INICIAR SESIÓNThe heavy rain had cleared by morning, leaving the village air fresh, cool, and thick with the scent of damp earth and petrichor. Soft sunlight broke through the lingering gray clouds, casting long, golden reflections across the muddy puddles scattered along the lane.Inside his bedroom, Lu Chen sat on the edge of his narrow bed, staring blankly down at his hands.His fingertips still tingled with the ghost of a thrill—a terrifying, hot pulse that replayed every time he closed his eyes. The memory of Gu Yan's firm grip guiding his hand, the staggering, solid heat beneath his palm, and the breathless, possessive intensity of that rain-soaked kiss wouldn't leave him.What am I doing? Lu Chen buried his face in his hands, letting out a muffled groan. He's blackmailed me into kissing him every day... so why am I not actually running away? Why does my body act like it's been waiting for this?He couldn't deny it anymore. It wasn't just physical confusion or the lingering fragments of that
Later that evening, the heavy summer rain beat down relentlessly against the roof of the neighbors' rustic cottage, filling the quiet interior with the soothing, steady rhythm of falling water.Inside the dimly lit living room, the atmosphere was thick with unspoken tension.Xie Huai sat on the edge of the low wooden sofa, a bottle of cold beer resting between his massive hands as he stared silently at the wooden floorboards.The bedroom door clicked open, and Gu Yan stepped out, shedding his wet linen shirt and tossing it casually over a wooden chair. He wore only a pair of thin trousers, his pale chest gleaming under the warm yellow lamplight. Without a word of warning, Gu Yan walked straight over to the sofa, swung his long leg over, and straddled Xie Huai's lap, sitting heavily across the large man's broad thighs.Xie Huai didn't even flinch, merely lifting his dark, intense eyes to glare at the arrogant professor hovering over him. "What the hell are you doing?"Gu Yan leaned for
Two days passed after the shared kiss, and the quiet arrangement between Lu Chen and Gu Yan continued under a veil of high tension.Lu Chen had tried his best to act normal around Xie Huai during the day. Whenever the large, broad-shouldered neighbor stopped by the fence to check on his health or hand him fresh fruit from town, Lu Chen would force a polite smile and keep his distance—all while his heart beat wildly, replaying the gravelly voice from his dream and the gentle kiss he had stolen while Xie Huai was sleeping under the banyan tree.Xie Huai remained his usual quiet, protective self, blissfully unaware of the secret contract bound between his cottage partner and the boy he loved.By Saturday afternoon, the sky grew dark with rolling storm clouds, trapping the heat close to the ground. A heavy, humid breeze rustled the cornfields as the village prepared for an oncoming downpour.Lu Chen was out in the side yard, frantically gathering dry laundry off the clothesline before the
The night air was cool, but Lu Chen felt as though he were standing over an open flame."I—I said it's nothing!" Lu Chen hissed, his voice cracking into an embarrassing squeak as he frantically clamped his arms over the plastic basin, trying to block their view of his soaked, ruined underwear. "I just... I spilled a whole glass of water on my clothes while drinking in bed! That's all!"Gu Yan's dark eyes flickered with a quiet, razor-sharp amusement. He took another slow, lazy drag of his cigarette, the tip glowing faint orange against his pale, porcelain features, before flicking the ash onto the dirt. He knew exactly what a young man washing his shorts at two in the morning meant. But instead of exposing him in front of Xie Huai, Gu Yan merely slanted a teasing, secretive look down at Lu Chen's flaming red face."Spilled water, was it?" Gu Yan purred softly, a dark, velvet thread of blackmail laced in his tone that made Lu Chen's stomach do a nervous backflip. "How terribly careless
The summer night brought no relief from the stifling heat. Outside, crickets chirped a relentless rhythm in the tall grass, while inside the small bedroom, the air hung thick and motionless.Lu Chen tossed violently on his narrow bed. The thin cotton sheets were twisted around his waist, damp with sweat. His chest rose and fell in shallow, rapid breaths as his mind drifted far away from the quiet countryside, sinking deep into the suffocating fog of a dream.Except... this didn't feel like a dream at all.In his sleep, the rough wooden walls of his mother's cottage vanished, replaced by the cool expanse of a high-rise penthouse bedroom. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows framed a sprawling city skyline glittering like a bed of diamonds beneath a midnight sky. Soft, expensive silk sheets cooled his bare skin, smelling faintly of rich amber and dark cedar.He was pinned softly between two heavy, familiar bodies.To his right, Xie Huai's broad, iron-hard chest pressed firmly against his back
Two days had passed since the washhouse incident, and Lu Chen was still thoroughly traumatized. Every time he looked at the neighboring plot, his brain unhelpfully replayed vivid, high-definition images of broad shoulders, gleaming wet skin, and absurdly oversized anatomy.He had spent forty-eight hours actively dodging both men, hiding inside whenever he heard a tractor engine or a smooth, teasing voice.By Thursday afternoon, the summer heat had settled over the village in a heavy, suffocating blanket. Mama Lu had gone into town with Auntie Mei to negotiate vegetable prices, leaving the house completely silent. Bored and restless, Lu Chen wandered out to the back boundary fence to borrow a heavy pair of shears his mother had left near the tool shed.As he reached the shade of the massive banyan tree that stretched across both properties, he paused.Stretched out on a long wooden bench beneath the cool canopy of leaves was Xie Huai. The large man was fast asleep, one broad arm thrown
They arrived at Zhao Kai’s mansion just as the afternoon sun dipped low enough to cast long shadows across the gated driveway. The house loomed ahead of them, massive and unapologetically extravagant, the kind of place that did not try to be subtle about its wealth. Tall iron gates slid open silent
It was a scorching, humid Saturday, the kind that clings to your skin like a damp cloth and makes every breath feel heavy. The trio had decided to escape the oppressive heat by lounging in Zhao Kai’s luxurious pool—the kind with mosaic tiles that shimmered like liquid sapphire under the sun and
It was a lazy weekend afternoon, the kind where the sun filtered through half-drawn blinds in lazy golden stripes across the polished concrete floor. Zhao Kai and Liu Jian had finally had enough of Yang Jun's endless excuses and complaints. They decided—more like declared—that today was the day t
A week had passed since the fire, yet Zhao Kai and Yang Jun still had not been able to properly reach Liu Jian. At first, they had tried constantly. Calls were placed at odd hours, messages sent early in the morning and late at night, each one carefully worded so it would not feel intrusive. Eventu







