DPT chapter 32

Receiving Sheng Li’s call, it was impossible not to feel a bit stirred. Zuo Chi hesitated for two seconds before answering, but in the end, he still picked up.

He didn’t want to hear Sheng Li’s voice, nor was he curious about what Sheng Li wanted to say. He just took two seconds to make a hypothesis. If it was someone else calling, would he answer?

He would, so Sheng Li’s call was no different.

The first step to getting out of the deadlock was not to drive Sheng Li out of his world, but to stop making Sheng Li special.

When Zuo Chi said, “You’re free now,” he genuinely meant it, but Sheng Li didn’t buy it. Angrily, he retorted, “Whatever! Play for as long as you want! Who cares!”

What was Sheng Li upset about?

Zuo Chi didn’t bother to speculate any further. In the past, it was Sheng Li’s occasional concern that made him have false hopes, thinking that friends could also become lovers.

He looked over that day’s schedule and asked Sheng Li, “Anything else?”

Sheng Li hung up the phone.

Zuo Chi thought he was being childish, but he couldn’t help feeling a slight pain in his heart.

In the next half month, Zuo Chi went to Italy and Germany. He took a boat in Venice to enjoy the night scenery, had afternoon tea in a high-end restaurant in Milan, watched an opera in Verona, and visited monuments and the Reichstag in Berlin. At first, he found traveling alone a bit inconvenient, but after getting used to it, he discovered it had its own charm. He could go wherever he wanted without considering others’ feelings, linger over beautiful sceneries, and try all the foods he wanted.

He thought, no wonder Sheng Li always clamored for freedom; it turns out that playing without any worries is such a blissful thing.

During the trip, there were people who approached him, but he politely declined them all. Some noticed his engagement ring and expressed regret. Zuo Chi didn’t explain; he just silently took off the ring.

The next time Sheng Li called, Zuo Chi had just finished his heat period in a hotel in Germany.

An Omega’s heat period isn’t completely fixed; it’s common for it to be a few days early or late. Sheng Li seemed unaware, acting as if he wasn’t the one who hung up the phone last time. He asked Zuo Chi, “Isn’t your heat period coming soon?”

Zuo Chi answered truthfully, “It’s already over.”

“Over? How could it be!” Sheng Li was surprised and then awkwardly asked, “How… how did you get through it?”

“In the hotel.”

Sheng Li said, “That’s not what I meant!”

Zuo Chi sat on the carpet by the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the night view outside, not understanding what kind of answer Sheng Li wanted.

He didn’t respond immediately, so Sheng Li impatiently asked again.

“That’s my private matter,” Zuo Chi said.

Sheng Li’s breathing became heavy. “You didn’t find some foreign Alpha, did you?”

Zuo Chi replied, “So what if I did?”

Sheng Li, frustrated, said, “I’m telling you, don’t get involved with people outside. You don’t even know what kind of person he is! He might be sick!”

“…” Zuo Chi cursed, “I think you’re the one who’s sick! What right do you have to lecture me!”

Sheng Li said, “I…”

This time, Zuo Chi hung up the phone, decisively blocking Sheng Li’s number.

What right did Sheng Li have to criticize him?

Wasn’t Sheng Li the one casually getting involved with people outside?

Thinking of the image of Sheng Li kissing the back of a young model’s hand made Zuo Chi feel suffocated. He threw his phone onto the bed and covered his head with a blanket, forcing himself to forget about Sheng Li.

“The number you have dialed is currently busy…”

Sheng Li called twice before realizing his number had been blocked.

His chest felt tight and sour, and he was filled with an indescribable panic. He even wanted to find out Zuo Chi’s exact location and rush to Germany to find him, but his visa had expired, and it would take time to renew it.

If Zuo Chi really spent his heat period with some foreign Alpha… Sheng Li felt like he was going crazy just thinking about it.

He called Tai Xingyu and asked him to call Zuo Chi.

Tai Xingyu asked, “Sure, what should I ask him?”

Sheng Li said, “Ask if he’s alone in the hotel!”

Tai Xingyu was speechless. “That would obviously sound like you’re asking through me. He might not answer.”

Sheng Li said, “If he doesn’t answer, it means he’s guilty!”

Tai Xingyu bluntly said, “Sheng Li, you two are only engaged; you don’t have a substantial relationship. Even if he spends his heat period with someone else, he doesn’t need to feel guilty. Besides, what do you plan to do if you find out? You have no right to interfere in his life.”

Sheng Li was stunned, unable to explain his behavior. “Why do you talk so much?”

Tai Xingyu still called Zuo Chi, saying he would be on a business trip to Germany soon and asked how he was enjoying his time there, what places he visited, and if he had any recommendations. Then, gradually, in a joking tone, he asked if Zuo Chi had any romantic encounters.

Zuo Chi, probably guessing the purpose, replied, “I’m not like Sheng Li, having romantic encounters wherever I go.”

Tai Xingyu laughed awkwardly to ease the tension. “He actually cares about you.”

Zuo Chi said, “No need.”

A while later, Tai Xingyu reported back to Sheng Li, “I asked him. There’s no foreign Alpha.”

