1.7 FATED LOVE: Fairytale

"Baobei, is there something wrong? I don't want your personal life interfering with your work. If there's something you need, you can always—"

Liu Lianyu hangs up on Principal Hui. His arm drops and he pulls the covers over his face. His energy is sapped. Bone-deep aches wreck his body and Liu Lianyu realized much too belatedly that it's those stupid suppressants causing him pain. Apparently he didn't pay enough attention to the fine print stuck on the back and had to resort to countless Internet searches to make sense of his symptoms.

So he's stuck in bed with a light fever, sore bones and tendons. It's not the worst, honestly, he's probably been to work when his body was worse off.

Still, he calls in sick, uncaring if his boss decides to deduct his pay. Surely, they can't fire him for one sick day, right?

Liu Lianyu twists in his bed, pulling the duvet even closer to his body. They give him comfort but only in the barest sense, the pit in his stomach doesn't go away.

He's just overthinking it, the anxiety is unnecessary because no, Principal Hui won't fire him even if he calls in sick, or hangs up on the man once or twice. Worst comes to worst, Liu Lianyu could just make up some stupid excuse. He's gotten good at those over the years.

So he remains in bed. The sun crawls over the horizon and shines through his curtains but he still stays in bed. Not because it's comfortable, because it's not. The atmosphere feels stifling for reasons unknown and Liu Lianyu only stays there because he feels paralyzed.

It's the ache in his bones, he tells himself, and not the crippling anxiety that has him by the throat. He refuses to cry and puts his phone on silent even when he knows that Jiajia is probably bombarding him with messages right at that very moment.

The world is too difficult to deal with, so Liu Lianyu is taking a day off— of everything.

He closes his eyes but sleep doesn't come even though he's exhausted. His laptop is in his bag, just across the room and it's too far. He's hungry but that means he has to open his phone and order something, that's also too hard.

Before he realizes, it's already past noon and Liu Lianyu has barely moved an inch. He absently wonders what might happen if he takes the next day off as well.

Not good.

He takes a deep breath, trying his damndest to gather his willpower to at least sit up. Just sit up. Go to the kitchen and just maybe grab a snack or something. Nothing much, easy stuff.

The easy stuff feels so terribly difficult that he wants to cry.

Liu Lianyu hates himself but he doesn't want to hate himself. So he sits up even when it's difficult to breathe.

Stop being so melodramatic, he hisses internally and throws the covers aside.

No prince in shining armor will come for him; Liu Lianyu has only himself to rely on. He rises to his feet and there's tears in his eyes.

He's fine. If he says it enough, he might believe it. "I'm fine."

The floor beneath his feet doesn't seem solid. He ignores it and slowly pads his way to the kitchen.

The layout of his apartment is pretty similar to Lin Jiaen's. The atmosphere is vastly different though; hers feels more like a home and his feels more like a rat's den.

There's not much in the fridge, in fact at least half the food items inside are expired but Liu Lianyu finds a carton of chocolate soy milk and he gulps that down like a man stranded in a desert.

His stomach retaliates with a grumbling complaint, reminding him that he still hasn't had any solids. But there's nothing. Nothing at all. And no, the week-old crackers, browning bananas and leftovers from the day before yesterday don't count because he's just not feeling it. Giving up, Liu Lianyu finds his way to the couch.

Nose scrunching and brows knitting in annoyance, Liu Lianyu leans back and tries to relax. He needs to think about things he doesn't hate.

That's not much; or anything at all. He hates Principal Hui and he hates his job. He hates his writing and he hates the way his mom won't stop nagging him. He even hates Lin Jiaen at this moment and he hates, well, a lot.

It's only in the moment, he recalls, because of his terrible mood. It will pass, like all things. But still, it sucks.

Maybe he should read a book or watch a tv show; something fluffy to better his mood. But he craves nothing. He craves nothing but one Mo Yinan.

The thought rams into him. The revelation, though unsurprising, makes him gasp and for once he doesn't despise himself for it.

A strange disembodied feeling envelops him and Liu Lianyu sees himself floating above the couch rather than sitting in it. His eyes flutter closed and imagination takes hold of him.

Only this time he casts away the wayward daydreams of unrealistic alpha leads and world-famous actors from his mind. He imagines Mo Yinan instead. Mo Yinan, who's clumsy with his affection, still boyish in his thoughts. Mo Yinan whose soul is meant to perfectly complement his own, whose existence is meant to complete Liu Lianyu's.

Fanciful, romantic things.

Because hyper-compatibility is rarely as romantic or as flawless as media portrays true mates.

At that moment, Liu Lianyu doesn't care because he's just imagining silly, over-idealistic things. In his mind, there's no one to judge him for being a weak omega and no one to judge him for falling in love with a young, handsome alpha.

It can be picturesque, like a fairytale without blemishes. Something that he can indulge on in the privacy of his mind. A deep sigh draws out of his chest. There's the sound of barking dogs outside and cars speeding down the road. There's also rustling outside his front door—

Wait.

Liu Lianyu hops to his feet. The movement is so sudden that he propels himself forward and almost faceplants into the ground after tripping over some random boxes and parcel wrappings that he 'forgot' to throw out.

For whatever reason, his heart is in his throat and it must, most certainly be that omega sixth sense tingling.

It's terribly uncanny because he's right.

When he swings the door open he's met with a blast of pinewood and smoke, with mint and citrus mixed.

Wide eyes snap up at him. Mo Yinan is squatted at the door, two plastic bags being placed atop the doormat.

"Uh," Mo Yinan blinks stupidly before shooting back up to full height. He's out of his student uniform and in a maroon turtleneck and a leather jacket with classic black jeans. There's a matching black cap on his brunette head and his face is comically flushed. "This isn't what it…looks like."

Liu Lianyu looks down and sees that the plastic bags are full of goodies, from crackers to chocolate and fruits. There's water and soft drinks and damn, aren't those packs of Liu Lianyu's favorite instant noodles?

The fever grows and infests Liu Lianyu's brain. It's the only logical explanation why he blurts out, "This is exactly what it looks like," like an idiot.

Mo Yinan's face flushes even deeper and Liu Lianyu thinks he's the most adorable thing in the world. "I just—! I didn't want to disturb you or anything. I found out you weren't feeling very well so I wanted to just drop a few things off and leave a note or something."

This kid is illegal, Liu Lianyu thinks, it's illegal to be this cute and sweet. There has to be something else, something evil hiding behind those big doe eyes and rosy cheeks. But he's hopelessly spellbound by hyper-compatibility and this stupid soulmate thing. Liu Lianyu stares at his big dumb alpha and can't muster more words to say.

Mo Yinan huffs, he looks pouty and scratches the back of his neck. "Please feel better, Teacher Liu. I'm…glad I got to see you." He gulps and fidgets with his words, "I'll go now."

"Liu Lianyu."

Mo Yinan halts before he fully turns. "Huh?"

"We're not at school so you can call me by my name." It's the fever talking, clearly. Because nothing good will come with him opening his door wider. "Are you coming in or not?"

His apartment isn't ready to receive guests, Liu Lianyu has no idea why his mental faculties are so awfully fried.

Mo Yinan is like a statue, frozen. His mouth gaps open and he looks ridiculous but he's also handsome so it's forgivable. "What?" he stutters. Liu Lianyu doesn't blame his confusion but he has too much pride to admit that he's the one being weird.

"I'm not going to say it again." He bends down and scoops up the bags before retreating inside, leaving the front door ajar.

It takes him a moment, but eventually Mo Yinan steps inside.