What right do you have to tell me what to do?

Shen Yi looked up and froze when he saw who it was.

"President Yuan?" he asked in disbelief. "What are you doing here?"

Yuan Chen fought down his anger. He had glimpsed a familiar figure from the car and told the driver to stop so he could take a look. Then he had seen Shen Yi laughing and chatting with another man, and fury had flared inside him. Before he knew it, he had unbuckled his seat belt and gotten out.

His gaze swept over Shen Yi and his surroundings. There were already more than five bottles on the table. Drinking by the roadside in the middle of the night was bad enough, but what angered him even more was that Shen Yi was letting his pheromones spill out without a care.

Did he have no sense of caution at all? Had he still not realized he was an omega now?

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" Yuan Chen asked in a low voice.

Shen Yi looked utterly bewildered, even as he quickly reined in his pheromones. "I don't understand what you're talking about..."

Yuan Chen clenched his jaw, his chest heaving with anger.

He had spent the entire day worrying about Shen Yi. All he had heard were flippant, mocking, even insulting remarks. Simply because he had differentiated into an omega, Shen Yi had become fodder for idle gossip, someone people could pick apart as they pleased.

But didn't the scene before him prove those people right? Was this careless man really the Secretary Shen he knew?

His hand still gripped Shen Yi's collar. Beneath the stretched neckline of his T-shirt, a pale neck lay exposed. Yuan Chen stared fixedly at that elegantly curved nape, where the omega gland bulged slightly beneath the thin skin.

A sudden urge to mark this man permanently surged through him.

Yuan Chen loosened his grip a little, finally allowing Shen Yi to step back. The stretched T-shirt was nothing. What bothered him more was Yuan Chen's accusing gaze. Anger rose in him despite himself, and he rubbed his neck. The skin beneath his palm was unusually hot.

"I honestly don't know why you're angry."

"..."

"Don't tell me it's because I'm out drinking. You have to police that too?"

This wasn't some seedy bar. They were merely outside a quiet lounge, and Shen Yi lived in this residential complex anyway. Running into him outside it was perfectly normal.

How could he have expected to meet Yuan Chen here? The sudden appearance of a man who probably didn't even know where the entrance was seemed downright absurd.

Shen Yi spoke with complete conviction, but Yuan Chen merely pressed his lips tightly together. His silence made the atmosphere even tenser. Seeing an opening to smooth things over, Lin Xiaofeng stood awkwardly.

"Hello, President Yuan. I'm Lin Xiaofeng from the Employee Relations Management Group. Shen Yi and I are friends. We finally had some free time to have a drink today..."

"This has nothing to do with you." Yuan Chen didn't even look at him. His voice was level, but sharp as a blade.

"Understood."

Lin Xiaofeng immediately sat back down. In the silence, the scrape of his chair sounded exceptionally loud.

His palms broke out in sweat, and he inwardly winced. How did Shen Yi get mixed up with someone like this? Once again, he felt for his friend.

Lin Xiaofeng chose to keep his mouth shut and watch their confrontation from the sidelines. Neither Yuan Chen nor Shen Yi showed any intention of backing down. The tension was like a bowstring drawn taut.

In the end, Yuan Chen spoke first. His gaze was icy, his lips curling into a mocking smile.

"Even indulging yourself should have limits. If you want to drink, find somewhere out of sight."

"President Yuan."

"If you can't control your pheromones, don't come out and make a spectacle of yourself."

"Yuan Chen!"

Unable to bear it any longer, Shen Yi shot to his feet. His chair tipped backward, and Lin Xiaofeng hurried to right it, his eyes wide. He rarely saw Shen Yi this furious.

Shen Yi drew a deep breath and took a step forward, his breathing quick with anger.

"Watch what you say. What right do you have to tell me what to do?" With the alcohol going to his head, he irritably pushed the loose hair off his forehead and stared straight at Yuan Chen. "Do you think I'm still your secretary? I've already resigned."

