KMYB | Chapter 54

Xi Shui lay on the bed, unable to figure it out.

A sound came from the direction of the bedroom door. Xi Shui sat up and looked back. "How did you get in?" he asked Zhou Zeqi.

Zhou Zeqi pointed at the doorknob. "You didn’t lock it."

"…"

Xi Shui mentally replayed how he had shut the door. He really hadn’t locked it. It was his own fault, but he didn’t want to talk to Zhou Zeqi, so he buried his face back in the blanket and decided not to communicate with him.

Zhou Zeqi locked the door, walked over, and sat on the edge of the bed. Xi Shui felt him come closer and scooted aside, not even willing to let the hem of his clothes touch Zhou Zeqi.

"Don’t be mad," Zhou Zeqi said softly.

Xi Shui stayed in the same position, motionless.

Without a sound, Zhou Zeqi slipped a hand behind Xi Shui’s back and lifted him straight up. Xi Shui struggled for a moment, but Zhou Zeqi quickly pinned him down, and all he could do was stare at him expressionlessly to show that he refused to服气.[[1]]

"Mm, I’ll apologize to you."

Xi Shui ended up straddling Zhou Zeqi’s lap, one hand clutching his arm. When he stayed silent, he looked especially aloof and proud, and the contempt in those beautiful eyes was downright dismissive.

"If you don’t say anything, I’ll take it as you’re not mad anymore." Zhou Zeqi leaned in and bit the corner of Xi Shui’s lips.

That single bite seemed to press some switch inside Xi Shui’s body. He shouted at Zhou Zeqi, "Am I much weaker than you?"

"…"

"What do you think?"

Xi Shui felt a little awkward and pressed his lips together. He lowered his head and looked at the color difference between his skin and Zhou Zeqi’s, which was a full two shades apart. Then he looked at Zhou Zeqi’s arms, which were thicker than his by a whole circle, and thought about how the other man could lift him without the slightest effort.

Objectively speaking, there really was no comparison.

Xi Shui’s shoulders slumped. "You’re really strong," he murmured.

"Not mad anymore?" Zhou Zeqi asked.

Xi Shui looked up. "I’m not mad. I know there’s no comparison between us, but you can’t look down on me."

"When did I ever look down on you?"

"…"

"I’m not looking down on you. You’re very impressive."

Xi Shui muttered, "Then tell me, what part of me is impressive?"

"Everything about you."

"You’re brushing me off."

"Your dancing is amazing, your brain is smart, and you’re sharp-tongued too…" Zhou Zeqi counted them off one by one, but before he could finish, Xi Shui cut him off.

"Okay, okay, I know." Xi Shui kissed Zhou Zeqi. "Thanks. You’re impressive too."

Zhou Zeqi remained unmoved. "Really? What am I good at?"

Xi Shui’s gaze immediately shifted away guiltily, because the compliment he had just given was only polite fluff.

He needed a moment to think.

Zhou Zeqi pressed him. "So you were brushing me off just now?"

"No," Xi Shui denied instantly. "You’re amazing. You’re great at basketball, great at swimming, great at studying."

"What else?"

"A-and you’re also really good in bed." Xi Shui’s ears turned red at once.

Zhou Zeqi stared at him for a while with deep, unreadable eyes before asking, "Want to go out to eat?"

Xi Shui thought about it. "I’m not going out. I was mad just now, and I’m embarrassed. I’ll eat later."

"…" Still cares about saving face.

Zhou Zezhi and Bai Ya didn’t stay long. After each of them had two bowls of congee, they were ready to leave. They knocked on the master bedroom door. "You two can keep bickering. I’m taking Bai Ya home for a bit. Xiao Xi, bye!"

Xi Shui had been sitting on the floor scrolling through dance videos. The moment he heard Zhou Zezhi say goodbye, he reacted even faster than Zhou Zeqi. He jumped up, hugged the tablet to his chest, and opened the door. "I’ll see you out."

"No need," Zhou Zezhi said, slinging her backpack over one shoulder and pulling Bai Ya along. "Go eat. If Zhou Zeqi ever bullies you again, tell me."

