The Sharp-Tongued Little Stutterer and the Deaf Man Who Always Wants to Hear Sweet Nothings

"That wasn't so bad. It's just a little game—don't get so worked up."

Wan Fuqi smiled openly, smoothing down the ruffled fur of the spitting kitten before continuing to coax him. "You did great just now. Let's do it again. Your husband's listening."

Li Mao knew perfectly well that this was just the vile Enigma's way of toying with him.

Making him expose his flaws before him again and again.

Grinding his pride as an Alpha beneath his feet.

This was naked revenge.

Petty, childish, and boring as hell.

Yet he had no choice but to go along with it.

The intense humiliation and fury made his stomach churn, and he dry-heaved a few times.

The Enigma behind him only laughed harder, teasing him without restraint. "Getting so mad you puke? Why put yourself through that?"

The moment Li Mao caught sight of the Enigma's face, he vomited even more violently.

What lofty flower? Right now, he looked more like a goddamn split dahlia.

Li Mao admitted defeat. "S-stop talking shit. Anyway, everything's yours now. Y-you call the shots. W-whatever you say goes."

"Then what if I say you're my wife?" Wan Fuqi asked.

The blush on Li Mao's face spread all the way to the tips of his ears, and he looked like a fully cooked shrimp.

He raised an arm to cover the lower half of his face, revealing only a pair of large eyes darting uncertainly from side to side.

In a muffled voice, he said, "I-I'm your dad."

"If you were my dad's age, I wouldn't want to serve you either. Even if the drugs killed me, I'd toss you, this uninvited guest, straight out the hotel window onto the road. Then I'd hire ten trucks to run you into the asphalt so deep no one could scrape you out. Every holiday, I'd even pour some slop over the spot to show my filial piety."

Li Mao shot Wan Fuqi a sidelong glance. "Then you'd be way too, too disrespectful to your elders. If I-I were your dad's age, you'd at least have to c-call me Uncle, right?"

"Cut the crap!" Wan Fuqi laughed and cursed.

This little stutter might not speak smoothly, but he never let himself lose an argument.

Then Wan Fuqi narrowed his eyes and put on a stern face to intimidate Li Mao, ordering him firmly, "Call me husband."

At that, the anger Li Mao had only just managed to suppress flared up again.

He turned his face away with considerable defiance. "Fuck off!"

"Oh!" Wan Fuqi exclaimed with exaggerated surprise.

"Our dear actually didn't stutter. Does that count as your husband's treatment working? If your husband tries a little harder, maybe we can cure you completely."

The subject changed so fast that Li Mao froze for a moment before he caught on.

He hurriedly grabbed Wan Fuqi's arm to stop him. "Y-you... w-wait, wait a second!"

Those few words nearly forced Li Mao to bite his own tongue off.

"Who's waiting a second?" Wan Fuqi played dumb.

Li Mao's mouth opened and closed, but he simply could not get past that hurdle in his heart.

Seeing this, Wan Fuqi lifted a hand to touch the hearing aid on his right ear and said to Li Mao, "If you don't want to say it, then I won't listen either. Think it over. Once the time comes, this deaf dog won't be able to hear a thing."

"Don't!" Li Mao cried out in panic.

"Mm." Wan Fuqi answered blandly. "Say it sweeter. Put some real feeling into it."

Li Mao secretly rolled his eyes at him.

A damn deaf guy, yet he was so picky about what he wanted to hear.

Sweeter, my ass.

If calling him sweetly could give him ketoacidosis, he would gladly do it.

But his entire future was in this man's hands now, so he did not dare act recklessly.

One little twitch from this guy, and he would go from a free and carefree Alpha to someone's privately owned Omega.

"Look at me when you say it, or it doesn't count. Don't start crying and trying to wriggle out of it after you're done, claiming I never warned you." Like a ruthless exploiter, Wan Fuqi tried every possible way to squeeze Li Mao dry.

When you were under someone else's roof, you had no choice but to bow your head.

Li Mao could only turn back, stare into the Enigma's pale blue eyes, and force himself to call out, "H-hus..."

Perhaps the pressure of the pheromones was too strong, or perhaps what they were doing was impossible to ignore. Maybe it was simply the panic of meeting each other's gaze. The moment Li Mao opened his mouth, he got stuck.

Wan Fuqi laughed. "If you want to add a little spice, you can call me Daddy instead."

That left Li Mao even more mortified. In a fit of reckless desperation, he shouted, "Fuck off!" Then he turned his face aside and covered himself up completely with his hands.