Apex Predator - Chap 22

Qu Moyu was really in the mood that evening and tossed Shen Dai about for the entire night. After he was satisfied he didn’t return to his bedroom but instead hugged Shen Dai to sleep.

At seven-thirty the next morning, they were both awakened at the same time by the alarm. Shen Dai had never needed to set one before, but whenever he was tired out by Qu Moyu he would always oversleep the next day.

He was so exhausted he could barely open his eyes. Following the sound of the alarm to fumble for his mobile phone, he finally managed to switch it off with some difficulty.

But in the next second, he was pulled back into Qu Moyu’s embrace.

He struggled a little, but was unable to free himself. Softly, he pleaded, “I need to get up.”

Qu Moyu nuzzled the back of Shen Dai’s neck and breathed in lightly, letting the delicate floral aroma seep into his lungs. He did not answer; the hand that held Shen Dai did not loosen, either.

Shen Dai sighed. He grabbed Qu Moyu’s arm and tried to shift it.

In response, Qu Moyu tightened his grip. Shen Dai’s body was so warm and fragrant, he didn’t want to let go of him at all.

Shen Dai reiterated: I need to go to work.

”Don’t go.” Qu Moyu’s voice had a bit of still-sleepy huskiness – the way it reverberated in his ear was especially alluring.

“That wouldn’t be good. I didn’t ask for the day off.”

“I’m the boss, I’ve approved it.”

Qu Moyu was wrapped in the comfort of the warm duvet and the person nestled in his arms, and he still hadn’t indulged enough. In the past he had never allowed himself to be immersed in tenderness – but this was his home, this person was his wife, it was alright to indulge once in a while.

Shen Dai held onto his phone, hesitating if he should send a message to Cheng Zimei asking for the day off or wait for Qu Moyu to fall back asleep. Anyway, go to work or not, he still wanted to get out of bed.

In the past, he had always wanted to get closer to Qu Moyu – whether deliberately or not. Compared to making love, he much preferred being held, preferred the feeling of being enclosed by warmth and strength, yet at this moment, all he wanted was to distance himself.

He felt that he was starting to understand Qu Moyu less and less — in fact, he had never understood him at all. It was just that they had been so far apart back then. His gratitude and admiration had unceasingly embellished his image of Qu Moyu. Under layers of a glowing angel’s halo, all of his flaws had been concealed, like a perfect person standing on a sacred altar. And now that they were so close, these sentiments had still not weakened.

Only he kept encountering this person’s true nature over and over, such as his arrogance, his unreasonableness and his sense of superiority. Perhaps Qu Moyu had never deliberately tried to hurt or shame him, but he hadn’t considered his feelings either, just as ordinary people did not consider the emotions of insects.

Clearly they had already shared each other’s bodies, and clearly they were at this moment wrapped in an embrace, and yet the distance between them was always too great.

Shen Dai sighed to himself. Turning on his phone to send a message requesting a leave of absence, he was confronted with a picture that Cheng Zimei had sent the night before. It was followed by a message: “He so did this on purpose, it’s too calculative!!!!”

Shen Dai clicked open the picture. It was a screenshot of You Baiyue’s Weibo page. You Baiyue was showing off a necktie ring encrusted with a brilliant gemstone.

It was captioned: “Thank you Yu-ge for the birthday present. I’ve been quite fond of Paraiba tourmalines recently. This is soooo thoughtful!”

So it turned out that today was You Baiyue’s birthday.

You Baiyue had posted on Weibo yesterday, right around the time that the surveillance video of him and Qu Moyu had started being widely discussed online. It appeared to be somewhat deliberate, a public demonstration of his own superiority. After all, it was thanks to You Baiyue that Qu Moyu had initially come to the attention of netizens.

“Being pursued by two top-tier Alphas” was You Baiyue’s distinctive trademark that accounted for his popularity. His public persona was that of a young master from a wealthy family adored by thousands.

Shen Dai had never had any interest in this type of tabloid gossip. Whatever You Baiyue’s motives were, it all seemed rather childish.

