STIDM 28

Little Lemon looked terrified. Hugging a pillow, he buried his face into it, leaving only his eyes visible. In a low voice, he asked, “Where’s Yan Lu?”

He stood firmly in front of the door, blocking the way with no intention of moving aside.

Qin Shu’s hair was messy. He glanced over lazily and replied, “What do you think?”

As he stepped forward, Little Lemon backed away. Before Qin Shu could take another step, he turned and bolted, scrambling straight onto the bed.

He yanked the blanket up, wrapped himself tightly inside, even tucking his head in. Then he pulled out his phone and started tapping furiously, typing a full report to Yan Lu on WeChat, brimming with righteous anger and betrayal.

Yan Lu didn’t reply. He couldn’t.

Because right now, he was being pinned to the bed by Zhong Zong, who had faked a stomachache and was now clinging to his waist, refusing to let him leave.

No matter how Little Lemon thought about it, something felt wrong. An unmarked Omega and a single Alpha, trapped in a room while rain poured outside. It just screamed the kind of situation where something weird might happen.

He thought about getting out of bed to look for Yan Lu. As soon as his bare foot touched the floor, he felt a sudden heat sweep across the top of it. It felt like someone was staring at his foot.

Little Lemon gave a slight shiver. He looked up, ready to shoot a glare at Qin Shu, but noticed that the other man was busy taking off his shirt. He clearly had no time to be staring at anyone’s feet.

As Qin Shu lifted his shirt, revealing a toned and firm abdomen, Little Lemon gulped audibly.

Oh my god… that body… it’s really, really something…

He kept sneaking glances, peeking here and there, studying him from every angle. Qin Shu didn’t react at all. He didn’t even look at him. He just got into bed, pulled the blanket over himself, closed his eyes, and seemed ready to sleep.

Little Lemon stared at Qin Shu’s back as he turned over to face the other way. Maybe it really was just his imagination. The whole thing about the staring, the hands, the feet was probably all in his head.

He looked down at his own foot. Just like his hands, it was chubby and soft. There was nothing worth looking at anyway.

Thinking about it, Little Lemon pinched his own cheeks. Still round and soft with baby fat. He touched his waist and felt a slight bulge.

In a way, he really was a little chubby. After all, he threw shot put. He had to eat a lot.

Someone like him, a chubby kid, probably wasn’t the type Qin Shu would ever look at.

He couldn’t tell if he felt disappointed or relieved. Little Lemon quietly climbed back into bed and pulled the blanket over himself.

Might as well just scroll through the forum like a good boy.

Sleepiness crept in. He fell asleep with his phone still in hand.

Sometime past midnight, a loud crash of thunder exploded outside the window, so strong it made the glass tremble.

Little Lemon woke up in shock and almost choked on his own drool.

Shivering, he reached for his phone. But his earbuds were nowhere to be found.

His mind was a mess. He started rummaging through his things in a panic, unable to stop himself.

When he was younger, there had been a break-in at home. Back then, it had also started with a sudden clap of thunder, just like tonight.

Half-asleep, he had felt someone standing by his bed. He could hear the rustling of someone going through his belongings. The glint of a knife caught in the lightning from the window had been sharp and cold.

He hadn’t dared to move. Or speak.
Every horrific news story he’d ever read came flooding back. The blood. The violence. It played over and over in his mind.

Maybe the trauma from his childhood was just too strong. That fear of thunder never left him. Every time the sky rumbled, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something terrible was about to happen.

He kept digging around, completely absorbed, when suddenly a deep, low voice sounded right by his ear.

“What are you doing?”

“Holy shit!”

Little Lemon jumped up in fright and threw a punch. It landed hard, knocking the person behind him straight to the ground.

Qin Shu sat on the ground, stunned, holding the side of his face. A salty, metallic taste filled his mouth.

He opened his mouth with difficulty and spit out a tooth into the palm of his hand.

Qin Shu stared in silence.

Little Lemon stared back.

—

The next morning, Yan Lu woke up with great difficulty. His lower back ached and his legs felt weak, all thanks to Zhong Zong. The bed was a mess, showing clear signs of last night’s intense battle.

It was warm under the covers. Zhong Zong had one arm wrapped around his waist and one leg tangled with his, completely staking his claim.

Yan Lu groaned and reached for his phone. The screen lit up with a flood of notifications, all from Little Lemon.

