Chapter 65 Dare to Never Come Back!

Chapter 65: If You Have Any Guts, Don't Ever Come Back!

“How exactly have I *not* cared about him?”

Lin Yunshu scrambled up from the stool, growing more bewildered the more he replayed it.

“I’ve already said I’m willing to spend my life with him—isn’t that more genuine than all those empty sweet-talks? Do alphas only ever want to hear what sounds good?”

Lin Yunshu found Zhou Yu utterly unreasonable.

By the dining table, the alpha, Mr. Chen, quietly cleared the dishes: “?”

“Don’t generalize,” he quickly clarified. “Not all alphas are love-struck. I’m different—I’m career-focused.”

“Is that why you’ve never dated?” Lin Yunshu put his hands on his hips. “Did you know your parents are setting you up on blind dates?”

“What?!” Chen Shuyang nearly dropped a bowl, aghast. “Have they lost their minds?! I’m a celebrity! Blind dates during my career’s peak? Are they trying to ruin me?!”

“Then go tell *them*! Why are you yelling at *me*?” Lin Yunshu retorted loudly.

Chen Shuyang suddenly paused, giving Lin Yunshu a strange, appraising look.

“…Cough.”

Lin Yunshu rarely spoke so loudly; his throat felt strained, and he covered his mouth to cough. “What are you staring at?”

Chen Shuyang smirked knowingly: “Bet you, if you talked to Zhou Yu like that, you two wouldn’t even manage to argue.”

“…Are you insane?”

Lin Yunshu sat back down.

Chen Shuyang listened as Lin Yunshu recounted last night’s events. Though fuming, Lin Yunshu’s logic remained clear, and he laid out the full story.

It was Chen Shuyang’s first time playing the role of a sympathetic older brother, mediating a marital dispute.

He tried to mimic the deeply empathetic expressions of neighborhood committee aunties, but no matter how he looked at it, it just seemed like two idiots arguing.

People really do become foolish when emotions are involved.

“He actually thinks I don’t trust him,” Lin Yunshu sneered. “Where exactly have I shown I don't trust him?”

“I joined Lin’an right after graduation. All these years, I’ve worked tirelessly for him, handled everything for him. No matter how tempting the offers from rivals were, I never wavered. How else am I supposed to prove I trust him—”

*Rustle—*

Chen Shuyang yanked the trash bag shut.

Lin Yunshu instinctively fell silent.

“Sigh,” Chen Shuyang washed his hands and turned to Lin Yunshu. “Is it possible you’ve completely missed the point?”

“…What?”

Chen Shuyang walked over and casually teased the kitten. “You’re a couple. What matters between couples?”

Lin Yunshu’s eyes shifted, waiting for Chen Shuyang to continue.

“Nothing matters.”

Lin Yunshu: “?”

“Couples don’t operate on logic,” Chen Shuyang said. “What was yesterday’s main issue? Your husband spent time alone with an omega in heat! He came back smelling like another omega!”

“How are you okay with that?” he exaggerated. “This is a huge deal!”

“—It’s even bigger than the sky falling!” Chen Shuyang emphasized. “But you? You’re acting like a saint. What kind of main partner is so magnanimous? Not a hint of jealousy or acting cute?”

“That’s just not me,” Lin Yunshu stated firmly.

“That’s why he’s angry!”

Lin Yunshu narrowed his eyes. “Then he really *is* insane.”

Chen Shuyang: “…”

“Alright, stubborn as a rock.” He was out of ideas.

Lin Yunshu bent over, cupping his chin as he pondered for a while.

He understood that alphas generally liked omegas who were coquettish and jealous, but it still didn’t sit right with him.

“So was it wrong of me to trust him?” he wondered.

“I’ve always been on his side. I never doubted him for a second. How did that become *my* fault?”

He even felt a little wronged.

“…” Chen Shuyang raised an eyebrow, his expression unusually serious.

