The night was deep and heavy, cicadas chirped softly, and the breeze was filled with the fragrance of gardenias. Autumn was heavy, and the dusk was growing chilly.
It was early November, just after the National Day holiday return, which could roughly be considered late autumn.
He had just been called in with his parents before the break, so he had behaved himself for a while and did not dare to act up these days.
Hua Sheng had already messaged his older brother earlier to say that he was going to visit Dazhi and would be heading home a bit late tonight.
If not for Zuo Xingyun lingering until every last person had left the classroom before finally standing up, and if not for being warned by the head teacher just recently that he needed to rein it in, he would never have waited around for this long.
Today, no matter what, he was going to beat this guy up.
Zuo Xingyun led Hua Sheng out of the school gates, turning down several winding alleys until they entered an internet cafe.
Hua Sheng felt quite surprised. This internet cafe was hidden deep enough; he had never even known it was here.
Would someone as big of a straight-A student as Zuo Xingyun actually hang out at an internet cafe? Heh, and here he thought he was some model student who developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically, and laboriously in every way. Privately, he played internet cafe games just like everyone else. Hmph, appearances can truly be deceiving.
This location was remote and desolate, with practically no visitors, yet it was actually built two stories high. The computers on the first floor looked far from new, with outdated equipment.
Hua Sheng poked around, touching this and that, until his hands were covered in a layer of dust. Disgusted, he grabbed two tissues to wipe his hands, but when he finished wiping, he could not find a trash can to throw them into, so he casually stuffed them into his pants pocket.
Zuo Xingyun seemed to chuckle softly.
Hua Sheng was startled, as if caught in an embarrassing moment, and immediately fished out the trash from his pocket and threw it onto the floor. “What are you laughing at? What a dump, not even a single trash can in sight.”
Zuo Xingyun stepped forward, picked up the tissue from the ground, and put it into his own pocket.
He leaned in close to Hua Sheng, lowering his gaze to look at him. “It is right behind you.”
His own lack of basic manners formed a sharp contrast with Zuo Xingyun’s hygiene.
Hua Sheng looked back over his shoulder. A pitch-black trash can was hidden beneath a pitch-black bench. Who on earth could possibly spot that?
He felt his pride take a hit, and he had a lingering sense that he had lost another round to Zuo Xingyun.
“There, there is one, why did you not say so earlier? Damn it!” Hua Sheng stammered, his face flushing hot. “Why, why are you staring at me like that? We bad students are just like this!”
Zuo Xingyun was in a pleasant mood, though he did not show it at all. He turned around and continued, “There is also a trash can on the second floor.”
With that, he lifted his foot and stepped onto the stairs.
Damn it, who came here to look for a trash can with you?
Holding back his breath, Hua Sheng followed Zuo Xingyun up to the second floor.
The stairway was narrow, with yellowed celebrity posters plastered along both sides. Stuck to them were white, hardened lumps, one by one, which were probably dried-up pieces of chewing gum.
Old and filthy. What a wretched place.
With a complex expression and a sour face, Hua Sheng poked Zuo Xingyun in the lower back. “Hey, why did you bring me here? I am here to fight, not to play games to decide the victor. How childish.”
If they really had to rely on video games to decide the victor, Hua Sheng had zero confidence in winning. A 5v5 tower-pushing game was completely different on a phone versus a computer; the more smooth and proficient his operations were on a mobile phone, the more utterly unpresentable they became on a desktop.
Zuo Xingyun did not reply, instead gripping Hua Sheng’s wrist in the darkness.
Hua Sheng gave a violent start, his reflex telling him to shake him off.
“The last step is a bit steep, do not trip.” With a low, deep voice like falling rain, Zuo Xingyun used an irresistible strength to firmly pull him along, calling out his name, “Hua Sheng.”
Hua Sheng’s emotions were complicated. Hearing someone say his full name like that felt strangely unfamiliar. Back at school, his underlings always called him Brother Sheng, or at best, the cutesy “Sheng-sheng” used by certain female classmates. Aside from when the head teacher called his full name in frustration and disappointment during a scolding session, no one ever addressed him this way.
“Who gave you permission to call my full name?!” Hua Sheng raised his volume in dissatisfaction. “Call me Brother Sheng.”
“Mm, alright.” Zuo Xingyun’s voice carried a trace of an elusive smile. “Hua Sheng.”
Hua Sheng frowned, resolving to throw a couple of extra punches at him later.
The second floor had a similar layout to the first. What surprised him was that he did not see a boss anywhere in the shop. Even if business was bleak, they could not just leave the place unattended like this. What if Zuo Xingyun was actually a scrap-collecting thief who secretly carried his computer out to sell?
