Chapter 2 – The First Soothing (Mildly Explicit)

After finishing another busy day, Xie Zhijin returned to the villa at Yingyue Bay.

The moment she walked through the door, she saw Chu Yi sitting obediently on the living-room sofa, waiting for her.

An unfamiliar pheromone scent drifted through the air—sandalwood tinged with mint.

The instant Xie Zhijin breathed it in, the headache that had tormented her all day noticeably subsided. Her body reacted before her mind could, unconsciously relaxing.

Chu Yi immediately tensed beneath the glance Xie Zhijin cast her way. Then she remembered that she could not act all stiff and nervous around her sugar mommy, so she forced a smile and greeted her. “Good evening, President Xie.”

Xie Zhijin inclined her head slightly in acknowledgment, then turned to the housekeeper standing in the entryway. “Dinner first.”

“Yes, President Xie.”

At the mention of dinner, Chu Yi also rose and followed Xie Zhijin into the dining room.

At the table, Chu Yi ate both stiffly and furtively. She was stiff because she was dining with her sugar mommy and was terrified that some breach of etiquette might offend her and cost her this cushy life. As for why she was being furtive… her sugar mommy was just too beautiful! (灬oωo灬)?

Although that one sweeping glance had been incredibly intimidating, there was no denying that those piercing eyes, paired with her oppressive aura and striking appearance, made Chu Yi want to drop to her knees and call her Master.

Mom… Mommy?

Xie Zhijin set down her bowl and tapped her knuckles against the table twice, neither lightly unauthorized copy nor heavily. The crisp sound instantly froze the person beside her whose eyes had been darting all over the place. Chu Yi promptly straightened her back, obediently lowered her gaze to her own bowl, and buried her head in her meal.

Over the past few months, Xie Zhijin had occasionally observed Chu Yi through the surveillance cameras. Compared with when she had first arrived, she had become so lively over the following two months that she seemed like an entirely different person. She had also remained very well behaved, with no social interactions apart from buying a game console and playing online games with internet friends.

She had even hired a personal trainer and followed a structured exercise plan.

However, the fragrance lingering in the air caused Xie Zhijin’s eyes to narrow slightly. The scent emanating from this woman was sandalwood infused with the coolness of mint, yet she distinctly remembered that Chu Yi was supposed to smell like ink.

Could her memory be wrong?

An impossible-to-ignore stabbing pain throbbed in her temples, and Xie Zhijin raised a hand to rub them hard. She truly did need some rest.

Seeing Xie Zhijin rubbing her temples with her brows tightly furrowed, Chu Yi hesitated for a moment before asking somewhat nervously, “Would you like me to give you a massage?”

“No.” Xie Zhijin’s cool voice rang out. “Come to the room on the third floor and see me in one hour.”

With that, Xie Zhijin left the table and took the elevator to the third floor.

The housekeeper stepped forward and reminded her, “Once you’ve finished eating and washed up, Miss Chu, you may wait to see President Xie. I wish you success.”

“…All right.”

Damn it, now she was even more nervous.

After Xie Zhijin left, Chu Yi also lost her appetite. She hastily shoveled down a few more bites, returned to her room to wash thoroughly, and changed into the clothes the housekeeper had prepared when ​unauthorized copy​the appointed time arrived. She then took the elevator to the third floor.

There was only one room on the third floor, so it was easy to find. Chu Yi knocked gently on the door twice and asked, “President Xie, may I come in now?”

[Click.]

The door opened automatically.

Chu Yi stared at the open crack in the doorway, closed her eyes, and drew a deep breath as though trying to force out every last trace of hesitation. Then, as if throwing caution to the wind, she pushed the door open.

A woman sat before a tall window. The room was dim, its only illumination coming from the moonlight outside. The ice cubes in the whiskey glass she held clinked crisply as she moved.

“Come here,” the woman said.

Chu Yi swallowed nervously and did her utmost to suppress the tension in her body as she approached Xie Zhijin’s chair one step at a time. She slowly lowered herself into a half-kneeling position, then raised her head and looked up at the woman in the room.

The clothes the housekeeper had chosen were excellent. The fabric was thin without revealing too much, while several carefully placed cutouts exposed parts of her abdomen. Bathed in moonlight, the outlines of her abdominal muscles appeared and disappeared beneath the fabric. Combined with her innocent, nervous expression, she looked exactly like a fresh-faced newcomer who had just entered a den of wine and lust.

She had also put on the specially prepared armband as instructed.

“How many months have you been here?” Whether from slight intoxication or profound weariness, Xie Zhijin’s voice had acquired a captivating rasp. Her fingertip traced the rim of her glass absentmindedly as her gaze rested on Chu Yi.

“Th-three months.” Chu Yi lowered her eyes and instinctively pressed her lips together before answering softly.

“Do you know what you are supposed to do?”

“Serve you.”

“Did you learn what you needed to this afternoon?”

“The instructor praised me and said I learned very well. I won’t disappoint you, President Xie.”

“Then begin.”

Xie Zhijin returned her glass to the triangular side table and tilted her head slightly, exposing her long, pale neck.

Only then did Chu Yi belatedly realize that the entire room had long since been saturated with rich, brooding pheromones reminiscent of whiskey. Remembering that afternoon’s training, she gently lifted the suppressant patch from the back of her neck with her fingertips. She carefully controlled her pheromones, allowing them to flow softly and slowly into the territory of Xie Zhijin’s agarwood fragrance, where the two scents gradually entwined.

