KMYB | Chapter 12

It wasn’t completely dark yet. Summer nights fell late, and outside the window the sky was wrapped in a gauzy layer of deep blue light.

Xi Shui could barely make out the outline of Zhou Zeqi’s face.

Those black eyes set deep in his sockets were staring at Xi Shui, who was draped in his arms, without blinking.

Xi Shui said softly, "Can I kiss you?"

Zhou Zeqi didn’t answer. The hand at Xi Shui’s waist tightened a little more.

Seeing that Zhou Zeqi still hadn’t responded, Xi Shui climbed up a little on his shoulders and opened his mouth. "Ah~"

"I rinsed my mouth this afternoon." He thought Zhou Zeqi was worried about bad breath. "My toothpaste is strawberry-flavored, it smells good."

Xi Shui was anxious to death.

"If you don’t say anything, I’ll take it as a yes."

Xi Shui felt like his heart was about to leap out of his chest. He pressed one hand over his pounding heart, and with the other he held down Zhou Zeqi’s shoulder.

Slowly, he lowered his head and pressed his mouth to Zhou Zeqi’s.

It was soft.

A little cool.

What next?

Zhou Zeqi closed his eyes, then slowly opened them again. He gripped Xi Shui’s waist, and the tip of his tongue slipped out from between his lips. The moment it brushed Xi Shui’s mouth, Xi Shui shot up like he’d been shocked, scrambling out of Zhou Zeqi’s arms.

Xi Shui stood a great distance away from Zhou Zeqi, his face bright red. He licked his lips. It seemed Zhou Zeqi’s taste was still lingering there. His heartbeat only got faster, and staring at the expressionless Zhou Zeqi across from him, he said hoarsely, "Too fast."

"What’s too fast?"

"Wasn’t it you who wanted to kiss me?"

Xi Shui didn’t know how to answer. Yes, he had wanted to kiss him. He had thought it wouldn’t feel like much, but the moment he touched Zhou Zeqi, his hands and feet went soft, and his whole body seemed to run through an electric current.

"Let’s continue next time," Xi Shui said as he moved toward the door. At the entryway, he bent down to put on his canvas shoes. "I can’t do it today. My heart’s beating way too fast, it might… be a life-threatening situation."

Zhou Zeqi stood up. He was tall, and his slippers made no sound on the carpet.

Xi Shui was still muttering with his head down.

"See you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow I’ll kiss you again."

An arm slipped around his waist, and that strength Xi Shui couldn’t budge lifted him straight up. In the blink of an eye, he was sitting on the shoe cabinet.

Xi Shui said in disbelief, "I weigh a hundred and twenty jin!"

Zhou Zeqi gave a dismissive hum through his nose. "Is a hundred and twenty jin supposed to be impressive?"

"Let’s talk," Zhou Zeqi said, leaning down until his nose was pressing against the tip of Xi Shui’s, which was already breaking out in tiny beads of sweat. His gaze was like a blade, trying to scrape Xi Shui open. "You said you wanted to date me. You like me?"

Xi Shui’s fingers gripped the edge of the shoe cabinet. After a hesitant pause, he answered, "Otherwise what?"

"You’re supposed to say you like me."

"You like me."

"…"

Zhou Zeqi laughed in exasperation. He tugged at the corner of his mouth, tilted his head, and caught Xi Shui’s evasive gaze. "Xi Shui, I don’t like beating around the bush when I talk to people. I originally wanted to see what exactly you were up to, but now I’ve changed my mind."

"About what?"

Xi Shui was still dazed.

Then the other man’s kiss came crashing down on him.

That fierce, almost predatory aura made Xi Shui close his eyes without meaning to. He hooked one arm around Zhou Zeqi’s shoulder, his fingertips nearly digging into Zhou Zeqi’s flesh, but the other man didn’t react at all, as if he couldn’t feel the pain.

Xi Shui clenched his teeth, keeping his lips shut.

Zhou Zeqi pressed against Xi Shui’s soft, damp lips, his eyes dark and deep.

He reached out and pinched the back of Xi Shui’s neck. With a little force, Xi Shui gasped in pain and opened his mouth, and Zhou Zeqi’s tongue slid inside.

Xi Shui was kissed limp. He was trapped in Zhou Zeqi’s arms, unable to dodge or escape.

"I’ve changed my mind, and I don’t mind telling you," Zhou Zeqi said after letting Xi Shui go. He held Xi Shui’s face and kissed him again and again. "No matter what you want to do, I, Zhou Zeqi, will go along with you to the end."

Xi Shui was startled by the ferocity in Zhou Zeqi’s voice.

By the time he came back to his senses, he had already been picked up and carried out into the hallway, and the door slammed shut in front of him.

!

The bright hallway lights stabbed at Xi Shui’s eyes, and it took him a long while to adjust to the sudden brightness. He lowered the hand shielding his face, thought about it, then reached out and knocked on Zhou Zeqi’s door a few times.

