After Being Taken Home By A Powerful, Possessive Omega - Chapter 4

The driver brought the car to a smooth stop outside the villa.

When his gaze passed over Ji Chun, who was pressed closely against Pei Heng, surprise flashed in his eyes. He quickly concealed it.

In his line of work, one had to know better than to pry into an employer’s private affairs.

Ji Chun’s wheelchair had been placed in the trunk. The two of them were squeezed together in one corner of the spacious back seat in an oddly intimate position.

Pei Heng looked at the large expanse of empty space to Ji Chun’s right and helplessly pulled her stiff arm free.

How could an Alpha possibly be this clingy?

In her experience, these arrogant, self-important creatures always believed themselves destined to rule the world.

“Move over a little.”

She was being squeezed so tightly she could barely breathe. Pei Heng raised a hand and gently pushed Ji Chun.

The puppy did not budge.

Just as Pei Heng was about to push her a second time, Ji Chun’s body trembled. Then she shifted an inch to the side.

It was better than nothing.

Pei Heng raised her eyes and looked at Ji Chun, whose innocent expression carried a trace of grievance. She did not know whether to laugh or sigh.

Ji Chun was upset.

But what did she have to feel wronged about?

Pei Heng had already tacitly permitted her to smear the scent of tequila pheromones all over her. The moment they stepped outside, anyone could tell they shared an exceptionally intimate relationship.

Still, Pei Heng did not comfort her. She merely continued organizing work documents in the cramped space.

Jade must be carved before it can become a useful vessel.

She could not spoil the child until she developed a host of bad habits.

Yet when she felt the bright, fervent, sparkling gaze beside her, Pei Heng finally sighed. She gently pulled the Alpha’s head into her arms.

“Why are you so upset? Have I mistreated you?”

The woman scratched Ji Chun beneath the chin, only for the puppy to lightly close her lips around Pei Heng’s fingertip, leaving behind a faint tooth mark.

“You even bit me.”

Amusement entered Pei Heng’s eyes. Freeing one hand, she gently stroked Ji Chun’s hair.

Pei Heng had not brought Ji Chun out because she truly expected her to earn money and support the household.

Her main purpose was to introduce her to everyone in the company.

Hiding a woman away was something one did with a genuine kept canary.

Pei Heng and Ji Chun, however, had a legitimate relationship. They ought to appear openly together and let everyone know.

For once, Pei Heng did not use the private entrance. Instead, she led Ji Chun through the main doors.

The security team spotted them from a distance and waited at the entrance to greet her.

Ji Chun glanced sideways at Pei Heng as she nodded slightly to them, then copied her and nodded as well.

She did not know what working involved.

In any case, she could simply imitate whatever Pei Heng did.

The woman who had been walking in front of her moved around to the back. Her slender, pale fingers gripped the handles of the wheelchair.

Ji Chun looked over her shoulder in confusion.

“It has… a remote control.”

“Mm. You drive slowly. I’ll pretend to push you.”

Pei Heng’s amber eyes unconsciously curved.

Countless people would not even dare dream of having her push their wheelchair.

Ji Chun was truly getting an incredible bargain.

Still, this was the fastest way to show everyone how special Ji Chun was.

It was like announcing to the entire company that they were inseparably close.

Pei Heng was even in such a good mood that when an employee secretly photographed her, she curved her lips into a flawless smile, beautiful enough to resemble a painting.

“Do you remember what you’re supposed to call me in public?”

Ji Chun answered without hesitation.

“Wife.”

The pupils of several passing employees practically shook.

They could not control their expressions as they looked from Ji Chun to Pei Heng. They dramatically covered their mouths, then tactically retreated.

“Holy crap, did you hear that? That Alpha called President Pei ‘Wife.’ What does that mean?”

Pei Heng rarely appeared in the employees’ working areas.

She had a direct elevator and private passageways for commuting through the building, yet she was unexpectedly popular throughout the company.

As someone who regularly appeared at the top of financial newspapers, she was not only gentle toward others and entirely free of arrogance, but also organized team activities during holidays and arranged generous employee benefits.

Pei Heng herself was so beautiful that simply standing still made her the center of any crowd.

Countless wealthy Alphas and Omegas took turns waiting outside the company, hoping to catch her attention.

As a result, the entrance to their company was also the place most likely to produce the sort of romantic plot found in novels, where a powerful, wealthy Alpha fell in love with a frail Omega who worked as a cleaner.

The company employed two entire security teams for that reason alone.

After wandering from the first floor to the sixth, Pei Heng finally released the wheelchair handles.

She leisurely rotated her jade-white wrist.

So tiring.

Why was Ji Chun so heavy?

Ji Chun drove the wheelchair in a circle around Pei Heng.

“I know how to drive it now.”

“Mm. Go around the company by yourself and familiarize yourself with the work environment.”

“Once you recover—”

A mischievous gleam flashed through Pei Heng’s eyes.

“Work hard and earn money to support the family.”

“Mm-hm.”

Ji Chun nodded, filled with ambition.

Then she followed Pei Heng into her office.

