Looking down at YiHan, JingYuan's breathing started coming out in harsh pants once more. He resisted the urge to continue further and retreated. Then, he moved from the back of YiHan's neck to YiHan's lips.
"Meanie!" JingYuan spat out after a few pecks to YiHan's lips.
When Dr Chen arrived, it was noon. To his surprise, YiHan was still asleep.
Deep within JingYuan, he was upset at how Dr Chen kept shooting glances at YiHan while conducting a medical check-up on JingYuan.
"He's exhausted from having to take care of me for the past month," JingYuan muttered. "Be quiet. Don't wake him up."
Dr Chen nodded in agreement and said, "Indeed. The Little Master has been cherished and pampered from his birth. He had never been through tough times before. He must be tired. Fatigue isn't the real issue. More important is his worry for your body, Mr Mu. Madam Bai has told me his appetite has been quite lacking lately. She had me secretly proved a few supplements for him. I don't know if he took them or not, though."
When JingYuan heard Dr Chen described YiHan as "cherished and pampered from birth" and "had never been through tough times", it reminded him of the "disaster" hiding beneath the blanket. The dissatisfaction in his heart grew even more. He was so focused on beating himself up that he didn't even know when the needle was inserted into his veins.
YiHan finally woke up by the time JingYuan was done with his second bag of saline drip. YiHan tossed and turned to rest on his other side before opening his eyes. At first, all he could see was the muscular chest of a man, covered by the thin fabric of sleepwear. Still dazed and drowsy from sleep, YiHan lifted a hand to rest against it. It took him a few blinks before his eyes decided to wander upward and straight into the loving eyes of JingYuan. As if he'd been possessed, YiHan clambered straight up without hesitation and kissed those thin lips.
"Morning," YiHan said, his voice hoarse from last night's activities.
All blood in JingYuan's body had fled to his groin at YiHan's seductive actions. He wanted so badly to pounce and take him then and there.
"It's not morning anymore," JingYuan replied in an equally hoarse voice. "It's the afternoon."
"Oh," YiHan blankly replied. Then, he slowly leaned down to rest against JingYuan's shoulder.
Five seconds passed.
"What?" YiHan yelped, suddenly surging upright. "It's already the afternoon?" He leapt up and out of the bed. However, because of the sudden brash movement, it tugged at his strained waist and injured spot. With another loud yelp, he fell back in bed. His face went stark white with pain.
Shocked, JingYuan hurriedly reached out to pull YiHan back up. He paid no attention to the needle and tube still connected to his hand. YiHan's sharp eyes caught the glint of the needle.
"Don't move!" YiHan shouted in the loudest voice he could muster.
JingYuan instantly froze. By the time the man came back to his senses, YiHan had already climbed back up in a sitting position. The moment the younger man was upright, he pushed JingYuan back against the headboard. He then leaned forward to check on JingYuan's hands. Thankfully, JingYuan's actions hadn't disturbed the needle too much. There was nothing wrong with the drip either.
YiHan let out a sigh of relief and grumbled, "Are you a fool? You're still on a drip! How could you just move without care?"
JingYuan wrapped his other hand around YiHan and mumbled, "Does it hurt a lot? It's my fault. I went overboard last night."
YiHan's face immediately went red and he stuttered, "I was a consenting participant. How is it your fault? What's bad about it?"
"Your behind and knees are all hurt. Did you know that?" JingYuan rumbled, hand raised to stroke YiHan's cheek. "Why didn't you say you were in pain?"
"Huh? Oh, it's fine. It'll heal up in two days."
"My question is why didn't you tell me you were in pain."
"We were both enjoying ourselves." YiHan ruffled in hair. "If I tell you, the mood would be ruined. Anyway, it didn't feel painful at all."
JingYuan grabbed YiHan by the arm. "When I was cleaning up after, you were still bleeding. And your knees are all bruised. How can you say it didn't hurt at all?"
YiHan carefully tilted himself to sit while leaning on his side instead of letting his butts bear his weight. "JingYuan," he sighed in exasperation, "can we not talk about this during the day in such a serious tone? It's so embarrassing. Right. When did Dr Chen come in? Why didn't you wake me up? What will happen to my dignity now that he's seen me sleeping in the middle of the day?"
JingYuan stared at YiHan for a moment before stroking YiHan on the head and going along with the topic change. "He came during noon. I told him you hadn't been sleeping well lately. It's exhaustion."
YiHan nodded in reply. Then, he began to shuffle his way off the bed.
JingYuan reached out and pulled YiHan back. "You're still wounded. Where do you want to go?"
Tugging at the hand around his arm, YiHan replied, "How is this a wound? I'm going to get you some food."
JingYuan didn't let go. Instead, he pulled YiHan further into his embrace. "We can just ask Ms Liu to bring us some food. You don't need to go. Just lie here with me."
Afraid that struggling any more would result in JingYuan attempting to use the hand with the needle, YiHan obediently shuffled back into JingYuan's embrace. "It's past noon. I'm not sick. It's shameful for me to still be lying in bed. I won't."
JingYuan patted the spot on the bed next to him and said, "Sprawl out over here. I'll give you a massage. Does your waist not hurt?"
It truly was still in pain. YiHan hesitated but still went along with the suggestion.
JingYuan's hand rubbed and kneaded at the back of YiHan's waist. The force he used was just right.
"HanHan, you–"
"JingYuan, are you angry with me?" YiHan interrupted, voice muffled from being face down on the bed.