Though, he still felt this indescribable uneasiness. And to realise that he could actually care about such meaningless things made him even more dejected.

He sent a hasty reply to Cheng Zimei: a single line asking for help requesting the day off, before setting down his mobile phone.

The arm around his waist was firm and powerful, making it seem as if Qu Moyu was afraid of him leaving, but of course it wasn’t the case.

At times he would be puzzled. How was it that they had done such intimate things together, and yet their hearts were still so far apart?

Qu Moyu squinted his eyes groggily for a moment. Feeling that the person in his arms was being too quiet – almost motionless, he then opened his eyes to find Shen Dai half curled up with his back towards him, as if apart from his waist that had been fastened – the rest of his body was trying to distance itself by instinct.

He frowned a little, then said softly: “Turn around.”

Shen Dai didn’t move, pretending he had fallen asleep. Qu Moyu then turned him over to face him. Shen Dai acted as if he were still sleepy, putting himself at his mercy, yet did his best to bury his head in the pillows.

Sensing that something was wrong, Qu Moyu remarked, “Didn’t you say you were going to work?”

At once, Shen Dai’s eyes fluttered open and he started to get up.

Qu Moyu pushed him back down: “I already said not to go.”

Shen Dai blanked out, seemingly at a loss, then once again buried his face in his pillow.

Lifting his chin with his thumb and forefinger, Qu Moyu chuckled, “What happened? Are you upset? Feeling a little wronged?“

Even though Shen Dai was usually quite reserved, in moments when there was nobody else around, he would often take the initiative to cuddle up to him.

And now, this suppressed yet inadvertently revealed hint of contrariness, was a side of him that Qu Moyu had never seen before. So it turned out that this person could have a bit of a temper, which was actually rather interesting.

“No.” Shen Dai wasn’t buying that Qu Moyu actually cared about how he felt. More like his mentality right now was roughly the same as the one you would have when playing with a pet. He lowered his eyes, “Aren’t we getting up?”

Why are you upset? Did I scare you?” said Qu Moyu, stroking his soft hair “I’m not blaming you. Why do you still feel wronged?”

Calmly and seriously, Shen Dai explained, “I’m not upset.” Not like he had the right to be.

The corners of Qu Moyu’s lips turned up slightly: “Then give me a smile.”

Shen Dai smiled.

“You look really good when you smile. You should smile more from now on.” said Qu Moyu, kissing his eyelids. “I’m going to freshen up, let Uncle Heng send in breakfast and my clothes.”

It was only until he heard the sound of the bathroom door shutting that Shen Dai finally sank back into bed, exhausted.

After the both of them had washed up, Uncle Heng brought in breakfast, also pushing in a clothes rack with several of Qu Moyu’s suits hanging on it.

Qu Moyu took a bite of his sunny side up. As he chewed his food, he pondered for a moment while looking in the direction of his clothes.

“Uncle Heng, I have this brown tie with diagonal stripes. Find it for me. It’s Little Yue’s birthday this evening and I’ll be heading over once I’m done with my afternoon meeting.”

“Is it the one that the young master gave you a few years ago?”

“That’s right.”

Shen Dai’s chopsticks knocked against his plate, producing a dull sound which escaped everyone’s notice just like his trembling heart.

“Alright, I’ll look for it.”

“Oh right, have you sent over his gift?”

“It’s been delivered. The young master liked it very much.”

“Mn.”

After Uncle Heng left, Shen Dai gulped down his breakfast in a few mouthfuls and then wanted to leave this place. He thought about saying, “I’m going downstairs to have a walk.”, but taking a walk on a cold winter’s morning was really too unnatural. What other reason could he give to avoid seeing Qu Moyu put on You Baiyue’s tie?

After a bit of deliberation, he announced, calm as usual, “I’m done eating, I’m going to check my email.”

In any case, Qu Moyu was busy looking at his phone. He nodded his head which could be taken as consent.

