Corbyn never dreamed that such a ridiculous thing would actually happen to him. Wasn't this something that would only happen in the movies?
Even if this were really to happen in real-time, shouldn't Corbyn be the one saying this to someone else while flinging money in their faces?
Also, how could he only be offered a million dollars? Was Dean only worth one million measly dollars? Who did this punk think he was looking down on? Did he think Dean wasn't worth more than a million dollars? Or did he think that Corbyn wasn't worth more than a million dollars?
What the fuck could he even buy with a million dollars anyway? It wasn't even enough for Corbyn to buy himself a cheap watch!
Corbyn was utterly confused. He blinked a few times, trying to commit Anson's haughty face into his memory. He pressed his pink lips together while fluttering his thick eyelashes, making him look all the more beautiful and seductive.
Anson felt angrier as he looked at Corbyn's expression. What a sly bitch!
He warned, "You'd better know what's best for you. People like you don't deserve someone like Dean. He's too good for you.
"He's going to dump you very soon, and when that time comes, you won't be getting a single cent from him. But if you back out of the picture now, you'll still keep your dignity and get a million dollars in your bank account!"
Corbyn hated it the most when other people told him that Dean was too good for him. Corbyn's face turned sour as he said, "I wonder why security let a mongrel like you into the building. Fuck off before I call security!"
Anson grinned and showed him an access card. "Why else? It's because Dean sent me here."
Corbyn tensed. He snatched the access card away from Anson's hand and looked at Dean's signature behind it. This card belonged to Dean, alright.
Anson was delighted when he saw the frown on Corbyn's face. He then said, "What, still think that a million dollars isn't enough? Don't get greedy."
Corbyn was dying to yell in return, "How about I give you two million dollars and you get out of my face?"
However, he quickly stopped himself. "Why should I give this dumbass two million dollars out of the blue?" he thought. "I'd be the bigger dumbass if I did that."
Anson continued, "I'm younger than you, prettier than you, and smarter than you. I also know Dean's interest and can hold up conversations with him…"
Corbyn finally understood where Anson was coming from as soon as he heard this. So, this little dumbass was trying to buy his way into becoming Dean's mistress!
Would wonders never cease? Why were there still people dumb enough to present themselves to him and beg for a good beating like this?
Corbyn didn't bother saying anything else. He raised his hand and delivered a hard slap to Anson's cheek.
Anson's cheek immediately swelled to twice its size. He never thought that Corbyn would slap him all of a sudden. He was shocked into a daze.
By the time he finally snapped back to the present, he saw the door slamming shut in his face. Corbyn was long gone from his sight before he even had the chance to retaliate.
Anson was the son of a rich millionaire. He had never been treated like this before. His eyes turned red as he continued hammering angrily at the door.
No matter how loudly he hammered at the door, however, it wouldn't open, and his hands eventually began to smart. A short while later, a few security guards appeared and dragged him away.
Of course, Corbyn was the one who had called the security guards up. He'd only told them that some maniac was banging at his door. And since Anson didn't live there, he was very politely escorted out of the premises.
Corbyn was still quite mad. He took out his phone, meaning to call Dean and demand that he explain everything about Anson. But when he looked up and caught himself in the mirror, he realized that his anger was written all over his face.
He was shocked. If he called Dean in such an angry state like this, would he accidentally say something that might offend Dean and make him unhappy with him in return?
The more he thought of this, the less angry he felt, and the more helpless he looked as well. Things had already come to this, and yet, he was still worried about getting exposed and keeping up with his naive and innocent act!
Corbyn chuckled dryly in self-deprecation. He put Dean's access card on the coffee table and took a few deep breaths. He waited until his mind cleared up before picking up his phone once more and making a call to Dean.
However, Dean didn't answer the phone.
Corbyn frowned. He tried calling a few more times, but Dean never picked up any of the calls.
Now, Corbyn was furious once more. He could even feel his head burning with anger.
With no one else to vent his frustration on, he called Paxton and started complaining to him. Paxton was angry too when he heard the story. "What? Dean's such an ass! How dare he get a mistress and let him walk all over your head?"
Corbyn shook his head. "Why would Dean ever get a mistress? I just think that guy is a delusional bitch."
Paxton sighed. "Wait, why are you standing up for your boyfriend? Do you really trust him so much? Didn't you say that he didn't have much feelings for you?"
Corbyn smiled bitterly. "I don't trust his feelings for me. But, I trust his personality."
Dean was a straightforward person who never beat around the bush. If he was really in love with someone else, he wouldn't need to cheat on Corbyn. He would just end things immediately with him.
