A kiss

Ji Chi's whole body jolted.

Hazy, muddled fragments of Lingxin Bar flashed through his mind.

Although he had been drinking that night, he still clearly remembered being the one who approached Huo Jin and struck up a conversation.

Huo Jin must have been drinking too. When Ji Chi drew close, the rich scent of plum wine on him had smelled a lot like Ji Chi's own pheromones.

That was why Ji Chi remembered it so clearly.

He studied the Enigma before him with cold eyes. His thoughts kept shifting, memories colliding with reality, the fragments of that night suddenly turning dangerous.

Huo Jin had fought six people at the bar, all by himself, with his bare hands. Those people had knives, and blood had been spilled. Ji Chi had never seen anyone fight that well and had wanted to make friends. Who would have thought that before they could exchange more than a few words, he would be pinned down and bitten?

The scorching, burning sensation returned to his mind. Before Ji Chi could react, Huo Jin had run off like a wanted criminal.

The lighting that night had been too dim to even make out his face, and Huo Jin had given off no pheromones. Naturally, Ji Chi had assumed he was an Omega.

The young master's life was wild and exciting every day. What was one little incident? After another couple of days of fun, he had forgotten all about it.

Who could have imagined things would come to this?

Had he known, he never would have gone looking for trouble.

Now Huo Jin was saying he had marked Ji Chi while sober.

So.

Had he done it deliberately?

Or... on impulse?

Ji Chi clenched his jaw, keeping his emotions in check.

What difference did it make whether he had been sober? It had no bearing on where the two of them stood now.

Whatever the answer, nothing changed. Ji Chi said gravely, "Sober or not, it's in the past. We already agreed on our ground rules."

His words were earnest, leaving no room for compromise. "So, as far as I'm concerned, it makes no difference."

"It should be the same for you, shouldn't it?"

As for all the ways Huo Jin had treated him.

If Ji Chi still couldn't see anything in them by now, he hardly deserved to call himself an Alpha. Even an idiot could see that Huo Jin treated him differently.

There was no Judge Huo who listened to nonsense without hanging up, no Mr. Huo who gave people a chance to obtain documents, no Huo Jin who signed things without putting them through layer after layer of review.

The CE Research Center wasn't somewhere anyone could just walk into.

The only favors Ji Chi had been enjoying were the benefits of being liked.

Huo Jin liked him.

He saw him as an Omega.

At first, Ji Chi could still retreat into his own world and come up with an excuse or two.

But the evidence only kept piling up.

Perhaps Huo Jin's interest was slight.

Or perhaps it was considerable.

Ji Chi didn't want to ask all those questions. They had nothing to do with him, and he didn't want to know.

Questions like why Huo Jin liked him, when he had started liking him, or whether marking him had been premeditated.

Ji Chi didn't want to ask a single one of them.

All Ji Chi wanted was to get away from Huo Jin, as quickly and as far as possible.

He was afraid.

Huo Jin listened to him, his handsome face betraying no emotion. "Once the Boshen Group matter is over, you'll still keep your distance from me."

The question was too blunt.

It left Ji Chi no choice but to face it head-on.

Of course, Ji Chi had no intention of avoiding it. He looked Huo Jin in the eyes and said firmly, "Yes."

Of course he would.

He wanted to leave right now.

Ji Chi met Huo Jin's gaze squarely. "You can hold that against me."

"You can suppress me with your pheromones."

"You surpass me in every possible way, so go ahead and try any of it."

There were sharp blades hidden in Ji Chi's eyes, cutting through the air and piercing to the bone.

Somehow.

Neither of them said anything about liking the other.

Neither of them spoke a rejection.

The unspoken tension was like a dull knife. Everything traded blows through what they sensed of each other, until pain and resolve settled back into place.

There was no explaining it, nor any need to.

It was as though that confession had already been spoken.

And so had the rejection that scraped the heart and pierced the bone.

A dim ripple rose in the depths of Huo Jin's dark eyes. He looked at Ji Chi. "You know I won't."

"What do you mean by all this?" Ji Chi asked.

Huo Jin answered without haste. "My heart isn't at peace."

