Companion

Wei Yin woke up half an hour later. She opened her eyes, dazed for a long moment, then reached for her phone to check the time.

“Good, I didn’t sleep too long.”

Her legs had gone numb. Wei Yin stretched them out and braced herself against the sofa, waiting for the tingling to pass.

Half a minute later, she tried to stand, but her legs were still weak. She collapsed back onto the sofa and bumped into Hua Yu.

They were already sitting very close together, but even that much noise hadn’t woken Hua Yu. She was sleeping so deeply it was almost as if she were unconscious.

Wei Yin was left a little dazed by the impact. Her nose stung as if she’d bitten into a whole lemon; she didn’t have time to think about anything else and hurriedly pushed herself up.

Her palm pressed down against the back of Hua Yu’s hand.

Wei Yin: ??

She froze for a second, then reached up to Hua Yu’s forehead.

“So hot,” Wei Yin said blankly. “Are you running a fever?”

It was scorching to the touch, nothing like a normal person’s temperature.

Wei Yin raised her voice. Hua Yu’s brows drew together slightly; she turned inward and buried herself deeper into the sofa, looking very uncomfortable.

Wei Yin struggled to her feet and fumbled through the medicine box.

The box had been prepared by Hua Yu. Its contents were neatly sorted into different sections, but there were several kinds of cold medicine and fever medicine, and Wei Yin didn’t know which one was suitable for an alpha, or whether Hua Yu could even take any of them.

In desperation, Wei Yin called Xu Ya Qing. Since Xu Ya Qing was Hua Yu’s cousin, she should know Hua Yu’s condition. The call connected quickly.

“Partner, what’s up?” Xu Ya Qing asked lazily.

Wei Yin didn’t have time for pleasantries. “Hua Yu has a fever.”

Xu Ya Qing paused, sounding completely unconcerned. “Take her to the hospital.”

Wei Yin’s voice turned troubled. “She’s almost in heat; she said she wouldn’t go out.”

Whether alpha or omega, staying in during heat and sealing the doors and windows was considered good self-discipline.

Even in an emergency, you could call an ambulance. That was safer than going out yourself.

Xu Ya Qing’s tone suddenly turned serious. “Heat? Wasn’t hers still a month away?”

Wei Yin didn’t know. “Anyway, Dr. Hua has a terrible headache right now. She slept for a while, and when I looked again, she had a fever. I don’t know what alphas are supposed to take.”

Xu Ya Qing sounded puzzled. “Did her heat come early? Just call someone from her department; I’m coming over now. Don’t panic.”

Wei Yin had been grasping at straws in her panic, and only then remembered she could contact Yang Cha and the others.

Yang Cha answered quickly. After hearing the situation, she told Wei Yin not to worry. “That’s a normal fever. It’s fine.”

Wei Yin was still uneasy. “Her hand feels scorching. I just took her temperature; it was 38 degrees.”

“39 is fine too,” Yang Cha said lightly. “Wait until it hits 40, then we’ll talk.”

Wei Yin fell silent, her breathing quickening slightly.

Yang Cha laughed and patiently explained, “Alphas are like that. Don’t omegas also run hot during heat? Yours is internal heat; alphas are external heat. And Hua Yu is still...”

As she spoke, Yang Cha suddenly remembered that Wei Yin probably had never gone through heat before and trailed off.

Wei Yin hummed in acknowledgment. “I understand. Then I’ll wipe her down and keep monitoring her temperature. Thank you.”

The sofa was soft; lying on it for too long would be uncomfortable. Wei Yin dug ice cubes out of the refrigerator, wrapped them in a towel, and placed them on Hua Yu’s forehead.

“Is it any better?” Wei Yin wiped away the moisture beading on Hua Yu’s forehead and called to her softly, “How about going to bed to sleep?”

This time, Hua Yu didn’t even frown.

Wei Yin switched to a mercury thermometer and tucked it under her arm.

As the ice melted, she didn’t want to wet Hua Yu’s hair, so she changed the towel every five minutes.

By the time she changed the tenth towel, Xu Ya Qing had arrived.

The moment she came in, she started coughing. “Where’s the suppressant? Give it to me fast. I hate alpha pheromones the most.”

Wei Yin handed her the things Hua Yu had brought back. Xu Ya Qing searched through them and took out two suppressant injections, then pushed them into Hua Yu’s arm.

The suppressant must have hurt a lot. Hua Yu’s body spasmed irregularly for more than ten seconds, and her face went pale at once.

“Why did she go into heat early?” Xu Ya Qing looked like she was facing a formidable enemy. “Was she stimulated by some omega pheromone?”

