Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When Su Xingze opened his eyes, a large circle of doctors surrounded his bed, spouting a bunch of medical jargon he couldn't understand.

Su Xingze spoke up: "Did I turn into a case study for you guys? Are all of you interns?"

The attending physician's eyes darkened again. This was a VIP room, furnished just like home, complete with a kitchen and balcony.

Besides, without the patient's consent, there was no way they'd let a bunch of interns observe.

These people were all hospital big shots—experts in pheromone and brain injury fields.

The attending physician chuckled: "Compared to them, I really do seem like an intern."

With that remark, Su Xingze understood. He touched his head and smiled without saying anything.

That scared the attending physician into a cracked voice: "Don't touch your head! Whatever you do, don't touch it!"

Su Xingze's hand froze mid-air, remembering the doctor said he'd been in a car accident. So he completed the remaining motion, then obediently looked at each person around him.

They were indeed all big shots—half were balding, half were up there in age. They looked about as reliable as it gets!

After they discussed for a while, the attending physician filled Su Xingze in on his current condition. As he began speaking, the other doctors filed out one by one.

"You have a hematoma at the back of your head now. It's best to sleep face down to avoid pressure. The hematoma will reabsorb on its own and heal in about four months."

"Also, your gland—during the car accident, a piece of glass lodged into it. When you arrived at the hospital, your condition wasn't good. After we sutured it, it split open again, so it'll probably take about six weeks to heal. During this period, you can't do any marking, and it's best not to release large amounts of pheromones. But you should know that an Omega's pheromones recover faster when soothed by an Alpha partner's pheromones, so you and your partner can soothe each other with pheromones."

Su Xingze listened attentively and asked: "How does that work? I thought marking was off the table?"

"..." The attending physician coughed twice: "I'll need to go over this with your Alpha too. When he wakes up, I'll walk him through it."

They have to teach it? Is it, like, some complicated physical thing?

Wait! Su Xingze asked urgently: "What happened to Lu Xingwen? He was fine a second ago. Is he hospitalized too?"

The attending physician said: "He got too worked up, but he's okay now. You need to rest up too, with those injuries. Once he wakes up, I'll bring him to see you."

Su Xingze did want to go find Lu Xingwen, but he was running on fumes—even standing up made him dizzy for a hot minute. So he behaved and lay back down, smiling: "Thank you, doctor."

He felt sleepy again. His body was twenty-two, but his soul was still stuck in senior year of high school at seventeen—yawning at the sight of a bed, head tilting sideways wanting to sleep again.

Su Xingze flopped onto the bed and drifted off into dreamland.

This time, he saw many more new memory fragments.

He and Lu Xingwen were in a secret marriage. But he liked another Alpha.

Hmm, he didn't see the face clearly—probably wasn't as handsome as Lu Xingwen anyway.

He gave that Alpha everything, and that Alpha really bled him dry—hitting him up for money and power, treating him like an ATM.

He screwed Lu Xingwen over for that Alpha? And even wanted to cheat on him?

What exactly happened, Su Xingze couldn't recall. His head hurt terribly, like it was about to explode.

Holy crap, I'm a total scumbag!

When Su Xingze woke up, his head still ached. He instinctively looked at the handsome guy by the bed and whined for comfort like he always did: "Xiaolu, I feel awful."

Lu Xingwen froze, then nodded, looking stunned: "Don't worry, I'm right here."

When he was fully awake and saw the man sitting by the bed, Su Xingze figured Lu Xingwen was already being super generous by not throwing him out of the room and still coming to see him.

Because he was a total monster.

Judging by what he saw, Su Xingze was sure he'd pissed Lu Xingwen off.

The Alpha's eyes were scary red, even the corners, with bloodshot veins all over the whites, and he wouldn't meet his eyes. He'd shake every now and then, like he couldn't help it.

Clearly furious—shaking, red-eyed, about to blow.

But the guy just sat there, not moving a muscle. He'd just steal glances at him whenever he could, his stare terrifying, like a bottomless pit, like he wanted to trap him in it.

Su Xingze couldn't help but flinch back.

This was the look of a husband who just caught his spouse cheating and was about to explode!

But he was still talking to him calmly—what insane patience, and hot and nice to boot!

Lu Xingwen, who had no clue he'd been labeled a "good guy," was still trying to figure out how to explain himself to Su Xingze. What he'd done earlier must have hurt Chen Chen. That's why Chen Chen was avoiding him, scared to get near him.

Chen Chen had never been this lively when he came to see him before.

Lu Xingwen was drowning in guilt, not daring to look Su Xingze in the eye, but he couldn't stop himself—he kept sneaking looks. When he saw Chen Chen flinch, his pupils shook uncontrollably.

They were both lost in their own heads, neither one saying a word. Finally, Su Xingze couldn't take it anymore. He propped himself up against the headboard, reached back to feel the gauze on his gland, and didn't even find a single temporary mark. He demanded: "We've been married three years, and you've never marked me?"

