After saying that, Huo Youqing got up and left the bathroom. Left alone, Dai Yuan slowly stretched his limbs. He wiped his face and stared at the cheongsam and wig on him, his expression unreadable. He held the cheongsam in his hand for a long time. The smooth silk material had magnolia blossom buttons at the collar.
Because his hands and feet had been bound for so long, it took Dai Yuan quite some time to put on the cheongsam. His brows were furrowed the entire time. After securing the wig on his head, he finally pulled his lips into a smile.
The shoes on his feet didn’t match the outfit, so he kicked them off and walked barefoot out of the bathroom.
He had expected to be greeted with mocking eyes or venomous comments from Huo Youqing, but there was nothing. The windows were wide open, and Huo Youqing was sitting on the bed, a cigarette between his slender, pale fingers. He wasn’t paying any attention to the sound from the bathroom, his cold eyes merely staring off into the distance, occasionally taking a puff of the cigarette.
Dai Yuan could tell in an instant that Huo Youqing didn’t know how to smoke. He stood there for a moment, watching this scene, and only when Huo Youqing coughed from inhaling too deeply did he walk over.
The sound of Dai Yuan approaching caught Huo Youqing’s attention, but his reaction was minimal. Huo Youqing merely glanced at him before looking away again.
Dai Yuan had never been ignored like this in his life. Instead of anger, he smiled, deliberately mimicking a woman’s mannerisms, swaying his hips as he walked over to Huo Youqing. He had intended to sit down next to him on the bed, but before he could, he heard Huo Youqing’s cold voice, “Don’t sit next to me.”
Dai Yuan paused, glancing at the carpet beneath him, and then gracefully sat down on the floor instead. As he sat, he even smoothed the fabric from his waist to his hips, as if worried about revealing too much.
Now, he was sitting at Huo Youqing’s feet.
Huo Youqing continued smoking, the cigarette’s red glow flickering in the room’s dim light. Dai Yuan tilted his head up. “If you don’t know how to smoke, why do it?”
“No one is born knowing how to smoke.”
Dai Yuan hadn’t expected Huo Youqing to answer him, and when he heard the reply, he instinctively straightened his back. His amber eyes flickered, darting between Huo Youqing’s face and his hands.
His gaze darkened, and he spoke again. “Why don’t you look at me?”
It was a simple, obvious attempt at testing him, but Huo Youqing did turn to look.
He gazed seriously at Dai Yuan’s face for a few moments. Even though it was beautiful, it was still undeniably male. Without makeup, the masculine sharpness in his features was apparent, and his frame gave him a strange, mismatched beauty.
Looking at this face inevitably reminded Huo Youqing of another person—Dai Yixin, who had also worn a dress in front of him. To be precise, a wedding dress. That day, Dai Yixin had scared him terribly.
Lost in thought, Huo Youqing didn’t realize that Dai Yuan had taken the cigarette from his hand. Dai Yuan’s smoking was clearly much more practiced. He wrapped his lips around the filter where Huo Youqing had just bitten down, and in the haze of smoke, his gaze was both casual and filled with an obvious allure and provocation.
Huo Youqing’s brows furrowed, and his gaze quickly turned from indifferent to one of disgust. Dai Yuan wasn’t blind or stupid. His chest tightened, but outwardly, his smile only became more dazzling. Despite not wearing makeup, the expression made his face even more beautiful.
He carefully leaned closer to Huo Youqing, inching toward his leg. He was just two or three centimeters away when Huo Youqing shifted his left leg inward, avoiding contact. His expression once again returned to its usual indifference.
Dai Yuan wasn’t discouraged. With one hand holding the cigarette, he placed the other on the bed, using the back of his hand to prop up his chin.
Before he could say anything, Huo Youqing’s voice, laced with a hint of disgust, said, “Just leave.”
Dai Yuan extended his hand in front of Huo Youqing, showing the deep marks on his wrist. “I’m hurt like this, and you’re just kicking me out. Isn’t that a bit too much?”
