Chà Chà Novel

Another enclosed space, filled entirely with the Alpha’s pheromones. What did that scent remind him of…?

Fang Fengzhi had never smelled anything like it. Unlike Fu Baiqi’s woody fragrance, this scent was intensely aggressive, like gunsmoke after a battle. It was not pleasant: dry, bitter, and thick enough to choke on. Worst of all, these pheromones could induce heat far too easily. Even now, despite the suppressant injection he had taken just last night, his body was beginning to warm again under their enveloping presence, his palms tingling.

He cracked the window open, letting the wind disperse some of the potent Alpha pheromones around him, then glanced at the man’s eyes in the rearview mirror, the only part of his face visible there. If he could have imagined any reason for such an exceptional Alpha to target an unremarkable Omega like him, Fang Fengzhi might have suspected the man had ulterior motives.

The Alpha drove him to the hospital and courteously asked whether he needed someone to accompany him upstairs.

They were complete strangers. Giving him a ride was already a considerable favor. How could he ask the man to go upstairs with him as well? Fang Fengzhi hurriedly shook his head and declined. The Alpha did not linger. After saying goodbye, he left before Fang Fengzhi even had a chance to ask his name.

Perhaps the Omega’s pheromones had overstimulated him, because Min Zhi developed a fever after returning home. Several days of medication did little to help. His temperature continued hovering around thirty-eight degrees Celsius. He could not stop releasing excess pheromones, filling the room with his own scent. It grew so strong that even his Beta housekeeper could smell it.

He did not go to the hospital. Min Zhi knew what was wrong. Excessive pheromone buildup caused fever, much like an Omega’s heat. He only needed to release the surplus. Yet he had undergone pheromone extraction at the hospital just a week earlier, and already so much had accumulated again.

Every cell in his body seemed to pulse violently. Sweat coated his skin, leaving him uncomfortable. After sending the housekeeper away, he went to the living room and swallowed a large mouthful of ice water. His stomach was cold; the rest of him still burned.

Regular hospital visits to release his pheromones kept him from going into rut, so he rarely experienced anything like this. His mind was consumed by chamomile pheromones. He even wanted to return to that elevator that night. Merely breathing in that scent would have felt good enough to make him come.

He immersed himself in the bathtub. The water carried a fragrance very similar to the Omega’s pheromones. It came from an essential oil he had asked someone to buy overseas. A few drops in the water produced a faint, warm chamomile scent.

Min Zhi wrapped his hand around his purplish, engorged penis. As he did whenever he masturbated, he lay in the water and imagined that fragrance was the chamomile pheromones, then summoned Fu Baiqi’s cool, aloof face in his mind…

But not this time.

Instead, he pictured a slender, pale nape covered by a thin suppressant patch. Min Zhi’s canine teeth were sharp. He felt that one bite would pierce the patch and the flesh beneath it alike, allowing him to inject his own harsh pheromones into that man’s body…

By Monday, Min Zhi’s temperature had returned to normal, and he went back to work as usual.

When he saw Fu Baiqi during the meeting, there was almost no chamomile left on him. He had apparently not gone home even once during the break.

Min Zhi could tell from the Omega’s pheromones that he had never been marked. His scent had virtually no connection to Fu Baiqi’s at all. Perhaps they really were only sharing a home. But then he remembered the wedding ring on the Omega’s finger, while Fu Baiqi’s ring finger was bare.

Living with a married Omega was rather difficult to explain.

“Mr. Min?”

Min Zhi looked at the secretary speaking to him and abruptly came back to himself. Once again, he had been unable to stop speculating about Fu Baiqi’s private life. Frowning, he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Go on.”

That evening, as he was heading home, he unexpectedly ran into Fu Baiqi in the parking lot, also just leaving work.

Fu Baiqi nodded at him.

“Mr. Min.”

Min Zhi was about to get into his car when Fu Baiqi drove over and looked at him.

“Care to get a drink, Mr. Min?”

Min Zhi hesitated for a second.

“All right.”

They had barely gone out together since the incident with the Omega. Previously, Min Zhi had always been the one to invite him. Now Fu Baiqi was taking the initiative. Before, that might have made Min Zhi happy. Now it only left him conflicted.

They went to a bar and had a few drinks, casually discussing the project to get the conversation started. After that, they drank in silence. Min Zhi could not help feeling uncomfortable. He still had feelings for Fu Baiqi. He admired his abilities and liked his personality very much. Their relationship had been progressing well, but now Fu Baiqi’s private affairs kept troubling him.

“Min.”

Min Zhi looked at Fu Baiqi. Outside the office, Fu Baiqi always addressed him with that familiar warmth. His face was a little flushed, suggesting he was slightly drunk, but his eyes remained clear.

“Yes?”

Fu Baiqi refilled his glass.

“You’ve seemed to have something on your mind lately. Something you want to say to me.”

Min Zhi had always liked that sharpness in Fu Baiqi: bold, vibrant, and captivating.

“There are a few things I’ve been wondering about.”

“I consider you a friend. You can be frank with me.”

Min Zhi smiled.

“It’s nothing much. There’s been so much gossip about you at the office lately that even I got curious.”

“What gossip?”

“That your wife came to the company looking for you the other day.”

“Oh, that Omega…”

Fu Baiqi’s expression did not change. He took a sip of his drink.

“He isn’t my wife. Just someone my parents know. He had nowhere to stay, so he’s staying at my place.”

“I see.”

Min Zhi lowered his head and asked nothing more.

They both called designated drivers. Min Zhi’s arrived first, and he said goodbye to Fu Baiqi before leaving.

Fu Baiqi watched Min Zhi’s car disappear around the corner, then lowered his eyes and got into the passenger seat. He opened his phone. A message from Fang Fengzhi, sent an hour earlier, was waiting there. Without reading it, he deleted it.

Wife?

He found himself thinking of Min Zhi’s question.

He knew Min Zhi was probably interested in him. Since Fang Fengzhi had come to the company, Min Zhi had grown colder toward him, which was why Fu Baiqi had arranged drinks tonight.

It was not that he had any romantic feelings for Min Zhi. Enigmas did not interest him. Nor did he particularly mind people knowing he was married. He simply did not want them to regard Fang Fengzhi as his lawful spouse.

Even though that was precisely what he was.

He had always lived under the envious gazes of others, whether for his S-class rank, his exceptional abilities, or the outstanding Omegas he had dated. These were all things other people could not attain. His life was unblemished. Therefore, his lawful partner should be an Omega who matched him, someone he had chosen himself and fallen in love with freely—not Fang Fengzhi, whom he had been forced to marry because of pheromones.

That utterly worthless Omega.

There could be no blemish on his life.