Chapter 14

Yun Zhi poked at it with his finger. "You have abs!"

Startled by Yun Zhi suddenly barging in, Fang Yixing instinctively pulled in his stomach.

The firm muscle definition wasn't intimidating — a neat, not-too-thick layer, eight perfectly symmetrical blocks. Exactly the kind Yun Zhi liked most.

Yun Zhi's eyes were full of envy. He ran his soft fingertips gently downward and breathed, "Wow, they're so hard."

A vein at Fang Yixing's temple showed a faint, telltale throb.

He reached out and caught the hand currently causing chaos on his body, closed his eyes, and steadied his breathing for a considerable moment before he said, "Stop messing around."

Yun Zhi assumed he simply didn't want him looking at his abs and pouted. "Hmph. Stingy."

He wasn't actually upset — just playing around. A bit of teasing between girl-friends was all in good fun, and Yun Zhi knew exactly how to play.

Yun Zhi blocked the bathroom doorway and looked down to lift his own hem, exposing a stretch of slender, soft waist and flat stomach. "Look at me — no abs, just a soft little belly. I want abs too."

The thought of getting the kind of faint, defined abs he'd had in his previous life made Yun Zhi's shoulders droop immediately. An Omega's constitution really was too weak.

A flash of pale skin appeared suddenly in his field of vision. Fang Yixing averted his gaze in an instant.

He let out a quiet sigh and began to worry about whether he'd be able to endure the temptation in the future.

Disguising his identity to participate in the show alongside Yun Zhi was a choice he'd made himself — suffering through the little sweet Omega's temptations was something he simply had to endure. His little sweet Omega hadn't differentiated yet. He needed to keep himself in check. He couldn't be a beast about it.

He turned around, putting his back to Yun Zhi, and quickly put his shirt on. While doing up the buttons he said, "Hurry up and change. You only have three minutes."

Yun Zhi's head had cleared considerably by now. He set the clothes he was holding on the nearby rack and nodded. "Okay, got it."

Then, in one swift motion, pulled off his trousers. His suit shorts dropped to the floor.

Fang Yixing: "......"

He absolutely did not dare turn around.

Yun Zhi pulled on his new trousers and asked Fang Yixing, who was still standing in the inner part of the bathroom with his back to him, "Are you done? Aren't you going out?"

"I'll wait and go out with you." Fang Yixing leaned against the bathroom wall and tried his best to ignore the sound of fabric rustling behind him.

Time was short. Yun Zhi changed into his trousers and shirt quickly, grabbed his jacket, and hurried out alongside Fang Yixing, pulling on the light blue uniform jacket as they headed downstairs.

"Quick, quick, quick — assemble!" The director stood at the foot of the dormitory building with a megaphone, shouting up into it.

A crowd of trainees who had just woken up and were still half in a daze came stumbling down the stairs and lined up behind the director, fixing each other's appearances.

Li Yuanyuan spotted Yun Zhi and Fang Yixing emerging and waved them over urgently. "Come on, we're leaving!"

* * *

In the photo studio, five makeup artists rotated through styling all 101 trainees.

When it was Yun Zhi's turn, the Omega makeup artist reached out with delicately held fingers and gently touched Yun Zhi's skin — as smooth and fine as white jade — and let out a dramatic gasp. "Oh! Darling! Your skin is absolutely incredible! I am obsessed with this face of yours! I'm voting for you the second I get home!"

Yun Zhi was deeply flattered. He sat up straight in the chair and smiled shyly. "Thank you so much."

"Take care of your skin! Make sure to take your makeup off properly — clogged pores are no joke!"

Yun Zhi's base skin was exceptional — no concealer needed, his complexion naturally bright white and luminous, and barely any foundation required. In barely ten minutes, his look was done.

He looked up at the mirror and noticed Fang Yixing standing slightly to his left behind him, watching his makeup artist in the mirror's reflection.

Yun Zhi gave the mirror a sweet smile, showing his two little dimples. When the makeup artist turned away to find a lip product, Yun Zhi pulled a face at the mirror.

His light amber eyes crossed into a ridiculous squint, his small mouth wide open, pink tongue stretched downward. His little head swayed side to side, as if he fancied himself the God of Impermanence.

Fang Yixing pressed his fist to his lips, successfully laughed into silence.

The promotional shoot included group photos, team photos, and individual shots.

Between the styling and the photography, it all took nearly three hours.

Thirty minutes of those three hours were spent entirely on Fang Yixing.

Because no matter what type of photo was being taken, he didn't smile. And when he did smile, it had the look of someone performing a professional duty under duress — pushing the photographer to the very edge of losing it.

These photos were going on the official Weibo page as promotional images!

