I Have To Love【Abo】 Chapter 5
byThe Stage of Powdered Faces
Xie Qiao was woken up by Su Tai, looking completely dazed from sleep, his long, thick eyelashes fluttering slowly.
Xie Qiao rubbed his face with his hand, like a cute little otter.
Su Tai noticed he wasn’t fully awake. “You just got through your special period. Don’t engage in strenuous exercise.”
Xie Qiao had been weak since childhood. When Xie Renqing was alive, he often instructed the kitchen to stew nourishing soups for him, and milk was essential every morning. Once, Xie Qiao got tired of the soup and secretly poured it into the pond, only to be caught red-handed.
There was a koi worth several thousand yuan in the pond. Su Tai looked at the sneaky Xie Qiao. “Are you trying to scald the fish to death?”
He remembered Xie Qiao turning pale with fright back then, answering timidly, “No.”
“Your dad stews soup for you with fish maw, red mushrooms, and ginseng, and you use it to feed the fish?” Su Tai sneered. “Right, you’re so poor and so weak. If you ate such good tonics every day, you’d probably be over-nourished to death by now.”
Xie Qiao lowered his eyes and denied it. “No.”
“No what? Your dad didn’t specially stew it for you?” Su Tai was used to being a little tyrant at home, and he had no patience for this distant, adopted younger brother. “Stop acting. Train for two more years and you can go sell yourself, just like your dad. Maybe you can hook up with a cheap old man like my father.”
Xie Qiao didn’t speak, tears streaming down his face like broken threads.
His omega father rushed out. “What’s wrong, A-Qiao?”
Su Tai found the sight grating, turning to leave, but Xie Renqing called out to him. How loud could a thin O’s voice be? “A-Tai, he is your brother.”
Su Tai paused, scoffing. “What brother? My dad died ages ago. How would I know he gave birth to a brother for me?”
He found the scene of the father and son being so affectionate utterly jarring. “I advise you two not to spread rumors everywhere, or you won’t be able to stay in this house for long.”
A prophecy fulfilled.
Fate was cruel.
Xie Renqing truly didn’t stay.
Xie Qiao’s voice was as soft as it had been back then, only now with a hint of the confidence he had been indulged with. “It wasn’t very strenuous. I just ran too many times.”
Su Tai hummed in acknowledgment. The two entered the house, where Aunt Wang had prepared a table full of dishes waiting for them.
“Good evening, Sir, Young Master.”
Su Tai said, “Good evening. Aunt Wang, go stew him a nourishing soup.”
Aunt Wang asked, “Should he drink it now?”
“No. Stew it and bring it to his room. Stew it for the next few days. He needs to recuperate.”
Aunt Wang agreed and left.
Xie Qiao listened to the mention of the nourishing soup while stuffing rice into his mouth.
“Are you angry?” Su Tai asked.
Xie Qiao replied, “No, I just don’t like drinking soup.”
Su Tai looked at him. “Did your brother leave you with some bad memories?”
The chopsticks in Xie Qiao’s hand paused. “No, I just don’t like drinking soup.”
Su Tai guessed that perhaps he was forced to drink too much when he was little, or maybe his own words had left a shadow on Xie Qiao. He compromised. “Drink it tonight, and I’ll have Aunt Wang switch to something else later.”
Xie Qiao nodded.
After dinner, Su Tai returned to the study to work, and Xie Qiao went back to his room, locking the door tightly.
Xie Qiao tore off the Suppressant Patch. His Gland was aching from being blocked from pheromones for too long.
He dialed the number saved as Engineer Chen.
“My phone was on silent just now.”
The man on the other end had a cool voice. “Mhm. The new medicine has been developed. Want to come try it?”
“Has it been tested?” Xie Qiao stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the gardener still working in the garden downstairs, then slowly shifting his gaze to the taller buildings further away.
