Li Han was on a train to Hemu village without his parents. Once he got down at the last stop, he asked numerous people for the direction to his maternal grandmother's house since she was too old to pick him from the train stop. Once he arrived at the traditionally built house, he met his grandmother sitting out front with her cane. When she saw him, she stood up to embrace her grandson
"Aiya I missed you Bùdīng, you've grown so tall and handsome" Li Han pulled away from the hug and blushed
"Aiya grandmother I'm not chubby again, stop calling me that" His grandmother, a beta, Liu Shishi laughed at the nickname she gave him when he was younger because he was a chubby baby
"Okay world wide 'handsome" She spoke in broken English "Go and clean up, I have prepared plenty of dishes for you to taste"
Li Han nodded and bowed to his grandma before going upstairs to the room, she prepared for him.
The end of the term had finally arrived, bringing with it the familiar buzz of relief and exhaustion that always followed exam week. When the rankings were posted, Li Han discovered he had secured a spot in the top five—an achievement that made quiet pride settle warmly in his chest. He had studied relentlessly, pouring hours into his books while everyone else seemed to coast or cram at the last minute.
Still, the first four positions belonged to alphas, as they almost always did, and the rest of the top fifteen were a mix of alphas and omegas. Fifth place, for a beta, felt like a small but real victory. His parents had been just as pleased; his mother smiled softly when she saw the results, and even his father gave a rare nod of approval.
A day into the winter break, everything changed.
His parents surprised him with a train ticket. His grandmother, who lived in a small, quiet town several hours away by rail, had been asking to see her only grandson so here he was.
Li Han had already stayed up to a week and spend most of the time reading in his room and the other helping his grandmother to do other task. Elder Liu Shishi noticed the pattern and during dinner she had told Li Han to stop staying in his room reading alone and suggested he went out to make friends but Li Han had told her of his inability to make friends so she suggested he get a job so he could earn some pocket money which Li Han agreed to but sadly he told her of his lack of work experience so she guaranteed him that she would get him something simple.
Two days later, his grandmother had told him that she got a job for him as a pool boy to a super rich family and he would come the next day. The next day, Li Han followed the address to a large mansion where an odd looking, stylishly dressed man asked him questions
"Is this your first time working?"
"Yes sir but I will make sure to do my best" Li Han spoke earnestly
"Okay but at least you should know how to clean a pool. The pool is used daily so you have to come everyday by 11 a.m, for now follow me— I will show you to the pool"
Li Han followed the man to a beautifully designed large pool, the man showed him the storage room where they kept all the materials and also used his thumbprint to sign him into the system which was the way he could get in and get out without disturbing anyone which confused Li Han but he was given a stern warning on what to do.
"If anyone gets in here because of you, you are in a world of trouble" The man then said calmly before walking off "we would discuss your pay later"
Li Han understood the warning clearly but he knew even if something like that happened the hundreds of bodyguards who stood motionlessly were sure to scare them away. Once the man left, Li Han took it as a sign to get started. It was late in the afternoon when Li Han finished, once he got home, his grandmother welcomed him with food which he happily ate
"Aiya my handsome grandson is working so hard" Elder, Liu Shishi praised.
One week had passed and Li Han had never met anyone but he knew the pool was being used because everyday when he came, the pool would have some wrapper of candy or other weird stuff. One day Li Han was cleaning the pool when a shirtless slightly tanned guy came and saw him.
"Oh you must be the pool boy nice to meet you" The boy said and Li Han just bowed in awkwardness even though the boy was obviously the same age range as him.
"You don't need to bow to me, we look the same age" Li Han was taken aback when he was suddenly hugged by the strange boy.
"My name is Lucas Wen, it's nice to meet you— I can tell you're a beta and I'm an omega" Lucas said excitedly.
Truthfully Li Han was not interested in hearing the english-named Chinese boy talk but he was surprised that he was an omega since he was almost the same height with Li Han and trust me, Li Han was not a short grape, this made Li Han voice out his confusion.
"But you don't look like an omega"
"Oh that's because I am an super dominant omega" Li Han was confused again, he had never heard about anything like 'super dominant' but he refused to let the confusion show unless the omega brick would open his mouth again
"Okay nice talking to you" Lucas hugged Li Han who did not reciprocate and he walked off. Li Han continued his job and once he was done he left.
Lucas sat in the movie room watching a movie till he decided it was time he went swimming, he went upstairs to call the twins who were still playing video games
"Com'on you guys let's go swim"
"Lucas don't disturb us right now, we're almost done" Yo Han said distractedly, Lucas rolled his eyes and went to stand in the middle of the twins to watch them finish the game, suddenly they turned to stare at Lucas which made them automatically fail the game, they stood up to sniff him
"Hey don't do that, I'm your cousin" Lucas was weirded out
"Relax dude, where did you go today?" Yo Sun asked which the other brother immediately understood
"I didn't go anywhere and you guys are behaving creepy"
"Or did you meet someone new"
"You guys are literally scaring me"
"Just answer the question Luke"
Lucas rolled his eyes and said "Fine, I forgot my sunshades by the pool and I went to go get it but I met some dude our age cleaning the pool and do you know the worst part I forgot to get..."
Yo Han and Yo Sun ignored what their cousin said and nodded to each other
"I feel like I'm not involved in this conversation" Lucas said.