CH extra 1

Extra 1 – One-way Passage

Posted on July 12, 2022 by gooseberry

In the afternoon, when the weather was at its hottest, Xia Wennan lazily sprawled over his laboratory counter. The sunlight streaming in through the glass windows was obscured by the overlapping shadows of trees, so it fell in dappled and ever-swaying rays, not burning as fiercely as it would have.

But this didn’t mean that it wasn’t hot inside the lab. The old cooling unit could hardly keep up with the heavy load, and with the company’s recent preachings about energy savings and emission reduction, the air conditioning couldn’t be set to anything lower than 26 degrees. As a result, the temperature inside the lab would not be dropping until after the sun had set.

Being in such an environment put Xia Wennan in no mood for work. The test tubes in front of him had gone untouched for a while, and the liquid inside had already mostly evaporated by now, the scent having long since dissipated.

Propping up his face with one hand, he slightly pulled open the drawer in front of him with the other. Inside was a letter; he reached out, and his fingers were only a few scant centimetres away from the corner of the envelope when the door of the laboratory was opened, forcing him to retract his hand, after which he closed the drawer and sat up straight.

The individual who opened the door and walked in was a male alpha. In thirty-degree weather, he still donned a suit, except he’d thrown on a white lab coat over his suit jacket when he entered the lab, the buttons of which were currently still unfastened.

The overwhelming smell of alpha pheromones followed in his wake. Xia Wennan couldn’t really say that they smelled nice, but they were exceedingly assertive.

When Xia Wennan registered the scent of the man’s pheromones, he grimaced in reflex. At the same time, he spotted a young omega at the counter next to him similarly grimacing.

With the tone of a gym teacher directing students on a playground, the alpha clasped his hands together and yelled, “Listen up!” He waited for the six employees in the lab to turn their attention towards him before continuing, “Manager Ming has invited the laboratory staff to dinner this evening. Everyone is going.”

“Which Manager Ming?” Xia Wennan asked automatically.

The alpha glanced at him but didn’t answer his question, instead adding, “Don’t rush home after work. Wait for my word.”

Dinner was at a Chinese restaurant.

Xia Wennan had only regained his senses at the end of his shift, which was when he realised that the Manager Ming who’d invited the entire laboratory staff to a meal was most likely Ming Qin’s alpha son, Ming Luchuan.

Last month, Ming Luchuan was officially appointed to the R&D department. As it hadn’t been long since Xia Wennan joined the company, he’d only met Ming Luchuan once in the lab. The strongest impression he left Xia Wennan with was how serious and cold an alpha he was—he seemed like someone who was difficult to get along with.

As a result, when Xia Wennan sat down in the quiet private room of the Chinese restaurant, all he felt was awkwardness.

The private room contained a round table that sat ten people. Ming Luchuan sat directly across from him; he wore a neatly buttoned suit, his short hair was slicked back, and his demeanour was dispassionately silent.

The majority of Xia Wennan’s colleagues were somewhat fearful of the man. They all fell silent after entering the room and taking their seats, with only Xu Zong, the lab’s alpha manager, keeping up a continuous stream of chatter.

Anyone with eyes could see that Xu Zong was trying to butter Ming Luchuan up, but Ming Luchuan barely responded to him, merely nodding his head every now and then, his gaze not on Xu Zong at all.

The awkward atmosphere was partially lifted when their food was served; Ming Luchuan beckoned everyone to eat and spoke a few encouraging words about work. Xia Wennan’s colleagues picked up their chopsticks and selected dishes for themselves, gradually beginning to converse while they ate.

Some time later, Xu Zhong instructed everyone to toast Ming Luchuan.

Xia Wennan, who had been eating with his head down, lifted his gaze to sneak a peek at Ming Luchuan and found that the man was frowning slightly.

His colleagues rose to toast Ming Luchuan, who coldly yet politely raised his glass and toasted them back. This went on for several rounds until he’d nearly drunk five to six glasses of wine. Xia Wennan noticed the way his complexion remained the same throughout, but when he set down his glass, he loosened up the collar of his shirt.

