Mistakenly Marked – Chapter 28
by Little PandaCaring
“Give an inch and take a mile.”
The first thing she registered was the fragrance the young miss carried on her.
A body wash scent not unlike pheromones — cool yet sweet.
For one instant, it drowned out the foul stench in Xu Jialuo’s nose.
And then — pure, unreserved softness and warmth.
The bag in her hand swayed, nearly slipping from her fingers.
Xu Jialuo’s fingers snapped shut around it, gripping tight.
She froze where she stood.
The hem of her dark trench coat was caked in dust and grime; her black trousers bore more than a few filthy smears; both shoes were total casualties; even her cuffs had picked up some frown-worthy marks.
Yet cradled against her chest was the cleanest stroke of white.
Xu Jialuo’s thoughts cut out for a few seconds before her brain rebooted.
“Bo Suiqing—”
Had she drunk more strange water, or were the effects of the earlier water still lingering?
The question died in her throat before it could fully leave her mouth.
Because Bo Suiqing had risen onto her toes, tilted her head back, and was gliding her full lips along Xu Jialuo’s neck, working backward.
Aiming for the gland at her nape.
Thankfully the barrier patch was in place — foiled, for the moment.
“Bo Suiqing.”
Her hand rose, then dropped — too grimy to touch Bo Suiqing with. Xu Jialuo simply repeated her name instead.
A shade louder this time, her chest vibrating with the words.
The person in her arms paused, as though summoned back to some shred of reason; the warm lips stilled against the side of her neck. “…Mm.”
Xu Jialuo asked, “Did you drink more strange water?”
“…”
She couldn’t explain why she was hugging her — but she didn’t want to let go, either.
And for the first time, she didn’t want to lie.
Bo Suiqing murmured against her: “…I… didn’t.”
It was just — the instant she saw Xu Jialuo in such a sorry state, and understood exactly why she was in it…
…she could no longer hold onto the composure and pretense she prided herself on.
How had Xu Jialuo dug that one useful bottle out of the garbage heap?
How much strength had it cost her? How much care?
With what feeling? Out of what intention?
At least in that moment, Xu Jialuo might — probably, possibly —
not have hated her quite so much?
The arms wrapped around Xu Jialuo’s waist slowly tightened.
She wanted… so badly to hold Xu Jialuo…
But holding… wasn’t enough either.
She wanted to be closer. Wanted to kiss…
Even—
Her red lips parted softly; drifting pheromones coiled upward like a serpent’s body, pale silver eyes fixed on the barrier patch at Xu Jialuo’s nape.
She wanted Xu Jialuo… to become her alpha, wholly and only hers…
Xu Jialuo lowered her eyes to Bo Suiqing, who was holding her tighter and tighter.
She looked slender, but her grip was surprisingly strong.
Not bad. Not too weak, at least.
Bo Suiqing said she hadn’t drunk any more strange water.
So the first answer was ruled out — which meant the effects of what she’d already drunk hadn’t worn off.
She’d gone hazy again. That was why she was hugging her.
Even delirious, Xu Jialuo thought, the ever-clever young miss stayed sharp.
She knew to slip her hands inside the trench coat, avoiding the filthiest outer layer.
It was simply too close.
Through a few thin layers of clothing, every contour of her body was laid bare.
Xu Jialuo shut her eyes for a beat. “Let go.”
“…”
Bo Suiqing startled.
Pheromones that had been overheated to the brink of losing control froze mid-air.
Xu Jialuo lifted her lids and glanced at the round lens a few meters ahead, its red light blinking up high.
The grounds had been cleared for the recording, but the parking lot still had surveillance.
A major star without a mask certainly didn’t want this uncontrolled state of hers caught on camera.
And she had no intention of touching a delirious omega’s private gland under surveillance.
But the person in her arms stayed rigid, motionless — as if she hadn’t heard a word.
Or had no intention of listening at all.
Xu Jialuo said nothing more. She raised a hand and shrugged off the trench coat.
Bo Suiqing didn’t let go — she only quivered uncontrollably at the movement, certain she’d be shoved away the next second.
The shove never came.
She didn’t know what Xu Jialuo was doing, but it didn’t seem to involve pushing her away.
So she grew bold again — the curve of her lips nearly grazing the barrier patch, the tip of her tongue itching to curl up the patch’s edge, bite down, and tear it off.
Then, abruptly, it was gone — missed by a hair.
The ground fell out from under her.
