, he looked up at Qin Shuhe:

'What do you think?'

Qin Shuhe made a gesture of stitching his mouth shut.

Fine. Got it.

Judging from that single lifted glance just now, no one was going to bully his ge.

After more than three hours on the road, they finally arrived at the Snow Mountain Hot Spring Hotel.

Shi Qi woke from her nap feeling fresh and clear-headed and got out to wait for the luggage. Shang Sui got down behind her and lifted a hand to work the shoulder that had nearly gone numb under her weight.

Thinking of how she'd unconsciously used him as a pillow for so long, Shi Qi felt a little embarrassed. 'Does it hurt?'

'It's fine. It'll be better in a minute.' Shang Sui spoke as if it were nothing. 'As long as you're not still sulking at me.'

Shi Qi froze. Seeing Chu Tao nearby watching them with a fond look, she realized Shang Sui was playing along with their fake lovers' quarrel.

Shi Qi parted her lips, not knowing how to answer.

'Why aren't you saying anything?' Shang Sui was smiling, but something wicked showed in his eyes. 'Did you sleep yourself silly, baby?'

This time it wasn't only Chu Tao. Even Qin Shuhe whistled.

Holy shit...!

What had Shang Sui just called her?!

Shi Qi's eyes went wide. She was completely blank.

In her panic, she raised her voice without thinking. 'Who's your baby? Why are you calling me something that intimate?'

She didn't wait for anyone's reaction. She snatched her luggage from the driver, threw out a thanks, and walked off. However anyone looked at it, she was fleeing.

Qin Shuhe could hardly bear to watch. Shi Qi had the nerve to say she forced Shang Sui—she was lucky enough if he merely teased her.

Afraid Shi Qi would head the wrong way alone, Chu Tao chased after her with her luggage. 'Hey, Xiao Qi! Wait for me!'

When she finally caught up, Chu Tao remembered something. 'After the competition ended, Gu Cheng quit the club the very next day.'

'...Hm? Oh.'

'You think it doesn't matter either, right? Same here. Whatever, let him.'

Chu Tao shrugged. Then what she'd just seen replayed in her mind, and she couldn't help asking, 'How long are you planning to stay mad at Sui-ge? I think he dotes on you a lot. Look at Xiaosu and her boyfriend—sweet as anything. Soak in the hot spring tonight, get a little intimate after, how nice would that be... ah, Xiao Qi! Watch out—!'

Shi Qi's thoughts were still frozen back at the moment she got out of the car. She wasn't paying attention to the road at all, and accidentally walked straight into the hotel's glass door.

Chu Tao jumped in fright. Luckily Shi Qi had been walking slowly, so the bump didn't really hurt.

Under Chu Tao's worried gaze, Shi Qi checked in at top speed, then fled into her room as if something were chasing her.

Once inside, Shi Qi leaned back against the door and only after a long while did she recover a little.

It was probably fine.

She tried to reassure herself.

Plenty of people called her baby anyway. Shang Sui saying it once or twice meant nothing, and besides, wasn't this all an act?

The heat in her body kept building. Shi Qi glanced at the mirror and saw the flush on her cheeks had spread all the way down her neck, while a faint wetness shimmered in her eyes.

...That didn't look fine at all, did it? Pathetic.

She cursed herself under her breath.

...

No.

Slowly, Shi Qi realized her reaction seemed to be about more than just that one baby.

She seemed to be going into Heat Phase again.

This time it hit fast and hard, wave after wave of heat rising through her body. While she was still fairly lucid, she hurriedly took out the Isolation Agent she carried and sprayed some on herself.

She hadn't expected the honey scent to make her even dizzier.

With her limbs going weak, Shi Qi opened her suitcase and, after a struggle, dug out the Inhibitor. Just as she was about to inject it, Lin Yan's warning flashed through her mind.

Because she'd used the Enhanced Inhibitor last time, ordinary Inhibitor wouldn't work on her at all for a while.

And it was very likely a side effect of the Enhanced Inhibitor that had thrown her Heat Phase into chaos and made it come on this abruptly.

What was she supposed to do?

If this thing was useless, then the only option left was to deal with it herself...

Shi Qi knelt blankly on the floor, shaking her head and trying to stay conscious.

Go find Lin Yan first?

Ask which room Lin Yan was in first... where had she put her phone just now?

Someone knocked on her door just then. 'Shi Qi, are you done changing?'

It was Qin Shuhe.

Chu Tao had already gone over the plan earlier. After arriving at the hotel, everyone would head to the hot spring first, soak while having something to drink, and go out for a late-night meal after.

So everyone had probably changed into their bathrobes already. Qin Shuhe had come specifically to check on her when he saw she still hadn't come out.

Qin Shuhe was a Beta and wouldn't be affected by Pheromone, so Shi Qi opened the door with relief, intending to have him take her straight there.

The moment the door opened, Shi Qi staggered and nearly lost her footing.

Qin Shuhe froze, then quickly reached out to catch her. Seeing the unnatural flush on her face, he hesitated and asked, 'Are you...?'

'Take me to Lin Yan.'

Still throwing a fit at a time like this.

Qin Shuhe thought.

What Omega in a relationship went looking for someone else instead of their own Alpha during Heat Phase?

And judging from how they were in the car, Shi Qi and Shang Sui were obviously getting along just fine.

Thinking this was also a chance to break the ice, Qin Shuhe made a snap decision, turned a corner, and brought Shi Qi to Shang Sui's room instead.

Maybe this sudden Heat Phase would be exactly what got them back together.

The more Qin Shuhe thought about it, the more sensible it seemed. Honestly, where was she going to find a considerate brother like him?

In her haze, Shi Qi felt Qin Shuhe stop in front of a door and raise a hand to knock.

The Alpha who opened the door was wearing a bathrobe, its low collar exposing a broad stretch of skin across his chest. The rise of muscle disappeared little by little into the robe's shadow, carrying a force that belonged unmistakably to a man.

Qin Shuhe said something to him. Shang Sui looked toward the not-quite-conscious Shi Qi, and she stared back at him with unfocused eyes.

Even though part of it was still hidden by the bathrobe, Shi Qi saw clearly for the first time the tattoo at Shang Sui's collarbone.

So it wasn't a flower.

The main form of the tattoo tangled with painterly lines like petals, while several butterflies threaded on fine lines seemed to melt away, beautiful and fragile.

Shi Qi stared at the light, fluttering design at his collarbone in a daze. After a long moment, she jolted.

No, wait. Why Shang Sui?

As if he could see what she was thinking, Shang Sui smiled at her. 'How did they end up bringing you to me?'

Shang Sui looked her over at an unhurried pace. Under the light, his pale brown eyes gave off a dim sheen, like a greedy beast in the act of hunting.

Shi Qi shivered and came sharply awake.

That idiot Qin Shuhe—how could he still not tell Lin Yan and Shang Sui apart—

Shi Qi turned to call after Qin Shuhe, already some distance away, but someone clapped a hand over her mouth and smothered even the faint sound she made.

Mm, so good...

With his hand covering her mouth and nose, Shi Qi felt as if she'd been drugged. Wrapped in that sweet Pheromone, she grew dazed all over again.

'You smell almost exactly like me.'

Catching the scent of the Isolation Agent, Shang Sui took hold of Shi Qi's slender wrist and pulled her into his arms.

A trace of excitement colored his voice. Carrying Shi Qi into the room, he looked like a predator dragging prey that had thought of escaping back into its nest.

'Where else did you think you were going?'