Feng Xingyun stared at him with an unreadable expression, his deep, handsome eyes holding a hint of a smile that wasn’t quite a smile. “Nothing. Just talking to myself.”
He was a bit annoyed. To be honest, this wasn’t good, not good at all. He didn’t want to fall for Liu Duanhe. They weren’t the same kind of people.
But the heart is something people can’t control. After all, from the very first time he saw Liu Duanhe, his heart had wavered for a moment. Even if that feeling had faded since, it didn’t mean it had never existed.
Liu Duanhe was lost in thought too. He tossed the slightly damp tissue in his hand into the trash can by his feet. For someone who appeared clean and tidy, his germaphobia could ease up a little.
But the body heat from such intimate contact still made his skin crawl. A strange emotion surged from his chest, though Liu Duanhe didn’t want to probe into it too deeply.
Dishes were brought to the table one by one. Liu Duanhe didn’t want to just sit there in silence waiting, so he casually picked a topic to make small talk with him.
At first, Feng Xingyun didn’t pay much attention. But once all the dishes were served, he swept his gaze across the table, propped his chin on his hands, and looked up at Liu Duanhe. The dishes he’d ordered were unapologetically all his favorites, but the ones Liu Duanhe had ordered were also all dishes he liked.
Their relationship wasn’t exactly good, yet Liu Duanhe still knew his preferences. Even though Feng Xingyun had never liked his way of doing things, he felt a slight satisfaction at how thorough and considerate Liu Duanhe was.
The gloomy, low-pressure expression that had been on his face all day due to the series of events visibly softened.
As Ma Zhe said, contradictions possess the unity of opposites and can transform into each other. When Liu Duanhe’s gentleness was directed at everyone else and only coldness toward him, it was rather infuriating. But if it turned into favoritism, exclusive to him alone, then it became quite pleasant.
He picked up the chopsticks that were still warm from being sterilized and tested the waters. “Being this good to me?”
Liu Duanhe was unexpectedly candid. He hummed in acknowledgment and smiled without changing his expression. “If I’m taking you out to eat, of course I’d order what you like.”
Feng Xingyun barely managed to keep a straight face, not letting a single sentence make him break into a grin. But his ears couldn’t help but flush with blood.
The chef at this restaurant was indeed skilled. Neither Feng Xingyun nor Liu Duanhe had the habit of talking while eating, so they silently finished most of the meal.
Today, Liu Duanhe had invited Feng Xingyun to dinner with the intention of testing him. As the heir of the Liu family, how could he not harbor any suspicion? No matter who he faced, he always held six parts of wariness and doubt.
Not to mention the suspicious points in his lost memories, which made him question whether Feng Xingyun really was his boyfriend. His germaphobia made him subjectively unwilling to develop an intimate relationship with another person, let alone a man.
The same-sex marriage law had indeed been passed a few years ago, but society’s attitudes hadn’t changed that quickly, nor had it fully accepted such relationships that went against conventional norms.
What had made him deviate from the predetermined path of being a proper, conventionally successful person?
Liu Duanhe was curious about what he had been thinking back then. Their family and the Feng family didn’t have much business cooperation. Based on his research from the past few days, if it wasn’t a marriage alliance, then it could only be an emotional connection.
He had actually fallen for this man whose looks were merely handsome, with his most appealing feature being his well-proportioned, obviously powerful physique.
But why, when Liu Duanhe saw Feng Xingyun, did he feel none of the reactions he thought liking someone should bring?
Could it be that the lost, hazy memories had taken away his feelings and emotions along with them?
Still, Feng Xingyun’s reaction today at least erased some of the suspicion he had accumulated.
Feng Xingyun’s jealousy was too obvious. In the eyes of someone as socially adept as Liu Duanhe, his envy, frustration, fierceness, and smugness were as transparent as crystal, readable at a single glance.
According to Liu Duanhe’s pre-arranged plan, after the meal, they could walk to the cinema in the nearby mall and watch a movie together.
Since the distance wasn’t far, they could walk there, and the stroll would be a natural time to spend together, the kind of “strolling the streets” activity he’d seen couples do.
After finishing his meal, Feng Xingyun was clearing all the plates. Liu Duanhe set down his lemon water and watched, thinking that it was a good thing this restaurant’s portions were small, or else Feng Xingyun would have a hard time achieving a clean plate.
Liu Duanhe hadn’t received any news of the Feng family going bankrupt, so it could only be Feng Xingyun’s own frugal nature.
He was the first person like this he’d met in their circle. Most second- and third-generation rich kids were already considered decent if they didn’t indulge in extravagant, wasteful lifestyles. Feng Xingyun’s character was remarkably virtuous.
Moreover, based on his investigations over the past few days, Feng Xingyun had no romantic history or messy private life. This was likely his first relationship too.
Liu Duanhe was in a good mood. Even a saint would feel possessive toward their partner, let alone someone who wasn’t a saint, he was merely a mundane person wearing a decent disguise. The notion that Feng Xingyun was a clean and untainted person had settled into his mind.
