Yang Yueqian gripped the hem of his shirt tightly and looked up. His smile held a hint of bashfulness, yet his eyes were brimming with a certain smug satisfaction.
“You should be able to tell that I really like you. I just don’t know if you can accept a man as a partner.”
Huo Yang stood up, his brow smoothing out as his expression sealed over with a layer of faint frost.
“If you want to discuss the script, I am happy to oblige; but if you want to talk about personal matters sorry, I need to rest.”
He walked to the door, his hand pressing onto the handle, his intention to see the guest out being crystal clear.
Yang Yueqian jogged over, looking up deeply into Huo Yang’s eyes, his hands reaching out to rest on Huo Yang’s powerful arms.
“Teacher Huo, I have worked so hard to make a living in this industry just for you. I wanted to one day have the qualifications to stand by your side.”
Huo Yang seemed unwilling to answer this boring confession. He pulled down the door handle.
“Teacher Huo!” Yang Yueqian grabbed his hand, pushing the door back just as it opened a crack.
“I’m not joking. I also hope you will consider it seriously. Don’t be in such a hurry to refuse. Just think about it first, okay?”
Yang Yueqian furrowed his brow, glancing out of the corner of his eye at the water glass. It was clearly empty, yet ten minutes had passed why was Huo Yang still so energetic?
Huo Yang took a heavy, deep breath, not even looking at him.
“Then let me tell you clearly: I have zero interest in you, and I never will.”
Yang Yueqian had actually guessed the answer long ago, but it didn’t matter; what he needed to do now was stall for time.
“Fine, then let’s end this topic here. I truly came here today because I wanted to talk to you about the script.”
Huo Yang was no fool. He reached for the door handle again to open it.
Knock, knock.
The moment the handle was pressed down, a knock suddenly sounded at the door. Bai Tan’s voice came through the door panel:
“Teacher Huo, are you asleep? I have something I must tell you tonight.”
Yang Yueqian’s pupils dilated violently, and a strong sense of irritation flooded his brain. This damn assistant! Was he cutting him off on purpose again and again?
Huo Yang opened the door without a word.
Bai Tan was caught off guard, suddenly finding himself in a six-eyed standoff with the two inside. He remembered the sketch on Huo Yang’s desk.
He instinctively took two steps back. “I’m sorry to disturb you. I didn’t know Teacher Yang was here. We can talk tomorrow then.”
In the next second, a large hand forcefully grabbed his wrist, pulling him staggering into the room. Simultaneously, Yang Yueqian was pushed out of the door by an irresistible force.
The door slammed shut.
Yang Yueqian stood stunned at the door for a long time before letting out an incredulous “Ha!”
It was all ruined. If that little assistant realized he had drugged Huo Yang with an aphrodisiac, everything would be over. He hurried back to his room, pressing his ear tightly against the wall to listen to every movement next door.
Inside Huo Yang’s room.
Bai Tan stood pressed against the door, looking like a primary school student being punished for a mistake.
Huo Yang loosened his collar and sat on the bed, picking up his phone.
“Why are you standing there? Didn’t you have something to say to me?”
Bai Tan gave himself a mental slap across the face. A perfectly good pair of “lovebirds” who already had to deal with so many unspoken words and hidden feelings in the entertainment industry had finally found a chance to be together, only for him to mess it up.
Damn it.
But since he had already interrupted, he figured he should say the important stuff and get out quickly so the couple could get back to their moonlight romance.
Bai Tan turned around quickly and sat on the sofa.
“Manager Yu has called me a few times over the past few days. He wanted me to clarify things regarding the contract renewal before my internship ends. I’ve thought it over, and I’ve decided…”
Bai Tan stopped mid-sentence. He leaned forward slightly, peering cautiously at Huo Yang’s face.
“Teacher Huo, are you feeling unwell?”
Huo Yang was leaning against the headboard, his head hanging low, eyes closed. One hand was fitfully pinching the bridge of his nose.
He frowned and said, “It’s nothing. Keep talking.”
Bai Tan got up and approached him. “But your face is very red. Do you have a fever?”
As he spoke, he reached out and placed his hand on Huo Yang’s forehead. His hand, still carrying the cool night air from outside, touched a mass of burning heat.
In stark contrast was Huo Yang’s hair, which was not yet dry and still held a slight chill.
Bai Tan immediately went to the bathroom and brought back a towel. The professional habits he had cultivated over the past month took over; it seemed more important to dry Huo Yang’s hair to prevent a cold.
He placed the towel over Huo Yang’s head, gently rubbing it with both hands as he spoke:
“Teacher Huo, you must remember to blow-dry your hair after showering. It’s autumn now, and the mornings and evenings are very chilly…”
The moment his words fell, the hand he was using to dry the hair was pinned down by a burning, large hand.