Xia Wennan was the only one who had yet to get up and toast Ming Luchuan.

Xu Zong kept darting Xia Wennan meaningful looks, but Xia Wennan pretended not to notice.. He disliked Xu Zong, just as Xu Zong also disliked him; they didn’t bother concealing this fact from one another.

“Wennan,” Xu Zong said plainly after a time. “Why don’t you give a toast to Manager Ming?”

After giving Xu Zong a look, he had no choice but to pick up his wine glass and rise from his seat. As he stepped away from his chair, Xia Wennan accidentally bumped into the person sitting next to him, a young male omega who was small and cute in both personality and appearance. He also had a rather cute name, Zhan Xiaoxiao.

The collision made Zhan Xiaoxiao tremble.

“Are you okay?” Xia Wennan asked him.

Zhan Xiaoxiao nodded and wiped the sweat off his brow.

Xia Wennan circled the table and walked up to Ming Luchuan with his glass of wine. Lowering his head, he caught a glimpse of the prominent jut of Ming Luchuan’s Adam’s apple and collarbones beneath his loosened collar. From this angle, he also took in Ming Luchuan’s high nose bridge, thin lips, and the sombre aloofness to his brows and the corners of his eyes.

Despite having no desire to flatter Ming Luchuan, Xia Wennan subconsciously bowed and politely said, “Manager Ming, allow me to toast you.”

Ming Luchuan angled his body to the side and lifted his glass to clink it with Xia Wennan’s.

The moment their glasses touched, Xia Wennan’s attention was drawn to the sudden burst of omega pheromones in the air. He instinctively turned his head to seek out the source of pheromones, which resulted in his glass missing Ming Luchuan’s entirely and hitting Ming Luchuan’s arm, half of its contents spilling out onto Ming Luchuan’s suit.

“Sorry.” Xia Wennan snapped back to his senses and quickly grabbed a clean tissue from the table to wipe away the wine stains.

At this point, however, no one in the private room was paying attention to this small incident. The surge of omega pheromones meant only one thing: an omega was in heat. Inside their private room, Xia Wennan was the lone beta, with everyone else being either alphas or omegas.

The one sitting to Ming Luchuan’s left was also an alpha. While getting to his feet somewhat frenetically, the alpha happened to slam into Xia Wennan’s side, and Xia Wennan was knocked over till his ass landed squarely on Ming Luchuan’s lap.

Xia Wennan froze. A line of curses rose to his lips, but he choked it down immediately. The next thing he knew, he felt a pair of warm palms grabbing his waist, separated by the thin fabric of his T-shirt, and before he could react, his body was pushed away from Ming Luchuan’s.

“Sorry.” As he stood up, Xia Wennan apologised several times.

Ming Luchuan, on the other hand, didn’t even look at him. “What’s going on?” he asked as he stood up.

Ming Luchuan’s tone remained nonchalant. If it weren’t for their close proximity, Xia Wennan might not have been able to hear the hint of a rasp in his voice.

What’s going on? An omega has suddenly gone into heat at an inappropriate location, obviously!

Xia Wennan, who had spent a significant amount of time in the lab with his colleagues, could identify that the pheromones belonged to Zhan Xiaoxiao. Zhan Xiaoxiao had been talking about marrying an alpha, which was why he didn’t take suppressants. It just so happened that tonight’s unexpected meal had disrupted his initial plans to spend some alone time with the alpha.

Since everyone was experienced adults, a situation as awkward as this had to end. Zhan Xiaoxiao was promptly sent away, while Xu Zhong used his remaining sanity to arrange for the only beta present, Xia Wennan, to send Ming Luchuan home before he himself turned tail and left.

Seeing that Ming Luchuan was still seated, Xia Wennan hesitated for a beat before approaching him and asking, “Manager Ming, do you need me to take you back?” Ming Luchuan might not need to go home, but to his omega partner, he reasoned.

And yet Ming Luchuan nodded, saying in a deep voice, “Thank you.