The Honest Man Was Targeted by His Ex-Boyfriend's Alpha Brother - Chapter 20

Aftermath — Even if it meant becoming a monster, he was willing.

Chen Wang had been wrong from the very beginning.

Through this animalistic encounter, he realized with absolute clarity that Hua Yunlian was no longer that lonely, fragile boy sitting by the swing set. He could no longer feel even a shred of pity or tolerance for him.

Chen Wang lost track of how many times he had been pressed against the dining table and taken. Beneath a vaulted ceiling adorned with classical oil paintings, a melodious and elegant piano piece echoed like the sounds of a cage. The sense of morality he had maintained for over twenty years was being shattered bit by bit.

The manic, oppressive pheromones struck him with such violence that he had to force himself to suppress the urge to gag several times. The skin on the back of his neck had been bitten raw in a fit of pique, leaving behind shocking, mottled red marks.

Yet, no matter how unbearable the pain or distress became, Chen Wang only ever let out intermittent, muffled groans. He refused to cooperate or cry out to please the madman that was Hua Yunlian.

As Chen Wang neared his breaking point, the man toyed with him repeatedly, asking obstinately, “Between me and Hua Jingchen, who makes you feel better?”

“Ugh,” Chen Wang groaned.

His gaze began to lose focus. He nearly lost control and let out an intimate sound, but he immediately bit his bleeding lower lip and swallowed it back down. It was unclear if he even heard the question. He was so stubborn that even Hua Yunlian found him pitiable.

Hua Yunlian gripped Chen Wang’s slender waist with both hands. How could an adult male Beta have a waist so thin and soft? His hands could almost meet around it.

“Tell me, Brother,” he urged.

Hua Yunlian trembled with excitement. A sense of frenzy swirled in his eyes, his amber pupils constricting to tiny points like a leopard closing in for the kill. Sweat, tears, and other fluids mixed together on Chen Wang’s flushed, dazed, and handsome face. He was exhausted, hanging off Hua Yunlian’s body like a person without bones.

The man chuckled. “Have you been turned into an idiot?”

He reached out to pry apart the teeth that were clamped shut. To his surprise, the first thing Chen Wang asked upon regaining his senses was, “How much debt does doing this once cancel out?”

Hua Yunlian’s face darkened. He flipped Chen Wang over and pressed him forcefully against the railing. Almost immediately, Chen Wang’s body went limp. He fainted before any further action could be taken.

Hua Yunlian cursed under his breath, feeling thoroughly disappointed. He haphazardly dressed the unconscious man and carried him out of the wrecked dining room.

“So fragile. It seems Hua Jingchen really is impotent,” he muttered.

He personally drove Chen Wang back to his luxury apartment. He felt a faint sense of satisfaction, though it was not yet enough to satiate him. Hua Yunlian drew a bath and stripped himself bare before carrying Chen Wang into the spacious tub. He began to wash him casually. The doctor’s physical stamina was truly poor; he was still unconscious.

Hua Yunlian lightly licked Chen Wang’s small, exquisite earlobe, trying to tease him awake, but Chen Wang did not move. His heart skipped a beat, and he reached out to check the man’s breath. Once he confirmed that the breathing was steady, Hua Yunlian laughed at his own absurdity.

“Brother, I thought you were dead,” he whispered.

He pulled Chen Wang tight against him from behind, leaning his cheek against the other’s hair like a large cat trying to act spoiled. He murmured hoarsely, “You are not allowed to die. Even if I die, you are not allowed to.”

If Chen Wang were awake, Hua Yunlian likely would not have been able to say such things. He slowly cupped the water and began to meticulously wipe Chen Wang’s body. He squeezed out some body wash and playfully brushed over every bruised spot. Some were from bites, some from suction, and many were from the struggle they had shared. The various colors stood out starkly against Chen Wang’s fair, glowing skin.

Hua Yunlian admired the sight, feeling deeply satisfied. He was so happy that he did not even notice his leopard ears popping out from his light chestnut hair. When he finally stood up, his thick, heavy tail was dripping wet, adding an annoying weight to his frame.

He turned to look at it. “Huh? Why did you come out? One heavy thing in the front was enough,” Hua Yunlian grumbled as he grabbed the tail to wring out the water.

He paused to think. For a long time, the pressure from his family had caused him irritability and stress, making it difficult to control his leopard form. He usually had to lock himself in his villa during the days when he felt he was losing control. However, today he noticed a subtle difference.

A moment later, a ferocious beast squeezed out of the bathroom, gently holding the unconscious, thin man in its mouth. The leopard walked around the room a few times while carrying Chen Wang, wondering if the man’s mouth contained some kind of stabilizer. Otherwise, why was he able to shift in and out of his animal form so easily after being with him?

The question remained unanswered for now. The leopard leaped gracefully onto the bed with Chen Wang. Most of the beast’s body still hung off the side, so it curled up as best as it could, tucking the chilled Chen Wang against the warmest part of its belly.

A dry, soft, furry tail served as a bolster, tucked under Chen Wang’s arm. The leopard tapped him rhythmically, clumsily mimicking a soothing motion to help him sleep. It could not speak human language now, but it thought the word “Brother” in its mind.

The leopard stared unblinkingly at the tiny human in its embrace. He was a mutated monster. At a very young age, he had lost his sense of identity. His memories before the age of ten consisted of being locked by his dancer mother in a five-square-meter rental room in the red-light district. That room was as small as a trap. Once the curtains were drawn, not a single ray of light entered, creating a suffocating darkness. No matter how he cried or screamed, no one noticed.

His memories after the age of ten were of a sudden mutation and being abandoned by his biological father in a nearly derelict zoo. His father had been terrified, but as the one going through it, Hua Yunlian was the one for whom death seemed better than life. Having crossed species, he was unable to communicate or vent his feelings. He could not even cry anymore.

