"What's going on?"
A new voice, softer, concerned.
I turn to see a young woman at the top of the stairs, mid-twenties, beautiful in an effortless way with long dark hair and kind eyes. She's wearing pajamas, actual comfortable pajamas, not the performative perfection Mother insists on.
Li Feifei.
My sister.
The memories flood in. Years of her defending me to our parents, sneaking me snacks when I was sent to bed without dinner, helping me with homework, telling me it would be okay when I cried about Wei Jian. The only person in this family who ever looked at Original Runze with something other than disappointment.
Seeing her now, worry creasing her kind face, makes something in my chest ache.
"Runze?" Feifei comes down the stairs quickly. "Are you okay? Where were you? We were so worried..."
"He was out all night doing god knows what," Mother snaps. "Look at him!"
"Mom, please..." Feifei's face flushes. "Can you not..."
"Don't defend him, not this time." Mother's expression is ice-cold. "Your sister has been nothing but kind to you, Runze. This marriage is going to be incredibly important for our family, for all of us, the least you can do is not embarrass us right before the most important event of her life."
I want to argue, want to say 'something'. But what?
'Sorry, I died and woke up in someone else's body and have no idea what I'm doing?'
That'll go over well.
"I'm sorry," I manage. "I'll... I'll be more careful."
Mother snorts. "See that you are." She turns and stalks back toward the kitchen, muttering about ungrateful children and family reputation.
Feifei stays on the stairs, looking at me with those worried eyes.
"Are you really okay?" she asks quietly. "You look..."
"Tired," I finish. "I'm just tired, I'll be fine after a shower."
She doesn't look convinced, but she nods. "Okay, but if you need to talk..."
"I know. Thanks, Feifei."
I turn toward the stairs, desperate to escape to my room, when her voice stops me.
"Oh, I almost forgot to remind you... the engagement party is in three days, Mother wants everyone on their best behavior. That means you too."
The Wuchen family.
Right. The family whose partnership will help modernize the Li business and secure its future.
"What's his name?" I ask, keeping my voice casual. "Your fiance, I don't think I've actually heard it."
Feifei's expression softens into something fond. "Wuchen Bael, I've told you before, but you never seem to remember."
She says it like a gentle rebuke, like this is typical behavior for Original Runze, so wrapped up in his own drama that he doesn't pay attention to anyone else.
"Right," I say. "Sorry, I'll remember this time."
She smiled and nodded.
I climb the stairs, feeling her eyes on my back until I round the corner.
Wuchen Bael.
The name means nothing to me, just another wealthy businessman, another alpha from a powerful family, another piece in the strategic alliance that's supposed to secure the Li family's future.
I make it to my bedroom (the smallest of the three bedrooms, of course) and close the door behind me, leaning against it with my heart still pounding from the confrontation downstairs.
The room is modest but comfortable. A double bed with rumpled sheets, a desk covered in sketches and papers... architecture drawings, I realize. Original Runze's abandoned dream, a bookshelf crammed with design books and novels. Clothes scattered across a chair.
I should shower, I should sleep, I should do literally anything productive.
But my eyes land on the laptop on the desk.
I could... just look, just see what kind of family my sister is marrying into, it's normal to be curious about your future brother-in-law, right?
My hands are shaking as I open it and wait for it to boot up.
The password comes from the memories: *WeiJian0304*.
Pathetic.
I open the browser and stare at the search bar for a long moment.
This is stupid, what am I even looking for?
I type: *Wuchen Group*.
It's just the company, just basic research, that's all.
The results load, corporate website, news articles, stock information, I click through a few, skimming. Successful conglomerate, multiple industries, recently expanded into textiles...
Then I see a photo in one of the articles.
**Wuchen Bael, CEO of Wuchen Group, announces new partnership…**
My heart stops.
No.
That can't be...
I click on the image to enlarge it.
And my blood turns to ice.
It's him.
The stranger, the alpha, the man who spent hours knotting me into oblivion.
His face stares at me from the screen, those same sharp features, that same cold beauty, those same gray eyes. Professional suit, confident posture, standing outside a corporate building like he owns the world.
My hands are shaking so badly I almost can't type.
I search: *Wuchen Bael Li Feifei engagement*
Please be wrong, please be a different person. Please...
**Wuchen Bael, CEO of Wuchen Group, to wed Li Feifei in strategic partnership between two prominent families.**
The headline swims before my eyes.
I click frantically through article after article.
**Wuchen Bael, 28, takes over family conglomerate after father's death.**
**Eligible bachelor Wuchen Bael spotted at charity gala.**
**Wuchen Group announces expansion into textile manufacturing – strategic partnership with Li Family Textiles.**
Every article has photos, and every photo is him.
The man from the hotel.
My sister's fiance.
I slam the laptop shut and press my hands against my face, trying to breathe, trying to think.
Oh god.
Oh 'god'.
I just fucked my sister's fiance.
Original Runze fucked his sister's fiance.
Does it matter whose body it was? It happened. Those were my hands gripping his shoulders, my voice begging for more, my body taking his knot over and over and...
Wait.
Wait wait wait.
Why was he at Eclipse Bar? Three days before his engagement party?
Why would he sleep with some random omega he picked up at a bar?
My stomach twists with a different kind of nausea.
Is this what he does? Does my sister know? Does she know she's marrying a man who fucks random omegas days before their engagement party?
Or... god, was this a one-time thing? A last hurrah before settling down? Some kind of alpha bachelor party bullshit?
Either way, he's a cheating bastard.
And I... I let him...
No. I didn't 'let' him anything, original Runze seduced him, yes, but HE made the choice, he's the one engaged, he's the one who should have said no.
But he didn't.
He took me to that hotel room and fucked me for hours and knotted me and...
I'm going to be sick.
I stumble to the attached bathroom and barely make it to the toilet before I'm retching, stomach heaving even though there's nothing in it.
When the heaving stops, I collapse against the cool tile floor, shaking.
What do I do?
Do I tell Feifei? Confess what happened?
'Hey, sister, remember that fiance of yours? The one whose family is investing in our business and securing our future? Yeah, I fucked him last night. Or he fucked me, multiple times. He even knotted me, pretty sure I can still feel his cum inside me. Oh, and he definitely knew what he was doing, so he's either a cheater or... I don't know. Sorry about that.'
Yeah, that'll go over great…very great.
Do I tell Mother? Father?
The scandal would destroy everything, the partnership, the engagement, our family's reputation.
And it would be my fault.
Even though I didn't know, even though the original Runze didn't know.
No one would care.
My phone buzzes in my pocket.
I pull it out with trembling hands, the screen is cracked (when did that happen?) but functional.
One new message from an unknown number.
My stomach drops.
I shouldn't open it, I should delete it, I should throw the phone out the window and pretend none of this ever happened.
I open it.
Unknown Number: *You left something behind.*
A photo loads below the text.
It's a watch, expensive, elegant, masculine, sitting on a nightstand I recognize from this morning.
The hotel room.
My hands start shaking so badly I almost drop the phone.
Another message comes through.
Unknown Number: *Eclipse Bar, tonight. 9 PM. Don't make me come find you, omega.*
The phone slips from my fingers and clatters against the bathroom tile.
What the hell have I gotten myself into?