Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The drink wasn't strong, but it packed a serious punch. The alcohol burned all the way down his esophagus, and within just a few minutes, two bright red patches bloomed on Shen Ling's cheeks.

His usually clear brown eyes glazed over with a watery film, his gaze unfocused, his blinks slow and heavy.

Awen quickly ran out and found Huo Yanshen: "I-I'm so sorry, Mr. Huo! I slipped up and didn't watch Mr. Shen closely enough. He grabbed my drink thinking it was sparkling water..."

Huo Yanshen was in the middle of going over the return flight route with Chen Xitong when he heard this. His eyes, usually as still as a deep well, suddenly sharpened.

He didn't even wait for Awen to finish his apology. Muttering a quick excuse, he strode off toward the bar.

Shen Ling was slumped over the bar counter, looking completely out of it, his shirt hanging off one shoulder, exposing a flushed stretch of neck.

He felt like he'd sunk underwater. His temples pounded hard, and his ears rang with the rush of blood.

Huo Yanshen called out to him: "Shen Ling."

Shen Ling forced his heavy eyelids open.

A cold, hard face swam into view—dark gray shirt buttoned all the way up, radiating an unapproachable authority.

Even completely wasted, instinct still kicked in. Shen Ling pushed himself up off the counter and reached both arms out toward Huo Yanshen:

"Hubby, you're here."

Huo Yanshen scooped him into his arms.

The man in his arms was burning up, the smell of jasmine mixed with a heavy fruity alcohol scent.

Huo Yanshen looked down at him: "Can you walk?"

Shen Ling buried his face in the crook of Huo Yanshen's neck and answered without missing a beat: "No."

Huo Yanshen slid his hands under Shen Ling's knees and lifted him up in a bridal carry without breaking a sweat.

Huo Yanshen knew this routine all too well.

In his past life, Shen Ling had always been a total lightweight, yet every time he went out for a business dinner, he'd sneak a few sips behind Huo Yanshen's back. When he got home dizzy and miserable, he'd blame it all on Huo Yanshen—for not stopping him, for buying booze that was too strong.

He blamed everyone and everything, but never himself.

Huo Yanshen pushed open the cabin door and set Shen Ling down on the bed's edge.

The second Shen Ling hit the soft mattress, he curled up, knees tucked in, folding into a little ball.

Huo Yanshen reached out and brushed the damp hair off Shen Ling's forehead. He pressed the back of his hand to Shen Ling's forehead to check for a fever. "Dizzy?"

Shen Ling turned his face out from the blanket: "Dizzy... and my heart's racing, I can't breathe."

Huo Yanshen pressed his palm to Shen Ling's chest and felt his heart pounding at an abnormal rhythm—fast and all over the place.

Huo Yanshen asked: "How's your stomach?"

Shen Ling nuzzled against his palm: "It feels all clogged up and tight."

Then he added warily, "I don't have an appetite... I can't eat anything..."

But Huo Yanshen still picked up the bedside phone, called the kitchen, and ordered a bowl of plain congee.

By the time the congee arrived, he turned around to find Shen Ling staring straight at him with an accusing look.

Huo Yanshen sat on the edge of the bed and put his hand on the back of Shen Ling's head: "Have some congee. It'll help your stomach."

"I'm not hungry," Shen Ling insisted.

"Even if you're not hungry, you have to eat."

Steam rose from the congee. Huo Yanshen scooped up a small spoonful and held it to Shen Ling's lips. "Open up."

Shen Ling didn't move.

Huo Yanshen pushed the spoon closer, and Shen Ling turned his face away: "I can't..."

Huo Yanshen had no choice but to pull the spoon back. He leaned in slightly, rubbing his thumb over the spot behind Shen Ling's ear, and spoke in a low voice.

"Baby, open your mouth."

Shen Ling's lashes fluttered suddenly.

As if that had finally done the trick, Shen Ling opened his mouth and took the spoonful of congee.

The congee was just the right temperature—soft and smooth, sliding down his throat without needing to be chewed. But the first bite almost came right back up. Shen Ling swallowed it with a frown, his eyes welling up slightly.

Soon, Huo Yanshen had fed Shen Ling half a bowl, and Shen Ling had already started protesting every way he could.

