1122 - Chapter 21

Perhaps feeling unwell, he remained silent after getting into the car.

The cityscape flashing by outside the window looked slightly different from five years ago, yet not drastically changed. His gaze lingered on an approaching café for a few seconds, as if remembering something, unable to tear his eyes away.

Truth be told, it had been a long time since he’d had coffee. Since being diagnosed with high blood pressure, his diet had been strictly controlled. He’d sneaked a few cups at home before, but Chu Beiheng’s bloodhound nose always caught him, and the man would inevitably tattle to Qiao Qiao about his caffeine theft.

The two of them would seize every opportunity to point fingers and lecture him.

Don’t you know coffee makes your heart race and gives you headaches?!

“That coffee shop you loved is still there. Want to grab a cup?”

Jiang Yi: “No.”

Yan Nanchen’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. As they reached a red light, he gradually brought the car to a stop and glanced sideways at Jiang Yi, noticing how the man was still staring at that café, clearly craving it.

“I’ll go buy you one.”

Jiang Yi chuckled at this: “Ex-boyfriend, don’t go through such pains to court a married man. It wouldn’t do for my husband to misunderstand.” The smile gradually faded from his lips as he glanced down at his wrist.

Still slightly red.

He’d originally intended to calmly discuss matters regarding their child. But if Yan Nanchen wanted to play these games of forced conquest, then he shouldn’t blame Jiang Yi for twisting the knife.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Yan Nanchen’s face darken.

Jiang Yi raised an eyebrow, suddenly feeling slightly less uncomfortable even somewhat pleased.

At Zunduan International Hotel.

Yan Nanchen watched as Jiang Yi offered a lukewarm “thanks” before exiting the car. He immediately opened his own door to follow. Leaning against the car frame, he called over the roof: “Yiyi, let me walk you up.”

Hearing this address, Jiang Yi smiled up at him: “President Yan, we’re business partners now. Best not use such familiar terms wouldn’t want my husband to misunderstand.”

The word “husband” stabbed at Yan Nanchen’s heart again. His grip on the car door tightened as he struggled to maintain composure. “Business partners can still be close, can’t they?”

Jiang Yi shut the car door. Pausing by the hood, he turned to meet Yan Nanchen’s gaze: “President Yan, I’ve moved on from what happened five years ago. Are you still stuck in the past? We’re adults now.”

“You haven’t.” Yan Nanchen’s voice was steel. “You were clearly upset earlier still can’t forget how I wronged you. That’s why you came back, isn’t it? To make me pay.”

He immediately regretted his words when Jiang Yi simply stared at him in silence, nervously swallowing.

“What wrongs? My family life is perfect now. I returned for work. Stop deluding yourself, if apologies worked, I wouldn’t have left. Now that I’m back, I can face you with complete composure.”

“As for your intentions, I suggest you keep them to yourself. Wouldn’t want my husband to misunderstand.”

Yan Nanchen’s face darkened completely. He stood rooted to the spot, watching Jiang Yi enter the hotel. His hands, hanging stiffly at his sides, turned white from how tightly they were clenched. A sharp, throbbing pain radiated from his chest, his jawline tensed, and his teeth ground together.

Three times, “If my husband finds out, it wouldn’t be good”, each word dripping with affection for that man.

So,who was this man?

Who could steal his Jiang Yi away?

Wait!

As if struck by a sudden thought, Yan Nanchen’s eyes darkened. Jiang Yi said he had a husband, an Alpha? But why was there not a trace of an Alpha’s scent on him?

A soft beep sounded as the hotel room door was pushed open from the outside. Before the keycard could even be inserted, the heavy curtains blocked out all light, leaving the room shrouded in darkness. Only the sound of ragged breathing echoed in the entryway.

Then came the noise of stumbling.

Jiang Yi only allowed himself to relax once he was inside, but the moment he did, his body gave way. After shutting the door, he slumped heavily against it, gasping for breath.

The clothes beneath his suit were soaked through.

Even his hands trembled.

The air was thick with the rich yet fragile scent of Tuberose Jasmine, an Omega’s pheromones. The defenseless fragrance was like petals cruelly crushed underfoot, while the rising heat beneath his skin burned unbearably, every inch of him screaming for help.

The pain made it impossible to stand. He slid down the door and collapsed onto the floor, biting his lower lip to stifle a groan as his tailbone struck the ground. His face drained of color.

But this pain was soon eclipsed by the agony of pheromone concentration imbalance.

For years, his pheromone levels had been wildly unstable, leading to frequent fevers. Without an Alpha by his side, the symptoms fluctuated unpredictably. The only solace was his child whose veins carried Yan Nanchen’s blood, whose scent bore traces of Yan Nanchen offering him some comfort.

Just moments ago, he had seen Yan Nanchen.

That single encounter shattered every mental barrier he had built over his years in the U.S. Every touch, every reaction, he had forced himself to hide any sign of weakness.

No matter how much he resisted, his body betrayed him. That brief contact, that embrace, the closeness of Yan Nanchen’s breath, it all meant something.

It meant that five years of restless longing had been soothed in those fleeting moments.

He didn’t want to admit it, but he had no choice. The reason he was suffering now was because he had left Yan Nanchen.

Five long years spent trying to break free from his addiction to Yan Nanchen’s pheromones but how could something so deeply ingrained in his blood ever truly be erased?

A muffled groan of pain escaped him again in the entryway.

