The Popular/Charismatic Beta Always Thinks They Are Universally Disliked - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: How Could the Former Highland Flower Say He Wants to be a Home-wrecker? ^^…

‘But if you want to retreat, I refuse to let you.”

This was a sentence once written in Chen Que’s notebook. Before Little Wen suffered the sudden, cliff-like breakup, everything about Chen Que was unreservedly laid out for him, like a mother-of-pearl oyster whose adductor muscle was relaxed and maximally open. Wen Zhiyi could reach his hand into the shell’s inner, trembling, fragile soft membrane at any time. Whether he was simply bored or wanted to take the pearl inside was irrelevant.

The notebook Chen Que used to jot down inspiration was naturally also open for Wen Zhiyi to flip through.

He clearly remembered seeing this sentence in his boyfriend’s notebook a few days before Chen Que broke up with him, which puzzled him.

It was a cool, comfortable afternoon in mid-May. While Wen Zhiyi was putting an Inhibitor Patch on Chen Que’s scent gland to prevent pheromone leakage, he idly flipped through the notebook. When he saw the French sentence, Wen Zhiyi pondered for a moment and then pestered Chen Que to tell him what it meant.

The handsome Alpha, who had just showered, was wiping his damp black hair with a towel. He lightly glanced at the French words Little Wen was pointing to, remained silent without answering, and instead gazed at Wen Zhiyi’s face, using his eyes to signal that he also didn’t know the meaning.

Wen Zhiyi grumbled resentfully but didn’t press the issue, deciding to look it up himself.

The tall Alpha stretched out his long arm and pulled Wen Zhiyi into his embrace. His hand, noticeably larger than Wen Zhiyi’s, firmly held Wen Zhiyi’s hand and placed it on the back of his own neck, clearly intending to distract Little Wen.

Wen Zhiyi had always been very curious about this small organ on Alphas. He gently stroked the oval gland, about $2-3text{ cm}$ in diameter, located under the skin, and greatly marveled at the magical Alpha gender upon noticing it gradually becoming swollen and hot.

It gets so big all of a sudden.

Successfully distracted by Chen Que, Wen Zhiyi ultimately forgot to look up the meaning of the sentence.

It wasn’t until long after he broke up with Chen Que that Wen Zhiyi saw the French-Chinese translation on his peer’s computer wallpaper during a group meeting presentation where the screen was shared. This time, he didn’t need to ask anyone else.

But if you want to retreat, I refuse to let you.

And so, on that day, Wen Zhiyi, who had suffered intermittent insomnia for several months, calmly let go of Chen Que in his heart. Since then, he had never thought about anything related to this ex-boyfriend again.

A few years later, when his ex-boyfriend tried to force his way back into Wen Zhiyi’s life without explanation or room for negotiation, Wen Zhiyi thought of that sentence again, which felt incredibly apt.

He was almost stunned by the other party’s shamelessness, yet the lowliness of the other party’s posture made it difficult for him to lash out immediately.

Wen Zhiyi sighed, simply closed his work software, and focused entirely on wrangling with his ex-boyfriend.

Wen Zhiyi: “Two years ago when you broke up with me, I didn’t even have the right to know the reason. Now you say ‘you are mine’ and hope ‘I am yours.’ That’s not how the world works, Chen Que. You can’t do something you can’t even face yourself and then try to pretend nothing ever happened.”

His profile picture was a plump photo of Zhuangzhuang he had just taken tonight. A round little cat was leisurely eating in front of its bowl. Upon sensing someone nearby, it didn’t run away but continued eating fearfully.

Chen Que: “There is hope, Zhizhi. I’ll be back soon. How about we meet and talk when I return? Please let me come back?”

He sent a photo of a boarding pass: New York direct to Jing City, a flight of about 13 hours.

Chen Que, who had acted harmless and humble the whole time, was already on a direct flight to Jing City. He laid the settled fact directly in front of Wen Zhiyi, then pitifully and humbly begged the other to let him return.

Chen Que: “When Zhizhi wakes up, I’ll be back. Tell me anything you want to eat for breakfast tomorrow, Zhizhi.”

His profile picture was a deep, boundless night sea, with only a solitary moon above the surface and groups of transparent jellyfish faintly glowing beneath. Chen Que had used this avatar for many years. He once told Wen Zhiyi that there were many, many moons in this photo.

For a moment, Wen Zhiyi felt a chill down his spine because of the boarding pass.

