The Honest Man Was Targeted by His Ex-Boyfriend's Alpha Brother - Chapter 4

With a thunderous crash, Hua Yunlian slammed hard against the metal cabinet, creating a violent and chaotic noise. His hair was disheveled, and before the shock could fade from his eyes, blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. A large bruise quickly bloomed across his handsome cheek. He looked as miserable as he was in pain.

The entire room was paralyzed with shock. Even the dull-faced male assistant in the corner let out a sharp gasp. “President Hua!”

Chen Wang was in the heat of his fury after being insulted. Combined with the confrontation he had earlier that night with the debt collectors, he felt lightheaded and overwhelmed by a surge of adrenaline. By the time he regained his senses, several tall bodyguards had already burst through the door, swarming into the room. The originally spacious VIP ward could barely contain the chaotic pheromones of the Alphas.

Chen Wang’s throat felt tight, and a sharp pain shot through his temples. He pressed down on them firmly. “Ugh!”

Unexpectedly, Hua Yunlian did not explode in rage or order the men to punish this disrespectful older brother. His long legs, clad in smoke-gray suit trousers, shifted as he refused any assistance to stand up. He straightened his collar with deliberate, slow movements. His demeanor was noble and cold. He looked down at Chen Wang with a mix of pity and numbness, watching the man who refused to make a sound even as the bodyguards pinned his arms back until they nearly dislocated.

Hua Yunlian wondered: if Chen Wang were not a Beta, what would his pheromones smell like? What would it taste like to bite into his scent gland? The tip of his scarlet tongue flicked out, naturally licking away the metallic taste of blood from his lip like a feline predator.

“Do you see the situation clearly now?” Hua Yunlian asked softly. His voice was steady but a hundred times colder than before. “You have no choice. Whatever I want you to do, you shall do.”

Chen Wang also tasted blood, though it was from biting his own lip. He was proud and conceited; he was unwilling to resolve these troubles by selling his body. However, he was also very pragmatic and tried to read between the lines of the other man’s words. After all, Chen Wang had never encountered a situation like this before.

After a long silence, Chen Wang frowned uncomfortably. Hua Yunlian gave a signal, and the bodyguards finally let go. After the struggle, the loose blue-and-white hospital gown was in disarray, revealing a section of his white collarbone. He appeared both thin and frigid. Despite being a doctor himself, he did not seem to take good care of his health, as his skin possessed a sickly pallor.

Only his beautiful dark eyes remained bright. They were filled with inquiry and curiosity. As he hesitated, his gaze lowered. Hua Yunlian sneered, but the expression pulled at the corner of his mouth and caused pain, so he stopped.

“You were just baring your fangs and punching me a moment ago. Why are you hesitating now? Is stating your concerns harder than hitting me?”

Chen Wang had been intelligent and decisive since childhood; he rarely experienced moments of hesitation. He stuttered for a second. “So you…”

His dark, onyx-like eyes met the amber eyes filled with mockery. He was no longer aggressive; instead, his gaze was a complex mix of confusion and even a hint of shyness. Chen Wang asked him, “Are you doing this because you like me?”

Hua Yunlian froze as if he had been struck. His thin lips parted slightly. Several seconds passed before a deep, magnetic laugh vibrated from his chest.

“What? You said like?”

To Hua Yunlian, Chen Wang’s concern seemed utterly ridiculous. He caught onto the word and repeated it several times, unable to restrain his laughter. “Like. Like. I like him? I like him?”

By the end, his sarcasm was as pervasive as his red-rose pheromones, spreading into every corner of the room. “Brother Chen Wang, have you not been in a relationship before? Are you trying to play out a pure romance with me? You think a sponsorship agreement means I like you? Look at yourself. From head to toe, what part of you is worth my affection? Your background? Your status? Your looks? Or perhaps your ability to please me?”

“You poor people are truly a hassle,” he ground his teeth together. “When you make a mistake, you cannot afford to pay for anything. It is even debatable whether you have a healthy body.”

Hua Yunlian stared at him. His muscular, well-defined frame was large enough to completely overshadow the fragile yet stubborn Chen Wang. His disdainful expression was like someone looking at trash in a corner. He declared, “Chen Wang, I could never like you.”

“Yes,” Chen Wang replied smoothly. The hesitation that had been so uncharacteristic of him vanished in an instant. “I was just about to say the same thing.”

The sudden return of his composure caused Hua Yunlian’s heart to tighten for some unknown reason. Chen Wang abruptly pulled out the IV needle, which had already begun to show backflow of blood. “I will not like you either. Never.”