"I am," JingYuan honestly replied. "Do you trust me now?"
"I do," YiHan glumly replied.
"Then I'll do my best and forgive you," JingYuan chuckled.
Still, YiHan felt the need to explain himself. "I'm just…afraid. Afraid you'll be made to do something you don't like, to be with someone you don't want to be with. Our relationship should be based on our true desires within our hearts, not on other external factors. I want you to be able to do whatever you please, to be with whoever you want to be with. I don't want you to be forced into anything at all. Mn. I just want you to be happy and free to live life as you wish."
JingYuan stopped smiling and solemnly replied, "My greatest wish it to be with you. There are no external factors. I'm happy as long as we're happy together."
YiHan laughed and replied, "Okay, I got it. Actually, I feel like it's such a pity for you to be with me."
"How is it a pity?" JingYuan was not happy with what he heard. "Do you think we're not fit for each other?"
"Look," YiHan said, "you're the head of the Mu family, the great CEO of the Mu Group. I am a second-generation rich kid who has no skills or knowledge. You're smart. Nothing can defeat you. I'm stupid. I also have bad tastes. Wait, no. It's not all bad. At least, I have good tastes in falling in love with you. But I might've used up all of my potential in falling in love with you. Everyone else I've befriended is either a backstabber ora schemer. Anyway, you're like the dragon among mere mortals while I'm just society's trash. We're polar opposites. How are we fit for each other?"
JingYuan couldn't help but give YiHan's back a light pat as he angrily rebuked, "What are you babbling about? Society's trash? Who told you that?"
YiHan let out a hiss. "No one. I just thought of that myself."
JingYuan had immediately regretted patting YiHan on the back the moment his palm landed. He hurriedly rubbed and soothed at the spot when YiHan yelped in pain.
"HanHan, I don't care where you heard such dastardly descriptions from but I won't allow you to put yourself down," said JingYuan. His voice was much gentler now. "You are the third son of the Bai family, the entire family's precious baby and the lover of Mu JingYuan, me. In my heart, no one is better than you. I am older than you by a few years. I watched you grow up. While you can be a little lost sometimes, you are pure and cute. Your purity didn't disappear with age. It has always been with you. Even to this day, you are genuine, kind and grateful. You show your true self to me, to your family. Hidden within your soul is the best of humanity. Otherwise, why do you think the old Mr Yan, the man who has seen through countless people and has numerous people begging to win his favour, why would he like you out of everyone at the party? Yes, you have many flaws. You can be selfish at times and you love to split hairs over nothing, but your strengths are like the sun. They shine so brightly that your flaws are never given a chance to shine. To be honest, even if you truly are useless, I like you. There is no logic to my love."
The more JingYuan talked, the closer YiHan's face got to steaming and boiling over. "You make it sound like I'm an angel," YiHan muttered. "You're just boasting. You are the lover who is blind to all or the old grandma selling her wares, just the boasts of a biased seller…"
JingYuan gave a low chuckle. "At least you still remember I'm your "lover". No more trying to push me out?"
YiHan looked up into his eyes. "Look at you. You just said you were going to forgive me and now you're going through our past again. I'll be frank with you. Don't take whatever I've said at face value. It's always easier to talk about doing something than actually doing it. If you truly didn't love me and would get married to someone else in the future, I might not live for more than a few years."
"Don't say that!" JingYuan barked.
"It's true. The frustration would just broil and build inside me to the point of death. Anyway, I can't even sleep without you. Before we got together, I could still handle it. But then we slept together and we parted. It was like someone who'd just had a taste of the pleasures sex can give but was forced to cut it all off straight away. The itch was just too much."
A dark cloud loomed over JingYuan's face. He gave YiHan's head a harsh stroke and rub and said, "I told you to not go on about such nonsense! Why are you still going on? Also, what kind of comparison is that?"
YiHan turned to lean on his side and looked at JingYuan. "What comparison?" he asked with an evil smirk. "It's normal. We've all been through it before. You know."
JingYuan gave YiHan the side-eye. "And you still wouldn't let me touch you for a whole month. If not for that, I wouldn't go so crazy last night…" JingYuan interrupted himself with a smack to his own head and said, aggravation in his voice, "I'd gone insane last night. I actually hurt you."
YiHan shuffled forward and hugged JingYuan around the waist. "When did I not let you touch me? I was afraid you were actually an unwilling participant in our relationship." When JingYuan's face became even more upset, YiHan hurriedly continued, "Okay, okay. I know. It's all my fault. I should've been more confident. I'm quite the charmer, don't you think? I have you wrapped around my pinkie. Tee-hee. My life is complete even if I achieve nothing but this."
JingYuan didn't know whether to cry or laugh at that. He went along with YiHan's hug and fully embraced the man. His hand gently patted YiHan on the back as he contemplated his next words.
"Well," JingYuan finally uttered, "when are we getting married?"
YiHan was silent. Then, the man climbed out of the bed. JingYuan's heart jolted in fear.
To JingYuan's surprise, YiHan limped back to the bed with a hand supporting his back. He knelt down on one knee and placed his hands on the fingertips of JingYuan's hand, the hand that had a needle sticking out of it.
"JingYuan," YiHan solemnly said, looking up at the other man, "will you marry me? Will you be my lawfully-wedded spouse? No matter how stupid or useless I am, you won't abandon me. To be by my side until the very last breaths of our lives?"