The Overworked Beta and the Paranoid Alpha 54

Chapter 54: That’s Just How We Master Craftsmen Are

He opened his eyes and saw Romeo kneeling on the ground, looking at him.

Perhaps due to the high mental tension of the past few days, Wen En only felt a throbbing pain in his temples. Even though Romeo had seen him, Wen En did not react, but just stared into those blue eyes in silence.

It was not until a cool hand touched his cheek that Wen En came back to his senses.

The fingertips traced his jaw, his chin, and stopped on his lips.

“It’s you,” he heard Romeo whisper. “It’s really you.”

Wen En smiled, reached out, and brushed the stray hair from the Alpha’s forehead. “Feeling better?”

The scent of Alpha pheromones in the air had become thin and calm, no longer heavy and aggressive. Clearly, the suppressant had taken effect. Romeo looked much better, and even the wounds on his face had swollen down a lot. This should be the effect of the antibiotics.

But…

Wen En paused, reached out and brushed Romeo’s eye, wiping away the tears on his face. “What’s wrong?”

Those blue eyes were filled with loss, remorse, and helplessness. Wen En thought Romeo had misunderstood something and said, “This is Xiaoli’s home. We’ve already escaped.”

Wen En briefly recounted what had happened after Romeo had fainted, then added, “We’re temporarily safe now.”

“Are we?” Romeo said.

“Of course,” Wen En said. “Get up. Let’s eat something first, then find a way to contact Della. She and RV will send someone to find us.”

Romeo looked at him, not speaking. “Are you listening to me?” Wen En said, dissatisfied. He was so tired he was about to die, and Romeo was zoning out here? But he hadn’t expected Romeo’s next words to almost dislocate his jaw.

“Can I kiss you?” Romeo said.

“Huh?” Wen En was shocked.

The next moment, his mouth was sealed by a force.

“Wait, you stinking brat… mmph…”

“The soundproofing here is terrible. I can even hear the toilet flushing next door,” Romeo chuckled softly and said, “Wen En, you don’t want Xiaoli to find out what we’re doing in his bathroom, do you?”

“You’re crazy!” Wen En felt terrible to the point of exploding. He would rather go back to the port and fight with Red Devil than be squeezed in this narrow bathroom blowing balloons and making balloon crafts.

This is so embarrassing! Wen En covered his face with his hands and thought.

“If you’re not willing, then hit me,” Romeo pried Wen En’s hands away, pinched his chin, and forced him to look at him. “Please, hit me in the face.”

Despite saying so, Romeo’s work did not stop. Instead, he stepped on the gas and went full throttle.

Wen En now knew that he had absolutely no intention of hitting the brakes. But to really hit Romeo…

He couldn’t do it.

Wen En watched as fine beads of sweat formed on Romeo’s forehead, slid down his cheekbones, his chin, and finally dripped onto the concrete floor. The scent of lemon mixed with coconut, like aromatherapy, filled the bathroom. It was not as intense as during the heat, but it was still rich enough.

Just a little was enough to make Wen En drunk.

Wen En gave up. He couldn’t even protect himself. He really didn’t have the energy to fight with Romeo. Or maybe he had other thoughts. Wen En didn’t dare, and didn’t have the energy to think about it.

He suddenly thought of something, grabbed Romeo’s hand, and said, “Control yourself. Otherwise, if the pheromones leak out, it won’t be good for Xiaoli.”

“You still have the energy to care about other men?” Romeo said, dissatisfied.

“What are you talking about? I mean, Xiaoli just finished his heat. You’re like this… ??? Wait!”

…

Xiaoli opened his eyes. He felt as if he had been run over by a road roller hundreds of times. He endured the pain and got up from the bed, just in time to see his sister come back from buying daily necessities and food.

“Brother!” Bella put down the shopping bag in her hand and ran to her brother. “Are you feeling okay? Is there any other place that’s uncomfortable?”

Although Xiaoli was in pain all over, he didn’t want his sister to worry. He still said, “I’m fine.”

“That’s good,” Bella opened the shopping bag, took out the food, and shared it with Xiaoli. If it were before, Xiaoli would have stopped after eating half a sandwich. After all, he had to control his calories and not get too fat, otherwise his manager would point at his face and call him a “fat pig.” But now he was really starving.

He ate two boxes of sandwiches and a portion of onion rings, and drank a milkshake. If he wasn’t afraid of getting a stomachache, Xiaoli would have wanted to eat more.

“I’m full. Thank you,” Xiaoli said with a smile.

