IM Chapter 7

Chapter 7

The apartment next door had quieted down. Both their beds were against the same wall, and to be honest, the soundproofing wasn’t great. When Shen ChiTai slept against the wall, he could occasionally hear the other person on the phone or playing games.

Every time he heard the person next door talking, he couldn’t help but wonder.

He must be on the phone with his girlfriend, lovey-dovey couples were like that, not wanting to be apart for a moment. He was the only exception. He and Xu Chen never seemed to have those intimate moments, even holding hands felt like they were sneaking around like thieves.

Shen ChiTai wrapped the blanket tighter around himself, his heart, which had been calm for so long, was losing sleep on this night alone.

He clearly had a girlfriend, and even knowing he had a boyfriend, he still deliberately provoked him. Shen ChiTai’s mind was a mess, trying hard to throw away the random thoughts in his head, but the effect was not satisfactory. He tossed and turned all night, finally falling asleep around four in the morning.

The next morning, he went to the cat cafe very early, maybe it was guilt, maybe it was fear. Afraid of making eye contact, afraid of meeting him, afraid of all the possibilities involving Shang Jue, even if they were so small they could be ignored, he couldn’t help but care.

He couldn’t reveal his true feelings at the moment, knowing that what he was doing might be childish and stupid, but as long as he could avoid running into Shang Jue in the morning, his heart seemed to be a little calmer.

Yu Xingqiao had sent a message in the morning saying he was coming to the cat cafe. He didn’t know where he left his keys, so he told Shen ChiTai in advance so he wouldn’t make a wasted trip.

Shen ChiTai had already taken care of almost everything in the shop when Yu Xingqiao, panting, pushed open the glass door and walked in.

Shen ChiTai, who was squatting on the ground teasing a cat, looked up at the sweaty man. “Why are you so late?”

“Damn it, don’t even mention it.” Yu Xingqiao gasped for breath, took two sips of water before he could barely catch his breath, and complained to him intermittently, “I’m having a bad day today, I didn’t check the calendar before I went out. On the way here, I ran into some old geezer who deliberately fell in front of me trying to scam me. If I hadn’t run fast, he would have succeeded this time.”

As he spoke, his eyes fell on Shen ChiTai, who hadn’t gotten up yet. “Oh, right, I ran into your brother on the way here. Guess who he was with? That Li Yuan who often comes to our pet shop.”

Shen ChiTai’s movements obviously paused for a moment, and then he just smiled and said nothing. That’s good, at least that alpha wouldn’t be so foolish anymore.

Ever since he slapped Shang Jue that day, the atmosphere between the two had been very subtle. When meetings couldn’t be avoided, they would awkwardly make eye contact.

Shen ChiTai was often the one who turned his gaze away first, knowing that this action might make the sensitive Shang Jue overthink, which didn’t seem very friendly to either of them, but he couldn’t care too much.

The shop was a bit busy at noon, and the cat food delivery truck parked in front of the shop. Shen ChiTai negotiated with the delivery guy for a few words and helped him unload all the new batch of cat food from the truck and into the shop.

After he got through this busy period and sat down to rest, he saw that he had a missed call on his phone.

It was Xu Chen’s call. Maybe he was afraid that a message wouldn’t be timely, so he called directly. He was busy earlier, so Shen ChiTai didn’t pay much attention. Now he dialed the number back.

Tianyu Clubhouse.

“Xu-ge, why didn’t you bring Shen-xuezhang this time? Are you two lovebirds fighting?”

“He’s been busy lately, and we haven’t had a chance to meet privately.”

“I heard he opened a cat cafe near the university. It’s hard to start a business these days, it’s hard to make a fortune from scratch.”

Xu Chen’s expression changed, but he didn’t say anything.

“But it’s normal, my life has become tight in these two months. My mom thinks I’m not doing anything serious all day, and she cut my living expenses in half. So today’s expenses will have to trouble our Xu-ge.”

“It’s no problem, everyone can play as they please today, put it on my tab.”

“But I say, could it be that our Xu-ge really fell in love with him?” The boy looked at the beautiful Su Ning next to him, swallowed, and said, “Although Shen-xuezhang is undeniably good-looking, the brothers here don’t know much about his family situation.”

Xu Chen didn’t know much about Shen ChiTai’s family situation. Shen ChiTai hadn’t told him in detail, and he hadn’t asked. He only knew that the other person was from a reorganized family, and that was it.

No matter what the other person’s family background was, he liked Shen ChiTai as a person, and he didn’t care about anything else.

“Doesn’t Shen ChiTai have a younger brother?” A boy said.

“Recently I saw someone on the school forum saying that everyone should know Shang Jue from the economics department, I heard he’s his younger brother.”

“Shang Jue, Shen ChiTai. That’s not right, one’s surname is Fu and the other’s is Shang? How are they connected?”

“I know something about this, I heard that Shang Jue’s father remarried a woman when he was little. The woman also had a child, three years older than him, maybe they’re from a reorganized family.”

When he heard Shang Jue’s name, Xu Chen’s face was a little ugly. The semi-dimly lit private room perfectly hid his cold eyes.

The Shang and Xu families had never had any business dealings for so many years, and the two of them had never met privately, so he didn’t know much about him. As for the relationship between Shen ChiTai and Shang Jue, if they were really brothers, that would be better, and he would be happy to see it.

Shang Jue had a class in the morning, and he called Shen ChiTai as soon as he got out of class. Shen ChiTai heard the phone ring, picked up his phone, glanced at it, hesitated, and finally didn’t answer, waiting until the other person actively hung up.

