53: Please Take Care of Me
The two of them walked through the rainy night, the dormitory looming like a massive beast hidden in the darkness.
Shen Jin stepped on a fallen yellowed leaf, the crisp crack beneath his foot snapping him out of that impulsive rush of emotion.
He thought he would at least wait a while longer, find a timing when Qian Kun would be more likely to agree.
Yet the moment Qian Kun appeared so suddenly earlier, Shen Jin thought, why wait at all? If he got rejected, he would just think of another way. It wasn’t like he was afraid of those perverts.
The only thing he worried about was that this almost split-personality level of contradiction, asking something so extreme, might make Qian Kun pack up and leave overnight, their hard-won camaraderie hanging by a thread.
No matter what the outcome was, the revolutionary friendship had to be preserved.
Shen Jin waited absentmindedly, but the person beside him acted as if he hadn’t heard anything.
Qian Kun walked forward in silence, his expression unchanged.
Was this a silent rejection?
Shen Jin wanted to explain that it would just be a fake relationship and that it would end quickly, yet all those mood-smoothing words jammed in his throat.
It made sense for Qian Kun not to agree. After all, Qian Kun seemed quite averse to people clinging to him.
Shen Jin’s thoughts ran wild as he tried to figure out what angle he could use to smooth things over and ease the awkwardness.
Qian Kun gripped the umbrella handle, listening to the chaotic rhythm of raindrops hitting the canopy.
He thought the rain was really something, making him hallucinate, and vividly at that, even mimicking Shen Jin’s voice perfectly.
Then one side of his shoulder, tilted slightly by the umbrella, got soaked. Cool rainwater seeped into his skin, sending a faint chill through him.
The sense of reality snapped back. Qian Kun turned his head sharply.
“You… what did you just say!?”
Did you really know what you were saying?
Behind that seemingly calm question was a violent storm of suppressed emotion. If he didn’t hold it down, he was afraid he’d lose all restraint and pin the person in front of him down just to demand a clear answer.
The expectation in Shen Jin’s eyes was already fading. Hearing Qian Kun’s voice break free of its usual lazy tone, urgent and pressing, those deep eyes locking straight onto him, Shen Jin’s heart skipped a beat.
So he really hadn’t heard it clearly.
Shen Jin vaguely saw a red light flicker near Qian Kun’s chest, hidden by the school uniform and not very distinct.
A large hand covered the chest. When Shen Jin looked again, it was gone. Had it just been an illusion?
Qian Kun had already shut off the sensor alarm. Because his emotional fluctuations had been too frequent lately, his family had decided he needed to go back over the weekend for a full checkup.
They were worried that if this continued, even suppressant cigarettes wouldn’t be able to control it.
Qian Kun asked, “I heard you. Do you really want me to be your boyfriend?”
After the intense mental storm, he barely managed to calm down. Shen Jin wouldn’t ask something like this for no reason. At the very least, Qian Kun could be certain that right now, Shen Jin’s feelings toward him were mainly gratitude.
Shen Jin’s eyes looked as if they were filled with starlight, especially clear in the rainy night. He explained, “I’m asking you to be my fake boyfriend. The specific reason… I dreamed that I might be in danger, like Zhao Haotian. It might not be just one person. I know this kind of reason is hard to believe—”
“I believe you.”
Of course Qian Kun believed him. He knew the person in front of him too well. Whenever Shen Jin ran into trouble, his first instinct was never to ask for help, but to shoulder everything himself.
There were so many times Qian Kun wanted to tell him, could he stop carrying everything alone and at least look at the people around him? Yet he didn’t have the standing to say that.
Just like the marking in the public matching room. If he’d been even a step later, what awaited Shen Jin would’ve been surgery.
Shen Jin parted his lips, but Qian Kun’s unreserved trust crashed into him without warning, washing away his composure.
They were almost at the dorm building now. The lights outside cast a layer of warm light over them, and even the rain around them seemed to carry a lighter rhythm.
Qian Kun stopped, turned his head slightly, and lowered his voice, keeping it very soft, as if afraid Shen Jin might take his words back. “I agree. I can be your temporary boyfriend.”
He agreed?!
Shen Jin felt flustered. He had considered countless approaches, thinking about how Qian Kun might possibly agree.
Yet in reality, Qian Kun had agreed so easily.
“Then… please take care of me?” Qian Kun closed the umbrella and extended his hand toward him.
He had never felt this turbulent inside. There was nothing left that could describe his current mood.
He also knew how rare it was for Shen Jin to actively seek help. He was glad he’d been steadily making his presence known long before his feelings fully surfaced. Otherwise, how could he have ended up with this kind of VIP treatment now?
“Mm.”
Shen Jin reached out. The other’s palm carried a scorching warmth. With just a light touch, he pulled his hand back.
Shen Jin lowered his head and followed along, completely at a loss.
Qian Kun watched him freeze at the elevator entrance, a faint blush blooming on that jade-like face, beautiful like a snow lotus brushed with evening light.
Even Qian Kun, who had barely managed to stay calm, felt too embarrassed to keep looking.
“Coming in, boyfriend?”
Those three words slipped out naturally, rolling and lingering on his tongue.
The magnetic voice brushed Shen Jin’s ear like a streak of electricity. He hurried into the elevator.
Calling him that so soon?
Couldn’t there at least be some kind of adjustment period?
