It’s So Exhausting Having Top-tier Alpha Twins As Exes - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: After All, Just a Little Something to Pass the Time…

To be honest, Xiang Shuyu had a bit of PTSD regarding the word “obedient.”

Growing up, the phrase he heard most from Jiang Xiayue was the demand for him to be obedient. Over time, Xiang Shuyu had grown accustomed to complying, losing his ability to refuse. He did whatever others told him to do, as if he had lost his very self.

The psychological shadow was real, yet he had already begun to grow numb. Instead, he tilted his face up and gave Duan Yue a smile.

The cuisine at this mountain villa leaned toward the sweet side. Xiang Shuyu didn’t actually like sweet savory dishes; eating too much of them always left him feeling greasy and nauseous.

He felt a faint discomfort in his stomach and wanted to stop eating, but Duan Yue seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the pleasure of “feeding” him, constantly piling more food into his bowl.

Xiang Shuyu knew that Duan Yue probably didn’t take him seriously at all.

He was just a little plaything—something to satisfy physiological needs and provide emotional value.

Xiang Shuyu bit his lip. His mind was a mess, his thoughts tangled together without beginning or end; he needed time to slowly untangle them.

After sorting through them for a long time, only Jiang Xiayue remained.

Suddenly, in a heat of passion, he blurted out: “When you said I’m your boyfriend, was that real or fake?”

Duan Yue’s hand, reaching for more food, finally stopped. He tilted his head slightly, observing Xiang Shuyu’s expression. There seemed to be a sense of scrutiny in his gaze; a businessman from the corporate world always looked at people as if he could see right through them.

The stare made Xiang Shuyu panic. He wondered if he had said the wrong thing and involuntarily began to guess what Duan Yue would say.

But he couldn’t guess. Thus, he could only lower his eyes to hide his fluster, looking like a temperless, submissive beast waiting for slaughter.

Duan Yue didn’t like being questioned repeatedly, especially regarding matters of the heart.

The smile on his face faded slightly, and his tone flattened as he said, “I believe I answered that last night.”

Xiang Shuyu’s heart skipped a beat. A sense of frantic helplessness washed over him belatedly, like an ocean threatening to drown him.

He gripped his chopsticks tightly, desperately trying to remember what Duan Yue had said last night.

In those chaotic scenes, the only memories were of Duan Yue biting the back of his neck and repeatedly making him call him “Husband.”

Then, while piercing the skin of his nape with his canines to deliver pheromones—using an Alpha’s innate dominance to force Xiang Shuyu into submission—Duan Yue had asked if he’d ever been in love before.

Xiang Shuyu’s face flushed as he thought of these things. His memory traced back to when they were on the balcony; he had been so drunk his speech was slurred, crying and saying he wanted to be with Duan Yue.

Duan Yue had told him to call him “Husband.”

Is that what he meant? Xiang Shuyu couldn’t understand.

He didn’t know why Duan Yue couldn’t just speak clearly and plainly, rather than leaving him to guess like this.

Perhaps he simply found it amusing to toy with him.

Xiang Shuyu’s nose prickled with a sour sensation. He kept his head down, heart in a tailspin, when he suddenly felt the Alpha beside him stand up. Perhaps he had lost patience and was leaving.

In a panic, Xiang Shuyu instinctively grabbed his wrist. Like someone grasping at straws, he cried out: “Husband…”

No matter what, he couldn’t let Duan Yue grow loathing toward him. Only then could he keep Jiang Xiayue at bay.

As long as Jiang Xiayue stopped forcing him to do strange things, he was willing to cast aside all dignity before Duan Yue.

Duan Yue’s departure faltered. He looked down at Xiang Shuyu.

Xiang Shuyu looked terrible—his face was incredibly pale, and his eyes were red and rimmed with damp moisture as if he were about to cry. It was as if uttering those two words while sober was an immensely shameful act.

Duan Yue’s interest was piqued again. He lowered his gaze, looking at Xiang Shuyu’s hands as they gripped his wrist, trembling uncontrollably.

Truly pitiful, Duan Yue thought.

Like a small animal fallen into a trap, devoid of the power to resist, yet still hoping the hunter might rescue him from his misery.

Duan Yue’s lips slowly curled into a smirk. He leaned down, his fingertips brushing Xiang Shuyu’s eyes. As if the cold man from a moment ago had never existed, he returned to the same warm and intimate demeanor he’d shown before getting drunk last night.

“Don’t cry. Your eyes are so beautiful; it won’t look good if they get swollen.”

Then he added softly, “I don’t like people whimpering and crying in front of me anywhere outside of the bed.”

But it was as if a long-suppressed grievance had finally broken through; teardrops fell nonetheless. His crying was quiet—his eyelashes were wet, his cheeks were flushed, and he was only letting out small, hitching breaths.

