After Being Taken Home By A Powerful, Possessive Omega - Chapter 5

Pei Heng remembered that pot of orchids.

After sleeping with Ji Chun, she had lain there weak and boneless, then slowly thrown it into the trash and wiped the floor clean.

But the next morning, the person who had been jealous because Pei Heng had carelessly accepted someone else’s gift returned to her usual cold, aloof self. She showed no intention whatsoever of taking responsibility for opening Pei Heng’s body the previous night.

Pei Heng had carefully done her makeup that morning, only to become so furious that she ordered someone to retrieve the orchids from the trash. She then spent a fortune having them replanted in a custom pot and displayed them on her desk every day.

Even after the flowers withered, she preserved them as a specimen.

How could there be anyone as hypocritical as Ji Chun?

She constantly claimed to love Pei Heng so much, but whenever they walked beside each other, the most she ever did was discuss business in a detached, professional manner.

They were always accompanied by two opposing teams, brushing past one another without either of them looking back.

Pei Heng had long forgotten who originally gave her the plant.

Now that it had been knocked to the floor once again, she merely raised an eyebrow.

Forget it.

It had always spoiled the view on her desk.

Besides, the current Ji Chun did not recognize anyone except her.

The moment Pei Heng placed a hand on the wheelchair, the familiar-looking man who had been sitting there eagerly rose to his feet.

His expression was attentive and ingratiating.

“Ah Heng, I’ve been waiting here for a long time. Can we have lunch together? I booked your favorite restaurant.”

Pei Heng frowned.

“My Alpha is here. I don’t need you to accompany me to lunch.”

“Your… Alpha?”

The man froze and murmured under his breath, staring at the person in the wheelchair with disbelief.

“You mean her? Ah Heng, she’s only a substitute. Is it really worth caring so much about her?”

Could Pei Heng be doing this because she was angry with him?

He suspected that Pei Heng might actually have feelings for him. Otherwise, why would she have kept the orchids he gave her for so many years?

She had probably never dared admit it because their families were business rivals.

“What substitute?”

Pei Heng found the man tedious.

She had many pursuers, but this was the first one who had been so rude.

“She is the one I’m about to register my marriage with. She will be my lawfully wedded and only Alpha.”

“Ah Heng…”

“Escort him out.”

The instant Pei Heng finished speaking, several bodyguards appeared behind the man.

He pursed his lips slightly, his doubtful gaze falling heavily upon Ji Chun.

No matter how confident he was, he finally realized that Pei Heng was not joking.

Yet Pei Heng and her adopted sister had been mortal enemies back then.

Why, after so many years, would Pei Heng choose to be with a substitute?

“Wife?”

Having been quietly defended, Ji Chun raised her head and looked into Pei Heng’s amber eyes.

The scene she had just witnessed slowly surfaced in her mind—that night, and those damp eyes veiled with mist.

Her breathing tightened beneath the dull ache in her chest.

Her pheromones slowly climbed Pei Heng’s slender waist, winding like vines around the soft flesh at the back of her neck and gently rubbing against it.

Pei Heng’s hand tightened abruptly around the wheelchair handle.

She looked at Ji Chun with a trace of reproach that was neither heavy nor light.

It was one thing for her to be so clingy at home.

How could she behave this way in public too?

Pei Heng steadied herself and quickly pushed Ji Chun toward the private passageway.

She had nearly forgotten that Ji Chun had always been extremely jealous.

She had probably seen one of Pei Heng’s pursuers and secretly felt aggrieved again, which was why she was deliberately tormenting her like this.

She truly was…

Infuriating.

Yet Pei Heng did not dislike it.

On the contrary, she liked puppies who expressed their affection so openly and were willing to put thought into pleasing her.

The secretary had just informed her that the office’s climate-control system had malfunctioned and was being repaired.

Neither of them was dressed warmly.

Ji Chun had only just awakened, and her already pale, translucent body was trembling.

Pei Heng ordered someone to bring a hot-water bottle.

While waiting for lunch to be delivered, she continued working through the documents.

A few minutes later, she gently reminded Ji Chun, who was shivering uncontrollably beside her, “When your fingers are cold, you can put them against your stomach.”

A moment later, feeling the icy temperature against her own abdomen, Pei Heng’s lips twitched.

“I meant your stomach.”

“If you don’t want your future children living in an ice cellar, behave and take your hands back.”

An Omega’s womb could easily become chilled if her abdomen was exposed to cold for too long.

