One-way Access

As soon as Ming Siyan spotted Xia Wennan, he smiled and walked over to him.  

Xia Wennan removed the leaf from his head, his movements poised and elegant as if he was taking off a tophat. 

“What are you doing here at this hour? I swear I saw you leave with da-ge this morning.”

“I went out for a walk,” Xia Wennan answered casually.

“By the way,” Ming Siyan began, smiling, “this morning I heard dad say that you and da-ge are moving in.”

“Ah?” Xia Wennan froze. “Really?”

Ming Siyan seemed uncertain. “Aren’t you?”

Xia Wennan thought for a moment before saying, “I still need to discuss it with your brother, we haven’t reached a decision yet.”

“Moving back to live with us would be pretty great,” Ming Siyan said. “Our family is really lively, and you haven’t fully recovered yet. There’ll be people to take care of you.”

Xia Wennan smiled wordlessly.

“Why don’t we head inside?” said Ming Siyan, reaching over to pull Xia Wennan’s arm. 

Xia Wennan subconsciously evaded him. 

A trace of shock crossed Ming Siyan’s face. “Wennan?” 

Xia Wennan lifted a hand and patted Ming Siyan’s shoulder, boldly exclaiming, “Let’s go, bro!”

Ming Siyan’s frail body swayed under his touch, and with that pat, he smoothly shook off Ming Siyan’s arm. Ming Siyan’s expression went blank before he let out an agreeing “Oh”, falling into step behind Xia Wennan as they walked towards the entrance. 

Xia Wennan said goodbye to Ming Siyan at the elevator and got off alone at the twentieth floor. It hadn’t been long since lunchtime; the entire building was especially quiet, and there wasn’t a single soul in the twentieth-floor corridor.

At the assistant’s office outside Ming Luchuan’s office, Xia Wennan ran into Xu Feng and the female omega who had spilled coffee on him the day before. 

Upon seeing Xia Wennan, Xu Feng intended to stand up and greet him. 

Xia Wennan hurriedly waved him off, then pointed to the door of Ming Luchuan’s office and whispered, “Is he in there?”

Xu Feng nodded. 

Xia Wennan lowered his voice and said, “I’m going inside.”  

He walked over and opened the door. 

At present, the large desk in the office was vacant. Xia Wennan cast a doubtful glance at Xu Feng over his shoulder, then suddenly realised something and turned his head back, gently closing the heavy wooden door as he ventured inside.

He walked over to the lounge door, tested the knob to see if he could turn it, and then slowly opened the door slightly. When he peered in, he noticed Ming Luchuan sleeping on the bed, so he quietly shut the door and retreated to Ming Luchuan’s desk, taking a seat behind it.

The office chair beneath him swiveled 180 degrees, bringing Xia Wennan face to face with the floor-to-ceiling windows. Outside, the high-rise CBD towered all around him, the blue sky above was crystal clear, and the golden sunlight scattered through a thin layer of clouds, bathing everything in sunshine hues.

Xia Wennan let his forehead fall against the window. He expected it to be warm to the touch, but it was unexpectedly cool. The coolness seeped into his forehead and travelled all over his body, and his exhales left small foggy imprints on the glass. 

“Xia Wennan.” A cold voice suddenly pierced the still room. 

Xia Wennan, who had been in a daze, jumped in surprise. He whipped his head around to see that the door to the lounge had been opened at some point, and Ming Luchuan was standing right there in the doorway.

Ming luchuan had just gotten out of bed. He’d slept in his pyjamas and hung up his shirt and trousers, but he’d changed back into them now. However, he wasn’t completely dressed; under his unbuttoned suit jacket, his shirt was still untucked and the topmost button still undone.

Somewhat terrified, he said, “Ming Luchuan.”

Ming Luchuan’s face was no less colder than when he’d abandoned Xia Wennan at the doors of  the civil affairs bureau this morning. Leaning against the door frame, he looked at Xia Wennan mutely.

“Are you still angry?” Xia Wennan said. 

Ming Luchuan sneered. “What am I angry at?”

