In the quiet hotel corridor, the door to room 6032 was pushed open. The lights were off, leaving the room pitch dark.
Relying only on his fading consciousness, Lu Qi stumbled toward the large bed. His head felt dizzy, and his steps were unsteady. He had a low tolerance for alcohol—three glasses were enough to knock him out. Even when drunk, his face showed no signs of it.
He collapsed onto one side of the bed, letting out a muffled groan of discomfort. After a moment, in the darkness, the faint rustling sound of fabric rubbing could be heard.
With his eyes closed, Lu Qi stripped off his clothes and tossed them haphazardly onto the floor. Wearing only his underwear, he pulled back the covers and slipped inside, completing the entire series of movements smoothly and effortlessly.
If he had been fully conscious, he would have noticed the steady, shallow breathing coming from the other side of the bed.
“Mmm…” A slight pain in his neck caused the person sleeping beside him to furrow his brows slightly.
The next morning, daylight streamed in through the gaps in the curtains, casting a warm glow over the pristine white bed.
Ji Qingyan slowly opened his eyes. He had just returned from a business trip the day before and hadn’t had time to rest before rushing off to the office to handle work.
Lately, he had been suffering from insomnia and couldn’t sleep. The night before, he had taken half a sleeping pill and only managed to fall asleep in the early hours of the morning.
He rubbed his forehead. Under the covers, his leg brushed against something unfamiliar. Ji Qingyan stiffened, turning around to find another person lying in his bed, though he had no idea when they had arrived.
The other person was hugging the blanket tightly, his face buried in the fabric, revealing only a dark head of hair and a muscular arm.
What was going on?
Ji Qingyan quickly got out of bed, grabbed his glasses from the nightstand, and put them on. Standing by the bed, he scanned the room and spotted his suitcase in the corner. There was no mistake—this was his room, so it wasn’t a case of him entering the wrong one.
Then who was this person?
Early in the morning, Ji Qingyan was thoroughly startled. Anyone would feel uneasy if someone inexplicably entered their room, especially without their knowledge.
The person on the bed was still asleep, showing no signs of waking up. Unable to see his face, Ji Qingyan reached out and tugged at the blanket he was clutching. Perhaps sensing someone disturbing his sleep, the other person hugged the blanket tighter, rolled over, and continued sleeping.
“Hey, wake up,” Ji Qingyan tried to rouse him, but there was still no response.
He walked to the window and pulled the curtains fully open, flooding the once dim room with bright light. When he turned back, the person on the bed finally reacted.
“Close them!”
The man’s voice was hoarse and low, carrying a commanding tone.
He had quite the temper upon waking up.
Ignoring him, Ji Qingyan crossed his arms and sat on the sofa, waiting for him to wake up properly.
A minute later, unable to bear the blinding sunlight any longer, Lu Qi threw off the covers and sat up. His sharp eyes narrowed slightly, his expression impatient, and he radiated a dangerous aura, as if ready to pick a fight at any moment.
Catching sight of the figure on the sofa from the corner of his eye, he immediately directed his anger toward him. “Who the hell are you? What are you doing in my room?”
Ji Qingyan stood up from the sofa, slightly surprised when he saw the face of the person on the bed.
He spoke slowly, “That’s what I should be asking you.”
“It’s you?”
Lu Qi clearly recognized him too. What a small world.
Narrowing his eyes, he asked, “What do you mean? Are you following me?”
Lu Qi only remembered that Shi Zaiqing had dropped him off at the hotel entrance last night before leaving. He had no recollection of what happened afterward.
“What kind of joke are you making? Take a good look—this is my room. If anything, I suspect you were following me. After all, what are the odds of something like this happening?”
“Isn’t this Room 6033?”
“This is Room 6032.”
“Huh?” Lu Qi realized the layout of this room was identical to his own, which was why he hadn’t doubted it earlier.
So, he had entered the wrong room and slept in the wrong bed.
“Didn’t you notice when I came in last night?” The air conditioning was blowing a bit too cold, so he pulled the blanket over himself and leaned lazily against the headboard.
Ji Qingyan said, “I was sleeping too deeply.”
Lu Qi clicked his tongue and asked again, “I don’t have your room key, so how did I get in?”
Ji Qingyan wondered if he might be a fool and sighed. “You’re asking me? How would I know?”
As it turned out, this was what happened last night: After finishing his social engagements, Ji Qingyan returned to his hotel room to find the door not fully closed, leaving a small gap. Lu Qi’s room happened to be next door, and he was drunk at the time, mistaking Room 6032 for Room 6033. Thus, the morning’s misunderstanding unfolded.
