After Rebirth, My Archrival Omega Looks at Me Differently (GL) - Chapter 11
Outside the window, the sky was painted with the last hint of orange-red. Chi Yan stared blankly at the hand Yan Youqing had placed on her forehead.
The girl’s palm was cool and soft. It felt like the salty, fresh scent of the morning sea breeze still lingered at the tip of her nose.
Chi Yan’s mind went completely blank, as if it had shut down. She lost all strength to resist.
She really felt like she had a fever. A deep red blush spread from behind her ear, hidden under her long hair, even darker than the sunset outside.
The hand on her forehead stayed there, not moving.
After a few seconds, Yan Youqing gently withdrew her hand and said, “The fever is from your differentiation. It should have gone down a little now.”
“Is your hand a thermometer or something?” Chi Yan finally spoke, sounding awkward as she turned her head away.
The motion caused a few strands of hair to fall near her ear, slightly revealing the blush that had not yet faded.
Yan Youqing stood quietly beside her, without a change in expression. She softly said, “Sorry,” and then reached up to press the nurse call button above the bed.
The nurse arrived quickly. The thermometer beeped gently on Chi Yan’s forehead, then displayed the result. “Thirty-seven point four degrees. That’s much lower than earlier.”
“Do you know how high your temperature was when you first came in? Over thirty-nine degrees. It was really scary,” the nurse said, recording the number at the end of the bed. “The higher your level, the more painful the differentiation. You’ve become an S-class Alpha, so you really need to rest, okay?”
“I understand,” Chi Yan nodded, quietly absorbing what the nurse had said with some surprise.
An Alpha was already unexpected, but an S-class?
Chi Yan had worked in the biology department for years. She knew just how rare an S-class Alpha was.
In her previous life, she had been a flawed Beta. How had she ended up becoming an S-class Alpha in this one?
The nurse looked at Chi Yan’s lowered eyelashes and thought she was tired. She smiled and said, “This IV will take a while. You should sleep for a bit. Your girlfriend is watching the IV, so you don’t need to worry.”
That one word made Chi Yan’s drifting thoughts freeze. She quickly said, “No, you’re mistaken.”
“Oh? She’s not your girlfriend?” The nurse paused, surprised. “When you came in, you were holding her hand so tightly.”
That embarrassing moment was mentioned again. Chi Yan felt her face burn with heat.
She clenched her fists slightly and said to the nurse with a firm tone, “Sorry, we’re just classmates. It just so happened that she was the one who gave me the inhibitor injection when I was differentiating. I grabbed her hand without knowing it.”
The nurse looked a little awkward. “I see. Sorry. You’re both S-class, and when you passed out earlier, she watched your IV more carefully than our own reminders. I thought you were a couple.”
After hearing that, the sharpness in Chi Yan’s eyes softened a little. She instinctively turned to look at Yan Youqing, who was sitting on the other side of the room.
Her face was calm and distant as always. Her lowered eyes gave off an emotionless and quiet air, like none of this had anything to do with her.
Would someone like that really do the things the nurse described?
Chi Yan curled her right hand under the blanket. The warmth left in her fingertips had already faded, shared with the fish soup left on the nightstand.
A strange feeling rose in her chest. Her voice became softer as she repeated, “We’re not a couple.”
“Well, you still need to rest. It’s fine to take a nap. There’s a call button at the nurse’s station,” the nurse said gently. She glanced at Yan Youqing, then pushed her cart out of the room.
The soft sound of the wheels slowly faded. The room became very quiet.
Chi Yan turned her head slightly and looked at Yan Youqing sitting nearby. She spoke, a little awkwardly, “Hey, um… thank you for earlier.”
“Uncle Chi asked me to,” Yan Youqing replied calmly, sitting straight with her eyes focused on the open textbook in front of her. Her voice was flat, like she was talking about something that didn’t matter.
Chi Yan remembered how her father had spoken to them earlier. She didn’t notice the order of events had changed and said casually, “You don’t have to take what my dad said seriously. He says that kind of thing to a lot of people.”
“A lot of people?” Yan Youqing paused, lifting her eyes slightly and repeating the words.
“Yes,” Chi Yan nodded. “If you go to his lab, you’ll hear him say the same thing to everyone. He’s not good with words. That speech is the only one he knows, and he repeats it constantly.”
After hearing that, Yan Youqing loosened her grip on her pen.
The sun was barely holding on to the edge of the mountain. The sunset outside had already faded.
Chi Yan looked at the workbook on the side table. Yan Youqing’s hand was resting on it, the same one that had just touched her forehead.
“You’re not leaving?” Chi Yan asked.
“I’ll take you home after the IV finishes,” Yan Youqing answered.
Chi Yan didn’t argue but replied, “That’s not necessary.”
Their relationship wasn’t close enough for her to accept a ride home.
“I don’t like owing people,” Yan Youqing said.
