1122 - Chapter 33.2

When he opened it, he saw Yan Nanchen standing outside, dressed in a shirt and vest. The unusually restrained outfit especially this early in the morning made Jiang Yi swallow hard, his mind drifting back to last night’s dream.

“Why did you throw up last night? Are you feeling unwell somewhere?” Yan Nanchen pushed the door open wider, but Jiang Yi just stared at him blankly. Assuming he was still half-asleep, Yan Nanchen stepped inside and reached out to press a hand to Jiang Yi’s forehead only for Jiang Yi to dodge his touch.

“I’m going to wash up.” Jiang Yi forced himself to look away and turned toward the bathroom, only to immediately slam his hip into the shoe rack. He hissed in pain, clutching his side.

Yan Nanchen sighed at his clumsiness and stepped closer, resting a hand on his shoulder. “Did you hurt yourself? Let me see.”

“It’s nothing.” Jiang Yi feigned composure as he straightened up, though his posture remained slightly awkward. “I just can’t see clearly without my glasses.” With that, he walked back to his room to fetch them, nearly bumping into the doorframe again on his way in.

Yan Nanchen hesitated, reaching out instinctively before lowering his hand when Jiang Yi avoided collision. Only then did he remember to ask about the glasses. “How bad is your eyesight now?”

He followed Jiang Yi to the bedroom door.

“Over eight hundred degrees,” Jiang Yi replied, adjusting his glasses as he headed to the bathroom inside the bedroom. “Pathological myopia after surgery. It’s not a big issue.”

Yan Nanchen frowned at the mention of surgery, guilt flashing in his eyes. “Can doctors fix it?”

Jiang Yi removed his glasses again to wash his face, splashing water to wake himself up. “No,” he answered vaguely. “But at least the prescription won’t worsen.”

Eight hundred degrees without glasses, he must be practically blind, Yan Nanchen thought. He lingered outside the bathroom, watching Jiang Yi wash up until the man finished brushing his teeth and reached blindly for a towel with closed eyes.

Seeing this, Yan Nanchen stepped inside. Standing behind Jiang Yi, he reached past him for the larger towel beside a pink child-sized one.

Their hands brushed in that instant.

One warm, one cool as if sparking a subtle chemical reaction.

Jiang Yi, eyes still shut from washing his face, hadn’t expected Yan Nanchen’s assistance. By the time he realized, the man was already behind him, nearly pressed against his back, their arms aligned in reaching motion.

The bathroom mirror reflected two grown men crowded before the narrow sink, their proximity deceptively intimate.

Yan Nanchen’s longer arm secured the towel first. Just as he moved to hand it over, Jiang Yi unexpectedly tilted his head upward.

The brush of lips against his cheek froze him in place.

He looked down at Jiang Yi in surprise.

The freshly washed face was pale and refined, exuding a youthfulness belying his age. Water droplets enhanced an indefinable allure. The lips that grazed his cheek were damp and soft, carrying the sweet scent of peach toothpaste. Perhaps startled, Jiang Yi opened his eyes despite the water on his face.

Directly meeting Yan Nanchen’s gaze through still-damp, faintly reddened lashes.

Yan Nanchen’s throat moved.

Equally unprepared for their closeness, Jiang Yi ignored his racing heart and snatched the towel from Yan Nanchen’s grip, stepping aside only to nearly stumble out of the bathroom.

A strong arm caught him before he could yelp.

“Careful.” Yan Nanchen swiftly pulled Jiang Yi back by the waist. Noticing his tense shoulders, he released him and stepped away, exiting the bathroom. “Finish up. I’ll wait outside.”

The lingering Alpha pheromones in the confined morning space felt unnervingly stirring.

Standing before the mirror, towel in hand, Jiang Yi let water trail down his flushed neck. He glanced at his reflection, then averted his eyes from the embarrassing blush.

“What the hell.”

He pressed his lips together.

Outside the bathroom, Yan Nanchen was no better, but he could only forcefully suppress the temptation of his freshly showered Omega in the early morning. Yet, the image of those startled, wet, and flushed eyes kept replaying endlessly in his mind.

So seductive.

Half an hour later, they finished getting ready and headed out.

In the passenger seat, Jiang Yi was fastening his seatbelt.

“Want some coffee? From your favorite place, Mōdǎo.”

Yan Nanchen started the car, steering out of the underground parking lot of their residential complex and heading toward Galaxy Group.

Jiang Yi instinctively swallowed at the mention of coffee. Truthfully, he wasn’t supposed to drink it anymore Chu Beiheng and Qiao Qiao had caught him sneaking sips several times before. But just a small sip couldn’t hurt, right?

“Okay.”

