Chapter 6: 6 – flustered

The hind legs of a chair dragging across the floor, accompanied by a tease saying, “good morning, my dear deskmate”, caused Ying Lin’s shielded face to twist.

He raised his head from his arms and glared fiercely at the alpha who had disturbed his nap, sneering, “Who’s your dear deskmate?”

Jun Sheng sat down with his long legs outstretched in a comfortable manner and leaned into his chair with his chin raised, giving off an arrogant air. A side of his lips tugged upwards and he said, “A certain indifferent O with a paralysed face and a feisty tongue.”

“...” Ying Lin couldn’t imagine the rest of his year with this sticky alpha by his side, and was about to ask Old Cai for a seat change when the said alpha opened his punchable mouth once more.

“Ah, you’re wearing your own uniform.”

Somehow, those words seemed as if they were conveyed with a slight disappointment; maybe he wasn’t fully awake yet. Ying Lin eased his expression, bent over and laid across the table, causing his words to sound muffled. “Of course I am, I wouldn’t wear yours.”

“Oh, is it because mine hasn’t dried?”

Lifting his crescent eyelids, Ying Lin turned to look at Jun Sheng weirdly. Teased to the point of annoyance, he resisted the urge to smack that smug smile off of his face and instead harshly flicked that handsome forehead. “Here, to fix your nonsense-filled brain.”

The descent of his hand was abruptly stopped when his fingers were firmly caught. Then he was tugged forwards slightly and his wrist was soon wrapped with a pleasant heat. 

Ying Lin gave a start, “You…”

As the distance between them closed, their knees softly bumped and Ying Lin swore he could feel distinct fingers—belonging to Jun Sheng’s free hand—rest on the back of his chair, pressing against his shoulder.

A familiar musky scent of lightly soaked vetiver washed over him, alike to the dewy leaves after a spring's cloudburst. Unexpectedly, this alpha’s pheromones could smell so calming and so mellow, very unlike his haughty temperament.

Then abruptly, Ying Lin realised instead of a sharp pain on his nape, there was only a slight dull throb. Even if an alpha’s pheromones were presented lightly, his glands would still feel sore somewhat—a common symptom of an impending flare-up.

Jun Sheng’s scent right now was elusive, yet it was unexpectedly quite…

A momentary silence passed before Jun Sheng finally spoke, “Your wrists are exposed, aren’t you afraid of getting cold?”

With a pointed stare, Ying Lin jutted his chin towards the rest of their classmates—who were shamelessly peeking at them both with perked ears—and said, “Their wrists are too, why don’t you ask them instead?”

“Ah…” Realising how their close proximity must look in the crooked eyes of their classmates, Jun Sheng unleashed his hand and leaned back against his chair. He cleared the awkward atmosphere carelessly. “No, my deskmate would get jealous.”

Ying Lin, “...” Like hell I would.

Although they were now properly seated, with a very obvious gap between their chairs, the damage had already been done.

With the quick and skilled hands of a certain melon-eater surnamed Jia-first name Mei, the school forum once again caught fire as the minds of the students combusted.

 

 

 

 

A senior beta, widely known as the school forum’s moderator and technician, gaped at the amount of private messages his WeChat received. With an excited “wow”, he turned to his friends, flashed his phone’s screen at them and laughed. “God decided to favour laozi today! Look, these can only be confessions ba?”

His friend swayed his index finger back and forth, going, “Tch, tch. This, Kong Jing, is what we call a lovelorn single dog’s mindset. How can those messages all be confessions? At the same time to boot! They’re obviously spam!”

Like a row of chicks, the rest of his friends similarly nodded their heads. 

“You guys are just jealous!” Kong Jing huffed. He turned his phone back around and, as his friends leaned over his shoulders to eavesdrop, he tapped on a random message. “I’ll prove you guys wrong. It’s definitely god’s favour, see—”

[Xuemei next door: Brother, hurry up and fix the school forum!]

“...” Kong Jing smiled awkwardly, “Haha…this one was just a fluke, the next one for sure—”

[131’s salted fish: Jing-ge, I know I’m lazy, but I didn’t expect you to not do your job. Our school can only have one salted fishSalted fish: a person who doesn't want to do anything., so hurry up and get the website running already!]

