The Weight of Truth

Lu Ye drove through the rain to the dormitory building. When he saw Gong He standing in the night rain, holding An Ran in his arms, his heart trembled. “What’s wrong with your roommate?”

Even though Lu Ye had sprayed on suppressant, the moment An Ran got into the car, he caught the scent of peach-scented pheromones from An Ran. He glanced at An Ran in shock. “Isn’t he a Beta? How did he turn into an Omega?”

Gong He held An Ran tightly in his arms, gently patting his back to soothe him.

“Stop with the nonsense. Get us to the hospital, now.”

The scent of peaches filled the entire car. Lu Ye’s hand on the steering wheel trembled slightly as he quickly grabbed a can of pheromone neutralizing spray from the passenger seat and sprayed half of it inside the car.

Lu Ye was grateful he wasn’t in his heat cycle, and with Gong He glaring at him from the backseat, pressured by Gong He’s pheromones, he wouldn’t easily be tempted by An Ran’s heat pheromones.

For an Alpha, an Omega’s heat pheromones were a deadly poison.

Looking through the rearview mirror at An Ran curled up in Gong He’s arms, Lu Ye swallowed hard. “Did you mark him?”

An Alpha on the verge of his heat cycle had an intense possessive instinct toward his Omega. When Lu Ye glanced at An Ran, Gong He stared him down, as if ready to pounce and bite at any moment. He took off his jacket and covered An Ran completely.

Lu Ye quickly averted his gaze. Suppressed by Gong He’s pheromones, he felt extremely uncomfortable. He could only say helplessly, “Bro, I’m not interested in your roommate.”

The scent of mint instantly enveloped the entire car. Lu Ye touched the stinging gland at the back of his neck, unable to bear the mutual repulsion of Alpha pheromones. He rolled down the window all the way just to catch a breath.

An Alpha in heat was like a wild beast, especially toward the Omega they liked, wanting to cover them entirely in their own pheromones, proclaiming to the world that the Omega was theirs. If another Alpha’s pheromones appeared on the Omega, it would drive them into a frenzy.

So in such a cramped car, Lu Ye could only shiver in a tiny corner, keeping his pheromones well-contained, and spraying himself with pheromone neutralizer from time to time.

Lu Ye floored the accelerator and sped toward the hospital.

Only after An Ran was sent into the emergency room did Gong He dare to relax. He was also taken by the doctor to get several shots of suppressants. While he was still somewhat lucid, he contacted the school—asking for leave for An Ran and having the school notify An Ran’s parents.

An Ran’s secondary subgender development should be known to his parents as soon as possible.

The doctor soon came out of the emergency room. Gong He immediately went up, anxiously asking, “How is he?”

“That student has been given a sedative. His condition is stable.” The doctor glanced at him, frowning deeply. “But as for you, your pheromones are on the verge of erupting.”

Hearing that An Ran was fine, Gong He breathed a sigh of relief.

The test results came out quickly. Gong He stared at the data on the report, stunned for a long time.

“Congratulations!” The doctor’s expression was excited. He never thought he’d see a perfect 100% compatibility match in his lifetime.

Gong He couldn’t suppress the smile that crept across his face, his heart full of joy. But thinking of An Ran still in the emergency room, his happy expression gradually faded, and he anxiously asked about An Ran’s condition. “Is it because of my pheromones that he underwent secondary subgender development?”

The doctor gave him a strange look. “Secondary subgender development? This is the patient’s first subgender development.”

Gong He was taken aback. “Wasn’t he a Beta?”

The doctor shook his head. “He was an undifferentiated adult, a rare condition. He appeared no different from a Beta, which is why his gland developed slowly. Did you give him a temporary mark? Are you two in a relationship?”

Gong He didn’t know how to answer.

An Ran was H’s boyfriend, not Gong He’s boyfriend.

Seeing him silent, the doctor assumed he’d confirmed their romantic relationship, then continued, “His gland development is slow. This is a pheromone disorder that will cause symptoms of pheromone imbalance, and he could enter heat at any time. In this situation, he needs an Alpha’s pheromones to regulate the instability in his body, to ensure he can be soothed during his heat. Suppressants are effective, but nowhere near as good as kissing, hugging, or temporary marking from an Alpha.”

Gong He was slightly stunned, a thought about An Ran crossing his mind. “Can I go see him?”

“No.” The doctor rejected him without expression, and demanded that Gong H immediately go to the Alpha isolation facility. “Now, quickly. Do you even know what state you’re in?”

The hospital gave Gong He an ultimatum. He couldn’t even wait for An Ran to wake up; he had to leave while An Ran was still unconscious.

The doctor was a Beta, so he wasn’t sensitive to Gong He’s pheromones. He could only judge by the numbers on the report.

Lu Ye, as an Alpha, sensed that Gong He was on the edge of his heat. Luckily, the doctor refused Gong He’s request to see An Ran, otherwise Gong He might have directly entered his heat cycle and lost control, forcefully marking An Ran.

He followed Gong He to the isolation facility, staying a few meters away. He promised to stay at the hospital until An Ran’s parents arrived before leaving.

