"Some people raise their voices to be heard. She didn't need to. I heard everything she never said."
— Xue Zhen
⸻
Corporate Tower, Executive Floor
Xue Zhen returned from abroad with no press, no grand announcement. Just a long-haul flight and contracts worth millions. Contracts that, by all accounts, should've been hers to present.
He didn't stop at the reception. He didn't bother with the boardroom.
Instead, he pushed open the frosted glass door bearing her name.
Xue Ning, VP – Innovation Strategy.
She was already on her feet when he entered. Always composed. Always calculating.
She stood off to the side, like a personal assistant, not the department head.
Her alpha boyfriend, sprawled arrogantly on the guest couch, raised a brow in amusement.
Zhen watched her flick a glance — a signal so subtle it would've been missed by anyone else.
Leave.
The alpha scoffed but obeyed, straightening his suit like a peacock plucked mid-preen.
Zhen took the chair.
Her chair.
"You went ahead with the overseas integration project," he said, flipping open the binder on her desk. His voice was quiet, but edged like a paper cut. "Why wasn't I briefed?"
"I sent three memos. You didn't reply."
"I was on a plane."
"You still had Wi-Fi," she said, just a shade too smooth.
Then added, with that practiced smile of hers,
"You put me in charge of Innovation Strategy. If you didn't expect results, why give me the chair?"
There it was again—her audacity.
Not loud, not rebellious. Just cool, infuriating clarity.
She never challenged with fire. Always with facts. Always with that unreadable calm that made others underestimate her. But he didn't.
He saw it.
The flicker of tension at her wrist.
The pulse at her neck that betrayed her poise.
She was seething.
She hated that he sat in her place, hated the silent hierarchy that still bent to his name.
And yet, she said nothing.
Zhen stared at her longer than he meant to, trying to decide if it was instinct or something else that let him read her so precisely.
Then again... it had always been like that.
No one else noticed that she never looked at her boyfriend when he spoke.
No one else noticed that she chewed mint gum after shaking hands in meetings, as if scent made her nauseous.
No one else noticed that she flinched—not visibly, but in her breath—when someone called her "Second House Beta Nobody."
But he did.
Zhen closed the binder.
"No mistakes," he murmured. "You handled it well."
A beat passed.
"Of course," she said, but he could feel her pride flicker.
As he left, he paused by the door. Not looking back, just thinking:
I was always the one who saw her clearest.
Even if neither of them admitted it.
Even if, in the end, it was far too late.
⸻
After Zhen left, Xue Ning finally exhaled.
She walked to her window, pulled out her phone, and dialed a number she remembered by heart.
"Hey," she said. "Guess who came back from the dead."
A voice crackled on the other end, amused.
"Yes, yes," she sighed, glancing at her desk. "Of course I'm not okay. He sat in my chair. Again."
She smiled faintly.
"...No, I didn't kill him. Yet."
She laughed—quietly, but genuinely.
And then softer: "Thanks for answering. I just needed... a voice that didn't sound like war."
⸻
A sharp knock echoed on her door.
Xue Ning didn't move. "Come in," she said coolly, not bothering to look up.
The door creaked open, and in stepped Xue Bo—broad-shouldered, sharp-jawed, with the kind of arrogant handsomeness that always came with volume. His blazer was too crisp, shoes too shiny, presence too loud. An alpha built to be noticed—and he made sure everyone did.
He leaned casually on the doorframe like the office was a bar, not a warzone.
"Well, well," he drawled. "Saw your alpha boyfriend downstairs. Just now. Smiling a bit too much with that Accounting omega."
He raised his brows, as if waiting for a reaction. "Funny how fast he gets comfortable."
Xue Ning didn't even blink. She just looked at him.
Blank. Cold.
Bored.
Xue Bo's smirk twitched. He pushed off the frame and stepped closer, irritation creeping into his voice.
"You shouldn't think that just because Xue Zhen is back, you can start doing whatever you want around here."
"I've been doing whatever I want," Ning said evenly, eyes finally meeting his. "So far, he hasn't shown he's dissatisfied."
It landed like a slap.
Xue Bo clenched his jaw, turned, and left without another word—door slamming behind him a second too loud.
Ning calmly turned back to her laptop.
Her fingers hovered over the keyboard.
Then, slowly, she reached for a flash card instead.
And wrote.
"October 3 – First time I realized Xue Bo would never beat Zhen. Not even close."
She smiled.