[Dual Alphas | Intense Push and Pull | Adult Tension | Too Stubborn to Admit Their Love | HE]
Shen Yan has always maintained proper boundaries, keeping a cool head and restraining himself.
Except when it comes to Lin Yizhou.
He is a brash, unruly rival who arrived as an outsider and clashes with Shen Yan at every turn.
Shen Yan spent five years working at a state-owned enterprise, just one step away from securing a permanent position as R&D general manager. Then a project scandal suddenly got him demoted. The newly arrived Lin Yizhou took the position that should have been his, and from their first meeting, the two were rivals at daggers drawn.
Everyone else was convinced they couldn't stand each other, eagerly waiting for them to tear each other down. Only the two of them knew that beneath their repeated clashes was a confusing attraction. Their uncompromising arguments in meetings, their late-night one-on-one work sessions, Lin Yizhou escorting Shen Yan home on a rainy night, a bowl of hot soup made with his tastes in mind: that unmistakable fondness had long since crossed the line between work and something more.
Lin Yizhou seemed cool and distant, yet he helped clear Shen Yan's name and shielded him from rumors and schemes. Shen Yan was tough and accustomed to hiding his feelings, but only in front of Lin Yizhou did he let down his guard. His vulnerability, whether drunk, exhausted from working late, or shouldering the pressure alone, was something he showed only to him.
At a dinner gathering, someone deliberately tried to set Shen Yan up on a blind date. Jealousy surged within Lin Yizhou, and he blurted out cruel words that hurt him. Later, filled with regret, he awkwardly tried to make amends. On a stormy night of overtime, in the quiet morning of Shen Yan's apartment, the two tugged wordlessly at the tension between them in close quarters. The heat of fingers accidentally brushing, the softness they couldn't hide when their eyes met: it all stripped away, layer by layer, the disguise of being "deadly rivals."
Caught up in a web of workplace turmoil and conspiracy, the two went from clashing at every turn to relying on each other. The rivals finally became the ones in each other's hearts.