Huo Youqing remained silent.
Dai Yuan was quiet for a few seconds too, then, boldly, he blew a puff of smoke right in Huo Youqing’s face. He did it deliberately to provoke him, and it half worked. Huo Youqing snatched the cigarette from his hand, his gesture indicating he might press it against Dai Yuan’s face. But when the burning tip neared Dai Yuan’s skin, it stopped.
Dai Yuan noticed Huo Youqing’s fingers were gripping the spot where his own lips had touched the cigarette. Raising an eyebrow, he teased, “Thinking of burning my face?”
Huo Youqing stared coldly at him. Meanwhile, a strange emotion welled up inside Dai Yuan, and he felt an urgent need to do something at this moment, even if it meant causing pain. He seized Huo Youqing’s wrist and yanked it toward his face.
The cigarette butt pressed against the skin just below the corner of his eye. If Huo Youqing hadn’t shifted his fingers slightly, it would’ve burned Dai Yuan’s eyeball.
The searing pain rose from his skin, traveling through his nervous system. He felt it almost immediately, but still, Dai Yuan held tightly onto Huo Youqing’s wrist.
“I really hate how you look at this face of mine and think of my brother,” Dai Yuan said.
He had realized the reason for Huo Youqing’s distraction long ago.
Huo Youqing tugged at his wrist but couldn’t break free, so he had to speak. “If you want to burn your own face, you can do it yourself. Just let go of my hand.”
Upon hearing this, Dai Yuan slowly released his grip. The moment he did, Huo Youqing completely lost interest in smoking and tossed the already extinguished cigarette into the ashtray.
***
For the next two or three days, the two of them oddly coexisted peacefully in the suite. Dai Yuan wore a variety of cheongsams he had found, and he even discovered a pair of high heels in the wardrobe. They were a size too small, and although he squeezed into them, he quickly found them uncomfortable and kicked them off, heading to the full-length mirror to stand.
In the past few days, the number of words Huo Youqing exchanged with him could be counted on one hand. Huo Youqing hadn’t locked him in the room or tied him up. Dai Yuan could even use the hotel phone to contact the outside world.
When he made calls, Huo Youqing would sit on the sofa.
After finishing a call, Dai Yuan took the initiative to explain, “I need to contact someone to help me ask for leave from school, and I should also tell my family to avoid any misunderstanding that I’ve been kidnapped.”
Huo Youqing tilted his head slightly, though Dai Yuan couldn’t tell if he was really paying attention. He continued, “You know, my family is wealthy, so they have to worry about whether there will be kidnappers who want money over lives.”
Although Dai Yuan stayed in the hotel suite all day, Huo Youqing didn’t. He would go out during the day without telling Dai Yuan where he was going.
In fact, during those two or three days, Dai Yuan had been pushed out a few times. The last time, he had been shoved to the door, and it was only because he stubbornly held onto the doorknob that he managed to squeeze back into the room, complaining, “My injuries aren’t healed yet—fine, I won’t sneak onto the bed at night. Is that okay?”
That night, Dai Yuan honestly laid on the sofa. It was uncomfortable to sleep on the sofa, and he had no desire to sleep, so he quietly sat up and looked at the person sleeping on the bed.
Huo Youqing slept incredibly soundly, without making a single sound or changing position. He woke up the same way he had lain down.
Dai Yuan reached up to touch the injury on his face. The burn from a few days ago was healing quickly, probably due to his youth, but he deliberately hadn’t applied any medicine, knowing the wound would likely leave a permanent scar.
He touched the scabbed area, pressing his fingers slightly to peel off the scab.
Though he was sleepless, his thoughts were clearer than ever—he wanted Huo Youqing, and it had nothing to do with his brother.
Realizing this, Dai Yuan’s mood lifted. He blew away the scab piece on his fingertip toward Huo Youqing’s direction and laid down contentedly.
