Chapter 16
Author: Mr. Big Horn
Yan Zhen selfishly wanted to spend more time with Su Jinxin, so he casually marked the driver as absent.
“Ah, um, I…” Su Jinxin was caught off guard by Yan Zhen’s sudden remark, stammering without knowing how to respond.
Normally, Su Jinxin would stay at school for a couple of weeks before the holidays, working on assignments and waiting for his boyfriend to return from abroad. He wouldn’t see Yan Zhen during this time, giving his body a chance to recover and the marks to fade. So, they had never faced this kind of situation before.
Even someone as composed as Yan Zhen was slightly shaken, let alone Su Jinxin—he had no idea what to do. With his ears turning red, he trembled slightly from the lingering aftershocks of his climax, nestled in Yan Zhen’s embrace. Yan Zhen kept kissing and nibbling on his neck. After a long while, Su Jinxin managed to say, “If you don’t want me to leave…”
Yan Zhen had a guess at what he meant, and his heart skipped a beat, blood rushing to his head. “Hmm?”
Su Jinxin stayed silent, his eyelashes trembling against Yan Zhen’s palm.
Yan Zhen hugged him tighter. “Jinxin?”
“If… if you don’t want me to leave…” Su Jinxin’s face was half-buried in the pillow, his voice and body both shaking, “I… I can stay…”
Every cell in Yan Zhen’s body screamed for him to say yes, but he forced himself to say, “No need.”
“Oh.”
Su Jinxin responded quietly.
Gradually, his body relaxed in Yan Zhen’s arms.
Yan Zhen sighed inwardly and kissed his smooth neck. “Don’t be nervous… I’m not that overbearing, am I? We agreed on this, and I won’t go back on my word easily.”
He did want Su Jinxin to stay, preferably to move in right after graduation. But if it made Su Jinxin this tense and uncomfortable, then…
“Okay,” Su Jinxin answered softly, seeming a bit drowsy.
In a short while, his breathing became steady, and he started to snore lightly, sleeping soundly in Yan Zhen’s arms, like a small animal hibernating.
He was clearly exhausted.
Yan Zhen propped himself up and watched his peaceful sleeping face in the moonlight. After a while, he leaned down and pecked him on the cheek, then held him tight and fell asleep.
Yan Zhen slept well.
So he didn’t notice when Su Jinxin woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall back asleep. Afraid of waking Yan Zhen, he didn’t dare move much. Eventually, he snuggled closer to Yan Zhen and stared at him in the starlight for a long time before leaning in to steal a kiss.
The next morning, they both woke up early.
Su Jinxin packed his things.
Yan Zhen tried to stay in the study, pretending not to care, but he couldn’t keep it up. Eventually, he ended up following Su Jinxin around like a shadow. Whenever Su Jinxin picked something up, Yan Zhen would say, “Leave it, it doesn’t take up much space, you can use it next time you come.” When Su Jinxin tried to take something, Yan Zhen would say, “You still have to pick someone up, and you have so much stuff. Can you carry it all? Leave it here and take it when school starts.”
Yan Zhen knew this behavior was pointless.
But he couldn’t help it.
He wanted to leave as many traces of Su Jinxin as possible.
In the end, Su Jinxin only took his wallet, keys, and two assignments he had to submit. He even left his sketchbook of Yan Zhen.
Yan Zhen drove him personally.
They bumped into the driver, who had arrived on time for work, in the garage. Luckily, Su Jinxin seemed distracted and didn’t notice, though it gave Yan Zhen quite a scare.
On the way to the airport, Yan Zhen held Su Jinxin’s hand. Su Jinxin’s hand was smaller and softer than his, and it got sweaty easily, feeling like holding a small, soft fish.
Both of them were lost in their thoughts, not saying much.
They kept stealing glances at each other.
Each afraid the other would notice.
So neither of them did.
Yan Zhen was frustrated at how short the drive felt.
They arrived before he could warm up Su Jinxin’s hand.
He pretended the car was too big to find a parking spot and drove around the airport once more. It was childish and foolish, but he couldn’t help it. Finally, he parked the car in front of the arrivals hall but still didn’t want to let go of Su Jinxin’s hand.
After a long pause, Su Jinxin moved his fingers. “Um… Mr. Yan…”
Yan Zhen closed his eyes, steadied himself, and sighed deeply. He wanted to kiss him but, seeing the unshielded front window, didn’t want to embarrass him. Instead, he lifted Su Jinxin’s hand to his lips.
Su Jinxin was puzzled.
He didn’t dare move.
He let Yan Zhen hold his hand.
Yan Zhen gazed at his beautiful face, remembering how he cried out in his nightmare, and couldn’t bring himself to let go. Only when his phone alarm went off did he sigh and say, “You know my private number, right?”
Su Jinxin nodded. “I do.”
“If anything happens,” Yan Zhen said, emphasizing, “no matter what, no matter when, whether it’s troublesome or not, if you need me, call me.”
Su Jinxin was taken aback.
He frowned slightly, looked up at Yan Zhen quickly, then lowered his eyes and nodded. “Okay.”