The pale Alpha who had always watched him in the dim light of the night was still enveloping him as tightly as ever, like damp long hair floating on the water’s surface, trapping him whether he wanted it or not.

Wen Zhiyi closed his eyes tiredly, briefly sinking into darkness.

He opened his eyes again, calmly and indifferently telling Chen Que:

“There is no hope, Chen Que. I am already married. You should know my husband.”

Chen Que came from an artistic family. As someone who constantly mingled in the Jing City circles, it was impossible for him not to know Wei Yuzhi.

The other side fell silent for a moment.

The next moment, continuous, frantic voice messages started pouring in.

Chen Que: “Zhizhi is trying to fool me again.” Chen Que’s voice was cold yet gentle. He desperately suppressed his emotions, speaking softly, slowly, and deliberately, “You’re getting divorced soon, aren’t you? You weren’t supposed to tell anyone, but you told others, so I was bound to know.”

He continued in that cold yet soft tone: “It’s okay, Zhizhi. Even if you don’t want to divorce, we can still be together. If you don’t want Wei Yuzhi to know, how about I come see you when he’s not around?”

Chen Que let out a short, soft, delicate, yet husky-sounding sniffle and intermittently described his plan: “I’ll wear an Inhibitor Patch so I won’t leave any pheromones on you. Wei Yuzhi won’t smell anything.”

Wen Zhiyi: ?

He felt utterly absurd, realizing for the countless time that Chen Que was absolutely insane. How else could the former “Highland Flower” say he wanted to be a home-wrecker?

Wen Zhiyi shivered, starting to wonder if the air conditioning was set too low. He reached for the remote control and confirmed it was set to $28^circtext{C}$ ($82.4^circtext{F}$), which was certainly not too low.

It must still be because of Chen Que.

He decided to block the person and quickly put it into practice. Although he knew this was useless—Chen Que would definitely reappear in his life in various ways—at least he could have a peaceful night for now.

One extremely difficult ex-boyfriend was enough to give anyone a headache.

The headache-ridden Wen Zhiyi texted his brother to confirm he was staying at the office to work overtime tonight. He sighed and reminded him to take care of himself, only to receive a relaxed, joking reply: Since overtime requires paying employees double wages, Big Wen decided he and a few friends would cover it first, only calling in reinforcements if they truly couldn’t handle it.

Wen Zhiyi shook his head. With a mind full of chaotic thoughts, he finished his nightly routine and turned off the lights to sleep.

He was determined not to lose sleep over anyone anymore.

The next morning, Wen Zhiyi was awakened by a soft, damp sensation on his cheek.

He had dragged the cat bed into his room before bed, maintaining his good habit of being frugal and only turning on the air conditioning in his own room. The Golden Shorthair cat that entered with the cat bed squatted by the pillow, slightly tilting its head to look at the half-asleep Beta.

Wen Zhiyi blinked very slowly, as if gradually thawing, and reached his hand slowly toward the phone by the bedside. When he couldn’t find it, he finally remembered that due to an article shared by his parents in the family group chat, he had stopped keeping electronic devices by his bedside since last night.

The article suggested a potential link between electronic product radiation and cancer.

Wen Zhiyi was highly skeptical of this, but to break the habit of scrolling through his phone before bed, he obediently placed his phone on the desk.

He slowly sat up in bed, his hair a bird’s nest mess, and expressionlessly stared at the plump cat tilting its head and observing him.

Wen Zhiyi’s hair was fine, straight, and soft. He hadn’t had a haircut for a while, so when damp, his slightly long strands fell obediently over his forehead and across his relaxed brows, making him look gentle and innocent.

All the confused memory threads began to converge. Looking into the cat’s eyes, Wen Zhiyi suddenly remembered that he hadn’t wiped its paws.

That’s terrible.

Little Wen jumped out of bed in a panic, stripped the pillowcase, and threw it into the washing machine, successfully completing the great feat of holding the cat with one hand while changing the pillowcase with the other.

After brushing his teeth and washing his face in front of the mirror, Wen Zhiyi remembered that he had a farewell lunch with his husband today. To show seriousness, he rummaged through Wen Zhijie’s closet for a pair of cool and comfortable dress pants. After hesitating for a moment between his brother’s shirt and his own printed T-shirt, he chose the former.

It was practically perfect, except that the pant legs were a bit short.

How is an Alpha like Wen Zhijie almost the same height as me, a Beta?

Wen Zhiyi raised an eyebrow. The Alphas he knew were very concerned about height.

