The Honest Man Was Targeted by His Ex-Boyfriend's Alpha Brother - Chapter 14

“What are you doing with my underwear?!”

Meeting Hua Yunlian’s toxic, dark gaze, Mantogua felt a chill run from his head to his toes. “President… President Hua? Why are you here?”

The man walked over with long, leisurely strides. He stared at Mantogua’s hands, which were still tightly clutching Chen Wang, with a smile that did not reach his eyes. “Should I not be here?”

The possessiveness in his gaze was so thick and visceral that it made Mantogua shudder violently. His cold hands released their grip mechanically. Only then did he realize that he had not only hugged the wrong person but had been clinging to his romantic rival.

Mantogua’s face flushed with indignation. He spun around and questioned loudly, “You, surnamed Chen! Why is it you?”

Embarrassed, Chen Wang immediately took off the hat. His messy black hair swept across his forehead, giving his handsome face a look of slight confusion. He had not even taken the photo yet before being caught red-handed. Before he could explain, Hua Yunlian leaned in close and casually raised a large hand.

“Brother,” he said. The force of the slap on the shoulder was incredibly solid, causing Chen Wang’s right shoulder to slump instantly. The corners of the man’s mouth curled into a smirk, and a teasing glint rose in his eyes. “If you like my scent so much, why did you not say so earlier?”

Pinned between the two of them, Chen Wang was speechless. In front of his superior and his colleagues, he felt his dignity slipping away, and even his neck turned scarlet from the heat. “I only like your clothes.”

“Oh? Then I will give them to you,” Hua Yunlian said with a beaming smile. “It turns out you enjoy the little thrill of the boyfriend shirt look, Brother.”

Mantogua was fuming. “I specifically looked up President Hua’s schedule to come and see him! Why are you wearing his clothes? You made me lose face like this. Are you trying to take advantage of a big star like me?”

“I have no interest in that,” Chen Wang replied sincerely, feeling a headache coming on.

“You!”

Not far away, their colleagues witnessed the scene. Rather than mocking them, their eyes were filled with a longing for such power and envy. “The beautiful Omega singer and the Alpha CEO of the conglomerate are both surrounding Dr. Chen.”

“Dr. Chen is certainly lucky. But did he not say he does not like Alphas?” Hao Pingfan asked.

Xiao Han narrowed her eyes and said seriously, “Do not doubt Brother Chen! Between him and President Hua, it is definitely a brotherly bond. I swear it on my five years of being single!”

The team-building event began. The resort was massive, and everyone scattered for free activities. The Director, who had originally planned to give a thirty-minute keynote speech, discovered that the place offered not only food and drinks but also a full suite of entertainment, including mahjong, e-sports, and bars. He promptly ditched the sycophants from the hospital and vanished without a trace.

Chen Wang had just finished a session of equestrian lessons. He tugged gently on the reins and softly stroked the stallion’s smooth coat. “How novel,” he remarked, offering a gentle smile to the instructor.

The instructor was also a Beta, and the cold, handsome man before him was exactly his type. The commemorative photos he had just taken of Chen Wang were good enough to be used as promotional posters. He had nearly run out of space on his camera. He thought Chen Wang looked just like a young nobleman. He eagerly ran forward to lead the horse. “No problem at all! Of course you can go for another lap!”

Social media updates rolled in one after another. Once the feed slowed down, Hua Yunlian scrolled back to Chen Wang’s profile and liked a video of him riding the horse. His gaze lingered on Chen Wang’s lean, slender waist for a long time.

“So hot,” he commented. He then went to the restroom, humming to himself. “The man just has no romantic sense and is a bit vain.”

Hua Yunlian stayed cooped up in his suite, doing nothing. He was bored of the usual entertainment. Except for mandatory Board of Directors banquets, he never participated in speeches or group activities. He had only come this time because the name Bo’ai Children’s Hospital sounded so familiar.