[Brother, I know the phone is in your hand, answer my phone.]

Shen ChiTai was stunned for a moment when he saw the message the other person sent him.

This brat, he was his brother, how could he talk like he was giving an order, with no respect for elders.

The other person quickly and persistently called him again.

This time, the omega didn’t hesitate for too long and answered the phone.

“A-Jue.”

The alpha’s deep voice, without much inflection, came from the other end of the phone.

“Even if brother doesn’t want to see me, you should at least answer my phone.”

“I was busy just now, I’m sorry.” Shen ChiTai explained.

There was silence on the alpha’s end for a few seconds. If the phone screen didn’t show that they were still on the phone, Shen ChiTai would have thought he had already hung up.

“Is brother coming home for lunch?” Shang Jue’s tone sounded calm.

Even though it was such a calm voice and a tone that didn’t cause the slightest ripple, Shen ChiTai’s heart beat faster for no reason.

He said, “The shop is a little busy today, so I won’t be going back for lunch.”

When the other end heard this, it was silent again as expected.

Shen ChiTai hated this suffocating atmosphere.

“Brother, are you avoiding me?” Shang Jue asked him.

“No.”

“I want to see you at noon. If you can’t get away, I’ll come to the cat cafe to find you.”

Shen ChiTai was shocked, “Aren’t you allergic to cat fur?”

But the alpha said, “I’m cheap, I’m not afraid of death.”

The omega bit his lip, “Don’t come over, I…I’ll go home for lunch.”

The alpha replied quickly, “Then I’ll wait for you at home.”

Shen ChiTai replied ‘okay’ to the other person, and then hung up the phone.

He just took a breath and was about to start his business when he turned around and bumped into Xu Chen, who was walking in from outside.

Seeing the person who came, Shen ChiTai was a little surprised.

“A-Chen, why are you here?”

“Xuezhang, hello!” The omega next to the beta smiled and took the initiative to say hello to him.

Shen ChiTai looked at the omega who suddenly popped out from behind him, his eyes were slightly surprised, but he still politely replied, “Hello.” Every time they met, he could feel the ubiquitous enthusiasm overflowing from the other person, such an omega should be very likeable.

Seeing him staring at the omega next to him, Xu Chen’s eyes darkened slightly, “Didn’t you want to drink milk tea? Go buy it first, I’ll say a few words to xuezhang.”

“OK.” Su Ning smiled and asked Shen ChiTai, “What flavor would xuezhang like?”

“Just get me any flavor.” He originally wanted to say that he didn’t like drinking those things, but it wasn’t good to refuse.

Su Ning then turned around and left, Xu Chen’s eyes fell on him, staring at the omega’s face for a moment, and asked, “I asked xuezhang to dinner yesterday afternoon, you said you were busy, is the shop very busy lately?”

“It’s okay.”

Actually, it wasn’t very busy.

Xu Chen didn’t say anything for a while, Shen ChiTai didn’t know what he was thinking in his heart.

Then he heard the beta say, “I haven’t seen you for a day, and xuezhang didn’t take the initiative to send me a message, xuezhang is so cruel.”

Shen ChiTai was a little apologetic, and the omega rarely quibbled a few words, “It’s just that we haven’t met, it doesn’t mean I haven’t missed you.”

Xu Chen’s eyes changed slightly, there was a smile in his eyes, “Then has xuezhang missed me?”

Shen ChiTai had a brief two-second eye contact with him, nodded, and responded with a ‘mm’, asking him, “Why do you have time to come over today, isn’t the company busy?”

“I wanted to come over and have lunch with xuezhang, otherwise I wouldn’t have a chance to meet xuezhang. If others didn’t know better, they would think we were just ordinary friends, how can couples date like us, it’s hard to see each other once every few days.”

Shen ChiTai lowered his eyes, “I’m sorry, it’s my fault.”

Xu Chen leaned over, looked closely at Shen ChiTai’s face, raised his eyes, met the omega’s beautiful eyes, “Xuezhang, I want to kiss you.”

Shen ChiTai’s pupils shook slightly, raising his head, “Xu Chen…”

“You’ve rejected me many times already.” Xu Chen said, “Xuezhang, if you’re just working part-time for money, I have money, I can support you even if you don’t work part-time. I want you to spend more time with me, the cat cafe job has such a low salary, and it wastes your time, it’s not worth you putting all your effort and attention into it at all.”

Shen ChiTai’s expression was still good at first, but when he heard him say the latter, his eyes changed slightly, “I just want to do what I like to do, this is my hobby. A-Chen, don’t bring relationship matters into my work.”

Xu Chen wasn’t someone who easily compromised, unless the person standing opposite him was Shen ChiTai. The atmosphere was very tense when this issue was brought up, knowing that the omega didn’t like it, he wouldn’t say it, and he retreated to the next best thing.

“Xuezhang, we’ve been together for so many years, and you haven’t taken the initiative to kiss me.” Xu Chen leaned over and whispered in his ear, “Just this once, okay?”

The omega bit his rosy lower lip, lowered his eyes slightly, and mumbled an ‘mm’.

A hint of joy flashed in Xu Chen’s eyes.

Shen ChiTai took the initiative to kiss his lips, his fingers clenched tightly on the other person’s arm, his movements were not very natural, and in the end he simply closed his eyes and kissed him.

Xu Chen’s hands around his lower back tightened constantly, after the two separated, the beta lowered his head and kissed his forehead with lingering affection, looking at his seductive face with satisfaction and a hint of disappointment, “It’s a pity, I’m a beta, I can’t smell the scent on xuezhang.”