“I know, drunk…”
Yan Jie’s breath overwhelmed him.
His lips were soft and hot, his movements gentle and slow, brushing against Jiang Nan’an’s lips one touch at a time.
Jiang Nan’an’s mind went completely blank.
Such close proximity…
Such intimate contact…
“Yan Jie…”
Jiang Nan’an turned his head to avoid it, but his cheek was held by Yan Jie, leaving nowhere to escape.
He was being kissed with light, delicate pecks, one hand pinned down with fingers interlaced beside him, unable to exert any strength, while his other shoulder was pressed down by Yan Jie’s arm, completely at his mercy, with no room to struggle.
“Yan…”
Jiang Nan’an was truly uncomfortable. He called out Yan Jie’s name, his tone not particularly pleasant, hoping this jerk would sense his rejection and immediately come to his senses and stop restraining him.
But before he could finish these two simple syllables, his jaw was gripped, and caught off guard, his teeth were pried apart.
He tasted more distinctly the flavor of foreign liquor and roses. Yan Jie’s kiss was forceful yet gentle, causing Jiang Nan’an to break out in goosebumps all over.
The feeling in his heart was hard to define-fear or anger-but every cell in his body was trembling, and the sound of his heartbeat nearly shattered his eardrums.
This feeling was far too unfamiliar. Jiang Nan’an’s pinned fingers instinctively curled, and the intense sense of discomfort prompted him to bite Yan Jie’s tongue hard. When the other man winced in pain, he seized the opportunity to free his hand and forcefully pressed the web between his thumb and index finger against the other’s throat, forcing him away.
Jiang Nan’an didn’t hold back at all with this move. Yan Jie’s throat stung, and even with all his drunkenness, he should have sobered up.
He sat up, covering his throat and coughing a few times with his head down. His head was both dizzy and painful, but at least he regained some clarity.
The sharp pain of having one’s neck gripped was no joke. After Yan Jie finally recovered, he belatedly realized something terrifying-
Damn.
It hurt this much?
This is bad…
This wasn’t a dream.
Realizing this, Yan Jie took a silent deep breath before looking up at the person in front of him.
It wasn’t a dream or an illusion. Although he didn’t know why he was here, the person before him was undoubtedly Jiang Nan’an.
In the dim lights of the nightclub’s private room, Jiang Nan’an’s hair was disheveled, his eyes and lips slightly reddened, with a faint, moist mark at the corner of his mouth.
He leaned against the soft cushion of the sofa, either from anger or fear. His body rose and fell with his irregular breathing, seemingly with a slight tremor.
“Sobered up?”
He stared at Yan Jie like that, and after meeting Yan Jie’s gaze, coldly asked this question.
“Yes.”
Yan Jie reached out to help Jiang Nan’an up, but Jiang Nan’an ignored him, supporting himself on the sofa to sit up, and wiping the corner of his lips.
“I’m sorry, Teacher Jiang.”
Yan Jie’s mind was still a bit chaotic, but he clearly knew this was entirely his fault. He deserved to be hit, and his first priority was to apologize to Jiang Nan’an:
“I never thought you would appear here. I really thought I was dreaming, I…”
“You told me before,” Jiang Nan’an suddenly interrupted him.
“Hmm?”
“Regardless of whether it’s same-sex or opposite-sex, using sexual behavior or sexual innuendo to harass others or violate others’ sexual autonomy is called sexual harassment. I think your behavior just now crossed the line. Isn’t this a form of sexual harassment, or molestation?”
“Yes… I’m sorry.”
Having lived for nearly thirty years, this was the first time Yan Jie so desperately wanted to find a crack in the ground to stuff himself into.
“It’s okay.”
But to his surprise, Jiang Nan’an didn’t seem angry about it, nor did he expand on the topic. Instead, he lightly forgave him with just three words.
