The moon hung high in the sky, and under the embellishment of neon lights, the roads seemed armored in a layer of gold, allowing vehicles to traverse and vanish within them.
A silver-gray Bentley wove through the traffic. The atmosphere inside the car was icy and stiff; throughout the journey, the two passengers maintained a tacit silence, each harboring unspeakable secrets in their hearts.
Upon returning home, Yin Chen went straight to the study. Ye Linghan knew he still had matters to handle.
The apartment was unlike a villa; the floor plan was small, and the distance from the study to the bedroom was only a few steps. In such proximity—and given their delicate relationship—Ye Linghan felt entirely ill at ease.
The dependence and expectations he once held for Yin Chen had vanished without a trace.
An inexplicable irritability rose from the depths of his heart, followed by an unprovoked ache in his chest.
He had never been in love, but he understood well enough that this was likely the feeling of a breakup. Yet, since the two of them had never truly begun, how could it be called an ending?
Ye Linghan ran his fingers through his hair in frustration and headed into the bathroom for a quick cold shower. The abrasions on his body from the fall had been healed by Yin Chen, but some bruises from the impact hadn’t been visible at the time; with the passing of hours, they were now beginning to surface as dark blotches.
However, he couldn’t be bothered to care. Everyone has their bumps and bruises. Ye Linghan casually dried his damp hair and collapsed headfirst onto the bed.
His body relaxed naturally as he fell straight onto the mattress. The impact of the contact felt as if it pierced through his soul—he loved this sensation because it was incredibly stress-relieving.
“Mmh…” At the moment of release, Ye Linghan couldn’t help but let out a muffled groan. He hadn’t felt this way in a long time. After graduation, he had spent a long period idling at home; it was rare to have a day as busy and fulfilling as today.
The quilt was soft and fluffy, and Ye Linghan’s entire body sank into it. He lay prone with his head resting on his arms. His clothes had been pulled upward by the movement, revealing a glimpse of his narrow waist, adding a touch of unintended sensuality.
Ye Linghan was the type who looked thin in clothes but possessed lean, powerful muscle underneath—a “thin-plate” physique that wasn’t bulky, but rather elegant.
He originally intended to recall the details of the case, but once he made intimate contact with the bed, his eyelids grew increasingly heavy. It wasn’t long before he drifted off.
Once again, he dreamed. It was the same long black corridor. The light behind him grew dimmer and dimmer. He seemed to see the face of the woman who had been constantly appearing in his dreams.
A white, transparent spirit appeared before him. Ye Linghan’s eyes widened in astonishment.
He subconsciously reached up to touch his own face, then looked back at the person before him; their features bore a striking resemblance.
“Who… who are you?” Ye Linghan lost his composure, though he tried his best to ask calmly.
The woman took a step forward, but her feet didn’t touch the ground; she was practically floating. Her gaze, as it turned toward Ye Linghan, was like a pool of spring water. Her lips curved slightly into a beaming smile.
She raised her hand, wanting to touch Ye Linghan’s face, but he took a half-step back to avoid her.
Because he didn’t know who she was and couldn’t be sure if she was good or bad, he maintained a high level of vigilance even in his dream.
A look of disappointment flickered across the woman’s face. Her fingers froze in mid-air. She didn’t force it, only lowering her hand with a tremble, looking somewhat lost. She spoke slowly, her voice choked with emotion, “Little Linghan, I am…”
Smash—
The sharp sound of glass shattering echoed through the silent room.
The latter half of the woman’s sentence was swallowed by the lingering sound of the breakage.
Ye Linghan was startled awake. He snapped his eyes open, his chest heaving as he gasped for air. A sense of emptiness washed over him, as if something had been stripped away. He waited for a full minute before he could sit up.
He got out of bed barefoot. The chill of the floor cleared his muddled, numb mind slightly. Before he could carefully recall the details of the dream, he felt an urge to run out.
He hadn’t turned on the lights. Just as he reached the bedroom door, he saw the bright silver handle turn downward, and the door was pushed open from the outside.
