Zong Xian loosened his tie, pinned down the struggling Gui Wen, bound his wrists, and then moved to the driver’s seat, closing the car door.
Gui Wen tried to use his mouth to untie the necktie on his hands. Observing his movements through the rearview mirror, Zong Xian pulled over, fished out another spare necktie, and stuffed it into Gui Wen’s mouth.
The vehicle started up again. Gui Wen tried to make muffled, indistinct sounds, but Zong Xian had no intention of paying him any mind. People passing by outside the car window couldn’t possibly notice the movement inside, and realizing his situation, the person in the back seat quickly quieted down.
The interior of the car was so silent that even the air seemed to stagnate. Gui Wen nearly passed out from exhaustion and didn’t open his eyes until Zong Xian scooped him out of the car.
At this hour, the villa was completely empty, its windows pitch black.
The foreign object in Gui Wen’s mouth was removed, though his hands remained bound by the necktie. The room light overhead flickered on abruptly, and for the first time that night, he saw Zong Xian’s face clearly.
Zong Xian’s gaze was hooked onto him, not permitting him to leave his field of vision.
Gui Wen only then noticed several scratch marks on Zong Xian’s face, the blood already dried, and his left hand wrapped in bandages. “Why are you hurt?”
“Are you worried about me, baby?” Zong Xian used his bandage-wrapped hand to touch Gui Wen’s cheek.
“I…”
Clearly not needing to hear an answer from Gui Wen’s lips, Zong Xian pulled him into his arms, pressing his lips against the bite marks on Gui Wen’s shoulder from time to time.
“You haven’t answered my question yet,” Zong Xian’s thumb gently brushed across Gui Wen’s lip corner. “What was the necessity of driving him here to see me?”
Gui Wen stammered for a long while, unable to provide any sensible explanation.
The hand Zong Xian pressed against Gui Wen’s waist tightened by a fraction. “Want to shake me off?”
“I don’t.” Gui Wen hurriedly and ingratiatingly rubbed closer into Zong Xian’s embrace, the final struggle of a wild rabbit that had mistakenly wandered into a wolf’s den.
“With just a mouth, how am I supposed to believe you?”
For the time being, Zong Xian loosened his arm from around Gui Wen’s waist, retrieved a document envelope from the bedroom drawer, and unsealed it in front of Gui Wen.
He took out a duplicate set of documents. In black and white, they were marriage applications.
Gui Wen’s hands were unbound, and the next second a fountain pen was thrust into his palm. “Sign on it.”
“Older Brother Zong Xian.” Gui Wen delayed taking off the pen cap, his gaze lingering on the countless clauses of the application form without being able to process a single word.
Only at this moment did he understand what number 000 meant by things getting out of hand. “I can’t be with you, we can’t get married.”
“Yan Guanbai,” Zong Xian wrapped his arms around Gui Wen’s waist from behind. “I am not your older brother, we have no blood relation.”
His lips brushed against the back of Gui Wen’s neck, leaving a feather-light kiss.
“I love you, Yan Guanbai. I want to become your husband.”
Clearly knowing that the person before him was money-grubbing, full of lies, and entirely unfaithful, his palm remained unwilling to let go all the same.
Gui Wen couldn’t respond; his throat felt as though it had been pinched by an invisible external force, unable to produce a sound.
Seeing that the person in his arms still couldn’t make up his mind, Zong Xian toyed with Gui Wen’s long hair with mild interest. “Turns out choosing me is this hard, baby.”
“No, I just,” Gui Wen forced open the knot in his throat, “wasn’t prepared.”
“I never intended to give you time to prepare.”
Zong Xian forcibly uncapped the pen, seized Gui Wen’s hand, and pressed the nib down onto the paper. “Sign.”
A blot of ink smudged the signature line, and Zong Xian abruptly pressed his lips to Gui Wen’s earlobe.
“If you don’t sign, you will never leave this room.” Zong Xian’s voice pierced into Gui Wen’s skin like a sharp blade.
“Tethered here like a dog, the only person you’ll see is me, and no one will know where Yan Guanbai went. How does that sound?”
Zong Xian dragged a heavy iron chain out from under the bed; attached to it was a leather collar with a diamond suspended in the middle.
This was the room Yan Guanbai lived in, yet Gui Wen had never noticed that things had been tampered with inside.
Zong Xian’s palm half-circled his neck, seemingly comparing the size of the collar to the person wearing it.
The rattling sound of the iron chain threatened to sink his consciousness. Gui Wen’s hand holding the pen trembled uncontrollably as he signed his name.
“My husband.” The marriage application was solemnly put away by Zong Xian. The chain hit the floor with a clatter, and his eyes instantly narrowed down to just Gui Wen’s lips.
His lips were wantonly gnawed and sucked upon. Gui Wen couldn’t resist Zong Xian’s invasion; the other man easily pried open his teeth, and his wrists were pinned firmly to the head of the bed, leaving the bound Gui Wen looking like a fish on a cutting board.
Zong Xian kissed him heavily, as if intending to intertwine with Gui Wen in the most thorough way possible through his lips.
Gui Wen could barely stop trembling, his breathing hotter than any second prior, as if about to be burned away within the kiss.
“Older Brother Zong Xian.” In the brief gap, Gui Wen attempted to voice a request for Zong Xian to stop.
“You must call me husband.” The back of Zong Xian’s hand pressed against Gui Wen’s feverish cheek. “Or, darling.”
“…Husband,” Gui Wen felt even his neck growing hot, “please stop kissing me for a moment, I feel a bit…”
Zong Xian sealed his mouth with a kiss.
Objection invalid, Gui Wen once again became a puppet at Zong Xian’s mercy in his embrace. His shirt buttons were unfastened one by one, and Zong Xian’s fingertips caressed his spine. “I prepared a wedding gift.”
