Chapter 27: By the Seaside

Those words hit Cheng Si like a bolt of lightning.

He nearly dropped the camera, the color draining from his face instantly. He had only wanted to understand her a little more, but he had received an answer he wasn’t prepared for. He looked at Wen Xi; she was looking back at him, her gaze direct and unyielding.

“I hope a certain someone stays safe and well, and can be a little happier every day,” Cheng Si repeated the wish she had made when the whales surfaced. He tried to remain calm as he asked, “Does the ‘certain someone’ in that sentence refer to Dr. Pei?”

“Yes,” Wen Xi replied. Pei Huanzhou loved whales but refused to go out to sea himself. She could only help him by taking photos so he could choose from them whenever he wanted to see them.

The sun on the beach made Cheng Si’s eyes ache. He really should have bought a pair of sunglasses; then he wouldn’t have to struggle so hard to hold back his tears.

Seeing Cheng Si’s eyes turn red, looking as if someone had cast a freezing spell on him in a ridiculous, stiff posture, Wen Xi let out a soft sigh. She took off her sunglasses and placed them on his face, trying to give him a bit of dignity. “I wanted to tell you last time—Pei Huanzhou is not just my family doctor.”

Cheng Si’s shoulders trembled slightly. “Can I… not listen?” he asked hoarsely.

“No, you can’t,” Wen Xi said with a faint smile, her tone bordering on cruel. “I don’t want you to harbor such strong hostility toward him.”

Cheng Si’s face was deathly pale. He pursed his lips tightly, suddenly losing the ability to speak. He didn’t understand why Wen Xi thought he was hostile toward Pei Huanzhou—though, on second thought, if jealousy counted as hostility, then he was indeed very hostile.

He didn’t know how to calm his jealousy, so he neither nodded nor shook his head. He tried to hide behind his usual wooden demeanor, hoping to slip away.

Wen Xi, however, didn’t intend to let him off so easily. “I have an older sister named Wen Su. You haven’t met her. Pei Huanzhou was almost engaged to her. Later, my sister passed away in an accident. Over the years, Pei Huanzhou has taken care of me and sacrificed a lot for me. So, I hope he can be a little happier every day.”

Cheng Si placed the camera on the lounge chair; he no longer had the strength to hold it. It took a long time to find his voice. “If that’s the case… why aren’t you together?” It was a question born of self-destruction. He didn’t know what reaction Wen Xi wanted from him, so he thought he might as well ask all the painful questions at once. That way, perhaps he would only need to cry for one night.

“He doesn’t like me,” Wen Xi’s tone was calm, devoid of disappointment or resentment. “And it’s not necessary. Things are fine the way they are now.”

Cheng Si’s Adam’s apple bobbed. His vision blurred, and he struggled to ask, “Then… do you like him?”

Because she didn’t want to see Cheng Si look so miserable whenever she mentioned Pei Huanzhou, Wen Xi seriously considered the question. Honestly, she couldn’t say for sure if it was “like” or not; no one had ever taught her what liking someone was supposed to feel like.

Wen Xi had idolized Wen Su since childhood. Wen Su was popular, polite, and graceful—soft but firm. Wen Xi had tried to become like her sister but found it impossible. She could only use habit to sustain politeness and coldness to hide her sharper edges. Just like the cocoa pies sold at the scenic spots, she was low-quality ingredients wrapped in premium packaging.

With her sister as the standard, it was only natural that Pei Huanzhou didn’t like her.

And because of Wen Su, she had never entertained the thought of taking her relationship with Pei Huanzhou a step further. She would never do anything to betray Wen Su.

It was just that when she first learned Wen Su was with him, she looked at Pei Huanzhou differently. Later, that evolved into a desire to take her sister’s place in caring for him, thanking him, trusting him, and protecting him. He had no obligation to gamble his future on the sister of his deceased girlfriend, yet he did. Thus, she had a responsibility to keep him out of any risk.

This feeling was too complex to be described as simply “liking” someone.

After thinking it over, Wen Xi told Cheng Si, “He is very important to me. The most important person.”

Cheng Si understood. Pei Huanzhou was important to her, so he couldn’t show any aggression—ideally, not even jealousy. But he hadn’t yet learned how to hide his jealousy calmly, nor was he sure if he could handle the possibility of Wen Xi choosing Pei Huanzhou over him again.

Unwilling to let Wen Xi see him in such an embarrassing state, Cheng Si stood up, turned his back to her, and wiped his face. He handed the sunglasses and camera back. “I promised Jiang Shuo I’d go diving. I’m going to find him.”

Wen Xi hummed in response, glancing at his reddened eyes but not calling out his clumsy lie.

Cheng Si forgot to even put on his shoes. He walked across the sand barefoot, his steps uneven. After a few paces, he seemed to step on a sharp shell. The pain in his foot was sharp, and he collapsed into the sand, clutching his leg. He didn’t move for a long time. It was only when a gust of sea breeze blew over him that he slowly moved, stood up, and continued walking like a lost soul.

Wen Xi hesitated, then followed. She truly hadn’t wanted him to be so devastated by her honesty. He looked more miserable now than when he was fully dressed.

Whether it was toward Pei Huanzhou or Cheng Si, Wen Xi felt she wasn’t treated her “puppy” poorly. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have risked being discovered by Xu Linshen to help Cheng Si out of trouble at a nightclub she hated.

A complex and troublesome emotion stirred within her. She had assumed their relationship was a simple one of master and pet; Cheng Si never asked for much, just a few more kisses or hugs.

But now it seemed Cheng Si didn’t see it that way at all.

Wen Xi watched as Cheng Si walked into the sea and swam further out. Fortunately, the deep water was calm. Since it wasn’t peak season, there were few people around besides the lifeguards on patrol. Jiang Shuo was nowhere to be seen. She did some warm-up stretches on the shore while counting the seconds. Nearly three minutes passed, and Cheng Si still hadn’t surfaced.

