Chapter 17: He’s Not Gay, But…

【WHAT THE F!! I just went to eat a midnight snack, how did I come back and Duan Qiong’s mouth was already on his?!】

【F, that’s a crime worthy of being dragged out and beheaded.】

【So those CP fanfics in Bad Pear’s personal space were all written by you! I thought there were really that many people with weird tastes.】

【FOX: ? You want a slap too?】

【Zhi Feng: …】

【I told you all to say less. See? Kicked out and permabanned now, aren’t you.】

The kiss was like a dragonfly skimming the water—a touch, then gone.

The breath that belonged to another person was withdrawing at full speed, but the heartbeats like thunder only grew louder.

Yu Huaili: …

He’d thought he understood the Protagonist Top’s thoughts pretty well, but now he really didn’t get it.

Suddenly kissing him—was it because he’d realized he liked him? Or did he think, since they were bros, what’s one kiss?

The System cut in. 【Duan Qiong thinks: they’re bros with the same junk, what’s a kiss between them?】

Yu Huaili thought so too.

When Duan Qiong was mumbling about “punishment” just now, he didn’t understand what nonsense Duan Qiong was muttering to himself. But now he got it.

This was probably heaven’s punishment to him.

“Young man.” The driver glanced at the wide-open window in the back row through the rearview mirror, squinting as he suggested, “How about closing the window? The AC is on in the car. If you’re too cold, I can turn up the temperature.”

And what was this male celebrity doing covering half his face like that? Could the AC give him facial paralysis?

The driver thought with an inward hiss—he probably wouldn’t be asked to pay compensation… right? No wait, if this celebrity really did get facial paralysis, he’d have to sue the plastic surgery hospital, not him, a mere driver.

After feeling the natural wind for a while, Duan Qiong finally felt his face and ears weren’t so hot anymore. He closed the window and said flatly, “No need.”

“Oh, oh.” The driver curled his lip and said nothing more.

Such a cocky tone. Who was he showing off to?

He’d only asked once. It wasn’t like he’d provoked the guy. Did he look down on working-class people or something!

The driver glanced at Duan Qiong in the rearview mirror again. The guy was gently draping a thin blanket over that boy named Yu Huaili beside him.

“Bro?” Yu Huaili seemed to wake from Duan Qiong’s movements. His eyes half-lidded, his head softly dropping onto Duan Qiong’s shoulder, his voice a little hoarse. “What’s wrong?”

“I bumped your arm just now.” Duan Qiong’s voice sounded even hoarser. He paused for two seconds, cleared his throat, and added, “You felt a bit cold, so I covered you with a blanket.”

“I see…” Yu Huaili said slowly. “No wonder. I felt like Bro got really close to me just now.”

Hearing that, a flash of panic crossed Duan Qiong’s face.

But his mind involuntarily replayed that kiss from just now.

No, it wasn’t a kiss.

A kiss should be prying open the other person’s lips, tongues tangled together, sharing one breath of air…

Just now, he and Yu Huaili had only briefly, lightly, quickly pressed their mouths together.

Although Yu Huaili liked men, he didn’t. Two friends with different sexual orientations pressing their mouths together didn’t mean anything.

“Bro?” Yu Huaili mumbled.

Duan Qiong’s Adam’s apple moved, his voice painfully dry. “Mm?”

“Your ears are so hot.” Yu Huaili said drowsily, in a low voice. “They’re burning me.”

Duan Qiong: …

He found a clumsy excuse. “Maybe… it’s too hot.”

The driver silently turned the AC temperature back down.

The Solaron-X team arrived before Solaron-X, having booked a hotel near the magazine shoot location.

“Sister Chen, but the situation is like this…” The young assistant scratched his nose and rubbed his hands. “Because it’s peak travel season lately, the hotel doesn’t have that many empty rooms. The rest of the team is staying at a nearby guesthouse, and I could only book four single rooms here at this hotel…”

As he spoke, his voice grew quieter and quieter.

