Mistakenly Marked – Chapter 14
by Little PandaSofthearted
Her and Bo Suiqing.
Inside the dressing room.
Thin pheromones drifted slowly through the air.
Beside the sofa, Xu Jialuo held her position on one knee. Her mouth opened—then closed with a frown.
The words caught in her throat, never making it out.
She could see the tips of Bo Suiqing’s ears, flushed burning red with fever.
This person was completely delirious.
As if to confirm Xu Jialuo’s thought, the woman in her arms seemed to have lost all strength from the fever, her body sliding down little by little.
Xu Jialuo frowned and raised a hand, gripping Bo Suiqing’s shoulders. Her knuckles stiffened slightly.
She hesitated for a second between pushing the woman away and steadying her.
A patient, after all.
Xu Jialuo lowered her eyes. Her pale face was expressionless as her gaze swept over the fever-flushed profile in her arms. Her brow furrowed slightly.
How miserable must she be, to lose her mind so completely that she’d cling to someone she’d spent years avoiding at all costs when lucid.
Xu Jialuo looked away and silently straightened her back.
No response. No push.
Just her fingertips curling slightly, holding the slipping woman in place.
What she didn’t know was that the moment her lack of resistance was sensed, the pheromones that had been faintly drifting through the air surged toward her all at once.
Like invisible ribbons, they rapidly covered her neck. Twining. Pressing close.
The discomfort radiating from the back of her neck seemed to have started again.
Her whole body was hot. Her head began to spin.
Xu Jialuo’s brow tightened.
…Was a fever really this contagious?
“Bo Suiqing.”
Xu Jialuo closed her eyes briefly. “Get up first.”
The person in her arms didn’t move at all. A few seconds later, the head resting on her shoulder nuzzled against it—probably shaking its head.
“…”
Xu Jialuo’s already unpleasant expression darkened further.
But she still didn’t move.
Enduring her own discomfort, she waited a few more seconds.
Her tired eyes fell on the white lace skirt with its scattered floral pattern trailing behind Bo Suiqing. After a long silence, Xu Jialuo asked, “Can you even tell who I am right now?”
“…”
It seemed like a remark out of nowhere.
Perhaps it meant that if Bo knew who she was, she shouldn’t be holding her.
But Bo Suiqing was far from ready to end this.
So she closed her eyes, pretended she hadn’t heard, and didn’t answer.
She didn’t see how, with the silence, the faint light in those dark eyes dimmed bit by bit.
A moment later, Xu Jialuo repeated herself. “Get up.”
For some reason, her tone had suddenly turned much colder.
Bo Suiqing startled, her fingertips curling tight.
A second before Xu Jialuo could act, Bo Suiqing raised one hand and tore off the suppressant patch from the back of her neck.
With the suppression gone, dense pheromones surged out instantly, engulfing Xu Jialuo completely.
Xu Jialuo’s whole body went rigid. The back of her neck, hidden beneath her hair, seemed to be struck by something—a sharp, swelling pain flared up.
But unlike before, this pain didn’t stop after a moment. It persisted.
Pain, and heat—she couldn’t tell if it came from the woman in her arms or from herself.
The dizziness worsened.
Her vision began to blur.
…Something was wrong.
Xu Jialuo pulled one hand back and braced it against the floor.
Bo Suiqing reached up and cupped Xu Jialuo’s face. Keeping her from pulling away.
Yet she couldn’t suppress the urge to lower her head.
A kiss—tentative and warm, meant to keep her from leaving—landed suddenly on her neck.
Xu Jialuo’s eyes flew wide open.
Her mind was in chaos, as if someone had set fire to a sealed room. Flames and smoke locked inside an enclosed space, suffocating.
As if something was growing. Shifting.
Starting from the back of her neck, spreading to every cell in her body.
Amid the firelight, Bo Suiqing seemed to be kissing her.
But.
All Xu Jialuo felt was pain.
“Hey, have you noticed? The Third Miss’s features actually look a bit like the young ladies’—especially the Eldest Miss!”
“I noticed that ages ago! Do you think the Third Miss might… actually be an illegitimate daughter?”
“Come on. Pretty faces all look alike, don’t they? I think the Third Miss looks a bit like the Former Madam, too.”
“Stop talking nonsense. The Family Head and the Former Madam were so deeply in love! If not for the Former Madam… how would someone like Jiang Yi ever have gotten through the door? And we’ve all seen it—the way the Family Head treats Jiang Yi compared to the Former Madam is night and day!”
“But don’t you remember? The Former Madam’s health was always poor in her last year. Who’s to say… it wasn’t because she discovered the Family Head had another woman and child, and the shock ruined her health?”
“Oh my god, that’s possible!”
“…”
“Did you hear what they said?”
Outside, beneath the eaves, the girl ahead turned around, her face bright with a smile. “How lucky. Your face does look a bit like mine.”
“I heard that even Suiqing mistook you for me last time she came to see me.”
The smile on the girl’s lips curdled into a scoff. “But a counterfeit is still a counterfeit, Wen Jialuo.”
“I hear your classmates all hate you too, right?”
“So you see—someone like you, a wild child with no known origins, is destined to go unloved your whole life.”
