He is not my Alpha! - Chapter 26
This peaceful scene didn’t last long before it was shattered.
The heavens seem to have a particular fondness for jokes, always bringing back something you thought you had escaped—just when you are celebrating your freedom—pointing at your nose and saying, “Haha, you didn’t escape at all.”
“Yo~, our good student is quite sentimental, feeding the cat here with his little boyfriend?” A voice full of laughter reached the Alpha, sensing danger, and he shifted his gaze.
The light in the alley was dim. He had one hand in his pocket and the other playing with a lighter. The flame on the cigarette dangling from his lips illuminated his features.
His eyes were pitch black, the corners of his mouth upturned, and he radiated a cynical nonchalance.
He walked toward them, and the smell of smoke grew closer. Ji Yifei, unable to tolerate the smell, began to cough. Shang Yan stood up and faced the person.
“Good dogs don’t block the road, move it.” More than half of the cigarette in his mouth was burnt, and the smell of smoke permeated the surrounding air.
Shang Yan frowned and asked, “Is there something you need?”
This question amused the person opposite. The person walked a few more steps, took the cigarette out of his mouth, and looked up at the person who was half a head taller than himself.
Shang Yan subconsciously wanted to release his pheromones, but he was unsure of the other party’s designation. Although the person looked like an Alpha, a misjudgment would result in a severe warning from the Omega Association.
Seeing the tension escalate between the two, Ji Yifei interjected, “That’s enough.”
His words caused both parties to stop. Ji Yifei reluctantly glanced at the kitten before walking over to deal with the two of them.
He led them to the other end of the road and glanced back at the kitten; it was still absorbed in eating the chicken sausage, completely unaware of the commotion.
Before Ji Yifei could speak, the boy dressed in black spoke, “I’m telling you, Miss Ji, are you serious? Why are you hiding when you see me here…” Before he could finish, Ji Yifei hit him hard.
“Would I be hiding if you didn’t smoke? Couldn’t you air out the smell?” Ji Yifei fanned the air around him, still unable to stop coughing twice.
The person mumbled, “Sissy.” He pulled a small spray bottle from his pants pocket and sprayed himself.
The scent of lemon spread in the air, diluting the smoke. Ji Yifei stopped coughing and glanced at Shang Yan, who hadn’t spoken the entire time.
Shang Yan was also looking at him. Ji Yifei knew he was waiting for an explanation.
Ji Yifei pointed at the person next to him and said, “This is Zou Duquan, my… my middle school classmate.” He touched his nose after speaking.
“Hmm?” Zou Duquan questioned, and was about to say, “When did I become your middle school classmate?” when he met Ji Yifei’s ‘if you dare to contradict me, you’re finished’ look.
He nodded helplessly. To cooperate with Ji Yifei, he extended a hand to Shang Yan and introduced himself: “I’m Zou Duquan, Ji Yifei’s middle school classmate, but I dropped out before finishing middle school. Now I’m just a drifter.”
Shang Yan extended his hand and shook the hand in front of him, saying, “My name is Shang Yan, and I am Ji Yifei’s current classmate.” They shook hands briefly before letting go. Just as they separated, Shang Yan’s phone rang.
He took his phone and walked to the side to answer the call, leaving Ji Yifei and Zou Duquan under the streetlamp.
“Didn’t you say we wouldn’t keep in touch?” Zou Duquan subconsciously wanted to smoke again, but remembering Ji Yifei couldn’t stand the smell, he could only take out a lollipop.
“I was young and ignorant when I said that. Don’t take it seriously.” Ji Yifei glanced at him, able to offer only this explanation, clutching his hands tighter.
The person eating the lollipop mumbled something Ji Yifei couldn’t hear clearly. Then Shang Yan walked back to Ji Yifei, saying Li Jiang and Zhou Tian had bought the items and were looking for them to meet up.
Zou Duquan scanned Shang Yan up and down again, let out a soft laugh, and suddenly leaned close to Ji Yifei, saying, “Talk later tonight.”
Ji Yifei couldn’t help but punch his shoulder with his tightly clenched fist.
“When are you going to fix this bad habit of leaning in to talk to people?” Ji Yifei gritted his teeth.
This punch carried a different meaning for everyone. Ji Yifei had clarified some things; Zou Duquan knew they had resumed contact.
But in Shang Yan’s eyes, it was entirely from another angle—an angle that wasn’t friendship.
Ji Yifei pulled Shang Yan away. Zou Duquan stood in place for a while, then took a cigarette from his pocket and lit it.
Before even taking a puff for a minute, his phone rang. He didn’t need to reach for his phone to know who was calling.
