Sang Suiyu’s head was buzzing.
At this point, whenever he heard Tan Chen say such things, his eyes would go dark. He simply couldn’t believe his ears.
What did he mean by saying they weren’t acting intimate enough? If they had only been holding hands or hugging each other, fine—that level of interaction could indeed easily be passed off as just being good friends.
But they had kissed right in front of his parents! That was kissing! Even if the first half was mostly a fake show, from his parents’ perspective, it was still a kiss!
Fortunately, with what little sanity he had left, Sang Suiyu knew this statement was still merely Tan Chen’s speculation for now. He couldn’t help asking, “So what exactly did your parents say?”
“They called me over,” Tan Chen’s eyes flickered, “and pointed right at me, saying there’s definitely something wrong with our relationship.”
Tan Chen wasn’t really lying when he said this.
Just moments ago, when he followed his parents into the study, the two of them had glared at him with furious eyes, demanding to know what was really going on between him and Sang Suiyu.
If Sang Suiyu had been there to hear that question, he would have immediately been on high alert, thinking they still couldn’t accept Tan Chen liking a boy and couldn’t understand how things had escalated to this point.
However, Tan Chen knew that their willingness to accept a male partner for their son was flexible—as long as that person was Sang Suiyu, there would be no problem at all. They might even be overjoyed.
The reason they had been so furious these past few days was, without a doubt, because everything had happened far too suddenly, and he hadn’t explained the full context to them.
For so many years, he and Sang Suiyu had been inseparable friends. How had they suddenly turned into a couple overnight? Had something unspeakable happened between them? Had he used underhanded tactics?
Or rather, was Sang Suiyu truly doing this willingly? Could it be that he didn’t actually like him, but found it impossible to refuse because of their long-standing friendship? They were desperate to know the full picture.
Yet, as the saying goes: Tan Chen’s own feelings—when he wanted to date and who he wanted to date—were his own business. Why should he have to report every single detail to them?
Faced with his parents’ interrogation, Tan Chen’s rebellious streak flared up again. No matter how enraged they grew, he responded with nothing but sarcasm and cold mockery, letting not a single useful word escape his mouth.
In the end, he had even threatened them: “You can blow your top all you want in front of me, but you are absolutely not allowed to make a scene in front of Yuyu.”
His parents had stood up straight on the spot, staring at him in utter disbelief.
Well, of course! What on earth did Tan Chen take them for? No matter what, how could they ever make things difficult for Yuyu?!
In the end, the argument ended with both parents nearly bursting a vein from anger. Yet Tan Chen cared only about Sang Suiyu waiting for him in the living room, unwilling to waste another second on them.
He had walked straight out and gone downstairs. Seeing the back of Sang Suiyu sitting alone on the sofa, countless scenes suddenly surfaced and overlapped in his mind.
Ever since they were kids, Sang Suiyu had waited for him like this countless times. And no matter what kind of inner torment Tan Chen was enduring, he could always see those bright, clear eyes looking back at him, forever full of patience and grace.
And now…
“I asked them where they thought the problem was, but they wouldn’t say. They just angrily blamed me.”
Tan Chen omitted a few details, pulling out only the most important parts to state his case.
After speaking, he eagerly concluded, “That’s why I think—could it be that our performance wasn’t convincing enough, and they picked up on some flaw?”
Sang Suiyu shuddered in disbelief. “What flaw? A flaw showing that we aren’t a real couple? But we already kissed right in front of them!”
Tan Chen looked as if he had just been struck by a sudden revelation: “Could it be that they could tell we were actually fake-kissing?”
“But that last time wasn’t fake!” Sang Suiyu found the situation entirely absurd. “We actually kissed for real!”
The moment the words left his mouth, a sudden silence fell over the room.
Sang Suiyu regretted it immediately. His eyelashes trembled rapidly as he turned his head away in a rare act of evasion, exposing his delicate, snow-white neck.
Tan Chen’s pupils contracted slightly. He hadn’t expected Sang Suiyu to be the first to bring this up. In an instant, every sensory detail from that moment resurfaced with vivid, crystal-clear precision.
