"Hey." Qixian knocked on the clinic door.
"Ah, you're here. Right on time." Haoran gestured for him to sit down while searching for the supplies needed to treat Qixian's injury.
"I forgot to pay last time, sorry." Qixian said, placing the money on the desk. Before sitting, he asked casually, "You live here?"
"Yeah," Haoran replied, setting the items down next to Qixian.
"Alone? Where's your family?" The word 'family' brought a wave of bitterness to Qixian. He felt an ache in his heart that his twin brother was living this kind of life, yet he was also relieved that his brother didn't have to experience the life he had, that even without the Zhou family's support, his brother could live a stable, decent life.
"Yeah, my mom is in the hospital, so I live alone," Haoran answered. "What about you? Your family?"
Qixian froze. He hated hearing about family, bitterness surged within him, but he maintained a smile as he replied, "My family? Well... they travel for work a lot."
"So, are you rich then?" Haoran asked curiously.
"Not really. My family is a bit too generous with others for me to ever be a millionaire," Qixian said sarcastically. Haoran let out a small chuckle as he finished.
"Well then, thanks," Qixian said, looking down at his injured wrist.
"No problem. Come back if it doesn't get better." Haoran packed up his things and saw Qixian out.
Just as Qixian stepped out of the clinic, two men walked toward him. "One is Gu Yichen, but who's the other one?" As the three locked eyes, the atmosphere turned heavy with suspicion. However, Qixian merely glanced at them as if they were random passersby and walked straight to his car.
"If you're curious about who entered the clinic with Gu Yichen, that's Lu Sihan. The Lu family's wealth is second only to the Gu family. He's also your brother's friend." Secretary Wu noticed his boss's reaction and let out a soft laugh.
"Aren't those two S-class Alphas? Why are they always hanging around my brother?" Qixian growled under his breath.
"Maybe they like him. Anyway, they aren't hurting your brother, so just let them be. Besides, you can't beat them in a fight anyway, don't forget you're just a 'fake' A-class Alpha."
"Whose side are you even on?" Qixian glared fiercely at the secretary.
"Okay, okay, I didn't say anything..." The secretary smiled, half-joking and half-intimidated.
"I feel like I'm inside a movie drama," Qixian sighed, feeling the pressure.
"By the way, your father just called. You need to call him back." Seeing his boss sigh in disgust and glare at him—if looks could kill, he'd be dead by now—Secretary Wu immediately looked away, pretended the boss didn't exist, and started the engine to drive off.
'Is this guy trying to give me a bigger headache than I already have?' Qixian thought, continuing to shoot daggers at the secretary with his eyes.
Qixian clicked his tongue and dialed his father's number. "What is it, Father?" His tone was bitter, yet laced with the restraint of someone trying not to cause trouble.
"Didn't I tell you to come back and work at the company? Where are you now?" A cold voice came from the other end.
"Work at the company?" Qixian scoffed. "Fine, but I'm going to the hospital, not the office."
"You—"
"Take your pick, Father. Either let me work at the hospital under the company, or—?"
"Fine," his father interrupted, giving in.
Qixian hung up with a satisfied smirk.
"Satisfied?" Secretary Wu looked at him through the rearview mirror.
"He agreed to let me go to the hospital. Drive. To the hospital, I have to do some business there." Qixian commanded with a tone of satisfaction.
"Business? What business?" The secretary asked as he drive.
"Did you lose your brain?" Qixian raised an eyebrow.
"I mean what 'business' everytime you say business is not about you doing a real work your father ordered" The secretary explained himself.
"You'll see. Don't asked me any questions, just drive faster." Qixian dismissed.
______________________
"Why is he here again?" Yichen asked.
"I asked him to come. He doesn't know how to change his bandages or remove them, so I told him yesterday to come back today," Haoran replied.
"Who is he?" Lu Sihan was clearly suspicious.
"My patient, obviously," Haoran answered matter-of-factly.
"Is he a Beta?" Lu Sihan asked, a hint of protectiveness in his voice.
"I didn't ask. I don't even know his name," Haoran's voice trailed off, an innocent, awkward smile on his face.
"You asked him to come back without even knowing if he's an Alpha or a Beta? Don't you know plenty of Alphas will act their hearts out just to get close to an Omega like you?" Lu Sihan scolded.
"You know people are targeting you, like that gang that trashed your clinic last week," Yichen added worriedly.
"I know, but he's a good person. I know he's not that type," Haoran assured them.
"Okay," Sihan breathed as if trying to gather patience through his lungs "We are not here to fight, we still need to visit Mrs. Hong right? So go change now Haoran we'll take care of this things." Lu Sihan said with a purpose to achieve peace and not to cause any trouble.
"Okay then." Haoran left and entered his room to change.
After a minutes Haoran came out from the room. "Let's go"
Lu Sihan took the lead toward his car. "Oh, right, almost forgot—drive your own car." Lu Sihan gave Gu Yichen a mischievous smirk.
"You—" Before Yichen could finish, Sihan had already hopped in and started his car. He had no choice but to walk toward his own car.
______________________
When Yichen arrived at the hospital, he was quite a bit later than Sihan and Haoran. "Sihan, you bastard," Yichen muttered to himself as he walked down the hallway.
Suddenly, he spotted a familiar face wearing a white lab coat and as Yichen walked closer. "You! You're the one who was getting treated at Haoran's place!" He rushed up to Qixian.
"Huh?" Qixian tilted his head, his brow furrowed in confusion.
Yichen scoffed, looking Qixian up and down and stopped at his I'd. "So you're a doctor?"
"Can't you see what I'm wearing?" Qixian said in sarcasm, Yichen clenched his fist.
"You're approaching Haoran on purpose, aren't you? What exactly do you want from him?" Yichen gripped the lab coat tightly, wrinkling the fabric. A scent that feels like a blade—sharp, clean, and silent. It felt so cold, crisp, and medicinal. It smells like high-altitude mountain air, frozen earth, and a sharp, biting floral note similar to snapdragons. It has a "numbing" quality to it. It made Qixian lost a huge chunk of his strength.
"You—" Qixian rolled his eyes. "I am not." Qixian tried to brush Yichen's pheromones away by using his own pheromones to protect his body from collapsing from an S-class alpha like his father.
"No? Then why did you go to him when you were injured?" Yichen hissed through gritted teeth. His monkshood like pheromones going directly towards him that no one notice that an S-tier Alpha is going almost feral all of a sudden just because of someone.
"He's a doctor, that was the closest clinic to me, and I didn't have any medicine on hand. Is there something wrong with asking him to treat it?" Qixian shot back.
"Then why did you go back just now?" Yichen refused to let go.
"I forgot to pay him," Qixian replied, his temper starting to flare.
"And you told him you don't know how to change bandages." Yichen continued his interrogation.
"I've never been injured growing up, so I really don't know how to handle my own wounds. And I'm telling you I'm a surgeon, not a nurse. I don't waste my time on minor scratches—but your friend seemed to care about it more than I did.."
Yichen finally let go and controlled his pheromones. Qixian gave him a harsh glare, straightened his clothes, and walked away in annoyance when a nurse called his name.