Xu Le sat in the smoky cigar room, frowning and covering his nose with one hand.
“I’m here to discuss serious matters with you.”
He hadn’t expected his high school friend to turn out like this today.
Wealthy, indulgent, and… his character had dirtied quite a bit.
If it weren’t for the lingering concerns that he couldn’t shake off, he wouldn’t have contacted this person again after that meeting.
“What’s the matter?” the crew-cut man across from him squinted and exhaled a puff of smoke: “Don’t you want one? New stock from Cuba, not something the average person can get their hands on.”
“No, thanks.”
Dr. Xu adjusted his lapels and probed: “About the patient you mentioned last time, how is he now…”
“Ah, come on, try this instead?” the crew-cut man took out another box, dangling it teasingly: “This one’s rolled with— hehehe, it’s thrilling, come on, Xu, wanna try?”
“Answer my question.” Xu Le pushed the box away with one hand, ready to stand up and leave: “What happened to that patient afterwards?”
“What patient? There’s no patient in my house.” The crew-cut man, disappointed, turned his head away and took another puff: “You’re really hard to please.”
“You took me to Han Qu’s club last time without my permission, bombarding me with questions.” Xu Le said anxiously: “You’re familiar with Han Qu, you must know that friend with depression, is he still okay?”
He had a bad feeling ever since he left in a hurry that time.
From the way Han Qu was probing, it didn’t seem like he cared at all.
But if it wasn’t for that, what was he trying to do??
Xu Le had heard many bizarre stories about the indulgent lifestyles of rich second-generation kids, but none involved depression.
After so much time, he still couldn’t let it go.
Last year, several calls went unanswered, and his family said he was too busy with a promotion abroad.
This year, he finally got to see his high school friend again, who had completely become someone else, impossible to communicate with.
The crew-cut man’s blurred gaze finally focused a bit, his tone still dreamy: “Depression…”
“Here’s my card, and this is my friend, another female doctor from a different school. Contact her if you need help—”
“No need.”
“Please pass it on to him.”
“I said no need!” The crew-cut man, cigar askew, sat up with a fierce look: “Xu Le, you don’t have to take that 500,000 card, but don’t ask about this anymore, it’s too dangerous to offend anyone here.”
“What are you talking about?” Xu Le suddenly had an ominous premonition: “That patient, could it be—”
“He’s dead. Dead and gone.” The crew-cut man clapped his hands as if to dust off ashes: “It has nothing to do with you, me, or anyone else, just an unfortunate soul.”
Xu Le’s face changed, he said sternly: “What did you do to him?!!”
“Don’t push your luck.” The man scoffed, slumping back on the sofa: “Even if I give you Han Qu’s number now, you won’t get a word out of him.”
“Don’t be foolish, that’s just how the world is.”
Xu Le looked at him for a long while, then quickly turned and walked out.
He couldn’t let this matter rest.
He had to find out what had happened.
Recording building.
The trainees hurried through the corridors, laughing and chatting about today’s grouping results.
“Didn’t expect Shi Jianian to be first, I thought it would be Gu Shaochu—”
“Could he debut in the center position?”
“Brother Xi is clearly the dark horse!!”
The sound of soda cans being popped open, footsteps, and voices mingled together, all conveying a sense of leisure after work.
Pei Ruye leaned against the door, still softly arranging the operations for the second half of the year.
After finishing this program, he would continue with at least a four-hour comprehensive meeting with the Long family.
Huo Ren lounged on the bench, unsure if he had understood everything just now.
…Lipstick?
Maybe there was something important to discuss.
—The recording building was SPF’s, with thorough anti-eavesdropping and anti-spying measures throughout the entire floor. It was very safe here.
After removing his makeup, he applied a face mask for fifteen minutes, waiting for the phone call outside to end, then looked at himself, now twenty-four, in the mirror.
His features and edges were clearer than before, seemingly not bad.
The door was pushed open.
The man in a suit and tie put the phone on the desk and locked the door behind him.
Huo Ren propped his chin up and looked at him, still in the mood to joke.
“Boss Pei’s excuse today isn’t very convincing.”
“How is it not good?”
“I apply lipstick every day.” The young man touched his lips: “Teacher, don’t you remember?”
Before he could finish boasting with a raised tail, a warm palm had already covered his eyes.
Darkness swept over again in an instant.
The man spoke softly: “There’s no ribbon, let’s make do with this for now.”
Huo Ren and Pei Ruye have pleased each other like this too many times, though they always stopped at second base, they also unknowingly developed a conditioned reflex.
Once forced into dark mode, there’s a kind of inexplicable restlessness.
“…Teacher.” He called out in a daze: “Are you sure you want to do it here?”
He suddenly wanted to press down on Pei Ruye’s wrist, wanting to clarify some thoughts.
Teacher, it’s not just that I cherish how you protect me and make me happy.
I’ve liked you for many years, and now, the heart that once was nearly dead beats for you once again.
I… I really want to tell you…
Each word, each sentence is stuck in my throat, as if tied down by rational concerns, as if being dragged down by accumulated dark memories.
Pei Ruye gazes intently at Huo Ren at this moment, his eyes momentarily reddening.
He can clearly see his fair and slender neck, his somewhat frantic fingertip movements, and the hint of moisture on his lips.
He can also feel the beloved’s eyelashes tremble slightly in the palm of his hand when forced to close his eyes.
