By the time they returned to the hotel from Su Xiao Mi’s place, it was already very late. They had flown over that morning, gone to the local company, then talked with Su Xiao Mi until after midnight. Mai Ding thought he should have fallen asleep almost immediately. Instead, he lay in bed with his eyes tightly shut and simply could not sleep. Had he developed some delicate rich-person problem, suddenly unable to sleep properly away from home?
He opened his eyes in the darkness. “An Zi Yan, I can’t sleep.” There was no movement beside him. Mai Ding was used to falling asleep before An Zi Yan and hated being the only one awake at night. Whenever that happened, he wanted to talk to him but was afraid of waking him. Everyone defined loneliness differently. It could not be measured by the number of people present. When one person desperately wanted to speak and the other answered only with silence, loneliness could feel as though it had doubled along with the company.
Mai Ding rolled over to face An Zi Yan and rested his cheek on one hand. Thinking An Zi Yan was already asleep, he whispered, “Even if I can’t sleep, I still hope you have a good dream. Good night.” Suddenly Mai Ding’s body moved together with the bedsheet, sliding toward An Zi Yan. An Zi Yan still had his eyes closed.
“Then let’s do something that’ll make you fall asleep.”
His lips moved closer. Mai Ding had no reason to refuse. He pressed both hands against An Zi Yan’s chest and accepted him with his own lips. His hands slowly traveled upward, gliding over An Zi Yan’s neck and sinking into his hair. Tongues tangled, lips and teeth tangled, and neither Mai Ding’s mouth nor his body could escape the hazy pull of desire. The heat kept rising.
An Zi Yan lightly bit Mai Ding’s lower lip, then kissed along his chin without leaving an inch untouched. He pushed up Mai Ding’s shirt and sucked at the pink point on his chest. Mai Ding held An Zi Yan’s head, helpless against the ache gathering low in his body. He wanted too many things from An Zi Yan and did not know which one to ask for first. In the end, he kicked off his trousers. Every place the fabric brushed felt itchy and hot. He instinctively pressed his thighs together, desperate for An Zi Yan’s touch. An Zi Yan put a hand where Mai Ding wanted him most. The inside of Mai Ding’s thighs tightened and began to tremble. Desire turned into stimulation so intense he felt he could not bear it. He grabbed An Zi Yan’s wrist. “Ah… wait first… ah… or I’ll be too quick… ha… ah…”
An Zi Yan ignored him. He caught both of Mai Ding’s hands, lifted them above his head, and used a shirt to bind them to the headboard. With his body restrained, Mai Ding could only let An Zi Yan do as he pleased. An Zi Yan’s lips lingered below Mai Ding’s navel for a moment. Then he slid his fingers into Mai Ding’s panting mouth and let the tips grow wet before using that moisture to enter Mai Ding’s body. Mai Ding gripped the shirt binding his wrists while his lower body twisted restlessly.
“Beg me to give it to you.” An Zi Yan’s voice was no longer cold.
“You… mm, ah… dream on.”
“Is that so?” An Zi Yan withdrew his fingers and pressed his erection against Mai Ding’s slick opening, but refused to go in. His long fingers only brushed Mai Ding’s trembling arousal before pulling away again, deliberately tormenting his need. Mai Ding kept lifting his hips, his skin repeatedly rubbing against An Zi Yan’s hardness. Just as Mai Ding was close to surrendering, An Zi Yan finally lost control and growled, “You bastard.” Then he thrust inside.
Mai Ding could no longer count the number of thrusts. The sensation of being filled cut away his reason until only every exposed nerve remained. No wonder some ancient sages called desire sinful. Its primitive force was too strong. It stripped away judgment, standards, thought, leaving nothing but the need for satisfaction inside the body. Mai Ding wanted to hold An Zi Yan, but his hands could not move. He wanted to ask him to untie him, but An Zi Yan’s deep thrusts gave him no chance to say anything beyond broken moans. His legs lifted and wrapped around An Zi Yan’s waist. Pleasure climbed to its peak, something tightening stronger and stronger in his lower abdomen until his mind went blank. An Zi Yan kept alternating between deep and shallow movements, drawing him back into it again and again. Mai Ding thought that if he did not die inside An Zi Yan’s love, then one day he would die beneath him.
The next day, a ringing phone woke Mai Ding. He could not even remember when he had fallen asleep. He nudged An Zi Yan awake. “Your phone.” Then he got out of bed, only for a dull ache to spread through his hips the moment his feet touched the floor. After washing up, he watched An Zi Yan get out of bed as though nothing had happened and found it deeply unfair. Why was Mai Ding the only one suffering aftereffects from last night’s passion?