Yan Nanchen’s sidelong glance lingered on Jiang Yi’s face. That simple “okay” seemed to delight him deeply, a faint smile tugging at his lips.

Galaxy Group.

“Good morning, President Yan. Good morning, President Jiang.”

Yan Nanchen and Jiang Yi walked side by side as employees streamed into the building during the morning rush. They responded to the greetings with polite nods and smiles.

Five years ago, the high-profile marriage alliance between the Luo and Duan families had effectively merged Galaxy Group and Neptune Tech Group, creating the largest family-owned enterprise in the country.

It was under these circumstances that Jiang Yi, representing Neptune Tech Group and acting on Director Duan’s orders, began working closely with Galaxy Group on joint projects, eliminating the need for constant travel between headquarters.

The elevator doors to the executive floor slid open. Holding their coffees, Jiang Yi and Yan Nanchen stepped inside one after the other. Just as the doors were about to close, Chu Beiheng appeared outside.

“Hey, hey, wait for me!” Chu Beiheng swiftly caught the elevator doors and stepped in, finding Jiang Yi and his younger brother Yan Nanchen inside. His eyes immediately zeroed in on the coffee in Jiang Yi’s hand, and he raised an eyebrow.

Jiang Yi clutched his coffee, nowhere to hide it: “…”

“Done dropping off Qiao Qiao?” Yan Nanchen asked upon seeing his brother.

Chu Beiheng wedged himself between the two, snatching the coffee from Jiang Yi’s hand. He inspected the lid still untouched then took a sip. “Thanks for the coffee.”

Jiang Yi glared. “Chu Beiheng!” Seriously? He hadn’t even gotten a taste yet.

Yan Nanchen frowned. “Brother, could you not be so childish?” He moved to hand his own untouched coffee to Jiang Yi. “Here, you can have mine.”

Seeing this, Chu Beiheng intercepted the cup and took another sip.

Yan Nanchen’s expression darkened instantly. “Chu Beiheng!!”

Jiang Yi quickly reached out, trying to defuse the situation. “Never mind, I won’t drink it.” He shot a guilty glance at Chu Beiheng, silently urging him to stay quiet.

“Why are you mad at me?” Chu Beiheng shoved the half-drunk coffee back into his brother’s hand, smiling innocently. “Jiang Yi would never tell you himself, but he’s not supposed to drink coffee anymore. If you knew it makes his heart race and gives him splitting headaches, would you still let him have it? You’d probably be angrier than I am. He’s sneaked sips a few times already. Seems like no matter how much Qiao Qiao and I warn him, it doesn’t stick. So, I’ll leave it to you.”

Sure enough, Yan Nanchen’s face turned even stormier than before.

Jiang Yi: “…” He fixed Chu Beiheng with a withering stare.

Chu Beiheng smirked, utterly unrepentant and grinning shamelessly.

The elevator doors opened, and Jiang Yi quickly stepped out, trying to make a swift escape, only to be grabbed by the back of his collar by Yan Nanchen from behind.

He turned around angrily, glaring at Yan Nanchen. “You’re grabbing me?”

Yan Nanchen stared at him with deep intensity, his tone serious. “Yi Yi, do you want me to die of guilt?”

“I didn’t drink it, did I?” Jiang Yi glanced at Chu Beiheng, who was casually holding two cups of coffee, taking sips from each as he breezed past them, muttering under his breath in annoyance.

Chu Beiheng leaned in with a grin. “You two chat. I’ll head back to my office to enjoy my coffee.”

Jiang Yi: “…” He really deserves a beating.

“How can I trust you to take care of Qiao Qiao alone when you can’t even take care of yourself?” Yan Nanchen hadn’t expected Jiang Yi to be unable to drink coffee. If they hadn’t run into Chu Beiheng earlier, would he have gone ahead and drunk it?

“I just wanted a sip,” Jiang Yi admitted sheepishly, lowering his head. “Fine, I won’t drink it then.”

Yan Nanchen caught the reluctance and displeasure in his tone. “You can argue about anything else, but when it comes to your health, there’s no room for negotiation. Some things are just non-negotiable.”

Jiang Yi frowned. “And what gives you the right to say that to me?”

“I’m your Alpha. Even if you refuse to acknowledge it, the law does. If you won’t behave, I have plenty of ways to make sure you stay by my side and recover properly including having a word with Duan Yizhou.” Yan Nanchen took a step closer, looking down at him. “Go ahead and test me.”

Jiang Yi stubbornly challenged, “What happens if I do?”

Yan Nanchen smirked. “Try it, and you’ll become my CEO’s wife spending your days tending to flowers and playing with birds.”

Jiang Yi: “…”

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