"Wen Lan! Wait up!" Wen Lan stopped mid-way, his bag strap hanging on one side. He turned slightly. The voice that called out ran towards him, his breath unsteady and shaky as if he had just finished a marathon.
"Y-you! W-why are you t-taking the longer route," he managed to catch up, his hands on his knees as he caught his breath.
"Qiangqiu, why would you run here then? I'm going to class to rest early," Wen Lan pinched Qiangqiu's shoulder, causing a whine. He slapped his hand away.
Qiangqiu straightened, his face twitched. "You left me with all those stinky alphas! What was I going to do!"
Wen Lan sighed, Qiangqiu was indeed unfortunate.
In their world, betas were immune to both alphas or omega pheromones, in rare cases where a beta would only be able to smell the pheromones of certain alphas. And even rarer cases, where a beta was sensitive to all of them, making it unbearable to stay near crowds of alphas, especially those who had just finished straining activities. The smell of their sweat mixed together with their pheromones is just… indescribable. Luckily I wasn't that affected. Qiangqiu unfortunately fell into the latter category.
Qiangqiu wrapped his arms around Wen Lan's shoulder, pulling him close. Wen Lan showed a face of disgust at Qiangqiu's sweaty figure, afraid that the smell would get to him. He attempted to shake his arms off but failed. His grip was too strong.
"Soooo," Qiangqiu drawled , leaning in dramatically, "why did you choose this way,"
Wen Lan turned his head slightly, an attempt to prevent Qiangqiu's oily nose from poking his face. "None of your business," Wen Lan chose to leave him hanging, which only made Qiangqiu even more curious.
"Tell me, tell me!!" he whined. Someone like him would be the kind to start making assumptions.
He questioned himself in his head, 'could it be that Wen Lan has a crush on someone? But that would be impossible.. This guy had never liked anyone once. maybe , Wen Lan just wanted to burn some extra calories! But that can't be it too, this guy is already so skinny! It's like he's starved! What could it be…'
but his questions were soon answered when they walked past a class. Wen Lan's gaze which was originally focusing on the path in front of him had changed direction and turned to look inside the class. His gaze wandered around as if searching for something or someone and as soon as they passed, Wen Lan's gaze returned to normal.
Qiangqiu could immediately notice the difference. He smirked and teased. "Could it be that our dear Wen Lan has a crush?" Qiangqiu's face moved closer to Wen Lan. his breath against the side of Wen Lan's face.
Wen Lan shrugged once again, attempting to free himself from Qiangqiu's grip. Not noticing that his cheeks had reddened.
Qiangqiu wiggled his eyebrows, "You're blushing! Wen Lan tell me, whose the lucky girl,"
Wen Lan increased the speed of his walk, as if speeding up would decrease the redness on his cheek. "It's no one,"
Qiangqiu smiled, he was clearly not convinced. "Come on, stop lying. You had no reason to take the longer way. You would always whine about wanting to reach class fast and rest before the others arrive but now you're willing to take a longer route," Qiangqiu said as they claimed up the stairs, his tone teasing.
Wen Lan did not dare to answer. Afraid of exposing himself. He pushed Qiangqiu away, freeing himself from Qiangqiu's grip and walked into their classroom. Moving to his seat, slouching down immediately. His head resting on his palm, elbow propped on the desk
"Wen lan," Qiangqiu dragged Wen Lan's name as he followed behind. Taking a seat in front of Wen Lan.
"Come on, tell me. Who is it?" Qiangqiu begged, slouching down to meet Wen Lan's eyes.
"Don't want to tell you," Wen Lan complained. He crossed both his arms on the table and buried his forehead into the crook of his arms.
From Qiangqiu's angle, he could only see the top of Wen Lan's head. A posture that screamed embarrassment .
Qiangqiu blinked.
"You're shy , just thinking about her?" Qiangqiu teased once again.
Wen Lan kicked Qiangqiu in the shin without lifting his head.
"Ow! Hey! Physical abuse doesn't erase the truth."
Wen Lan ignored Qiangqiu's words and buried himself deeper into his arms. His ears turning redder.
"Since when have you been so flustered about someone before… don't tell me it's not because you're shy but it's because you're jealous!" as soon as Qiangqiu spitted out this nonsense. Wen Lan's body betrayed him and showed an obvious reaction.
Qiangqiu smiled as if this was the answer he had wanted to get from the start. Qiangqiu sighed, "you know… if that's the case… I'm an expert in these things,"
Wen Lan immediately shot his head up. His eyes were begging for Qiangqiu's help. Qiangqiu could not control himself and immediately burst out into uncontrollable laughter. He had hit the jackpot!
