The Jasmine Scented White Moonlight

Chapter 28 - Divorce

"After my mother died, my relationship with my father became very strained, to the point where I moved out of the house." Ning Wan let out a laugh. "Back then, I was always childish and foolish, maybe it was because puberty hit along with gender differentiation. I was always doing rebellious things, deliberately trying to provoke my father. Looking back now, part of it was out of spite, but more of it was actually to get his attention but my father never bothered to look at me, and whatever needed to be communicated was done through his secretary... After my mother died, no one ever went to the parent-teacher meetings for me again."

As he spoke of these things now, it was like reopening old wounds, but there wasn't much pain on his face. It seemed that time had sealed those memories, so talking about them was like talking about someone else's affairs, calm and indifferent.

"I was eleven years old, during the summer vacation after graduating from elementary school, Luo Xiao and I decided to go swimming at Weiming River— Weiming River is a river in my hometown, R City. We went swimming there partly out of curiosity and partly out of rebellion because my father had warned me over the phone not to swim near the river."

Shen Shuyun's heart tightened. He felt like he had heard about Weiming River somewhere before...

"I prided myself on being a good swimmer, so I went into the river to swim. But I got carried away and swam out of the shallow area, reaching the middle of the river. Sometimes, things just happen by chance, my calf cramped in the water, and I couldn't shout for help with all that water rushing into my mouth and nose... I was so scared then, I really thought I was going to die in that river." Ning Wan paused for a moment before continuing, "But someone swam towards me, lifted me out of the water, and dragged me to the shore. He saved me."

"At that time, my mouth and nose were full of water, and my mind was not very clear. I tried hard to see that person clearly, but I couldn't. I couldn't even say a single word, not even to ask his name." Ning Wan's eyes showed a few strands of indescribable tenderness, as if the memory of that past should be gentle. "But when he bent down, I smelled the scent of his pheromones... His pheromones smelled like jasmine. He was an omega."

Shen Shuyun's face suddenly turned pale. He clutched his clothes, his palms full of cold sweat. He stared at Ning Wan, feeling the blood in his veins gradually turning cold.

"What... what are you trying to say?"

At this moment, what Shen Shuyun really wanted to say was not this. Actually, he wanted to shout at Ning Wan, to beg him to stop, to stop talking, to please stop.

"I started frantically looking for an omega with jasmine-scented pheromones. I searched for many, many years... because from that day on, I couldn't forget him. With each passing year, my feelings for him grew deeper. I thought I couldn't live without him. I even posted so many missing person notices but couldn't find an omega with jasmine-scented pheromones, because there are so few purebred omegas in this world... Until, I met you in that car accident."

"But I've never saved a drowning boy!"

"Yes, you never did." Ning Wan looked at him, his pupils like a rolling ink sea, dark and deep, reflecting no one's shadow. "It's me. I made a mistake."

Shen Shuyun was trembling all over. It felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him from head to toe, a hole had been punched in his chest, and the wind was howling through it, making his heart pound. He stared at Ning Wan with wide eyes, disbelief written all over his face. It took a long time before he found his voice, hoarse and shaky, from his throat that tasted like blood, "So, Ning Wan, are you saying that you liked me only because my pheromones smelled like jasmine and you mistook me for the person you had been looking for all these years?"