A morally careless, strong, younger seme x a reserved, gentle, soft-hearted uke with a devoted-husband streak
Lin Yuqing is a beta househusband. His husband, Wan Junhui, is an Alpha executive at a publicly traded company, and they have a clever, adorable daughter named Lanlan. Their life is comfortable and happy, and everyone around them envies them.
But what people see is always the most polished side of things. Lin Yuqing has his own unspoken troubles: tedious housework, a shrinking social circle... and the loneliness and emptiness that are hard to bear through the long nights.
His husband seems to be cheating on him.
Lin Yuqing tries everything to win him back, but, unexpectedly, one day not long after, he is the one who really cheats first.
01/
After a cocktail party, on a quiet path to the parking lot, Lin Yuqing boldly hooked his little finger around his husband's and worked up the courage to say a few sappy words of affection, even brushing his fingertips against his husband's palm.
Under the bright moonlight, their shadows overlapped on the ground ahead. At a social gathering, it was the kind of intimate distance only partners shared.
As Lin Yuqing watched, he suddenly froze.
Something was wrong.
His husband was only half a head taller than him.
Realizing what had happened, Lin Yuqing stiffly let go of the finger he had hooked and slowly turned his head.
Their eyes met.
The aggressive pheromones of a young man hit him head-on.
Between the swaying tree shadows and the dim light, a pair of calm amber eyes gazed down at him.
02/
Lin Yuqing rents a room in an old residential complex and uses it as a sculpture studio. He rarely gets orders, but luckily he is both the boss and the employee, so he never has to worry about making payroll.
One day, after dropping off his daughter, he went to the studio as usual. He rolled up his sleeves to get to work when someone knocked on the door.
He opened it, covered in dust, and found a handsome, well-proportioned young man standing outside.
They both froze for a moment.
From that day on, two very different lives that should never have crossed began to become entangled, inevitably intertwining.
A quietly budding attraction, a gaze searching for someone without thinking, vibrant youthful desire, a heart long parched by loneliness, a dangerous line that must never be crossed, a forbidden love no one would accept...
Things were heading in an irreversible direction.
Lin Yuqing smiled and waved at the young Alpha in the driver's seat.
"Bye. See you tomorrow."
With his hand on the car door handle, Lin Yuqing waited quietly, but the other man did not echo his "See you tomorrow."
One second, two seconds, three.
Vaguely sensing what was coming, he slowly turned around.
Liao Jincheng was staring fixedly at him.
"Ge," he asked softly, his tone earnest. "Could you consider me?"
03/
It was winter break, and the family went on vacation.
At the hotel where they were staying, Lanlan had played herself exhausted and was now fast asleep. Her husband had drunk quite a lot of sake and flopped onto the bed without even taking off his shoes, sleeping more soundly than a dead pig.
But Lin Yuqing did not go to bed. He put on his coat, took one last look at his husband and daughter, then gently closed the door and slipped out of the room without a sound.
Ding. The elevator doors opened.
17, 18, 19...
As the numbers kept climbing, Lin Yuqing's heart pounded in his chest. In the half-length mirror on the back wall, his face was already flushed with an unmistakable, alluring desire.
Lowering his long lashes, Lin Yuqing pressed his lips together and drew his cashmere cardigan closer around himself. He steadied his breathing and once again prepared himself for the most outrageous thing he had ever done in his life.
Ding. The elevator doors opened again.
Dr. Liao's face appeared before him. He wore a crisp, fitted black suit, his hair carefully styled, and held a large bouquet of exquisite white roses in his arms.
"Mr. Lin." He smiled, his eyes curving. "Good evening."
04/
Outside, rain poured down. A bolt of lightning struck, and the crystal chandelier inside cast a pallid glow.
"It doesn't matter if you don't divorce him."
Liao Jincheng's smile was desolate, his dark eyes fixed firmly on the startled Lin Yuqing.
He took a diamond ring from his pocket.
"I had someone make this for me. It was made to pair perfectly with the one on your hand."
Lin Yuqing's pupils trembled.
He slowly slid the ring onto his slender ring finger, intense, wild love surging in his eyes.
"I'll be your lover for the rest of my life."
He, younger seme; the seme has a crush on the uke; the seme is a virgin, the uke is not. Later, the husband comes to regret everything and pursues his wife, leading to a fierce rivalry between the husband and the seme.
The ABO elements are very subtle, so you can basically read it as a danmei novel.
Theme: Love's call is redirected.
