A Heartless Omega Regrets It When I’m Dying - Chapter 10

Lin Wantang lowered her eyes, instinctively curling her fingers protected by the band-aid, but then she relaxed them again.

There was nothing to be ashamed of, she thought. It was already a feat that she could successfully inject herself with painkillers while half-delirious; she didn’t need to feel guilty or sad because of Wen Zhiqing’s words.

She hadn’t dirtied the wall on purpose. If someone had helped her get the medication, she wouldn’t have scraped her fingertips raw.

“I hope you consider what I said today.” Lin Wantang’s face didn’t show the embarrassment Wen Zhiqing expected; in fact, it showed no expression at all. Her eyes held only a hopeless numbness. “I’m a bit tired. I’m going to rest now.”

Then came the slow, heavy thud of footsteps on the stairs, sounding like the finale of a grand movement, leaving behind only a few sparse beats of a drum.

Wen Zhiqing froze for a moment, unsure of what Lin Wantang wanted her to consider, and even more confused by how Lin suddenly dared to speak with such an attitude.

But she didn’t wonder for long, as the kitten was now so sleepy it was wobbling while it walked.

With its eyes narrowing into tiny slits, the little fluffball tried to look around the house—which was very, very big to it—but it still couldn’t find its bed.

The kitten didn’t have to search long; Wen Zhiqing reached out, gently cupped the bewildered creature in her palm, and placed it into its cat bed.

Wen Zhiqing’s hands were fair with distinct joints; if one looked closely, the faint blue veins on the back of her hand were visible.

In past winters, Lin Wantang would have proactively prepared medicinal oils to massage Wen Zhiqing’s hands. Because Wen had a “cold” constitution, her fingers would turn icy with the slightest chilly breeze.

After three years of such conditioning, Wen Zhiqing’s hands finally functioned like a normal person’s, no longer becoming freezing so easily in the winter.

This winter, Wen Zhiqing no longer needed Lin Wantang to do that. She had simply thrown away the glass jar of oil Lin used and told her not to waste her time like that anymore.

At the time, Wen Zhiqing hadn’t cared about the expression on Lin Wantang’s face, just as she hadn’t looked at her expression before she went upstairs just now.

These were all trivial matters, not worth noting.

However, Wen Zhiqing dithered for a moment, suddenly recalling her casual chat with Qi Yishu at noon today.

After years apart, Qi Yishu still treated her as she used to, ordering a glass of mint water for her before she even arrived at the restaurant.

Wen Zhiqing had taken a sip of the mint water, waiting for Qi Yishu to ask about investing in a film.

“Zhiqing, how have you been these past few years?”

At the time, Qi Yishu was playing with an empty mint tin. Wen Zhiqing felt the tin looked vaguely familiar, but she didn’t dwell on it. Then she heard Qi Yishu’s habitually cold voice take on a slightly different quality: “How are you and Junior Lin Wantang doing lately?”

“The same as before.” Wen Zhiqing pushed the glass of mint water away, her voice icy. “I don’t want to talk about her.”

Qi Yishu was not a talkative person. After a moment of silence, she said, “Zhiqing, I think you’re being a bit excessive with Lin Wantang.”

She paused, then added, “Junior is a very good person.”

At the time, Wen Zhiqing only found it absurd, though she also felt it was strange; after all, Qi Yishu was not the type to care about other people’s marriages.

Lin Wantang is a good person?

Thinking back on it now, Wen Zhiqing still found it utterly ridiculous.

She walked quickly toward the stairs, but hesitated just as she was about to ascend. She didn’t want to know what Lin Wantang was doing; it had nothing to do with her.

Yet, after hesitating for a few seconds, Wen Zhiqing walked up the stairs. Her footsteps were light, creating only a slight friction between her soles and the wooden steps.

Lin Wantang was replying to Qi Yishu’s messages. Qi Yishu messaged quickly; while Lin was still deliberating how to reply to the first one, the second arrived.

[Has your physical exam result come out? Are you okay?]