No matter how she had lived these past years, aside from the first year after Ji Chun had fallen into a deathlike coma, Pei Heng had always taken good care of herself.

After all, Ji Chun had technically died once.

No matter how well she recovered, her body would never be especially strong.

When they grew old, one of them would inevitably have to care for the other.

That person could only be Pei Heng.

“Children?”

The puppy tilted her head.

“Ours?”

“Mm.”

Pei Heng’s lips curved softly.

“But not now. I’ll give them to you later.”

Given her status, becoming pregnant before marriage would be far too degrading.

Besides, Ji Chun’s fingers were still stiff whenever she moved them. Pei Heng could not imagine how uncomfortable the actual act would be.

For the sake of receiving the best possible service, she had never lacked patience.

Her attention kept being drawn toward the trembling puppy.

In the end, Pei Heng still lifted Ji Chun onto the sofa and warmed her with her own body.

An Omega who pitied an Alpha would suffer bad luck for a lifetime.

But this was different.

Ji Chun was an injured puppy who currently lacked the ability to do anything in that regard.

Therefore, she did not count as an Alpha.

Pei Heng covered the gland at the back of her neck with one hand while the other rested loosely behind Ji Chun’s waist.

The puppy rubbed against her unhappily.

“Big Sister, I won’t bite you, but you still don’t trust me.”

This was the greatest insult to her character.

Even though they had only known each other for a short time, and even though Pei Heng’s attraction was almost unbearably powerful, Ji Chun would never exploit her benefactor’s sympathy to do such a thing.

“Really?”

Pei Heng raised an eyebrow and genuinely lowered her hand.

The next instant, a fluffy head rubbed against her neck, and Ji Chun gently licked the gland that had opened into a tiny slit.

Several gasps escaped Pei Heng’s lips.

She grabbed the puppy by the back of the neck and hauled her buried head upward, letting out a soft, amused hum.

She allowed Ji Chun to desire her in this way.

That did not mean she would allow the other woman to do whatever she pleased.

“Then your punishment will be—”

Pei Heng’s red lips parted, her breath brushing lightly past Ji Chun’s ear.

“Tonight, you’ll sleep under the same quilt as me. We’ll be completely honest with each other, and you’re not allowed to touch me.”

A puppy with such poor self-control needed more training.

The pheromones that had been wagging like a puppy’s tail at the prospect of sharing a quilt instantly drooped.

Pei Heng truly did not like her.

Ji Chun shoved her head into Pei Heng’s palm and rubbed against it pitifully, closing her eyes as she breathed in the faint sandalwood fragrance on the woman.

She did not even notice when someone entered carrying the food and hot-water bottle.

Pei Heng, who had been paying attention, merely lifted a finger to her lips, signaling the person to set everything down and leave quietly.

How wonderful it would be if Ji Chun always remained like this.

Obedient and willing to follow her wishes.

If she did, Pei Heng would gladly give her the very best of everything.

The room gradually warmed, the cold air slowly driven away.

The breathing of the person in Pei Heng’s arms became increasingly steady.

Pei Heng quietly picked up the planning proposal beside her and turned through it page by page amid the rich scent of tequila pheromones.

A secret prick of pain came from her chest.

She lowered her eyes.

The puppy lying in her arms had gently bitten the small point where her pheromones were strongest with her blunt teeth.

Pei Heng’s fingers curled slightly from the faint pleasure.

She did not know how long it took before she adjusted to it.

Then her palm settled on Ji Chun’s hair, stroking it gently again and again.

Ji Chun had liked biting her there back then too.

Now she had grown taller than Pei Heng, yet she was still doing the same thing.

A gentle, helpless smile appeared on Pei Heng’s lips.

There was nothing there for her to eat.

Why was she so obsessed with it?

The puppy slept for a very long time.

The food on the table was reheated again and again.

Pei Heng draped a coat over herself, completely concealing the person in her arms. From another angle, one could only tell that Ji Chun was curled up against her, sleeping peacefully.

Meanwhile, Pei Heng patiently endured the woman unconsciously mouthing at her.

Before waking, Ji Chun even took another bite.

Then she stared blankly at the small damp patch of fabric.

“Eat something from the table. I’ll take you out afterward.”

Pei Heng finally sat upright, gently rubbing her aching waist with her right hand.

“Thank you… I’ll massage it for you.”

“No need.”

The woman spoke softly and emotionlessly as she put down the documents in her hand, deliberately refusing to look at the puppy’s tearful, aggrieved eyes.

