He is not my Alpha! - Chapter 12
Every day after returning to school, Ji Yifei would send Shang Yan messages reminding him to take care of himself. He also carefully organized an extra copy of his daily notes and test papers and placed them in Shang Yan’s desk drawer.
Li Jiang, who sat behind the two, privately exclaimed that there truly was “No overnight grudge between an A and an O,” and sighed, “Anyone who didn’t know would think you two were dating.”
After receiving “all-around care” from the school bully, he finally settled down completely and declared that he would live like a mute.
The school anniversary celebration arrived quietly.
Class 1 had rehearsed a few programs. They had two acts: one was a Chinese-style dance, where several girls with a dance background would perform first, and then the formation would transition to include a few male partners for a duet. This idea was meticulously researched by the “mute,” Li Jiang.
Ji Yifei was forced to join this dance—wearing a wig—because of the shortage of girls with dance experience in the class, a shortage that he believed was indirectly caused by “a certain unknown Alpha” dragging him away a few days ago.
He couldn’t help but feel that this was entirely a trick devised by the “mute” for revenge, even though Ji Yifei was a fully capable Alpha when he agreed to it.
Ji Yifei had performed similar dances before, but the thought of Shang Yan being his dance partner still gave him a headache. His neck ached faintly.
The second act was a Western-style program similar to an opera, which required a few girls and boys to wear elaborate aristocratic clothing and perform a short waltz segment. Since everyone felt the waltz was mainly about atmosphere and just required holding hands and spinning a few times (a statement made by the rough-mannered Li Jiang), everyone in the class who hadn’t participated in the first act was required to join.
Because the program lacked substance, they could only put the class’s “Visual Representatives” on stage, finding a few handsome boys and pretty girls to go up, and letting the others act as a backdrop.
Shang Yan, as expected, had to go up, but Ji Yifei refused, because…
— Ji Yifei had a separate solo performance.
Although Ji Yifei appeared to have a strong personality, due to certain irresistible factors, he had studied dance for 15 years.
He was scheduled to perform a solo Latin dance to conclude the school celebration.
Not many people knew that Ji Yifei could dance. Because he attended an aristocratic school before high school and then tested into this key school, the embarrassing details about him only slowly spread through his “good buddy” Han Dongjun. Coupled with his reputation as the “school bully” during his first year of high school, no one dared to speak to Ji Yifei. They only started joking around with him after getting along well in the second year.
So, currently, few people knew Ji Yifei could dance Latin. They only knew he had some dance foundation.
This program was kept secret from the public. Since it was a solo performance, Ji Yifei practiced it on his own after class.
When his father learned that his son was involved in something dance-related, he bought ten performance outfits for Ji Yifei to choose from.
Ji Yifei actually wanted to choose the deep blue one, but for some unknown reason, his mother ultimately chose the deep purple one studded with jewels.
— A little flashy, Ji Yifei silently cursed.
But he knew he couldn’t stop something his mother had decided. So he could only accept it.
The performance outfit arrived on Saturday. The students of Class 1 spent the entire evening self-study session trying on clothes.
Ji Yifei, meanwhile, felt like the world was ending.
Because it was a female outfit, the waist was completely exposed.
The classmates’ eyes lit up when they saw the outfit. One by one, they dared Ji Yifei to try it on quickly.
Li Jiang: “Jasmine Flower, now you’re really going to shine, huh.”
Han Dongjun: “Exactly, exactly. Jasmine Flower, once you put that dress on and show off that little waist, how many Alphas are going to fall under your spell?”
The two of them called out in chorus, drawing more people to look over at Ji Yifei. Everyone was secretly extremely interested in the contrast shown by the “school bully.”
Of course, one look from Ji Yifei—”You look again and I’ll blind you”—sent everyone else scurrying away.
Han Dongjun chuckled twice, then suddenly exhaled a long breath towards the ceiling and couldn’t help but say, “If the campus belle were here, it would be great…”
“What would happen if I were here?”
