The Gentle Enigma and His Hot-Tempered Omega - Chapter 2

Jiang Bai’s status plummeted.

All the alphas he had once humiliated flocked over to kick him while he was down.

In an alley outside campus, a group of them blocked his way.

“You’re not the Jiang family’s precious young master anymore. What are you still acting so high and mighty for?”

“Exactly. Who would like you if you didn’t have that face? Don’t tell me you actually think you’ve got any charm.”

Jiang Bai ignored their jeers and walked around them toward the mouth of the alley.

“Jiang Bai, can’t you hear us talking to you?”

A red-haired alpha scowled and stuck out an arm to stop him.

Jiang Bai looked up at him. “What exactly do you want?”

“Nothing. We just want to have a little fun with you. Chu Huai’s going to fuck you anyway. Why not let the rest of us have a turn first?”

Jiang Bai’s hand tightened around his schoolbag.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

The alphas around him laughed even more brazenly. The redhead reached straight out to touch him.

“Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of you. Just be a good boy and—”

Smack!

The ringing slap brought instant silence.

The redhead’s face twisted with rage. He seized Jiang Bai’s collar, his knuckles cracking, and snarled through his teeth, “I’m trying to be nice, you shameless little shit!”

“I think someone else is the shameless one here,” Jiang Bai sneered. “And even if I’m not the Jiang family’s young master anymore, I. Still. Wouldn’t. Give. You. The. Time. Of. Day.”

He put extra weight on every word.

With so many alphas watching, the redhead finally lost it. He let go of Jiang Bai and rolled up his sleeves, swearing.

“You need a lesson. I’ll teach you how to behave.”

Of course, they never got to teach him anything.

Because I was there.

I’d only meant to come to school to see him. I hadn’t expected to stumble onto something like this.

Thank goodness for all the training Dad had put me through since childhood. It let me take down that whole group of alphas without so much as a change of expression.

Looking at them sprawled on the ground, I issued a polite warning.

“I may have hit you a little hard, but I wouldn’t recommend calling the police.”

“After all, you wouldn’t want everyone finding out that a whole pack of alphas ganged up on an omega, would you?”

Then I picked up Jiang Bai’s fallen schoolbag, brushed off the dirt, and held it out to him.

“Are you all right? Are you hurt?” I asked, a little nervous.

Jiang Bai stood against the wall, staring at me with bright black eyes.

I saw his fluttering lashes and slightly parted lips, and all the blood rushed to my head, sweeping away every word I’d meant to say.

“Um, I wasn’t following you on purpose… No, I mean… Are you hurt? Do you want to come to my place and have it looked at? Uh, I mean, we have a private doctor…”

Realizing I was only making it worse, I shut my mouth in embarrassment.

Jiang Bai gave a very soft laugh. He took his schoolbag from me.

“Thank you.”

Relieved, I lifted my head and blurted, “No problem, no problem. You don’t have to marry me as a reward.”

Me: …

Jiang Bai: …

It was all Xie Yunzhou’s fault for putting those rotten ideas in my head the other day. Now all I could think about was how I mustn’t take advantage of him.

And somehow, that had just slipped out.

Jiang Bai laughed under his breath and gave my shoulder a shove, neither hard nor soft.

“Dream on.”

My head was swimming.

All I could think was: Even his insults sound lovely.

Jiang Bai took me to buy medicine.

Trailing after him, I couldn’t stop imagining him tending my wounds in a moment.

Instead, he shoved the supplies straight into my arms.

“Thank you for today, but I have to head home now. Add me as a contact. If anything comes up afterward, let me know. I’ll take responsibility.”

“Oh,” I said, disappointed. Then I asked, “Should I take you home?”

Jiang Bai turned me down.

That night, I lay in bed feeling miserable.

The Jiang family were such bastards. It wasn’t as if they couldn’t afford a driver. Now they were actually making him take the subway home by himself every day.

He was an omega, for goodness’ sake.

What if this happened again?

I tossed and turned, unable to sleep, and opened my chat with Jiang Bai several times.

*Hi, I’ve got plenty of free time lately. Would you like me to take you home every day?*

*For some reason, I’ve really gotten into taking Line 3 lately. I heard you take it home too. Want to go together?*

*My luck hasn’t been great lately. A fortune-teller said I should spend more time with an omega whose surname is Jiang (and whose spirit form has to be a little wolf). I don’t know anyone else. Could you help me out?*

I typed each message, then deleted it.

Until the little “Typing…” indicator appeared on the other end.

*Have we met before?*