Jiang Yi curled in on himself, unable to bear the torment. His body felt as though it had been thrown into a blazing furnace, the searing pain stealing his breath and wracking him with tremors. Unable to hold himself up, he collapsed sideways.

A loud thud his head struck the corner of the shoe cabinet, his shoulder and arm hitting the floor with equal force. But the physical pain was nothing compared to the torture of his pheromones spiraling out of control.

He writhed in agony, crumpled in the entryway. As he fell, his pupils dilated, his lips parted soundlessly, and tears spilled from the corners of his eyes.

Never had it hurt so much before.

It hurt too much.

This is bad.

He didn’t know how long had passed when the pain finally subsided slightly. Jiang Yi reached for the phone in his pocket, but his entire body was weak from the pain his hands were shaking violently. Even though the pocket was right there, his mind was in a daze, and several times his eyes fluttered shut as he groped around.

Then, as if startled awake, he forced his eyes open again. This time, he bit the tip of his tongue to jolt himself into alertness and finally managed to grab his phone.

But the moment he picked it up, his trembling hands caused it to drop beside his face.

Perhaps the relentless physiological stimulation from the pheromone concentration imbalance had pushed his brain into a state of numb exhaustion from the pain. He couldn’t even hold his phone properly, let alone unlock it to call his assistant.

At the brink of helpless despair, his fingers trembling, he mustered all his strength to grip the phone and pressed the power button until the screen lit up with the red SOS emergency call option. Without hesitation, he tapped it.

The screen quickly dialed the emergency contact, displaying the name:

【puppy】

At the same moment, a phone ringtone echoed both inside the room and outside the door.

“Yi Yi?”

That voice sent a shiver down Jiang Yi’s spine as he curled up behind the door. His vision blurred with tears, his body wracked with too much pain to even make a sound. His lips parted slightly in shock, as if he couldn’t believe he had actually tapped the call.

Seeing who his emergency contact was, hearing that voice outside the door, it shattered the psychological walls he had built over the past five years in an instant.

Just like how he had casually mentioned Yan Nanchen in front of Chu Beiheng and Qiao Qiao countless times, pretending it meant nothing. Who knew how many nights he had spent breaking down under the covers?

If he didn’t love him anymore, then fine.

He had made it sound so easy.

If he didn’t love him, why did it hurt so much? If he didn’t love him, why was there so much resentment? If he didn’t love him, why did he feel so wronged?

All his pretenses collapsed in that single moment.

“Yi Yi!! Are you in there?!”

The frantic pounding on the door matched the urgency in Yan Nanchen’s voice.

Jiang Yi felt another wave of pain from the pheromone concentration imbalance, spreading through his body like electric shocks. A muffled groan escaped him as he bit down hard on his lower lip. Something warm trickled from his nose, dripping over his lips, it tasted faintly sweet.

The groan was long, trembling with unbearable sobs, a plea for help from someone on the verge of collapse.

“It hurts.”

Just then, his hand brushed against something,a card.

A keycard.

Outside the door, Yan Nanchen felt like he was losing his mind. He had come up with coffee, intending to leave it by the door and walk away.

Then he had faintly heard movement inside, but the soundproofing was too good to make anything out clearly. Then came the emergency call, the matching ringtone from inside the room, and the certainty that this was Jiang Yi’s room, he knew without a doubt that Jiang Yi was inside.

Something was wrong with Jiang Yi.

Yan Nanchen’s eyes burned with panic. He didn’t dare hang up the call or walk away, trapped in a dilemma. All he could do was pound on the door, desperate for any response from Jiang Yi inside.

He pressed the phone tightly against his ear again, afraid of missing even the slightest sound from the other end: “Yi Yi, can you talk now? I’m listening. If you can still speak, call out to me, okay? Or should I go find someone to open the door right now? I’ll come down, wait for me, alright?”

“No.”

Yan Nanchen froze as he listened to the voice on the other end of the line choked with sobs, trembling, weak, and struggling to speak. The unknown state Jiang Yi was in filled him with overwhelming fear.

His eyes reddened, and the hand bracing against the door clenched abruptly: “Yi Yi, can you open the door now? What’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?”

“Puppy, it hurts. I’m in so much pain.”

The voice coming through the receiver was barely a whisper, exhausted and utterly drained.

That single word “puppy” shattered Yan Nanchen’s composure completely. Just as he was about to kick the door down, his gaze dropped inadvertently, and he spotted a keycard being pushed out from under the door.

Yan Nanchen quickly bent down to pick it up. Swiping the card against the sensor, the door unlocked with a “beep.” As he prepared to push it open, he felt resistance, something was blocking the entrance.

Pausing his grip on the handle, he called out hesitantly, “Yi Yi?” The only response was the echo of his own voice from the phone’s receiver.

Guessing what might have happened, he carefully pushed the door open just enough to squeeze through, doing his best not to disturb whatever was behind it. As he stepped inside, barely making it past the threshold, he saw Jiang Yi collapsed in the entryway.

In that instant, it felt as if all the blood in his body had frozen.

“Yi Yi!!!”

Yan Nanchen’s eyes darkened instantly as he rushed to Jiang Yi’s side. Cradling him halfway, he realized Jiang Yi’s eyes were closed, his breathing faint and erratic, his entire body burning with fever.

The room was dark, the lights off, making it hard to see Jiang Yi’s condition clearly.

He reached out to touch Jiang Yi’s face, only to feel warmth beneath his fingers. Trembling, he spread his hand open, and in the dim light seeping through the door crack, he saw his palm covered in blood.

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