Chapter 16 The Curse

Chapter 16: The Curse

"I'm not jealous." Pei Zhi's tone was cold and hard when he said this, his jawline taut.

"Oh, not jealous, huh." Lin Xishan dragged out his words, the smile in his eyes growing deeper. "Well, I've answered your question. Is there anything else our Pei Zhi wants to ask? Like whether Senior Shen has a boyfriend, or what we had for lunch?"

Pei Zhi stared down at him from his height, chest rising and falling slightly. Those sharp, narrow eyes, usually gloomy and fierce, now churned with undisguised irritation.

"Lin Xishan." Pei Zhi called him by his full name. "Do you think it's fun to tease me?"

Oh crap, maybe he'd teased him a bit too much.

Lin Xishan straightened up, his expression turning serious. "I'm not teasing you. I'm just giving you the facts."

Pei Zhi's lashes fluttered, then he suddenly reached out and pressed Lin Xishan against the wall behind him.

A dull thud.

Lin Xishan's back hit the wall—it didn't hurt much—but Pei Zhi grabbed both sides of his collar and pulled him down, while he stood on his tiptoes, face close to his.

Lin Xishan could see that the corners of his eyes were faintly red—a red tinged with hurt, anger, and a twisted possessiveness.

Pei Zhi gritted his teeth. "Why did you talk to her for so long? Why did you say she was pretty?"

Lin Xishan was stunned for a moment. "Pei Zhi..."

"Do you think she's better than me?" Pei Zhi cut him off, his knuckles going white as he gripped Lin Xishan's collar. "She's normal, she's kind, she's got a bright future. And I don't even react the way a normal guy would. Do you think being with me is disgusting?"

Lin Xishan looked at Pei Zhi, who had him pinned to the wall, demanding to know if he thought someone else was better.

What kind of arrangement was this?

What patron would feel so insecure that he'd get red-eyed just because the guy he's keeping praised a coworker?

"Pei Zhi." Lin Xishan let out a sigh. Instead of trying to pry Pei Zhi's hands off his collar, he raised both arms and wrapped them around Pei Zhi's tense waist.

Pei Zhi froze instantly.

Lin Xishan gently patted his back, his voice warm. "You're squeezing the breath out of me."

Hearing this, Pei Zhi let go as if burned, stepping back half a step, but his eyes stayed locked on Lin Xishan.

Lin Xishan smoothed out his wrinkled collar and spoke slowly and deliberately. "I praised Senior Shen because it was an objective assessment of a coworker. But no matter how good she is, she can't be at my beck and call."

Those dark, twisted, self-loathing emotions silently melted away at Lin Xishan's words.

"So," Lin Xishan looked at his dazed expression, couldn't help reaching out and ruffling Pei Zhi's hair, "quit being jealous over nothing, Boss Pei. You're special."

Pei Zhi's head tilted from the ruffling, the tips of his ears visibly turning bright red.

He didn't dodge Lin Xishan's hand, only mumbled a weak rebuttal with no bite to it: "I'm not jealous."

"Fine, fine, you're not jealous." Lin Xishan went along with it, unable to hide the smile in his eyes. "I guess I was just imagining things."

Pei Zhi didn't respond, and the air went quiet for a few seconds.

Lin Xishan thought he was still sulking and was about to say something to lighten the mood when Pei Zhi suddenly spoke.

"Lin Xishan."

"Hm?"

"I'm hard."

Lin Xishan's hand froze on top of his head. "What did you say?"

Pei Zhi looked up, those sharp eyes staring straight at him, his expression as cold as usual, but the red at the corners of his eyes hadn't faded, and his lips were pressed into a thin line.

"I said," he spoke slowly, one word at a time, "I'm hard."

Lin Xishan withdrew his hand, stepped back half a step, and looked him up and down.

Wearing a loose gray hoodie, it was hard to tell, actually.

"Pei Zhi," Lin Xishan took a deep breath, "are you a dog?"

Pei Zhi frowned. "What do you mean?"

"The kind that gets horny anytime, anywhere." Lin Xishan was at a loss for words. "We were just talking about jealousy, and the next second you—you switch gears way too fast?"

"Only with you." His tone was calm.

Lin Xishan was speechless at his matter-of-fact attitude.

Lin Xishan looked at him.

He looked at Lin Xishan.

They stared at each other for two or three seconds before Lin Xishan was the first to look away.

"Fine, fine, you're the boss, you call the shots." He rubbed his temples and turned toward the bathroom in the corner of the rehearsal room. After two steps, he noticed Pei Zhi hadn't followed and looked back at him. "What are you spacing out for? Come on in."

Pei Zhi's eyes flickered, sounding a bit awkward. "In the bathroom?"

"Where else?" Lin Xishan said with exasperation. "In the rehearsal room? I'm not that bold."

Pei Zhi thought for a moment, then stood up and followed.

The bathroom door closed behind them. The space was so tight they could barely move, and they were close enough to hear each other breathing.

This time, Pei Zhi didn't bury his face in Lin Xishan's shoulder. Instead, he kept his head up, staring at Lin Xishan's face the whole time.

"Don't look at me." Lin Xishan turned his face away. "It's weird."

"Why?"

"It just is."

Pei Zhi didn't ask again, but he didn't look away either.

Lin Xishan let out a resigned sigh and reached out to undo his pants.