Lost in thought, Hua Sheng temporarily forgot that Zuo Xingyun was still holding his hand.
The latter unconsciously tightened his grip, holding him securely.
Zuo Xingyun led him into a private compartment at the end of the corner, closing and automatically double-bolting the door behind them.
The furnishings inside the compartment were somewhat different from other internet cafes. There was a single bed, not much larger than a school dormitory bed, covered with a purple floral bedsheet, a neatly folded set of blue-and-white school uniforms resting beside the pillow, and a few books placed next to the computer desk.
Hua Sheng walked closer to take a look: “Five Years of College Entrance Examination, Three Years of Simulation,” “How to Become a Straight-A Student,” “Golden Sun Exam Papers.”
So this was Zuo Xingyun’s home. No wonder the lights in this room were brighter than all the other rooms.
“What do you mean by this? Why did you bring me here? I came here to fight, not to tour your nerd residence.” Hua Sheng irritably pushed and scattered the books on the desk. “Do not tell me you want to fight on the bed?”
Zuo Xingyun avoided his gaze, lowered his eyes, and said softly, “I knew you would not dare.”
“What, I would not dare?”
Hearing anything about daring or not daring instantly set Hua Sheng off!
He immediately stripped off his school uniform jacket, angrily tossing it onto the chair next to Zuo Xingyun, revealing a bright goose-yellow hoodie underneath. He rolled up his sleeves and marched fiercely toward him. “You better not cry out that it hurts!”
Zuo Xingyun’s gaze shifted slightly, his breathing stalling for a fraction of a second. Hua Sheng’s pretty face was magnified right before his eyes unawares. Within this private space belonging exclusively to him, Hua Sheng was the very first person to bare his claws and brandish his teeth like this.
His hand lifted quietly, effortlessly wrapping around Hua Sheng’s waist and pulling him close against his body.
Hua Sheng’s body stiffened. The arm around his waist poked uncomfortably into him, and he instinctively tried to break free. However, Zuo Xingyun applied covert pressure to prevent him from escaping, lowering his body to look intently into his eyes.
The distance between the two of them grew closer and closer, close enough that he could hear Zuo Xingyun’s breathing and count the rhythm of his heartbeats.
Zuo Xingyun slowly raised a hand, his long, fair fingers landing on Hua Sheng’s cheek.
Zuo Xingyun’s fingers carried the cool warmth of a gentle breeze, his thumb brushing back and forth over Hua Sheng’s face. Hua Sheng gave a sharp start, suddenly feeling as though a bolt of lightning had exploded in his mind, his thoughts boiling over like hot oil splashed with water, raging and roaring.
“You, you fucking dare touch…”
Before his curse could finish, amidst his intense fury, Hua Sheng’s breathing grew rapid. Before he could react in any way, he suddenly felt his lips blocked heavily by a soft object!
Hua Sheng’s pupils contracted sharply, and he stared blankly with wide eyes. He heard the sound of two heartbeats overlapping and striking together. Thump! Thump-thump! Thump-thump-thump! Faster and heavier!
He tasted the unique tea-like fragrance on this destitute top student, cool and refreshing yet infiltrating with lingering threads of subtle sweetness, mixed with a hint of fruit and bamboo scent, extraordinarily captivating.
In stark contrast to the cold aura, his tongue was nimble and scalding hot, prying open his lips like a snake to probe inside.
Hua Sheng had been a good boy all his life. As the youngest child in the Hua family, he had enjoyed the full pampering of his parents and older siblings. The consequence of being overly protected was that he simply had no idea how to push away a rogue who was forcing a kiss on him.
Hua Sheng’s thoughts exploded; they were simply too close.
No, if this keeps up, I will be discovered.
The secret he had hidden for two years, the secret of being a substandard Omega.
“Mph, mm…” Hua Sheng propped one hand against Zuo Xingyun’s chest while grabbing his hair with the other, desperately turning his face away and struggling. “Mph, let go…”
Zuo Xingyun frowned and gave a pinch at his waist.
“Mph…” Ticklish, Hua Sheng immediately relaxed his grip.
Zuo Xingyun seized the initiative, using one hand to grab his wrist and the other to cup his cheek, deeply sucking on the moist, warm soft tongue inside his mouth.
Intertwining, wrapping, chasing, defiling.
Hua Sheng opened his eyes wide, feeling as though a million cats whose tails had been stepped on were screeching inside his mind, making every hair on his body stand on end.
“Mph…” He hurriedly wriggled his body, only for Zuo Xingyun to bite the tip of his tongue as punishment, cupping his face and kissing him even deeper.