[The supporting role doesn’t have many scenes. The filming schedule can be completely adjusted to your time.]

Lin Wantang was surprised that Qi Yishu knew she had gone for a check-up. After a moment, she remembered mentioning at the welcome banquet that she was going to the hospital to check her gland, but she hadn’t expected Qi Yishu to actually take it to heart.

Furthermore, this kind of filming arrangement couldn’t even be called “filling in”—it gave Lin Wantang the illusion that she was some big star bringing her own funding to the set.

But she wasn’t that close to Qi Yishu.

Lin Wantang shook her head, feeling she was probably overthinking it. Perhaps Qi Yishu was only helping her because of Wen Zhiqing.

She typed a reply: [Thank you, Director Qi. The results aren’t out yet.]

A slight breeze suddenly brushed across Lin Wantang’s bare ankles. She looked up in confusion to find the bedroom door had been pushed open a significant crack at some point.

Lin Wantang felt a baseless chill. She straightened up and looked toward the door, seeing Wen Zhiqing standing silently in the shadows of the hallway. She didn’t know how long Wen had been watching her.

Under the dim lights of the corridor, Wen Zhiqing’s skin appeared startlingly white, like a pale statue condensed from the winter night mist. The low light made her eyes look pitch black, as if there were no boundary between the pupil and the iris.

Lin Wantang knew well that Wen Zhiqing had no feelings for her, yet for a moment, she felt the gaze was cold and viscous, like a damp spiderweb clinging to her after a rain.

Probably just an illusion.

Lin Wantang blinked and saw that Wen Zhiqing’s face still wore the same mocking smile she had seen for three whole years.

“Found a replacement already, I see.”

Wen Zhiqing chuckled as she walked in, though her pace was slightly faster than usual. Within a few steps, she was in front of Lin Wantang. “Who is it? Need me to help you analyze them?”

Lin Wantang turned off her phone screen. It wasn’t because she felt guilty; it was just a subtle intuition that everyone would be better off if Wen Zhiqing didn’t see she was messaging Qi Yishu.

She felt Wen Zhiqing seemed a bit strange. Though she still wore her usual effortless smile, something felt slightly off.

But Lin Wantang no longer cared much about Wen Zhiqing’s moods, nor did she analyze every expression as meticulously as before.

On their anniversary, she had still wanted to be with Wen Zhiqing forever, but now she could no longer remember what it felt like to love someone so passionately.

“I haven’t found a ‘replacement,'” Lin Wantang said, lowering her eyes, wanting to avoid another argument. “Just a friend I recently added.”

“Oh, so they’re just in the ‘candidate pool’ then.”

Lin Wantang looked at the seams of the wooden floor, Wen Zhiqing’s slow, cold voice ringing in her ears: “That’s fine. Since you have no work right now, preparing for your next marriage can be considered a productive way to fill your time.”

Wen Zhiqing’s tone was much slower than usual, and the end of her words seemed to tremble. Lin Wantang could hear that Wen was breathing heavily in the gaps between sentences.

She looked up in confusion and saw a faint flush spreading at the corners of Wen Zhiqing’s eyes, standing out starkly against her pale face.

Lin Wantang glanced sideways and saw the smooth gland on the back of Wen Zhiqing’s neck twitching uncontrollably.

Wen Zhiqing’s heat was starting.

Lin Wantang saw the unfocused look in Wen’s dark eyes and heard her suppressed panting. However, unlike previous heats, Wen Zhiqing did not release any pheromones this time.

Lin Wantang hesitated for a moment, but still reached out to hold Wen Zhiqing, releasing a bit of soothing tangerine-scented pheromones.

Wen Zhiqing’s eyes were slightly moist from the effort of holding back, but she still slapped Lin Wantang’s hand away with force, shouting hoarsely: “Get out!”

Lin Wantang pulled her hand back. In just a few seconds, a faint red mark bloomed on the back of her hand.

She was silent for a moment, eventually letting out a sigh. “I’ll go get the suppressants.”