“I can’t believe how much you actually like him,” he said incredulously.

“I don’t!”

“Then why are you so angry?” Chen Shuyang laughed. “When have you ever been this furious?”

***

The sun set; winter darkness came early.

After Chen Shuyang left, Lin Yunshu spent a long time thinking on his own.

He felt a coldness in his nose. Even after turning up the temperature, something still felt missing. It took him a while to realize it was Zhou Yu’s scent.

Zhou Yu’s scent was unique. Lin Yunshu couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it smelled like, but it always carried a warm, comforting aura, as if it had a temperature of its own.

Including the two days in the mountains, Zhou Yu hadn’t been home for three days. His scent in the room had grown faint.

Lin Yunshu began to feel uncomfortable, as if something were eating away at him, crawling and burning like ants nibbling at his fingers.

Scent dependency could be addictive.

He closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, enduring it, but the burning sensation only grew fiercer, soon searing his chest until it felt scalding.

Lin Yunshu’s nose beaded with sweat, his lips chapped. He opened his eyes, wretched and unsettled.

His stomach began to ache. As his heart raced, his stomach tightened, sharp pains like knife cuts making his vision blur.

He shoved a throw pillow hard into his stomach, burying his face deep in it.

Only when the need to throw up overwhelmed the suffocating pain did Lin Yunshu reluctantly let go, his hand over his mouth as he rushed to the bathroom.

He threw up everything he'd eaten, but even with an empty stomach, the pain didn't let up at all.

Holding onto the wall, he staggered out, weak and drenched in sweat that trickled down his neck.

His vision blurred from sweat and tears, hazy and indistinct.

After fighting his pheromone dependence for half an hour, Lin Yunshu had to admit his willpower was pretty weak.

Without another thought, he found an inhibitor syringe and jabbed it into his arm again.

The drug took effect quickly. The familiar pain coursed through his veins, but Lin Yunshu could finally relax.

Compared to his dependency on Zhou Yu’s pheromones, this pain was nothing.

He closed his eyes, exhausted, and slumped into the corner, falling asleep.

***

Days passed, day turned to night.

Lin Yunshu got back to his normal routine of going to and from work.

With Zhou Yu out of town on business, he handled the day-to-day company business on behalf of his boss, just as he always did.

An inhibitor a day, sometimes two—Lin Yunshu was back to his old routine.

With Zhou Yu’s constant scent gone from the air, Lin Yunshu felt a sense of relief.

As his head cleared, he could think straight again.

Chen Shuyang said he liked Zhou Yu. After wrestling with it for two days, Lin Yunshu came to terms with it.

After all, he knew in his heart that he really meant it when he said he'd spend his life with Zhou Yu.

If they were going to spend their lives together, wasn't that love? Wasn't that commitment enough? What more did love require?

Lin Yunshu was okay with that.

His hesitation and confusion just meant he wanted to follow his heart.

He didn't want to be ruled by pheromones or turn into some animal running on instinct.

On the fifth day of Zhou Yu’s business trip, Lin Yunshu wondered how much of his scent was left in the house.

Anyway, he couldn't smell it anymore. He had just taken his second inhibitor of the day.

After returning home from work, he took a shower, lay down on the bed, and the night's aromatherapy was really helping him sleep.

Lately, Lin Yunshu was always tired. He was out as soon as his head hit the pillow.

But tonight, sleep wouldn't come.

After twenty minutes, he opened his eyes again, turned over, and looked at his phone on the bedside table.

After a moment's hesitation, he reached for it but fumbled it.

*Thud!*

The phone fell onto the carpet.

Lin Yunshu gasped, grabbing his wrist.

He had forgotten he’d just taken an inhibitor. His wrist pulsed with pain, like something was raging in his veins.

He didn’t even have the strength to hold his phone.

After lying there for a moment to catch his breath, he used his other hand to pick up the phone.

