Catching a cheater

[My darlings, I'm here! No paw prints this time-I want your little brains. Come check them in!]

[There are chapters about a side couple after chapter one hundred. If that's not your thing, feel free to pick another book-no need to let me know. Until fate brings us together again, mwah ⁼̴̤̆ ꇴ ⁼̴̤̆]

It was mid-March, and buds had only just begun to appear on the peach trees.

At one in the morning, Capital City was still swept by bitter, biting winds, as though winter had never left.

Cheng Yue zipped his outdoor jacket all the way up, pulled on a black baseball cap, and hurried out through the gates of his residential complex.

"Orange, where are you? Hurry up. I'm keeping a close eye on them for you."

His exposed knuckles, wrapped around his phone, turned red from the cold almost instantly.

Cheng Yue's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed a mouthful of icy air. "Got it. Almost there," he said hoarsely.

The streets were quiet and deserted in the dead of night. He let out a soft breath, walked over to the black sedan parked by the roadside, and opened the door.

"Last four digits, 7783."

As he spoke, he deftly buckled his seat belt, completely missing the bewildered expression on the "driver's" face beside him.

Lin Shuyang blinked his big, mascara-ad eyes, staring in utter confusion as the stranger smoothly settled into his car. He even forgot to take a drag of the cigarette between his fingers.

"Wait, you..." Who are you?

"Please hurry. Thank you."

Lin Shuyang nearly laughed out of sheer irritation. He had only stopped by to do a buddy a favor. Afterward, he had thought about finding somewhere to have some fun and was waiting for a message, only to have someone barge into his car.

"Buddy, you've got the wrong idea. I'm not..." A rideshare driver.

Lin Shuyang was utterly speechless. Have you ever seen anyone driving a Maybach for a rideshare service?

Well, technically, it wasn't impossible. It was just that such things lay beyond the circles Young Master Lin moved in.

Cheng Yue glanced at his phone, where the person on the other end kept sending messages urging him to hurry. "Sir, I really don't have time to chat. I'm on my way to catch someone cheating."

"Hey, you-what? Catch someone cheating?"

Lin Shuyang hastily aborted the eye roll he had started and straightened out of his lazy sprawl. "Address!"

Once he had the exact destination, Lin Shuyang wasted no more words. He floored the accelerator, and the car shot through the night like an arrow.

"You should've said you were catching a cheater! Young people these days really don't know what takes priority. Look at that-all those precious minutes wasted!"

Man, I wonder if we'll still get there in time for the show.

Cheng Yue: "..."

He had a vague feeling that something wasn't quite right, but his thoughts were such a tangled mess that he couldn't spare the attention to sort it out.

The drive was quick. Once they reached the destination, Cheng Yue thanked him politely and pushed the door open. He had barely stepped out when he saw his college roommate and close friend jogging toward him.

"You're finally here. I've been watching the whole time. They haven't come down."

Qi Su had come to drop a client off at the hotel. Just before leaving, he had spotted a familiar figure at the entrance. He had been about to say hello when he noticed the unfamiliar face beside him and instinctively ducked out of sight.

He had hidden in a corner to watch them, and the moment he confirmed that it really was his close friend's boyfriend, his foggy mind had snapped clear.

Then came the video Cheng Yue had seen. The two people in it looked normal enough, but certain glances and small, intimate touches had still caught his eye.

They were both adults, entering a hotel together in the middle of the night. Not even a dog would believe they were there to discuss a script.

Cheng Yue stopped and looked up at the hotel's brightly lit sign. Its exterior alone made it clear this was an upscale establishment.

He just couldn't understand how such a clichéd plot had still managed to happen to him.

Qi Su lowered his voice. "The elevator stopped on the eighteenth floor, but you need a key card to get in."

Worse still, after all the time he had spent lingering by the entrance, the front desk staff and security guards were already watching him.

Even if they booked a room now, they had no idea which room the two were in, and the hotel naturally wouldn't disclose its guests' information.

Finding them would be quite a hassle.

"Oh, what's so hard about that? I'll just take you up."

Only then did Cheng Yue realize that the rideshare driver from earlier had followed them over at some point.

"You...?"

Despite the late hour, Lin Shuyang was brimming with energy and didn't feel sleepy at all. He took out his phone. "Eighteenth floor, right? Hang on."

Watching him make a call with such confidence, Cheng Yue and Qi Su exchanged a look.

It was only then that Cheng Yue could spare a moment to take a proper look at him. Lin Shuyang was dressed in casual clothes with no recognizable labels, but the fabric looked distinctly high-quality.

Everything about him radiated a refinement and expense beyond that of an ordinary person, making it abundantly clear that he was not the rideshare driver Cheng Yue had taken him for.

Realization suddenly struck Cheng Yue, and he hurriedly checked his phone. Only then did he discover that it had somehow been set to silent, and there were several missed calls.

Along with some "kind greetings" from his actual rideshare driver.

"All sorted. Someone will be here in a moment to take us straight up."

Lin Shuyang's "in a moment" came very quickly. Almost as soon as he finished speaking, a man in a sharp suit came striding out through the hotel entrance.

Judging by the name badge on his chest, he was a member of the hotel staff.

"Good evening, Second Young Master."

Lin Shuyang waved a hand. "All right, hurry up and take us upstairs."

The lobby manager said no more. He stepped aside and extended a hand to show them the way.

After a couple of steps, Lin Shuyang realized no one was following him. He turned back and urged them on. "Come on! Keep standing there and you'll miss everything!"

Cheng Yue: "..."

For some reason, he felt this man was even more impatient than he was-and he was the actual poor sucker getting cheated on.

They followed the lobby manager into the elevator, each wearing a different expression in the confined space.

After holding back for a while, Qi Su leaned close to Cheng Yue's ear and stammered, "I don't think we even know the room number."

The elevator was quiet enough that his words were clearly audible, however softly he spoke.

With Lin Shuyang there, that was no concern at all. Once Cheng Yue gave the name, the lobby manager quickly checked with the front desk.

By the time the elevator stopped, they had their answer.

The hotel corridor was carpeted, muffling their footsteps completely. As they passed room after room, Cheng Yue could feel his steps growing heavier.

No matter how long a road was, it had to end somewhere.

But before they reached the room, they heard a shrill woman's voice shouting abuse.

"You old animal! Sleeping with women wasn't enough, and now you're sleeping with men too? Don't you disgust yourself?"

"And what is all this filthy stuff? You may be ugly, but you certainly know how to get kinky!"

Perhaps the uninvited visitor had rushed in too hastily to close the door properly. Or perhaps she wanted everyone to witness the scandal.

Cheng Yue stood in the doorway, gazing inside with a calm expression.

He couldn't quite describe what he felt. Anger wasn't exactly it. Sadness? Yes, there was a little of that.

He only regretted that he had thought he'd found a love of his own in a world bursting with blossoms, only to find that, in the end, his flowers had never bloomed.

Ignoring Lin Shuyang's undisguised delight at the spectacle, Qi Su gave his close friend a worried look.

"What... what do we do?"

Inside the room, the uproar was in full swing. A potbellied man with only a bath towel around his waist was awkwardly trying to protect the pretty young man on the bed, only to invite another assault from his wife's vicious claws.

"You old animal, you still dare protect him! I'll beat both you cheating bastards to death today!"