The office was extremely tidy. Stacks of documents were neatly sorted by category, and a row of puppy figurines stood on the desk beside a pot of withered orchids.

A cup of coffee had already been prepared. The finely ground beans released a bitter fragrance.

Pei Heng lowered her eyes toward Ji Chun, who sat in her wheelchair looking around.

Someone who had only just emerged into the world was curious about everything new.

Yet her gaze alone avoided the withered plant on Pei Heng’s desk.

Pei Heng remembered the abnormality in 2.2 percent of Ji Chun’s emotional memories.

Could it be related to this?

“Come here.”

She raised her eyes toward Ji Chun.

The puppy drove the wheelchair over and stopped beside her feet.

Tequila-scented pheromones followed, winding in delicate strands around Pei Heng’s waist.

Ji Chun seemed to like this place very much.

Pei Heng thought that if she behaved well, perhaps she could allow Ji Chun to hug her.

“Hold this and go look around by yourself. Come back when it’s time to eat.”

She reached out, picked up the pot of withered orchids, and shoved it into Ji Chun’s arms.

So she wanted to avoid it?

Let Pei Heng see how she avoided it now.

Did Ji Chun think that losing her memory meant all the terrible things she had done could simply be erased?

Ji Chun stared at the pot of orchids.

A dense ache spread through her chest from some unknown place.

She raised her damp eyes toward Pei Heng. For a nearly imperceptible instant, something dark flashed within her gaze.

The woman crouched down.

Sandalwood pheromones surged toward Ji Chun and saturated her entire body before Pei Heng finally nodded in satisfaction.

She watched as the puppy left the office wearing her exclusive dog tag, covered from head to toe in Pei Heng’s scent.

Only then did Pei Heng withdraw her gaze and focus on the prison schedule report in her hands.

He was still an elder, after all.

She had to inform that nominal father of hers that she and Ji Chun were getting married.

She also wanted him to know what had become of the Alpha upon whom he had placed all his hopes—the one he had abandoned his own daughter to protect.

Now Ji Chun was nothing more than a useless cripple incapable of shouldering responsibility.

—

“Host, Host, slow down! The company speed limit is six kilometers per hour!”

Ji Chun drove the wheelchair around a corner in a drifting turn.

“Why is there a speed limit?”

“Because it’s dangerous! This is a company. A lot of people work here!”

“I won’t hit anyone.”

She had already become highly skilled at driving the wheelchair.

Besides, she trusted herself.

A top-tier Alpha’s senses were exceptionally acute. Under the reach of her mental power, she knew exactly how many people were nearby.

Before long, word spread throughout the company that the Alpha President Pei had brought with her was racing around the building in a wheelchair while covered in pheromones.

Naturally, the news soon reached Pei Heng, who had secretly joined the employee group chat using an alternate account.

Less than ten minutes later, a speed limiter activated on Ji Chun’s wheelchair, setting its maximum speed to precisely six kilometers per hour.

Ji Chun pursed her lips.

She was deeply dissatisfied with the speed, but she had no choice.

She was merely a kept canary without any authority, one who could even be pushed away for sitting too close to her benefactor in a car.

She sighed inwardly.

Pei Heng, who had opened the surveillance feed the instant she heard that the puppy was racing her wheelchair, stared at the screen.

Why did Ji Chun constantly look like an obedient dog who had been terribly wronged?

It was rather…

Heartbreaking.

Pei Heng immediately closed the surveillance feed.

An Omega who pitied an Alpha would suffer misfortune for the rest of her life.

Wearing Pei Heng’s dog tag, Ji Chun traveled unhindered into the elevator.

The few people inside moved aside to make room for her when she entered.

One particularly bold employee leaned closer.

“Hey, what exactly is your relationship with President Pei?”

Ji Chun looked young.

Although rumors had already spread that she called Pei Heng “Wife,” these people had not witnessed it themselves, so they still held on to a trace of hope.

“I’m her kept canary,” Ji Chun answered honestly.

The elevator fell silent for a moment.

“Then do you know that the company entrance is filled with President Pei’s admirers? They’re all on the first floor.”

Admirers.

Ji Chun’s gaze darkened, taking on a sharpness completely unlike its usual clarity.

“The first floor?”

“Mm-hm. Want me to press the button for you?”

“No. I’ll do it myself.”

Ji Chun rose from the wheelchair, stiffly pressed the elevator button, then sat back down.

The people behind her exchanged bewildered glances.

Wait.

Her legs worked?

Then had President Pei commissioned this enormous twenty-four-karat-gold wheelchair simply because she was afraid Ji Chun would grow tired from walking around the company?

When she reached the first floor, Ji Chun drove her speed-limited wheelchair all the way to the company reception hall.

A man in a sharply tailored suit sat on the sofa at the center of the lobby.

An expensive mechanical watch circled his wrist. He drank coffee while occasionally checking the time.

Then a young woman saturated in the scent of sandalwood suddenly entered his field of vision.

His gaze shifted.

The first thing he noticed was her face, so pale it was nearly translucent.

His expression stiffened. Then his eyes widened in disbelief.

“Ji… Chun? How are you still alive? Didn’t you die three years ago?”