If she allowed Ji Chun to massage her, there was no telling what improper thing she might do next.

The principles Pei Heng had lived by had already been broken again and again since bringing Ji Chun home.

She absolutely could not continue indulging her nonsense.

Seeing the Omega avoid her, Ji Chun withdrew her gaze.

She opened the insulated containers on the table, served herself a bowl, and thoughtfully prepared one for Pei Heng as well.

“Big Sister, eat.”

She handed over the chopsticks, wagging her tail eagerly.

Pei Heng nodded and sat beside her.

The woman ate with aristocratic elegance.

She also appeared somewhat picky.

Because the food had been reheated several times and no longer tasted very good, she ate only a few bites before putting down her bowl and chopsticks.

The Alpha beside her showed no hesitation whatsoever as she finished Pei Heng’s leftovers, including the vegetable that Pei Heng had bitten once and dropped back into the bowl.

As Ji Chun ate, her cheeks puffed outward.

At least she remembered Pei Heng’s instruction to chew ten times before swallowing. Her teeth moved so quickly they nearly blurred.

In order to eat faster, she took enormous bites every time.

Even while concentrating on her meal, she occasionally spared a glance to see what Pei Heng was doing.

The little dog tag around her neck swayed gently with each movement.

She looked so adorable that even her face no longer seemed quite so hateful.

After that meal, Pei Heng took the puppy to a reserved table in the sky garden.

She had intended to enjoy a romantic meal for two, but the gaze beside her was simply too scorching.

She had been watched by countless people before.

How had she never realized that someone’s stare could be so unbearable?

In the end, she could only have someone take Ji Chun to the room next door for a massage on her hands, feet, and joints.

After repeatedly instructing her to behave and not move around, Pei Heng finally ate a peaceful meal.

That evening, after bathing, Ji Chun tottered behind Pei Heng, following wherever she went.

After turning around several times, Pei Heng finally led her into the laundry room.

According to the education she had received since childhood, outer clothes could be placed in the washing machine or handed to servants.

Undergarments, however, had to be washed personally.

Clothing worn against the skin could not be touched by others.

But Pei Heng and Ji Chun had already been together when the Alpha was only one hundred twenty centimeters tall and barely reached her waist.

They did not count as outsiders to each other.

The undergarments she wore that morning had been hand-washed by Pei Heng after waking.

Washing such things by hand damaged the skin.

It was fine when she was alone, but now that Ji Chun had awakened, it was time to cultivate her ability to perform household chores.

Otherwise, the three years Pei Heng had spent washing Ji Chun’s underwear would have been wasted.

“You—”

Pei Heng looked into Ji Chun’s eyes, which were so innocent they bordered on stupidity.

For a moment, she did not know how to explain that Ji Chun needed to wash the clothes herself.

“Do you know how to do laundry?”

Ji Chun nodded.

Inside the dryer, she spotted the clothes she had worn the previous day.

They were plain and carelessly made, even somewhat old, yet they had still been washed thoroughly and left neatly inside.

She could not help feeling moved.

Pei Heng might be rich and powerful, but she was not someone who wasted money by casually throwing away clothes.

Ji Chun had rather liked that outfit.

Following Ji Chun’s gaze, Pei Heng noticed the clothes and raised an eyebrow almost imperceptibly.

Every set of clothing Ji Chun owned had been knitted by Pei Heng stitch by stitch during those nights when she had been most desperate and had wanted Ji Chun to awaken more than anything.

The ones with looser stitching were used for the unconscious woman.

The denser, more time-consuming pieces were saved for the day she woke.

This particular set was a little old.

The reason Pei Heng had not discarded it was because she wondered whether the newly awakened, unintelligent puppy might enjoy rolling around on the floor.

There was no reason to let her ruin the new clothes.

Pei Heng withdrew her gaze and avoided Ji Chun’s affectionate puppy eyes.

“Do you know your secondary gender?”

“You’re an Alpha. Alphas who listen to their wives all become successful.”

The puppy nodded seriously.

“Then, as a high-quality Alpha, would you allow your Omega to wash clothes?”

The puppy shook her head solemnly.

“Good. Take the clothes in the laundry basket and wash them. The small bottle is detergent specifically for undergarments. Scrub gently, and use cold water for the underwear.”

Ji Chun stared at the clothes in the laundry basket, which carried a rich sandalwood fragrance.

The warm light reflected in her pale almond-shaped eyes.

Pei Heng paused as she prepared to leave.

