Chapter 52
Jiang Mi: “…”
Jiang Mi spread his limbs flat on the bed, closed his eyes, and said, “Go take your shower. I’m not leaving.”
Hearing that, Liang Jinyi looked at him for a while longer before finally leaving reluctantly.
A few minutes later, Liang Jinyi went into the bathroom to wash up.
Jiang Mi lay there with his eyes closed for a while, then got up and stuffed the tie he had casually tossed onto the pillow into the wardrobe.
The sound of running water came from the bathroom.
Jiang Mi’s gaze then landed on the enormous bouquet of roses Liang Jinyi had left on the bedside table.
His fingers curled slightly.
He sighed, looked at the large bed in the middle of the room, took a deep breath, lifted the covers on the left side, and lay down.
More than half an hour later, Liang Jinyi finished showering and dried his hair.
When he came out of the bathroom and saw the obvious shape beneath the covers, he smiled.
He quickly lifted the blanket and climbed into bed, smoothly wrapping an arm around Jiang Mi’s waist and burying his face against his shoulder.
“Brother, do you still remember our agreement?”
“I remember.”
Jiang Mi knew exactly which agreement Liang Jinyi meant.
“When does Brother’s business trip end this week?”
“I’ll return to Bei City on Saturday,” Jiang Mi answered with his eyes closed.
Liang Jinyi smiled in satisfaction.
“Perfect. Then on Sunday, we can have our first date.”
First date?
Jiang Mi’s heart gave a violent thump.
Liang Jinyi continued holding him, his voice full of anticipation.
“Brother, where do you want to go for our first date?”
A year had passed quickly.
His younger brother still liked him, but perhaps it was only because he had not given up yet.
If he pursued Jiang Mi for an entire year and still got nowhere, he would probably give up then.
With little enthusiasm, Jiang Mi said, “Anywhere is fine.”
Liang Jinyi’s eyes flickered.
He propped himself up slightly and stared at Jiang Mi’s sleeping face.
“Then, Brother, let’s go to a hot spring. Bei City still isn’t very warm right now anyway—”
Jiang Mi’s eyelid twitched.
“No.”
A hot spring was far too intimate.
Liang Jinyi smiled at him.
Meeting his gaze, Jiang Mi said, “Let’s just watch a movie and have dinner.”
Liang Jinyi sat upright and complained, “What a boring date.”
But before Jiang Mi could speak, he smiled again.
“Still, I’ll listen to Brother. We’ll watch a movie and have dinner.”
Jiang Mi realized that his younger brother truly was a very smart person.
Or perhaps not smart, exactly.
Rather, exceptionally perceptive.
His pursuit was clearly far too forceful, leaving Jiang Mi nowhere to escape.
Yet he always knew exactly when to give Jiang Mi just enough room to breathe, enough time to see the good in him.
“Then, Brother, I’ll come pick you up at your place on Sunday morning,” Liang Jinyi said.
For the past decade or so, whenever they went out together, Jiang Mi had always been the one to pick Liang Jinyi up.
After all, Jiang Mi had already been an adult more than ten years ago, while Jinyi had still been a child.
But this time, Liang Jinyi was saying he would come pick him up?
Seeing Jiang Mi’s surprise, Liang Jinyi looked into his eyes.
“Brother, I’m already eighteen. I have a driver’s license now. I can drive myself.”
Liang Jinyi had learned to drive at fifteen. Driving itself had never been technically difficult for him, but under national law, he could not get a license then.
Now that he had been an adult for half a year, he had obtained his license during winter break.
He already had a driver’s license?
For a moment, Jiang Mi suddenly felt that his younger brother really had grown up.
Yes.
Jinyi was already eighteen.
Whether legally or physically, he was now an adult with full civil capacity.
At that thought, Jiang Mi shook his head again.
So what if he was eighteen?
Compared with Jiang Mi, eighteen was still a child.
Physical maturity at eighteen did not necessarily mean psychological maturity.
“All right. Go to sleep.”
Jiang Mi yawned and lay back down.
Liang Jinyi looked at him for a moment, switched off the bedside lamp, wrapped an arm around Jiang Mi’s waist, and fell asleep too.
Feeling Liang Jinyi’s arm around his waist, Jiang Mi’s eyelids moved.
In the end, however, he said nothing.
Liang Jinyi’s flight was at nine in the morning.
Their hotel was an hour’s drive from the airport, and with check-in time and the possibility of traffic, Liang Jinyi quietly released Jiang Mi and got up at six.
After changing clothes, Liang Jinyi went to wash his face in the bathroom.
When he came out, he saw that Jiang Mi was awake too.
Liang Jinyi froze.
“Brother, you could still sleep for another two hours.”
The company Jiang Mi was visiting was close to the hotel, only a fifteen-minute walk away.
And the company did not start work until nine.
