Four years ago, in California.
As soon as Huo Youqing boarded the plane, he fell asleep. He had no interest in the destination, only dreading the man beside him. Being with Dai Yixin made every place feel like a prison. Even in his sleep, Huo Youqing couldn’t help but frown.
Half-asleep, he vaguely heard someone speaking in a soft voice, as if not wanting to wake him, but he still woke up. Unwilling to open his eyes, he kept them closed. Unfortunately, the other person noticed the change in his state and quickly leaned in, pressing warm lips to his face.
“Did you sleep well? Want to have a bite to eat? We still have over an hour before landing.” The voice whispered in his ear, accompanied by a gust of warm breath.
Disgusted, Huo Youqing turned his face away, unwilling to respond. But he couldn’t fall back asleep either. After a moment of trying to keep his eyes closed, he eventually opened them.
Through the opened window shade, he could see the vast, endless clouds outside, the light casting a breathtaking, almost shocking beauty. He had flown this route several times before, the last time being a vacation with his uncle’s family. He had no desire to revisit this place with Dai Yixin, but there was no way out.
Suddenly, his fingers were seized. Annoyed, Huo Youqing turned back, only to find the other person staring at him with a playful smile. “Is the view outside really that captivating?”
Contradicting his smiling face, Dai Yixin’s grip was painful.
Huo Youqing knew Dai Yixin was angry. From past experience, he understood that confronting him head-on at a time like this wasn’t a good idea. Yet, just the sight of that face made him want to spit venomous words.
After a moment of tension between his lips and teeth, Huo Youqing relented, dropping his gaze and muttering, “No.”
His submissive attitude earned him a hated kiss. This was Dai Yixin’s private jet, and none of the crew members were tactless enough to disturb them at this time. Everyone pretended not to hear a thing.
Huo Youqing was trapped in his seat, his pale wrist caught in someone else’s hand. He knew that struggling now would only make him look pathetic, so he shut his eyes tightly, trying to deceive himself.
It was just a kiss. He could endure it.
Before meeting Dai Yixin, Huo Youqing had never been in a relationship, but he knew the essence of love. It should be mutual, with every step—meeting, confessing, staying together—taken with the consent of both parties. That’s the only way love would taste sweet.
At one point, he was forced to sit through romantic films, where no matter how bad things were at the start, the main characters always ended up happily together, staring at each other with a desire that suggested they were ready to fall into bed at any moment.
He found it dull. So much so that when Dai Yixin, moved by the film, began rambling on beside him, Huo Youqing couldn’t help but mock him.
“This is a movie. It’s all fake. You’re not stupid enough to think I’ll fall in love with you like the characters do, right?”
Dai Yixin’s previously bright eyes dimmed, filled with deep disappointment as he gazed at Huo Youqing. But Huo Youqing, meeting that gaze, only felt the satisfaction of revenge as he stood up and slammed the door behind him.
Left alone, Dai Yixin rewound the movie to the scene where the protagonists declared their love. At first, he watched in silence. But by the fifth time, he began mimicking their words—just as the movie characters confessed, so did he.
But while the movie’s protagonist got a response, Dai Yixin’s confession was met with nothing.
In high school, Dai Yixin once passed by a movie theater that was showing the latest romance film. As a marketing gimmick, the theater offered special gifts to couples who came to watch it together.
The movie had been running for thirty-one days, and on the last day, Dai Yixin hurriedly got out of his car and walked into the cinema, asking if there were still tickets.
When the cashier asked how many tickets, he replied, “Two.”
Surprised, the cashier looked up from the computer and saw an extraordinarily handsome young man. With a knowing smile, the cashier joked, “Is your girlfriend not here yet?”
Dai Yixin immediately corrected him: “Not a girlfriend,” and then, lowering his voice, added, “He hasn’t agreed to be with me yet.”
The cashier, taken aback, wished him well, “I hope tonight will be a beautiful night and that your wish comes true.”
A beautiful night?
Dai Yixin never got to watch that movie. Fifteen minutes after sneaking out of the car, his father’s secretary called, relaying his father’s orders to return to the car immediately and not delay his upcoming lessons.
His day was packed with lessons. After school, he had to rush off to more classes.
For the first time, Dai Yixin tried to negotiate, “Can I speak to my father directly?”
A moment later, the phone was passed to his father.
Respectfully, Dai Yixin pleaded, “Father, it’s been a long time since I had a break. May I take two hours off today? Just two hours.”
His father’s voice was cold, “I expect not to repeat myself.”
The call ended.
Dai Yixin lingered outside the cinema for a while before finally leaving with two tickets in hand. He knew the film was being shown simultaneously in China and abroad, and that night, Huo Youqing would be watching it with Gong Lang.
Years later, he finally sat beside Huo Youqing to watch that movie. Smelling the fragrance wafting from Huo Youqing, it felt as if he had been the one watching the movie with him that night. It almost made him forget the punishment he received that evening—trapped in a pitch-black basement, clutching bloody movie tickets, his eyes wide open, staring into the dark corner.
There was a time difference between China and the U.S., and by now, Huo Youqing was probably on his way to the cinema.