Anyone who had seen how wildly the rich heirs, those who possessed nearly all the material and hedonistic resources at the top, partied would develop at least a week-long aversion to sex.
Knowing how reckless some of them were, despite understanding their wealth and the advances of medical technology, Liu Duanhe still often wondered: did they ever catch diseases?
Perhaps it was because he had seen too much that his physical cleanliness had also cultivated an emotional purity.
For intimate physical contact, Liu Duanhe would only allow those he deemed as clean as himself, and it had to be from beginning to end.
Safe and healthy.
With a smile on his face, he said unhurriedly, “There’s a movie theater nearby. Is there a film you’d like to see?”
His fair fingertips interlaced and rested on his lap. He sat at ease, yet without leaning against the backrest, his spine straight and upright. His handsome, flawless features appeared refined and gentle at that moment, with deep-set eye sockets and a high-bridged nose making his eyes resemble a spring lake, tender and affectionate, shimmering with rippling light.
It was again that template-like smile as if torn from a painting. Feng Xingyun watched him with heavy, brooding eyes and suddenly said, “Doesn’t it get tiring, pretending like this all the time?”
Liu Duanhe was surprised by the sudden aggression he revealed, though he remembered that Feng Xingyun had seen the side of him that differed from how he appeared before the vast majority of people.
And he always seemed to keenly detect which of Liu Duanhe’s words were true and which were false, which smile was genuine and which was feigned.
He quickly retracted his surprise. Perhaps Feng Xingyun didn’t like being treated the same way as everyone else? Between lovers, didn’t they always want something special?
Liu Duanhe convinced himself.
He turned and asked Feng Xingyun to confirm, “Then what attitude would you like me to have toward you?”
Liu Duanhe was completely unbothered by the sharpness of his words. Even though Feng Xingyun knew of Liu Duanhe’s near-total indifference toward almost everyone, the bone-chilling coldness and hypocrisy within him, he still felt as if pricked by a needle at that moment. He tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Nothing. I don’t have a preference. It’s just that, although I expected it, I’m still surprised to see our school’s heartthrob so popular today.”
He himself didn’t know what nonsense he was spouting.
Judging from Liu Duanhe’s expression, the two sentences must have been strangely disconnected.
Then, in a muddle, he agreed to Liu Duanhe’s movie invitation.
Walking through the park, his mind was still entirely occupied with that matter.
Liu Duanhe had one hand in his pocket holding his phone, the other hanging at his side. It wasn’t a holiday or festival, but at this hour, many couples came to the movie theater, either holding hands, intimately leaning against each other, or clinging to each other’s arms.
He hesitated. Should he hold hands? He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Feng Xingyun’s hand resting at his side, wheat-colored, with fingers proportionate to his height, looking clean. He had washed his hands before coming out after the meal.
Throughout the long fifteen minutes before entering the theater, Liu Duanhe couldn’t make a decision. Then they quietly watched a movie. Feng Xingyun had no particular preference, so he picked a currently showing film with the best reviews online.
It was an inspirational film. Liu Duanhe was completely immersed by the middle of it.
Meanwhile, Feng Xingyun, sitting beside him, was lost in thought the entire time, not remembering a single thing about the film.
Whenever he was with Liu Duanhe, he seemed unable to suppress the surging of his thoughts and emotions.
He had no idea how to correct or change this situation.
After the movie, Liu Duanhe dutifully strolled through the mall with Feng Xingyun, having canceled all his other plans for the day to accompany him.
During that time, he bought two men’s watches with nice designs, two identical ones, one for each of them, at a mid-range price of several hundred thousand. Just buying them for the novelty and fun of the style.
Feng Xingyun had no idea how things had developed to the point where they each had a matching watch. His head was full of question marks. So, was Liu Duanhe doing this to repay a favor?
That night, he fell asleep unusually early, yet his dreams were still filled with Liu Duanhe, the side of him that probably only he in this school had ever seen.
Thick gray clouds blanketed the sky, pressing low and suffocating people’s breath. It was a day without sun.
He had stumbled upon Liu Duanhe smoking alone, in a corner of an abandoned old building. Not wearing his usual smiling expression, cold, shadowed. The white smoke stung the corners of his eyes red, his slender fingers holding the cigarette as the ember silently consumed the shaft. It didn’t fit his image as everyone’s ideal child at all; he looked like a rebellious bad kid.
“Sorry about that.” Liu Duanhe turned and looked at him for a while, his gaze as cold and sharp as a spark in the winter night. His handsome, deeply carved features at that moment were so striking they were almost bewitching.
A red tongue darted out to lick his lips, glossing them with a provocative sheen. His teeth, neat as pearls, casually grazed his lower lip as he waved away the smoke in front of him, then a smile returned, dissolving his earlier aggression.
No one else should have ever seen this favored son of heaven, A University’s undisputed top-tier campus heartthrob, in such a different light.
That thought inexplicably flashed through Feng Xingyun’s mind.
His heart pounded with restless thumping, pulling him from the dim, chaotic dream. He snapped his eyes open, the phone alarm by his ear ringing noisily. He fumbled a hand over to swipe it off.
Day had already broken.