With a clunk, the door shut again.

Lin Zhu silently turned back around, only to meet Yan Ruojun’s gaze—part puzzled, part wary. He wanted to say that key line full of inexplicable confidence: ‘Did it feel good? Only I can give you that.’

He opened his mouth with difficulty.

Silence.

Then he closed it again.

Lin Zhu rubbed his face speechlessly. His mind was full of Yan Ruojun’s almost painfully obvious reactions during both markings, and he simply could not bring himself to say something so blatantly upside-down and false.

Seeing the boy open the door and then close it again, Yan Ruojun—given his current physical state—immediately became more guarded.

“…What are you doing?”

People said it took time to know someone’s heart. Yet tonight was only his first time meeting Lin Zhu. Although he had already realized the boy was different from the rumors surrounding him, Yan Ruojun still didn’t dare entrust his personal safety to someone unfamiliar.

Especially when the other person was a hot-blooded young Alpha.

And yet, because a temporary mark had just been formed between them, this was exactly the time when closeness and comfort were most desired. He couldn’t maintain complete vigilance and rejection even if he wanted to.

Fortunately, the golden-haired boy stood far away by the door and did not approach rashly. It was just that his face was stretched tense, lips flat, making him look as though he were about to pick a fight.

Lin Zhu’s body language, however, was far easier to read than his expression.

He kept rubbing the tip of his shoe back and forth into the carpet, almost as though he were about to wear a hole through that patch of it, before finally asking in a rush:

“Did it feel good?”

Yan Ruojun: “…”

What kind of nonsense was that?

Lin Zhu assumed he hadn’t heard clearly. He cleared his throat and raised his voice.

“…Did you feel good?”

Of course Yan Ruojun had heard him.

His hearing was excellent. Not a word had been missed.

And precisely because of that, understanding suddenly dawned on him—and then came a wave of speechlessness, followed by an almost irresistible urge to laugh.

Yan Ruojun remembered how, when they were younger, his friend Xia Feng had not yet known about his illness and often talked to him about his Alpha boyfriend.

After each date, the cute little Omega would shyly and sweetly complain about how clingy his boyfriend had been.

“Honestly, there’s one thing about virgin Alphas that’s so annoying. Even during a temporary mark, they’ll keep chasing after you asking whether it felt good or not… they just keep asking and asking until you nod.”

“What do you call that? Mm… a virgin Alpha’s self-esteem?”

Yan Ruojun remembered asking at the time, “Then how did you answer him?”

“Haha!” Xia Feng had laughed so hard he bent over. “Of course I told him it felt awful. Then he just goes all gloomy and doesn’t say a word, and whatever I ask him to do after that, he does it. It’s hilarious!”

To be honest, Lin Zhu’s technique really wasn’t very good.

The first time hurt so much it made Yan Ruojun doubt life itself. As for the second time…

Without making it obvious, Yan Ruojun shifted his waist a little, enduring the discomfort in his lower body, and answered flatly,

“It felt awful.”

Lin Zhu: “…………….”

He had more or less expected that answer and had mentally prepared for it. But when those honest words really entered his ears—

Lin Zhu still felt excruciatingly embarrassed, and the remaining half of the line caught in his throat and refused to come out.

Meanwhile, the system, forever a dedicated little progress announcer, was still whispering inside his mind:

“Host, 98% now! Charge, charge!”

The mask of pain once again covered Lin Zhu’s face. The light in his eyes vanished. He had no idea that in Yan Ruojun’s eyes, he now looked exactly like a drenched golden retriever puppy that had just been kicked for no reason.

Fierce-looking, depressed—

and soaking wet.

Seeing that the task was now only one last step away from completion, the system let out a long breath of relief and still didn’t forget to strive for perfection.

“It would be even better if the host could grab the protagonist by the neck and say the key line. That would be the real faithful restoration!”

“But forget it. The host’s acting is just too bad. As long as we restore the core plot as much as possible, it’s fine.”

