Chapter 125: Ch 125: Gentle Pretense and Warped Perceptions

The sun continued its slow climb above the peaceful trees, golden rays slipping through the dense canopy and scattering across the grass in soft, shifting patterns.

A light breeze moved the leaves, carrying the quiet scent of earth and greenery through the shaded clearing. The distant rustle of branches and the occasional call of a bird filled the spaces between the forced conversations happening under the trees.

Mo Xingxue sat with her gaze fixed on those trees, her mind far away. She was thinking of Su Wanyan and the children—of the warmth of an arm around her waist, of Shen Guoxing’s bright laughter, of Mo Yan’s tiny hands curling against her fingers.

The memories were soft and solid, a quiet place she could retreat into. Everything about the man beside her was deliberately pushed to the edges of her awareness. The soft grass pressed under her, the dappled light shifted across her lap, and she kept her posture carefully closed.

Gu Chengze finally gathered enough calm to clear his throat. The sound was low and deliberate. "How are you, Mo Xingxue?" he asked, using the deep, magnetic tone that usually made others swoon. The words were shaped to sound intimate and concerned.

However to Mo Xingxue, the sound only made her stomach turn.

Without looking at him, she gave a single, curt nod. "Fine." The word left her lips as cold and sharp as ice. It carried no invitation and no opening.

Gu Chengze’s hands clenched in his lap. Temper flared hot and fast beneath the surface, but he forced it down with practiced control. She’s my woman, he reminded himself. I can’t scare her away. I can’t get angry at her.

He exhaled slowly, trying to reclaim the carefully constructed calm. Lin Xuanyu’s words from the day they planned this "masterpiece" rose in his memory, clear and useful.

"Look at her with gentle eyes," Lin Xuanyu had said, holding Gu Chengze’s hands in his soft, warm ones. "And speak to her in a gentle, soft tone. All omegas like being treated that way." The smile that had accompanied the advice had been soft and warm.

Remembering it now, Gu Chengze smiled. The omega had certainly lived up to his expectations. His heart gave a quiet, traitorous beat for the other omega, but he pushed the feeling aside and turned his attention fully back to Mo Xingxue. He arranged his expression into something gentle, though a thin thread of madness still ran beneath the pretense. The soft golden light through the leaves caught the edges of that carefully manufactured softness.

"Do you have any questions for me?" he asked, voice carefully soft, as though speaking to a delicate treasure. The tone was measured, almost tender.

The sound made Mo Xingxue shudder. Her face darkened. Disgusting, she thought. It felt as if insects were crawling over her skin—unpleasant, invasive, impossible to ignore. The soft breeze that had felt pleasant only moments before now carried the weight of his presence too close.

She fought to suppress the visible reaction, unwilling to let the cameras catch anything unusual. After a long, controlled breath she turned toward him, hands still trembling faintly in her lap.

"Can you leave me alone?" she asked, staring straight into his eyes. The question was quiet, direct, and absolute. There was no softness left in it.

Gu Chengze paused. The corner of his mouth twitched rapidly. Fresh anger surged, sharp and immediate, but again he forced it down with the same reminder: she is my woman. The mother of my child. The mother of my future children.

He covered the twitch with a light cough and smiled at her once more, gentle and patient. "I won’t."

The words were delivered as though they were the most natural, even considerate, answer in the world. The soft forest light continued to shift across his face, but the refusal sat solid and unyielding between them.

Mo Xingxue stared at him for a moment longer, then looked away, teeth clenched. Her hands would not stop shaking. Her sympathetic nervous system had already switched into fight-or-flight; adrenaline flooded her veins in sharp, restless waves.

She did not want to admit it, but looking at him for more than a minute was terrifying.

Her mind kept dragging her back to that night—images and sensations she had spent months trying to bury. The memories rose unbidden, cold and heavy, and she forced them down again with the same careful control she used for everything else.

Her breathing quickened. Still, she refused to let Su Wanyan or the others notice. She simply lowered her gaze to the trembling hands resting on her lap and focused on keeping her expression blank. The soft rustle of leaves overhead continued, indifferent to the quiet storm locked inside her.

