Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Sometimes, An Nuo felt he deserved to die.

Why couldn't he ever learn? Why did he keep letting himself become a sacrifice to Lu Yunyan’s words, time and again?

He was truly beyond help.

Yet, even as he yearned to punch Lu Yunyan, an unnamable joy bubbled within him—because Lu Yunyan had given him rather good validation.

At least as an omega, his sexual allure to an alpha—especially a top-tier alpha like Lu Yunyan—was undeniable.

This made An Nuo feel less passive, as if he still held some advantage, regaining a bit of leverage.

He recalled Bai Wu’s words: "This is his reward to Lu Yunyan." Yes, exactly, that’s how it should be. He needed to feel worthy, not immediately cast himself as the weaker party.

An Nuo gritted his teeth, determined to retort to Lu Yunyan: "Be happy if you want, but remember, your happiness is all thanks to me."

But no matter how perfectly he rehearsed it in his head, when it came time to speak, his lips felt glued together—not a single word could escape.

An Nuo struggled to open his mouth, but still, nothing came out.

His resolve lasted only a few minutes before he reverted to his timid self.

"Sorry, Teacher Bai Wu," he thought.

Teacher Bai had poured out all her wisdom, but he failed due to a lack of courage to act.

Lu Yunyan carried An Nuo toward the dining room, unaware that An Nuo’s silence stemmed from mentally rehearsing those lines. He only worried that he might have gone too far, and that An Nuo, in his fragile state, might not be able to accept it.

He sighed.

Well, this was one good thing about his heat.

“Alright, alright. Although this happened unexpectedly, I won’t treat it as just an accident. Don’t feel any psychological burden.”

An Nuo’s prepared words now had even less chance of being spoken.

“As I’ve told you before, I’ll take responsibility for all your feelings.”

“During this time, you can forget about the agreement. Don’t overthink it—just treat me as your real husband. I will treat you with the utmost sincerity.”

And the reason An Nuo was so conflicted was precisely because his contract-bound rationality was wrestling with his instinct to surrender.

He's telling me to forget.

But how could he forget?

The end date was set from the very beginning. Staring at a relationship with a foreseeable end, who would dare pour too much real emotion into it?

“Easy for you to say…”

But there was a difference.

Before, An Nuo would have kept all his thoughts to himself. Now, he dared to mutter his complaints under his breath.

“It’s easy for you to say now, but what about later… Who knows what will happen in three years? What if by then, I can’t take it anymore…”

Then Lu Yunyan would throw a party for the whole world to celebrate.

He’d be thrilled if An Nuo couldn't take it.

If An Nuo couldn't take it, they could just continue—just keep going for a lifetime.

But he couldn’t say that yet. Saying it would only reveal his ambition, and during this uncertain phase, if An Nuo had even a hint of hesitation, he might scare him away.

“See, it’s because you keep thinking like this that you burden yourself.”

“Don’t always worry about what will happen in three years. You should think that maybe we’ll be together for a lifetime.”

Lu Yunyan avoided the real issue and offered another sweet but empty promise.

It sounded romantic on the surface, but in reality, it was pointless—it didn’t answer An Nuo’s question at all.

But they arrived at the dining room. Before An Nuo could react, Lu Yunyan asked, “Alright, let’s eat first. Do you want me to feed you?”

An Nuo was speechless.

With one sentence, he easily distracted An Nuo.

An Nuo said quickly, “No, I can eat by myself… Oh, where’s my phone? Where did I put it?”

He hadn’t seen it in five days. Lu Yunyan hadn't noticed either.

“…I’ll have the robot look for it.”

Luckily, it wasn’t lost outside. Two minutes later, the robot returned with An Nuo’s phone.

Five whole days without touching his phone—what did that mean?

It meant he’d missed out on the latest internet trends.

An Nuo had plenty of messages to go through, starting from the night of the graduation ball.

That night, before the ball ended, Bai Wu and Luo Heng were already looking for him.

But Luo Heng knew Lu Yunyan had come for him, so he wasn't worried about the lack of a reply. The two had changed venues, joining a group on a yacht for an all-night graduation celebration.

They’d invited several popular singers to perform live. The atmosphere was lavish, dimly lit yet glittering. They partied through the night until noon the next day.

