Chapter 23 Your Kink Is a Bit Strange

Chapter 23: Your Kink Is a Bit Weird

Just as he was waiting for a ride at the intersection, the phone in his pocket suddenly rang. Cheng Ye took it out and saw the name "Jiang Shang'en" flashing on the screen. He looked around, walked to a slightly quieter spot by the roadside, and answered the call.

"Hey, what's up?" Cheng Ye asked.

"Nothing much, just checking how you're doing," Jiang Shang'en's voice came through the receiver, tinged with concern and nosiness. "What day of your heat is this? Still holding up?"

"I'm fine, still alive. Today's the last day." Cheng Ye leaned against a tree trunk, answering lazily. "I just threw away the suppressants. Didn't even dare put them in the trash at home, afraid Shen Xu would find out."

Jiang Shang'en chuckled on the other end, his tone full of teasing. "Oh, so now you're not talking about 'divorce' every day anymore? Looks like you're turning into a complete 'henpecked husband'."

"Piss off, 'henpecked husband' my ass." Cheng Ye spat, but there was no real anger in his voice. "Whoever holds the money calls the shots, right? And about the divorce—never bring it up at home, especially not on the phone." He lowered his voice, as if afraid of being overheard. "If Shen Xu hears, he'll start overthinking and come up with some new way to mess with me."

Jiang Shang'en listened to his cautious tone and laughed heartily on the phone.

"Alright, alright, I won't mention it. But seriously, what did Shen Xu do to make you so wary? Did he... unlock your card? Use money to corrupt your steadfast will?" Jiang Shang'en probed.

"No, nothing like that." Cheng Ye pursed his lips, his fingers unconsciously picking at the loose thread on the side of his pants—cheaply made pants that cost a lot but already had threads sticking out.

"The card's still the same," he changed the subject, a mix of complicated emotions in his voice. "But he's putting me in his company. Said I'd start working in a couple of days."

"Huh?" Jiang Shang'en's voice shot up, full of disbelief. "Putting you in his company? What's he trying to do?"

"I don't know what he's trying to do either." Cheng Ye admitted, feeling a bit uneasy himself. "He said it's the secretarial department, as a regular secretary. They'll even pay me, and..." He paused and named a salary figure.

"Holy shit!" Jiang Shang'en cursed outright. "That much?! That's more than double what you made at the club, right? Looks like he wants to keep you under his watch?"

"I have no idea." Cheng Ye sighed. "He said it's a proper job—fetching tea, pouring water, organizing files. But who knows what he's really up to. I'll take it one step at a time. Anyway, the money's good, so why not earn it? You know my motto: 'It's a fool's move to turn down easy money.'"

"Nice one, kid!" Jiang Shang'en clicked his tongue in amazement. "Whatever his angle, you're stepping into a big company now. Do well, and don't forget your bro when you're rich. Once you've made connections there, introduce me to some reliable CEOs or VPs—I'm really feeling like I want to slack off these days." He added, "No old guys, okay?"

"Sure," Cheng Ye agreed readily, then switched gears. "But before that, you need to dump your fitness trainer first. I saw him posting something weird on his Moments again. Is he still pushing you to sign up for expensive personal training sessions and buy protein powder packages? When is he gonna take the money and run?"

At the mention of that alpha fitness coach, Jiang Shang'en's tone noticeably faltered, but he quickly recovered. "Hey, don't always judge people with that biased eye. He's been good for my training—got me in shape, built up my stamina. And we've been together this long, he's not going to run off with the money. Stop worrying so much."

Cheng Ye rolled his eyes. He had been dragged by Jiang Shang'en to that gym a few times and had seen that alpha coach. Sure, he had a good body and was built, but his eyes always had a calculating glint, especially when looking at an omega like Jiang Shang'en—"rich, clueless, and easy to fool"—his enthusiasm was way over the top. Cheng Ye always felt the guy was sketchy, like he'd quit the gym and ditch his clients at any moment.

"Fine, if you know what you're doing." Cheng Ye didn't bother arguing further. When Jiang Shang'en was lovestruck, not even ten oxen could drag him back. "Just don't come crying to me when it happens."

"No way, absolutely no way!" Jiang Shang'en said confidently.

