Shen Yuan turned his body towards Mu Chen and reached up to his face. Mu Chen was guessing what he was trying to do, he pulled him down and kissed his lips.
Mu Chen's eyes flew wide, quickly swirling into a passionate red. Without wasting another second, he cupped the back of Shen Yuan's head and pressed deeper. When Shen Yuan compliantly parted his lips for him, he locked his waist to him and greeted his tongue.
His breath was warm, his lips were soft, and his tongue was sweet, like the pleasant comfort of milk and honey. He wanted to taste it forever, to welcome the day and bid the night with it.
He wanted to be one with this person.
Shen Yuan clawed into Mu Chen's shirt as he endured the onslaught until he couldn't breathe and had to pat his shoulder several times for a timeout. Once Mu Chen finally let him go, he gasped for air and wiped the string of saliva spilling out the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, his cheeks flushed from the lack of air.
He glared at Mu Chen in protest. "Are you trying to eat me?"
"It's only polite to eat what's served to you, no?" Mu Chen chuckled without remorse, the crimson in his eyes persisted.
"There's a thing called manner." Sensing something, Shen Yuan looked down on his palm and flexed his fist a couple of times.
This…
Maybe it could work.
Mu Chen returned Shen Yuan's attention to him. "If I can take it as a yes, I promise I'll pay more attention to manner for the next one."
"Only the next one?" Shen Yuan raised an eyebrow.
"And the next one. And the next one. And the next one." Mu Chen inched closer and closer with each sentence and curled a smile. "Well, I don't know about the fifth one."
Shen Yuan blocked Mu Chen's lips from taking its chance. "If you're serious, then there's one thing I need you to be able to do. If you can't, the next kiss is our goodbye."
Mu Chen put away his playful smile and straightened back. "What is it?"
"I need you to trust me," Shen Yuan said with a light tone, yet his eyes demanded nothing less than an oath. "Whatever happens, you must trust me unconditionally."
"Trust?" Mu Chen closely observed Shen Yuan's expression, trying to guess why he would demand such a thing. "Even if I catch you cheating with my own two eyes?"
"Yes." Shen Yuan didn't bother to sugarcoat it. Cheating would be the mildest on the list.
Mu Chen contemplated in silence. He had never been in a serious relationship before, but even so, he knew this was an odd, if not extreme, request. Trust was something to be built, not unreasonably demanded.
To keep trusting him even if he caught him cheating? With how he answered such a hypothetical scenario without a second of hesitance, he must be expecting to do so at some point in the future.
Yet, he didn't try to hide it. This served more as a warning if anything.
But why?
He gazed down at Shen Yuan, unknown thoughts in the other's eyes. He prided himself in reading other people's intentions, but with Shen Yuan, it always felt like he was the one holding all the cards. He should've hated it, he should've been wary of him, but all it did was charm him.
It was like finding a single rose in a dead land. He wanted to keep it in his hands, bring it with him everywhere he went, and breathe its scent for comfort.
If what he held was a cursed flower, then so be it.
"Alright." He finally gave his answer. "But in return, I also want you to promise me one thing."
"Say it."
"You can't lie to me. If you really don't have a choice, then you have to let me know somehow."
"Deal." Shen Yuan didn't have any problem with that. If he had asked to not hide anything from him, then that would be another matter.
Mu Chen loosened his expression and smiled. "Seal it with a kiss?"
Shen Yuan chuckled and leaned in. "How cheesy."
***
Despite the lack of guidance, Mu Chen continued the tour without problem, leading the way for both of them while silently taking mental notes of things that needed to be fixed or aspects that were lacking. By the end of it, he gave proper feedback to the director and did his work as his father asked of him.
Shen Yuan couldn't be less surprised. For someone who could suppress an S-grade power user in his own neural space, tasks like this wouldn't require any brain power.
As promised, Mu Chen brought him to eat seafood once they were done and proved he didn't lie about jellyfish being served as food. In this world, it wasn't uncommon to eat raw seafood, something unimaginable in current reality. He couldn't tell to what extent this was in accordance with the old earth.