Bella sat next to Xiaoli, her head on his shoulder. Bella wanted to ask her brother, What should we do in the future? But she really couldn’t ask. She looked at her brother’s injured face, and thought of the Alpha man and the Beta man who were holed up in the toilet. Bella could only be silent.

Let’s take it one step at a time, Bella thought.

The bathroom door suddenly opened.

Bella and Xiaoli looked over at the same time. Romeo walked out. His expression was light, with a sense of satisfaction like having eaten an ice cream cone in the afternoon. Even his pheromones were lazy and not as aggressive as before.

But Xiaoli was still a little afraid of him. The experiences of the past few days had made Xiaoli have a deep-seated fear of Alphas. Even though it was not his heat anymore, the fear had not completely dissipated. Xiaoli moved his body and subconsciously moved a little further away from Romeo.

Bella, on the other hand, stood up. She stood sideways to block Xiaoli and said to Romeo, “You’re awake? I bought sandwiches, fries, chicken nuggets, and milkshakes. Would you and the other gentleman like some?”

“Of course, thank you,” Romeo picked up a chicken nugget and said, “By the way, could I borrow your communicator? I want to send a text message.”

Seeing Bella’s hesitation, Romeo added, “I’m sending a message to the main city police department. Don’t worry, it’s not a bad person.”

They really are from the main city. Bella nodded and gave him the communicator. Romeo took the communicator, tapped it a few times, and quickly returned it to Bella.

“Thank you,” Romeo said.

He took a box of sandwiches and a milkshake from the shopping bag and walked back to the bathroom. He looked at Wen En, who was sitting on the toilet lid, covering his face in thought, and said:

“Are you going to eat in the toilet?”

“…I’m not hungry right now,” Wen En said, and his stomach rumbled.

Wen En: “…”

Wen En silently took the sandwich.

“It’s not that bad, is it?” Romeo said.

“It’s not a matter of whether it’s bad or not. Sigh!” Wen En was at a loss for words. He couldn’t think of any words to describe his current mood.

“So, are you trying to escape from something?” Romeo stood in front of Wen En. The light from above shone down on his head, casting a shadow over his eyes.

Wen En turned his head away and didn’t answer. He quickly finished the box of sandwiches.

Romeo put the straw into the cup of milkshake and handed it to Wen En. “Want some?”

“I told you, I’m not interested,” Wen En said.

“But you look like you really want to drink it,” Romeo reached out, touched Wen En’s chin, and said, “Why are you being so duplicitous, Wen En?”

Wen En glared at him, but all the play had been played. It was useless to say anything now. It would only make him seem like he was making excuses.

In the end, Wen En silently bit the straw of the milkshake.

The vanilla cream-flavored milkshake, with its crunchy crushed ice, flowed into Wen En’s throat. It tasted pretty good. Normally, Wen En would have found this drink a little too sweet, but he was so hungry today that he quickly finished the whole cup.

Romeo cleaned up the food scraps and said, “I just sent Della the location here.”

“Uh-huh,” Wen En stood up and stretched his limbs.

“They should be sending someone to pick us up soon.”

“Understood,” Wen En said.

Romeo looked at the marks on Wen En’s neck that looked like mosquito bites and couldn’t help but say, “Is there anything you want to say to me?”

“No,” Wen En said very curtly.

Romeo pursed his lips. After a long while, he said, “Alright.”

“Knock, knock, knock,” someone suddenly knocked on the door.

“Hi.”

Xiaoli stood in front of the door. He glanced at Romeo, then quickly averted his gaze to Wen En’s face. His gaze lingered on the mosquito bite-like marks on Wen En’s neck for a few seconds, then he lowered his head with a subtle expression.

He knew it. The two of them had been in the toilet for so long, it couldn’t be anything good.

“Can I use the toilet?” Xiaoli was about to burst. Bella had said that she had been using the toilet in the second-hand bookstore downstairs these past two days, but the toilet was just a few steps away. Xiaoli didn’t want to spend five minutes going downstairs.

“Be my guest,” Wen En stood up and walked out. Romeo also followed him out of the toilet.

In the palm-sized room, the atmosphere became strange.

It wasn’t like this before, until Romeo whispered something in Wen En’s ear, and Wen En directly told him, “Shut up. I don’t want to hear you say these things right now.”

Romeo, as he wished, did not speak. He went directly to the other end of the room and sat on the floor, sulking.

Xiaoli and Bella looked at each other: opps…

Unlike the suppressed tearing of soul and desire during the heat, the atmosphere at this moment was more like an awkward, subtle awkwardness.

