Mu Ran stayed put and replied to his message instead.
What’s wrong with you?
It was practically an instant reply.
Get in here.
Mu Ran let out a “tsk,” smiling apologetically at the sales assistant. “Sorry about that, let me go in and help my friend out for a moment. I’ll take a look at the clothes again when I come out.”
“Very well, Young Master Mu, right this way, please.” Putting the clothes away, the sales assistant pointed the way for Mu Ran. “President Lu is in the second fitting room.”
Putting away his phone, Mu Ran pushed open the door of the fitting room.
The lighting was dim, with only a small cat-eye light on the ceiling maintaining the basic illumination requirements. The mirror by the wall reflected Mu Ran’s figure as well as Lu Chengfeng’s bare upper body.
“Don’t tell me you don’t know how to put on clothes.” Mu Ran stopped in his tracks, maintaining a distance from Lu Chengfeng.
Lu Chengfeng gave an affirmative hum. “Mn, I can’t reach the buttons in the back.”
“What?” Mu Ran walked over, picked up the garment from the bench, and unfolded it.
Great. At the time, he had only looked at the front of the shirt and thought that such a triangular collar would suit Lu Chengfeng well, assuming it was a buttonless shirt. He hadn’t expected the buttons to be in the back…
“Then turn around, and I’ll button it up for you.” Measuring the garment against the air, Mu Ran motioned for Lu Chengfeng to put the front on first.
Lu Chengfeng stretched out both hands with a look that practically begged someone to dress him. “The buttoning just now made my shoulder hurt, help me out.”
What?
“Don’t go practicing what you just learned on me,” Mu Ran muttered under his breath, though he still draped the shirt over Lu Chengfeng’s shoulders. “Turn around, I’ll button it up for you.”
Fumbling nervously, Mu Ran started fastening the buttons from the very bottom as he couldn’t help swallowing hard.
He had to admit, Lu Chengfeng’s physique was simply phenomenal. Who knew when he managed to find the time to work out? Broad shoulders, narrow waist, a perfect inverted triangle, with smooth muscle lines the entire space seemed saturated with the scent of raw hormones.
In the past, whenever he sneaked onto Lu Chengfeng’s bed, he had always been too drunk to ever observe him this closely.
“Does it look good?” Lu Chengfeng suddenly asked.
Damn it! How did he know he was drooling over his body?!
“Not bad, you’ve been working out quite nicely, kid. Take me along for a workout some other day,” Mu Ran patted his back, teasingly remarking.
With much difficulty, he finally finished buttoning up the shirt and stepped around to face Lu Chengfeng, tying the red ribbon attached to the collar.
“I can’t button my pants either.” Holding his belt in hand, Lu Chengfeng stood there with his trousers half-unfastened.
Mu Ran’s heartbeat accelerated steadily, the temperature on his cheeks climbing year by year as he hurriedly turned around.
“Fumble around and figure it out yourself.”
“I did fumble around, they won’t button.” Lu Chengfeng wore an expression of utter innocence. He had indeed studied them for a long time, only to find that he remained far too accustomed to standard suit trousers; he genuinely didn’t know how to wear such cumbersome, complicated pants.
“Then, wa—wait a second.” Mu Ran kept taking deep breaths, trying hard to calm his own desires.
From the adjacent fitting room came the rustle of clothing changes accompanied by periodic sounds of praise.
Turning back around, Mu Ran lowered his gaze to locate the buttonholes for Lu Chengfeng.
The trousers were indeed rather tricky to put on, featuring a heavily elaborate design where the belt had to be threaded back and forth through the inside of the waistband. Coupled with the dim lighting, Mu Ran had to move closer and closer still just to see where the buttonholes were located.
But still.
It really looked so big…
If only it grew on his own body instead.
“Isn’t this super simple? You claim you’ve been smart for over twenty years yet you need me to handle a simple button.” Satisfied to the utmost, Mu Ran admired his own styling choices.
This outfit suited Lu Chengfeng to an absolute T. That cold, aloof, ascetic face paired with the red color scheme made him look like a scattering of brilliant sparks amid an iceberg, extraordinarily striking.
He clearly suited this kind of styling exceptionally well.
“Dressing like this… is it really okay?” Catching sight of his own reflection in the mirror, Lu Chengfeng didn’t recognize this as his usual, familiar style.
“Of course, it looks amazing! I’m sure she’ll think it looks amazing too!” Struck by a sudden inspiration, Mu Ran quickened his pace toward the doorway. “Miss, could you help me grab that dress we looked at earlier?”
“Coming right up!” Holding the dress they had looked at a moment earlier, the sales assistant brought it over with both hands. “Is it this one?”
