Fu Yu’s robe was warm draped over his shoulders, and Ruan Luo’s body heat quickly returned.
Ruan Luo looked up and stared at Fu Yu for a long moment before he could distinguish reality from hallucination.
Then, Ruan Luo’s attention was drawn to Fu Yu’s hands, which hung at his sides.
After draping the robe over Ruan Luo, those hands had quickly withdrawn. But Ruan Luo remembered clearly that it was those long, strong hands that had pulled him out of the cold hallucination.
Yet they dared not linger on his shoulders for a second longer.
Ruan Luo habitually bit his lower lip. “Okay.”
Fu Yu let Ruan Luo walk ahead of him, watching him from behind as they went upstairs together.
Butler Ji was standing by the door, waiting. He had clearly been relieved when Fu Yu brought Ruan Luo back after hearing his report that “Mr. Ruan was acting strangely in the garden.”
Once Fu Yu led Ruan Luo upstairs, Butler Ji could finally go rest in the servants’ quarters behind the villa after waiting there until eleven o’clock at night.
But as Fu Yu passed him, he glanced at the butler and said softly, while Ruan Luo wasn’t paying attention, “Wait for me in the study in two hours.”
Butler Ji nodded.
Ruan Luo followed Fu Yu up to the third floor. When they reached Fu Yu’s door, he hesitated, then reached out to hand the cat back to him.
Fu Yu glanced at the new scratches on Ruan Luo’s hand and asked casually, “Don’t want to hold it anymore?”
Ruan Luo nodded, though he didn’t mean it.
Seeing that Ruan Luo was simply trying not to disturb him, Fu Yu opened the door and gestured for him to come in. “I won’t be going to bed so early tonight,” he said softly. “You can play with it for a while longer. You can leave my bedroom after I’ve taken a shower. How does that sound?”
Ruan Luo stroked the kitten’s fur and nodded quickly. “Okay.”
Fu Yu gave him a faint smile. “I was out for a bit earlier, and my jacket smells like alcohol. I had no choice but to give it to you in the garden. You can take it off now and change into a fresh one.”
Ruan Luo gripped the lapels of the jacket and shook his head.
Fu Yu turned to enter the bathroom. As he closed the door, he paused and called out, “Ruan Luo.”
Ruan Luo looked up, meeting Fu Yu’s gaze from three meters away.
Fu Yu’s voice was low. “Stay in my bedroom. Don’t go anywhere else while you wait for me to come out. All right?”
Ruan Luo wondered if it was because he had just endured a hallucination of utter helplessness—one as dark as a bottomless pit and as bone-chilling as ice.
Ruan Luo was now acutely sensitive to anything that could offer him warmth, clinging to it with a near-insatiable longing.
Fu Yu had asked him “Okay?” twice in a row, his voice tender. Though he was clearly looking out for him, he had still given him the respect and the right to choose.
Ruan Luo felt dizzy from those three words. He unconsciously scratched the cat, murmuring softly, “Okay~”
Fu Yu smiled faintly, his voice deep as he said, “Good boy.”
Even after Fu Yu had closed the bathroom door, Ruan Luo remained rooted to the spot, still holding the cat and staring blankly.
It wasn’t until the cat jumped down to the floor that Ruan Luo realized his ears were burning hot. He didn’t know why.
And, perhaps it was just his imagination, but he thought he smelled a hint of white tea.
Ruan Luo anxiously touched the scent-blocking patch on the gland at the side of his neck. It was stuck on tight; his pheromones shouldn’t have been able to leak out.
He immediately felt relieved.
But in those few moments of distraction, the kitten started getting mischievous again, leaping and bouncing around Fu Yu’s bedroom.
It managed to scratch open the push-button drawer at the very bottom of Fu Yu’s nightstand.
The kitten rolled inside and knocked a box out of the drawer, sending it tumbling to the floor.
Ruan Luo snapped out of his daze, his heart leaping into his throat in terror.
He knew Fu Yu’s belongings were all very valuable, and anything kept in the bedside table was bound to be precious. He hoped nothing had broken.
Ruan Luo quickly crouched down to pick them up.