Yan Jie raised an eyebrow slightly and looked up at Jiang Nan’an. He saw Jiang Nan’an, as if nothing had happened, lowering his eyes to take a mask from his pocket and put it on, saying:
“I understand, drunk people can’t tell right from wrong, it’s not surprising they do strange things.”
“…”
“But then again, can you do that kind of thing to me in your dreams?”
Yan Jie hadn’t recovered from his previous shock when he heard this, and couldn’t help but laugh wryly:
“That was my dream…”
“But the person in the dream was me.”
“But dreams are visual activities caused by various stimuli inside and outside the body during human sleep, or external stimuli remaining in the brain. Strictly speaking, the person in the dream isn’t you, but a part of my mind, so doing whatever I want in a dream is my freedom. I like you, which means I have a desire for intimate contact with you. Doing in dreams what can’t be done in reality-isn’t that reasonable?”
Yan Jie had completely mastered the technique of persuading Jiang Nan’an in conversation.
Jiang Nan’an followed his logic, thought about it, found it reasonable, and nodded:
“Then I’ll kill you in my dream tonight.”
“.”
Yan Jie smiled helplessly:
“If it makes you feel better, Little Spring is willing to die ten thousand times in your dreams.”
Jiang Nan’an ignored him, just put on his mask and hat, then glanced at him:
“Now that you’re sober, you can leave on your own. My task is complete.”
“Task? What task?”
“Someone used your phone to call me, saying you were drunk, asking me to come here to pick you up.”
“?”
Yan Jie briefly tried to recall.
He was wondering who could unlock his phone and precisely call Jiang Nan’an, which led to the subsequent series of dramatic developments.
“I’m leaving,” Jiang Nan’an stood up and walked toward the door of the private room. Seeing this, Yan Jie quickly grabbed his phone and coat from the sofa and followed:
“Are you angry with me, Mr. Hang? I’m really sorry, it was my fault today, I offended you.”
“I’m not angry.”
“Really?” Yan Jie caught up to observe his expression, but Jiang Nan’an’s hat and mask covered most of his face, and his habitually indifferent eyes revealed nothing.
“What benefit would I get from lying to you?” His tone was equally cold, prickly, and distant.
“Probably not, but I think when you encounter something like this, you should get angry and scold me.”
“Do you have masochistic tendencies?”
“No, but don’t you think my behavior was excessive?”
“I do. But you’ve already apologized to me.”
“Apologizing… is enough?”
“Yes. As you said, you were drunk and thought it was a dream. So I have no reason to be angry.”
A very “Jiang Nan’an” response, but Yan Jie didn’t feel satisfied.
He didn’t know what he was thinking, didn’t know whether Jiang Nan’an should be angry or not, or perhaps he simply didn’t know how to gauge what weight tonight’s accidental kiss held in Jiang Nan’an’s heart.
For the first time, he felt communicating with Jiang Nan’an was somewhat exhausting, perhaps a kind of nervousness when approaching something familiar, because this person was like a bottomless pool of dark mud-no matter how large a stone you threw in, it wouldn’t cause a ripple or make a sound.
“Brother!”
As the two went downstairs, they met the anxiously pacing Xiao Sun at the side exit of the nightclub:
“You’re finally out. What took so long? I was debating whether to go up and find you…”
“Sorry for the wait. Let’s go.”
Jiang Nan’an stepped toward his car but stopped after a few steps, as if remembering something. He looked at Xiao Sun, then turned back to look at Yan Jie, changing his mind:
“…Actually, I’ll go back by myself. He’s had a lot to drink and his brain seems broken. Please help me take him home.”
“Ah…? Sure.” Xiao Sun nodded and looked at Yan Jie:
“Brother Spring, did you drive? Have you called a designated driver?”
“Not yet.” Yan Jie raised his hand to rub his hair. He was somewhat clear-headed inside, but now with the cold wind outside, his mind was becoming dizzy again.
“Oh… then I’ll help drive your car back. Where is it?”
Yan Jie looked up at the parking lot and pointed casually.
