Chapter 143
“I do.”
An Le smiled. “I want to buy some gland patches.”
Xiao Xiao nodded. “Okay, I’ll buy them for you.”
With that, he pulled An Le into the shop. Worried that An Le would keep feeling uncomfortable, he first bought a bottle of pheromone neutralizer to get rid of the scent on himself before helping An Le shop for other things.
He used to be a beta, and the only omega he knew well was An Le. An Le was shy around strangers, so Xiao Xiao would always buy things for him. Gland patches were the most common purchase, but he’d never paid much attention before. As long as they were safe and An Le could use them, he’d just buy them without looking at the designs. He had no idea how fancy omega products could be.
Now, browsing with An Le, he realized there were countless styles of just gland patches alone. All sorts of different scents, all sorts of different patterns. Some even had phrases printed on them.
Xiao Xiao was stunned. “Lele,” he said quietly, “I used to buy gland patches for you, but I never noticed there were so many options.”
An Le smiled. “I didn’t either, until Sir bought me some with a peach pattern on them.”
Before, they didn’t have much money, so the gland patches Xiao Xiao bought for him were always practical, not pretty. Now that they had money, they could have both. Since Xiao Xiao needed gland patches now too, An Le helped him pick out a bunch of cute ones.
Xiao Xiao followed behind An Le, watching him act as happy as a little kid. It made him think, time and time again, that Lu Heng really was a good alpha. He was so glad An Le had met him.
Xiao Xiao was lost in thought when An Le suddenly leaned in. “Xiao Xiao, look!” he said happily. “This one says ‘Xiao Xiao, be happier.’ I’m going to buy a box. We can split them, okay?”
Xiao Xiao looked, and it was true. “Okay,” he nodded quickly.
Seeing how much they liked it, the shop assistant brought out another one. “We have this one with words on it, too. This one says ‘Lele hehe.'” (‘Happy Lele.’)
“It really does!”
An Le took it and looked, overjoyed. He immediately tore off his old gland patch, handed one that said ‘Xiao Xiao, be happier’ to Xiao Xiao, and whispered, “Xiao Xiao, help me put it on.”
“Okay.”
Xiao Xiao took the patch and carefully applied it for him. “There, all done.”
An Le touched it happily, then picked up a ‘Lele hehe’ patch. “Let me put one on you,” he said with a smile.
Xiao Xiao had no choice but to bow his head and expose his neck to An Le.
After they had put the patches on each other, they went to other shops and bought a lot of things.
As they walked, Xiao Xiao said, “Lele, if you buy gland patches with my name on them, won’t Lu Heng get mad?”
“He won’t.” An Le smiled. “Sir is really nice, and he knows about… your relationship with Gu Qian. He won’t be mad at me.”
Lu Heng was truly good to him, spoiling him to the bone. He never worried about things like that. But after he said it, he was afraid Xiao Xiao would be sad, and his smile faded.
Xiao Xiao patted An Le’s head. “Why are you sad? There’s nothing you can’t say to me. Besides, it’s the truth. I just want Lu Heng to not be mad at you. Nothing else matters.”
An Le nodded and smiled again. After a few steps, he seemed to remember something and turned back. “What about you? Will Gu Qian be mad?”
“Probably.”
Xiao Xiao thought about it. With Gu Qian’s extreme possessiveness, there was no way he wouldn’t be.
An Le was instantly worried. “Then what should we do? Xiao Xiao, quick, give me all the ‘Lele hehe’ patches. From now on, I’ll carry them for you when we go out, and we can put them on then. It’s better if he doesn’t see them now, so he won’t bully you again.”
An Le was always worried about Gu Qian bullying him. But Xiao Xiao didn’t think it was a big deal, because Gu Qian’s temper really had improved a lot recently. Although he wasn’t sure if he’d get angry this time, this could be a test.
So, he shook his head. “It’s fine, don’t worry. He won’t bully me.”
An Le pouted, his eyes full of heartache.
Xiao Xiao sighed. “Really, he won’t. It’s already past eight. If you don’t go back soon, Lu Heng might get mad at you.”
An Le immediately took out his phone to check the time. “Then can we hang out again in the future?” he asked, both anxious and reluctant to leave.
Xiao Xiao nodded. “Of course.”
An Le didn’t say anything else. Just then, a car pulled up beside them, and Li Jie got out. “Boss’s wife, it’s time to go back.”
An Le nodded. “Okay.” He said goodbye to Xiao Xiao one more time and reluctantly got in the car.
Xiao Xiao stood there, stunned. Li Jie held the car door open and glanced back at him. The moment their eyes met, Xiao Xiao lowered his head. Li Jie didn’t say anything, just got into the driver’s seat, closed the door, and drove away.
After Li Jie and An Le left, the car Gu Qian had arranged to follow them pulled up. Xiao Xiao said nothing, just opened the door and got in.
It was already nine-thirty by the time he got home. Gu Qian immediately ran over. “Xiao Xiao.”
Xiao Xiao took out the gland patches he and An Le had bought together. He handed them to Gu Qian and said, “I bought gland patches with Lele’s name on them. From now on, I’ll wear these when I go out. He bought some with my name on them, too.”