By the third call, the cigarette had burned out. He threw it on the ground and stepped on it to extinguish it before pulling his phone out of his jacket.
“You’ve been standing in one spot for nearly half an hour. Who did you meet?” A hoarse voice came through the phone, carrying a hint of teasing laughter.
“Get lost, pervert.” Zou Duquan hung up the phone, looked at the name “Idiot Li” on the screen, and walked into the alley.
After meeting up with Li Jiang and Zhou Tian, it was almost time to return to school. The four of them, loaded with bags, headed back. At the school gate, Li Jiang pulled several black garbage bags from his pocket and put the milk tea inside.
“This is almost one cup per person for the whole class. Drinking it every single day,” Li Jiang complained as he packed.
“Don’t spill it.” Li Jiang helped him pack. When Li Jiang lowered his head, Ji Yifei saw several red marks on his neck.
Although it was already spring, it didn’t seem to be the season for many mosquitoes yet.
A terrifying thought formed in his mind. He turned his head to meet Shang Yan’s gaze and mouthed the words, “Awesome.”
Shang Yan naturally didn’t know what he was saying, but he smiled back and nodded.
The four of them carried the large bags of items past the security guard and returned to the teaching building. At this point, less than ten minutes remained before the end of evening self-study.
Li Jiang used the excuse of discussing the next day’s sports meet with classmates to get the evening self-study teacher to leave early.
Ji Yifei and Shang Yan opened one of the bags of milk tea, and a swarm of hungry wolves from the class rushed forward to grab a cup.
The scene was chaotic for a while. Ji Yifei felt this was what it must have looked like when relief grain was distributed in ancient times.
The situation became so uncontrollable that Li Jiang, who had just promised the teacher the class would be quiet, was forced to furiously slam the podium. He designated Ji Yifei and Shang Yan to stand up, hold the milk tea, and call out names one cup at a time. The people below orderly lined up, took their milk tea, and returned to their seats.
The idea was good, but it was too slow. The dismissal bell rang just as the last cup was given out. Li Jiang hadn’t managed to say a single word about the sports meet tomorrow.
He held his forehead in a bitter smile on the podium. Ji Yifei urged him to go home, but he ignored him. It wasn’t until Zhou Tian walked over and smacked him on the head, saying, “Stop posing,” that Li Jiang returned to normal and began to pack up.
Ji Yifei passed by Zhou Tian and again saw the red marks on his neck. The earlier thought resurfaced in his mind.
He was going to ask Shang Yan, but Shang Yan was Zhou Tian’s roommate, and asking him about this would be awkward to answer.
He decided to investigate on his own for a while longer.
Back in the dorm, Ji Yifei finished washing up, lay down in bed, and opened his phone, remembering to unblock Zou Duquan.
The scene from back then reappeared before his eyes.
— “What do you mean ‘no contact’? What’s wrong? Planning to go back and be a good student, listening to your mother?”
— “Mhm. I don’t want to cause trouble anymore.”
— “Do you think all this time I spent with you was just ‘causing trouble’?”
— “Let’s not contact each other anymore. I… I never truly considered you a real friend.”
Although the memory now brought back images of a melodramatic teenage scene, Ji Yifei knew in his heart that he had truly hurt Zou Duquan back then. Even though he later found Zou Duli to help him explain, how could the damage done to others be forgiven?
He proactively sent a greeting emoji to Zou Duquan. The other party did not reply.
He felt a stuffy feeling in his chest, like horses trying to break out, or ants gnawing at him, which made him bite his lower lip.
Shang Yan’s phrase, “I believe you,” appeared in his mind again. He had seen Shang Yan’s sincere eyes and didn’t know how to tell him the truth.
Why am I afraid of being believed?
Perhaps this question couldn’t be answered yet.
On the other side, Shang Yan was also lying in bed looking at his phone screen.
Li Jiang couldn’t stand it and said, “You’ve been staring at that broken phone every day since you came back. What’s up? Online dating?”
Shang Yan didn’t answer him but put his phone down. However, he picked it up again shortly after.
Li Jiang felt something was off with him; his emotions had been strange these past few days. He poked Zhou Tian next to him, signaling him to take a look. Zhou Tian just smiled and said nothing.
At 11 PM, Li Jiang posted a moment on his WeChat, the caption being: “All mute people should die.”
A group of people commented with question marks underneath.
This moment unexpectedly resonated with “Mute Person” number one, Ji Yifei. He finally made up his mind and opened the chat window with Shang Yan.
Ji Three-Year-Old: Do we have events tomorrow?
Shang Ten-Year-Old: There are individual events. The fun events are on the second day.
Ji Three-Year-Old: Okay.
Ji Yifei fell into deep thought again. What else can we talk about when it’s like this?