In the next few minutes, only rapid breathing and the occasional sound of water filled the bathroom.

Pei Zhi reacted just as strongly as last time—even stronger.

When it was over, he went limp against Lin Xishan.

Their panting echoed in the cramped space.

Lin Xishan waited for him to catch his breath, grabbed a tissue to wipe his hands, and was about to go wash up when he suddenly felt Pei Zhi's hand land on his waist.

"Okay, stop messing around." Lin Xishan figured he wanted another round, and reached to push his hand away. "I already took care of you—"

His voice died in his throat.

Because Pei Zhi's hand had brushed somewhere it definitely shouldn't have.

"Pei Zhi." His voice was strained. "What are you doing?"

Pei Zhi looked up to meet his eyes.

In those phoenix eyes, the desire had mostly faded, replaced by a seriousness tinged with hesitation.

"You're hard too," Pei Zhi said.

Lin Xishan was speechless: "Obviously. In a situation like that, it'd be weird not to react, right?"

He tried to step back after saying that, but Pei Zhi's hand didn't let go.

"I'll help you. You don't want to?" Pei Zhi's voice was much softer than usual when he asked.

Wait—who's the sugar baby here, exactly? Lin Xishan complained to himself but didn't dare say it out loud.

Pei Zhi didn't say anything else, just stared straight at him.

After two seconds of silence, Lin Xishan finally took a deep breath and leaned back against the wall.

That was as good as a silent yes.

...

His first time doing the mutual-help thing, Lin Xishan's verdict was that he'd rather have done it himself—the other guy's technique was far too inexperienced, completely lacking in finesse.

But that stunning face with that cold expression doing that for him—the psychological payoff beat the physical...

It was still pretty damn satisfying.

At that moment, Pei Zhi looked down at his own hand, in a daze: "Yours... ended up on my hand, and I don't feel disgusted. Not at all."

Lin Xishan thought Pei Zhi must have a high fever—clearly, his brain was fried.

After quickly cleaning up as best he could, he dragged Pei Zhi out of the scene of the crime.

The moment they reached the rehearsal room, the door opened.

Zhou Yan stood in the doorway, holding a bag of takeout, his mouth hanging open in an O shape.

Jiang Muye stood to his left, the cigarette in his mouth dropping to the floor.

Gu Zhou stood to his right, the drumstick he was holding clattering to the ground.

Five people stood face to face, the room went dead silent for about three seconds.

"Are we..." Zhou Yan spoke, his voice a little unsteady, "interrupting something?"

Pei Zhi looked at him with a blank face: "What are you here for?"

"Rehearsal." Jiang Muye picked up the cigarette, saw it was already out, and tossed it in the trash. "Didn't we say we'd rehearse at eight? You forgot?"

Pei Zhi's expression froze for a split second, then he insisted: "I didn't forget."

Liar. After what they'd just done, he was so blissed out he'd nearly floated to heaven—forget rehearsal, he couldn't even remember his own name.

Lin Xishan stood nearby, so embarrassed he wished he could sink into the floor.

He was giving off major "just did something bad" energy. In the bathroom, he'd only remembered to wipe his hands—he'd forgotten to check his reflection and fix himself up.

He felt like they could tell exactly what had happened.

"Um," Lin Xishan cleared his throat, "I'll get going. You guys go ahead and rehearse."

He'd barely taken a step when Pei Zhi's voice came from behind him: "I'll walk you out."

"No need—" Lin Xishan refused on reflex.

"I'll walk you out." Pei Zhi repeated, his tone brooking no argument.

Zhou Yan wisely stepped aside: "Go on, go on. We'll wait for you. No rush. Take your sweet time. Even if it takes till tomorrow."

Jiang Muye added from behind: "Yeah, no rush. Tonight's rehearsal doesn't matter anyway, just messing around."

Gu Zhou: "Yeah, yeah, just messing around."

The three of them were so in sync it was like they were doing a comedy bit.

Pei Zhi, meanwhile, simply grabbed his jacket and headed for the door, without even giving him a chance to argue.

Lin Xishan could only give them a quick nod, then followed Pei Zhi out of the rehearsal room.

The hallway was empty except for the two of them.

"Did they get the wrong impression?" Lin Xishan couldn't help asking.

Pei Zhi's steps faltered for a moment, but he didn't turn around: "No misunderstanding."

Lin Xishan was stunned.

Pei Zhi kept walking, his voice drifting back to him, calm and even: "We did do it."

Lin Xishan hurried to catch up, lowering his voice: "Can you not say it like that? It sounds like I did something to you."

Pei Zhi finally turned to look at him, shooting back: "You didn't do something to me?"

Lin Xishan was stumped, then conceded: "Fine, fine, my bad. I shouldn't have gotten handsy with you in the bathroom. I'll watch myself next time."

The corner of Pei Zhi's mouth curved slightly, then quickly went flat again: "Next time, different place."

Lin Xishan looked at him saying something like that with such a serious face and finally couldn't help laughing: "Pei Zhi, you act all cold and aloof on the surface, but your head is full of nothing but dirty thoughts."

"Only with you," Pei Zhi said.

There it was again. Those three words.

"Only with you"—spoken by Pei Zhi, it didn't sound like a confession, but more like a curse.

A curse that tied them together, one that couldn't be broken.

But then again, Lin Xishan didn't seem to want to undo it either.