Only four rooms were booked, and Sister Chen was a woman—which meant two of the four Solaron-X members had to share a room.

Seeing the varied expressions on Sister Chen and the Solaron-X members’ faces, the assistant hurriedly added, “I’m really sorry, Sister Chen. If no one can share, I also booked a two-bed suite at a hotel about a dozen kilometers away.”

After riding in the car all night, Sister Chen had no energy left to go to a hotel a dozen kilometers away. She waved her hand. “It’s not your fault. This magazine shoot was just negotiated, and you managed to book a hotel at all—that’s already good. Besides, they’re all men. Squeezing into one room won’t cost them a chunk of flesh.”

After a pause, Sister Chen said casually, “Duan Qiong and Xi Xingheng will each take a single room. Yu Huaili and Jiang Qing will share one… Give them the room cards and let them rest a couple hours. Wake them up around nine.”

Before Yu Huaili or Jiang Qing could raise any objection, Duan Qiong frowned and blurted, “Why?”

Sister Chen glanced at Duan Qiong, pretending to be clueless. “Why what? Isn’t it good to have your own room?”

Duan Qiong’s brow furrowed deeper. “But I think—”

Jiang Qing really didn’t want to sleep in the same bed as some stiff, big man. He was just figuring out how to raise the issue with Sister Chen when Duan Qiong jumped in and made his day.

He didn’t even care what Duan Qiong had originally been about to say to Sister Chen. He spoke up first. “Sister, Duan Qiong and Yu Huaili are so close they share a pair of pants. He obviously wants to room with Yu Huaili… Aiya, Sister Chen, just don’t break up two good friends.”

Sister Chen narrowed her eyes. “What nonsense are you talking about? There’s no such rule… Little Li, you don’t have a problem, right?”

It was only for one night. Yu Huaili nodded. “I don’t have a problem.”

Jiang Qing curled his lip, still a little unconvinced inside.

Fine, Xi Xingheng got his own room, whatever—he had a rich family, even Sister Chen had to curry favor with him. But what about Duan Qiong?

What made Duan Qiong so special?

Sister Chen curved her eyes and lightly patted Yu Huaili’s shoulder. “Alright, then you two go rest. Take a shower or whatever.”

Duan Qiong couldn’t help narrowing his eyes.

…And shower?

The single room had only one bed. Not only would they have to lie in the same bed at night, but also—two grown men showering together?

Yu Huaili and Jiang Qing showering together?

Whether it was from lack of sleep or from anger at his own wild imagination, the rationality rapidly slipping from his grasp, Duan Qiong clutched the room card, his temples throbbing.

The four rooms were far apart. Jiang Qing had asked the assistant to buy him a coffee downstairs. Just as he was about to go out and get it, he saw Duan Qiong standing at their door with a gloomy face.

Meeting Duan Qiong head-on like that, Jiang Qing jumped in fright, and his voice couldn’t help but weaken. “Uh… w-what’s up, Brother Duan?”

Duan Qiong’s gaze landed on the bathrobe Jiang Qing was wrapped in. His barely contained fury seemed to bore a hole straight through him.

He narrowed his eyes. “Did you and Yu Huaili shower?”

Jiang Qing was baffled. Did Duan Qiong have bad eyes? Couldn’t he see his hair wasn’t even wet? “We haven’t, we haven’t showered yet.”

Face expressionless, Duan Qiong shoved his own room card into Jiang Qing’s hand. “You go to 4026 right now. Right now. If Sister Chen asks, tell her it was my decision.”

Jiang Qing looked at the room card in his hand, then at Duan Qiong. In that instant, he felt Duan Qiong’s cold face even looked a bit kinder. “Bro, you’re really my good bro.”

Before Jiang Qing’s words even landed, his freshly-certified good bro dragged him out, ruthlessly shut the door in his face, and left him with two cold words: “Go on.”

