CH 11

Chapter 11: He Decides to Give up on Yan Zhixing

The business card was designed simply, with a woody fragrance. Xu Yibai squeezed it into a ball in his palm. He kept his fist clenched tightly and stared at Shen Yao, demanding, “Who gave this to you?”

He had been waiting outside Shen Yao’s house for a whole night, for three days straight, sometimes during the day, sometimes at night, sometimes even for the entire day.

At midnight, he finally saw Shen Yao, who had been missing for three days. Shen Yao stumbled back, his face flushed, and even looked aroused.

Xu Yibai had no idea where Shen Yao had been, where he had stayed, or who he had been with during those three missing days. Extreme guesses surged through his mind.

Did Shen Yao fall in love with another Alpha, which was why he casually broke up with him? Where had he been these past few days? Was he with that Alpha?

Or maybe he met another Alpha, and that business card was from that Alpha? Why did Shen Yao accept it?

It was just his imagination, but he couldn’t control his extreme possessiveness as an Alpha.

He grabbed Shen Yao’s arm and pushed him back to the corner of the bed.

Shen Yao was still in his non-responsive period, and the stimulus of being marked and his arousal made him still unable to regain his senses. His eyes were blank, with tears still hanging from his eyelashes when he had been marked.

“Shen Yao.” Xu Yibai’s hand caressed his neck, stopping below the gland. He used a lot of self-control to ask calmly, “Where did this business card come from?”

“What business card?”

Shen Yao unconsciously repeated it again. The marked Omega only wanted to be close to their Alpha. He struggled to lift his arm and wanted to embrace Xu Yibai, his weak voice begging, “Touch me, Xu Yibai… touch me.”

Xu Yibai remained silent, and he could see Shen Yao’s head already buried in his arms. He suppressed the urge to reach out and admonished himself not to be soft-hearted.

He didn’t embrace Shen Yao and repeated, “Shen Yao, who gave you the business card and why?”

Without an Alpha to comfort him, Shen Yao felt hot all over. He had just tried to avoid Xu Yibai, but now he couldn’t help but want to cling to him.

His arm hung around Xu Yibai’s neck, covered in the finger marks Xu Yibai had just pinched on him. Shen Yao lowered his head, instinctively nibbling on Xu Yibai’s neck without any order or reason.

Xu Yibai bit his tongue and pushed Shen Yao away, persistently asking, “The business card.”

“The business card?” Shen Yao’s hazy consciousness finally returned a little, but not completely. His gaze was still blurred, and his words were jumbled. “Someone else forced it on me… I didn’t want it, but he gave it to me.”

After speaking, he continued to cling to Xu Yibai, as if trying to absorb oxygen from him.

Shen Yao had completely lost his senses at this point and could not possibly be lying. Xu Yibai finally relaxed his clenched fists, and the business card fell from his hand to the ground.

He wanted to ask Shen Yao why he wanted to break up with him, but suddenly his throat was bitten.

Shen Yao became increasingly clingy and daring. He had just been hugging Xu Yibai, but now he had straddled Xu Yibai’s lap with his legs apart.

And he was very restless.

The fragrance of apricot blossoms hit their faces. Pheromones have a mutual influence, and Xu Yibai’s mind went blank. He used pheromones to force Shen Yao’s emotions. Shen Yao’s pheromones also tempted him, leaving him with only Alpha instincts.

Xu Yibai had long forgotten what he wanted to say. He pinched the waist of the Omega in front of him and lifted him up before letting him down again.

This position made Shen Yao feel a little nauseous, and tears gathered in his dry eyes once again. Shen Yao tightly embraced Xu Yibai’s neck, burying his face in the crook of his neck.

His ears, exposed to the air, turned bright red.

When the sky brightened, Shen Yao, who couldn’t move a finger, was finally carried to take a bath by Xu Yibai.

Xu Yibai helped him dry off and then carried him back to bed, embracing him from behind. Shen Yao leaned back into his embrace, curling up with bent legs, appearing to be sleeping soundly.

His eyelashes trembled, but his eyes were clear. In fact, he had mostly regained his clarity since being marked by Xu Yibai, but he kept falling into desire again and again.

Shen Yao realized that his understanding of Xu Yibai was somewhat wrong. He seemed to have underestimated Xu Yibai’s affection for him. Breaking up was an unspeakable topic for Xu Yibai.

During the years they had been together, Shen Yao had disappeared many times and had done many unreasonable things to challenge Xu Yibai’s bottom line.

Xu Yibai rarely got angry, even when he did, he only chose to reason. It seemed that this time, he had touched his bottom line.

Shen Yao closed his eyes and turned over, reaching out to hug Xu Yibai.

When he had chosen Xu Yibai in the first place, he had thought that Xu Yibai was gentle and kind, and that the breakup would be smooth. But now Xu Yibai was a bit different from his impression, making things a bit tricky.

Shen Yao thought of Guan Shu. The first time they broke up, he had no experience, and Guan Shu had acted like a mad dog, biting him for a whole month. Even after Guan Shu was forced to leave, Shen Yao had not slept well for a long time, his sleep was shallow and alert.

He often dreamed of the burning bite marks on his glands, the sweat drops falling onto his clavicle, and Guan Shu’s handsome and sharp face with extreme hatred in his eyes. That face always seemed both unfamiliar and familiar to Shen Yao.

Then he would wake up, drenched in sweat.

This left a deep shadow on Shen Yao. Now, just thinking back to it made his breathing become short and rapid.

