Mistakenly Marked – Chapter 3
by Little PandaNemesis
The Scent of Wine.
“I know.” Xu Jialuo frowned, feeling the Omega’s abnormal body temperature. “She’s pinning me down. I can’t open the door right now.”
“Huh?”
Unable to see the situation inside the room, Xu Shangning paused for a few seconds, then spoke rapidly. “Then give her a suppressant injection and get out of there quick!”
That was the only option.
Xu Jialuo reached out, brushing aside the Omega’s sweat-dampened hair, and pressed her palm against the burning nape of the Omega’s neck.
“…Mm!”
The person in her arms instantly began to tremble.
The scent glands of both Omegas and Alphas were located at the back of the neck—a region acutely sensitive for both secondary genders.
For Omegas in particular, once someone made full contact and applied even slight pressure, the effect was like a cat gripped by the scruff—rendered powerless to resist.
That was precisely why Omegas vehemently resisted having their nape touched by anyone unfamiliar.
As she moved, Xu Jialuo had already braced herself for the Omega to fight back.
But the person in her arms showed no struggle at all. She only clutched tight at Xu Jialuo’s coat, surrendering control of her most vulnerable point, body shivering as soft whimpers escaped her lips:
“Mm… uhh…”
So dependent.
…Why?
Xu Jialuo stood with her back pressed flat against the door, and in a daze once again caught a faint trace of alcohol.
Like… red wine.
…Coming from the Omega?
So this Apex Omega was simply drunk out of her senses, which was why her pheromones had spiraled so badly out of control—mistaking Xu Jialuo for some Alpha.
Probably a very intimate Alpha, at that.
Intimate enough to trigger courtship behavior.
Whether because of the stray hairs or not, the back of Xu Jialuo’s neck stung sharply once more, needle-like.
The heavy, dazed discomfort intensified. Xu Jialuo frowned, yet her fingertips eased their pressure, reducing the stimulus to the Omega.
The sweat-slicked, scorching nape rested in Xu Jialuo’s palm. At last, the Omega went limp, releasing her grip around Xu Jialuo.
She was still trembling violently. The snow-white silk dress seemed thoroughly soaked through with perspiration, its off-shoulder neckline torn askew, exposing swathes of porcelain skin.
Xu Jialuo turned her head away, not looking, released the door handle, and pulled a syringe from her coat pocket.
The hand pressed against the Omega’s nape had politely avoided the scent gland up to this point.
But in the instant she single-handedly popped the cap off the syringe, Xu Jialuo’s cool fingertips brushed along the Omega’s nape—and suddenly pressed down on that especially tender, fever-hot gland.
Position confirmed.
In a low voice: “This will be quick.”
After a brief pause, she added in a slightly stiff tone, “Don’t be afraid.”
The moment the person in her arms convulsed violently, Xu Jialuo gripped the Omega’s waist with one hand to prevent her from thrashing free, and with the other, drove the needle into the burning gland.
“…Ah!”
A shattered sob spilled from the Omega’s lips. Tears fell uncontrollably in an instant, tracing down her cheeks and dropping onto Xu Jialuo’s shoulder, dampening a small patch of fabric.
Sensing the tears on her shoulder, Xu Jialuo furrowed her brow, steadied her finger joints, and—amid the Omega’s quiet weeping—depressed the plunger as slowly and evenly as she could.
When the last of the solution emptied from the syringe, the Omega’s body went completely slack, collapsing into Xu Jialuo’s arms.
The press of that fever-hot, damp body against hers felt deeply unpleasant.
Xu Jialuo’s first instinct was to push the Omega away—but a desperately stifled crying sound reached her ears first.
Xu Jialuo froze. She straightened her spine and did not move again.
Outside the window, the rain poured down in sheets.
The crying gradually ceased. The room fell silent, with only the slowly subsiding pheromones drifting through the air.
Xu Jialuo turned her head toward the halo of light at the curtain’s edge, quietly waiting until the person in her arms stopped trembling entirely.
Only then did she ask, “Can I let go now?”
“…”
The fingers clutching her hem released at once.
The Omega in her arms immediately stumbled backward—a motion too hasty to steady herself, staggering further back.
Xu Jialuo reached out, caught her, and guided her down onto the small sofa behind her.
Only then did she notice several pieces of her own clothing scattered across the sofa.
They should have been hanging neatly on the rack nearby. For some reason, they were now piled together—creased beyond recognition, as though someone had repeatedly crushed themselves into them.
Xu Jialuo leaned down and reached out to gather the clothes back onto the rack.