His tone was sharp, every word an arrow aimed at the other man.

"What does my drinking have to do with you? Do you own this place?"

"..."

"No... honestly, Yuan Chen, am I still supposed to obey your every command? Get that straight, would you?"

Shen Yi had actually called him by name! Lin Xiaofeng covered his mouth, screaming silently. Has this guy lost his mind?

"I think you've gone mad. You're seriously drunk." Yuan Chen voiced his thoughts for him. In his eyes, Shen Yi was indeed acting strangely.

Shen Yi scoffed. Since he had already started, he might as well get it all off his chest.

"I'm not drunk. What right do you have to say that? What have omegas ever done wrong? As long as we're alive, we're going to release some pheromones. Just because you can't stand it, you have to watch me like you're hunting a rat?"

"Keep talking." Yuan Chen folded his arms and watched him coldly.

"What, you think glaring at me will scare me? You think being tall makes you so special?"

"..."

"You're thirty already, and you're still this picky? Enough is enough! Not wanting a secretary is your own business. When you can't handle your workload later, don't say I didn't warn you. Keep putting on airs. We'll see which of us caves first!"

"Finished?"

"No! And you need to fix that habit of interrupting people all the time!"

Lin Xiaofeng silently traced a cross over his chest. Lord, I fear a lost lamb will be returning to your embrace today.

Shen Yi rubbed his face as though washing it. He had shouted too loudly, and his head was a little dizzy. He had drunk too quickly earlier, and now the alcohol was catching up with him.

He took a few deep breaths and smoothed his disheveled hair, but he still had to finish what he needed to say.

"So what if you're handsome and rich? You're cold as a machine all day long. Listen carefully, Yuan Chen. If you try to order me around again..."

"What will you do?"

"You're impossible. I don't expect you to understand, but you could at least stop bullying me. We were done a long time ago, so why do you have to pick a fight every time we meet... wait, Yuan Chen, are you releasing pheromones?"

Shen Yi abruptly stopped and blinked. A warm aura was emanating from Yuan Chen. It was still that bergamot scent, but unlike last time, it wasn't cold and bracing. Instead, it felt like a quilt had been draped over his shoulders, warming him all over.

In that instant, surrounded by alpha pheromones, Shen Yi went limp as though his power had been cut. He accepted the pheromones without any resistance, and with the alcohol adding to their effect, he finally gave out.

Yuan Chen easily caught Shen Yi as he fell asleep. Unconscious, Shen Yi began releasing pheromones again. The more agitated an omega became, the more active his pheromones were. The best way to stop it was to put him straight to sleep, so Yuan Chen had used his own pheromones to raise Shen Yi's body temperature.

A drunken, unconscious man was particularly heavy. Yuan Chen struggled with the greater-than-expected weight, working to keep his expression composed as he adjusted the man against his shoulder. One of Shen Yi's slippers fell off.

Lin Xiaofeng cautiously picked it up. What on earth was going on? They had just been arguing so fiercely. How had he suddenly fallen asleep? And what were pheromones, anyway?

As a beta, Lin Xiaofeng held the slipper and looked at Yuan Chen in confusion. Though he badly wanted to ask for an explanation, Yuan Chen had no intention of offering one. He gave his instructions in a businesslike tone.

"I know where Secretary Shen lives. I'll take him home. You clean up here."

"Of course. Leave this to me. Don't worry."

Lin Xiaofeng gave him a reassuring smile, and Yuan Chen turned to leave.

Lin Xiaofeng sat down again and watched their retreating figures. He sighed softly. "And he still insists there's nothing between them. I feel like I accidentally witnessed a married couple fighting."

A wife who had left home and a husband who had come looking for him-the scene had fit that scenario perfectly. Looking back on their conversation, most of it had admittedly been drunken rambling.

Lin Xiaofeng decided to keep everything he had seen today to himself. For the sake of his career, he had better pretend he knew nothing.