“Of course. Didn’t you say the previous medicine made your recovery slow? How did you get through your Susceptibility Period?”
The Temporary Mark was almost gone. A smile appeared in Xie Qiao’s eyes. “I was marked as an omega.”
“What?”
“I found that he can mark me.” Xie Qiao’s tone was joyful. “He likes omegas.”
“You and your father are both lunatics,” Engineer Chen complained.
“Without us, your research wouldn’t succeed,” Xie Qiao retorted. “I’ll come find you Wednesday afternoon.”
He hung up the phone after speaking.
A knock came at the door. “Young Master?”
Xie Qiao put on a new Suppressant Patch and opened the door. “Aunt Wang.”
Aunt Wang held a tray. “The soup Sir ordered.”
“Thank you.” Xie Qiao took it.
“Call me when you’re done, and I’ll clean up.”
Xie Qiao nodded. “I understand, Aunt Wang.”
Xie Qiao carried it inside, placing the item on the bedside table, staring blankly at the bowl of chicken soup.
He shifted his gaze away from the soup to the photo on the headboard behind it. The man’s smile was bright. “Dad, the chicken soup you loved the most.”
He picked up the photo, his finger tracing the man’s face, recalling many moments from the past. “Are you doing well now? I’ve fallen for someone. You know who it is. Do you think I’ll succeed?”
He smiled. “You definitely think I won’t succeed, but so what?”
He finished the soup. After all, it was given to him by his brother.
Anything Su Tai gave him, he would take, even if it meant crossing mountains of knives and seas of fire.
Xie Qiao washed up and went to sleep. The scent of Datura in the air gradually grew stronger. He had to be an omega, a soft, obedient omega.
“I must be an omega.” In the Biological Research Institute researcher’s office, Xie Qiao held the Blue Pill newly developed by Engineer Chen. It was a very small box, already the fifth generation.
“Forcibly turning into an omega is Against Biological Laws. All medicine has side effects, let alone when you were originally an alpha.” Engineer Chen spoke earnestly. “Your last Susceptibility Period couldn’t even be treated with medication. Why bother?”
Xie Qiao wondered if Engineer Chen was getting old, becoming overly sentimental.
Xie Qiao said, “Didn’t you take money from me to do this research in the first place? What, regretting it now? Wanting to accumulate good karma?”
Seeing Xie Qiao’s cynical demeanor, Engineer Chen fell silent. “I am researching how to keep you healthy.”
Alphas and omegas were both sexual minorities, occupying a very small proportion of the population. The Gland was their second heart, secreting hormones and maintaining the normal functioning of their bodies. Once damaged, the consequences were unimaginable. He was truly helpless.
“This is what you were supposed to do. Don’t drag me into it,” Xie Qiao said. “If you were truly guilty and wanted to accumulate good karma, you should have changed your research direction back then.”
Xie Qiao strode away. The warm autumn sun shone on his fair skin. Yellow maple leaves and ginkgo leaves covered the ground. Xie Qiao recalled the red maple leaves in the northern country.
The bright red maple leaves resembled large patches of rubies, rustling in the wind. That was the first time he went to find his brother. After his father passed away, he was too lonely and could only call the brother he had a vague crush on.
His young voice asked, “Brother.”
Su Tai spoke to him politely for the first time. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m scared.”
Su Tai said, “Then come find me.” And so, he boarded a plane to a foreign country. He saw Su Tai’s girlfriend for the first time, a blonde, blue-eyed omega with a gentle voice.
From that moment on, he developed an emotion called jealousy. He realized he had fallen in love with this unrelated older brother.
No, perhaps it was even earlier. Perhaps it had been there even earlier, which was why he sought him out during his most confused time. The rootless vine grasped the only tree nearby, just as his omega father had unscrupulously clung to Su Tai’s father.
He wanted to stay by Su Tai’s side, even if it meant watching his constant Scandals, staying as his brother. But as long as he was by his side, any means necessary.