The old town was close to the preparatory school, only a little over ten minutes away by car. The alleys were narrow, so Lu He Yang parked by the roadside and walked inside with Xu Ze.
Xu Ze’s reactions were always slow, and only now did he begin worrying about whether Lu He Yang would be unaccustomed to the food. After hesitating, he gave Lu He Yang a warning. “The place is very small. It might not be very clean either.”
“It’s fine.” Lu He Yang turned to look at him and smiled. “Yun Chi and I used to eat at street stalls all the time.”
Xu Ze relaxed a little and tried to keep the conversation going. “What about He Wei?”
Lu He Yang seemed rather surprised that Xu Ze had continued asking about him. He said, “He Wei was abroad for the past few years. He only transferred back this semester.”
“You two… are really close.”
For some reason, Lu He Yang felt that Xu Ze was like an intelligent robot earnestly trying to communicate with humans—very serious, yet clumsy.
Lu He Yang nodded. “Yes. The three of us grew up together.”
Xu Ze’s expression suddenly became somewhat dazed. He looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end, he pressed his lips together and didn’t speak.
The sky was overcast, and it looked like it was going to rain. The restaurant was already getting a little crowded, filled with people who had come for dinner after finishing work. Lu He Yang and Xu Ze found a small square table in a corner. One side of the table was against the wall, while the other was next to several crates of beer, leaving the two of them with no choice but to sit at opposite corners.
“What do you want to eat?” Xu Ze asked.
The restaurant was very noisy, and Lu He Yang couldn’t hear Xu Ze’s voice, but he could tell from his lip movements what he was asking. Even so, Lu He Yang still said, “What?”
Xu Ze leaned a little closer and moved beside Lu He Yang’s ear. “What do you want to eat?”
“Whatever you’re having,” Lu He Yang answered.
“Do you want cilantro and scallions? And vinegar and chili?”
“None of them.”
Xu Ze nodded and got up to place the order. He stood in front of the counter, tall and young, looking completely out of place here, with several little bear bandages crookedly stuck across his neck.
And it wasn’t just this restaurant. Everything Xu Ze was involved in felt out of place for him, including that violent, blood-soaked eight-sided cage.
Halfway through their noodles, a torrential downpour began outside. Xu Ze started worrying again. He didn’t care whether he got wet himself; it wasn’t a big deal. When he was alone, he never bothered carrying an umbrella—but that didn’t stop him from firmly believing that Lu He Yang absolutely could not get rained on.
Lu He Yang’s phone rang again. He glanced at the screen and said to Xu Ze, “I’ll go outside and take this call.”
Through the window, Xu Ze watched Lu He Yang standing in the corridor. Rain streamed down from the eaves, falling about twenty centimeters in front of him. Lu He Yang’s expression was cool and distant, his lashes lowered. Every sentence he spoke was brief, making it obvious that he didn’t really want to talk.
He hung up quickly. After returning to the restaurant, he paid the bill and took two cups of water, placing one in front of Xu Ze.
“You’re not eating anymore?” Xu Ze asked.
“Mm.”
“Then go home early.” Xu Ze took a sip of water and stood up. “Wait a moment. I’ll go buy an umbrella.”
Lu He Yang grabbed his arm. “Why buy an umbrella?”
“It’s raining,” Xu Ze said.
“I know. The car isn’t far from here. We can just run over.”
Xu Ze unusually insisted. “We’ll get wet.”
Lu He Yang asked him, “Are you worried about getting yourself wet, or worried about me getting wet?”
“I’m worried about you getting wet.” Xu Ze looked down at the cup of water on the table and answered honestly.
“My health is fine. I won’t catch a cold just from getting a little wet.” Lu He Yang picked up his car keys. “Let’s run.”
The two of them ran side by side into the rain, hurried through the short alley, opened the car doors, and got inside. It took no more than a dozen seconds, but a large portion of their clothes was still soaked through. The car hadn’t been started yet. The stuffy air mixed with the damp rainwater they’d brought inside, making everything feel sticky and humid, even their pheromones carrying that dampness.
