Lovely Allergen - Chap 76
They’d taken the last bullet train for the day, and by the time they reached Guangzhou, it was already close to midnight.
Yue Zhishi had just woken up when they got off the train, and he was still very woozy, half wrapped in Song Yu’s arms the entire time they were exiting the station.
Thinking of sending Jiang Yufan a message, he reached out and groped for his phone. That was strange.
He thought his phone had been in his left pocket earlier.
People were everywhere in the passageways, scurrying and rushing to where they needed to go. Yue Zhishi lifted his head with bleary eyes and saw a man in front of him with his bag unzipped; a small black pouch inside was about to topple out. Yue Zhishi told Song Yu where he was going and quickly ran over, managing to catch the pouch just in time.
“Hey.” Yue Zhishi gave the man a pat on the shoulder. He handed the pouch in his hand over to the man once he turned around. “Your stuff fell.”
The man first profusely thanked him, and then a look of surprise covered his face when he looked at Yue Zhishi. “Aren’t you that mixed handsome boy from the flight?”
Yue Zhishi only then realised the man was the same person who’d sat next to him on the plane. He gave him a smile and said, “What a coincidence. We even took the same bullet train.”
“Yeah. I’m so thankful for you, this pouch has all of my identification documents. It would’ve been a mess if I lost it.” The man placed the pouch back into his bag and securely zipped it up. “Handsome guy, is there someone picking you up here? Let me take you to where you need to go.”
Yue Zhishi subconsciously looked back and saw Song Yu pushing their luggages over. “No need, no need. You should go do what you’re here for.”
“Then please make sure you look for me if you need any help.” The man took out a business card from his pocket and gave it to him, looking quite tired and worn out as he left.
“Who was that?” Song Yu spoke mildly, yet he promptly reached out and took away the card in Yue Zhishi’s hand. He lowered his eyes and said, voice appraising, “…Zhou Chengwei from Mingshang Company Ltd. And even a vice president.”
“He was next to me on the plane.” Yue Zhishi caught Song Yu’s arm and said, voice very docile and pliant, “Gege, I’m so sleepy.”
Song Yu stored the business card in the outer layer of Yue Zhishi’s backpack and took him out of the station.
It was raining extremely heavily outside, but it wasn’t cold. The rain fell noisily and loudly, and the stream of people leaving the station was also very chaotic. Song Yu was in the middle of the crowd — and yet he stood out because of how overly calm and controlled he was.
He held open a black umbrella, gathering Yue Zhishi into his arms. They got onto a taxi he’d ordered earlier and headed towards the hotel he’d booked while they were on the bullet train.
The rain was so intense it was as though it was being poured onto the car windows. The bright neon lights of the city outside the windows were obscured, blurred into soft glowing circles of brightness. Yue Zhishi gazed out, his hand covering the back of Song Yu’s slightly chilled hand.
Using very accented Mandarin, the taxi driver chatted with them, asking if they’d come to Guangzhou to play, and Yue Zhishi occasionally replied to his attempts at conversation. He turned his face over towards Song Yu’s direction and saw dark water stains blotched over the shoulder of Song Yu’s coat.
The friendly local driver told them where to go for the best roast goose, what places liked to cheat tourists and even praised the hotel they’d booked as being very decent.
Yue Zhishi only understood why the driver said the hotel was very decent after he got off the car, saw the financial centre building with its one hundred-plus floors and followed Song Yu into the elevator. They arrived at the magnificent large lobby of a luxury hotel.
“Why’d you book such an expensive hotel?” Yue Zhishi carried his own luggage towards the steps, but he’d only gone up two of them when Song Yu took his luggage from him.
Song Yu said, “You should ask yourself instead why you didn’t book a hotel when going out of town.”
“I just thought there’d be time for me to find one after I arrived.” Yue Zhishi had originally wanted to eat at a very famous local restaurant after his flight landed before considering where to live. He didn’t think his plan would be so ruined.
Song Yu didn’t continue speaking and lugged their luggages towards the reception.