First shaking his head, then pressing his lips shut, and finally burrowing into the blanket, trying to hide and pretend he didn't exist.

Huo Yanshen stayed patient and calm. He fished Shen Ling out of the blanket and kept feeding him.

"One more bite."

Shen Ling looked at Huo Yanshen, the corners of his eyes glistening with tears: "I c-can't eat anymore... I really can't. One more bite and I'll puke."

Huo Yanshen's gaze was calm, with no sign of backing down: "You can do it."

Shen Ling finally gave in. He closed his eyes, opened his mouth, and took the spoon between his lips, his delicate Adam's apple bobbing slowly. And so it went—one feeding, one swallowing. Shen Ling let out a few more whines in between, but whenever the spoon came to his lips, he still opened his mouth.

And so, bite by bite, the whole bowl of congee actually got finished without coming back up.

The porcelain bowl went back on the nightstand. Shen Ling leaned against the headboard for a second to catch his breath, then, as if all his bones had been pulled out, collapsed into Huo Yanshen's arms.

He hadn't been quiet for long when Shen Ling suddenly lifted his head from Huo Yanshen's arms.

"Huo Yanshen, where's my big diamond platter?"

Huo Yanshen looked down at him: "Didn't you say you didn't want it?"

Shen Ling: "?"

He looked like he'd just heard something completely absurd: "No way."

Huo Yanshen got up, walked over to the low table, picked up the crystal square platter, and held it out to Shen Ling: "You said you didn't want it this afternoon."

Shen Ling snatched it, hugged the crystal platter to his chest, lifted his chin, and gave the order like a little emperor: "We're taking it all back!"

Huo Yanshen watched him, a faint flicker passing through his eyes.

Shen Ling's reaction just now had been lightning quick. In this life, Shen Ling always thought everything through three times before saying anything, his movements always slow and deliberate.

But the person before him was clearly quick to act, reaching for whatever he wanted, and throwing a fit if he didn't get it.

Shen Ling, after getting drunk, seemed to have his memories stuck in his past life, in the time before he died.

Shen Ling didn't know what Huo Yanshen was thinking.

All he knew was that this big diamond plate was coming home with him, and he was in a very good mood.

So he tilted his face up, clinging to Huo Yanshen, wrapping both arms around his neck.

"Hubby—"

"Give me a kiss."

As he spoke, his lips pouted, flushed bright red from the steam of the hot porridge, sheened with a thin layer of moisture.

Shen Ling leaned forward an inch, and Huo Yanshen turned his jaw slightly, just enough that Shen Ling's lips grazed the corner of his mouth without landing a kiss.

Shen Ling frowned.

When drunk, people are hypersensitive to rejection and slow on the uptake—all he knew was that his husband wouldn't kiss him.

"Why won't you let me kiss you?"

Huo Yanshen could only turn his head and press a light kiss to Shen Ling's cheek—measured, restrained.

But Shen Ling was clearly unsatisfied. He wanted more than that.

He turned and sat on top of Huo Yanshen.

His knees straddled Huo Yanshen's waist, pressing against his thighs, hands braced on Huo Yanshen's chest, looking down at him.

Shen Ling looked small and slight, like a deer that had wandered into a predator's den without realizing it.

(Dear reviewer, the bottom is just sitting on top of the top here, both fully clothed, with only some physical description of the bottom—thank you.)

*...

Shen Ling had no idea how he looked in Huo Yanshen's eyes right now. He was still angry, both hands fisting the front of Huo Yanshen's shirt as he accused:

"Turn around and look at me. Why won't you even look at me? I'm so hot, why won't you look at me!"

"You've changed," Shen Ling said, growing more and more upset. "Are you seeing someone else? Who is it? Who? Who?"

Huo Yanshen still didn't speak, just stared at him with those calm, dark eyes.

But Shen Ling suddenly stopped his rambling.

...

Shen Ling: QAQ

Shen Ling's bravado quickly fizzled out. "I—I didn't mean it like that... I really just wanted a kiss, I didn't mean to—I wasn't going to—"

The more he explained, the worse it sounded.

Shen Ling swallowed. "Then... then maybe you should... handle it yourself?"

