Chapter 18

Chapter 18

The meeting’s atmosphere felt heavy. It had been quiet earlier, which was why An Nuo hadn't noticed anything amiss.

But now, several voices rose, sharp and impatient, each seemingly eager to cut off the others.

An Nuo glanced at the meeting timer—it had already stretched for two and a half hours.

That meant Lu Yunyan had likely been in this meeting since he woke up. Was this truly "unimportant work"?

As the meeting’s mood soured, An Nuo sensed Lu Yunyan’s temper fraying too. That subtle, almost imperceptible tension and agitation seemed to resurface.

An Nuo’s heart softened. He whispered, "Is this meeting important?"

Lu Yunyan pressed against his neck, holding him tight, his voice like a petulant child: "Not as important as you. You’re the most important thing to me. Don’t leave."

"……"

He must really be feeling unwell.

Between his own discomfort and the strained meeting atmosphere, An Nuo could feel the shift in Lu Yunyan’s aura. It was hard to refuse him now.

After a moment’s thought, An Nuo conceded: "...Alright, I won’t leave. You can continue your meeting."

"As long as you don’t mind me listening."

"But you have to—"

*Behave yourself. No touching or fooling around in this kind of setting.*

However, he didn't even get to finish the sentence. Just as he began, Lu Yunyan gripped his chin, turned his face, and captured his lips.

The kiss was urgent and fierce.

When Lu Yunyan held him, the Alpha’s scent merely enveloped him. But being kissed so savagely, it felt as if the Alpha’s scent was pouring into his very being.

An Nuo was powerless to resist. Half his body went limp, and his entire face flushed crimson.

Even though the people on the call couldn’t see what they were doing, he could glimpse shifting heads in his peripheral vision and hear their voices. It felt like being exposed to everyone.

And what would come after the kiss?

Based on An Nuo’s understanding of Lu Yunyan, this was only the beginning.

He had to stop it.

Reason gave An Nuo a burst of strength, and he forcefully pushed Lu Yunyan away.

Breathing heavily, his words came out a little slurred, but his tone was unusually firm: "...You—behave yourself! There are so many people here!"

Lu Yunyan was unbothered. "They can’t see us."

"...What if you accidentally hit the wrong button and turn on the camera? What if they see us?"

Lu Yunyan was even more indifferent. "So what if they see?"

An Nuo was exasperated by his brazenness. "...Aren’t you ashamed at all?"

Lu Yunyan didn't bat an eye. "Not ashamed. I feel great."

"……"

Right.

Given his unique condition and pent-up frustration, Lu Yunyan couldn’t be judged by normal standards.

Sensing Lu Yunyan’s state again, he did seem better than before. Perhaps letting him kiss like that really did make him feel good.

An Nuo: …

Regrets, regrets. He shouldn’t have softened toward this guy.

An Nuo hardened his voice: "...Anyway, no touching, no kissing me again! Focus on the meeting, or I’m leaving!"

Lu Yunyan’s expression clearly showed reluctance, but seeing An Nuo’s resolve, he had no choice but to agree: "Fine, as my wife commands."

"……"

His arms around An Nuo tightened. Since he couldn’t kiss him, Lu Yunyan pressed against him from behind, constantly sniffing at him.

He wasn’t kissing or touching inappropriately, but the incessant sniffing was still annoying. An Nuo felt like he was being pestered by a large dog, about to be covered in slobber.

Fortunately, that didn’t happen.

Amidst the tense and contentious meeting, someone asked for Lu Yunyan’s opinion. Lu Yunyan tsked in annoyance and had to temporarily let go of An Nuo to unmute himself and respond.

His persona shifted in an instant.

One moment he was a bothersome big dog, the next he was back to being an elite Alpha.

An Nuo finally had a chance to pick up his cream puff, curling up in Lu Yunyan’s arms as he devoured it.

He thought to himself, if they were truly in love, a scene like this would be incredibly sweet. His husband holding him during a meeting, while he nestled in his arms eating.

In truth, the possessiveness Lu Yunyan showed wasn’t something an Omega would dislike. If an Omega genuinely loved him, they would feel deeply satisfied and secure.

His guard came down.

He thought Lu Yunyan was speaking seriously and wouldn’t do anything to him.

But when cream ended up on the corner of his mouth—something An Nuo didn’t even notice—Lu Yunyan quickly leaned in and kissed him again.

An Nuo: !!

The worst part was, after kissing him, Lu Yunyan licked the cream away and continued speaking as if nothing had happened, his tone perfectly serious.

An Nuo’s cheeks burned instantly. He couldn’t cause a scene, so he could only angrily tug at Lu Yunyan’s clothes, mouthing silently: *What are you doing!!*

Lu Yunyan met his gaze and mouthed in reply: *Quite sweet.*

The more shocked and exaggerated An Nuo's reaction, the more Lu Yunyan seemed to enjoy it.

After a moment of speechlessness, An Nuo comforted himself, "Forget it, I won’t reward him—no need to give him more satisfaction."

He turned away and continued eating his cream puff.