!!!
Someone shouted, “Shang Yan is back!” and a crowd immediately surrounded him, treating him like a celebrity.
It seemed everyone but Ji Yifei had gone over. Ji Yifei was currently the most terrified of seeing Shang Yan. He wished he could dig a hole and crawl into it. He felt that the moment he heard Shang Yan’s name, his scent gland reacted like it had PTSD and automatically ached.
Before seeing the person, he smelled his pheromones.
When Shang Yan’s gaze landed on Ji Yifei, the latter was touching the scent patch on his gland, blushing and lost in thought. In his hand, he was holding… the performance outfit.
The homeroom teacher saw the commotion by the restroom and urged them to quickly change. The others dispersed with their clothes, and Shang Yan also started walking towards Ji Yifei.
Ji Yifei didn’t think twice. Pretending he hadn’t seen anyone, he quickly blurted, “I’m going to try on the clothes,” and ran off.
Shang Yan’s internal thought: Like a little kitten… and a shy little kitten at that.
Ji Yifei took his sweet time changing in the restroom, not only because he had a huge psychological hurdle to overcome regarding wearing women’s clothing, but mainly because he had to wear it in front of the entire class, and… Shang Yan.
Ji Yifei had never been so shy in his life. This time, he was genuinely embarrassed.
He’d never felt this way before, but ever since that night, so many things had changed. This inexplicable feeling made him uncomfortable, but he could only sigh internally and reluctantly accept reality.
Ji Yifei slowly opened the door a crack, ensured no one was outside, and then slowly pushed the door open. He quickly put on his down jacket, zipped it up, and buttoned it, wrapping himself up tightly. But he didn’t know that even this wouldn’t help.
Ji Yifei quickly ran back to the classroom, rushed to his seat, and immediately sat down when he saw the person next to him was gone.
Perhaps the other program had gone for rehearsal. Only a few female Omegas practicing their dance were left in the classroom.
Ji Yifei felt a bit awkward sitting there as a boy. He pulled out a test paper to study but surprisingly noticed that these girls hadn’t worn long johns!
It was the coldest season in the North right now. Could these girls be so reckless for beauty?
Oh right… they probably wore fleece-lined stockings…
He felt like his intelligence had truly dropped; what kind of random thoughts was he having every day?
The girls somehow started talking and approached Ji Yifei, including Lin Daiya, who had a crush on Shang Yan.
Lin Daiya actually had a good impression of Ji Yifei. To be honest, most girls still admired Ji Yifei more; after all, who didn’t know Ji Yifei was also a rich second generation?
Although it was a public school, some people came from wealthier families.
The girls were all shocked when they found out Ji Yifei could dance.
Can your school bully dance? No? Hehe, mine can, genuinely, and the kind that wears a skirt~
He couldn’t imagine how explosive the forum would be later.
The group exchanged a few polite words, deciding to practice the dance together. They asked Ji Yifei, and he agreed. The group began to prepare for practice.
They decided to practice some basic skills first, and a few suggested putting their legs up on the desk to stretch.
Ji Yifei warmed up and immediately went into a vertical split.
The girls were more or less shocked.
Although Omegas are naturally flexible, seeing the school bully do the splits right there was quite shocking.
Yep, yep, our school bully can do the splits. So what?
The girls, who were already a little shocked to learn Ji Yifei could dance, were now completely speechless.
The professionalism Ji Yifei revealed during the rehearsal convinced the girls to unanimously vote for Ji Yifei as the Center (C-position).
First, Ji Yifei had a solid dance foundation, was good-looking, and his dancing was impeccable.
Second, Ji Yifei’s dance partner was Shang Yan. The two handsome guys definitely belonged in the C-position.
Rehearsals were closed-door. Several boys would constantly run to the dance studio to peek, but they only ever saw a few people in normal clothes coming out of the studio, or the school bully emerging drenched in sweat.
