But I'm Just a Beta

Chi Nian has two childhood friends, a boy and a girl.

To put it bluntly, compared with the two of them, she is like a green leaf beside a bouquet of flowers, and a wilted one at that, always looking as if she is barely alive.

The two of them, meanwhile, are like warriors ready to duel at any moment, eager to one-up each other in everything.

Both friends are older than her and completed their secondary gender differentiation before she did.

As expected, her always-excellent childhood friend differentiated as an Alpha, while her beautiful best friend, who is popular wherever she goes, became an Omega.

What she didn't expect was that on the day of her coming-of-age ceremony, they would both find time to corner her.

Her childhood friend leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, his expression cool. "Chi Nian, have you differentiated? I can't sense any aggression from you. An Omega? Your pheromones really are just like you: so bland I can barely smell them."

Her best friend tapped away on her phone, not even looking up. "What? So no aggression means you're an Omega? Does all the hostility I show you just count as hot air? Niannian, it's fine if you turn into an obnoxious Alpha like him. Just don't go releasing your pheromones all over the place like that, and you can help me fend off a few creeps."

"Beta," Chi Nian said.

"What?"

Seeing their expressions gradually turn cold, Chi Nian felt a little awkward.

She seemed to understand what they were thinking:

She would remain ordinary for the rest of her life, and the three of them would end up in different worlds.

But she thought they were past the age of measuring friendship by how close they were, and that she should accept the distance that was bound to come sooner or later.

So she said, "It's not that my pheromones are too faint. I differentiated as a Beta, so I don't have any, and I can't sense them either."

-

Years later, Chi Nian, now a corporate drone, accepted a coworker's advances.

The dull, boring life of adulthood always needed a little diversion.

But as they chatted and kissed at her front door, neither of the two Betas could smell the intense pheromones outside.

Surging and fierce, watching them like a predator.

Theme: Learn to see people with your heart