The True Record of a Flirty Omega's Failed Balancing Act - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

◎ Did you mess around? ◎

“Huh? Is that so?” Ning Chanyue seemed to be unaware. She felt her gland with her hand in circles before suddenly understanding. “Oh—it must be because I haven’t been marked in a long time, and now that I’ve been marked by a previous alpha, my gland isn’t used to it. I read in the news a while ago that some omegas have had similar situations.”

Xu Guiyi’s fingertips gently stroked the red edge of Ning Chanyue’s gland, making her feel a little flustered. She turned her head to look at Xu Guiyi, and a few strands of fine hair in front of her face slid down, just covering the entire gland. Only then did Xu Guiyi finally retract the hand that was touching her skin.

After a while, Xu Guiyi slowly said, “I see. As long as you’re okay. But with your gland so swollen, you probably can’t put a scent blocker on it.”

Ning Chanyue immediately shook her head. “It’s fine! I can take two shots of an inhibitor. I’m not allergic to inhibitors anymore.”

Although inhibitors could also cover up the scent of pheromones, they would still harm an omega’s body. Xu Guiyi frowned and was considering whether to stop her when she saw Ning Chanyue already walking towards the living room.

Then, she picked up her bag from the hanger, took out two pre-prepared inhibitors, and injected them into her own gland.

Xu Guiyi’s gaze followed her the whole time.

But Ning Chanyue was uncharacteristically afraid to look directly at Xu Guiyi.

Ning Chanyue lowered her eyes and stared at the floor, which she had cleaned to a crystal clear shine. But the more transparent it was, the more it seemed to reflect the panic she was trying so hard to hide.

When the last bit of the inhibitor was injected into her body, Ning Chanyue closed her eyes silently.

She also didn’t want to hide things like a thief, but if she really told Xu Guiyi what had happened after they broke up, what would Xu Guiyi think?

She didn’t dare to gamble.

“Sister.”

Feeling her hand, which was curled into a fist, being pried open, Ning Chanyue opened her eyes and looked down. Her sister had walked over, supporting herself on the sofa, and was handing her a dinosaur toy.

“Dragon! Big dragon—”

After Ning Chanyue took the dinosaur toy, Xu Pei’an’s eyes widened, and she drew circles with her hands in front of her chest, as if she was trying to imitate the shape of a dinosaur.

“An’an, why did you give your favorite dinosaur toy to sister? Do you want sister to play with you?”

Xu Guiyi walked a few steps forward and squatted down next to Ning Chanyue. She spoke in a slightly high-pitched voice and used her hand to wipe the white dust that had rubbed onto Xu Pei’an’s face at some point.

But Xu Pei’an seemed not to understand what Xu Guiyi was saying. She tilted her head, opened her mouth twice, and finally made a sound, repeating the last word Xu Guiyi said. “Play, play, play.”

At the same time, she continued to push the dinosaur toy into Ning Chanyue’s hand, even though she was already holding it tightly.

So Ning Chanyue also squatted down next to Xu Guiyi. She touched Xu Pei’an’s head, put the dinosaur on Xu Pei’an’s shoulder, and took a few steps, making Xu Pei’an giggle. Then she said, “Okay, sister will play dinosaurs with An’an, okay?”

Ning Chanyue sat cross-legged on the rug and held Xu Pei’an on her lap. She picked up a gray dinosaur from the floor, made the two dinosaurs bump into each other, and said to Xu Pei’an, “Look, the little dinosaurs are fighting.”

Whether it was because she had a new sister to play with or because she saw her favorite little dinosaur, Xu Pei’an seemed especially excited. Her little legs were kicking back and forth in Ning Chanyue’s arms, and she clapped her hands and said, “Good, good.”

Xu Pei’an was engrossed in playing with Ning Chanyue. After observing them for a while, Xu Guiyi sat on the sofa with a sense of relief. She took her laptop out of her bag and started downloading the papers that her professor had sent in the group chat for this week, all while keeping an eye on Xu Pei’an.

The warm, dim light in the living room shone from the side, casting long shadows of Ning Chanyue and her sister playing. Ning Chanyue also secretly glanced at Xu Guiyi, who was sitting next to them, and saw that she would look at them from time to time while she was doing her schoolwork.

In a daze, Ning Chanyue felt as if she had gone back to her college days.

During that time, although Ning Chanyue and Xu Guiyi had rented a small apartment together, she always looked forward to staying at Xu Guiyi’s parents’ house during holidays or on weekends.

For no other reason than that she felt a warmth in Xu Guiyi’s home that she had never dared to hope for in the first ten years of her life.

