Huo Youqing’s gaze scanned the two guests’ faces, his grip on the door handle tightening involuntarily. When the guests looked puzzled, he stepped back as if burned, moving aside to make room.
“Please come in.” His tone was neither welcoming nor warm, bordering on cold.
But the guests didn’t seem to notice. The shorter one entered first, politely admiring, “The house looks so beautiful and cozy.”
The one following behind quickly glanced at Huo Youqing by the door. Noticing how pale he looked—not the usual snowy white but a sickly pallor, like skin soaked in water and left to turn ghostly white.
Once all three were seated in the living room, Huo Youqing remained silent for a long time.
“Are you feeling unwell?” A sudden question broke the heavy silence.
Huo Youqing lifted his lashes; the one speaking was Dai Yuan, who was staring at him with his usual innocent expression.
Huo Youqing thought to himself that he really didn’t feel well. Anyone would feel uncomfortable if several years’ worth of memories suddenly flooded their mind. He looked at the two brothers sitting on the sofa across from him. This was their first meeting, but after today, he would be deeply entangled in a nightmare.
***
“I haven’t adjusted to the time difference yet, so I’m feeling a bit off,” Huo Youqing said, neither warmly nor coldly.
Dai Yuan didn’t seem to notice his indifference. He looked at Huo Youqing with concern and offered several tips for overcoming jet lag.
Huo Youqing listened, but his gaze occasionally drifted to Dai Yixin, who sat next to Dai Yuan. Dai Yixin was just like he was in Huo Youqing’s memory—his hands clasped tightly on his knees, eyes lowered. Occasionally, their gazes would meet.
Whenever their eyes met, Dai Yixin would quickly look down.
After a while, Dai Yuan naturally noticed. His eyes shifted briefly to his brother, his expression carrying a hint of a smile, but when he looked back at Huo Youqing, his demeanor returned to normal, and he took the initiative to keep the conversation going.
Though they looked alike, Dai Yuan had a much more cheerful personality. When the two of them appeared together, even if people’s eyes were drawn to his brother at first, they would soon shift back to him.
But today, Dai Yuan hit a wall. No matter what he said, this boy named Huo Youqing remained uninterested and detached.
How strange. He had done his research beforehand.
Before Dai Yuan could figure out the reason, he heard Huo Youqing speak up: “Sitting here must be a bit boring, right? I have some DVDs in my room.” Huo Youqing turned to look at Dai Yixin, a faint smile on his lips. “Dai Yixin, why don’t you come up and pick one with me?”
The meaning behind his words was obvious. Even if Dai Yuan wanted to volunteer, he had no choice but to let Dai Yixin follow Huo Youqing upstairs.
Huo Youqing led him to his room. He did indeed have some DVDs there, but that wasn’t his real purpose.
As soon as they entered, he locked the door. To prevent the possibility of being overheard by Dai Yuan, he pulled Dai Yixin into the bathroom.
When his fingers touched the other’s arm, Huo Youqing could clearly feel Dai Yixin trembling slightly.
In the past, he might have thought Dai Yixin was scared. But now…
Heh.
Dai Yixin hadn’t said a word since uttering a quiet “okay” before coming upstairs. He followed Huo Youqing in silence, not even protesting when he was dragged into the bathroom.
It was strangely obedient.
Once they were inside the bathroom, Huo Youqing raised his head slightly to gaze at the tall young man in front of him. Dai Yixin wasn’t yet as unhinged as he would be in a few years. Or perhaps it was better to say that now, Dai Yixin’s madness had not yet fully emerged, and he could still control it.
“Your name sounds familiar,” Huo Youqing said slowly. “I received two letters while I was still in China. The sender was also named Dai Yixin. Isn’t that a coincidence?”
Though he was taller than Huo Youqing, Dai Yixin kept his head down. He didn’t deny it, nor did he confirm it. Instead, he pressed his lips together tightly, casting a cautious glance at Huo Youqing.
That look reminded Huo Youqing of the Dai Yixin from his newly acquired memories. In a few years, Dai Yixin wouldn’t look at him like this anymore. By then, his eyes would be direct, revealing his desires plainly.
And Huo Youqing would be the object of those desires—there would be no escape.
“You’re not mute, you can talk. Were those two letters from you?” Huo Youqing took a step forward, bringing them close.
Dai Yixin’s eyelashes fluttered quickly before he nodded.
Huo Youqing nodded to himself as well.
So Dai Yixin had set his sights on him long ago. That explained why Dai Yuan had treated him like a long-lost friend at their first meeting.
“I…” Dai Yixin began in a low voice, but Huo Youqing cut him off. “What did you write in those letters? Gong Lang took them before I had a chance to read them.”
As soon as he mentioned Gong Lang’s name, he saw a shift in Dai Yixin’s expression. The young man’s gaze fixed on Huo Youqing’s neck. The memory of what had driven him to flee the country came rushing back.
