Chapter 38: Day Thirty-Eight of Pretending to be A

Chapter 38: Faking Alpha – Day 38

Faking Alpha – Day 38

Chu Mo hadn’t expected to bump into Xiao Chen here.

He never imagined that Xiao Chen’s gift for him would be a bouquet of roses.

The roses looked fresh and dewy, with droplets of water clinging to their petals.

Chu Mo glanced at the roses in his own hand, suddenly feeling awkward.

Xie Songchen’s gaze flickered briefly to the flowers in Xiao Chen’s hand before shifting to Chu Mo.

Chen Songxie masked his curiosity and also locked onto Chu Mo.

Two pairs of eyes simultaneously zeroed in on Chu Mo.

An awkward silence fell.

The elevator doors began to close.

Chen Songxie strode in, entering the elevator and standing in front of Chu Mo.

The tight space now held three men, all towering over six feet.

"Fancy meeting you here," Chen Songxie said, eyeing the flowers in Chu Mo’s hand. "I didn’t expect anyone else to give you flowers besides me, sweetheart."

Chen Songxie made sure to stress the words "besides me."

He said "sweetheart" naturally, as if he truly were Chu Mo’s partner.

After speaking, Chen Songxie shot a casual look at Xie Songchen.

Xie Songchen kept a straight face but his lips thinned slightly.

His gaze stayed locked on Chu Mo.

"President Chu, I didn’t know your partner would come to deliver flowers," Xie Songchen cut in after a few seconds. "After all, he rarely visits you at the company." His tone carried a touch of sarcasm.

After speaking, Xie Songchen glanced sideways at someone.

The atmosphere grew thick with tension.

Both men waited for Chu Mo’s reaction.

Chu Mo completely missed the competitive jealousy simmering between them.

He thought to himself that since Xiao Chen had made the effort to buy flowers to play the role of his partner, he had to cooperate.

Moreover, Xiao Chen was an omega—bound to be more delicate—and Chu Mo didn’t want to embarrass him.

Chu Mo thrust the flowers back at Xie Songchen.

"Xie Songchen, I don’t need you to give me flowers," Chu Mo said coolly. "Stick to your job instead of trying to suck up to the boss."

Xie Songchen’s breath hitched.

His throat worked, and his back stiffened.

After a brief silence, Xie Songchen spoke haltingly:

"...I understand."

Xie Songchen took back the flowers Chu Mo returned to him, a faint flicker of disappointment crossing his eyes.

Seeing this, Chen Songxie couldn’t help but smirk.

Beaming, he extended the bouquet in his hand toward Chu Mo and mumbled shyly, "I didn't know what flowers you liked, so I bought roses."

Chu Mo accepted Chen Songxie's roses, humoring their fake relationship: "Thank you, Xiao Chen."

Xie Songchen went rigid.

Standing aside, he struggled to breathe.

The roses' thorns pricked his heart, making every second agonizing.

The elevator arrived at the floor of the CEO's office.

When the doors opened, Chen Songxie followed Chu Mo out.

Xie Songchen walked behind them, eyes shadowed, face tense.

Soon after returning to his workstation, Xie Songchen messaged his emotional coach, detailing the incident.

The emotional coach said regretfully, "You've made progress, but they're clearly outplaying you."

Her tone was like a teacher pitying a struggling student.

Xie Songchen asked, "Then what should I do?"

"You should be more direct," the coach replied. "If you had given him the flowers right away and admitted your crush, he might have been more receptive."

Reading the coach's advice, Xie Songchen went quiet.

Admit his crush?

This was something Xie Songchen had never done in his life.

Should he really confess to Chu Mo, an *alpha*?

Xie Songchen couldn't help but worry that speaking out would make Chu Mo dislike him—even though Chu Mo didn't seem to like him much now anyway.

At the same time,

Inside the CEO's office.

Chu Mo deadbolted the door, sat behind his desk, and looked at the tall “omega” before him. "Xiao Chen, your acting was excellent," he said.

