PTBC chapter 11

Next door, in the room at the end of the hallway.

Xia Yan was using a clip to curl his bangs. He had just taken a shower, and his face was still damp.

“My father is really too much,” he complained to Xu Cong about his father. “Back when we participated in that variety show with the special forces training, we crammed three or four Alphas into one tent, and none of us knew each other. The smell was enough to knock me out.”

“I still can’t disclose my gender publicly. In the entertainment industry, people still think I’m an Alpha. There will probably be more activities like that in the future. What’s the use of my dad worrying?”

He sneered, “By then, my dad will probably be begging me to share a room with you.”

Xu Cong also clearly remembered that event—alphas packed together, and they had to train excessively. It was surprising no one fought, since they all adhered to the idol code of conduct, not wanting to cause trouble on the variety show.

But he didn’t respond. Instead, he glanced at the back of Xia Yan’s neck.

It was pale and had a suppressant patch on it, covering most of the rose pheromone scent.

At the time, he didn’t think much of it when they attended together, just trying his best to isolate Xia Yan from others to make him more comfortable.

But now…

Xu Cong lowered his gaze, his expression darkening a little.

It was hard to say whether he would, like Fu Changfeng, use every method to stop Xia Yan from going on such shows.

He couldn’t stand the thought of other alphas’ scents invading Xia Yan’s space, not even a little bit.

At this thought, Xu Cong’s eyes darkened for a moment, but he quickly returned to normal.

He raised his eyes and saw Xia Yan sitting at the table, humming a song while unboxing fried chicken. When he noticed Xu Cong looking, he smiled at him.

“Come here,” Xia Yan said, “I ordered honey mustard, your favorite.”

Xu Cong walked over and sat down.

Two hours later.

With a dull thud, the game controller fell from Xia Yan’s hand. He tilted his body, resting his head on Xu Cong’s shoulder, and had already fallen asleep.

Xu Cong’s hand trembled slightly, but quickly he made a few swift moves on the controller, and a huge “congratulations!” appeared on the screen.

He set his controller down as well.

He turned his head slightly, looking at Xia Yan, who was resting on his shoulder, his face peaceful. The clip in his hair swayed gently. His sharp and handsome features from earlier had softened in sleep, losing some of their aggression.

Xu Cong watched him for a long time before slowly removing the clip from Xia Yan’s hair.

He moved slowly, lifting Xia Yan’s head off his shoulder, then gently carried him and laid him down on the bed.

Throughout it all, Xia Yan didn’t wake up at all, completely unaware of his surroundings, almost drooling in his deep sleep.

Xu Cong tucked Xia Yan’s hand under the blanket.

But after doing all that, he didn’t leave.

The moonlight was cool as water, casting a soft glow through the window. The room was dim, with only the light from the screen illuminating it.

Xu Cong’s fingers touched Xia Yan’s cheek gently.

This was Xia Yan’s home.

In the dead of night, he, an alpha, was alone with Xia Yan, and not a single one of Xia Yan’s family members came to check on him out of concern.

Everyone trusted him completely.

It was well known that he was Xia Yan’s good friend and brother.

They had been together as trainees since they were sixteen or seventeen.

He had practiced skateboarding with Xia Yan in the streets in the middle of the night, and had grilled meat with him in the summer family’s garden. Countless nights, he had returned here with Xia Yan, feeling naturally at home…

Everyone in the Xia family treated him like their own.

No one was wary of him.

Including Xia Yan himself.

He slept so peacefully in front of him.

“So oblivious.”

Xu Cong murmured softly, though he didn’t know who he was saying it to.

He slowly leaned down, getting closer to Xia Yan, as if he was about to kiss him.

But when he was just a palm’s length away from him, he stopped.

For countless nights, when Xia Yan slept by his side, he had always looked at him like this.

Watching him grow, dazzling and brilliant, arrogant, proud, yet drawing everyone’s attention like the sun.