It was already dark. Rainwater streamed down the windshield like a dark river, while raindrops continuously pounded against the roof, yet somehow sounded very far away, because Xu Ze could hear nothing but his own breathing and Lu He Yang’s.
“Tissues,” Lu He Yang said. “Wipe yourself off.”
Xu Ze reached for the tissues and accidentally brushed the back of Lu He Yang’s hand. Just as he was about to pull his hand back, Lu He Yang caught it and pressed it against the tissue box. “Here.”
“Mm.” Xu Ze’s throat was a little hoarse and dry. He swallowed, feeling almost unable to breathe.
Xu Ze pulled out two tissues, but instead of using them to wipe his face and hands, he fumbled around and used them to wipe the car seat he had gotten wet himself.
In the dim light, Lu He Yang watched him for several seconds. Then he suddenly reached out, caught Xu Ze’s chin, and rubbed his thumb across his face. His hand was wet, and so was Xu Ze’s face.
“Why aren’t you wiping the places that actually need wiping?” Lu He Yang asked.
Smelling the faint pheromones on his fingertips, Xu Ze’s face immediately grew hot. “I’ll just take a shower when I get back.”
Lu He Yang said nothing. His hand dropped, sliding along the side of Xu Ze’s neck before he started the car.
The drive took about five minutes. Xu Ze noticed that Lu He Yang kept glancing at the rearview mirror and side mirror. He couldn’t see Lu He Yang’s expression clearly, but he could sense that his mood wasn’t very good. It had been like this ever since he received that phone call while they were eating noodles.
The car stopped downstairs. It was only a few steps to the building entrance. Xu Ze was just about to say goodbye when Lu He Yang got out of the car with him and ran into the building.
The rain showed no sign of letting up. Lu He Yang stood at the entrance, turning his head to look out into the rain, his brows slightly furrowed. His arms were covered in rainwater. Without thinking too much, Xu Ze wanted to help wipe them dry, but Lu He Yang immediately raised his hand and stopped him.
Xu Ze froze.
Lu He Yang rarely expressed his rejection so directly and decisively. Xu Ze’s hand remained suspended in midair for a second or two before he slowly lowered it.
“I’m sorry,” Xu Ze said quietly.
Lu He Yang looked at him but didn’t respond to his apology. After a moment of silence, he said, “Let’s go upstairs.”
The two of them walked up the stairs one after another. After entering the apartment, Xu Ze went to boil some water. Then he pushed open the bedroom door and looked for a clean towel.
Lu He Yang stood by the window, pulling the curtains open slightly and looking down with his head lowered. No one knew what he was looking at.
The water finished boiling. Xu Ze poured half a cup of hot water, then added half a cup of cold water to make it lukewarm, and carried it into the room.
He kept his distance from Lu He Yang, standing beside the desk. Outside, the rain was pouring down. Xu Ze’s heart felt as though it had been left out in the rain, rising and sinking with every blow of the storm.
He thought and thought, and finally asked, “What’s wrong?”
Lu He Yang turned his head to look at him and smiled faintly. “I’m a little tired.”
Xu Ze couldn’t describe that smile, nor did he know how to comfort him. He was nothing more than a helpless outsider who didn’t know what to do.
Xu Ze held the cup of water in one hand and peeled the bandages from his neck with the other. They had gotten wet from the rain and felt uncomfortable. When he raised his head again, Lu He Yang was staring at his neck.
“You should go home and get some rest.” Xu Ze was still thinking about what he could say to make Lu He Yang feel less tired, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he realized they weren’t right. He quickly changed his wording. “The rain is really heavy. It’s dangerous to drive. Why don’t you…”
He hadn’t finished speaking when Xu Ze stopped, because Lu He Yang suddenly walked toward him. Xu Ze couldn’t help taking a step back and bumped into the desk. Very quickly, Lu He Yang pulled him forward by the waist, pressed a hand against the back of Xu Ze’s neck, and lowered his head. His hot breath drew close, and a sharp pain suddenly shot through Xu Ze’s neck. Xu Ze let out a muffled groan, and the paper cup slipped from his hand, water splashing all over the floor.
He had been bitten. Xu Ze’s first reaction wasn’t to push Lu He Yang away, but to wrap his arms around his neck.