After he spoke, Xiao Xiao’s heart was pounding. His back was sweating, and even his breathing was shallow, terrified that Gu Qian would get angry and have a fit.
But he waited for a while, and although Gu Qian was angry, he didn’t have a fit, and he didn’t lose his temper. Instead, his face just darkened. Seeing the ‘Lele hehe’ patch on Xiao Xiao’s gland, he opened a ‘Xiao Xiao, be happier’ patch and stuck it on his own gland.
After putting it on, he said in a cold voice, “Are you hungry? I made dinner.”
He hadn’t let Xiao Xiao go out alone in so long. He was anxious, uncomfortable. He had no desire to go to work and had spent the entire day at home, waiting for Xiao Xiao to come back. In the afternoon, even though he knew Xiao Xiao would be eating with An Le, he stubbornly cooked porridge and waited for him.
Sure enough, Xiao Xiao shook his head. “I’m not hungry. I ate out.”
Gu Qian, a little disappointed, nodded. “Alright. Then you should go take a shower.” With that, he dished out a bowl of porridge for himself and sat at the dining table to eat, a lonely and pitiful figure.
In that moment, Xiao Xiao’s heart softened. But he gritted his teeth and turned to go take a shower.
Just as he thought, Gu Qian’s illness was slowly getting better. Although his possessiveness was still strong, it wasn’t as terrifying as before. He knew how to respect him, how to listen to his opinions.
I can live with this, Xiao Xiao thought. But only if Gu Qian was completely cured. Even if he wasn’t, he had to make sure it didn’t relapse, or at least relapsed very rarely.
In the days that followed, he still went to work with Gu Qian every day, but Gu Qian, ignoring everyone else’s stares, stubbornly wore the ‘Xiao Xiao, be happier’ gland patch. Xiao Xiao didn’t care; he could wear whatever he wanted. Occasionally, he could go out with An Le for a day of shopping. Gu Qian’s control over him was loosening, as if things were really going back to how they used to be.
Xiao Xiao was a little excited because An Le was having ear surgery and had asked him to stay with him at the hospital.
He started packing his things into a backpack—clothes, face wash, a toothbrush, a towel.
Gu Qian stood to the side, looking miserable. “Xiao Xiao, his family is so rich. Can’t they just hire a nurse? Why do you have to go?”
“Lu Heng is so useless. Can’t he even afford a nurse? Or I could pay for one for him.” Gu Qian didn’t want to be separated from Xiao Xiao and was willing to pay to solve all of An Le’s problems.
But Xiao Xiao didn’t agree. Xiao Xiao insisted on going.
He pouted. “He’s the only friend I have in my entire life. Can’t you tolerate him?”
“I!” Gu Qian was stunned. “It’s not that I can’t tolerate him, I just feel bad for you. Staying at the hospital means staying up all night. I… I can’t bear to see you stay up all night.”
Xiao Xiao: “…So it’s not okay to stay up all night at the hospital, but it’s okay at home in bed?” Staying up at the hospital was staying up, but at home, in bed, doing the piston-motion, often until one in the morning—that didn’t count as staying up?
Gu Qian was speechless, rendered silent by Xiao Xiao’s comeback.
Xiao Xiao finished packing, slung the backpack on, and asked with an excited, expectant look, “Are you driving me to the hospital, or are you arranging for a driver?”
Gu Qian: “I’ll take you.”
Xiao Xiao: “Let’s go, then.”
Gu Qian’s condition was getting better, and Xiao Xiao was living more and more freely. Plus, with An Le to keep him company recently, his personality wasn’t as quiet as before. Although Gu Qian didn’t like having anyone else in Xiao Xiao’s eyes, seeing him gradually become happy again made him happy, too.
He drove him to the hospital, followed him upstairs, and stood in the hallway, reluctantly asking, “How many days are you going to be here with him?”
Xiao Xiao thought for a moment. “About a week, I think,” he said quietly.
“That long?” Gu Qian frowned, displeased. “If you’re here for a week, what about me?”
Xiao Xiao held back a smile. “How should I know? You’ll just live by yourself. And you can see how your treatment has been going. Don’t always be thinking about controlling me.”
Gu Qian lowered his head, disappointed. “Alright then.”
Xiao Xiao: “If you miss me, you can come see me during the day, but you can’t bother Lele.”
Gu Qian nodded. “Okay.”
Xiao Xiao: “Then you can go back now. I’m going to find Lele.”
Gu Qian was speechless. He didn’t want to go back.
But Xiao Xiao had already left him, turning and walking into the hospital room. An Le had just been admitted and had just made his bed; the surgery wasn’t scheduled yet. But the moment Xiao Xiao walked in, a nurse came to call them for an examination.
Xiao Xiao and An Le walked out and saw that Gu Qian was still there. He didn’t say anything and just walked away with An Le.
Xiao Xiao never expected that the nurse, who had only said it was an examination, would push An Le straight into the operating room.
Xiao Xiao was stunned. “He’s going in already?”
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