Nan Qing: "?"
Weren't you the one who called me over?
He looked at Huo Yuzhou, whose shirt was almost translucent, then glanced toward his bathroom.
"Did I come at a bad time? Should I leave?"
Nan Qing was eager to try and was just about to find a chance to slip away.
He could tell him about the ride to work tomorrow by text anyway. He could just type a few words after he got back.
But before he could take two steps, Huo Yuzhou's low voice rang out.
"Wait."
Nan Qing plastered an obedient smile on his face and began turning around.
Warm yellow light spilled across the bedroom floor and illuminated Huo Yuzhou's handsome, refined face, softening even his sharp features and lending them a hint of tenderness.
Amid that all-encompassing warm yellow glow, Huo Yuzhou walked toward him, as though he had made some decision, or had finally remembered the reason.
"It's about driving you to work tomorrow, right?"
"Sorry, I was a little busy just now and didn't register it right away."
By the time he finished speaking, Huo Yuzhou was already standing before him, looking at him through half-lowered lashes.
"Come in and sit down first."
Nan Qing stared at the firm chest enlarged before his eyes. A thin sheen of water clung to the clearly defined muscles, as though they had been glazed with honey.
Huo Yuzhou had the kind of body that looked slim in clothes and muscular without them. He had looked good from a distance before, and now, up close, there wasn't a single flaw.
Even a body this good didn't tempt Bai Ruanruan?
What a waste.
Nan Qing appraised him with some excitement, his gaze lingering on the other man's clothes for a good while before he finally looked away.
"Okay."
Right in front of him, Huo Yuzhou, with his outrageously good body, began leisurely undoing his sleeve garters.
His jade-carved fingers were slightly damp as they settled on the pure black leather sleeve garter. His cool, pale fingers deftly worked it a few times, and the garter sprang open with a click.
The wet white shirt outlined the muscles of his upper arms, making him look even more seductive dressed than undressed.
Nan Qing had a real weakness for this type: a cool, restrained, daddy-type boyfriend, overflowing with hormones and secretly wild.
To cover himself, Nan Qing poured himself a glass of water and brought it to his lips as though trying to distract himself.
As he drank, he stole glances at Huo Yuzhou.
Actually, he thought Huo Yuzhou was acting a little strange tonight.
If he hadn't already known Huo Yuzhou had absolutely no interest in him, he would have suspected Huo Yuzhou was deliberately trying to seduce him right now.
Otherwise, what decent person would invite someone else into his room in the middle of the night?
And get his clothes half wet like this, revealing yet concealing, while undoing his sleeve garters right in front of him.
Huo Yuzhou wasn't straight either. Didn't he realize that undoing sleeve garters in front of another gay man was practically more erotic than undoing a belt?
Had it been anyone else, Nan Qing would have thought he had ulterior motives, but the man standing before him was the great villain, Huo Yuzhou!
The strongest backer of Bai Ruanruan, this world's little white flower protagonist shou, madly in love with the protagonist shou and wanting to possess him.
There was absolutely no way he would seduce Nan Qing, nor did he have any need to.
Nan Qing sipped his water slowly and watched Huo Yuzhou remove both pure black sleeve garters, put them on the clothes rack beside him, then turn and head back toward the bathroom.
Soon, Huo Yuzhou returned, only his clothes were a little wetter.
Nan Qing guessed he had shut off the water valve.
But with the boss repairing a pipe in the middle of the night while his employee lounged on the sofa drinking water, Nan Qing felt he was being a little inconsiderate. After thinking it over, he spoke earnestly.
"Mr. Huo, why not have someone else in the villa fix it? You're not good at this. How long will it take you?"
"Look at all that splashing. Your clothes are soaked. Don't catch a cold this late at night. Hurry and change into something dry."
Huo Yuzhou glanced at him, his deep eyes unreadable.
A little baffled, Nan Qing blinked his big, fluttering eyes and met his gaze with an innocent expression.
A moment later, he realized something and slowly tacked on a perfunctory, "Hubby~"
Wearing his icy expression, Huo Yuzhou gave a bland, "Mm."
The instant they passed each other, Nan Qing heard a familiar inner voice say softly,
[Nan Qing, I hate how dense you are.]
Nan Qing froze for half a second.
As Huo Yuzhou kept walking without stopping, Nan Qing found courage from somewhere and suddenly shot to his feet.
"Huo Yuzhou!"
Huo Yuzhou stopped and turned around.
His tall figure blocked the light, almost completely enveloping the boy before him in shadow.
Nan Qing stared fixedly at Huo Yuzhou's face and ventured,
"Huo Yuzhou, actually, I'm a block of wood..."
After speaking, Nan Qing widened his eyes and waited for Huo Yuzhou's reaction.
The handsome, aloof man looked at him, his face as composed as ever, even his ancient-well eyes utterly unruffled.
"Mm. Which tree is your ancestral home?"
Nan Qing: "..."
He shouldn't have placed any hope in his auditory hallucinations.
Huo Yuzhou was clearly teasing him like he was crazy.
And to think he had just harbored that faint hope, wondering whether he had heard Huo Yuzhou's thoughts for a moment.
Even he thought what he had just said was truly ridiculous.
The boy's lashes trembled above his lifted, slender chin, and his round catlike eyes curved as a cheesy line came readily to his lips.
"Hubby, it's my love for you that can never end!"
Under his gaze, the faintest curve appeared on Huo Yuzhou's thin, crimson lips.
The next instant, Huo Yuzhou raised his hand and stroked his head.
Like a kitten unexpectedly petted by its owner, Nan Qing was rooted to the spot by this sudden head pat, utterly at a loss as to what expression to make.
He watched blankly as Huo Yuzhou left and headed toward the dressing room.
Unfortunately, the pretty boy, dazed by that devastating head pat, touched his own head in confusion and chose not to follow, naturally missing certain sounds.
The voice of that godlike, aloof, handsome man.
Low, cool, and pleased, carrying a certain wicked excitement.
[So good, baby.]
[I really want to make you cry.]