Her voice was even colder than Chi Yan’s, without a hint of emotion.
Chi Yan knew exactly what she was referring to.
That was right. Last time, Yan Youqing had taken her home, and all she gave in return was a lollipop. That really was unfair.
Her bicycle was still at school anyway. This was a good time to repay the favor.
Thinking that, Chi Yan adjusted the blanket on her chest, closed her eyes, and said, “Alright, if you want to wait, then wait.”
Maybe the differentiation had really taken too much out of her. Not long after closing her eyes, sleepiness quickly took over.
The room had a faint smell of disinfectant. The soft sound of a pen writing on paper filled the quiet space.
The sound should have been annoying, but somehow it felt calming. Chi Yan sank into the soft bed and soon fell asleep.
It was hard to tell how much time had passed. The sunset had faded, and the sky outside was completely dark.
Yan Youqing finally put down her pen. Her index finger had a deep red mark from holding it too tightly.
But she didn’t seem to mind. She lifted her eyes and looked at the person sleeping in the bed. Then, without a word, she closed the notebook beside her.
The notebook had a clear crease running down its cover. Compared to the other notebooks neatly placed on the table, it seemed out of place.
Chi Yan was fast asleep. Without her usual sharp expression and distant attitude, she looked completely at ease. In her unguarded state, she did not look like an Alpha at all.
Her round face still held a touch of baby fat, slightly puffed up as she slept. Her soft, fair skin made her look like a quiet, sweet rice dumpling.
By the warm light of the lamp, Yan Youqing looked quietly at Chi Yan’s sleeping face. Her soft breath stirred the loose strands of hair on Chi Yan’s forehead.
The light cast gentle shadows across her face. In her usually cool and distant eyes, there was a tenderness that was rarely seen.
The night sky covered the city like a dark blanket. A full moon hung high above the treetops.
Its soft light streamed through the hospital window and filled the room. A nurse gently removed the IV needle from the back of Chi Yan’s hand.
There was a bit of bl00d, but nothing serious.
It was the first time Chi Yan had witnessed the recovery ability of an Alpha so clearly. Even before pressing on the needle mark, the bl00d had already started to clot on its own.
A faint scent of tequila passed quickly through the air. The refreshing lime that usually followed never had the chance to appear.
After changing her clothes, Chi Yan went downstairs. Outside the entrance of the inpatient building, a black Bentley was quietly waiting in the shadows. It blended in with the night around it.
This was the first time in both her lives that Chi Yan had ridden in a car like this. She did not want to appear inexperienced in front of Yan Youqing, so she sat stiffly in the back seat without saying a word.
The night scenery passed slowly by outside the car window. As the car moved steadily forward, the city lights shone bright and steady.
Even though it was almost nine o’clock, the city was still alive with glowing lights and movement.
Inside a tunnel, the bright lights above formed continuous lines that flew by in the reflection. The car’s interior became clearly visible in the glass.
Without realizing it, Chi Yan’s eyes moved away from the view outside and focused on the reflection of Yan Youqing sitting beside her.
Even in the car, Yan Youqing stayed perfectly composed.
Her back remained straight, matching the angle of the seat like it had been measured. Her posture was almost rigid, like a line drawn with a ruler.
The moving lights outside outlined her face in soft flashes. For a moment, Chi Yan found herself staring at Yan Youqing’s profile.
Her long eyelashes cast shadows over her eyes. Chi Yan thought she looked a little tired.
Why would she be tired?
Chi Yan frowned slightly, remembering that when the nurse had come in earlier, Yan Youqing had just started packing up her things.
Compared to herself, Yan Youqing was a little slower. After all this time, she had only just finished her homework.
Chi Yan had completed hers before the school assembly, even while she was still on the edge of differentiation.
Thinking about it, Chi Yan allowed herself a small smile.
It was the first bit of satisfaction she had felt in an otherwise chaotic day.
The two of them stayed silent the whole ride. Soon, the car arrived in front of a small townhouse.
After politely saying thank you, Chi Yan stepped out and closed the car door. The lights inside the house were still on, as if someone had been waiting for her to return.
From the yard, she could hear voices coming from inside.
“Mom, what are you so worried about? Sure, she differentiated today, but both of us are Alphas too. Even if she became an S-class Alpha, you are still her elder. What could she possibly do, boss you around?”
“Minxue, can you please take this more seriously? Do you think this is just about who is stronger? What have you even been learning at school?”
The conversation between Xu Minxue and Xu Yongli carried clearly into the courtyard.
Chi Yan listened with interest as her usually fearless aunt finally showed some nervousness. She pulled out her keys and opened the door.
Inside the house, the chandelier was overly bright and a little tacky. It lit up the living room clearly, revealing the anxious expressions on both Xu Yongli and Xu Minxue’s faces.
As she stepped inside and changed her shoes, Chi Yan smiled and said, “Wow, were you both waiting for me?”