Sitting down in front of his laptop, he planned to look at his email for a bit, then pretend to make a call, before leaving the room in a totally natural way.

But it wasn’t a moment before Qu Moyu approached him. Leaning over with one hand on the table, Qu Moyu teased, “How is it that you seem busier than me?”

Shen Dai hurriedly got up. Qu Moyu took advantage of this opening to steal his seat and pulled him into his lap: “It just so happens that one of our overseas partners has questions for me regarding our areas of research. You’re going to explain it to me.”

“Alright.”

He then inquired about the progress on the project, and also asked Shen Dai a few highly-specialised questions. Although his overall understanding of the Rare Earth industry was far greater than that of a layman, when it came to technical matters, there were still many aspects that were difficult for him to comprehend. Shen Dai patiently explained, and it was during this interval where he could display his knowledge and prowess where he had a brief illusion — that he and Qu Moyu were equals.

Qu Moyu also liked this eloquent version of Shen Dai. He kept thinking of the Shen Dai that was standing on the podium that day, the one who was not only self assured, professional, composed, impressive, but also handsome, with a charm that was impossible to ignore. It was in that moment that he became aware that the person that was habitually subservient in front of him was only a disguise. But then again, it must have also been because of his own undeniable dominant position.

An Omega who could speak confidently in a roomful of Alphas, replying with composure in the face of deliberate obstacles, was someone truly hard to come by.

He had skimmed through Shen Dai’s resume: Exceptional grades since a young age, prestigious schools, big-name companies, wide professional knowledge, a high salary and radiant prospects for the future. It was no wonder at all that Professor Liu held him in such high-esteem. To have achieved this much by twenty-seven would have been considered impressive for an Alpha, yet Shen Dai was only an Omega, a gender that faced constraints at every turn on the road to self-actualisation.

At that time, seeing Shen Dai up on stage, thinking about how this person was his wife, a kind of vague sensation was stirred up within him — could it perhaps have been…contentment?

Provoked by that violent clash of Alpha pheromones, Shen Dai had inadvertently revealed his gender. As an Alpha himself, he could practically guess the kinds of impure intentions going through the heads of all the other Alphas around him. A delicate, youthful, and exceptional Omega, who demonstrated strength and frailty in the same breath, could make people desperate to possess him.

But this Omega was his and had to be possessed by him.

Just then, there was a loud knock on the door. Shen Dai tried to get up without any success – Qu Moyu was still holding on to his waist.

“Young master, is this the one?”

“That’s the one.”

Shen Dai took a look at the necktie, then looked away.

Leaving the necktie behind, Uncle Heng cleared the tray away.

Only then did Qu Moyu get up to change his clothes. When it came time to put on his tie, he glanced at Shen Dai – who had his back towards him – with a glint of mischief in his eyes.

He began, “A-Dai, come over and help me with this tie”

Shen Dai’s body stiffened. Getting up slowly, he walked in front of Qu Moyu and retrieved the seemingly-scalding tie.

Qu Moyu studied both of them in the mirror as Shen Dai carefully helped him to put it on.

“Little Yue told me that he used the first money he ever earned to buy this tie.”

Shen Dai stayed silent.

Qu Moyu let out a laugh of contempt, “Do you believe it’s true? Clearly he likes Qu Chengchen, but he also loves playing little games with me. It’s very amusing.”

“Then, do you like him?”, blurted out Shen Dai.

The instant the words had left his mouth he regretted it – so much he wished he could just stuff the words back into his belly.

“I do. I’ve always wanted to marry him.” Qu Moyu continued, completely unperturbed, “We’ve known each other since we were kids. It’s a pity. Most likely, he could have given me an S-class Alpha.”

1. it’s too calculative!!!! | Was originally Green tea [bitch] (绿茶[婊] Lǜchá biǎo), which can refer to someone who is trying to appear innocent or harmless on the surface but is actually playing games or scheming behind the scenes.

2. Paraiba tourmaline (帕拉伊巴) | A rare and highly valuable gemstone known for its striking blue-green colour.