Past memories flashed back through Yu Sui’s mind, yet his hands moved without a fraction of a hesitation. As the tip of the blade made contact with a bizarre protrusion beneath the skin, Yu Sui flicked his wrist slightly, and a chip no larger than a grain of rice was swiftly lifted upon the edge of the knife.
Casually grinding the chip to pieces between his fingertips, he then with humanitarian benevolence retrieved a flask of alcohol from nearby to sterilize Yu Ning’s wound, performing the task with practiced, effortless familiarity, as though he had executed it countless times before.
Yu Ning’s gaze toward him brimmed with profound bewilderment and intense fury. Catching it, Yu Sui paused briefly before offering a smiling explanation: “Does it look like you have countless questions to ask and plenty to say?”
“No worries, I understand completely.” Raising an eyebrow, Yu Sui added with playful amusement: “Who hasn’t been a villain at some point in their lives?”
Just as he was preparing to stand up and depart, the heavy, closed doors were pushed open once more. Across the newly laid marble flooring, the sound of crisp, decisive footsteps echoed distinctly. Yu Sui let out a tiny hiss, experiencing a rare, unaccustomed touch of pressure.
Crossing his arms, Yu Baihua stepped up behind him, his tone laced with chilling frost: “Looks like everything’s been settled?”
Giving a light cough, Yu Sui turned around and offered a nod.
Yu Baihua’s condition appeared rather less than ideal, his eyes rimmed with a vivid, bruised crimson. Lowering his gaze to avoid locking eyes with Yu Sui, he casually handed a glass of wine over to Yu Sui, his tone carrying a gentleness that bordered on the surreal.
“Then… thank you for your hard work.”
Yu Baihua’s method of slipping a drug into the wine was clumsy to the extreme… Yu Sui perceived it instantly, even feeling an urge to correct his laughably outdated technique of shielding the action from view. Yet deciding it was wiser not to puncture Yu Baihua’s amateurish charade, he obediently accepted the glass and drank it down.
Better to humor him and smooth things over first.
With that thought, a blurring haze washed over Yu Sui’s vision almost immediately. Yielding with absolute docility, he took two forward steps, threw his arms around Yu Baihua’s waist, and draped his weight entirely upon him.
Yu Baihua’s frame stiffened for a fraction of a second before he took two steps back to catch Yu Sui securely in his arms. Wrapping his arms slowly around Yu Sui’s waist, he lifted his head to press a feather-light kiss against the side of Yu Sui’s neck.
This marked the third time Yu Baihua had watched Yu Sui’s retreating silhouette. The first had been by the Binjiang Riverside, the second inside the Yu family estate, and the third was watching him walk toward unknown danger.
He refused to watch Yu Sui’s back ever again. What he had failed to hold onto in the past, he could seize back now.
When Yu Sui regained consciousness, he realized he was no longer aboard the Star of the Far East. The interior decor of the room felt intimately familiar; after a brief moment of recollection, he recognized this location as the Yu family villa.
Night had already fallen. Rising from the bed, Yu Sui discovered that the glass of water resting upon the nightstand was still comfortably warm. Lifting his gaze further, he noticed the light illuminated within the bathroom, accompanied by the gentle, pattering sound of running water.
Yu Baihua hadn’t employed any physical restraints to restrict Yu Sui’s freedom though even if he had, Yu Sui possessed more than enough means to slip away. Taking a slow sip from his water glass, Yu Sui thought to himself that Yu Baihua remained perpetually starved of genuine security.
This current development came as zero surprise to him; instead, he accepted it with utter equanimity. At that very moment, however, 058 materialized out of thin air, hurtling toward him like a drowning man clutching a lifeline:
“Yu Sui, you’re finally awake… Why hasn’t your mission progress budged so much as a single fraction of a percent? Did something go wrong?”
“Not a single percent of progress?” Pondering the matter for a moment, Yu Sui instructed 058: “Check Yu Baihua’s current romance/conquest value using system points.”
Yu Sui rarely utilized this feature; unlike certain colleagues in the Villain Department who adored squandering points to slack off, Yu Sui had always harbored absolute confidence in his ability to drive missions forward yet zero change in progress? That seemed statistically impossible.
The points Yu Sui had accumulated over time formed an astronomical figure, though the majority of department personnel rarely relied on points to purchase system items, which had ultimately driven 058’s system mall into bankruptcy. At present, 058 had to rummage frantically through a forgotten corner of its interface to unearth the exchange function before tapping to view the metric.
Yu Baihua’s conquest value instantly materialized before Yu Sui’s eyes. Simultaneously, the bathroom door swung open as billowing steam drifted into the bedroom.
