You're Bleeding

Yu Yaochen did not approve his friend request until evening.

Less than a minute after it was accepted, Gu Yuechen impatiently opened Yu Yaochen's Moments, watching his rival's every move like a shameless voyeur.

Yu Yaochen's Moments were quite clean, mostly sharing his own artwork with a line or two of brief text.

Gu Yuechen's education had only gone as far as middle school. He truly had no way of appreciating Yu Yaochen's paintings, nor could he understand those overly literary captions.

But he noticed the likes beneath every post.

Holding his breath, Gu Yuechen tapped to view them. Sure enough, every one of them was from Pei Huanyi.

Pei Huanyi was his boss. For the sake of convenient work communication, Gu Yuechen had naturally added him on WeChat.

As for Xie Wangchi, Gu Yuechen had asked for his WeChat when he had approached him before, only to be ruthlessly turned down.

There was a like beneath every post. They must have been very close.

Gu Yuechen wavered again, unsure whether he should continue opening Pandora's Box.

"Yuechen, it's time to get off work."

Xu Rui's sudden voice interrupted Gu Yuechen's thoughts. He immediately put away his phone and gave the other man a perfectly timed smile.

"Okay, I'll leave in a bit."

After Xu Rui left the pet hospital, Gu Yuechen looked toward Pei Huanyi's office again.

Pei Huanyi had not returned to the pet hospital all day. Had something happened?

Gu Yuechen pressed his lips together, withdrew his gaze, packed up his personal belongings, and left the pet hospital.

After adding each other on WeChat, he had not taken the initiative to greet Yu Yaochen, and Yu Yaochen had not said a single word to him either.

Their chat remained on "The other party has accepted your friend request," without any new messages.

Pei Huanyi had gone to another city for a speaking event. It had already been a week, and unable to see him, Gu Yuechen felt as though a piece of his heart had been hollowed out.

All he could do was keep checking Pei Huanyi's Moments, hoping to catch any news about him as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, Pei Huanyi's Moments were always limited to the past three days, and he had not posted anything new.

Gu Yuechen could only choose to lurk on Yu Yaochen's Moments instead. Unlike Pei Huanyi, Yu Yaochen posted quite often.

All sorts of art exhibitions and opera houses—things far beyond Gu Yuechen's world.

Gu Yuechen did not care about any of that, as long as he did not see any photos of them together.

If he saw intimate pictures of them, Gu Yuechen felt that he would probably go mad.

He encountered Yu Yaochen again two weeks later. Everyone at the hospital was busy that day, and Gu Yuechen was helping handle a cat a customer had brought in, taking it to the observation room.

But the moment he opened the cat carrier, the cat suddenly darted out and scratched his chin.

A vicious gleam rose in his eyes. Just as he was about to lose his temper, the door abruptly opened. He looked up, his expression briefly freezing.

"Why are you here?"

Yu Yaochen's eyes remained fixed on Gu Yuechen's chin. Only after a long while did he raise his gaze to meet Gu Yuechen's eyes.

"I sent you a message, but you didn't reply."

Gu Yuechen frowned slightly and could not help sneering inwardly.

Did you really think everyone was like you, with nothing to do except bask in all kinds of art?

Without showing even a trace of displeasure, Gu Yuechen looked apologetic. "Sorry, it was too busy today. I didn't get a chance to check my phone."

While they were talking, the cat slipped away with a whoosh and darted into one of the rooms.

"Sit at my station for a while. I'll come talk to you after I'm done."

Before Yu Yaochen could say anything, Gu Yuechen had already entered the room to catch the cat.

Yu Yaochen could only walk over to Gu Yuechen's workstation. When he lowered his head and spotted cat fur on the chair, he frowned slightly.

After Gu Yuechen finally put the cat into a cage in the observation room, he returned to the front desk and saw Yu Yaochen standing beside his chair, looking down at his phone.

"Why are you standing?" Gu Yuechen blurted out. "Think it's dirty?"

Hearing his voice, Yu Yaochen immediately looked up.

"No. It's your chair. It wouldn't be right for me to sit in it."

"What's wrong with that?"

Gu Yuechen walked over and saw the cat fur on it. Perhaps the darkness in his heart was at work, but he forcibly pulled Yu Yaochen down into the chair.

"If Dr. Pei sees this, he'll think I haven't taken proper care of you."

Yu Yaochen instinctively wanted to stand, but Gu Yuechen's hand was pressing on his shoulder.

After hesitating for a moment, he chose to stop struggling.

"He won't blame you over something so trivial."

See that?

How intimate that sounded. He had probably already treated Pei Huanyi as his own possession.

Gu Yuechen suppressed his irritation and picked up the phone on the desk.

"What message did you send me?"

Gu Yuechen unlocked his phone, opened WeChat, and saw Yu Yaochen's message.

[Is Pei Huanyi at the hospital?]

After one glance, Gu Yuechen deleted the chat with obvious disdain.

He was looking at his phone while standing, so Yu Yaochen could not possibly notice his little move.

"Dr. Pei is in his office. You can go in and find him directly." Gu Yuechen put his phone back in its place, his voice somewhat muffled. "But there's a client inside. You can wait for a while if you want."

Yu Yaochen gave an "Mm," then pointed at his own chin.

"You're bleeding here."

Gu Yuechen's expression paused slightly, and he instinctively raised a hand to touch his chin.

Just as his fingertips were about to reach it, Yu Yaochen suddenly pressed down on his arm.

"Don't touch the wound with your hands."

The room was heated, and Gu Yuechen was wearing a short-sleeved work uniform. Yu Yaochen's hand rested against his exposed skin, cool to the touch.

Gu Yuechen felt a little disgusted, yet he could not directly shake Yu Yaochen's hand off. He was afraid this young master, who had never suffered any grievance, would turn around and complain to Pei Huanyi about him.

He gritted his teeth and said, "Really? Then I'll have a colleague treat it for me later."

"I can help you." Yu Yaochen looked around. "Is there a first-aid kit here?"

Gu Yuechen simply could not believe that a young master who had never lifted a finger to do anything would know how to treat someone's wound.

Seeing that Gu Yuechen said nothing, Yu Yaochen continued, "Consider it repayment for the coffee you bought me last time."

Gu Yuechen was nearly amused by his words.

Are all rich young masters this naive?

Treating a minor wound can offset the cost of a cup of coffee?

If I ever save Yu Yaochen's life someday, would he be willing to give me his fiancé?

Of course, Gu Yuechen also knew he was being unreasonable.

Perhaps jealousy had robbed him of his rationality, making him always view Yu Yaochen through the worst possible lens.

Gu Yuechen knew that if he refused, Yu Yaochen would probably find him hard to approach. After some thought, he still stood and went to get the first-aid kit.

Yu Yaochen did not seem like a novice at all. His movements as he treated the wound were extremely practiced, which inevitably surprised Gu Yuechen.

"Hiss—" Gu Yuechen sucked in a sharp breath.

Yu Yaochen's hand holding the cotton swab paused. "Applying medicine will hurt a little. Bear with it."

Gu Yuechen nodded perfunctorily, then raised his eyes to study his rival's face.

He had to admit that Yu Yaochen was exceptionally handsome, better-looking than any celebrity. When he did not smile, though, he gave off a strong sense of distance.

But that was indeed the case. Yu Yaochen treated people like them with perfectly measured politeness.

Like the innate courtesy and formality of someone from a wealthy family.

Perhaps treating his wound was only something to do while waiting for Pei Huanyi to finish, a way to pass the time while earning someone's gratitude.

He wondered what someone like that was like in bed.

Would he shed that cold, distant image and eagerly please his lover?