Hua Sheng was truly furious to the point of dizziness. He, the dignified young master of the Hua family and the cold-faced school tyrant whom everyone in District No. 3 High School spoke of with fear, was being pinned down and forcibly kissed by a penniless bookworm who only knew how to study!
What kind of nonsense was this?!
Instantly catching fire, he brought his foot down heavily onto the top of Zuo Xingyun’s shoe.
“Mm…” Zuo Xingyun let out a muffled grunt, but instead pulled him tighter, pushing and shoving until he pressed Hua Sheng down onto the bed.
“Mph, you, your mother, Zuo Xingyun, are you sick?!”
Zuo Xingyun caught one of his wrists and raised it high above his head. The moment their lips parted, he heard Hua Sheng’s irrepressibly angry scolding: “Crap! Are you a psycho, a pervert, a stalker, get away…”
Zuo Xingyun lifted his jaw and kissed him heavily all over again.
Hua Sheng smartened up this time, biting down hard the moment he touched Zuo Xingyun’s tongue. But Zuo Xingyun seemed to have anticipated this, pinching his cheeks hard to keep him from closing his mouth.
“Mph, mm, ah…” Hua Sheng’s jaw nearly dislocated as a wave of dull pain washed over him, causing him to narrow his eyes in misery. “Mph, Zu, Zuo Xingyun…”
Zuo Xingyun’s movements were crude, utterly lacking his usual gentle and quiet demeanor. A thin mist began to fog up his half-frame glasses, and those standard peach-blossom eyes were filled with overwhelming possessiveness.
The concentration of pheromones in the air spiked abruptly, enough for even Hua Sheng, who had sprayed blocker and worn a blocking patch, to sense it.
He mustered all his strength to standoff against Zuo Xingyun, resisting his powerful fingers, but the more he struggled, the tighter he pinched, and soon his strength gave out.
Zuo Xingyun did not slacken in the slightest, lowering his head to kiss him and forcibly holding Hua Sheng down for a dozen minutes of tongue-kissing. The tight string in Hua Sheng’s mind snapped into oblivion long ago, his thoughts and reason seemingly stirred together like paste by someone, his struggling motions gradually growing weaker.
A strange emotion welled up within his body, and a wave of heat flowed out from an unspeakable place lower down.
Hua Sheng let out a couple of whimpers and quietly squeezed his legs together.
Zuo Xingyun hooked his tongue and gently sucked, a posture that looked entirely as though he wanted to raid and empty every last drop of moisture from his mouth.
“Stop, stop right there…” Hua Sheng choked out in humiliation, his voice trembling. “Pervert, stop kissing me, mph…”
Firmly and tenderly, Zuo Xingyun blocked his mouth once more, sliding his palm past the loose hoodie and straight into Hua Sheng’s waist.
“Wuh, mm, it tickles…” Hua Sheng wriggled like a snake, his newly freed hand instinctively grabbing at Zuo Xingyun’s arm. “Damn it, damn it, do not touch!”
Zuo Xingyun’s movements paused for a second, then, as if remembering something, he lifted a hand and removed his glasses.
Hua Sheng clamped his thighs tightly together, covering his gland with a guilty pretense of innocence as the blush on his cheeks spread all the way down to his neck.
It is over, I am losing control.
He could not control his pheromones to begin with; being this close, he must have smelled it.
Zuo Xingyun caught Hua Sheng’s hand.
With a flustered expression, Hua Sheng glared at him fiercely, red-faced and boiling over as he snapped, “Get lost!”
Zuo Xingyun rolled his eyes slightly, his voice and expression stained with lust, his lips gleaming wetly. “I know. You did not dare.”
“Dare, dare, dare your head! I fucking came here to fight you, do you even know what fighting is?! Are you out of your mind…” Hua Sheng cried out in utter exasperation, launching into a tirade. “Let go!”
Unmoved, Zuo Xingyun shifted his gaze down to the hand covering his gland.
“Stop hiding it. I already know.”
Hua Sheng’s breathing stopped, his expression blank for a fleeting second. “Y, You know what…”
The heartbeat inside his chest suddenly accelerated, and a sweeping sense of impending doom washed over him.
“Talking nonsense, I do not know what you are talking about…” Hua Sheng darted his eyes away in panic, pushing against his shoulders. “Let go, I am not fighting anymore, I am going home!”
Unmoved, Zuo Xingyun suddenly raised a hand and grabbed the waistband of Hua Sheng’s loose school uniform pants. Looking down, Hua Sheng saw that his loose trousers had already been yanked down to his calves.