Back at his quiet home, the first thing Huo Youqing did was pull out his passport to check his travel history. Sure enough, he found an entry from four years ago.
So, Dai Yuan hadn’t been lying.
Did he really like Dai Yuan that much?
He had traveled all the way to California to watch a musical with him.
His cousin had said that he later lost interest in musicals, always saying they were boring halfway through. Could it have been because of Dai Yuan? Did watching musicals remind him of Dai Yuan, the Dai Yuan he could never truly have?
Unrequited love…
The term didn’t seem quite right.
But maybe it was—after all, his future self had gone to extreme lengths to change Dai Yuan. It was good that Dai Yuan had said they could be friends. He didn’t want to ruin someone else’s life.
Putting away his passport, Huo Youqing enjoyed a peaceful night’s sleep.
Two weeks passed before Huo Youqing realized something—he hadn’t returned to the time when he was eighteen in a while. There had been gaps before, but none this long. Long enough that he began to fear he wouldn’t be able to go back.
Compared to life at twenty-seven, he still preferred being eighteen.
As this thought began to trouble him, he received a message from Dai Yuan. Over the past two weeks, Dai Yuan had been messaging him less frequently, usually only once every three or four days.
Most of the messages were about mundane things, but today’s was about the results of his hospital treatment. Dai Yuan told him that the doctor had said his condition had improved significantly, and they were considering reducing his medication.
“Medication?” Huo Youqing replied.
Dai Yuan’s response came quickly, as if he had been waiting for the message. “Yes, Dr. Xu’s prescription. I’m so happy today!!!”
He must have been really happy—he used three exclamation points.
“Congratulations,” replied Huo Youqing, then put down his phone. Feeling cooped up, he began searching for vacation spots on his tablet, thinking about taking a short trip for a few days.
Being twenty-seven did have its perks—at least he could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, without anyone telling him what to do.
As he tried to find solace in this thought, his phone rang.
It was a call from Dai Yuan.
Since the last phone call, Dai Yuan had only been contacting him via text messages.
Huo Youqing stared at the name on the screen for a moment but decided not to answer. He shifted his focus back to his tablet, planning a hiking trip to the neighboring province.
Acting on impulse, he booked the flight that day and left the next morning.
He came up with a perfect plan: after checking into his hotel, he would enjoy a meal, then take a car to the foot of the mountain, hike overnight, watch the sunrise the next morning, and then rest for a day at a hotel on the mountain, which happened to be a hot spring resort. After soaking in the hot springs, he would catch a flight back home that night.
The plan sounded flawless.
However, as soon as he got off the plane, he learned that the mountain he intended to hike was temporarily closed due to a murder case. The scenic area was sealed off, and visitors were not allowed to climb.
After hanging up the call from the hotel staff, Huo Youqing rubbed his arm, which had gone cold from hearing about the crime, and started to worry about where he should go instead.
Should he just head home?
As he walked while scrolling through his phone, he nearly bumped into someone.
“Sorry, I… Dai Yuan?” Huo Youqing looked at the person in front of him, stunned.
Dai Yuan seemed equally surprised. “I thought you weren’t coming.”
Five minutes later, Huo Youqing learned that Dai Yuan had come to the area for skydiving. Yesterday, Dai Yuan had texted him to ask if he wanted to join, even calling him. But since Huo Youqing hadn’t checked his messages or answered the call, Dai Yuan assumed he wouldn’t come. Coincidentally, they ran into each other at the airport.
“Do you want to skydive?” Dai Yuan asked him in person. He could see Huo Youqing’s hesitation but also the carefully concealed excitement in his eyes.
It was like a rose, long kept in a greenhouse, growing curious about the world outside—especially the thrilling, bold experiences it had never been allowed to have.
The serpent of Eden asked the rose: “Do you want to skydive? It’s a lot of fun.”
—
The skydiving base was in a remote area, and Dai Yuan had rented a car, waiting outside the airport.
Once in the car, Dai Yuan discreetly glanced at Huo Youqing, who sat beside him.
After agreeing to skydive, Huo Youqing seemed to regret it a bit. As soon as he got into the car, he pressed himself against the door, sitting far away from Dai Yuan. His pale face showed no expression, but his slightly curled fingers revealed his anxiety.
Dai Yuan looked away, as if afraid of scaring the rose he had finally coaxed into coming with him. He didn’t look at Huo Youqing again.
The black sedan sped down the road, leaving the towering skyscrapers of steel and concrete in its wake. In the silent car, Dai Yuan’s long legs made him look somewhat cramped in the back seat. He kept his eyes down, his slightly drooping eyelids giving him a fragile, vulnerable appearance.
Since getting into the car, he had only glanced at Huo Youqing once. For the rest of the trip, he quietly played with his phone, staying composed until the driver exited the highway and turned onto a smaller road. Dai Yuan locked his phone and gently said to Huo Youqing, who was resting with his eyes closed, “It’s almost noon. Should we stop for lunch?”
He suggested it carefully, as if afraid Huo Youqing would be upset by his decision. Quickly, he added, “If you don’t want to eat, we can head straight to the skydiving base.”
“I’m actually hungry. Let’s get something to eat,” Huo Youqing replied.