If an Alpha was $1.9$ meters tall, they would find various ways to let you know.

Including Chen Que.

The very first thing the famous “Highland Flower” of the National Academy of Fine Arts said to Wen Zhiyi was to correct his height.

Time quickly arrived at the agreed-upon hour for Wen Zhiyi and Wei Yuzhi. Before leaving, he rolled up his cuffs past his elbows because of the heat, exposing his fair, beautiful forearms, which unintentionally neutralized some of the maturity brought by the dark blue silk shirt.

To be honest, the shirt Little Wen chose for himself didn’t suit his style. Both the color and the fabric were overly mature for his age. He also completely ignored accessories, leaving the apartment building with a trash bag in one hand and his phone in the other.

Wei Yuzhi, who was already in the car downstairs and on time, saw Wen Zhiyi walking down listlessly and expressionlessly with a trash bag in hand.

Wen Zhiyi had sprayed himself with some of Wen Zhijie’s hairspray before leaving, so his hair was slightly damp. The slightly long strands over his forehead fell obediently between his relaxed long brows. He also, rarely, wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses, making him look innocent and pure, yet his expression was flat and cold, and he was carrying a bag of trash in a very mundane manner. His whole demeanor radiated a subtle sense of cold, married domesticity.

Wei Yuzhi’s gaze lingered on Wen Zhiyi for a moment, then he lowered his head to continue looking at his tablet as if nothing had happened.

After getting into the car, Wen Zhiyi consciously sat far away from Wei Yuzhi. He habitually glanced at the Malice Value progress bar next to the other person, which was pulled to the top, and silently turned to look at the scenery rapidly retreating outside the window.

After years of exploration, Wen Zhiyi had summarized his “superpower” into the following points:

Only he could see this progress bar;

He could only see the progress bar when facing the person; the bar would disappear when viewed through a screen or when beyond a certain distance;

The progress bar’s change was not irreversible; it would drop to a certain extent based on his reaction.

Once, an Alpha’s Malice Value fluctuated back and forth in a short time. Wen Zhiyi was greatly surprised and left a deep impression, but unfortunately, the Alpha rarely appeared in front of Little Wen afterward.

After boredly watching the scenery for a while, Wen Zhiyi lowered his head and started scrolling on his phone. As his arm naturally relaxed and dropped, the rolled-up sleeve at his elbow began to slide down. He patiently rolled it up a few times, then decided not to bother anymore.

A shadow suddenly fell over him. He smelled a familiar men’s cologne.

The top notes were rich, the middle notes soft, but the base notes ended with a spicy, rough finish.

The handsome Omega leaned over, holding Wen Zhiyi’s wrist firmly and expressionlessly. He naturally and meticulously rolled up the cuff, which had slid down to Wen Zhiyi’s wrist. Wen Zhiyi didn’t clearly see how he did it, and he subconsciously tried to pull away but found that the sleeve would indeed no longer slide down.

Wei Yuzhi seemed unaware that his posture at this moment placed the back of his neck almost right at Wen Zhiyi’s nose.

Unlike Alphas, an Omega’s scent gland is a circular organ, about $1.5-2text{ cm}$ in diameter, thin and smooth. When covered by an Inhibitor Patch, it barely disperses any pheromones. However, at the current distance between him and Wen Zhiyi, even the tightest patch couldn’t completely block the pheromone scent.

But Wen Zhiyi was a Beta; he couldn’t smell anything.

The Brandy-scented pheromones emanating from the back of Wei Yuzhi’s neck were no different from air to him. Of course, the Locust Blossom pheromones that Chen Que was insistent on leaving on him during their passionate relationship were the same.

Only when an Alpha or Omega’s emotions are completely out of control and their pheromones burst out can a Beta perceive them.

Pheromones are deeply linked to emotions. Alphas and Omegas can easily judge each other’s emotions from pheromones. Mated AOs can even communicate telepathically using pheromones. For them, each other’s emotional state and physiological condition are as clear as glass.

This is the main reason why AO marriages are regarded as the model standard by society.

Wen Zhiyi didn’t notice the intimate proximity of Wei Yuzhi leaning over. He raised an eyebrow in surprise that CEO Wei would condescend to roll up his sleeve for him.

His confusion did not last long.

He heard Wei Yuzhi, who had lowered his posture and closed the distance, calmly say:

“I heard Chen Que is back in the country. Are you divorcing me because of him?”