Wash Yourself, or Should I Help You?

"Darling, you're lying in my arms... what else could I possibly be thinking about?"

"Fuck!!"

Li Mao's soul nearly flew straight to the heavens from that. The pain on his face was no less intense than One-Ear's back when Black Cat Sheriff had shot him.

"C-can you fucking act n-normal for once?! Don't, don't be so disgusting, o-okay?!"

Wan Fuqi could not help bursting into laughter at the little stutterer's helpless, embarrassed, and furious expression.

His beautiful pale blue eyes curved into crescents, his thick, long lashes veiling the sparkling mist within them.

Wan Fuqi found teasing this little stutterer more and more amusing.

He had not found such an entertaining pastime in a long time.

Hearing the laughter beside him, Li Mao shot him a resentful glare.

But, unsurprisingly, the moment his eyes met those smiling eyes, as clear as the waters of a heavenly lake, his face flushed uselessly again.

Humans were such damned visual creatures!

Later, he would ask at the hospital whether they offered memory erasure in addition to mark removal.

If that face kept popping into his mind, he would never be able to stand tall around pretty people again.

This was too fucking tragic...

After laughing enough at his own lousy joke, Wan Fuqi pinched the tender flesh on Li Mao's inner thigh and said, "What are you thinking about? I only meant that I'd help you take a bath. You should get clean before going to sleep. What do you think?"

Li Mao's mouth twitched, and he let out two "heh-heh" sounds that could have been either laughter or sobbing.

Was there something wrong with this guy?

Who wanted him to help with a bath?

Who wanted to sleep with him after taking a bath?

Did he really think the two of them were a mutually consenting couple who had successfully held hands on a dating show and won a three-day, two-night island getaway?

How starved for affection did he have to be...

With a face like that, did no one usually chase after him?

Wait, no. Wasn't the client who hired him trying to sleep with him?

Li Mao clicked his tongue inwardly. When he looked at Wan Fuqi again, his gaze was full of sympathy and regret.

It seemed this man needed those two thousand yuan more than he did. It should be enough to see a therapist for two hours, right?

Without drawing attention to it, Li Mao pushed away someone's wandering hand and declined as tactfully as he could. "N-no need. I can w-wash myself."

Bathing together was out of the question, but in his current state, he could hardly go outside without washing up.

Though taking a leisurely bath at a crime scene really was absurd.

But he could just pretend he loved bathing, had lovely skin, and could sing and dance in a shower cap.

Haha...

How could an Alpha who had been permanently marked not go crazy...

Even after being rejected, Wan Fuqi kept the same faint smile on his lips. In a light tone, he repeated, "Darling, I said I want to help you take a bath. Did you hear me clearly?"

After pondering for a moment, Li Mao stuck a hand out from under the covers, pointed at his ear, and replied, "You're the deaf one. My hearing's f-fine in both ears. C-check your hearing aid and see if it g-got wet. I said I'll w-wash myself."

Li Mao could not find any weak point besides Wan Fuqi's deafness to strike at, so he could only use it to regain a little dignity.

Just when he thought he had finally hit Wan Fuqi where it hurt and could make that smug man uncomfortable for a while, something cold snapped around the wrist of the hand he had just extended.

Click.

A pair of handcuffs had been fastened around Li Mao's wrist by Wan Fuqi.

The loose silver metal hung from his pale wrist, its knobby bones prominent, as though they had been made for each other.

Click.

Another locking sound followed, duller than the first.

Then Li Mao saw Wan Fuqi, who had been lowering his head, lift a face full of smiles and extend a hand from beneath the covers—a hand wearing the other cuff.

Wan Fuqi gently moved his arm. Li Mao's hand was tugged several inches toward him, and the chain clinked crisply for a long while.

"Do you like it?" Wan Fuqi asked, shaking his wrist. "You must like it, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't have kept it in your toolbox..."

With a smile at the corner of his lips, he stared unblinkingly at Li Mao, who was growing uneasy at the sight of the locked handcuffs, and said softly, "You were planning to use them on me, weren't you? Then I suppose I'm helping you put them to good use, darling..."

With that, Wan Fuqi suddenly yanked his wrist. Caught completely off guard, Li Mao was pulled off balance by the fierce force, his upper body crashing heavily into the Enigma's embrace.

This time, the scent of tuberose carried a hint of aggression.

After the mark had been completed, Li Mao no longer had even the slightest room to resist as he had at the start of last night.

Just as he had said, once the mark was complete, this man did not need to do anything extra. He only had to release a trace of pheromones from on high, and Li Mao's knees would immediately go weak, making him kneel and lick the soles of this man's shoes.

If this Enigma wanted to, he could completely train Li Mao into a thoughtless vessel.

Li Mao bit his lower lip hard and clenched his fists, using the pain of his nails digging into his palms to stay lucid.

None of his little movements escaped Wan Fuqi's eyes.

Wan Fuqi truly seemed to be treating him like a spoiled pet. Instinctively, he let out a satisfied hum of pleasure, then lovingly tightened the arm around Li Mao.

Lowering his gaze, he admired Li Mao. He raised the hand not cuffed to Li Mao's and gently brushed Li Mao's golden hair aside, tenderly tucking it behind ears as translucent as jade.

Wan Fuqi's shoulders shook as he let out several soft, giggling laughs.

The sound made fine goosebumps rise all over Li Mao's body.

Wan Fuqi put on a regretful expression and said, "Ah, my darling must be thinking about how to escape, right?"

He raised their cuffed hands, every word he spoke teetering on the edge of laughter.

"But how are you going to escape like this? Have you thought of a way?"

Li Mao was drenched in cold sweat from the pheromones Wan Fuqi had just used to suppress him. He no longer had the spirited air from earlier, when he had been arguing and trading insults with the man hands on hips.

He opened his mouth, apparently still unwilling to give up and wanting to retort somehow, but after his lips trembled a few times, not a single word came out.

Only then did Wan Fuqi cast a cold glance at the person in his arms.

He lifted the covers, picked up the person in his arms—who no longer even dared to bristle—and headed toward the bathroom.

On the way, Wan Fuqi did not forget to lower his head and place a light kiss on Li Mao's forehead.

He reproached him, "Didn't you say you wanted to wash yourself? Then what is this supposed to be? Honestly... There should be a limit even to acting cute, darling..."