And the next…from a number he personally saved with much care…

[My heartthrob: Surnamed Kong, it’s been ten minutes and the school forum’s still down? My respect for you has also decreased!]

“...”

“Pft—” His friend muffled a laugh into his hand and patted his back. “Have I ever lied to you? Ah, our poor beta, god has given you such a great responsibility to handle.”

Another friend went, “Ah it’s true! The website keeps buffering, we just fixed it yesterday, so what’s with its mood swings?”

With a helpless sigh, Kong Jing wiped his silent tears and angrily said, “We won’t know until we fix it. Just they wait and see what I’ll do when I find out who’s pulling this type of bullshit!”

Five minutes later, with a smoothly up and running online forum, Kong Jing abruptly had to swallow his threats. Simple because he too was similarly shocked by the post which had caused the failure.

He hummed wisely in defeat, “Ah, so it’s like this… Can’t say I don’t understand how anxious those students are.”

His friend leaned over him from behind, grabbed the computer’s mouse and, taking advantage of Kong Jing’s moderator status, he mischievously pinned the post. “There, then your heartthrob will surely thank you.”

Not even a second later, Kong Jing’s notifications once again blared, and this time his messages were covered with rainbow farts instead.

[My heartthrob: Thanks, Kong Jing! My respect for you has exceeded 200%!!!]

As though he was a sponge, Kong Jing soaked up all their praises, perfunctory or not, he didn’t care. “I have to thank the student who wrote this post some day.”

“Why not thank the two who made the post popular instead?”

“Oh, good idea!”

 

 

 

 

Huo Cai had just left the class and whilst waiting for the economics teacher, Xiao Yun energetically turned in his seat, slapped down his phone onto the desk behind and said, “Lin-ge, you’re being talked about on the forums!”

Honestly, Ying Lin couldn’t care less about why the students were making a fuss; however, faced with Xiao Yun’s puppy eyes from the front and the scum’s brazen stare from the right, he would obviously choose the former.

So in a leisurely manner, he lowered his eyes to read the page on the phone screen. 

“...”

For once, he wished he had continued his cold war with the scum instead.

[Main post #HOT: Fellow students, I humbly present to you my first-class-vip-front-row seat of our school grass and kaolin flower’s affairs! Attached below is a gif of how the alpha daringly pulled our difficult omega close!

20L: WTH. How can an A be so unrestrained? So early in the morning too!

21L: How could any A resist surnamed Ying’s charms? I once said surnamed Jun’s self-restraint was amazing…who would’ve thought…

2888L: Aish, you guys have holes in your brains! Maybe Jun-ge saw some dust on the O’s sleeve and helped him remove it? Don’t jump the wagon so carelessly!

2889L: +1 upstairs! There’s always dust flying around in the morning because the classrooms were locked overnight.

2890L: With what magnifying glass of yours do you see that alpha remove dust from Ying-ge’s sleeve? They’re literally lost in each other’s eyes!

2891L: Sister, you’re right! This one will repent!]

“So which is true, Lin-ge?” Xiao Yun tilted his head. “Ah, a pity I was too concentrated on my game earlier…”

Ying Lin rubbed between his brows, saying, “None, don’t buy into their nonsense.”

Since the phone wasn’t hidden from view, two busybodies going by the names of Jun Sheng and Laurel also took a peek. 

You are reading story This Red Thread of Ours at novel35.com

Laurel tried to force down the rise of his lips and instead lifted a hand to ruffle Xiao Yun’s hair. “These insignificant acts our friends do become so significant in the eyes of others, so don’t take their exaggerations so seriously.”

“I know, I know. Don’t mess with my hair!” Xiao Yun grumbled as he struggled to swat his seatmate’s hand away.

Laurel then angled his face to look at Jun Sheng, peeked at the alpha’s so-called indifferent seatmate, and flashed a discreet smile. Oddly enough, he felt that their pairing would bring an interesting flair to their final school year.