Just before leaving the isolation facility, Lu Ye suddenly remembered something and curiously asked Gong He, “According to school rules, Alphas can’t live with Omegas, so you and An Ran need to have your dormitory reassigned, right?”

After Lu Ye said this, he clearly felt Gong He enter a berserk state. Luckily, he had already been pushed into the isolation room.

Lu Ye patted his chest and took a deep breath. “Damn, that scared me.”

Could it be that Gong He actually liked his roommate?

Hadn’t he said they weren’t close?

Did this look like they weren’t close?

Why would he lose it at the mention of reassigning dormitories?

Lu Ye shrugged, returned to the hospital corridor, and sat there. He waited until nearly midnight before An Ran’s parents finally arrived, rushing in.

The doctor repeated to An Ran’s parents what he had said to Gong He. His earlier excitement had subsided, but he still remarked, “The patient’s compatibility with the Alpha student who brought him in reached a perfect 100%. It could even be used for medical research.”

An Ran’s parents were delighted to hear that their child had differentiated into an Omega. But the doctor’s next words left them speechless.

It was good that the child had differentiated, regardless of being Omega or Alpha; they had no objections. But the issue of An Ran’s gland development troubled them immensely.

They had heard that the child had received a temporary mark when he was brought in.

An Ran’s parents quietly glanced at Lu Ye, who was standing to one side.

Lu Ye seemed to read their look and quickly waved his hands, shaking his head. “The Alpha who brought An Ran to the hospital is his roommate, not me.”

Qin Xue said, “Regardless, we should thank him in person. Do you know where he went?”

“Uh—” Lu Ye tried to leave a good impression for his buddy in front of An Ran’s parents. “He went into heat and was sent to isolation. Before he left, he had already asked for leave for An Ran, and he was the one who had the school notify you.”

Qin Xue nodded regretfully. “I see. We’ll have to thank that student another time.”

An Ran didn’t wake until the next day.

The hospital in the morning wasn’t noisy, but it wasn’t quiet either.

An Ran blinked hazily, staring at the white ceiling in a daze.

Qin Xue: “You’re awake? Want some water? Are you hungry?”

The familiar voice snapped An Ran’s scattered thoughts back together. He looked at the woman sitting by the bed in surprise. “Mom? Why are you here?!”

Qin Xue: “The school called your father and me. Only then did we find out you had differentiated.”

“What?!” An Ran sat up excitedly, quickly asking, “Differentiated? I differentiated? What’s my secondary subgender?”

“You’re an Omega.” Qin Xue quickly pressed down on his hand, which still had an IV drip. “Careful, you’re still on the IV.”

“Oh.” An Ran sounded a bit disappointed. He had hoped he would be a Beta.

Qin Xue ruffled his messy hair, smiling slightly. “The doctor said it was an Alpha who brought you here.”

An Ran didn’t remember much of what happened before he passed out. He had a vague impression that Gong He had told him he was in heat, so Gong He had brought him to the hospital?

“It was my roommate.”

An Ran still couldn’t accept the change in his identity. He instinctively touched the aching spot on the back of his neck. Even a light touch hurt terribly.

Qin Xue: “Don’t touch it. Your roommate gave you a temporary mark. The wound hasn’t healed yet.”

An Ran’s pupils dilated. He was so shocked he lost his voice. “What did you say?!”

Qin Xue found his reaction strange. She had heard from the doctor that the two were a couple, but now it seemed otherwise? “You’re not dating your roommate?”

An Ran shook his head vigorously. “No.”

In that instant, a few scenes flashed through An Ran’s mind.

He was hugging Gong He, trying to take off his clothes.

Gong He was patiently coaxing him, helping him with suppressants.

And Gong He was holding him, biting his neck. Before the mark, he remembered Gong He saying something to him, but he couldn’t recall what.

An Ran froze. What had he done?

“The doctor said you differentiated under the influence of an Alpha’s pheromones.” Qin Xue opened the pheromone test report and showed it to An Ran. She pointed at the numbers. “I never expected your compatibility with that Alpha roommate to be as high as 100%.”

An Ran’s breath caught. Looking at the report, even his voice trembled. “How could this be?”

Qin Xue thought he just hadn’t accepted the change yet, so she comforted him. “You can try to interact more with your roommate. The doctor said his pheromones can help your gland develop.”

An Ran looked at the doctor’s conclusion at the bottom of his examination report:

[Gland defective, slow development. Needs Alpha pheromones to promote growth. Effective treatment can be achieved through holding hands, hugging, kissing, or marking with an Alpha.]

An Ran felt as if a huge stone had settled on his chest, crushing him so he could hardly breathe.

Him and Gong He?

The occasional stinging at the back of his neck told him clearly: he had cheated.

He couldn’t hide it from H.

An Ran scrolled through his chat history with H from the beginning.

His slightly reddened eyes shimmered with fragmented light. An Ran quietly wiped away his tears.

He had never imagined this relationship would end so quickly.

A sharp pain spread in his heart, twisting it. The sorrow almost drowned him.

[I’m sorry, let’s break up.]