Even someone as calm as him didn’t expect Duan Xingge to say that, let alone the audience. The live broadcast room went silent for a few seconds before suddenly erupting:
“Damn, damn, can you not suddenly unleash such a big move? I can’t take it, ahhhhh!”
“??? Xingxing, he’s aggressive, damn, he’s going for it directly!!”
“Wait, wait, wait, so that means they really haven’t been in contact for a long time. It was Xingxing who used some means to trick 77 into joining the show, right?!”
“Ahhhhh, what a direct puppy!!”
“Because I wanted to see you!”
“Oh my god, how long has it been since I shipped a couple that actually communicates???”
“I highly suspect President Yun looks inscrutable, but his brain has already crashed.”
The facts proved the comments were completely correct. Yun Qi was staring at the sea without blinking, but his mind was entirely occupied by his own heartbeat and the words Duan Xingge had just said.
Seeing this, Duan Xingge leaned in intentionally. However, just as he was about to say something, Yun Qi suddenly snapped out of it and snatched the cola from his hand. Ignoring the fact that Duan Xingge had already taken a few sips, he tilted his head and took a gulp.
Yun Qi didn’t actually like sweet things, and even less did he like carbonated drinks, but at this moment, he understood why Duan Xingge loved soda so much.
The cold sensation spread from his throat all the way to his stomach. It was truly refreshing and greatly smoothed out his erratic heartbeat.
He was comfortable now, but he seemed to have completely disregarded Duan Xingge’s supposed mysophobia. After finishing, he threw the can into Duan Xingge’s arms and turned to leave, thinking he looked suave.
However, this classic “fleeing the scene” look, in the eyes of the audience, was simply evidence of his extreme shyness.
Before the comments could tease him, Duan Xingge stood in place for a while, clutching the soda can, then suddenly tilted his head and poured the last drop of cola into his mouth. From the camera’s angle, it was clear he was intentionally drinking from the exact spot Yun Qi had just touched.
The audience couldn’t sit still:
“? What are you doing, kid?! I’m asking, what are you doing!”
“Is 77 shy? Ah, so good, so good, I can’t take it!!”
“? This mysophobia depends on the person, right? That’s something.”
“Ahhhhh, it feels like ten thousand ants are crawling on my heart. Mom and Dad, please sell more!”
“Damn, who said you, Xing, had a gentleman persona? What kind of gentleman is this double-standard?”
“Drink your cola properly, why are you licking it? You’re making my head fill with dirty thoughts, damn it!”
Duan Xingge finished the last drop, threw the can into the trash, and turned to follow him.
Dates in other channels had just begun, but theirs had already ended.
Yet the buzz generated by such a short date was enough to crush the combined total of all the others.
However, neither of the two parties had the mood to look at the storm on the internet today.
Yun Qi was the first to return to the bedroom, taking a shower to barely soothe the unspeakable palpitations.
He wiped his hair, walked to the bed, and picked up his phone. He looked down at the time—two hours left until midnight.
As soon as he put the phone down, Duan Xingge pushed the door open. Upon seeing him, he actually said aggrievedly: “President Yun, you finished washing so quickly? Why didn’t you wait for me?”
Yun Qi didn’t even look up: “If you had stayed on the deck to blow in the wind a bit more, you might have caught up.”
Duan Xingge was just making small talk, but he didn’t expect Yun Qi to actually pick up his thread. He was stunned for a moment, then smiled in an incredibly punchable way: “President Yun is complaining that I came back late.”
Yun Qi was not the type to be shameless and say whatever came to mind. Hearing this, he glanced at him and didn’t respond.
Duan Xingge shut the door behind him and took off his shirt right in front of Yun Qi, making a gesture to go take a shower.
Yun Qi was wiping his hair with a towel; his brow twitched when he saw this. Just as he was about to say something, Duan Xingge spoke first: “Actually, I always thought you would just curse me out when you saw me in the first episode.”
“Why, are you disappointed?” Yun Qi paused, glanced at him, and said, “If you like being cursed at so much, do you want me to make up for it now?”
Duan Xingge raised an eyebrow and walked right over, leaning against the headboard and leaning in. The distance between them shortened drastically. Yun Qi almost bumped into Duan Xingge’s chest muscles, and his breathing stagnated on the spot.
The air went quiet at that moment.
But after a two-second pause, Duan Xingge smiled and reached out to take the towel from Yun Qi’s hand.
He clearly knew extremely well how to use his face. He laughed with impunity and sat down behind Yun Qi: “Can President Yun really bring yourself to scold me?”
Whether intentionally or not, when he sat down, his abdominal muscles brushed against the other person’s elbows. Yun Qi’s heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t help but say, “If you continue to push your luck like this”
“What would you do?” Duan Xingge raised an eyebrow, wiping his hair while saying, “Chase me out of the bedroom like before, or tie me up and beat me?”
“…Don’t spread rumors.” Yun Qi said speechless. “When have I ever tied you up and beaten you?”
“How could you not?” Duan Xingge blamed the victim. “My wrists still hurt sometimes.”
“That was clearly you—” Yun Qi’s face heated up before he could finish the sentence.
Thin-skinned people were indeed at a disadvantage in this regard.
Duan Xingge laughed even more brightly at this, his tone incomparably innocent: “It was just a kiss, not like we haven’t kissed before… President Yun is such a grudge-holder? You kissed back just now, and I stood there like a stupid dog under the lens for so long; let’s call it even.”
“…Who is calling it even with you?” Yun Qi was exasperated, raising a hand to push his face away. “If you know you’re stupid, shut up… Stop wiping, get out and take your shower.”
