Chen Lihuan wasn't used to being invisible.
He was a man the world bent around—CEOs paused mid-sentence when he entered a room, subordinates read his moods like scripture, and Omegas… Omegas usually softened the moment he gave them attention.
But Li Wei?
Li Wei was ice. Distant. Quiet. Impossibly unreadable.
And it was driving Chen Lihuan mad.
At first, he chalked it up to pride. No Alpha liked to be dismissed, especially not by someone who, contractually speaking, belonged to him.
But it wasn't just pride.
It was the way Li Wei didn't flinch when he entered the room. Didn't linger on a glance. Didn't react to the deliberate flexes of Alpha presence that once turned heads and hearts alike.
It wasn't defiance.
It was worse.
It was indifference.
Chen Lihuan tried civility first.
Casual remarks at breakfast. A quiet presence during dinner.
"How was your day?"
"You're working too hard."
Words that once would have meant something—once considered luxuries from a man like him—were now met with the polite detachment of a ghost.
Not rude.
Not warm.
Just… surviving.
So he tried something else.
The tea Li Wei used to drink in the mornings.
A book he once mentioned in passing.
A sweater, soft and neutral, exactly his style.
Nothing extravagant. Just thoughtful. Remembered.
But the Li Wei in his home now simply moved the items aside. No reaction. No note. No eye contact.
No gratitude.
Only silence.
It made Lihuan irrationally angry.
He didn't want Li Wei to grovel. He didn't expect affection.
But this silence—this quiet, unshakable dignity—was unbearable.
It was a mirror. A reminder.
He had Li Wei's body through a contract.
But not his soul.
One evening, he cornered him—gently, deliberately.
Li Wei was in the study, grading papers, the soft scratch of his pen filling the silence like rain.
Chen stepped in, letting his scent hang heavier in the air.
"You're avoiding me," he said.
Li Wei didn't even look up. "I'm focusing on my work."
"And our arrangement?"
That got a glance. Slow. Unafraid.
"I'm honoring the contract," Li Wei said. "I teach. I live here. That's what you asked for."
No anger. No fear. Just steady calm.
It cut deeper than rage.
Over the next few days, Lihuan watched him—not out of strategy anymore, but… curiosity.
He saw Li Wei laugh with students.
He saw his eyes light up in the classroom.
He saw how his posture changed when he left the penthouse—how his spine straightened like he could finally breathe.
And at night, when the world went still, Chen Lihuan would find himself outside the guest suite door.
Frozen. Uncertain. Alone.
This wasn't the Omega he remembered.
This wasn't the man who once loved him.
And maybe… just maybe…
He never truly knew Li Wei at all.