Chapter 34.2

Once they returned home, Luo Yi wrapped an ice pack together with some anti-swelling medicine for Wen Xiaohui to apply on his face. As Wen Xiaohui lay on the bed listening to music, his sense of perception became sharper after winding down. He was humming a song when he changed the tune and started wailing.

Luo Yi’s hand gently caressed Wen Xiaohui’s forehead. "Does it still hurt a lot?"

"No. It's just a bit too cold."

"You don’t have to apply it constantly." Luo Yi brushed Wen Xiaohui’s hand away and felt his cheek. The expression in Luo Yi’s eyes clearly showed his concern and distress, making Wen Xiaohui feel very moved.

"It’s not a big deal, it’ll be okay in a few days. It’s late, you should go shower."

"Yeah." Luo Yi cupped Wen Xiaohui’s cheek with his hand for a little while, and afterwards he went for a shower.

Wen Xiaohui no longer wanted to apply the ice pack anymore, so he got up to get a drink of water. Due to everything that had happened, he was so absentminded when he poured himself a cup of hot water that he gulped it straight into his mouth without realising how hot it would be. He didn’t have much of a reaction in the instant that the hot water came into contact with his frozen cheek, but soon the pain inside his mouth from being scalded, spread quickly. He cried out and spat all the water out of his mouth.

The door of the bathroom opened and Luo Yi rushed out with his bare body that was covered in water. "What’s up, Xiaohui-ge?"

Wen Xiaohui was gripping the table as he fanned his mouth. When he looked up, he saw a slender but well-built, and pale body appear in front of his eyes. His eyes widened so much that they were about to pop out, especially when he saw the well-endowed package1 between Luo Yi’s legs. Wen Xiaohui’s cheeks immediately burned, and his legs started to feel weak before stumbling onto his knees. He was too frightened to look up.

Luo Yi guessed that Wen Xiaohui had been scalded, and he anxiously went to help Wen Xiaohui up. "What’s wrong, Xiaohui-ge?"

"I-I’m fine, s-scalded my mouth." Xiaohui accidentally grabbed onto Luo Yi’s dripping wet arm and he recoiled as if he’d been electrocuted. "Y-your, c-clothes!"

Luo Yi turned a deaf ear and instead asked, "Are you really okay?"

"I'm really fine. Put your clothes on quickly."

Luo Yi burst out laughing.

Wen Xiaohui felt angry out of embarrassment. "Why the hell are you laughing?! I was born gay, so you should get dressed2."

Luo Yi turned around to put his clothes on. Wen Xiaohui clenched his fists as he struggled with his inner turmoil, before succumbing and quietly lifting his head. His eyes moved up and he saw a pair of long, straight, and muscular legs. Next, he was vaguely able to make out the dangling appendage between Luo Yi’s legs, even though he had his back towards him.

An immeasurable number of curses3 rushed through Wen Xiaohui’s brain. Oh fuck, he’s still underage!

His eyes couldn’t help but look further up, but then his whole body froze all of a sudden.

Luo Yi’s back had a tattoo of a strange beast, which was about the size of a person’s head and it took up almost all of his left shoulder. After a close inspection, he realised that the tattoo wasn’t flush and seemed to be inked on top of scar tissue, which made the tattoo look even more savage and terrifying. As well as that, the skin on his back was pitted and had raised scars.

Wen Xiaohui felt like his brain was buzzing, and his heart started to beat like a drum. Once, then once more. It was beating violently. They had been living together for a year, but he’d never seen Luo Yi’s bare back. He had told Luo Yi off before for wearing a vest underneath his shirt during summer, but he never imagined that Luo Yi’s back was hiding such a…

Luo Yi suddenly froze.

Wen Xiaohui also paused, and he was so anxious that his tongue felt dry. He didn’t even dare to take a deep breath. It was as if he’d stumbled upon a secret that he shouldn’t have known about.

Luo Yi turned around slowly to face him, his profound eyes still glistened in the hazy light and he smiled faintly. "You peeked."

Wen Xiaohui’s whole body felt a sudden chill. There was clearly nothing out of the ordinary with Luo Yi’s smile, but there was a perceptible hint of coldness in his eyes. Even the curvature of his lips and his tone of voice, which contained a hint of mockery, made Wen Xiaohui feel terrified. He was close to shivering as he said, "I’m sorry."

Luo Yi picked up his bathrobe and he draped it over his body. Afterwards, he walked towards the jelly-legged Wen Xiaohui to help him sit down on the bed. He said in a gentle voice, "Did I frighten you?"

Wen Xiaohui nodded and then quickly replaced it with a shake of his head. He felt bad about feeling scared. Why was he scared of Luo Yi? How upsetting it must be for him.

Luo Yi held Wen Xiaohui’s hand as he said in a husky voice, "I didn’t want to tell you about it because I was worried about scaring you."