It was barely six.
Jiang Mi had no need to get up this early.
“I’m not sleepy anymore.”
After a pause, Jiang Mi added, “I’m hungry anyway. I’ll go downstairs for breakfast.”
Liang Jinyi narrowed his eyes and stared at him.
A few seconds later, he said directly, “Brother, even though you never said you missed me, you actually did miss me this past year, didn’t you?”
Jiang Mi’s steps froze as he went to get his clothes.
Liang Jinyi walked over and hugged him, rubbing his face against Jiang Mi’s neck.
“Brother, I really don’t want to leave you.”
Then he pulled back slightly and said aggrievedly, “Brother, why can’t I do magic? Then whenever I wanted to see you, I could just appear in front of you.”
Jiang Mi did not have as many mushy romantic feelings as his younger brother.
“All right. I’m going to change.”
With that, he walked to the clothes rack, took down the suit shirt and trousers he had ironed the previous night, and headed toward the bathroom.
Liang Jinyi immediately complained, “Brother, why are you changing in the bathroom?”
“I changed right here in the room just now,” Liang Jinyi said.
Jiang Mi’s patience had limits.
He turned and stared at Liang Jinyi.
Liang Jinyi asked righteously, “Brother, I like you, so I want to watch you undress and get dressed in front of me. Is that wrong?”
Bang.
Jiang Mi strode into the bathroom and shut the door.
When Jiang Mi said he would see Liang Jinyi off, all he meant was that after they ate breakfast near the hotel, he put Liang Jinyi into a taxi.
Once his younger brother left, Jiang Mi returned to the hotel.
Meanwhile, sitting in the taxi, Liang Jinyi opened his phone and looked at several photos he had taken the previous night.
His lips curved happily.
The next second, he noticed the time displayed at the top of the screen.
His expression immediately soured.
He opened his schoolbag with a blank face, took out a small white plastic bottle, poured two small white tablets into his palm, tilted his head back, put them into his mouth, and swallowed them dry.
He roughly stuffed the white bottle back into his schoolbag.
Then his peripheral vision caught sight of the photos on his phone, and his mood improved again.
Liang Jinyi returned to school in time for the final class of the morning.
At lunch, while eating in the cafeteria with Zhu Yurui and Huo Ran, his mind kept drifting back to every little moment he had spent with Brother the night before.
“Brother Liang, I’ve been calling you forever.”
Zhu Yurui nudged Liang Jinyi’s arm with his elbow.
“Hm? What is it?” Liang Jinyi asked.
Huo Ran sat opposite him.
“Let’s go to KTV on Sunday afternoon.”
“Sunday?” Liang Jinyi asked.
“Yeah.” Zhu Yurui looked excited. “Sunday is Brother Huo’s eighteenth birthday. Of course we have to celebrate properly.”
At Experimental High School, Zhu Yurui considered Liang Jinyi and Huo Ran his two best friends.
Only after Zhu Yurui reminded him did Jiang Mi finally stop occupying Liang Jinyi’s entire mind.
He remembered that Sunday was Huo Ran’s eighteenth birthday.
“Sorry. I can’t make it Sunday afternoon.”
“Huh? Why?” Zhu Yurui asked in surprise.
“I have something to do.”
“What?”
Liang Jinyi had always been very honest about matters concerning him and Jiang Mi.
“I’m going on a date with my brother.”
Zhu Yurui thought his choice of words was strange.
“You mean you’re going out with your brother? Brother Liang, you can hang out with your brother anytime, but Brother Huo only turns eighteen once.”
“Huo Ran, happy birthday,” Liang Jinyi said. “I’ll bring your present early.”
Huo Ran frowned.
“Brother Liang, you really can’t come?”
Liang Jinyi hummed.
Huo Ran sighed helplessly.
“All right, then.”
Liang Jinyi did not consider himself an especially emotional person.
He did not particularly care whether he had friends.
It was only because Jiang Mi had once said when he was little that he hoped Jinyi could experience the happiness of having friends that Liang Jinyi had tried.
And he had indeed gained some positive emotions from friendship.
So over the years, he had not become a complete loner.
But no one was more important than Jiang Mi.
—
On Saturday evening, Jiang Mi returned to Bei City.
Mother Jiang had originally planned to celebrate his birthday on Sunday, but Jiang Mi remembered that he had promised to go on a date with Liang Jinyi.
He could only decline, saying he had something to do and needed to go out.
Jiang Mi had always been independent, so Mother Jiang would not force him over something like this.
Thus, on Sunday afternoon, Jiang Mi received a call from Liang Jinyi.
“Brother, I’m at the entrance to your neighborhood.”
Jiang Mi adjusted his clothes in the mirror.
Since he was going out with a high school student today, he had not worn a suit.
Instead, he wore a dark-blue hoodie and black jeans, making him look somewhat younger.