Xi Shui stood there. "And if I do, will it help?"

Zhou Zezhi: "…"

Bai Ya was laughing so hard she couldn’t stop. "She’s just saying it. Don’t go looking for her, it won’t help even if you do."

Although Zhou Zezhi said no need to see them off, Xi Shui still accompanied the two of them to the elevator and waved goodbye.

Zhou Zeqi was waiting for him at the door.

"Why didn’t you see your sister out?"

Zhou Zeqi pulled Xi Shui inside and closed the door. "We don’t stand on ceremony like that."

"You said last time your sister was sick. What illness does she have?" Xi Shui sat down at the dining table and brought a bowl of warm congee in front of him.

"Bipolar disorder."

Xi Shui clearly froze for a moment. "Why? Was there a trigger?"

Zhou Zeqi placed a chopstickful of cold dressed bitter chrysanthemum greens onto the small porcelain dish by Xi Shui’s hand and said evenly, "She… studied design. Since elementary school, her imagination was much richer than that of her peers, so my mom enrolled her in an art class. By middle school, she could already design clothes and jewelry on her own. She had an idol, a famous master in the jewelry world, and the two of them often emailed each other. In her second year of high school, she told that person everything she had kept tucked away, her design inspiration, sketches, and ideas, all at once."

Xi Shui stared blankly. "And then her stuff became someone else’s?"

"Mm. They copied her work directly. She had given away too much information, and the other person wasn’t stupid. Using what she’d provided, they dug deeper into her ideas, and Zhou Zezhi ended up looking like the plagiarist."

"Just like you, the deeper she drilled into her own field, the less she sensed the outside world. Then suddenly someone dragged her out of her own world, and she discovered the outside wasn’t what she had imagined. She couldn’t accept it."

Xi Shui looked at the long velvet jewelry box Zhou Zezhi had given him. "What about now?"

"What about now?"

"That master."

"Oh. Zhou Zezhi’s work raised his standing in the jewelry world several notches. Last year, the royal family wanted to hire him as their exclusive jewelry designer, but Zhou Zezhi’s bearded mentor ruined that. Now Zhou Zezhi is the royal family’s exclusive designer."

Zhou Zeqi didn’t say how difficult that process had been. Though the result was gratifying, the wounds and shadows that person had left on Zhou Zezhi could never be erased.

Zhou Zezhi had thought she had met a kindred spirit. She loved all kinds of sparkling crystals with complete purity, and the profound meaning behind them, how they could shine brighter than the Milky Way and be grander than the universe. Unfortunately, in the eyes of a plagiarist, they were nothing more than tools for climbing upward, fame and profit.

Zhou Zeqi set down his chopsticks and looked at Xi Shui seriously. "You’re a lot like her."

Xi Shui bit down on his chopsticks, not understanding why Zhou Zeqi would say that.

"You’re a lot like Zhou Zezhi before her second year of high school. You don’t hear the world outside, you immerse yourself in your own field, and you treat everyone sincerely. You think that’s a quality everyone should have, but not everyone is worth your sincerity."

"People have a dark side. You need to learn how to protect yourself."

Xi Shui frowned as he ate the bitter chrysanthemum greens. He didn’t really like vegetables, but vitamins were vitamins, so he should eat more.

"I know," Xi Shui said curiously. "Then what’s your dark side?"

Zhou Zeqi laughed. "You really want to know?"

"Yes." Xi Shui nodded firmly.

Outside, the daylight was dim and the rain was drizzling down. The lamp above the dining table was bright beyond compare, making Zhou Zeqi’s eyes look especially dark, like a bottomless whirlpool. If you stared too long, you’d be dragged in uncontrollably.

"I want… for your eyes to hold only me. I don’t want you to go abroad. I want you to stay by my side, go nowhere, dance only for me, and not have anything to do with anyone else," Zhou Zeqi said, a smile spreading at the corners of his lips, his gaze never leaving Xi Shui. "I want to lock you in the bedroom behind you and buy you all kinds of beautiful clothes, changing you into a new outfit every day so you can dance for me. Or you could not wear anything at all. Either way, I just want you to be my little swan, and mine alone."

