Chapter 39

Back in high school, city officials had come to inspect the school for a while, and the homeroom teachers had required every student to tuck their shirts into their pants during morning exercises.

Everyone had looked like a nerd then, except Pei Ran, with his long legs and slim waist, looking perfectly put together.

Pei Ran's ankle was held tight. Feeling a light bite on his calf, he instinctively tried to pull away, but the more he tried, the harder Yan Zhun held him.

Near the end, Yan Zhun buried his face in the crook of his shoulder and said in a low voice, "Back in high school, my homeroom teacher even thought I was dating."

Pei Ran loosely covered his eyes with the back of his hand, his eyes a little damp. He didn't understand why Yan Zhun was bringing this up now, but he still responded through his blank mind, "...Hm?"

"I spent the entire exercise routine watching another class."

"..."

Yan Zhun spoke very slowly, his voice carrying a desire that wasn't usually there, low and husky. He moved Pei Ran's hand away and kissed his eyes, then the tip of his nose. They were so close that all Pei Ran's senses could register was him.

As everything went white before Pei Ran's eyes, he heard Yan Zhun say coaxingly, "You have beautiful legs, Teacher Pei."

Early the next morning, Yan Zhun got up a little later than usual, but his habits were good, and even a late start never took him past ten.

His first reaction upon waking was to look at the person beside him. Pei Ran was still asleep. Yan Zhun felt his forehead and only got out of bed after making sure nothing was wrong.

Yan Zhun called the front desk to order two breakfasts, then bent down to pick up the trash on the floor.

There wasn't really much to pick up, just two condom wrappers. He had missed when throwing them away yesterday, and they had landed near the trash can.

When Pei Ran woke, he happened to hear movement on the balcony.

He had barely moved when he felt a faint ache all over his body. It wasn't severe, but it still stopped him from getting up.

He turned toward the balcony. The curtains were only open a crack, and although the sunlight wasn't strong, Pei Ran still couldn't help squinting.

He saw Yan Zhun pull open the balcony door, holding something. It took Pei Ran a few blinks to make it out, and all his sleepiness instantly vanished-

Yan Zhun was holding his underwear.

Washed.

Last night, he had been made to feel so strange, his legs aching and numb, that he could only let Yan Zhun take him to shower. Once he was rinsed off, he had gone straight to sleep without caring about anything else.

When Yan Zhun came back after hanging up the underwear, he found Pei Ran lying at the head of the bed, staring at him.

"Awake?" Yan Zhun walked over and felt his forehead again. "I ordered breakfast. It just arrived. Get up and eat."

Pei Ran looked up. "What you were holding just now..."

Yan Zhun's tone was natural. "I thought you might think it was dirty leaving them in the bathroom, so I washed them while I was at it."

For the first time since growing up, Pei Ran had let someone wash his underwear for him.

He closed his eyes briefly, remembering last night. His face was red, but his expression betrayed nothing else. He merely fell silent for a moment. "Okay."

Breakfast was lean pork congee, light and easy on the palate.

Yan Zhun said, "I extended the room for another day."

Pei Ran paused in the middle of eating his congee. "Hm?"

"I was worried you wouldn't get enough sleep." Yan Zhun lowered his eyes. "...Does it still hurt?"

Pei Ran shook his head. Yan Zhun had prepared him very well beforehand, and he genuinely hadn't felt much pain.

But his legs really were sore now. After discussing it, they decided to sleep a little longer and not take the bus back.

Close to noon, notifications kept sounding in the class group chat. When Yan Zhun came out of the bathroom, he happened to see Pei Ran changing.

"Didn't we say we'd sleep a little longer?"

"Yeah." Pei Ran pulled on his pants. "But I still need to go down and say goodbye to the teacher."

Yan Zhun glanced at the scarf he had taken out. "Do you need to wear that much?"

The hotel was heated all the way from their room to the lobby.

Pei Ran said, "..."

Pei Ran said, "The marks on me are too obvious."

Although Pei Ran hadn't grown up spoiled, he had never really suffered any hardships in life either. On top of that, his skin was fairer than most boys', and Yan Zhun only needed to use a little force to rub it red.

He had checked while washing up. His waist, neck, and legs were all covered in marks.

For a moment, Pei Ran drifted off, thinking again of Yan Zhun turning his face to kiss his calf. He couldn't help lowering his head and putting on his scarf faster.

Yan Zhun paused. "Then I'll go down with you."

Noon was the hotel's peak checkout time, especially with the holiday these past few days, and the checkout line was fairly long.

Luo Qingshan sat on a lobby sofa, yawning nonstop. The class president sitting beside him finally couldn't take it anymore and asked, "What were you doing last night?"

"Nothing much. Couldn't sleep well in an unfamiliar bed." Luo Qingshan took a gulp of water and looked around. "Where's Pei Ran? Why hasn't he come down yet? Isn't he usually pretty punctual?"

The class president said, "Oh. I think they're staying another day. They said they weren't checking out. Probably still asleep."

Luo Qingshan choked on his water, his face turning red. "They're...not checking out?!"

Just as he finished speaking, the elevator doors nearby slowly slid open, and Pei Ran and Yan Zhun walked out side by side.

