Roommates

Bang!

The old security door let out an overwhelmed crash after being kicked open with brute force.

The moment Li Mao stepped through the front door, he was greeted by a somewhat resentful gaze.

Having gone an entire night without sleep, he had no mind to spare for the roommate sitting on the sofa, clearly displeased with the way he opened doors.

After kicking off his shoes with one foot against the other, he hurried toward his bedroom, intending to throw all that bullshit behind him and get some proper sleep first.

However, just as he was about to reach the finish line—his little bed—a voice even more resentful than that gaze sounded behind him.

"I'm not splitting the cost of fixing the door with you."

After saying that, He Che lowered his eyes and stopped looking at the roommate who was nowhere to be seen every day, and who, on the rare occasions he came home, made a racket like he was breaking into the place.

Li Mao rolled his eyes so hard they nearly reached the ceiling. Out of ten, he was willing to give this roommate of his a negative ten thousand.

He turned around irritably and glared at He Che, who was sitting on the sofa reading with an annoyingly proper air.

"If it's b-broken, I'll pay for it, okay? When did I ever s-say you had to split it? You're a grown-ass man, and it's bad enough that you're so c-cheap. Your mind's even n-narrower than the eye of a needle!"

Hearing Li Mao's defense, He Che raised his eyes again and calmly shot back, "Since when do you need advance notice before making me split the bill? Last time the bathroom drain got clogged and we called someone to fix it, you disappeared the second it was time to pay. In the end, the stuff clogging the drain was all your long hair. You only split the cost with me after the evidence was irrefutable. If you're not cheap, then pay me back the money you split with me for unclogging the drain last time..."

He Che abruptly stopped mid-sentence. His gaze slowly moved down from Li Mao's impatient face.

It eventually settled on his neck, where purplish kiss marks remained exposed before he had a chance to hide them.

Only then did He Che notice that Li Mao was wearing clothes from an expensive, niche luxury brand.

The style did not look like his usual taste either, and upon closer inspection, it was just a little too big for him.

Li Mao frequently stayed out all night, and his schedule and routine were always impossible to track. Sometimes, he even vanished completely off the grid.

As Li Mao's roommate of many years, He Che had long grown used to all that.

But this was the first time he had seen Li Mao return in such a strange, disheveled state, so full of incongruity.

"Did you start dating someone?" He Che abruptly changed the subject.

Then he looked Li Mao up and down once more, taking in the oversized clothes, and suggested another possibility.

"Or are you short on cash lately and forced to change careers? Do Alphas have a market now too?"

The question instantly made the guilty Li Mao react like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

He hurriedly tugged his collar higher to cover himself and cursed, "What the f-fuck is it to you, you busybody? If I'm dating someone, are you g-gonna pay for the hotel room? Why ask so m-many questions...?"

Li Mao deliberately did not respond to the latter half of He Che's speculation, lest this top student with excellent grades spot some flaw and somehow dig up the fact that he had been fucked.

Fortunately, even He Che himself did not believe that Li Mao—an Alpha whose actual profession was essentially that of a thug, with absurdly high combat ability—could be the bottom and get thoroughly fucked.

In He Che's world, Li Mao was practically the ceiling of combat power.

Something capable of pinning Li Mao down was probably an alien life-form...?

He merely thought that Li Mao was, after all, an Alpha standing 187 centimeters tall, with a well-proportioned build, full muscles, smooth lines, and both pecs and abs. Yet the clothes on him, which obviously did not belong to him, were slightly too big.

What kind of Omega was that huge?

Or was it a Beta?

Or was Li Mao into an Alpha-Alpha relationship?

You really could not tell. Li Mao usually loved looking at pretty Omega women, yet if he actually dated someone, his type was apparently a tough guy...

But what He Che had not expected even more was for Li Mao to react so strongly.

After years of living together, he knew full well that this man had skin thicker than a city wall.

When they had first started sharing an apartment, if not for He Che's vehement demands and earnest moral condemnation, Li Mao would have found clothes too troublesome and run around naked at home.

He did not have the slightest awareness of privacy.

So why had dating someone suddenly made him shy?

He Che thought it over and over, but every possible answer seemed to have something that did not add up. In the end, he simply gave up thinking about it.

It was not like Li Mao had provoked something truly terrible anyway.

Having decided to stay out of it, He Che shrugged and lowered his eyes again.

"I was just asking. Why are you so nervous? You're twenty-five. Having some private life is perfectly normal. I don't object. I'm just afraid that one day you'll knock up some Omega, and then a family of three will be living next door to me. If I have to hear a kid crying every day and it affects my studies, we'll have to redistribute the rent."

Though he had not meant to launch a verbal attack on Li Mao, those words undoubtedly dredged up an overly painful and humiliating history for his roommate and scattered cumin and chili powder all over his wounds.

With his heart bleeding, Li Mao silently grumbled.

Heh heh, you little brat. You've got no clue, do you?

I did sleep with someone, but it wasn't an Omega. I got slept with by an Enigma, one as rare as an endangered animal!

Hahahaha!

And I got marked, too!

Not temporarily. Permanently!

Once I wake up, this Alpha will have to wear sunglasses and a mask to the hospital to get the mark removed~

Didn't see that coming, did you?

Have you ever even seen an Enigma?

Those things are rarer than giant pandas, and you can't even buy a ticket to see one no matter how rich you are!

While the Symphony of Fate thundered through his heart as he tried to seize fate by the throat, Li Mao outwardly let go of his collar with feigned calm.

Clinging to his dignity, he retorted, "If you're so f-free, go study the world's ten greatest unsolved mysteries. At least you can c-count it as making some contribution to human society during your life. Stop acting l-like some pervert, clinging to the private life of your t-twenty-five-year-old adult roommate!"

After saying that, Li Mao even pulled a bottle of hotel body wash from his compressed bag of spoils and tossed it into He Che's arms like a bribe.

"Here! Blow b-bubbles with it when you've got free time! And don't d-disturb me while I'm sleeping later!"

He Che examined the half-used bottle of body wash in his arms, which had obviously been swiped from somewhere.

It seemed Li Mao truly had the words "diligence and thrift" carved into his DNA.

Even when going to war with his gun in hand, he did not forget to bring back a bottle of body wash.

Thinking about it that way, the odds of him bringing home a pregnant Omega one day seemed even greater.

After all, contraceptives were pretty expensive too...

But having eaten someone's food and taken someone's gift, He Che ultimately put away the "stolen goods," nodded, and gave an "Mm."