Lu Mingxu scooted back, trying to make room for him.
Something soft and warm brushed across his abdomen.
In his panic, Wen Yanyu pressed haphazardly against the top of his thigh a few times. Lu Mingxu stiffened and pulled up the blanket to cover the other man's exposed thighs.
Wen Yanyu paid it no mind. Scrambling and tumbling, he quickly rolled over to lie beside Duan Mufeng and pulled the blanket over himself.
His black hair lay tousled over the pillow, and a pale pink flush tinged his fair cheeks. Even his neck had reddened with embarrassment. Curled into a ball, the young man looked pitiful and adorable.
Duan Mufeng narrowed his eyes slightly, his Adam's apple bobbing, and gave a low chuckle. "Don't be so nervous. It's break time now. The production crew probably won't have the cameras on."
Only then did Wen Yanyu poke his head out and sneak a glance toward the camera.
Still unsure, he burrowed back under.
The live comments, which had been quiet for a long time, began trickling across the screen.
[Sorry, they're still on.]
[Am I really allowed to watch this for free?]
[I think I know why Fu Hanchuan never blacklisted him, even after this guy pestered him for so long.]
[So cute, this is making me hard. Turning into a Lu Mingxu hater for one second. I hadn't even gotten a look yet.]
[Bestie, is that you?]
[Hehe, if he stopped pestering Fu Hanchuan and came to pester me instead, I'd stop trashing him.]
[...Sure enough, nobody who comes out at night is up to any good.]
[Uh, is he doing it on purpose? Isn't he gay? Why doesn't he avoid this at all? Changing in front of other people is kind of disgusting.]
[Bro, stop reaching for reasons to hate him. Being gay doesn't mean he's changed sexes. There's only one room. If he doesn't change in the bedroom, where's he supposed to do it? In the yard? Didn't Duan Mufeng change in the room too?]
[Honestly, guys generally don't care much about changing clothes, right? Why is Wen Yanyu so shy? So cute, I want to tuck him into my arms and kiss him, hahaha.]
Duan Mufeng lay down too.
Wen Yanyu huddled beneath the thin blanket, his fingertips clutching its corner. The lamplight softened his striking features, and the moisture from earlier seemed to have left the corners of his eyes faintly red. He lay quietly beside him.
The faint peach scent on him teased the senses, barely there.
Duan Mufeng's throat worked. His gaze flicked toward those red lips, whose softness he could almost feel even from a distance, and he swallowed involuntarily. His physical attraction reached its peak in that moment.
"Yanyu, aren't you cold with just one blanket?" Duan Mufeng asked with concern.
As he spoke, he shifted closer to the young man.
Wen Yanyu shook his head and shrank back. "I'm not cold."
Duan Mufeng chuckled softly and leaned close to his ear, speaking intimately. "Tell me if you get cold. I run hot. Call me big brother, and I'll share some of my blanket with you."
Lu Mingxu: "..."
Wen Yanyu lifted his long lashes and met Duan Mufeng's burning gaze head-on.
He shrank back instinctively.
"No need. Get some sleep, Duan. Good night."
With that, Wen Yanyu rolled over to face the wall and curled up.
Having spent the whole afternoon going through his information, Duan Mufeng knew he couldn't rush things with such inexperienced prey, who had no romantic history, so he went no further.
Duan Mufeng smiled. "Good night."
Fierce winds raged through the night. Thunder rolled again and again, streaks of lightning split the sky, and fat raindrops pounded the ground in a dense barrage, sending up sheets of spray.
Fu Hanchuan lit his seventh cigarette. Veins rose slightly on his well-defined hand, its back covered in bite marks that had only recently scabbed over.
His other hand rested on the edge of the balcony. Cold moonlight cast mottled light and shadow across his face, and unreadable emotions mingled in his gray-blue eyes.
He stood there for a long time.
So long that the sky began to brighten faintly.
Fu Hanchuan turned and headed toward the guest room on the third floor.
He turned the doorknob and gently pushed the door open.
His footsteps stopped.
Looking at the sheets and bedding, which showed no trace of anyone having slept in them, Fu Hanchuan stood stunned for a moment before entering the room.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Fu Hanchuan lowered his head.
There was no scent.
Fu Hanchuan rose and walked into the bathroom.
His gaze skimmed over the wastebasket filled with bloodstained tissues.
No emotion was discernible in his deep eyes. He simply took the plastic bag beside the bathtub, found the medicine box inside, and photographed it.
The downpour had yet to stop.
The two men beside him had long since fallen asleep.
Wen Yanyu slowly opened his eyes. The loose hair over his forehead was soaked with cold sweat, strands clinging to the sides of his face.
His fingertips dug deep into his palms. Excruciating pain shot through his abdomen from time to time, even though many years had passed, even though he seemed to be free now.
Yet the scar running from his abdomen through to his lower back still sent bone-deep agony through him from time to time.
It kept reminding him, making him recall that unbearable, terrifying past.
Telling him over and over.
Wen Yanyu, this is your fate.
You can never escape it.
The thunder outside the yard grew louder.
Wen Yanyu barely managed to prop himself up. Sweat dripped from his forehead, and his lips had lost all their color.
After a long while, he finally found the pills in his pocket.
He simply popped out four pills and swallowed them all in one go, then collapsed again as though drained of all strength.
His own heavy breathing and heartbeat filled his ears.
His strength ebbed away little by little, and white light flashed before his eyes.
Wen Yanyu gritted his teeth against the pain, not daring to make too much noise for fear of waking the two men sleeping soundly beside him.
At last, the medicine began to take effect, and the pain around his waist gradually eased.
His clothes were soaked with cold sweat.
Wen Yanyu shivered with cold. He raised a hand to tug at the blanket and curled himself into a ball, only then closing his eyes completely.
Before you continue