Earlier, Chu Mo had almost believed Xiao Chen was really his lover.

"You're my boss," Chen Songxie said respectfully, dropping the act. "I must do as you say."

"As long as you come by regularly from now on, everyone will think we're a couple." Chu Mo nodded in satisfaction. "People will envy me for having such a handsome omega partner."

By then, no one would question Chu Mo's gender anymore.

At these words, Chen Songxie inexplicably looked guilty.

He looked away, not daring to meet Chu Mo's eyes.

"My good looks," Chen Songxie suddenly said, "aren't about gender."

Chu Mo blinked in surprise.

He couldn't figure out why Chen Songxie would say something like that out of the blue.

Wasn't he usually more modest?

Chen Songxie quickly changed the subject. "When will the contract be signed?"

"This came up so fast—I haven’t drawn up the contract yet," Chu Mo said to Xiao Chen. "Once it’s ready, I’ll send it directly to you."

Chen Songxie hummed in acknowledgment. "That’s good."

He knew his alpha status would come out eventually.

He just wanted, during their fake relationship, for Chu Mo not to find out he was an alpha.

That way, he could still enjoy being "Chu Mo’s partner."

—As an omega.

Then, like he'd just thought of something, Chu Mo spoke up. "By the way, when is your heat?"

Chen Songxie stiffened. "Heat?"

He never expected Chu Mo to spring that question on him.

"Yes, your heat," Chu Mo nodded matter-of-factly. "Give me a heads-up, and I'll prepare suppressants for you, to avoid any unexpected situations."

This left Chen Songxie scrambling for a response.

He'd prepped for every aspect of their fake relationship.

But he still hadn't anticipated Chu Mo caring about something like a heat cycle.

Chen Songxie forced out, "My heat...just ended recently."

Chu Mo let out a meaningful "Oh," then said, "Perfect—that timing works."

A while back, Chu Mo’s suppressants had failed.

To keep up the lie, he had claimed they were for his partner.

If Xiao Chen’s heat had been a few days ago, the timing would match up perfectly.

Chen Songxie couldn’t help but feel puzzled. "What timing?"

Chu Mo hesitated.

No way could he let Xiao Chen catch on.

"Chu Mo cleared his throat, covering his unease, feigning composure as he said, "I may have fibbed about having a partner before. Good thing you showed up, so the timing worked out perfectly."

Even with this explanation, Chen Songxie remained puzzled.

How is this related to his heat cycle?

Besides, someone as exceptional as Chu Mo must have plenty of omegas chasing after him. Why would he even need to lie about having a partner?

Chen Songxie couldn’t make sense of it either, so he dropped the thought and didn’t press further.

After all, the more he talked, the higher the chance of slipping up. If he accidentally revealed he wasn’t an omega, it’d be a disaster.

"If you sense your heat coming on, give me a heads-up," Chu Mo said, looking at Xiao Chen. "After all, heat is a crucial... uh, sensitive time for omegas. I need to make sure nothing goes wrong."

Chen Songxie was surprised Chu Mo cared this much.

In their society, alphas tended to be self-absorbed.

Hearing an alpha say, 'Heat matters for omegas,' was practically unheard of.

He even volunteered to get suppressants ready.

Noticing Xiao Chen’s silence, Chu Mo caught on and said, "What, is it too personal to bring up when it happens? That’s fine too..."

"No," Chen Songxie bit his lip, cutting Chu Mo off. "I just didn’t expect you to care so much about an omega’s heat."

Chen Songxie had wanted to say Chu Mo was unusually thoughtful for an alpha.

But Chu Mo tensed up at that.

Being an omega, Chu Mo knew firsthand how rough heat could be.

But being overly worried about Xiao Chen’s heat might seem suspicious.

Chu Mo grew oddly tense.

Even if Xiao Chen wasn’t in the script, Chu Mo feared breaking character.

His throat tightened before he finally spoke again.

"...Of course I care."

Chen Songxie blinked. "Why?"

