Damn it, I'm surrounded by insane Alphas!

Sorry, I had a blast during the May Day holiday and I'm back!!! Enjoy, hehe.

Shi Ran had no idea how she got to Wen Yiheng's house.

I only remember being half-supported and half-carried upstairs. Once inside, Wen Yiheng turned on the light.

Shi Ran stood in the entryway, squinting to adjust to the light, already prepared to be questioned.

He even mentally prepared a statement: he and Fei Shen were just ordinary friends.

Are you really going to hold a grudge against a mere friend, Teacher Wen?

Ke Wenyiheng didn't ask anything.

He acted as if nothing had happened, gentle and considerate, still meticulous in his care, thoughtfully preparing bath towels, thoughtfully cooking hangover soup, and thoughtfully asking Shi Ran:

"Are you still dizzy? Can you sleep by yourself tonight?"

Shi Ran swallowed hard.

His intuition told him that it was absolutely not appropriate to get close to Wen Yiheng tonight, but subconsciously, he felt that he owed Wen Yiheng something and should make it up to him.

So Shi Ran shook her head and mumbled, "Can I sleep in the same room as you?"

Wen Yiheng glanced at him and smiled.

"sure."

Shi Ran breathed a sigh of relief, but when he came out after taking a shower, he realized that Wen Yiheng's "sleeping in the same room" was not quite what he understood.

He slept on the bed, while Wen Yiheng slept on the sofa next to him.

No... bro, are you being too formal?

Shi Ran drank the hangover soup and felt a bit more awake, but her reactions were still a little sluggish.

The room was quiet. The curtains weren't fully drawn, and it seemed to be raining again outside. Raindrops pattered on the leaves outside the window.

No one mentioned the out-of-control kiss in the car.

After a long silence, Shi Ran suddenly asked, "Are you asleep?"

I heard a sound of someone turning over on the sofa. "Not yet."

Wen Yiheng's voice sounded even lower and a little hoarse in the darkness, "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing..." Shi Ran stared at the ceiling, completely unaware of what she was saying. "I suddenly remembered your experiment, that paper about controlling people with pheromones."

There was a moment of silence over there.

"You've seen it too?"

"That paper is very famous; the whole school knows about it."

Shi Ran rolled over, facing the sofa. In the darkness, only Wen Yiheng's silhouette could be vaguely seen. "But Teacher Wen, do you really think so? Can pheromones really control people?"

In the darkness, Wen Yiheng's body stiffened slightly.

He was the originator of this theory, but not a believer; he has always considered himself an exception that transcends the theory.

He is the controller, the superior, the opposite of the inferior Alpha.

But what about tonight?

He took Shi Ran away in front of so many students, and even though he wanted Shi Ran to choose for herself, he still got angry and embarrassed, and even...

He meticulously planned his approach, carefully maintaining boundaries, but tonight he lost control and kissed the incoherent Shi Ran in the car.

Everything he did was the kind of thing an Alpha would do, something he utterly despised.

He had been silent for too long, then suddenly spoke softly, with a hint of unwitting provocation, "Professor, have you considered... what about beta in your research? I don't have pheromones, so Professor Wen can't do anything about it, can she?"

In the darkness, Wen Yiheng's voice finally rang out softly.

"You think I can't do anything with you?"

Suddenly, I realized what I had said.

There was a noise coming from the sofa. Wen Yiheng got up. Her footsteps were very light, almost inaudible on the carpet, but they got closer and closer.

Shi Ran subconsciously held her breath and began to regret her unfounded doubts.

He wanted to back out, but it was too late.

Who knows what Wen Yiheng might do when she goes crazy...

But for some reason, he felt a strange sense of anticipation that Wen Yiheng would actually do something to him...

pity.

The footsteps only passed by the bedside without stopping, and went straight to the door and out.

Shi Ran lay in bed, her heart pounding in her chest.

