The fierce tide surged in rapidly, then slowly receded, one wave higher than the last, rising and falling without end.
Xue Bao Tian felt as though he were in the middle of the sea, floating and sinking, drifting with the current.
It was very hot. Like being inside a steamer.
The dog days of summer seemed to have been flattened, shortened, and all crammed into this one day. The assaulting heat wave seemed capable of setting the air aflame, and the suffocating current shifted back and forth with the surging seawater, constantly scorching exposed skin.
There was another kind of heat burning from inside the body, spreading from within to without, making one’s face flush and ears burn. With every rise and fall of Xue Bao Tian’s body, with every movement, that fire burned higher and higher, fiercer and fiercer.
His body was wrapped in a fine layer of sweat, as though Xue Bao Tian had just been fished out of water. Sweat slid into his tightly shut eyes, stinging so badly that it was difficult to open them. It seemed as though some lingering memory flashed past…
“Are you the owner of license plate A01B01? Your car was scraped in the parking lot”; the black shadow that had flashed through that dark corner; the footsteps behind him gradually growing clearer; the face he had not had time to see clearly; and then the sudden darkness before his eyes!
!!!
He had just been attacked!
Xue Bao Tian’s hazy consciousness snapped clear in an instant. He forced his eyes open, vision slowly sharpening from blur to focus. What met his gaze was the rusty corrugated-iron wall of a shed. He was lying face-down on a crude bed, his body rocking steadily back and forth like the tide washing in and out.
Buried memories suddenly surfaced: a workshed barely better than a latrine, a spindly spider in the corner, that strange sensation, the man behind him, and the words—“You’re not good-looking. One time’s only worth two hundred yuan.”
Fuck you!
Xue Bao Tian tried hard to turn his head and look back. The nape of his neck was sore, swollen and stiff; the slightest movement sent pain shooting straight into his skull. He had barely twisted halfway when a large hand clamped down on the back of his head and shoved his face hard into the pillow.
“Awake?” The man behind him was breathing a little unevenly. “Don’t move. I’m not finished yet.”
“Fuck you, Yan Ye! What the fuck are you doing?!” Xue Bao Tian struggled with everything he had, but just like the first time, he still could not budge the overwhelming strength behind him.
Yan Ye was not as silent as he had been last time. He turned the sweat-soaked Xue Bao Tian over and pinned both his wrists above his head.
“Xue Bao Tian, do you remember this place? The construction here is already finished. I specially borrowed it from someone just for you.”
“Yan Ye, you scraped my car, tricked me into leaving the hotel, and then ambushed me. Have you fucking lost your mind?!”
“If I don’t lose my mind, should I just stand there and watch you get into someone else’s bed?” Yan Ye locked a hand around Xue Bao Tian’s neck and leaned closer. “Xue Bao Tian, aren’t you straight? Doesn’t kissing a man disgust you? Isn’t sleeping with a man painful? Then why were you going to a hotel with Tong Yan? Why?!”
Ignoring the slight difficulty in breathing, Xue Bao Tian curled his lips contemptuously. “Little idiot, is it really that hard to figure out? Because only you disgust me and make me miserable. Anyone else can fuck me. Just not you, Yan Ye!”
Yan Ye’s body trembled faintly, thick darkness surging through his eyes. Even his voice turned hoarse. “Only me? Xue Bao Tian, then what am I doing right now? Hm?!”
“Yan Ye, you—!”
The sea surged violently, whipping up furious, towering waves. The raging fire inside his body burned just as fiercely. Xue Bao Tian felt as if he were being held over the flames and roasted again and again. Sea and fire, heaven and hell—rising and sinking between them, sweat poured out only to be scorched dry. He had no idea how long it had gone on when he finally forced the words out through gritted teeth: “Yan Ye, fuck off! Let me go! You’ve already got someone you like—I’m not fucking becoming the other man!”
Yan Ye pinned Xue Bao Tian’s head down and kissed him with reckless force. Up close, the madness swirling in his eyes was impossible to miss. “You’ll do it whether you want to or not. If I feel like it, I can lock you in this shed forever.”
“Lock, my ass!” Xue Bao Tian clamped his teeth shut and bit down hard on Yan Ye’s lip. The metallic tang of blood instantly flooded the air. Yan Ye’s brows knotted tightly from the pain, yet he didn’t make a single sound. Clamping Xue Bao Tian’s cheeks in his hands, he kissed him even more savagely, not letting up until the blood from his lip mixed with the sweat—only then did he mercifully allow Xue Bao Tian a breath of fresh air.
Once he finally managed to catch his breath, Xue Bao Tian yanked Yan Ye down. His eyes were red at the corners and there was blood on his lips, his entire expression vicious. “Yan Ye, you’d better keep your word and lock me in here forever. Otherwise, once I get out…”
Yan Ye brushed back his sweat-soaked hair and asked quietly, “Otherwise what?”
Xue Bao Tian smiled faintly and stared directly into his eyes. “I’ll forget you. I’ll never have anything to do with you again for the rest of my life.”
In the silent stare between them, Yan Ye’s deep gaze gradually turned cold. Ordinarily, even his ruthlessness was restrained, but now the heavy darkness covering his eyes was enough to make someone shudder for no reason.
He stretched out an arm, rummaged through the scattered clothes for a cigarette, and tilted his head to light it. “You want to forget me?” His gaze slowly slid toward Xue Bao Tian’s collarbone. “Never.”
Yan Ye took the cigarette from his lips and pressed the ember against the pale skin below Xue Bao Tian’s collarbone. As Xue Bao Tian’s body tensed, Yan Ye bent down and kissed him. “I let you go once. I let you be the straight man you kept claiming to be. But you went around me and tried to get into another man’s bed. Since that’s how it is, whether you like me or not, whether you love me or not, I’m never letting you go again.”
In the same place, another identical cigarette scar appeared.
No one knew how long the continuous tide lasted before Yan Ye’s voice finally returned to its enduring gentleness. “Two Hundred, I only have you. From beginning to end, I have only ever had you.”