Wanting to Stay by His Side

Enigma...

Ji Chi's pupils contracted sharply. A buzzing filled his head, echoes tangling with his thoughts.

This was a human designation Ji Chi had only ever encountered in textbooks, so the possibility had never even crossed his mind.

They were mysterious beings at the absolute pinnacle of the food chain.

They were so rare their numbers were almost negligible.

The books said... an Enigma could mark an Alpha.

Alphas normally had no heat cycles, but once marked by an Enigma, they would develop them.

And during their heats, they would become restless, fragile, irritable, difficult to soothe, and violent. Only the Enigma who had marked them could calm them...

Suddenly, everything in his mind connected. If it was an Enigma, all of this seemed to make sense.

Ji Chi's hand shook violently around the test report, nearly wearing a hole through the paper.

Why was everyone around him insane...?

Even Song Lin...

He had considered him a friend, yet Song Lin harbored such sick desires for him!

Ji Chi could not describe how he felt.

It was as though he had stumbled into a sinister, terrifying forest, filthy and foul-smelling, with bottomless chasms at every turn. Vines bound him, devouring his flesh and blood. He could not escape the darkness. There was no way out, no cure. His life had been utterly destroyed in that moment.

Ji Chi did not go back. Instead, he went to the restroom as though nothing had happened.

An Enigma's mark could not be surgically removed. He had found that so unbelievable when he learned it in school that it had stuck with him ever since.

When Ji Chi reached the restroom, he spotted an Alpha smoking. He walked toward the man, unable to conceal the agitation and pain in his eyes.

The man retreated a meter. An Alpha whose pheromones were spilling everywhere like this was very likely to lash out, and he had no desire to be caught in the crossfire.

He failed to get away.

Ji Chi walked up to him. It was a demand, not a request, his tone harsh and leaving no room for argument. "Give me one."

The other Alpha was lower-ranking than Ji Chi, and he immediately wilted.

He handed Ji Chi his entire pack of cigarettes along with a lighter. "...Here."

After handing over the cigarettes, the Alpha could clearly sense Ji Chi's excessive rage. Not wanting trouble, he turned sideways and edged timidly past him.

"Got dumped, huh...? So aggressive..."

Ji Chi ignored his muttering.

His hands were shaking. He opened the pack, but after several fumbling attempts, he still could not get a cigarette out. His mind was an utter mess.

It took three or four tries before he finally pulled one out.

The lighter, too, took several attempts before a flame sparked to life.

Once the cigarette was lit, Ji Chi took a fierce drag. The hand holding it kept trembling as he smoked, like that of someone with Parkinson's.

Smoke danced and curled before him, reducing the people beyond it to scattered specks. Ji Chi's gaze was lost and unfocused.

He rarely smoked. Right now, he wanted a drink even more.

Ji Chi smoked three cigarettes in succession in the smoking area outside the restroom. The already cramped space filled with smoke, but he was oblivious.

Leaning against the wall, he drew in a sharp breath.

Then he opened the search bar on his phone.

He remembered that an Enigma's temporary mark lasted much longer than an Alpha's.

If it could not be removed, he only needed to endure it until the temporary mark faded away on its own.

It's fine. At worst, I'll use two doses of Suppressant.

Ji Chi typed a question into his phone's search bar: How long does an Enigma's temporary mark take to disappear completely?

An Alpha's lasted three months.

What about an Enigma's? Six months at most. It'll be over in six months at most. Ji Chi, things aren't that bad.

I just have to get through it.

It's not that bad...

When he saw the answer in the search results, his fingers began trembling again, so badly he could barely hold his phone.

His heart seized.

[The National Information Center provides the best answer: An Enigma's temporary mark lasts a minimum of three years.]

Fuck!

Ji Chi hurled his phone at the floor. "Go to hell!"

The violent impact shattered the phone. Its screen flickered several times before swiftly going dark.

Ji Chi slowly slid down, finally huddling in the corner in a wretched heap.

His eyes remained unfocused for a long time. Curled up with his arms around his knees, he seemed to be sobbing.

Ji Chi cried.