After the movie ended, Dai Yixin, sitting on the sofa, took out a velvet box from his pocket. Inside was the gift that the cinema had offered as a gimmick back then—he had paid a hefty price to buy it back from someone else. It was just a pair of small keychains.
***
A few minutes later, Huo Youqing, unable to bear it, shoved the other person away and turned his face, feeling numb on his tongue.
“Enough! Haven’t you had enough?” he asked, breathing heavily, disgusted by the weakness in his own voice.
The more uncomfortable he became, the more shameless Dai Yixin grew. After planting a few more kisses, he finally let go. “Alright, don’t be mad. Have something to eat first, okay?”
The overly sweet tone, as if coaxing a lover, only earned an eye roll, which made Dai Yixin’s smile even more pronounced.
Their trip was meant to be a getaway, though Huo Youqing doubted any time spent with Dai Yixin could really help him unwind. Still, knowing that in three days, he would finally see a musical he had long awaited brought him a small amount of joy.
On the first day in California, Huo Youqing slept the entire day.
The next day, they got into Dai Yixin’s supercar and sped along the city ring road. The wind was strong, and the sun was blazing. Halfway through the drive, his hat blew off, and he angrily snapped at Dai Yixin, “Did you follow some stupid travel guide online again? You’re insane!”
His temper only made Dai Yixin laugh, so Huo Youqing didn’t bother responding further. However, when they got out of the car and he saw his sunburned cheeks in the rearview mirror, he couldn’t help gritting his teeth in frustration.
That evening, they stayed in a villa near a forest park. Perhaps because of its proximity to the park, an unexpected visitor arrived during dinner—a squirrel.
Huo Youqing had never been this close to a wild animal before. Staring through the glass door, he tried to feed it in a friendly manner, but the squirrel got scared and ran off.
“Oh, it’s gone,” he said regretfully. Suddenly, another voice came from behind him, “You could leave some food outside. It might come back and eat it while we’re asleep.”
Turning around, Huo Youqing asked skeptically, “Really?”
“I’m not sure, but you can try,” Dai Yixin replied, pointing at Huo Youqing’s plate. “But finish your dinner first.”
Skeptical, Huo Youqing placed some food by the door. But he kept thinking about the squirrel, getting up every now and then to check if the food had been touched. After doing this several times, the man lying next to him couldn’t stay still any longer.
Grabbing Huo Youqing by the wrist, Dai Yixin pulled him back down. Huo Youqing broke into a sweat from the struggle, and to his annoyance, Dai Yixin seemed to find his sunburned cheeks amusing, placing kisses on them, even sucking, which hurt so much that tears welled up in Huo Youqing’s eyes.
He wasn’t the type to just endure pain quietly. After being hurt, he fought back, landing several slaps on Dai Yixin and sarcastically asking, “Did you bring any ointment? It’s probably going to swell tomorrow.”
Dai Yixin responded with even more intense kisses.
After taking another shower, Huo Youqing awkwardly returned to the door. He didn’t expect much—he just wanted to check one last time before bed. To his surprise, the food he had left out was mostly gone. Excited, he wanted to share the news, but when he saw that Dai Yixin was the only one around, the words died in his throat.
Maybe he hadn’t hit him hard enough. Dai Yixin’s face wasn’t swollen, though there were faint handprints visible. While everyone around him walked on eggshells at the sight of Dai Yixin’s face, Dai Yixin himself seemed completely unfazed, not even bothering to cover it up. He even held Huo Youqing’s hand as they went backstage at the theater, greeting the actors one by one.
Neither of them took any photos together. Dai Yixin never took photos with others, and Huo Youqing was too embarrassed because his face had started peeling from the sunburn.
Huo Youqing already knew how powerful Dai Yixin had become, and how wealth could move mountains. But he was still stunned when he realized that they were the only audience members at tonight’s musical.
They sat in the best VIP room, where floor-to-ceiling windows provided a full view of the stage. The room was also equipped with high-definition screens, where close-up shots showed even the fine lines on the actors’ faces.
After hesitating for a long time, Huo Youqing finally turned to the person next to him and said, “Thank you.” Dai Yixin looked back at him, his amber eyes in the dimmed light resembling a predator’s. He brushed his slender fingers across his own lips, smiling faintly. “You can save that ‘thank you’ for later.”
The floor-to-ceiling windows shook with the impact, and Huo Youqing’s face was covered in tears as he angrily asked, “Why?”
Dai Yixin bit down on his earlobe, hard enough that it felt like he might tear it off. “You know why.”
Forced to look at the stage, Huo Youqing trembled. He didn’t know if the actors could see him. Even if they couldn’t, he felt like there was nowhere to hide. He had fallen in love with musicals because his mother had been a musical theater actress. His father had fallen in love with her during one of her performances.
He knew why. He had secretly sold Dai Yixin’s company documents to others—the price of his betrayal was his own freedom.
So, he had been caught. Tears welled up as Huo Youqing smiled bitterly at his own foolishness. Dai Yixin had set the passwords for all his important things to Huo Youqing’s birthday, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t been keeping an eye on him.
He had retaliated against Dai Yixin, and now Dai Yixin was retaliating against him.
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