The first time Tang Xuanxing met Cheng Duwan, she'd just been dumped by her ex-girlfriend and was walking home to her rental, crying with a bouquet in her arms.
She was only a D-rank Alpha, a down-and-out photographer with no prospects. She'd probably stay mediocre her whole life.
But as she cried her way to the bottom of a run-down apartment building, she walked straight into the arms of an Omega.
The woman stood beneath the covered walkway, where shadow met sunlight. Her dark green velvet dress fell like flowing water, accentuating her bare shoulders and neck, her skin like jade under a fresh layer of snow, gleaming with a cool, porcelain sheen.
Tang Xuanxing only learned the woman's name later: Cheng Duwan, an S-rank Omega and the youngest head of the Cheng family.
At the time, all she knew was that the woman wanted her to give her a temporary mark and see how it went.
The payment was generous enough, so Tang Xuanxing agreed.
"A marriage of convenience. At least three markings every heat cycle, until I get pregnant."
After marking her that night, the Omega's usually cool, clear eyes glistened with tears. Her voice was hazy with fatigue, and the hem of her dark green velvet dress was crumpled.
Tang Xuanxing looked at the Omega's flushed lips, then at the astronomical payment written in the agreement, and signed without hesitation.
She knew she was just a tool. Her pheromones were a 100% match, which would help Cheng Duwan give birth to an heir. That was all.
But so what?
Cheng Duwan introduced her to the editor-in-chief of a top international photography magazine.
Cheng Duwan had her shoot a conceptual campaign for a new season of luxury products from one of her companies.
Cheng Duwan sponsored her photography exhibition. By then, Tang Xuanxing had become an internationally renowned photographer.
But Cheng Duwan seemed nothing like the cool, abstinent woman people described, and she didn't entirely stick to the agreement, either.
Their sessions seemed unusually frequent, and not limited to heat cycles. But Tang Xuanxing was grateful for Cheng Duwan's patronage, so she never complained about the effort.
The one-year agreement came to an end, and Cheng Duwan finally became pregnant.
Suppressing her overwhelming love for Cheng Duwan, Tang Xuanxing didn't want to put her in a difficult position. She packed her things and prepared to leave.
But just as she was about to go, she came face-to-face with her cool, composed wife from the contract.
"Isn't having me and our baby enough?"
Theme: Believe in what fate has in store
