CH 1

“Yao Jin, happy birthday~ It took me so long to pick out a gift for you, I hope you like it.” 

“By the way, are you free this weekend? I heard there’s a new cat cafe on the East Lake….” 

As soon as Jin Siming got out of the classroom, she walked into a situation where a boy from the class next door was flirting with Yao Jin near the door. 

This was a normal occurrence. After all, many men and women visited Yao Jin between and after classes. The awkward part of this scene was that the boy just handed Yao Jin a love letter. 

The boy noticed her and froze for a moment before smiling dryly in greeting. 

An awful feeling arose in Jin Siming’s heart. A feeling like she had just woken up in the morning only to step into a pile of dry sh*t. She wanted to turn her head and go back into the classroom while pretending that she didn’t see anything. 

However, it was too late for her to pretend she didn’t see anything. Yao Jin had already turned her head and met her eyes. Jin Siming could only summon up the courage to bite the bullet and walk past the two of them quickly with an expressionless face. 

It was one thing to walk into an awkward situation but an entirely different thing to let Yao Jin, that little bit*h, think she was deliberately avoiding it. That would be like admitting defeat, which was even more embarrassing for her than walking into an awkward confession. 

“Pffttt~” 

Sure enough, before she even walked that far, she heard that familiar sneer laced with a hint of contempt coming from behind her. 

What are you laughing at? 

Jin Siming could imagine Yao Jin’s face right now. That pair of alluring fox eyes must be sparkling with triumph and full of smugness right now. Just thinking about it made her teeth itchy and in an instant, her steps became just a little bit heavier. 

She still had a dark expression on her face when she came out of the bathroom and returned to her desk. 

“What’s the matter? Did something happen when you went out just now? Your face looks so unsightly.” 

Su Xiaohang was one of few girls in this class that was close to Jin Siming. She is Jin Siming’s deskmate and best friend. She noticed the low, intimidating pressure Jin Siming was emitting the moment she returned and had asked that question with concern. 

“You remember that skater from class 11?” 

“Of course I remember him, he was the male Alpha who secretly gave you snacks every day before you differentiated into an Alpha. ”

The words “differentiated into an Alpha.” made Jin Siming’s heart throb in pain and she no longer felt like talking about it anymore. 

However, Su Xiaohuang was a chatterbox and once the conversation started, no matter what it was about, she could carry on the conversation like there was no tomorrow. 

“Did he bother you again? But you’re an Alpha now, so why is he bothering you? He shouldn’t have a reason to bother you anymore, right?” 

Su Xiaohang continued: “Although, I did hear that he often comes to visit Yao Jin recently. I think I just saw him try to give her a birthday gift at the door, but there were so many people surrounding Yao Jin just now, so I don’t think he has a chance with her at all.”

“….” 

Jin Siming was starting to regret ever mentioning this to Su Xiaohang. She has forgotten that her deskmate has a big mouth. Not only did her deskmate’s words not comfort her, on the contrary, they were like arrows that struck her where it hurt. 

Jin Siming and Yao Jin are like fire and water, completely incompatible with one another. Everyone in the class knows this. As the two most famous girls in the school, she and Yao Jin are old faces on the school forum as they are often compared with each other. They’re compared by their faces, makeup, grades, the number of admirers they had, and more. They’ve shown up on the forums quite a few times by now. 

When there are comparisons there will always be a clear winner and a loser. The more often it occurred, the more conflict arose between the two. When the two meet each other head-on, there will always be a bloody storm. 

However, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the so-called “bloody storm” is just a one-sided beatdown by Yao Jin. Whenever they meet head-on, wasn’t it always Yao Jin who ran circles around Jin Siming with just a sentence or two? 

However, Jin Siming, in her heart, didn’t think so. Although she may not be able to fight with her words, she never thought she had lost in any other category. Therefore, when it came to many aspects of her life, Jin Siming regarded Yao Jin as her number one (imaginary) enemy. 

This competitive and hostile relationship between  the two lasted for quite some time until Yao Jin differentiated into an Omega and Jin Siming differentiated into an Alpha. Then everything changed. 