He was not planning to firmly break up with Xu Yibai anymore. Moreover, in this perfect relationship that he had hoped for, Xu Yibai had put in a lot of effort, which made him very satisfied.

From the moment he suggested a breakup, this romance had come to a perfect close. However, Shen Yao decided to be merciful and give Xu Yibai more time to move on. After all, once everything was over, Xu Yibai might never see him again.

At around three in the morning, the bed in the room finally stirred again. Due to excessive stimulation, Shen Yao shed a lot of tears last night, and his eyes were still a bit red and swollen.

He was induced into a false heat by the pheromones of other omegas. The wave of desire from last night had faded from his face, but the marks on his body remained.

Shen Yao raised his hand and touched the bite marks on his gland. He couldn’t count how many times Xu Yibai had bitten him yesterday.

He sat up and leaned against the bed. Xu Yibai, who had already gotten up but had been standing by his bed for a while, asked, “Are you calm now?”

Xu Yibai nodded silently.

Shen Yao also nodded naturally and said, “Then, could you help me pour a glass of water? My throat hurts.”

Xu Yibai went out and soon came back, handing Shen Yao a glass of warm water.

Shen Yao took a few sips and his dry throat finally felt much better. He drank most of the glass and then habitually handed the cup back.

Xu Yibai took it and put it on the bedside table. There was a sound of collision from the bottom of the cup, followed by his voice.

“Shen Yao.” His eyes gradually reddened again, “Why did you break up with me?”

He had been sitting quietly in front of the piano since he was a child, playing repetitive and monotonous things every day. This was also an important process that influenced Xu Yibai’s personality, making him gentle and quiet.

Xu Yibai had his first crush and first love with Shen Yao. He couldn’t understand why Shen Yao was still kissing him passionately that night, but the next moment, he sent him a cold breakup message over the phone.

When faced with him in person, he refused to speak, and he didn’t even give a reason for the breakup.

He wanted to know what he meant to Shen Yao, and whether Shen Yao had really loved him.

When he loved Shen Yao too much, he also hated Shen Yao’s freedom.

Shen Yao’s exposed skin was covered with the love marks he left, and the temporary marks on his gland indicated that he was his omega.

His Adam’s apple moved up and down, and Xu Yibai asked, “Do you still want to break up with me?”

His blood seemed to flow backward, and Xu Yibai held his breath. If Shen Yao wanted to break up, Xu Yibai didn’t know how he would react.

Last night, he acted like an extremely jealous husband towards Shen Yao, and his behavior could even be seen as coercion.

Xu Yibai involuntarily lowered his eyes, and to remain calm, he closed his eyes.

But his tense body was embraced by the soft Omega, and the apricot blossom scent emanating from his gland invisibly soothed him.

Xu Yibai gradually relaxed his body, as if stepping from the edge of a cliff to level ground. His body had embraced Shen Yao tightly, as if he wanted to embed him into his own body.

Shen Yao said in a low mood, “I heard you talking on the phone that day. I heard that your family wanted to introduce you to an Omega… even though they knew you already had a boyfriend.”

“Didn’t you finish listening, huh?” Xu Yibai’s arm tightened. “I said afterwards that I don’t want anyone else, I only like you.”

“Moreover, Shen Yao, they do have some issues but because you never wanted to come home with me or let me show them pictures of you, they always thought I was lying.”

Shen Yao turned around and got angry instead. “Didn’t I say I’ll come home with you during the Chinese New Year?”

“You know I have trust issues, and I can be clingy. You’re so good to me…sometimes I feel like I don’t deserve you.”

“What if your parents introduce you to a better, prettier Omega? I’m afraid you won’t want me anymore, so I wanted to try out what you would do first.”

He knew tears could be a powerful tool, but Shen Yao couldn’t cry. At most, he made the corners of his eyes red.

Shen Yao said sadly, “I only brought up breaking up to test you. Blocking and hiding from you was to see if you would come find me. I wanted to know if I was important to you. I know it’s childish.”

“I’ve been feeling down lately, so I’ve been going to the bar at night to drink. That card was given to me by an Alpha I met there, and my heat was triggered because I also met an Omega in heat.”

He grabbed Xu Yibai’s hand and looked truly aggrieved. Xu Yibai couldn’t find a single fault in his expression.

Shen Yao’s words made some sense and seemed trustworthy. They just made him seem like he was being overly stubborn.

If he didn’t believe him, Xu Yibai could ask Shen Yao many questions.

He had always been thinking that Shen Yao’s elusive character was partly due to him, allowing Shen Yao to think that he could get away with anything.

As long as he didn’t lie, his feelings were genuine, and he didn’t mention breaking up.

Xu Yibai felt that he could continue to indulge him like this.

But if everything Shen Yao said was false, then this was his last chance.

But was this really a chance? Would he be willing to break up with Shen Yao?

Xu Yibai’s gaze lingered on Shen Yao’s smooth glands, and he felt reluctant to let him go.

Shen Yao still had that dependent attitude towards Xu Yibai.

He knew that this hastily concocted lie had loopholes and Xu Yibai couldn’t completely trust him.

But that wasn’t important. He knew Xu Yibai’s bottom line, so now he just needed to calm Xu Yibai down.

He caught a glimpse of the crumpled paper on the floor.

As for Yan Zhixing, he was too unpredictable, and his sudden change in attitude towards him was too absurd. Shen Yao’s sixth sense told him to stay away from Yan Zhixing.

Yan Zhixing was the best option, but he decided not to go for Yan Zhixing.