Chapter 85
Not wanting to act too strangely and let Grandma and Grandpa notice something was off, Lin Huaixi hazily followed Qi Wang next door.
Only after he sat down on the bed did he finally come back to himself, his reason returning online.
…Wasn’t this progressing a little too fast?
Subconsciously, he cast a glance toward Qi Wang. Qi Wang looked much calmer than he did, as if this were nothing more than some ordinary little matter. Ever since they came back, he had been busy nonstop, and right now he was in the bathroom with the door shut, doing who-knew-what inside.
The heat in the room was turned up high, nothing like the school dorm. Lin Huaixi was wearing only a thin cashmere sweater, and he was sweating like mad. After traveling all day, his body felt sticky and uncomfortable.
Even he felt like taking a shower. Given Qi Wang’s neat-freak tendencies, he probably found it even harder to bear.
Realizing this, Lin Huaixi stared blankly at the door.
He should have showered before coming over.
If he went back now, he might disturb Grandma and Grandpa. If they found out, he would have to explain, and that would cost way too many brain cells.
Qi Wang had gone in to shower. Sitting there alone was boring anyway. After hesitating for half a minute, Lin Huaixi slowly shuffled toward the door.
Unexpectedly, the moment he stood up, the bathroom door opened, and Qi Wang appeared in front of him fully dressed.
“So fast? You’re already done showering?” Lin Huaixi blurted out.
Qi Wang smiled helplessly. “I put your pajamas on the rack. The clothes you take off can go in the laundry basket. Your toiletries are by the sink—they’re all new. Pick whichever one you like, and give me the rest.”
Walking over, Qi Wang urged him on with his eyes. “You go wash first.”
Lin Huaixi’s Adam’s apple bobbed twice as he stared blankly at Qi Wang.
Didn’t he realize there was another meaning to all this, what might happen next? How could he be so calm?
Lin Huaixi’s gaze darted around. Not wanting Qi Wang to see through him, he lowered his head and hurried inside. Only after the bathroom door shut behind him did he let out a long breath.
To stop himself from overthinking, he kept himself busy the entire time. Fifteen minutes later, he came out of the bathroom.
He had just opened his mouth when he saw Qi Wang frowning, looking at him with a serious expression.
???
Qi Wang strode over quickly. Lin Huaixi’s brain went into overdrive, and he could not help taking a step back.
“Ah, I think I left the clothes I changed out of on the rack. I’ll go put them away right now—”
Before he could finish, a towel landed over his head, and Qi Wang began gently drying his hair.
“It’s okay. I’ll tidy it up later.” Qi Wang’s tone cooled. “Your hair is dripping. If you don’t dry it, you’ll get a headache.”
Lin Huaixi looked up through the gap in the towel and stared fixedly at Qi Wang without blinking, his eyes full of completely undisguised infatuation.
Qi Wang’s movements paused. His expression stayed normal, but before he spoke, his Adam’s apple moved once, and he almost stumbled over the words. “Why… why are you looking at me like that?”
Lin Huaixi, not sensing anything wrong, asked back, “Is there a problem?”
Qi Wang looked at him in silence, sighed inwardly, suppressed the desire surging in his chest, and in the end let him off.
Standing there had tired Lin Huaixi out. He pressed down on Qi Wang’s hand. “You go shower first. I can dry it myself.”
Warmth spread from the place where their skin touched. In such a moment, in such an atmosphere, it was more than enough to pluck at Qi Wang’s heartstrings—but Lin Huaixi only cared about drying his hair and once again ignored him.
Qi Wang stood there motionless for half a minute. Only when Lin Huaixi cast him a puzzled look did he finally smile and turn away.
Lin Huaixi: “…” Why did it feel like there was resentment hidden in Qi Wang’s smile?
Unable to figure it out and unwilling to waste more time, he yawned. For a moment, he forgot where he was and very naturally flopped down onto the bed.
Wait, this was Qi Wang’s bed. Qi Wang’s blanket and Qi Wang’s pillow. The entire space around him was filled with Qi Wang’s scent, wrapping around him tightly.