He had been scared out of the country by Gong Lang.
This time, he had left months earlier than in his memories.
And from the look on Dai Yixin’s face, it was clear he knew what had happened.
Huo Youqing didn’t cover his neck but instead took a step back. “If you don’t want to say, then forget it. Your brother must be waiting downstairs. We should go back.”
Before he could turn around, Dai Yixin spoke up.
“I can tell you.”
Huo Youqing stopped mid-turn, watching as a flush crept up the pale young man’s face, starting at the earlobes and rising all the way to his cheeks.
Dai Yixin’s amber eyes stayed fixed on him, while his lips, pressed white from being bitten, gradually turned a strange shade of red.
After what seemed like an eternity, Dai Yixin finally released his lips and began to recite the letter’s contents. “Hello, Huo Youqing. I’m Dai Yixin. I’m happy to be writing to you.”
The first few lines sounded completely normal, but then his tone shifted.
“I saw you playing with the others, and I was so jealous of them. Can you play with me too? I’ll treat you well. If you let me, I’d like to use my tongue to—”
“Enough!” Huo Youqing couldn’t stand to hear any more. He tried to interrupt, but it was too late. He still caught an even filthier phrase.
Sit…
Dai Yixin clamped his mouth shut again, but his eyes flicked toward Huo Youqing in a panic, as if afraid he would get angry.
Huo Youqing made no effort to hide his disgust. “I don’t like hearing things like that. If you want to be my friend, you can’t say or write things like that again. Can you do that?”
Dai Yixin didn’t answer immediately, his gaze never leaving Huo Youqing.
Seeing this, Huo Youqing took another step back. “If you can’t, then we can’t be friends. I’ll stay far away from you.”
The words had barely left his mouth when he saw the young man shake his head vigorously, his expression tinged with pitiful desperation. So, Huo Youqing stepped forward again and lightly brushed his hand over Dai Yixin’s hair.
“Actually, I really want to be friends with you too, but I prefer friends who are a bit more obedient and don’t cause me too much trouble. Gong Lang… no, there was a friend I had before. He did some things without my consent, things I really hated, and now I’m preparing to cut ties with him.”
His fingers brushed from the hair down to the ear, but only touched the ear lightly before pulling his hand back.
“Can you do that, Dai Yixin?” he asked seriously. “You seem much easier to get along with than your little brother, right?”
Since there was no avoiding it, why not take control of the situation?
Huo Youqing watched as the handsome young man before him swallowed nervously, displaying an expression that could only be described as confused and entranced. He let out a barely audible sound of agreement.
***
Not long after, Huo Youqing used the excuse of feeling unwell to send his guests away. He was indeed feeling uncomfortable, not just from the sudden influx of memories but also from the fact that his uncle and aunt, who had died in a car accident in those memories, were still alive now.
That night, Huo Youqing couldn’t hold back his tears at the dinner table. He had left the country in such a rush that his uncle and aunt already suspected that something had happened to him back home. Seeing him cry so miserably only confirmed their suspicions.
One of them tried to comfort him while the other rushed to the study to call home, determined to investigate what had upset their nephew.
In the end, Huo Youqing cried himself to sleep. He hadn’t cried that hard since middle school, and even in his sleep, he was restless, waking up early.
When he woke up, he found himself in someone else’s embrace.
The person holding him was face-to-face with him, so he recognized them instantly—
It was Dai Yixin from the alternate timeline, the one he had previously referred to as Dai Yuan.
Looking around the room, he remembered where he was. Without telling his cousin, he had followed Dai Yixin out to the high seas to watch orcas.
Watching orcas…
Dai Yixin knew he had no memories of the past eight years and had used one lie after another to deceive him, to get closer to him, even recreating things Dai Yuan had done, down to the smallest detail.
Everything about being lovers, the supposed habits, even the tattoos—it was all a lie.
The tattoo on Dai Yixin’s neck? He had gotten it himself.
Huo Youqing had been there that day when Dai Yixin had gotten the tattoo. At the time, Dai Yixin had him sitting on his lap, familiarly kissing his neck, saying, “Youyou, how about you get one too? Tattoo my name.”
His reply back then had been—
“Sure, but which name? Dai Yuan or Dai Yixin?”
A response full of sarcasm.
He had thought Dai Yixin would be angry, but instead, the man just laughed, his hand wandering over Huo Youqing’s waist as he said, “Either one is fine, but on second thought, let’s not. You’re so afraid of pain, you’d probably cry if it took too long. If you got a tattoo, you’d end up dehydrated from crying.”
As if expecting him to get angry, Dai Yixin tightened his embrace, holding him so close there was no space between them. “Besides, your skin doesn’t even have a single mole. If you suddenly had something like a tattoo, even if it was my name, I probably wouldn’t like it.”
***
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Without saying a word, Huo Youqing kicked the man holding him off the bed.
