Your Demands Outweigh All My Principles

"Fuck!"

Li Mao reflexively shoved away Wan Fuqi, who had leaned close to his ear, then pressed his back tightly against the locked car door as if trying to get as far away as possible.

At that moment, he wished he were a puddle of slime so he could slip out through any crack and escape with his life.

Unfortunately, he wasn't.

He was a six-foot-one Alpha with all four limbs intact and regular features.

Other than sitting there and anxiously rubbing his earlobes to ease the turbulent pheromones inside him, he had no other choice.

Before getting into the car, his plan had been to pretend to defect, make Wan Fuqi lower his guard, then find the right opportunity to escape.

But he had still underestimated how deeply, instinctively repulsed he was by this man.

Even though the scent of tuberose had sent his pheromones charging wildly through his body, pathetically eager to respond, it couldn't conceal his inner rejection of Wan Fuqi—of this kind of control.

So before his plan to feign affection and lower the enemy's guard could even begin, that undisguised curse had ruined it first.

After that "fuck," like a thunderclap splitting the heavens, the car sank into the familiar silence between them.

One had turned his face away, absentmindedly rubbing earlobes that had long since gone red.

The other wore a smiling expression, but his azure eyes were as unfathomable as the deep sea, making it impossible to tell whether he was pleased or angry.

In the end, Wan Fuqi spoke first, breaking the silence and stillness he hated most—and had been unable to escape since birth.

"I'll satisfy you," he said to Li Mao.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Li Mao turned toward him in confusion.

Under Li Mao's gaze, Wan Fuqi undid the seat belt across his chest with one hand, then moved that hand to the buckle at his waist.

Wan Fuqi had come straight from school today, so he wore the black half-rim glasses from the first photograph Li Mao had seen of him.

Those glasses made him appear even more refined and noble, surpassing the phrase "a flower on a high peak" that had come to Li Mao's mind when he first saw that photo.

The frames and his lowered lashes completely concealed the aggressive desire swirling in the Enigma's eyes.

Leaving only his gentle, courteous voice echoing through the cramped space.

"You know, darling, I've always respected your opinions."

At that, Wan Fuqi let out two soft chuckles between breaths.

"You like trying somewhere new, is that it?"

"That makes sense. Always following the rules can get a little boring. I wouldn't want darling to think I'm dull and tedious, someone who can be replaced so easily. Your husband will work hard to adapt to darling's preferences."

Wan Fuqi raised his eyes, the faint smile on his lips making the trapped Li Mao shudder.

Seeing that Wan Fuqi really seemed ready to have a vigorous round of their usual "communication" with him in the hospital's open-air parking lot—

Li Mao panicked instantly. He frantically yanked at the already locked car door while repeatedly turning back, trying to awaken someone's conscience with sheer verbal firepower.

"Y-you fuckin' never, never took language class?! That's a, a modal particle! It's, it's my catchphrase!!"

Wan Fuqi's gaze was too naked and forceful. As an Alpha who had been marked by him, Li Mao inevitably lost ground in terms of presence. He began looking elsewhere, trying to avoid the Enigma's eyes.

But that careless glance revealed something else.

Even the catchphrase he had been suppressing for so long slipped out again.

"Holy shit!"

Li Mao's eyes widened. Even his hand tugging at the car door froze in place. He stammered "you" for ages before finally managing a complete sentence.

"Y-you, you, you just got over your rut, didn't you? We've only, only said a few words! Your nickname isn't V-Viagra, is it?!"

Wan Fuqi had already leaned over from the driver's seat, pressing close to Li Mao.

One hand interlaced its fingers with Li Mao's hand against the car door, while the other cradled the back of his head.

The sudden closeness silenced Li Mao at once. He pressed his lips tightly together, refusing to give the other man any opening.

Behind the lenses, blue eyes were filled with the reflection of the little stutter. Wan Fuqi affectionately nudged Li Mao's nose with his own, like some animal's courtship ritual.

His voice was hoarse and low, as it always became whenever desire stirred.

"Darling, I love you. Your demands outweigh all my principles."

It had originally been nothing more than something Wan Fuqi said to embarrass Li Mao.

Yet once the words were truly spoken, the atmosphere rising bit by bit inside the car instead became something that made one want to flee immediately.

Every time he saw those wet eyes, always bullied until they glistened, Wan Fuqi felt as though something had lodged in his chest, neither rising nor falling, painfully suffocating him.

Perhaps his self-righteous "love" had ultimately led to a point where they needed to end up in a hospital just to barely maintain the mark.

Perhaps it was because of his older sister's reminder and advice.

For the first time, Wan Fuqi began seriously considering what his so-called "love" for Li Mao really was.

The result of that consideration remained unknown.

He only knew that the words "Darling, I love you" had become increasingly difficult to say.

Under Li Mao's gaze, where hatred and fear intertwined, those words plunged him into an unprecedented embarrassment.

That utter humiliation was something even the flaws in his body had never brought him.

Just as Wan Fuqi seriously pondered the subject of "love," something he had never encountered before, Li Mao, pinned beneath him, spoke up.

"Then I, I'm demanding that you zip, zip it up before, before talking to me!! Can you do that, big bro?"

The atmosphere that had plunged the domineering Enigma into deep thought was instantly shattered to pieces by Li Mao's inborn talent for humor.

Wan Fuqi finally remembered why he had come to the hospital.

His face turned cold. He withdrew the hand supporting the back of Li Mao's head and yanked the zipper of Li Mao's hooded jacket all the way down.

Li Mao fought desperately for ownership of his own clothes.

"Y-you fucker! Fuck! Don't... don't touch my clothes! Get lost!"