On the fourth floor, two Omegas from other classes entered. They went downstairs to visit friends in another dorm, and with the rain growing heavier outside, they were heading back to their own rooms.
They saw two well-known big shots from different grades standing inside expressionlessly, their presence alone commanding respect.
The big shots stood a bit apart, looking like they couldn’t even be bothered to glance at each other.
They heard the two didn’t get along. They hadn’t expected it to be even worse than the rumors, practically screaming “don’t mess with me.”
The two Omegas exchanged a look and nervously stepped into the elevator, pressing their floor button.
The elevator was exceptionally quiet. Not a single person spoke.
When they reached the eighth floor, Qian Kun and Shen Jin stepped out one after the other, leaving behind only their cool, detached silhouettes.
The two Omegas stared for a long moment before finally letting out a heavy breath.
“So scary, that presence!”
“They looked like they wanted to eat someone alive. Are they going to fight when they get back to the dorm?”
“Very possible. I heard from Class Nine that Shen Jin even borrowed medicated wine before.”
“That brutal? Still, they’re way too handsome. At that level of looks, I can brave any hardship. What Alphas? Betas are the real stunners!”
Back in the dorm, Shen Jin noticed that one of Qian Kun’s shoulders was soaked, while he himself was barely wet at all.
Shen Jin pressed his lips together. “You should shower first.”
Qian Kun didn’t refuse. He thought they both needed some time to cool down. Before heading to the bathroom, he suddenly turned back. “Even if it’s a fake relationship, if we’re too stiff, it will be easy to see through. In the coming days, we might need to practice a bit.”
Shen Jin opened his mouth in surprise. “Practice what?”
Qian Kun replied, “Being close.”
It took Shen Jin a long moment to process those two words. He felt like his brain was overheating.
At the same time, Qian Kun’s reasoning made sense. If they were going to act, it had to look believable. After a pause, Shen Jin nodded lightly. “Okay. Then what do we start practicing with?”
Qian Kun thought about it and offered a simple suggestion. “The most basic thing. Holding hands. Is that okay?”
Shen Jin felt the spot where their palms had brushed heat up in a dense, prickling way.
As Qian Kun closed the bathroom door, Shen Jin’s soft agreement drifted through.
In a place his roommate couldn’t see, Qian Kun silently clenched his fist and swung it rapidly, so fast that rushing wind sounded through the air.
He turned on the cold shower. Icy water poured over him relentlessly as he lifted his face.
The cold forced the heat in his body down, barely suppressing the surging pheromones.
He wiped the water from his face. The usually languid phoenix eyes now had desire spilling from their corners, seductive and dangerous, like a hunter who found his ideal prey.
After Qian Kun entered the bathroom, Shen Jin covered his head and buried his face in his arms.
He really agreed, and far too quickly. Even after returning to the dorm, everything still felt unreal.
His thoughts were a tangled mess. One moment he felt Qian Kun was pitiful, the so-called king of no-CP, now potentially tied to him for some time. The next moment he thought he was a genius for actually tricking Qian Kun into becoming his fake boyfriend.
In that jumble of emotions, Shen Jin patted his cheeks, trying to bring himself back to normal.
He took out the previous marking agreement, looked over each clause, then pulled out an A4 sheet from the bookshelf and started drafting a fake-relationship agreement.
He didn’t want Qian Kun to be at a disadvantage. Since even marking had an agreement, fake dating needed one too.
Qian Kun came out, towel-drying his hair, and saw a freshly minted fake boyfriend scribbling away at the desk. He walked over slowly, braced both hands on the desk, and nearly boxed Shen Jin in between the chair and his own body.
Shen Jin was so focused on writing that he froze when he sensed a shadow behind him.
They weren’t touching, yet Qian Kun’s presence filled the space around him. The scent of verbena body wash mixed with the natural warmth of skin. Shen Jin drew his hand back.
For a split second, it felt like an animal’s instinctive response to danger. Yet the desk was right in front of him. Where could he even retreat to?
Qian Kun slipped back into his usual casual demeanor, glanced at the draft on the desk, and asked, “What are you writing?”
Shen Jin tried to cover it. Feeling a droplet land on him and realizing what it was, his gaze went flustered. “I’ll show you tomorrow.”
Qian Kun didn’t press. He asked instead, “One question. Are we keeping this underground, or can we tell people directly?”
Underground relationship??? This was fake to begin with.
Still, even fake relationships probably had a public and non-public version.
Shen Jin hadn’t thought about this yet. All his energy before had gone into figuring out how to persuade Qian Kun.
He wanted to target only the perverts precisely, but he currently knew the identity of just one.
There was another issue too. “The school doesn’t really encourage this.”
In a world of pheromones, schools couldn’t completely suppress attraction. It was a survival instinct. Otherwise there wouldn’t be so many bride courses, all meant to make future pairings easier.
Still, it was a school. Even if it wasn’t explicitly forbidden, being too high-profile wasn’t ideal.
Qian Kun wasn’t worried about himself, but Shen Jin was a model student, the teachers’ prized favorite. This could affect him. After some thought, Qian Kun said, “Then let things take their natural course?”
Shen Jin thought that worked. They wouldn’t confirm it, but they wouldn’t deny it either.
At that moment, Shen Jin had completely forgotten that he himself had once been the school’s most favored representative, often preaching about the dangers of campus romance at morning assemblies.
In most people’s eyes, he was immune to school romance.
Author’s Note:
Qianqian: Can you believe it? He walked right into the trap himself!
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