PTBC chapter 50

And it wasn’t just Bai Yu.

Any teammate who wasn’t blind could see that Xia Yan and Xu Cong were in the middle of a cold war.

It was hard enough for Xia Yan to finally wrap up filming and return to their warm D.A family, and for Xu Cong to get through his heat period without any major mishaps. They should be celebrating.

So, when the event ended, Xiao Ning happily pulled out his phone and suggested going out for hot pot.

No one objected.

But when they arrived at the hot pot restaurant, everyone instinctively left the seats next to each other open for Xia Yan and Xu Cong. Xiao Ning and Lin Qixu were still huddled together, studying the menu.

Xia Yan, however, unceremoniously kicked Lin Qixu. “Move, I want to switch seats with you.”

Lin Qixu was stunned, not understanding what was going on. But seeing their captain’s impatient expression, he obediently moved.

As he switched seats and ended up next to Xu Cong, he glanced at Ye Zhaoyang with a silent question—What’s going on?

Ye Zhaoyang lightly shook his head, indicating that he had no idea.

That hot pot meal turned out to be the most tasteless one Lin Qixu had ever had in his life.

From start to finish, Xia Yan and Xu Cong didn’t say a single word to each other. Xia Yan focused on eating, occasionally chatting with Xiao Ning but never once looking at Xu Cong. Xu Cong was even worse—normally quiet, he barely touched his food this time but finished three bottles of cold beer.

Under normal circumstances, Xia Yan would have already started scolding him.

But that day, Xia Yan merely frowned slightly, glanced at Xu Cong, and said nothing.

Oh wow.

The other three silently sucked in a breath.

This was serious.

But no one dared to say anything. Their captain was not someone to be messed with, and Xu Cong was a walking iceberg—getting him to talk was harder than prying open a clam with bare hands. No one wanted to make things awkward for themselves.

After the meal, they returned to the dorm. Watching those two head off in separate directions to their rooms, the three remaining members gathered in the living room to discuss the issue—each grabbing a tub of ice cream for this emergency meeting.

“What the hell happened between them?” Lin Qixu muttered, shoveling spoonfuls of ice cream into his mouth. “I’ve never seen the captain treat Xu Cong this coldly before. During dinner, when Xu Cong burned his hand, I swear I saw the captain’s eyebrow twitch, but he didn’t even ask about it.”

“I think Xu Cong is the one acting weird,” Xiao Ning chimed in. “Normally, when we have hot pot, Xu Cong always takes care of the captain—grabbing food, dipping it for him, just short of feeding him directly. But today, he didn’t lift a finger.”

“He did,” Ye Zhaoyang corrected. “He didn’t serve food because Xia Yan was sitting too far away. But when Xia Yan needed a napkin, he was the only one who noticed and passed it over… Though Xia Yan took it reluctantly.”

“Hiss—”

The other two sucked in a sharp breath at the same time.

Brutal.

They all felt that Xu Cong was on the receiving end of Xia Yan’s cold war.

“What the hell happened? They were fine a few days ago,” Xiao Ning frowned. “Even at the wrap party, everything was normal. Xu Cong even invested in the captain’s drama and helped organize the celebration. After that, he had his heat period, which isn’t a big deal. In the past, the captain was always extra attentive when Xu Cong was in that state…”

Xiao Ning hadn’t even finished speaking before Ye Zhaoyang and Lin Qixu both froze.

They exchanged a glance.

Both of them had caught the key phrase—heat period.

Before, they hadn’t thought much about it because, out of habit, they never really considered Xia Yan as an omega.

But now that Xiao Ning had pointed it out, their expressions turned… complicated.

After Xu Cong’s heat period, his relationship with Xia Yan had plummeted. According to Bai Yu, Xia Yan hadn’t even stayed at the hospital to watch over him, choosing to stay in a hotel across the street instead.

An omega and an alpha. Their relationship suddenly breaking down.

They had heard of too many messy incidents stemming from heat periods and heat cycles over the years.

It was hard not to overthink it.

“No way…”

Lin Qixu grimaced, struggling to even imagine it. “Xu Cong might be crazy, but he wouldn’t dare make a move on the captain, right? The captain’s pheromones feel like murder in gas form. And he could still be attracted?”

