A Beauty That Moves the Heart (GL, ABO) - Chapter 2
After Xu Jinman finished speaking with conviction, she looked up to see Shen Shu’s expression that clearly said, “Keep pretending.” She felt rather helpless.
Words alone weren’t enough to explain, but the hospital should be able to provide proof.
Still pondering, Xu Jinman felt her palm go empty, Shen Shu had withdrawn her hand, breathing unevenly as she leaned against the cold tiles, clearly unable to stand and unwilling to collapse onto Xu Jinman.
Xu Jinman asked, “Should we go out first?”
Shen Shu’s fingertips twitched slightly. Xu Jinman guessed she was still wary after the two Alphas had barged in earlier, so she added, “You need rest now. But if you don’t want to stay here, I can arrange for someone to take you wherever you want to go. Or would you prefer to contact someone yourself?”
The Omega before her was still in a highly sensitive state. Though she barely maintained her composure, her body had unconsciously shifted toward the glass door, nearly pressing against it at a right angle.
She felt deeply unsafe.
Because of this, every word Xu Jinman spoke carried an air of inquiry, she left all decisions in Shen Shu’s hands.
After a few seconds of silence, Shen Shu finally spoke, though her soft voice still held suspicion: “You’d really let me go?”
This time, Xu Jinman didn’t respond. Instead, she turned, opened the bathroom door, rummaged through her bag for her phone, and handed it to Shen Shu from a distance of two steps. “Don’t worry. I said I wouldn’t hurt you, and I won’t.”
During an Omega’s heat cycle, rest was crucial. If Shen Shu stayed here, she wouldn’t be able to relax.
Xu Jinman glanced over, meeting Shen Shu’s scrutinizing gaze. After a brief moment, Shen Shu reached out and took the phone, though she didn’t act immediately.
Xu Jinman averted her eyes, bent down to pick up the clothes from the floor. The golden embroidery on the wedding robe shimmered under the fluorescent light. Noticing the violently torn buttons, she recalled the red marks on Shen Shu’s neck now it made sense.
She tossed the robe into the trash bin.
This was the first time she’d been treated like a wolf to be guarded against. She shook her head helplessly.
As she stepped into the inner room, a sound came from the bathroom behind her.
The Omega’s voice was slightly hoarser than before, the roughness amplified in the empty bathroom. Xu Jinman paused her search for clothes.
The call ended in less than half a minute.
Xu Jinman stood silently in place. The frosted glass reflected Shen Shu’s silhouette her slightly hunched back, yet her overall outline remained striking, even more so in the hazy reflection.
But at this moment, Xu Jinman, an outsider who had read the first half of the novel, felt an indescribable complexity.
In Wild Lover, Shen Shu had been adopted by foster parents but was raised like a treasure by her grandmother. Only after her grandmother’s passing did she return to the Shen family.
By then, however, the Shen parents already had their own biological son, a rare S-grade Alpha in this world and naturally looked down on Shen Shu. Yet the family soon discovered another use for her: Shen Shu’s beauty and talents could bring them commercial benefits.
They were greedy and selfish, which was why the original Xu Jinman had so easily forced them into submission.
Yet Shen Shu, had chosen to sacrifice her entire life, bowing her head not just for them, but also for her late grandmother.
This was why, in the novel, Shen Shu didn’t immediately leave the original Xu Jinman after this ordeal. But all of this was merely the turning point before her rebirth from the ashes.
The current Shen Shu, however, couldn’t see that far yet, she still held onto some hope for the Shen family.
In this state of shock and isolation in an unfamiliar environment, Shen Shu’s first thought was still the faint familial bond with the Shen family.
Xu Jinman casually threw on a jacket, then grabbed a beige trench coat before stepping out. Standing at a safe distance, she said to Shen Shu, “I’ll leave now. You can change the passcode yourself. As long as you don’t want it, no one else will ever come here again.”
There was no response from the bathroom. Tentatively, she took a step forward and finally caught sight of her.
Shen Shu’s head was slightly bowed, her thin lips pressed tightly together. Her slightly wavy black hair cascaded loosely, with only a few strands resting on her collarbone. The delicate straps of her dress hung precariously on her shoulders.
Xu Jinman touched her uncomfortable neck the gland there had already begun to swell slightly. A strange, unfamiliar sensation spread through her body. Though painful, it wasn’t as unbearable as before; instead, it felt like the relief of having crossed a difficult threshold.
Before she could process it further, Shen Shu’s body suddenly collapsed like a broken kite, falling right before her eyes.