Every second Xia Yan spent beside him was a slow torment to Xu Cong’s willpower.

But even after gazing at Xia Yan for a long time, he ultimately didn’t press a kiss on him. Instead, he quietly stood and tiptoed out of the room.

“Goodnight.”

Before closing the door, he softly whispered the words into the room.

….

Xu Cong descended the stairs step by step, heading to the guest room on the first floor—the furthest room from Xia Yan in the entire villa.

Even as a guest room, it had been meticulously designed by Fu Changfeng and Xia Chujun back in the day. The style was warm and cozy, with a semi-floor-to-ceiling arched window, beneath which sat two walnut-colored chairs and a small table, perfect for tea.

Xu Cong pushed open the narrow side window. The cool night breeze, infused with the fresh scent of grass and trees, streamed into the room.

A cigarette dangled from his lips.

The room was unlit, and the glow of his phone illuminated his sharp, angular face. The faint moonlight fell like a flowing stream, mingling with the light from his phone screen, where a picture of Xia Yan shone.

Xu Cong’s phone contained an album dedicated entirely to Xia Yan, locked behind layers of security, accessible only to him. Since meeting Xia Yan at the age of seventeen, he had stored over ten thousand photos of him.

Such behavior wasn’t far from that of an obsessive fan.

No fan would ever suspect that the person they deemed the most cold and restrained in D.A was observing their captain with such a gaze.

Xu Cong felt like he was losing his mind.

He couldn’t pinpoint exactly when he fell in love with Xia Yan.

But he first became aware of it in this very house, Xia Yan’s home.

It was his eighteenth birthday. His family, preoccupied with work, had sent only expensive gifts without much thought.

Xia Yan, however, had specifically taken leave to bring him out of the company and into his home.

Xu Cong still remembered the birthday cake that year—it was strawberry-flavored.

Under the gentle glow of the candles, Xia Yan stood opposite him, already extraordinarily handsome, the kind to turn heads on the street. Yet he didn’t blink, simply gazing at Xu Cong with a smile reserved only for him.

That very night, Xu Cong had a dream—strange and vivid.

In the dream, there was a pair of slender, beautiful hands—pale, with long and elegant fingers, even the nails perfectly smooth and rounded.

He kissed those hands, as if worshiping a deity, yet also like a beast, tearing at the other person’s neck, relishing in the sound of their fragile cries.

A bit of ash from his cigarette fell silently, landing on the back of Xu Cong’s hand.

The burn startled him, snapping his thoughts back to reality.

He looked down to see a faint red mark where the ash had fallen, as if fate itself was warning him not to cross the line.

How much restraint could one person have?

A year. Two years. Three… ten?

Xu Cong took another drag of his cigarette.

His expression was like that of a beast lurking in the shadows.

This year marked the fourth year since he realized he was in love with Xia Yan. During these years, he had worked hard to conceal it, knowing that Xia Yan didn’t like Alphas—even though his fathers were both Alphas.

He didn’t want to break Xia Yan’s trust.

At the very least, all these years, Xia Yan had always leaned on him without reservation. They were twin stars running side by side, the strongest support for each other on stage.

He didn’t want to see disappointment, avoidance, or pity in Xia Yan’s eyes.

He wanted Xia Yan to remain free and happy forever.

But hiding his feelings for someone was excruciatingly hard.

Xu Cong exhaled a puff of smoke, the faint minty taste sharpening his clarity.

Over the past year, his dreams about Xia Yan had grown increasingly audacious, as if all the suppressed emotions during the day were unleashed in his dreams, turning into the primal instincts of a beast…

And now, Xia Yan had even differentiated into an Omega.

The scent of roses overwhelmed him, drowning him entirely.

Xu Cong stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray.

Expressionless, he thought to himself: he truly didn’t know how much longer he could endure staying by Xia Yan’s side.

Perhaps the day the beast in his heart broke free of its cage would also mark the end of his relationship with Xia Yan.