While Bo Suiqing had been grazing at her neck inch by inch, Xu Jialuo had turned the trench coat to its clean inner side and folded it over her arm.
She’d found the last sanitizing wipe in her pocket, torn the packaging open, and wiped her hands.
Wasting words on a hazy omega took too much time.
A musician of rich, delicate perception was anything but indecisive in daily life — she had always pursued efficiency in solving problems.
Plastic bag in one hand, Xu Jialuo bent down, slid her other hand under Bo Suiqing’s skirt just above the knee, and scooped her up.
For one fleeting instant, Bo Suiqing nearly thought she was about to be shoulder-thrown.
She thrashed in a flurry; Xu Jialuo caught her wrist and pressed her hand onto her own shoulder.
“Hold on.”
A second’s pause, then, flatly: “You won’t fall.”
“…”
Bo Suiqing stilled, half-turned against Xu Jialuo’s chest, perfectly quiet, not struggling the slightest bit more.
Xu Jialuo glanced at her once, then strode toward the business van parked in its space.
Inside the van, silence so complete you could hear a pin drop.
The two who’d twisted around to gawk from afar the whole time were utterly absorbed in the show — then suddenly saw her walking straight toward the vehicle.
The driver scrambled out and opened the rear door.
Xiao Nan rose from the passenger seat in sync, moved the bags from the back seat to the front, and followed her out.
They lined up side by side like an honor guard, watching as Xu Jialuo bent and settled Bo Suiqing into the back seat.
After a brief pause, she stepped in after her and sat down.
Before she could turn to pull the door shut, two hands reached in from outside and pressed against it.
“…”
The two exchanged a glance and closed it together.
Xu Jialuo’s hand paused. The door was already shut tight — and the two who’d just been beside the van had, for some reason, retreated a good two meters.
Standing sentry by the car, faces toward the entrance, like guards on watch.
…
Following their troublesome young miss, they’d been drilled into this.
Through the window, Xu Jialuo’s gaze swept over the backs of their heads with a flicker of sympathy.
Then she withdrew it, and set the plastic-wrapped water bottle in the cup holder between the front seats.
Next she spread the trench coat’s clean inner side over the leather seat, knelt up onto it, peeled back one corner of the barrier patch on her own nape, and cupped Bo Suiqing’s cheek with her other hand.
The whole sequence flowed with unnatural ease — her mind held one thought only: solve the problem, fast.
Before Bo Suiqing could process it, she dipped her head into the crook of her neck.
Bo Suiqing looked up at her, those glass-like beautiful pupils contracting sharply.
As she leaned in, Xu Jialuo’s long dark lashes hung low; in the dim interior of the car, only a sliver of light leaked from the fathomless black of her eyes.
Faint — and scorching.
Long fingers cradled the omega’s neck, fingertips resting against her racing pulse.
Head bowed over her, she was like a beast in full command — a predator, its hunt successful, about to begin its feast.
…Yes. Xu Jialuo was now, completely and utterly, an alpha.
Bo Suiqing’s lashes trembled as she recalled the pheromones that had erupted from Xu Jialuo when Lu Yan barged in earlier.
Pressure enough to knock a person straight out.
Fully the level of an Apex Alpha.
Bo Suiqing closed her eyes. That night’s shudder, laced with pain, flickered hazily through her mind.
The instant the lips sealed over her gland, memory turned to substance.
But there was no pain.
Still only a kiss. Not a trace of excessive transgression.
A kiss plainly reining in its own aggression, landing soft and light on the omega’s gland — touch and withdraw, pure soothing.
“Mm…”
Her body slowly went slack; Bo Suiqing’s fingertips clutched the hem of Xu Jialuo’s shirt.
The omega’s honeyed, bone-melting voice sounded at her ear; Xu Jialuo’s movements stalled a beat.
Then resumed.
There were people outside the car — they’d deliberately kept their distance, turned their backs — but it still grated on Xu Jialuo.
So she was far more restrained than she’d been in the lounge.
She was lavishing affection on one of an omega’s most sensitive glands, yet with excessive politeness.
Practically a tender torture.
“Xu… Jialuo…”
Her once-steady pheromones had been stirred into scattered disarray, yet the soothing she craved never came.
Unable to voice the words begging for intimacy, Bo Suiqing could only reach out both arms, trying to wrap them around Xu Jialuo’s waist.
The movement was too hasty — her hands nearly grazed the grime-streaked knee. Taking it for random squirming, Xu Jialuo freed one hand, circled both her wrists, and pinned them against the ceiling of the car.