Duan Yue hated it when people cried in front of him; it usually made him feel irritable. But watching Xiang Shuyu cry felt different from the way others affected him.

The original irritation shifted into something else. He pinched Xiang Shuyu’s chin, the cold moisture of tears staining his fingers as his thumb rubbed against the boy’s cheek.

Xiang Shuyu sobbed softly. The belated sense of shame made it so he could hardly cry anymore; he didn’t dare look into Duan Yue’s eyes, fearing he would see mockery and insult.

This was something he had frequently encountered back in school.

But Duan Yue only leaned in to kiss his lips, his cheeks, and his eyes.

The tears tasted a bit bitter.

Duan Yue licked his lips. Seeing that Xiang Shuyu had lost his appetite and thinking he probably didn’t want to eat anymore, he lifted the boy from his seat.

Xiang Shuyu cried out in alarm: “Duan Yue!”

He was carried back to the room, the door was locked, and he was tossed onto the bed.

Duan Yue stripped him bare, biting his collarbone and the back of his neck, folding his waist back until Xiang Shuyu’s sobs began to shatter.

He held Xiang Shuyu, kissing his nape, feeling the slight tremors of the slender body. He touched Xiang Shuyu’s lower abdomen and asked offhandedly, “How about you bear a baby for me?”

Xiang Shuyu’s gaze was blurred. He could only cry, his lips—swollen and red from kissing—parted as he gasped for air, unable to respond.

Pheromones filled the room. Duan Yue hadn’t recognized it before, but he did now: it was Papaver rhoeas (Corn Poppy).

Duan Yue suddenly snapped back to his senses a bit. While mocking himself for talking nonsense, he said, “Forget it, better not have one. If you actually got pregnant, it would be a real hassle for me to handle.”

“…”

Xiang Shuyu didn’t hear what he said clearly. The attraction between Alpha and Omega pheromones was a matter of nature. Even though his gland was congenitally defective and his sensitivity to pheromones was low, he still found it hard to resist Duan Yue. He followed Duan Yue’s intentional and unintentional releases of pheromones, which stirred the lust within his body.

His mind was already hazy. He felt as though he were submerged in water, his entire body soaked in warmth. Sweaty strands of hair clung to his temples and cheeks, only to be gently brushed away by Duan Yue.

Duan Yue suddenly felt that Xiang Shuyu might truly be naive.

Green, youthful, and unable to control his own body, he could only—like a canary—hand over all agency to him.

Duan Yue had to admit, he was beginning to get addicted.

Xiang Shuyu slept groggily until the afternoon. His manager, Gu Yi, called him, and the ringing of the phone woke him up.

With bleary eyes, Xiang Shuyu reached out a slender, fair arm from under the quilt and fumbled for the phone on the nightstand.

As soon as he picked up, Gu Yi’s voice crashed down on him like a tidal wave, scolding: “Why didn’t you wait even longer to answer the phone!”

“What happened?” Xiang Shuyu jolted awake. As he sat up, a crushing ache spread through every part of his body. He leaned against the headboard, his voice weak as he repeatedly apologized to Gu Yi, “I’m sorry, I… I wasn’t feeling well and overslept.”

“Not feeling well? And yet you still knew how to hang up on me.”

Hang up?

Xiang Shuyu froze. He checked the call logs and indeed saw two records of calls being declined.

He realized belatedly: it was Duan Yue who had hung up his phone.

Panic set in. He explained, “I really didn’t hear the phone, it… it was a friend who hung up.”

Before he could finish, Gu Yi interrupted: “There was a commercial performance. I thought you were short on money and wanted to recommend you, but since you didn’t pick up, there was nothing I could do. I’ve already sent Ming Xiu instead.”

For a moment, the words were stuck in Xiang Shuyu’s throat; he couldn’t say a thing.

When he was studying the Guzheng abroad, Gu Yi only managed him. At that time, all her resources were tilted in his direction.

During those two years, Xiang Shuyu had a decent reputation abroad. The industry’s evaluation was that his Guzheng foundation was excellent and his emotional expression was profound; the feeling of his performances was unlike anyone else’s.

Commercial performances paid out immediately upon completion. During that period, Xiang Shuyu was constantly attending various events and had earned quite a bit.

That was until Ming Xiu entered his university as a junior. The title of “The Youngest Guzheng Virtuoso” fell onto Ming Xiu’s head. Being accustomed to not fighting for things, Xiang Shuyu gradually lost the spotlight.

Then Jiang Xiayue started targeting the Duan family. She forced Xiang Shuyu to return to the country, making him meet with wealthy young masters on one hand, while pressuring him to earn more money on the other.