“Distantly, Tan Chen’s low voice sounded: “But wasn’t it only that last time?”
Sang Suiyu: ?
Seeing Sang Suiyu staring at him as if he were a ghost, Tan Chen quickly reined in his emotions. “What I mean is, at that kind of frequency, it might not be enough to convince them.”
“If it only happened once, they might be even more inclined to think it was just an act put on for them.”
By the time they stepped out of the villa, the sky had turned pitch-black.
Feeling the night wind against his face, Sang Suiyu finally felt the heat and chaos in his mind begin to dissipate slightly.
He was finally able to evaluate Tan Chen’s logic more rationally, and he had to admit it did make a fair bit of sense.
Originally, using such an intimate act to deliver a heavy shock to his parents was intended to push them to their limit until they had no choice but to give in. However, it was indeed easy to backfire.
The most obvious flaw was that just a short while ago, Tan Chen had been arguing with them about not being allowed to bring random girls home, only to turn around shortly after and drag a boy home, acting like it was a matter of life and death.
Tan Chen’s parents were smart, and having dealt with Tan Chen’s rebellion for years, once they calmed down, it would be easy for them to guess that this might just be a tactic Tan Chen was using to fight them for his own relationship freedom.
On top of that, he and Tan Chen had inherent disadvantages when pretending to be a couple. For instance, given their years of friendship, it was difficult to generate genuine romantic tension—neither of them had ever actually been in a real relationship, so they didn’t even know what romantic tension was supposed to look like.
So, do we really need to step up the intimacy?
At the very least, we have to make it so those two sharp elders won’t think it looks exaggerated at first glance?
Sang Suiyu couldn’t help glancing at Tan Chen, only to run straight into his calm, deep gaze—as if Tan Chen had been watching him the entire time.
When their eyes met, the sharp, dark gloom in Tan Chen’s expression dissolved completely. Acting as if he had received some implicit call, he immediately leaned close. “Do you need me to do something, Yuyu?”
Even though it was the usual posture of his chest pressed against Sang Suiyu’s back, Sang Suiyu couldn’t explain why a strange, subtle feeling welled up inside him. Unable to wrap his head around it, he ultimately shook his head.
“Let’s talk about it after we get back.”
Back in the bedroom at home, Sang Suiyu’s very first words were: “Kissing for real today was my mistake.”
He immediately followed up with: “This absolutely cannot happen again.”
After he spoke, the room fell dead silent. He waited a long time without getting a single reply from Tan Chen.
Tan Chen sat on the edge of the bed looking at him, the dark currents in his pupils shifting with his breathing, making his emotions impossible to decipher.
Not until Sang Suiyu probed his face intently, demanding a response, did he ask: “So we won’t kiss anymore in the future?”
“I didn’t say we won’t kiss,” Sang Suiyu frowned slightly. “I just feel it’s not right. We’re only pretending to be a couple—how could we actually kiss for real?”
“So I think we still need to keep practicing.” Without waiting for Tan Chen’s response this time, Sang Suiyu directly stated his decision: “It’s best if we practice until we don’t make mistakes like this anymore.”
“Besides, the method we’re practicing right now is a bit too limited. It requires cupping the face every single time. We need to think of other positions so we can adapt on the fly if another unexpected situation comes up.”
That’s good then.
The gloom from earlier seemed to be instantly appeased. There was even a sense of suppressed energy finally getting permission to unleash. Tan Chen suddenly stood up.
He leaned forward and lowered his head, ready to put Sang Suiyu’s words into practice right away. The shadow covering him caught Sang Suiyu off guard, making his heart leap into his throat.
Almost out of pure reflex, he placed a hand over Tan Chen’s face, unable to hold back his shock once more: “Why are you doing this again?!”
“Didn’t you say we need to practice?” Tan Chen pressed against him almost forcefully.
Sang Suiyu widened his eyes, completely unable to fathom how he could be so eager. “I didn’t mean right now!”
