After taking a shower and heading downstairs, Shen Zhinian found Bo Chengjing and Xia Zhihao already eating breakfast.
Seeing him, Xia Zhihao looked slightly surprised. “The young master is up so early today.”
“None of your business.” Shen Zhinian walked over to the dining table. When his gaze landed on Bo Chengjing, his eyes paused for a fraction of a second, and he froze in place.
Bo Chengjing noticed that split-second hesitation in his gaze. “What is it?”
“Nothing.” Shen Zhinian sat down on the chair beside him.
The auntie brought over his breakfast, and he ate in silence, not uttering a single word.
Xia Zhihao looked between him and Bo Chengjing, asking, “Did you finally decide to render him mute last night?”
“Why not you?” Bo Chengjing countered.
“Because I know it wasn’t me,” Xia Zhihao said. “Besides, it was so late last night, and I saw him coming out of your room.”
Bo Chengjing’s expression didn’t change, but Shen Zhinian’s hand holding the spoon paused. He kept his gaze lowered and refused to look at them.
Xia Zhihao asked Bo Chengjing, “Did he try to pull something untoward on you last night and get kicked out?”
Shen Zhinian lost his grip on the spoon, dropping it into the bowl.
At the sound of porcelain clinking, both Bo Chengjing and Xia Zhihao turned to look at him.
Shen Zhinian met their gazes with an air of utter indifference, acting as though nothing had happened as he picked up the spoon and resumed eating.
Xia Zhihao watched him for a moment before asking Bo Chengjing in a low voice, “He didn’t actually do anything to you, did he?”
Bo Chengjing studied Shen Zhinian for a moment before turning back to Xia Zhihao. “Why couldn’t it be me doing something to him?”
Listening to their conversation, Shen Zhinian had his mind entirely consumed by that dream.
In all his years, no dream had ever left such a profound and vivid impression on him.
Outwardly, Shen Zhinian looked fine, but mentally he had zoned out entirely.
“You look like a decent person, but he…” Xia Zhihao glanced at Shen Zhinian. “…doesn’t really look like one.”
Shen Zhinian shot her a look without speaking.
He really didn’t feel like talking right now.
“He’s not denying it,” Xia Zhihao observed. “He’s not a good person.”
Bo Chengjing gave Shen Zhinian another look, sensing that something was off with him.
“So did he do anything?” Xia Zhihao asked.
“What could he possibly do?” Bo Chengjing said. “Eat up, or you’ll miss your flight.”
“Are you leaving?” Shen Zhinian looked at her.
“What? Can’t bear to see me go?” Xia Zhihao teased.
Shen Zhinian glanced at her and fell silent again.
“I came too hastily, and a bunch of matters piled up without being handled,” Xia Zhihao said. “Next time I’m back, I’ll stay a few more days.”
Shen Zhinian grunted an acknowledgment.
After breakfast, Bo Chengjing and Shen Zhinian drove Xia Zhihao to the airport.
Once she left, the two of them drove back home.
Sitting in the car, Bo Chengjing noticed Shen Zhinian sitting completely still and raised a hand to stroke his head, intending to remind him to put on his seatbelt. But the moment his hand lifted and before it even touched him, Shen Zhinian gave a start and instinctively shrank back away from his touch.
Bo Chengjing’s hand paused in mid-air. He figured that if there hadn’t been a seatback behind him, Shen Zhinian’s dodge could have sent him straight into the back seat.
He looked at Shen Zhinian.
Coming to his senses, Shen Zhinian looked back at him. “I…”
After uttering a single syllable, he had no idea what else to say.
“Seatbelt,” Bo Chengjing said, retracting his hand and starting the car.
Shen Zhinian fastened his seatbelt, then cast a glance at Bo Chengjing.
He always felt as though he had caught a glimpse of a different expression in Bo Chengjing’s eyes just then, one he had never seen before.
Yet that expression vanished in the blink of an eye. When he tried to look closer, it was already gone, replaced by his usual calm demeanor.
“Brother,” Shen Zhinian called out to him.