“Do you still want to divorce me?”

“Wasn’t it you who wanted to divorce me?” 

Xia Wennan came prepared, knowing exactly what he wanted to say to Ming Luchuan. “It’s not that I want to divorce you, but I don’t not want to either. I just feel like divorcing you now would be unfair to the both of us—we should revisit this conversation when I recover my memories.”

Ming Luchuan crossed his arms over his chest. “And what if you never remember?”

Xia Wennan pondered over that. “I don’t think we should make any pointless assumptions. I’ll try my best.”

Ming Luchuan was silent for a while before straightening up and approaching him. 

Xia Wennan promptly rose from his seat. “President Ming! Please take a seat.” 

Ming Luchuan glanced at him as he sat down on his chair. 

Xia Wennan leaned against the edge of the desk. “Let’s have a nice little chat,” he said to Ming Luchuan. 

Ming Luchuan raised his head and looked at him with an icy face. 

A moment later, Xia Wennan squatted by Ming Luchuan’s side, hands clinging to the armrest of his chair. He tilted his head up and said,  “President Ming, can’t we talk for a bit?”

“Don’t call me President Ming.”

“Da-ge?”

“……”

“Lu ge? Chuan ge? Luchuan ge?”

“……”

“Husband?”

“What?”

“I misspoke.”

Ming Luchuan narrowed his eyes. “What on earth do you want?”

“Let’s take a step back. I’ll get therapy and try my best to recover my memories as soon as I can, while you refrain from making me live at your family house, okay? Your family are practically strangers to me, and it’ll be really hard on me—to move in with them so suddenly.”

Ming Luchuan exhaled lengthily. It came out sounding like a heavy sigh. “Xia Wennan, what kind of relationship do you think we’re in now?”

Xia Wennan felt that this was a truly difficult question to answer. Aside from the fact that he didn’t know which answer would anger Ming Luchuan, he himself wasn’t quite sure what to answer either.

The word ‘friends’ lingered on his lips but remained unspoken; he cautiously sounded out, “…a married couple who share the same bed but different dreams?” As he spoke, he kept an eye on Ming Luchuan’s expression. 

Fortunately, Ming Luchuan’s expression was already unsightly, and it wasn’t made worse by his question. 

Xia Wennan continued, “A fake married couple?”

Ming Luchuan suddenly spoke up, “Xia Wennan, is that what you’ve been thinking this whole time?”

“What?”

“You think that you’re not truly married to me?”

Xia Wennan felt like Ming Luchuan was testing him, so he immediately probed back, “I do?”

Ming Luchuan gazed at him detachedly. “How would I know if that’s what you’re thinking or not?”  

“Then I don’t know either,” Xia Wennan said exasperatedly. “I don’t remember a single thing.”

After the words left his mouth, as if in extreme agitation, Ming Luchuan seized the documents on his desk and hurled them to the floor. 

This time, Xia Wennan genuinely jumped in shock. He stood up and took two steps back from where he was squatting next to Ming Luchuan’s legs.

Ming Luchuan’s lips twitched before he pursed them tightly. Xia Wennan almost thought he was going to get kicked out, but in the end, the man didn’t speak a word as he got up from his chair and moved away, silently crouching down and gathering the scattered documents on the floor.

Xia Wennan stood at the side, watching him. 

Ming Luchuan set the documents back down on his desk and turned to Xia Wennan unseeingly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get angry,” he said sombrely. 

Xia Wennan was taken aback. “It’s all right, it’s not like it’s the first time you’ve lost your cool with me…”

Ming Luchuan’s gaze lifted to him. 

“Just don’t hit me,” said Xia Wennan. He then added, “Even though I’m a beta, I’m really good at fighting. You won’t necessarily be able to beat me.”

Ming Luchuan lowered his gaze, eyes locked on the desk for a good while. “I’ll speak to dad. Why don’t you go do whatever it is you’re supposed to do. Don’t bother me here.”

“I can go back to work?” asked Xia Wennan.

“Up to you.”