Apex Predator - Chap 13

The network in the laboratory was down that day and needed some troubleshooting, so Shen Dai took the rare opportunity to leave early from work. As he had gotten to know Auntie Lan better, he was occasionally able to suggest a few dishes that he liked. And after several days of eating takeaway food in a row, he now had a craving to try some delicacies of the Qu household kitchen.

Except the instant he stepped into the living room, he felt the atmosphere was a little out of the ordinary.

A very beautiful woman who exuded an air of grace and refinement was seated in the living room. She wore a black dress adorned with a lustrous pearl necklace. Every strand of her hair was immaculately pinned to the back of her head. Even with barely a touch of makeup, it was hard to conceal her radiance. She resembled an upper class lady of classical proportions that had just stepped out of an oil painting.

Shen Dai only needed one look to guess that this was Qu Moyu’s mother.

As soon as he stepped into the room, everyone turned to look at him, with a kind of odd expression that was hard to describe. It was as if he had accidentally intruded into a completely foreign setting; his sudden appearance there was bewildering.

He recognised nearly everyone in the room, but when this lady with a commanding presence appeared, the magnetic field of the entire room had shifted instead to revolve around her.

“You must be Shen Dai, right?”, she remarked with a slight smile.

“Good evening.”, said Shen Dai, bowing slightly. “Mrs Qu.”

“Come over and have a seat.”

Shen Dai very rarely sat on the sofa in the living room. This kind of uncommon cream coloured leather looked extremely prone to staining. He had on the backpack he had carried since his time at university. Though sturdy and practical, it was also somewhat dirty and worn out. As he sat down, he placed it next to his feet.

He noticed Uncle Heng and Auntie Lan’s subtle expressions of concern.

Mrs Qu regarded him with a sweeping glance, eyes radiant. She quickly sized him up: “You’re already twenty-seven? You look so young, more like a university student.”

Shen Dai smiled.

“And you work at the Research Institute? Getting into the Research Institute of Xingzhou is very difficult. You must have at least a master’s degree or a doctorate?”

“A master’s, but I’ve been preparing for my doctorate for the last two years.”

“For an Omega to achieve so much is really impressive. Who else is there in your family?”

“Just my grandmother on my mother’s side.” Secretly he had already taken his missing person of a father for dead.

“Ah”, said Mrs Qu, slowly taking in a sip of tea. “And what is your pheromone grade?”

“B-class.”

”That’s not very high.” Her voice was warm and gentle the entire time, “It’s almost impossible to produce a top-tier Alpha.”

“That’s true.”

Shen Dai’s feelings towards pheromone grading were nothing short of disdain. This was because Omegas were graded differently from Alphas, with fertility carrying the greatest weight, and physical ability, intellect, talent, genetic disposition – traits that were valued by most people – becoming non-requisites. How unfortunate was it that all throughout humankind’s history, an Omega’s worth was tied to their fertility.

Personally he did think that he was smarter, healthier, and more diligent than the majority of people. Even though his unstable gland lowered his fertility, it didn’t bother him in the least. He did not recognise this method of classification, so naturally did not feel inferior because of it.

“It doesn’t bother you?”

“Not really.” Shen Dai thought to himself: My pheromone grade has nothing to do with your family anyway.

Mrs Qu smiled brightly. “I know that you and Moyu don’t have a normal marital relationship, but you are both living together now, you know how it is with young people, your paths are bound to cross, it’s hard to avoid getting some ideas. What’s more, Moyu has always been very…”

The next word was uttered in a very vague way, “…charming.”

As expected, yet another word of warning. Did they really think him capable of seducing or coercing an S-class Alpha? The way they treated him like a thief really brought his humiliation and discomfort to a peak.

During the three months he was married to Qu Moyu, he had not even attempted to do anything, and yet he had been warned on separate occasions by Lawyer Chen, Mrs Qu, You Baiyue, Uncle Heng, and Qu Moyu himself, both directly and indirectly, not to yearn for someone he was far from being worthy of.

He wasn’t worthy, but neither was he hoping in vain.

Each time his self-respect took a hit, he could only comfort himself. He was earning money, right? No shame in it.

Standing off to one side were Uncle Heng and Auntie Lan, who sent him comforting glances.

Shen Dai gave an imperceptible nod. Looking straight into Mrs Qu’s eyes, he said, ”I have nothing but the utmost respect for President Qu. The relationship we have, whether at the office or at home, is purely that of Employee And Employer.”

Mrs Qu seemed to have a dazed look of sadness in her eyes. She said, “I don’t have any malice towards you. Only, this is not a world that an ordinary Omega can assimilate into.”

At that moment, Qu Moyu returned home. His footsteps were brisk, hitting the tiles with loud tap taps. It wasn’t normal for anyone to be in that much of a hurry upon reaching home. Something was up.

“Mother.” The instant Qu Moyu saw his mother he visibly caught his breath, “How is it that you’re back?”