Just as he turned off the faucet, a familiar sense of suffocation suddenly gripped his heart. Hua Yunlian let out a muffled groan and staggered, leaning against the vanity for support. The scent of roses dampened by night dew began to spread through the bathroom. The floral fragrance became increasingly intense and overwhelming.

Hua Yunlian’s amber eyes, the color of strong liquor, flickered as his pupils constricted to pinpoints. His expression was one of both agony and confusion. His rut was approaching.

Because his body had been prematurely matured through genetic experimentation, he was exceptionally sensitive and dangerous during his rut. While an ordinary Alpha only needed one dose of a suppressant, he required more than ten times that amount.

“Cough!” He bit his lip until it bled, the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth. He struggled to regain a shred of rationality, desperately trying to suppress the leaking pheromones.

Hua Yunlian was already in a dangerous state due to his ancestral reversion period. The onset of his rut was adding fuel to the fire. He had come to the resort almost empty-handed and certainly had not brought any suppressants. He could not just sit and wait for death. He needed to find a solution.

As he passed the full-length mirror by the door, he paused and his eyes widened in shock. He reached up to touch the leopard ears emerging from his chestnut hair. “I almost forgot to retract them.”

Unlike a cat’s ears, a leopard’s ears were rounder and smaller, lacking a sense of majesty at first glance. Hua Yunlian twisted his body uncomfortably and looked down. A thick, long tail, shaped like a steel whip, flickered behind him. Its patterns were as vivid as those of a venomous python.

He pressed down firmly on his ears. When he lifted his hands again, the leopard ears and tail had vanished. He still could not fully control his animal-shifted body. He could only barely manage these two features. Once he confirmed his appearance was back to normal, he stepped out of the room to search the lobby for a suppressant vending machine.

“Pingfan, hurry up! There is a fruit buffet downstairs. Durians and cherries are all-you-can-eat for free!”

In his room, Hao Pingfan immediately tossed aside the luggage he was halfway through unpacking and bolted out like a firecracker. “I am coming, damn it!”

The door had not even closed yet. Hua Yunlian, walking by, paused. It was not that he wanted to pry into others’ privacy, but with a single glance, he saw Chen Wang’s backpack sitting on the other bed. It sat there obediently, looking as stiff and plain as its owner.

Hua Yunlian clutched his chest, breathing heavily. He stared at the backpack containing Chen Wang’s belongings, a thoughtful glint reflecting in his light-colored eyes.

Time moved slowly when one was bored, but for once, Chen Wang felt he was having a good day. He was still enjoying himself even as the moon hung high in the sky. He had filled his schedule to the brim.

“Dr. Chen, you have great luck!”

“Haha, it is just average.”

He was currently night fishing with his colleagues. His bucket was already filled with several fat fish, which he planned to add to the grill for a barbecue tonight. Amidst the envious gazes of the other fishermen, a disdainful snort came from beside him. “What does this even count as?”

Mantogua had also been holding a fishing rod for a long time, yet his bucket remained empty. However, that did not stop him from nitpicking Chen Wang. After all, they were rivals, and President Hua seemed so invested in this clueless Beta.

Chen Wang finally could not contain his curiosity. “So, why have you been following me?”

Mantogua had followed him while riding horses, while playing games, and while taking photos. Now, even during fishing, he was still there, even though he did not know how to do any of it. Chen Wang gave him a strange look. That pitying, calm gaze seemed to say that he really only knew how to drink.

“Who is following you?” Mantogua said huffily. “I specifically cleared my schedule to come and apologize to President Hua! How was I to know you would be here? I have not caught a glimpse of him all day. I figured if I followed you, I would surely find him.”

Chen Wang fell silent. If Mantogua had not mentioned it, he would have almost forgotten that Hua Yunlian had joined the team-building event because he was having so much fun. Seeing Chen Wang hesitate, the mint-scented Omega assumed he was deliberately hiding President Hua’s whereabouts. He thought it was despicable. Just as he was about to start cursing, he was interrupted by someone nearby.

“Great Singer Mantogua, it is a rare occasion for us all to be together and having fun. Could you sing a song for us to enjoy?”