About two minutes later, Wen Yiheng returned with a glass of water in her hand.

"You'll be very thirsty after getting drunk, so drink some water."

Shi Ran took the cup, sat up halfway, and drank a few sips in a wooden-headed manner.

Wen Yiheng looked at him with a slight smile, as if she were helpless, "I don't think you're drunk at all, yet you can still think about such complicated issues."

Shi Ran took the cup, gulped down a few mouthfuls, then noticed the water tasted a bit strange. She frowned and asked, "Teacher, is this water?"

"I'll give you some hangover medicine, so you won't have a headache tomorrow."

Shi Ran stared at him, alarm bells going off in her head, and she looked straight into Wen Yiheng's eyes.

"Really?"

Wen Yiheng didn't dodge; he even tilted his head slightly, as if admiring something interesting.

"Shi Ran," he suddenly smiled, a deep laugh, "you are really smart."

Shi Ran's brows furrowed slowly. "What did you add to the water?"

Wen Yiheng slowly picked up the cup and put it back on the table. He turned his head and his gaze fell on Shi Ran again.

"Pheromone inducer".

Shi Ran's pupils contracted slightly, and he suddenly felt his throat become even drier. Wen Yiheng watched every subtle change in his expression and smiled as she spoke:

"It can also simulate the generation of pheromones in beta bodies, and the simulated hormones... are highly compatible with my pheromones."

He leaned down, placing one hand on the bed beside Shi Ran, and raised the other hand, his fingertips touching the back of Shi Ran's neck.

The force was very light, like a feather brushing against you, but the temperature was incredibly hot.

"This means..."

Wen Yiheng leaned forward, the two of them very close, so close that their breaths mingled and their lips almost touched.

"Of course, you will be attracted to me."

Shi Ran felt a small patch of skin on the back of her neck that had been touched was burning hot, as if someone had gently tapped her with a cigarette butt.

The burning sensation spread from the back of his neck to his earlobes, then to his cheeks, and down his chest and lower abdomen. He couldn't quite describe what it felt like.

Is it the effect of the inducing agent?

Shi Ran looked up at Wen Yiheng, who was looking down at her. The two were very close, their noses almost touching. If they got any closer, they would...

As Shi Ran thought this, he unconsciously moved a little closer to Wen Yiheng, but Wen Yiheng did not come to meet him. She just lowered her eyes and looked him over.

Then, belatedly, I froze.

No, this is medicine, a inducer, a trap set by Wen Yiheng.

But under the influence of these damn hormones, even though he knew it was Wen Yiheng's trap, he still couldn't help but get closer.

It's like standing on the edge of a cliff and looking down, knowing you'll be smashed to pieces, but still unable to resist peeking out.

Wen Yiheng stared at the expression on the person beneath her and asked softly, "Are you scared?"

Shi Ran's eyes flickered, but she stubbornly shook her head, "No."

Wen Yiheng seemed quite satisfied with the answer.

He raised his hand, brushed against Shi Ran's cheek, and his fingertips landed on Shi Ran's soft lips.

It didn't penetrate, but simply stopped between the lips, full of implications.

"If you're scared, I'll leave now, okay...?"

He hadn't finished speaking.

--- (See comments for this part!)

Wen Yiheng slowly bent down.

Shi Ran thought he was going to kiss her, so she eagerly leaned in.

But Wen Yiheng just happened to step back a little bit at that moment, just a tiny bit, and Shi Ran's lips just brushed against the corner of his mouth, missing him completely.

Shi Ran was stunned for a moment, then moved forward again.

Wen Yiheng continued to retreat, unhurriedly, like teasing a cat that couldn't reach the dried fish on the table.

Shi Ran followed him with a dazed look in her eyes, leaning forward little by little until she knelt upright on the bed, her knees sinking into the soft blankets, her whole body almost pressed against Wen Yiheng's chest.

But Wen Yiheng still didn't kiss him.

