Chapter 89: Delicate Shen Yu

Chapter 89

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Shen Yu stared at Teahyun for several long seconds without saying anything. The silence between them felt heavier than the cold air surrounding the parking lot, and the longer Shen Yu looked at the man standing before him, the more something bitter began to twist inside his chest.

Then he laughed.

It was a quiet, humorless sound that held none of the warmth of genuine amusement. His lips curved slightly, but there was no smile in his eyes.

"You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?" Shen Yu asked.

His voice was low, almost unnervingly calm compared to the anger building beneath it. "My pain is your happiness. That’s why you keep doing this. You don’t actually want to help me."

Teahyun continued watching him without answering.

That silence only made Shen Yu angrier.

His fingers curled slowly into fists at his sides. His nails pressed into his palms, giving him something physical to focus on while the helplessness inside him continued to grow. He hated this feeling. He hated standing there without knowing where Jiang Li was, hated knowing that the safety of the omega he had only just realized he loved was being used against him.

Most of all, he hated that Teahyun knew exactly how to make him feel powerless.

"You want to make me feel helpless. You want to make me feel weak." Shen Yu’s voice rose as his restraint finally began to fracture. "Isn’t that right, Kim Teahyun? To you, I’m nothing but a puppet."

Teahyun smiled.

It was that same infuriating smile Shen Yu remembered from years ago, the one that always appeared whenever Teahyun believed he had found the exact place where Shen Yu was most vulnerable.

Teahyun lifted his phone and pressed it casually against his cheek.

"After everything I’ve told you, you’re still throwing a tantrum?" he asked, almost amused. "Is your omega’s life really that insignificant to you? Or perhaps the baby’s life is insignificant too?"

His tone remained light when he said it.

That was what made the words so terrifying.

Shen Yu froze.

The anger that had been burning through him moments ago seemed to disappear beneath a sudden, suffocating fear. His hands began to tremble despite how tightly he clenched them.

Jiang Li.

Beanie.

The names collided inside his mind.

For a moment, Shen Yu couldn’t hear anything except the pounding of his own heart.

His eyes slowly closed.

When he opened them again, his gaze dropped toward the ground in front of Teahyun.

He understood what Teahyun wanted.

He wanted him to kneel.

Shen Yu’s jaw tightened.

He didn’t want to.

Every instinct inside him screamed against it. He had spent years building himself into someone who could stand on his own, someone who didn’t need anyone’s protection or permission. He had endured pain without allowing himself to depend on another person, and he had convinced himself that needing someone was the same thing as giving them the power to destroy him.

And now Teahyun was standing in front of him, demanding that he throw all of that pride onto the ground.

Shen Yu could almost feel the humiliation before it happened.

He could imagine Teahyun looking down at him with that satisfied expression, knowing that he had finally managed to make Shen Yu submit.

He wanted to punch him.

He wanted to wipe that smug expression from his face.

But what did his pride matter compared to Jiang Li?

What did humiliation matter compared to Beanie?

Shen Yu swallowed hard.

The ground beneath his feet seemed to blur slightly. He closed his eyes and drew in a slow, shaky breath, trying to force his thoughts into order.

He had always believed that strength meant never bending.

But perhaps there were moments when refusing to bend was nothing more than selfishness.

And Jiang Li was somewhere out there.

Waiting.

Perhaps afraid.

Perhaps hurt.

Perhaps calling his name.

Shen Yu’s shoulders slowly lowered.

Then he bent his knee.

The moment his knee touched the ground, something inside him seemed to crack.

He lowered his head, staring at the cold pavement while his broad shoulders trembled with restrained anger. His breathing became heavier, and his hands remained clenched so tightly that his knuckles had gone pale.

He hated this.

He hated kneeling.

He hated being vulnerable.

Most of all, he hated the fact that Teahyun was still the person capable of reducing him to this.

Why was it always like this whenever he stood in front of him?

Why, after everything Shen Yu had accomplished, did Teahyun still know exactly where to press?

Teahyun’s expression changed.

For the first time, genuine surprise crossed his face.

He had expected resistance. Perhaps even hours of arguing before Shen Yu finally surrendered. Shen Yu had always been stubborn, proud to the point of recklessness, and Teahyun had expected him to cling to that pride until there was nothing left.

Instead, he had knelt almost immediately.

Teahyun stared at him for a moment before slowly approaching.

His shoes stopped directly beside Shen Yu.

He looked down at the man who had once seemed impossible to break.

Then Teahyun reached down and grabbed Shen Yu by the hair, pulling his head backward.

Shen Yu’s neck strained as his face was forced upward. The harsh light from the parking lot reflected against his dark eyes, making them appear glassy despite the fury burning inside them.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Shen Yu hissed.

Teahyun’s lips curled.

"What a beautiful sight."

His voice was quiet, almost appreciative.

Shen Yu’s expression hardened.

He had endured enough.

With a sudden movement, he knocked Teahyun’s hand away and pushed himself to his feet. His breathing was rough, but his gaze had become cold again.

"Where is Jiang Li?"

Teahyun rolled his eyes as though Shen Yu had just asked an irritatingly obvious question.