As she grabbed one garment, her fingertips met a slick, sticky wetness.
Almost simultaneously, the Omega—who had been silent with her head lowered—suddenly seized Xu Jialuo’s wrist.
Xu Jialuo paused, assuming the Omega hadn’t fully come to her senses. She loosened her grip and swiftly withdrew her hand.
Then she took two steps back to create distance.
In case the Omega lunged to cling to her again.
In the darkness, the Omega leaned against the sofa, chest rising and falling, her face hidden behind long hair.
Fortunately, there was no further movement to pounce.
She didn’t even lift her head.
She only stared blankly as she withdrew her trembling hand.
She must have regained some clarity—and felt mortified by her loss of control.
The phone rang again from outside the door. Xu Shangning picked up the phone from the floor and called through the door, “Luoluo, Lin Qingman is calling you.”
Abandoning the clothes on the sofa, Xu Jialuo turned, found a pack of tissues and antiseptic hemostatic supplies from the cabinet, and set them beside the Omega’s hand.
She straightened up and left the room without looking back.
Pheromones surged out of the door alongside Xu Jialuo.
Xu Shangning flinched, choking on the intensity.
Xu Jialuo shut the door cleanly. Those outside never caught a glimpse of the Omega’s disheveled state within.
“Suppressant has been administered.” Xu Jialuo took the still-ringing phone from Xu Shangning’s hand.
Xu Shangning glanced at the closed door and nodded with a hint of guilt. “That’s good, then…”
Before the ringtone cut off, Xu Jialuo answered.
The moment the call connected, Lin Qingman’s voice came through: “Why did it take so long?”
“Something came up.”
“What could possibly come up?”
What came up. What could possibly come up.
The two sentences differed by a single word, yet the emotions and intent they conveyed were entirely different.
One was a concerned inquiry. The other was sheer indifference.
Xu Jialuo heard the distinction clearly but didn’t press it. “An Omega had a severe pheromone surge. I helped administer a suppressant.”
The other end of the line was noisy—shouted words drowning out the background music. “Xu Jialuo? Just send someone over! My friend was sharing her new song on Moments1 today, hahaha.”
“Yeah, get Miss Xu to come perform for us!”
Someone tried to intervene. “Hey, you’re drunk, stop talking nonsense…”
“What nonsense? Our Lin Family heiress is right here. With Qingman’s face on the line, could she possibly refuse? Would she dare refuse?”
Xu Shangning couldn’t hear everything—only caught a few fragments. “Who’s giving what? What are they saying on the phone?”
Xu Jialuo held the phone to her ear, lifted her gaze to Xu Shangning, and said flatly, “Talking in their sleep.”
The other end of the line went abruptly silent for a beat.
Once it registered, a stream of curses erupted, followed by Lin Qingman’s voice: “Xu Jialuo, show some respect to my friends.”
Inside the private room, Lin Qingman straightened her posture under everyone’s gaze and cleared her throat. “My mother just spoke with Grandmother Xu this afternoon. She asked how things have been between you and me lately, and told me to come to the Xu family’s Old Residence for dinner tomorrow—to talk in detail.”
A threat disguised as casual small talk. The kind that had become routine.
Lin Qingman said, “Come to Yuzhou Bay now. Room 307.”
She hung up without waiting for a response.
Retaliation for the delayed answer. And the assumption that—no answer needed—Xu Jialuo would come.
Just like every time before.
Xu Jialuo glanced at the ended-call screen, dropped the phone back into her coat pocket, and turned toward the stairs.
Xu Shangning followed. “Lin Qingman needs you for something?”
Xu Jialuo turned the question back. “Why did you suddenly decide to gather here?”
“…”
Seeing that her deflection had failed, Xu Shangning narrowed her fox-like eyes with a grin. “It’s close to the awards gala venue, and you happened to not be around, so I figured I’d sneak over and borrow the place for some fun.”
Xu Jialuo turned her head. Her ink-dark eyes met Xu Shangning’s, silently cursing her out without uttering a word.
Then her gaze dropped to the nape of Xu Shangning’s neck.
“Don’t worry, I’ve already had a suppressant too.” Xu Shangning explained. “I just lost a lot of pheromones, but I’ll be fine after a short rest…”
Halfway through, Xu Shangning studied Xu Jialuo’s face. “Why do you look a bit pale?”
Back in the hallway, the lighting had been poor. Now under the hall lights, her naturally cold-white complexion was visibly more bloodless than usual.
“I’m fine.” Xu Jialuo rubbed the back of her neck and turned toward the stairs. “Any guests who find it inconvenient to leave can stay the night here.”
