“I’m tired.” After trying many times to pull Fang Juexia’s arm out, Pei Tingsong sat down against the wall, exhausted, breathing heavily next to him, but Fang Juexia was still whining, “It hurts…”
“Where does it hurt?”
Burying his head, Fang Juexia complained in a muffled voice, “My head, and my hand.”
Pei Tingsong sighed helplessly, “What should we do? Get up so I can check if you’re hurt.”
“It hurts!” This time, the little ostrich seemed impatient, his tone growing impatient.
“Alright, alright, it hurts, it hurts.” Pei Tingsong felt a mix of emotions. Just an hour ago, he had been worried about how awkward it would be to be alone with Fang Juexia, who had just come out to him, but now the situation had suddenly changed, and Fang Juexia had become someone who seemed to have lost her mind.
“Touch my head!”
The little ostrich began giving orders, and Pei Tingsong dared not disobey.
“Alright, I got it. Touch my head.” He placed his hand on Fang Juexia’s head and gently stroked it. He couldn’t help but recall the Maltese dog he had raised as a child, which was particularly beautiful and loved having its head stroked.
After just a few strokes, Fang Juexia muttered with his head down, “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“Does it work that well?” Pei Tingsong was a little happy, feeling that he had become a man who knew how to take care of others, “Then get up, wash your face, and sober up.”
But the little ostrich, still with his head down, reached out an arm toward him, “My arm hurts.”
Looking at the slender, white arm, Pei Tingsong was confused. “Then… should I rub your arm?”
“Let me massage it for you.” After saying that, he began to massage Fang Juexia’s arm like an abnormal blind masseur, closing his eyes and kneading it gently, afraid that this guy would react negatively again.
He really had sacrificed too much for this family. Pei Tingsong thought to himself.
“Are you done yet, brother?” “ Pei Tingsong was exhausted, holding his wrist, ”Can we get up now?”
“It’s so dark.” Fang Juexia still had no intention of getting up, instead curling up even tighter.
Pei Tingsong was utterly helpless, “It’s dark, isn’t it? If you lift your head, it won’t be dark anymore. I’ve turned on the light.” ” He leaned closer, turned Fang Juexia, who was facing the wall, to face him, and reached out to help him lift his head. This wasn’t going to work.
But Fang Juexia not only refused to cooperate, he even bit down hard on Pei Tingsong’s hand, which was near his chin.
“Ah, it hurts, it hurts…” Pei Tingsong was both angry and anxious. He grabbed Fang Juexia by the back of the neck to force him to let go.
“Look what you’ve done to me. Look at the bite mark on my hand. You’ve bitten me until it’s bleeding!”
Fang Juexia still didn’t lift his head. Not only did he not lift his head, he even shifted his buttocks to face the wall again, showing no sign of remorse.
This finally exhausted Pei Tingsong’s patience. He shook his bitten hand twice, then picked up Fang Juexia without a word and hoisted him onto his shoulders. Fang Juexia wriggled like a small fish out of water, even losing his slippers in the process. Pei Tingsong wrapped his arms around his legs and said, “Behave yourself.”
“I don’t want to fly! I don’t want to!”
He stopped mid-sentence, suddenly frozen in place.
Fang Juexia lay beneath him, his lips slightly parted, his chest rising and falling as he struggled to breathe. His usually stubborn, beautiful eyes were misty with tears, and even his gaze toward Pei Tingsong had softened.
Pei Tingsong’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down, and his breathing became uneven.
Probably because he had been drinking, Fang Juexia’s eyes were red, blending into the red birthmark that extended from them. His skin was too pale, and when he was drunk, it turned pink in large patches, as if it had been rubbed.
Pei Tingsong snapped out of some unpleasant thoughts and once again took on the responsibility of caring for his older brother. “Alright, I’ll go get you some water.” He struggled for a while to tuck Fang Juexia back under the blankets, then took off his jacket because he was so hot and walked over to the table.