The meeting atmosphere remained tense. Even without intentionally listening, An Nuo could hear the discussion jumping from actual business to picking faults and endless arguments.

Suddenly, someone snapped, "Who the hell is eating? Can’t you mute yourself while eating?!"

Startled, An Nuo froze, his puffed cheeks stuffed and his chewing halted abruptly.

Aside from Lu Yunyan, three others had their cameras off, but An Nuo was likely the only one eating, as the other three had barely spoken, while Lu Yunyan had been talking a lot.

One person with their camera on retorted fearlessly, "I’m not eating. Who even has the mood to eat right now?"

"Who eats during a meeting anyway?"

"It’s been a long meeting. What's the big deal about eating something?"

"You think the meeting’s too long? Then you can get lost."

"You should be the one to leave first."

The argument escalated in seconds, tension thick enough to be screened.

An Nuo thought it probably had nothing to do with him—it seemed more like intentional fault-finding and making an issue out of nothing—but he couldn’t help feeling nervous. He turned to look at Lu Yunyan.

Unhurried, Lu Yunyan spoke up, "It’s my wife who’s eating."

The heated argument instantly fell into dead silence.

An Nuo: ………………

The same people who had been aggressively bickering moments earlier now wore identical expressions of shock, visibly awkward and subtle.

Lu Yunyan’s marriage was no secret—it had long been known among the company’s upper echelons.

But the identity of his spouse remained a mystery. No one had seen them; no one knew who they were.

Speculations ran wild, ranging from neighboring planet royalty to slum dwellers—every version agreed on one thing: this marriage was not born of love and wouldn’t last.

Otherwise, why would it be kept so secret, with not a single extra detail revealed?

Besides, Lu Yunyan showed no signs of being married—he didn’t even wear a ring outside. Was this how true love should look?

Most people even forgot Lu Yunyan was married at all.

Until he casually mentioned it was his wife eating.

His camera had been off the entire time. Though the sound of eating had occasionally overlapped with speech, no one had actually seen it. If Lu Yunyan had claimed he was the one eating, no one would have questioned it.

But he insisted on emphasizing it was his wife.

What did that mean?

Was he trying to prove how affectionate they were? That his wife clung to him even during meetings? Or was he just showing off that he finally had a wife?

"If it’s disturbing you, I can mute for a while."

Ignoring the awkward and eerie silence, Lu Yunyan pressed on, "Should I mute?"

No one dared to actually tell him to mute.

"Never mind, I’ll mute for now. You all scared him."

Lu Yunyan added, "I don’t even know what you’re arguing about. Let’s focus on the discussion and drop the irrelevant nonsense, alright?"

As soon as Lu Yunyan turned off his mic, An Nuo’s fists flew at him, punching in rhythm, "...What! Were! You! Saying!"

Lu Yunyan found even this adorable. He wrapped his hand around An Nuo’s fist and tried to play innocent, "I was just telling the truth."

"……"

An Nuo finally understood—putting on this act in front of everyone also gave Lu Yunyan satisfaction.

And his own reaction right now was doubling that satisfaction.

Thanks to this incident, the rest of the meeting went much smoother. Everyone reined in their impulses and practiced patience—it was clear they all wanted to wrap things up quickly.

During Lu Yunyan’s muted period, An Nuo quickly finished his cream puff. After that, with nothing else to do, he became a human pillow in Lu Yunyan’s arms, forced to listen even if he didn’t want to.

Then he heard several familiar names—the very ones Bai Wu had asked him about, regarding whether Starryism would acquire Stellar Studio.

After the meeting ended, An Nuo asked, "...Are you really acquiring Stellar Studio?"

Lu Yunyan didn’t answer. Instead, he nuzzled closer, sniffing him, and stole a kiss when An Nuo wasn’t paying attention.

Extremely clingy.

And genuinely annoying.

An Nuo felt like he was being nudged and prodded by a big dog. For Bai Wu’s sake, he chose to endure it for now, but seeing that Lu Yunyan showed no intention of stopping, he couldn’t help but push him away.

Only then did Lu Yunyan respond, "You’re interested in this too?"

An Nuo didn’t mention he was asking for a friend. He just said, "Of course. Who hasn’t played Stellar Trace’s games? I play them sometimes too."

But he was too embarrassed to tell Lu Yunyan that, influenced by Bai Wu, he had previously used Qingli’s gaming pods. After marriage, he felt awkward having a rival company’s product at home, so he played less.

"An acquisition of this scale must be tough, right? If it succeeds, will Qingli delist Stellar Trace’s games?"

An Nuo felt he’d asked naturally, like casual curiosity rather than probing.

But Lu Yunyan wasn’t easily fooled. Seeing An Nuo’s interest, he pushed further.

"Kiss me, and I’ll tell you."

"……"

An Nuo admired his own adaptability—in just a few days, he’d grown used to Lu Yunyan’s antics.

Fine, one kiss wouldn’t hurt.

They’d already kissed plenty of times anyway.

But then Lu Yunyan added, "Kiss my gland."

"……"