Facial recognition unlocked it automatically. He stared blankly at the screen, unsure what he even wanted to do.

Five days had passed—he wasn't angry anymore.

It hit Lin Yunshu that he felt a hint of longing, oddly sour.

Memories of their time together came flooding back. Lin Yunshu realized that, most of the time, he'd been happy with Zhou Yu.

He opened his contacts, his finger hovering over Zhou Yu’s contact.

One minute, one second…

His ears slowly turned red. With trembling fingers, he exited the contacts and quickly opened his photo gallery.

Who said he had to call?

If he could even wean himself off Zhou Yu’s pheromones, could he not resist making a phone call?

There were so many photos in his gallery—he could just—

Lin Yunshu froze.

The first image on the screen was from their last date, taken at the snack street near his alma mater’s entrance one evening.

Although they had known each other for a long time, it was their first purely romantic date.

In Lin Yunshu’s heart, that day held a special place.

The bustling alley was packed with food stalls of all sizes. He and Zhou Yu squeezed into a long-established teppanyaki stall, sitting side by side.

The warm, yellow lighting created a cozy atmosphere. In front of them were two plates of live octopus.

Zhou Yu grabbed one and shoved it into his mouth, his expression fierce and his eyes glaring. The octopus tentacles clung tightly to his chin, and a strange smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

He looked like a primordial beast devouring a mutated tentacled monster.

Lin Yunshu: “...”

His nostalgic expression stiffened. Lin Yunshu’s face was a picture of speechless dismay.

Ugly.

So ugly.

Who was this man?

Was this really Zhou Yu?

Oh my God, Zhou Yu doesn’t look like this, right?

The handsome face, charming smile, and well-built figure of Zhou Yu he remembered must have been his imagination.

Lin Yunshu squeezed his eyes shut in frustration, the warmth in his heart faded completely.

The weird grin of Zhou Yu in the photo was still imprinted in his mind, and Lin Yunshu was absolutely furious.

He's still smiling, still smiling!

What gives him the right to be grinning like an idiot?

And eating live octopus... eat, eat, eat, all he does is eat!

"Go live with your live octopus!"

Lin Yunshu threw his phone away.

"If you have any guts, don't ever come back!"

***

"So ugly," Tan Cong muttered.

Zhou Yu suddenly looked up, his eyes shooting laser beams: "Who are you talking about?"

"You."

Zhou Yu immediately relaxed.

As long as they weren't criticizing Lin Yunshu, it was okay.

"Why would you keep a photo like this on your phone?" Tan Cong asked, puzzled.

"Isn’t it good?" Zhou Yu shot back.

"Yun Shu looks really good actually," Tan Cong said.

Zhou Yu smiled: "That’s all that matters."

"He's really beautiful, isn’t he?"

In the picture, Lin Yunshu’s face was blown up, almost taking up the entire screen. The city lights looked like jumping stars in his eyes.

He was grinning, clearly weirded out and disdainful of Zhou Yu’s octopus-eating act, yet his body was leaning close.

Their bodies were actually very intimate, with Lin Yunshu even leaning into him.

Zhou Yu suddenly zoned out.

"If you're so hung up on him, just give him a call," Tan Cong couldn’t stand it anymore. "Stop being so dramatic."

Zhou Yu: "..."

He put away his phone, looking dejected: "Do you think he misses me too?"

"You can call and ask him," Tan Cong said.

Zhou Yu shook his head: "He’ll definitely be too proud to admit it."

Tan Cong gritted his teeth: "I’ll cover the call, okay?"

"I appreciate that," Zhou Yu patted Tan Cong’s shoulder, "but I want him to say he misses me first."

The next meeting was in ten minutes.

Zhou Yu stood up, put on his suit, straightened his tie meticulously in the mirror, and said with a determined look:

"This time, I'm not making the first move."

-----------------------

Author's note: Tan Cong: I don’t know what he’s trying to prove.