Should someone who’s drunk drink some hot water? Pei Tingsong searched for the kettle, but he wasn’t very good at using it. It took him a while to figure out how to boil water.
“It’s so hot.” Pei Tingsong glanced behind him. Fang Juexia was still curled up under the blanket, mumbling something under his breath, but Pei Tingsong couldn’t make out what he was saying.
“This is really tough for me.” Pei Tingsong turned back and muttered softly, “Let me tell you, I’ve never taken care of anyone in my life. I’ve always been the one being taken care of. Really, Fang Juexia, you’re so lucky. You must have been my ancestor in a previous life.”
After waiting for the hot water to boil, he clumsily poured it out, nearly scalding himself. Since the water was too hot to drink directly, he mixed it with half mineral water, tested the temperature, and then brought it over to Fang Juexia.
As he approached, he noticed that Fang Juexia was reciting the multiplication table, having already gone through it once and starting over from the beginning.
“Drink some water.” He pulled back the blanket and was startled by the sight of her bare, pale skin. “Hey, why did you take off your T-shirt?”
Fang Juexia rolled over onto her side, facing Pei Tingsong, and wriggled her way to the edge of the bed. “I’m hot.”
“You’ll catch a cold!” Pei Tingsong wrapped him in the blanket and held the water cup to his lips, “Drink water.”
Under his feeding, Fang Juexia drank the entire cup in one gulp, then smiled傻笑 at him contentedly, his smile sweet and soft, as if he were a different person.
“Close your eyes and go to sleep.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Fang Juexia obediently closed his eyes.
He’s pretty obedient. Pei Tingsong instinctively reached out his hand, almost touching Fang Juexia’s soft hair. But he quickly stopped himself.
What the hell?
Pei Tingsong quickly stood up, wondering if he was drunk too.
Why did he feel the urge to touch his head?
“It’s so hot.” Pei Tingsong took off his shirt with one hand, grabbed his pajamas, and walked into the bathroom.
He needed to take a shower to calm down.
While showering, Pei Tingsong couldn’t help but think about what Shang Si Rui had said while drinking. Could it be that the popular idol who hadn’t reached an agreement with the program team was really the one who replaced Fang Juexia’s official position and debuted?
They were both at Astar at the same time, so they should have been trainees at the same time.
Qiyao is now one of the most popular male groups in the country. Their official representative, Liang Ruo, has had the best resources since debuting—lead dancer, backup vocalist, and almost always the center position for opening and closing choreography. He’s already been a regular on two satellite TV variety shows. Though he has his share of fans and haters, he’s backed by a major company, so his career has been smooth sailing.
Setting their sights on the “Escape to Survival” opportunity, they likely aim to establish a high-IQ persona for themselves.
Pei Tingsong has never understood the concept of persona-building. If it’s fake, it’s fake. The more you try to make it seem real, the more embarrassing it becomes when it’s exposed.
He couldn’t help but wonder what Fang Juexia thought when he heard the news about Liang Ruo. Would he feel sorry? Would he be sad?
If… if he hadn’t been forced to leave Astar back then, what would things be like now?
They probably wouldn’t have…
“Bang bang bang!”
The continuous banging sounds snapped Pei Tingsong out of his thoughts. He turned around and nearly slipped in shock, blurting out a string of F-words. Fang Juexia, whom he had thought was asleep, suddenly appeared at the bathroom door, leaning against the frosted glass door and slapping the bathroom glass wall with his hands, shouting, “Let me in!”
The fogged-up glass made his figure look even more sinister. Pei Tingsong leaned against the wall, roughly drying himself off with a towel.
Fang Juexia pressed his face tightly against the glass, his face distorted from the pressure. “My eyes are broken; I can’t see clearly…” He tapped the glass door several more times, “I’ve counted to a hundred, I’ve got you!”
It’s over, he won’t be able to sleep tonight.