They chatted a bit more, and then Cheng Ye's ride arrived. They continued talking in the taxi.

The cab drove steadily back to the villa district. Cheng Ye got out at the gate, fumbled for his keys, and prepared to open the door.

*Click*—the door swung open.

Cheng Ye lowered his head to change his shoes. "Alright, I'm hanging up now."

Before he could finish, he looked up and froze instantly.

In the living room, Shen Xu, who should have been at the office, was sitting relaxed on the sofa in his loungewear. Hearing the door, he slowly raised his head and looked at the dumbfounded Cheng Ye.

"You... you're supposed to be at work!" Cheng Ye was startled, and his phone slipped from his hand, landing with a thud on the floor, screen down. He looked like he'd been caught red-handed doing something terribly wrong.

Shen Xu put down his file, stood up, and walked over unhurriedly to pick up Cheng Ye's phone. He glanced at the screen—it was the call log with Jiang Shang'en. They'd been on the phone for nearly half an hour.

"It's my company. I can come and go as I please."

Shen Xu's tone was unreadable, simply stating a fact. Normally, he strictly kept office hours out of responsibility and self-discipline.

He turned off the screen and handed the phone back to Cheng Ye, but his eyes stayed on Cheng Ye's face, appraising. "You talked to that Jiang guy, an omega, for that long." He paused, as if recalling something. "Last time at the police station, the one who helped you fight and got taken in with you—that was him, right?"

Cheng Ye took the phone and caught the sharp edge in Shen Xu's words. He found it exasperating. Why couldn't Shen Xu believe that betas and omegas could have a pure friendship? Why did he always have to think the worst?

"Yeah, it's him," Cheng Ye nodded, "but we're just friends. I was dead last in sales, he was second to last—brothers in misery. Isn't it natural for us to get along?"

"Dead last and second to last—so there's no competition between you?"

"Competition?!" Cheng Ye couldn't comprehend Shen Xu's logic. "First and second can still compete for bonuses and face, but us? Dead last and second to last—what's there to compete for? Who gets yelled at by the boss more? Don't joke around."

He really didn't see what there was to fight over. Shen Xu must have been brainwashed by his elite education...

Shen Xu ignored his rant and suddenly stepped forward, reaching out to pat down the pockets on either side of Cheng Ye's clothes.

"What did you go out for?" Shen Xu asked casually as he searched, feeling every pocket inside and out. "You didn't sneak off to buy cigarettes, did you? Smoking is bad for your health."

Ever since he caught Cheng Ye smoking last time, he'd added another layer of suspicion.

The blatant, sudden frisking left Cheng Ye stunned. He stood frozen, letting Shen Xu do it, before finally reacting.

"What are you doing?" Cheng Ye slapped Shen Xu's hand away, annoyed. "I went to find a squat toilet to take a dump, okay? I can't get used to the toilet in this house."

The suppressants were already dumped in the trash. Apart from tissues, Shen Xu wouldn't find anything.

Shen Xu's hand was smacked away, but he didn't get angry. He just withdrew his hand when he found nothing—not even a stray cigarette butt. Then he quickly regained that calm, all-knowing expression.

"Good, you didn't buy any. Smoking harms your health. You have to quit. I bought you some candy—if your mouth feels restless, eat some candy." Shen Xu acted as if he hadn't heard Cheng Ye's crude explanation about squat toilets versus Western toilets; he only said what he wanted to say.

"Also, your heat isn't fully over yet. If you're not feeling well, stay home and don't go wandering into crowds."

Cheng Ye, young and hot-headed, curled his lip and retorted, "Candy causes cavities—why don't you mention that? Why do you have to control everything? Are you my husband or my mom?"

Even my own mom never micromanaged me this much.

"If you want to call me 'Mommy' in bed, I don't mind. Your kink is a bit weird, but I respect it."

Respect your ass, Cheng Ye cursed internally, but didn't dare say it out loud.

He took a deep breath and asked, "So you're really not going to the office today?"

"Mm," Shen Xu turned and walked back to sit on the sofa, "I actually came back to keep you company, but you seem fine. Besides, I need to discuss your onboarding with you in a couple of days."