“Don’t forget,” Ye Zhaoyang pressed his fingers to his temple, looking exhausted. “You think Xia Yan’s pheromones are suffocating, but Xu Cong’s compatibility with him is 100%.”

“An alpha in their heat period is completely out of control. Even if an omega with 10% compatibility walked past me, I’d still want to mark them.”

Lin Qixu’s face went pale.

Oh.

He had forgotten.

Xu Cong and Xia Yan’s compatibility was 100%.

Xiao Ning, who had been cluelessly listening in, finally caught on. His eyes widened in horror.

“Wait… Are you saying that during his heat period, Xu Cong had the balls to… attack the captain?”

“That’s impossible…” Xiao Ning’s voice cracked. “The captain would’ve torn him apart.”

The living room fell into dead silence.

No one wanted to face that possibility.

If they put themselves in Xia Yan’s shoes, they’d probably want to kill Xu Cong too.

“It’s hard to say. We’re just guessing,” Ye Zhaoyang muttered. “After all, the captain wasn’t marked or anything. If something really happened, no alpha could resist marking their omega. If Xu Cong had truly done something, Xia Yan wouldn’t have been able to fight back.” He let out a breath of relief at the thought. “Maybe they just had a fight.”

Lin Qixu nodded quickly, trying to convince himself of the same.

But despite their reassurances, none of them could shake off the lingering suspicion.

All three sat there in heavy silence.

And none of them dared to go ask Xia Yan or Xu Cong directly.

So, they awkwardly exchanged glances, decided against any more late-night meetings, and quietly retreated to their rooms.

In the days that followed, the tension between Xu Cong and Xia Yan did not improve.

Whenever they attended events or variety shows, they used to always walk together. Now, they deliberately kept a distance. When it came time to choose partners, Xia Yan no longer picked Xu Cong. Instead, he grabbed Xiao Ning.

The two of them were invited as guest panelists on a dating variety show. Although they were known as a famous bromance duo and their seats were closely arranged next to each other, aside from being prompted by the host, they rarely exchanged eye contact.

Fans quickly noticed something was off, including anti-fans, and the gossip was spreading like wildfire, even with firecrackers going off in the background.

That evening, a popular post in the entertainment gossip group exploded—

“Who wants to gossip about whether Xu Cong and his team captain really broke up? Xia Yan almost rolled his eyes at Xu Cong, is the relationship between them finally over?”

The post gained so much traction that even Xia Yan himself saw it.

It was sent by Zong Yi, gently hinting that the main parties should clarify things, but Xia Yan clicked on it without acknowledging Zong Yi.

The post had thousands of replies, analyzing every frame of their behavior on the show, from Xia Yan subtly turning his body while drinking, to Xu Cong’s hesitant touch that he pulled back, to their micro-expressions.

The conclusion reached was: “Ha, the biggest scam in the entertainment industry can’t be sustained any longer. Xia Yan and Xu Cong are finally tired of each other’s fake affection. D.A’s disbandment must be close—guess they’re planning to go solo, so they stopped pretending.”

Some fans immediately jumped in to defend, presenting past evidence to prove Xia Yan and Xu Cong were definitely real, just having a minor falling-out, and would soon reconcile.

But someone quickly mocked: “Do you really think a little disagreement can make them stop pretending on air? Let me remind you, in yesterday’s dating show, Xia Mei was almost always side-facing Xu Bai Tan. You’ve always praised Xia Yan’s professionalism, right? Even such a professional can’t pretend anymore, it’s clear something big happened.”

Xia Yan shut off his phone.

The screen went dark, and the room fell into darkness. He turned over and lay on his back, covering his face with his hand.

It had been so many days since Xu Cong’s heat period ended. Half a month had passed, and Xia Yan hadn’t had a good night’s sleep. Every time he opened the door and thought about facing Xu Cong, he felt like banging his head against the wall.

He knew that the situation with Xu Cong wasn’t good—not only was it affecting him, but also the rest of the group. Bai Yu, although unaware of what had happened, had already repeatedly tried to mediate, advising them to talk things through openly and not act like children throwing tantrums.