Pei Tingsong quickly changed into his clothes, opened the bathroom door, and was immediately pounced on by Fang Juexia, who was ready at all times, wrapping his arms tightly around him.
“Gotcha!”
Fang Juexia looked up, his watery eyes blinking repeatedly, “Sleep?”
“Yes, sleep.” Pei Tingsong dragged him forcefully onto the bed, tucking his limbs under the blankets, “Look at you, you’re freezing. If you keep this up, I won’t take care of you anymore.”
“No.” Fang Juexia hugged his arm, looking so upset that it seemed like tears were about to fall from his eyes.
Just as Pei Tingsong’s sympathy was about to get the better of him, Fang Juexia sweetly called out, “Little Abacus~” He stubbornly reached out and scratched Pei Tingsong’s chin, “Little Abacus, are you hungry? I’ll go get you some dog food~”
“ I’m not your dog!“ Pei Tingsong grabbed his hand. ”Fang Juexia, look closely. I’m Pei Tingsong, your…”
He paused, and Fang Juexia’s watery eyes blinked.
After a moment, Pei Tingsong continued, “I’m your teammate, do you understand?”
“I know what you’re up to.”
It was pointless to say anything. Pei Tingsong sighed, tucked the blanket around Fang Juexia, and thought to himself, “Whatever.” Fang Juexia was acting like a child, so he could only coax him like a little kid. “How about this? Let’s have a sleeping contest. Whoever falls asleep first is the winner!”
Fang Juexia blinked, “Then… is there a reward?”
Hearing this, Pei Tingsong couldn’t help but frown.
What did that mean? What was his original dad?
But he couldn’t probe further now. This was Fang Juexia’s personal matter. He had only blurted it out because he was drunk. Once he sobered up, he wouldn’t want anyone prying into his privacy.
“Alright, I’ll give you whatever you want. Let’s hurry up and get ready for the competition!” After saying that, Pei Tingsong turned off the light, but then remembered Fang Juexia’s night blindness and left a bedside lamp on. He climbed into his own bed. He had already been exhausted from the flight, and after all the hassle at the hotel, he was completely drained. Pei Tingsong lay on the bed, exhaled deeply, and closed his eyes.
He kept repeating to himself, praying that this guy wouldn’t get drunk again. Gradually, he himself was about to fall asleep, his consciousness flowing out of his relaxed body and dispersing.
In a daze, he felt the blanket being pulled, something wriggling from his feet to his side. Pei Tingsong was confused and hummed in response. But then he heard Fang Juexia’s voice in his ear.
“Can I hold you while we sleep, little one?”
Pei Tingsong, who was about to fall asleep, suddenly woke up, opened his eyes, and looked at the person beside him. Those innocent and pitiful eyes were staring at him.
He was about to lose his mind.
“Don’t you have your own bed?” Pei Tingsong was at his wits’ end. “You’re a big kid now. You need to learn to sleep on your own.”
“But…” Fang Juexia pouted, hesitating to speak.
“But what?” Pei Tingsong looked at him like an adult.
Fang Juexia spoke pitifully, “But Dad came home today, and I’m a little scared. He… he drank again. Will he scold me…”
His speech no longer had the logic and structure of the Fang Juexia he once knew. He was completely a panicked child, though his words were only chaotic fragments. But Pei Tingsong roughly understood.
“He won’t,” he stroked Fang Juexia’s head, “Don’t be afraid.”
“Will you hate me too?” Fang Juexia’s eyes were filled with tears, as if they would fall at any moment. For some reason, Pei Tingsong felt a sharp pain in his heart, a feeling that was particularly unfamiliar.
“Of course not.” Pei Tingsong pinched his cheek. “Am I that kind of person? Am I that kind of dog?”
Fang Juexia finally smiled. “Will you sleep with me?”
“It’s okay,” Pei Tingsong knew that the next morning, certain people would turn their backs on him, maybe even think he was taking advantage of them, so he took out his phone and opened the recording app, “This is all because you insisted on sleeping with me.”
