“From a therapeutic perspective, I don’t recommend you returning to that dangerous environment.”
Only the rustling of flipping pages filled the consulting room.
The doctor’s demeanor was gentle and calm, simply sharing her candid opinion.
She had heard many stories these past days, empathizing deeply with what Huo Ren had experienced over the last eight years.
The entertainment industry was like a bridge built with countless balances between two cliffs.
With each step forward, something had to be put down as a bargaining chip.
The closer to the end, the more things were pawned and sold.
Every member of Corona had to pay a similarly heavy and costly price to break records set by predecessors and win the crown in their early twenties.
Huo Ren had nearly collapsed mentally for half a year and was finally on the slow path to recovery. As a doctor, Elia did not wish for him to touch these dangers again.
Even after only a few months of acquaintance, she had grown to genuinely respect the young man before her.
Huo Ren sipped his lemon tea, not feeling offended.
“So, the first thing to do when starting over is not to limit myself.”
He had thought through many things, reviewing every day since he entered the industry, with both emotions and logic returning to their former states.
“I won’t return to the country as a personal idol.”
Corona was an idol of the old era, rigorously confined by this concept from the start.
The shackles that everyone took for granted had long been rusting silently with blood.
No love, no personal emotions allowed.
Freedom of speech, dress style, behavior, every move in public places, all subtly fell under the scope of the idol product.
Pei Ruye slowly nodded, expressing his agreement with this decision.
The doctor was somewhat surprised but, following the customary approach of psychological analysis, asked again, “So, who do you want to become next?”
Huo Ren looked up at Pei Ruye, and after exchanging glances, he was silent for a few seconds.
“Myself.” He breathed deeply, reinforcing his determination. “I just want to be myself.”
Love, emotions, actions, all entirely free to be myself.
“What if the public resists and questions?”
“You might still face a lot of attacks.”
“I don’t care.”
The cold amusement in Huo Ren’s eyes when he looked at Elia was something that hadn’t appeared in the past eight years.
“If what they like is just a tame and obedient plaything, then it’s fine if everything disperses.”
After the therapist left, Huo Ren bathed alone for a long time.
He knew many things were contradictory.
Both the past and present entertainment industries seemed trapped in a vicious cycle, mired in unchanging muck.
Yet, with the advent of short video and live streaming cultures, the channels for becoming famous had multiplied.
The drastic changes of the last decade were unimaginable for the entertainment industry of decades past.
A web celebrity might become famous overnight for cutely eating a marshmallow, and a star might rise to fame because of a pet.
The rules of the game were still changing.
In the past, hard power was indispensable for rising to the top, with strict and numerous rules.
But now it’s 2018. Re-entering the center of public opinion and becoming the darling of hot searches and cameras could take just a moment.
He needed a sufficiently safe opportunity.
In the bathtub, the bubbles were like floating stars, with a faint scent of cherry amber and gin.
From a few drops of Penhaligon’s, his usual perfume.
Huo Ren dried himself, wearing a bathrobe back to the bedroom.
Pei Ruye was propped up with pillows, dealing with work, the Bluetooth earpiece in his ear transmitting faint voices of reports.
Huo Ren watched for a while, then padded barefoot over from the end of the bed.
Then he lay down beside the man under the thin blanket, silently snuggling up to his body.
Teacher’s breath was warm and long, soothing and comforting just by being close.
After lying next to him for a few minutes, noticing that the man was still focused on directing remote subordinates on decision-making, dealing with mundane content like quarterly data and business proposals.
The young man opened his eyes, silently rubbing his foot against his knee, drawing a circle around it.
His ankles were very appealing.
Pale and smooth, with elegant lines.
The man paid no heed, signaling his secretary to patch another call through.
Huo Ren pressed his cheek against the man’s chest side, listening to the steady and powerful heartbeat while using the top of his foot to trace the man’s symmetrical calf lines.
Gliding, pausing, then touching the other’s foot, allowing the warmth to slowly overlap.
The young man was not sure what he was doing, nor did he know what the effect would be.
He stealthily looked up to gauge the man’s reaction, only to find that the other merely glanced at him indifferently before returning his gaze to his work.
A perfunctory indulgence.
After the lengthy call was over, he still stared at Pei Ruye, as if observing his prey.
“Now, this,” Pei Ruye joked as he hung up the phone, “is what you’d call an ambiguous physical relationship.”
Huo Ren hummed lowly, lying in his arm’s crook with a tilt of his head, whispering, “We didn’t go all the way, though.”
Waiting until marriage… That would be a long wait.
“Patience is lacking.” The man continued tapping on the document, his tone as usual: “I’ll teach you slowly, you’ll learn slowly.”
Huo Ren, initially just flirting for fun, now felt even more restless.
Once the wildness in a person is guided once, it instinctively seeks to release more.
Only the soft sound of the air purifier could be heard in the bedroom.
Holding his breath, Huo Ren propped himself up and leaned forward in front of the man, retrieving the folded black satin ribbon under his gaze.
Then, biting one end of the ribbon, he unfurled it entirely.
That was their agreed-upon switch.
Touch to activate, and then release endless stress and emotions in pure pleasure.
His hands rested on the edge of the laptop screen, and as he bowed his head, the black satin ribbon cascaded down, obscuring the serpentine dot matrix curves.
Making his lips appear soft and tinted with a blush.
The man gently inhaled the increasingly rich aroma of brandy in the air.
Then he took the ribbon, covering the young man’s eyes with it.
My imagination is too poor? Why can’t I picture what they are doing, how are you censoring my mind!?