PRESENT
Why had he smiled at Ling Yue the instant their eyes met?
Now he would not stop staring at him.
"You are beautiful," Ling Yue muttered beside him, but Xuan Han pretended he was staring at the lanterns above after announcing himself.
He could feel Ling Yue's stare on him. They were intense, and it was not the reaction he had expected.
Do not look. Do not look. Do not…
"Beautiful," Ling Yue repeated, his words sounding loud enough for everyone in the hall to hear him. "You look like you walked out of a painting."
Xuan Han's fingers tightened beside him. He had told Wei Jin that he should not make him too pretty.
Make me unremarkable. A plain omega that would not gain attention.
But Wei Jin had told him that no ugly omegas would be allowed to join the selection and had turned him into a porcelain doll that Ling Yue would not stop staring at, and the way he had walked in as the main character had made things worse because he could feel all eyes on him in the hall.