Yu Huaili was wearing his headphones, playing games, and hadn’t paid much attention to Jiang Qing’s movements or the rustling voices. After finishing a round, he raised his voice. “Bro, didn’t you go shower? I already boiled the water.”

Duan Qiong, who had been standing silently behind Yu Huaili for a long time, finally blinked his dry eyes and answered in a low voice. “Mm.”

Hearing Duan Qiong’s voice, Yu Huaili took off his headphones, turned around, and looked up at the dead-serious Duan Qiong. He couldn’t help but laugh. “Brother Duan Qiong? Why are you here?”

“Jiang Qing said he wanted to room alone.” Duan Qiong gently touched Yu Huaili’s ruffled hair and said in a low voice, “I ran into him just now. He begged me for a long time, so I agreed.”

“Oh…” Yu Huaili nodded. “Whatever he wants, then. Bro, are you going to shower?”

Duan Qiong froze for two seconds, turning to glance at the bathroom, whose walls were all transparent glass. “No… shower?”

Yu Huaili tapped the table. “So are you showering or not?”

Duan Qiong pressed his lips together. “No.”

“Alright, then I’ll go.” Yu Huaili put down his phone and stood up. “I’m so tired from the drive last night.”

Duan Qiong said nothing.

Listening to the sound of running water in the bathroom, Duan Qiong kept his eyes lowered, not once looking in that direction.

But his mind involuntarily conjured up that pink…

Tsk. He wasn’t even gay—why was he thinking about another man’s genitals?

Duan Qiong shut his eyes in exasperation, only to find that the image became even clearer in the darkness.

Duan Qiong: …

He opened his eyes again.

The sound of water that had tormented him for half the day also stopped.

Looking at the Protagonist Top sitting there like he was in meditation, Yu Huaili towel-dried his hair and said, “Bro, what are you meditating about?”

Duan Qiong turned to look at Yu Huaili, then shot up from his seat. Grabbing a piece of clothing as he walked quickly over, he said, “What are you doing.”

Yu Huaili: …?

What was he doing now?

“How, how can you just come out wearing only underwear?” Duan Qiong draped the clothes over Yu Huaili’s shoulders, his voice hoarse. “You didn’t even wrap a bathrobe.”

If he weren’t here, if it were Jiang Qing still here…

Would Yu Huaili have come out dressed like this too, showing himself off for free to a man like Jiang Qing?

At the thought, Duan Qiong’s hands trembled with anger.

“There was only one bathrobe, and Brother Jiang Qing took it.” Yu Huaili stated it matter-of-factly, then wrinkled his nose. “And Bro, you always overreact. My body’s not that badly trained, is it?”

“It’s not…” Duan Qiong instinctively glanced at Yu Huaili, his gaze lingering for two seconds on Yu Huaili’s clean, well-defined abs and his long, straight legs. He looked away, voice hoarse. “Because I’m a man. How can you, how can you act like this in front of a man? It’s not good.”

After two seconds of silence, Yu Huaili pinched Duan Qiong’s chin, turning his face back, looking directly into Duan Qiong’s eyes with a smile. He drawled, sounding like he was coaxing. “Bro, what did I do?”

Swallowing the excess saliva in his mouth, Duan Qiong, though his chin was pinched, didn’t struggle. He just kept a calm face, looking down at Yu Huaili.

But the way he looked at Yu Huaili suddenly turned a little strange.

“Bro.”

Duan Qiong answered. “Mm.”

“Your nose is bleeding…”

Duan Qiong froze for two seconds. He raised his hand to touch the philtrum above his lip, and his fingertip came away stained with blood.

And it showed no sign of stopping.

Yu Huaili handed Duan Qiong two more tissues. “Is City H too dry? Why won’t it stop?”

Duan Qiong tilted his head back, not daring to look at Yu Huaili again. “Maybe.”

Now even showering couldn’t be avoided—he had to go wash up.