This couldn’t go on any longer.
A subtle sense of vigilance stirred in Sang Suiyu’s heart for no apparent reason.
It wasn’t that he thought Tan Chen would actually do anything bad to him, but rather that ever since he agreed to play the boyfriend role, the sense of losing control had grown increasingly severe.
Even though Tan Chen’s logic seemed sound every single time, there were still certain vague, implicit issues that Sang Suiyu couldn’t truly grasp. He just felt that something somewhere was defying common sense.
Forget it. After being kissed by Tan Chen so many times during practice anyway, he didn’t mind kissing a few more times in front of his parents.
Compared to that first accidental kiss, Sang Suiyu was amazed at how fast his own acceptance level had adapted. Back then, he had carried a heavy weight of guilt, but now he was actually close to getting used to it.
This was a very bad sign, so no matter what, he had to bring this whole affair to a swift end.
Afterward, Sang Suiyu sought out Tan Chen to map out a meticulous plan.
This time, they still needed to invite Tan Chen’s parents for a meal. Their goal was not only to dispel their doubts, but ideally to shock them for real.
Thus, the timing of the kiss was the key point. The two laid out various hypothetical scenarios that might occur, even thoroughly preparing backup plans.
Having reached this stage, Sang Suiyu felt there was no reason for them not to succeed.
During these past few days, a guest happened to arrive at Tan Chen’s parents’ villa.
It was Tan Chen’s younger cousin, Xing Yue. Having just returned from abroad for her summer break, she had arrived for a visit carrying gifts, acting very obedient and polite.
In her memory, her aunt and uncle had always maintained a sharp, resolute image. Especially after witnessing several past showdowns between them and her rebellious cousin, she held them in even greater awe and respect.
Yet after not seeing them for a few months, Xing Yue discovered for some reason that their brows were weighed down with exhaustion, shrouded in a lingering haze of deep concern.
Just what kind of matter could warrant such a strong reaction from them? Xing Yue was genuinely perplexed and couldn’t help asking, “Auntie, Uncle, is there something troubling you?”
Qing Qing paused, suddenly realizing that Xing Yue was actually a great helper. Since Xing Yue was only a few years apart in age from Tan Chen and Sang Suiyu, she would surely understand what those two were up to far better than she herself could.
However, with the words at the tip of her tongue, Qing Qing grew a bit more cautious. “Yueyue… do you know much about relationships between two guys?”
Xing Yue’s heart leaped in sheer horror. She almost thought her secret identity as a hardcore fujoshi [male-male romance fan] had been exposed.
The incident with Tan Chen’s uncle back then was common knowledge among their relatives. Because of that, Qing Qing deeply loathed male-male romance, which meant Xing Yue had never dared to reveal a single trace of her personal hobby in front of her.
What’s going on now? Was my private manga stash discovered? Or was my passionately serialized BL web novel exposed?!
Countless thoughts raced through Xing Yue’s mind, making her entire body tense up. Ultimately, she decided to take the initiative and probe with a racing heart, “Auntie, what specifically do you want to know…?”
“It’s just that asking like this is way too broad, so I don’t even know where to start. Plus… do you genuinely want to know?”
Indeed, after a brief thought, Qing Qing decided to lay out her confusion in full: “I just want to know—if a boy is willing to let another boy kiss him, he must like him to some extent, right?”
Those words hit like a thunderclap out of nowhere, nearly making Xing Yue jump out of her seat.
Although she knew the general context, wasn’t this way too specific?!
The good news was that it didn’t seem like her fujoshi identity had been exposed. The bad news was that this seemed to be happening in real life—who on earth dared to do such a thing right in front of Auntie’s face?!
“Auntie, what… what kind of ‘like’ are you referring to?” Xing Yue stammered. “Could you be a bit more explicit?”
“Mainly because I’m not very sure either,” Qing Qing said with a frown. “The two of them usually get along very well, but it wasn’t until recently that they started exhibiting behaviors like kissing.”
My goodness! Isn’t that pure, unadulterated romantic ambiguity?! Who on earth is so blind to do their flirting right in front of a homophobic aunt instead of keeping it behind closed doors at home?!