Back then, in the evenings, Xu’s father would always be cleaning, and Xu’s mother would be working out on the treadmill in the living room. She and Xu Guiyi would sit on the rug in the living room, either watching TV or playing games, all while laughing and chatting with Xu’s mother and father.

Xu’s mother would always joke that she had watched Ning Chanyue grow up since high school and now treated her like a daughter of her own.

How she wished time could stop then.

If not, she wished time could stop now.

Even though the past few years had been full of twists and turns, and even though Xu Guiyi’s love was now elusive and no longer as intense as it was back then, she at least had this moment of peace and comfort.

“Waaah—”

Her sister’s crying suddenly echoed in her ears. Ning Chanyue was startled. She leaned her head close to her sister and touched her plump face. “What’s wrong, An’an?”

But her sister didn’t respond. She just continued to sob, snatched the dinosaur from Ning Chanyue’s hand, held it up, twitched a few times, and then threw it heavily on the floor.

The little dinosaur rolled a few times on the floor before it stopped. Its green eyes were staring straight at Ning Chanyue, looking a little resentful. Only then did Ning Chanyue notice that the little dinosaur’s body was a little broken. One of its feet had a piece missing, forming a crescent shape, and the upper lip on its protruding face was also gone. It had probably been thrown by her sister many times before.

But she didn’t know what had suddenly upset her sister this time.

Ning Chanyue picked up another toy and tried her best to entertain her sister, but perhaps because she had no experience in哄 children, her sister’s crying continued to ring in her ears.

Xu Guiyi put down her laptop, took her sister from Ning Chanyue’s arms, and expertly patted her back to soothe her.

Ning Chanyue bit her lip and looked at Xu Guiyi, feeling a little helpless.

Had she caused trouble for Xu Guiyi?

Xu Guiyi patted her sister’s back and gently comforted her. When her sister’s sobbing gradually stopped, she took the opportunity to say to Ning Chanyue, “It’s okay. Maybe she didn’t want to play with this toy anymore, but she didn’t know how to express it. It’s getting late. I’ll take her to wash up.”

Ning Chanyue was left alone in the living room.

She lowered her eyes, knelt down, and picked up the toys scattered on the floor. She took a few steps forward, intending to put them in the toy box in the corner.

The toy box was almost overflowing with toys. There were not only dinosaurs but also trucks and dolls. Some of the toys looked brand new. Maybe her sister had only played with them a few times since they were bought.

Just as Ning Chanyue finished tidying up all the toys, her phone vibrated in her pocket.

Who was it?

To be honest, Ning Chanyue never had any expectations when it came to phone calls, because the few people who called her often were not people who had good intentions for her.

But she still picked up her phone as usual and looked at the caller’s name at the top of the screen.

…It was You Zhuoqing again.

Ning Chanyue subconsciously wanted to hang up, but her hand had just touched the red hang-up button when she looked up at the closed bathroom door. Her fingers suddenly stopped, and the phone in her hand vibrated a few more times. Finally, she chose to answer the call.

Before Ning Chanyue could even put the phone to her ear, she heard the person on the other end say, “Oh, why didn’t you hang up on me this time, Ningning? If you didn’t answer my call, I was planning to go to your hotel to find you.”

But Ning Chanyue didn’t respond to the other person’s topic. She just said, “I called you a few times this morning, why didn’t you answer?”

But she seemed to be afraid that Xu Guiyi in the bathroom would hear her. Ning Chanyue tried her best to lower her voice, almost asking in a whisper.

“I drank too much last night and slept through the morning. Besides, didn’t I call you last night to invite you to the cast and crew dinner, and you didn’t answer either? I even ordered your favorite cocktail,” the other person’s voice was lazy. After hearing Ning Chanyue let out a displeased sigh, she paused and then calmly said, “But for Ms. Ning to take the initiative to call me, I’m flattered. Tell me, what’s wrong?”

Ning Chanyue ignored You Zhuoqing’s words. She frowned and went straight to the question she had wanted to ask her this morning. “You Zhuoqing, I’m asking you, were you hiding something from me about Xu Guiyi’s car accident back then?”

“Huh? Why are you still thinking about your ex’s car accident? Did you see her last night and your heart fluttered again? If you ask me, Ningning, I’m your wife, after all. When will you look at me? What do I lack that she has…”

The other person’s tone sounded sour, but Ning Chanyue could close her eyes and imagine her sitting at the table with her legs crossed, a playful look in her eyes as she teased her.

Ning Chanyue interrupted her. “Shut up. I’m asking you, was Xu Guiyi’s sister’s illness caused by that car accident?”

