Her Pheromones Smell Like Sparkling Water (GL) - Chapter 12

Shen Tingjun’s heart was racing.

She was nearing her heat. Even with the suppressants, her body was still hypersensitive to an Alpha’s pheromones. She gritted her teeth, trying to force down the rising urge inside her, and asked sharply, “Shang Ranzhu, what are you saying? Let me go.”

Shang Ranzhu hadn’t actually intended anything beyond teasing. But hearing Shen Tingjun’s words made her not want to let go.

Her red-painted nails curled into Shen Tingjun’s hair, lips tugging into a slow, devilish smile as she said, “No.”

Shen Tingjun took a deep breath, trying to use her fake Alpha pheromones to suppress Ranzhu. But she couldn’t stop her real scent from slipping out.

A gust of wind blew through the room.

Shang Ranzhu felt something indescribable wrap around her heart—sweet and cloying. It stirred her deeply and made her want to respond. Her own pheromones, uncontrollably, began to spill out in waves.

Shen Tingjun realized with horror that the sweetness in the air was growing heavier—thicker—clawing at the edge of her self-control. Her voice cracked. “Shang Ranzhu, let me go. Take your pheromones back.”

However, even Ranzhu sensed that her behavior was unusual. It was as if something invisible, unknowable, was tangling around her, pulling her into a feverish haze. She didn’t want to back off. She pressed Shen Tingjun tighter against herself and said lowly, “Teacher Shen, I don’t want to let go.”

Shen Tingjun clenched her fists. Her newly done nails dug pale, bloodless crescents into her palms.

“Shang Ranzhu,” she gritted out, “I don’t want to treat you like this. I’ll ask you one last time—will you let go of me?”

Ranzhu, half-possessed by her own pheromones, ran her tongue slowly along her bottom lip and smiled. “What? Is Teacher Shen going to hit me? Because you’re looking awfully…”

Crash—

Before she could finish, a tremendous force shoved her away. She stumbled backward, knocking into the stack of sparkling water bottles beside Shen Tingjun.

They hit the ground with a thunderous clatter. The bottles rolled and shattered, spilling liquid everywhere.

In that very moment, Shen Tingjun’s suppressants lost control. Her scent exploded through the air.

Her pheromones—fizzy, crisp, and unmistakably Omega—mixed with the real sparkling water from the broken bottles until the entire room was drenched in the overlapping scent. Every corner. Every breath.

Shang Ranzhu was stunned.

The first thought that crossed her mind was Omega.

But then she caught the scent on her own damp sleeve—and it also smelled like the fizzy drinks from her family’s restaurant.

She didn’t even have time to sort it out.

Suddenly, she heard her fast footsteps.

She looked up just in time to see Shen Tingjun rushing out the door, with messy hair, clutching her purse, and going out in silence.

And there, hanging by her lashes—she saw…

A tear?

Did she make Shen Tingjun cry?

Shang Ranzhu froze.

This should’ve been a victory. She’d finally pushed Shen Tingjun down. Finally, she won.

So why couldn’t she feel happy?

Instead, there was guilt. She felt a deep regret that made it difficult for her to breathe.

She’d done something wrong. She didn’t know how or why—but something about what she’d done had crossed a line.

The night had fallen completely. The room was cloaked in darkness—oppressive and cold. The soda from the shattered bottles soaked into the floor and seeped into the fabric of her clothes.

She sat there, fingers brushing the sharp edge of a piece of glass she’d grabbed by instinct. It didn’t cut her skin—but it hurt all the same.

She didn’t know why she had acted so aggressively just now.

It felt like she’d been drugged, like her mind had been hijacked.

Pulling out her phone, she typed a message to Chen Ming:
[Give me Shen Tingjun’s contact info.]

It didn’t matter whether she’d been the one losing control or not. The truth was, she had messed up. She had to apologize.

She waited a while, but there was no reply.

Pushing herself up from the floor, she began picking up the shards and tossing them one by one into the trash. Her mother, Liu Lihua, always told her to sweep the floor multiple times if ever there’s breaking glass—and even to use wide adhesive tape in dark corners.

She rummaged through her bag until she found a narrow roll of medical tape. Not sure it would work, she crouched by Shen Tingjun’s desk and began taping every single gap between the tiles, piece by piece, until there were no more left.

After cleaning up the glass, she rinsed a brand-new mop and wiped down the entire room with care.

But the sugary scent of sparkling water still clung to the air—unshakable and stubborn.

The scent soaked into her skin, her breath, and her bones. It made her restless, like something was smoldering inside her and wouldn’t die out.

Twenty years of her life, and she’d never experienced anything like this.

Frustrated, she grabbed her phone and stepped out to the balcony. She is standing in front of the window to catch the night breeze.

Sure enough, physical cooling worked faster. As the air slowly cleared the scent from the room, the fire inside her calmed too.