Heat crept up to Lin Huaixi’s ears. He buried his face in the pillow, but his body seemed to have some kind of built-in program. He rolled over, tossed one leg outside the blanket, picked up the phone on the bedside table with one hand, and naturally opened a short-video app, smiling foolishly at cute cat videos.
The entire sequence flowed in one smooth motion, as if he had done it countless times before.
Which, in fact, he had. He had grown up with Qi Wang, was infinitely familiar with him, and had often squeezed onto the same bed with him. Although their relationship had changed now, those bone-deep habits were too deeply rooted. If he let his guard down for even a second, they came right back out.
As a boyfriend, wasn’t he being a little too uninhibited? A little too unconcerned about his image?
Lin Huaixi reflected deeply on himself and decided he should at least try to struggle a little. But after spending a full five minutes building up his resolve, his heart remained as still as water, and all he really wanted was to keep watching cat videos. In the end, he resigned himself and picked the phone back up.
Well, that was the downside of childhood-friend-to-lover relationships.
When Qi Wang came out of the bathroom, this was the scene he saw.
Lin Huaixi was sunk deep into the soft bed, the blanket tucked between his legs. His pajamas were rumpled, the cuff of his pants rubbed up past his knee, exposing a delicate, beautiful ankle and the smoothly curved line of his calf.
The black blanket lay slanted across his body. His fingers clutched the edge of it. His skin had always been pale, and against the dark fabric he looked like polished white porcelain.
Lin Huaixi was wholly focused on the phone in his hands, laughing out loud at whatever he was watching, his shoulders shaking.
Qi Wang stood at the side of the bed for three seconds, casually tossed the towel aside, bent over slightly, and wrapped his long, elegant fingers around Lin Huaixi’s ankle.
Lin Huaixi had never paid much attention to his own body and never knew his ankle could be so sensitive. The moment it was grabbed, he felt as if he’d been scalded, and sprang upright off the bed, bracing himself on the mattress and staring at Qi Wang in alarm.
“You-you-you…” Lin Huaixi could not get a second, different word out.
Qi Wang showed no sign of stopping. His hand kept moving, as though he were admiring some exquisite work of art. His fingertips traced slow circles over the protruding ankle bone, light in pressure, his nails brushing ever so slightly, sending an unbearable tingling sensation spreading outward.
Lin Huaixi’s resistance was practically zero. His eyelashes trembled nonstop.
Qi Wang’s hand continued upward, kneading the soft flesh of his leg, shaping it differently under his palm.
With his eyes lowered, lashes casting faint shadows, his gaze dark and expression serious and focused, his actions were clearly indecent, yet he somehow managed to look as if he were conducting an earnest experiment—studying every change he elicited from Lin Huaixi.
Lin Huaixi licked his lips, throat dry, and had the absurd thought that the whole scene felt incredibly erotic.
“Qi Wang…” he called softly, his voice trembling at the end, looking so pitiful it was almost a plea to be cherished.
Only then did Qi Wang finally look at him. “How am I doing as your boyfriend?”
Lin Huaixi froze. He did not understand why Qi Wang was suddenly asking this, so with a strong instinct for self-preservation he answered, “Of course you’re doing great.”
“Am I too good,” Qi Wang said, seizing the moment while Lin Huaixi had not yet processed anything, grabbing his ankle and effortlessly dragging him closer, “which is why you trust me this much?”
!!!
Lin Huaixi’s heart was trembling. It wasn’t that he rejected this—he just was not mentally prepared yet, and panic rose up uncontrollably.
His gaze landed on the towel lying off to the side, and his eyes lit up as if he had found a lifesaving straw. “Wait, your hair’s still wet. You’ll get a headache. How about we—”
Qi Wang caught his wrist and pinned it down onto the bed. “It’s okay. I’ll dry it later.”
…Hypocrite!
In the end, the hair still did not get dried. It air-dried a little, then got damp with sweat again. Qi Wang took him back into the bathroom, where they dawdled for more than another hour before finally coming out clean.