His father valuing his brother had its advantages; at least for a short time, his brother wouldn’t be able to interrupt his plans. The person beside Huo Youqing now was him.
The next day, Dai Yuan sat in the bathroom, using a razor to shave his leg hair. After shaving, the cheongsam fit him even better. While shaving, he thought of Huo Youqing.
He was as pale as a pearl. Dai Yuan remembered seeing Huo Youqing in a bathrobe, his clean calves exposed—not like his own.
Thinking of this, Dai Yuan quickened his shaving, but he didn’t expect Huo Youqing to come back early today and head straight to the washroom to wash his hands.
When Huo Youqing saw Dai Yuan shaving his leg hair, he was first taken aback, then looked at him with disgust, as if he had seen a pervert. He didn’t even wash his hands and left in a hurry.
Dai Yuan was stunned for two seconds, his brain not processing the situation quickly enough before he tossed the razor aside and chased after him. He caught up with Huo Youqing at the door and blocked his attempt to leave. “Don’t go!”
His ears were a bit red.
Huo Youqing seemed unwilling to touch him, pulling his hand back and looking at him coldly.
Dai Yuan pressed against the cold door, trying to explain his actions. “I only have women’s clothes to wear, and shaving my legs makes me look better.”
Seeing that Huo Youqing didn’t respond, his tone unexpectedly took on a pleading note. “Don’t go. If you don’t like it, I won’t shave anymore.”
He had only shaved one leg.
His plea was met with sarcastic laughter. “Are you addicted to dressing as a woman? What position do you think you’re in to say that to me? If you don’t want to leave, fine. I’ll let you have this room, and I’ll just go.”
After saying this, Huo Youqing turned to pack a suitcase—not the one that had confined Dai Yuan but a new one.
Watching Huo Youqing pack, Dai Yuan’s lips trembled as he rushed over.
He forcefully grabbed Huo Youqing’s arm. “I don’t agree. Huo Youqing, did you hear me? I don’t agree to you leaving. Who do you think you are to treat me however you want? I made a mistake last time, but you retaliated. Did I say anything? You made me wear women’s clothes, and I did it. Why do you always have to be so cold toward me? You said you don’t like my brother!”
“Let go.”
“I won’t let go. You have to explain clearly to me how you really—see me.” The last words were softer, but his grip tightened. His injuries had mostly healed. Last time, he had been caught off guard, plus Huo Youqing had an electric baton. If he were to fight Huo Youqing now, he was sure he would win.
Huo Youqing turned to look at him, his eyes still filled with sarcasm and an undisguised malice. “Do you have a masochistic tendency? Don’t tell me that with me treating you this way, you actually like me.”
“I…” Dai Yuan began to speak but then faltered, his ears still flushed.
Huo Youqing noticed the color in Dai Yuan’s ears and continued, “You asked me how I see you, so let me tell you: you’re truly worthless. Your family has not only produced madmen but also people as despicable as you. I thought that if you wet yourself in front of me, you might have a shred of shame. Now it seems you don’t have any. I’m genuinely curious about how your father raised you two brothers.”
Dai Yuan’s eyes widened in disbelief. He hadn’t expected Huo Youqing to say such vicious words. His expression turned blank with shock, his face reddening with embarrassment, and after a few seconds, his eyes turned red.
However, a minute later, he laughed. “What’s the big deal about wetting myself? Next time, I’ll do it again, but inside you.”
A fist came flying toward his face with a forceful punch.
Dai Yuan neither dodged nor resisted, letting Huo Youqing hit him. It wasn’t until he realized that his teeth might loosen if the beating continued that he pulled Huo Youqing forcefully, dragging him down to the ground with him.
“I’m not going to lie to you anymore. I do like you, and I’m willing to let you use me. So, tell me, what do you want me to do for you?”
Dai Yuan’s lips were right by Huo Youqing’s ear, the smell of blood filling the other’s nose.
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