The other person seemed to get more excited when she heard that. She chuckled through her nose and slowly said, “Oh, you didn’t know? It was indeed caused by that car accident. Xu Guiyi’s sister was delivered via C-section before her mom passed away, but it was too late. She had cerebral palsy from lack of oxygen. Even I, who has never met Xu Guiyi, know about this. I thought you were so hung up on her that you would know more about her business.”

Ning Chanyue’s grip on her phone tightened. If it wasn’t absolutely necessary, she would have already blocked this person who didn’t even deserve to be called a person from her contacts.

How could she have known about Xu Guiyi’s family’s situation back then?

The third day after Xu Guiyi’s family’s accident, she was forced to sign a series of agreements with You Zhuoqing, and after that, she cut off all contact with Xu Guiyi. Everything she knew about Xu Guiyi, she had to beg You Zhuoqing to tell her.

“Get lost.”

Ning Chanyue gritted her teeth and squeezed out the word. Then she took the phone away from her ear, but before she could touch the hang-up button, she heard the alarm from Xu Guiyi’s phone, which was on the sofa.

After it rang twice, Xu Guiyi’s voice came from the bathroom. She said, “Ning Chanyue, can you turn off the alarm for me?”

You Zhuoqing’s voice on the phone was noticeably tense, losing its composure from earlier. “Who is that?”

Ning Chanyue ignored her and hung up the phone. She then took two steps forward and turned off the alarm that was labeled “Wash up with sister.”

You Zhuoqing’s calls continued to come in. Ning Chanyue glanced at them and then put her phone on silent. She seemed to be in a bad mood. She sighed and sat on the sofa, feeling a little dejected.

Was it her who had indirectly caused the deaths of Xu Guiyi’s parents and then indirectly caused her healthy sister to have cerebral palsy?

She wished it wasn’t.

But reality told her that it was very likely the case.

At that time, she had just saved up some money from running from one film set to another. Before she had time to treat herself, she bought a car for Xu’s mother as a birthday present.

This was because her feelings for Xu Guiyi’s parents weren’t just love, but gratitude, a gratitude that far exceeded her own parents. Back then, when she was at a dead end with her art exam, it was Xu Guiyi’s parents who supported her financially and emotionally. Without them, she might not have even had the chance to enter the entertainment industry.

She gave them the car, but she didn’t expect that the car’s quality was faulty. Just a few days later, when Xu Guiyi’s family of three were driving out to dinner to celebrate a birthday, it happened to be raining heavily. The brakes failed, and the car was destroyed, killing everyone inside.

When she rushed to Nancheng from her filming location, all she saw were Xu’s mother, Xu’s father, and Guiyi lying unconscious in the emergency room.

Thinking of this, Ning Chanyue felt her eyes inexplicably become dry again. She blinked, but a sense of guilt that was more intense than any she had felt before instantly brought a mist to her eyes.

She couldn’t let Xu Guiyi see her like this.

She lowered her eyes, about to wipe away the tears with the back of her hand.

But before the back of her hand could touch her eyelid, she accidentally glanced at the screen of Xu Guiyi’s phone on the sofa, which had not yet turned off.

Lines of damp text appeared before her eyes.

It was a post.

“Why would an omega’s scent gland be swollen?” the poster asked.

“They’ve been messing around, that’s why. Omegas these days are so promiscuous. Some of them get with alphas even before they’re adults.” The first reply, which also had the most likes.

“No need to guess. It’s obvious your omega secretly cheated on you. How could a chaste omega’s gland have a problem? [Sarcastic]” The second reply, which meant the same thing as the first.

Ning Chanyue couldn’t see the replies after that, but they were probably all more or less the same.

She paused for two seconds and then slowly moved her gaze away.

So Xu Guiyi was secretly searching for these things while she was sitting on the sofa just now.

What would Xu Guiyi think after seeing this content?

Ning Chanyue’s heart sank again and again.

But even if Xu Guiyi really suspected something, she would ask her face to face… right?

No. Ning Chanyue took a breath, pulling herself out of her depressed state a little. She had to think of an excuse in advance so that this fragile relationship, like glass, wouldn’t break again.

Ning Chanyue sat on the sofa, and for a moment, the only sound was the ticking of the clock on the wall.

“Ning Chanyue, hurry—”

Xu Guiyi’s urgent and loud voice from the bathroom pierced the silence of the living room. Then, something seemed to have fallen in the bathroom, followed by a sudden fall.

So she hurriedly wiped away the already cold tears from the corners of her eyes and walked towards the bathroom.