Chapter 4

Julian would not normally make such an intimate gesture towards him.

He let go of Elliot's hand and leaned on the edge of the chair behind Elliot, asking him what he was doing. Omega's ears turned red, and he reached for his notebook, saying, "I'm going to bed, you should too."

Julian grabbed his arm. "Wait."

There wasn't much to eat at home, and when Elliot was alone at home, he would make do with something simple. He asked Julian if he wanted something to eat. Otherwise, there should still be some shops open at this hour, and they could go out to eat.

Julian asked what he had for dinner. In fact, Elliot had dinner at the hospital with Nathaniel. Everytime he went to the hospital, he would run into him. But, of course, Elliot couldn't say everything. He lied and said he had eaten something outside.

In the end, Elliot cooked some macaroni for Julian. He leaned back on the sofa and waited for Julian to finish eating. But he fell asleep while waiting, and when he woke up, he had an extra blanket on him.

It just so happened that Julian had come back from outside, and Elliot guessed that he had gone to throw out the garbage.

Julian had always had a detached attitude towards everyone, as if nothing in the world could catch his eye. Including Elliot.

Before, he used to try to find common topics with Julian, but now, he just tried to stay away as far as possible.

Today, Julian was acting a bit unusual. Elliot could feel his gaze when he was about to open the door. He turned and asked, "Do you want to do it?"

Everytime Julian came home hurriedly during his Period, it usually meant he wanted to have sex with Elliot.

Julian didn't say anything, he just opened the door, and with his hands in his pockets, he stared at Elliot.

Elliot thought he had guessed right and understood, so he voluntarily went in. As soon as he entered, he started taking off his clothes. He placed his clothes neatly on one side, as he would rather do it himself than having them torn to shreds, and then he got into bed, revealing only his eyes, his fingers clutching the blanket, looking at Julian and said, "Please be gentle. I have a gathering tomorrow."

Julian was very disgusted with how Elliot was trying to manipulate him, but it was hard to deny that his little wife wasn't as detestable at those times.

Elliot just felt a shadow fall over him, Julian lifted the covers, pressed him down, and then held his wrists. "I bet you were tampering with the condom again, or did you put something in there?"

After speaking, Julian's long fingers touched Elliot's butthole, causing Elliot to tremble, and soon he made some lascivious sounds. His face and neck turned bright red, and he quickly said, "No, I don't want to have kids anymore."

Suddenly, Elliot understood why Julian gave him those pills. It was better to prevent potential problems than to worry about them day and night.

Tears welled up in Elliot's eyes. "I won't do things that you don't want me to do anymore, and I won't go to places you don't want me to go. If you have someone you like, I won't interfere, just please don't divorce me. I only need two years."

Julian didn't say anything, he just looked at him, and Elliot eagerly continued, "One year, one year is also okay. By then, I will personally go persuade my mother and the others. I will set you free."

Elliot looked at him expectantly. "You... playing tricks again?"

Elliot looked confused. Julian bit his neck and the scent of pheromones filled Elliot's nose.

"I've lost count of how many times you've said this to me."

"This time I'm serious. I know I was wrong. Please believe me."

Julian's lips curved into a cold smile. "Alright, make me believe you."

After saying that, he picked Elliot up and carried him to the study. Elliot was wrapped in Julian's coat from head to toe.

Julian placed the divorce agreement in front of him, and then handed him the pen. "If you sign it now, I'll believe you."

Elliot found himself despicable, and between him and Julian, there was a saying that summed up everything. "Given an inch, he takes a mile."

Julian was merciful to him, but in return, Elliot continued to cause trouble for him.

He remembered when he was saved after he attempted suicide by cutting his wrist, Julian stood by his hospital bed and said in a cold voice, "Alright, I'll accompany you in this game to the end."

After that, he never gave him a good look for years.

"Sign it!"

Julian's voice was oppressive.

Elliot hesitantly reached out for the pen, but then quickly pulled back his hand, unable to hold back his tears. "I'm sorry. Can I have a little more time? I won't lie to you this time, I promise."

Julian let go of his hand, the paper and pen fell to the ground, making a sound. He then grabbed Elliot's chin. "I'm tired of hearing these words from you! Do you not realize how hypocritical you are? Next time, are you going to climb to the top of the Empire building and threaten to jump if I want to divorce you? Both families would pressure me if you did that. If you think this kind of life is... Are you happy? I've already said I'll accompany you all the way."

Elliot's silent tears fell to the ground.

Julian was right. Everything was his own fault.

This loveless marriage had tormented both of them in the end.

The next day, Elliot woke up feeling sore all over his body. He sat up, and Julian had already left the room.

He got up slowly, his legs so weak that he nearly fell down. He went to the mirror and saw a trace of last night's desire still lingering in his eyes.

There was a sense of debauchery in the marks on his collarbone.

He was a handsome man.

Elliot touched his face and closed his eyes. It was because of this face that all the subsequent events happened.

Elliot's current mentor was a well-known pastry chef in the industry, and because of her recommendation, he was able to become a teacher at an institution.

Initially, Elliot didn't have the courage to do it, but Isabella asked him if he would be willing to try. Elliot was truly grateful to Isabella, seeing her as a benefactor in his life.

On this day, he had prepared a cake for a private party, but the person who was supposed to come and get the cake had not shown up yet, so he contacted Isabella.

Time was running out, so Elliot took the address and decided to take the cake there himself.

