Chapter 58 — Breaking Through the Soil
Qi Ying really was dressed to kill. Little fabric, very thin, and cut so it would tear at the slightest pull. He had even tucked away an arousal pill. Once Rong Jing let him in, he had a way to make Rong Jing submit. He had come here with a clear goal and he meant to seize every opening.
To avoid the elevator cameras, Qi Ying chose the emergency stairwell. Gu Xi followed at a distance. As Qi Ying moved, those smooth legs, pale as jade, were an invitation to sin. From the railing, Gu Xi glanced down and caught a shadow below on one of the landings, along with a camera lens.
The production had booked two floors, but even that could not keep out tenacious paparazzi. They could check into other floors as ordinary guests and still sneak up here.
Qi Ying had already knocked on Rong Jing’s door. He was just about to arrange what he thought was his most alluring expression when the door opened and, to his shock, it was not Rong Jing. He did not even have time to hide his surprise.
Zhou You looked him over. “What do you want?” With that outfit, anyone’s mind would go to the gutter.
Qi Ying tugged up a delicate smile. “Can’t I drop by without a reason? I need to discuss something private with Rong Jing.” Meaning all unrelated people should clear out.
Zhou You did not budge. He stood there like a pillar.
Qi Ying had not accounted for Rong Jing not being alone. His voice rose. “You are just a personal assistant. You think you get to make decisions for Rong Jing? Who do you think you are?!” His temper had not changed, he simply knew this attitude would never win Rong Jing back, so in front of Rong Jing he had kept a delicate, fragile mask.
Rong Jing stepped out of the bathroom fresh from a shower, bathrobe on, and heard the argument at the door. He saw it was Qi Ying and, almost by reflex, pulled the robe tighter around himself. Boys needed to protect themselves outside.
Rong Jing eyed Qi Ying suspiciously. So all that coldness before had only been temporary? Qi Ying was worse than he had imagined, which meant he needed a new plan to deal with this trouble.
“I made myself very clear last time,” Rong Jing said, face going cold as he told him to leave.
“I do not mean anything else, I am not trying to pester you. The shower faucet in my bathroom is broken. I want to borrow yours. You know how dangerous it is for an Omega to ask just anyone. Among all these people, you are the only one I trust.”
It sounded sincere, and it made sense.
Rong Jing said, “Are there any empty rooms?”
This hotel was huge, the rooms on each level were many, and it was easy to get lost without following the signs. It was ideal for actors who needed privacy. Even if reporters made it up here, they would not know the actual room numbers. Any scoop would be pure luck.
“There are,” Zhou You said. “Should I arrange one?”
Rong Jing did not expose him. He looked at Qi Ying’s stiff face and said, “See what he prefers.” There were other free rooms, and not every bathroom could be broken. If you are going to lie, at least pick a better reason.
Qi Ying had come prepared. “Fine, I will go in a minute. One more thing, you gave me a lot of gifts a few years ago. I sorted everything and wanted to return them. When would be a good time? There is even a watch your father left for your mother. You treated it like a treasure, then gave it to me. Do you not want it back?”
If Qi Ying had not mentioned it, Rong Jing would have forgotten. This body’s biological father had never shown his face. Rather than miss him, the original owner had hated this irresponsible man.
“I think you should learn about a wonderful service called delivery,” Rong Jing said. If you want to return things, it is not hard. No need to show up in person.
They traded feints, Qi Ying throwing out moves and Rong Jing unstitching them one by one. Zhou You played invisible audience off to the side, almost giddy. First time seeing one of those nose-in-the-air Omegas eat this many closed doors. He could barely hold back the primal urge to applaud. Young master was a model for the ages.
“Let me inside first. We can talk in there. Please,” Qi Ying said. Rong Jing’s indifference made him both sad and humiliated. Once upon a time this man had let him take whatever he wanted. How had it become like this? He was starting to doubt whether his “persistence” meant anything at all.
He had never bowed his head like this. The helpless act would stir an Alpha’s protective instinct.
Rong Jing did not change. “No need. Other than normal work matters, we have nothing to say to each other.”
Gu Xi stood at the emergency door. He was too far to hear the words, but he could sense Qi Ying was taking blow after blow. He felt a flicker of delight. No, very delighted, though even he did not know why he was so delighted.
He saw two tabloid guys heading up. Gu Xi’s vocal training was excellent. Besides special-effects makeup, he could mimic many voices, which, to be fair, was a basic skill for an actor with lines.