At least it was just sharing a bed with another guy. If it had been with a girl, Lu Qi wouldn’t have been able to explain himself even if he had a hundred mouths.
Lu Qi felt a sudden wave of awkwardness. Troubles seemed to come one after another, and they all seemed to involve the man in front of him. He coughed lightly to clear his throat.
“Well, I’m this handsome. Spending a night with me isn’t exactly a loss for you.”
Ji Qingyan snorted coldly. “Stop flattering yourself.”
Lu Qi touched his own face. “Your taste must be off.”
His gaze lingered on the other’s face, and Ji Qingyan had to admit that Lu Qi’s features were indeed striking.
Especially his eyes—they were a beautiful, deep amber color, with thick lashes and a slight downward tilt at the corners, giving him a cold, stern look. When expressionless, he inexplicably exuded a fierce aura, making him the perfect model face.
Pulling back the blanket, Lu Qi realized he was only wearing his underwear. He couldn’t possibly put on the dirty clothes scattered on the floor, so he said to Ji Qingyan, “Hand me a bathrobe.”
Even though he was asking for help, his tone still carried a hint of command.
Ji Qingyan wasn’t about to indulge him and said sternly, “Who are you talking to?”
Lu Qi considered just throwing off the blanket and getting up, but then it occurred to him that the person in front of him might not be entirely straight. He quickly wrapped the blanket tightly around himself.
He softened his tone. “Bro, could you get me a bathrobe?”
“Fine, wait here.” A faint smile played at the corner of Ji Qingyan’s lips.
He went into the bathroom and came out with a black bathrobe, tossing it to him.
Lu Qi caught it just in time, or it would have hit him in the head. After putting on the bathrobe, he roughly tousled his messy hair and got out of bed.
Watching Ji Qingyan’s retreating figure as he headed toward the bathroom, Lu Qi called out, “I’m heading out first.”
With that, he picked up his clothes from the floor and returned to his own room next door.
“Knock, knock…”
The door was knocked, and Lu Qi opened it to see Ji Qingyan standing there, lips pressed tightly together, looking displeased.
He asked, “What’s wrong?”
Ji Qingyan stared at him silently, exuding an overwhelming sense of pressure. Lu Qi shivered involuntarily.
Without a word, Ji Qingyan pushed the door open and walked in. Lu Qi watched him in confusion before closing the door and following him inside.
Lu Qi had just finished showering, with only a towel wrapped around his lower body. His hair was damp, and droplets from the ends slid down his neck to his collarbone, abs, and waist.
Ji Qingyan glanced briefly before averting his gaze. He hadn’t come to see Lu Qi’s body.
He pointed to the right side of his neck, where two distinct marks were clearly visible, surrounded by faint reddish traces.
Lu Qi, drying his hair with a towel, looked at the marks and teased with a laugh, “Damn, you and your wife really go all out, huh?”
“I didn’t have these before I went to sleep. Last night, there were only you and me in the room. Who do you think did it?”
With only two people in the room, the answer was obvious. It certainly wasn’t Ji Qingyan kissing himself, leaving only that 190cm-tall mosquito surnamed Lu.
Soon, Lu Qi couldn’t laugh anymore. It turned out the “wife” was himself.
He tentatively asked, “Could you be mistaken? I don’t remember having a habit of randomly kissing people when I’m drunk.”
“You even walked into the wrong room. How do you know you don’t have those habits?”
Lu Qi was left speechless by his retort, knowing he was in the wrong.
Embarrassed, he rubbed his nose. “So, what now? You’re not going to make me take responsibility, are you?”
“It wouldn’t be a loss,” Ji Qingyan muttered under his breath.
“What did you say?” The voice was too soft for Lu Qi to hear clearly.
“I said, who cares.”
Noticing Ji Qingyan’s gaze lingering subtly on his chest, Lu Qi realized what he was looking at and awkwardly grabbed a bathrobe to put on.
The atmosphere between them grew somewhat unusual. Lu Qi cleared his throat. “You took advantage of me too, so we’re even.”
Ji Qingyan said, “I have an important meeting in three hours.”
For such a formal meeting, showing up with a neck full of suggestive marks would be completely inappropriate.
Thinking of a solution, Lu Qi called the hotel front desk and asked them to send up a few band-aids.
The hotel staff was efficient, delivering them quickly.
Lu Qi took the band-aids and handed them over. “Need help?”
“No.” With that, Ji Qingyan left the room.
What a mess, Lu Qi thought, scratching his head in frustration. He hadn’t even held a girl’s hand before, and now, damn it, he’d ended up kissing a guy.