He had something to say.

But he didn’t need Zhou Zeqi to open the door.

"I just like you!" Xi Shui shouted.

He knew that you couldn’t date just anyone, and you couldn’t kiss just anyone either. He only wanted to date Zhou Zeqi, only wanted to kiss Zhou Zeqi. Wasn’t that liking him?

Xi Shui felt like his reasoning was absolutely perfect.

He gave himself a thumbs-up, beaming as he turned around and prepared to go home.

The moment he took out his keys, he met the three pairs of eyes of Lin Xiaojin, Zhao Mengzi, and Li Bei, all peeking through the crack in the door.

Xi Shui was startled. "You’re leaving?"

Lin Xiaojin opened the door. "Oh, we were about to leave, but when we saw you being carried out by the King of Hell Zhou, we decided to watch the show before going."

"…"

–

"How long has it been?"

"Who made the first move?"

"Look at your mouth, it’s been sucked raw."

Xi Shui sat on one sofa, while Lin Xiaojin and the other two sat on the sofa opposite him, clearly in the posture of people here to interrogate him.

"I remember you didn’t even know him before."

"Did he force you?"

Xi Shui kept shooting Lin Xiaojin meaningful looks. Lin Xiaojin should know. He should be able to guess why Xi Shui had ended up with Zhou Zeqi.

Lin Xiaojin: "Why are you rolling your eyes at me?"

"We just got together today, I made the first move," Xi Shui said shyly, lowering his head. "And my mouth was just sucked like that."

Li Bei leaned back on the sofa and exchanged a look with Zhao Mengzi. "Zhou Zeqi isn’t a good sort. How could you like him?"

Xi Shui placed both hands obediently on his knees. "He has a great body, and he’s really handsome."

"No, that’s not like you. You’re not that shallow." Xi Shui wasn’t sensitive to looks, and in his view of romance, ugly or handsome probably didn’t even make the top ten.

"Love at first sight, then," Xi Shui said.

That was somewhat understandable. With Zhou Zeqi’s vibe, love at first sight made sense.

Though Xi Shui falling in love at first sight was not exactly normal, they could only comfort themselves with that explanation.

Zhao Mengzi sighed with feeling. "Then you two are going to have a lot of love rivals. If they found out, they’d go insane."

After chatting for a while, Xi Shui saw them to the door. Lin Xiaojin walked especially slowly, while Zhao Mengzi and Li Bei went to wait for the elevator. Lin Xiaojin suddenly turned around and asked Xi Shui in a low voice, "You went out this afternoon to meet someone, all for Zhou Zeqi?"

"Yeah." Xi Shui nodded. Lin Xiaojin was pretty sharp.

"You said you didn’t want the person introduced by Meng Kewen anymore, was it because you had your eye on Zhou Zeqi?"

Xi Shui nodded again.

It was like a hammer had smashed straight into Lin Xiaojin’s brain. "Are you crazy? You played him? If he finds out, he might tear you into eight pieces."

Xi Shui was much calmer than him.

"I didn’t play him. I’m dating him."

"Dating means kissing."

Lin Xiaojin spat at him. "What twisted logic."

"Don’t worry," Xi Shui comforted Lin Xiaojin. "I think he’s pretty nice. Even if we break up, we’ll definitely still be able to be friends."

Seeing Xi Shui’s face full of innocence, Lin Xiaojin wore a look of utter hopelessness.

Meng Kewen had told him before.

Zhou Zeqi was the kind of person who never got tangled up with others, never entangled himself in unclear relationships, and had never even had an ambiguous object of affection. Since he had agreed to Xi Shui’s pursuit, he had definitely meant it. For a person like that, still being friends after breaking up? Dream on.

"Lin Xiaojin, the elevator’s here!" Li Bei called him over.

"Forget it, it’s fine. I’ll always be with you." Lin Xiaojin slung his bag on his back and left with Li Bei and the others.

–

Xi Shui closed the door, thought about it, ran to the bathroom, and then weighed himself.

He held his breath, nervous to death.

The number on the electronic display flickered.

52kg!

Xi Shui weighed himself twice to make sure he hadn’t seen wrong, then happily ran off to brush his teeth and wash his face. Zhou Zeqi was his treasure, and he loved Zhou Zeqi to death!

His hair had been messed up by Zhou Zeqi’s hands, his face was covered in fingerprints, and his lips had been bitten red and swollen.

How had he been sucked into such a state?

After washing up, Xi Shui lay on the bed and recorded his first kiss with Zhou Zeqi in his memo.

He recalled the length of the kiss. It had been very short, and Zhou Zeqi had been fierce at the time, because he was being fierce at him.

So Xi Shui typed in the memo:

5.35, kissed for ten seconds, calories burned: 0

What a loss!

Next time, he had to kiss for longer!