Chapter 19 - This is Marriage Fraud!
Jin Yan watched with a furrowed brow as Zhou Shu slowly withdrew his hand, inch by inch, until the last point of contact vanished. In that moment, the blood in his veins seemed to stagnate, turning to ice. He stood frozen, helplessly watching the vehicle pull away into the distance, his chest tightening until even the simple act of breathing became a laborious task.
He had prepared himself for anything. He had told himself that no matter what Zhou Shu said, he would be thick-skinned, he would cling to him, and he would never let go. He had anticipated every possible reaction—anger, coldness, even tears—but the one thing he had never foreseen was Zhou Shu’s final parting words.
*“Let’s just get a divorce…”*
The red booklets hadn't even had time to absorb the warmth of his palms before his beloved "brother" was already thinking of changing their color.
The sentence struck Jin Yan’s heart with a dull, agonizing thud, leaving his nerves numb and his mind reeling. Before he could even regain his senses or find his voice to protest, Zhou Shu had already pulled the car door shut, sealing himself away.
Jin Yan let out a shaky, frustrated sigh. He couldn't let it end like this. He rushed back to his own car, peeling out of the driveway to give chase. As he drove, he frantically dialed Zhou Shu’s number, but each attempt was met with the same cold, mechanical recording. Had he turned off his phone, or had he already blacklisted him?
Panic clawed at Jin Yan’s throat. He cursed his own hesitation for letting Zhou Shu walk away in the first place. Thinking quickly as he sped toward the airport, he dialed Zhu Lili’s number. After a few hurried sentences, the manager agreed to help him stall Zhou Shu before he could pass through security. Only then did the suffocating pressure in Jin Yan’s chest ease slightly.
Half an hour later, Xiao Zhang pulled up to the airport, and Zhou Shu met with Zhu Lili.
Even from a distance, Zhu Lili could see her boss’s eyes—red and swollen, a stark contrast to his usual pristine, "Movie King" image. She suppressed the urge to smirk and walked toward him, the sharp *clack-clack* of her high heels echoing against the polished floor tiles. To Zhou Shu, the rhythmic sound only made his mounting headache pulse more violently.
Sure enough, a second later, he found himself staring into a pair of eyes that were clearly enjoying the drama.
"Oh my, what happened to our little Duo-duo?" Zhu Lili asked, her voice dripping with mock concern as she reached out to playfully tap the corner of Zhou Shu’s eye.
Zhou Shu swatted her hand away with irritable precision, his voice dropping to a frigid temperature. "Go away."
"My, my. Yesterday you were lost in a drunken dream of love, and today you look like this?" Zhu Lili tossed her limited-edition handbag onto a nearby chair with reckless abandon and sat down beside him, crossing her legs with a flourish.
Zhou Shu didn't dignify her with an answer. He simply closed his eyes and leaned his head back, a faint, weary shake of his head being his only response.
Zhu Lili curled her lip but didn't press further. Her mission was simple: keep him here. She glanced around the VIP lounge; fortunately, it was nearly empty. She gave instructions to the staff to clear the room for privacy and then discreetly sent her location to Jin Yan.
Zhou Shu remained silent, slumped in the chair, his entire aura radiating a profound, bone-deep exhaustion. Truthfully, the act of pulling his hand away from Jin Yan earlier had drained the last of his strength. Even now, he couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that Jin Yan had gone and registered a marriage with Zhou Duo.
Memories flickered through his mind like a broken film reel. Five years ago, Jin Yan had left because Zhou Shu differentiated into an Alpha. Upon his return, he had immediately discovered the existence of the Omega sub-personality. Zhou Shu remembered that night in the Yuncheng hotel when Jin Yan had asked Zhou Duo if she was willing to marry him.
And just yesterday afternoon, Jin Yan had asked *him* if he wanted a legal relationship. His answer had been a flat "no."
It turned out that Jin Yan had been bothered by it all along. Two Alphas could never legally marry, but Zhou Duo was an Omega—and she was utterly obsessed with him.
The thought sent a sharp pang through Zhou Shu’s heart, causing him to wince. Zhu Lili, watching from the side, couldn't help but feel a flicker of genuine concern. As a Movie King who had built his entire career on a persona of icy indifference, Zhou Shu rarely let his guard down. Even in private, he usually maintained a "strangers keep away" attitude. She truly couldn't imagine what kind of earth-shattering mess these two had managed to create this time.
The airport intercom chimed periodically with the arrival and departure of flights. Zhou Shu wondered when he would next hear the sounds of the Haicheng airport. He didn't know if he would ever want to come back. It seemed his return flight for next Friday would have to be canceled.