Bella couldn’t quite describe the feeling. She was just a high school girl and had no interest in this drama. She sat on her bed, opened her textbook and notebook, and started to study with not much focus.

“Let me teach you this knowledge point,” Xiaoli also didn’t want to join this silent dispute. Although he had dropped out of school early to work and support his family, he quickly said.

He sat next to his sister, looking down at the physics knowledge points he couldn’t understand at all, but his ears were pricked up, eavesdropping, not missing a single piece of gossip.

This can’t go on. As a mature and tolerant younger Beta, Wen En thought for a moment and decided to speak first—after all, he was the one who had told Romeo to shut up. Alright, he admitted he had been a little agitated. He had to pay for his mistake.

Wen En said, “When are Della and the others coming?”

“How would I know?” Romeo said strangely.

“Oh,” Wen En thought for a moment and felt that he should probably not speak anymore. He sat down next to Romeo.

He sat for ten minutes.

No, he’s really not talking. Romeo couldn’t help but look at him.

Alright, he admitted that he had provoked Wen En first. It was just that the balloon blowing and balloon craft making had given him an indescribable flying experience, which was completely incomparable to doing handiwork. He had whispered in Wen En’s ear, “Will there be a next time?”

Wen En was already annoyed, and now he was even more annoyed. Wen En directly said, “Shut up!”

But now, seeing Wen En sit down next to him, Romeo thought, Maybe Wen En didn’t really want him to shut up. Maybe it was all just a misunderstanding.

“That was my first time,” Romeo held Wen En’s hand, feeling the thin calluses on his fingertips, and said in a low voice, “I don’t know how to tell you how I feel.”

“First time?” Wen En said in surprise.

“What’s wrong? What’s with that expression?”

“Wow, you don’t look like it’s your first time at all,” Wen En said. “I thought you were a seasoned veteran.”

“???” This time it was Romeo’s turn to be shocked. “Why would you think that? Wait… Wen En,” Romeo grabbed Wen En’s shoulder and said anxiously, “Could it be that you…”

Romeo gritted his teeth, his tone extremely sour. “Tell me the truth, how many exes do you have?”

Romeo was not a conservative person. The only reason he didn’t date others was that he didn’t want to, and wasn’t interested. He would rather do handiwork than make crafts with someone he wasn’t interested in.

He didn’t expect Wen En to be a virgin for him, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be heartbroken!

“Hey, calm down, okay?” Wen En said. “I don’t have any exes. You’re the first person I’ve… with.”

“Really?” Romeo’s eyes were filled with disbelief.

“Of course,” Wen En said. “I go home and sleep as soon as I get off work. I go home to be with my family on vacation. Where do I have time to date?”

In fact, quite a few of his work partners had asked him out on a date, but Wen En had refused them all. Date a colleague? Oh no, the thought of it is disgusting. Wen En just hoped that he would never see his colleagues again after the cooperation ended.

“Alright,” Romeo took a deep breath. “I trust you.”

Romeo quickly figured it out. If Wen En dared to hide anything about his exes from him… then he would dig three feet into the ground to find that “ex,” and then stage various restricted content with Wen En in front of the ex.

“Don’t overthink things, okay?” Wen En touched Romeo’s cheek. “You just have too many thoughts.”

Romeo grabbed that hand, kissed the back of it, and said, “As long as you only have eyes for me, I won’t overthink things.”

“Huh? Am I not focused enough on you? Wait, don’t you…”

“Shh, be quiet. It’s not good if they see us.”

…

“So they’ve made up, right?” Bella whispered.

“Probably,” the sound made Xiaoli’s back go cold.

Bella was curious and was about to turn her head, but Xiaoli held her head steady. “Kids, don’t look.”

Bella: “I’ve already presented!”

Xiaoli: “You’re still a kid. Just look at your physics problems!”

The awkward atmosphere was covered by pink bubbles.

Except for Wen En and Romeo, the other people in this room only felt more awkward.

Xiaoli closed his eyes and thought, They might as well continue their cold war and argue.

“Knock, knock, knock,” someone suddenly knocked on the door, breaking the pink bubbles.

Xiaoli quickly got up to open the door, but Wen En suddenly stopped him. “Wait a minute.”

The moment the knock sounded, Wen En, as a highly professional agent, immediately sensed that something was wrong. He put away the smiling face he had with Romeo and became serious.

Xiaoli was about to ask what was wrong when he heard Wen En say, “Romeo, you take them to the toilet and hide.”

Romeo also became serious. “What about you?”

Wen En picked up the fruit knife from the table. “Don’t worry about me.”

“If you hear any noise in the bathroom, remember, don’t come out.”