Chu Yi pressed the tip of her tongue against her sublingual gland and applied a little pressure. An extremely faint yet distinctive fragrance instantly spread through her mouth. Only after completing these preparations did she raise her head and say softly, her voice now tinged with her own scent, “I’m beginning, President Xie.”

The gland lay close beneath the surface, so Chu Yi needed to be gentle. Carefully watching every subtle reaction from Xie Zhijin, she slowly moved closer to the other woman’s gland. With every inch that disappeared between them, the whiskey-laced agarwood grew stronger, its domineering fragrance nearly making her dizzy.

Perhaps because of their relatively high compatibility, her mint-and-sandalwood pheromones were abruptly stirred. Their concentration soared as the cool, meditative scent of sandalwood violently intertwined with the rich aroma of liquor.

“Watch your pheromones.” Xie Zhijin’s voice carried an unmistakable threat. Her whiskey-laced agarwood immediately drew inward, forming an invisible barrier that asserted her sovereignty and established a boundary that could not be crossed.

“Yes.” Chu Yi secretly dug her fingers hard into her thigh. The sharp pain barely pulled her back from the pheromone whirlpool and restored a little clarity. Holding her breath, she desperately forced the overflowing mint-and-sandalwood pheromones—which seemed to possess a will of their own and wanted nothing more than to coil around Xie Zhijin—back into her body.

Lowering her eyes, Chu Yi gazed at the pale bluish skin pulsing faintly over the gland at the back of bailiantales.comXie Zhijin’s neck. Tentatively, she extended the tip of her tongue, now coated with glandular fluid, and licked over it with the lightest touch.

At that instant, Xie Zhijin suddenly clenched the armrests of her chair. Her knuckles immediately turned white, and a stifled moan escaped her throat. Her originally rich whiskey-and-agarwood pheromones reacted as though a glowing coal had been thrown into them, exploding with a boom and becoming even stronger, harsher, and filled with aggression.

When the expected rebuke did not come, half of the tension in Chu Yi’s heart eased, replaced by a trace of secret courage. She steadied her slightly trembling breaths and continued the pheromone soothing with even greater concentration.

Chu Yi put the theory she had learned that afternoon into practice perfectly. She carefully guided the secretion of fluid from her sublingual glands and used the tip of her tongue to spread it evenly across the burning surface of Xie Zhijin’s gland. Strands of cool mint and sandalwood seeped inside, entwining and merging with the violent whiskey-laced agarwood. It was like a timely rain falling over a raging wildfire, gradually calming it.

Xie Zhijin possessed astonishing self-control. Aside from a few extremely soft moans she could not suppress, she showed no further loss of composure. Yet merely hearing those sounds spilling from deep within her throat, laden with absorbed pleasure, allowed Chu Yi’s heart—which had remained suspended with anxiety—to settle quietly back into place.

An Alpha’s instincts were difficult to suppress. Bewitched by the enticing pheromones, Chu Yi came close to losing control several times, her sharp canines nearly piercing the Omega’s skin and leaving a mark. Whenever her awareness began to blur, another dark purple bruise from her own pinching appeared on her thigh. Sweat had long since soaked through her clothes, making the fabric cling to every curve of her body. It ran downward and gathered around her waist and abdomen, glistening beneath the moonlight like wet traces of desire.

After an unknown amount of time, Xie Zhijin’s voice finally rang out. It carried the lazy rasp of someone who had been thoroughly satisfied, utterly unlike her usual cold detachment.

“Enough.”

At the sound of her voice, Chu Yi’s entire body abruptly froze as though an electric current had shot through her, bringing every movement to an instant halt. She immediately withdrew with practiced efficiency, quickly separating herself from Xie Zhijin’s gland before returning to her obedient half-kneeling position beside Xie Zhijin’s feet.

“You’re certainly a clever one.” Xie Zhijin’s fingertips, carrying a trace of coolness, brushed across Chu Yi’s cheek, which was still burning from their intimate contact. The touch was as light as a feather, yet it instantly made every muscle in Chu Yi’s body tense. “You may leave. Come back at the same time tomorrow.”

“Yes, President Xie.” Concealing her emotions and keeping her gaze lowered, Chu Yi rose and retreated step by step until she was outside the room, then gently pulled the door closed.

The door shut softly behind her, as though severing the final thread of her already crumbling reason.

Inside the room, Xie Zhijin’s perpetually upright figure swayed slightly before collapsing heavily into the broad chair. In the air, the cool sandalwood had already become tightly entangled with her whiskey-laced agarwood until they were almost impossible to distinguish. The mingled pheromones silently swelled, pressing against every breath she took. She tilted her head back in exhaustion. Outside the ​stolen content​window, the pale moonlight was as cold and desolate as ice, yet it acted like a catalyst, causing the unquenched heat in her blood to surge even more wildly.

Outside the door, Chu Yi leaned against the cold wood and slid weakly to the floor. She raised a hand and clamped it tightly over her mouth, trapping the gasp that had nearly escaped deep inside her throat. The cheek beneath her fingertips was shockingly hot, as though the shiver caused by Xie Zhijin’s touch still lingered there.

Separated by a single door, both women were equally undone.

This really was… enough to drive her insane.