The young man in the mirror had a handsome, mature face, but the hoodie softened the maturity surrounding him and made him appear a couple of years younger.
Jiang Mi looked at himself and felt vaguely unaccustomed to it.
“All right. I’ll be out soon.”
Ten minutes later, Jiang Mi walked to the entrance of the neighborhood.
Liang Jinyi lowered the window of the Range Rover and smiled sweetly at him.
“Brother.”
Jiang Mi opened the passenger-side door and got in.
This was the first time Jiang Mi had ever sat in a car driven by his younger brother.
Sitting in the passenger seat, he felt strangely unsettled.
It was as though the tiny child who had clung to his legs and acted spoiled only yesterday had suddenly grown up in the blink of an eye.
He could already drive.
As Jiang Mi thought this, he noticed Liang Jinyi glancing at him from the corner of his eye.
Jiang Mi withdrew his gaze from his younger brother.
Half an hour later, they arrived at the mall.
After Liang Jinyi parked, the two went to collect their movie tickets.
Liang Jinyi had bought them in advance.
Jiang Mi had honestly been worried that he would choose some lingering, sentimental romance film.
Jiang Mi only wanted to muddle through this year.
He did not want to create too many strange memories.
Fortunately, Liang Jinyi had not chosen a romance.
Instead, he had picked a well-reviewed mystery film.
After collecting their tickets, the movie was about to begin, so they went through the ticket check and entered the theater.
But while checking their tickets, the young female employee suddenly looked up at the two of them.
Her eyes lit with excited delight.
Jiang Mi looked at her in confusion, unable to understand what her expression meant.
It was not until two minutes later, when they entered the auditorium and Jiang Mi reached the seats Liang Jinyi had bought, that his eyelid twitched.
Compared with Jiang Mi, who froze in place, Liang Jinyi was completely at ease.
He dropped straight into the couple’s seat he had bought, then looked at the motionless Jiang Mi.
“Brother, aren’t you sitting down? Everyone’s looking at you.”
They had not entered especially early, and many audience members were already seated.
Liang Jinyi had bought seats near the back of the theater, but there were still people in the rows behind them.
Jiang Mi was tall.
Standing there naturally attracted attention.
He drew in a quiet breath and sat down beside Liang Jinyi.
The moment he did, the theater lights dimmed.
Everything around them fell into darkness.
Only the movie screen several meters away gave off a pale white glow.
Jiang Mi’s body tensed slightly.
The difference between a regular seat and a couple’s seat was that there was no divider between the two places.
The seats were joined together.
He noticed Liang Jinyi leaning toward him and pressing his thigh against Jiang Mi’s.
Jiang Mi waited for his younger brother’s next move.
But Liang Jinyi did nothing else.
He simply looked at the screen in the distance, as though the previous movement had been completely accidental.
Jiang Mi relaxed.
The theater was dark, and there were people all around them.
He did not want to do anything ambiguous with Jinyi.
Yet the very next second after he relaxed, the hand resting on his knee was suddenly seized.
Then the other person’s long, strong fingers forcefully spread his apart and intertwined with them.
Jiang Mi froze.
Then he exerted force, trying to pull free from Liang Jinyi’s warm hand.
Liang Jinyi tightened his grip.
In a low voice, he said, “Brother, if you keep moving, I’ll kiss you.”
Jiang Mi cared about his dignity.
That sentence had practically become Liang Jinyi’s universal weapon against him.
Cursing the little bastard inwardly, Jiang Mi decided not to argue.
He ignored the sensation in his hand and stared at the screen.
At that moment, Liang Jinyi suddenly leaned closer again.
Looking at the movie screen, he asked, “Brother, what’s the name of that supporting actor? He looks kind of familiar.”
His hot breath brushed Jiang Mi’s neck.
Jiang Mi tried to keep his voice steady.
“I don’t know.”
Liang Jinyi gave an understanding hum.
But he did not move away.
His head remained against Jiang Mi’s shoulder as he watched the screen.
After a while, he suddenly called, “Brother.”
“What is it?” Jiang Mi asked.
In the dim theater, Liang Jinyi turned his head and breathed in Jiang Mi’s scent.
Then he said honestly, “Brother, you smell so good.”
Liang Jinyi had often said this when he was little.
He had said it the year before last too.
Back then, Jiang Mi had simply taken it as a child stating a fact.
But now, feeling his younger brother’s lips faintly brushing against his neck, with a body that was even slightly larger than his own, Jiang Mi found it difficult to remain completely unmoved.
Without changing expression, he stared at the movie screen and pretended he had not heard.
In the darkness, Liang Jinyi could only see a small patch of pale skin on Jiang Mi’s neck.
His voice turned hoarse.
Very politely, he asked,
“Brother, when can I lick you?”
Author’s Note
Little brother: polite attitude, blunt language.
