Such a large space, yet nothing was packed inside except for those.
Pei Zhiwen had never intended to conceal his inner cravings, laying all those little intentions right out in the open.
Lu Jiayan said nothing.
Thinking of the contraception supplies he had bought at the convenience store yesterday afternoon, a wave of unexplained shame washed over him, making him desperately want to throw that embarrassing large-sized box straight into the trash can.
He had figured he would just buy it to make do, but it seemed it wouldn’t be needed this time around.
Lu Jiayan silently zipped up the suitcase filled entirely with those boxes and put it back in its original place.
After waiting for a dozen minutes, the door to the bathroom opened.
Pei Zhiwen was wearing a thin, light gray pajama top, his damp forehead fringe and dense eyelashes sticking together. While drying his hair with a towel, he walked over to the small room and asked, “Is there a hair dryer?”
“There is.”
Lu Jiayan stood up and handed the small hair dryer from the shelf to Pei Zhiwen, accidentally brushing against the other person’s icy fingers in the process.
A withered flower being irrigated by a single droplet of water was not relieved; instead, it grew excessively eager to obtain more contact with the other person.
He gave Pei Zhiwen’s slender fingers a faint glance, lowered his head, and turned to look for clothes in the wardrobe. Pulling out a set of pajamas, he hurriedly dropped the phrase “I’m going to take a shower” and left.
Watching Lu Jiayan’s retreating back, Pei Zhiwen raised an eyebrow slightly.
He hadn’t even come out naked, so why did Lu Jiayan look like he didn’t dare to raise his head and look?
Besides.
So what if he were naked?
Hadn’t Lu Jiayan seen plenty in the past?
Pei Zhiwen took the hair dryer to the power outlet, plugged it in, and simply dried his hair.
The phone lying on the computer desk suddenly let out a ding.
He picked it up, unlocked it, and glanced at it.
Someone had sent an image in the five-person group chat.
Four high-value, extraordinary young masters and socialites were sitting on a leather sofa.
Starting from the left were Jiang Qingke and Zhou Heng, right in the middle of the sofa was Zhou Ruo, and finally He Yao.
The background behind them was the towering Beijing Central Tower, with lights and the night scene blending together to create an atmosphere of decadent luxury. All of them were holding up long-stemmed wine glasses, the crimson liquid as dazzling as gems.
Tuotuo Xiangzi: Don’t blame us for isolating you.
Tuotuo Xiangzi: Who told you to insist on going to Jiangling? Who knows what’s so great about chasing Lu Jiayan anyway? Can you even figure out how to chase him?
Looking at that disgusting online moniker in the group chat, Pei Zhiwen didn’t even need to guess that it had to be He Yao.
The other person frequently changed his screen names and avatars, ranging from his non-mainstream nickname “Yao” to the top-tier two-character “Iceberg,” and finally to his current disgusting, unhinged monikers, with each one having its own unique charm.
[insomnia]: @Killing the Robin
Pei Zhiwen was tagging Zhou Ruo.
Without typing a single word, Pei Zhiwen watched the message count in the upper left corner shoot straight up.
Returning to the message list, He Yao had sent him a string of messages.
Tuotuo Xiangzi: No no no!
Tuotuo Xiangzi: I was wrong, Daddy.
Tuotuo Xiangzi: Don’t spill the secret I’ve hidden for so long to Xiao Ruo.
Tuotuo Xiangzi: (I have fishy-fishy disease.jpg)
Holding He Yao’s weakness in his hands, Pei Zhiwen didn’t actually plan to tell Zhou Ruo about that little secret of his.
He didn’t reply to either side.
The phone screen went dark, and he placed it back on the desk.
Then, he put the used hair dryer back on the shelf.
Seeing the suitcase, Pei Zhiwen thought he should take the items out and place them on the bedside table for easy use.
Pulling the suitcase, he sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the umbrella-shaped desk lamp sitting on the bedside table next to it.
His gaze drifted downward, and he pulled open the first drawer.
The items inside were neatly arranged, and the object right at the top caught his attention.
Picking it up to take a closer look, it was an unopened box of those items along with a receipt.
At that moment, the door to the bathroom opened.
Pei Zhiwen maintained his posture, raised his eyes, and met the gaze of Lu Jiayan, who had just finished his shower.
The other person’s expression froze for a split second when he saw clearly what was in his hand.
“Don’t you think you need to explain why there are boxes of these at home?” Pei Zhiwen’s tone rose, holding the receipt between two fingers and carefully checking the purchase time.
Yesterday afternoon.
“Bought for me? Large size?”
When pronouncing the last two words, Pei Zhiwen raised an eyebrow and looked earnestly at the person by the bed.
“No,” Lu Jiayan said.
He had wanted to say he bought it on his way past the convenience store last night.
After all, with the one-year agreement to be at someone’s beck and call and now moving into his home uninvited, it certainly wasn’t playing house.
Pei Zhiwen suddenly nodded and said knowingly, “Then you bought them for yourself.”
Lu Jiayan said nothing.
Pei Zhiwen: “You told me that night you didn’t want to do it, but then you deliberately went and bought these. What’s the meaning of that?”
“Trying to hook me on purpose?”
When he first entered the apartment earlier tonight, Pei Zhiwen had noticed that Lu Jiayan had changed the mattress.
The previous mattress had been rather firm, looking like something casually bought just to make do, but this new mattress was incomparably better than the last one in terms of both craftsmanship and softness.
Between the mattress and the boxes, Pei Zhiwen had no idea whether Lu Jiayan’s purpose in doing all this was to compensate him or something else.
Lu Jiayan wanted to take that box away.
As a result, before he even touched it, he grabbed empty air.
As if trying to force Lu Jiayan into speaking his inner thoughts, Pei Zhiwen lifted the small square box in his hand.
“You haven’t answered my question yet.”
Lu Jiayan instinctively said, “Didn’t you also bring a suitcase of…”
The word stopped right at the tip of his tongue and was immediately swallowed back down.
Pei Zhiwen hadn’t expected Lu Jiayan to have rummaged through his luggage while he was in the shower. Not a shred of shame was shown over that boxful of unmentionable items; instead, he faced his own desires and needs head-on.
His expression was natural, with a slight upward curve at the corner of his mouth.
“Ah, yes. I brought them because I wanted to make some progress with you.”
“And you, baby?”
His slender, well-proportioned fingers toyed with the small square box, casting a sideways glance at Lu Jiayan. “What did you buy them for?”
Lu Jiayan didn’t dare voice his true thought, which was that he was worried the other person wouldn’t use protection. Pei Zhiwen’s personality alternated between vicious and normal.
What if he said it and the other person really decided not to use any?
The man liked to bully him and make him cry.
Gazing into Pei Zhiwen’s pitch-black eyes, Lu Jiayan’s eyelashes fluttered slightly, his lips parting:
“I bought them…”
Pausing for a fleeting moment, he continued, “With the exact same thought as you.”
He knew what Pei Zhiwen liked to hear.
Just go along with Pei Zhiwen.
Consider it as compensation for the car accident.
Hearing the answer, Pei Zhiwen didn’t display a shred of happiness; his expression remained calm, though a careful look revealed a hint of poor mood.
“Is that so?”
“You really want to use them with me?”
Lu Jiayan raised his head to exchange a glance with Pei Zhiwen, replying blandly, “It doesn’t matter either way.”
Anyway, he didn’t have the right to choose.