“Mn, thank you.” Smiling, Mu Ran took the garment and headed back into the fitting room.
The sales assistant’s face flushed slightly. Such a handsome boy who was also well-mannered she totally wanted to date him.
“Take a look at this dress.” Mu Ran placed the garment onto a hanger, letting the skirt drape down to the floor to display its full silhouette.
Hung right beside the mirror, the dress matched Lu Chengfeng’s build level: one exuded flamboyant brilliance, while the other was overflowing with masculine appeal.
He couldn’t even begin to imagine how matching they would look if the two of them actually stood side by side.
“This dress is a bit small; you wouldn’t fit into it.” Making a gesture as if measuring Mu Ran’s waistline, Lu Chengfeng held the dress up to compare against him.
“What do you mean, I wear it? I bought this for your other half!” Mu Ran put his hands on his hips.
Lu Chengfeng looked momentarily surprised before raising an eyebrow, the smile at the corners of his lips gradually widening. Pulling Mu Ran right in front of him, he utilized his height advantage to hold the dress against Mu Ran’s chest, his voice low, elegant, and rich with an upward-curling tail-end that carried an inexplicable, lingering tenderness.
“Ranran, when you’re teaching someone else, shouldn’t you verify it first? If you don’t try it on yourself, how can you know whether it looks good when worn?”
Oh, right.
It really seemed like some clothes looked great hanging up, but terrible once worn.
Still, trying this on felt just a bit too bizarre.
“But she might not be shaped like me at all,” Mu Ran said, failing to understand how Lu Chengfeng could possibly jump to the conclusion that it would suit him.
“Could it be that you didn’t actually want to help me at all?” Lightly tracing Mu Ran’s cheek with his index finger, Lu Chengfeng could feel the slight shudder running through Mu Ran’s body. “Or is it…”
“I didn’t! I genuinely want to help you,” Mu Ran blurted out immediately.
Lu Chengfeng’s voice turned slightly husky: “Then try it on. Clothes only look truly gorgeous once you put them on.”
“No way in hell! You, you, you don’t even think about tricking me into wearing a dress, you’re probably just plotting to capture some black-material photos of me to hold over my head.” Mu Ran resisted fiercely.
Even if it meant breaking ties with Lu Chengfeng today, he absolutely, positively would not wear a dress!
“Then let’s switch to another one.” Ruffling the top of Mu Ran’s head, Lu Chengfeng pulled a brand-new outfit out from goodness-knows-where.
It shared a similar style to the one Lu Chengfeng was wearing, except the upper and lower accents were swapped around, making it look rather like a runway-matching counterpart.
“Where on earth did you pull that out from?” Peering out curiously, Mu Ran looked left and right to check where any compartment might be, almost burning a hole through the fitting room with his gaze.
“I happened to catch sight of it while walking over here.” Guiltily shifting his gaze away, Lu Chengfeng replied, “You brought me out shopping for clothes, so I’ll pick one out for you too as a reward.”
Quickly catching onto the keyword, Mu Ran’s eyes lit up.
If they were talking about a reward, then he certainly wasn’t going to stand on ceremony!
A transaction where they cleanly drew the line like this suited his wishes to a T!
“Since you put it that way…” Putting on a reluctant expression, Mu Ran accepted the outfit. “Ahem, I’ll accept it… reluctantly.”
Lifting the clothes to measure them against his body, Mu Ran figured the size should be about right. He hooked the hem of his shirt upward, intending to change into it.
The scorching gaze from behind stopped his movements. Looking back, he found Lu Chengfeng leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, staring straight at him.
“Shouldn’t you, you know, step outside first?” Dropping his hands, Mu Ran wrapped his clothes tightly around himself.
Unfazed, Lu Chengfeng remarked, “We’re both guys, what are you afraid of? Is there any part of you I haven’t seen before?”
Back when they were kids, whenever Mu Ran played too roughly and covered himself in bumps and bruises, he was terrified his parents would find out, so even his baths were given to him by Lu Chengfeng. What was there left to avoid suspicion over?
Blinking his eyes, Mu Ran decided that what Lu Chengfeng said also made sense.
He couldn’t show cowardice. What if Lu Chengfeng discovered that he liked men? That might make him suspect other things as well. They were both guys; as long as he kept his composure, everything would be fine.
Unbuttoning his shirt one button at a time, Mu Ran felt Lu Chengfeng sitting right behind him, staring fixedly at his every movement.
The youth possessed beautifully sculpted shoulder blades that resembled a pair of butterflies on the verge of spreading their wings to fly. What felt the most sexy was that right below those butterfly bones sat a tiny red mole.