"Have you been injured in the past?"

Luo Yi nodded. "Burns."

"How did it happen?"

"It was… a car accident."

"Is that why you’re scared of cars?"

Luo Yi said as he smiled, "I'm not scared of cars, I just think there’s no point driving if you don’t need to."

"How did the car accident happen?"

"I've forgotten, I was too young at the time."

"The tattoo..."

"That person thought that the scar tissue looked bad, so the tattoo covers it up."

Wen Xiaohui asked in an almost robotic manner, "What’s the tattoo?"

"It’s Qiongqi4 - a savage, ancient beast that was believed to be the embodiment of evil.

Wen Xiaohui furrowed his eyebrows. "Why the heck did they tattoo this sort of thing on you?!" What kind of father would mark his own son with such a savage beast? Normally, when people get tattoos, they’d pick auspicious beasts like the qilin5 or the phoenix.

Luo Yi didn’t seem to mind. "It’s probably because he wanted me to be fearsome. In any case, I normally can’t see it and other people can’t see it either. It’s not a big deal."

Wen Xiaohui couldn’t help but hug Luo Yi around the head, but he couldn’t stop himself from trembling.

Luo Yi returned the hug and he chuckled, "What’s the matter?"

"That person doesn’t deserve to be a father," said Wen Xiaohui.

There was a frosty glint in Luo Yi’s eyes, and he echoed, "That’s true."

"I’m not scared, this tattoo looks quite cool." Wen Xiaohui’s hand traced its way to Luo Yi’s back and he used his palm to cover the tattoo.

Luo Yi’s body froze momentarily. In addition to the tattoo, thick skin had grown over this part of his body that had been burnt, which meant that his nerves had already lost about 60-70% of their sensations. However, at this moment, he could clearly feel the warmth radiating from the middle of Wen Xiaohui’s palm through his ugly scar tissue, permeating his whole body. He subconsciously tightened his embrace to hug the slender body in his arms more tightly.

Wen Xiaohui struggled to sleep again that night. During this period, he’d suffered a lot from insomnia, but he couldn’t help it because there was too much on his mind. The reason for his insomnia tonight was obviously due to his accidental discovery of the secret on Luo Yi’s back. What kept him up was the possibility that Luo Yi still had many other secrets that he didn’t know about.

He once thought that Luo Yi was very easy to characterise - he was sunny, considerate and intelligent; the perfect youth who could still treat others with gentleness despite his lonely childhood. But the more time he spent with him, the more he realised that he only had a superficial understanding of Luo Yi. Luo Yi’s background, his family, his past, his character, and his way of thinking were all different from what he’d expected. It refreshed his understanding of Luo Yi to the extent that he doubted both his own judgement and Luo Yi as a person. He found this kind of doubt excruciating because he already treated Luo Yi as a part of his family, and he didn’t want to distrust his family. Although he’d confirmed that Luo Yi wasn’t as pure and kind as he’d first thought, Luo Yi’s treatment of him had always been faultless. This contradiction left him feeling perplexed; he felt like he wanted to split his head open, and he had no clue how he should react to Luo Yi.

Was he wrong from the beginning? It all started from the moment he'd agreed to look after Luo Yi. Was it wrong? He’d never carefully considered the implications of being someone’s guardian. What did it even mean?

—--------------------------

In the period that Wen Xiaohui waited for the swelling of his face to settle down, he spent half of his time at Xiao Ai’s house, letting Luo Yi think that he’d already gone home. He didn’t want to admit that he was hiding from Luo Yi, so he found an excuse for himself - he needed to keep Xiao Ai company.

During that time, Li Shuo phoned him to tell him that he’d sorted the matter with Xiao Ai’s ex-boyfriend by compensating him for his medical fees. The other party was also in the wrong and in future, they should never see each other again6.

Wen Xiaohui felt bad for bothering Li Shuo, but at the same time, he began to have a more positive impression of him. He was a responsible and mature man, who seemed popular no matter where he went; not to mention how absolutely perfect he was. Furthermore, Li Shuo took the initiative to ask Wen Xiaohui out for dinner at the weekend. Clearly, Wen Xiaohui had been looking forward to this for a long time; he somehow felt disinterested, but he still agreed to the date.

Business was flourishing after Luo Rui’s patisserie opened. Luo Rui was so busy that his head was spinning and he ignored Wen Xiaohui for a few days. Wen Xiaohui began to feel dejected, eventually he couldn’t take it anymore and he stormed into the bakery.

Luo Rui was in the middle of baking cakes, and he didn’t have any spare time to spend with him. He could only drag Wen Xiaohui to the kitchen, working while chatting to him. "Ah, don’t stand there! You’re in the way!"

Wen Xiaohui said angrily, "What kind of wife are you? Shouldn’t you listen to your husband’s ramblings?"

