Shen Yan tilted his head back, resting in Wen Xiuran’s embrace, his tone carrying a rare certainty: “Don’t worry, as long as you don’t break up with me, I’ll never leave you.”
The beta’s fingers trailed slowly upward from Wen Xiuran’s chest, blindly finding his face as if caressing a piece of art. “You’re so good! How could I ever bear to leave you? Meeting you was already the luckiest thing that could’ve happened to me.”
He had said these words to countless alphas before, and every one of them had eaten it up.
Wen Xiuran was no exception.
Outside the window, the green mountains and roads flashed by. Shen Yan pushed Wen Xiuran’s hand aside, propping his chin up as he squinted at the passing scenery.
Wen Xiuran tightened his grip, pulling Shen Yan firmly against his chest. After a pause, he began clumsily proposing again.
Shen Yan let out an almost imperceptible sigh, feigning hesitation before asking weakly, “Would your parents even agree?”
Right now, he was just an ordinary little beta. He didn’t dare reveal the truth to Wen Xiuran outright. Better to wait for his parents to intervene then his exit would be smooth and natural.
“They’ll support me,” Wen Xiuran said after a pause. “They want me to be with someone I love.”
Shen Yan glanced at him from the corner of his eye, amused but also slightly swayed.
Would the family of such a major conglomerate’s heir really allow him to choose a beta? Even if they did, pregnancy would likely be difficult for him. Were they planning to donate the entire company to the state after they passed away?
“So, will you marry me? We’re both of legal age. I can buy you a house, give you money whatever you want.”
Wen Xiuran knew exactly what Shen Yan liked. Like a fisherman by the lake, he dangled his bait, tempting the beta in his arms.
Shen Yan responded only by silently kissing the alpha’s chin, though inwardly, he was puzzled. He was starting to suspect Wen Xiuran had some psychological issues. It wasn’t as if he couldn’t find a suitable omega—why was he so fixated on an ordinary beta like him?
At first, he had thought Wen Xiuran was some unattainable ice prince. Now, the alpha seemed more like a chatty peacock flaunting his feathers.
From impatient, perfunctory replies to answering every question, and now to ignoring Shen Yan’s responses entirely and just rambling freely. It had only been a hundred days since they first met.
But then again, when someone was in love, no matter how cold they usually were, they’d dig up every topic under the sun just to keep the conversation going.
Still, Shen Yan knew this was just the blind passion of the honeymoon phase. Once it faded, all those grand promises would mean nothing. Let alone this fleeting affection.
“Xiuran,” Shen Yan chose the answer most advantageous to himself, replying earnestly, “I really want to be with you. I want to marry you. But I’m just a beta. Being with me would expose you to so much gossip. I know you might not care, if it’s for my sake.”
“But it would hurt me to see you suffer. I want to make a name for myself in my field. At the very least, if anything ever happens to your company in the future, I could still support you.”
The train entered a tunnel, plunging everything into darkness. The deafening roar of the tracks drowned out the erratic beating of Shen Yan’s heart.
These words sounded so fake that even Shen Yan felt a pang of guilt after saying them. After all, Wen Xiuran wasn’t a man with low intelligence.
But wasn’t dating all about deception? Who could guarantee that Wen Xiuran’s words were any more truthful?
Wen Xiuran froze for a moment, pressing his lips together as he pondered for a long time. He opened his mouth several times but couldn’t find the right words to say.
It was like encountering an experiment gone wrong but not knowing where the problem lay.
Reason told him there was something off about Shen Yan’s words, yet emotion urged him to happily forget those doubts.
The moment Shen Yan finished speaking, Wen Xiuran even felt a flicker of emotion. But Shen Yan was like a little fox—could his words really be sincere?
Wen Xiuran lowered his gaze to meet Shen Yan’s somewhat innocent eyes.
Forget it, he thought. His beta just wanted to build a career and, in the process, extract some money and connections from him. It wasn’t like he had any ill intentions.
Wen Xiuran reached out and ruffled Shen Yan’s hair, nodding in support.
“You said before that it was love at first sight for you. After realizing your feelings for me, what were your thoughts?”
Wen Xiuran tilted his head in thought before answering, “I found it terrifying.”
He had always been a loner, accustomed to solitude. Apart from his parents, he never imagined forming a bond with anyone.
Yet a beta without any scent had made him, an alpha, rely on medication to maintain his rationality. At the time, Wen Xiuran had been terrified. He tossed and turned countless nights, his mind flooded with endless scenarios. If he were to be with this beta, how deeply would he be influenced?
Perhaps he’d lose all reason, reduced to nothing more than a primal, low-tier alpha driven by instinct.
Later, he realized he couldn’t control his longing for Shen Yan at all. The medication had just taken effect, yet Shen Yan only needed to play a small trick—an accidental touch—to shatter his defenses in an instant, forcing him to increase the dosage to suppress the emotions threatening to burst forth.
When the two became intimate, Wen Xiuran, now fully immersed in the experience, found that occasionally losing control wasn’t so bad. He loved seeing Shen Yan’s eyes redden because of him.
Wen Xiuran decided that being with this beta wasn’t so terrible after all. His resistance to emotions had always been absolute, but the joy of embracing this affection was something he had never experienced before.
“But I also felt a little happy.”
After adding this, he lowered his head slightly, leaning closer to Shen Yan’s face, and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. The previous topic came to an abrupt end as they melted into each other’s embrace.
Upon reaching their destination, Wen Xiuran rented a private house and devoted himself entirely to accompanying Shen Yan. Shen Yan, in turn, indulged in the pleasure of a ruler neglecting his duties, finding every excuse to slip away from the sketching group and spend his nights tangled up with Wen Xiuran.
The result? By the next morning, Shen Yan was drenched in the overpowering scent of peaches from Wen Xiuran.
Being a beta, he remained unaffected and strolled around leisurely as usual. But the alphas and omegas around him recoiled as if he were the plague the moment they caught a whiff of him.
When his former desk mate, Chen Yu, spotted him, his eyes lit up as he prepared to greet him. But the moment he got close, the peach scent hit him like a physical force. Chen Yu hastily covered his nose and shouted, “Is your partner an S-rank alpha?!”
Shen Yan shrugged his shoulders, a hint of indifference flashing across his face as he chose not to answer the question.
After all, he was in a hurry to meet Wen Xiuran. There was a bonfire party tonight, and such a perfect atmosphere was just right for a date.
Chen Yu stood frozen in place for a long while. When he finally snapped out of it, an inexplicable surge of resentment and jealousy welled up inside him. Watching Shen Yan’s retreating figure, he muttered bitterly, “Just a beta—what makes him think he’s worthy of an alpha?”