The one thing Ning Yixiao hated most in life was his rut, even though it only came once a year.

During these times, he became incredibly emotional—plagued by insomnia, restlessness, and extreme anxiety. All his painful memories would surge forward like a tide, threatening to drown him. He had tried many methods, but nothing worked. Suppressants couldn’t solve the emotional collapse; they could only, at best, lower the concentration of the pheromones he released in his madness.

Yet, when Su Hui released his rich Omega pheromones, Ning Yixiao felt an inexplicable sense of comfort. The anxiety and pain that tortured him were smoothed away, bit by bit, by the sweet scent of cherry wine.

Logic warned him: Put on your muzzle, inject the suppressant, take Su Hui to the hospital.

Muzzle… muzzle.

At this moment, he knew more clearly than ever that he truly loved Su Hui. He loved him so much, and loved him so deeply, that he was terrified to cross the line.

Ning Yixiao picked up the muzzle from the floor. His hands were shaking so violently he couldn’t even unclip the buckle.

“Ning Yixiao…”

Su Hui’s voice was hazy and damp, thick with the scent of humidity. Ning Yixiao’s sensitive nerves were spiraling out of control; hearing his voice triggered a hallucination of rain flowing into his ear canal. His mind and body were tearing apart—one side desperately wanting to remain rational and decent, the other desperately craving to claim Su Hui as his own. They wrestled and warred, tearing him to shreds.

“Wait for me.” Ning Yixiao furrowed his brows and tried to fasten the muzzle, but he couldn’t get the buckle to click. Sweat ran down the bridge of his nose; in a fit of frustration, he tossed the muzzle aside, pulled on a mask, and turned to fumble through the shopping bag for the suppressants.

“I’ll take you to the hospital after I get this shot.”

Unexpectedly, Su Hui reacted violently, as if stung.

“I’m not going to the hospital!”

He scrambled off the bed, using every ounce of his strength to throw himself into Ning Yixiao’s arms, knocking him down. The Alpha suppressant fell and rolled under the bed.

“Ning Yixiao, I hate hospitals…”

Su Hui’s scalding palms pressed against his shoulders. His hair was disheveled, his eyes rimmed with red, and the skin of his neck glistened with a damp sheen, radiating a fragrance as lush as midsummer.

Even though summer was clearly coming to an end.

“Do you know how many Alphas are in this building? You can’t go out like this. Your pheromones are impossible to hide.”

Su Hui acted as if he didn’t hear him, just staring at him silently with wet eyes.

“I’ll give you a temporary mark, then we’ll leave.”

“You’ve already marked me,” Su Hui parted his lips. “But I still feel so… terrible…”

Ning Yixiao lay on the floor, looking up at Su Hui, his throat parched. His fragile, sensitive nerves flooded his brain with fragments: the memory of drowning in salt and blood, the sight of a slender waist, teeth biting into a cherry, cruel beatings, a shimmering tongue stud, the smell of blood from severed fingers, and a tongue the color of reproductive tissue…

In the fifteen seconds of eye contact, Ning Yixiao felt as if his spine had been doused in a boiling dream. It stung, forcing tears of endurance to the corners of his eyes.

“Don’t cry.”

In his dazed state, Su Hui clearly sensed Ning Yixiao’s pain. He leaned down and kissed the mole at the corner of Ning Yixiao’s eye and his tears.

“…The smell of sea salt.”

Su Hui smiled, pressing his forehead against his. The scent of cherry wine grew increasingly intoxicating.

“Ning Yixiao, I have pheromones now. Can I soothe you?”

The final thread of reason was severed by the flame.

“Do you… still hate the smell of cherries?”

An Alpha in the throes of a rut could never resist the temptation of an Omega’s pheromones.

Ning Yixiao gave Su Hui his answer through his actions. The cramped space was saturated with the smell of Siberian fir, the juice of cherries dripping into the cold, indifferent sea, blurring the lines of intimacy.

