Just as A’Jie left, the private room door was pushed open again.
When Bai Ban squeezed into the room, he knocked over the ice bucket. Crouching low, he grabbed a piece of ice from the floor and tossed it into his mouth. Looking at the disdainful stares directed at him, he pointed at Zhou Ruo An. “I’m here for him.”
Zhou Ruo An was hooking the crystal button on his shirt with his little finger as he watched greasy-faced Bai Ban slide into the booth like a loach.
“Birthday party?” Bai Ban grabbed a bottle and drank straight from it, wine spilling from the corner of his mouth and running down his neck into his shirt. “You didn’t invite me for cake last year, and you didn’t invite me this year either.”
Zhou Ruo An picked up the cake knife, cut a slice from the Rolls-Royce cake, and pushed it in front of Bai Ban. “Did you come alone?”
Bai Ban immediately understood what Zhou Ruo An was really asking and pouted. “You just want to know whether my brother came, don’t you? Can’t you just ask directly? Aren’t you tired of beating around the bush?” The wine tasted sour, the sourness running all the way from Bai Ban’s throat into the cracks of his heart.
Back in the urban village, Bai Ban, Lin Yi, and Zhou Ruo An had spent nearly every day tangled together fooling around. They crowded onto illegally constructed rooftops to share a bottle of cheap red wine, protected each other’s vital spots whenever they got beaten, and teamed up to do countless rotten things.
Yet even so, Bai Ban had always vaguely felt that there was an invisible membrane between Lin Yi and Zhou Ruo An, separating the two of them from everyone else, while he himself stood outside it.
As for exactly how close they were, it wasn’t as though he couldn’t give examples. There had been one hungover morning when Bai Ban found Zhou Ruo An curled up in the corner of a dead-end alley. Just as he was about to reach out, Lin Yi beat him to it. The man wiped the moisture from the corner of Zhou Ruo An’s mouth with his thumb, then pulled half a hardened osmanthus cake from the pocket of his work trousers and stuffed it into Zhou Ruo An’s mouth.
Or take that business a while back when Lin Yi went looking for someone to kiss. He went looking for Zhou Ruo An, but not Bai Ban. It wasn’t that Bai Ban wanted to kiss him, but whether Lin Yi asked him or not was a matter of Lin Yi’s attitude; whether Bai Ban refused or not was a matter of his own principles.
So Bai Ban’s expression soured as he answered, “He’s busy. No time to come up.”
As though suddenly remembering something, he mysteriously leaned closer to Zhou Ruo An, speaking with a hint of smug serves-you-right satisfaction. “My brother probably won’t come looking for you to kiss anymore.”
Having his dignity exposed right to his face made Zhou Ruo An slightly annoyed. He swept a glance around at the people nearby before lowering his voice. “Is the cake good? Wouldn’t want Brother Bai to feel wronged.” Zhou Ruo An was an expert at sarcastic barbs. The moment “Brother Bai” came out, it meant he had nothing good in store, and Bai Ban naturally wasn’t about to stick his neck against the blade.
“Good, good. Best cake I’ve ever had in my life.”
He was practically wolfing it down. Looking at the white cream stuck to the corner of Bai Ban’s lips, Zhou Ruo An somehow recalled the sticky mess that had once covered his own chest.
Lin Yi looked dull and boring on the surface, but in bed he had endless tricks. Once, he had spread milkshake-like chocolate across Zhou Ruo An’s chest. Later, those dark-brown smears stained the edges of Lin Yi’s lips before being fed back into Zhou Ruo An’s mouth. What they had shared had never been limited to cheap red wine and fists.
“What did you mean by that just now?” Zhou Ruo An smoothed a hand over the shirt covering his chest. His tone made it sound like nothing more than a topic casually brought up to kill time.
Bai Ban ran his tongue along his lips. “My brother got confessed to recently. You think now that he’s got someone ready and waiting for him, he’ll still come looking for you?”
“Oh? Really?” Zhou Ruo An poured himself more wine. As the liquor slowly filled the glass, he asked with apparent curiosity, “Who is it? A man or a woman?”
Bai Ban waggled his brows dramatically, his expression especially animated. “A guy. Huang San’er, one of the guys who runs with my brother. He’s really handsome and knows some martial arts too. My brother treats him pretty well.”