Their situation was basically like roommates who lived separate lives. Even roommates could do temporary marks to help each other through heats and ruts.

Strike first. Get past this scary vibe fast—switch to a topic that can actually go somewhere.

They had gotten married. Back then, that guy had pretended to be Su Xingze to prove to Ying Ying that he didn't love Lu Xingwen and to win him over. It was the most spot-on imitation—you couldn't tell the difference. He even threatened to kill himself by jumping off a building.

But they got married, and the next day that guy filed for divorce. Lu Xingwen had stopped letting stuff like that hurt him a long time ago, but he couldn't stop thinking about Su Xingze, so he locked himself in Su Xingze's room and rode out a seriously dangerous rut.

Once it was over, he agreed to the divorce. That guy wasn't Su Xingze—the person he wanted to marry wasn't him.

Hearing Chen Chen talk about three years of marriage, Lu Xingwen smiled. Glad this hallucination felt so real and could even bend to his will.

A tiny smile tugged at the corner of Lu Xingwen's mouth as he nodded: "Mm."

He selfishly went along with it, agreeing they'd been married for three years.

If only they'd actually been married for three years.

Su Xingze, still in the hospital bed, pulled his collar open, pointed at his gland, and asked again: "We've been married three years, and you've never marked me?"

Married three years...

Three years...

Three...

Years...

Lu Xingwen looked up—and with that, he saw something else entirely.

His smooth shoulder and neck were exposed, collarbones clearly defined, neck skin taut, like a swan craning its neck. Further back, the Omega's fingers pulled open his collar. Slender and fair, with distinct knuckles.

Looking at the slightly protruding gland, even though it was wrapped in gauze, he seemed to see right through it, imagining the gland's shape and its slow, alluring pulse.

His taut nerves finally snapped, and he rose to leave the hospital room.

Su Xingze: "..."

Did I just kill the conversation?

Or had he finally had enough and decided to leave?

Either way, Su Xingze could understand, so he didn't call out to stop him.

At a time like this, he should give him some space.

But when he'd asked earlier, why had he smiled and said "Mm"? That look was absolutely terrifying.

Su Xingze had only seen that look on the faces of cuckolded husbands about to commit murder in TV dramas. Plus, the fact that they'd been married for three years without a single marking was shocking enough, so he'd dared to ask again.

He hadn't expected to drive the man away with his anger.

Given their decade-plus brotherhood, Xiaolu probably wouldn't come after him with a knife, right?

Su Xingze shrank back. He was hungry.

Sleep. If he slept, he wouldn't be hungry.

His sleep was restless, because the aroma was too tempting—whether from dreams or reality, he couldn't tell. Su Xingze smelled the familiar scents of his favorite restaurants.

When he woke up, he found the table covered with delicious food, each dish still steaming and warm.

He tried a bite of the bubble wonton soup—same taste, unchanged after all these years!

When Dr. Zhao, his attending physician, came in, he paused, then smiled: "Nice dinner—a mini version of a full feast."

Only then did Su Xingze realize. The table was already full, with dishes from his favorite places arranged side by side, plus several servings of delicious double-skin milk pudding. A whole table that would take half a month to get through.

Dr. Zhao said: "We discussed it in our meeting—you can be discharged in a week. Don't eat anything spicy or too fishy these days, and come in for a dressing change on the day you leave. Also, about your Alpha..."

"What about him?" Su Xingze put down the wonton and asked.

"Besides reminding you of precautions, this is exactly why I came." Dr. Zhao said: "He just left the ward holding his head, made a call in the stairwell, and then drove off."

Su Xingze said softly: "Oh."

So calm? The attending physician understood: "So you know where he went. The hospital requires a companion—can he come back tonight?"

"I don't know."

The Omega gave an awkward smile that didn't seem fake, yet it was full of unease, plus a hint of fear he hadn't noticed in himself.

Dr. Zhao understood. Afraid Su Xingze might break down, he comforted: "Relax, there are plenty of Alphas out there. Don't hang yourself on one tree. Keep your spirits up, stay optimistic—only then will your wound heal faster."

Su Xingze paused mid-bite, bewildered: "But he's my only friend."

Dr. Zhao's heart clenched, and he stayed with the pitiful Omega a while longer before leaving.

Su Xingze picked out two portions, finished them, gave the rest to the medical staff, then curled up under the covers, feeling low.

By seven in the evening, Lu Xingwen still hadn't returned. But four bodyguards arrived, saying they were there to protect him.

Su Xingze tentatively asked, "Where did your boss go?"

One of the bodyguards said, "Zecheng Hotel."

Su Xingze's heart sank. He nodded.

He had done something so outrageous, and Lu Xingwen had stormed out of the hospital in anger—retaliation was only to be expected.

But why did his chest feel so heavy?