Worried the photographer was going to snap at Fang Yixing, Yun Zhi quickly volunteered to "educate" him. The photographer waved him off with a weary, defeated gesture — he had already given up hope.

Yun Zhi pulled Fang Yixing aside, hands on his hips. "Why can't you smile?"

Fang Yixing argued back, "I did smile — he just doesn't like it."

"......" Yun Zhi: "That was obviously a fake smile. Not sincere at all. Doesn't looking into the camera make you feel happy?"

Fang Yixing shook his head.

Yun Zhi thought for a moment. "What about looking at your fellow trainees? They're all smiling so happily — doesn't it rub off on you at all?"

Fang Yixing shook his head again. "It doesn't." Yun Zhi's quick little mind was already turning. "But you smile at me all the time, don't you? Your smile looks so good — smile more~"

Fang Yixing looked down and laughed — and before he'd thought about it, the words were already out of his mouth. "That's because you're cute."

Hearing this, Yun Zhi's almond eyes went wide and round. A faint flush spread instantly across his pale cheeks.

Did he have to be so direct about it? That's embarrassing.

He fanned his flushed face with his own hand, then pulled Fang Yixing back in front of the camera. "Mentor, trainee Fang Yixing is ready!"

The method was mortifying for Yun Zhi, but it worked beautifully.

For the group shots Yun Zhi couldn't do much, but for the individual portraits, he stood beside the photographer — and Fang Yixing's mouth curved naturally, his expression settling into a quiet, gentle smile.

The photographer frantically captured the expression, internally screaming his lungs out.

When the promotional shoot finally ended, Yun Zhi was starving, his stomach growling audibly, and he barely had the energy to speak.

The whole group shuffled to the dining hall, leaning on each other for support. Fortunately, the spread was abundant — all manner of meat, vegetables, fruit, and dessert, more than enough for everyone.

After that meal, the sadistic production team's standing in the trainees' hearts shot up considerably.

After lunch, everyone drifted back to the dormitory to sort out their things.

The atmosphere among the 101 trainees gradually warmed up as they started dropping in on each other's rooms and sharing snacks. When the director's team came around to collect electronic devices, they made a big show of reluctantly handing over their phones, then the moment the staff turned away, produced their spare phones and exchanged contact information.

Only after the production team had promised repeatedly that the rest of the day was free time did Yun Zhi feel fully at ease, burrowing back under his blanket for more sleep.

When he woke up, it was already nine in the evening.

Beside his bed sat a bag of soft, fragrant bread, some fruit juice, and a small dessert.

Yun Zhi glanced over at the opposite bed. Fang Yixing had already changed into his pajamas, earphones in, propped against the headboard reading a book. His silver hair was slightly damp, falling loose around the back of his head.

Light poured down from above. The front of his pajama collar hung half open, and from the tips of his hair a single drop of water fell, scattering across his collarbone.

This Omega, whose bone structure and appearance were both exceptional, lay on his side on the bed — the effect entirely natural, projecting a cool, refined elegance that seemed to come from within.

No wonder he's the protagonist shou — absolutely delectable.

No — Yun Zhi hastily ejected the thought from his head. He meant the bread was delectable!

Yun Zhi sat up cross-legged, nibbled his bread in small bites, and gazed without blinking, admiring his sexy and captivating girl-friend.

After his evening shower, Yun Zhi bundled up his dirty clothes and carried them to the laundry room at the end of the corridor.

He was the only one there for the moment, though several washing machines were running — probably someone had started a load and would come back to collect it later.

Through the wall beside him, a voice came — slightly on the verge of tears, belonging unmistakably to a man. Yun Zhi, sitting in his chair, blinked.

Was that Senior Zhao Jinzhao's voice?

Yun Zhi remembered that Zhao Jinzhao, having placed near last in the morning's competition, had been forced to share an eight-person room with the other trainees. The wall on the other side of the laundry room backed onto a fire exit stairway, which people generally didn't pass through.

"Ruye-ge!"

Another cry, this one clearer and more overtly tearful. Zhao Jinzhao seemed to be hiding in the fire exit stairwell to make a phone call.

Yun Zhi could hear it all very clearly — and hearing that name made his scalp prickle.

The "Ruye-ge" Zhao Jinzhao had called out — was that film emperor Xue Ruye?

The one with a pheromone collection obsession, who loved to toy with Omegas and never took responsibility for any of them?

Yun Zhi knew Xue Ruye because he too was one of the main gongs in The Utmost Submission: How a Deranged Alpha Falls Hard. Tall and handsome, romantic and free-spirited, the dream Alpha of millions of Omegas.

But in Yun Zhi's god's-eye view, he was nothing but a narcissistic, self-indulgent piece of trash who thought his looks gave him license to do whatever he wanted.

