It was bright outside.

The two had missed the sunrise but welcomed the sunset.

The reason was probably that—after soaking in the bath, blowing their hair dry, and tidying up the bed, Lin Zhu and Yan Ruoyun finally couldn’t hold off their sleepiness any longer, and embraced each other as they fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.

As a result, the two slept in one breath all the way until past five in the afternoon.

Swish.

The tightly closed curtains were intentionally pulled open to leave a narrow slit. Lin Zhu had woken up a step earlier. His upper body was bare, his back covered in long, red scratch marks.

They didn’t hurt, just itched a little.

He stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking through this narrow slit at the fiercely burning dusk outside.

The sun was half-submerged below the horizon, painting the entire sea area in a golden red. Light and shadows shifted, and the ocean waves rippled with a silk-like soft glow, sparkling and moving.

…All of this looked incredibly real.

The room was dim. The sunlight passed through the glass and sprinkled onto Lin Zhu’s blond hair, giving his hair a halo of light, making him look like another tiny sun.

On the water bed behind him, Yan Ruoyun was still not awake.

The man was sleeping on his stomach, half of his face sunk in shadow. The creeping evening light climbed onto the other half of his face, outlining the curves of his nose bridge and lip line… further down was his shoulder, back, and that slender, dipping waistline. The rest was covered by the thin quilt, indiscernible.

Lin Zhu turned sideways and looked back, remaining unmoving for a long time.

It wasn’t until the man, half-asleep and half-awake, let out a murmur and unconsciously moved the hand resting under his face slightly to the side that he stepped forward lightly, lay back down next to Yan Ruoyun, and pulled the quilt up for the two of them.

Covering the room full of sensuous beauty.

The twilight was dissipating.

Not long after, only a few lingering remnants of light were left in the room, mischievously passing over Lin Zhu’s shoulder to fall onto Yan Ruoyun’s occasionally fluttering eyelashes, reflecting his snow-white skin in a faint orange-pink hue.

It looked very nice.

Even though the sky had darkened, a light kindled in Lin Zhu’s lifeless eyes, and his expression softened.

He thought for a moment, suddenly dug out the phone he had neglected for a day and a night from the gap at the head of the bed, opened the system camera, and found an angle…

—Click.

Yet, in the photo, the originally sleeping man had quietly opened one peach-blossom eye. His gaze was tilted slightly upward, peering at the phone camera, and a snicker was raised at the corner of his mouth.

A dimple faintly showed.

“Little dog Lin, sneaking a picture?” he asked.

This was an unqualified photo. The angle was too close, making it look like a big-head sticker. Furthermore, the environment was too dim, so the facial features of the person in the lens were blurry; probably only someone familiar could distinguish who it was.

Hearing the man’s question, Lin Zhu pressed his lips tightly together. He silently set this photo as his phone lock screen wallpaper before answering softly: “Ge, you… were pretending to sleep again?”

Yan Ruoyun: “…”

He raised his hand and pinched the youth’s cheek, “Little rascal.”

“Ge, are you hungry?” Lin Zhu’s pursed lips curved slightly, as if smiling, but he asked solemnly, “Do you want something to eat?”

Calculating carefully, they had already missed breakfast and lunch, and now it was dinner time… Moreover, after working hard until the early hours last night, both of them were already starving. They had just slept too deeply to care about the hunger.

Yan Ruoyun felt himself out and only felt that his legs were a bit weak from hunger now. Of course, this wasn’t necessarily just from being hungry.

Anyway, he nodded: “Hungry, let’s order food.”

Going out was out of the question.

In his current condition, even getting out of bed himself was a struggle.

---

In reality, Yan Ruoyun had thought too simply.

Not only on Saturday evening, but for the entirety of Sunday, the two of them didn’t take even half a step out of the seaside villa.

Saturday was slept away by them.

Sunday was a bit better, but neither wanted to go out, so they tacitly put on bathrobes and lay lazily in the bedroom for most of the day.

During this time, Lin Zhu, having nothing to do, used the garment steamer in the villa to do a full set of cleaning on his and Yan Ruoyun’s clothes.