Looking at the puppy’s eager expression, she suddenly felt afraid that Ji Chun might take the clothes she had just removed and do something inappropriate with them.

So she stood beside Ji Chun and repeatedly slapped away the hand trying to press the clothing against her cheek.

It seemed that on the first day the puppy came home, she had already used Pei Heng’s undergarment to build a nest on the tiny sofa.

After washing the two pieces, Ji Chun’s pale wrists had turned faintly red.

She obediently placed the garments into the antibacterial dryer, looking every bit like an honest, dutiful, family-oriented puppy.

She had completely figured it out now.

Pei Heng only regarded her as a kept canary.

Otherwise, why would she refuse to let Ji Chun press even her underwear against herself?

Not only that, Pei Heng had kept orchids given by someone else and still would not allow Ji Chun to sleep beneath the same quilt.

She probably did not need Ji Chun to satisfy her physically.

She merely kept Ji Chun at home as a decorative mascot because of her attractive face.

Fine.

Ji Chun gave up.

From now on, she would maintain the proper boundaries of a kept canary and never cross the line by even half a step.

Pei Heng had no attention to spare for the person silently grieving beside her.

She sat alone before the computer and composed a message.

Only after repeatedly deleting and revising it did she finally send it.

“Book an appointment at the Civil Affairs Bureau for nine tomorrow morning. At ten, arrange a prison visit.”

“Understood, President Pei.”

After sending the message, she returned to the study and closed the door on Ji Chun for the first time.

Her fingers moved through the spaces between the books until she finally pulled out a slightly worn identity card.

In the photograph, a young woman stood stiffly.

Her lips were pale, untidy strands of hair fell over her forehead, and a glimpse of delicate collarbone showed beneath an obviously oversized shirt.

Her harmless-looking almond-shaped eyes were an unusually pale color.

The camera captured her entire body shrouded in lifelessness.

This was the first time Pei Heng had accompanied Ji Chun to have an identity card photograph taken.

Back then, Ji Chun had still been a head shorter than her.

Years of malnutrition had left her extraordinarily pale, somehow even frailer than an Omega.

Obsessive, gloomy, pale, and pitiful.

The young woman wore brightly colored clothes bought from a roadside stall.

She looked completely out of place among the people waiting for identification photographs, all of whom wore the dark shades explicitly required by the regulations.

The small figure curled close beside Pei Heng, her eyes filled with blatant unease.

At that time, before Pei Heng had come to despise Ji Chun so deeply, she casually removed her own dark coat.

In weather five degrees below freezing, she draped it around the awkward child wearing nothing but a cheap short-sleeved shirt.

From that moment onward, Pei Heng constantly felt a damp, sticky gaze following behind her.

But she had been watched for far too long.

Her privileged status, her beauty, and her exceptional abilities meant that she had never lacked pursuers from the moment she could remember.

She did not spare even half a glance for this unfamiliar younger sister behind her.

Not until that sister appeared before her as the family’s second heir.

Beneath the lights of the banquet, the Alpha wore a proper smile and an expensive custom-tailored outfit.

Her pale almond-shaped eyes curved gently, warm yet powerful, bright and captivating.

The audience below the stage was filled with endless whispers and mockery.

The person onstage behaved as though she heard none of it.

Under countless probing gazes, Pei Heng wore the faintest smile.

She gently lifted the wineglass in her hand toward Ji Chun onstage, took a small sip, then turned and left.

It was said that afterward, the humiliated and furious Ji Chun took that wineglass home separately.

Pei Heng paid no attention to anything else that happened at the banquet.

She was nothing more than a clown making a spectacle of herself.

Even the world’s most outstanding young talents could not make Pei Heng look back at them.

What gave this unknown younger sister the right to take anything from her hands?

Her heart gradually warmed beneath the memories.

Pei Heng lowered her eyes to the small trace of blood where the sharp edge of a page had cut her fingertip.

She parted her lips, lightly took the finger into her mouth, and licked the blood clean.

Just as she had once cleaned the beautiful outer shell that had been covered in blood.

Holding the identity card, Pei Heng turned around.

The study door had been opened into a narrow crack.

One of the puppy’s eyes quietly watched her through it.

When Ji Chun saw her approach, she merely widened the opening slightly so Pei Heng could come out more easily.

How brazen.

Previously, without Pei Heng’s permission, the puppy had never dared go anywhere.

Whenever Pei Heng entered the study or bedroom, Ji Chun could only stand outside and wait.

When had she ever behaved this way?

Pei Heng opened the door.