Fearing he would be hit by the door, Ye Linghan instinctively jumped back. Before he could see the person, a strong smell of alcohol filled his nostrils. Then, Yin Chen’s swaying body appeared before him.
Has he been drinking? Why did he drink so much?
There was no time for thought. Seeing that Yin Chen had no door to support him and was teetering unsteadily, Ye Linghan reached out his arms to catch him, fearing he would fall.
Yin Chen took the opportunity to fall into Ye Linghan’s embrace.
The sheer force of the impact nearly knocked Ye Linghan over; he staggered, barely managing to hold the man up.
I never noticed it before, but why is this guy so heavy?
Due to the height difference, it was strenuous for Ye Linghan to support him, especially since Yin Chen was dead weight, pressing all his strength onto Ye Linghan.
“Hey… Young Master, wake up!”
Ye Linghan unceremoniously patted Yin Chen’s back, trying to snap him out of it.
Things had been unpleasant in the car earlier, and the thorn in Ye Linghan’s heart had not yet dissolved. He had intended to restrain his heart and avoid excessive intimacy with Yin Chen outside of the full moon nights to keep his “Taoist heart” pure.
But his resolve hadn’t even lasted half a day before it was broken. Added to that was the change in his dream—just as he was one step away from grasping the truth, he had been woken up by the noise Yin Chen made. Consequently, he was feeling quite irritable.
Yin Chen murmured, his tone slurred and clingy, “Don’t… don’t ignore me…”
Whether intentional or not, he buried his face in Ye Linghan’s shoulder, his hands tightly encircling his waist.
Ye Linghan frowned. “What did you say?”
He tried to pull Yin Chen away, but after several failed attempts, he gave up in resignation.
Perhaps sensing that Ye Linghan’s tone was harsh, Yin Chen tightened his grip even further, as if he wanted to meld the other man into his own body and claim him entirely.
“Don’t… don’t…”
“Don’t what? You’re… you’re hurting me!”
Ye Linghan’s temper finally flared, his tone more impatient than before.
Knowing there was no possibility of being together, yet being deeply mired and unable to extricate himself; finally resolving to escape, yet being unable to resist the temptation to stay—this conflicted state was like being fried in oil, a clashing of ice and fire.
If only there weren’t such a huge gap between us, Ye Linghan often thought. One was a favored son of heaven, while the other was merely an orphan picked up from an orphanage. Some worlds were destined never to merge.
Hearing Ye Linghan’s shout, Yin Chen seemed to regain a sliver of consciousness. His grip loosened slightly, but his hands remained on Ye Linghan’s waist. He moved back, his eyes hazy as they met Ye Linghan’s.
The two of them stared at each other for a long moment. Just as Ye Linghan’s mind began to wander, his feet suddenly left the ground. He felt a sense of weightlessness, and by the time he reacted, he was already being carried in Yin Chen’s arms.
“What are you doing?” Although Ye Linghan questioned him, he honestly hugged Yin Chen tight, fearing the drunk man would lose his balance and drop him.
Is he… acting out because he’s drunk?
When other people drank too much, they either stayed silent or threw a tantrum. Why did the style suddenly shift to this when it came to him?
Yin Chen carried him to the bedside and gently placed him on the bed.
The moment his body touched the mattress, Ye Linghan was like a fish released back into water; he scrambled backward, wanting to get away from this precarious situation.
However, the size of the bed was limited; there was nowhere to run.
Yin Chen leaned down and unceremoniously reached out to grab Ye Linghan’s slender ankle, easily dragging him back. He then hooked a leg between Ye Linghan’s thighs and pressed down over him.
With his legs forced apart by Yin Chen’s position, Ye Linghan couldn’t close them. This wide-open posture felt humiliating to him, as it left his most vulnerable areas exposed.
Two buttons at the bottom of his pajamas had come undone at some point, revealing snowy-white skin. He hurriedly tried to straighten them.
Seeing this scene, Yin Chen froze for a second, and the tightly wound string in his heart snapped completely.