Since that was the case, it had to be someone she knew, right? Xing Yue’s mind spun wildly as she began trying to guess who the two involved might be.
Regardless of who it was, she had a duty to defend love! Xing Yue’s sense of mission as a veteran fujoshi flared up, and she began frantically piecing together the answer Qing Qing wanted to hear.
“Auntie, let me first clarify that I really don’t know much about guys dating guys—everything I know comes from what my friends told me.”
“Under normal circumstances, yes, two people really have to like each other to kiss.”
Those words hit the sweet spot for Qing Qing.
Since she couldn’t get a word out of Tan Chen, yet was desperately worried that Sang Suiyu was being bullied or taken advantage of, she had originally been determined to get to the bottom of it no matter what.
However, looking back over the past few days, she had begun to doubt her own suspicions. After all, when she saw Sang Suiyu getting kissed last time, although he seemed slightly resistant, he didn’t seem truly angry.
Could it be that Sang Suiyu actually didn’t mind it? Maybe he just needed time to adjust to transitioning from friends to lovers.
Hearing Xing Yue say this now, the heart that had been hanging in Qing Qing’s throat for so long finally eased a bit. She was finally able to convince herself not to worry too much in the short term.
Until Xing Yue dropped a sudden plot twist: “However, there are exceptions.”
“Didn’t you say their relationship was already extremely close, Auntie? If they’re close enough to share everything, sometimes they might kiss too, right?”
She sincerely and desperately tried to salvage the pure friendship between those two: “After all, friends can be deeply intimate as well.”
Qing Qing: ?
Right after Xing Yue left, Sang Suiyu and Tan Chen arrived at the villa.
Having gone through repeated, thorough planning, they came fully prepared this time, having mapped out even the exact timing of the kiss down to the last detail.
Sang Suiyu forced himself to sweep away any unnecessary emotions, focusing solely on the performance to ensure this operation succeeded without fail.
Who could have known that the moment they stepped inside, things would start going downhill?
First, the sight of him arm-in-arm with Tan Chen was spotted by Qing Qing. Oddly enough, Qing Qing didn’t fly into a rage; instead, she stood frozen on the spot, staring deeply at them as if trying to dissect something.
Sang Suiyu called out “Auntie” as usual, subtly emphasizing his new relationship with Tan Chen in a seemingly casual way, yet Qing Qing still showed no signs of being provoked.
Sang Suiyu: ?
Instinct triggered his alertness. He faintly felt that some unknown piece of information must have caused such a massive shift in Qing Qing’s attitude.
Before he could figure it out, however, as they sat at the dining table eating, he chewed on some food and accidentally bit into the blister inside his mouth.
That blister had been there since his last visit. Due to his heavy stress over the past few days, not only had it shown no signs of healing, but the surrounding tissue had also swollen up—until he bit it open just now.
An unbearable, piercing pain instantly flared up inside his mouth, making his eyelashes tremble violently. Yet bound by the fact that he was still at the dinner table, he forced himself to endure it.
“What’s wrong?” Tan Chen beside him immediately noticed his anomaly.
Sang Suiyu shook his head gently, signaling for him not to look at him.
Right now was a critical moment; the performance wasn’t even finished yet. He would never allow a minor ailment of his own to derail their main objective.
So he simply did his best to stomach the pain, striving to remain calm as he picked up the water glass beside him to rinse his mouth, washing down the faint metallic taste of blood.
Unexpectedly, even rinsing hurt immensely, causing him to lower his brows even further.
“Yuyu,” Tan Chen’s voice sounded again from beside him.
He deliberately waited two seconds. Sure enough, failing to get an answer from Sang Suiyu, he suddenly reached out, gripped his arm firmly, and pulled him up. Ignoring the astonished gazes at the table, he dragged him straight out to the balcony.
Caught off guard, by the time Sang Suiyu reacted, Tan Chen was already standing right in front of him, a heavy shadow pressing down.
“Does your mouth hurt?” Tan Chen frowned and asked in a low voice.