An Nuo felt a pang of envy.

If it weren't for this sudden heat, he should have been on that yacht too.

But he also felt a sense of relief, as if he’d had a close call. If his heat had hit on the yacht, he’d never be able to show his face again.

The next morning, there were messages in the group chat.

Bai Wu: “Where’s Nuo Nuo? Still no reply this morning?”

Bai Wu: “Hellooo?”

Bai Wu: “Oh no, did he really go into heat with his hubby?”

An Nuo: .

Right on the mark, Teacher Bai Wu.

If he’d been gone for five days, anyone could guess, but this was only the second day, and Bai Wu had already figured it out.

In the following days, although An Nuo remained silent, Bai Wu and Luo Heng still checked in regularly, asking once or twice daily how things were going.

Touched by this, An Nuo quickly sent a message to reassure them.

An Nuo: "I'm back."

An Nuo: "Sorry for worrying everyone."

Bai Wu, who was always online and glued to his phone, replied within a minute.

Bai Wu: "It's fine, I wasn’t too worried."

Bai Wu: "I called you the next day, your husband answered."

An Nuo: .

An Nuo: ……………………

He suddenly felt the shame of being stripped bare in public.

But oh well.

Things had already reached this point—hiding it further would be meaningless and just make him seem dramatic.

An Nuo: "At this point, I might as well come clean. We did cross a line… but it’s complicated. I’ll explain in detail later."

Bai Wu: [Haha, you call that 'crossing a line a little'? Didn’t you laugh at your own word choice?]

An Nuo picked at his food, his mind completely focused on his phone.

An Nuo: "Alright, alright, geez."

An Nuo: "I didn’t hold my ground and ended up being a dog for an alpha. Happy now?"

Bai Wu replied with a string of "hahaha"s.

Even through the screen, just reading the text made An Nuo’s face burn with embarrassment.

An Nuo: "Stop laughing!!"

An Nuo: "I actually feel really ashamed to even talk about it!!"

Bai Wu: "Ashamed of what?"

An Nuo: "I feel like I’ve failed all the advice you gave me before. Even trying my hardest, I still couldn’t measure up to an alpha.┬.┬"

Bai Wu: "Heat periods are special. It’s okay to be submissive then—don’t be too hard on yourself."

Bai Wu: "Other times, just fight back. Got it?"

An Nuo humbly asked for advice: "How do I fight back?"

Bai Wu: "It’s your turn to treat him like a dog. Basically, don’t treat alphas too much like people."

Bai Wu: "If you’re polite and treat him like a person, he won’t realize you’re tolerating him—he’ll just think he’s amazing and try to control you. Only by treating him like a dog, whipping him and then giving him a treat, will he come lick your hand."

Who says words have no power?

Just reading this paragraph left An Nuo stunned.

An Nuo: "Teacher Bai, please start a class. I’ll kneel and listen."

Bai Wu: "No classes. Right now, you’re my only closed-door disciple."

But after coming clean, An Nuo felt a weight off his chest.

Honestly, he was also a little touched.

No matter what decisions he made or how many contradictory things he said, they always found a way to comfort him and were willing to understand his indecisiveness.

Luo Heng: "Is that how you tamed your boyfriend?"

Luo Heng suddenly popped into the chat.

So, both the touched and regretful feelings were set aside for now.

An Nuo quickly asked: "What boyfriend? That dance partner from the other night?"

Bai Wu: "No, that doesn’t count as a boyfriend. We just danced together—we’re not dating."

Luo Heng: "You two seemed to get along well. Weren’t you out on a date last night?"

Bai Wu: "Bullshit date."

Bai Wu: "It’s just family pressure. My dad wants to get on good terms with their family—what can I do? Just chatting for now."

An Nuo sighed.

An Nuo: "My arranged marriage is one thing, but I didn’t expect you might end up in one too. Sigh, is this really something that should happen in this day and age?"

Bai Wu: "What can I do? Unless I date the president’s son, my family won’t be happy."

Luo Heng: "?"

Bai Wu: "But there are no alphas among the president's sons. They come and die—two have already been assassinated. If another one shows up, he’ll die too. Even if I dated one, I’d just end up a widow."

Luo Heng: "That’s not a nice thing to say."