He threw his voice right away.
“I think I just saw Gu Xi.”
“Huh?”
“Where, where?”
Sure enough, the paparazzi froze and strained to listen.
At that moment, Rong Jing’s door closed. Qi Ying had been thoroughly rebuffed and was heading this way.
Gu Xi dropped the act and lightened his steps. He took the stairs two at a time up to the thirteenth floor and hustled to the elevator. While he waited, Qi Ying pushed open the stairwell door and found himself face to face with two cameras. Click click click, a storm of snaps.
“Gu Xi, may we ask— Wait, you are not Gu Xi!”
“Ah! Peeping, you perverts!” Qi Ying shrieked and whipped out his phone to call the hotel front desk.
Two voices shouted at once. “Wait, do not call!” The paparazzi panicked.
Perfect for a mutual-destruction dust-up. Two birds with one stone.
By the time they were tangled, Gu Xi was already back in the elevator, headed to the twelfth floor. He went straight to Rong Jing’s door and knocked hard, boom boom boom.
This time, Rong Jing had just taken off the robe. He was in jeans, shirt unbuttoned. He thought Qi Ying had come back and flung the door open. “What else do you want to—”
He ran into Gu Xi’s cool, misted eyes instead.
Those eyes, usually so calm, paused. Gu Xi’s gaze drifted down, past the Adam’s apple, to the open chest. A hint of muscle under thin skin, clean lines, the scent of sweet orange shower gel mixed with Alpha musk, all of it hitting his nose.
The tips of Gu Xi’s ears went pink.
Rong Jing never thought showing some skin as a man was a problem, but when Gu Xi’s eyelashes trembled like butterfly wings, as if he did not know where to put his eyes, Rong Jing suddenly did not know where to put himself either.
From down the hall came Qi Ying’s scream and other chaotic sounds. Worried the mess would spill into the corridor, Rong Jing grabbed Gu Xi’s wrist and pulled him in, then shut the door.
The noise at the door grew. Qi Ying seemed to have summoned the staff. Inside, though, it was quiet. With his back to Gu Xi, Rong Jing buttoned up, waited a while, and the ruckus did not fade. He turned. “Did you come because you ran into trouble?”
Gu Xi blinked. What trouble could he have? He had just figured Qi Ying might come again, so he stayed to guard Rong Jing’s… virtue. He had not planned beyond that. He could not think of a good excuse, so he grabbed one. “Oh, the faucet in my bathroom broke. I wanted to ask if I could shower here.”
“You can. I just used it,” Rong Jing said.
Zhou You, off to the side, opened his mouth. Young master, do you remember what you said 5 minutes ago?
Of course Rong Jing was not going to send Gu Xi to a strange room. Heaven’s Will loved to stir the pot whether there was a reason or not, and with Gu Xi’s magnetism, keeping him under his nose was safest. “Did you bring a change of clothes?” he asked, noticing Gu Xi’s empty hands.
“I came too fast. I did not bring any. Can I borrow something?” Gu Xi pushed the lie forward. Tell one, and another will follow.
“I brought extra this time since the shoot runs long,” Rong Jing said. “If you do not mind, take your pick. Those people outside will be at it a while. Go shower first.”
“… Okay,” Gu Xi said.
He looked a bit dazed, like a slow penguin. Rong Jing found it a little cute.
Zhou You finally found his voice. “Young master, an Alpha inviting an Omega to use his bathroom could be misunderstood.”
“Misunderstood?” It did not occur to Rong Jing. Six genders were too much work.
“A romantic evening.”
“…” I really do not belong here.
Calling Gu Xi back now would be worse. Why had Gu Xi not scolded him just now. This little cabbage was too well behaved. He should have knocked some sense into this clueless A. Rong Jing worried over Gu Xi like an anxious dad.
“You do not feel like you two…” Zhou You started to say. Their conversations did not sound like an A and an O. It sounded like…
“Hm? What are you trying to say?” Rong Jing asked while rummaging in the bedroom for clothes.
“Nothing.”
Rong Jing’s upright confidence strangled any attempt to think dirty. Maybe it really was pure friendship. Maybe he was the one who did not get it.
Gu Xi went into the bathroom. It was still humid, with a faint sweetness in the air from Rong Jing’s orange shower gel. He started to regret it. The Alpha’s scent wrapped around him like a blanket. It was uncomfortable, and also a little… exciting.