He still remembered how, when they were children looking in the mirror, Mu Ran used to complain about why he was different from everyone else and why a red birthmark wasn’t pretty.
Yet Lu Chengfeng didn’t think so.
Whenever Mu Ran raised his shoulders, two tense lines would emerge across his back, and that solitary red speck resting upon porcelain-white skin was enough to make anyone’s blood run hot.
Moving further down, Mu Ran slid off his sweatpants, exposing his straight, fair, and tender legs beneath the dim lighting so lovely they practically seemed to glow.
With a flurry of quick movements, Mu Ran slipped into the new outfit. The size was an absolute match; the cinched design perfectly accentuated the lines of his waist, while the slightly low-cut collar revealed his distinct collarbones and arms. The tailored trousers hugged his rounded curves snugly, making his legs appear even more slender and long.
Lu Chengfeng drifted off for a moment, his throat tightening slightly.
Inspecting his own reflection in the mirror, Mu Ran stood side by side with Lu Chengfeng.
Weren’t these two living, breathing male models standing right here?
Why didn’t designers invite the two of them to walk a runway? It would definitely sell out!
As something wrapped around his waist, Mu Ran snapped out of his male-model daydream. Lu Chengfeng had already looped his arms around him from behind. Not daring to raise his head or meet the other’s expression, he could only listen to his voice.
“Mmm, it really does look fantastic.”
Nodding in agreement, Mu Ran replied, “Well, obviously look who you’re talking about~”
“Keep wearing it for a bit longer, it suits you extremely well.”
“No need.” Terrified that his hard-earned reward might fly away if he delayed by even a second, Mu Ran hurried to push him along. “Go pay the bill right now!”
“Alright.” Lu Chengfeng replied lazily, “I’ll help you change out of it.”
Prying Lu Chengfeng’s hands off his waist, Mu Ran shoved him out, person and clothes together: “Go on, go on, stop bothering your big brother here as I admire my own peerless good looks.”
Only after Lu Chengfeng closed the door did Mu Ran use his hands as fans, continuously fanning air to cool himself down.
It must have been an illusion just now. It simply had to be.
Otherwise, why would he get the bizarre sensation that he and Lu Chengfeng were wearing couple outfits?
Upon second thought, though, there wasn’t anything particularly amiss about it either. Ever since they were little, Aunt Ji and his mom always bought matching clothes in pairs for them; there were countless times they had worn identical outfits, so it wasn’t out of the ordinary for Lu Chengfeng to pick a similar style.
Besides, free stuff from someone else who wouldn’t take it!
After changing back into his own clothes and snapping two photos in front of the mirror to send to He Jingan for a bit of boasting, Mu Ran finally stepped out of the fitting room.
“Hello, here are your receipts, a total of three items.” The sales assistant’s delight was written all over her face. She had originally thought she could ship a real-life pairing while selling clothes, only to find out one of them already had a girlfriend, but securing the performance metrics was still a great outcome.
“Thank you.” Lu Chengfeng accepted the shopping bags, holding them in his hand.
“As for the remaining piece in that style, we’ll be recycling it now. Thank you for your support of Anima Allure; the rest of the fabric will be repurposed into pet clothing and accessories, wishing you a pleasant life.” Neatly folding the outfit Mu Ran had tried on earlier, the sales assistant placed it back into a bag and affixed a “Recycled” label to it.
Stepping out of the store, Mu Ran clutched his nearly flattened stomach and pulled out his phone to start searching for good places to eat nearby.
“Why don’t we just head back and eat there?” The area nearby was undergoing renovation work right now, and all his favorite restaurants were temporarily closed.
Returning to the garage, the chauffeur respectfully opened the door and waited for them to get in.
Placing the shopping bags inside the car, Lu Chengfeng said, “I left something behind. Wait for me here for a second.”
“What did you leave behind? Do you need me to come with you?” Rifling through the bags, Mu Ran couldn’t spot anything missing.
“No need.” Lu Chengfeng turned and walked away.
On the 17th floor.
The sales assistant was tallying her sales figures when she heard footsteps and looked up to find that President Lu from earlier had returned.
“Hello, is there anything else you need?”
“That dress we tried on earlier buy me the one in the larger size too. Send it to the North Mountain Villa.” Lu Chengfeng pulled out his card and handed it to the sales assistant.
“B-but, the dresses in our store are only ever sold as a single piece each. If the size isn’t right we can do an exchange, but we don’t sell two copies; we have to guarantee our customers a one-of-a-kind piece.” Looking conflicted, the sales assistant forced herself to explain.
The corners of Lu Chengfeng’s lips curled upward slightly: “What if… both of them are worn by the very same person? Would you still sell them then?”