Chà Chà Novel

Ever since that incident, Min Zhi had felt something he could not quite name whenever he looked at Fu Baiqi.

He had first heard Fu Baiqi’s name because of his professional abilities. That had been several years ago, not long after the company began to thrive. People had mentioned a promising new recruit, but Min Zhi had thought little of him at the time.

Within only a few years, however, Fu Baiqi had risen to deputy department head. At that point, it was impossible not to notice him. Min Zhi met him during a meeting. His first impression was the scent on him, followed by his face.

Enigmas were acutely sensitive to scents. Every day, they encountered all kinds of pheromones. Yet Min Zhi had taken an instant liking to the pheromones on Fu Baiqi. And the Alpha who carried that fragrance also possessed such a cool, beautiful face. He could hardly have suited Min Zhi’s tastes more perfectly.

Min Zhi began paying attention to him, and the more he saw, the more he liked. His looks, his figure, his intelligence and ambitious drive: all of it was exactly Min Zhi’s type.

He gradually drew closer, only to discover that Fu Baiqi was aloof with everyone. He treated Min Zhi as nothing more than his superior, making no attempt to curry favor.

Such a beautiful face, and yet no one seemed good enough for him.

They got along fairly well outside work, too, but Min Zhi had never heard of anyone in Fu Baiqi’s life. The Omega who had come to meet him at the company a little while ago had already been the limit of what Min Zhi could bear. He had never expected another person to appear.

What shocked him even more, however, was that the pheromones he loved most came from the person Fu Baiqi lived with—and that person was an Omega.

While speaking with Fu Baiqi at noon, he caught that Omega’s pheromones on him again. He did not know what the two had done the night before, but the fragrance was even stronger.

Min Zhi could not help frowning before he left.

His feelings toward Fu Baiqi were complicated now. Of course he still liked him, but in his eyes, Fu Baiqi was an elite Alpha devoted entirely to his work, someone far removed from ordinary carnal desires. Min Zhi could not even imagine what he would look like in bed with that Omega, consumed by lust.

For some time afterward, the Omega did not appear outside the company again. Yet the scent on Fu Baiqi no longer gave Min Zhi that feeling of complete relaxation. Whenever he remembered that the pheromones came from an Omega, something about it unsettled him.

His mother arranged a blind date for him that weekend, and he could hardly refuse.

He was thirty this year, well past the age when he was expected to marry, but he was simply too particular. He could not even find a suitable bed partner, much to his parents’ concern.

Of course, every Enigma in the world faced the same problem.

They wanted Alpha wives, but few Alphas were willing to submit beneath another person and give up their original sex to become an Omega.

Not that there were none.

Min Zhi had intended only to go through the motions. Once he sat down, however, he discovered that the person opposite him was an actual Alpha, which genuinely surprised him.

The other man greeted him warmly. “Hello.”

“Hello.”

He had not expected an Alpha to agree to the date knowing his sex. As he wondered about it, the other man spoke.

“Mr. Min, I hear you’re an Enigma?”

“That’s right.”

“This is my first time meeting one.”

He seemed quite interested in Min Zhi.

“You gave me a bit of a shock when you stood in front of me just now. You’re considerably bigger than most Alphas.”

The lighthearted remark eased the atmosphere. Min Zhi smiled.

“I get that a lot.”

As they talked, he suddenly caught a familiar pheromone scent.

It was far away, yet Min Zhi noticed it instantly. He frowned, but could not resist turning toward it. The man who had stood with Fu Baiqi outside the company was coming in, making his way to a table by the window.

Someone was already sitting there… Min Zhi recognized that face as well. It was the Omega who had come to meet Fu Baiqi after work last time. Even with his lack of interest in Omegas, Min Zhi had to admit the man was beautiful, the kind of beauty one could not forget after a single glance.

“Someone you know?”

The Alpha opposite him suddenly spoke, watching him.

Min Zhi looked back and shook his head. “Nothing. He looks like a friend.”

He did not dwell on the interruption. His date that evening was a perfectly nice man, and they shared several interests. Unfortunately, Min Zhi had no desire to take things further. His thoughts were still occupied with Fu Baiqi, leaving no room to consider anyone else for the time being.

After dinner, Min Zhi went to the parking lot to get his car. Unexpectedly, he ran into the beautiful Omega there. The man was walking briskly while talking on the phone. As he passed Min Zhi, he glanced up. Seeing Min Zhi looking at him, he offered a smile.

His voice turned petulant as he spoke to the person on the phone.

“So annoying. I talked until my mouth was dry, and he just sat there without saying a word, like he was mute.”