“Our Luoluo is so kind-hearted.”
The kind-hearted one said mildly, “You have one day to erase every trace.”
Xu Shangning nodded briskly. “Mission guaranteed.”
The butler stood to one side, hesitating.
Judging by the pheromone concentration readings and the extent of the contamination, a complete cleanup—even optimistically—would take ten days to half a month.
Pessimistically, the furniture, curtains, and wallpaper might all need replacing.
One day was flatly impossible.
But seeing that Xu Jialuo—who couldn’t detect pheromones—hadn’t pressed the issue, the butler glanced at Xu Shangning and held his tongue.
Xu Shangning trailed Xu Jialuo downstairs. “But what’s up with Zou Wan? She told me she’d definitely keep you out until dawn tonight.”
Xu Jialuo: “Family matter. She got called home last minute.”
It had been sudden. Zou Wan had taken a call, learned the news, apologized to her at length, and then ratted out Xu Shangning’s secret plan to throw a party at her villa as “penance.”
Xu Shangning whispered, “So where are you sleeping tonight? Want to come back to the Old Residence with me—”
Xu Jialuo picked up an umbrella. “Downtown apartment.”
Xu Shangning pouted. “You don’t want to stay at the Old Residence either. It’s so boring at home by myself.”
Xu Jialuo turned back, catching the word sharply. “Either?”
“Oh, Mom called earlier and said Elder Sister is coming back from abroad in a few days, but she’s also planning to stay outside—not at the Old Residence.”
Elder Sister—meaning the Xu family’s Eldest Miss, Xu Yunxing.
Xu Yunxing was coming back.
Xu Jialuo nodded. A face flashed through her mind—one that bore some resemblance to the Xu Shangning before her, yet with a completely different bearing. A face whose eyes always carried an undisguised loathing.
She turned toward the exit. “Leaving.”
“Okay,” Xu Shangning called after her. “Drive slowly!”
Xu Shangning watched Xu Jialuo’s car disappear into the night.
The servants Xu Shangning had brought from the Xu family’s Old Residence cleaned up the wreckage in the corners. Someone murmured, “The Third Miss and the Second Miss get along well, but she doesn’t seem close to the Eldest Miss at all.”
“What’s there to be close or not close about? At the end of the day, neither of the two Misses has any biological relation to the Third Miss. If we’re talking truly close-knit, that’d be blood sisters.”
“True…”
“But what was up with the Second Miss just now?” a maid asked her companion. “Why did she suddenly sprint upstairs like her life depended on it?”
“Because she was terrified the Third Miss would find out who was in her room…”
Her companion scolded in a hushed tone, “Speaking of which, how could you let her use the Third Miss’s room?!”
“It was the only room still empty… Is there a problem?”
“Is there a problem?! It’s just that she felt guilty and was afraid the Third Miss would be even angrier!” The maid lowered her voice further. “Don’t you know? She and our Miss Jialuo are bitter rivals—bad blood between them!”
“Ah? How come…”
“Even though you haven’t been here long, do you never go online? Search and you’ll find tons of stories about their feud—especially the song cancellation incident a while back—”
Mid-sentence, someone glanced toward the staircase and immediately fell silent, nudging the companions beside her with her arm.
The maids fell quiet at once.
Xu Shangning turned around and also saw the figure standing at the stair landing.
A figure in a white silk dress leaned sideways against the wall.
Cool-brown waves cascaded nearly to her waist, spilling over shoulders pale as snow.
Cloaked in shadow, without the benefit of spotlights, that face—beautiful to the point of bewitching—remained dazzlingly radiant, flawless beyond reproach.
Even though the pearl-white skirt studded with rhinestones was now creased, her right hand was wrapped in bandages for reasons unknown, and her sweat-dampened hair had yet to dry, strands clinging to porcelain skin—
She looked not the least bit disheveled.
Like a rain-soaked fairy butterfly on the verge of shattering—wings drenched, its splendor only deepened—breathtakingly beautiful.
No one knew when she had arrived, or how long she had been standing there.
She simply stood expressionless, a pair of lustrous peach-blossom eyes2 drifting downward, gazing lazily at the servants below who no longer dared make a sound.
Footnotes
- 朋友圈 | pengyouquan | WeChat's social feed feature where users post updates, photos, and links visible to approved contacts.
- 桃花眼 | taohuayan | 'Peach-blossom eyes'—a Chinese beauty term for an eye shape with slightly upturned outer corners and a soft, alluring gaze, traditionally associated with romantic allure.
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