Facing Yun Qi’s almost frantic reaction, Duan Xingge laughed even more brightly. He obediently withdrew his hand, but when Yun Qi wasn’t paying attention, he leaned down and kissed him on the neck.
Yun Qi rarely touched that spot himself, unless applying medicine or showering.
Being caught off guard by a kiss there, an unspeakable tingle climbed from his neck to his brain. Yun Qi snapped out of it and picked up the towel, wanting to scold Duan Xingge in a rage. When he turned around, he found that Duan Xingge had already walked to the bathroom. His back seemed casual, but Yun Qi suddenly noticed—
His fingertips were slightly trembling.
Yun Qi was stunned for a moment. By the time he came to his senses, he had let the “pushy little dog” go because of a momentary softness in his heart.
Duan Xingge didn’t close the bathroom door while showering, whether by accident or on purpose. The sound of water inside the bathroom echoed in the room, mixed with the sound of the waves outside.
The agitation he had just felt gradually calmed down, and Yun Qi turned his gaze to the window, where it was beginning to rain.
Raindrops patted the sea surface, now slow, now fast, like disjointed notes piecing together an unknown tune, describing a future they couldn’t see clearly.
Yun Qi didn’t want to do anything for a moment and just looked quietly out the window.
When Duan Xingge finished his shower, he retracted his gaze from the window, only to see him walk out wrapped in a bath towel without saying a word. The smile on his face had faded a lot, and the emotions permeating him were significantly different from before the shower.
In other words, as the midnight bell approached, Duan Xingge could no longer maintain that performative brightness.
He didn’t even wipe his hair; he walked over to Yun Qi and sat down in silence. The water dripping from his hair soaked into the pillow, but he seemed not to notice, only lowering his eyes to hold Yun Qi’s hand.
From Yun Qi’s perspective, Duan Xingge at this moment was like a wet, stray dog, anxiously circling its master, but not daring to make a sound, for fear of being discovered.
Such a pathetic appearance made it impossible for Yun Qi not to soften his heart. He looked at him for three seconds and sighed softly, not knowing if he was sighing at his own lack of resolve or at Duan Xingge’s masterful skills in acting spoiled.
In the end, Yun Qi could only let Duan Xingge hold his left hand, while he picked up his phone from the bedside with his right hand. He pretended to browse nonchalantly but didn’t actually process a word, just waiting calmly for the time to pass.
Neither of them spoke, and an indescribable atmosphere filled the room.
Yun Qi inexplicably thought of an absurd possibility: what if at 11:59, someone suddenly broke in and killed them?
Or like the Titanic, at the stroke of twelve, the ship would crash into an iceberg without warning, and then he would end once again in nothingness.
In that short half-hour, Yun Qi thought of many possibilities, but in the end, nothing happened.
Time passed steadily past midnight, reaching 0:01. Like the midnight bell in the story of Cinderella, the moment it rang, the pumpkin carriage and the luxurious dress vanished together.
Those exhausting performances and the deliberate pretense of being unbothered finally exploded at this moment, revealing the intense, hidden undertone beneath.
Yun Qi exhaled inaudibly, and the string that had been tightened in his heart finally snapped.
The waves crashed against the hull, sounding just like in his previous life.
But inside the room, Duan Xingge was still gripping his hand without a word.
Others might not be able to tell, but Yun Qi keenly sensed that the other person was not in the right state of mind.
He hadn’t even had time to feel joy at his own survival before he began to worry about Duan Xingge’s mental state: “You…”
Before he could finish, he was caught off guard as someone suddenly grabbed the back of his neck and kissed him.
Yun Qi widened his eyes in disbelief, forgetting to resist in his surprise.
This was completely different from the kiss he had left on Duan Xingge in the evening to tease him; this was filled with nerve-wracking aggression and possessiveness, carrying a feeling as if he wanted to devour him whole.
Only after his lips and tongue were pried open and his mouth was completely occupied by the other’s tongue did Yun Qi suddenly raise a hand to push Duan Xingge away. However, after pushing twice, his gloves were roughly torn off and thrown under the bed.
The moment his hands were gripped, Yun Qi stiffened, his whole body going as quiet as a wound-up doll.
He thought he had long been accustomed to Duan Xingge’s touch, but now he realized he had been completely wrong.
His palms were rubbed, and his trembling, white fingers were pried open one by one, nibbled on intimately. His sensitive fingertips were intentionally pressed by the other’s nails, and beyond that, the skin where fingerprints had been covered during the day was pressed again, moving all the way up along the spine.
Yun Qi’s pupils trembled constantly, sobbing and wanting to swallow, but before he could struggle, he heard the hoarse and low voice of the person on top of him: “Don’t move.”
In the next second, Yun Qi watched helplessly as that person held his hand, brought it to his face, and kissed it without a word.
Yun Qi: “…!”
Duan Xingge gently held his knuckles and kissed them section by section. The wet, hot sensation came from the most sensitive areas. His teeth intentionally rubbed slowly against the joints. Yun Qi felt a tingle traveling from his spine to his scalp. His whole body felt as if it had been electrocuted, and he almost jumped off the bed.
His chest heaved uncontrollably. Besides his shame and anger, his emotions and physiological reactions made his eyes look red. Yun Qi was so angry he wanted to slap him; he gritted his teeth, endured the indescribable feeling, and raised his hand to push the little bastard’s face away. However, the wetness he encountered made him stop his hand abruptly.
Realizing what that was, Yun Qi widened his eyes in disbelief. After a long while, with an almost imperceptible tremor, he gently lifted Duan Xingge’s face.
In the faint moonlight, crystalline tears were streaming down that incredibly handsome face.
Yun Qi opened his mouth, suddenly feeling his voice was somewhat hoarse: “…I’m the one being bitten. What are you crying for?”