When Lin Huaixi collapsed back onto the bed, he felt as if his soul had floated out of his body. His consciousness was hazy, half-awake and half-asleep. Then the mattress beside him dipped, and that reassuring scent settled over him. Qi Wang tucked the blanket around him again and, as if soothing a small child to sleep, patted him gently on the back.
…
Lin Huaixi slept until noon the next day—or rather, he woke up from thirst.
His eyes would not open. He fumbled around blindly with one hand and somehow found a cup. Inside was warm lemon water. Only after he finished the whole thing did he finally feel alive again.
The night before, he had been all dazed and completely swept along by Qi Wang’s rhythm. Only now did everything fully sink in.
Qi Wang had talked about taking things slow, stopping at the right point, and had sweet-talked him with all kinds of reasons—but in one single night, they had already done everything!
Lin Huaixi did not even dare think about it. He certainly could not bear to keep staying in this bed full of memories, so he immediately got up and ran to the bathroom to wash up.
The moment he saw his red, swollen eyes in the mirror, his temper flared up.
It was all Qi Wang’s fault—he had gone back on his word!
Lin Huaixi had already been holding a grudge, and now, in a burst of irritation, he stormed off to settle the score with Qi Wang.
The bedroom door flew open with a shove. Lin Huaixi looked around for Qi Wang—but then the sweet smell in the air dragged his thoughts away, and his steps unconsciously slowed.
He sniffed twice, then immediately veered toward the kitchen. Before he even reached the doorway, he saw Qi Wang wearing that light pink apron Lin Huaixi had bought, tall and long-legged, facing away from him and busy in the kitchen.
Lin Huaixi instantly forgot why he had come and blurted out instead, “What are you making?”
When Qi Wang turned around, a shaft of sunlight happened to fall through the window onto his gentle brows and eyes, making him look as beautiful as some immortal descending from heaven.
Qi Wang smiled at him and held a rabbit-shaped cake up to his mouth.
Under the double temptation, Lin Huaixi unconsciously opened his mouth. Sweetness bloomed over his tongue, light as a cloud. Lin Huaixi was immediately conquered. His eyes narrowed with pleasure all on their own.
He ate one little rabbit cake in a single bite, then stretched his hand toward Qi Wang again.
Qi Wang stepped aside, revealing a whole tray neatly filled with rabbit cakes.
Lin Huaixi was instantly overwhelmed by happiness. All the anger and resentment in his heart vanished without a trace.
“Are all of these for me?” His eyes lit up as he exclaimed, “I could finish all of them in one day!”
Qi Wang had always taken on the role of the older brother and had an overabundance of care for him. In the past, he worried that too much sweets would upset Lin Huaixi’s stomach, so he always controlled the amount. But now he simply smiled and nodded. “Okay. When you finish them, I’ll make you more tomorrow.”
Lin Huaixi was so delighted his heart nearly bloomed, but he had not completely lost his reason. Narrowing his eyes, he shot Qi Wang a dangerous glance. “You always used to tell me to eat less. Why have you changed today?”
Qi Wang immediately straightened his attitude. While gently massaging Lin Huaixi’s waist, he lowered his head and admitted his fault. “What happened last night was my fault.”
Lin Huaixi was a complete sucker for that kind of thing. The words of accusation froze in his mouth, and he could not get even one of them out.
“You…”
Qi Wang looked up at him, a little cautious, even faintly uneasy. “Xixi, can you forgive me?”
Lin Huaixi instantly surrendered.
If he were being honest, yes, last night Qi Wang had coaxed and guided him the whole way—but he had also enjoyed it. He had never once clearly rejected him.
That meant it could not all be blamed on Qi Wang. But at the same time, he could not let him off too easily, or Qi Wang might not know how to restrain himself next time and would pull the same trick all over again.
Lowering his eyes, Lin Huaixi thought very seriously for a long while about how to come up with a way to keep Qi Wang in line. Only then did he finally raise his head.
“Not just rabbit cakes. I also want sweet-and-sour ribs, cheesy corn, roasted pig trotters, mixed shrimp balls…”
Qi Wang looked at Lin Huaixi deeply, laughter rising in his eyes. “Okay. I’ll do whatever you say.”
