One-way Passage

Xia Wennan called their driver and told him to wait for them outside the gates of the Duan residence.

He and Ming Luchuan didn’t greet anyone else as they made their way out through the lit-up garden pathway. Xia Wennan walked in front, leading Ming Luchuan with a tight grip on his hand. Ming Luchuan trailed behind him in complete silence, but the scent of his pheromones became increasingly potent.

Xia Wennan was trembling with fear. As he stared into the distance, across the flowering shrubs, he took notice of several sensitive omegas who appeared to have detected Ming Luchuan’s pheromones, their brows wrinkling as they looked in the direction of Xia Wennan and Ming Luchuan.

“Hurry up,” Xia Wennan urged, his heart racing. It was actually somewhat strange, because the one in rut definitely wasn’t him, but he could feel that the urgency in his heart was no less than Ming Luchuan’s.

What exactly was he afraid of? When they finally climbed inside the car, shut the door, and he and Ming Luchuan were ensconced in the airtight space of the car, Xia Wennan glanced up at the driver sitting in the front.

The driver was a beta. He couldn’t sense pheromones, but it was clear that, at this very second, Ming Luchuan’s pheromones had already flooded the interior of the car, so dense that it could virtually soak into human pores. And yet the unconcerned, calm-faced driver wasn’t the least bit aware.

Xia Wennan realised what he was so afraid of: with so many omegas at the dinner party, the alpha in rut would be influenced by an omega’s pheromones, resulting in a loss of self-control.

If, by chance, an omega had gone into heat, Ming Luchuan might not be able to resist the lure of their pheromones and act inappropriately.

In the TV dramas Xia Wennan had watched as a child, there was a very common melodramatic scene in which a pair of alpha-omega strangers or hostile couple would go to bed under the influence of their pheromones, even going so far as marking, and then from there would their love affair begin.

He couldn’t imagine what kind of ending they would have if such a situation were to happen to them one day. It appeared that the Xia Wennan of the past had never given this matter any thought—as if he’d never believed that there was even a reason to be concerned about it. This evening, however, he suddenly began to feel terrified.

Uncontrollable bodies. Unbridled instincts.

Ming Luchuan sat next to Xia Wennan. As the car drove onwards, he could only attempt to keep his breathing steady. He was also holding Xia Wennan’s hand, and he yanked it onto his lap without letting go of his grip.

Xia Wennan gave Ming Luchuan an absent-minded glance; he had yet to cast away those lingering fears of powerlessness from his mind, but he now understood Ming Luchuan’s intention.

Ming Luchuan’s face was devoid of any expression, but if he were to describe it in words, he would probably characterise Ming Luchuan’s face as dismal. It was an extremely suppressed kind, because they weren’t the only ones in the car, and Ming Luchuan was doing everything he could to keep his instincts at bay.

Xia Wennan tilted his head to lean on Ming Luchuan’s shoulder, and used his body to slightly conceal his hand movements.

Ming Luchuan lowered his head. His lips were almost half-bitten as he pressed himself against Xia Wennan’s head.

Xia Wennan struggled to put his current emotional state into words. This wasn’t his and Ming Luchuan’s first time. Setting aside his experiences prior to his memory loss, everytime he and Ming Luchuan touched, Xia Wennan had embraced it with enjoyment and pleasure, yet this time, his heart was surprisingly somewhat sour.

He seemed to have become more aware that Ming Luchuan was an alpha, with an alpha’s difficult-to-control instincts and an intellect and body that were meant to be a cut above others, and yet—he was controlled by his most primitive pheromones.

However, his alpha was different. At this very moment, Ming Luchuan’s awareness dominated his instincts; he was governed by his pheromones, but he was also trying his hardest to keep them in check. Despite his inability to ward off his rut, the target of his rut had only ever been Xia Wennan from the very beginning.

Xia Wennan couldn’t resist from gasping deeply. Enveloped in Ming Luchuan’s pheromones, he was giddy and light-headed. He was but a mere beta, yet it was as if he had equally sunken into the quagmire of heat. As he tried to overcome the wave of dizziness, his eyes fell shut on their own.

At some point, Xia Wennan’s pitch-black world flashed with light, and his eyes flew open as he realised what he desired.

Why would a pheromone perfume for betas exist? There was an absence of pheromones in betas; they had only ever been a part of alphas or omegas. Even if the perfume included the word ‘beta’ in its name, it wouldn’t be a true beta pheromone.

Xia Wennan had had these doubts for a long time, but he never mentioned anything to anyone because he believed in himself. The memories he’d forgotten, of himself becoming the top perfumer in the industry and choosing a man like Ming Luchuan—it was obvious that he was the clever and brilliant Xia Wennan. Rather than questioning himself, he should set out on the path of self-discovery.

By now, he had managed to recover a large part of himself; he had recovered Xishui Hall as well as Ming Luchuan, and all he had to do was continue recovering parts of himself until he could piece together a complete Xia Wennan.

What would a beta’s pheromone perfume encompass? Wasn’t it the bitterness, the incapability of expression? Betas were the only ones among the three ABO genders who didn’t possess pheromones; even if Xia Wennan’s existence was unique, he could only perceive them and had no way of producing his own pheromones for somebody else.

His and Ming Luchuan’s relationship was a one-way passage, just like the cramped space of the car interior; Ming Luchuan expressed his desires for Xia Wennan by the overwhelming emotions in his pheromones, yet Xia Wennan could only respond through his words and actions.

Xia Wennan had always wanted a beta pheromone perfume—did he not want it as a response to Ming Luchuan? The top note of this bottle of perfume should be faintly bitter, conveying the inability of expression, the middle note should be a tad sour, because of the inability of total comprehension and emotional passivity, whereas the base note should have the scent of love; perhaps simple, perhaps complicated, but in essence, the emotion conveyed should be at its purest.

Once they got home, they only had time to lock their door before their clothes were strewn across the floor.

Xia Wennan’s thoughts were scattered. It felt as if his mind and body had become entrenched in a quagmire, and he was completely consumed by Ming Luchuan’s heat, passion, and pheromones. He sank deeper into this mire, unable to care about anything save the pursuit of his instincts.

His body was opened up, and their minds became entwined until they were both adrift. Eventually, he felt a stab of pain at his nape, which jolted him awake for a brief moment.

He realised that it was Ming Luchuan trying to mark him.

Ming Luchuan’s mark would always resemble that of a struggling, powerless beast, for no matter how he tried to mark Xia Wennan, the pheromones that entered Xia Wennan’s body would eventually disappear without a trace. But he refused to give up, pouring his pheromones into Xia Wennan’s body over and over, as though one day he would be able to make Xia Wennan wholly his so long as he never stopped doing it, making it impossible for him to be possessed by anyone else.

In this day and age, people strive for individuality in romantic relationships and disdain losing their bearings and falling into ruin, but true love comes with the unavoidable desire to possess—if you truly have reservations and are ready to pull out at any given moment, how will you be able devote your heart and soul into a relationship? Because you are unable to fully invest in it, your love will be limited, and in this self-restricted love, even though your pain will be limited, as will your happiness.

Xia Wennan propped himself up on his arms, lifting his upper body slightly and taking the initiative to offer his nape to Ming Luchuan’s lips. Though the pain made him tear up, he relished in this single moment of being utterly possessed and found the sensation to be quite pleasant.