"Let's go. Time for security," Zhou Shu said, standing up abruptly.
"Sit a bit longer, we still have over an hour," Zhu Lili said nonchalantly, not moving an inch.
Zhou Shu sighed, his voice hollow. "It’s the same whether we wait here or inside."
"Fine, fine." Zhu Lili didn't argue, but she reached out and pushed him back into his seat. "Just give me a few minutes. I need to touch up my makeup."
Zhou Shu opened his mouth to protest, then thought better of it and sank back into the chair. Zhu Lili pulled her phone from her bag, checked the time, and began leisurely applying mascara. Zhou Shu opened his eyes briefly, saw her pulling out a second tube of lipstick to layer over the first, and resignedly closed them again.
When he finally opened them once more, a familiar figure was standing at the entrance of the lounge, rushing toward him with desperate haste.
Zhou Shu sat bolt upright, his breath hitching instinctively. His pheromones became restless, as if sensing a magnetic pull; they began to throb rhythmically at his scent gland. He winced, reaching up to press a hand against the back of his neck.
"What's wrong, Ge?" Jin Yan’s composure shattered the moment he saw Zhou Shu’s pained expression. He lunged forward, grabbing Zhou Shu’s hand, his other hand instinctively reaching out to soothe the agitated gland.
But Zhou Shu flinched away, dodging the touch. Jin Yan’s hand froze in mid-air.
From the corner of their eyes, Zhu Lili and Xiao Zhang watched the exchange, both of them sliding one seat further away in unison, holding their breath. Xiao Zhang nudged Zhu Lili’s arm; she watched for a moment, realized the couple had no intention of asking them to leave, and patted Xiao Zhang’s shoulder, signaling him to just stay quiet and enjoy the show.
"Ge, please don't ignore me..." Jin Yan’s eyes were wide and pleading, filled with a heartbreaking vulnerability. He gently rattled the cat chain on Zhou Shu’s wrist and then knelt on the floor beside him, attempting to explain with agonizing patience. "What you said earlier... none of it was right. Not a single word."
Zhou Shu’s eyes flickered. Jin Yan knew he was wavering.
"The first person I held when I returned to Haicheng was you. That night at 'Mist on the Sea,' you fainted the moment you saw me. I was the one who carried you to the car, and I was the one who carried you back to the apartment." He paused, his fingers trembling slightly as he reached up to graze the beauty mark beneath Zhou Shu’s lip. "And as for our first kiss... I lost count of how many times I stole kisses from you while you were sleeping when we were kids."
Zhou Shu’s eyes widened in shock. Jin Yan leaned in closer, a small, teasing smile playing on his lips as he whispered into Zhou Shu’s ear, "But a real kiss requires tongue, doesn't it? By that logic, I only gave my first kiss away the day before yesterday, during my susceptibility period."
Beside them, Zhu Lili felt a wave of goosebumps break out over her skin. She fished a pair of headphones out of her bag and handed one earbud to Xiao Zhang.
Zhou Shu felt his face flush with heat. He tried to pull Jin Yan up from the floor out of sheer embarrassment, but the younger man wouldn't budge. Giving up, Zhou Shu let him stay there.
"And... this marriage. I entered into it with *you*."
"What?" Zhou Shu gasped. Beside them, Zhu Lili and Xiao Zhang’s eyes nearly popped out of their heads.
Ignoring the six eyes staring at him with varying degrees of shock and intensity, Jin Yan reached into his pocket and pulled out two red booklets. The room went silent as the three spectators stopped breathing.
"Wait... what does this mean?" Zhu Lili stood up, pacing a few steps away. "Zhou Shu, don't tell me those are your marriage certificates!"
Zhou Shu glanced at her and said tonelessly, "Don't worry. They aren't with me."
"Oh... wait, what?" Zhu Lili tried to process the sentence, sitting back down as she struggled to piece together the fragments of the conversation.
Jin Yan felt a headache coming on from Zhou Shu’s stubbornness. He stood up, half-laughing and half-crying, and sat on the other side of Zhou Shu, his gaze never leaving the older man’s eyes.
"How could it not be with you? It’s written right there in black and white." Jin Yan leaned in, his warm breath ghosting over the side of Zhou Shu’s neck.
Zhou Shu turned his head away, still refusing to look at him. "You dare claim my name is on those?"
Jin Yan sighed and flipped the certificates open, holding them directly in front of Zhou Shu’s face. "Look, Ge. If that’s not your name, whose is it?"
Zhou Shu’s gaze fell upon the paper. His lips began to tremble. "How... how is this possible..." He snatched the booklets, staring intently at the names. It wasn't "Zhou Duo." It was his own name. He looked at Jin Yan, his face a mask of confusion.