Wen Lan, not wanting to hear this loud annoying laughter anymore, revealed, "it's a guy."
…
Qiangqiu froze mid-laugh, his eyebrows lifted, "beta or omega?" his tone now serious. As if trying to crack a murder case
"he's an alpha…" Wen Lan broke the news to him. causing even more shock. Not able to control himself, he shot up from his seat. His reaction now seemed like he just solved a life- threatening, horror , murder case.
Typical reaction from Qiangqiu…
Footsteps were heard approaching the classroom alongside loud chatter. A clear sign that their classmates were going to fill up the classroom soon.
Qiangqiu was still overwhelmed with surprise. "You…"
Wen Lan hid his face in embarrassment once again as classmates began to move into the class. "Sit down… I'll explain everything after the class…" he definitely had a long explanation to do…
Qiangqiu obeyed and sat back down. Turning his chair back, his eyes avoiding Wen Lan's.
Wen Lan had once told Qiangqiu that he'll never want to date an alpha, especially since he himself had no ability to release pheromones, afraid that the alpha would be so out of control during his rut and taking advantage of him.
Qiangqiu was sure that Wen Lan even publicly expressed his hatred towards alpha! 'Annoying' 'egoistic' those were the words Wen Lan would use whenever he was asked to describe an alpha.
He had even embarrassed the heartthrob of the school!
The whole lesson, Qiangqiu's mind was blank. His gaze remained on his opened textbook but he wasn't following up with the class. Falling behind by multiple pages.
"Qiangqiu!" Mr Chong called out, snapping Qiangqiu out of his daze. "What page are we on?"
Qiangqiu fumbled through the textbook. Trying to calculate how much time had passed and how long it would take to finish each page.
"Pag-page 127!" Qiangqiu exclaimed, half confident yet half unsure.
Wen Lan tapped his back, whispering softly, "we went through that yesterday dummy,"
Used to Mr Chong's system of constantly sending his students out over trivial matters. Qiangqiu stood up voluntarily and strolled outside the class. Standing with his back against the window.
"Straighten your back! Face the class!"
—
After class, Qiangqiu was pulled back to have a talk with Mr Chong. Staying true to his words, Wen Lan too stayed back.
In the middle of the scolding, Mr Chong suddenly brought Wen Lan into it.
"Wen Lan!" Wen Lan who was resting his head on his crossed arms shot up immedietly, "teach your friend here some manners,"
Wen Lan glanced at Qiangqiu who showed a mocking face to Wen Lan and nodded. Once Mr Chong had his eyes back on Qiangqiu again, his face returned back to normal.
A few more minutes passed, and finally, it was all over. Mr Chong finally left , allowing the two to return home.
Qiangqiu swung his arms around Wen Lan again as they left the classroom and headed towards the gate.
"Explain yourself now!" Qiangqiu demanded.
He's an absolute pain in the butt…
At least almost everyone has left the school by now, Wen Lan can at least speak without fear of the bunch of students who hear them.
"Look.." Wen Lan mumbled, "you already know the main reason I don't like alphas is mainly that I'm unable to smell their pheromones. but for this alpha.. I'm able to smell it.."
Qiangqiu smacked his head, "if you only like him because his pheromones is the only pheromones you can smell then how is that true love!"
Wen Lan shook his head, "he's actually super good looking too…" his ears turning red once again
Qiangqiu smirked, "better than Eric?"
Wen Lan nodded awkwardly.
Qiangqiu smacked Wen Lan's chest playfully, "you know, I actually admire you! You rejected Eric in front of the whole school. If I was you at that time, I would be stuck in a dilemma! After you rejected him, he still chased after you! When you fainted that tim-"
This time it was Wen Lan who gave the punch. Shutting Qiangqiu up as he painfully wrapped his arms around his stomach. "Stop talking nonsense! We've been walking for at least 10 minutes and we're still not at the gate!"
Wen Lan quickened his pace.
"You're exaggerating! Whe- when you fainted tha-"
Another punch
"Stop bringing that up!" Wen Lan was clearly upset now.
Qiangqiu held onto his stomach once more. "I'll stop! Your punch is really strong!"
He quickly recovered himself and pushed himself to meet Wen Lan's pace.
"So who's the alpha you like? I don't think anyone's more good looking than Eric. if not, that alpha would've been so known." Qiangqiu questioned once more.
How much can this guy talk!
"Mind your own busin-" Wen Lan didn't finish his sentence, he paused his steps too. Just then, a tall figure passed by, heading for the gate too.
Qiangqiu, who had finally caught up, approached. He took a look at Wen Lan and then at the figure. His expert brain immediately understood.
"Don't tell me it's him…"