Thinking of that impulsive stunt earlier, Gu Xi leaned his back on the door and slid down onto the tiles. His heart was still hammering. He scowled at his chest. “Thump, thump, thump. Do you know how to do anything besides thump!”
A knock at the bathroom door. Rong Jing outside. Gu Xi opened it a crack and took the clothes he handed in.
“New, never worn.”
“Thanks.”
Their fingers brushed by accident. A tiny shock ran up and they pulled apart.
Gu Xi shut the door again, the back of his neck warm. He tore off the inhibitor patch and touched his gland. The heat faded. His last heat hadn’t been that long ago so it shouldn’t be happening again so soon. He made a face. No way.
He didn’t dwell on it. Stripping down, he felt oddly safe with Rong Jing outside, safer than when he was alone. He glanced at the spotless bathtub, then at the still-damp shower stall. He wasn’t sure what crossed his mind, but he stepped into the shower anyway. In his head, Gu Feng’s voice chimed in: Your friend just showered there. You sure?
Gu Xi ignored him. He picked up the shower gel on the shelf, the same scent Rong Jing wore, squeezed some into his palm, turned on the water, and hid his nervous body under the spray.
When he came out, wearing Rong Jing’s clothes, cheeks rosy, he looked like a ripe honey peach. Rong Jing took one breath of the freshly scrubbed Omega and forgot what he had wanted to say.
Gu Xi glanced around. Zhou You was gone. “Where is your assistant?”
“I sent him back.” Besides personal errands, Zhou You was also a corporate assistant and constantly running between tasks, basically a superman. The real reason was that with Zhou You here, Gu Xi might feel awkward.
Rong Jing took in the sight of Gu Xi swallowed in his slightly-too-big tee and joggers. He somehow looked even more fine-boned. Long legs, a narrow waist just hinted under the fabric, porcelain skin. Ankles like carved art, bare on the shag rug. Rong Jing pressed his lips together and looked away, fetched a pair of slippers, and crouched in front of Gu Xi.
Gu Xi jumped and pulled his feet back. “I can do it myself. You, you don’t have to.” Like handling a fragile doll. From as far back as he could remember, no one had treated him like this. Alphas had always handled him like a coveted trophy. He was an object, not someone with his own thoughts.
He had never been given an admirer’s respect, let alone this feeling of being held in a palm.
Waves rose in his chest. Something fierce was pushing up through the soil. Even Gu Feng, usually sharp-tongued in his head, went silent.
“What is the big deal? An Alpha should take good care of an Omega,” Rong Jing said, and gently slipped Gu Xi’s feet into the slippers one by one.
It felt like clouds cradled Gu Xi’s feet. His nose stung.
Another knock at the door broke the warm moment.
Why was everyone knocking today. Gu Xi worried Qi Ying had returned in force. “Do you want me to hide?”
“Hide from what. The ones who should hide are the ones with bad hearts, not us,” Rong Jing said. “No need. I will see who it is.”
He opened the door. The sight froze him.
He hesitated, then said, “Ge…”
The fierce aura dropped like a stone.
Xie Ling thought his little brother’s vibe was off. That face looked… unwelcoming. Impossible. Must be his imagination. If he kept doubting the kid’s heart for family, the boy would pick a fight with him again.
“Why are you taking so long to open the door,” Xie Ling said coolly, then pushed past his brother and walked straight in.
Rong Jing glanced back. The living room was empty. The door to his bedroom was closed. He let out a breath. Gu Xi was quick on his feet. With caution, he trailed his brother inside.
Xie Ling happened to have business nearby, so he came to check in on a key film project the division had invested in this year. More importantly, the brothers had not seen each other in days. Calls were not the same. No technology could replace a face-to-face.
They had plenty to talk about. From Xie Zhanhong’s recovery to company expansion plans, they could go for hours. Only Rong Jing was visibly distracted today, thinking about how to gently get Xie Ling to head back and rest. Not just because of the Omega hidden here. He could see the tiredness on Xie Ling’s face and felt bad. “Ge, how long did you sleep last night? Work never ends. Go rest.”
Xie Ling felt the concern and almost smiled. He took in the suite and, with a hint of rare indulgence, said, “No running around tonight. I will sleep here.”
Rong Jing was in a business suite. As an actor, the director wanted him to rest well and did not care about whether his seniority matched the room. They had given him a suite, with a living room and two bedrooms, perfect for having a guest.
Rong Jing was slow on the uptake. “Huh?” Wait, ge!
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