At the very least, most normal people no longer compared the two, as one cannot compare an Alpha with an Omega. 

However, regarding this matter of being differentiated into an Alpha, Jin Siming still held quite a grudge. 

Yao Jin had differentiated earlier than her. When she heard the other party differentiated into an A-rank Omega, Jin Siming was very happy. This is because, in the results from her hospital tests, she was predicted to differentiate into an S-rank Omega in the future. When that happens, she will finally be able to one-up Yao Jin!

However, she was only happy for a few days when the tables turned on her. 

Because she…she actually differentiated into an Alpha. 

How could she become an Alpha? She would rather be an ordinary person than differentiate into an Alpha! 

For so long, Jin Siming has never questioned her inevitable future of differentiating into an Omega. Even her parents believed she would differentiate into an Omega and had raised her as their precious Omega princess since she was young. This is evident from the pile of dolls in her bedroom, the pink princess bed in the middle of said bedroom, and the pile of frilly-sleeved pink princess dresses in her closet. All of them stood testament to this statement. 

But who would have thought that she would differentiate into an Alpha instead? And an extremely rare S-rank Alpha too! 

The days after her differentiation was the most depressing period of Jin Siming’s life. She even took a one-month leave from school to recuperate and, only after receiving some psychological counseling from her many visits with a licensed therapist, did her heart mend and she finally started to accept her situation. 

However, the most difficult obstacle for Jin Siming to overcome in her heart was Yao Jin. 

In her opinion, her Alpha status meant she had lost again. She had lost in the most important matter of differentiation and she had lost utterly and completely.  

“Ah! Ming-bao*, are you angry because that skater boy doesn’t come to find you anymore? That he has switched teams and now is so attentive with Yao Jin? Don’t tell me you’re in lov—mmpph!” [1]

“Shhhh! Su Xiaohang, please keep your voice down!”

Not many students were in the classroom as it was break time so there was not much noise in the silent classroom.  Yet, this loudmouth, Su Xiaohang still didn’t bother keeping her voice down, so Jin Siming had no choice, but to quickly reach forward and block the other’s mouth in fear that someone else had heard. 

However, this large movement had attracted some attention. Two girls in the first three rows on the left looked at them twice, but after meeting Jin Siming’s glare, they immediately turned back.

How embarrassing, if this was to spread out to the school they’ll think she’s jealous of Yao Jin!

Jin Siming retracted her hand and then rubbed the saliva on her hand onto Su Xiaohang’s school skirt with disgust, “Su Xiaohang, how many times have I said to control that loud voice of yours? I am not angry because of him or Yao Jin, so please stop spewing nonsense.” 

After she finished speaking, she stopped talking to Su Xiaohang, turned around, and opened her exercise book to start answering questions. 

Some time passed, yet there were no longer any movements from the person beside her. 

It was quiet, too quiet, too different from Su Xiaohang’s usual style, so she glanced sideways with a question in her eyes—-

Fu*k! This weirdo is looking at her with gleaming eyes and blushing cheeks while holding her cheeks in her hands! 

She looked like a lovestruck pervert and it scared Jin Siming so much that her heart jumped into her throat, “What the fu*k is wrong with you? Why are you looking at me like that all of a sudden?” 

“Ming-bao, I’ve wanted to say this for a long time now, but you’ve really changed after you differentiated. When you gagged me with your hands just now it was so alpha-like. Is this the charm of an Alpha?” 

“….?” 

“Although I haven’t differentiated yet and can’t smell your pheromones, I might differentiate into an Omega in the future. You are an Alpha now, you can’t randomly touch me like that in the future, or else it might cause my heart to jump.” Su Xiaohang flashily pointed at her and then cheekily gave her a wink. 

“……”

It seems like her deskmate has watched one too many movies. Jin Siming rolled her eyes and said with disgust, “You’re disgusting! Stop acting crazy and be a little more serious!” 

“I am very serious. You really have grown a lot taller since your differentiation. Is it because you’re a higher-ranked Alpha? Is that why Bean Sprout hasn’t grown taller since he differentiated?” 