“No. You aren’t her. If she were still alive, she could never have remained completely silent for so many years.”

“Then are you… her replacement?”

With only a few sentences, the man seemed to believe he had understood everything.

His assessing gaze fell on the pot of orchids in her arms, and the corner of his mouth unconsciously curved upward.

“Did she tell you to bring this flower outside for sunlight? Did she also tell you that I gave it to her three years ago?”

“Even after it withered, she preserved it as a specimen and continued caring for it.”

“So what if you resemble Ji Chun? Considering Pei Heng’s position and status, how long do you think she’ll keep you?”

Ji Chun’s mouth turned downward.

This man’s breakdown was so noisy.

The mere sight of her face had thrown him into such a panic.

He seemed to possess an even lower status than she did as a kept canary.

“You’re really noisy.”

Her arms slowly tightened around the orchid pot.

A broken fragment from the pot slid across her forearm, cutting a shallow line that immediately beaded with tiny drops of blood.

The hidden ache in her heart, which had begun the moment she saw the plant, intensified.

It felt like a tightening net slowly wrapping around her.

Breathing became increasingly difficult, as though she were an animal drowning underwater.

The sound of ragged breathing rose beside her ears, each gasp louder than the last.

Within her vision, a young Alpha pinned an elegant, aristocratic woman against the door of an office.

Turbulent emotions churned beneath the Alpha’s pale eyes, and even her voice trembled uncontrollably.

“Big Sister, who gave this to you? One of your admirers? Are you planning to accept someone’s feelings?”

A smile curved her lips, but her tone carried overwhelming obsession.

The taste of iron filled her breath.

Tequila-scented pheromones eagerly forced themselves toward the tightly closed patch of soft skin at the back of the woman’s neck.

The impact made her gland show faint signs of opening.

Struggling to endure it, Pei Heng pressed a hand against the Alpha’s chest.

“Don’t… Ji Chun, I’m your sister.”

“Big Sister… I was adopted.”

They shared no blood relation.

The two slightly pointed canine teeth in Ji Chun’s mouth emerged.

She tilted her head and lightly sniffed around the Omega’s damp gland. Her hot, humid breath made Pei Heng’s legs weaken.

Several gasps nearly escaped Pei Heng’s lips when footsteps suddenly sounded outside the office.

She gently bit her lower lip and divided a sliver of attention toward the hallway.

Everyone in the company should already have gone home at this hour.

Who would come to the office in the middle of the night?

“Uncle Pei, are you certain it’s all right to tamper with the company documents?”

“What could possibly go wrong? The most important thing now is to remove Pei Heng from power. After that, we’ll push Ji Chun forward. Then what could possibly remain beyond our reach?”

“Yes, I understand, Uncle Pei.”

A sharp pain came from the side of Pei Heng’s neck.

The Alpha lowered her head and gently bit the now-open gland, seemingly punishing her for losing focus.

Yet Pei Heng leaned against the doorframe and laughed softly amid her heavy breathing.

“Ji Chun… So you were nothing more than bait as well… Hah.”

A trace of mockery slipped into her voice.

“And here I thought you were important.”

The Alpha rubbed lightly against the side of her neck.

Her arms tightened, lifting Pei Heng onto the office desk.

The potted plant sitting there crashed to the floor with a crisp shattering sound.

Pei Heng had always known that she was unimportant.

She had merely jumped from one hell into another.

What difference did it make?

The sudden feeling of weightlessness forced Pei Heng to grip Ji Chun’s shoulders.

She bit her lip and stared at the person she had watched grow up since childhood, while a powerful wave of pleasure and madness surged through her heart.

“Ji Chun.”

Her voice was low and soft.

“You had better mark me here and make me pregnant with your child.”

“With a single act, you can change your contemptible status and rise to the top.”

“Otherwise, by tomorrow, the entire family will know that you forced yourself upon your own sister in the company office.”

“Pei Shan will not keep you. Your reputation will be destroyed, and you will die without even a place to be buried.”

The Alpha’s fingers trembled beneath her.

The tears gathered in Ji Chun’s eyes seemed hot enough to burn her.

She was not afraid of death.

She was afraid that even when she died, everyone would still regard her as a lowborn stray without the slightest dignity.

She was afraid of the way Pei Heng’s smiling eyes denied everything she was.

Ji Chun released the arm around the woman’s waist and stumbled away, almost as though fleeing.

Whatever happened tomorrow—whether she lived or died—did not matter.

She knew only one thing.

She refused to live beneath Pei Heng’s contempt and disgust.

—

“What do you mean?!”

The man’s shrill voice pierced her eardrums.

Ji Chun seemed to awaken abruptly from a dream.

Fresh air rushed into her lungs, giving her a faint sense that she was alive.

She stiffly lowered her head.

The orchid pot that had been in her arms had somehow fallen to the floor. The withered blossoms lay crushed in the soil, releasing the raw scent of earth after rain.

A warm, powerful sandalwood fragrance enveloped her.

It settled over her body in a thin layer, covering every foreign scent she had collected throughout the company.

Ji Chun turned her head and saw a pair of amber eyes.