Xu Jinman’s heart lurched. Reacting swiftly, she dashed forward and caught Shen Shu in her arms just before she hit the ground. Her own back slammed against the bathroom tiles with a dull thud.
Coughing twice, the heat in her chest snapped her back to awareness. Shen Shu clung to her, breathing painfully, as if each exhale could seep into her skin.
Xu Jinman noticed the temperature of the skin beneath her fingertips was rising rapidly. What puzzled her even more was that the Omega pheromones in the air had intensified again.
“Shen Shu!”
Shen Shu felt her body burning, as if it no longer belonged to her. Her pheromones were completely out of control, every inch of her trembling with pain.
Though she still clung to a shred of consciousness and reason, she couldn’t bring herself to pull away from Xu Jinman.
In her dazed state, she was enveloped by the scent of sunlight the pheromones of an Alpha.
With despair, she realized Xu Jinman had deceived her again. The suppressants were fake. Letting her go was also a lie.
Of course. Xu Jinman was an Alpha, why would she carry Omega suppressants? It was all a lie!
What awaited her was hell.
Why was her life like this?
She refused to accept it.
Xu Jinman sensed something was wrong. Shen Shu’s condition was worse than during her earlier episode, and she could hear her soft, pained moans several times.
The suppressants should have worked, she couldn’t understand why they had no effect on Shen Shu.
Frowning, she called out a few more times but received no response. A quick glance around revealed no sign of a phone.
Xu Jinman gripped Shen Shu’s shoulders and helped her up, then turned her attention to her face. The Omega looked like a beauty trapped in a nightmare her brows furrowed, cheeks flushed, long lashes glistening with unshed tears.
Was she crying?
Xu Jinman’s frown deepened. She couldn’t stand seeing women cry.
The female lead in the novel was proud and strong-willed. For her to cry while Xu Jinman was still here, how much pain must she be in?
Xu Jinman wrapped an arm around Shen Shu’s shoulders and slid the other beneath her knees, intending to carry her to the sofa before searching for help. As she moved, she belatedly noticed something pressing against her lower abdomen.
Looking down, she saw a phone wedged in the folds of their hastily discarded wedding attire.
When she reached to pull it out, Shen Shu stirred slightly. Xu Jinman froze, her skin tingling with an unbearable mix of restraint and excitement. She forced it down.
Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the night was pitch black. Yet from her skin to her very core, it felt as if she were being scorched by the sun.
The gland throbbed with excruciating pain, as if an air pump was relentlessly inflating inside. Just as she feared her neck might explode the next second, the discomfort abruptly vanished.
She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but Shen Shu’s breathing seemed to ease slightly.
Xu Jinman had no time to ponder. She scooped Shen Shu into her arms and placed her on the nearest sofa before dialing a number on her phone.
In this world, every district had specialized hospitals for Alphas and Omegas, with emergency medical departments categorized into S, A, B, C, and D levels.
S-class Alphas and Omegas made up only 0.1% of the ABO population and received the highest level of care.
As a failed Omega, Xu Jinman barely qualified for C-class treatment.
Yet she wasn’t the least bit worried about the medical response time for one simple reason: the Xu family was the largest investor in all hospitals across the northern and southern districts.
Everyone knew how obsessively the Xu elders doted on Xu Jinman. To put it bluntly, she was practically royalty here.
After making the call, Xu Jinman searched the entire apartment but found no scent-blocking patches. The only thing she discovered in the bedroom was a bottle of scent-neutralizing spray that could partially dissolve pheromones in the air. After sealing all windows and doors, she sprayed every corner.
Her gaze returned to the sofa. The fever had left Shen Shu’s face glistening with sweat, flushed like a freshly washed peach, though her rosebud lips had gone matte from dehydration.
Xu Jinman suddenly felt parched herself.
After downing a full glass of water, she fetched warm water and approached the sofa. Sliding a pale arm beneath Shen Shu’s damp back, she carefully lifted her up.
Shen Shu’s vision was obscured by a feverish red haze. Her body felt pressed against a steaming sponge, and she couldn’t tell whether this was dangerous only that endless unease consumed her.
The glass touched her lips again. Moments later, Xu Jinman laid her back down.
Just this much effort had Xu Jinman breaking into another sweat. Remembering something, she glanced down at the Omega on the sofa.
In the bathroom, Xu Jinman wrung out a warm towel and gently wiped the sweat from Shen Shu’s face. As she reached the jawline, her hand suddenly froze.
A glistening trail of moisture ran from the corner of Shen Shu’s mouth, down her jaw and neck, before trembling to a stop at her collarbone.