Gently pushing a bit of her hair behind her ear, Mrs Qu replied, “My son got married and I wasn’t even informed about it. Why can’t I come back to meet my daughter-in-law? “

Qu Moyu gave Shen Dai a look: “Go back to your room.”

Shen Dai wanted to get up, but was stopped by Mrs Qu: “It’s fine, come sit down and chat.”

The one who pays is the boss, so Shen Dai would of course listen to Qu Moyu. After he got up he gave a bow before turning to leave.

Mrs Qu didn’t seem to show any hint of anger. She shook her head lightly: “I thought you were going to marry Little Yue.”

“Xiao Yue still likes Chengchen, you already knew that.”

“Oh? You both still care if you like each other or not?” replied Mrs Qu, an obvious hint of derision in her voice.

That was the last thing Shen Dai heard as he reached the top of the stairs. He could not help but be surprised. You Baiyue still liked Qu Chengchen? Though he supposed one could count liking Qu Chengchen’s mark as ‘liking’ him, it appeared that what Qu Moyu was referring to was the more common and literal definition of the word ‘like’. Then again, Mrs Qu’s question was also worth a thought.

Shen Dai returned to his bedroom, only feeling safe as soon as he shut the door. Far more than having no way to assimilate into a top-tier Alpha’s world, even this bedroom seemed not to be part of the same dimension as the villa, although every night he still had to pry open a gap in the curtains to observe Qu Moyu secretly.

He worked deep into the night and yet he wasn’t sleepy, that constant feeling of being on edge due to Mrs Qu’s sudden arrival had yet to vanish.

After some hesitation, he decided to go take a swim in the heated swimming pool.

Normally he didn’t dare to use the pool, because of Uncle Heng’s request that he avoid using it as much as possible when Qu Moyu was around. But it was already so late now, Qu Moyu must have already gone to bed.

Wrapping a bathrobe around himself, he then went downstairs, estimating that he should swim at least two kilometres. That should suffice, it would be easy to fall asleep after that for sure.

Leaving his mobile phone on the coffee table, he removed his bathrobe and began warming up. But just as he had finished a set of stretches, the door of the lift opened. He was startled for a moment to see Qu Moyu walk out, wearing only a pair of swimming trunks.

Qu Moyu was also stunned for a moment.

His body was slender and well-built, like that of a sculpture, but more muscular than what one could catch a glimpse of when he was fully dressed, the lines of his body were balanced and proportionate, especially at that one place, which stuck out appealingly under that elastic fabric. A physique worthy of being called perfect

Shen Dai felt his brain heat up in a split second. Flustered, he grabbed his bathrobe and put it back on, except its solid colour made it hard to find the reverse side. The more he scrambled the more he was unable to find it, looking as if he were in a tight spot.

Qu Moyu could not help but laugh out loud.

Shen Dai’s face instantly turned red. Finally managing to get the right side of the collar, he quickly put the bathrobe on, tying his belt in such a violent manner that it seemed like he were punishing himself for his own silliness.

“Are you planning to swim in your bathrobe?” Qu Moyu teased, “It’s pretty good at soaking up water..”

“Have fun, President Qu, I’m going back inside.”

Qu Moyu cocked his head back and looked at him: “Are you afraid of me?”

Not daring to look at Qu Moyu at all, Shen Dai replied, “Uncle Heng said, you didn’t like to be disturbed.”

“Mn.”

Qu Moyu walked towards the pool. As he passed Shen Dai, he once again caught the faint note of the epiphyllum.

The blooming of the epiphyllum was so unpredictable and fleeting. Its scent was unlike that of rose or lavender, which could leave complete memories in people’s minds. Everyone could recognise the scent of roses and lavenders, or form a distinct olfactory image in their minds simply upon reading their names. However, the epiphyllum – too rarely seen and for too short a time – was a scent that few could distinguish.

But just to smell that pungent fragrance once – which during the process of opening to bloom changed from subtle to intense, from restrained to wanton, as if striving its hardest, exerting all of its energy for that one occasion – just to smell it once – could make anyone stop dead in their tracks.

From the corner of his eye, he glanced at Shen Dai’s exposed neck. It was both slender and fair, giving one the slight desire to ravage it.

After some time, Qu Moyu emerged from the water. Pushing his wet hair back as he leaned over the edge of the pool he called out, “You can’t see anything now. You don’t need to be nervous anymore.”

“…”

“There’s no need to take what my mother said to heart.”

“I won’t,” replied Shen Dai solemnly.

“Go back and get some rest.”

Shen Dai turned to walk away. Barely had he taken two steps before he stopped. Stuffing his hands into the pockets of his bathrobe, he then turned around and said, “President Qu?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t…” He summed up the courage to look directly at Qu Moyu and continued, “…have any intentions towards you outside the scope of our contract. You can rest assured.” There’s no need to send anyone else to embarrass me, whether that was your intention or not.

Qu Moyu gazed at him, the ripples of the pool reflecting deep into his eyes, making his irises appear piercing and brilliant, as if there was nothing on earth they could not penetrate. Giving a slight smile he replied, “Alright.”