There were almost no other people in the hotel lobby in the middle of the night. Song Yu took out his and Yue Zhishi’s identification documents and gave them to the female receptionist on duty. Yue Zhishi sat on top of the luggages, first lifting a hand to observe the small water droplets left on his coat, and then raised his head to peer around everywhere. He reached out a hand to touch the small potted plant sitting on the reception desk.
Not long after, the revolving door behind them turned again. Two men came in, looking like they’d had some alcohol; they staggered in, supporting each other as they entered. Yue Zhishi spun around on his luggage and looked at them — he felt they were really like scraps of paper stuck to each other due to static electricity, wobbling here and lurching there and yet unable to come apart.
For some reason, the system couldn’t immediately find the room Song Yu had booked. The receptionist asked them to wait and got up to look for her manager, and the other male receptionist attended to the two newly arrived guests.
Yue Zhishi watched the two of them with his head tilted sideways. He realised they were wearing matching earrings and necklaces, and even their clothes were very similar. Their lowered arms were left intimately next to each to each other, the backs of their hands grazing; it took some difficulty for their hands to find each other, but they very quickly separated.
“Do you have a room with a king bed?” asked one of the men, his head curved onto the other’s shoulder. His words were a bit slurred from the alcohol. “I want one with a window.”
“We do. Please wait.” The male receptionist took their identification documents and rapidly processed them, offering out their room card with both hands.
The female receptionist helping Song Yu and Yue Zhishi with their booking finally returned and apologised to them. “I’m so sorry, there was something wrong with the system. We can upgrade your booking to a double bed business suite with a balcony for free. It’ll have two rooms.”
Song Yu’s hand was resting on the marble desk, and he rejected coldly, “No need. The previous one’s fine.”
“I understand.”
The two young men next to them stumbled towards the elevator, holding each other up. Yue Zhishi was like a small animal who’d had his attention caught, gazing at them as he spun the luggage underneath him in the same direction they walked towards.
The male receptionist who’d helped them check-in smiled profoundly and hinted at that couple’s relationship towards his female colleague. “Tsk tsk, king size bed.”
The female receptionist was actually helping Song Yu with a room with a king bed at this very moment, and she raised her head a bit awkwardly, meeting Song Yu’s eyes. She then elbowed her colleague very apologetically and offered the room card to Song Yu. “This is your room card. If there’s anything you need, please let us know. We’ll send up your luggage for you.”
Yue Zhishi was somewhat lost, his eyes flickering back and forth among the three of them. He saw Song Yu’s cold eyes, and so he stood up in confusion.
“Do expensive hotels have a check-in condition that say two men can’t book a room with a king size bed?” Taking the room card, Song Yu looked towards the male receptionist. The look on the man’s face changed, and he went speechless.
The female receptionist apologised again. “I’m so sorry, there might be a misunderstanding. He wasn’t referring to you.”
“It’s not a misunderstanding.” There was no expression on Song Yu’s face. He was immaculately dressed, and he looked both dignified and impersonal — yet the words that left his mouth left both workers completely stunned.
“We have the same relationship as those two men do.”
The entire way into the elevator, Yue Zhishi didn’t speak. Song Yu looked at him through the reflection on the glass walls, heart slightly hesitant, and finally couldn’t help but say, “Do you think I was too harsh?”
“Ah?” It was like Yue Zhishi had to pull himself from somewhere else in his mind. He looked at Song Yu, eyes confused. “What did you say?”
Song Yu took a step towards him, leaning in very closely. “What are you zoning out about?”
Yue Zhishi then stretched out his hands towards him, like a small child who’d accidentally done something wrong and was now admitting his mistake to an adult; he unfolded his palms — there was a leaf lying in them.
“I thought it was a fake plant and accidentally plucked it off,” he said very softly to Song Yu, both his hands holding up that soft and fragile leaf.
A laugh burst from Song Yu — he laughed at the reason for Yue Zhishi being so distracted and laughed at himself for being so oversensitive.
