REN
Miss Jia Li sealed the brown envelope firmly. Her face was stiff when she lifted her head to hand it to me.
I remained outwardly indifferent in my seat, snatching it and shoving it into my tote bag.
Without a word, I uncrossed my legs and rose to my feet, turning toward the door.
I pushed the chair aside, about to take my first step, when she spoke.
"You can't still be angry…" she snapped.
I said nothing in response. I wasn't going to feed into her self-entitled anger.
Straightening my back, I continued—only for her to speak again.
"Fine. I'll tell you."
The sound of my leather shoes coming to an abrupt halt echoed through the quiet office. She didn't say it loudly or anything; I bet she half-intended for me not to hear it.
But I did.
After that, I willed my legs to move—though, let's be honest, there was no way I was leaving that office after that statement. We both knew it.
Tch. This was going to ruin my angry glide out of the office.
Sucking my tongue between my teeth, I tilted my chin up, eyes to the ceiling, then turned
sharply—looking down at her the way a king would a peasant—as I waltzed back to my seat.
I caught the victorious smirk on her lips.
I ignored it. I hung my bag on the chair's backrest as I sat down, and shrugged. "I'm
listening."
She held my gaze for what felt like forever, making me think she just wanted to waste my
time. I turned on my phone screen. 11:59pm glared at me.
"It seems you've got nothing to say…" I pressed my hand on the armrest, about to heave myself up.
"Okay, okay, okay… I'll talk"
I let out an exasperated breath. "Are you sure?" She shut her eyes and nodded.
She let out a sigh, looking like a monk after a failed meditation. Her voice was low. "What
I'm about to tell you is highly privileged information." My brows knit together as I dragged my chair closer to hear better, scrunching my nose when the table's partition blocked me from going any further.
I nodded my head to signal her to continue.
"Have you ever heard of 'The Web'?" I quirked an unamused brow. Who didn't know what a web was? I decided to go along with her nonsense—although something about the look in her eyes…
"Web, like the ones spiders shoot?" I asked and she shook her head, which caused me to
start giving her a benefit of the doubt.
"Oh, you mean web as in website. The World
Wide Web…" I tried again. She shook her head again. Hmm… I pouted as I tried to think of something else, and that was when she spoke.
"I have no idea when, how, or who founded it but The Web is a tight group of ABO purists
who occupy the top one percent of the country's financial hierarchy..."
My heart did countless runs as I processed her words, finally understanding why she was
being so annoyingly tight lipped. Somehow, her whisper suddenly sounded too loud. There was never anything good when the insanely rich were involved.
She continued.
"These are very powerful people Ren. I'm talking actual decision makers. Those who set the rules of the Omegaverse. And they're not only in this country, their connection
runs worldwide. Hence their name… And guess who happens to be a part of it?"
"Mr. Zhen…" I breathed out. Blinking rapidly when the already menacing reality of what I was about to embark on turned even darker. I didn't think that was even possible.
"These people are ruthless Ren…" I forced myself to swallow as I stared into
nothingness. "They can get away with just about anything. ANYTHING. And I'm
telling you, they don't hesitate to cut off whatever they see a nuisance, and
I'm sure you understand what that means for a mere A-Gen Omega companion like
yourself"
I flinched when she said 'A-Gen'. Because yes, I did understand what it meant. Especially for someone like me who was definitely not an A-Gen.
To put elegantly, It meant I was fucked. Big time. Although I tried not to show it on the
outside, my mind brimmed with turmoil. I chewed the skin in my cheeks, focusing on my ragged breaths.
"But…" I paused to straighten the tremble in my voice. "But Mr Zhen came here the other
time. Wouldn't that be considered as impure, coming to a place like this?" I ended thoughtfully
"What are you trying to say about my establishment?" She suddenly snapped, causing a shift in the atmosphere.
I managed to put my worries aside for a second to scoff, "Girl, rest. You're only managing someone else's business."
Her jaw dropped in amazement, and I rolled my eyes, going back to our topic of conversation.
"Uh huh? Answer my question. Mr Zhen…" I drummed my palm on her table, and she frowned in disapproval but answered anyway.
"From what I know, they're actually not against that at all. It's the natural order, after
all—an alpha will crave an omega, and vice versa. The one with reservations about going to pleasure houses is Mr Zhen himself. He likes his business more… private. Hence my
suspicion of his obsession with you… No offense to your talents, dear."
"None taken." I said, but my voice came out in a whisper. I let Miss Jia Li's words sit with me for a while. I didn't want to analyze anything yet. I didn't want to be scared off. At least, no more than I already was as my consciousness of my surroundings heightened.
I heard Miss Jia Li chuckle. I hadn't paid attention to her in minutes, I realized. "Really
makes you realize how insignificant you are in this world. We're all just pawns in someone's game." I slowly nodded in agreement, and she sighed. "Don't dwell too much on it, dear. So far as you stay away from him, you wouldn't have any problems."
See, that was the part where I had a problem… I couldn't afford to stay away from him. Unlike what Miss Jia Li thought, I didn't have that option.
Oh well, as she said, there was no need to dwell… So I decided to ask the question which had been on my mind since the start of this conversation.
"Wait… So how come you knew all of this and I didn't?" I asked this in all seriousness. Because I was the one who mostly had tea on the clients.
She scoffed, her face all smug, "Because despite how friendly I am with you, I'm not your mate…" I took one look at her and went back to staring at my nails.
"Mmm" I hummed as I waited for the actual reason.
"…and I happen to be wonderful at eavesdropping."
"There it is." I muttered and letout a chuckle.
She chuckled too. The earlier tension in the room faded into a distant memory. "So you're
not angry with me anymore?"
"I wasn't angry. I was just… marinating"
"Marinating?!" She scoffed. "Baby, I had to double check every spot you stared at, just in
case you burned a hole through it."
"Oh please." I retorted, taking a look at the time. 12:35. My heart did a somersault. When
did time fly past so fast? I sent a quick explanation to Mr Lu—who knew if Xueya
was still mad at me? "Jie, I have to go now." I scrambled onto my feet, snatching my bag and running for the door without waiting for a response.
I heard a "Since when do you run?" comment, but I was already out the door and turning a corner.
~
The cold slapped like a bitch outside. As usual, there were no cars around, but luckily, I had managed to book a ride. I checked the phone's screen: Ride is 10mins away. I contemplated on whether to go wait inside. That was when I heard the soft hum of a car,
steadily approaching.
As it got close to where I was standing, the
winged-B on the edge of its dark hood got more and more visible. Did a client mistakingly use the back exit instead?
I waited for the car to get to where I was, so I could redirect them. I bent my head when it came to a stop, waiting as the black tinted window slowly slid down.
"The entrance is the other—" The rest of the words caught in my throat when I got a glimpse of the man behind the wheel.
"I was told you weren't here, but I could smell you all over the place... Ren"
BONUS SCENE
I stopped in front of the NO PETS AND Z-GEN OMEGAS ALLOWED sign posted beside the exit door, a sneer already carved into my face. I'd plastered it on a few meters back in anticipation.
Gracefully, I cracked up the third finger on my hand—counting from either end— then with an eye roll, I stepped out into the evening air.