Without answering immediately, he reached into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out his phone. He tapped the screen several times before turning it toward Shen Yu.

A small red dot appeared on the map.

Shen Yu stared at it.

His eyes narrowed.

"Did you install a tracker on Jiang Li?"

Teahyun merely shrugged.

Shen Yu pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes for a moment.

He was exhausted.

His body felt heavy, his mind was barely keeping up with the constant stream of thoughts, and every second he spent standing there felt like another second Jiang Li was in danger.

He looked at the location again.

Then he turned.

He needed to go.

He needed to find Jiang Li.

But after taking only one step, he stopped.

Something about the situation still bothered him.

Shen Yu turned his head slightly.

"You aren’t lying to me, are you?"

Teahyun raised a brow.

"I’ll never lie to you," he replied smoothly. "I thought you knew that."

Shen Yu stared at him.

For a brief moment, memories surfaced.

There had been a time when he would have believed those words without hesitation.

A time when Teahyun had been one of the few people Shen Yu trusted completely.

A time when Shen Yu had believed that no matter what happened, Teahyun would never be the person to hurt him.

That trust had once been absolute.

Now it felt like another scar.

Before Shen Yu could turn away again, Teahyun spoke.

"What if they leave?"

Shen Yu froze.

The words were simple.

Yet they struck him with the precision of a blade finding an old wound.

Teahyun watched the change in his expression.

"What would you do then?"

Shen Yu’s hands slowly tightened into fists.

He knew exactly what Teahyun was doing.

This wasn’t about Jiang Li.

Not entirely.

Teahyun was reaching past the present and dragging every fear Shen Yu had spent years burying into the light.

"You need me, Yu’ah," Teahyun said quietly as he stepped closer. "You always have."

Shen Yu’s shoulders became rigid.

"You always did, and you always will. You’re useless without me."

Teahyun leaned closer, lowering his voice until the words became almost intimate.

"I think you know that too."

"I don’t—"

The words died in Shen Yu’s throat.

His eyes dropped.

He couldn’t finish.

Because this wasn’t only about him anymore.

Jiang Li’s life was involved.

Beanie’s life was involved.

He couldn’t gamble with either of them simply because his pride refused to accept Teahyun’s control.

For the first time, Shen Yu wondered whether pride could become another form of selfishness.

He had spent so much of his life believing that depending on someone made him weak. Yet here he was, realizing that refusing to compromise could put the people he loved in danger.

What kind of Alpha would I be if my pride mattered more than their lives?

The thought hurt.

Shen Yu lowered his head.

Teahyun watched him silently for a moment before humming with quiet satisfaction.

"Let’s go."

He turned and began walking toward the car, his hands slipping casually into his pockets.

He didn’t need to say anything else.

He knew the words had already found their way beneath Shen Yu’s skin.

That was what Teahyun had always been good at.

He knew Shen Yu’s weaknesses better than anyone.

He knew the fears Shen Yu rarely admitted existed. He knew how deeply Shen Yu feared abandonment and how desperately he wanted to believe that someone could stay. He knew that beneath the cold exterior was a man who had spent years wondering whether anyone could ever love him simply for being himself.

Not because of his strength.

Not because of his status.

Not because of his Alpha designation.

Not because of what he could provide.

Shen Yu had always feared that, without all those things, there would be nothing worth loving.

Teahyun had seen that insecurity develop long before Shen Yu understood it himself.

He had watched Shen Yu build walls around his heart after every betrayal, every loss, and every disappointment. The taller those walls became, the more Shen Yu convinced himself that he no longer needed anyone.

But Teahyun knew better.

Because he remembered the Shen Yu who existed before those walls.

The boy who had once cried against his shoulder when everything became too difficult.

The boy who had believed Teahyun understood him when nobody else did.

The boy who had been so desperate for someone to stay that he had willingly placed his entire heart into another person’s hands.

That Shen Yu had never truly disappeared.

He had only been buried.

And now Jiang Li had found him.

Teahyun glanced toward the car.

Shen Yu was standing beside it, staring through the window with a distant expression. His pride had been left behind somewhere on that cold pavement, abandoned for the sake of one omega.

Jiang Li.

Teahyun’s smile slowly returned.

It was almost fascinating.

After all those years of watching Shen Yu build walls around himself, one person had managed to slip through the cracks without even trying.

Love had always been capable of doing that.

No matter how carefully someone built their defenses, the person behind those walls remained the same person who had built them.

Pain had created Shen Yu’s walls.

Loss had taught him to hide.

Fear had taught him not to trust.

But Jiang Li had begun teaching him something else.

How to want.

How to hope.

How to love again.

And that made Jiang Li dangerous.

Not because the omega intended to hurt Shen Yu, but because Shen Yu had finally given someone the ability to do so.

Teahyun looked at him for a long moment.

Shen Yu had only just realized his feelings for Jiang Li, yet already he was willing to sacrifice his pride for him.

Teahyun wondered what would happen if Jiang Li ever became the person capable of breaking the delicate heart Shen Yu had spent nine years protecting.

His smile deepened.

"Even after becoming an Alpha..."

He looked toward Shen Yu with something almost possessive in his eyes.

"You’re still my delicate Shen Yu."