Water droplets still clung to Yu Baihua’s skin, and a bathrobe was draped loosely across his frame, resting so precariously upon his shoulders it seemed on the verge of sliding off at any second. His soaked dark hair remained un-dried, water beads trickling down from his tips to melt across his flushed skin, making him resemble a rain-drenched, over-ripened rose.
Lowering his gaze in silence, Yu Baihua walked slowly over to Yu Sui’s side, half-knelt onto the mattress, and leaned in to kiss him.
Tilting his head slightly, Yu Sui accepted the damp, lingering kiss laced with the warmth of the shower. Yu Baihua’s waist was inherently slender, the deep indentations of his waist dimples carving out two graceful curves that trembled beneath the firm clasp of Yu Sui’s hand. Amidst the entanglement of lips and teeth, the collar of Yu Baihua’s bathrobe was tugged askew, slipping down to expose his shoulder. Pausing for a fraction of a second, Yu Sui abruptly brought the kiss to a halt.
Yu Baihua’s body bore an array of scars. Ranging from faded, ancient marks to fresh, jagged gashes, their angles and trajectories unmistakably revealed that they had been inflicted upon his own flesh by the man himself in moments of agonizing torment.
Lifting his gaze to meet Yu Sui’s, Yu Baihua still wore the un-faded flush of lingering moisture across his eyes. Straddling Yu Sui’s lap, he leaned in once more, his voice dropping into an hoarse, rasping whisper: ” Are they hideous? Do they make you sick?”
Without a word, Yu Sui caught him by the waist, swept him aside, and rose to his feet. Before Yu Baihua had time to process a reaction, Yu Sui snatched a towel and dropped it squarely over his face.
Crouching down, Yu Sui began scrubbing away with the enthusiastic vigor of someone washing a small, unruly animal, persisting until the coarse terrycloth occasionally grazed Yu Baihua’s skin into pink friction marks before he abruptly relented and shifted to gently, methodically drying the damp strands of Yu Baihua’s hair.
Yu Sui let out a sigh. “Yu Baihua, I honestly don’t even know what to say to you anymore.”
Lifting his eyes to peer at the stunned, blank-faced fool before him, Yu Sui figured the fellow was currently operating in that hazy, feverish state induced by his condition, functioning purely on instinct and raw emotion. With his self-loathing still raging unchecked, Yu Baihua wore an expression of profound grievance, letting out a delayed, sluggish “Oh” in response to a remark he probably hadn’t even fully processed.
Once certain his hair was thoroughly dried, Yu Sui reached out to grab a hairdryer and continued tending to him. His slender, tapering fingers combed through the damp locks, generating a soothing, rhythmic warmth.
Quietly tracking Yu Baihua’s conquest value in his mind, Yu Sui watched the metric sit rigidly at 99%, refusing to budge so much as a fraction neither advancing nor retreating. He thought to himself: What an absolute idiot Yu Baihua is; how is he this easily deceived? He takes any casual scrap of gentleness at face value, stubbornly clinging to a fixation spanning two entire lifetimes.
Looking down from his vantage point, Yu Sui could clearly make out the scars exposed beneath the loosened collar of Yu Baihua’s robe. A tremor rippled through Yu Sui’s throat as he asked, carrying an undercurrent of unintended strain:
“When you’re hurting like that, why on earth don’t you take your medicine?”
Repeating the question, Yu Sui exerted a gentle pressure with his hand, forcing Yu Baihua to tilt his chin upward and meet his gaze. “Why refuse to take it? Why insist on letting yourself suffer?”
Yu Baihua stared back at him in quiet silence for a long beat before slowly blinking his eyes, his long eyelashes fluttering like a butterfly settling upon Yu Sui’s heart.
“If I took the medicine…” Yu Baihua murmured with a grievance-laced edge, “I wouldn’t be able to see you.”
Yu Sui fell silent. The next instant, Yu Baihua’s knees were swept upward, and he was unceremoniously tossed down onto the mattress. Looking down from above, Yu Sui inquired: “Back on the ship, were you wondering how President Yu could manage to satisfy you?”
“Now, I’m going to show you.”
Hearing those words, Yu Baihua instinctively wrapped his arms around Yu Sui, offering a trembling, shuddering surrender as the gentle kiss descended once more:
“Do you… hate me?”
Do you hate me, Yu Sui? Do you hate the useless version of me from the past, or this scarred, broken version of me now?
Yu Sui had spoken far too many falsehoods. Lacking the capacity to fully comprehend what romantic affection truly felt like, and carrying a lifetime’s accumulation of abandonment and betrayal, running into a hopeless idiot like Yu Baihua who flatly refused to let go suddenly elevated that stubborn persistence into something profoundly precious.