“It’s not **,” he murmurs, “but perhaps… it’s not yet time for you to respond directly.”
Covering the eyes seems to forcibly segment off a part of real life, or perhaps it’s just an excuse, allowing them to relax enough to indulge in both affection and desire.
They carry too much in reality.
Only in this moment, the moment of covering the eyes.
One person stands in the light, while the other falls into darkness.
No work, no responsibilities, no past, no memories.
Only primal, uncontrolled passion remains.
Huo Ren is still engulfed in darkness, murmuring with his eyes closed, “It’s not… **”
In the next moment, his lips are captured in a kiss.
“…I love you.”
The fervent, forceful kiss erased all traces of moisture from his lips, allowing the scent of white roses to warm and ferment in their disordered breaths.
Huo Ren wanted to open his eyes to see Pei Ruye’s expression at this moment, but he could only passively sink into the soft chairback, being plundered and possessed even more.
It was just a kiss.
Without implication, without any superfluous touches or explorations.
Yet, he could distinctly feel that Pei Ruye’s demeanor and expression at this moment were perhaps the most uncontrollable ever.
“I love you.”
Pei Ruye repeated once more.
He didn’t wait for any response from Huo Ren; instead, he seemed like a believer confessing unilaterally to a deity.
“Heart, blood, soul, breath.”
He took Huo Ren’s hand, pressing his palm against his own rapidly beating chest.
“Everything.”
“I almost want to lock all of this inside your body.”
You have no idea to what extent I’ve lost control over you.
Each word was delivered in the intervals of their staggered kisses, making the kiss itself intermittent, with a kind of broken tenderness.
Huo Ren groped to hold onto the chest, his palm faintly feeling the vigorous pulsation.
“Teacher…” he murmured: “You…”
Pei Ruye leaned in to deepen the embrace, personally sipping away the last hint of white rose scent, feeling like a fool at this moment.
He was lost because he was closing his eyes, yet fortunate because he was closing his eyes.
The man sighed, kissing his lips, one hand covering his eyes, the other tightly embracing his neck.
Although being the controller, at this moment, he seemed like prey utterly captured.
“Ren Ren…”
“Mm…”
“Today, while dancing, you kept looking at me.”
They paused simultaneously for a few seconds, drawing a breath from their nearly prolonged kiss, then embracing each other again to exchange oxygen.
The oxygen we rely on for survival.
“I was,” when Huo Ren looked up, his throat was fully exposed, he murmured with his eyes closed, “besides looking at you, I really didn’t know where else I could look.”
“Teacher… you never taught me the waltz.”
Pei Ruye also responded softly, his voice a bit hoarse.
They unconsciously tightened their intertwined fingers.
“It’s my first time dancing.”
The man gently kissed his cheek and the tip of his nose, as if time was also stretched out at this moment like winding flowing sand.
“I was also nervous at that time, I misspoke.”
Huo Ren couldn’t help but laugh with his eyes closed.
“Teacher gets nervous too?”
Pei Ruye then leaned down and kissed his Adam’s apple.
“It always feels like we’re having an affair.”
With his student, with his artist, with his fiancé.
Dancing a waltz that belongs only to lovers in front of cameras exposed to the whole world.
Huo Ren nodded lightly.
“But we danced well.”
It was the first contact in front of the camera, tacit as if they had danced together countless times before.
The waltz belongs to two people.
Spot, rotate, forward, and backward.
One person controls the other, they are each other’s thread, each other’s puppet.
Pei Ruye paused his breathing for a moment, his laughter somewhat bitter.
“We have to wait for the wedding… to have a chance to dance again.”
This deep kiss finally stopped.
He is Huo Ren’s agent, and also one of the main orchestrators behind this battle.
Now it’s early June.
For the crown, release an album in July, concert in September, only to wait for the results in February.
For the crown, financially attack the Han family, public opinion attacks Han Qu, the double-fronted progression is just beginning.
The wedding waits at the far unreachable end.
They slowly pulled apart, and the darkness also silently dissipated.
Huo Ren wasn’t quite used to the light, first subconsciously pursing his lips, then looking at Pei Ruye’s expression.
“…Sorry,” he said softly.
Pei Ruye slowly shook his head, took the lipstick in front of the mirror, unscrewed the cap, and placed it again by his lips.
Huo Ren watched his eyes, opening his mouth to let the stick scrape from the corner of his lips away.
Applying lipstick is a kind of ambiguity, staring is yet another more outrageous kind.
Pei Ruye averted his gaze, regaining his rare composure at this moment.
“As your agent, what I need to clarify is.”
“Your debts over the years, and the accumulated interest… are not a small number.”
Huo Ren squinted and smiled.
“But the accounts are clear.”
“Mm, the accounts are clear.”
Pei Ruye was about to close the cap, but he took the lipstick from his hand.
“What if I default on the debt in the future.”
Huo Ren carelessly twirled the lipstick with his fingertip, hooking Pei Ruye’s neck with one hand, tilting his head to spread the slightly white balm on his moist lips.
The fingertips are cold, the lips are hot.
The slow touch of the two most finely sensitive places seems to rub a long string of twinkling sparks on their chests.
The man watched his every move with lowered eyes, cooperating without moving.
After Huo Ren finished applying the lipstick, he kissed his own fingertips in front of Pei Ruye.
Then lifting his eyes, he smiled innocently yet slyly.
“Owner, this is a small token of gratitude.”