From the moment Sang Suiyu reacted abnormally, he had already noticed it. All the subsequent attempts at concealment had fallen clearly into his eyes.
Tan Chen’s first reaction was almost to suspect that he had bitten his lip for real during practice, causing such a reaction during dinner. But when they arrived today, he had seemed completely fine.
Moreover, Sang Suiyu was in far too much pain. Hearing the question, he couldn’t even answer for a moment, only able to barely knit his brows.
“Let me see.” Tan Chen immediately realized the problem might be inside his mouth, pinching his chin to signal him to open up.
Sure enough, the blister inside had been bitten badly, showing a raw, ulcerated tear. Even though the area was small, the exposed red flesh still looked alarming.
“It’s an ulcer,” Tan Chen explained softly and meticulously. “It got bitten pretty badly, and the blister popped completely. We need to put a patch on it later.”
“There should be some in the house. I’ll go get it for you.”
Without waiting for Sang Suiyu’s reply, he turned and headed for the living room.
Watching him through the glass balcony door, Sang Suiyu clearly saw him rummaging through the first-aid kit in the living room. A second later, his figure flickered, and he reappeared right before his eyes.
Sang Suiyu’s heart pounded wildly. He actually felt a subtle surge of anxiety—he didn’t want to waste time lingering here, but wanted to get back to the dining table to continue their plan.
Yet Tan Chen was bossy beyond reasoning. From the moment he dragged him out here, he had completely taken control of the rhythm. After taking out the medication patch, he signaled him to open his mouth once more.
Having reached this point, no matter how anxious Sang Suiyu felt, he could only let him finish. He tilted his face up slightly and opened his mouth, exposing his entire oral cavity without reservation.
Before Tan Chen could apply the medication patch, however, Sang Suiyu caught sight of movement outside from the corner of his eye.
Qing Qing was looking over in their direction, her expression cautious and worried.
Even though the incident had happened suddenly, after seeing Tan Chen rifle through the medical kit, she had likely realized something was wrong with Sang Suiyu. Unable to help herself, she wanted to come over and check on him.
Almost out of pure reflex, Sang Suiyu realized this was an opportunity not to be missed. Being trapped against Tan Chen like this—wasn’t this the exact intimate scenario they had rehearsed over and over again?
“Tan Chen,” Sang Suiyu urged urgently through the pain, “Auntie is coming over toward us.”
He thought that with the tacit understanding between him and Tan Chen, a simple reminder would be enough for Tan Chen to know that now was the time to kiss for the parent to see.
Yet those words were spoken with immense difficulty. The pained expression on his face drowned out everything else, making Tan Chen’s heart tremble slightly, without the slightest intention of responding to the plan.
He still swiftly unpacked the medication patch, gently held Sang Suiyu’s mouth open, looked carefully into the inner wall of his cheek, and steadily used his finger pad to press the patch onto the ulcer.
Sang Suiyu couldn’t believe Tan Chen acted as if he hadn’t heard a thing. His pupils dilated slightly, constrained to staring up close at Tan Chen, while his ears picked up the sound of Qing Qing’s approaching footsteps.
“Yuyu?” Qing Qing’s worried voice called from outside.
Then she took tentative steps further toward the balcony.
When the patch hit the raw wound on his inner cheek, the sharp sting almost brought tears to Sang Suiyu’s eyes, and suddenly all sounds around his ears grew muffled.
Only his own anxious emotions kept driving his frantic heartbeat, rendering his mind unable to process anything else except one single thought: he absolutely could not make a mistake in front of Qing Qing.
To the extent that he didn’t even notice Tan Chen’s gaze—a dark current swirling with intense impulse and desire. Only now, with Sang Suiyu’s wet eyelashes obscuring his sight, did Tan Chen allow it to spill out without restraint.
“Tan Chen!” Finally feeling Tan Chen’s finger pad pull out of his mouth, he urged in a raspy, desperate voice: “Kiss me…”
The surrounding world seemed to go momentarily mute.
Suddenly, the back of his head was held firmly by a strong palm.
Tan Chen’s kiss fell upon him almost like a surging tide, scalding heat enveloping him completely in an instant.