Wen Xi couldn’t wait any longer. She took a deep breath and, in a rare moment of impulse, swam toward where he had submerged. Just as she was about to dive, Cheng Si surfaced right in front of her.

“What are you doing?!” Wen Xi asked, her voice tight with suppressed anger as she bobbed in the water.

Cheng Si was stunned to see her. “I… I just wanted to clear my head.” He explained that school swimming lessons had taught him free-diving; he could hold his breath for a long time, and three minutes was basic for him.

It had been so long since Wen Xi attended a swimming class that she had forgotten the curriculum. Moreover, the safety measures were excellent; lifeguards were on standby. Even if Cheng Si were drowning, it wouldn’t be her turn to save him.

She had been hallucinating. She had momentarily confused Cheng Si with Wen Su, who had drowned. She had thought that even if she couldn’t save Wen Su back then, she could at least save Cheng Si now.

Realizing it was a misunderstanding, Wen Xi began swimming back without a word. They weren’t far from the shore, but her face grew paler by the second. Before she reached the shallows, the overwhelming fear of the ocean swept over her.

Her strength vanished instantly. Wen Xi’s body began to sink as the cold water submerged her.

The water in the deep zone was clear. Wen Xi opened her eyes underwater and felt as if a bloated corpse was drifting toward her—the face was unrecognizable, but the clothes were hauntingly familiar. They were the birthday gift Wen Xi had personally chosen for Wen Su.

Faint voices seemed to call her name, but she couldn’t distinguish them. She had never drowned before, but the agony of suffocation was her constant companion. Her heart felt as if it were being squeezed, and her limbs cramped and stiffened.

In her daze, she saw the corpse open its eyes—dark eyes identical to her own, staring at her like an abyss. Wen Xi instinctively reached for it, opening her mouth to cry “Sister,” but the seawater rushed into her lungs. She flailed her arms in agony.

Fortunately, a pair of strong arms circled her waist and pulled her back toward the light.

“Wen Xi! Wen Xi! Are you okay?!” Cheng Si knelt on the sand, calling her name in a panic.

Wen Xi coughed up seawater and took several deep breaths. She looked up and met Cheng Si’s guilt-ridden gaze. “I’m sorry…” he rasped. “I shouldn’t have gone diving… I didn’t know you were behind me…”

“I’m fine,” Wen Xi regained her composure quickly. “I went in on my own.”

Cheng Si held her, his eyes brimming with tears. Long-suppressed droplets fell onto her shoulders as he kept apologizing. Wen Xi felt helpless; Cheng Si looked more like the one who had nearly drowned.

“I really didn’t…” Wen Xi tried to pat his shoulder to comfort him, but her expression changed the moment she lifted her hand.

Seeing her stop abruptly, Cheng Si let go of her, sobbing. “Are you feeling unwell? Should I take you to the hospital?”

Wen Xi didn’t speak. Her gaze was dark and somber. Her suppressor bracelet was gone.

Cheng Si followed her gaze to her empty wrist and froze. “Did I accidentally pull it off? I… I’ll go buy you a new one…”

“No need,” Wen Xi said. She pushed him away and stood up, walking toward the hotel.

If an Omega wore a suppressor bracelet, it usually meant their heat was coming. Cheng Si didn’t know her cycle, but he thought he could run to the supermarket nearby and get a new one quickly. “It’s not too late to buy one,” he said.

“I said no need,” Wen Xi snapped impatiently. “Don’t you understand?” The cheap, low-grade bracelets couldn’t suppress her pheromones anyway.

Cheng Si didn’t dare speak again, following her step for step.

Wen Xi, seemingly annoyed, stopped and stared at him blankly. Her lips curled coldly. “Stay away from me. Don’t follow me.”

The girl’s dark eyes were cold as ice, enough to make one’s heart shudder.

The tears Cheng Si hadn’t wiped away still clung to his lashes. His blood seemed to freeze along with those tears, filled with panic. He took two steps toward her, then stopped himself forcefully—like a pathetic puppy afraid of being abandoned but not daring to disobey its master’s command.

Wen Xi didn’t look back at him again. Without the bracelet, the scents of various pheromones around her rushed in. She felt nauseous from the stimulation. The glands on the back of her neck began to throb, screaming to release her own aggressive pheromones, which she suppressed with gritted teeth.

She had to get back to the hotel immediately. If this continued, her rut would explode within ten minutes. Fortunately, the hotel wasn’t far.

Wen Xi swiped her card and entered her room quickly. She pulled a cigarette from the pack Cheng Si had left on the table, lit it, and took a deep breath. The acrid smoke cleared her mind slightly. She grabbed her phone and called Pei Huanzhou to ask what she should do.

In the past, she had endured her ruts by injecting large amounts of Alpha sedatives. The side effects were severe; the desire of the rut would be displaced by physical pain, and she would sometimes suffer nosebleeds, but she had no other choice. But the situation now was worse than before. She had no gland suppressors and no high-grade Alpha sedatives on hand.

For once, Wen Xi felt exhausted. Especially when she found that the call rang for a full minute before disconnecting automatically. She called again, but Pei Huanzhou still didn’t answer.

Wen Xi’s mind raced. While she still had her sanity, she locked the windows to prevent her pheromones from drifting out. Then she walked to the door to lock it from the inside—but the lock “beeped,” and the door was opened from the outside.

Wen Xi was nearly hit by the door and staggered back. Looking up, she saw Cheng Si standing in the doorway holding an Omega suppressor. He instinctively sniffed the air, as if catching the sharp, cold, sweet scent of Alpha pheromones. The expression on his face was one of dazed disbelief.