That momentary silence of his had evidently led Yu Baihua to believe the answer was unspeakable. Closing his eyes in quiet resignation, Yu Baihua offered himself up like a sacrificial offering, leaning forward with fierce, desperate intensity to claim Yu Sui’s lips, only to catch a soft whisper murmured in the parting gap between them:
“I like you. I’ve always liked you.”
Always liked you.
Yu Sui’s fingertips brushed against a patch of damp moisture the tears welling at the corners of Yu Baihua’s eyes.
His hands were exceptionally striking yet powerful, carrying his natural bodily warmth as they traced and lingered across the side of Yu Baihua’s neck, causing the man to shudder uncontrollably. He was far too fragile, Yu Sui thought; he needed to be carefully nourished back to health. Very soon, that tender, gentle caress shifted in texture, as Yu Sui mischievously forced Yu Baihua to tilt his head high into an arched trajectory resembling a dying swan, effortlessly cuppable and playable within the palm of his hand.
Yu Baihua let out a muffled gasp; the moisture blooming within his eyes was no longer born of grief, but of an entirely different sensation. Merely having Yu Sui’s hand glide over his skin was enough to make Yu Baihua turn his head away in burning shame, let alone having him probe into the deepest, spring-fed depths of his body pushing him to the brink of collapse yet delivering exquisite pleasure, driving him to curl inward like a startled ball.
With infinite patience, Yu Sui parted those delicate folds once more to expose the tender core within. Catching sight of Yu Sui’s cunningly curved eyes, Yu Baihua surrendered willingly, opening himself up to wind his limbs tightly around him.
More than satisfied with his proactive compliance, Yu Sui leaned down to press a soft kiss to Yu Baihua’s scars. It was a simple, uncomplicated gesture, yet it completely unmoored Yu Baihua’s sanity. At present, he resembled the most obedient of puppets resting against the pillows, his fingertips helplessly clutching at the hem of Yu Sui’s shirt, wholly reliant on the person dragging him down into the abyss.
His crumpled bathrobe was deftly unwrapped by Yu Sui’s nimble fingers and discarded onto the floor, followed instantly by Yu Sui pulling him tight into his embrace. The kiss that followed was fierce and torrential. A pair of low, amused chuckles spilled past Yu Sui’s lips, instantly stoking the flames of Yu Baihua’s desire.
Taking the initiative, Yu Baihua surged forward to capture Yu Sui’s lips, yet finding the angle somewhat unsatisfying, he discontentedly caught hold of Yu Sui’s immaculately fastened collar, pulling him closer infinitely closer. Yu Baihua’s lips parted under Yu Sui’s indulgent invitation, allowing himself to be drawn into a deep, inescapable kiss that left no room for retreat.
The strands of Yu Sui’s cascading hair brushed against Yu Baihua’s skin, sending tickling shivers across his flesh. In retaliation, Yu Baihua playfully nipped at Yu Sui’s shoulder before offering a penitent, feather-light kiss in apology.
When Yu Sui finally drew back this time, he rubbed the side of his neck with a playful, complaining drawl: “Young Master, why on earth do you still have a habit of biting people?”
Half-concealed beneath his dark locks were the red marks kissed into his skin by Yu Baihua, while Yu Baihua sprawled across the bed labored to lift his eyelids and cast a look in his direction, murmuring: “Calling out the wrong thief first…”
Having been kissed to the point of utter exhaustion, his eyes barely able to stay open, his gaze swimming with a shimmering veil of moisture…
Just the kisses and the introductory foreplay had already reduced him to this state… Clutching his face in absolute humiliation, Yu Baihua dared not imagine what sort of treatment Yu Sui intended to subject him to next.
Evidently, the night promised to stretch on indefinitely. Fixing an amused, meaningful gaze upon the man completely melted in his hands, Yu Sui curved the corners of his eyes.
This fellow must surely have been a nine-tailed fox in his past life… Yu Baihua thought to himself with absolute certainty, before eagerly reaching out to stroke Yu Sui’s striking face.
Tilting his head, Yu Sui pressed a tender kiss to his palm, then gathered him securely into his arms for a long, slow session of sweet, lingering intimacy.
The ambient temperature continued its steady climb, accompanied by the wet, slapping echoes whispering against the silence of the room. With unhurried patience, Yu Sui delivered the ultimate pinnacle of pleasure to Yu Baihua, interspersing every wave with words of gentle, doting praise.
Weeping softly yet eagerly lifting his head to demand further kisses, Yu Baihua acted as though that was the sole manner in which he could be satiated. Naturally, Yu Sui proved more than happy to indulge him, their bodies weaving together amidst an ocean of tenderness and unshakeable security.
Within the hazy, mist-veiled glow of nightfall lay an endless expanse of lingering ambiguity and absolute peace.