It’s Not Okay to Kiss Me as Soon as We Meet (ABO) - Chapter 17

The wailing ambulance sped along the road, and Shen Li’s tears fell like beads from a broken string. As a child, Shen Li had actually been a crybaby, but after her mother left, Shen Li had to toughen up. Shen Li couldn’t even remember how long it had been since she last shed tears.

Studying, competitions, projects, work, promotions, becoming a leader.

She had walked step by step, thinking she had grown up long ago, become strong, and wouldn’t cry like a little girl anymore when facing difficulties. Only now did she realize that she hadn’t cried before because no one had stood in her way.

The life of Shen Corporation’s princess wasn’t as pampered as others imagined.

Shen Jun had always been busy with company affairs, and the care he could give Shen Li showed up in the form of cash. Of course, for teenagers in puberty, material satisfaction really mattered a lot.

But as a girl who had differentiated into an omega, her emotional needs were higher than most. The lack of maternal love during puberty, with no caring elder by her side, meant that even if Shen Li had budding feelings in her heart, she could only keep them bottled up.

Shen Li had excellent grades and attended only top schools all the way. Competition in school disregarded gender and focused solely on scores.

Tears were the most useless thing.

For big exams and small ones alike, Shen Li couldn’t slack off. The scores on her exam papers seemed like the world’s only rating for her—if she didn’t score better than others, all she could do was work harder. If she cried over not getting her ideal score, people wouldn’t pity her; instead, they’d say, “Omega, huh, that’s just how it is—can’t study well, just knows how to cry,” followed by a meaningful “tsk.”

No one wanted to hear such piling on, and Shen Li was no exception. To avoid that meaningful “tsk,” she put in twelve times the effort. Even if she slipped up occasionally and didn’t perform ideally, she would instinctively bury the disappointment in her heart, striving not to let anyone see even a hint of omega weakness in her eyes.

Shen Li, who had been strong for so many years, completely broke down in the ambulance. Her heart and eyes were full of the image of Lin Huaiyi protecting her.

She hadn’t known Lin Huaiyi for long, but somehow, Lin Huaiyi always seemed to stand in front of her.

At that product department meeting, Luo Wen had incited everyone to blame her, and they all turned on her like it was prearranged—Lin Huaiyi had stayed behind and smiled to cheer her on, saying she would help.

When they couldn’t find the infringing part, Lin Huaiyi had stayed up all night with her, pulling an entire overnight shift to help her find number 8942.

When she couldn’t contact Yamamoto Corporation, it was Lin Huaiyi again, who had somehow paid some price to secure the meeting time with Yamamoto Daisuke. Shen Li might look cold, but she was an omega after all—her thoughts were always delicate. She didn’t know what price Lin Huaiyi had paid, but sometimes she saw Lin Huaiyi gazing wistfully out the window with a sigh.

She wanted to ask, but as the beneficiary, she felt she had no right to. After all, what could she solve by asking? She wasn’t strong enough herself yet.

And now, to get the authorization, she had selfishly used herself as a bet. Lin Huaiyi hadn’t said much and had thrown herself in without hesitation to help.

Shen Li hated her own impulsiveness. Before, because she had been alone, no one had ever stood so firmly in front of her like this. She had gotten used to fending for herself—after all, she bore the consequences alone.

But now, she admitted she was immature. Today, because of her momentary selfishness, Lin Huaiyi lay unconscious. If Lin Huaiyi really ended up with something serious, what would happen—she didn’t even dare think, and just imagining it made her heart ache dully.

She carefully took hold of Lin Huaiyi’s hand—the alpha’s hand was ice-cold.

Shen Li’s hand was a bit smaller than Lin Huaiyi’s and couldn’t fully grasp it, so she simply cupped Lin Huaiyi’s hand, wanting to warm it a little.

But she forgot she had a naturally cool constitution, with hands and feet always chilly. She didn’t warm Lin Huaiyi’s hand at all and instead made herself even colder.

The ambulance moved fast and arrived at the hospital in just over ten minutes. The medical staff bustled about, lifting Lin Huaiyi onto a gurney and wheeling her inside.

Shen Li hurried after them in a fluster, her eyes swollen like two little peach pits hanging on her face. Because she had been affected by Lin Huaiyi’s pheromones earlier, her limbs were weak and she tripped once.

Shen Li even had the presence of mind to think that luckily this was a foreign country—she hadn’t been this disheveled in over twenty years.

After Lin Huaiyi was wheeled into the emergency room, Shen Li waited outside in a daze, missing several calls from Special Assistant Yang in a row.

If everyone had an anthropomorphic animal version of themselves, Special Assistant Yang figured he must have been a goose in a past life—not the graceful swan that “curves its neck toward the sky and sings,” but the kind that stretched its long neck every day, peering east and west like a fool.

The Eight Immortals, the Heavenly Venerable, Guanyin Bodhisattva, Emperor Guan Yu, Christ Jesus, the Holy Mother Mary—Special Assistant Yang thought of every famous deity he could, just begging for Shen Li to call him back soon.