“A guy…” Zhou Ruo An suddenly remembered what he himself had said days ago while sitting on that rainbow-colored sofa. “Lin Yi, people can even get divorced after they’re married these days. You really don’t have to keep liking only me.” Lin Yi’s answer at the time had been utterly casual, only one clean, simple sentence: “Fine. Once I meet someone else I like, I’ll say goodbye to you.”
Zhou Ruo An raised his head and saw countless reflections of himself lifting their glasses in the mirrored ceiling overhead. With a turn of his wrist, he drained the wine in his glass.
“That’s good,” he said.
＊
At two in the morning, the banquet finally ended and the crowd dispersed.
Zhou Ruo An sat alone on the sofa, looking over the wreckage filling the room. His phone screen lit up with a message from Zhou Ran Ming: The person was delivered. Well done.
He stared at the message for a long time. Only when the private room door was pushed open did he withdraw his gaze and look toward the entrance.
Lin Yi stood there with a suit jacket hanging from one hand. After locking the door behind him, he walked inside. His well-tailored shirt hugged his lean waist, its sleeves casually rolled up to reveal smooth, strong forearms.
He lightly kicked aside a wine bottle lying on the floor. It rolled into a corner and struck the wall with a crisp sound.
The drifting colored lights were still turning through the room. When they swept across the man’s face, they revealed traces of exhaustion.
Only when he drew closer did Zhou Ruo An see that his other hand held a tiny cake.
Resting the toe of his shoe against the sofa, Lin Yi casually laid his jacket on the bar counter, bent slightly, looked into Zhou Ruo An’s eyes, and said softly, “Happy birthday.”
Zhou Ruo An symbolically glanced at his watch, unimpressed. “It’s already past midnight.”
“Sorry. I’m late.” Lin Yi sat beside him, his fingers undoing the velvet ribbon around the cake box. He took out the mini cake, inserted a candle, flicked open his lighter, and lit the wick.
As warm yellow light spread layer upon layer, he said, “Make a wish.” The cake was actually rather pretty, colored like the glow of sunset. Zhou Ruo An crossed his legs, relaxed against the sofa, and smiled without really smiling. “How come your taste suddenly improved this time?”
“Someone else helped pick it.”
The smile on Zhou Ruo An’s face gradually faded. He pulled out a cigarette, touched it to the flickering candle flame, then lazily held it between his lips. “Looks good,” he praised.
Before the cigarette could even grow damp between his lips, it had already changed hands. Lin Yi held it between his fingers, lifted his chin slightly, and said, “Make a wish.”
Zhou Ruo An didn’t embarrass him. He closed his eyes and put on a serious act for a moment before quickly opening them again. Looking at the dancing candlelight, he smiled and said, “Then I wish you and Huang San’er a hundred years of happiness together.”
Lin Yi froze for a second, then suddenly laughed softly. “Bai Ban told you that? Are you jealous?”
“You’re overthinking it.” Zhou Ruo An turned his face away. “I’m simply congratulating myself on escaping a sea of suffering.”
The final syllable was cut off by the sudden heat of a body pressing close. Lin Yi kissed him.
At one point, Zhou Ruo An had seriously suspected that Lin Yi had never gotten past his oral fixation phase. Otherwise, why would he come looking for kisses anytime and anywhere?
Back when the two of them had been tied together, Zhou Ruo An might have been unwilling, but he had been forced into getting used to it. Now they hadn’t seen each other for many days. A monk had returned to secular life, a chaste widow had remarried—that little habit had long since been broken. So he leaned backward and said coldly, “Lin Yi, we don’t owe each other anything now. You’d better behave yourself.”
The angle of his raised head happened to expose the vulnerable line of his Adam’s apple. Lin Yi lowered his gaze toward that moving piece of soft cartilage and reached up to touch it.
What should have been a gentle action instead carried a dangerous undertone because of the rough friction.
“Then count it as me owing you.” His fingers slid slowly upward past the sharp ridge as Lin Yi cupped Zhou Ruo An’s cheek. “You can collect from me later.”
The kiss came faster than any explanation. Irritated, Zhou Ruo An turned his head and bit down on Lin Yi’s lower lip. The taste of blood instantly spread between them. “Since you already have someone by your side, why are you still forcing me?”
Lin Yi didn’t get angry when he was pushed away. He pulled a remote control from the drawer beneath the bar counter and switched off the rotating lights. As the light withdrew, the enormous private room was left with only the flickering glow of the candle.
