One Day

Ss: [The door downstairs isn't locked. Come up^^]

Shi Qi saw the message and nodded.

Shang Sui expected her through the front and went up the spiral staircase himself, but Shi Qi pocketed her phone and started climbing up from below.

Compared to childhood, Shi Qi had grown considerably—her long, straight legs stepped onto the first-floor windowsill, and with practiced ease she used the building's structural points to haul herself up to the second floor.

Shang Sui drifted to the balcony edge.

Shi Qi's figure vanished briefly. Shang Sui, worried she might fall, leaned down to look—only for a faint rustle to come from behind him.

Behind him, ten fingers hooked over the balcony edge—cat-like claws—and pushed.

Just like six years ago, Shi Qi landed lightly at his side.

The scene before him overlapped with memory. The difference: the boy who had no second gender back then had differentiated into an Omega. The childishness had left her features, replaced by something more refined—so beautiful it was nearly impossible to tell male from female.

Shi Qi dusted off her hands and looked at him. "What are you doing here alone?"

[——What are you doing here alone.]

Shang Sui's fingers curled, unconsciously pressing into his palm.

He answered with a smile:

"I'm waiting for you."

From the first day we met, I've been waiting for you.

Before, Shi Qi would have taken it as a casual remark. Now she heard the weight beneath it.

She opened her mouth to say something—Shang Sui's phone flashed.

Shi Qi gestured toward it. "Looks like someone's looking for you."

Shang Sui glanced at the screen. A call from Jiang Yan.

The moment he learned Shang Sui was in Qi Jiang, Jiang Yan announced he'd landed at Capital City airport—moving so fast that Shang Sui suspected the ticket had been booked long in advance. Now he'd reached Qi Jiang at a near-miraculous pace.

"It's Jiang Yan." Shang Sui told Shi Qi, then switched to speaker.

"I just landed—where are you?" Jiang Yan's voice came through the phone, bright but carrying a thread of worry. "Can I stay at your place tonight?"

Shang Sui's "no" hadn't even left his mouth before Jiang Yan asked, "Is Shen Qianyu in Qi Jiang too?"

Shi Qi raised an eyebrow slightly, pointed at the phone, then gave a thumbs-up.

Shang Sui guessed Shi Qi meant Jiang Yan's timing was right.

Shang Sui played along. "Yeah—are you going to find him?"

Jiang Yan, as if finally finding an outlet, fired back: "Find him? Why would I? Do you know how ridiculous he is? He said he's liked me for years."

"God knows what he's thinking. I always thought we were just friends."

Jiang Yan grew more agitated, unclear whether he was happy or not. "It's like something out of a novel. The last person I knew who'd been hung up on for that long was your White Moonlight."

What?

Shi Qi's expression shifted. Shang Sui froze.

Before Shang Sui could react, Shi Qi snatched the phone. "What White Moonlight?"

Jiang Yan greeted brightly. "Shi Qi's there too? Hi, hi!"

A beat later, he realized his mistake. "Ahhhhh!! Sorry!!!!"

A clatter came from the other end—Jiang Yan had apparently dropped his phone in fright.

Shi Qi asked again. "What White Moonlight."

Jiang Yan wished he could turn back time. His careless mouth had upset Shi Qi more than once before. He'd thought he'd finally closed the distance—and now he'd slipped up again.

Done for. Done for. Done for.

And this was on a completely different level from before. Anyone who learned their boyfriend had been hung up on someone else for six years would be furious.

"Jiang Yan?"

Through the phone, the Omega's cool, detached voice carried an unmistakable pressure.

Jiang Yan flinched and weakly confessed. "Well, um—Shang Sui has a White Moonlight everyone knows about, but it's just a teasing term. They haven't been in contact for years. I swear he's completely loyal to you!"

"He was only a teenager when he met that person—not even an adult. If he'd met you back then, none of this would've happened, haha!"

Shi Qi asked quietly. "Has he remembered all this time?"

"Uh, yes—but Shang Sui was young and didn't know better back then! It doesn't count!"

Seeing Shi Qi go silent, Jiang Yan grew more desperate. "Sorry, sorry, I shouldn't have said anything! Please forget this happened!"

Shi Qi's expression gave nothing away. "But I can't forget."

Remembering something, he added, "I'll send you the address in a bit. You can head over tonight."

"Thank you. Goodbye."

Jiang Yan assumed he'd been driven mad with anger and was about to break up with Shang Sui.

Imagining the two of them—two lonely bachelors—sharing a place tonight, with one of them surely doomed, Jiang Yan choked out, "...You're welcome."

Shi Qi hung up. "What's Shen Qianyu's address?"

Shang Sui's mind was in chaos. Words reached his lips but he didn't know where to start explaining, so he pulled up Shen Qianyu's address first.