Bai Tan paused, instantly looking at Huo Yang’s expression. The flush creeping up his cheeks had already spread to his eyes, which were traced with faint red veins.
Huo Yang’s state was truly worrying.
Huo Yang stood up, his feet staggering slightly. He steadied himself against the wall and gave Bai Tan a nudge toward the door.
“Go back first. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
Bai Tan looked at his swaying figure, but felt as if he had read another emotion in those reddened eyes: a faint, almost imperceptible… panic?
He thought for a moment, then paced back to support Huo Yang.
“It’s okay, Teacher Huo. I’ll stay with you tonight. Just tell me where you feel uncomfortable, and I’ll consult a doctor to help get you the right medicine.”
Bai Tan assumed Huo Yang simply had a bit of a cold from not drying his hair in time.
Hearing this, Huo Yang covered his eyes with one hand. His body dropped uncontrollably, caught by the bed. He hung his head, his fingertips trembling slightly, feeling an unbearable heat surging wildly through his body.
Through the gaps in his fingers, he glanced at the water glass on the table.
“I don’t need you here. Go back.” Huo Yang’s voice rose sharply, sounding like an absolute, undeniable command.
Bai Tan stood in place, thinking briefly. If he just left an ailing Huo Yang like this, there would likely be two outcomes: being drowned in the spit of Huo Yang’s fans, or having manure thrown at his door by them. Both were unbearable pains. After weighing it, he approached again.
Perhaps because Huo Yang was weak from illness, he was easily pressed back onto the bed by Bai Tan.
“Teacher Huo, be good. You don’t need to feel embarrassed; this is part of my job.” Bai Tan pulled over the quilt and covered him. He turned, intending to boil some hot water.
“Part of your job… what exactly is that?”
The moment he turned, he heard a low voice from the bed. The voice seemed to be trembling, filled with a sense of extreme, forced restraint.
Bai Tan began to count on his fingers for Huo Yang:
“Taking care of the boss’s daily life, assisting with various work tasks, paying attention to the boss’s physical and mental health…”
“Mm.” Huo Yang’s eyes flickered, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “So, helping the boss solve his physiological needs is not within your job description. Leave. Now.”
Bai Tan: …?
What did he just hear? Helping the boss solve his “physiological needs”?
Bai Tan’s heart skipped a beat, and a strange, tingling electric current surged through his entire body. He slowly looked at the man on the bed.
It was strange. The pathological flush on his face now looked like a flush of a different kind of desire. The hot breath he exhaled gradually dispersed, and in that instant, the temperature of the entire room began to skyrocket.
Bai Tan’s gaze drifted downward, seeing the constant bobbing of the man’s throat. Fine beads of sweat, carried by the heat, clung to the distinct muscle lines that rose and fell visibly with his breathing.
Thump-thump, thump-thump!
His heart’s untimely, violent pounding sounded like thunder in the dead silence.
Bai Tan closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Then, he made a decision he didn’t know if he would regret.
He leaned cautiously toward Huo Yang’s ear and whispered:
“Teacher Yang is just next door. Do you need me to call him over for you?”
It was as if a specific word had triggered Huo Yang. He suddenly propped up his upper body. A strong, powerful arm hooked around Bai Tan’s shoulder, and a large hand pressed firmly against the back of his head.
An irresistible force forced Bai Tan’s entire body into a rapid descent.
In the next second, burning lips pressed down forcefully.
His eyes widened in disbelief, almost to their limit, his thick eyelashes trembling violently. Before he could process the suddenness of it, his body was abruptly dragged onto the bed by a massive force, and a tall, heavy frame pressed down on him.
Bai Tan clearly felt the bed sink beneath their combined weight. Then, the heavy flesh and bone, like an unbreakable wall of bronze and iron, pressured and enveloped him.
“If you leave now, it’s still in time.” Huo Yang looked down at him, his dark eyes burning with a fire that could scorch the heavens and the earth.
Just like the sinking bed beneath him, there was no denying it…at that moment, Bai Tan’s heart skipped a beat.
Once upon a time, he too had harbored “wicked” thoughts. Just as the fans said, even if one couldn’t marry Huo Yang, being able to sleep with such a man just once would mean dying without regrets.
The fiery temperature of the person above him wrapped around him tightly. In that moment, a strong sense of suffocation arose, tugging at the last shred of sanity in Bai Tan’s mind.
Messy images flashed through his head: the time he encountered Huo Yang coming out in just a towel, the way his eyes had wandered restlessly over his body… the very obvious bulge, the distinct lines connecting to the secret regions. The veins on his arms and thighs, knotted and winding.
The heat spraying from above had already begun to slowly invade the final bastion of Bai Tan’s logic.
As his consciousness fell along with his body, descending toward an unknown place, he uncontrollably reached out his hands and gently wrapped them around Huo Yang’s neck.