The driver stopped at a private restaurant that looked unimpressive from the outside—less appealing even than a regular restaurant. But once they were led inside, they realized how luxurious it was.
The unassuming exterior seemed designed to conceal the opulence within. After sitting down, Huo Youqing glanced at the delicate weeping crabapple tree just beyond the railing. He couldn’t help but touch one of the vibrant petals lightly with his fingertips.
The restaurant stood in front of the mountains, and through the window, they could see the rolling hills stretching into the distance. The soft greens of the landscape met the bright blue sky, forming a stunning panorama.
His attention was pulled back when Dai Yuan gently tapped the menu in front of him.
“What do you want to eat?” Dai Yuan asked.
Huo Youqing shifted his gaze from the view to the menu. He hadn’t traveled to this province before, but he had researched the local cuisine online, so he listed the dishes he wanted to try.
Dai Yuan’s eyebrows furrowed slightly as he listened, but he didn’t say anything and let the waiter take the order.
When the food arrived, Dai Yuan placed a bowl of water by Huo Youqing’s hand and reminded him, “Don’t eat too much of the spicy dishes. It’s better to rinse them with water before you eat.”
Huo Youqing nodded, but after rinsing the food, it lost its flavor, so he ignored Dai Yuan’s advice. Dai Yuan looked as though he wanted to say something but held back, afraid of upsetting Huo Youqing. In the end, he sat across from him, watching with a slightly aggrieved expression as Huo Youqing ate.
The spice soon got to Huo Youqing, bringing a flush to his face and misting his eyes with a thin layer of tears. He downed a large glass of honey lemon water before finally setting down his chopsticks.
It felt liberating to eat without anyone telling him what to do.
He couldn’t help but think of his uncle’s family and Gong Lang. If Gong Lang were sitting across from him right now, he would have already snatched his chopsticks away.
But it wasn’t just Gong Lang—he had met plenty of people who tried to control him.
Back in high school, he had once stared longingly at the barbecue his classmate had smuggled in. Unable to resist his gaze, the classmate offered him a skewer of the least spicy one. But before he could take it, his deskmate had already snatched it away.
His deskmate was a high-achieving girl and the class’s study monitor. She glared at him sternly and said, “Huo Little You, you’re not allowed to eat barbecue—no, you can’t eat barbecue. It’s bad for you.”
Huo Youqing had blinked and glanced at his classmate behind him. “But he’s eating…”
“He’s a lost cause. Are you going to be a lost cause too?” The girl had glared at him.
The classmate smacked his forehead. “My bad. Sorry, Study Monitor. Don’t be mad. Huo Little You, you heard her, right? You can’t eat it, so stop looking at me. You’re not allowed to eat.”
—
Not long after Huo Youqing decided that being left alone was a good feeling, he began to regret it. He started feeling unwell shortly after getting back in the car, even though he normally didn’t get carsick.
After taking the motion sickness medication, there was no improvement. Instead, cold sweat started pouring out, layer after layer, from his pale skin. Despite the air conditioning, his whole body felt like it had been washed with water. He was in a daze, hearing someone speaking to him.
“… You’re not feeling well. Let’s skip the skydiving and go to the hospital first…”
Huo Youqing had almost curled himself into a shrimp-like position on the seat, wrapped in a fragrant blanket. The part of his face not covered by the blanket was flushed like red plum blossoms in the snow. He barely recognized that it was Dai Yuan’s voice, and that Dai Yuan was planning to take him to the hospital.
He remembered that Dai Yuan had warned him earlier, and now because of his illness, Dai Yuan was delayed, missing the chance to go skydiving. He was causing trouble.
“I’m sorry.” He bit his tongue to force out the apology.
Dai Yuan, who had been wiping his sweat, froze for a moment. The hand holding the tissue clenched tightly, almost turning his face away in a fluster. His expression was contradictory to his actions—his pale face showing a hint of aggression, as if he wanted to slide his fingers into Huo Youqing’s mouth, coaxing him to apologize again.
But no, his older brother was sick.
Good boys don’t bully their brothers.
The car changed course towards the hospital, and within ten minutes, Huo Youqing was admitted into a VIP ward. A team of specialist doctors examined him, prescribed treatment, and started an IV drip.
Once the ward was quiet again, only Dai Yuan remained by Huo Youqing’s side. After about ten minutes of IV therapy, Huo Youqing’s previously curled-up body began to relax, and his breathing became more steady.
Dai Yuan soaked a towel in warm water and gently wiped Huo Youqing’s body. Since he had sweated so much earlier, cleaning him off would make sleep more comfortable. This careful process lasted for more than half an hour. After emptying the water basin, Dai Yuan returned to the bedside.
Huo Youqing had completely fallen asleep, his slightly curled eyelashes resting on his lower eyelids. Sunlight cast small patches of light on his face. Dai Yuan bent down and kissed the lips he had been watching for so long.
First, he licked them with his moist tongue, then skillfully coaxed Huo Youqing’s lips to part, slowly entwining his tongue with Huo Youqing’s, as if Huo Youqing was the one actively kissing him.
But it was all just an illusion.
The blood beneath Dai Yuan’s pale skin surged with excitement as he couldn’t stop himself from gripping Huo Youqing’s chin, lifting his face to deepen the kiss further.
