Chà Chà Novel

Lost in pheromones, Fang Fengzhi had ceased to notice the passage of time.

What had begun as closeness slowly became more than he could bear. Min Zhi’s grip hurt. He made a small sound and shifted, trying to pull away, but the hands holding him would not loosen.

His resistance seemed to stir an inexplicable displeasure in the man behind him.

A sharp slap broke the silence.

Fang Fengzhi froze. No one had ever treated him this way. Pain and humiliation flooded him with heat. Before he could recover, more blows followed, until he was pleading.

“It hurts…! Please—stop! Don’t hit me!”

He scrambled to catch Min Zhi’s hand, only to have his own struck aside. Now the back of his hand burned as well.

“Mr. Min…”

He had barely turned before a hand forced his head against the bed.

Breathing became difficult. No matter how he struggled, he could not move the hand restraining him.

Cold sweat broke across his skin.

There was something frighteningly unfamiliar about Min Zhi now.

The weight behind him pressed closer, leaving him scarcely able to breathe. He could not even shift away.

“Mr. Min… please…”

But the man behind him remained silent.

Fang Fengzhi was close to despair. Beside Min Zhi, he was helplessly weak. Whatever the man chose to do, he had no strength to resist.

Then, at last, the pressure on his head lifted.

He hurriedly turned his face and gulped for air. Gunsmoke filled his nose.

A hand slowly settled against his neck.

He trembled. This Min Zhi seemed nothing like the man he knew. He could not guess what would happen next. His throat moved in a nervous swallow beneath that palm.

“Don’t be afraid…”

At last, Min Zhi spoke.

It was the same familiar voice, cool and yet strangely soothing.

Fang Fengzhi’s eyes immediately stung.

He did not understand what was wrong with today. Everything had gone badly from morning until night. Even Min Zhi had suddenly become so rough.

The places he had hurt still burned. They were still far too close, and the lingering taste of gunsmoke reminded Fang Fengzhi that he had willingly returned that kiss.

Everything he had suppressed throughout the day suddenly broke free.

His breath shook.

Then the tears began to fall.

Perhaps he really had fallen for Min Zhi.

From the first time Min Zhi brought him to the villa, he had respected him, cared for him, and answered almost every request. Fang Fengzhi had slipped into those feelings almost without noticing, then told himself it was only the pheromones.

After leaving the villa and returning to the cold apartment, he had thought of Min Zhi again and again.

Perhaps, he reasoned, it was because Min Zhi had been the first person to mark him.

That must be why he could not forget.

Then Fu Baiqi marked him.

And in that very moment, he thought of Min Zhi again.

He could no longer make sense of his own heart.

Later, Min Zhi appeared at the apartment. They kissed, embraced, crossed a boundary. He helped Fang Fengzhi endure his heat.

Could Min Zhi feel something for him too?

But whenever that thought arose, Fang Fengzhi remembered what the man had said.

He was not interested in Omegas.

The things he had heard from the housekeeper only seemed to confirm it.

Perhaps Min Zhi merely pitied a married Omega forced to endure his heat alone.

Or perhaps it was nothing more than pheromones.

He could not bear either answer.

So he had never asked why Min Zhi came to his apartment that day. Throughout his stay at the villa, he had forced himself to keep his distance.

He knew that one more step would leave him with no way back.

Who could turn away from someone so gentle?

And yet, whether he listened to his feelings or his reason, he knew he should.

He could not even untangle his own heart, much less understand Min Zhi’s. Besides, he was still legally married to Min Zhi’s subordinate. He had not divorced. It was a boundary he himself could not cross, whatever Min Zhi might think.

But every time their eyes met, his resolve wavered.

Min Zhi looked at him with such urgency, such tangled emotion. How could there be nothing behind it?

Still, Fang Fengzhi feared it was only the pheromones.

Then Min Zhi kissed him.

They were both lucid, and Min Zhi kissed him.

Fang Fengzhi no longer wanted to resist. He did not want to guess why. For that moment, he wanted only to be close.

Their kisses grew fiercer, more insistent. For a brief moment, he even wondered whether they might be in love.

But the thought did not last.

Min Zhi’s roughness shattered it.

The tears would not stop. Fang Fengzhi closed his mouth and clenched his teeth, determined not to make a sound.

Even so, Min Zhi noticed.

He paused, then lifted himself away.

“What’s wrong?”

Fang Fengzhi wiped his tears without answering. Quietly, he curled into himself.

Perhaps he had frightened him.

That was Min Zhi’s first thought.

In truth, he did not understand himself either. Seeing someone usually so yielding resist him had stirred a strange displeasure. He had even struck him without knowing his own strength.

Afterward, he had felt a secret satisfaction.

But now, watching the Omega withdraw in silence, refusing even to look at him, Min Zhi regretted it. An uneasy frustration rose in his chest.

He lifted Fang Fengzhi and gathered him tightly into his arms.

Fang Fengzhi did not resist, but Min Zhi knew he did not want to engage with him.

“I’m sorry.”

He stroked his back, trying to explain.

“I don’t know what came over me. I frightened you, didn’t I?”

Fang Fengzhi’s tears continued. He kept his eyes lowered and looked away.

Min Zhi frowned.

That silence unsettled him more than he understood. He lifted Fang Fengzhi’s face, making him look up.

At last, those wet eyes turned toward him.

The sadness in them made something inside Min Zhi falter.

Unable to help himself, he leaned down to kiss Fang Fengzhi’s eyes.

Fang Fengzhi turned away.

An impulse rose in him to hold him still and kiss him anyway.

But he could not do that now.

His arms loosened. He bowed his head beside Fang Fengzhi’s ear.

“I’m sorry… Can you forgive me?”

Fang Fengzhi stared into the distance, his heart aching.

Min Zhi always held him with this tenderness, always soothed him like this.

And even now, he could not bring himself to blame him.

“It isn’t your fault.”

“I just…”

He searched for an explanation.

“I’m just having a bad day…”

It felt as though some of his misery had drained away with the tears. He settled quietly into Min Zhi’s arms, breathing in his scent.

Remembering his own distress a few minutes earlier, he began to think he had been unreasonable.

Then his gaze shifted, and he became abruptly aware that the intimacy between them had not entirely subsided.

He flustered.

“What is it?” Min Zhi asked.

“I… I…”

Embarrassment tangled his words.

But when he looked up, their eyes met.

Fang Fengzhi went still.

In Min Zhi’s eyes, he saw tenderness—and pain on his behalf.

That could not be merely the pheromones.

For reasons he could not explain, something inside him finally relaxed.

And in that tender, uncertain closeness, they kissed again.