At that thought, Corbyn didn't know if the feeling in his heart was one of relief or bitterness.
Paxton thought for a while. "Then, what are you planning to do about this?"
Corbyn replied, "I'm just going to ask Dean about it. But he hasn't been picking up my calls. I don't know what's going on—"
Paxton interrupted him and said, "Isn't Dean a fund manager? I heard that certain companies don't allow fund managers to use their phones while at work for fear of rat trading. Wait till he gets off work to call him again."
Realization suddenly dawned on Corbyn. "Oh, is that so? That must be why he's not picking up. It's not because he's avoiding me on purpose."
Paxton had been right. Because of Kelvin's scandal, David had enforced more preventive measures at the company, including forbidding the use of phones while trading for his employees.
When it was time for Dean to get off work, Corbyn decided to call Dean once more. However, Dean was the one who called him first.
"What's the matter?"
Corbyn was taken by surprise. He didn't know how or where to start explaining. After a short pause, Corbyn said slowly, "Um… Someone called Anson Rothbart came over with your access card earlier."
"I know," Dean replied. "I was the one who told him to go."
Corbyn felt his heart drop to his stomach. His voice tensed as he asked, "Why?"
Dean answered, "I left my pen at home and told him to get it for me. But he had a nasty fall on the way back and went to the hospital."
Corbyn put two and two together and got the full picture. What did he mean by Anson having a nasty fall? It was obvious that Anson had been too ashamed to return to work with a swollen cheek, so he'd just made up an excuse not to go back.
Still, Corbyn said nothing of the sort. Instead, he asked, "Really? What kind of person is he, by the way? He was very rude to me!"
"He's the new assistant."
Corbyn was even more puzzled now. How would a mere assistant have the confidence to threaten him with a million dollars?
So, Corbyn asked, "Is he from a rich family?"
"He's David's son."
"I see. I get it now," Corbyn said with a nod.
If Anson had just been any other regular person, then Corbyn wouldn't have had a problem dealing with him as he could just claw him to death. But because Anson was Dean's boss' son, Corbyn couldn't possibly deal with him like he wanted to.
However, it was too late for Corbyn to take that slap back. He was sure that his red handprint must still be on Anson's cheek.
Anson didn't dare to go to work with the red handprint on his face. So, he took a few days off and stayed home. Still, he didn't manage to hide it from his parents.
Although David was quite the scoundrel, Anson was his only son, and he treated him like a prince at home. He was mad to learn that someone had dared to slap Anson and demanded to know everything that had happened.
Anson wanted to lie his way out of it at first, but he was too dumb to lie to his sharp-witted father. David just had to ask Anson a few leading questions to get the whole story out of him.
When he learned that Anson had been chasing after his own employee, wanting to be his mistress, and gotten slapped in the face by the rightful boyfriend, David nearly had a heart attack. He was fuming, but he just didn't know whom to direct his anger at.
Was he angry at himself because he never taught Anson how to behave properly? Or was he angry at his son because he was too stupid?
However he looked at it, things didn't make much sense. They were a family after all, and there was no reason for them to get mad at each other.
So, David focused his anger on someone from outside their family instead. "How could Corbyn beat you up like this? He's such a barbarian!"
Anson felt like his actions were justified when he heard David pinning the blame on Corbyn. He felt wronged and aggrieved at once. "That's right! He crossed the line! What should I do, Dad? Do you think he's going to talk bad about me to Dean?"
David felt a headache as soon as he heard Dean's name being brought up. It had taken him many years for him to accept that his only son was gay. And now, his son wasn't just gay but also crushing on Dean. His head was starting to pound.
"Dean's a cold and emotionless robot. Why do you even have a crush on him?"
"I like it that he's a cold and emotionless robot," Anson replied.
No matter what, David still loved his son and always took his side. So, he said, "Then, don't go anywhere near Corbyn anymore. You were the one in the wrong after all. How about this—I'll arrange for you and Dean to go on a business trip together. You can try winning his heart then."
Anson's eyes lit up at once.
David sighed. "But, if it doesn't work out between you both, then don't push it. Dean's not nice when he gets angry."
…
A few days later, Dean told Corbyn that he was going on a business trip.
After asking a few questions, Corbyn learned that Dean was going on the trip alone with Anson. That made Corbyn even more anxious. However, he could only keep it to himself when Dean was around. He didn't dare to make a huge fuss about it.
After all, only people who knew they were deeply loved by their partners would dare to kick up a fuss over things like this. Because, in the end, they knew that their partner would still put up with them because of love.