Cheng Ye followed and sat down on the side sofa. "Discuss what? Aren't I just going to be a grunt in the secretarial department?"

"I need to go over the process and arrangements with you." Shen Xu flipped open a folder on the table, pulled out some items, and handed them to Cheng Ye. "This is your temporary employee badge and access card. Take good care of them. It's a hassle to get replacements. Also, this is the company's employee handbook, with some basic secretarial department rules. You don't need to memorize all of it, but the core regulations and—" he pointed to an organizational chart in the appendix, "the secretarial department is directly under the President's Office. Your immediate superior is Secretary Lin, a very professional female beta. In the company, follow all her instructions. If you have questions, you can ask her, but I'd prefer you ask me."

Cheng Ye took them and immediately frowned. The photo on the badge was his old ID picture—it looked kind of dumb.

"Hey, why did you use this photo? It's so ugly. You could have picked any of my good-looking pictures, but you chose the one from my ID. Are you doing this on purpose?"

Every time he saw his ID photo, Cheng Ye got pissed. He sat down, hadn't even had two seconds to prepare, and the photographer told him he was done and to leave. When the ID arrived ten days later, that terrible photo nearly scared him to death. He kept asking Jiang Shang'en dozens of times that night if he really looked like that.

Although Jiang Shang'en kept denying it, Cheng Ye still wanted to cut up the ID and get a new one. But then he remembered getting a replacement cost money, so he dropped it.

Now that ugly photo showed up on a badge he'd have to wear every day, Cheng Ye had a stress reaction to it.

Seeing his strong reaction, Shen Xu leaned over to look and comforted him, "It's not ugly. It looks good."

To say there was no selfish motive would be a lie—worried someone might try to take Cheng Ye from him, this was the ugliest photo of Cheng Ye that Shen Xu could find.

"How is it not ugly? It's hideous! I want it changed!"

Kids at this age are very concerned about their image, and Cheng Ye absolutely refused to use that photo, so Shen Xu had to agree to swap it for another.

"Then I'll pick one and send it to you."

But when Cheng Ye opened his photo gallery, he found there were way too many photos, and he was overwhelmed with choices, unable to decide which one to use.

The album had selfies of him and Jiang Shang'en before their shift at the club, goofy selfies he took on a whim in the mirror, and some random photos documenting his life from who-knows-when.

Each one looked okay, but when he thought about putting it on the work badge, they all felt off—either the lighting was bad, the expression too goofy, or the background too messy.

"This one... no, it's a bit sideways, the angle is off, making my face look big," he muttered, swiping past a selfie.

"Or this one?" He tapped another, "Feels okay, but the background is a bit cluttered..."

"Actually, this one could work too..." He scrolled to a photo where he was wearing a white shirt, looking relatively clean and neat, but on closer inspection, the top two buttons were undone, collarbone slightly visible—hardly suitable for a work badge.

After going back and forth, Cheng Ye still couldn't settle on one. He ran his hand through his hair and simply handed his phone over to Shen Xu, leaning in as well.

"Honey, I really can't pick one. Help me choose one, will you?" Having got annoyed with the selection process, Cheng Ye completely forgot that the ugly photo on the badge was chosen by Shen Xu.

Shen Xu turned his head, looking at Cheng Ye who had suddenly leaned in. The proximity was close enough for him to catch the faint scent of shower gel from Cheng Ye, the same brand he used—an oddly pleasant feeling to smell it coming from the guy beside him.

And Cheng Ye's eyelashes were long, now lowered, casting a tiny shadow under his eyelids.

Shen Xu's gaze lingered on his face for a moment before slowly shifting to the phone screen he held out.

He reached out with his slender fingers, gently swiping across the screen, browsing through Cheng Ye's album.

Cheng Ye's photo-taking style was very casual, mostly close-up selfies or photos with friends, along with a few random landscape shots.

And then, Shen Xu's fingers flew across the screen, tapping left and right, selecting a whole bunch at once.

A series of crisp notification sounds came from Shen Xu's phone immediately after.

Cheng Ye: "?"

Author's note: Boss, the next chapter is going behind a paywall (VIP chapter). The chapter on the day it goes VIP will have over 6,000 words—a nice, meaty read :D. Thanks for sticking with me, boss!