Su Hui had never experienced such a tight embrace—bones clashing, skin pressed so closely there was no room for air, as if this person couldn’t survive without him. For the first time in his life, he tasted the value of being needed, and being needed by the person he loved.

The pain didn’t matter anymore.

“Can we kiss…”

Before Ning Yixiao could even finish his question, Su Hui sealed his breath away, impatiently offering up his first kiss.

The moment their lips touched, both of their bodies trembled. Soon, Su Hui offered a second and a third—pecks, long kisses, the clash of a tongue stud against teeth. By the end, he had lost count; he only felt his ribs heaving like the tides, and Ning Yixiao’s heart, beating just inches away, felt like a sun suspended over the ocean.

Time stretched on. Su Hui woke from bouts of unconsciousness only to return to the “nest” Ning Yixiao had built—every single piece of clothing soaked in the scent of fir and cherry wine.

Outside the window, it turned dark. Su Hui lay sprawled across the pile of clothes, his waist aching and weak, his nape still releasing sweet, sticky pheromones.

Suddenly, the dorm door was hammered upon. A voice came from outside—it was the Alpha from next door. “Ning Yixiao, you’ve got some guts bringing an Omega straight into the dorm! Can you rein in your pheromones? You’re giving me a splitting headache!”

Another voice asked, “Whose pheromones are those? I’ve never smelled them before. They’re so sweet.”

Their temporary mark had faded again.

Ning Yixiao leaned down and bit hard into Su Hui’s nape once more. Even his blood tasted like cherry wine.

“It hurts…”

Su Hui could no longer remember how many times he had been marked. His throat was hoarse, his voice weak, quickly drowned out by other sounds. Physiological tears welled up and spilled over, impossible to stop.

Seeing him cry so hard, Ning Yixiao pulled him into his arms, pressing his chest against Su Hui’s back. He tried his best to soothe him, gripping his chin to turn his head for a kiss, his own tears falling into the seam of their pressed lips.

“Good boy, don’t cry anymore.”

The scent of fir was released, steadying the pain.

Su Hui drifted off into sleep again.

This time, he dreamt a very, very long dream—part good, part bad. In the dream, he and Ning Yixiao saw the most beautiful sunset in the world; golden light enveloped them, as if they were in paradise. But then, the sunlight faded, taking all the color with it. Everything around them was covered in darkness and snow. In the snowy night, he begged Ning Yixiao to forget him. Ning Yixiao’s expression was just like his own during his rut—like a puppy that had lost everything. In the dream, he turned into a wandering ghost, writing many, many letters, but he couldn’t make out a single word.

Ning Yixiao’s face emerged again from the dream. He said, “I thought you had already forgotten me.”

Su Hui suddenly felt a piercing pain. His body shuddered violently, and he woke up from the nightmare.

Ning Yixiao, who was holding him from behind, woke up as well.

“What’s wrong?” His voice was low and hoarse, but filled with concern.

Su Hui was dazed, breathing heavily. The dream felt so real, like a parallel universe where every detail was impossible to forget.

Ning Yixiao propped himself up and looked at him. “Are you okay?”

Su Hui looked at him, unable to distinguish reality from hallucination, but he instinctively moved closer into Ning Yixiao’s arms, burying his face in his chest.

Even though they hadn’t truly begun, he had already dreamt of the end with this person.

Su Hui’s mood dipped, for no apparent reason.

“Are you uncomfortable?”

The scent of fir intensified, wrapping around him like the sea.

Su Hui was easily soothed by him, shaking his head against his chest.

Ning Yixiao was worried. He hadn’t slept much, watching Su Hui quietly while he slept. Su Hui’s sleeping face was peaceful and beautiful, like a rare, precious plant—the kind of person Ning Yixiao couldn’t have even dreamt of in the past.

It had taken over a decade of grueling hard work to earn the chance to meet someone like this.