Later, when the boys and girls mixed, the girls deliberately performed perfunctory movements to maintain the mystery. Ji Yifei, on the other hand, was required to maintain an air of mystery, not allowed to perform the moves, only standing in position.
This resulted in Shang Yan always dancing seriously during their collaborations, while Ji Yifei stood there like a wooden stick. The two looked like strangers.
However, Ji Yifei wholeheartedly agreed with maintaining this mystery, because there was one thing about rehearsal he disliked: he hated sweating. He didn’t like feeling sticky all over. It made him uncomfortable.
So, every time he came out of the dance studio, the first thing he did was race back to the dorm for a shower. Of course, he didn’t need to during the mixed rehearsals.
(The day before the performance)
The program rehearsal went perfectly, but one problem arose.
In their class’s other waltz dance program, Shang Yan’s female partner kept making mistakes because she was too nervous around Shang Yan. The girl apologized repeatedly, but some people couldn’t help but voice their complaints about her being a liability.
The final result was that the girl took a leave of absence, claiming a stomachache.
Since the partners were chosen by lottery, the girl didn’t want to partner with Shang Yan at all. Facing the class’s criticism, and between the choice of being humiliated on stage and becoming a public enemy of all the girls in the school, she chose to endure temporary complaints from her classmates.
Now… they needed a brave soul to save Prince Shang Yan! Chen Dong and Li Jiang were pacing anxiously in the classroom. Everyone with a dance background was in the other program, and now the class was completely out of options.
The last resort was to remove Shang Yan, but the program would lose so much attention without the school heartthrob…
Finally, that person had an idea, and Ji Yifei had to step in.
The rumor was that the school heartthrob begged for three days before Ji Yifei agreed.
— The actual situation was that the homeroom teacher came down and assigned the task to Ji Yifei. Ji Yifei reluctantly accepted under pressure. In return, Chen Ken offered to clean his class duty for a month (though Ji Yifei would never actually let him clean, choosing instead to con Shang Yan out of a meal).
The reason was: It’s all Shang Yan’s fault for being so handsome.
Shang Yan could only open his hands in helplessness and apologize.
Class 1’s dance drama was the first program to open the event. The boys changed into European aristocratic clothes, to which everyone commented: Indeed, clothes make the man. Their entire demeanor was elevated by the outfits.
As for Shang Yan, because everyone was already immune to his handsome face, which was the source of all the trouble, everyone felt his appearance was normal operation.
Then, everyone’s attention was drawn to a person with blond hair wearing an elaborate dress, slowly walking over while holding up the hem of the skirt. The person kept their head down, but all eyes were fixed on them.
This is so freaking beautiful!
Shang Yan’s eyes lit up even more when he saw Ji Yifei. The Ji Yifei in front of him truly looked like an aristocrat, wearing a European wide-brimmed hat, with a golden wig draped over his shoulders, and a noblewoman’s dress. He shone like a star.
Of course, in Shang Yan’s eyes, Ji Yifei was a star.
The room was completely silent until Ji Yifei spoke: “Why the hell is this skirt so long…”
That one curse word completely shattered everyone’s image of an elegant European beauty. A few people smiled awkwardly and came forward to tease Ji Yifei.
Li Jiang walked up and looked at Ji Yifei’s attire, his eyes genuinely lighting up. He circled around him, constantly clapping and cheering.
“Holy cow, Ji Yifei! With you standing here, I can only use an ancient saying to describe it!”
Several people asked what saying, and Li Jiang declared: “How can one tell the male from the female (安能辨我是雄雌)—!”
Before he could even finish the phrase, a kick landed on his calf, and he couldn’t help but scream.
“A-A-A-A-A— Ji Yifei! You can’t hit people! Hitting people when you’re dressed so beautifully, everyone can’t accept that!”
“Who needs your acceptance? I’m hitting you, old man!” Ji Yifei prepared to lift his skirt to chase and hit Li Jiang, but he felt the hem of his skirt lighten behind him.