Bo Chengjing responded with a hum.
“Just now…” Shen Zhinian didn’t know why he wanted to explain, nor how to explain it. He certainly couldn’t tell the other man that he had dreamed up something scandalous involving them both. Would Bo Chengjing straight-up kick him out of the house and disown him if he did?
“I didn’t sleep well last night,” Shen Zhinian offered.
Bo Chengjing glanced sideways at him and chuckled. “Mhm, go back and catch up on sleep.”
Seeing that Bo Chengjing showed no signs of abnormality, Shen Zhinian felt relieved. “Good.”
Bo Chengjing said nothing more.
The entire way back, Shen Zhinian kept his eyes closed and leaned against the seat, and Bo Chengjing didn’t disturb him.
Dropping him off at home, Bo Chengjing didn’t get out of the car, driving straight to the company instead.
Standing at the doorway, Shen Zhinian watched the car pull out of the yard, waiting quite a while before finally heading back to his room.
For the entire week that followed, Shen Zhinian did not return home.
He stayed exclusively in the dormitory.
And he didn’t see Bo Chengjing for a full week.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see him, but every time he laid eyes on him, he would recall that dream.
He wanted to punch himself into oblivion.
How could he have done such a thing to Bo Chengjing?
How could two Alphas do that kind of thing?
The more he thought about it, the more wrong that dream felt, and the more wrong he felt.
One night, he even sat up in bed and used his computer to search: Can two Alphas be together?
The moment those words hit the search bar, he panicked so badly that he deleted them immediately without even hitting enter.
Shen Zhinian felt like he had been cursed.
So he searched for how to exorcise evil spirits.
The search results advised him to believe in science.
A week passed. On Sunday night, Shen Zhinian decided to go home and check in.
As long as Bo Chengjing was in Jiangcheng, they had never gone this long without seeing each other.
So he planned to go home for a look.
Even though they had exchanged messages over the past week, they were limited to a couple of brief sentences about daily routines.
Shen Zhinian missed his older brother a little.
Yet upon returning home, Bo Chengjing was nowhere to be found.
The auntie at home told him that Bo Chengjing was on a business trip and hadn’t been home for three days.
Shen Zhinian had no idea.
And this business trip dragged on.
Two whole months passed without Shen Zhinian seeing Bo Chengjing.
Bo Chengjing never came back.
From initially thinking letting him have some quiet time is fine, Shen Zhinian progressed to asking Bo Chengjing every single day when he would return.
Yet Bo Chengjing gave no definitive timeline.
When two months had finally elapsed and Shen Zhinian asked again, Bo Chengjing told him he was coming back tomorrow.
So the moment classes ended the next day, Shen Zhinian rushed straight home.
The second he stepped through the front door, however, he spotted a young male sitting in the living room.
An extraordinarily pretty boy.
His hair looked soft, his eyes were large and bright, and at a single glance, he was clearly a little Omega.
He was flashing an incredibly obedient, sweet smile at Bo Chengjing. As the two of them sat together on the sofa discussing something, Bo Chengjing even reached out to gently ruffle the crown of his head, a smile curving the corners of his lips.
Shen Zhinian’s elation was instantly extinguished.
He stepped into the living room.
Both Bo Chengjing and the young man turned to look at him.
Noticing Shen Zhinian’s dark, cold expression, the boy looked somewhat frightened, his smile vanishing as he instinctively shifted closer to Bo Chengjing’s side.
Bo Chengjing asked, “What is it? What happened?”
Shen Zhinian stared at the two of them sitting practically shoulder-to-shoulder, marched straight up to Bo Chengjing’s side, looked down at him, and demanded in a cold voice, “Who is he?”
Bo Chengjing tilted his head up to look at him, pausing for two seconds before answering, “Who do you think he is?”
“Bo Chengjing,” Shen Zhinian said his name in a voice so soft it was almost a whisper.
Bo Chengjing chuckled. “My younger brother.”
Shen Zhinian frowned slightly.
Bo Chengjing added, “My biological younger brother.”