It was the first time Ning Yixiao had ever laid down in such a chaotic mess—clothes everywhere, fabrics soaked in pheromones and fluids, sticking to his skin. Yet, it was also the first time Ning Yixiao had felt safe and satisfied.

Especially when his thumb traced over the indented bite marks and wounds, pheromones intertwining and lingering.

Su Hui pressed his forehead against his chest, the scent of fir emanating from the depths of his skin—just like the clothes he had soaked himself, dripping with moisture at a mere wring.

Ning Yixiao realized he still had a low fever.

“Ning Yixiao…”

He noticed that Su Hui had started to stop calling him “Senior.”

“Hmm?”

Su Hui realized they were sleeping in his own bed, and he was relatively dry. He spoke, his voice weak: “How long did I sleep?”

Ning Yixiao didn’t know how to calculate it; his own sleep had been fragmented. He gave the total time.

“Two days.”

Su Hui looked up at him in disbelief, as if to say, Are you lying to me?

“Your heat should be ending by now.” Ning Yixiao didn’t want to deflect his responsibility, but he had to be honest. “I didn’t mean to keep… but every time I stopped, you…”

Su Hui immediately covered his ears.

“Stop, don’t say any more.”

Ning Yixiao stopped, waiting a moment. “Regardless, let me take you to the hospital first.”

Due to his earlier nesting behavior and the subsequent loss of control, Su Hui didn’t have a single piece of his own clothing left; he had to wear Ning Yixiao’s. He had no strength, allowing Ning Yixiao to dress him in an oversized T-shirt and hoodie, zipping it all the way to the top to cover his neck.

After dressing him, Ning Yixiao changed as well. As he pulled on his top and turned around, he saw Su Hui taking medicine with his back to him, and his breath hitched for a moment.

When they went out, Su Hui felt, for the first time, the pain of the Little Mermaid turning into a human—every step truly was agonizing. But, like the Little Mermaid, he felt a strange, reborn joy.

“Hey, Yixiao.” The Alpha from next door bumped into them head-on, joking, “Where’s the Omega you took back? Where did he go? Did he vanish into thin air?”

Ning Yixiao didn’t speak, and the other man’s gaze landed on Su Hui.

“Why does our junior have…?” The Alpha frowned. “Is that all Ning Yixiao’s pheromones?”

“He’s wearing my clothes,” Ning Yixiao explained.

“Where are his clothes?”

“I washed them all.”

Ning Yixiao draped an arm over Su Hui’s shoulder and said “see you later” before leaving, leaving the neighbor standing there, completely baffled.

Washed… washed them all?

Those two skipped class for two days just to huddle in their dorm and do laundry?

To avoid running into classmates, they chose a hospital very far from the school for the check-up. Ning Yixiao didn’t need to be examined, but Su Hui had done this many times before, always with the result of “unpresented.” This was his first time walking into the ultrasound room knowing the result, yet his heart was filled with anxiety.

Ning Yixiao sat on a chair outside. Having recently finished his own rut, he was keenly aware of Su Hui’s anxiety. He stood up and sat down repeatedly, over and over, until he couldn’t help but walk over and knock on the door of the examination room.

“Excuse me, may I go in and accompany him?”

The nurse’s voice came from inside. “I’m sorry, we’re doing an ultrasound right now. Please wait outside for a moment, we’ll call you in shortly.”

The wait was long. After some time, the door cracked open, and the nurse whispered to him, “You can come in now.”

The curtain was pulled back. An elderly doctor sat inside, and Su Hui sat on the bed, head bowed, tidying his clothes.

The doctor glanced at Ning Yixiao and pointed to a chair nearby. “Sit.” Looking at the color ultrasound on the computer screen, he asked casually, “Are you his boyfriend?”

Both of them were stunned by the question.

Su Hui felt awkward and instinctively wanted to deny it. “He…”

But Ning Yixiao cut him off first, his tone frank and steady: “Yes, I am.”

Su Hui’s heart skipped a beat.

He didn’t know what to say.