His school uniform didn’t matter; even if it was expensive, it was limitedly so. But Yan Ruoyun’s suits were all custom-made and frighteningly expensive.

The underwear, he simply washed by hand.

And his older lover sat cross-legged on the sofa next to him, using a cheap little plastic straw to clean the impurities in the jellyfish tank. His expression was extremely focused; anyone who didn’t know better would think he was signing some important documents.

With the lights turned off, the two little jellyfish, which looked remarkably like jelly, practically merged with the transparent glass tank and required a very earnest look to see.

Lin Zhu didn’t know what was so good to look at. He had no particular preference for creatures like jellyfish, but Yan Ruoyun held the glass tank and looked at it for a long time before saying,

“Cute.”

Lin Zhu felt that he was the cute one.

In the end, this drop-everything-and-go trip concluded with the two of them staying cooped up in the room for two days. Neither expressed any dissatisfaction.

Sunday evening.

After eating dinner, the two changed back into the clothes they came in, brought the things they bought on Friday night, and set off to return to Beidu City.

In the transport vehicle.

The partition was lowered.

Yan Ruoyun leaned against Lin Zhu’s shoulder without much care for his image, his gaze unconsciously wandering.

The bite marks on the youth’s left hand still hadn’t faded, reminding Yan Ruoyun of his uncontrollable state at that time.

…

To put it unpleasantly, he felt he was so pathetic back then he didn’t even seem human, more like a dog; otherwise, why had he only cared about continuously barking at someone?

Not only had he lost his dignity, his reason had shattered all over the floor as well.

He had thought it would be very hard for him to accept this fact.

The strange thing was, whether during the act, after the act, or even reminiscing about it now… Yan Ruoyun never felt a single trace of aversion or resistance; instead, a touch of sweetness rose from the bottom of his heart.

And a somewhat inexplicable shyness.

Having lived so many years, this was the first time.

—Given to him by Lin Zhu.

When the car ride was halfway through, the blond youth picked up his phone to check the time. Yan Ruoyun noticed that his phone lock screen had been changed to the photo taken earlier and couldn’t help but say:

“Little dog Lin, what is this photography skill of yours.”

Lin Zhu had originally turned off the screen, but hearing the man’s words, he pressed the side button again, stared carefully at the lock screen for a few glances, and then answered: “I think it looks very nice…?”

Although it was just a silhouette, it was also very beautiful.

At this moment, Yan Ruoyun suddenly leaned close to his ear. He deliberately lowered his volume, yet his tone was very generous as he proposed:

“Next time, you don’t have to wait until I’m asleep to take pictures, and just photograph my head… during the process is fine too, anywhere is fine, I permit it.”

“But you can’t use it as a lock screen, only for you to look at yourself.” After saying that, he added another sentence.

Lin Zhu froze for a moment. His brain spun twice before reacting. Thinking of the man’s alluring appearance at that time, his face instantly grew hot, and he hurriedly refused:

“N-no need! That’s your privacy!”

Yan Ruoyun raised an eyebrow, wanting to tease him a few more times, when he saw the youth suddenly staring at him with a face full of seriousness.

Not knowing what he had thought of, the youth first sighed, then earnestly admonished:

“Ge, I’ve heard that some people like to take selfies facing the bathroom mirror before taking a shower. You absolutely must not do this. Leaving such private images on any electronic device is very unsafe.”

Yan Ruoyun’s expression stiffened slightly.

“…I don’t have that hobby.”

“Mm-hm,” Lin Zhu nodded, then continued, “You must be careful, this kind of behavior is really very dangerous!”

Yan Ruoyun choked back a response, suddenly unable to resist taking a bite out of the youth’s cheek, “Are you stupid? I was flirting with you, who likes taking those kinds of photos!”

“…Oh.”

Lin Zhu silently lowered his eyes. His profile had a ring of unpresentable teeth marks bitten into it by the man. He wore an expression of honestly accepting a scolding, as if he would accept being beaten or yelled at.

Seeing this made Yan Ruoyun’s heart soften, and he felt a bit ashamed.

He felt as if he had become a big bad villain bullying a good, obedient child, vigorously doing bad things just because the other was obedient and reasonable.

