The Gentle Enigma and His Hot-Tempered Omega - Chapter 3

Jiang Bai remembered me. I was happy for a whole week.

Then Xie Yunzhou asked if I wanted to attend a party that weekend.

“Jiang Bai’s fiancé will be there too. The one whose name is Chu something-huai.”

My smile faded. “You know I can’t stand him. Why invite me?”

Xie Yunzhou gave me a sleazy nudge with his elbow. “They’re only engaged, not married.”

First, that would be immoral. My sense of morality had always been very strong.

Second, Jiang Bai’s “Dream on” still felt like a soft thorn in my heart. I couldn’t tell whether he had been joking or serious.

Xie Yunzhou saw that I had gone quiet. He climbed off the sofa and snatched the thing in my hands—a cartoon toy charm.

“Where did you buy this? It’s cute.”

“I didn’t buy it. I found it.”

When he looked confused, I explained guiltily, “It fell off Jiang Bai’s schoolbag when I ran into him outside school.”

Xie Yunzhou’s eyes shifted. He understood at once. “Oh. You stole Jiang Bai’s stuff.”

Stole? All I’d done was call out to Jiang Bai, and he hadn’t heard me.

No matter how hard I denied it, Xie Yunzhou refused to believe me. He even threatened to tell Jiang Bai if I didn’t attend the party.

“I’ll tell him some creep found his toy and won’t give it back, and spends every day mooning over it.”

In the end, I went.

The party was held at a mountain villa owned by Chu Huai’s family. There were many alphas and omegas. Perfume and pheromones mixed in the air until my brain hurt.

Xie Yunzhou hated this sort of gathering too. He pulled a very gentle-looking beta onto the terrace to chat, occasionally winking at me.

I sat on the sofa in silence, watching the alpha engaged to Jiang Bai.

From their conversation, I pieced together the direct reason Jiang Bai had agreed to the arranged marriage: if he refused, his family would not let him return to school.

Chu Huai held a pretty little omega in his arms, his face full of contempt.

“The first time we met, I kept him waiting for an hour, and he started giving me attitude.”

“He’s spoiled rotten, too. Does he really think he’s still some precious young master? He had the nerve to try to lay down ground rules for me.”

“And now he doesn’t even dare say shit. He’ll still come pick me up obediently later.”

The people around him sounded jealous, envious, or both. They egged him on, and their words grew filthier and filthier.

Normally, I was such a mild-mannered guy. But I couldn’t hold back.

“If you don’t want him, can I have him?”

The instant I spoke, everyone in the room fell silent.

Chu Huai’s smile froze. After a long moment, he forced himself to sound casual. “Sure. Once I’m bored of him, I’ll give him to you to play with.”

No. That wouldn’t do.

I was under no obligation to refrain from stealing my wife away.

While I was thinking about how to break up this arranged marriage by legitimate means, I realized Jiang Bai was already standing in the doorway. I hadn’t noticed when he’d arrived.

His expression was awful.

Someone coughed softly, and everyone tacitly cleared a path.

Chu Huai still had the omega in his arms. His voice was stiff. “I told you to come at midnight. Why are you here so early?”

Jiang Bai gave a cold laugh. “If I hadn’t come early, I wouldn’t have known you were going to give me away to someone else.”

Chu Huai cared deeply about saving face. Everyone there also knew what Jiang Bai had once been like. They had only half believed his words; now they began whispering.

Unable to bear the humiliation, Chu Huai forced out, “So what if you know? It was your Jiang family begging for this marriage in the first place.”

“And don’t think I don’t know about your pheromone dysregulation. With all those alphas chasing you every day, you’ve probably been fucked into the ground already. What are you playing the virtuous virgin for—”

He didn’t finish.

Jiang Bai picked up a bottle from the table and smashed it down.

The sound of breaking glass rang through the room.

Chu Huai froze. After a long moment, he touched his temple in disbelief and swore, “Jiang Bai, have you lost your fucking mind?”

Jiang Bai rolled his eyes. “Dumbass.”

Then he turned and left.

I stood there for a beat. Once I understood what had happened, I chased after him.