He turned his head to see Shang Yan holding his skirt, meeting his gaze, and saying, “What are you waiting for? Go get your revenge.”
So the next scene was a golden-haired European noblewoman, with a gentlemanly noble prince following behind her, gallantly holding up “her” skirt, chasing and beating a crying, howling person.
Some people wanted to go up and stop them, telling Ji Yifei to pay attention to his “image,” but they were all killed by the look in the eyes of the person behind him.
Fine, fine. He has backup.
After the commotion, everyone started practicing the dance. They were all dressed in costumes and stood in their respective positions. The music began, and they started to practice.
But Shang Yan noticed a problem: his dance partner’s gaze was completely off of him.
Shang Yan: “Classmate Ji Yifei, you have to look at your partner when dancing a duet.”
Ji Yifei: ?
Ji Yifei forced himself to turn his face toward Shang Yan, but his eyes couldn’t help but dart away.
A thought crossed Shang Yan’s mind: Is it because of the Heat? Come to think of it, Ji Yifei hasn’t really looked directly at me since I returned.
Did I cause Ji Yifei some trouble?
Shang Yan felt a little anxious and regretted being so impulsive during his Heat. He started getting angry at himself.
Well, Mr. Shang’s face clearly read, “I’m angry.”
Ji Yifei caught a glimpse of Shang Yan’s sullen face out of the corner of his eye and inexplicably felt a surge of irritation himself.
He was marked during his Heat, and he was a little shy. Was it that big of a deal that he didn’t look at him during the dance? Did he have to give him attitude?
Sure enough, once a man gets something, he doesn’t cherish it.
And why hadn’t Ji Yifei noticed Shang Yan cared so much about small details before?
Ji Yifei wasn’t the overly fussy type. He took a breath and looked at Shang Yan’s face, only to find that the owner of this “angry” face—the Alpha who had just seriously said to look at one’s partner—was staring intently at the space behind Ji Yifei.
Ji Yifei: ???
Ji Yifei decided to “kindly” remind his dance partner. Using the turning movement, he deliberately pinched his partner’s waist.
When he turned back, he could clearly see Shang Yan’s face was red.
This was truly rare. He didn’t expect someone as thick-skinned as Shang Yan to blush?
— Shang Yan’s internal thought: My waist was pinched. I’m a little shy. I feel like things are progressing too quickly.
Since this was not the official performance, Ji Yifei returned to the class after finishing the two Class 1 programs.
Ji Yifei had only briefly walked through the motions during the rehearsal, not dancing with much effort, because he had to go back and rehearse his solo program later.
The school had originally scheduled his solo dance for the rehearsal, but Ji Yifei preferred to practice privately and step on stage during the formal performance tomorrow to give everyone a huge shock.
He wasn’t trying to show off. He simply didn’t want to have to change clothes again. That flashy purple outfit was quite an impact on him.
The day of the performance arrived as soon as he opened his eyes. Ji Yifei heard his classmates chattering excitedly as soon as he reached the classroom door in the morning.
Lin Ling: “Did you know!!! There are 21 programs in total for our Grade 11 this time! But we only have 20 classes! Plus, no one knows what that last program is. I even asked my friends in the dance club, and they don’t know.”
Chen Haojiang wiped the milk from the corner of his mouth and said, “Woc… that’s awesome. Could it be the teachers going on stage to sing a song for us at the end?”
Li Jiang: “I think it’s possible. But I’m more interested in Class 3’s program. I heard they have a few hot Omegas going up to dance…”
Before Li Jiang could finish, Zhou Tian pinched his waist.
Li Jiang: “Woc, Zhou Tian, why are you pinching me? Don’t you look forward to hot Omega girls?”
Zhou Tian glanced at him and pinched him again.
Ji Yifei sat down in his seat, ignoring the nonsense from the people around him.
Their argument made him think of his own program again.
He really didn’t want to wear that flashy purple dress…