Chapter 6 SJC

Gu Yan’s ears flushed red. He coughed twice to hide his embarrassment.

“…Are you going into your rut?”

Shen Jinnian struggled to process the question. After a long pause, he shook his head, looking unexpectedly obedient, like a kitten.

“I… my next rut isn’t for another two months.”

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

They both stood there, at a complete loss.

Outside, heavy rain pounded against the windows.

Gu Yan frowned. There was no way they could get to a hospital in this storm.

Shen Jinnian was extremely uncomfortable, as if he was trapped in a closed space with thin air, with difficulty breathing and burning inside.

Suddenly, he grabbed Gu Yan’s wrist.

“Do you have any spare inhibitors?”

Gu Yan hesitated for a moment.

“…Mine won’t work for you.”

Shen Jinnian felt very aggrieved.

“You just don’t want to give it to me. Stingy.”

Gu Yan didn’t know how to explain.

And even if he could, he wouldn’t.

He could only pour Shen Jinnian a glass of warm water.

Maybe it was the hydration, or maybe just exhaustion, but when Gu Yan looked at Shen Jinnian again, he found that the boy’s tears were falling down in big drops.

“…Gu Yan.”

His usual arrogance had vanished.

The usually arrogant Alpha was dominated by his rut, and he couldn’t help but reveal his hidden tenderness and fragility.

Without thinking, Shen Jinnian reached out and clung to Gu Yan’s arm.

His scent flooded the air—thick, sweet strawberry pheromones, intoxicatingly rich.

For a moment, Gu Yan faltered. The heat of Shen Jinnian’s pheromones curled around him, tugging at something deep in his bones.

Before he could stop it, his own scent leaked out—a faint trace of cedar.

Shen Jinnian inhaled sharply.

Like a cool drizzle falling onto a raging fire, it wasn’t enough to extinguish the heat, but—

It helped.

Without hesitation, he curled up against Gu Yan and buried his face against his thighs.

"You still want more pheromones…?"

"I like your pheromones…"

"The cedar smells better than strawberries…"

Gu Yan carefully released a bit more of his pheromones.

Shen Jinnian took a deep breath, as if he had just been saved, and blinked away his tears. "Still not enough…"

"Don't be greedy." Gu Yan was cautious.

He had rarely ever released his pheromones in front of others, and he wasn’t sure how much Shen Jinnian could handle right now.

But his careful, stingy approach clearly didn’t sit well with the Alpha curled up in his arms.

"You're too stingy." Shen Jinnian rubbed his cheek against Gu Yan's thigh, he blinked at him with his round eyes and begged aggrievedly. "Just a little more… gege."

Gu Yan’s Adam’s apple bobbed.

He had never imagined Shen Jinnian could be this cute.

But… it worked.

The cedar pheromones in the room thickened, intertwining with the rich scent of strawberries.

Shen Jinnian let out a pleased hum, and his beautiful eyes narrowed contentedly. "...Gu Yan, don’t stop."

"Tonight…"

"Stay by my side and keep releasing your pheromones…"

"Can you…?"

Gu Yan’s voice was hoarse. "Alright…"

Hearing his agreement, Shen Jinnian’s body finally relaxed.

The exhaustion from his rut had drained his strength, and drowsiness began creeping in.

Shen Jinnian lay on the man’s lap, drowsiness weighing down on him. As his eyelids battled against sleep, he caught a glimpse of Gu Yan’s face through the slits of his lashes.

A face that looked inexplicably… tender.

Before he could think too much about it, he fell asleep.

But an Alpha in their rut never slept well. He hugged Gu Yan's waist and wanted to put his head into the other's pajamas, but he disliked Gu Yan's legs being stiff, which hurt his cheeks.

[t/n: Yeah that ain’t his legs honey.]

He was acting as delicate as an Omega in heat.

Gu Yan had to release more pheromones to barely appease Shen Jinnian.

—

—

The next day, the sky cleared after the rain.

The smell of pheromones in the room had faded a lot.

Shen Jinnian woke up naturally after sleeping for more than ten hours, and vaguely saw a figure beside him in his blurred eyes.

His drowsiness vanished in an instant, and his brain snapped awake. His eyes widened in shock.

"Gu Yan!"

His startled voice broke the silence, and only then did he realize—Gu Yan was lying in the same bed as him. Under the same blanket.

"Gu Yan! Why are you here?!"

The man beside him who had released pheromones all night slowly opened his eyes, and looked at Shen Jinnian with a hurt and depressed expression.

"Weren’t you supposed to sleep on the couch?" Shen Jinnian’s initial shock quickly turned into anger. "Why… why are you in my bed?!"

Gu Yan sighed. "I wanted to leave."

Saying this, his gaze flickered toward the blanket.

Shen Jinnian followed his line of sight.

Only then did he realize—he had been clinging onto Gu Yan like a koala, arms and legs wrapped tightly around him, refusing to let go.

Shen Jinnian scrambled away at lightning speed.

Then, something else occurred to him.

"Where are my pajamas?"

A chill ran down his spine. He instinctively checked himself, his hands moving downward in a panic. Once he confirmed everything was still intact and in place, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Shen Jinnian rummaged through the bed, he almost dug three feet deep in search of his robe.

Gu Yan slowly sat up and massaged his aching temples.

Gu Yan asked, "You don’t remember anything at all?"

Failing to find his pajamas, Shen Jinnian wrapped himself tightly in the blanket, leaving only his messy head exposed. "I do."

Gu Yan raised an eyebrow slightly, signaling him to continue.

Shen Jinnian : "I remember that you couldn’t bring yourself to give me an inhibitor during my rut yesterday."

Gu Yan: "…"

It's a magical memory storage system that can selectively enter information.

He had gotten up fourteen times last night to give him water, and released his pheromones continuously for nearly ten hours, and yet this kid remembered none of it.

Not only did Shen Jinnian forget, but he also held a grudge.

"I can’t stand you, and you find me annoying too, but during a life-or-death moment like a rut, you wouldn’t even spare an inhibitor for me. Gu Yan, your coldness is terrifying."

Gu Yan: "…"

"But, since you let me stay over last night, I’ll let it slide that you took advantage of me and stripped my clothes. From now on, we’ll go our separate ways."

Gu Yan let out a long sigh, helpless. "You’re going home?"

Hearing that, Shen Jinnian nearly exploded. "What else? My clothes are gone! Who knows what might happen if I stay any longer?"

"If I told you that you misunderstood, would you listen to my explanation?" Gu Yan asked unhurriedly.

"No." Shen Jinnian cut him off firmly. "There's no way this is a misunderstanding!"

The facts were right in front of him—why should he listen to a sly fox twist the truth?

He gave Gu Yan no chance to explain.

With a sharp movement, he flipped off the bed, still wrapped in the blanket, and bolted barefoot toward the living room to find the clothes he had washed yesterday.

Thankfully, the fabric was thin and had mostly dried overnight.

He hastily threw on his clothes, grabbed the baby formula and diapers, and stormed out without looking back. Relying on his vague memories from the night before, he navigated through twists and turns until he finally found the exit of the apartment complex.

Shen Jinnian was terrified all the way.

He finally got home, but before he entered the door, he heard the faint cry of a baby in the house.

The nanny looked relieved, as if she'd just seen her savior.

"Mr. Shen, I don’t know what’s wrong—the baby has been crying nonstop since last night."

"It’s probably because he hasn’t fully recovered from his illness," Shen Jinnian said tiredly, taking the baby into his arms.

The little baby was still crying with his tiny face scrunched up. But the moment he caught the strange scent lingering on Shen Jinnian, he froze.