Shi Qi forwarded the address to Jiang Yan with brisk efficiency, handed the phone back to Shang Sui, and turned to leave.

"Wait—Xiao Qi!"

Shi Qi flipped off the balcony without looking back. Shang Sui panicked and hurried after her, jumping from the second floor. Shi Qi was already two or three steps into the Endless Summer bushes, about to disappear.

Shang Sui stepped forward and seized her wrist. "Listen to me—it's not like that—"

Shi Qi stopped, her back to him. "Not like what? You didn't pine for someone for six years? Didn't keep holding onto the past?"

"I did…" Shang Sui caught himself. "How do you know it was six years?"

Shi Qi turned around.

The setting sun sank slowly in the distance, its radiant light filling her deep gray eyes.

"It's me, isn't it?" Shi Qi said. "Your White Moonlight."

After her little trick, she got her wish—Shang Sui frozen in place.

Shi Qi's lips curved up uncontrollably—happy for herself, aching for him.

To this day, she could finally hear what Shang Sui had left unsaid. "The day we got together, you said you'd waited so long—thought you'd never get there."

"Most people don't think of parting when they confess. But you said—don't leave again."

After she forgot everything, another person had quietly kept their memories.

Or rather—Shang Sui had been trapped in that summer all along.

"You've been waiting for me—from seventeen until now."

Shang Sui was silent for a long moment, his voice rough. "You remember everything?"

"Bits and pieces. Not complete."

Just as Shi Qi expected him to be glad she remembered, Shang Sui said, "I'm sorry."

"I couldn't control myself during my Sensitivity Period back then. I accidentally marked you—caused you a lot of trouble."

Marked?

Shi Qi almost thought she was hallucinating.

These things had been bottled up too long. Shang Sui didn't bother watching her reaction, recalling in a daze, "The day my Sensitivity Period ended, I went looking for you."

"Your family was renting the place. The landlord said you left in a hurry after that night—your phone was unreachable, and…" Shang Sui seemed to want to say more, but finally just said, "It's my fault."

Yu Wan later learned that Shi Qi had a special relationship with him and suggested looking into it, finding a way to reconnect—but such an approach would inevitably intrude on privacy.

He'd already done wrong. He couldn't keep troubling Shi Qi—pestering her like some obsessive lunatic.

Even though he longed to see her again, he forced the thought down.

"Wait," Shi Qi interrupted. "You didn't mark me."

"What…?" Shang Sui met her eyes for a moment, realizing something might be off, and spoke faster. "My memories during Sensitivity Period are always fragmented, but I remember I meant to mark you."

"I was briefly lucid—I saw you holding your neck. I asked the bodyguards afterward, and they said you looked unwell."

Shi Qi finally understood why Shang Sui had never reached out.

From Shang Sui's perspective, she'd been hurt by his Sensitivity Period, frightened into leaving in a hurry—and naturally had no right to bother him again.

"I differentiated that night." Shi Qi was direct. "I didn't leave because of you—I was sick. I lost my memory the night I differentiated, forgot everything that happened in Qi Jiang."

And forced to forget you.

He'd always thought he'd wait for the right moment to tell Shang Sui about his condition. Now, naturally, Shi Qi said, "I've never mentioned it—I have Gland Atrophy Syndrome."

"You mean—it wasn't because of me that…?" Everything was too incredible. Shang Sui murmured, repeating, "Gland Atrophy Syndrome?"

He'd never heard of it. His first instinct was to ask, "What is it? Are you okay? Does it hurt?"

"Nothing for now."

Seeing Shang Sui's slight frown—still worried—Shi Qi said plainly, "I met Shen Qianyu before. He guessed I had Gland Atrophy Syndrome—that it caused the memory loss during differentiation."

"He prescribed me medication. Combined with the Pheromones I was exposed to during differentiation, my memory can slowly recover."

In retrospect, Shen Qianyu had probably already guessed Shang Sui was the cause of her differentiation.

Everything circled back to that summer six years ago—a closed loop dropped by fate.

"He said I'm fine for now."

If Shen Qianyu said so, there really couldn't be any accident in the short term.

Shang Sui relaxed slightly. Shi Qi pulled the topic back. "Even though my memory isn't complete, no one at home ever mentioned anyone marking me. There were no wounds on my body when I went back."

Seeing him at a loss for words, Shi Qi took his hand in hers, speaking deliberately. "And even if you really did mark me—I wouldn't be angry with you."

"In my eyes, you haven't done anything wrong."

Having finally said what was bottled up, Shi Qi added lightly, "The only mistake was probably not daring to come find me. But considering you waited six years—I'll forgive you."

"Xiao Qi…"

He hadn't expected Shang Sui's eyes to redden, his voice trembling as he called her name.