Xiao Sun followed his finger and unexpectedly found himself staring at a flashy red sports car with a cool little horse logo.
His smile froze on his face, and he immediately began to reach for his phone:
“In that case, a professional designated driver’s skills would be better…”
“It’s fine, you drive. If you scratch or crash it, it’s on me.”
Yan Jie took the car keys from his pocket and tossed them to Xiao Sun, then looked at Jiang Nan’an. He seemed to have something to say but ultimately didn’t speak.
He got into the car with Xiao Sun, sat in the passenger seat and briefly explained the basic operations of the car to Xiao Sun while setting up the navigation, then leaned back in his seat to rest.
The sports car’s deep engine sound started up, and Xiao Sun nervously drove onto the main road, gripping the steering wheel tightly the whole time, not daring to relax for a moment.
But his designated driving client didn’t seem to notice his tension and even disturbed him with questions:
“Little brother?”
“Huh??”
“How many years have you been with your brother?”
“Several years.” In this state, Xiao Sun couldn’t spare attention for such a difficult math problem and could only answer vaguely.
“Do you know him well?”
“Of course.”
“Then what was his original name?”
“?” Xiao Sun was confused:
“Original name? Isn’t it just Jiang Nan’an?”
Yan Jie raised an eyebrow slightly.
He remembered clearly that on the night he confessed, Jiang Nan’an had explicitly told him when rejecting him, “You don’t even know what my name was originally.”
“‘Jiang Nan’an’ isn’t a stage name?”
“No, my brother’s ID card has this name too. He’s always been called Jiang Nan’an.”
“Oh… You haven’t been with him since he first debuted?”
“No, my brother debuted at sixteen. I was still playing with snot then.”
“What about Hong-jie, his agent? She’s been with him from the beginning, right?”
“Yes.”
“Oh…” Yan Jie nodded.
“What’s the matter?” Xiao Sun didn’t understand why Yan Jie suddenly asked about these things.
“Nothing, he said I don’t know him well enough.”
Yan Jie let out a breath and looked up at the bustling night scene outside the window:
“…But it seems he doesn’t want me to know him either.”
–
Jiang Nan’an leaned back in the comfortable seat of the business car, looking out through the half-open window at the shadows of the plane trees passing by the roadside, lost in thought.
Until the car slowly drove into the community and stopped in the underground garage, the driver gently reminded him: “Teacher Jiang, we’ve arrived.”
“Oh…” Jiang Nan’an came back to his senses, closed the window, pulled his coat tighter, and opened the car door:
“Thank you, you’ve worked hard.”
Perhaps because of the cold wind on the way, Jiang Nan’an had a bit of a headache.
He returned home, took off his clothes, and went straight to the bathroom.
Dunbu, who had been awakened, followed behind him, bouncing along, and sat at the bathroom door, tilting its head to look at him.
But Jiang Nan’an had no time to comfort it or be affectionate with it now.
He turned on the faucet, scooped up a handful of cold water and splashed it on his face, then leaned on the sink, listening to the sound of flowing water while looking at himself in the mirror.
He looked a bit disheveled.
After staying up too late, his eyes had some faint red blood vessels.
His lips were a bit red, seemingly slightly swollen.
He rubbed his lower lip with his fingertips, and his brain involuntarily began to recall everything that had happened there.
His heart began to beat disobediently again, just like…
Just like the moment when they won the championship.
So, what did Yan Jie’s words and probing mean?
Should he feel angry about what happened today?
Or shame?
Or perhaps fear, terror?
No, none of these were right.
He and Yan Jie had already found a reasonable explanation for this incident. Yan Jie had apologized, and he had expressed understanding, so everything should be over.
The cause and effect were settled; there shouldn’t be any extra emotions to confuse the correctness of logic.
Then what was he feeling now?
Jiang Nan’an reached out and placed his hand on the mirror, covering his own face in the reflection.
Strange.
…Too strange.
#
(advanced chapters available on kofi)