The recovery ability of the 3S level Alpha was far beyond that of ordinary people; especially after Fu Ge stamped a red bear on Qi Han’s forehead.
Qi Han was like a dried out kelp on the beach that was suddenly thrown into the sea, filling up in an instant.
His back injury no longer hurt, the inflammation of the glands disappeared, and even his emaciated body was slowly recovering. His whole being was overflowing with a sense of joy from head to toe.
In the words of Chen Xing, Qi Han was now a “villain flourishing” (an idiom; an inferior person gets into a position of power, becoming conceited and arrogant), so big-headed that if a dog dared to bark at him, he would go and slap the dog.
All in all, Fu Ge’s concern and kindness was the best cure for his illness.
Within a week, he was able to get out of bed and walk normally.
The pus from the glands was cleaned up and the glands returned to their original pink colour. Only the outermost circle of tender flesh was still slightly whitish, and it needed to be cleaned and disinfected every day.
“President Qi, please lower your head a little.”
The doctor and two nurses were applying medicine to his glands, while Qi Han sat by the bed, working on his mobile phone. His deep eyebrows were slightly furrowed, the bridge of his nose high, and he muttered a casual “hmm”.
But as soon as he looked up and saw a figure peeking from behind the door, his attitude immediately changed by 180 degrees, his eyes as bright as copper bells: “Gege? How come you’re here now?”
Fu Ge smoothed his hair hastily and said, “I just finished the infusion, the doctor wanted me to come out for a walk.”
“Then come in, why are you standing at the door?” Qi Han was so excited that he stood up to pull Fu Ge in. The cotton swab of the young nurse behind him went askew and stabbed the wound.
The Alpha only tilted his head and let out a hiss, ignoring the fact that his glands had been only half treated. When he came up to Fu Ge, he leaned over and looked at him with a smile: “Since you are here, just stay with me for a while, okay?”
His eyes were so bright and pleading, as if a large dog was wagging its tail, inviting a kitten to accompany it.
Fu Ge froze for a few seconds, but finally didn’t say anything to refuse.
Qi Han sat back in his chair, his legs crossed, his head resting on the back of the chair, his eyes staring at Fu Ge shining with a faint light. His hair was blown back from his forehead, revealing the fading bear stamp.
Fu Ge blinked in a daze, as if he had gone back to five years ago again.
The coquettish big boy in the front seat would turn to him between classes and beg him: “Gege, after watching the movie tonight, you have to let me kiss you. With tongue, okay?”
If Fu Ge ignored him shyly, he would keep asking, and if he refused him sternly, he would immediately stare with pitiful dog eyes, looking into his eyes from the bottom up, and saying super quietly, “Then without tongue, okay?”
No one could refuse a big 1.92m tall innocent dog wagging its tail in front of them. Fu Ge forgot whether he had said “yes” at that time.
He only remembered that night when Qi Han said he had a disease that would kill him if he didn’t kiss him, and nibbled on his lips and tongue so hard that after it was over, the little Beta’s lips and even his chin were all swollen, as if he was a hapless puppy stung by a bee.
At the age of eighteen, Fu Ge had not yet developed the ability to reject Qi Han.
“What are you thinking about?” Qi Han raised his voice a little bit, and then leaned closer and asked, “Is it uncomfortable to smell the medicine?”
The potion the doctor applied smelled a bit heavy, and he was afraid that Fu Ge couldn’t stand it.
The young Beta shook his head and said, “It’s fine.”
Qi Han was comforted. His eyes swept down, and he suddenly said, “Raise your hand.”
“Hmm?” Fu Ge was puzzled while dumbly doing as he was told, raising both hands as if in surrender.
Qi Han lightly curled his lips and helped him remove the blades of grass from his sleeves. His voice was husky and soft, a far cry from his usual coldness: “Where did you go to play? You still have grass on your clothes.”
“Grass…” Fu Ge murmured, lowering his head and following Qi Han’s line of sight. He saw not only grass but also the paint on his fingers. His nose twitched in embarrassment: “I went out to paint, not anywhere, just in the garden. “
Qi Han let out a nasal “hmm”, as if he was chuckling, “Still the same as when you were a kid. You can’t care about anything when you’re painting. You’re getting the paint everywhere, turn around, let me look at your back.”
He seemed to be the parent of a child who had come back from fooling around, his words and gestures full of natural affection.
The two young nurses hid behind and snickered, looking at them, while the doctor had an expression of someone who had been there before but didn’t say anything.
Fu Ge was so embarrassed that he lowered his head and whispered, “There’s nothing on my back.”
Qi Han only smiled and urged him, “Hurry up.”
He had no choice but to turn around and let Qi Han pick up the grass on his body. Then Qi Han wiped his fingers and applied mosquito repellent on him, and finally took out a cartoon anti-mosquito sticker and pressed it on the back of his hand, instructing, “Stick it on before you go to play in the garden, don’t get bitten by mosquitoes.”
As soon as he entered the door, he was “educated”. Fu Ge’s aura was immediately reduced by half. He couldn’t even say that he didn’t want to wear such a naive baby anti-mosquito sticker.