Bai Wu: "No offense intended. May the deceased rest in peace. [prayer]"

An Nuo lowered his head, typing happily, too distracted to eat.

Lu Yunyan picked up a piece of meat and held it to his lips: "Better eat first, baby. Open up."

An Nuo subconsciously opened his mouth and took a bite. This time, he didn’t feel embarrassed about being fed by Lu Yunyan.

"What are you chatting about that’s so fun you’re forgetting to eat?"

"Nothing much. Just haven’t seen them in days, wanted to let my friends know I’m okay."

"Which friends?"

Lu Yunyan used the calmest tone but took a sarcastic dig: "The omega dance partner Bai Wu you used to lie to me, or the real alpha dance partner Luo Heng?"

"…………"

An Nuo’s gaze immediately shifted from his phone to Lu Yunyan’s face. Feeling guilty, his response lacked conviction.

"...Just letting them know. We really are just good friends."

"Yeah."

Lu Yunyan responded offhandedly. When he wasn't putting on a gentle front, he came across as cold and cutting.

"You two seem really close. I'm totally shipping you now."

"…………"

An Nuo could only hurry to put down his phone. "...Alright, alright, I won’t look at my phone anymore. I’ll eat now."

"Eat properly."

"...Got it."

After that, after resting for another two days, once the physical discomfort subsided, An Nuo immediately returned to work.

Although the initial reason for taking leave was to take care of graduation stuff, when an omega takes such a long break, everyone tends to assume it’s due to their heat cycle—that’s just how conventional thinking goes.

So An Nuo had to psych himself up for a long time before working up the nerve to step back into the company.

Only after arriving did he learn that Lu Yunyan had already cleared his leave for the following days.

The official reason given was that An Nuo had did a good job during the previous business trip, so the client asked for him specifically this time. Thus, he set off again with Lu Yunyan.

Not only did this cover for An Nuo’s absence, but it also served as the best explanation for their disappearing and reappearing together—killing two birds with one stone.

Since Lu Yunyan had said so, who'd actually check with him?

Really, no one really paid attention to what an intern was doing day-to-day. At most, people thought he was lucky and decent-looking—the worst people might think was that perhaps the boss had a special interest for him, which was why he took him everywhere.

Once he confirmed that no one at the company had the time or interest to pay attention to him, An Nuo let out a sigh of relief and quietly settled back into his role as a lowly intern, focusing on his work.

Lu Yunyan only showed up briefly in the morning and then was gone. It wasn’t until almost quitting time that An Nuo received a message from him.

Lu Yunyan: "Almost off work, right?"

The workday wasn’t over yet, but An Nuo was already wrapping up, completely unable to focus on work.

Since he was goofing off on his phone, he quickly replied to Lu Yunyan’s message.

An Nuo: "Yeah"

Lu Yunyan: "We’re having dinner at my dad's tomorrow night"

An Nuo was surprised, but he could accept it—no reason to say no.

An Nuo: "Okay"

Lu Yunyan: "But now there's a problem"

An Nuo: "What problem?"

Lu Yunyan: "My dad contacted me those days, but I was unavailable and had no choice but to tell them about your heat cycle"

An Nuo: .

He was a little startled but could still understand.

If it were for work-related matters or something urgent, there would be no reason for Lu Yunyan to disappear for several days—only an omega’s heat cycle could explain everything.

Moreover, Lu Yunyan was facing his parents; hiding something like this from them would be strange.

Lu Yunyan: "Actually, back when we met after getting married, they asked me why I hadn’t marked you"

Lu Yunyan: "But at the time, your heat cycle was irregular, and there were some issues with your glands that needed treatment, so I told them exactly that"

An Nuo was aware of this.

Since the situation was entirely true, they had used it as an excuse at the time, just to solve the immediate problem.

Now An Nuo understood.

The issue they had used as an excuse was now resolved. Unless they could come up with a new excuse, they would have to face the same question again.

Sure enough.

Lu Yunyan: "But now your heat cycle has returned to normal, and they know about it. If we still haven’t marked, it’s going to be hard to explain"

Lu Yunyan: "I wanted to ask for your opinion first. What are your thoughts on this matter?"

Of course, An Nuo didn’t realize this was all part of Lu Yunyan’s careful planning. Hearing this question, he just felt his head starting to hurt.