Wei Yin shook her head and touched her own gland. “I don’t know.”

Xu Ya Qing glanced at her. “Right, and it has nothing to do with you anyway. You don’t even have one.”

Wei Yin asked, puzzled, “Dr. Hua was wearing a suppressant patch. Was the smell really that strong?”

“Not that strong. It leaked just a tiny bit, but we alphas just can’t stand each other,” Xu Ya Qing said. She leaned in and sniffed Wei Yin twice. “Even a little feels suffocating.”

Wei Yin had no mind for whether anything was suffocating or not. “Dr. Hua has been on rotating rest these past few days. She said she’d take proper precautions.”

“She said that herself?” Xu Ya Qing couldn’t make sense of it. “Then does that mean she knew her heat was coming early?”

As she spoke, Xu Ya Qing nodded, as if she’d found the right answer.

“As long as she wasn’t stimulated into it, or suddenly pushed into heat,” Xu Ya Qing said, getting to her feet and squeezing Wei Yin’s shoulder, “she should be fine under normal circumstances. Don’t worry.”

Xu Ya Qing still had work to do, so she didn’t stay long. Seeing that Hua Yu was still alive and well, she left.

Wei Yin returned to the sofa and pulled up a stool to sit beside Hua Yu.

Everyone said Hua Yu was a doctor, an alpha; a fever during heat was normal and nothing to worry about. But Wei Yin still couldn’t relax.

Not because she was worried for herself, but because she was worried about Hua Yu.

The person before her had a beautiful, refined profile; the high bridge of her nose cast a pale shadow in the light.

The faint bruised darkness beneath her eyes was even more obvious now.

Only then did Wei Yin realize, belatedly, that Hua Yu had endured the headache and fever of heat while still working overtime for three straight days, then brought her home too, acting as if nothing was wrong and fooling all of them.

As the suppressant gradually took effect, the pallor and flush on Hua Yu’s face faded back to a normal color.

“What time is it?” Hua Yu’s voice sounded as if it had been steamed through.

Wei Yin hurried over. “Three o’clock. I took your temperature ten minutes ago; it was 38.4. Do you feel okay? Do you need to take any medicine?”

Hua Yu wrinkled her nose. “Why do I smell omega pheromones? It’s so unpleasant.”

Wei Yin widened her eyes. “Huh?”

She didn’t have any pheromones; there was only one omega in the house, and that was her.

Hua Yu’s voice was hoarse. “Not yours. Don’t be nervous. Has anyone come by?”

Wei Yin nodded. “Mm-hmm.”

At last catching Hua Yu in a moment of clarity, Wei Yin poured everything out in one breath. “Xu Ya Qing came to check on you. She said your heat came early and thought maybe someone had induced it. I also asked Yang Cha, and they both said not to worry. Are you really okay? You’ve been burning for two hours, and we’ve already used up a whole box of ice cubes...”

Hua Yu raised a hand and covered Wei Yin’s eyes.

Wei Yin went perfectly still, like someone had hit pause.

“It just comes and goes. Sometimes it feels bad, and then it eases up,” Hua Yu said, her tone growing steadier as her strength slowly returned. “You were scared, weren’t you?”

Wei Yin sniffled and shook her head.

Her eyelashes brushed against Hua Yu’s palm, leaving behind a tiny, downy tickle.

Hua Yu withdrew her hand. Her palm was too hot; if she kept covering Wei Yin’s eyes, it would only make her uncomfortable.

“I may have misjudged a little,” Hua Yu said with a faint, bitter smile. She braced herself on the sofa and slowly sat up, putting some distance between herself and Wei Yin. “I’ll be alone in the room tonight. If anything comes up, message me. Stay farther away from me.”

Usually, even when heat was unbearable, she could still remain conscious. This time, however, it was different from before. She couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason. It wasn’t exactly serious, but all the little discomforts were tormenting.

Especially since her pheromone leakage was becoming more and more severe. Keeping Wei Yin in the same space with her wasn’t good for Wei Yin.

“Are you really okay?” Wei Yin’s eyes were full of tension and worry. “Do you need to go to the hospital?”

Hua Yu touched her cool forehead and looked at the neatly arranged towels and basin of water beside her. Her heart softened.

“If I need to go to the hospital, I’ll ask you for help,” Hua Yu said. “I’m going to the bedroom. Eat dinner by yourself; just leave a portion in the fridge.”

Wei Yin was willing to take care of her, but Hua Yu was unwilling to let Wei Yin suffer and work herself to the bone.