Who was he? What was he supposed to do? For all these years, he felt as if he were in a permanent cage.

The leopard grew weary. The scent on Chen Wang was a calming, light fragrance. Its eyelids began to droop. The tip of the tail that had been soothing the man stopped moving, and the beast fell into a deep sleep.

If Chen Wang was in the cage with him, then even if it meant becoming a monster, he was willing.

It had been afternoon when they went to the restaurant. By the time Chen Wang woke up again, it was nearing noon the next day. His body was exhausted. As he struggled between sleep and wakefulness, his arm brushed against the warmth of the bed beside him. He instantly determined that Hua Yunlian was home and snapped awake.

The previous day’s exertion had been too much. Even the act of sitting up felt like an impossible task. Every joint in his body throbbed with a dull ache, as if he had been dismantled. He braced his waist and peeked under the covers. Seeing the intimate marks covering his body, his ears turned hot.

Hua Yunlian had been far too violent. The man clearly had no idea it was Chen Wang’s first time. Then again, what would it matter if he did know? That madman would only find another way to humiliate him.

There were no messages from the hospital on his phone. It seemed Hua Yunlian had informed the Director. His salary was already low, and with him taking leave so often, Chen Wang was truly worried about his job security. He limped to the bathroom to wash up and change.

When he reached the living room, he saw the man dressed in a cold black shirt with his long legs crossed. He was typing away on a laptop, apparently handling work. Based on the few snippets of a phone conversation Chen Wang overheard, the man was full of disdain for a competitor. It sounded like he had sabotaged someone’s business.

Chen Wang’s legs felt weak. He stumbled uncontrollably as he walked. Hearing the noise, Hua Yunlian turned his head with a calm expression.

“You are awake?” he asked.

The handsome man wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses while working, giving him an air of noble abstinence. Who could tell that this was the pervert who had been pinned on top of him yesterday, nearly breaking his bones?

Chen Wang did not want to respond, but he was afraid of provoking him again. He turned his head away and whispered, “Yes.”

Hua Yunlian set aside his work and walked toward him casually. When he reached out, Chen Wang flinched, a flash of terror crossing his face. The man paused. He did not get angry; instead, a trace of satisfaction appeared in his eyes.

He took hold of Chen Wang’s thin, scratched wrist and led him to the dining table, lifting a lid. “Eat. I made noodles for you.”

Chen Wang looked at him as if he had seen a ghost. “You can cook?”

Hua Yunlian sat opposite him and slurped a mouthful of noodles. “No, I cannot. But so what? You just throw the ingredients into a pot and wait for it to boil, right?”

Chen Wang picked up his chopsticks, speechless. He tasted a mouthful of the bland, plain noodles. They were boiled to a mush and broke the moment his chopsticks touched them. Hua Yunlian’s cooking style was exactly like his treatment of Chen Wang: violent, casual, and reckless. He simply assumed everything would turn out fine in the end.

Chen Wang was somewhat speechless, but he did not expect much kindness from the man. To put it bluntly, he was just a bed partner. He was not even very good at the physical side of things yet. One was crazy and the other was clumsy; they might as well just put up with each other.

Seeing that Chen Wang was eating the noodles normally with an expression of dazed exhaustion, Hua Yunlian rested his chin on his hand. He poked at his bowl boredly. “Brother, you do not seem to have much of a temper. I thought you would be like other Omegas, demanding delicacies from land and sea.”

Chen Wang paused. He thought to himself that he had shown temper yesterday. Every time he showed temper, he got punished. Did he dare show it again?

However, thinking carefully, he realized that outside of dealing with the volatile Hua Yunlian, he was usually polite and even-tempered with everyone. He said quietly, “I can eat this. At least it is hot.”

Hua Yunlian began to feel curious about him. “Do you often eat cold food?”

Chen Wang did not answer. He did not have the kind of relationship with Hua Yunlian where they shared heart-to-heart secrets. But Hua Yunlian was right; Chen Wang had been destined to eat cold food since birth. Living in the slums with ignorant and sickly parents, Chen Wang had to handle his own meals and look after his sister almost as soon as he was old enough to understand things. Cold food was a luxury; having anything to eat at all was a blessing.

He remembered that his middle school in the slums was tiny and broken, with no cafeteria. Children who lived nearby would race home for lunch as soon as school let out. As for Chen Wang, his home was remote and his parents were always busy working. He either spent his lunch break hungry or bought the cheapest bread possible. No matter how cold it was, he had to stand in the wind to finish it.

Chen Wang’s social media was full of exquisite photos, carefully crafting the persona of a refined young gentleman. It made it seem as if his lifelong pursuit was to be a wealthy, successful person from a good background. It made it seem as if that was the only way to be happy.

Yet, all he ever truly wanted was a steaming hot meal made with love.

He chewed the mushy noodles and froze. The steam from the food blurred his vision. Chen Wang suddenly realized that his first hot meal had actually been made for him by this shameless madman. This strange and absurd thought made him choke.

When he reached for more noodles, his chopsticks suddenly pulled up a piece of meat. Looking closely, he saw it was an abalone. Chen Wang’s eyes lit up as he rummaged through the bowl. Abalone, scallops, sea cucumber, fish maw; this young master had used these ingredients to boil plain noodles?

Hua Yunlian watched his expression closely with a trace of a smile on his lips. He could not hide his feelings at all, looking as if he were waiting for praise.

“Well? Is my cooking good?”

Chen Wang bit into a piece of rich, delicious sea cucumber. He lowered his head and said coldly, “It is terrible.”

Hua Yunlian’s temper flared, and he was about to snap. Then, the man whispered, “Thank you.”