“Stop laughing at me.” Yue Zhishi asked him, “Do you think that plant was expensive? It shouldn’t be, right.”
The elevator released a light ding, and its doors slowly slid open.
Song Yu walked out with a faint smile on his face and deliberately teased him, “I think it’s a really rare plant. You should use your savings to pay them back.”
Yue Zhishi followed behind him, sounding utterly wronged. “No way, it took me a really long time to save all that money. I didn’t even spend a single cent from last year’s Lunar New Year money…”
They headed down the corridor. When they reached the end, Song Yu used the room card to open the door, taking off his coat and hanging it in the closet at the entrance.
Just as Yue Zhishi took a step into the room, all the lights in the entire room lit up at the same time. The room was mainly beige and caramel colours, and once it was illuminated by the warm lighting, it looked homely, warm and comforting.
The room was very spacious, roughly around seventy square metres, and there was a glass window stretched from ceiling to floor behind the fluffy and soft-looking large bed. With the window misted by a layer of transparent rainwater, the night view of the Zhujiang River and Canton Tower was hazy yet resplendent — every single drip of water shimmered with kaleidoscopic colours.
“It’s so beautiful.” Yue Zhishi took off his own coat, and he explored the warm room dressed in his white shirt. He noticed the bathroom had a super large bathtub, and it too had a ceiling to floor window. “I definitely wouldn’t live in a hotel like this by myself.”
Song Yu headed towards him, and leaned against the sink in the roomy bathroom. He stood with his two legs relaxed and said something very taunting without any mockery in his voice. “You can stay here for five days with your savings.”
Seeing Yue Zhishi pivot his head around and stare at him with large, shocked eyes, Song Yu found him extremely adorable and opened his arms to him. “Come here.”
“It’s too expensive,” Yue Zhishi rambled, but he obediently left the bathtub and walked towards Song Yu. He stood in between Song Yu’s legs, his head sweetly lowered, and grabbed Song Yu’s hands. “We don’t need to stay somewhere so nice. Those family suites we used to stay in when we were travelling were great too.”
“You mean the kind we used to live in with my mom and dad?” Song Yu tipped his head a bit to the side, his mouth crooking up; he pulled Yue Zhishi even closer until he could kiss Yue Zhishi as soon as he lifted his head. “But they’re not here right now.”
Those words weren’t all that suggestive, yet when they were spoken by Song Yu, Yue Zhishi’s face started to heat up, vaguely sensing Song Yu was acting a lot more intimately now compared to during the day.
“Yes, they’re not here…” He suddenly realised something and blinked. “This is the first time we’re staying in a hotel with just the two of us.”
Song Yu nodded at Yue Zhishi’s words. “Yes.”
Which was why they needed to stay in the best.
Yue Zhishi removed the glasses on Song Yu’s nose and placed them on top of the black marble sink. He then rested his two hands on Song Yu’s neck, very affectionately and lovingly leaning his head onto Song Yu’s forehead. “How many days did you book? Can I pay for tomorrow?”
Song Yu’s hands were holding onto the back of Yue Zhishi’s waist, and he rubbed the tip of his nose against Yue Zhishi’s, inhaling the sweet smell of something like fruit candy.
“Don’t use my inheritance so casually.”
Yue Zhishi was amused by his joke so seriously spoken and gave his face a quick smooch. “It’s all for you, okay? I’ll use just this little bit.” And then, he dropped his eyes, his eyelashes casting a shadow. “I was originally saving it to buy you a present anyway.”
Song Yu didn’t comprehend and asked him why he needed to buy a present.
“It’s almost your birthday.” Yue Zhishi thought he was almost like an academic machine that had no joy or interest in life, even able to completely forget his own birthday. “November 1st.” He then abruptly felt a bit of regret, saying, “Should I have not told you, it would’ve been a surprise that way.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Song Yu’s hands were clasping the sides of Yue Zhishi’s waist, and he didn’t show all that much interest in his birthday surprise. He only said, head lowering, “We can still celebrate it early.”
“You really like celebrating early.”