"I told you already," Jin Yan said, his voice thick with tender devotion. "It could never be anyone but you." The fire in Zhou Shu’s heart was finally being extinguished by this sudden downpour of truth.
After a moment of stunned silence, Zhou Shu realized something was still fundamentally wrong. He looked from the certificates to Jin Yan’s face, voicing the question that had finally clawed its way to the surface: "How can two Alphas get married?"
Jin Yan felt a surge of complex emotions. The truth was a rising tide, and he could no longer hold it back. He pursed his lips, looking as though he were about to announce a matter of national security.
Zhou Shu watched him unblinkingly. Zhu Lili and Xiao Zhang pricked up their ears. Then, Jin Yan’s voice rang out, steady and gentle as always.
"Ge, I should have told you this from the start. I just didn't know how to say it in a way that would be easy for you to accept. It seems I've only succeeded in torturing myself for nothing." He took Zhou Shu’s hand, interlacing their fingers, and leaned down to press a reverent kiss to his fingertips. "I cared too much about your feelings, and I was terrified of exactly what happened today. I was afraid you’d misunderstand me, but in the end, my silence caused the very misunderstanding I feared."
He sighed, rubbing Zhou Shu’s hand against his cheek. "Ge, I’ve said it before—if you’re angry, it’s because I didn't do well enough. No matter what, it’s my fault."
Looking into Jin Yan’s shimmering eyes, Zhou Shu’s heart melted into a puddle. He moved his fingers slightly, tracing the line of Jin Yan’s cheek in a silent gesture of comfort.
Jin Yan’s gaze softened even further. "Ge, what I’m about to say is the absolute truth. And I promise, this is the very last thing I will ever hide from you."
Zhou Shu frowned almost imperceptibly, then nodded. "Speak."
Having received permission, Jin Yan straightened his posture. He gripped Zhou Shu’s hand tighter, as if afraid he might bolt. He opened his own marriage certificate and pointed to the "Gender" column on the personal information page.
As Zhou Shu’s eyes landed on the word, Jin Yan’s voice followed.
"Ge, I actually underwent a secondary differentiation. I’m an Enigma." He paused, watching for a reaction. "The reason I acted first and asked later was because I was afraid you’d mind, or that you wouldn't agree. That’s why I asked Zhou Duo for help. I was just... I was so desperate for you to give me a legal status." Jin Yan still kept the specific "secret" he shared with Zhou Duo to himself.
As the words left his mouth, he saw Zhou Shu’s pupils contract and his lips begin to quiver. Even through their joined hands, he could feel the erratic, thundering beat of Zhou Shu’s heart.
Jin Yan said nothing more, simply holding his hand in the silence.
The airport intercom chimed again, announcing the final boarding call for Zhou Shu’s flight. But Zhou Shu seemed not to hear it, remaining as motionless as a statue. No one dared break the dead silence; even Zhou Shu seemed afraid to breathe.
It wasn't until a member of the airport staff knocked on the lounge door that the atmosphere finally snapped back to the present.
Zhou Shu remained silent, but Jin Yan knew the crisis had passed. The misunderstanding had been cleared; Zhou Shu simply needed time to digest this world-altering information. As for any remaining questions, Jin Yan had a lifetime to answer them. Any tenderness he had failed to show, he would make up for in the years to come.
Under the pressure of the repeated boarding calls, Jin Yan took the luggage and led Zhou Shu toward the security gate, their hands still firmly linked.
Before stepping through the gate, Zhou Shu finally looked up at Jin Yan. He bit his pale lip and called out to the man beside him.
"Jin Yan," Zhou Shu said. Jin Yan immediately leaned in, eager to listen, only to be pushed back a few inches. "Don't get so close. I’m still angry."
Hearing this, Jin Yan knew the "danger" level had dropped to zero. He immediately began to act spoiled.
"Stand up straight. Do you have any idea what you've done?" Zhou Shu turned his face away, refusing to look at him.
"What did I do?" Jin Yan asked, shamelessly leaning in to plant a kiss on the tip of Zhou Shu’s reddened ear.
"You!" Zhou Shu, his anger flaring up again at the blatant flirting, snatched his suitcase from Jin Yan’s hand. He glared at him, enunciating every word with icy precision. "Jin Yan, this is marriage fraud!"
With that, he reverted to his usual cold, arrogant persona and marched toward the security checkpoint with high-altitude dignity.
Jin Yan stood there for a few seconds, a slow, triumphant smile spreading across his face. He watched Zhou Shu’s retreating back, tucked his marriage certificate into his inner coat pocket, and felt his heart swell with a profound, aching fullness.
***
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