He discovered that what had rolled onto the floor were actually seven thick, long syringes.
He hadn’t intended to snoop, but the five large characters printed clearly on the syringes caught his eye immediately.
Special Grade Inhibitor.
Beneath those five words was a line of smaller text.
Top-tier Custom, Alpha Exclusive.
Ruan Luo’s heart tightened. He hastily placed the fallen syringes back into their boxed set.
Then, his throat bobbed as he turned the box over. On its side, he found the usage instructions and precautions.
Ruan Luo’s eyes fell on several bolded words.
Side Effects: During use, severe palpitations and shortness of breath, extreme irritability and anger, varying degrees of mental lethargy, and loss of appetite will occur. Long-term use will cause the mental agitation index during the Alpha’s rut to multiply, intensifying the torment. Use with caution.
Ruan Luo gripped the box so hard his knuckles turned white.
Seeing these syringes, he suddenly felt utterly loathsome.
He was the uninvited guest in this house, yet he was the one forcing its owner to endure such restrictions.
How had Fu Yu ever mistreated him? What was his body being so dramatic about, and for how much longer?
Ruan Luo bit his lower lip hard, thinking resentfully, Humans use consciousness and reason to control their bodies. Only lower animals are enslaved by instinct.
He closed his eyes. I refuse to be a slave driven by instinct.
Fu Yu could inject himself with inhibitors for my sake. I can fight my body’s enslavement for his.
The moment the sound of the shower stopped, Ruan Luo hurriedly turned the box around and fumbled to place it back in the bottom drawer.
He stood up, clutching the cat, and waited outside Fu Yu’s bathroom door, his posture stiff and perfectly straight.
It was as if this could somehow hide the guilt of having just rummaged through someone else’s drawer.
Inside the bathroom, Fu Yu was drying himself with a towel, completely oblivious to what was happening outside.
He had actually preferred to shower after Ruan Luo fell asleep, but he’d just had a few drinks with that drunkard Ji Chenxi. He was afraid the strong smell of alcohol on his body would irritate Ruan Luo.
He cherished Ruan Luo more than the eggshell-thin porcelain in his study, treating him as something far more fragile.
When Fu Yu emerged from the bathroom, he was still drying his hair. He pulled open the door and looked down to see Ruan Luo standing there, clutching the cat as if he were being punished.
His posture was so stiffly straight, it reminded Fu Yu of a coffin lid.
Fu Yu found it amusing, yet the boy’s obedience also made his heart ache.
He tightened the belt of his bathrobe and asked softly, “Standing at attention, are we?”
Ruan Luo shook his head. Still holding the cat, he tilted his head up and suddenly called Fu Yu’s name.
“Fu Yu.”
Fu Yu paused.
He lowered his gaze, studying Ruan Luo’s expression. He saw a fierce, uncompromising resolve on the boy’s face, as if he had just emerged from a long internal struggle and finally made a decision.
“I’m here,” Fu Yu replied quickly. “What do you want to tell me?”
Ruan Luo tilted his head slightly. “You’ve held me many times. I know. When I was unconscious… when I was asleep.”
Fu Yu froze for a moment. “I’m sorry.”
Just as Fu Yu was carefully choosing his words, ready to promise Ruan Luo any compensation he desired, he saw Ruan Luo’s eyes shimmering with tears, yet he still stared back defiantly.
Ruan Luo released his bitten lower lip and asked softly, “Then… can you hold me again? While I’m awake.”
Fu Yu’s breath hitched. He dared not make a single unnecessary movement.
Then he watched as Ruan Luo took a step forward, cradling the cat in one arm. From the sleeve of his coat, he extended a slender, pale hand, gently tugging at Fu Yu’s bathrobe. “And… I want to smell your pheromones. May I?” he pleaded in a small voice.
Fu Yu lowered his head, his gaze darkening as he stared at Ruan Luo. His Adam’s apple bobbed, but no words escaped his lips. “…”
A hint of grievance crossed Ruan Luo’s face. The fingers clutching the bathrobe tightened, the small tug of force transmitted through the fabric.
He looked up at Fu Yu with stubborn resolve. “Fu Yu, may I?”