Sheng Li breathed a sigh of relief. “Why did you talk so long? What did you guys talk about?”

Tai Xingyu mentioned Zuo Chi’s travels. “It made me want to take a break and go on a trip too.”

Sheng Li snorted, “He’s having a good time, completely carefree.”

“…” Tai Xingyu couldn’t help but remind him, “Don’t you think you’re acting weird? Like a husband worried about being cheated on.”

Sheng Li said, “Bullshit! I’ve known him for so many years, I’m just worried about him being deceived!”

Tai Xingyu sighed, “Zuo Chi is our peer. There’s no need for you to worry about him. Last time at my place, I asked you what kind of friend Zuo Chi is to you. Is he like me, Xu Hui, or Xiang Yiqun? Now I’ll ask you again, think carefully.”

“If I or Xu Hui or Xiang Yiqun went abroad for a trip, would you be this concerned?”

“You’ve known Zuo Chi since kindergarten, but actually, we’ve also known Zuo Chi since kindergarten. Why is your relationship with Zuo Chi better than ours? Have you thought about it?”

“In middle school, once you found out Xiang Yiqun and Zuo Chi went to an internet café to play games together, you got angry. Xiang Yiqun and I have done things alone many times, but you never had an issue.”

“I remember in high school, both Zuo Chi and I were preparing for a physics competition. We planned to discuss the problems after school every day, but you insisted on taking Zuo Chi to your place for tutoring.”

“Isn’t your possessiveness towards Zuo Chi a bit too much?”

Tai Xingyu’s comment left Sheng Li stunned. Even if he was slow to realize it, he could still catch the underlying implication in Tai Xingyu’s words—

“Do you like Zuo Chi?”

Sheng Li had never considered this possibility, but everything Tai Xingyu said was true.

Did he like Zuo Chi? He had always considered Zuo Chi a friend. Sheng Li’s heart pounded wildly, his thoughts tangled and unclear.

He used to believe that love was about hormones, passion, and brief encounters—never companionship. His father and dad had been together for over twenty years, but there was no love between them.

He admitted he cared a lot about Zuo Chi. Zuo Chi had been with him for so many years, sharing his joys, sorrows, anger, and worries. He could ask Zuo Chi for help with difficult problems, and if he got into trouble, Zuo Chi would clean up after him. Most of the time, he would drag Zuo Chi into foolish escapades, and Zuo Chi would reluctantly go along. Whatever he wanted to do, as long as he coaxed Zuo Chi a little, Zuo Chi would always support him.

Zuo Chi always wore a serious face, which made Sheng Li enjoy teasing him to make him laugh. When elders praised Zuo Chi as a role model, Sheng Li would proudly think that Ah Chi was amazing. Zuo Chi always indulged and tolerated him, making Sheng Li want to protect him from any harm.

But was this care the same as an Alpha’s affection for an Omega?

He also admitted that having sex with Zuo Chi felt great—so memorable that he often fantasized about Zuo Chi’s face during climax. But could desire and emotion be mixed together?

He touched his chest, feeling a bit lost. He had said “I like you” to many people, but that feeling always faded quickly. He had many relationships, but no one was ever special to him.

He couldn’t imagine life without Zuo Chi, but precisely because he couldn’t imagine it, he didn’t dare to jump to conclusions.

To him, friendship was such a stable relationship. Before their engagement, they had only argued a few times and always reconciled quickly. The Alphas and Omegas around him, like Xiang Yiqun and Zhou Jing, who stayed together for a long time, were so rare that he thought being a couple meant being prepared to part ways at any moment.

He was very afraid—afraid of losing Zuo Chi and afraid of hurting him.

Recalling that night at Tai Xingyu’s house when Zuo Chi cried and asked, “Is it so hard to understand that I want you?” and remembering how, after they had sex, he accused Zuo Chi of manipulating him and compared him to others… he probably had already hurt Zuo Chi.

What should he do?

While Sheng Li was agonizing over this in S City, Zuo Chi had gone to Greece. Walking the streets of a small town in Santorini, he was more convinced that this trip was the right decision.

The sky was blue, the water clear, the clouds in various shapes, and the island’s buildings beautiful and charming. He couldn’t let worries ruin such a beautiful sight.

He hadn’t felt this purely happy in a long time. He was always chasing, always busy, always competing with himself, always exhausted. In school, classmates often wondered why he was friends with Sheng Li, thinking they were completely different types of people.

Because Sheng Li had given him pure happiness time and time again, showing him that life’s little things could hide surprises. Unfortunately, it later turned into simply being happy when he saw Sheng Li, and even later… even that happiness became complicated.

Once his mind opened up, many problems were easily solved. The current engagement wasn’t what either Sheng Li or he wanted. Zuo Chi finally dared to face his inner decision—maybe retreating to the distance of being just friends with Sheng Li was the right choice.

 

¹

Author’s note:

Xiao Zuo is used to being oppressed due to his childhood/family environment, but that will change later. Of course, he isn’t a perfect person either.

 

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  Author’s note:
  
  Xiao Zuo is used to being oppressed due to his childhood/family environment, but that will change later. Of course, he isn’t a perfect person either.