Zong Xian abruptly pulled open a curtain, and a pure white wedding dress intruded upon Gui Wen’s vision without warning.
The short wedding dress left a long train in the back, featuring a unique design that showed the designer’s ingenuity.
“I had Lu Yuteng persuade the Xu family to call off the engagement.” Zong Xian stripped the clothing off Gui Wen’s body entirely.
Gui Wen instinctively moved to cover his body, but was blocked by Zong Xian catching his arm.
“There won’t be another groom,” Zong Xian’s fingertips trailed down from Gui Wen’s lips. “Will you take his place for him?”
He took the wedding dress off the hanger and forcibly helped Gui Wen put it on.
“Or rather, my bride.”
After Zong Xian arranged the wedding dress train for Gui Wen, a look of satiated satisfaction crossed his face.
“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time, baby.”
Gui Wen caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror by chance. The hair tie had been removed, and his hair fell right across his shoulders; viewed without looking closely, he truly resembled a bride.
He was pinned down onto the bed by Zong Xian, and the kisses descended once more like a storm, not just his lips, but his neck, chest, and arms were brushed over by lips.
Zong Xian lifted one of Gui Wen’s legs, and the final kiss was pressed against the inner thigh of Gui Wen. “Black suits you very well.”
The wedding dress was a pristine white, but Gui Wen knew Zong Xian implied something else.
He nearly wanted to press his legs together, but couldn’t resist Zong Xian’s strength.
“Husband isn’t allowed to look?” Zong Xian lifted Gui Wen’s other leg as well, forcing the latter to assume an even more humiliating posture.
Gui Wen lost count of how many kisses he endured last night.
He had fully anticipated the most out-of-control scenario, but unexpectedly, Zong Xian had no intention of crossing the ultimate line.
“On the night of the official wedding,” Zong Xian buried his face in the hem of Gui Wen’s dress, “you will become my first time.”
The kisses ultimately stopped at an unspeakable destination.
Gui Wen let out a half-sigh of relief; at least he managed to keep his underwear.
Likely due to excessive fatigue, Gui Wen fell asleep wearing the wedding dress. When daylight broke, he carefully stripped off the delicate gown, hung it back on the hanger, and changed back into his regular clothes.
His gaze lingered unintentionally near the bedside; Zong Xian hadn’t taken off his suit either.
The scratch marks on his face hadn’t improved. Gui Wen instinctively leaned closer to the other man, lightly touching the wounds with his fingertip, but the person didn’t react at all.
Emboldened, he proceeded to inspect the other injuries. Most were minor scars that would heal given time.
Gui Wen’s attention finally rested on Zong Xian’s bandage-wrapped hand, which showed no signs of bleeding through. Without being able to unwrap the bandages to confirm with his own eyes, it was hard for him to judge how severe Zong Xian’s injuries were.
What on earth had he encountered abroad? Was it something very dangerous? Or was he accidentally ambushed by someone?
Gui Wen’s gaze lingered on the bandages on Zong Xian’s hand for a good while, so lost in thought that he didn’t even notice Zong Xian had opened his eyes.
“What are you looking at?” Zong Xian used his bandage-wrapped hand to touch Gui Wen’s cheek.
Gui Wen hurriedly withdrew his gaze. “I wasn’t looking.”
“You care about me.” Zong Xian’s fingertips stroked Gui Wen’s lips.
“…Gui Wen distanced himself a bit from Zong Xian.” “I’ll go see if breakfast is ready.”
Stepping out of the room and returning to Zong Xian’s presence a moment later, Gui Wen indeed held two simple egg sandwiches in his hands.
He ignored Zong Xian and began eating on his own. Seizing the moment right after Gui Wen took a bite, the other man insisted on leaning close to Gui Wen’s lips to eat that exact bite right out of his mouth.
Their lips drew close together over the sandwich, and Zong Xian’s arm swept across Gui Wen’s waist, escalating the sandwich snack into a kiss.
Gui Wen instinctively tried to push him away, only to be met with Zong Xian’s even tighter confinement.
“I have classes later,” Gui Wen used an almost pleading tone. “My lips can’t be swollen.”
Reluctantly accepting his reasoning, Zong Xian finished his breakfast and changed his clothes. “I’ll drive you back to school.”
Gui Wen didn’t see the chauffeur; Zong Xian personally dropped him off from the driver’s seat.
The engagement ceremony had fallen through, replaced by the wedding between Zong Xian and his own nominal younger brother.
He didn’t know whether his adoptive parents were aware of this matter. Gui Wen didn’t dare initiate a message, worrying it would agitate his adoptive mother, and on the other hand, his position didn’t call for him to do so either.
“We’re here.” Zong Xian stepped down from the driver’s seat and opened the car door for Gui Wen.
Adjusting his backpack, the latter walked toward the school gates, while Zong Xian showed no intention of returning to the car, walking right beside Gui Wen instead.
Gui Wen instinctively halted his steps. “Older Brother Zong Xian.”
“What did you call me?”
“…Husband,” Gui Wen unconsciously rubbed the strap of his backpack with his fingers. “Aren’t you driving back?”
“I’ll walk you in.” Without a word of explanation, Zong Xian suddenly grabbed Gui Wen’s hand. Though startled, the latter never managed to muster enough strength to pull free.
Not until they stopped right beneath the teaching building, drawing curious looks and a crowd of passing classmates, did Zong Xian finally deign to release his hand.
“I’ll come pick you up after classes, my baby.”
Zong Xian leaned close to Gui Wen, looking to outsiders as though the two were kissing.
“Very soon, you won’t have any way to deny me at all.”