“Then when do you plan on practicing?” Tan Chen mirrored his expression, looking equally astonished and confused. “If we don’t practice now, what if we get called over to meet them tomorrow and have to perform?”
The logic held up, but the heat radiating from Tan Chen being so close made Sang Suiyu’s scalp tingle slightly.
The accidental kiss with Tan Chen earlier today had left far too deep an impression on his senses. Now, whenever Tan Chen got close to him, those memories would involuntarily flood his mind.
He didn’t even know how to explain it to Tan Chen. The indescribable strangeness and quiver made him realize, for the very first time, that there were actually moments when he couldn’t share the same feelings as Tan Chen.
But could he really keep it from Tan Chen? Sang Suiyu intuitively felt he couldn’t do that. After a moment of hesitation, he shared his feelings with Tan Chen anyway.
“Can you understand?” Sang Suiyu tested the waters softly. “I’m having a hard time snapping out of it.”
“I understand,” Tan Chen nodded. “Because we’ve never actually kissed before, even though it wasn’t intentional, you still feel weird about it.”
Before Sang Suiyu could fully breathe a sigh of relief, Tan Chen continued: “Then the problem might be with that specific position. You got kissed in that posture back then, so why don’t we just switch to a different position?”
? Sang Suiyu was thoroughly swayed by his logic.
Taking advantage of the fact that Sang Suiyu was momentarily speechlessly stunned, Tan Chen immediately pulled out those fake-kissing techniques they had previously discarded, insisting on trying them out with him again.
What ultimately convinced Sang Suiyu was Tan Chen’s “lack of time” theory. It was true that his parents were very unstable right now, and there was no telling if they might demand another meeting tomorrow.
Thus, they could only begin practicing with alternative methods. This time, to make sure they could react faster in more urgent scenarios, they got rid of the inconvenient double-handed face-cupping altogether.
The movement was changed: Tan Chen would hold the back of his head and tilt his head down as if leaning in for a kiss. Since Tan Chen’s build was much larger and taller than his, as long as Tan Chen blocked the view with his body, no one would be able to tell that his face actually stopped right before touching.
The reason they had discarded this technique previously was simply because the difficulty level was too high. If either of them failed to control their momentum, they would end up kissing for real.
But now, there was no choice. Sang Suiyu held his breath and focused entirely on practicing. Every time Tan Chen grabbed the back of his head and leaned down to kiss him, he would try his best to stop right where their noses touched.
As if!
It was impossible to stop!
Tan Chen’s natural strength was immense, and his movement in grabbing the back of his head was swift and urgent. Every single time, it gave Sang Suiyu the illusion that Tan Chen was going to kiss him intensely.
Before Sang Suiyu could even react, he would feel the wet, soft contact on his lips—heavy, scalding, and intensely brimming with a desire to bite into him.
“Hold on!” Sang Suiyu couldn’t take it anymore and finally stopped Tan Chen when he leaned down yet again.
Enduring the discomfort on his lips, he said in utter disbelief, “Can you ease up a bit when you grab my head? With you using this much force, it’d be a miracle if we didn’t collide!”
“I’m sorry, Yuyu,” Tan Chen apologized earnestly. “Thinking about having to handle an emergency, I involuntarily used a bit too much strength.”
He promised that he would definitely hold back for the next try.
Five minutes later, however…
Sang Suiyu stared at him in disbelief once more. Touching his nearly swollen lips, he felt the distinct, uncanny sensation of having been repeatedly ravaged.
He began to wonder if a guy with Tan Chen’s naturally tall, powerful build simply operated on a completely different wavelength from weaker people. Was there nothing inside his body except boundless energy and urges desperately seeking an outlet?
Even though he had mentally prepared himself for plenty of blunders given the high difficulty of the move, it shouldn’t be this aggressive after countless tries, right?!
Then came Tan Chen’s voice, even lower and filled with pitiful pleading: “Give me one more chance, Yuyu.”
“This time, I really know how to do it.”
Sang Suiyu: “…”