He’s So Sweet After Class

At 2 PM, after Mo Lingqiu finished elaborating on the topic assigned by his old professor before, he packed up his things and organized the office. Then he drove to the North Campus stadium. 

Jiang Chenming was busy leading three-step layup and two point shot training for some of his basketball team juniors. The coach would usually lead practice, but he had gone to a meeting about the next week’s basketball competition, so the job was passed to Jiang Chenming, who was the basketball team’s model player and someone the coach trusted greatly. 

When Mo Lingqiu arrived, they still weren’t done with practice. As he looked at the people going in and out of the stadium, he was suddenly filled with the intent to meet his alpha. 

The intention vanished quickly. Or rather, he erased the words ‘his alpha’. 

He pushed open the door, got out of his car, and walked into the stadium. 

The pheromones in the stadium were more concentrated than outside. The first reason was that the boys would sweat during sports and release pheromones through their sweat. The second reason was the fact that many omegas were present to watch their practice, and single alphas would try their best to perform well. 

Mo Lingqiu was quiet when he entered. He chose an empty corner and stared at Jiang Chenming who was busy pointing out his juniors’ mistakes. 

To be frank, the juniors were really obedient. Although he couldn’t clearly hear what Jiang Chenming was telling them, not a single one of them showed a dissatisfied expression. Instead, they trained even harder. 

This also showed how sociable and skillful Jiang Chenming was. 

On the basketball court, Jiang Chenming jumped. As he went to demonstrate the right way to do a three-step layup, he caught sight of Mo Lingqiu sitting in the corner of the stadium.  His hand slipped, and the ball fell to the ground. 

Thud. Although it wasn’t loud, the sound still caught the attention of the people training on the same basketball court. 

In their memory, Jiang Chenming would never make such a low-level mistake. 

“Wah, what’s wrong, Senior?” 

“Are you okay, Senior?” 

A group of people walked towards him. They stared at this rare sight as they gave him back the ball that had rolled far away. 

Everyone thought that Jiang Chenming had just made a mistake and would receive the ball with a laugh. However, they didn’t expect that he no longer wanted the ball, and that he would walk towards the audience seats. 

Mo Lingqiu watched him. He remained sitting and didn’t move, but he felt nervous somehow. His hands that were held together tightened their hold. 

After a short moment, Jiang Chenming crawled up the audience seats and greeted Mo Lingqiu with a smile.“Teacher Mo, you’re here.” 

“En.” Mo Lingqiu nodded; he could feel the gazes of the people surrounding him. 

“I’ll be done in a bit. Wait a while more,” Jiang Chenming said, taking a Wangzai milk candy out from his pocket. “Take this.” 

Mo Lingqiu suddenly felt like he was a kid who was being coaxed. Still, he stretched out his hand to get the candy. 

Jiang Chenming miraculously became happy. When he returned to the basketball court, he showed off all different kinds of beautiful moves like he was afraid that Mo Lingqiu wouldn’t see them again. 

The juniors saw how Jiang Chenming was showing off. In their hearts, they felt funny, as well as jealous. 

That person was Mo Lingqiu, who has been publicly known as someone who was hard to chase. Setting aside his gender, the person himself was the ideal. 

As for the single omegas who had come to watch the practice, they had first glanced at Jiang Chenming, who was handsome and cheerful, and then turned their gazes to Mo Lingqiu who was cold and beautiful. There was sourness in their hearts. 

They had nobody. Sad.

Jiang Chenming finished training at 3 o’clock sharp. He carried a bunch of things and ran towards Mo Lingqiu.“Teacher Mo, wait a sec. I’ll go change my clothes.” 

“The appointment with Bao Wen is at 5.” 

That meant that Jiang Chenming didn’t need to rush. He could even take a bath. 

Jiang Chenming was clever. Once he figured out what Mo Lingqiu was saying, he placed his bag on the chair beside him and ran towards the stadium’s dressing room.

Mo Lingqiu lowered his head and looked at his phone until someone sat beside him, moving Jiang Chenming’s bag onto their lap. 

“Hi, Teacher Mo, I’m…” Just when that person was planning to introduce himself, Mo Lingqiu interrupted. 

“The manager of Jiang Chenming’s basketball team.” 

The person showed a shocked expression. He didn’t know how Mo Lingqiu knew. He thought for a moment before he suddenly laughed. “Has Senior mentioned me before?” 

Mo Lingqiu didn’t answer. Jiang Chenming had, in fact, mentioned him before, but that was just an excuse. He was able to recognize him because of his pheromones. 

Mo Lingqiu himself was shocked. He didn’t expect to be able to recognize a person completely unknown to him just through the pheromones stuck to Jiang Chenming that could vanish with a gust of wind. 