But facing Bai Yu’s righteous face, he just couldn’t bring himself to explain everything.

He had a feeling that as soon as he revealed the reason, Bai Yu would probably jump out of a window.

He once told Zong Yi, it didn’t matter if they had a relationship within the team or not, Forest’s future was already shaky.

And now, it had come to this.

The boomerang had come late but hit, and while Forest was still standing, Zhao and Zong Yi were sweetly in love, while the atmosphere in D.A was tense, with a storm on the horizon.

Thinking of this, Xia Yan became even more frustrated.

He closed his eyes, but the scene from the wrap party kept flashing in his mind—the one where Zhao pressed Zong Yi against the wall in the rock garden and kissed him forcefully…

Although that day had passed a long time ago, Xia Yan couldn’t help but make a sound of distaste.

It was just too uncomfortable to watch.

But when he thought about it, he didn’t really have the right to laugh at Zong Yi. He and Xu Cong had kissed too, and maybe even more intensely than those two…

His face darkened further.

He wasn’t sure if it was because their pheromones were so compatible, but when Xu Cong kissed him, he didn’t feel disgusted—just shocked. But despite the shock, he could clearly remember the sensation of Xu Cong’s lips on his.

Xia Yan silently shifted deeper into his blanket, unwilling to face this issue.

He tossed and turned in bed like a pancake for a long time but still couldn’t fall asleep. Frustrated, he grabbed his phone to watch some videos and hopefully fall asleep.

But for some reason, probably due to his recent searches, the first video that popped up was a compilation of him and Xu Cong.

He was about to swipe away.

But, for some unknown reason, he ended up clicking on it.

The first image that appeared was of nineteen-year-old Xu Cong, just after his debut, watching him from behind the crowd.

“Who’s your favorite celebrity in the entertainment industry?” The nineteen-year-old Xu Cong had been asked by the host. Although he was still green back then, and his face was still cold, he suddenly smiled after hesitating, “It’s our captain. He’s my favorite celebrity. I think he’s the most suited for the stage.”

Then, twenty-year-old Xu Cong: “Birthday wish, nothing special. Just that I want to spend it with my fans and teammates. But the captain said he’d give me a surprise gift, so I’m looking forward to it.”

Twenty-one, twenty-two…

Every time the question involved Xia Yan, Xu Cong couldn’t help but smile, his gaze softening.

Then came the most recent interview, from earlier this year, where Xu Cong was asked which teammate he would take to a deserted island.

Xu Cong had instinctively chosen Xia Yan, but then quickly changed his mind, saying, “Never mind, I’ll take Ye Zhaoyang. He looks like he could handle tough labor.”

The interviewer asked why he didn’t pick the captain.

Xu Cong sighed with a helpless smile, looking off to the side, his eyes softening: “You might think our captain is all capable and tough, but his knees aren’t great. A deserted island would be too hard for him, so it’s better if I don’t bring him.”

Better not bring him.

This comment sent the entire comment section into a frenzy. No matter the event, Xu Cong would always choose Xia Yan without hesitation. But when it came to the harsh deserted island, he couldn’t bear to bring him.

Wasn’t this love?!

It was love because he cared!

But Ye Zhaoyang didn’t get the same treatment!

When he saw the last sentence, Xia Yan couldn’t help but laugh. Ye Zhaoyang really did look unlucky, what did it mean by “being suited for hard labor”?

But after he laughed, he inexplicably felt a lump in his throat.

He kept rewinding the video, watching Xu Cong’s hesitant smile, hearing Xu Cong repeat in his ear, “A deserted island would be too hard for him, so it’s better if I don’t bring him.”

He thought, how dull had he been before not to notice the kind of gaze Xu Cong had been directing at him?

When the video first came out, Ye Zhaoyang had kicked Xu Cong playfully, scolding him for being biased.

But since everyone knew that Xu Cong had double standards only for the team captain, no one had minded.

Yet now, in the stillness of this quiet night, Xia Yan held his phone and looked at Xu Cong on the screen, unable to help but think, having secretly loved him since the age of eighteen, being so close to him yet still pretending it was nothing.

How hard must it have been for Xu Cong?

Just thinking about this made Xia Yan feel a dull, uncomfortable ache in his chest.