My Childhood Friend, Who Is An Omega, Has Become My Personal Secretary - Chapter 33

Zhang Linen extended the tip of her tongue to pry open Ji Zeyuan’s tightly closed teeth.

After watching Shen Jiuyue leave, Ji Zeyuan turned back to find Zhang Linen, but she was no longer where she had been standing.

When Ji Zeyuan returned to the hotel room, Zhang Linen was sitting on the living room sofa watching television—or more accurately, the TV was on while she was curled up on the sofa, holding her phone and replying to messages.

Zhang Linen leaned against the sofa armrest. As Ji Zeyuan walked over, she saw that the contact name on the chat window was “Mia.”

“Xiao En,” Ji Zeyuan sat down beside her, her tone gentle.

Zhang Linen turned her head to look at her with a calm, placid smile.

Ji Zeyuan felt a pang of bitterness in her heart. She pursed her lips and hesitated for a long while before finally speaking tentatively: “Do you… like Mia very much?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Zhang Linen shook her head. “I hate her.”

Ji Zeyuan looked up in astonishment; she had not expected that answer.

Zhang Linen watched Ji Zeyuan with a faint smile and said, “Why would you ask that? How could I ever like someone that you don’t like?”

The implication of those words was far too pointed; she was clearly referencing the overly intimate relationship between Ji Zeyuan and Shen Jiuyue.

Ji Zeyuan felt a sense of relief that Zhang Linen disliked Mia, but she also felt guilty because of the rhetorical question. Her expression became somewhat dejected.

“What did you just say to Shen Jiuyue?” Zhang Linen suddenly asked.

Caught off guard, Ji Zeyuan instinctively replied, “Nothing. It’s not necessary for you to know.”

Zhang Linen fell silent and did not press further. Her gaze lingered on Ji Zeyuan for a moment before she turned back to her phone.

The voice of Shen Jiuyue appeared on the variety show playing on the television. Suddenly, scenes of the earlier confrontation with Shen Jiuyue flashed through Ji Zeyuan’s mind, and a sense of unspeakable panic gripped her.

What if Zhang Linen found out?

She knew perfectly well that they were biological sisters, yet she still couldn’t suppress those inappropriate thoughts about her. If Zhang Linen found out, would her emotional state collapse further? Would her depression worsen?

If Zhang Linen knew about her sordid thoughts, would she rather have her gland removed than allow Ji Zeyuan to help her with pheromone therapy?

If…

Suddenly, the sound from the variety show stopped. Ji Zeyuan’s tangled thoughts were interrupted; Zhang Linen had picked up the remote and turned off the TV.

Ji Zeyuan snapped back to reality. Seeing Zhang Linen still sitting calmly in front of her, the panic she felt moments ago subsided slightly.

“If you hate Mia, why were you with her yesterday?” Ji Zeyuan asked. She felt a desperate need to keep talking to Zhang Linen, and she truly wanted to know the answer to that question.

Hearing this, Zhang Linen put down her phone and looked deeply at Ji Zeyuan. “Miss, that is also something you have no need to know.”

Ji Zeyuan’s pupils constricted. For a moment, she couldn’t find the words to argue.

Every time the two of them entered a cold war, Zhang Linen would call Ji Zeyuan “Miss.” This habit had persisted since kindergarten and had never changed.

Ji Zeyuan lowered her head sadly. After taking a quiet, deep breath, she gave up the pursuit.

After all, she had no right to question her.

Ji Zeyuan stood up silently, intending to pack up and go to the factory. At that moment, Zhang Linen spoke.

“Because… I wanted to understand you through her,” Zhang Linen’s voice was calm, even detached. “I wanted to make up for the eight-year gap when you were abroad.”

Before Ji Zeyuan could react, her phone rang. It was the factory manager.

Ji Zeyuan answered the ill-timed call. The manager’s gravelly voice poured out of the phone incessantly, and she responded mechanically.

When she hung up and turned around, Zhang Linen was no longer on the sofa.

The sofa cushions were scattered on the floor, and the ornaments on the coffee table were tilted and in disarray.