As soon as the suggestion was made, everyone from the hospital staff to the President’s office staff started cheering. The atmosphere spiked instantly. Many were just looking for entertainment. After all, Mantogua’s reputation online was polarized. Some called him the Queen of Auto-Tune with no real talent, while others supported him blindly, claiming any criticism was just from haters.

The Omega was a natural attention-seeker and showed no stage fright. He lifted his chin proudly. “Fine, fine. I will perform my new song to show you all that those negative comments online come from people who would not know a star if they saw one!”

Chen Wang also looked over expectantly. Mantogua cleared his throat, as if his voice would be as refreshing as his pheromones. Five minutes later, he had successfully proven that the haters were right. Many of the people present were well-travelled, yet they were stunned into a long silence by his natural electronic voice and his off-key singing.

Mantogua stood awkwardly in the center of the crowd and fell silent as well. Seeing the genuine reactions of the bystanders, he truly felt his dreams of being a singer were crumbling. His eyes began to turn red.

“That was a good song,” Chen Wang said. He broke the silence and began to clap. The others followed suit with scattered applause and started offering compliments.

Mantogua looked at him with a complex expression. “You,” he whispered.

Hao Pingfan stared at Chen Wang’s neck in admiration. “Brother, you have goosebumps from how bad that was. You do not have to try that hard.”

While clapping, Chen Wang said sincerely, “I have heard this song before, but I did not expect the live version to be so high-voltage.”

Mantogua’s touched sentiment vanished instantly. He could not tell if that was a sincere compliment or sarcasm from his rival. Chen Wang stood up and ran off. “It is a bit cold. I am going to grab a jacket.”

“Your clothes must be in your bag. Who else would take them? If someone did take them, my guess is your good friend President Hua. He was at the door when I rushed out for the fruit buffet.”

Receiving the reply from his roommate Hao Pingfan, Chen Wang’s brow furrowed tightly. What would Hua Yunlian want with his bag? His entire net worth combined was not as expensive as one of the man’s beanies. Chen Wang scoffed at such petty behavior. Thinking about it actually made him quite annoyed. He marched toward Hua Yunlian’s room with a cold, handsome face. He thought that because he secretly wore his clothes once, the man was so petty that he would steal his entire backpack to get back at him.

The door was slightly ajar. Chen Wang’s eyes flickered. He lightened his footsteps and walked inside, intending to catch the vengeful brat off guard. To his surprise, the suite was excessively quiet. For a moment, Chen Wang doubted anyone was even inside. He passed through the living room. The closer he got to the bedroom, the heavier the scent of messy Damascus roses became.

The entire room had gradually turned into a rose-scented humidifier. It was a warm, lingering fragrance of flowers and dew. Even though a Beta’s sensitivity to pheromones was extremely low, Chen Wang realized something was wrong. He raised an eyebrow warily. His doctor’s instincts told him that Hua Yunlian’s rut had arrived. Fortunately, Chen Wang had no glands, so he would not be stimulated or affect the other man.

However, when Chen Wang stepped into the bedroom, he was struck with shock. It was the first time he had ever seen an Alpha nesting during a rut. The outermost layer of the nest consisted of the quilt and pillows taken from Chen Wang’s room. He had only lied on them for a few minutes, so his scent must have lingered there. Moving inward, there were piles of Chen Wang’s clothes. Since there were not enough clothes, the pile was bolstered by the bottles, jars, and food from his bag.

In the very center was Hua Yunlian. His skin was slightly flushed, and he was half-awake, still haphazardly releasing pheromones. The sight of a one hundred and ninety centimeter tall, burly man curled up like a kitten in a small nest was an immense shock to Chen Wang. He took two tactical steps back and let out a bewildered, “Oh my god.”

Squinting, he looked closer. What was Hua Yunlian rubbing against his face? Chen Wang froze for a full ten seconds before letting out a roar of rage.

“You pervert! What are you doing with my underwear?!”