She couldn’t really treat her like a maid.

Under Wei Yin’s worried gaze, Hua Yu returned to the bedroom. She took a quick shower, then pulled an entire box of suppressants out from under the bed.

Xu Ya Qing had been there. She’d carried a trace of omega pheromones on her body; the amount was tiny, almost imperceptible. But what ordinary people might regard as a faint scent, once it rushed into Hua Yu’s nose, would be magnified a hundredfold or a thousandfold.

That kind of stimulation was like prying open your mouth, forcing your eyelids apart, and pouring highly concentrated medicated oil into every opening in your face; only the smell was a hundred times worse than medicated oil.

Alphas were born attracted to omegas, Hua Yu thought. She was probably one of the rare exceptions.

Physiologically, she needed the comfort of omega pheromones; psychologically, however, she was extremely sensitive to most omega scents.

Even the sweetest smell, if it became too dense, would turn foul. That was the situation Hua Yu faced now, and every heat cycle could only be gotten through with suppressants.

Her phone had a message from Xu Ya Qing asking why her heat had come early.

[It’s a natural phenomenon. In nature, if any animal can’t get relief during heat, its cycle will very likely keep shortening.]

Xu Ya Qing expressed extreme speechlessness.

[Your reply is practically dripping with sexual frustration.]

[No. I’m just stating a fact.]

[You really don’t want to consider the omega pheromone I recommended last time? Little freesia; didn’t you say it smelled nice when you tried it?]

[Too much of it makes me want to throw up.]

[...Then stay single.]

After turning off her phone, Hua Yu lay on the bed and forced herself to sleep.

Since being awake was so difficult, she might as well let her body recover from the discomfort slowly in sleep.

On the other side, Wei Yin was also updating Guo Ai on the situation.

Guo Ai confirmed again and again: [She started with two suppressant injections right away?]

[in]: Yes, she got them under my nose. She was trembling from the pain.

Guo Ai responded in disbelief: [Suppressants are the most painful injections. I usually inject them one milliliter at a time, or I feel like I want to grab a piece of flesh and rip it off myself. It hurts like hell.]

[in]: Huh?!

Xu Ya Qing was too much!

Wei Yin viciously tapped Xu Ya Qing’s avatar twice.

[You tapped Xu Ya Qing’s “Golden Ten Thousand Taels” and said, “This servant will belong to you for the rest of my life.”]

Damn it, now she was even angrier.

[You brat]: What are you poking me for?

[in]: Suppressants hurt that much, and you gave Dr. Hua two shots at once.

[You brat]: She was asleep. She couldn’t feel it anyway.

Wei Yin: ...She actually couldn’t argue with that.

[in]: Something that painful; could it harm the body?

[You brat]: Probably negligible. AO heat exists for reproduction. If suppressants are used long-term, at most they’ll cause a bit of gland damage; but once people get older, their glands naturally atrophy anyway. It’s nothing serious.

Guo Ai then asked about Wei Yin’s condition.

Wei Yin hurriedly closed her chat window with Xu Ya Qing.

[in]: I don’t feel anything, but if she keeps using suppressants like this, will it harm her body?

Guo Ai gave a more professional answer than Xu Ya Qing: [It depends on the person. If her glands are fine and she’s just too lazy to find someone to relieve her, then she can just keep taking suppressants. If her glands are a bit problematic and her pheromones are naturally more abundant than other people’s, while her gland capacity is limited, then blindly suppressing it all the time might eventually make things unable to hold up anymore?]

[in]: What does “unable to hold up” mean?

Guo Ai told Wei Yin not to worry: [Think of it like a dam. Some people’s dams may never fill up in their entire lives; when heat comes, the water level rises a bit. But some people’s dams already have a high water level even in the dry season. If nothing is allowed out and only more keeps going in, maybe one day the whole thing will burst.]

The metaphor was vivid, and Wei Yin immediately understood what Guo Ai meant.

Hua Yu might now be facing the risk of “bursting.”

That was why she had locked herself in her room, not letting Wei Yin in, and why she wasn’t eating dinner with her.

Hua Yu sent her a message.

[The braised beef you brought back is very tasty. I recommend you try it.]

Wei Yin replied anxiously: [Do you want some? I’ll put it outside your door.]

[Don’t come near my room.]

Wei Yin hesitated again and again, then tried to discuss it with her. [I can go stay at a hotel. Don’t lock yourself in the room; it’s too inconvenient.]

Hua Yu typed for more than a minute.

[Don’t go.]

[Stay by my side.]