…
A faint trace of wine fragrance rose in the air.
Bo Suiqing’s eyelashes fluttered—like someone in a long drought finally meeting rain—and she buried her face in Xu Jialuo’s neck.
She swallowed softly, and within her pale silver eyes, an uncontrolled bloom of rose-pink welled up.
She wanted more…
More…
Drawn by the rare, long-craved pheromones, the Omega’s fingers tightened reflexively, gripping the arms before her hard enough to leave red marks on that pale skin.
Even denser pheromones poured forth, driven by a single desire—to wring more of that mellow fragrance from the other’s body, to fully surrender and drown in that elusive wine scent.
Slender fingers parted the long black hair covering the neck before her. Warm lips brushed past Xu Jialuo’s taut jawline, tracing a path toward the back of her neck.
Every scorching breath that fell on her skin drew an irrepressible shiver from the woman beneath her.
Until a drop of liquid fell onto Bo Suiqing’s outstretched wrist.
Bo Suiqing froze. She released Xu Jialuo’s arms abruptly.
Xu Jialuo’s back was trembling as she slumped sideways, drained of strength.
Years of athletic instinct made her body trigger its protective mechanism automatically when she lost balance.
Her first instinct, however, wasn’t to reach out and brace against the floor to regain balance.
Both hands flew up—first steadying the woman draped over her shoulders, making sure she wouldn’t fall too.
Thud!
To maintain balance, her other knee came down on the floor.
Heavier than the first. A sharp pain flared instantly, but Xu Jialuo didn’t make a sound.
Bo Suiqing froze—reason had fully returned.
Only now did she realize, belatedly, how far she’d gone.
Fumbling to find the suppressant patch, she pressed it back onto her nape and straightened up quickly.
Too fast—almost panicked.
As if the movement itself represented the shame and regret that came with returning lucidity.
Xu Jialuo frowned, slowly stood, pulled over a chair, and sat down.
“What, you’re sober now?”
Looking at the obvious red marks on Xu Jialuo’s arms, Bo Suiqing wanted to read her expression, but Xu Jialuo was backlit—she couldn’t see clearly. “…Yeah.”
Xu Jialuo clenched her jaw unconsciously.
She said yeah.
Meaning she was indeed sober.
Sober. Knew who she was.
That was why she was ashamed. That was why she regretted it.
Not knowing what Xu Jialuo was thinking, Bo Suiqing’s fingertips traced the dampness still on her own arm—sweat or tears, she couldn’t tell—and closed her eyes. “You… leave first.”
Xu Jialuo sat in the chair, paused for a second, then laughed through her anger, her lips curving. “Say that again?”
“…”
If they stayed together, Bo Suiqing didn’t know what she might do if she truly lost control again.
Her voice was too hoarse, and her effort to keep it steady made it sound as stiff and cold as ever. “I said, leave first.”
“Do you know whose dressing room this is?”
Bo Suiqing paused. “Mine.”
Wasn’t it?
Cursing erupted in her mind as Xu Jialuo abruptly stood.
The farmer and the snake.
Her and Bo Suiqing.
If she ever went softhearted again, she’d treat Bo like a dog.
Bo Suiqing watched Xu Jialuo stand up, silently yanking the jacket off the clothes rack with one hand and snatching up the bag from the side table by the sofa.
Fast movements.
And clearly fueled by anger.
…Why was she angry?
Because she’d been approached too closely? Because she’d been violated?
The old Bo Suiqing would have thought exactly that.
But that wasn’t right.
Because not long ago, Xu Jialuo hadn’t pushed her away.
Just as Xu Jialuo grabbed her things and turned toward the door, Bo Suiqing quickly rummaged through her bag, found something, suddenly stood, and reached out to grab Xu Jialuo’s arm.
The movement was too rushed—she hadn’t fully risen from the sofa before Xu Jialuo’s momentum pulled her forward, and half her body crashed to the floor.
Xu Jialuo stopped, turning back to see what Bo Suiqing was doing. “Are you out of your—”
No need to finish the question. She was indeed completely out of her mind.
With no intention of helping her up, Xu Jialuo looked down. “What’s this about, Bo Suiqing? Who was it that just told me to leave?”
“…”
Bo Suiqing looked up at Xu Jialuo.
Certain that she was indeed angry.
Not knowing why.
Fingertips gripping Xu Jialuo’s arm, Bo Suiqing held out the object in her hand. “Help me inject a suppressant.”
Her gaze swept slowly over the syringe. Xu Jialuo leaned down slightly, meeting Bo Suiqing’s eyes. “You think I’m your servant—”
“Help me.”
Those beautiful, glass-like pupils shimmered with a moving radiance, a thin sheen of water welling at their depths.
Cutting off Xu Jialuo’s words.
An outstanding performer to the core—she knew how to draw from past experience to win.
Bo Suiqing tilted her head up, her neck as slender and beautiful as a proud white swan’s, yet her voice was like a devout prayer from someone kneeling below.
“Xu Jialuo, I’m begging you.”
“…”
Slap.
The clothes and bag dropped to the floor.
Hauling Bo Suiqing up and half-tossing her back onto the sofa, Xu Jialuo frowned and took the suppressant.
0 Comments