When art becomes tainted by the smell of money, it is easily despised by others. Perhaps there was someone behind the scenes pushing the narrative, but gradually, people began saying Xiang Shuyu wasn’t “devout” enough toward his art. They said he took on too many gigs for quick cash instead of refining his skills. They called him the Duan family’s illegitimate son.

A mix of true and false news spread online. Over time, even Gu Yi was influenced by external opinions and began to dislike him.

Recently, almost all the commercial opportunities in Gu Yi’s hands were given to Ming Xiu.

Thanks to Jiang Xiayue, he was burdened with loans and was desperate for money. He had gone to beg Gu Yi in a lowly manner before she finally agreed to keep an eye out for him.

But now, because Duan Yue had hung up his phone, his efforts had come to naught.

Xiang Shuyu’s breathing grew slightly ragged. He didn’t even notice what Gu Yi said next; by the time he snapped out of it, Gu Yi had already hung up.

His body hurt, and his nose felt sour. He put down the phone in a daze, his mind wandering chaotically to where Duan Yue might have gone.

It had happened twice now. He said he was his boyfriend, yet every time he woke up, Duan Yue was nowhere to be seen.

Xiang Shuyu got out of bed himself and stumbled into the bathroom, wanting to take a shower and then go home.

Jiang Xiayue had also called him many times and sent many messages, asking if he had seen Duan Yue, demanding to know what he was doing out fooling around all night, and asking why he wasn’t answering the phone or coming home.

His mind was too messy. For once, he didn’t call Jiang Xiayue back; he just wanted to escape.

He stood under the showerhead. The jumbled emotions and pressures crashed down on him, making his knees go weak. Suddenly, his nose twitched, and he crouched down, sobbing quietly.

He often thought: If only I weren’t Jiang Xiayue’s son.

Then there wouldn’t be so many things, so much pressure weighing on his shoulders.

Xiang Shuyu crouched in the bathroom and cried quietly for a while, until he heard Duan Yue knocking on the door. The tone sounded somewhat impatient as he asked: “How long have you been in there, Xiang Shuyu?”

Xiang Shuyu wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. He felt that Duan Yue was very much a stranger; the man’s temper seemed very strange—one moment he felt tender, the next he was cold.

Xiang Shuyu regretted following Ji Yeran to meet him.

He cried for a bit longer. Outside the door, Duan Yue was becoming increasingly restless.

As soon as he entered the room, he heard Xiang Shuyu sobbing in the bathroom. He couldn’t see the person, but just hearing the crying made him feel irritable, as if he were the one making the other person feel wronged.

This was a consensual matter; for it to turn out like this made him very unhappy.

Duan Yue knocked again, his voice now quite cold: “Open the door, now.”

He waited a bit longer. The water was still splashing, but there seemed to be no movement from Xiang Shuyu.

He’d better not have fainted in there, Duan Yue thought.

He kicked the door open. Through the swirling mist of steam, his eyes met Xiang Shuyu’s.

A slender body was crouched in the corner. The bathroom light shone on Xiang Shuyu’s skin—it was so white, yet covered in mottled marks that spoke of the absurdities of last night and this morning.

Duan Yue’s Adam’s apple bobbed uncontrollably. Xiang Shuyu’s damp eyelashes, his trembling body, and his unnaturally flushed face and skin actually brought him a strange sense of calm.

Duan Yue’s tone softened slightly as he asked, “Why are you crouching here crying? Aren’t you afraid of catching a cold?”

Xiang Shuyu lowered his head, sobbing, and shook his head.

Duan Yue turned off the shower and crouched down. He pinched Xiang Shuyu’s chin, forcing him to lift his face, and asked, “What’s made you so upset?”

“I…” Xiang Shuyu thought to himself: What good does it do to tell Duan Yue about work? It would only seem like he was hinting for Duan Yue to give him a job.

But the matters weighing on his heart were on the verge of bursting out. Because Duan Yue asked that second half of the question, he felt truly aggrieved. Tears began to fall from his eyes again as he choked out: “My performance opportunity is gone… It’s all your fault. If you hadn’t hung up on Gu Yi…”

It was the first time Duan Yue had been blamed for something like this. Yet, being blamed by Xiang Shuyu didn’t make him angry; instead, his heart softened. He offered a soft consolation: “Is that your manager? It was my mistake. But I just saw how tired you were and wanted you to sleep a bit longer. Your managers, your friends—which of them considers you like I do? They all choose the most inappropriate times to disturb your rest.”

Words of comfort came to him easily. He felt that a casual word of consolation to make Xiang Shuyu happy was a win-win situation.

After all, he was just a little plaything to pass the time.

Duan Yue asked again: “What performance? If you want them, I can introduce you to plenty.”

Xiang Shuyu took a soft breath and lowered his eyes. In the end, he thought, it has turned into a trade of sex for money.

Nothing was clean or clear.