The Unmarried Omega Falls into Being a Wife - Chapter 2

“Got a cigarette, bro?” Gu Pei suddenly bent his knees slightly, lowering himself to Lin Xunye’s eye level.

Maybe it was the alcohol kicking in, but even though Gu Pei kept telling himself to stay rational, he still wanted to get closer to Lin Xunye.

The hand grasping Lin Xunye’s wrist was burning hot. He could feel the glands at the nape of his neck throb violently. Lin Xunye shot Gu Pei a cold glance, pulled his hand back, and threw him a pack of cigarettes.

Gu Pei let go, caught the pack, pulled out a cigarette, and stared at Lin Xunye like a well-behaved dog waiting for a treat.

The stare made Lin Xunye’s whole body itch. His glands burned hotter.

“What?” Lin Xunye snapped impatiently.

“Bro, light it for me.”

Lin Xunye was speechless for a moment. He handed over the lighter.

Gu Pei didn’t take it. Instead, he leaned forward half an inch, his forehead stopping just near Lin Xunye’s lips. The proximity made Lin Xunye uncomfortable.

He abruptly stepped back, his brows furrowed, looking as if if Gu Pei moved even a bit closer, he’d throw the lighter at his face.

Gu Pei took the hint and backed off. He reached out to take the lighter from Lin Xunye’s open palm.

Just as he did, Lin Xunye closed his fingers around it. Gu Pei looked at him, surprised. Lin Xunye chuckled coldly, looked straight ahead, and then threw the lighter directly into the trash can.

He never spoiled anyone.

Thud.
In the drizzle, the sound was particularly sharp.

Lin Xunye turned his head, staring coldly at the stunned Gu Pei.
“Messing with me? Want to die?”

Gu Pei raised an eyebrow. The cigarette in his mouth trembled slightly. He opened his mouth to speak—but was instantly splashed by a sudden wave of rain.

Lin Xunye stood in the rain, deliberately adjusting his hat right in front of Gu Pei.

The drizzle thickened into a steady rainfall. Lin Xunye waved a hand over his shoulder, then clenched his fist at Gu Pei’s complicated expression

A warning.

From Gu Pei’s angle, all he could see was a tall, sharply dressed man swaggering off into the rain. A few strands of red hair were whipped by the wind, flicking against the brim of Lin Xunye’s hat.

Then, he turned a corner and disappeared completely.

Walking home in the rain was a terrible decision.

At least for someone like Lin Xunye, who had just gotten a lip piercing and was still dealing with inflammation it was brutal.

“Hiss”

His lips throbbed. Lin Xunye searched for alcohol but couldn’t find any cotton swabs.

After two seconds of silence, he gave up and just poured the alcohol directly onto the wound.

He braced himself, closed his eyes, and tipped the bottle.

Too much.

“Sh*t! That hurts like hell…!” Lin Xunye cursed, leaning back as if his soul had left his body. As if things weren’t bad enough, his phone rang.

Eyes still closed, he fumbled for the phone and opened one eye to glance at the screen.

Unknown number.
Not family.
He picked up.

“Yo?” he hissed through the pain, looking at the wound in a small mirror.

His face was handsome he couldn’t afford to let it scar.

“Lin Xunye. Come home.”

Five words. Just five and they ignited all the frustration boiling inside him.

“And you are…? Why the hell should I listen to you?” Lin Xunye shot back.

He was about to follow it up with something nastier when the voice on the other end disappeared.

A short burst of static later, he heard the one voice he hated most.

Actually, two of them.

The first: his mother.
The second: his father.

“Xunye, your mom wasn’t in a good mood this afternoon. She said some things she didn’t mean. I’m apologizing on her behalf. Don’t take it personally. You’re still part of the Lin family. It’s only right you make some sacrifices.”

Lin Xunye sneered.

This father of his loved playing the good guy. But deep down, he was worse than anyone. Always preaching about how a son should behave he was long past being able to manipulate Lin Xunye with that crap.

“Then why don’t you marry instead?”

His father’s voice rose in pitch.
“Don’t talk to your dad like that! I knew it! Leaving you out on your own all these years was a mistake you’ve gone completely wild. Can’t even respect your own father!”

Another voice chimed in polished, calm.

“He’s still young. A bit proud, maybe. I’ll talk to him more, help him see reason.”

Lin Xunye recognized the voice it was his older brother. The two-faced one.

“Is that all? I’m hanging up,” Lin Xunye said, and cut the call.

Blocked them all out.

He got chewed out during the day, ran into an idiot at night. Lin Xunye was absolutely done.