If you asked him how well he knew Jun Sheng, he would say quite well without missing a beat—or more simply, he’d say the alpha was frank and intrepid yet also restrained.

Throughout their friendship, Laurel noticed fairly early that Jun Sheng tended to keep others at arm’s length—omega or not, he’d treat acquaintances as acquaintances, strangers as strangers, and if he wanted to, he wouldn’t allow a friend to get too close for comfort.

Underneath Jun Sheng’s seemingly amicable, cordial nature, was a teen who was truthfully only courteous. So much so it seemed as if he was deliberately drawing a line between himself and another; akin to the reflection within a puddle of water, able to see but not able to touch, unapproachable. 

As Laurel mused, his hand unknowingly wandered rather carelessly. As such, a light laugh by his side broke his stupor.

“Laurel, don’t pinch my ear, it tickles.”

“Hm? But they’re nice to pinch.”

Xiao Yun, “...” As long as you’re happy.

Laurel then wordlessly tugged Xiao Yun around and back to their desks, leaving a certain haughty alpha and one moody ancestor be.

“What’re you thinking about?” Jun Sheng asked. He studied the frown tugging at the corners of Ying Lin’s lips, feeling an unreasonable urge to wipe them off. “Ah, are you bothered by that post? Why, we look handsome in that gif, no?”

Ying Lin rested his cheek against his knuckles, giving the alpha an unenthused stare, “...that’s your focus?”

He wasn’t thinking about the post, actually. Rather, he had been mulling over the fact that somehow, Jun Sheng’s pheromones didn’t cause his body to have a stronger negative reaction.

Perhaps it had been too small of an amount for a reaction, but Ying Yunru had used a similar concentration before in the past, and that had made him somewhat uncomfortable.

Nonetheless, tactlessly being reminded of what he had just read, Ying Lin couldn’t help but feel slightly aggrieved. After all, the alpha had dragged him into the spotlight unwillingly. 

Though compared to what had happened the day prior, with Jun Sheng acting like a full-blown scoundrel, Ying Lin was inwardly relieved that that wasn’t caught live.

He didn’t want the whole school to collapse because Jun-scoundrel-Sheng had rubbed the back of his neck a little. 

Jun Sheng grinned, saying, “If we’re going to be caught, then we might as well make some effort to serve them our good looks.”

“What effort—” Ying Lin tightly reined his tongue in, but it was too late, those words already came loose.

“Hm?” Jun Sheng leaned closer and his fingertips crossed the line where their desks met. “Did my dear deskmate just call me handsome?”

Ying Lin lifted his lazy gaze, brushed over broad shoulders, trailed along a sharp jawline, briefly appreciated the mirthful corners of lips, and finally met Jun Sheng’s attractive eyes.

One would be blind if they said the alpha wasn’t good-looking, a single glance would make people question why god was playing favourites. Plus his magnetic voice, sounding as gentle as flowing waves, would make any omega weak in the knees.

Ying Lin, although having already blundered, still didn’t want to feed into the alpha’s ego. So he retrieved his gaze, occupied himself with rummaging through his bag for his books and simply said, “No, you heard wrong.”

And as their economics teacher came in, going, “Alright class, settle down!”

Ying Lin stubbornly ignored the alpha’s airy chuckle, which dripped with honey and sweetly sticked to the ears.

“Teacher Xia, are we going to discuss yesterday’s worksheets?”

Xia Min nodded. With a bright smile, he pulled out a few answer sheets and grabbed a marker. “That’s right. We’ll go through worksheets one to three today, then I’ll briefly introduce inflation after.”

Some teachers allow the students to mark their own homework during class. This was a time-efficient method which ensured that the students were actually following through their lessons.

Without complaints, the students took out their worksheets, preparing their hearts to face their own careless mistakes.

Ying Lin similarly spread his papers across the desk, but as if he had remembered something, his actions paused midway.

Discreetly, he shifted an arm to block a certain paper’s seemingly plain corner from view and, without a single crack in his aloof expression, he continued to listen to the teacher’s spiel. 

