Shi Yi’s room was separated from Lu Huaiqian’s by an entire corridor, one at the very south end, the other at the very north.
The room had been Shi Yi’s choice.
Even though his room was the smallest guest room on the whole second floor, Shi Yi had resolutely chosen the one farthest from Lu Huaiqian.
The whole point was to be as far from Lu Huaiqian as possible.
To let Lu Huaiqian know just how disgusted he was by him.
The two of them had been married for nearly three years, nearly a thousand days, and had known each other for twelve years, yet they had never truly been together for a single day.
Not one hour, not one minute, not one second.
Lu Huaiqian supported Shi Yi and brought him to the door of Shi Yi’s room.
The instant Lu Huaiqian’s hand touched the handle of Shi Yi’s bedroom door, Shi Yi, who had shown no reaction until then, suddenly opened his eyes and reached up to clamp down hard on his wrist.
“Don’t come into my room, just leave me here, I find it disgusting.”
Shi Yi had said this line countless times since they got married, and Lu Huaiqian had heard it countless times.
He no longer even knew what it felt like for it to hurt.
Without Shi Yi having to spell it all out, he already knew what disgusted him.
“You’ve had too much to drink, you’re unsteady on your feet, you’ll fall in a bit,” Lu Huaiqian said, his voice calm, as if the person Shi Yi found disgusting wasn’t him at all. “Just make do for tonight. Tomorrow I’ll have the cleaning staff come by, all right? They’ll clean the whole room, and disinfect it for you too.”
Under normal circumstances he would not take the initiative to cross the boundaries Shi Yi set for him, because it would make Shi Yi unhappy.
But sometimes there was no other way, like right now.
When Shi Yi was unhappy, even more disgusted with him, and might slap him for it, he still felt it mattered more that Shi Yi not get hurt.
Once he’d coaxed him, Lu Huaiqian ignored Shi Yi’s resistance and cursing, forced the door open, supported him into the room, then carefully shielded Shi Yi’s head and waist as he pulled back the blanket and laid Shi Yi down on the bed.
The instant he lay down, Shi Yi rolled over and wrapped the blanket tightly around himself, leaving Lu Huaiqian nothing but a cold view of his back.
“Fine, you, you can leave now, get out, get out! Get out right now, don’t stay in my room…”
His voice was sticky and somewhat slurred, but the words that came out were unusually harsh and cruel.
Lu Huaiqian lowered his eyes to look at the back of the head curled up in the pure white bedding, then, expressionless, turned and headed for the bathroom.
A minute later, he came back to Shi Yi’s bedside holding a dry towel and a damp one, set the dry towel on the nightstand, cupped Shi Yi’s shoulder with one hand, and pulled him out from the soft blanket, saying gently:
“Don’t sleep like this, you’ll suffocate. Shi Yi, your collar got soaked with wine, let me wipe it clean before you sleep, so you don’t wake up with a cold and a headache.”
Wine wasn’t like water, even once dry, it stayed sticky and uncomfortable.
Especially with the air conditioning on in the house, sleeping through the night like this would likely give him a cold.
Even as he said this, though, Lu Huaiqian didn’t move after speaking, waiting in silence for Shi Yi’s reaction.
The alcohol had fully taken effect by now, and Shi Yi was completely dazed. Turned over by Lu Huaiqian, he only let out an uncomfortable, muffled hum while clutching the blanket, with no other response.
“Shi Yi, then I’ll wipe it for you, all right?”
Lu Huaiqian waited a few more seconds before leaning down to pull at Shi Yi’s pajamas.
His damp fingertips touched the warm skin, but showed no intention of lingering, and their owner had no improper intentions whatsoever.
He only wanted to quickly wipe the wine stains off the person lying there, so he could sleep comfortably afterward.
The moment the hot-water-soaked towel touched the wine-red stain, the person sleeping with closed eyes suddenly frowned.
The light tea-colored eyes snapped open, and Shi Yi found himself facing a face he cursed at even in his dreams, one that could wake him up in anger.
Fury and disgust, as if he wanted to glare a hole straight through Lu Huaiqian.
“Crack!”
A crisp, loud slap rang out in the room.
Lu Huaiqian’s face was knocked to one side, and his hand gripping the towel tightened.
Ignoring the burning pain on his face, he hurriedly explained in a gentle, low voice, “I wasn’t…”
Right after, an exhausted, furious tirade cut him off.
Shi Yi sat back against the headboard, raised a hand to clutch his collar tightly shut, and glared viciously at Lu Huaiqian. “What are you trying to do?! Get out! Didn’t you hear me tell you to get out just now?! Who told you that you could touch me?! Who gave you permission to touch me?!”
“You disgusting gay! Freak! Human trafficker! You make me sick, get out! Get out!”
“Did you hear me, get out!”
“Get out!!! Get out right now!”
“Disgusting gay, human trafficker…”
With the alcohol taking hold, the emotions he’d suppressed for so long all came surging out at once, giving him no time to react and no way to control it.
Scenes of being forced to marry a man rose up one after another before his eyes.
They drove Shi Yi’s eyes red.
It was as if he had never been a person at all, but rather an item put up for others to choose from, waiting until one day someone finally settled on an agreeable price and became his buyer.
Once seller and buyer reached their happy agreement, all his dignity and rights as a human being were stripped away and crushed underfoot, and he became an item that fell into someone else’s pocket, waiting to be dealt with however they pleased.
Just the thought of what this damned gay wanted to do to him made him feel sick.
Sick to the point of wanting to vomit.
“I’m sorry, don’t cry, I only…”
Facing Shi Yi’s reddened, tear-dampened lashes, Lu Huaiqian’s fingertips trembled from the ache in his chest. “I’ll go out right now, please don’t cry, okay? It’s my fault. Your collar’s wet, if you don’t want to change your pajamas, put a dry towel under it before you sleep.”
He couldn’t withstand anything from Shi Yi, and even less could he bear to see him cry. He already regretted what he’d just done.
Whenever he faced Shi Yi, it seemed like nothing he did was right.
No matter what he did, it was wrong.
Lu Huaiqian set the dry towel down beside Shi Yi. Even though he was worried, even though he badly wanted to hold him and comfort him, he didn’t dare stay in Shi Yi’s room a second longer.
“Shi Yi, don’t cry, I’m going out.”
Lu Huaiqian didn’t look back. He walked straight out of Shi Yi’s room and thoughtfully closed the door behind him.
Telling him not to cry?
Of course he wouldn’t cry.
Even if it killed him, he wouldn’t cry over this damned human trafficker, because he wasn’t the one who deserved to cry.
With the disgusting man finally gone, Shi Yi raised a hand to wipe the dampness from the corner of his eye, tossed the towel Lu Huaiqian had left by his bed into the trash can, and decisively rolled over, burying himself, still marked with the undried red wine stain, into the soft, comfortable silk-floss quilt.
Downstairs was a complete mess, just like the relationship between him and Shi Yi that should never have begun.
The neon lights and the loud, upbeat music were still flickering and playing nonstop, from all of it alone, one could tell just how lively it had been here before he came home.
Lively to the point that someone like him really shouldn’t have shown up at all.
Lu Huaiqian lowered his eyes and looked around the room, then turned off the music and the light show.
He dug a large trash bag out of the cabinet, then bent down to pick up the wine bottles scattered everywhere, one by one.
Two of the bottles had somehow broken, though not too badly, he wasn’t in the mood to get up and fetch a broom.
The sharp shards cut into his palm, and mixed with his bright red blood, were thrown into the trash bag along with everything else.