IM Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Just as he averted his gaze and was about to turn around, another familiar male voice came from behind.

“Hey, senior, long time no see.” He Yi suddenly popped half his head out from behind the alpha, stepped forward, put an arm around Shang Jue’s shoulder, and waved hello with a grin.

Shen ChiTai froze for a couple of seconds.

“Hello,” he replied with a smile, but his eyes couldn’t help but land on their shoulders, pressed so close together. The gesture seemed intimate, and Shang Jue didn’t seem to mind.

Shen ChiTai felt inexplicably uncomfortable. He pursed his lips slightly and calmly looked at Shang Jue. “What are you doing here?”

“Just passing by,” the alpha’s voice was so emotionless it sounded like he was simply answering his question.

He Yi chuckled, glancing at the person pretending to be deep. He was so happy when he suggested coming, but now he was putting on an act.

The beta wrapped his arm tighter around his shoulder and said with a smile, “That’s not true. Shang-ge said it would be a shorter route back if he went this way, and he wanted to see what senior has been up to lately. He gave me a ride, too, right?” He frantically hinted at Shang Jue.

“…” Shen ChiTai’s ears embarrassingly turned red all at once.

Did this kid detour just to see him?

“He Yi, you shut up!” Shang Jue warned him, turning his head to look at the omega, who was a little shorter than him. “Ge, don’t listen to his nonsense. I just had a sudden thought and wanted to walk a little more to exercise.”

Such a clumsy excuse, anyone could see through it at a glance.

Shen ChiTai lowered his head, pursed his lips, and smiled softly, his eyes glancing at He Yi’s hand, which hadn’t been withdrawn yet.

He Yi inadvertently noticed the omega’s gaze, and his heart skipped a beat. He quickly laughed, pretending nothing was wrong, and took his hand back, putting both hands behind his head.

“Well, you guys chat, I’ll take my leave first,” he patted Shang Jue’s shoulder and winked. “I’m rooting for you.”

“You can get lost!” Shang Jue said through gritted teeth, then turned his gaze back to Shen ChiTai. “Ge, want to go home together?”

Shen ChiTai had been thinking that the next time they met, he would put on a stern and aloof attitude in front of the other person to give the brat a shock.

But at this moment, looking up at the young man in front of him, who was slightly taller than him, with a pleading look in his eyes, his heart immediately melted into a puddle.

“Did you come here specifically to wait for me?” Shen ChiTai couldn’t help but ask, even though he already knew the answer. He just wanted to hear Shang Jue say it himself.

“Just taking a walk, and suddenly remembered you were here, so I came over,” Shang Jue lowered his eyes, affectionately calling him “Ge,” his voice full of apology, sincerely apologizing to him.

“I was wrong about what happened last time. I was too willful and did something that put Ge in a difficult position.” He glanced sideways, fixing his gaze on the omega’s face. “I apologize to you. Please don’t avoid me anymore, okay?”

As soon as Shen ChiTai heard him mention this, he immediately felt uncomfortable all over.

He looked up at the pitiful alpha in front of him, looking dejected, as if he would slit his own throat on the spot to show his sincerity if he didn’t forgive him.

Shen ChiTai sighed helplessly in his heart, thinking that it was good that this kid knew he was wrong. There was no point in him pursuing the matter any further.

He wanted to skip this topic more than anyone else.

“Alright, let’s go home first.”

Seeing that the omega didn’t continue to dwell on the previous cold war, Shang Jue guessed that his brother had mostly calmed down. He also restrained himself a lot, knowing that as long as he didn’t provoke the other party at this juncture, the past would mostly be over.

The two walked side by side. Shang Jue had grown taller so quickly in the past two years. Looking at this alpha, Shen ChiTai felt a lot of emotions.

“A’Jue,” Shen ChiTai called out to him.

“Hmm?” Shang Jue looked puzzled, tilting his head slightly.

“You… you don’t have class today?”

The alpha’s expression froze for a moment, then he smiled casually and said, “Ge really doesn’t care about my affairs at all. I don’t have class on Wednesdays.”

“…” Shen ChiTai moved his lips, but didn’t make a sound.

He felt a little guilty, like there really was such a day when he didn’t have class, and he had actually forgotten.

He hadn’t really paid attention to Shang Jue’s affairs in the past two years. He hadn’t even noticed when the alpha had grown so much taller than him.

The omega was lost in thought, not noticing that Shang Jue, who was walking next to him, had stopped.

The alpha paused, narrowed his eyes, and cast an extremely hot gaze on the omega’s back. He watched the person who had already walked far away, frowned slightly, and strode to catch up.

The two arrived home, Shen ChiTai unlocked the door with his fingerprint, and they entered the house one after the other.

The omega went into the kitchen first to put away the groceries.

Shang Jue was on the phone in the living room, with the speaker on. The voice coming from the receiver sounded a little unfamiliar. Before Shen ChiTai could even react, his mind had already gone through everyone around Shang Jue, but he couldn’t find the source of the voice.

Shang Jue hung up the phone and walked over, seeing that he was a little distracted. “Ge, what are you thinking about?”

Shen ChiTai quickly shook his head. If he said what he was thinking just now, wouldn’t he be laughed at? “It’s nothing. I’m going to change my clothes, take a shower, and then come down to cook.”

“Okay!” Shang Jue crossed his arms and said lewdly, “How about I go and help Ge scrub his back?”

The omega stumbled.

“No need.” Shen ChiTai rejected his suggestion almost without hesitation, and fled back to his bedroom. He took a quick shower, changed his clothes, and then went to the kitchen.

Shang Lü was held up by things at the company and came back late, so the family had dinner a little later than usual.