To keep the young miss’s clean, pretty hands clean.
And continued.
Bo Suiqing’s eyes flew wide. The embrace had been refused — no time even for disappointment before a new grinding wave pulled her under.
Her toes curled; her heels rubbed helplessly against the base of the seat in front.
After who knew how long, a broken sob spilled out of her, hips trembling.
Yet fulfillment never came.
The frustration wrung tears from the omega’s eyes.
Xu Jialuo raised her head from her neck, frowning at the sweat-damp forehead and reddened eye corners. “That uncomfortable?”
What a demanding omega. And she’d genuinely been trying her hardest.
“…”
Bo Suiqing’s lashes were wet; her teeth caught the inner flesh of her lower lip.
Why…
Could Xu Jialuo be tormenting her on purpose?
Did she want to see her in this humiliating state?
But she’d worked so hard to find that evidence — for her sake.
Bo Suiqing lowered her eyes to the water bottle set aside.
…
If this was what Xu Jialuo liked, then so be it.
Anything… went. Even if it felt awful.
Bo Suiqing bowed her head — but before she could deny being “uncomfortable,” a heavy exhale suddenly sounded through the car.
A sigh.
Watching those eyes redden by the second, Xu Jialuo asked, “What do I do to make you comfortable?”
“…?”
Bo Suiqing blinked.
A few seconds later, she made out that the question seemed to be genuine.
So—
“You don’t… want to make me suffer?”
Xu Jialuo’s smooth brow furrowed again. “What?”
What on earth was this person babbling about?
She’d just decided a hazy Bo Suiqing was still smart — apparently an illusion.
“…”
“…Hold me.”
Bo Suiqing’s gaze swept over Xu Jialuo’s face; confirming no disgust or rejection at the answer, she deliberately, calmly looked away.
Then added, low: “A little… tighter.”
Tighter.
As for the kiss on her gland — too featherlight to even be called a kiss —
she knew Xu Jialuo probably wouldn’t be willing to go further. She wouldn’t force it.
But Xu Jialuo’s expression stiffened; her brow creased again.
…Tighter?
Wasn’t this person just a little too fond of giving an inch and taking a mile?
On the alpha’s face, an expression of difficulty, of reluctance, was unmistakable.
Just holding her — and she wouldn’t even do that.
Bo Suiqing pressed her lips tight.
She felt Xu Jialuo’s arm reach around her waist.
But the grip was featherlight.
No force at all — the gap between them could have fit another whole her.
So her suggestion had been rejected after all.
And then Xu Jialuo simply lowered her head again.
To torment her like that all over—
“Mm!”
Bo Suiqing’s eyes flew wide, her whole body shuddering.
Because the kiss that had hovered so elusively all this time finally pressed deep onto her gland.
Amid the sparks of fireworks bursting through her mind, Bo Suiqing dimly thought —
Xu Jialuo had misunderstood her.
But—
it happened to grant exactly what she truly wanted.
“Take this bottle to the Pheromone Regulatory Bureau. Once you’ve explained the situation and filed the record, they’ll run the tests. If there really is a problem, apply to open a formal case.”
Bo Suiqing leaned against the seat and answered softly, “…Mm. Thank you.”
Then said it again. “Really… thank you.”
Her voice was hoarse and soft, trailing off in lingering, languid notes — thoroughly sated.
She seemed completely soothed at last.
“No need.”
Xu Jialuo turned her head away, pulling her gaze from that lovely face, now flushed with a faint pink glow.
She offered no farewell — simply pulled the door open, grabbed her creased coat, and stepped out.
The two sentries turned in sync at the noise, looked at her —
then turned back in sync, pretending they hadn’t, busying themselves with other things.
Inexplicably very busy.
Such coordination. Such polish.
Almost as if this weren’t their first time facing a situation like this.
…
Could it be?
Xu Jialuo stopped mid-step and glanced back at the van.
Her brow creased abruptly.
Had someone else treated Bo Suiqing this way before?
The question formed in her mind — and a second later, belatedly, she realized it was none of her business at all.
Why did she even care?
…
It was all because of that accidental, mistaken mark that night.
Just the pheromones playing tricks on her.
Pressing a hand once more against the freshly reapplied barrier patch on her nape, Xu Jialuo walked quickly out of the parking lot.
The author has something to say:
It’s my birthday today. Had a yummy meal with friends — so happy! Wishing everyone happiness too. It’s just that I’m really too sleepy, so today’s a little shorter (octopus bow)
Good night, mwah mwah
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