He had hurt Fang Yixing in the book. Yun Zhi despised him.

In the original story, Fang Yixing had participated in the talent show Nation's Singer, and Xue Ruye — as an established idol — was one of that show's mentors. He had chosen Fang Yixing for his team, drawn in by his pheromones and his face, and decided he wanted Fang Yixing as his Omega.

When threats and inducements got him nowhere, he had drugged Fang Yixing's throat-soothing water and forcibly claimed him — and delivered the permanent mark on top of it.

Fang Yixing had woken up in a hotel bed, sensed the foreign pheromones flowing through his body, and immediately understood what had happened.

Unable to accept spending the rest of his life in submission to Xue Ruye, he had dragged his weakened body to a private hospital and had the permanent mark removed.

The removal process was a hundredfold more agonizing than the marking itself. He had slept in and out of consciousness for days. And from that point on, the light in his eyes went out.

Revisiting this, Yun Zhi's heart clenched again with anguish for everything Fang Yixing had been through.

Zhao Jinzhao was an already-debuted idol — knowing Xue Ruye was perfectly natural. But judging from the emotion in Zhao Jinzhao's phone call, Yun Zhi had a creeping sense their relationship was not ordinary.

Mentally chanting "sorry, sorry, senior," Yun Zhi quietly slipped toward the fire exit door. It was ajar, with a light-edged crack just wide enough to see through. Yun Zhi crouched outside and eavesdropped.

As Zhao Jinzhao's breakdown eased and his rational mind gradually came back, his voice drifted out in broken fragments mixed with hiccupping sobs. "Have you given up on me, Ruye-ge? Why do you keep not replying to my messages — and n-not picking up my calls."

That told Yun Zhi everything he needed to know about their relationship.

Either they were a couple in secret, or Zhao Jinzhao was one among Xue Ruye's many lovers.

Most likely, Zhao Jinzhao unilaterally believed he was in a real relationship with Xue Ruye — while to Xue Ruye, Zhao Jinzhao was simply one of many lovers to be called on when needed and discarded when not.

Yun Zhi felt a deep sense of unfairness on Senior Zhao Jinzhao's behalf, and quietly spat in Xue Ruye's direction in his heart.

Disgusting little trash who only knows how to hurt Omegas. Garbage garbage garbage!

But other people's affairs were ultimately not his to interfere in. Yun Zhi knew his own limitations — keeping himself and Fang Yixing safe was already hard enough.

He and Fang Yixing had already steered clear of Nation's Singer, which Xue Ruye was involved in. He could only hope they'd never cross paths.

Yun Zhi collected his clean laundry with a heavy heart and walked back to the dormitory.

Li Yuanyuan and his teammates were roaming the corridor, trying to tempt people into having instant snail noodles with them. Seeing Yun Zhi, Li Yuanyuan ran over cheerfully and waggled his eyebrows. "Yun Zhi, come have supper with us? The snail noodles I brought are amazing!"

Yun Zhi drooped his head and waved him off. "Thanks — I'm going to sleep. Good night."

"Oh, okay. Good night." Li Yuanyuan blinked, scratched his head and watched Yun Zhi's retreating back. "What's up with our little baby today — why so down?"

Yun Zhi's mood recovered quickly once he got back to the dorm and saw his lovely girl-friend.

He sat on the edge of his bed, swinging his feet, his bright eyes fixed on the opposite bed. "Yixing, are you tired?"

Fang Yixing: "Not tired."

"No." Yun Zhi put on his slippers, pattered over to Fang Yixing's bed, covered his mouth with one hand, and said with great seriousness: "You're supposed to say yes."

Fang Yixing looked at him. A glimmer of amusement crossed his dark eyes. "Alright. I'm tired."

"Hehe — I'll give you a massage!" Yun Zhi climbed up onto the bed, knelt to one side and urged him eagerly. "Lie down on your stomach."

It was the first time anyone had invaded his bed. Yet Fang Yixing felt not a trace of discomfort — on the contrary, an inexplicable sense of warmth rose in him.

He obediently lay face-down, folding his hands and resting his chin on them.

Yun Zhi spread his knees and knelt across his legs at the knee.

Fang Yixing snapped his head back sharply and blinked.

"Head forward — you'll be uncomfortable like that." Yun Zhi rubbed his palms together and added, "Take your shirt off too."

Fang Yixing stared at him in shock again, and after a few long seconds finally asked, "Does it have to come off? Can't you do it with the shirt on?"

Yun Zhi's tone was like a veteran masseur. He delivered a brisk smack to Fang Yixing's backside, and in his soft voice commanded, "How am I supposed to massage you with it on? It has to come off!"