How could Ji Chi not understand that? Put crudely, it meant, I want to fuck you.

His voice was still so gentle.

Ji Chi's gaze flickered. Huo Jin had indeed never released suppressive pheromones in front of him. He kept his word and did what he promised.

Ji Chi curled his fingers into loose fists. He didn't want to use himself as a bargaining chip for anything.

"I've made myself clear."

"If you're doing this because of me, then I refuse your help."

"You can back out of the Boshen matter."

Ji Chi's desperate need to state his position again and again had long since become almost pathological. "Even if you help me, I won't reciprocate in any way."

Ji Chi was miserable. He wasn't going to be some fucking bargaining chip. Even a fallen giant still had resources. So what if Boshen went bankrupt? Neither his father nor his dad would sell their son. Wasn't bankruptcy the worst that could happen? He could still afford to support the Ji family.

"I hate you! I hate you!" The emotions Ji Chi had suppressed for days finally erupted. "I wish you didn't exist in this world, Huo Jin!"

Huo Jin took a step toward him.

The turbulent gleam in Ji Chi's eyes burned red, and his agitated pheromones spilled out uncontrollably.

He didn't retreat.

He didn't want to show weakness again.

The air around them was thin and cold. A fallen leaf drifted from behind Huo Jin to Ji Chi's feet, yellowed through and rotting, riddled with holes eaten by insects. Through them, the fresh green beneath showed like a strange painting.

Huo Jin smiled, though it was impossible to tell whether it was bitter or indifferent. "I'll give you the test results and help clear your name."

"I never expected you to reciprocate."

"I helped you with Boshen." Huo Jin moved closer again, this time planting a foot between Ji Chi's legs and crushing the leaf to pieces. "So I still want my thank-you gift."

As he spoke, Huo Jin's gaze settled on Ji Chi's soft, full lips.

He abruptly caught the back of Ji Chi's neck. "Everything you just said hurt me."

"I have to get something back."

Before Ji Chi could react, he gripped his nape and pulled him forward. Without warning, the kiss came down with obsessive insistence.

"Mmph...!"

Ji Chi's eyes flew wide in shock, straining as though they might split.

The instant he leaned back, he hit the tree behind him.

There was nowhere left to retreat.

"Mmph... Huo Jin!" Ji Chi parted his lips, and his tongue was caught. The kiss went impossibly deep. Huo Jin's pheromones ravaged his mouth, and saliva trickled from the corner of his lips.

"Nnh... let go!"

The words were meant to be vicious, yet they carried no force at all.

He couldn't break free, couldn't escape Huo Jin's onslaught. His tongue, his hands-no part of him could get away. The forceful, plundering kiss left him suffocating, starved of air. His hands were held fast, until all he could make were choked whimpers.

"...Huo Jin!"

Only after Huo Jin had kissed him to his satisfaction did he release Ji Chi.

Smack!

Ji Chi's breath caught, his lips red and swollen. Almost the instant he was released, before he had even found his footing, he swung a slap at Huo Jin. Though drained of strength, he put everything he had left into it, and the blow was still hard.

The path fell silent after the slap. Only the wind moved.

Huo Jin said nothing. He took the blow.

He had earned it. An equal exchange.

The feeling of having someone else hold all the control frightened Ji Chi.

Ji Chi's chest heaved, his eyes stinging, but his expression remained proud and dark.

He was about to lose his mind.

His clenched hand ached. It was just a kiss. What's the big deal, Ji Chi?

"Was that enough?" Ji Chi suddenly asked, his drawn-out breaths curling through the silent mist. "Huo Jin."

"Should I strip naked and let you # me right here?!"

The recklessness of Ji Chi's self-destructive abandon stirred faint ripples in Huo Jin's shadowed eyes.

He hated seeing Ji Chi like this.

Sharp thorns bristled on every side, leaving nowhere he could approach.

Huo Jin didn't answer Ji Chi. Instead, he turned and walked away.

His tall silhouette stretched even longer, inexplicably desolate and defeated.

A few leaves fell from overhead, scattering on the wind, without roots or a place to return.