Unspoken Desires and Hidden Efforts

“Star Yu?” Mu Yaochen answered her phone. The caller ID displayed the name of her childhood best friend, Star Yu.

“Yaochen, what’s wrong? You sound so listless,” Star Yu inquired, sensing the weariness in Mu Yaochen’s voice and suddenly feigning deep concern.

“Nothing, just work matters. Is there something you called about?” Mu Yaochen remained slumped over her desk, too weary to even raise her head.

‘Work matters? What kind of task could possibly confound you, Mu Yaochen?’

Whenever Star Yu’s thoughts turned to Mu Yaochen, they inevitably lingered on Luo Yao, who was ever-present in her friend’s life.

Ever since that particular night, Star Yu had returned home to a profound dream. Its contents were utterly beautiful to her, culminating in her very first nocturnal emission.

While most people tended to forget their dreams upon waking, the sight of her dampened underwear instantly brought the previous night’s vivid dream rushing back to Star Yu’s mind.

Luo Yao—he was now utterly consumed by Star Yu’s thoughts.

“Alright then, it’s nothing major. I merely wanted to ask if you’d like to go out and have some fun?”

Star Yu’s primary intention wasn’t truly to invite Mu Yaochen out; rather, she felt an inexplicable urge to speak with her. More precisely, she yearned for any information concerning Luo Yao.

“Go out? I hardly have the time.” Mu Yaochen rose, her gaze sweeping over the scattered files on the floor. Her mind, however, was consumed by Luo Yao’s expressions, leaving her feeling utterly vexed.

“No time? Well, never mind then. By the way, Captain America 3 should be premiering in a few days; won’t you go see it?” Star Yu, in stark contrast to Mu Yaochen, who bore the immense responsibility of managing a vast conglomerate, enjoyed a remarkably carefree existence. The foundational pillars of her family had yet to undergo a generational shift, sparing her from the cutthroat rivalries with her siblings.

“No time, and no interest,” Mu Yaochen murmured, cradling the phone between her neck and shoulder while she gathered the scattered documents from the floor.

To ask her to watch a fervent superhero movie was far less appealing than suggesting a romance drama.

A mere thought of Luo Yao sent a throbbing pain through her head. Her feelings for him bordered on an unrequited crush, yet they were a step deeper—a clandestine affection she found herself unable to articulate, bound by the chains of her own pride.

‘How, precisely, am I meant to fill his heart with myself?’ After tidying the scattered files, Mu Yaochen sank, utterly devoid of energy, into her chair.

Mountains of files still lay unorganized.

‘I am Mu Yaochen. When have I ever found myself in such a passive position? Is it merely because that little thing doesn’t favor me?’

‘Arghhh!!’

‘Why do I place such emphasis on his feelings for me? He is, after all, my possession.’

Ultimately, Mu Yaochen found herself unable to rein in her desires, thus reverting to her customary self-deception. While her lips might utter indifference to Luo Yao’s perception of her, she knew full well that his opinion would not shift anytime soon. Concurrently, she cared profoundly about the gaze Luo Yao cast upon her.

‘But what recourse did she truly have?’

‘Regardless of her efforts, Luo Yao would not harbor affection for her at this moment.’

‘Was she to enact some melodramatic hero-saves-damsel plot straight out of a novel? She harbored no certainty that such a stratagem would succeed with Luo Yao.’

‘She was a being riddled with utter self-contradiction.’

‘Never mind, no matter the circumstances. He was her possession, utterly incapable of shedding the collar around his neck.’

‘Ughhh……’

‘How utterly tedious.’

In the living room, Luo Yao found the television variety shows even more mind-numbing than his classes. Frost, whose whereabouts were unknown, was currently engrossed in scrolling through short videos on her phone.

The realm of short videos still thrived in an era of ‘fierce content’ (TL Note: A Chinese slang term referring to shocking, extreme, or attention-grabbing online videos), and such content, it seemed, was utterly indestructible.

Yet, after an excessive amount of scrolling, even these videos began to feel oddly tedious.

Luo Yao set his phone aside, his gaze drifting towards the top of the second-floor staircase. It appeared to be Mu Yaochen’s office, though this was merely Luo Yao’s conjecture, given that he frequently observed Frost entering that particular room.

‘What, then, was Mu Yaochen doing at this very moment?’

Despite Luo Yao’s aversion to Mu Yaochen, her demeanor towards him, when contrasted with that of other women, was remarkably favorable.

This, however, was merely Luo Yao’s recent perception. Not long ago, Mu Yaochen had still harbored intentions of keeping him as a pet dog, yet today, she had refrained from tormenting him unduly.

Considering the situation from her perspective, Mu Yaochen still represented a formidable benefactor.

At the very least, she had not immediately transformed him into a mere fertility tool. Had he fallen into the clutches of other wealthy women, he surmised he would likely be a father within a matter of months.

While Mu Yaochen had not stooped to transforming him into a fertility tool, she had, instead, chosen a more unorthodox path.

Luo Yao had largely surmised Mu Yaochen’s true intentions: she desired for him to willingly become her docile pet. This particular notion struck him as even more repugnant and twisted.

For a fleeting moment, Luo Yao unexpectedly recognized the virtue in Su Mengqi.

After all, despite Su Mengqi’s somewhat thoughtless affection for him, she harbored no desire to treat him as a s*ave or train him like a pet; her fondness was rooted in a sense of fairness.

The thought of Su Mengqi suddenly spurred Luo Yao to envision himself as the ‘Arch-Incendiary King’ (TL Note: A Chinese slang term for someone who enjoys instigating trouble or egging others on).

Luo Yao’s own emotional landscape was, to say the least, rather nuanced. In his previous world, his feelings had been thoroughly trampled by his former girlfriend, rendering him less emotionally sensitive.

Consequently, Luo Yao, still affected by those past wounds, harbored a degree of resistance toward romantic entanglements.

Just as Luo Yao found himself musing on the vagaries of life, the phone nestled in his pocket suddenly vibrated.

‘A message from Frost. What could she possibly want?’

Luo Yao opened his phone, seeing that Frost had sent him an “OK” emoji.

– “The renovation company can commence work tomorrow. This is the simulated design; please review it and let me know if any changes are required.”

Before Luo Yao could even formulate a reply, another message from Frost appeared in the chatbox, immediately followed by a highly detailed architectural rendering of the house, its interior layout perfectly mirroring the shop Luo Yao had rented.

‘Frost’s efficiency is truly remarkable.’

Luo Yao, marveling at her promptness, simultaneously composed a reply to Frost’s message.

– “Excellent, thank you.”

There was no need for further elaborate words, as Frost understood that Luo Yao had no need to utter feigned pleasantries to her.

However, Luo Yao remained utterly oblivious. While Frost indeed had a multitude of daily responsibilities, her very first action upon reaching the company was to contact the relevant personnel, relay Luo Yao’s requirements to the renovation company’s manager, and then meticulously oversee the entire design process of the house renovation. All the while, the legitimate assignments Mu Yaochen had entrusted to her were completely cast aside.

‘Why she acted in such a manner, Frost herself couldn’t quite discern.’

She simply acted on instinct.

Finally, Luo Yao also appended a smiling emoji, sensing that merely those four words would appear too perfunctory.

On the other end of the phone, upon seeing Luo Yao’s final, simple smiling emoji, Frost’s heart was suddenly suffused with a gentle warmth.

That intricate emotion, once more, intensified boundlessly within her. Strange as it was, it felt profoundly comforting.