Shi Ran panicked, grabbed Wen Yiheng's collar with her fingers, pulled him towards herself, and squeezed out a voice from her throat, with a slightly aggrieved nasal tone.

"Teacher Wen..."

"Um?"

Wen Yiheng then raised her hand, her fingertips pinching Shi Ran's earlobe, kneading it gently.

The skin there is thin, and it turned red very quickly.

He turned his head to look at Shi Ran, his voice low and carrying a captivating calmness, "What do you want, teacher?"

Shi Ran's ears were burning from being rubbed. He bit his lip and endured it for a few seconds, but he still couldn't resist.

"Kiss me."

Occasionally, I would hear my own voice, hoarse and incredibly soft.

Wen Yiheng didn't stop moving; in fact, he added a bit more force. He tilted his head and showed a thoughtful expression.

"You mean... a reward?"

He smiled, a very gentle smile, like the expression on a student's face when praising them for a correct answer in class.

"Why? You're not exactly a good student."

Shi Ran's expression changed when he heard Wen Yiheng call his name. "Shi Ran, do you know how many things you did wrong today?"

Shi Ran couldn't answer. He knew he was wrong, very wrong, but he didn't know how to count them.

Wen Yiheng counted them for him.

"You lied to your teacher tonight, telling me you were camping, but you actually went to watch a ball game. You didn't reply to a single message, and your teacher waited for you all afternoon."

With each word he spoke, he moved a little closer, his breath brushing against Shi Ran's nose, lips, and chin, but never touching her.

"You even sent fake photos to cover up your lie out of guilt, and you let yourself get drunk, especially in front of an Alpha who has feelings for you. Do you know what the teacher saw when they arrived?"

Shi Ran licked his lips. In the flashback, he seemed to have slumped into Fei Shen's arms. It seemed there was more to it than that; they had to choose for themselves...

Then... he seemed to pounce on Fei Shen.

While Shi Ran was lost in thought, his chin was suddenly pinched. A sore and throbbing sensation spread from his cheekbone all the way to his earlobe. He groaned in pain and met Wen Yiheng's unreadable eyes.

Do you think you deserve a reward right now?

Shi Ran opened his mouth, "I..." His voice trailed off, his eyelashes trembled, "I won't do it again."

"Verbal promises have no legal effect."

Wen Yiheng's tone remained unchanged, but Shi Ran could hear the underlying meaning.

He panicked and grabbed Wen Yiheng's wrist tightly.

"Really, teacher."

He looked up at Wen Yiheng, his voice trembling with a sob he himself was unaware of.

Tears aren't something you shed because you want to; it's the body that makes the decision for the brain.

The inducer burned in his blood vessels, amplifying his unease, anxiety, and fear of being rejected countless times, blurring his vision with a thin mist so that he could only see Wen Yiheng.

Wen Yiheng's slightly furrowed brows, the feeling of Wen Yiheng gripping his chin tightly, and the curve of Wen Yiheng's lips that now looked like she was hesitating whether to pull it back.

He even felt as if he could feel Wen Yiheng's heartbeat through his fingertips touching her skin.

He panicked the moment he showed even a hint of disgust.

He couldn't stand the way Wen Yiheng looked at him. She seemed neither angry nor disappointed, but something crueler than disappointment: she was reconsidering whether he was worth it.

"I won't lie to you anymore, really."

Shi Ran's tears finally fell silently onto the hand that Wen Yiheng was using to pinch his chin.

Wen Yiheng looked at him for a few seconds.

He leaned down, his lips lightly touching Shi Ran's lips like a dragonfly skimming the water; before the ripples could spread, he was already gone.

Shi Ran paused for a moment, then subconsciously chased after him.

Wen Yiheng frowned, reached out, pressed her hand against Shi Ran's forehead, and gently pushed him back.

"You're too greedy," he said, as if reprimanding an insatiable child.