Lin-the-actor-with-zero-acting-skills-Zhu: “…”

The system had completely transformed into the shape of a cheerful, sunny young boy and happily rambled on:

“It’s also because the accident happened so suddenly. The headquarters’ system department didn’t even have an ‘ex-husband roleplay’ branch before. This is also the first time I’ve bound to a host, so my built-in algorithms are pretty rough…”

“You could say this is your blessing, Host. Once I get upgraded, future hosts definitely won’t be able to complete tasks this easily!”

If that blessing is so great, do you want it yourself?

Lin Zhu drooped and sneezed, still thinking about how to say the remaining half of the line—

in some way that wouldn’t completely destroy his self-respect.

Just then, Yan Ruojun suddenly asked,

“Are you catching a cold?”

Lin Zhu froze before coming back to himself.

He sniffed and realized his nose really was a bit stuffy, so he nodded.

“Maybe a little.”

Lin Zhu couldn’t see his own expression and had no idea how bad his complexion looked. The red veins in the whites of his eyes still hadn’t faded, making him look like someone who hadn’t slept for three days and nights straight.

Beidu had a big temperature difference between day and night, and it was already early autumn. The night wind was even sharper.

Right now Lin Zhu was only sneezing, but if he went wandering around outside, he might very well come down with a serious cold.

Yan Ruojun was silent for a while.

Then it suddenly occurred to him that the person in front of him was just a kid who had only recently turned eighteen, while he himself was already twenty-eight—almost a whole round older.

And besides, he had been the one who invited him here in the first place.

So Yan Ruojun tilted his chin toward the interior and signaled:

“Go take a shower inside. There’s a bathrobe in the wardrobe. Put that on first, and dry your hair and clothes.”

“Inside” meant the bathroom attached to the bedroom.

Only after the boy slowly walked into the master bedroom and the soft sound of running water drifted from the bathroom did Yan Ruojun finally move the pillow away and stand up.

The suite’s decor style was minimalist. The leather sofa in the living room was dark gray and spotless.

At least, it had been spotless before he and Lin Zhu successfully marked each other.

At that moment, there on the cushion where he had been sitting was a small suspicious wet patch, gleaming under the living room light in a way that left Yan Ruojun deeply irritated.

That had also been why he had been in such a hurry to make Lin Zhu leave earlier.

Perhaps because he had suppressed things for too long and had never once received any proper relief, Yan Ruojun produced excessive glandular fluid whenever he entered heat, which caused him endless inconvenience.

Going out to work was practically a fantasy.

He couldn’t exactly leave in the middle of a business meeting just to go change his underwear, could he?

The more Yan Ruojun thought about it, the tighter his brow furrowed.

He pulled out two tissues and silently wiped away that little wet patch, then crumpled the tissues together and tossed them into the trash can.

A cool, uncomfortable sensation also lingered behind him.

Today he had worn a light-colored suit, which could hide nothing. Without even looking, he already knew what a mess the back of it must have become.

Thinking of that only irritated him more, to the point that he even began regretting letting Lin Zhu stay.

Taking advantage of the fact that the sound of water in the bedroom had not stopped, he walked inside as well and changed into another bathrobe from the wardrobe.

Two or three minutes later,

his suit, shoes, and socks were strewn across the floor at his feet, while the soaked underwear was buried at the very bottom, with not even one corner showing.

Shhh… shh-shh…

The sound of water from the bathroom continued.

Yan Ruojun glanced over casually and noticed that, as the steam fogged up the frosted glass bathroom door, it gradually became clear and transparent…

and the scene inside the bathroom came fully into view.

Yan Ruojun: “…”

He withdrew his gaze and pulled open the drawer at the bedside—

sure enough, it was stuffed with unopened adult supplies: basic condoms and lubricant, along with plenty of more creative little toys.

The people at Xiangshan Clubhouse really were sharp. Knowing he had booked a room with an Alpha in rut, they had specially prepared a room that looked proper and businesslike on the surface, but was secretly dripping with innuendo.

The whole place looked like corporate style.

In reality, it was all flirtation.

Meanwhile, the little kid inside still hadn’t noticed a thing and was standing there naked under the shower, dumbly rubbing his hair.