He went to a high-end neighborhood and called the person who had ordered the cake, asking the security guard to let him in. He found the building and lit up the floor number.

"Hello, this is your cake."

"...Elliot?"

Just as Elliot was about to leave, he suddenly saw someone calling his name, it was Julian's comrade.

"I'm Dom, Dominic Reid. Do you not remember me? Once, you almost burned the house down, and I had to rescue you."

Elliot nodded, of course, he remembered it was when he was learning to cook, and almost burned down half of the kitchen. Julian came back and saw the blackened house, looking annoyed. Elliot could tell that he was almost about to hit him. He was about to politely navigate and safely exit the situation.

But Dominic's next words nearly scared him to death. "Julian, guess who's here."

Elliot sat down in a chair, looking down, holding a cup of tea that Dominic's Omega had poured for him. The room was filled with familiar faces, yet Elliot felt so out of place. Whenever someone greeted him, he put on an awkward and polite smile.

As it turned out, it was Dominic's birthday today, so he invited some friends and family to their place. Julian really treasured his comrades.

Dominic's Omega, Adrian, asked Elliot curiously, "Elliot, I heard you went to the front lines with General Hawthorne. The front lines were so tough, you must really love the general."

They had just gotten married back then, how could he say anything about love?

It was just that on their wedding night, Julian never touched him. The Sterling family used him as a bargaining chip for marriage, and children were the most important products, otherwise they wouldn't continue raising Sophia so well.

The front lines were indeed tough, there were often shortages of supplies, and the weather was bad. They also had to fight off insect beasts. Elliot remembered that when they were there for just two months, there was a time when their water supply was cut off, so Elliot went to the river a bit far to do the laundry. When he got back, he was attacked by an insect beast that he didn't know how it had sneaked into the base.

The insect beast was half a meter tall and it was drooling in Elliot's direction. He retreated with his hand grazing the rough ground in fear, and the sharp pincers of the insect beast were about to cut his neck. He was so scared that his hands and feet went weak.

Suddenly, there was a gunshot, and the insect beast's head exploded. A green fluid splattered all over Elliot, and Julian pulled him out from under the insect beast's body. He casually wiped the green fluid off Elliot's face with his gloved hand, and didn't say anything about pitying Elliot, reddening his face. At the time, Elliot blinked, looking at his husband, and tightly holding onto Julian's sleeve. He felt Julian's embrace was so warm and safe.

Elliot didn't dare to say love. He just stuttered, "It's alright, the conditions weren't so bad. We were all living like that."

Dominic continued, "But Elliot is really amazing. You were the first Omega to bravely go to the front lines with the army at that time, as we weren't sure if we would come back."

"Julian, do you remember that time you led the team out and were surrounded by a group of insect beasts that could release poisonous gas? We lost contact with you like that, and we were all so worried. Elliot immediately found the command center, as there was no strict restrictions at that time. When Elliot heard, he immediately said he couldn't let us go out to save you, but at that time, our navigator had been poisoned, and half of the place was filled with miasma, and the path wasn't clear. In the end, Elliot drove by himself, and navigated the path so perilously! Julian, too bad you passed out at the time."

They continued talking endlessly.

Elliot could say that he was fearless back then, right?

Julian didn't respond, and the atmosphere in the room became a bit awkward.

"But we're all fine now, Julian is a general now."

Elliot really wanted to leave, but he didn't want to dampen everyone's mood or embarrass Julian.

Reluctantly, when they were having dinner, everyone automatically left a space next to Julian, so Elliot had to sit there. He discreetly moved to the side, silently eating his meal. When the people at the table started talking about Dominic and Adrian's marriage, Elliot couldn't help but be genuinely happy for them.

Later, when it was time to cut the cake, Dominic said that Elliot had made the cake. Some joked and said, "Mrs. General's cake is really something else." Elliot then explained that he had a small workshop with a friend.

Elliot glanced at Julian's face, afraid to see any signs of displeasure, but luckily, there were none. Perhaps he didn't care.

Julian was different from Elliot, who sometimes would try to maintain the appearance of a happy relationship in front of others. Julian, on the other hand, publicly showed that their relationship was broken.

Now, Elliot didn't care so much anymore. Fake was fake, and it couldn't become real no matter what.

Adrian came over to ask him about the cake, and someone even brought up Elliot's kitchen explosion incident.

"I saw Elliot once, with ten fingers that were all injured. At that time, I envied Julian so much. You couldn't even get ten good fingers, just for the sake of Julian, you ended up like this."

Elliot:"..."

He felt like he couldn't stay there any longer. Couldn't these people see that Julian and him were on the verge of cutting ties? And yet, they were still talking about their relationship.

So he asked Isabella to give him a call, and he pretended to suddenly have something urgent to take care of. Then he politely excused himself.

After he left, Julian suddenly spoke, "What was that incident with the miasma?"

Dominic was confused, "You don't know? Elliot didn't tell you."

Julian stared at him.

"Well, it's true, I asked Elliot to keep it a secret, but I didn't take it seriously. He didn't even tell you. It's not honorable to let non-military personnel join us in battle. We would all receive punishment if it was exposed. So I told him not to tell anyone. When Elliot found the command center, he was our only hope. At the time, Elliot said he was sensitive to your pheromones, which was why he took him. He really did impress us. Pity you were unconscious at the time."

They couldn't stop talking about it.