“Hmm!” Fang Juexia immediately perked up, his tone sweetening, his eyes shining like two beautiful glass beads reflecting Pei Tingsong’s face. “Can I hug you?”
Caught off guard by the question, Pei Tingsong stammered, his ears burning. “Go ahead.” ” After saying that, he turned his back to Fang Juexia. Having lived for over twenty years, he had never shared a bed with anyone before, and this was already his greatest compromise.
But before a second had passed, Fang Juexia tugged at the back of his shirt, pulling gently, “I can’t see you anymore.”
“Fang Juexia, if you keep acting like this, you’ll regret it tomorrow when you wake up.” Pei Tingsong sighed and turned back to face him, “Is this okay?”
“Hmm!” Fang Juexia wriggled upward, hugging his head like a puppy, patting Pei Tingsong’s back, “Little schemer, time to sleep~”
Pei Tingsong, who was nearly 1.9 meters tall, was curled up in Fang Juexia’s arms, pressed against his collarbone, unable to breathe, let alone sleep.
“Go to sleep…” Fang Juexia started singing randomly, as if he were really trying to lull a puppy to sleep. First, he sang an off-key lullaby, then somehow started singing “The Snail and the Oriole,” but he could only sing the first line, repeating it over and over until Pei Tingsong couldn’t take it anymore.
He grabbed Fang Juexia’s arm, pulled him into his arms, placed his arm under his neck, and wrapped his arms around him, holding him tightly.
“It’s more comfortable for me to hold you.” His chin rested on Fang Juexia’s head, and he gently patted Fang Juexia’s back. “Sleep.”
Fang Juexia, with the mindset of a child, mimicked his actions, patting Pei Tingsong’s waist and holding him tightly. “Sleep, little abacus.”
Finally, things had settled down. Pei Tingsong closed his eyes and took a deep breath. This was his first embrace with Fang Juexia, a real and intimate embrace, even though neither of them had chosen it.
He had once been firmly convinced that he and Fang Juexia were two people walking on different paths, and that if their paths ever crossed, the outcome would only be bad, not good.
So this moment came too suddenly, too unexpectedly.
If time travel truly existed, the Pei Tingsong from a month ago, if he were to time travel back and witness this scene, would probably be terrified. Reflecting on the events of the past few days, Pei Tingsong felt as though they had been forced into the same dramatic vortex, the more they tried to separate, the closer they grew.
Feeling that Fang Juexia was no longer moving, Pei Tingsong reached for his phone and turned off the recording. But just then, the person in his arms suddenly lifted his head, cupped Pei Tingsong’s face with both hands, and leaned in under the dim light to give him a quick kiss. Perhaps he was aiming for the chin, or perhaps the cheek, but unfortunately, their lips touched.
Breathing stopped.
“Thank you for staying with me, little abacus,” he said with a silly smile, then burrowed back into Pei Tingsong’s arms, rubbing against his collarbone, finding the most comfortable position and closing his eyes in contentment.
Pei Tingsong’s nerves felt numb, so sluggish that even now, the dull sensation of his lips being struck persisted. This time, there was no glass candy wrapper between them—it was completely soft and tender. The sensation from memory was slowed down and stretched out: touching, sinking in, pulling away, bouncing back, Four ounces of warmth pushed away the thousand-pound weight of his heartbeat. After being stirred, it could no longer return to calm, growing faster and faster, so fast that he even feared that the mad rabbit in his heart might wake up the little radish in Fang Juexia’s heart through the two tightly pressed chests.
Oh no.
He was struck by a piece of candy.
Ten minutes, twenty minutes, and even longer until he had no idea how much time had passed, his heartbeat still hadn’t returned to its normal rhythm. This tight embrace gave it endless energy, making it beat wildly and vividly, completely ignoring Pei Tingsong’s brain’s resistance.
This was his first kiss.
Pei Tingsong tried to convince himself that he was cool, very cool, and that a kiss was nothing, especially since he had already tried it once before when passing the candy wrapper.