Her amber eyes lifted lightly as she raised one hand and gently patted the Alpha’s cheek.

The person who had been slapped bent forward and rubbed her face against Pei Heng’s palm.

Hah.

Pei Heng had clearly been warning her not to intrude upon her private space.

Yet now it looked more like a reward.

Going along with it, Pei Heng scratched beneath Ji Chun’s chin.

Before the puppy could fully narrow her eyes in pleasure, Pei Heng mercilessly withdrew her hand, leaving behind only a pair of confused, aggrieved puppy eyes.

“Bed.”

Ji Chun lowered her eyes and followed behind her.

What kind of person was Pei Heng?

A favored daughter of heaven.

The modern incarnation of an impossibly dominant heroine.

The greatest economic background figure in an ABO novel.

Simply turning dark would be enough to collapse the entire world economy.

Even the male and female leads would fight to become the most capable employees beneath her.

Someone like Ji Chun—lowborn, physically weak, uneducated, and unemployed—was already fortunate merely to be taken in.

How could she dream of plucking the moon from the sky?

An unfamiliar emotion suddenly flashed through her heart, seeming not to belong to her.

Who were the male and female leads?

Why had she suddenly become so insecure?

She was originally a kept canary anyway.

A kept canary did not need to stand shoulder to shoulder with her benefactor.

She only needed to curl up in a corner and wait for the right moment to flee with hundreds of billions in assets.

Once she thought of that, the heavy pounding in her heart weakened slightly.

Her steps became lighter—although in reality they remained extremely stiff—as she followed Pei Heng and crawled into the puppy bedding beneath the woman’s probing gaze.

Then she was kicked off the bed again.

Ji Chun landed sitting on the thick carpet and looked over in confusion.

“Big Sister, that hurt.”

Pei Heng looked at the thick rug beneath her and the Alpha’s aggrieved expression.

“Do you remember the punishment I gave you for lacking self-control?”

“Take off your clothes and get under my quilt.”

The puppy obediently nodded and followed her instructions.

After removing everything except the final two pieces, she cautiously slipped beneath the warm quilt saturated in sandalwood fragrance.

Her nose twitched as she carefully breathed it in.

In the time it took to turn her eyes, two conspicuous marking fangs emerged.

Pei Heng laughed softly.

She unfastened the buttons of her pajama shirt one by one, revealing porcelain-white skin and, beneath the unfastened fabric, snow-covered peaks adorned with red plum blossoms.

“Now hold me.”

Ji Chun’s barely visible Adam’s apple moved.

She wrapped both arms around the woman’s slender, soft waist.

Just as she opened her mouth, a pale finger pressed against her lips.

“I didn’t say you could eat, bad puppy.”

The woman smiled with elegant poise.

Her amber, peach-blossom eyes curved like a spring pool brimming with affection.

It looked like devotion, yet also like temptation with a clearly marked price.

She was dangerous.

It felt as though the beauty she offered today would one day demand an unbearably heavy payment.

Ji Chun was not afraid.

She had nothing to begin with.

So she parted her lips slightly, took the finger into her mouth, and curled her tender tongue around it, licking carefully.

“Shh. Not tonight.”

Pei Heng could be softhearted toward anyone else.

But she understood Ji Chun far too well.

If she relented this once, there would be countless moments in the future when her boundaries retreated again.

She could treat Ji Chun well because Ji Chun was her Alpha.

But she could not treat her too well, because Ji Chun was also the enemy she had opposed for so many years.

Yet when she looked again into the Alpha’s bewildered, lonely eyes, Pei Heng could only sigh helplessly.

“Then call me Mommy.”

Her voice was soft, almost as though she truly were a mother indulging a disobedient daughter.

“Call me Mommy, and I’ll give it to you.”

“Mo… Mommy.”

As the Alpha murmured the word, the gland at the back of Pei Heng’s neck opened into a narrow slit.

She had no choice but to cover the soft patch with one hand to prevent the tequila fragrance from slipping inside.

Pei Heng answered quietly.

“Mm. I’m here.”

Her voice was especially intoxicating in the heavy darkness of the night.

Then she lifted that cherry and pushed it into the puppy’s mouth.

The sharp edge of a marking fang accidentally grazed the tip, sending tremors through her body.

Pei Heng bit her lip, resisting every urge to arch her waist.

Had she known…

She would never have chosen this punishment.

In the end, she was the one suffering.

They would be registering their marriage tomorrow anyway.

She could simply treat tonight as their wedding night.