Thursday afternoon. A faint, blended odor of disinfectant and herbal detergent drifted through the grand laboratory of the Life Sciences building.
Silas Shen stood by the drying rack, page by page auditing the latest corrected data regarding "atypical emotional connections" that had just emerged from the printer. Not far away from him, right in front of the washing sink, the top-tier Alpha who usually made countless Omegas scream in exhilaration on the Beijing University basketball court was now tractably rolling up his hoodie sleeves. Exposing a pair of solid forearms, he was expertly scrubbing rows of transparent glass test tubes.
Hunter's fingers were long, his fingertips catching the white foam as he made the test tubes let out a crisp, squeaking sound. While he scrubbed, he repeatedly stole blissful glances in Silas's direction, his sticky gaze practically wanting to poke two holes right through Silas's lab coat.
Right at this moment, the phone he had carelessly tossed onto the marble surface of the lab bench erupted into a sudden, muffled vibration.
Buzz—Buzz—
The screen shifted violently across the icy countertop, displaying two compact, chilly characters: [Big Brother].
The smile at the corner of Hunter's mouth froze the exact instant he saw those two words. Pouting, he somewhat reluctantly wiped his hands haphazardly against a nearby lint-free cloth, scooped up the phone, and pressed the answer button. "Hello? Brother, what is it? I'm right in the middle of running an experiment..."
"Come home this weekend."
The voice cutting in from the other end of the line was cold and unyielding as ever. It held no unnecessary pleasantries, carrying instead a condescending, unquestionable command. Every word that fell sounded like an icicle forming in the Beijing winter.
The other end paused, adding a sentence of immense weight: "Dad wants to see you."
Hearing the word "Dad," Hunter's spine instinctively straightened, a flicker of irritation flitting through his eyes. He pulled over the back of an office chair and leaned his entire body against it, using a somewhat stiff tone to invent an excuse to decline. "This weekend probably won't work. I have to stay at school. Professor Shen's project has just reached a critical advancement stage. As the first assistant researcher, I need to stay behind to help him process clinical data..."
"That professor?"
On the phone, Hunter's brother's voice noticeably dropped when mentioning the word "professor," leaking the seasoned experience and evaluation of someone steeped in the business world for years. He didn't even grant Hunter any opportunity to explain further, simply tossing down a bombshell in a calm tone that sounded like he was signing an asset divestment agreement:
"Bring him back with you."
Beep—Beep—Beep—
The dial tone that instantly cut off through the receiver sounded exceptionally piercing in the vacant laboratory.
Hunter maintained his posture of holding the phone, his entire body frozen in place. That usually flamboyant, handsome face was a canvas of conflicting colors, his expression as dramatic as if a bolt of heavenly thunder had split him from the crown of his head to the tips of his toes. He even began to suspect whether he had suffered a hallucination brought on by high-intensity experimentation.
"What's wrong?"
A cool voice drifted over from not far behind him.
Silas had walked over at some unknown point. He held that newly printed, still-warm experimental data sheet, his eyes behind his rimless lenses as clear as water. Tilting his head marginally, he looked at his own puppy who had suddenly petrified before the lab bench, his lips pressed into a flat line.
Hunter swallowed hard, turning his head around with extreme slowness. He looked at the Silas before him—at his clean, entirely unadulterated eyes. The expression on his face fluctuated between the terror of a looming catastrophe and a bizarre ecstasy akin to 'the puppy finally got an official placement.'
"My brother said..." Hunter's throat was terribly dry when he spoke. "He wants me to bring you home this weekend."
Silas's fingertips resting on the data report curled inward slightly.
"He wants to see you. No, to be precise, my entire family wants to see you." Hunter tossed his phone onto the countertop, running a hand through his brilliant blonde hair with some agitation. "That brother of mine—you might have seen him in financial news before—his methods are as hard as iron. Needless to say about my dad, a standard top-tier Alpha of the old era; what he says goes. Their sudden demand to see you must be..."
Silas stood in place as the setting sun squeezed through the slats of the blinds behind him, outlining his silhouette with an ethereal quality. He did not display the aversion or panic Hunter had anticipated. Instead, after a silence lasting a full three seconds, he gently and neatly folded the report in his hands, placing it down on the counter.
"Then let's go," Silas said.
His tone was far too flat—flat enough that it sounded like he was arranging a routine morning meeting for next Monday.
"But—" Hunter bounced right out of his chair, crossing the distance to Silas in a few steps, his tall frame bringing over an anxious scent of oranges. "Silas Shen, this isn't going to some Cantonese restaurant for dinner. That's the Huo family ancestral estate. My brother is incredibly difficult to deal with when he speaks. If they say something unpleasant right to your face, or try to suppress you using things like 'social class' or 'compatibility scales'—"
"Hunter Huo."
Silas interrupted his words abruptly.
He lifted his head slightly, his phoenix-like eyes hiding behind his lenses narrowing marginally. Deep within his pupils, an exceptionally shallow yet highly provocative smile surfaced for the first time in history. Extending a single finger, he pressed it gently against Hunter's taut chest, pushing the youth back half an inch.
"When you initially pursued me and changed that grant proposal to 'A Lifetime,' you weren't this cowardly."
Silas's voice was very soft, yet every word carried the clean sharpness of a blade.
Hunter was instantly choked up.
He looked at the man before him—at this Professor Shen who was usually so cool and ascetic that his earlobes would turn crimson just from being caught having a button fastened. In that split second, Hunter suddenly had a stroke of divine inspiration and understood—Silas wasn't putting on a brave face; he was truly ready.
This man had constructed a thirty-year fortress of life using science and reason, yet now, for the sake of his reckless puppy, he was willing to step down from his altar voluntarily and wade into the muddy waters of the most old-fashioned, fastidious top-tier Alpha family.
He was going to face all the scrutiny and trials of the Huo family using his identity as "Hunter Huo's family."
"Alright." Hunter took a deep breath, the retreating anxiety within his chest cavity instantly replaced by a wave of fanatical confidence. He violently reached out his hand, capturing the single finger Silas had pressed against his chest, clamping it tightly within his palm. "We'll go together this weekend. But Professor—"
The youth lowered his head, pressing his advantage somewhat as a thick, scorching possessiveness flashed within his eyes. "Before we set out tomorrow, could you wear that dark blue tie inside your office drawer? The one I bought for you last month—the exact matching set to the one I'm wearing today."
Silas wanted to pull his finger back with mock disdain, arching an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Because that way, the moment we walk in, those old foxes like my brother and dad will know with a single glance—" Hunter split his lips, smiling like a young beast that had finally staked out its territory, his voice low and dominant. "This Professor Shen, who is cleaner than an ideal, is already Hunter Huo's man."
Silas rolled his eyes at him with zero deterrence. Pulling his hand back, he left the youth with a cool view of his back as he walked swiftly toward his office.
"Nonsense."