He pinned Ye Linghan’s wrists firmly above his head. In his drunken state, Yin Chen’s desire consumed his reason like a raging fire.
Ye Linghan felt warm breath against the side of his neck; his whole body felt as if insects were crawling over it, every nerve trembling uncontrollably.
Yin Chen accurately found the small red mole on Ye Linghan’s earlobe. That was his most sensitive spot. Yin Chen had accidentally triggered this “switch” before and had remembered it; he hadn’t expected it to come in handy so soon.
“Yin Chen! What are you doing? You’re drunk!” Ye Linghan was mortified and angry, struggling desperately to break free.
In an instant, emotions of anger, shame, panic, and a sense of lowliness filled his brain. The last swaying nerve finally snapped.
But Yin Chen did not let go. He repeatedly muttered in Ye Linghan’s ear: “I beg of you… don’t leave me.”
The bedsheets were ruffled into a mess by Ye Linghan’s twisting, and his wrists were red and aching from being held.
He didn’t know where Yin Chen got such strength; even while drunk, he didn’t relax his grip in the slightest.
For a moment, he even doubted if Yin Chen was actually drunk—was this man actually conscious?
In a state of extreme panic, any thought is magnified. Ye Linghan even wondered if, after their conversation in the car, Yin Chen had gone to confess to his beloved and been rejected, and was now using him as an outlet for his frustration.
At that thought, Ye Linghan found a sudden surge of strength. He yanked his hand free, and a crisp slap landed on Yin Chen’s handsome, flawless face.
Slap—
In an instant, the sound of heavy breathing and the rustle of clothes stopped. The surrounding air seemed to freeze. Yin Chen appeared to be slapped back to his senses. His fingers trembled as he released his hold on Ye Linghan. He sat up, staring blankly at the mess before him.
Ye Linghan was also at a loss regarding his own actions. He gasped for air, his chest heaving violently, having not yet recovered from the exhaustion of his fierce struggle.
“I…”
Ye Linghan’s Adam’s apple bobbed. His voice was hoarse, and he didn’t know how to explain.
He wanted to apologize, but felt he wasn’t in the wrong. Yet if he didn’t apologize, considering Yin Chen’s high status, he might have a difficult time in the future.
Just as his mind was in a painful struggle, Yin Chen moved away from him.
Ye Linghan remained propped up on his elbows, watching the other man’s back with a lingering fear, regretting his impulsive move.
He’s not going… to get torture devices for a “family punishment,” is he?
The world rumor was that the young master of the Yin family had peculiar hobbies and kept a secret room filled with various torture instruments specifically for disciplining disobedient subordinates.
But one must always bear the consequences of one’s mistakes.
While Ye Linghan stayed frozen in place, his heart thumping in anxiety, he saw Yin Chen return with a medicine box.
The power of that slap hadn’t been small; the man was much more sober now.
Ye Linghan’s gaze remained fixed on the man. Just as he was making wild, fearful guesses, Yin Chen came to the bedside and sat beside him.
He took a jar of medicine from the box and reached out. His fingertips stopped just before touching the bruise on Ye Linghan’s waist. “May I?”
“Ah, y-yes.”
Did he even dare to say no?
Yin Chen seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. His fingertips then gently touched the bone of Ye Linghan’s hip, applying the medicine to the bruised area, as well as the reddened wrists.
“This is medicine from the Old Patriarch. It’s good for the bones,” Yin Chen said softly, but Ye Linghan heard it all.
“Thank you.” He didn’t dare say more.
“I’m sorry… I lost control just now.” Yin Chen looked down as he packed away the supplies.
Ye Linghan was now thoroughly terrified and quickly replied, “No, no, no… it was my fault.”
Yin Chen didn’t answer. He organized the medicine box and stood up. “I’m going to the guest room. You should rest.”
Watching Yin Chen’s retreating figure, a sense of desolation actually rose in Ye Linghan’s heart.
In the end, it was another sleepless night.