He opened them, feeling a bit guilty, but he figured it couldn’t be anything serious. After all, Little Lemon did shot put. Qin Shu, on the other hand, always seemed indifferent and cold.

But the most recent message gave him pause. It was sent in the middle of the night, and Little Lemon sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

He said he and Qin Shu had gone to the hospital.

The timestamp read a little past three in the morning.

That was the only message. Nothing else after that.

Yan Lu’s body tensed. A flood of bad scenarios rushed into his head. The one that haunted him most was the thought that someone might have taken advantage of Little Lemon.

In that moment, his face flushed red. A mix of guilt, panic, and anxiety surged through him like a tide. He quickly shook Zhong Zong awake, gave a brief explanation of the situation, then got out of bed and started pulling on his clothes.

Zhong Zong didn’t even open his eyes. He fumbled for his phone and called Qin Shu. He didn’t really believe Qin Shu would do anything to Chen Ning, but that wasn’t something he could say out loud.

Yan Lu couldn’t get through. Frustrated, he pulled out a cigarette and lit it.

Just then, the call Zhong Zong made connected. He sat up, shirtless, and pulled the cigarette from Yan Lu’s mouth, sticking it between his own lips.

“Hello. What happened?”

The voice on the other end wasn’t Qin Shu’s. It was Chen Ning.

Zhong Zong listened for a while before letting out a soft chuckle and nodding.

“Where are you now… Alright, we’re on our way.”

He ended the call, sat up, ran a hand through his hair, and stuck the cigarette back into Yan Lu’s mouth.

“Chen Ning knocked out Qin Shu’s tooth. They’re at the hospital getting an implant.”

“What? What happened?”

“Apparently it wasn’t on purpose. There was thunder last night, and when Qin Shu called out to him, Chen Ning panicked and overreacted.”

There was a pause.

It was clearly a tragic incident, yet somehow it felt a little funny.

An Alpha getting a tooth knocked out by an Omega was not something you could just let slip. If word got out, Qin Shu’s pride and reputation would be gone, and no one would dare want Little Lemon after that.

When the two of them arrived at the hospital, they saw Little Lemon sitting quietly beside the hospital bed, gently stirring a bowl of porridge with a spoon. Every now and then, he would blow on it before stirring again.

Qin Shu looked even more miserable. The entire right side of his face was swollen, covered in a thick gauze pad. The bruising on his cheek was so bad it even made the corner of his eye squint a little.

Zhong Zong looked over the scan. The tooth root was intact. Once the swelling subsided, the implant could go in. But for the next month, he would only be able to eat soft food.

It wasn’t exactly a big deal, but it wasn’t small either.

Little Lemon looked like he was one step away from dropping to his knees. He tended to Qin Shu with extreme care, guilt written all over his face. Even a soft groan of pain from Qin Shu was enough to make him spiral with remorse.

—

Even with everything that had happened, the trip didn’t have to be ruined. Little Lemon said he would go back to school with Qin Shu and take care of him until he recovered. He asked Yan Lu and Zhong Zong to return first and inform the others.

Yan Lu frowned and thought it over for a while, clearly hesitant. Zhong Zong stood next to him and gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

“We’ll head back with you.”

After leaving the hospital room, Yan Lu couldn’t stop thinking about the little signal Zhong Zong had just given him. The more he thought about it, the more his imagination ran wild. In the end, he couldn’t help blurting out in a sour tone, “You sure care a lot about Qin Shu.”

Even if Zhong Zong hadn’t hinted anything, he would still go back with Chen Ning and Qin Shu. But the way Zhong Zong showed concern, paired with how well-matched he and Qin Shu seemed, made Yan Lu’s jealousy bubble up.

Zhong Zong let out a quiet laugh and pinched his cheek.

“You think I don’t know that Beta girl has a thing for you? If I left you here, wouldn’t I just be torturing myself?”

“Oh? So you were jealous?”

“I’m not jealous. I just think that girl has terrible taste.”

Zhong Zong let go of his hand awkwardly. Yan Lu, both annoyed and amused, reached up and tugged at his earlobe.

“You say that like you have great taste yourself.”

“Pretty much. I like you.”

“What did you just say?”

“Nothing.”

“Zhong Zong, can you stop pretending? Say it again!”

“…”

“Don’t make me get physical!”

“This is a hospital. No yelling allowed.”

“Damn it! You can’t even run in a hospital either. Stop right there!”