Bai Yan's lips were so soft! Jiang Hua's heart leapt out of his throat. In this peaceful room, Jiang Hua could hear his heart beating as loud as thunder. He didn't dare do anything more. He was afraid of waking Yan up. But he was also reluctant to step back. Hence, his lips stayed glued to the other man's.
After a long moment, he finally gave in. Hua's tongue slipped out of his mouth to gently lick at the gap between Yan's lips. The sensation set him ablaze. His face was burning hot. His sweaty palms were trembling as he didn't dare breathe too loudly. He was holding his breaths in so hard that his chest felt like it would explode. He carefully leaned away from Yan's lips and took a big step back. Then, he slumped down to sit on the floor as he took in a few big gulps of air with his mouth wide open.
He knew he was a despicable and lowly man. He sexually harassed Yan as he was sleeping. However, he couldn't resist or deny that perfect moment when his lips met with the ones belonging to the man he loved. Hua would be willing to die for the chance of Yan holding him and granting him a kiss while the man was awake and aware
He did his best to suppress the thirst in him and slowly calmed his breathing down. He wanted to take a few moments to gather himself and make sure he looked normal but then he caught Yan's fingers twitching out of the corner of his eyes.
Startled, Hua shot up to his feet, walked over to the bed and gently called out, "Mr Bai?"
Yan slowly opened his eyes, hummed in response and asked in a voice hoarse and languid from sleep, "It's been two hours?"
At the sound of that sensual voice, Hua's hard-earned calm shattered as his heart began to race once more. The man took a step back in panic and replied, "Yes, Mr Bai."
Somehow, Yan didn't seem to have noticed Hua's flaming red cheeks and flustered glances. He hummed again in response, stood up from the bed and shuffled into the en suite bathroom.
Hua stared at the closed door. Every ounce of strength holding him up fled as he stumbled back to collapse against the wall. Yan didn't act like he'd noticed anything. He shouldn't have then! Hua, oh, Hua, when did you become so…perverted?
He scrubbed hard at his face with his hands and left the room.
In the bathroom, Yan wasn't showering or washing up his face at all. He was sternly staring into the mirror with his hands propped up against the counter. Jiang Hua stole a kiss from him! The man kissed him!
Actually, Yan had woken up when Hua opened the door. He didn't want to open his eyes without being prompted though, so he waited for Hua to speak up yet the man just wouldn't. Yan was getting impatient. He was contemplating whether to "wake up" by himself when he felt Yan getting closer and closer!
Yan had some guesses as to what Hua was going to do but he didn't dare make a move. He didn't know if he was happy and eager for it or not. All he knew was that he wasn't angry or disgusted. When Yan's lips met his, Yan nearly jumped out of bed. It took him a great deal of effort to hold back the urge. In his mind, he was telling Hua that a kiss shouldn't just be lips meeting. There should be other actions involved. Still, the man just laid there unmoving. It made Yan so frustrated that he was going to open his eyes and seize control of the kiss when Hua licked him! He just…licked him once.
It's such a shame Hua was still too much of a coward. The man ran off just after licking Yan once!
Yan looked at himself in the mirror. Deep down, he screamed. Why was he so ugly today? His face was as pale as a ghost and his chin was unshaven! Why didn't he take a nice shower before his nap and tidy himself up?
He solemnly lifted an arm and sniffed himself. He let out a small sigh in relief. Thank goodness. There's no stink but…
Yan looked down and saw his eager, quivering little me. Thank goodness he acted natural just now and Hua was so flustered that he didn't notice the protruding organ! What would happen to his dignity then? Look at how over-enthusiastic this thing was! The man just licked me once! He didn't lick it. So why was it trembling and flaunting itself?
Wait, no. What was he thinking? Jiang Hua…licking his…little me…no. Stop. Don't think about it anymore.
Yan could feel an itch on his nose. He looked up at the mirror and stopped. He was petrified. B-Blood…he was bleeding from the nose. Was he that starved? Just one lick and he was bleeding from the nose. When the word "lick" popped into his mind, more blood flowed out of his nose.
Yan: …
He took a slightly longer shower that afternoon. He took care of his nosebleed and used his hand to calm down his furious little brother. The lack of sleep plus losing some blood and pulling one off meant his face was paler than before his shower.
He drifted out of his private break room with a heavy head. Hua was nowhere to be seen. He let out a breath he was holding in and threw himself into his chair. His hand went up to his throbbing head. He might be gay, just like YiHan. What was life turning out to be…? Ugh. Should he pretend to sleep the next time he finds a chance?
Yan was thinking hard at how to pretend to be asleep before Hua without being suspicious when his phone suddenly rang. It made him jump. He shook his head clear and dug out his phone. The moment he read the caller id, he hurriedly answered it.
"Hello? Grandfather?" Yan said into the phone.
"Mn," the old Mr Bai responded. "Your father said he wants to hand the company over to you. Gives him a chance to slack off and roam the world with your mother for a few years while his body's still young. What do you think? Can you handle it?"
"It's alright," Yan replied. "At first, it's a little chaotic but I've slowly gotten used to the company's work procedures. Father has been slowly retiring for quite some time now. So it doesn't really affect me much."