On their way home, Mu Chen asked in triumph, "How was it? I didn't lie, did I?"
"It was…a new experience." Shen Yuan vividly recalled the chewiness in his mouth and the strong aftertaste. He pursed his lips. "I think I'm going to just stick on looking."
"I didn't know you can't eat raw food. Your face was exceptional earlier."
"…Shut up."
"Yet you finished everything. You didn't need to force yourself."
Shen Yuan couldn't help but remember the quality and quantity of food in reality. "I guess I just can't stand seeing leftovers. I didn't know myself."
How could he know when he never got to have leftovers? He would never feel full here just like he would never feel hungry anyway, so he could finish everything just fine.
Mu Chen felt a little guilty and rubbed a circle on Shen Yuan's stomach. "Sorry, I won't order so much next time."
When they arrived back at Shen Yuan's place, the guards assigned by Mu Chen opened the gate for them. The car entered the driveway and stopped right by the front door.
"Thank you for accompanying me…" Mu Chen slid his hand on the seat until it touched Shen Yuan's and interlaced their fingers, "…Ah Yuan."
Shen Yuan raised his eyebrows. "I was thinking of inviting you for tea since it's still early, but I guess you don't—"
"On second thought, we should make this day a little bit more special, shouldn't we? We have to remember today's date for future anniversaries after all." Mu Chen raised their hands and kissed Shen Yuan's fingers with a smile. "Lead the way."
As Shen Yuan stepped out of the car, Mu Chen refused to let go of his hand and slid towards his seat to get out through his side of the door as well. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "I won't be able to call you 'President' anymore if you keep acting ridiculous like this."
"Good." Mu Chen nodded in approval. "It's about time you use your privilege to call me anything you like."
"But President Mu has such a nice ring to it."
"If you like it so much, I'll ban everyone else from calling me that, then."
"That's a bit counterintuitive, don't you think?"
Shen Yuan opened the door for them and a fishy smell wafted out through the gap, hitting both of their nose. Their chat came to a halt.
Shocking amount of blood smeared the previously clean white marble floor yet no sign of manslaughter was found anywhere. Not an object was out of place, not even a splatter touched the walls. It trailed a clean line further inside, asking them to follow it to its source.
"Huh. I guess there is a trespasser after all." Shen Yuan crossed his arms. "In the face of determination and dedication, even security doesn't mean much. This is clearly intentional."
The air dropped several degrees. Mu Chen's face turned ice cold, and he looked back to his chauffeur, almost causing the other to piss his pants. All his pleasant mood vanished into thin air.
His voice was low and steady, like a grim reaper's scythe falling upon one's neck. "Gather everyone."
"Y-Yes, Young Master!" The chauffeur bolted to call all security personnel.
Noticing Shen Yuan taking a step forward, Mu Chen tugged him back. "Don't mess around. You're staying at my place until we find the culprit."
"I want to see." Shen Yuan pointed inside. "Aren't you curious?"
"If you're curious, I'll have someone take a picture of it for you. It could be a trap." Mu Chen decisively pulled Shen Yuan out, not giving any room for negotiation.
It didn't take two minutes for the 6 security personnel to gather at the driveway in one straight line. Their expression was tense, and cold sweat dotted their faces, something Shen Yuan had been getting used to seeing around Mu Chen.
When Mu Chen didn't immediately punish them and only gave them orders to check what was inside and find the culprit, they inwardly thanked Shen Yuan's existence. They must use the time before their next report to avoid getting sent to the farm.
"Are you not going to call the police?" Shen Yuan asked.
"Depends." Mu Chen glanced at Shen Yuan knowingly. "Do you want to?"
Shen Yuan smiled in appreciation and shook his head. "I'll leave it up to you. But if you decide to, tell your people to toss out the meat in the freezer for me. There's also a velvet box there. Get rid of that too."
"A velvet box?"
"It was a present." Shen Yuan didn't elaborate. "Before we go to your place, can we stop by somewhere first? There's something I need to do."