Gu Chengze noticed none of it. In fact, thinking about it now, he felt quietly pleased. From every past experience with omegas, words like "leave me alone" usually meant the opposite. They were playing hard to get. They wanted him to continue. The logic was familiar and convenient.

An obsessive smile curved his mouth. Oh, Mo Xingxue, he thought, satisfaction blooming warm in his chest. I look forward to the day you’ll finally be honest about your feelings for me.

He cleared his throat again and covered the smile with one hand. Across the clearing the assistant director stood watching them with a proud, greedy expression. Gu Chengze’s smile turned sharper.

What a fool, he thought. He had only promised the man a handful of projects and some spare money, yet the buffoon had followed every instruction without a single question. The assistant director didn’t even consider what that insolent PD might say later. Two birds, one stone—getting his wife back and creating a problem for the annoying man. In addition, the stone had cost him almost nothing.

He settled more comfortably beside Mo Xingxue, already deciding which carefully chosen question he would ask next, completely blind to the quiet storm of fear and rage still locked inside the woman sitting only an arm’s length away.

Then, Gu Chengze moved with quiet deliberation. His hand settled on the grass near Mo Xingxue’s thighs—close enough that the proximity could not be dismissed as accidental, yet subtle enough that a careless observer might overlook it. The soft blades of grass bent under his palm. The space between his fingers and her leg was deliberately narrow.

The moment Mo Xingxue registered the nearness of his hand, every fine hair on her arms and the back of her neck rose. The reaction was instantaneous, older than thought.

Instinct took over before any deliberate decision could form. She shifted sharply away, putting as much distance between them as the small space allowed. The soft grass pressed against her palm as she moved; the dappled light across her lap jumped with the sudden motion.

Her chest constricted. Her throat tightened until each breath felt thin and insufficient. Cold sweat broke across her back, soaking through the fabric of her clothes in a sudden, clammy wave.

The forest air that had felt so pleasant moments ago now seemed stifling, pressing in around her. She kept her gaze fixed forward, jaw locked, refusing to give the cameras—or him—any clearer sign of the storm locked inside her.

Despite this, Gu Chengze only smiled.

She’s shy, he decided, a quiet chuckle rising in his chest. He had seen this reaction many times before—omegas pulling away, creating space, waiting for him to follow. The pattern was familiar and, in his mind, almost endearing.

In the past he had rarely bothered. Those others had been temporary diversions, canaries kept for pleasure and discarded when the song grew tiresome. There had been no reason to chase. Their retreats had been predictable, almost boring.

But watching Mo Xingxue do the same thing sent a different kind of thrill through him. On her, the retreat looked adorable. It felt like proof that she belonged to him—that even her resistance was a private performance meant only for his eyes. The soft golden light through the leaves caught the edges of her profile as she kept her face turned away, and the sight only deepened the satisfaction settling in his chest.

He shook his head with fond exasperation and closed the small gap she had created. The movement was unhurried and confident. His hand stretched toward the one resting rigidly on her lap. The soft grass whispered under his fingers as they advanced.

When he lifted his gaze to her face, he met eyes wide with unmistakable terror.

However, he did not see the terror.

Because in the warped lens of his mind the expression was something softer—ecstasy mixed with shyness, the look of an omega who wanted to be pursued yet still clung to the last scraps of pride. The interpretation settled comfortably into place, confirming everything he already believed. The wide eyes, the tight posture, the way she had moved away—all of it fit the story he preferred.

A slow, satisfied smile curved his mouth as his fingers continued their unhurried path toward hers. The soft forest continued its quiet rhythm around them—the rustle of leaves, the shifting golden light, the distant calls of birds—completely indifferent to the distance one person was trying to keep and the other was determined to close.

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BEFORE Y’ALL ATTACK ME, I’MMA REPORT WHAT I WAS DOING! So I woke up at 6 AM, went to school at 8:45 AM, went to class for three hours, went to meh club (journalism shi), got called by the president of our organization, grab a quick bite of food (LIKE REALLY QUICK BECAUSE I ONLY HAD 15 MINUTES BEFORE MY CLASS START), then lastly, took a jeepney ride back home (my butt hurts because I was sitting for almost two hours... fahh ahh traffic.)