Lin Haobai almost began to doubt whether the man in the photo was really himself. He looked so handsome, so tall and imposing. Those legs, those shoulders, that back, one could say he was two meters tall and it would still seem believable.
Really?
He looked at his manager, Brother Wang, with a puzzled expression and said nothing.
Wang You understood him perfectly and immediately shook his head. Then he asked what exactly had happened. Lately, he felt that things around Xiao Bai hadn’t been very peaceful.
“Sigh…” Rubbing his head, Lin Haobai said in a low voice, “Brother Wang, it’s actually very simple. That day I just caught a ride back with a friend.”
Wang You: What kind of friend plays with your earlobe?
Lin Haobai instantly caught the suggestive look in Brother Wang’s eyes. “Brother Wang, put away that 180-word little essay in your head. We both drank a bit that day, we just accidentally brushed against each other.”
After saying that, he quickly scrolled through all the photos circulating online. He really couldn’t find anything particularly special. If it were the work of a competitor, they wouldn’t have released only a few beautiful shots of him posing with a luxury car. Besides, it seemed that it was actually one of his fans who had first noticed that finger.
What kind of mess was this!
“So do you want to issue a statement to clarify things?” Wang You had already switched into work mode, mentally sifting through ideas for a well-written PR piece.
“No need. This is a private matter. I’ll talk to my friend and then post a statement myself.”
After thinking it over for a moment, Lin Haobai made the decision. “Oh, right. I’m taking this show. But some of the specific segments need to be changed. After the sponsor and the director finish discussing it, send me the revised proposal so I can take a look.”
As he was seeing his manager out, he happened to spot that familiar car parked in front of his house.
“Well then, the person involved is here. Brother Wang, don’t rush off. Let’s discuss it together!”
As he spoke, Lin Haobai walked up to the strikingly handsome man who had just stepped out of the car, smiling boldly.
“Why are you off work so early? And you even came all the way here?”
Ren Tianxing naturally slung an arm over Lin Haobai’s shoulder, wearing the expression of a close buddy. If one ignored his impeccably tailored dark suit, the two of them looked like college students who had just gotten out of class and were heading to the cafeteria for a meal.
Watching the suddenly appeared man, so handsome he looked almost unreal—Wang You’s heart sank.
As Lin Haobai walked past him and noticed his expression was off, he couldn’t help but laugh. “Brother Wang, don’t pull such a long face. Be careful or you won’t find yourself a wife in the future, haha…”
Wang You saw that the crease between Lin Haobai’s brows had already disappeared the moment that man showed up, and his assessment of this person deepened another layer.
The group returned to the villa’s living room together. Before they even sat down, Wang You bluntly asked, “Xiao Bai, this gentleman is…?”
Lin Haobai watched his good buddy lower his head slightly to meet his manager’s gaze and said with a smile, “The advertisement I took on last time was for his company. He was there during the shoot. You happened to have something to do that day and didn’t come. Let me introduce you.”
With Lin Haobai’s introduction, the two men, who had heard of each other but never met, each extended a hand and shook.
Not sure why the two had suddenly started competing with each other, Lin Haobai poured Ren Tianxing a glass of water, then picked up the tablet from the side and handed it to him.
“Take a look…”
Ren Tianxing had come precisely because of this matter.
There were certain things he couldn’t personally intervene in right now, but he still had to protect this little sweetheart who treated him as a good brother.
“I already know about it. What are you planning to do?”
Seeing this, Lin Haobai simply laid out his plan.
After all, no matter how you put it, it was just a very minor private matter.
“If you respond in your personal capacity, will people keep hounding you over it?” Ren Tianxing said, looking guilty as he patted Lin Haobai on the shoulder. “It’s my fault. I drank too much that day and actually mistook your earlobe for my favorite chocolate ball.”
At the mention of what had happened in the car that day, Lin Haobai’s face turned awkward.
After dinner that day, the two of them had some drinks. Nothing like losing control after drinking or making a drunken scene happened. It was just that they were sitting together in the same car. Perhaps the enclosed space intensified the effects of the alcohol; in his muddled state, he gradually fell asleep.
When he felt a sudden warmth on his earlobe and opened his eyes, he became aware of the weight on his shoulder and the damp sensation coming from that extremely sensitive spot.
At that moment, he saw Ren Tianxing leaning against him with hazy eyes. That beautiful face was nearly buried in the crook of his shoulder. Worst of all, the other man had actually taken his earlobe into his mouth and refused to let go. When he tried to push him away slightly, not only did he not release him, he even wickedly flicked his agile tongue against it.
Thinking of how flustered he had been that day, and of his own embarrassingly uncontrollable reaction, he wished he could dig a hole on the spot and bury himself.
It was all the alcohol’s fault!
Fortunately, not long after, the car pulled up in front of his house. The familiar gates of the villa made him let out a sigh of relief.
At the time, he didn’t bother being polite to Ren Tianxing. He shoved him away with force, but just as he swung one leg out of the car, the other man’s fingers caught his still-reddened earlobe.
Later, he had shamelessly asked Ren Tianxing about it. That was when he learned that the other man had also been tipsy at the time. In his hazy state, he had mistaken Lin Haobai’s earlobe for his favorite chocolate. In the end, instead of tasting sweetness, he got a mouthful of orange flavor.
The whole thing sounded very innocent, very ordinary, very normal. But Lin Haobai felt that if he explained it just like that, many people’s minds would automatically spin off into little essays of their own.
“I’ll just say I caught a ride in a friend’s car. As for the hand, since no one asked, I won’t mention it. Anyway, it’s nothing serious.”
Soon, a short reply appeared on Lin Haobai’s personal account:
【Caught a ride in a luxury car, hehe JPG.】
Under the brief response was a photo of him standing beside Ren Tianxing’s car. He had cleverly obscured the license plate while still making it clear that it was the same luxury car shown in the photos circulating online.
As soon as he posted, fans immediately began responding.
【Brother Bai, that car is seriously fancy. We all thought you struck it rich.】
【Told you the car wasn’t Brother Bai’s. There’s no way he’d splurge on something that expensive.】
【Hehe, Brother Bai, your friend is my friend. By rounding up, when can I hitch a ride too?】
…
Most of the comments were good-natured teasing. After all, he was famously frugal in the industry.
However, beneath the cute fan comments, a small group of haters were still stirring things up, trying to drag the focus back to that fair hand. Some were even maliciously speculating whether he had been kept by a wealthy older woman.
Lin Haobai turned to look at the man beside him, who kept leaning in to peek at his phone screen. “Tianxing, someone actually said you’re a rich lady.”
As if not noticing the slight stiffness in Ren Tianxing’s body at those words, Lin Haobai continued in a tone of mock surprise, “Hey, here’s one saying I’m being kept by you, this rich lady…”
He had to admit, he was impressed by some of the haters’ rhetoric. Their imaginations could be astonishing. In the end, some even dared to claim that he was an illegitimate child of a wealthy family, born after his mother ran away while pregnant.
They treated the entire internet as a lawless land, freely fantasizing about what had happened in that photo and guessing who else had been sitting in the car at the time.
The owner of the car: Really want to keep Xiao Bai.
Author’s Note:
Ren Tianxing sprawls over Lin Haobai and refuses to let go: “Xiao Bai, let me be kept.”
Lin Haobai tries hard to shove away the head nibbling at his neck: “Get lost…”