So it wasn't disgust after all

Cold all over, Wen Yanyu rubbed his arms and curled into a ball, trying hard to fall asleep quickly.

Once the medication wore off, he would not be able to sleep.

A sudden warmth spread over him.

Wen Yanyu froze and turned his head, meeting the man's unreadable eyes. Another quilt had been draped over him.

"Duan?"

Duan Mufeng's expression remained unchanged. After covering the boy with his own quilt, he draped a piece of clothing over himself and lay back down.

"The temperature seems to have dropped a little. I get hot easily, and you're always so sensitive to the cold. You take it. Don't catch a chill. Tomorrow, I'll have them get you another, thicker quilt."

With that, without waiting to see Wen Yanyu's expression, Duan Mufeng turned over and did not look at him again.

Wen Yanyu: "..." Huh?

"Oh, okay. Thanks, Duan."

Gratitude flashed through his eyes. Shivering, Wen Yanyu pulled the quilts tighter around himself and whispered, "I'll give you something tasty tomorrow."

"Mm," Duan Mufeng answered quietly, saying nothing more.

The night deepened.

Cicadas chirped outside the window.

Listening to the breathing beside him settle into an even rhythm.

Duan Mufeng carefully rolled over. His eyes took a moment to adjust to the darkness before he could make out the person sleeping soundly beside him.

His gaze fell on that fair, soft face, and Duan Mufeng lowered his eyes.

His fingertip brushed gently across the boy's face, slowly moving toward that alluring red mole. The delicate, soft sensation sent a tingling through his heart.

Seeming to feel the tickle, Wen Yanyu's brows twitched. He mumbled a few times, his lips forming words in his drowsiness.

Duan Mufeng could not help leaning closer.

A muffled but familiar name reached his ears.

"Fu Hanchuan..."

"Stop pinching my face all the time..."

An intimate, natural complaint.

Duan Mufeng went rigid.

An ache he had never experienced instantly ate into his heart.

His hand fell, and the man silently watched the boy curled up beside him, fast asleep.

One bed partner had followed another, and one so-called lover after another had come and gone. But after they had had their fill, they either parted by unspoken agreement or remained entangled in flirtation.

He had always thought that developing real feelings in a relationship was a very foolish thing.

He also hated people who went mad for love. Before joining the show, he had already read the other's profile.

A textbook example of the sort he detested.

But that face was far too much to his taste.

Those innocent, guileless eyes and that personality were truly enticing to a hunter like him. Once he drew close, that soft body and scent made him impatient for a taste.

He knew about the other's entanglement with Fu Hanchuan. He did not care about any of that. All he wanted was physical pleasure.

Superficial things were cheap, but enjoyable.

Yet he suddenly realized that what he felt was not disgust.

It was fear.

He did not know when it had started. Perhaps when he ate that half a meatball, or perhaps when he ate the chocolate the other had tossed him.

Perhaps when he began stealing unconscious glances at him at night, or when he could no longer help smiling at the sight of him, or when seeing him flustered made him unable to bear drawing any closer.

Or perhaps when he watched those clear eyes become clouded with an inexplicable melancholy, when his gaze began lingering on the boy who so often seemed despondent for reasons he did not know, when he began trying to understand him.

He had grown greedy.

He, too, had become one of them.

One of those people he had once hated.

Perhaps he could use every trick to coax and deceive him, as he had countless times before, and gain a moment of pleasure.

But the feelings concealed in the other's eyes made him understand clearly that everything he thought and wished for was a fantasy.

A hand that could not bear to touch him.

A helplessly yearning smile.

The cicadas kept chirping through the night. Duan Mufeng closed his eyes, feeling the warm presence that belonged to the other.

In the instant their heartbeats intertwined, those feelings seemed not to be mere wishful thinking.

Daylight filled the sky.

In the little courtyard, everyone lined up to draw lots for a trip into town to buy daily necessities and food for the children in the mountains.

Lu Mingxu looked at the red lot in his hand, identical to Wen Yanyu's, and got up to gather his things.

Looking half-asleep, Wen Yanyu slipped on a jacket and walked over to Duan Mufeng with a little notebook. "Duan, is there anything you'd like to eat?"

Duan Mufeng shook his head.

Suddenly remembering that he seemed quite fond of fish, as well as fish balls, Wen Yanyu ventured, "Duan, I remember you like fish, right? How about I buy a snakehead? They barely have any bones, and the flesh is really tender."

Duan Mufeng paused, then nodded lightly.

Wen Yanyu smiled at him. "Okay, then I'll make you fish balls when I bring it back. I know a really delicious way to make them."

"Mm." Duan Mufeng lowered his eyes, hiding the unusual look in them.

He said nothing more.

Wen Yanyu asked the others what they wanted to eat as well, lowering his head and carefully noting everything down.

The camera clearly captured the change in the man.

[Does anyone else think Duan the womanizer has been a little cold toward Wen Yanyu these past two days?]

[The novelty's probably worn off.]

[I don't think he's even had a taste yet, though.]

[I don't think so. It just feels like there was quite a bit of physical contact during the previous week, and that's stopped these past two days. But his attitude isn't cold, just a little cautious. It's weird.]

[As a former player: there's a 99.99 percent chance he's caught feelings.]

[That's hilarious. Duan Mufeng, catching feelings? He used to play around like crazy overseas.]

[Whatever he's thinking, I'm scooping up Bunny Baby and taking him away. We're not playing with womanizers.]

The two took the spending money the production crew had prepared and headed out.

After a drive of more than three hours.

As they made their way through the mall, passersby kept turning to stare at the two and the cameramen following beside them.