Hearing Wen Song proactively bring up what happened last night and offer a rather sincere apology, Guan Sui instantly understood that the other person wanted to draw a clear line and was therefore taking all the blame upon himself.
Anyone else would have just let it drop at that.
However:
“You aren’t planning to take responsibility, are you?” Guan Sui stood by the bedside, looking down at Wen Song from above.
A top-tier Alpha was actually telling a Beta to take responsibility.
Wen Song was stunned for a good while before he snapped back to his senses.
“How do you expect me to take responsibility?”
Guan Sui knew about his relationship with Zhao Mingzhuo, and the two of them were still exceptionally close buddies.
The deep physical exchange last night was already a moral transgression. Even though Wen Song knew that his relationship with Zhao Mingzhuo fundamentally lacked any sense of one owing the other, it had been a transaction from the very beginning.
When he first arrived in Sui City and was being picked on at the Wen family banquet, Zhao Mingzhuo was the one who stepped forward. Although he didn’t know why the other proposed dating, Zhao Mingzhuo was willing to become his pillar of support in Sui City and provide help, so he naturally wouldn’t refuse.
After agreeing, Wen Song spent every day dutifully playing the role of Zhao Mingzhuo’s legitimate boyfriend.
Occupying the title, he would certainly be honest and dutiful, fulfilling the responsibilities a boyfriend should have. After all, Zhao Mingzhuo acted like he simply wanted to date him, giving him everything he needed, with occasional tenderness and affection that made it seem as though he genuinely liked him.
Yet:
Several times, he had noticed the other man looking at his face as if reminiscing about someone else.
Wen Song had never harbored genuine romantic feelings for Zhao Mingzhuo.
“Maintain this relationship,” Guan Sui said.
Hearing this, Wen Song thought he had misheard. He frowned and asked, “What did you say?”
Guan Sui paced over to the computer desk not far away, retrieved the documents he had prepared beforehand, walked back to the bedside, placed the papers in front of Wen Song, and began to speak, “The things you need, I can give you just as well as Zhao Mingzhuo.”
Wen Song’s chest felt as though it was being gently gripped by a hand.
Lowering his head, he carefully looked over the few sheets of paper Guan Sui had handed him.
It was a report from a medical team and data regarding Alpha pheromones.
“What are these?” Wen Song vaguely guessed Guan Sui’s intention.
His grandmother’s medical treatment was currently at a standstill. Several hospitals she had been sent to had informed him that she needed better recuperation and that they could not rashly perform surgery. He knew the hospitals’ technical level was limited, and difficult, complicated conditions carried too great a risk, so a more professional team was needed to take over to ensure the surgery could proceed faster with a success rate reaching sixty percent.
But time certainly did not wait for anyone.
This was the exact dilemma Wen Song was currently facing.
Just the day before, his grandmother’s attending physician had spoken with him, saying that her current physical condition did not support undergoing surgery, and if her condition deteriorated, they would have no ability to alleviate it, unless they sought a doctor with a higher degree of certainty.
However, with the required upgrades in equipment, medicine, and chemotherapy, the hospital stay, medication, and surgical expenses would be at least ten times more expensive than ordinary treatments.
The Wen family would not support it, and Zhao Mingzhuo certainly wouldn’t spend that much money.
“I have looked into your grandmother’s condition, so you don’t need to worry about the surgery,” Guan Sui said. “I have a more professional team on my side specialized in handling this condition, and I will cover all the expenses.”
“As for Alpha pheromones:”
“To express my sincerity, I want to tell you that my situation is special.”
“You are a Beta, which happens to suit me perfectly during my rut.”
Wen Song’s fingers curled up unconsciously, wrinkling the corner of the paper. “I am not the only Beta in this world.”
“What we are doing is wrong.”
Guan Sui leaned down, the corners of his lips curling up. “What’s wrong with it?”
Wen Song: “Everything is wrong with it.”
His morality was being chewed apart by a ferocious beast, and so many years of being a well-behaved, obedient person made it impossible for him to commit acts that crossed the line.
“Then let’s make it right,” Guan Sui said word by word.
Wen Song didn’t understand when Guan Sui had started setting his sights on him. Clearly, the two of them usually had little interaction; aside from the conversation on the first occasion, they had hardly spoken a single word in other settings.
Let alone having known each other previously, because Guan Sui had only returned from abroad recently.
“Why?” he asked again. “There are so many Betas in this world.”
Why choose his good buddy’s boyfriend of all people?
Guan Sui stared intently into Wen Song’s eyes and said, “No reason.”
Wen Song lowered his eyelids. “I have no way of getting emotionally entangled with two people.”
Thinking of the Beta from last night who was so green he didn’t even know how to spread his legs, Guan Sui narrowed his eyes and asked, “Are you sure you have an emotional entanglement, rather than a transaction with two people?”
Wen Song replied with an expressionless face, “Zhao Mingzhuo and I are still in a relationship.”
Their relationship was something everyone in the same circle in Sui City knew about.
Guan Sui nodded once, then again. “So I am the third wheel.”
Wen Song: “What?”
Having the true top Alpha young master of Sui City act as a third wheel for him was utterly absurd.
“Do you like Zhao Mingzhuo?” Guan Sui watched Wen Song’s eyes as he asked.
Wen Song felt as though he was completely exposed in front of Guan Sui, who had somehow seen through the nominal nature of his relationship with Zhao Mingzhuo long ago; otherwise, he wouldn’t be openly poaching him like this.
He remained silent in the face of this question.
He was far too passive.
Guan Sui dominated and understood everything about him as if holding a winning hand, gripping his lifeblood and leverage. If he truly agreed, he would end up like a pet raised in upper-class circles, being led around on a leash at will.
“Is it that hard to answer?” Guan Sui let out a light sneer.
Alphas never liked to conceal their own emotions, let alone someone who had held a position of high power since childhood, whose background was enough for him to walk all over Sui City. Almost no one ever defied him, let alone bargained or negotiated with him.
Given that it concerned his grandmother’s condition, Wen Song could not casually refuse.
He said, “I… need to think about it.”
Before the words could leave his mouth, suddenly, a knock sounded at the door along with Zhao Mingzhuo’s voice.
“Ah Sui…”
Hearing Zhao Mingzhuo’s voice, Wen Song’s body instantly stiffened. He reached out and pulled the quilt up to his shoulders; the situation last night had been too intense, and his collarbone, chest, shoulders, and waist were covered in suggestive marks.
Outside stood his legitimate “boyfriend.”
If the other person barged into the room, he would definitely discover what outrageous things they had done last night.
Guan Sui’s expression remained indifferent, seemingly unafraid of being caught in the act of adultery.
Wen Song had always been the obedient, well-behaved, high-achieving child in everyone’s eyes, and finding himself in such a scenario brought a sense of humiliation, especially since he was currently naked in the bed of his boyfriend’s buddy.
Getting discovered would be mortifying.
Click. Suddenly, the sound of the doorknob being turned echoed.
A trace of tension rose on Wen Song’s usually calm face. Just as he was about to dive under the covers, he discovered that the door was locked from the inside, meaning Zhao Mingzhuo outside couldn’t possibly get in and could only continue knocking, tap, tap, tap, while calling out Guan Sui’s name.
Finally, he let out a long sigh of relief, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.