Ji Zeyuan’s heart sank. As she looked up to search, she saw Zhang Linen standing still in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room.

Zhang Linen’s silhouette against the backlight looked thin and fragile.

“Xiao En,” Ji Zeyuan called out softly. She walked toward her, as if terrified that Zhang Linen might suddenly jump.

“Let’s go, it’s already late,” Zhang Linen murmured. She turned back with a gentle gaze, all the sharpness from moments ago completely gone.

When they reached the ground floor, Ji Zeyuan suddenly realized she had forgotten her room card. She made a mental note to tell the front desk when she returned.

In that instant, a realization struck Ji Zeyuan. She looked up at Zhang Linen.

“Xiao En, how did you know I was here?”

Zhang Linen paused and looked back at her with a calm smile. “I called your driver.”

Ji Zeyuan didn’t think much of it and merely muttered, “It’s lucky the front desk was willing to let you in. Otherwise, it would have been a lot of trouble since you didn’t have a hotel reservation.”

Zhang Linen smiled without a word and nodded silently.

The Night Before

“Why are you only going to Country G now? Didn’t you go with Ji Zeyuan?” Ji Cheng’s voice sounded suspicious, almost like an interrogation.

Shen Jiuyue’s words before hanging up the phone kept flashing in Zhang Linen’s mind. Even her response to Ji Cheng was tinged with irritation, and she didn’t even use a respectful title: “Because you gave such short notice at the time. She certainly didn’t want me to suffer the travel, so she planned to take on the workload there herself.”

There was a mutual silence for a few seconds before Zhang Linen spoke first: “Sorry, I’m in a hurry.”

Ji Cheng spoke slowly, asking, “So, what is your purpose in calling me now?”

His voice was filled with a laziness and an indifference that could not be ignored.

Zhang Linen said in a low voice, “I can’t get a ticket for tonight’s flight. May I borrow your private jet?”

Ji Cheng burst into loud laughter on the other end of the phone. Zhang Linen listened to his mocking voice with a grim face for about half a minute before he finally stopped laughing.

“Private jets need to apply for approval to open international flight routes. Linen, why be in such a hurry? It’s not like you can’t go in two days.”

Zhang Linen sighed heavily. After a long hesitation, she said, “Father, I’m begging you. You must have a way, right?”

“Oh, Linen, it’s not that I don’t want to help you…”

Zhang Linen’s heart felt like dead ashes. She didn’t listen any further and chose to hang up the phone directly.

Was Ji Zeyuan still with Shen Jiuyue?

Did she drink? Was she completely unconscious? Would Shen Jiuyue take the opportunity to do something?

“Uh… Miss Secretary, do you want to go to Country G tonight?”

Mia, who had been standing by too afraid to speak, suddenly opened her mouth.

Zhang Linen raised her head with red eyes and glared at her fiercely. “What does it have to do with you?”

Mia fidgeted with her fingers and said hesitantly, “Actually, if you absolutely must go tonight, I have a friend…”

Country G was not far; it took about three hours of flying to arrive.

But three hours was more than enough time for something to happen.

The tracker had returned to the hotel an hour ago and hadn’t moved since.

“I am sorry, guest, but our hotel cannot disclose customer information at will.”

The receptionist replied to Zhang Linen’s request in broken English. Zhang Linen stared for a moment, then took off the watch from her wrist and pushed it across the counter to the receptionist.

“You should recognize this brand,” Zhang Linen said quietly, her eyes burning. “This is more money than you could earn in ten years working at this front desk.”

The receptionist hesitated. She quietly turned her body to block the surveillance cameras and used the bright lights of the lobby to judge the authenticity of the watch.

“I know her, you don’t need to worry about any trouble,” Zhang Linen continued to entice the receptionist, even pulling up a photo of herself with Ji Zeyuan on her phone.

After looking at the photo and verifying that the person in the picture matched Ji Zeyuan’s registered identity information, the receptionist happily took the watch and enthusiastically led Zhang Linen upstairs.

That watch was a gift Ji Cheng had given Zhang Linen when he first acknowledged her. It was the most expensive gift he had ever given her, and the only one.

“It’s this room,” the receptionist said and knocked on the door. There was no response from inside.