“Yeah, got it…”
The doctor coughed lightly with his fist against his lips and said, “President Qi, although it’s disappointing, there are still some things I have to say. Both of you are not fit to do too intense exercise now. His inner cavity is not healed yet, and your body is full of injuries. Bear with it, there will be plenty of time and opportunity to do it later.”
As soon as the words were said, Fu Ge’s cheeks immediately flushed. He covered the mosquito sticker with his fingers and stood up embarrassedly, “I, I’d better go… It’s too late, I’ll go back to my room…”
“Hey! Don’t go!” Qi Han grabbed his wrist, helplessly smiled and said to the doctor, “Well done. It was so hard to get him to agree to accompany me, and you have to scare him away with a few words.”
Turning his head, he saw Fu Ge staring down at his grasped wrist. Qi Han froze and immediately let go of his hand, “I’m sorry, I was in too much of a hurry just now—”
The words he hadn’t finished were blocked by a very small, pinprick-like touch. He saw the blush on Fu Ge’s face spread to the roots of his ears. His eyelashes trembled and his thin, soft red lips were gently pursed.
Further down… Fu Ge’s index finger was hooked around Qi Han’s retracting finger, tickling it very, very gently. “It’s okay,” he said.
Qi Han’s mind exploded.
It was okay to touch his fingers, it was okay to hold his hand, so did that mean something else was okay too?
Did it mean that Fu Ge was no longer disgusted with him, hated him, was no longer going to be annoyed just because a bit of his blood got on him?
Actions are always one step faster than thoughts. As soon as Fu Ge was about to withdraw his hand, Qi Han reached without even thinking about it and grabbed his wrist, “Gege!”
Fu Ge’s shoulders trembled. He raised his eyes hastily. Qi Han was just about to speak when he saw the nurse enter with a catheter and needle.
It was time for him to have his pheromones extracted.
“What’s the matter?” Fu Ge asked him after he couldn’t hear any words for a long time.
Qi Han blinked twice quickly, trying his best to steady his breathing and keep his fear from showing too much, but his voice still inevitably choked, “No, it’s okay, I mean the kitchen has fried some fries, they should be delivered soon, gege, go and eat.”
He called out to the door, “Someone, come in.”
The bodyguard immediately came in and bowed his head to Fu Ge: “…er, Mr. Fu—”
Qi Han interrupted with a calm face, “Call him ‘Young Master’.”
“Yes, Young Master, come with me.”
Fu Ge was still frozen, wondering why he suddenly had to leave again until he saw the needle the nurse was holding.
“Do you want to extract pheromones again?” He looked at the back of Qi Han’s neck, “Didn’t your body just recover? It’s still a bit inflamed.”
Qi Han smiled indifferently, “I got better long ago, I’m not so delicate. Go eat, eat it secretly, ah. This time if you get caught, I can’t rush over to save you.”
Fu Ge looked at his doting smile but only felt the bitterness in his throat. His lips twitched for a long time, and he finally asked, “Extracting pheromones… does it hurt? You’re afraid of needles.”
Qi Han jerked his head up, his eyes instantly turning red, as if a pool of stagnant water that had been still for days finally stirred. He asked incredulously, “You still remember I’m afraid of needles?”
Fu Ge closed his eyes and exhaled, “Uh-huh.”
Qi Han’s fear of needles was so strong that Fu Ge’s memory of it went deep into his bone marrow. Even after years of separation, no matter how confused his consciousness and blurred his memory were, he would subconsciously hide all the sharp things at home.
Fu Ge thanked the bodyguard, walked back into the room and sat down, stammering a little, “I’ll stay for a while, the fries should be softer… more delicious.”
Qi Han was about to suspect that he had auditory hallucinations. His thudding heart was like a coke bottle that had been vigorously shaken. As long as Fu Ge added another word, those excitement and ecstasy would gush out.
“You want… you want to… stay with me? Right?” He gasped and tried to adjust his breathing, but failed.
“Does gege finally feel a little sorry for me too? A little… just, just—” he stretched out a finger to touch Fu Ge’s heart, “just a little bit, there?”
Fu Ge averted his eyes, somewhat at a loss, and was silent for a long time, then said simply, “I’ll stay with you.”
He kept his mouth shut and didn’t answer his questions, but Qi Han was already too content.
This was the first time he had pheromones drawn in Fu Ge’s company, and the sensation of the thin needle piercing his skin didn’t seem so unbearable.
Fu Ge froze for a moment when the doctor took out the restraints, “Are you going to tie him up?”
“No.” Qi Han quietly pushed away the restraints and gave the doctor a look, “It’s for the bed, it’s not for me, don’t worry.”
He didn’t want Fu Ge to see him in such a mess, and he didn’t want to sell “misery” to force him to forgive; that would be too despicable.
However, Qi Han still overestimated himself.
Everything was normal when the needle went in for the first time. He was reclining on the back of the chair, his pale hands clenching the armrests. He was trembling slightly but he didn’t make a sound.