However, for Corbyn, that wasn't the case. He didn't know for sure whether Dean reciprocated his feelings. He only knew that Dean liked it whenever he acted weak and pitiful with him, so he didn't dare to kick up any fuss, choosing instead to maintain the peace between them both.
In fact, he didn't even dare to tell Dean that Anson had confronted him at their apartment that day. He was worried that if he were to tell Dean about it, then Dean would also eventually find out that Corbyn had slapped Anson that day.
Corbyn was sweet, naive, and innocent in Dean's eyes. How could he possibly slap someone else with that temperament?
Corbyn sighed. He loved Dean, so he didn't dare to tell him anything.
However, Corbyn felt anxious about the situation. After all, Dean was his most precious person, and Anson was a shameless bastard. How could he live in peace knowing that his beloved Dean was alone with a bastard like Anson?
After thinking for a while, Corbyn said, "I happen to be in the midst of changing jobs now, and I'll have some time off before I start my next job. Why don't I go with you on your business trip?"
Dean didn't oppose that suggestion. However, he also didn't ask Corbyn why he was changing jobs.
It felt as if Dean didn't care about Corbyn at all.
Dean's business trip was going to last for a month, but Corbyn actually only had a week off. There was nothing else he could do other than apply for an extension to delay his first day back at work.
Corbyn never worried about whether or not his extension request would be approved or not. After all, Paxton was the HR manager at Bloomberg Group, and he approved of the extension immediately.
However, things didn't go as smoothly as Corbyn hoped.
Veronica happened to ask Paxton, her nephew, why Corbyn hadn't reported to work that day.
For the past many years, Veronica had been living a nymphomaniac life as she indulged in sex and obsessed over male escorts at the club almost every day. She basically no longer cared much about the company and usually just came and went as she liked.
She had only chosen to show up that day because it was supposed to be the day Corbyn returned to the headquarters. However, when she realized that Corbyn wasn't there, she immediately started grilling Paxton for answers.
Paxton stammered for a long time before letting it slip that Corbyn was on vacation.
Veronica was angry at the news. "How old does he think he is? How dare he follow in my footsteps and skip out on work for the sake of entertainment?"
Paxton was terrified by Veronica's outburst. He then blurted out the truth. "H-He's with his boyfriend…"
If Veronica had been angry earlier, now, she was furious. "How old does he think he is? How dare he follow in my footsteps and skip out on work for the sake of sex?"
When Corbyn was young, he had been sent to a boarding preschool. After that, he was then sent to a boarding middle school and a boarding high school. After graduating high school, Corbyn had then gone abroad for his tertiary education. So, he rarely spent any time at home.
Similarly, Veronica had been busy at work since young, and as she got older, she began spending more and more time at the club. She also rarely spent any time at home. So, she didn't have a particularly close relationship with Corbyn.
Naturally, she didn't know about Dean either.
She only vaguely knew that Corbyn had a handsome boyfriend in the financial sector. However, she didn't know anything about the details of the relationship.
At first, Veronica thought that Corbyn was just fooling around in the relationship, so she didn't bother much about it. Now, however, she realized that things weren't as simple as they seemed.
She would prefer learning that Corbyn didn't want to come to work because he was out having fun instead of accompanying his boyfriend.
Frowning, Veronica demanded, "Spill it! What's the deal with Corbyn and his boyfriend? Tell me everything you know!"
Under Veronica's threats, Paxton could only come clean to her and tell her all that she wanted to know.
When she heard that Dean's mother looked down on Corbyn, thinking her son was too good for him, Veronica nearly exploded from anger.
"Nobody is too good for my son! If anything, my son is the one who's too good for anybody in the world!"
Paxton thought, "What a coincidence! Dean's mother has the exact same thinking as you do."
Veronica then laughed coldly and said, "I need to see how brilliant and wonderful this Dean is. What's the big deal about him?"
Paxton turned on the TV and selected one of Dean's episodes on the financial TV program. He then played the episode for Veronica to watch.
After she was done watching, Veronica simply said, "I'm going to have to see him for myself…"
"Huh?" Paxton was confused. "See him? What for?"
Veronica answered, "I need to see if he's really that good-looking in real life like he is on TV! If he is, then I think I understand why Corbyn feels this way."
Paxton was rendered completely speechless. It suddenly occurred to him that maybe that was why Corbyn was such a sucker for good-looking men—he must have gotten it from his mother.
Veronica put her words to action at once and flew over to the city where Dean and Corbyn were on the same day.