What I like is celebrating with you alone. Song Yu didn’t say it out loud, and then he heard Yue Zhishi say, “A few days ago, I looked at the stars and saw Scorpius’s tail.”
He said to Song Yu quite certainly, “I should’ve seen it correctly, I even took a photo of it and connected the constellation lines. It was Scorpius.”
“Jiang Yufan said Scorpios are all really cold and heartless, but I don’t think you are.” Yue Zhishi had even spent over an hour online researching the sign. “I later looked it up, and Scorpios are described as really…”
Hearing his words pause, Song Yu raised his eyes and looked at him. “Really what?”
“Mysterious, devious, very dominating and strongly possessive, have a strong sense of responsibility, filled with vitality, jealous and…” Yue Zhishi’s eyes fluttered up, suddenly remembering, and said the final thing after meeting Song Yu’s eyes with a bit of embarrassment, “…sexual.”
He felt a hand gliding under his shirt and skimming over his skin. Yue Zhishi found it ticklish, so he dodged a bit away — but Song Yu kept a firm hold on his waist.
“Do you think it’s accurate?” Song Yu asked in a low voice.
Yue Zhishi’s back turned slightly numb from Song Yu’s stroking movements. It was like there was a layer of electricity on his back, and even his face started to flush. “It’s pretty accurate…”
As though he wasn’t doing anything, Song Yu queried, “Which description’s the most accurate?”
“They’re all very accurate.” Yue Zhishi could feel a subtle chemical reaction in his body, but because he was completely surrounded by Song Yu, he had nowhere to escape.
He was shocked by Song Yu’s metal watchband, and he evaded away, softly saying, “Your watch’s really cold.”
Song Yu then pulled out his hand, still remaining in his position of leaning back against the sink with his legs relaxed, and lifted his wrist, smoothly unfastening the band.
After a tiny metal sound, that old watch slid down as fluidly as water and slipped between his fingers — it was like a button down shirt that had just been peeled off and placed onto a chair.
Somehow, Yue Zhishi’s heart suddenly started to run considerably faster. He tried to pull his gaze away from Song Yu’s hand, attempting to calm himself down.
“Can I have my inheritance early?” Song Yu’s dark eyes were focused on Yue Zhishi. He brought up his hand to ease his watch into the front pocket of Yue Zhishi’s shirt.
“Huh?” Yue Zhishi was in a daze, thinking Song Yu meant his birthday present savings. “Of course you can. It’s all yours.”
“Don’t answer so quickly. I’m referring to the part you didn’t mention.”
Song Yu used one hand to undo the button at the very top of his own shirt once he finished speaking.
“Yue Zhishi, I know you’re afraid of disasters, but accidents happen very rarely. You won’t leave this world that easily, so don’t keep considering how you should pass on your ashes.”
Yue Zhishi froze.
How did he know…
“Rather than thinking about that, why don’t you think more about your current self.”
Yue Zhishi didn’t understand what he was saying and blankly asked back, “Current self? Why?”
“Because your lover is jealous, strongly possessive, very dominating and is filled with vitality, and he needs a partner who is very much alive.”
Lifting a hand, Song Yu caught Yue Zhishi’s chin and leaned in very, very closely — he wanted to kiss him, and yet he didn’t, the distance between them caught on the edge.
Yue Zhishi’s heart was about to jump out of his chest, and his fingertips were tingling; all of the skin that Song Yu had touched was burning, trembling.
He realised in that moment: he didn’t want to leave behind only a useless handful of dust. He wanted to give to Song Yu the warmth of his body, his flowing, gushing blood and every single inch of his skin.
No one knew what would happen tomorrow. But when the person he loved most was standing right in front of his eyes, he didn’t want to have any kind of tragic ending.
Their noses met, and Yue Zhishi could pretty much feel Song Yu’s warm breaths. Just a little bit further — he was waiting for Song Yu to kiss him.
But Song Yu didn’t. He lifted his eyes and connected them with Yue Zhishi’s own.
“Say, what do you think that couple from earlier are doing right now?”