Luo Rui rolled his eyes at him. "You speak and I’ll listen."

Wen Xiaohui blurted out the secret of Luo Yi’s back to Luo Rui.

"Oh my god, that’s so sad." Luo Rui was overflowing with the compassion of the Virgin Mary. "How old was he when he had the car accident? He’s so pitiful."

"He said that he was really young, so I didn’t ask." Wen Xiaohui’s fingers fidgeted. "In my opinion, his biological father is a very dangerous person."

"Didn’t you think that ages ago?"

"Yeah, but this feeling’s becoming stronger."

"Don’t worry, even a vicious tiger won’t eat its own cubs7."

Wen Xiaohui shook his head. "Do you know what’s the most depressing thing?"

"What?"

"I’ve discovered that my understanding of Luo Yi is just one-sided; I don’t understand him at all."

Luo Rui paused his work and stared at him. "I think the same as you."

"What did you figure out?"

"I'm not certain."

"Spit it out." Wen Xiaohui was aware that Luo Rui wasn’t very intelligent, but he was sensitive and had great attention to detail. In short, he had great intuition. Sometimes, Luo Yi was able to sense what was happening when things didn’t make sense, and he was right in most cases.

Luo Rui said, "I’m going to say it, don’t be scared."

"Just say it, what else could scare me at this point."

"I think Luo Yi likes you."

Wen Xiaohui gave him a vicious stare.

"Why the hell are you glaring at me!" Luo Rui covered Wen Xiaohui’s eyes, coating his face with flour. "Put that look away - it’s so scary and ugly."

Wen Xiaohui swatted his hand away, and he said as he wiped his face. "Stop talking nonsense."

"I didn't talk nonsense. I genuinely think that Luo Yi likes you - the way that he looks at you and also, I think that he was jealous, judging from his reaction when you mentioned Li Shuo. Xiaohui, unless you’re blind, I can’t believe you don’t sense anything at all."

Wen Xiaohui let out a long sigh. "Actually, I had a slight inkling too. He acted quite ambiguously during Chinese New Year, but I mistakenly thought it was due to him being too reliant on me. It’s mainly because I was too scared to seek confirmation. My greatest fear is what you mentioned before."

"Why would you be scared?" Luo Rui said in confusion, "Aren’t you the most daring, Xiaohui? The one who doesn’t care what others think. It’s not like you’re related by blood. He treats you so well, so why can’t be a potential suitor?"

"I can't let my jie down!" Wen Xiaohui replied irritably, "I can’t turn Luo Yi gay!"

"What are you talking about?! There’s no such thing as turning someone gay, or in other words, that there’s no way you can bend someone who is straight. If someone is gay, they’ll be gay no matter what you do. It’s not your fault if Luo Yi likes you. Why do you feel guilty?"

"That’s easy for you to say. You’re not me, you don’t understand. My jie left Luo Yi in my care - she entrusted me with her orphaned son and it’s my fault that he’s gay. How could I face her in future8?"

Luo Rui sighed and answered, "Xiaohui, I really want to repeat all those words that you said to me at the beginning. Why do you even insist on following social norms? You don’t give a damn what others think. Besides, as long as Luo Yi is happy, it doesn't count as letting your jie down. The most important thing is whether you like him or not."

Wen Xiaohui felt as if every word from Luo Rui was like an arrow piercing through his brain, transforming it into a hornets’ nest."

Luo Yi liked him? Did he like Luo Yi?

He didn’t know the answer to the first question, but both he and Luo Rui suspected it was true. The second question… He also had no clue. There were quite a few times when he was tempted by Luo Yi; and he'd even had unspeakable fantasies about Luo Yi on a few occasions. But he thought it was part of his instinctive behaviours as a man, and that it didn’t mean anything. From the beginning until now, he’d always classified Luo Yi in the ‘not for consideration’ subcategory, forcing himself to disregard him. Was he supposed to pull him out of this subcategory now? He felt completely lost.

Luo Rui stroked Wen Xiaohui’s face. "There’s no rush to come up with an answer. You should let nature take its course when it comes to these sorts of things, whether you like it or not. You still have Li Shuo as well, maybe you’ll fall for him."

"Mn. Yeah, Li Shuo." Li Shuo was much more suitable - he was a mature and steadfast person.

"I'm only telling you this so you can pay more attention. If you’re really, really sure that you and Luo Yi won’t have any further developments, then you should take precautions and maintain a proper distance between you and him."

Wen Xiaohui nodded in dismay.

Luo Rui chuckled, "Why the hell are you so depressed? You’ve got the best of both worlds, being romantically linked with a mature, elite and handsome CEO and a gentle, genius shota9. I’d like to worry about this kind of stuff as well."

Wen Xiaohui burst out laughing.

Luo Rui gave him a light kiss. "My baby will definitely have the best romance."

Wen Xiaohui kissed him back. "You too, babe."