She caught sight of Dean from afar. However, she noticed that there was a very young assistant tagging along and giving Dean lustful looks. Of course, that assistant was none other than Anson.
Veronica clicked her tongue. "That must be the bastard Paxton told me about. How dare he try to steal Corey's boyfriend? He's just asking for trouble!"
However, Veronica didn't go up to greet them. Instead, she hurried over to the hotel where Corbyn was staying.
Corbyn got busy after Dean went to work. He was going through some of Bloomberg Group's documents in his hotel room. To him, work was still work—he wouldn't just stop working, even if it was for Dean's sake.
He sipped on his coffee while reading the documents. Just then, he heard the doorbell ringing.
"Who's that?"
Corbyn was puzzled. But he still went to answer the door.
As soon as he opened the door, he saw a beautiful woman dressed in a knitted Chanel suit standing at the door. Corbyn immediately did a double-take. "Mom?"
Veronica scoffed and chuckled. She stepped into the hotel room. When she saw the documents on the table, she felt a little less angry than before. "I thought you'd have already forgotten about your work by now!"
"Why would I?" Corbyn asked. "I just—"
"Save it," Veronica said with a wave of her hand. "I know everything."
Corbyn paled. He thought for a while and asked, "Was it Paxton?"
"Were you planning to tell me anything if he hadn't?" Veronica asked, leaning against the table elegantly like a fairy. However, there was a haughty look on her face. "I can't believe you'd go through so much trouble and do this to yourself for a man. You're such a disgrace."
Her words struck a nerve with Corbyn. Since young, Corbyn had always been arrogant and headstrong. The first and only person he'd ever acted weak with was Dean.
However, his meekness wasn't completely natural. He was still a prideful person at heart. And, the more prideful someone was, the easier it was for them to feel wronged or aggrieved.
Still, Corbyn would only succumb to Dean and no one else, not even his own mother.
So, he raised his head proudly and refuted, "Isn't it normal to put up with all sorts of trouble when you're dating someone? Personally, I don't see the point in dating when your boyfriends come and go like they're prostitutes."
Obviously, Corbyn's words were meant to hurt Veronica. After all, wasn't that how Veronica was treating her dating and sex life?
"What do you mean by prostitutes?" Veronica asked, her eyes gradually turning cold. "I'm merely raising puppies."
Corbyn was stunned. He stared at her.
Veronica then mumbled, "That's my experience anyway. Don't think so highly of men. They're nothing but dogs."
Corbyn felt uncomfortable. "I'm also a man."
"I never said you weren't like a dog," Veronica shot back, raising her chin as she looked at Corbyn arrogantly.
Corbyn didn't know how to retaliate anymore.
Veronica continued, "Men are like toys. If you don't establish yourself as their owner, then they're going to treat you like their bitch. You're a man yourself. How could you not grasp such a simple concept?"
Before Corbyn could register it, she approached him and patted him on the shoulder. "You can take another day off, but you'd better be back at work the day after tomorrow."
Her voice then turned gentle and warmed up a little, finally sounding like the mother she should be. "I just don't want to see you belittling yourself like this. You're my precious little child. All the men in the world don't even measure up to a single strand of hair on your head."
Then, Veronica left after that.
…
Dean was always very busy at work. However, with a dumb assistant by his side, his work only doubled in volume.
Anson seemed to realize that he was slowing Dean down. He apologized guiltily and said, "I'm sorry, I won't make mistakes again."
"Right. To prevent making more mistakes, I think you should just go home for the day," Dean replied.
Anson was shocked. "What? But I can still help you!"
Dean answered, "You can help me by staying out of this."
Although it sounded like an insult, Dean delivered his line so calmly, like he was talking about the weather, that Anson turned red in the face, not knowing what to do.
After Anson finally stopped helping him, Dean managed to wrap up his work quickly and got back to the hotel room before midnight.
The lamp was left on in the hotel room, casting a warm, orange glow on Corbyn's side profile.
Corbyn was still awake when he heard the door opening. He got up from the bed and looked at Dean with his huge, dark, and watery eyes that twinkled under the light. They looked like they contained the entire galaxy in them.
Dean was rather surprised. "Why aren't you asleep yet?"
"I missed you," Corbyn answered, his voice thick with lust. "I couldn't sleep."
Dean froze momentarily. Then, he came closer to Corbyn, his magnified shadow casting onto Corbyn like a beast ready to attack.
"Does Corey want some of me tonight?"
Dean loosened his tie and undid the button, exposing his neck. His Adam's apple bobbed in the shadows as he swallowed thickly.