"I've already rewarded you tonight. As for the rest, we'll talk about it when you've truly learned your lesson."

Shi Ran stared at Wen Yiheng, but didn't notice that Wen Yiheng's eyes were also flushed with a thin layer of red, and her moist lower eyelids were bright and beautiful.

That's the result of the combined effects of pheromones and self-control.

He was also enduring it, and it was very difficult for him, but he just had to endure it.

What he wanted was not a momentary loss of control, nor taking advantage of someone in distress, but rather someone who would always be clear-headed, proactive, and willing to approach him.

Shi Ran slowly lowered her head, resting her forehead against Wen Yiheng's shoulder, and mumbled something.

"The teacher is really rude."

Wen Yiheng did not answer, but simply raised her hand and gently covered the back of Shi Ran's head.

I ran my fingers through his half-dry hair, stroking it gently, one stroke at a time.

"Teacher Wen."

"Um."

"I can't sleep."

"Do you want me to sleep with you?" Wen Yiheng asked.

Shi Ran nodded obediently, shifting her body to the side under the covers to make room for Wen Yiheng.

He leaned against Wen Yiheng's shoulder, inhaling the familiar, comforting woody scent. He didn't even realize how natural the action was, so natural that he completely forgot they had only known each other for two weeks.

So what? It's the effect of the inducer, the catalysis of hormones.

Just as Wen Yiheng's paper argues, humans are nothing more than hormones...

"Shi Ran." Wen Yiheng's voice suddenly rang in his ear.

Shi Ran responded with her eyes closed, "Hmm?"

Actually, there was nothing in that glass of water.

Shi Ran paused for a moment, then suddenly opened her eyes.

"What?"

"It really was just a glass of warm water with a hangover cure added."

Suddenly, his mind went blank, and he sat up abruptly, completely dazed.

"How is that possible? I clearly..."

He opened his mouth, but found himself unable to say anything more.

He clearly felt hot all over. He couldn't help but want to get closer.

Those feelings were so real, so real, that he couldn't believe they were acting.

But now that I think about it, were those feelings really just because of a glass of water?

The words "You lied to me" trembled as they left his lips, whether from anger or from being exposed and feeling ashamed and angry.

"You just need an excuse," Wen Yiheng said.

Shi Ran slowly clenched the bed sheet, using it as an excuse.

What excuse? Is it the drug, or... or is it an excuse that he can avoid taking responsibility for his loss of control?

Neither of them moved in the darkness. The rain grew louder, hitting the windowpane.

Wen Yiheng seemed to be waiting, waiting for Shi Ran's answer after rethinking.

Shi Ran's heart was pounding, and a hundred thoughts were clashing in his head—it was terrifying.

This person is terrifying.

He sets a trap for you, then tells you that you walked into it yourself, stripping away your last shred of dignity.

Shi Ran suddenly threw off the blanket, his feet touching the cold floor, which made him shiver.

He frantically put on his clothes, his fingers trembling, buttoning them up incorrectly and then unbuttoning them again, then buttoning them up incorrectly once more.

He didn't dare turn around to look at Wen Yiheng. He knew that person must be watching him, with that unhurried, calm gaze, like watching prey that had finally begun to struggle.

Wen Yiheng didn't say anything, didn't try to stop her, and didn't ask, "Are you sure you want to leave so late?"

He just lay there quietly, giving him all the time to escape.

Wen Yiheng's voice rang out when Shi Ran pulled the phone off the bedside table while it was charging, and it even sounded like she was laughing.

"I've called a car for you; it's already downstairs."

Shi Ran stood there stunned, only managing to say "thank you" before running away.

Wen Yiheng heard the door slam shut. He turned to the side, buried his face in the pillow that Shi Ran had been using, and took a deep breath.

There's also the faint scent of fig, intertwined with his own woody notes.

Like an unsolvable knot.

[No prize awarded! Is there any attractant in this glass of water? Hmm?]