Lin Yi pressed one knee onto the leather sofa, the chaotic scents he had picked up from the bar all night instantly enveloping Zhou Ruo An. “Do you know what real forcing is?” He gripped the back of Zhou Ruo An’s neck as scorching breath suddenly closed in. “This is.”
Punishing force spread from the corner of his lips. Zhou Ruo An’s bent knee struck the coffee table, making the glassware rattle noisily before the sounds were swallowed beneath the deeper sounds of their kisses.
“There’s no one else. I only like you.” The words were crushed between their teeth. “That was the last cake left. All the pretty ones were sold out.”
Zhou Ruo An froze slightly in the middle of the kiss, then immediately grew annoyed at himself for getting distracted. He tried to curse, but failed to get the words out. Only when a scorching “An An” branded itself into his ears did he realize that his fingers had long since tangled tightly in the wrinkles of Lin Yi’s shirt.
The moment their lips parted, Zhou Ruo An suddenly felt a chill around his wrist. A dazzling diamond bracelet slid smoothly into place and fastened firmly around his wrist bone. “Birthday present.” Lin Yi kissed the clasp of the bracelet and laughed softly as a canine tooth brushed across Zhou Ruo An’s pulse. “You have to wear it for a whole year.”
Zhou Ruo An turned the cold glitter around his wrist. “Why should I?”
Soft pecks landed against his lips. “An An, be good.”
The tall man had already forced Zhou Ruo An into the corner of the sofa again, heavy shadows pressing down once more. Just as teeth marks landed on the tip of his ear, a phone suddenly rang through the empty room.
Zhou Ruo An had just started to push himself upright when Lin Yi gripped his waist and pressed him back into the sofa. A sharp pain shot through his ear as that soft piece of cartilage was gently caught between teeth…
Only when the phone rang a second time did Zhou Ruo An finally push the man off him, panting. “Stop messing around.”
He picked up the phone, and the instant he saw the caller ID, his brows furrowed almost imperceptibly. Subconsciously clearing the hoarseness from his throat, Zhou Ruo An swiped to answer, his tone carrying a trace of respect. “Unc—”
“The person you sent over was snatched away!” Zhou Ran Ming’s roar came through together with the sound of shattering porcelain. “My two honored guests and six bodyguards were all taken down by the people who rescued him!”
“What?” Zhou Ruo An’s whole body jolted violently. “How could that… be possible?”
“Xiao An, you didn’t even investigate that boy’s background before daring to send him to me? With the way you handle things now, how can I trust you with the business?” Zhou Ran Ming’s scolding grew increasingly severe. Zhou Ruo An silently sat up. At a light rub of his fingertips, Lin Yi handed him a lit cigarette.
He held the cigarette between his lips, letting the sharp smoke linger briefly in his mouth before slowly exhaling a thin cloud. Only then did he press the phone firmly to his ear. “Uncle, leave this matter to me. I’ll definitely give you a satisfactory explanation.”
Before he even finished speaking, the other side had already cut the call. Zhou Ruo An tossed the phone aside, rested the back of his neck against the sofa, and looked at Lin Yi. “You kissed me just now, didn’t you? Weren’t you saying you’d pay me back?”
Smoke slowly curled upward, spreading until it perfectly obscured the sinister look in his eyes. His thin lips parted slightly as Zhou Ruo An coldly ordered, “Help me find out exactly who took away the person I sent to the mountain villa.”
“One kiss can’t buy that much.”
Zhou Ruo An irritably flicked ash from his cigarette. “Fine. Say it, then. How many days do I have to stay with you?”
Rough fingertips slid into Zhou Ruo An’s hair. “You don’t need to stay with me. Just be good for the next half year.”
The hand holding the cigarette paused. “The next half year? What do you mean?”
Lin Yi hooked a finger into Zhou Ruo An’s collar and gave it a sharp tug, dragging him closer. Instead of answering, he asked, “Do you know what being good means?”
Zhou Ruo An cursed softly before finally speaking with resigned acceptance. “I know. Don’t keep anyone around me.”
Lin Yi seemed satisfied with the answer. He took the cigarette from Zhou Ruo An’s fingers and put it between his own lips, casually asking, “Tell me about this mountain-villa abduction you mentioned. What exactly happened?”