A short male Alpha heard his nickname and stiffened as he turned around and exclaimed, “Loudspeaker Su, why did you ‘@’ me for no reason? Differentiation is considered the second evolution of the human body, so the higher the rank, the greater the difference. An S-rank Alpha like Siming is a rare 1 in a 1000 cases! Do you think everyone would have such obvious physical changes like her? If you don’t understand this basic common sense, then all those years of biology classes have been wasted on you!” 

Su Xiaohang shrank back: “Why are you so violent? I just mentioned you in the passing, why must you overreact so much? And you should already know that I always place last in biology exams anyways.” 

The boy couldn’t argue with her shamelessness and only snorted coldly before returning to work on his exercise set. 

Bean Sprout’s original name was Lu Qi, but because he was rather short, he was given the nickname “Bean Sprout.” As a bookworm, his only hobby is studying, but he is no cowardly nerd. He has a short temper and explodes at the slightest provocation. Someone like Su Xiaohang, who likes to make trouble, also loves to quarrel with him and the two of them arguing was considered a normal occurrence. 

If it was like before, Jin Siming would definitely join in and tease him with Su Xiaohang, but she was still preoccupied with her own misery over her differentiation and was not interested in anything else. 

At this moment, a loud noise sounded near the door of the classroom. Yao Jin walked in with a group of people surrounding her and Gao Mei, who was right beside her, raised her voice and said, “Ahem, everyone pay attention! This Sunday, our little princess, Yao Jin, is celebrating her birthday. There will be a special birthday party at Jinding Pavilion. After six o’clock in the afternoon, anyone can enter as long as they report their name at the door. We welcome everyone to come and play~” 

“Wow, Jingding Pavilion! That place’s lion head’s meatballs are the best! I can never get a reservation there but now-! Thank you beautiful, I will definitely go!” 

“Since the beauty, Yao Jin is celebrating her birthday, I must attend!” 

There were a lot of cheers ringing out in the classroom and Jin Siming sat in the back with her lips curled in disdain, “Heh, isn’t it just a birthday celebration? Why is there a need to put on such a big show? It would be something an upstart would do. And princess? What a tacky title.” 

“Eh, although you say that, it is really hard to reserve a place at the Jingding Pavilion. Even if you call a week in advance you might not get a table, yet Yao Jin was able to book the entire place! Tsk, tsk, how amazing.” Su Xiaohang said with an envious tone. 

“You want to go?” 

Jin Siming glanced at her coldly, scaring Su Xiaohang into cowering away from her, “Um, this…..Ming-bao, I know you used to have a bad relationship with Yao Jin, but now you two are different. There is no need to compare with each other anymore. After all, she is an Omega and you are a…..”

“Alright, alright, I know already. Go ahead and follow Yao Jin from now on.” 

“I’m not, that’s not what I’m trying- Ming-bao, you…..” 

Jin Siming didn’t wait for her to finish and closed her book with a “pa!” before pulling out her chair and walking towards the door without glancing back. Anyone who looked at her face right now could see the word “angry” written all over it. 

If even Su Xiaohang was praising Yao Jin, how can she not be angry? 

After she differentiated, all the Alphas who used to buzz around her began to stay away. A few of her admirers have now switched over to Yao Jin. This was already enough to anger her, but now even her best friend was leaning towards Yao Jin. It was simply adding oil to the already raging fire. 

The fire in Jin Siming’s heart grew stronger and stronger. She was so wrapped up in her anger that she didn’t pay attention to the ground beneath her feet. Suddenly, she felt her ankle wobble, and her center of gravity grew shaky. She had tripped over something and was now rushing towards the ground. 

“Wuu….” 

When she landed on the floor, she did not feel the cold, hard, ground against her body but something soft instead. The softness was accompanied by a nice smell, a sort of alluring sweetness that made her subconsciously take a few extra sniffs. 

“Classmate Jin, do I smell good?” 

A familiar voice entered her ears and she focused her eyes to see Yao Jin’s smiling face appear beneath her. 

T/N: