Chapter Text
"As I pushed through the door, everybody's head snapped in my direction. Since my romantic relationship with the CEO of Teyvat Global Group became public, all the eyes of my coworkers have been on me. Everywhere I go, I can feel envy, whispers and shock.
It was never my intention to end up in this position, but I simply couldn't resist him.
From the first moment our eyes met, I knew—I was made for him. It was love at first sight. Nobody else understands him like I do. Everybody says he is a mean, cold man… but he has always been different to me. Especially when he fired half the company because of me.
So I have to be brave. For him.
I push through the crowd with trembling legs, my whole body shaking, as my voluptuous bosom is threatening to spill out the low-cut red dress that clings to every curve. My honey blonde waves cascade over my shoulders, which draws even more attention.
All eyes on me, but I have no choice—I have to look good, because I belong by his side."
Right. A thoroughly professional outfit for an office party.
"But I haven't been able to take two minuscule steps before I see him.
He noticed the attention everyone is giving me, his fists clenching and his eyes narrowing dangerously. I should be scared, but instead, a blush spreads all over my body, despite how much it hurts me to see him like this.
I stop in my tracks, gingerly pushing a strand of hair behind my ear. I try to calm him by batting my long lashes, but the CEO growls, his possessive hand clasping around my dainty arm as he drags me away—somewhere nobody but him can look at me.
He pushes me against a wall, cornering me with his massive frame. His nostrils flare like a sexy dragon, but I shake my head. I have to calm my baby.
"T-this is not you," I say with a pout. "Look at me!"
The CEO punches the wall beside me, cracking the bricks."Y/N," he growls, "you belong to me."
I gasp as my legs turn to jelly, unable to resist his intoxicating gaze. Those piercing glaucous orbs send violent tremors down my spine, making my entire body quiver. So much that I feel waves of pleasure soaking my lacy, ruby colored lingerie.
It's impossible to resist him. Not when I'm this close, my senses overwhelmed by his masculine, musky scent, his bulging muscles pulled taut with rage. I'm terrified his expensive shirt will rip from the strain."
Kaveh rolled his eyes. Someone buy this poor multi-millionaire CEO a shirt that fits him, because why were his buttons fighting for their life every damn chapter?
"But my brief distraction isn't lost to him, a smirk forming on his lips.
"You like you see, Y/N?" he murmurs darkly. "If you come home with me, like the good girl that you are, you can have all of this for yourself."
I gulp.
"Y-yes, sir," I say breathlessly. "T-take me with you."
"Only if you promise me something, kitten."
Hot tears gather in the corners of my big, doe eyes. I would do anything for him. Even give my life.
"You have to promise me that you're mine." He pulls me closer, my head barely reaching his chest, then growls into my ear. "Tell me that you're mine."
"I-I'm yours," I whisper. "I'm all yours."
The CEO crushes his lips against mine, devouring me with the hunger of a wild beast. I moan loudly when he started sucking on my tongue—and with impossible ease, he sweeps me up with one arm and starts carrying me out of the hall, right in front of all the employees.
"I'm taking you far away from everybody," he growls possessively. "Because you're mine, Y/N.""
Kaveh snapped the book shut, pushing it across the table. He leaned back in his work chair, eyes settling somewhere in the distance as he contemplated all of his life decisions.
What the fuck did he just read?
In all honesty, it was his fault for not listening to the reviews before wasting his money on it. But, as the saying went, it was the curiosity that killed the cat.
It had started a few days ago, when Alhaitham announced he would be gone to his grandmother's house for about a week. Somehow longer than usual, but nothing out of the ordinary for Sumeru's number one grandma's boy. Kaveh couldn't even blame him—she was the sweetest woman alive. Even he, when he had time, sometimes accompanied Alhaitham to visit her. Sometimes he wondered how someone raised by such a gem of a human had turned out to be one of the most insufferable men to walk the earth.
But Kaveh digressed.
So, because he had suddenly found himself without one of the life aspects that usually consumed a considerable chunk of his day, he had tried to fill the gap with other activities. Yet, because Kaveh was a grown adult who knew how to pick up after himself—and not leave every object they touched scattered around like somebody else—the house was already squeaky clean. Cooking took less than half the time when he didn't have to prepare half the fridge at once—how could Alhaitham even eat that much?!—and Mehrak was a cat that slept through more than eighty percent of her lifespan.
Apart from spending the first part of his day on-site for his latest project, there wasn't much else for Kaveh to do. He tried painting, but the inspiration refused to come. The materials for his sculptures would take weeks to arrive, and his wrists were already sore from work to sketch any more. The books he hadn't read in their apartment were about subjects only Alhaitham and maybe the author would ever find interesting. And all of their friends were busy with their own lives.
Kaveh was utterly bored.
And what was a person to do in this day and age when they found themselves in this situation?
Right. Doom scrolling.
That was how he came across a post made by one of those book influencers, slash critics, who reviewed a newly released light novel titled 'You belong to me'—a phrase, unbeknownst to him, Kaveh was about to read about a hundred times, much to his chagrin.
It was part of a new series developed by the Yae Publishing House, under the banner 'You Can Be Anything You Want!' where amateur writers could submit their self-insert stories, and one lucky winner per round would get the chance to be published.
But what piqued Kaveh's interest was her final score:
"I rate this one both one star and five stars," she said through Kaveh's screen, as she kept waving around the book. The cover depicted a man who took up three quarters of the page and looked like one of those men who 'teach other men how to maximize their looks' online, and a woman sprawled across his lap who looked barely old enough to have a drink.
In hindsight, that should've been his first red flag.
But how could a novel be both one star and five stars at the same time? The disparity was too excessive—so, like any respectable scholar, Kaveh went investigating.
The premise? Experience life through the eyes of a young woman who had just graduated university and landed an internship at one of the most exclusive companies. The story followed the trials and tribulations of her new corporate life, and how—as luck would have it—she caught the eye of the unapproachable CEO. They fell in love, and the rest was history.
Well. That didn't sound like either the best piece of literature out there, nor the worst the worst thing in the world. It could just as easily be one of those light, fluffy romances meant to fill the void during times when someone's roommate/best friend/whatever the hell those hypothetical people were—because Kaveh was definitely not thinking about his own situation—and that would be that.
So he turned to reviews.
★✩✩✩✩
This was the biggest piece of trash I've ever read.
Ouch. Okay. Harsh.
★⯪✩✩✩
Half a star for the smut. Could've been worse.
★✩✩✩✩
I think someone at Yae Publishing House drank too much sake and pressed print by mistake. I can't possibly imagine another explanation for releasing this.
Well it could happen to mistakenly print things after indulging in alcohol. Those printers had a mind of their own, alright! Not that Kaveh could speak from experience… No need to be so judgy.
★★★✩✩
I think I was ovulating, because I didn't find it thaaaaat bad.
★★✩✩✩
As a x-reader enthusiast, this is creating a very bad image for the whole genre T_T But, unfortunately, I've encountered even worse.
★★★★★
The greatest unintentional piece of comedy I've ever seen. Read it in one sitting. Whatever crack the author smoked while writing this—please send some my way.
Kaveh blinked.
These were straight up useless. Despite the story already accumulating a number of reviews well into the triple digits, none of them explained what was wrong with it—just that it was so bad it left the readers either stupefied or amused.
And because Kaveh liked to live up to the words 'stubborn fool,' as Alhaitham oh-so-lovingly put it sometimes, the following morning he found the first bookstore he could and bought the infamous novel with the blatant cover. With a steaming cup of tea placed on his nightstand, changed into sleepwear, and his pillows properly fluffed—Kaveh began reading.
He already knew by that point it wouldn't be great, yet there had still been some positive things others pointed out. So, realistically, he knew where to place his expectations.
Right?
Wrong.
Kaveh had read light novels from Yae Publishing House before. Never had he had much to nitpick about his previous readings—they upheld a relatively good standard. He even followed the owner on social media. She was quite the charmer, with a mischievous undertone to the way she spoke, and yet he found her oddly entertaining nonetheless.
So, for the life of him, Kaveh couldn't understand what had gone through Lady Guuji's mind when she gave the green light to such an abomination.
Such vapid, preposterous characters. A plot that wasn't truly a plot, somehow both rushed and dragged out at the same time. Even the smut scenes—which made up about half the book— left him scratching his head. The characters were always twisted into such obscure positions that Kaveh had, at one point, tried to replicate them around his bed just to begin to understand the logistics.
He had half a mind to reply to one of the reviewers and demand they retract that half star.
Not to mention, the size of what the CEO was allegedly packing seemed something close to Kaveh's forearm, and if their body proportions were anywhere near what had been depicted on the cover, he was genuinely concerned for what poor Y/N had to go through.
Yes, yes, Kaveh was well aware it was fiction—the realistic elements didn't have to matter—but come on. It was so exaggerated that calling it a caricature felt like an understatement.
So who would even read something like this?
Apparently, Kaveh would.
He got through it in two days. The reviews were right. It was so bad, it hooked the reader into wanting to see just how much worse it could possibly get. It was almost entertaining and it would definitely send any literature enthusiast into cardiac arrest on the spot.
Maybe he should make Alhaitham read it when he got home.
And with the uproar this gag of a story caused, Lady Guuji had definitely made bank off it.
Hm. Perhaps she was onto something.
Regardless. What was done was done—the story fulfilled its purpose. Whatever that was. Never again.
Now, with the book finally finished and his break almost over—because, for some reason, he had decided that finishing it on the job was a good idea when he could've spent his time doing literally anything else—Kaveh stretched his back before pushing himself to his feet.
He had work to do. Today, the workers were placing the support beams for his latest project. It was a residential house—one that he was thoroughly proud of how it turned out—and, although his presence at this stage wasn't mandatory, Kaveh was quite picky about certain aspects of the building process.
Like safety, first and foremost. The design came a close second, thank you very much.
A muffled ruckus sounded from outside his makeshift workroom, snapping Kaveh's attention to the exit. He pushed himself through the door, trying to make out the situation, when one of the workers shouted:
"Mr. Kaveh, move!"
He turned around—
—and then everything went dark.
-
The next time he grasped at some semblance of consciousness, his ears were ringing and a wave of vertigo was making his head spin. Kaveh tried to open his eyes, but the light was so harsh it felt like daggers pressing against his lids. So he stayed like that for a few moments, until the overwhelming assault on his senses began to settle. Slowly, he blinked his eyes open, finally able to take in his surroundings.
Looking around, Kaveh realized he was in the middle of the city.
Still rooted in place, at the center of the sidewalk, people passed around him without a single glance in his direction. The background hum of passing cars from the main street mixed with the lively squeals of children from a nearby park. Traditional-style buildings stood scattered among more modern ones. Shops had their doors wide open with vendors eager for patronage.
Overall, it felt like home—like he was in Sumeru City. But something about it didn't feel quite right. It was almost like a projection. As though someone tried to recreate it from memory, and while the general idea was correct, the finer details were… distorted. Wrong.
He shook his head, trying to dispel the unease.
How did he even get here? Kaveh couldn't remember coming. He was… at work. He finished reading the novel, went outside hearing some commotion, and then… Then what?
He couldn't dwell on it for long, though, when a familiar voice called his name.
"Kaveh?"
Lowering his head, he was met with red hair and blue eyes.
"Nilou?"
At the sound of her name, she beamed and hurried toward him.
"Hi! I'm so glad to meet you!" she said, raising a hand to shake his.
Kaveh's brows furrowed at the odd behavior coming from his friend.
"Wow, I don't think I've ever met a candidate who did the research so well about our company that they already know the names of his future coworkers."
Something in Kaveh's brain short-circuited.
"Come with me," she continued, completely unaware of his predicament. "I'll be your guide today, as our boss' assistant—Panah, in case you saw his name on the website— had other appointments to attend."
Rarely had Kaveh ever been rendered speechless—and this one was probably taking the cake. He could do nothing but follow wordlessly behind Nilou, a dull headache still pulsing at the back of his nape.
What the fuck was she talking about?
Nilou—one of his closest friends, whom he had gossiped with over a bottle more times than he could count, whose every dance recital he had attended, who always offered him a shoulder to cry on whenever he needed it.
Why was she acting as though this was the first time in her life she had ever seen his face?
And what about him being a candidate? A candidate for what? What company was this? What business did they have with Panah, of all people?
They entered through the wide glass doors of the office building nearby. At the reception, someone was resting their head—Layla?!—on the front desk, while Sethos and Dehya were having a laugh beside a vending machine in the lobby. They stepped inside the elevator, Nilou pressing the button for the top floor as she continued chatting about this obscure company.
Yet Kaveh wasn't listening to a word she was saying. His gaze fixed on his own reflection in the metallic sheen of the elevator doors. He looked like he had seen a ghost— though that was probably far less alarming than his current situation.
Was he dreaming? With the last shred of hope, Kaveh pinched his side harshly. All he achieved was a pained grunt and a side glance from Nilou.
Ah. So much for wishful thinking.
The elevator halted, the doors opening with a ding to a generic open-plan office. Lifeless. Dull. The most colorful object in the room was a dusty, fake ficus in the corner, next to a water dispenser.
It was, quite frankly, the literal depiction of Kaveh's nightmares—despite how his pointless pinch begged to differ.
Still without a word from Kaveh, Nilou led him, showing him the space—only for him to notice more faces that had no business being trapped inside a corporate building. Candace typed quietly on her laptop. Hat Guy was fighting—and losing—with the photocopier. Cyno was showing something on his phone to Tighnari while sipping his coffee.
Had Kaveh finally lost his damn mind?
"—the CEO might seem a bit aloof, but he's not that bad," Nilou said lightly. "If you do your job and don't annoy him, he'll mostly ignore you, so—"
Okay, this was getting ridiculous.
"Nilou, wait," Kaveh interrupted, stopping in his tracks just as they reached another door. "What's going on? And why are all of you guys in this building? I don't understand."
"Oh, Kaveh," she said, patting his arm and flashing him a sympathetic smile. "I completely understand how it feels in the beginning—everyone goes through that. Don't worry, you'll understand everything down the line. And everyone here is friendly, you'll get along without issues. Hmm, not sure about Hat Guy…"
"What?" She had to be joking. "What do you mean get along? You're my friends."
Now it was Nilou's turn to look confused—why, Kaveh couldn't understand.
Wait… they were his friends, right? Kaveh couldn't have possibly lived a lie for years. Not about something like this.
"Oh!" She clasped her hands in front of her, something almost apologetic flashing in her eyes.
That couldn't be good.
"Did we meet at the retro party last weekend by chance? I admit, I went a bit overboard with the drinks, so the night's a little blurry." She let out an embarrassed laugh. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to be rude!"
Kaveh all but picked his jaw off the floor. Meet at the party? They went together. Shared a taxi, taste-tested each other's cocktails, and danced together. How could she not remember him?
"No, no, that's not what I meant—"
"But don't worry, I'll make it up to you!" She turned , knocking on the door—and a far too familiar voice calling for them to enter. "Welcome to Teyvat Global Group!"
No.
Before he could protest, Nilou opened the door and pushed him inside. It clicked shut behind him with a dull echo.
No fucking way.
-
If the realization that his friends had no clue who he was hadn't been betrayal enough—because, yes, friendship and social interaction were pivotal components of his life—the person sitting behind a ridiculously gaudy desk almost made Kaveh faint.
"Welcome to Teyvat Global Group," Nilou had said—the very same company name as the one in the stupid novel he had read right before waking up here.
What was this? Had he gotten sucked inside the book?
That was, in itself, an insane train of thought.
What was worse was the gilded plaque perched at the edge of the desk, the following words carved on it:
Alhaitham, Chief Executive Officer.
And, the actual man— in flesh and blood—sat behind it, skimming through some documents with the most uninterested expression imaginable. And—
Wait.
Was that Kaveh's favorite mug next to him? The one he painted with the 2D projection of Palace of Alcazarzaray, the one Alhaitham, for some reason, kept stealing despite having an entire cabinet full of other mugs?!
Nope. This particular annoyance was, unfortunately, inconsequential at the moment. Kaveh had bigger problems.
For a moment, Kaveh hoped this was all some elaborate prank. But that thought fell apart quickly, as too many details refused to line up. Alhaitham was supposed to be away, visiting his grandmother. Tighnari and Cyno were busy with Collei. Layla was in the middle of exam season. Nilou wouldn't be cruel enough to pull something like this. And Kaveh wasn't even that close to Hat Guy—why would he even be here?
All of that aside—who would spend that kind of money to rent an entire building just to convince Kaveh he was now a character in a lousy novel that only he and his debit card knew he had bought?
He knew about transmigration stories. He had even enjoyed some of them. But that was all they were—stories. Last time he checked, Kaveh wasn't a fictional character, and there was no feasible way to transfer oneself into another dimension. He might be an idealist, always dreaming big, and despite whatever others liked to say about him, he wasn't that detached from reality. After all, Kaveh was a scholar—an architect, an engineer. His principles were still rooted in reality at their core.
He couldn't stop the gasp that slipped from his lips at the sudden realization.
If he had truly—through some insane coincidence—fallen into a parallel universe that followed that ridiculous story… did that mean he had died in his own reality? Was that why he was stuck in here?
So, what? Did that make him Y/N? Nothing had happened yet, but it was already following the start of the story…
He shuddered at that thought. No fucking way. Impossible.
And why was Alhaitham the damned CEO?
Apart from both having off-putting personalities to the outside world, Kaveh couldn't possibly find any real similarities between them. Or, what? Was this version of Alhaitham some growling, possessive weirdo who had a kink for irrational jealousy?
He had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself from laughing outright.
Imagine: Alhaitham—the most apathetic man to exist—going on some domineering tirade, throwing around lines like “I’d set the world on fire for you” for someone he had met only a few days prior.
Not that Kaveh had any idea what Alhaitham would be in a romantic context—he had never seen him show any interest in such matters. But let's be real. That version couldn't be further from reality. If anything, Alhaitham would probably be a softie. A mean one. And attentive, but in the most unromantic way possible.
An odd combination, really.
"Are you done squirming around?"
And annoying as fuck.
"I wasn't squirming," Kaveh shot back, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Yes, you were. I saw you."
Kaveh narrowed his eyes in defiance, which earned him a condescending eye roll from Alhaitham.
Ignoring the uncomfortable pang in his chest at the obvious fact that not even Alhaitham recognized him in this world, the exchange wasn't too far off from how things would go in his own reality. He didn't even bother putting a shred of effort expected from someone in such a high-ranking position. Only straight up criticizing Kaveh.
Hmph.
"So," Alhaitham said. "Mr. Kaveh, have you read the contract we sent you via email in advance?"
Kaveh hadn't even been a concept a mere hour ago in this world, so take a wild guess fake CEO version of Alhaitham.
Yet there was nothing he could do about it. Not right now. So it was best to play along. At least until he found a way to solve this.
What kind of business did this company even conduct? It had never been specified. For a story that took place ninety percent inside a lifeless office building, not once had the author had the wisdom to point that out. An obvious plot hole. No wonder it had been published anonymously, with only Yae Publishing House's name slapped on it.
"I did," Kaveh answered anyway. What other choice did he have?
"Good." Alhaitham pushed the stack of documents and a pen toward him. "Sign where you see your name. Then you can see yourself out."
Kaveh did—but not without a long, suffering sigh.
There was one detail that struck him, though: it was usually HR who handled contract signings—Kaveh knew that much from the number of commissions he had done with businesses. So for the highest ranking executive to deal with it personally was… odd. Especially for someone like Alhaitham, who would happily delegate anything that required even the slightest effort.
So Kaveh took a slow breath, summoning every ounce of professionalism he had cultivated from years of dealing with difficult clients.
"I hope you don't mind my asking—"
"I do."
Asshole.
"—but why is the CEO handling contract signings?" Kaveh continued anyway, because there was no universe in which he would allow Alhaitham to have the last word. "Isn't that usually handled by recruitment?"
Alhaitham raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest. Damn it, he was just as ripped as his real counterpart, and it took Kaveh an embarrassing amount of effort to keep his eyes on his face.
"Faruzan, who is responsible for new hires, is out of office."
How convenient.
Alhaitham cocked his head to the side, a scrutinizing glint in his eyes. "Why? You didn't want to meet the person you'll be working under?"
Good grief, he was just as grating.
"No, I was just curious."
"Curiosity is an important virtue to uphold," Alhaitham said with a subtle shrug. "But so is learning how to think before you speak."
Archons save him.
How were people at the Akademiya even dealing with him when they couldn't really talk back? Kaveh was barely holding himself back from throwing the pen straight into his smug face.
Barely.
But he didn't get his chance to retort, before the door burst open and Faruzan—wasn't she supposed to be out of office?—walked in, dragging along a woman whose facial features were…
Blurred.
Long, honey-blonde hair. An outfit more suited for a night out than a corporate building.
Oh.
Oh, thank the gods Kaveh wasn’t Y/N.
"There's been a mix-up," Faruzan said, striding over until she stood next to him."I checked the database, and Jane Doe here was actually the one meant for the intern position, not—" She turned to Kaveh, raising an apologetic hand. "Sorry. Hi. Faruzan." Then back to Alhaitham. "I don't know how this happened, but you need to do something about your employees."
"You hired them."
"Yes, because you never want to get involved."
"Because I foolishly trusted your expertise."
Y/N—or Jane Doe, because of course she got the placeholder name—stood there like a damsel in distress, shyly fidgeting with her hands. Kaveh glanced at Alhaitham, who didn't look the least bit fazed by her completely inappropriate appearance—only mildly annoyed by the mistake.
Ugh. This was such a mess.
"Whatever," Faruzan said at last, because she knew this was a lost cause. "We have to redo the contract and nullify his—sorry, again—so we can proceed with —"
"No need," Alhaitham said, shaking his head. "We'll keep both. Fix it elsewhere. You can all leave."
No, no, no.
Was he serious?!
If the contract hadn't gone through, maybe Kaveh's presence in this world would've become obsolete, and he could've gone back to his normal life.
But, of course—of course—Alhaitham had to ruin it.
Damn it. Now he was truly stuck in here.