If getting closer came at the price of pain, Xu Ze would choose it without hesitation. Pain was the thing he feared least.
Lu He Yang bit Xu Ze’s neck, while one hand slipped beneath the hem of his clothes and touched the small of his back. Xu Ze’s eyes widened, his pupils unfocused as he stared ahead, and his breathing began to quicken. Lu He Yang’s gland was very close to Xu Ze. Suppressed by the wristband, only a tiny amount of pheromones escaped, but it was still enough to stimulate Xu Ze. His body’s instinctive rejection prompted him to release more pheromones to fight against it.
His gland throbbed several times. The pheromones drove his blood surging through his body, and Xu Ze let out a slightly uncomfortable moan. Lu He Yang’s breathing paused for a moment, and then he released his teeth.
The lighting wasn’t bright enough. In the shadows, Lu He Yang saw that the strangulation mark on Xu Ze’s neck now had a blood-red bite mark on it. It wasn’t bleeding, and saliva faintly reflected the light on the skin.
Rain pounded against the window, and there was no other sound in the room. Lu He Yang paused for a few seconds before licking the spot on Xu Ze’s neck where he had bitten him.
Xu Ze immediately tightened his arms around Lu He Yang’s neck, his back trembling.
It was obvious that Lu He Yang was venting his emotions. Xu Ze didn’t mind. If Lu He Yang was unhappy, he was willing to be the outlet for it.
After a long while, Lu He Yang lifted his head, and Xu Ze looked into his eyes. Xu Ze had always been terrible at hiding his feelings. As long as Lu He Yang came close to him, he would get so nervous that everything would be written plainly across his face.
After looking at each other for a while, Lu He Yang moved his hand away from Xu Ze’s lower back and rested it against his waist through his clothes.
“Don’t look at me like that anymore.”
Xu Ze nodded and looked somewhere else.
It wasn’t that he wanted to. If there were a medicine in this world that could make someone stop looking at Lu He Yang, Xu Ze would be the first to buy it and take it, just to keep his bothersome gaze from making Lu He Yang feel burdened.
“Were you angry downstairs just now?” Lu He Yang asked.
Angry was too strong a word. Xu Ze seemed to have been born without much of that emotion. Even if he did get angry, there was no way he could ever be angry with Lu He Yang. Xu Ze had only been a little down. Just a little. But there was no rule saying that Lu He Yang had to take his feelings into consideration. The same went for everyone else.
“It’s okay.”
Lu He Yang had told Xu Ze not to look at him, so Xu Ze answered while staring at the electric fan. He still didn’t remove his arms from around Lu He Yang’s neck, greedily wanting to stay like this for a few more seconds.
Lu He Yang counted Xu Ze’s eyelashes and said to him, “If it’s okay, then there won’t be any compensation.”
Those words successfully made Xu Ze look at him again. He asked blankly, “Compensation?”
“Mm.” Lu He Yang’s hand moved lower, from Xu Ze’s waist to the side of his hip. “Do you want it?”
“Yes.”
There was no way Xu Ze could refuse. He unconsciously touched Lu He Yang’s hair with his fingertips and, unusually, made a request.
“Can I choose?”
“Sure. What do you choose?”
Xu Ze held his breath for several seconds, raised his head, and kissed Lu He Yang lightly on the forehead.
He looked at Lu He Yang seriously, as if he had just made a wish after blowing out birthday candles.
“I hope you won’t be unhappy.”
Lu He Yang’s phone rang again, but he remained unmoved, looking straight at Xu Ze. Only after the phone fell silent did Lu He Yang speak.
“Okay.”
The rain had eased a little. Xu Ze rested both hands on the windowsill, his gaze following the retreating headlights until they disappeared around the corner.
He touched his neck. The spot where Lu He Yang had bitten him was hot, swollen, and aching. Xu Ze turned back to the desk and used a tissue to dry the few little bear bandages. There were no traces of blood or dirt on them. Xu Ze folded them up one by one and wrapped them in a fresh tissue.
Lu He Yang: I’m speechless. The little bear bandages aren’t even mine.