Xi Shui’s mouth went dry, as if it had stuck together, and he couldn’t speak.

He looked at Zhou Zeqi nervously. "N… no, you can’t. I don’t want that."

"I know I can’t," Zhou Zeqi lowered his eyes and took a sip of water. The pressure he had been giving Xi Shui vanished the instant he looked away. "You asked me what my dark side is, and I answered you. What about yours?"

Xi Shui steadied himself, cleared his throat, and slowly said, "I want you to like me forever."

Zhou Zeqi’s fingers on the tabletop tightened. "That counts as a dark side?"

Xi Shui said, "Of course it does. Humans aren’t loyal animals, and you don’t have a duty to be loyal to me either, do you? I want you to like me forever, and only like me."

Zhou Zeqi suddenly stood up, startling Xi Shui.

The dining table wasn’t wide. Zhou Zeqi leaned across it, grabbed Xi Shui’s arm, and pulled him forward, then bent down and kissed him. "Yes. Being loyal to you is my duty. If I betray you, then I’ve committed a capital crime."

Xi Shui tilted his head up at Zhou Zeqi. "Then what about me?"

"What about you?"

"What if I betray you?"

"Would you?" Zhou Zeqi knew very well that Xi Shui wasn’t that kind of person.

"I wouldn’t. If I stopped liking you and fell for someone else, I’d definitely tell you," Xi Shui said. The air around them suddenly turned cold, and the fingers gripping his arm tightened sharply, but he wasn’t anxious. He continued, "But I think I can still like you for another hundred years!"

A hundred years, that was a very long time. Looking at the average human lifespan now, that could also be called loving you until death.

–

Zhou Zeqi was taking two majors, one he liked and one his father required, so he also spent a lot of time studying at night.

Xi Shui practiced for two hours in the evening, finished his homework, played by himself for a while, and then quietly slipped into the bathroom.

The bathroom light was even brighter. Xi Shui was still on the phone with Lin Xiaojin. He had put it on speaker and placed his phone on the sink, while he himself untied the lid of that cat outfit box and lifted out the white suspender stockings.

"I’m getting ready to surprise Zhou Zeqi, but I don’t know how to wear this."

Lin Xiaojin was gaming while talking to Xi Shui. He wasn’t surprised at all. "Look it up online. Clothes like this are easy. Just do this and that."

"Do what?" Xi Shui pulled off his pants and stood barefoot on the cold tile floor. The stockings had great elasticity, a little smaller in pattern than fishnet, and felt nice too. The fabric was smooth, soft, and white. "I’ll try it first."

"Show me later too!"

While sliding the stockings up his legs, Xi Shui blushed and refused, "You’re not my boyfriend. What would I show you for?"

Zhou Zeqi only realized Xi Shui was gone after searching the room and finding nothing. Then he heard Xi Shui in the bathroom, talking to someone on the phone? And a boyfriend?

He said nothing, just opened the bathroom door.

Xi Shui had only just gotten one leg in. The stockings only reached his thighs. Hearing the noise, he looked over in surprise.

Xi Shui had a figure proportioned far better than most people in his major, long legs and a narrow waist, with smooth, flowing muscle lines. Years of dancing had made every inch of his body taut and strong. A one-finger-wide strip of fabric held a silver ring, swaying back and forth with Xi Shui’s movements. It needed to be hooked to the ring in the position above it.

Xi Shui hadn’t expected Zhou Zeqi to come in so suddenly. He grabbed the other stocking and ran toward Zhou Zeqi, pressing against him as he pushed him back out. "I-I’m not done yet. Y-you go out first."

Zhou Zeqi was pushed out. He stood at the door, motionless like a statue. After a long while, he asked hoarsely, "Need help?"

Xi Shui answered quickly, "No!"

"Then I’ll wait for you," Zhou Zeqi replied slowly.