As he said it, he started inching backward, pulling one leg back from Huo Yanshen's waist, lifting his hip to try to slip away unnoticed.

Huo Yanshen yanked him back, and Shen Ling tumbled into his arms, his nose bumping against Huo Yanshen's collarbone.

Shen Ling: "I really didn't mean it..."

Huo Yanshen lowered his head, his lips brushing Shen Ling's ear. "But baby, I do."

"..."

*

Shen Ling's shirt had already been completely rumpled from the earlier tugging, the collar hanging open past his chest. Thanks to the alcohol and the earlier fussing, that patch of skin was flushed a faint pink.

*...

After a long moment, Huo Yanshen finally stopped, and before Shen Ling could react, he was flipped over onto his hands and knees on the mattress.

This position was too dangerous, triggering a primal unease in Shen Ling.

"No..."

He crawled forward as he spoke, knees scraping the sheets, shoulders hunching, movements slow and clumsy—after just a few inches, his legs went weak and he nearly collapsed.

Huo Yanshen pulled him back. "Don't be scared, not here."

Huo Yanshen really hadn't planned to do it on the boat—too many people on board, and no matter how good the soundproofing in the yacht's cabin was, it was still a yacht.

The setting wasn't right, and neither was the timing.

But Shen Ling had drunk something he shouldn't have today, so he needed to learn a lesson.

Shen Ling's legs were beautiful—the most hidden and delicate part of him.

The skin there had almost never seen the light, pale to the point of being nearly translucent, with a faint pink flush, like the natural color of blood flowing beneath the skin.

Tender like a peach jelly just taken out of an ice cellar, rippling at the lightest touch of a fingertip.

And now, Shen Ling groggily felt his legs being pushed apart.

Huo Yanshen's scorching breath remained hot against his ear.

"At the bar tonight, what did you drink?"

Shen Ling buried his face in the pillow. "Cocktail..."

Huo Yanshen: "What temperature was it?"

"...Iced." Shen Ling's toes curled.

"Iced." Huo Yanshen repeated, and Shen Ling's knees scrambled against the sheets, his fingers gripping the pillow.

Huo Yanshen: "Can you drink anything iced?"

"My stomach's bad, I can't have anything iced..."

Every inch of Shen Ling's skin was stretched open, and he couldn't take it anymore. He gave in. "I won't drink anymore... I won't have anything iced from now on..."

Huo Yanshen looked down at him, and Shen Ling was flushed from his toes to the tips of his ears, looking genuinely repentant.

Since Shen Ling was willing to admit his mistake, Huo Yanshen naturally didn't mind putting in a little extra effort to teach him a lesson.

"*."

Shen Ling reacted on reflex, trembling, ...

"*."

...

Shen Ling's brain could barely think anymore. Whatever Huo Yanshen said, he did, as if the words hit his ears and his body just obeyed on its own.

Shen Ling curled up in Huo Yanshen's arms, his face pressed against his chest, like a rain-soaked kitten.

Gradually, he noticed the alcohol had quietly worn off more than halfway, and along with the buzz, the clarity he'd been avoiding crept back in.

His mind was slowly resurfacing, forcing him to remember things he'd rather forget.

On instinct, Shen Ling tried to pull away, so he opened his mouth and bit down on Huo Yanshen's shoulder.

Once he bit down, he refused to let go, leaving red marks on Huo Yanshen's skin, as if he could chew up and swallow back all the thoughts that shouldn't have surfaced.

Huo Yanshen didn't flinch. He knew he had gone too far—Shen Ling's legs were naturally sensitive, and even the seam of his pants rubbing against them for too long would leave them red. He must have been hurting to bite him like that.

Huo Yanshen pulled the blanket up to cover Shen Ling's bare legs.

"It's my fault," he said softly. "I hurt you a moment ago, didn't I?"

Shen Ling bit his shoulder and shook his head.

After a moment of silence, Shen Ling let go. His lips, still glistening with moisture, pressed against Huo Yanshen's collarbone as he spoke, his voice muffled.

"I just realized... I can't seem to cry anymore."

==========Author's Note:==========

Censor, I'm begging you like a dog.