Worthless

The third time was a little dramatic, if Jian Yu had to admit it. 

In his whole life, never had he been involved or even thought that he would be involved in a three sided staring contest. 

Based on what he had gathered, the contract marriage had not been signed but the both of them were required to meet up as frequently as possible to create some kind of connection. Which brought the both of them in here, at Zero's mansion. 

A tea party consisted of only the two of them. 

Yet there was nothing pleasant about it. The air was somehow tense and tight, ready to snap at any second. 

Clement was sipping her tea quietly, lounging on the Victorian style sofa, with a book in her hand; the tea party had evolved into a study session. Her posture was lax and lazy but her sapphire eyes were not. 

They were staring and drilling a hole on the occupant of the opposite sofa. 

The young man occupying the space was rigid, he sat stiff like a stone. He was holding a book in his hand too, but for the past minutes, he had yet to turn a page. 

Jian Yu wanted to snicker as he saw the book Zeke was holding wasn't even in the right position. It was upside down and the silverette wondered when the Alpha would finally notice it. 

Besides, he kept on feeling the eyes of the Alpha male boring into him since he arrived. However, everytime Jian Yu turned to look at him, the male would immediately avert his eyes to look at anywhere but Jian Yu. 

"Jian Yu." 

The Beta jumped. Clement's cold voice slithered like a snake, snapping him out of his daydream. To be honest, he wasn't really quite used to being called by his name by her yet. 

Ever since that day, she had suddenly called him by his respective name instead of his sub-gender, which made him question her purpose. 'Is she finally opening up and accepting him?' 

"Yes, My Lady?" 

"Please refill the tea." 

This was another thing he wasn't able to get used to. 

"Of course, My Lady." 

By the time he got back, he almost sighed in relief. The tension was no longer thick and the air was much lighter as if the two people inside had reached a mutual understanding and boundaries. Which was good. 

He approached them, kneeling by the victorian style table as he poured the camomile into the tea cups. 

"Have you always been this cute? You have been blessing my eyes ever since I laid my eyes on you." 

Red tinge appeared on Jian Yu's cheeks and he eyed Clement from the corner from his eyes, the Female Alpha had choked on her tea. 

"Here, Sir Roderick," With a blushing face, the silverette Beta had said, gently offering the teacup. He knew he should have just placed the teacup and slided it towards Zeke, but he wanted to make sure about one thing. 

His suspicions were mounting, after all. 

Surprisingly, after he said that cringey pick up line, the jet black-haired Alpha jerked back away in a desperate attempt to avoid skin-contact, sinking into soft material of the furniture. 

Jian Yu blinked. 

Until Jian Yu reached out towards him, the other did a cartwheel and flew away, excusing himself to end the tea party earlier. And Jian Yu couldn't help but think… 

What the hell… 

That… That was extreme. 

Fuck. That should be expected. He should have known. He shouldn't be getting involved at all. 

This man was totally out of his league. Not only was he an aristocrat, but also his client's fiance. While he was one that separated work and personal matters apart, having one coming onto you continuously tended to make him bend his own rules. 

He knew. 

He fuċkɨnġ knew. 

But still, why did it hurt so much? 

Did he hope? 

Was it wrong trying to hope? 

Jian Yu's radical thinking was thrown out of the window and a part of him screamed that he was supposed to be asking questions. 

'Why? Is everything you said a joke then?'

'Did you finally realize how disgusting it was after touching me?' 

'Was it fun to you?'

He never realized how his hands trembled furiously. Even if Clement saw it, she never said a word or called out to him. 

At first he had thought about how strange it was. If someone had to do the mission of avoidance, it should be him, right? Not the other way around. 

He wanted to ask. What was his reason? Why did he do what he did? Did playing with his feelings brought some sort of fascination? He wanted to confront him. But he couldn't. The other always managed to avoid him. And it was almost the tenth time this week. 

He couldn't even corner the Alpha Male during the party the college held to commemorate the eve of the tournament. 

"Do you know what I am doing? I am Yu-gazing." 

"Are you sure you are not putting any effort on being cute?" 

"Do you have a bandaid? I think I scraped my knee falling for you." 

Jian Yu wanted to bite his blanket real hard. 'Please stop sending mixed signals!' He angrily thought. If you want to ignore me, just do it! Don't go dropping some stupid lines you pick up out of nowhere! 

Yet he was here, acting like a mȧsȯċhɨst for blushing at each and one of the lines. 

'Fine!'

'If this is how you want to play, I will make sure to beat your ȧss during the tournament!'

On the other side of the town, Zeke shivered and tremors ran down his spine.. Rubbing his neck, he wondered why he felt chills when he was sitting right next to the fireplace.