His glands were heating up again so hot his mind was blurring. The sting on his lips was the only thing anchoring him to sanity.

He tried to think, but couldn’t make sense of anything.

His heat cycle wasn’t supposed to come for another week.
But now? He felt like he was about to explode.

Could it be… that bastard?

That thought made his chest even more restless. His mind kept replaying fragments, trying to pull him into a wave he didn’t want to ride. The man’s face was sometimes clear, sometimes blurry but the scent lingering at his nose, that citrusy pheromone, was crystal clear.

Suddenly, the blurry face merged with the guy from earlier the one who asked for a cigarette.

Lin Xunye’s eyes flew open.
He gasped for air.

He was going insane.

Once he found that man he’d beat him to a pulp.

He replayed the dream confession again in his head, pulled on his clothes, and went downstairs annoyed.

Last night, he hadn’t dreamed about the blue-haired boy at all. He thought it was over. But just before dawn, the idiot from last night showed up in his dream.

In it, Gu Pei had a cigarette between his lips, his sharp features casting shadows as he breathed. The smoke he exhaled drifted toward Lin Xunye, wrapping around him.

And those pale blue eyes staring straight at him.
Sometimes filled with pain.
Then clear again.
Like it was all his illusion.

At the end of the dream, the blue haired boy reappeared.
Still faceless.

But that voice rang out clearly:
“Brother, I like you.”

Halfway down the stairs, a group of men in black suddenly blocked his path.

“Young Master, please come home with us.”

“Tsk.” Lin Xunye shoved his hands into his pockets, giving the bodyguards a deadpan stare.

He looked downstairs. Three more guards. One of them holding a stun baton.

Lin Xunye could only imagine how furious his dad must be to send people to arrest his own son.

He didn’t think too hard about it. Pulled his hoodie tight and walked down under their watchful eyes.

The road home wasn’t long.
But it was the one he least wanted to walk.

The guards were thorough. Once the car stopped, they surrounded the door so he couldn’t run.

After five minutes of stalemate, Lin Xunye got out.

The outcome would be the same, anyway.

Even before stepping inside, he heard the shouting.

His mother crying.
His father shouting.
His brother playing peacemaker.

A full on stage play.

Lin Xunye didn’t believe a word of it.

Never had. Never would.

He pushed open the door, but didn’t step in.
He stood in the doorway, watching the three of them clown around.

Eventually, realizing he wasn’t reacting, they quieted down.

Still, Lin Xunye didn’t move. His eyes fell on the empty shoe rack.

He remembered in middle school, once a maid lost his slippers. He’d walked in with shoes and got screamed at for an entire day.

He thought that was the worst abuse he’d ever get.
Turns out, he was wrong.

His father cleared his throat.
“Xunye, aren’t you coming in?”

Lin Xunye looked up at him.
“Is the Lin family bankrupt? Not even a pair of disposable slippers?”

His father’s face went stiff.

This man he used to admire now couldn’t even string together a proper sentence.

Lin Youjia tried to speak, but one look from Lin Xunye shut him up.

His mother flinched too. She had a feeling Lin Xunye was no longer under their control.

His father’s reason for dragging him back? Simple.

The Lin family was on the decline.
Just in time, the Gu family’s heir Gu Pei had been on a matchmaking spree the past year. Lin’s father threw in Lin Xunye’s old high school photo, thinking it’d be a long shot.

He hadn’t expected Gu Pei to actually pick him.

But Lin Xunye wasn’t the same boy anymore.

To his father, the old Lin Xunye was obedient. Good. He never talked back and always followed the family’s plans.

But ever since he secretly applied to an art college, everything changed. He stopped listening. He never came home. His temper worsened. Couldn’t even take criticism.

An Omega like him should stay home and wait for a marriage that benefited the family not be out there working like a man.

Lin’s father despised this kind of behavior most.

He had two life achievements he was proud of:

One making a once-ambitious career woman give him two kids.
Two his older son turned out to be an Alpha.

But Lin Xunye? A total disappointment.

Looking at the maids standing like statues, doing nothing, Lin Xunye scoffed and walked straight to the sofa without changing shoes.

His father’s face softened, taking the seat beside him.
“Xunye, this marriage alliance is all gain and no loss. Trust your father we’re your family. Who else would want the best for you?”

Lin Xunye raised his head.

The coldness in his eyes turned razor-sharp.
He smirked. His lip piercing shifted slightly, catching the light. His father flinched clearly disgusted but quickly covered it up.

Lin Xunye pulled off his hat, revealing a head of vibrant red hair.

“Really? You sure about that?”