But the second needle went in under a wrong angle and it hit the medicine tube buried under his glands. The plastic tube moving in his flesh made Qi Han grunt. He closed his eyes and shuddered, violently kicking over the chair and dropping to his knees on the floor.
“Ugh…”
The Alpha’s eyes were scarlet as he crouched on his knees. The needle tilted in the struggle, the thin layer of skin that had just grown was once again split, blood and pheromones seeping down his back.
Qi Han reached out towards Fu Ge pleadingly, falling to his knees again in convulsions from the pain. His hoarse voice seemed to tear his vocal cords, as if he begged the executioner in his nightmares not to come back.
Fu Ge stared at him in a daze, frozen.
Having known Qi Han for nearly eight years, this was the first time he had ever seen him like this, in pain, in distress, unbearable, pitiful, losing all his pride and dignity as an Alpha, being pressed back into the chair by the doctor like a lab rat at the mercy of others, with the restraining straps tightened around his body.
Fu Ge’s feet seemed to be fixed in place by steel nails. His mind was blank and his sluggish heart was breaking, “Why… how could it be…”
Why do you have to extract them like this… Thirty tubes of pheromones, thirty-three tubes counting the ones that were poured out by his own hands, were they all drawn like this?…
No one paid attention to him. The doctor and nurses worked together to control the Alpha, moving with such skill that they were obviously accustomed to it.
“Stop! Don’t tie him up!” Fu Ge rushed over and took hold of the last restraint belt, his voice trembling, “Stop tying him up, let’s stop here…”
The manic Alpha was suddenly quiet for a moment and raised his eyes to look at him, aggrieved, “Gege?”
The young Beta responded to him and asked in a muffled voice, “Has it always been like this?”
Qi Han pursed his lips, hesitated for a long time before tentatively taking hold of Fu Ge’s fingers. To hell with all that talk about not wanting to sell misery and not forcing him to forgive, he was going crazy thinking about Fu Ge.
“If… I mean if, if I say yes, can gege hug me?”
Fu Ge closed his eyes and looked away, then turned back with an unskillful curl of his lips. This was the first time he smiled at Qi Han after the disaster.
He said, “You can ask.”
Qi Han’s lips trembled, and it took a lot of effort for his dry, hoarse voice to squeeze out a nasal sound, “Um…”
The next second, the soft knitted fabric full of his own bellflower scent enveloped his face. Fu Ge opened his arms and wrapped them around him.
With his palm covering Qi Han’s eyes and his chest pressed against Qi Han’s cheek, he was as gentle as when comforting the Alpha during his rut period at the age of eighteen. His voice reverberated gently, “Ah Han, don’t be afraid.”
The pheromone extraction went very smoothly this time.
Fu Ge held him and covered his eyes, and the tube was filled in only five minutes. The doctor hurriedly took away the nurses to give them some space.
Fu Ge let him go and took a paper towel to wipe a layer of sweat on his forehead. Qi Han was obedient at first, but suddenly jumped up halfway: “Hey, my bear!”
The stamp on his forehead was almost wiped off.
“Is it still there? Is it still there?” He asked, staring nervously at Fu Ge, who pursed his lips helplessly, took the stamp out of his pocket and stamped it on the back of Qi Han’s hand, leaving another bear there.
“Here, a new one.”
Qi Han was overjoyed, “You give it back to me, I’ll float into the sky at this rate.”
Fu Ge put the stamp away and said, “Reward.”
“Reward?”
“Well, you didn’t cry from the needles just now.”
Qi Han was just too happy. Getting a bear stamp was more exciting than making billions a year. He asked, “As long as I don’t cry from the needles, you’ll give me one?”
Fu Ge looked at him and nodded.
The next second he saw Qi Han rushing towards the door and sticking his neck out: “Doctor, pump ten more tubes!”
“……”
“Be good!” Fu Ge tapped his finger on Qi Han’s forehead and pushed him back to sit. Fu Ge’s ears were tinged red slightly. “Are you not ashamed, such a big president with a row of bears stamped on his arm?”
“What’s there to be ashamed of?” Qi Han was proud to death, “My leader rewarded me, they can only dream about it. Tomorrow I’ll go shave my head, so that the whole world can see—”
The words ended abruptly. Qi Han paused, “Sorry, I said the wrong thing.”
Fu Ge looked at him for a while, then suddenly stretched out his finger and touched his wrist, wiping it lightly. There was a smile in the corners of his eyes when he turned around and went out: “For talking too much, this bear has been deducted.”
Qi Han froze for half a minute before he laughed slowly and haltingly, chasing after Fu Ge’s back and asking in a loud voice, “So when will I get the new one?”
There was no trail of the person left to give him an answer. Fu Ge ran all the way back to his ward with lightning-fast steps.
The moment he closed the door, the shyness and gentleness on his face shattered like a porcelain mask.
The young Beta looked at the digits on the planet brooch right in the middle of the wall, pressed his back against the door panel and slowly slid down to the floor.
He drew out a tissue and wiped the finger that had touched the stamp on Qi Han’s hand over and over again.