Pei Ran was bundled up, with only his head showing. He looked hot just to look at.

Yan Zhun, on the other hand, wore only a T-shirt. It was black and long-sleeved, with the sleeves rolled halfway up to his elbows and the neckline just revealing his collarbones.

Luo Qingshan watched blankly as they walked toward the sofa beside his to say goodbye to Teacher Yun.

Luo Qingshan immediately spotted a mark on Yan Zhun's arm, a shallow pink line that looked like a cat scratch.

There were no cats in this hotel.

He couldn't help looking up. Yan Zhun's collar hung loose, and there were two red marks to the right of his Adam's apple.

Their shoulders touched. Although there was no excessive physical contact, Luo Qingshan could tell at a glance how intimate they were.

He remembered the door he had knocked on for so long last night without an answer. His breathing stopped for two seconds, his fists tightened and loosened, and he stared at Pei Ran in disbelief.

He and Pei Ran had never gone all the way.

He was completely straight. In high school, he had been too inexperienced to know what truly counted as sex between men. After they started college, the little hotels nearby were all too dirty, and there had even been a nasty incident involving a hidden camera, so the two of them had hardly ever gone.

Luo Qingshan had originally booked a hotel for his birthday night, but he had accidentally drunk too much and gotten into a mix-up with Su Nian. The room fee had gone down the drain along with it. He hadn't even stayed in the room he had booked for the night, and in the end, Su Nian had taken him to a lousy inn to make do for a night.

His face ashen, he watched the two of them say goodbye to the teacher and their classmates.

When they passed him, Luo Qingshan couldn't help blurting out, "Pei Ran."

Pei Ran stopped and turned to look at him.

Luo Qingshan asked, "Last night...why didn't you open the door?"

He saw Pei Ran unconsciously move a little closer to Yan Zhun. Only after several seconds did he speak.

"We had something private to take care of." After saying that, Pei Ran turned to the class president. "We'll head back up, then. Have a safe trip. Bye."

Pei Ran hadn't slept well to begin with. Once they returned to the room and drew the curtains, he soon fell fast asleep.

Yan Zhun sat at the head of the bed watching matches with his earphones in, turning to look at him now and then. Pei Ran slept on his side. Yan Zhun watched quietly for a while, then touched the hickey near the crook of his shoulder with his fingertip. In the light from the iPad, he could clearly see that it had faded considerably.

Yan Zhun rubbed it gently, only stopping in satisfaction when the color gradually deepened.

During the third match, Yan Zhun's phone suddenly rang. He silenced it as fast as he could, then looked beside him. Pei Ran had already opened his eyes.

"Sleep a little longer." After saying that, Yan Zhun started to get up to take the call outside.

With his eyes lowered, Pei Ran weakly caught his arm, his voice slightly hoarse. "It's okay. I've slept enough. Go ahead and answer."

Yan Zhun ruffled his hair and put the call straight on speaker.

It was the coach, who got straight to the point of the call.

"A Wei can't keep playing. He's retiring after this tournament. Management's pushing hard and keeps telling me to pick someone from the youth trainees...Make your decision soon," the coach said. "I've looked at this batch of trainees. They're still not good enough, and the team needs a shot-caller right now. Those three we have now...I don't feel confident about any of them."

Yan Zhun said, "Got it. I'll give you an answer next week."

The coach drew a breath. "All right. Hopefully it'll be good news. Why aren't you back yet? Weren't you only staying one night?"

Yan Zhun said, "I extended the room for another day."

The coach said, "...Then you and Pei Ran, uh, have fun."

Pei Ran listened to the entire call in a haze of sleepiness.

Only a while after the call ended did he belatedly lift his head. "Are you going to play professionally?"

Instead of answering, Yan Zhun asked, "Will you let me?"

Pei Ran froze for a moment. "That's your choice."

Yan Zhun said, "You're my boyfriend. You're in charge of me."

"..."

Realizing these were the words he had said outside the convenience store before, Pei Ran covered his eyes, belatedly feeling shy.

He slowly sat up, leaned languidly against Yan Zhun's arm, and took out his phone to scroll through it for a long time.

Yan Zhun's phone chimed. Pei Ran said, "I sent you someone's contact on WeChat."

Yan Zhun paused. "Who?"

"A physiotherapist," Pei Ran said. "He's good at what he does, and his massages feel really nice."

Pei Ran had learned piano as a child and now drew. His hands would get tired after drawing for a long time, too. His mother had introduced this man to him.

Yan Zhun said, "Okay," then asked a moment later, "Didn't my massage feel nice?"

Last night, while holding him down, Yan Zhun had kept hold of Pei Ran's hands, their fingers interlocked, only letting go when it was over.

He had held Pei Ran's hands so tightly they had turned red.

Yan Zhun had noticed afterward and massaged his hands. Pei Ran had fallen asleep to the pressure on his fingers.

Pei Ran said, "...That's different."

It was drizzling outside, and neither of them had any plans to enjoy the hot springs. They stayed curled up in bed.

Pei Ran got out of bed to wash his face. After the bathroom door closed, Yan Zhun took out his phone again and forwarded the electronic contract the coach had sent him last week to his dad.