"Good," the old Mr Bai laughed. "Among you and your siblings, you're the strongest in all aspects. Your parents and I have high hopes for you. We need you to hold up the company all by yourself. The burden might be heavy but you'd long since capable of holding your own. It must not be too hard to support the entire family now."
"XueQing's also helping me," Yan said.
"Yes," the old Mr Bai said. "XueQing is an excellent girl. She's decisive and has great potential but she'll be part of the Chen family's core support after her marriage to Chen TianYang. You would have no one to help you then and YiHan's useless!"
Yan hurriedly defended his younger brother. "YiHan's still young."
"He's not anymore!" the old Mr Bai angrily said. "He's 24! You were working independently at the company when you were 24! It's all your family's fault! You guys spoiled him rotten!"
"There's you, my parents, me, JingYuan and XueQing supporting the company for him," Yan laughed. "It's fine if he's useless. There's so many of us. Can we not afford to raise a kid? There's no need for him to be as tired as we are."
"What you said is true," the old Mr Bai said. "You and XueQing can dote him but you can't spoil him too much. We wouldn't want him getting a big head. He'll suffer in the future."
"He won't," Yan replied. "Lil Bro's a very good kid. He's doesn't just fool around all the time. He even proposed a project for the Mu and Bai Groups to collaborate on. He's a major investor in this project. Once it succeeds, he can live out his life in luxury and without worry even without us."
"What project?" the old Mr Bai asked. "The southern districts? I know this project's just something you're pacifying him with, a little game. Don't try and use it to throw me off."
"Grandfather," Yan said, "JingYuan said this project has good prospects. This is Lil Bro's idea. Don't you rain on his parade."
"JingYuan said?" the old Mr Bai sighed in resignation. "If your brother says rocks are edible, he'd take a bite out of one! He's usually a mature and steady man but if this is your brother's idea, you can just ignore what he says. You are right, however. This is the first time your brother has engaged in something proper. We must support him. Does the project have enough funds?"
Yan hid a laugh away from the phone before he solemnly replied, "It's enough. Don't worry. Lil Bro researched into it himself. He's very sure of this project."
"He even researched into it?" the old Mr Bai laughed again. "Okay. Not bad! At least there's something good and proper in his mind. The little brat would be running over to my place all the time. It's been a few months since he's visited. I thought he'd gone mad fooling around that he doesn't want to visit an old coot anymore. So he was busy with an actual project. I misunderstood him!"
A bead of sweat rolled down Yan's forehead. "No way," he guiltily replied. "He was talking about you yesterday. He even went out on a few shopping trips just to select a gift for you himself. He thinks about you all the time. Father was even a little jealous."
The old Mr Yan had been chuckling the whole time but when he heard Bai FuRen was jealous, he unhappily said, "He, jealous? What right did he have to be jealous? He can flaunt and flex before YiHan day after day, all day long. I can only see him once in a while!"
"That's why we said for you to live with us," Yan commented, "but you just wouldn't."
"Your grandmother likes her peace," the old Mr Bai replied. "You brats shouting and fooling around would disturb her sleep. If no one is with her, she'd be sleeping alone. That's just miserable. I'm fine being here alone with her."
"Grandfather," Yan sighed, "Grandmother has passed away for years. You…"
"Yan, you're not married so you don't know yet," the older man said. "You all think she's gone but I can feel her by my side the whole time. I know she's reluctant to part with me. Once you have a lover, you'll understand. Look. Your father doesn't even try and talk me around. He understands."
Something grew and stuck to the back of Yan's throat. For some reason, his mind began to think of Jiang Hua's warm smile. He quickly cleared his throat and patted those weird thoughts out of his mind.
"Yan?" asked the astute old Mr Bai. "Why aren't you talking? Who were you thinking about just then?"
"Jiang Hua," Yan blurted. His mind was fuzzy from the lack of oxygen.
"Who?" the old Mr Bai shouted, up and alert all of a sudden. "Something is really going on with you. Why does this name sound so familiar though?"
Yan's fingers slipped and pressed the "End Call" button. He was beating himself up internally. Yan, oh, Yan, did a dog chew on your brain?
Since he hung up on his grandfather, his petty grandfather would sure get angry. He was about to call back when his phone rang once more.
"Grandfather, I didn't mean to hang up on you. I accidentally pressed the wrong button," Yan hurriedly explained after answering the call.
Surprisingly, the old Mr Yan didn't chew Yan up about it. Instead, he asked, "Let's put that aside for now. Who were you talking about just now?"
"Who?" Yan said in feigned confusion.
The old Mr Yan wasn't that easily fooled though. "Stop trying to play the fool!" he shouted. His voice even went up a pitch. "Tell me!"
Yan's free hand clenched and unclenched. He gathered his courage and said, "I'll tell you but you can't get angry."
"You're so old already and I've heard not a single whisper about you. I nearly thought you're asexual or some cold-hearted person. Why would I be angry at you for having something going on? Even if you like a tomcat, I wouldn't be angry! Hurry up!"
"It's not a cat," Yan said with trepidation, "but he's a tom. Ah, no. He's a man."