On the other side, “Mute Person” number two, Shang Yan, began another round of sensitivity and analysis: Li Jiang and the class monitor are in charge of the sports meet. Ji Yifei is in the same dorm as the monitor, so why didn’t he ask him? He also has Li Jiang’s WeChat, and Li Jiang is constantly on his phone, so why didn’t he ask Li Jiang?
Why ask me?
The more he thought about it, the more nervous he became. He wanted to ask but was afraid he was overthinking things.
His little thoughts were like soap bubbles blown out—any slightest disturbance could pop them.
He didn’t want to be discovered. Some things he still couldn’t bring himself to say.
Why am I afraid of being discovered?
“Mute Person” number three, Zhou Tian, was using practical actions to prove that he was not mute and that his mouth was very flexible.
Half an hour later, Li Jiang deleted that moment and posted a new one: “Good mouth.”
Zhou Tian was the first to like it and commented with a thumbs-up emoji.
At midnight, Ji Yifei finished helping Jiang Jie choose the shade of natural sheer foundation for his makeup tomorrow and lay down in bed, preparing to sleep.
A strange number just happened to call at this time. His phone was always on silent at school. He answered and heard a hoarse voice.
“Good student, what are you doing?” It was Zou Duquan.
“Getting ready to sleep,” Ji Yifei answered calmly.
Both were silent for a while. Ji Yifei spoke first: “Are you still mad about that incident?”
Another silence. The person on the other end didn’t speak. The two remained in a deadlock.
“I heard you’re the School Bully now, quite arrogant, huh? Let’s spar sometime.” The other party broke the silence first.
Ji Yifei knew this was him giving him an out and forgiving him. He smiled.
Still so contradictory.
“Don’t you know how I became one?”
…
The two chatted for a while and hung up. Ji Yifei lay back in bed, feeling much better. A large stone in his heart had finally settled.
Everything was developing in a good direction.
Alpha Dorm Room, Zhou Tian’s Bed
Zhou Tian pinched the ear of the person nearly 1.8 meters tall in his arms and lifted him out.
“Ow, ow, ow—it hurts, darling, what’s wrong!” Li Jiang dared not speak too loudly, only trying to endure the pain.
He quickly put down the game he was playing and looked at the person leaning against the headboard. The hickey marks on his neck hadn’t faded at all, and his mouth was torn again from being too intense just now.
He understood this was his way of complaining about his excessive behavior just now. He reached out to hug him, but his shoulder was grabbed.
“Naughty,” Zhou Tian whispered in his ear, then lowered his head and “retaliated” against Li Jiang.
“Don’t be angry, darling.” Li Jiang was being pinched on the back of his neck, and a pair of moist lips nibbled at his Adam’s apple.
When he spoke, his Adam’s apple moved, making it hard for Zhou Tian’s mouth to latch on. He looked down at the moving Adam’s apple and bit down.
“Ngh…” Li Jiang couldn’t help but groan. This immediately stimulated Zhou Tian’s inner Alpha nature. He wanted to release pheromones.
Li Jiang understood his intention and could only constantly pat his shoulder, reminding him to restrain himself.
Unable to move his mouth away from his Adam’s apple, he lowered his head and kissed him.
Their kisses were always a battle of wills, both using force.
Xue Xi came out after showering and found the dorm unusually quiet. One person was sitting at his desk but occasionally glanced at his phone, while the other two, he knew without looking, were definitely doing something on one bed.
He sighed and first checked on the melancholic boy at the desk: “What are you doing?”
Shang Yan didn’t stop writing and replied, “Doing math.” He then put down his pen and tapped the screen of the phone next to him.
Xue Xi looked at the person in front of him, the top student and campus heartthrob, the idol of millions of Omegas, sitting at his desk constantly checking his phone. He couldn’t help but want to talk to him.
He pulled a stool over and sat next to him. After much thought, he finally asked, “Shang, you old man, tell your brother honestly, do you have someone you like?”
Shang Yan didn’t know how the conversation had jumped to this. The finger tapping the phone paused, but he calmly replied, “How can there be a crush during high school? Let’s get into college first.”
Xue Xi gave him another sidelong glance, wanting to speak but holding back. At this moment, Zhou Tian’s curtain was pulled open. Li Jiang climbed down, and Zhou Tian followed but headed for the bathroom.
Li Jiang: “Shang, you old man, is right. How can there be a crush in high school? Let’s get into college first. Xue Xi, don’t mess up the hope of our No. 4 Middle School.”
Xue Xi glanced at the uncovered marks on his neck and chuckled twice in response.
Finally, he sighed and left. Their dorm was beyond saving.