Glass Melody

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

WangJi, after returning to his room, activated the auto mode on his wheelchair. He could activate this function with WuXian around, but he chose not to. He silently motioned the chair to move to the bath where he used the control panel in the bathroom to fill the tub with water. When the bath was satisfactorily filled, he removed his clothing and transferred into the bath on a transfer board and slipped into the warm water. As he bathed, a slight scent roused his attention. He'd noticed this scent before around the courtyard. It was a pleasant smell that roused his interest but did naught else. A few times a month the smell became particularly strong, but because the smell seemed to move, he could never identify where it came from. He had never been interested in finding out either; it was simply another additional pleasantry to his bath.

After his bath, he existed the tub, dressed and returned to the room. It seemed the smell was particularly strong today. The scent whet his appetite, so he was about to message WuXian to return with food; however, thinking of the long day WuXian had spent catering to his needs, he opted to message another person. The message consisted of only a single word, 'dinner'.

It wasn't long before a knock was heard from the door.

"Enter,' WangJi commanded.

Lan JingYi entered with a distressed face and a hand covering his nose while holding a tray of food.

WangJi furrowed his brow to which Lan JingYi understood as a command to explain.

"There's the scent of an omega in heat all over this wing. Such a strong scent. Even a beta like I can smell it. Is it Wei WuXian?" JingYi muttered.

WangJi's stared blankly at JingYi without moving?

WuXian's scent?

JingYi paused for a moment as well until his head snapped in WangJi's direction, "You can't smell it? The pheromones around this area are really thick!"

WangJi nodded, "A little."

"There's something wrong with the both of you. One has such strong heats that the entire wing is soaked in the smell and the other surprisingly isn't affected by said heats," JingYi mumbled incredulously.

JingYi shook his head in confusion. He set down the food, bid WangJi farewell and left WangJi's wing of the Cloud Courtyard as if the hounds of hell were after him.

JingYi had departed so quickly from the WangJi's courtyard that he'd missed his senior brother's ears slowly becoming a deeper shade of red.

That pleasant smell was WuXian's pheromones?

He had been basking in the smell of something as private as pheromones?

An omega's heat was something extremely private that was usually dealt with by two consenting parties somewhere where the pheromones wouldn't affect anyone else. Pheromones were essentially proof of an omega's arousal and to have it around alphas was usually extremely dangerous since it inhibited control and lured alphas into copulation. Hence, pheromones were considered private and dealing with them was a priority especially when in contact with an alpha.

Then how was it that WuXian's pheromone had permeated throughout the wing so much that JingYi, a beta, was affected by the smell and why was it that he was not?

WangJi's confusion was masked under his stoic face but the inner turmoil persisted through the night. He especially placed towels under the door and lit sandalwood incense to mask the pheromones. Even if he wasn't affected by the scent, he felt WuXian needed to keep his dignity even if he wasn't present.

The night was restless for both WangJi and WuXian as they bordered between consciousness and unconsciousness.

Knowing WuXian was in his heat, WangJi opted not to rely on his services for the next week. He would eat his meals away from the wing in the dining hall, retrieve all the items he needed himself and took care of his own needs independently until the third day. By the third day of WuXian's heat, WangJi was beginning to worry. He had been lighting sandalwood incense every night and blocked all entrances to prevent the inflow of pheromones, but even with the measures he'd taken, he was no longer able to cover the scent of WuXian's pheromones. The scent of pheromones was becoming stronger.