Zhu Ran ignored him, hoping Huo Boyan would take the hint and leave before he lost control of his anger. But the car swerved into the middle of the road, blocking him.
Finally enraged, Zhu Ran snapped, “Huo Boyan, what the hell?”
Huo Boyan replied, “It’s a long way down the mountain. How long are you planning to walk?”
Zhu Ran shot back coldly, “I like walking.”
Huo Boyan didn’t take the retort seriously. He got out and asked, “Why are you angry? You don’t like me meeting your parents?”
Zhu Ran’s face twisted as he countered, “Why did you meet them?”
“They invited me first,” Huo Boyan said. “They wanted to thank me for looking after you. I couldn’t let them foot the bill.”
It was like that?
Zhu Ran paused, then realized it made perfect sense. Why else would Huo Boyan, a stranger to his family, treat his parents? They had thrown themselves at him.
“But why did you agree?” Zhu Ran fumed. “Just turn them down!”
Huo Boyan said, “Because they’re your parents.”
Zhu Ran hadn’t expected that answer, but it didn’t make him any happier.
“Sorry, but I’m confused about something,” Huo Boyan said, looking straight into Zhu Ran’s eyes with sincere tone. “We just had a meal with your parents. Why are you so angry about it?”
Zhu Ran froze. Yeah, it was just a meal. Why was he so furious?
Suddenly, he recalled the many friendships that had faded after his parents found out—contact just dwindled away unnoticed.
Like the skills he’d secretly learned as a kid, or his obsessions with comics and games; once his parents discovered them, his interest vanished instantly. That’s why he’d hidden his photography from them, though they’d still found out.
Now, Zhu Ran felt the same happening with his feelings toward Huo Boyan.
Huo Boyan had once embodied rebellion for him—a secret adventure. But in the blink of an eye, the man was schmoozing at a table with his dad, turning mundane and obvious.
Zhu Ran had thought Huo Boyan was different, but he was just the same.
He didn’t want to discuss it further and brushed it off. “Sorry, I lost control of my emotions. I have things to do—I’m leaving.”
“Zhu Ran,” Huo Boyan blocked his path, tone deadly serious. “What exactly do you want from me?”
Hearing that, Zhu Ran’s temper flared again. Huo Boyan made it sound like he was secretly pining for something.
“What I want?” Zhu Ran forced a smile, face icy. “Didn’t Mr. Huo eagerly insist on being my big brother?”
Huo Boyan didn’t reply. Zhu Ran pressed on, “Don’t try that big-brother act you use on your siblings with me. I can’t handle a ‘good brother’ like you.”
“Then what do you want me to do?” Huo Boyan blocked his way again, voice calm.
But if Zhu Ran had looked closely, he’d have seen the faint madness in that calm—like a porcelain vase cracked from within, intact on the surface but unable to withstand any external jolt.
Unfortunately, Zhu Ran was still fuming, and due to his excessive pride, he refused to show even the slightest weakness, so he continued to stay angry.
The next moment, Huo Boyan suddenly pinched his jaw, forcing him to lift his head.
“Zhu Ran,” Huo Boyan said slowly and torturously, staring into Zhu Ran’s eyes, “what do you want from me? Don’t you know it yourself?”
It felt as if the most hidden corner of his heart had been exposed. Zhu Ran experienced a dizzying sense of the world collapsing. He widened his eyes in bewilderment, followed by a surge of furious embarrassment.
Just as Zhu Ran was about to retort, Huo Boyan’s thumb suddenly slipped into his mouth, the pad of his finger heavily brushing over the roof of his palate.
The sensitive cavity of his mouth was touched by the man, making his nerve endings tremble. Zhu Ran’s scalp tingled. He opened his mouth and bit down hard, but Huo Boyan neither dodged nor flinched—he took the bite head-on.
At the same time, Zhu Ran’s wrist suddenly felt cool as Huo Boyan fastened a silver bracelet onto it.
Zhu Ran endured the rusty taste of blood in his mouth and frowned. “What did you put on me?”
But Huo Boyan didn’t answer. Instead, he reached out to wipe the blood from the corner of Zhu Ran’s lips before shoving him into the back seat of the sedan.
“Take him back,” Huo Boyan instructed the driver, without getting into the car himself.
The sedan drove out of the serene club and plunged into the clamor of the city. From the rearview mirror, Zhu Ran saw his own reddened lips and belatedly realized that it was Huo Boyan’s blood.
Zhu Ran viciously wiped it away with the back of his hand and tried once more to remove the Silver Bracelet. He failed again.
The silver bracelet clamped tightly around his wrist, like a lock that Huo Boyan had placed on him.
Don’t worry, a little quarrel and then they can get it on [doge]