Just then, Chen Ming replied:
[Oho~ What do you need her info for, hmm? Out with it.]

Ranzhu replied:

[I upset her just now.]

Chen Ming, not knowing what really happened, sent a pervy emoji:
[Aww~ look at you, learning how to coax the wife. I’ll send it.]

Ranzhu shot back, annoyed:
[Shut it. There’s nothing going on between me and her.]

Chen Ming sent over Shen Tingjun’s WeChat contact, then added:

[By the way, how’s your place? I’ll come visit in a few days.]

[It’s fine. Pretty much like our college dorms—bunk bed over desk, four-person room.]
Ranzhu replied while opening the “Add Friend” interface, typing in a simple intro.

But then, thinking Shen Tingjun might reject her, she changed it.

[Teacher Shen, I’m Shang Ranzhu. I’m sorry. I was wrong.]

But… what if she didn’t accept her apology?

Wouldn’t that be terribly embarrassing?

Shang Ranzhu mulled it over, then changed the message she’d typed in the request box to: “Miss Shen, I’m Shang Ranzhu. There’s something I want to tell you.”

It carried just the right touch of pride and vulnerability.

She sent the friend request and clutched her phone, waiting anxiously for Shen Tingjun’s response. Meanwhile, Chen Ming’s messages kept popping up—one after another—but the one line she truly wanted to see never came. The message that said, “Your friend request has been accepted. You can now start chatting.”

Time stretched thin with impatience. Chen Ming was still yapping on.

Ranzhu finally snapped:
[You’re so annoying.]

Chen Ming paused.
[What’s up with you?]

Ranzhu: [Nothing.]
No way was she going to admit she was irritated because Shen Tingjun still hadn’t accepted her friend request.

But Chen Ming came right out and said it:
[Let me guess—you’re waiting for Shen Tingjun to accept your request, aren’t you?]

Damn.

Did she have worms in her stomach? (Was Chen Ming reading her mind?)

Ranzhu: [How do you know that?]

Chen Ming: [I also know you two are sharing a dorm room now.]

Shang Ranzhu blinked at the message, horrified, and immediately opened her browser to search:
“How to put worms into someone’s stomach.”

Answer: Seek medical help.

….

Maybe this was what people meant by a true best friend who knows you inside and out.

[Yeah, we’re in the same dorm. I even argued with her just now. She got mad. I tried to add her, but she won’t accept. What should I do?] Ranzhu finally spilled.

Chen Ming got déjà vu—like when couples fight and delete each other off WeChat. She comforted her:
[Just go find her. She can’t have gone far.]

Ranzhu: [I’m not going to look for her.] 

She rejected the idea flatly.

Chen Ming, already googling “what to do when your girlfriend is mad”, typed back:
[Come on, just soften up a bit. Shen Tingjun’s a girl too—an Alpha, and a proud one. She needs to be coaxed.]

[Sending her a friend request is soft enough, okay?]
Ranzhu pounded out the words on her screen, indignant.
[Besides, I’m also a girl. I’m also an Alpha. I need to be comforted too!]

Chen Ming’s eyes lit up.
[How about this—you coax her, and I’ll coax you.] 

[…]

Shang Ranzhu was speechless.

Chen Ming squinted at the wall of suggestions from the article she’d pulled up and asked:
[So what exactly did you do to piss her off? You have to tell me, or I can’t help—er, I mean, I can’t come up with a solution.]

Ranzhu rolled her eyes. That almost slipped into “I’ll Google it.”

But she knew Chen Ming wasn’t exactly subtle. Still, it was comforting having someone like that, someone willing to help no matter what.

After thinking for a moment, Ranzhu decided to fully surrender. She had been the one to cross the line first. Shen Tingjun wasn’t even accepting her friend request. She’d already lowered her pride—what was a little more?

[Thanks, but I’ll go look for her myself.]

With that, she shoved her phone into her pocket, grabbed a jacket, and walked out the door.

The air outside was quiet and still. The dim streetlamps barely cast any light, hidden behind the dense cypress trees. The light was barely enough to illuminate the way.

Ranzhu stood under the dorm building, momentarily lost. The campus was so big—where was she even supposed to start?

Suddenly, her phone buzzed twice in her pocket.

Shen Tingjun had just accepted her friend request.

And sent a message:
[Come up.]

Come up… where?

Before Ranzhu could even make sense of it, another message arrived:
[Look up.]

Was Shen Tingjun messing with her?

Still, Ranzhu obediently looked up.

At the edge of her vision, on the rooftop of the dorm building, she saw a figure—a slender silhouette, faint against the dark night sky. The shadows cloaked her in a shroud of mystery.

But Ranzhu knew instantly.

It was Shen Tingjun.

And without another word, she turned and began to make her way up.