Now it wasn’t just the company executives pressuring him with calls— even the petty bunch from Luo Wen’s group in the product department couldn’t hold back. Some had already started throwing shade at Special Assistant Yang, reminding him to pack up quickly so he wouldn’t scramble and forget something when getting booted from Shen Corporation.

The stock market opened today, and Shen Corporation hit another limit down—three days in a row of limit downs, something that had never happened since the company went public.

Even Special Assistant Yang had fielded a few reporter calls today, everyone trying to pry some news out of him.

Whether by design or accident, Shen Li’s military order pledge was no longer just internal company gossip—it had become a hot online topic, with public opinion boiling over.

Three people make a tiger—some clueless shareholders saw bits and pieces online and mistakenly thought this infringement mess was Shen Li’s doing.

If Shen Li were back home, she could arrange some PR to dispel the rumors. But as it was, with no tiger in the mountain, the monkey claimed the throne—the online sentiment was basically one-sided.

Special Assistant Yang had already seen a post on a well-known stock forum: Why hasn’t Shen Li gotten out of Shen Corporation yet?

The post dug viciously into Shen Li’s family background but stayed mum on her achievements. It landed on one point: Shen Li had snagged the product department director spot at a young age thanks to being Shen Jun’s daughter. Due to her incompetence, she had caused this huge blunder. Shen Jun couldn’t fend off the whispers in the company, so he made Shen Li issue the military order—solve the problem in three days.

Now it was the third day, and Shen Li’s work had zero results, which just cemented her as a waste.

Some rich second-generation alpha even posted on his social media: The business world is a battlefield—if you want to play house, go home and do it.

He hadn’t expected his words to suddenly hit the trending list, with countless likes and comments below. Society was already unkind to career-driven omegas, and this sparked a big debate on whether omegas were suited for the workplace at all.

Special Assistant Yang had reported the public opinion risks he observed to the company right away, but upper management stayed ambiguous. At first, he was furious and confused, but later Guan Xi gave him a few pointers, and he got it.

Guan Xi said over the phone, “No matter who’s pushing it intentionally or not, now that shareholders have lost money, the backlash is focused on Shen Li—that’s bad for her, but good for the whole company. From the start, you have to think of the worst outcome. Suppose Shen Li fails—then Shen Corporation’s infringement reputation sticks, which is a huge blow to the company’s century-old name, something even Chairman Jun as director couldn’t bear. Now the company hasn’t spent a dime on PR, and there’s a ready-made scapegoat. If Shen Li fails, just push the scapegoat out front—sacrifice one Shen Li to salvage Shen Corporation’s century of reputation. Jun is Shen Li’s dad, but he’s first and foremost the chairman of the entire Shen Corporation. His choice not to help clear her name right now is only natural.”

Hearing Guan Xi’s analysis, Special Assistant Yang broke out in a cold sweat. The schemer’s mind was clever, their killing moves layered one on another, all using upright stratagems—they had been led around by the nose by the person behind the scenes the whole time. At a time like this, maybe only some miracle from the heavens could break the deadlock.

In the emergency room, the doctor gave Lin Huaiyi a full checkup. A top-level alpha’s bodily functions were superior to begin with, with excellent recovery ability too. Though she had overexerted her pheromones earlier, the exam results showed no issues with her body.

The doctor came out and startled at the sight of Shen Li leaning against the wall, on the verge of collapse. Shen Li saw the doctor and immediately wanted to rush in to check on Lin Huaiyi.

The doctor stopped her and told her in English that Lin Huaiyi was fine, just overtired and needed rest. But the doctor saw Shen Li looking like she’d been fished straight out of water—all bedraggled—and couldn’t rest easy, so he insisted on checking her too.

Shen Li had taken in Lin Huaiyi’s overflowing pheromones at the dueling ground, which had stirred up her own already unstable pheromone secretion—now her internal pheromones were running wild. And Shen Li, with her heart all on Lin Huaiyi, hadn’t noticed her own abnormality at all. The doctor quickly had a nurse inject her with a stabilizer—otherwise, the next one to faint would be Shen Li.

Shen Li bit her lip, refusing to leave Lin Huaiyi’s side. The doctor mistook them for a couple. With the alpha fainted, it was normal for the omega to worry—he softened and waved her in to get her IV by Lin Huaiyi’s bedside.

As Shen Li got her IV drip, she gazed longingly at the pale-faced Lin Huaiyi. Shen Li had never seen the alpha like this—eyes closed, lying so quietly before her.

In the past few times, it had always been Lin Huaiyi looking after her while she slept. Now she could finally observe this person, who had started appearing frequently by her side from some unknown day, up close.

Back when Lin Huaiyi wanted to join Shen Corporation, Shen Li’s thought had been to trick the dog in and kill it. Now Lin Huaiyi had proven with her actions that she had no other motives for joining—probably everything was just coincidence.

Shen Li felt guilty in her heart and quietly took hold of one of Lin Huaiyi’s fingers, shaking it ever so slightly a few times. “Lin Huaiyi, will you wake up soon, please?”

The clock quietly reached six o’clock, leaving Shen Li just two hours to leave Japan. But she was still oblivious, only praying that the alpha lying in bed would wake up soon.