He stood up straight and tore the contract into pieces. The scraps of paper fluttered down like early snow before Hua Yunlian’s eyes. Chen Wang spoke in a matter-of-fact tone. “In my eyes, you have always been a child. There is no possibility for us.”

“Get out. I am driving myself.”

At the main entrance of the hospital, Hua Yunlian was fuming. The two assistants had already rushed into the back seat, fastened their seatbelts, and gripped the handles. The moment the door slammed shut, the engine roared, and the car sped away.

By now, the horizon was turning pale. The black sedan drove back to the villa district at twice its usual speed. A ruthless drift nearly sent the assistants into shock. Hua Yunlian entered the house without looking back. “Get lost on your own.”

Assistant Lu and Secretary Mary scrambled out of the car. They leaned against the doors for a long while to steady themselves before one of them moved to the driver’s seat.

“Why is President Hua so angry?” Assistant Lu asked, puzzled.

“President Hua is surrounded by beautiful Omegas. Even when he goes to clubs for business, minor stars disguise themselves as servers to seduce him. Chen Wang is just a Beta; he is not worth this much trouble.”

They had stayed up nearly all night, yet the contract remained unsigned, and the boss had been hit. It was unheard of. Was he doing this just to toy with his older brother’s ex-boyfriend to spite him?

“What is the reason? Chen Wang is not even qualified to be a mistress.”

Secretary Mary was a young woman and relatively more perceptive. Seeing her robotic colleague becoming more confused, she offered a possible explanation. “His fiancée was involved in an incident, after all. It is normal for President Hua to be anxious.”

Assistant Lu finally remembered the matter regarding the fiancée. Although something felt off, he still remarked, “President Hua is truly a man of deep feeling.”

Mary smiled but said nothing as she looked out the window. Deep feeling? For a fiancée he had never even met?

Inside the villa, the style was minimalist yet low-key and luxurious. Every piece of decor had been carefully selected and placed by top designers; any item taken at random was a rare collectible. At this moment, however, they were smashed into fragments across the floor.

Hua Yunlian sat slumped by the sofa, panting. His eyes were bloodshot. He stubbed out a cigarette on the carpet, leaving a small charred mark like a scar. He lived here alone. Unlike his eldest brother, he did not live with their father. There were no servants in the house, only cleaners who came periodically. He felt exhausted and went to the refrigerator, but found only mineral water.

The cold light illuminated his well-defined profile. He seemed long accustomed to this dull, lifeless existence. The entire home, including himself, lacked any sense of warmth. He carelessly gulped down the ice water. As the cold liquid hit his throat, the image of Chen Wang’s stubborn face became clearer.

When he first returned to the Hua family, the teenage Hua Yunlian often saw Chen Wang coming over to tutor Hua Jingchen. Hua Jingchen was nothing but a lecherous, stupid pig. Back then, Yunlian did not know how to socialize or even how to communicate. He could only peek at Chen Wang through the cracks of the door, hoping to be noticed yet fearing he would not be recognized.

That was until Chen Wang, wearing a worn-out school uniform, smiled at him. Until the gentle youth lightly stroked his hair. Until his most hated half-brother began to kiss Chen Wang wantonly.

Hua Yunlian suddenly hated him. Eventually, that hate became an obsession with no outlet. He turned the shower to its maximum setting, letting the water wash over his tense abdominal muscles. His cheek hurt where he had been hit. Chen Wang had given him that pain. The subtle sensation forced Hua Yunlian to visualize his face.

He became more forceful. He sank deeper into the feeling. Hua Yunlian let out a satisfied yet greedy groan, his forehead resting against the cold tiles. He was breathless again, but in a completely different way than before.

“Chen Wang, you wretch!”

The scent of Damascus roses bloomed in the steam-filled bathroom.

After Hua Yunlian left, Chen Wang did not delay for a moment. He quickly changed his clothes and left the VIP ward. His shadow stretched longer and longer across the empty corridor. He held his aching, dislocated shoulder and knit his brows, only to be stopped by someone. “Senior Chen?”

Chen Wang’s heart skipped a beat. He was a man who valued his reputation; even the photos he posted on social media were half-exaggerated to look good. If someone he knew saw him in such a pathetic state, he would rather jump off a building.

A young man in a white lab coat walked over, stopping him with frantic joy. “Is it really you?” He was so excited his face turned red, but he did not dare take Chen Wang’s hand. “Do you not remember me, Senior? Do you remember the time you helped me out at that team-building dinner? I have always been grateful to you.”

Having been beaten and enraged, Chen Wang’s body was reaching its limit. His brain could not process things quickly.