"We’re just fake partners," Chu Mo blurted, scrambling for an excuse. "If you go into heat and your scent spills, I can’t just mark you."

Chen Songxie’s chest clenched.

The warmth from Chu Mo’s care vanished, leaving him cold.

Chen Songxie hadn’t expected that Chu Mo’s concern for his "heat" was because he didn’t want to mark him.

Chen Songxie wasn’t an omega to begin with.

Yet here he was, stung by Chu Mo’s words.

The crushing disappointment stole Chen Songxie’s voice.

After a long pause.

"...That won’t happen." Chen Songxie took a deep breath, forcing himself to detach from his turbulent emotions. "That kind of situation won’t occur."

Chu Mo’s eyes widened. 'That confident in your suppressants?'

For some reason, Chen Songxie always felt that Chu Mo seemed particularly knowledgeable about an omega's "heat period" and "inhibitors."

The difficulty of playing the role of an omega suddenly increased for Chen Songxie.

"Since you don’t want to mark me," Chen Songxie thought for a moment before speaking seriously, "I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again."

Chu Mo caught a hint of...

*Disappointment?*

Chu Mo was somewhat surprised.

Why would *Little Chen* feel disappointed?

Chen Songxie’s mood sank, and he just wanted to escape as quickly as possible.

"President Chu, I still have class, so I have to go," Chen Songxie said, lifting his gaze to meet Chu Mo’s eyes. "Don’t forget to send the contract."

The way he addressed Chu Mo had gone from "darling" just moments ago to "President Chu."

His tone turned icy.

Chu Mo was baffled by the sudden change and could only nod. "I know. I’ll send it to you tonight, don’t worry."

Chen Songxie nodded.

Just as he was about to leave—

Chu Mo suddenly spoke up. "Hey, Xiao Chen."

Chen Songxie turned back to look at him.

"Can I ask you something?" Chu Mo carefully chose his words before continuing, "Could I know your real name? Calling you 'Xiao Chen' all the time feels weird, and it’d be better to use your real name for the contract."

Chen Songxie looked down.

He didn’t like Chu Mo calling him 'Xiao Chen' forever, either.

It made him feel like a stranger.

But if Chu Mo knew his real name...

Would it reveal his gender?

Seeing Chen Songxie hesitate, Chu Mo quickly added, "Of course, if you don’t want to say, that’s fine too..."

Chen Songxie hesitated.

"Okay." After a long pause, Chen Songxie said, "When you send me the contract tonight, I’ll fill in my real name."

Chu Mo blinked in surprise.

"But I have one condition." Chen Songxie looked at Chu Mo and said earnestly.

Chu Mo nodded. "Go ahead."

"Don’t look into me," Chen Songxie said bravely to Chu Mo. "And don’t tell anyone."

Then, Chen Songxie stared into Chu Mo’s eyes, pleading slightly:

"I just... want you to know my name."

Chu Mo hadn’t expected Xiao Chen to ask for something like this.

But given Xiao Chen’s unique position, it wasn’t surprising he’d bring it up.

Chu Mo didn’t dwell on it and nodded. "I promise."

Xiao Chen wasn’t part of the story, after all.

No omega like him existed in the narrative.

In the original, a pack of alphas chased after Chu Yun, the omega.

From the lead suitor to the side pursuers, even the main antagonist—all were alphas.

Therefore, Xiao Chen definitely wasn’t part of the plot.

The other alphas didn’t need to know either.

At that, Chen Songxie finally exhaled, his shoulders loosening.

With a nod at Chu Mo, he walked out.

Once outside, Chen Songxie’s eyes dropped.

His expression was a tangle of emotions—

Disappointment. Frustration. Helplessness…

Chen Songxie wished he’d never taken the job.

If he’d refused, he wouldn’t be stuck feeling this way.

Here he was, an alpha, playing fake boyfriend to another alpha.

Chen Songxie couldn’t stop thinking—what if he’d been born an omega?

Would Chu Mo have noticed him then?

The thought twisted in his gut—why couldn’t he have been an omega?