After the Socially Anxious One Hears Their Arranged Match's Thoughts

1. Ji Weiwang had a respectable job arranged by his family that everyone envied, and a handsome arranged-marriage partner, Li Che, a rising star in business.

But Ji Weiwang had social anxiety and hated a job that required him to communicate with people.

He did like Li Che, though. Li Che was his senior from high school, whom he'd had a crush on for three years and couldn't forget even after graduating from university.

But Li Che didn't love him. Every time they spent time together, Li Che treated him like a document he was required to sign.

Then one day, Ji Weiwang gained the strange ability to hear other people's thoughts.

On Saturday morning, Ji Weiwang steeled himself, took several deep breaths of fresh air, and prepared to face what was practically a social-anxiety hellscape of a workday. That's when he heard Li Che's thoughts:

[Do I have to go out and socialize even on Saturday?] His tone carried a hint of suppressed displeasure.

Ji Weiwang: ?

He quietly pulled back the foot he'd just put outside the door. Behind him, he heard the other man let out a slow sigh of relief.

2. Li Che had always had an intense need for control, to the point of being practically pathological. Even his closest family couldn't accept how extreme he was.

He loved Ji Weiwang, but whenever he loved something, he couldn't control his desire to possess it entirely.

Ji Weiwang looked timid and easily frightened, so Li Che had always suppressed his dark thoughts.

Until one day, Li Che saw Ji Weiwang chatting happily with a tall, handsome man and even arranging to meet him again.

Dark thoughts surged like a tide. Li Che thought that he would keep Ji Weiwang confined, leave him nowhere to go, and make sure he could never smile so beautifully at anyone else again.

Ji Weiwang, who happened to hear Li Che's thoughts: Huh?

He'd worked so hard to put on the act of a respectable person. If Li Che didn't want him going to work, he should've just said so. A socially anxious person working a job meant for a social butterfly was exhausting!

Wait... Did Li Che just say he loved him?

A possessive, pathological big shot top x a socially anxious bottom pretending to be a mature adult

Mutual crush, mutual salvation

Theme: The wounded find comfort together