“Onto the next question—which you all should’ve found relatively easy, the economic factors which influence the decision making of the government are…”

Suddenly, the tip of a blue pen poked his arm and a low baritone brushed against the shell of his ear, asking, “Deskmate, let me see your worksheet three’s question five.”

Ying Lin glanced at him and whispered, “We’re not even on that paper yet.”

Smirking, Jun Sheng replied without missing a beat, “Old Cai said we should help each other out. Since you’re good at economics, I’ll learn from you.”

Currently, Xia Min was discussing the short answer questions that were relatively easy to understand. However, what Jun Sheng wanted to see was one of the longer, essay-like questions that were worth up to twelve marks.

Ying Lin wouldn’t be as petty as to hinder a classmate’s learning progress. So without hesitation, he lifted his arm slightly and used his elbow to push the paper over, saying, “Mm, take it.”

“Thanks.” Jun Sheng smoothly slipped the paper over to his side.

Feeling slightly worried, Ying Lin peeked at him from under his eyelashes. After seeing that the scoundrel was earnestly studying his answers, he breathed a small sigh of relief. 

He turned his attention back to mark his current paper, and as he was in the midst of writing a different answer, he failed to notice how Jun Sheng had lifted the little tape adorning the worksheet’s corner. 

Glancing at a neat scribble and recalling how he had sneezed twice last night, Jun Sheng’s lips twitched almost imperceptibly. Then he pushed the tape down and smoothed it over as though he hadn’t seen anything.

When the teacher finally reached the third worksheet, he slipped it back onto Ying Lin’s desk and huffed a small laugh, “So it was you.”

Discerning the sheen of confusion in the omega’s dark eyes, Jun Sheng shook his head. “Your answers are very detailed and easy to follow.”

Ying Lin muttered a soft “oh" and added, “...if you need pointers, just ask.”

“Offering yourself to me, moody ancestor?”

“Clean your ears, I didn’t say that.”

Using the back of his pen to scratch Ying Lin’s hand, Jun Sheng laughed. “Was that not a hint to become my personal tutor? Being my deskmate and neighbour isn’t enough, how greedy.”

“...”

Ying Lin resolutely zipped his mouth shut. He then raised a foot and harshly stomped on Jun Sheng’s. 

“Hiss—” Jun Sheng inhaled a lungful of cold air, seemingly from the annoyed person next to himself, and coaxed, “My bad, my bad. Don’t be angry, hmm?”

Unrelenting, Ying Lin gave him a sharp glare and drilled the heel of his foot down once more. After a minute-or-so of teaching the scum a lesson, he lifted his foot and acted as if their mini conflict hadn’t occurred.

The ache of Jun Sheng’s foot suddenly didn’t seem as pronounced as his breath caught in his throat.

His eyes glimpsed a small lift to Ying Lin’s lips. It was a tiny smile, almost unnoticeable, yet it brought a slight warmth to his otherwise frosty visage, softening his perpetually aloof demeanour.

Feeling slightly unsettled—like an unruly cat was pawing at his heart, Jun Sheng tore his gaze away and blocked the lower half of his face with the back of his hand. Somehow, his earlobes felt a little hot.

“Yi Zan! Stand up and recite your answer for question two.”

“Ah? Uh…which worksheet are we on?”

At that, the once solemn class was filled with snickers and half-hearted booing, breaking the early morning’s tiresome atmosphere. 

“Aiyah, go wash your face. The next time I catch you dozing off, you’ll be the one teaching your classmates instead.”

“Yes, teacher!” Realising his sticky situation, Yi Zan nodded and scampered off towards the bathroom to slap himself awake with ice-cold water.

Sighing exasperatedly, Xia Min said, “Take a short break until your friend gets back. Ah, but don’t make too much noise.” 

He approvingly watched as some students lowered their voices to whisper with their friends whilst others opted to close their eyes for a few minutes. And as his gaze roamed across the room, he caught one particular alpha fanning himself with his jacket collar. 

‘Hm? Is the classroom too hot?’ He checked the air conditioner overhead, discerned that it was running smoothly and shrugged, ‘Youngsters and their hot bloods.’

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