It wasn’t until he looked through the rear car window that he noticed that although Lin Zhu seemed expressionless, his lips were pursed extremely tightly, as if he couldn’t hold back his laughter the next second if he didn’t do so.

Their eyes met.

Lin Zhu still couldn’t hold it in and hastily lowered his head. The tips of his blond hair all stuck up, swaying with the slight trembling of his shoulders, like a piece of fleece baring its fangs and brandishing its claws.

Yan Ruoyun squeezed over and forcefully lifted the youth’s face to look—the guy was secretly laughing! Even those droopy eyes were narrowed, and he was biting his lower lip tightly to keep from laughing out loud.

Yan Ruoyun was beyond furious!

So, he grabbed the youth’s cheeks as a squeeze toy to vent his anger. Unexpectedly, a few seconds later, he was caught off guard as Lin Zhu grabbed his wrists and pinned them behind his lower back.

The advantage and disadvantage were instantly reversed.

Lin Zhu pinned both of the man’s wrists with one hand, pulled him over to sit sideways on his lap, opened his mouth a few times, stretched his face that was red from being pinched, and said in a muffled voice:

“Ge, actually, what I said was from the bottom of my heart. That kind of behavior really isn’t good.”

Yan Ruoyun’s expression clearly showed disbelief.

Not believing was right.

Lin Zhu mimicked the way the man had leaned close to him and leaned into his ear. He whispered softly, like exchanging a little secret, and his lips, whether intentionally or unintentionally, kept brushing against the man’s earlobe.

He said,

“However, if you want to flirt with me.”

Then, he reined in the exaggerated smile on his face—actually, it was just a faint smile, not even showing his teeth. In short, he put away his smile and whispered:

“Thank you for teaching me.”

While speaking, Lin Zhu had been staring at Yan Ruoyun’s expression the whole time. A few seconds later, his eyes gradually widened, and he asked blankly,

“Ge, are you blushing?”

“…Tsk, little dog Lin, shut up!”

---

Sunday, past nine in the evening.

After a drive of several hours, the two finally returned to Beidu City.

At Yan Ruoyun’s request, the car drove to the residential area where Lin Zhu lived first, and then would return to his personal residence, making it convenient for him to go to the company the next day.

It was this intersection again, under this same streetlight.

The commercial vehicle had already driven away, but the two stood face to face. Neither said they were leaving first; instead, they casually looked for topics to chat about.

After going back and forth for several minutes, there was really nothing left to instruct. Yan Ruoyun exhibited the demeanor of a mature adult, waved his large hand, and urged:

“Go upstairs. You still have school tomorrow, sleep early.”

Lin Zhu wore his school uniform, his backpack neatly carried on his back, and a ring of teeth marks still remaining on his face.

Earlier, when getting out of the car to pay, the driver had taken several extra looks at him because of this.

Lin Zhu’s toes pointed toward the residential area, but he hadn’t moved an inch for a long time. He held it back, but finally couldn’t help asking: “Ge… will you still be very busy after this?”

Yan Ruoyun raised an eyebrow: “Why? Going to miss me?”

After this trip that wasn’t really a trip, their relationship had taken a step further, and Lin Zhu had also become more honest. He quickly nodded and replied: “If you’re not busy, we could have dinner together…”

This referred to dinner.

Yan Ruoyun smiled and said: “But I’m super busy.”

Hearing this, Lin Zhu had no expression on his face, but a flash of disappointment passed through his eyes. He tried hard to make his tone sound calm.

“Oh, okay.”

But at this moment.

He heard Yan Ruoyun shift the conversation and say:

“You’re busy with the college entrance exams, and I’m busy with work… If we want to see each other often and have meals together, it’s probably only possible if we live together, right?”

The man raised the glass jellyfish tank in his hand to his face and flipped the switch for the colored lights on the back. Instantly, colorful lights splashed out between the two of them, like the scalding fireworks from that night.

Yan Ruoyun stared at the two jellyfish pulsing and swimming in circles in the tank, and said seemingly casually,

“These two, also need someone to take care of them.”