The call was from Manager Zhang, who wanted to discuss the specifics as early as possible. Mai Ding was puzzled. He had expected Manager Zhang to drag things out longer just to save face, yet suddenly he had become cooperative. They spent the entire day at the company. Mai Ding was run ragged and exhausted. Su Xiao Mi, meanwhile, was in exactly the opposite condition, full of ambition and carefully plotting his scheme.
After work, Su Xiao Mi needed a brilliant strategy to get both Yan Yan and An Zi Yan out of the way at the same time. At that moment, he felt the weight of tremendous responsibility. The entire situation would move according to his calculations, with even Yan Yan and An Zi Yan reduced to pieces on his chessboard. The thought made him feel extraordinarily impressive. He even considered whether he should run for president. Su Xiao Mi walked into Yan Yan’s office, leaned over the desk, and blinked rapidly. “Yan~~ do you have any plans after work~~~?” He deliberately made his voice sound unbearably cute.
“Put away that stupid face.”
“How about you and An Zi Yan go play basketball after work?”
“Why?” Su Xiao Mi had not expected Yan Yan to ask for a reason. He had assumed acting cute would be enough to bewilder Yan Yan, so he had prepared absolutely nothing else. After fidgeting for a moment, he grabbed a pen from the desk, backed away several steps, and pressed it to his throat. “No reason, no reason! If you don’t go, I’ll die right here for you!” After thinking all day, his brilliant plan consisted of acting cute and resorting to desperate theatrics. Yan Yan had seen Su Xiao Mi threaten to die far more than once, twice, or three times. He did not even lift an eyelid. “Put the pen back when you’re finished.”
“You don’t care whether I live or die?” Su Xiao Mi cried with tragic sorrow. Yan Yan ignored him. Su Xiao Mi threw himself onto the sofa. “My life is so miserable~~”
“Stop acting like an idiot.”
“Yan~~ I’m begging you. Go play basketball with An Zi Yan after work. Please, please, take pity on me. Yan~~ Yan~~~ Yan~~~” His voice even carried a sob, making him sound no different from a beggar. Yan Yan rubbed his temple with his left hand, picked up the phone with his right, and dialed. “Let’s play basketball later. Mm. I’ll send you the address.” When Yan Yan hung up, Su Xiao Mi looked overwhelmingly moved. “Yan~ you’re such a good person. Bodhisattva will bless you.”
“You can leave now.”
“But I can’t bear to leave you,” Su Xiao Mi said cloyingly.
Yan Yan opened a desk drawer and took out a chocolate. Su Xiao Mi frowned. “What do you take my feelings for you as?” Yan Yan took out another fifty yuan, wrapped it around the chocolate, and tossed both toward him. Su Xiao Mi stood. “You always use these vulgar material things to get rid of me. My noble heart is going to be hurt.” While speaking, he happily tucked away both the chocolate and the money, thoroughly dismissed by vulgar material things.
Meanwhile, once Mai Ding and An Zi Yan finished work and walked out of the company together, Mai Ding started patting his pockets nervously. “Oh no. I think I left my phone at Su Xiao Mi’s place yesterday. I’ll go get it. Are you coming?” The last question was only politeness, thrown in so An Zi Yan would not get suspicious. An Zi Yan looked at him without expression. Mai Ding guiltily avoided his eyes. Just then, the phone inside Mai Ding’s bag rang with a message from Su Xiao Mi. Mai Ding forced himself to stay calm. “S-so… m-my phone wasn’t lost after all.” Whatever that was, it certainly was not calm.
A call from Yan Yan rescued him. After An Zi Yan finished speaking on the phone, he said, “I have something to do later.”
“Really? What a shame. You don’t mind if I go to Su Xiao Mi’s place by myself, do you?”
“It is a shame. I won’t get to see what stupid thing the two of you are planning.”
“What stupid thing? We’re discussing serious business. Don’t compare me to you. I have principles, and I’m intelligent too. You’re the one who keeps making me sound stupid.”
“Then let me ask you a question.”
Mai Ding folded his arms. “Ask whatever you want. I’m not afraid.”
“What’s one plus six?”
Mai Ding shoved An Zi Yan’s arm. “That question is insulting! You didn’t even include multiplication or division.” Then he remembered An Zi Yan’s injury. “Is your arm really okay for basketball?”
“I’m not you.”
“What does that mean? What’s wrong with me?” Mai Ding glared at An Zi Yan’s back as he walked toward the roadside to hail a taxi. He comforted himself that this was only temporary. Soon he would finally learn Su Xiao Mi’s secret, and then An Zi Yan would see exactly who was dealing with whom!