The stifling misery in his chest refused to dissipate, like snow that never melted, a river that never ran dry. He thought he had cried himself empty, yet when he blinked, he still could not see a thing. It was as though he had been sealed inside a black box, its door never to open again.

Everything was heading toward the worst possible outcome.

Ji Chi, what are you going to do...?

His eyes hurt terribly. Tears kept falling onto the floor in swirling circles, a torrent belonging to him alone, drowning a proud, unyielding Alpha.

He kept his face buried. No one could see him like this. He would not allow it.

Suddenly, a faint trace of cool red sandalwood pheromones drifted into the space around him.

It came without any warning.

And yet it was so reassuring.

The scent eased much of Ji Chi's agitation. He lifted his eyes slightly, a few disheveled strands of hair falling across his face. His reddened eyes were threaded with blood, a thin sheen of tears trembling in them, and the sides of his nose held the faint pink flush left by crying. Anyone who saw him would have felt pity. And because he was an Alpha, the sight of him shattered, despite all his efforts to hide it, was all the harder to forget.

Broken things were the easiest to love.

Huo Jin's eyes narrowed.

As Ji Chi looked up, he caught sight of someone crouching in front of him.

It was Huo Jin.

It was that face he could never forget after seeing it once. Huo Jin's eyes were gentle, at least when he looked at him. He was completely different in bed and out of it. He did not seem so cruel now, yet that made him even more frightening.

Ji Chi stiffened slightly.

Huo Jin had changed clothes. His black shirt accentuated his build. This was the second time Ji Chi had met his gaze so directly.

But with tears clouding his eyes, he could not make out much. He could only tell that it was Huo Jin.

Just as he was about to say something, Huo Jin offered him a tissue.

Ji Chi did not take it. A moment later, Huo Jin raised his hand and wiped the tears from Ji Chi's face, a gentle warmth spreading beneath his eyes.

Ji Chi flinched away. He lifted his shimmering eyes. "Huo Jin..."

"Mm," Huo Jin answered softly.

"I wasn't deliberately following you. I came to this hospital for work. I hope you don't feel bothered." Huo Jin explained himself, then lifted the tissue again to wipe Ji Chi's tears.

Ji Chi felt utterly drained. He no longer had the strength to push him away and simply stared at him.

His voice sank low, laden with regret, panic, and lingering fear, catching on a faint sob.

"I didn't mean to provoke you..."

"Please let me go..."

A slight tremor ran through Ji Chi's words. "I'm sorry. Please let me go, Huo Jin..."

Ji Chi rarely begged anyone, but his life seemed to have been destroyed. He was no longer that lofty, untouchable Alpha.

Even a gust of wind could have knocked him down.

Huo Jin looked at the phone Ji Chi had smashed and the cigarette butts scattered across the floor. His expression dimmed. "I'll move out."

"I never intended to keep bothering you, either."

"But I promise you, for as long as the temporary mark remains, you can come to me for any reason. Whether you're in a bad mood, or thinking of me makes you angry and you want to curse at me and vent, or you want my pheromones. Anything."

Huo Jin's voice was weary, low, and hoarse, like cold water flowing over smooth stones. Every word was so firm, yet so gentle.

"I know you want to cut ties with me. I'll accept whatever you do, and I'll make sure I disappear from your life."

Once the tissue was soaked, Huo Jin used his fingertip to wipe the corner of Ji Chi's eye again. "Don't cry..."

"I'm sorry."

"And I hope we can cut ties soon, just as you wish."

Ji Chi dodged Huo Jin's hand. Even though his memories were hazy, he knew he had been the one to approach Huo Jin at the bar.

He had brought all of this upon himself.

He had no right to place too much blame on anyone else.

With Huo Jin here, that faint scent of cool red sandalwood soothed him, but he did not want to smell it. Ji Chi wanted to push Huo Jin away and run, or curse him out and tell him to get lost.

Yet he craved that scent. It was branded into his flesh and blood, and he loved it so much he did not want Huo Jin to leave.

No one could escape the pull of pheromones.

He had been marked.

He had gone from being an Alpha to being Huo Jin's Omega alone. Ji Chi could not bear to think too deeply about it.

Like any ordinary Omega, he would long to smell the other man's pheromones every day.

He would want to stay by his side.

Just like... right now.