Whatever the other person said made the Omega sound irritated.

“Hurry up and sort it out. Do you have any idea how awful you smell?”

Min Zhi opened his car door. The Omega had already moved farther away, leaving him to catch only a few faint words.

“…Come over to mine tonight…”

On the drive to take the Alpha home, Min Zhi continued chatting with him as before. His face, however, held little expression. It had darkened, as though he were in a bad mood.

Fang Fengzhi returned to a dark, empty home. It had been so hot outside that he was drenched in sweat, sticky and uncomfortable. After changing his shoes, he glanced toward the study. The door was open, and the light was off. He took out his phone and looked at the message he had sent Fu Baiqi an hour earlier. There was still no reply.

He carried the fruit he had bought into the kitchen. The breakfast he had made for Fu Baiqi was still sitting untouched on the table, its colors no longer fresh. He was about to put it in the refrigerator when he caught the smell of spoiled food. In the end, he could only empty it into the trash.

As he stared at the heap of food mixed together in the bin, tears suddenly spilled from his eyes.

He knew Fu Baiqi was seeing other people.

Long ago, he had begun noticing other people’s pheromones on his husband, a different scent each time. He had confronted Fu Baiqi, who brushed him off with one excuse after another and never admitted anything. And so Fang Fengzhi had deceived himself into believing him, believing in those supposed “colleagues.”

But last month, he had discovered that the pheromones on his husband were always from the same person. Fu Baiqi had also started staying away from home regularly. A sense of alarm had taken hold, which was why Fang Fengzhi had gone to wait for him outside the company.

Fu Baiqi had settled down for a few days. Then, today, the person he was having an affair with had brazenly approached Fang Fengzhi himself.

The beautiful Omega’s name was Bai Zhen. He said he was Fu Baiqi’s first love. As if to prove how deeply they loved each other, he recounted their past in painstaking detail, telling Fang Fengzhi how well Fu Baiqi treated him and how much Fu Baiqi loved him.

These were all things Fang Fengzhi had never received.

In the end, Bai Zhen said he hoped Fang Fengzhi would divorce Fu Baiqi.

The way he told it, the two of them had always belonged together, and Fang Fengzhi was the interloper who had intruded on their relationship.

But back then, when they married, when they went to the marriage registry, when they held their wedding ceremony, Fu Baiqi himself had been there beside him. Those vows had come from his own mouth.

How had everything become Fang Fengzhi’s fault alone?

He lowered his eyes to the tears that had fallen on the kitchen counter. Only a few small drops. One wipe of his hand and they were gone, leaving no trace.

The phone in his pocket suddenly rang. He took it out. It was Fu Baiqi’s mother.

He drew a deep breath and took a moment to steady himself.

“Hello, Mom.”

“Fengzhi, what are you doing?”

Fang Fengzhi tried to make his voice sound normal, holding his breath tight in his stomach.

“I just finished eating. I’m washing the dishes.”

“You’re eating so late. Do you have anything planned afterward?”

“No. Is something the matter, Mom?”

The woman on the other end chuckled.

“Nothing much. Just what I mentioned last time. You two have been married for over a year. You can’t keep putting off having a child…”

She kept talking, but for the first time, Fang Fengzhi interrupted her.

“Mom…”

“We don’t want a child yet…”

He thought of everything Bai Zhen had told him that day. For the first time, he had learned that Fu Baiqi could act like an impulsive boy for someone he loved.

“And I think… perhaps we aren’t very well suited.”

There was a brief silence on the other end. Then her voice sharpened.

“Not well suited?”

Fang Fengzhi’s heart lurched.

“How can you be unsuitable when your pheromones are a hundred percent compatible?”

“Fengzhi, that isn’t what you said when you got married.”

“That’s not what I mean. I just think Baiqi should find someone he likes. Maybe someone like me isn’t what he wants…”

She cut him off. “Then what do you want?”

“A divorce?”

Fang Fengzhi tightened his grip on the phone.

“…Yes.”

“Enough.”

She did not want to hear any more.

“Stop giving me these excuses. A divorce is absolutely out of the question.”

“We’ve done so much for your family. You ought to show some gratitude.”

Fang Fengzhi clenched his teeth, unable to speak.

“That’s settled. I’ll talk to him tomorrow. As for everything else, the two of you can work it out yourselves, little by little. You’ve lived together for so long. Surely there must be some affection by now?”

Without waiting for Fang Fengzhi to answer, she hung up.

Staring at the screen showing the ended call, Fang Fengzhi slipped his phone back into his pocket and numbly began finishing the evening’s chores.