After dinner, Shang Jue still had to go to the gym, and the alpha even said he wanted to take him to the gym together. Shen ChiTai didn’t want to go at first, but he couldn’t resist someone dragging him along, even resorting to hugs, and forcibly took him to the gym.

He wasn’t too keen on these things, and he wasn’t very interested. His daily amount of exercise was almost fixed. From home to the shop, then back, and at most going to the supermarket every now and then.

What he admired most about Shang Jue was this: no matter how busy he was with work, even if Mars was on fire, even if he was busy until very late, he couldn’t miss his workout.

The alpha had been good at sports since he was a child. He almost never missed the sports meets every year in junior high and high school. Compared to Shang Jue in this regard, he was simply ashamed of himself.

Shen ChiTai sat on the side, leaning against the chair, watching him exercise. He didn’t understand why he had to take off his shirt to exercise. After thinking about it, it seemed like there were plausible reasons for everything.

The phone on the chair next to him vibrated twice. He got up and walked over. It was his phone. The omega glanced at Shang Jue’s direction, picked up the phone, turned his back to him, and answered the call.

In the gap where Shang Jue took a breath, he saw Shen ChiTai talking to someone on the phone. Almost instantly, he guessed who the person on the other end of the line with his brother was.

After all, among his brother’s friends, the only ones who were so clingy and who made his brother deliberately avoid him were just one or two people.

In his eyes, they were all a bunch of annoying ghosts.

Just as Shen ChiTai hung up the phone and hadn’t had time to turn around, a pair of hands appeared on his waist.

His body stiffened slightly. “A’Jue, what are you doing?”

Shang Jue’s voice carried a hint of jealousy.

“What did Ge just say to him?” Shen ChiTai said softly.

“Really?”

Shang Jue’s tone was obviously disbelieving.

He sighed softly. “A’Chen asked me to go out for a late-night snack. I said I was a little sleepy and wouldn’t go.” He didn’t know why he had to explain this sentence, as if he was afraid that Shang Jue would misunderstand.

“Ge isn’t lying to me, is he?” Shang Jue looked at him with suspicion.

“No.” Shen ChiTai promised.

Shang Jue’s narrow eyes slightly turned up, he closed his eyes, bent down, and suddenly picked him up, carrying him on his shoulder with one hand and walking out of the gym.

His body was instantly lifted into the air, the scenery changed, and the swaying view made the omega grab the only thing he could grab by instinct, Shang Jue’s slightly damp sports vest. Shen ChiTai was both surprised and ashamed. Why was this kid suddenly so reckless?

“Where are you taking me?”

“You’re sticking to me and making me uncomfortable. I’m going to take a shower.”

Shen ChiTai struggled to get out of his grip, his body unsteady, his hands trying to grab something, but his palms touched the alpha’s back, wet with sweat. “I don’t need to shower. I haven’t moved, and I haven’t sweated. Put me down!”

Shang Jue ignored his resistance.

Shen ChiTai became anxious, and his legs kicked wildly in the air.

Shang Jue took two steps and stopped, slapping him loudly on the butt. “Ge should know my temper very well. If you keep kicking, it won’t be as simple as scrubbing your back later.”

Shen ChiTai immediately became much more docile, biting his lower lip tightly, not daring to make too much noise. His hands scratched hard on his back, the newly cut fingertips digging deep into the alpha’s flesh.

Shang Jue opened the bathroom door with one hand, carried him in, stopped, and put Shen ChiTai firmly on the ground, making sure he was standing before letting go.

“Ge, scrub my back,” Shang Jue leaned closer to him, his voice smiling.

Shen ChiTai didn’t look into his eyes. Just listening to his voice, he couldn’t tell whether the alpha’s words were teasing or joking, or simply teasing him. In short, he definitely had bad intentions.

“You used to wash yourself. Why do you have to have me scrub it?”

Before these things happened, he might have been able to convince himself to do such a thing. But now that these things had happened, and he still had to scrub his back, how could he look the alpha in the face?

Shang Jue softened his voice, looking like he was about to cry at any moment, and kept moving closer to him. “Listening to Ge’s tone, you don’t seem too willing.”

“…” Shen ChiTai wanted to say that he really wasn’t willing, but when he met the alpha’s pitiful look, his old habit of being soft-hearted kicked in again. “It’s just scrubbing, it’s not like I’ve never done it before. But we have an agreement, you can’t…”

Shang Jue knew what he was afraid of.

“Ge, don’t worry, I won’t mess around.”

The omega’s ears suddenly became hot when his thoughts were seen through.

“You better keep your word, or I’ll definitely not forgive you this time if I get angry.” After all, Shang Jue sometimes really didn’t know how to behave.

“Pfft…” Shang Jue curled his lips and laughed twice. “How can Ge be so cute?”

“Stop talking nonsense, or I’ll regret it,” Shen ChiTai hurriedly urged, thinking of getting this over with quickly.

He never thought that a bath sponge that was wet and lathered would be so hot. It was only forty degrees, which could only be considered warm water, but now it was so hot that he wanted to throw it away.

“Has Ge ever done this for his boyfriend?” Shang Jue asked suddenly.

The omega’s expression froze in a place the other couldn’t see, then he started scrubbing as if nothing had happened. “He wasn’t as rogue as you,” but…” Shen ChiTai started to say something, but then stopped.

“Hmm?” Shang Jue curiously tilted his head, scrutinizing him.

“Maybe I could try it,” Shen ChiTai raised his head, wanting to see Shang Jue’s reaction.

“You wouldn’t dare!”

Shang Jue turned around directly to face him, lowered his eyes, and stared intently at the omega.

Shen ChiTai looked at his frustrated appearance and felt a little smug. He was always the one who showed an awkward and helpless look in front of him, but now that he could finally see Shang Jue get one over on him, he immediately felt much better.