Zhang Linen’s heart rate accelerated rapidly. She was starting to feel afraid.

She was afraid that the moment the door opened, she would see a room in shambles, or see the drunken Ji Zeyuan lying next to someone else.

But this door had to be opened tonight.

The receptionist knocked for a long time with no response. She looked at Zhang Linen, her eyes asking what to do next. Zhang Linen said coldly in English, “Open it.”

The receptionist used the master key card to open the door. Zhang Linen rushed into the room. The living room was clean, not the mess she had imagined. She stumbled into the bedroom. Ji Zeyuan was lying peacefully on the bed, fully clothed. Her face was flushed, clearly having drunk a lot.

After checking to confirm no one else was in the room, Zhang Linen breathed a sigh of relief and sent the receptionist away.

Ji Zeyuan was sleeping very deeply, her breathing light. Zhang Linen climbed onto the bed and lay on her side next to her, smelling the Alpha pheromones—a scent of roses mixed with the smell of alcohol.

Zhang Linen tentatively and gently touched Ji Zeyuan’s brow bone. Ji Zeyuan frowned slightly but still did not wake up.

Next, her cool fingertips brushed over Ji Zeyuan’s thick eyelashes, her high nose bridge, and finally stopped on those thin, pale lips.

Zhang Linen’s fingertip tapped them lightly. The lips were soft and dry.

She swallowed. Confirming that Ji Zeyuan showed no signs of waking up, she leaned forward and kissed her without hesitation.

The moment their lips touched, her heartbeat felt like metal being compressed and then rebounding at high speed—forceful and heavy, as if it would burst through her chest in an instant.

Ji Zeyuan’s breath brushed against her face. Like a kitten lapping at water, Zhang Linen extended her tongue and licked Ji Zeyuan’s lips.

In a sense, this was her first kiss. Even though it was unspeakable and unknown to anyone, this was the first time Zhang Linen had been in such close lip-to-lip contact with another person.

Throughout the process, Ji Zeyuan was like a puppet, unmoving and at her mercy.

The dry lips were nourished by saliva and became moist. Zhang Linen let go of Ji Zeyuan, allowing herself a moment to breathe.

In that interval, Ji Zeyuan muttered something in her sleep and turned over, her back to Zhang Linen.

Looking at Ji Zeyuan’s back, various memories resurfaced. Zhang Linen touched her own lips with a sense of loss.

Amidst her chaotic thoughts, Zhang Linen suddenly wondered: If I am secretly kissing Ji Zeyuan like this, has Shen Jiuyue already done the same?

No, she couldn’t. It was impossible.

She reached out and grabbed Ji Zeyuan’s wrist, pulling her back to face her. Ji Zeyuan frowned and mumbled, “Shen Jiuyue, don’t bother me…”

Zhang Linen’s breath hitched, as if she had been struck by lightning.

“Don’t call her name!” Zhang Linen growled obsessively, completely forgetting that at this moment, Ji Zeyuan couldn’t hear a word she said.

She pinned Ji Zeyuan’s wrist down and leaned over to kiss those thin lips again. This time, the kiss was more like a vent, a way of staking a claim.

Zhang Linen extended the tip of her tongue to pry open Ji Zeyuan’s tightly closed teeth. Compared to the gentle, spring-like rain of the previous kiss, this one was like a sudden torrential downpour.

Her wet, soft tongue explored the oral cavity, and the pungent smell of alcohol hit her senses. Zhang Linen explored clumsily, nearly biting her own lip in the process.

Ji Zeyuan opened her eyes hazily. In her blurred vision, she saw Zhang Linen, panting heavily and with eyes full of tears.

She naturally assumed it was a dream.

“Xiao En, what’s wrong? Why are you crying again?” Ji Zeyuan said warmly. She reached out to pull Zhang Linen into her arms, but the intoxication left her limbs without basic coordination.

Zhang Linen sobbed with an expression of pain. Her lips trembled as she accused through gritted teeth, “You… you hateful, loose thing…”

Ji Zeyuan gave a silly laugh, her voice slurred: “What nonsense are you talking about… haha…”