But his self-persuasion seemed to have little effect. Adrenaline surged uncontrollably, and the scent of Fang Juexia’s shampoo confused his mind. He felt dizzy and couldn’t breathe.
Even though he was completely exhausted, Pei Tingsong couldn’t fall asleep. He dared not move, afraid of waking the person in his arms.
The innocent killer in his arms finally grew tired and fell asleep, motionless like a soft doll, so obedient. Only Pei Tingsong knew how devastatingly powerful this beautiful weapon was.
And he was just a fool holding a little bomb.
After sleeping for an unknown amount of time, a headache pulled Fang Juexia out of his deep sleep, his consciousness flickering. His thoughts were chaotic; he couldn’t open his eyes, only feeling a sourness in his body. He moved slightly, only to immediately feel a pair of arms wrap around him, tightening, and patting his back.
Vaguely, he heard a familiar, deep voice, still sleepy, saying, “Good boy…”
The instinctive tightening of the embrace compressed the distance between the two of them to almost nothing. Embarrassingly, although Fang Juexia wasn’t sure if the voice he had just heard was real, the sensation of his thigh accidentally brushing against a certain spot felt too real to be true.
He snapped back to reality, pushed away Pei Tingsong, who was still half-asleep, and grabbed the blanket to retreat to the edge of the bed.
“Pei Tingsong!”
This was the first time he had ever been so emotionally agitated.
Pei Tingsong furrowed his brows, “What’s wrong now…” He opened his eyes and saw Fang Juexia in the standard posture of a virtuous woman who had been wronged, and his sluggish brain finally woke up.
Sure enough, he knew it.
At this moment, Pei Tingsong couldn’t help but marvel at his genius foresight.
“Wait, calm down.” Pei Tingsong moved closer, but he actually wanted to take out his phone and show Fang Juexia the evidence.
But Fang Juexia had no idea what he was doing. All she knew was that she had woken up to find herself naked from the waist up, tightly embraced by him, and this man who seemed to be the instigator was still approaching her. “You’re the one who needs to calm down.” After saying that, he coughed once. “And what about down there…”
Below?
“Shut up.” Fang Juexia didn’t want to listen to his middle school biology lesson. “Then why did you hug me while sleeping? Didn’t you say you’re not gay?” He asked the soul-searching question.
Pei Tingsong had no words.
Shouldn’t you ask yourself?
Last night, you were all over me, clinging to me nonstop, but the moment you opened your eyes, you turned your back on me.
Angry as he was, Pei Tingsong was clear-headed. He knew Fang Juexia was the stubborn type who wouldn’t back down until he hit a wall, so he decided to first obtain the evidence he had carefully preserved. “Alright, I’ll tell you why.”
Fang Juexia panicked. His mind was in disarray, and this person was constantly moving closer to him.
Where was his shirt?
Could Pei Tingsong really be gay? The thought wouldn’t leave his mind.
He reached out to resist, but Pei Tingsong grabbed his wrist. “Don’t move.” Then he started searching around the pillow with his other hand. “Where did it go?”
“Let go of me.” Fang Juexia’s remaining hand also began to struggle.
Pei Tingsong had lost all patience with him, so he grabbed his other hand, pressed him down, and adopted a domineering posture, “I told you not to move. Do you know how obedient you were last night?”
“You!”
“You turn on me after sleeping with me…” He stared at Fang Juexia, the hostility in his eyes softening. “Be good. Wait until I find…”
Before he could finish, there was a loud knocking on the door, followed by Ling Yi’s booming voice.
“Ding dong ding dong! Caledo Group Special Edition! Morning surprise inspection!”
Damn it.
Author’s Note: Camera Operator: Do you think they’re awake yet?
Ling Yi: Juexia doesn’t sleep in~
Camera Operator: Is it okay for us to go in and film now?
Ling Yi: What’s wrong with that? They’re not sleeping in the same bed anyway!
