Chapter 64

Chapter 64

Jue Ning didn't seem to realize he was intruding at all. The room, which had been filled with peace and tranquility, fell into a strange stillness as the door closed.

He was indeed a natural-born ruler; his unavoidable aura and well-tailored clothes seemed out of place in the workshop cluttered with scattered machinery.

Jue Ning calmly took a seat on a nearby chair.

"I'll wait for you," he said, looking at Meng Shijiu.

His patronizing gentleness and gentlemanly air did nothing to ease the heavy atmosphere.

Meng Shijiu lowered his eyes and put his gloves back on.

Wen Hui only asked Meng Shijiu: "Your friend?"

Before Meng Shijiu could answer, the unignorable man nearby spoke up.

"Xiao Jiu is my..." Jue Ning curled his lips slightly, his gaze fixed on Meng Shijiu's profile, his deep voice echoing in the room, "Debt-collector."

Wen Hui still didn't look at Jue Ning, completely ignoring him as he kept his eyes on Meng Shijiu.

Meng Shijiu automatically ignored Jue Ning's voice.

He asked Wen Hui: "You know, I’m always curious every time you ask me that."

Wen Hui raised an eyebrow.

He leaned closer to the silver-haired man, his voice softening considerably: "What?"

Meng Shijiu: "What is your definition of a friend? Does everyone I have some interaction with count as one?"

Wen Hui's gaze swept over Meng Shijiu with a hint of surprise, but the silver-haired man kept his expression guarded and his head down. Wen Hui: "I apologize, I didn't mean to overstep."

Though he said he was sorry, his shoulders finally lost their tension. His tone suddenly became lighthearted as his slender fingers picked up a component, spun it under the light, and began to explain it in detail.

Meng Shijiu conveniently handed him the part in his hand.

Wen Hui took a look: "Oh? Not bad."

Meng Shijiu said sluggishly: "Obviously."

The grey-haired, black-eyed Alpha nearby keenly heard the subtle dig and the challenge directed at him in Meng Shijiu's words.

His fingertip tapped lightly on the edge of the armrest, but he bit back his retort the moment he caught sight of Wen Hui's figure.

He was unable to grasp Meng Shijiu's attitude; such a sudden, blunt rejection was unexpected and not within his predictions.

However, he didn't mind much, Jue Ning thought.

This was a rare emotional fluctuation for Meng Shijiu, and that was what he truly cared about—like a precision instrument suddenly glitching, it was exceptionally fascinating.

Such an abnormality was because of his appearance.

As if he had convinced himself, Jue Ning suppressed the discomfort of their tacit cooperation, swallowing the feeling and crushing the irritation as his Adam's apple bobbed.

…

The lines of the arm tightening with Meng Shijiu's movements, the faint blue veins under the pale skin of his fingers, the vertebrae peeking out from his nape like shards of porcelain buried in snow...

A lingering gaze, like thick honey, slowly trailed over the silver-haired man's thin clothing, finally coiling around the neck that rose and fell with his breath—as if he could already see the ghost of a bite mark there.

Meng Shijiu's hand paused slightly.

That feeling of being watched by a predator appeared again.

Wen Hui went to the next room to get equipment. Meng Shijiu was trying to operate a connection device; his hands were full with the equipment, and he couldn't free them.

Jue Ning walked over slowly. He didn't reach out to help; he just leaned leisurely against the console, as if he simply wanted to admire a stunning painting he had discovered.

The grey-haired Alpha's gaze was like a paintbrush dripping with pigment, meticulously tracing the strain in Meng Shijiu's wrists as he worked.

A nearly imperceptible curve tugged at the corner of his mouth—it was moments like these that gave him the illusion that Meng Shijiu was already prey trapped in his palm.

Jue Ning: "Xiao Jiu."

This intimate address was held on the tip of his tongue, like a piece of sticky candy.

Meng Shijiu gave up the operation and took off his glasses: "Why are you here?"

Jue Ning was completely devoid of self-awareness: "I'm here for you."

Meng Shijiu gave a small laugh: "Well, now you've seen me."

Jue Ning: "Mhm. You're beautiful."

Meng Shijiu: "..."

Meng Shijiu: "What did you mean by 'debt-collector' just now?"

Jue Ning: "The bet from last time, does Xiao Jiu still remember?"

Meng Shijiu narrowed his eyes.

Oh, last time at NO3, he had won the bet, making Jue Ning accompany him to the sea once.

Meng Shijiu: A gambler who doesn't pay his debts is no gambler at all.

...However.

A certain someone had actually already taken him to see it.

"Going today?" Meng Shijiu stretched lazily, his spine popping softly as it extended section by section. He tilted his head slightly and glanced at Jue Ning.

It was a stunning, languid look.

The corner of his eye swept over casually, like a feather lightly brushing the surface of the water—nonchalant, yet enough to make one's heart itch.

Jue Ning's breath hitched slightly.

He saw the sunlight passing through Meng Shijiu's hair, casting fragmented golden spots on his cheeks, like greedy stars drinking in the silver-haired man's radiance, taking root and sprouting on his skin.

Jue Ning's voice tightened: "What does Xiao Jiu think?"

Meng Shijiu: "Sure."

Meng Shijiu: "Then let's go to the beach where we first met."

Jue Ning: "Okay."

A moment passed.

"You're being awfully cooperative," Jue Ning said suspiciously.

Meng Shijiu whirled around to face Jue Ning.

In a flash, they were inches apart—yet Jue Ning didn’t even blink.

Meng Shijiu: "After all, I’m the one you owe."