"Sorry, I—" Shang Sui was in total disarray, the words fragmenting. "I wasn't brave enough. I should've tried to reach you—even if you'd hated me… no, you don't hate me… I did it badly. You were sick, you had no choice. I should've been the one to reach out—otherwise we wouldn't have lost six years—"

Seeing him so overwhelmed, Shi Qi let go of his hand. When Shang Sui looked at her helplessly, she pulled him into a hug.

"It's not like that."

Shi Qi said firmly.

To soothe him, Shi Qi released some Pheromones. The fresh, gentle scent of Lily of the Valley cut through his agitation like wind, wrapping around the Alpha.

Shang Sui hugged her back at once, the flower language of Lily of the Valley crossing his mind again.

Happiness returns.

Shang Sui's arms tightened, the pressure increasing—as if only an embrace this close, this desperate to be pressed into flesh and blood, could confirm the person in his arms truly belonged to him.

Shi Qi let him hold her and went on. "What counts as good, what counts as bad—no one gets to set the standards for your life. No one demands you be flawless at everything. So just be yourself."

"If you believed then that you shouldn't come find me—then don't."

The setting sun seemed to burn in Shi Qi's crystalline eyes. Both her words and her expression carried an unstoppable momentum:

"One day, we'll meet again."

Shang Sui held her, his arms trembling involuntarily, drawing from the soul pressed against his the courage he'd always lacked.

His past had caused him immense pain. Before meeting Shi Qi, he'd never dared truly accept what was different about him.

Compared to most people, he possessed extraordinary power—but he knew he was actually a coward. Shi Qi was far braver.

He'd imagined and rehearsed it over and over—how to confess, what Shi Qi would do if she knew the past.

When the day finally came, it was better than the best he'd imagined—

He was absolved of the past. The person who had once saved him was reaching out again.

Shang Sui trembled all over and finally asked, "Can I kiss you?"

Shi Qi tilted her head up and reached his lips first.

They embraced and kissed in the brilliant sea of Endless Summer flowers. Shang Sui held her lips, gently brushing against them, murmuring between kisses:

"I'm so lucky to have met you."

Seeing him say it with such gravity, Shi Qi laughed. "Of course."

"Meeting me is rare—and you've done it twice. Your luck isn't bad."

Captivated by her proud air, Shang Sui cupped her face and bent down to kiss her again.

Unlike the previous tentative kiss, the Alpha's movements were rough and direct—as if he wanted to swallow her whole.

"Mm…!"

Shi Qi was bitten several times—painful and numb. The other's intense emotions poured through the kiss; even the slight pain carried a strange, sharp pleasure.

Shang Sui seemed to like her to the point of madness.

Realizing this, Shi Qi's eyes curved. A voice in her heart sighed with satisfaction:

It should be like this.

If he went mad for her—nothing could be better.

She bit back without hesitation, her sharp canine accidentally piercing Shang Sui's lip—and soon tasted the sweet, metallic tang of blood.

Before Shi Qi could feel guilty, Shang Sui seemed even more excited. The hand at her waist moved up—no longer trembling, his long fingers locked behind her head, trapping the Omega in a space too small to escape.

Shi Qi made a soft sound—as if it hurt too much, or as if she liked it.

Realizing he'd been too rough, Shang Sui atoned by gently licking the places he'd bitten, the wet sounds sticky as he hooked her tongue to suck.

The faint Honey Flavor grew heavier. Shi Qi's body flushed with heat she couldn't control.

Had Shang Sui gotten too excited—released too much Pheromone?

……

No.

Shi Qi realized belatedly—it wasn't Shang Sui releasing Pheromone. She had become unusually sensitive to it.

Her body's reactions intensified—certain places growing wet.

Shi Qi could barely stay upright. "Wait—I think…!"

The Alpha wouldn't let go. Shi Qi couldn't form words and pushed him away. Shang Sui stopped as if waking from a dream.

"Mm…?"

He'd kissed her until he was drunk on the taste—utterly unwilling to part. Forced to stop, he lifted his gaze to her, his face full of want.

Seeing Shang Sui's face clearly, Shi Qi's heart skipped.

If she weren't certain Shang Sui's Pheromone was stable, Shi Qi would have thought he'd entered his Sensitivity Period.

Shi Qi said quietly, "My Heat Phase has started."

The Alpha, as if he'd forgotten all basic biology, repeated, "Heat Phase?"

……

Those words, in his mouth, were inexplicably arousing. Shi Qi muttered, "You're an idiot."

Compared to her, Shang Sui looked more like he was in Heat—the kind where his brain had burned to stupidity.

She'd barely finished the thought when the Alpha seemed to finally grasp what she'd said. His gaze turned to her with undisguised infatuation:

"Xiao Qi. Baby. Darling."

He called out a string of endearments. Shi Qi couldn't take it—her face grew hot.

"I like you so much. I'm going crazy."

Shang Sui pressed close, his voice sticky. "I want to make love to you."