However, the concentration of pheromones on this stranger was really high that day. He didn’t know if it was unconscious or if he was purposefully doing it. If it was the latter, then he might’ve been asserting dominance. 

No matter what, he was just a kid in Mo Lingqiu’s eyes. Even though he was asserting dominance, he just looked like a jealous kid. 

The manager noticed that Mo Lingqiu hadn’t answered his question and thought he had guessed correctly. He became even happier. 

“Teacher Mo, our relationship with Senior is normally quite good, so please don’t be mad because of what I said.” 

Mo Lingqiu still didn’t reply. He was not a talkative person and he was an introvert. However, his reaction and his cold expression made the omega think that his existence made Mo Lingqiu angry. He spoke even more, showing arrogance through his expression. 

Although Mo Lingqiu had given Jiang Chenming a lot of time to bathe, he still finished bathing quickly and changed into clean clothes before walking back into the stadium. 

He first saw Mo Lingqiu, but someone he hadn’t invited was beside him. Jiang Chenming’s expression, which initially showed excitement, suddenly became stormy. He walked up the stairs and quickly ran towards Mo Lingqiu. “Teacher Mo, let’s go.” 

Mo Lingqiu heard him and immediately stood up. He stretched out his arms, wanting to take Jiang Chenming’s bag, but the manager had placed it in his lap and didn’t seem like he was willing to hand it over. 

Jiang Chenming wasn’t polite. “The bag.” 

The manager froze. This was the first time he heard Jiang Chenming talking to him so rudely. 

“The bag,” Jiang Chenming repeated. The smile on his face had vanished. “Aren’t you going to give it to me?” 

The manager handed him the bag, panicked, and, based on his expression, carefully replied, “Here… it is… I just wanted to talk to Teacher Mo… so I picked it up…” 

“Let’s go.” Jiang Chenming grabbed Mo Lingqiu’s hand. 

Mo Lingqiu didn’t realise anything was wrong and followed Jiang Chenming out. 

When both of them appeared hand in hand outside, Mo Lingqiu noticed others looking at them. Only then did he come to his senses and realize he was holding Jiang Chenming’s hand. 

“…The car is over there.” Mo Lingqiu pointed towards a car in the parking lot not too far away. 

“En.” Jiang Chenming didn’t intend to let go of his hand. He held on and only released it after they reached the car. 

When they had both taken their seats in the car, Jiang Chenming took the important things out of his bag before throwing it into the backseat. After he fastened his seatbelt, he turned his head and looked at Mo Lingqiu. 

Mo Lingqiu was expressionlessly turning the key, and was getting ready to reverse the car, but Jiang Chenming noticed something different in his cold expression. He looked nervous. 

“Teacher Mo, what did you guys talk about?” 

“…I can’t remember.” Mo Lingqiu really didn’t have any memory of the conversation. While that person was talking, he had been scrolling through news on his phone. 

Jiang Chenming chuckled. This was the true Mo Lingqiu. “Teacher Mo, do you feel uncomfortable?” 

“…What?“ Mo Lingqiu didn’t understand. 

“I don’t know what he told you, but, from his expression, I feel like Teacher Mo got bullied.” Jiang Chenming thought for a while. He felt that the second half of his sentence wasn’t accurate enough. “No, I think he looked like he intended to cause you trouble.” 

“Did he?” Mo Lingqiu perfectly reversed the car out of the parking spot. He drove onto the road. “But I think he’s just a kid who wants to snatch something away. I’m almost thirty. Do I need to be so calculating with him?” 

Jiang Chenming heard his answer and froze. After a moment, he smiled again. 

Mo Lingqiu had given him an answer that he wasn’t expecting. 

“Then, Teacher Mo, who do you think he’s snatching?” Jiang Chenming energetically asked. 

Mo Lingqiu didn’t expect that he would ask that kind of question. He pursed his lips and didn’t say anything, regretting the fact that he had said something out of impulse. 

Jiang Chenming didn’t give up. He asked again, “Teacher Mo, who do you think he’s snatching? Me?” 

The last word made Mo Lingqiu step on the break with full force. The inertia pushed the two people in the car forward. His car stopped at the traffic light that had turned red. 

The empty bag that was in the backseat dropped onto the floor. It might’ve been the misperception of the people in the car, but the pheromones on the bag that didn’t belong to either of them seeped into their noses. 

Mo Lingqiu’s hand that was clutching onto the steering wheel gripped it tighter. After a moment, he turned his head and, flustered, shouted at Jiang Chenming, “Are you also a kid?” 

Jiang Chenming raised his hand and pinched Mo Lingqiu’s ears that had slightly reddened. As if he were placating him, he gently said, “Teacher Mo, stop by the roadside later and I’ll throw that bag away. Let’s buy a new one.”