“My name is Shen An,” the junior introduced himself.

Chen Wang managed a weak smile. “Ah, it is you.”

The man talked incessantly and quickly. Faced with Shen An’s rapid-fire concern, Chen Wang simply nodded along. Finally, Shen An looked down, sounding somewhat ashamed of himself. “Senior, after all these years, you are still the one doing the best. You are staying in an expensive VIP ward, while I am still just an intern who only got in because of my family.”

Chen Wang was stunned. It turned out that Shen An’s enthusiasm was only because he saw him coming out of a VIP room. Was a little bit of reflected glory from Hua Yunlian enough to make others respect him? His heart felt bitter.

He did not have time for melancholy. He requested a day off from the department head and went straight back to his rented apartment. No matter what, life had to go on.

The small studio apartment was a wreck, with broken glass everywhere. “Young man, you paid me for the damages, but I still have to spend time and effort finding someone to renovate. I will absolutely not rent this place to you again! You are not a decent person. Take your luggage and leave immediately!”

Faced with the landlord’s ridicule, Chen Wang had nothing to say but an apology. He had no place to live. He did not even have a place where he could pay for a temporary rest. Fortunately, he did not have much luggage. Being someone who liked to keep things tidy, two large suitcases held all his worldly possessions.

An express hotel that did not require an ID was the cheapest option. The room smelled of mold. Chen Wang sat on the garish bedsheets and checked his balance. A little over three hundred. If he only ate one meal a day, he could last a while.

At that thought, his stomach growled. He had no time to worry about his father’s creditors or his sister’s disaster. He grabbed a breakfast coupon for a new shop opening from a live stream and went downstairs. After some hot buns and porridge, he finally felt like he was coming back to life. He stirred his purple rice and goji berry porridge with a spoon, the steam condensing into tiny droplets on his lashes.

His sister’s situation was urgent and had to be resolved. He planned to find Hua Yunlian again to discuss it seriously. If one made a mistake, one had to take responsibility. This was only possible if Hua Yunlian could set aside his emotions and stop saying such lewd, ridiculous things to him.

“Hey, how is the boss’s thing doing?”

“I heard it is useless now. It looks like a scored hot dog. That Beta was truly ruthless. He is a doctor, after all. Every cut avoided the vitals but hit where it hurt most!”

“Gosh, what a description. That sounds painful!”

Behind him, the sound of plastic stools being moved signaled a group of people sitting down. The small breakfast shop, wedged into a corner of the business district, was suddenly full. In the corner, Chen Wang’s back stiffened. He could not even leave. It was them again.

“I am not hanging out with Brother Long lately. I took a private job. Who wants to come with me?” The man took a bite of a bun and chuckled. “I am looking for an Alpha college student for the eldest daughter of the Qiao Group. What was her name? Chen something. I forgot.”

“Lately, all the tasks seem to involve people named Chen.”

“Why are we looking for her?”

“I do not know. Probably to finish her off.”

Holding his breath, Chen Wang’s hand shook. His spoon fell into the bowl with a crisp clatter. The noisy shop went silent. Chen Wang’s heart leaped into his throat. In the next second, he ignored everything and bolted out the door!

“It is him!” “It is that brat again!”

Hua Yunlian was not someone who knew how to handle his emotions correctly. Currently, his handsome face was clouded and his chest felt tight. There were faint dark circles under his eyes. He let out a frustrated click of his tongue. His bright red sports car pulled over to the curb. Enveloped by the aroma of roasted coffee beans, he entered a private cafe.

When he came out with a straw in his mouth, he heard an argument nearby. Chen Wang was being held by the collar, struggling desperately. “Let go! I will pay back the money I owe you slowly!”

Seeing that he was about to be hit, Chen Wang had a sudden thought. “Have you forgotten the Alpha who was driving the luxury car last night?”

The group was indeed intimidated. It was unclear what they had seen the previous night, but at the mention of Hua Yunlian, their faces turned pale with obvious fear. Seeing that the tactic worked, Chen Wang smirked coldly.

“He is my friend. If you dare lay a hand on me again, I will have my friend deal with you. You have seen what he is capable of.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Chen Wang felt something. He looked toward the road. A man biting a coffee straw was leaning against a scarlet sports car. His expression was indifferent and wore a mocking smile. He lifted his long legs and sat into the car gracefully.

“We are not friends. You can kill or skin him as you please.”

At that moment, Chen Wang was utterly panicked. The engine roared. As the supercar passed by, the man tossed his half-finished coffee at Chen Wang’s feet, splashing his trousers.

“It tastes terrible.”