Chapter 35 - My Costar Haunts My Dreams

Yao Shen feels the weight of both Xin Hulei's and the waiter's eyes on him, analyzing him for any minute change.

Yao Shen himself is overly conscious of his heartbeat and the amount of saliva his mouth produces.

Is he getting warmer? No, it's just the anxiety of waiting for something to happen.

Several minutes of unbearable silence go by before the waiter asks him, "Are you feeling an uncontrollable surge of attraction for his Majesty?"

Xin Hulei's expression doesn't shift, but Yao Shen feels his skin flush. What kind of question...

Objectively, Xin Hulei is extremely attractive. His face looks like it was sculpted out of jade, from his upturned eyes to the generous curve of his lips, his slender chin and angular jaw -- all about him is perfect.

It's just too bad that his personality is completely rotten.

"No, not even a stir," Yao Shen says, ignoring his mortification with the topic at hand and looking Xin Hulei straight in his cold eyes. 

The waiter doesn't seem convinced. "That's impossible, even if you're not a ghost it's obvious his Majesty is a breathtakingly beautiful man, no one can look at him an remain unmoved. Not only his face, but his Majesty's voice is like the sound of a fresh spring water bursting through the snow and ice as winter gives way to spring. His fingers are jade- "

Xin Hulei raises a hand cutting off the waiter's torrent of praise short. "That's enough, Du Mu."

"Yeah, I don't share your feelings at all," Yao Shen says, smirking a little to himself. He doesn't think he's imagining Xin Hulei's embarrassment. 

"It seems he's not a ghost, either" Xin Hulei says, giving Yao Shen a puzzled look. 

"We can still test for plant spirit," the waiter suggests, mindful of upsetting Xin Hulei, who just nods in vaguely bored acquiescence.

When cutting out a strand of his hair and mixing it with a few reagents doesn't produce any reaction either, they finally conclude that Yao Shen must be what he has been claiming to be since the beginning.

A human.

Xin Hulei pours a drink from a nearby decanter into a stout glass and offers it to Yao Shen. "Drink this."

He must think Yao Shen is stupid.

"Why? So I can forget everything and end up in bed with you again?"

The waiter sputters in shock, looking at Yao Shen like he has grown a second head. 

"Is that what you think happened?" Xin Hulei asks.

"What else?" He points an accusing finger towards Xin Hulei. "And you're hoping the same thing happens again."

Xin Hulei doesn't smirk, but it's a close thing. "Am I?"

"Yes," Yao Shen says, unshakable in his certainty.

The waiter looks between the two of them in either extreme worry or extreme jealousy, Yao Shen can't tell which.

"There's something else," Xin Hulei says, reaching over into the bottom drawers of the wooden box and pulling out a fine sheet of paper. "If you don't want to drink we can settle for a contract."

"A contract?" Yao Shen asks, eyeing the blank paper suspiciously.

The waiter interferes. "His Majesty should reconsider, this-"

Xin Hulei raises a hand and the man falls silent, his eyes lowered in deference. 

"If you sign a contract swearing your loyalty to me, that means you won't be able to take any actions against me, reveal my identity to anyone, or harm me in any way." Xin Hulei holds his still bleeding wrist over an empty ink pot and watches as the thin stream fills it slowly.

He dips a bamboo brush in the blood and holds it perfectly perpendicularly over the smooth paper. "What do you say?"

Yao Shen has no interest in revealing Xin Hulei's identity to anyone, since he needs to capture him.

However...capturing him does probably count as "harming him". 

So, he's at a bit of a crossroads. "And what's in it for me? Who's to say you won't be able to do anything against me?"

"The contract goes both ways. That's why it's signed with blood. You won't be able to harm me, I won't be able to harm you."

Yao Shen turns the idea around in his mind.

Right now, Xin Hulei represents a much bigger threat to him than he does to Xin Hulei. Maybe it would be advantageous to him to write his demon powers out of the equation.

The way he sees it, the contract actually puts them on equal footing.

It's possible that he's completely wrong about the whole thing, but the System can't reach him whenever he's in this weird restaurant, and besides, Yao Shen also likes the idea of doing something the System isn't aware of.

He's about as suspicious of it as he is of Xin Hulei.

"How long will this contract be valid for?" Yao Shen asks, wondering if this is a lifetime type deal.

"Until I dissolve it. That's my prerogative." He smiles, and one of his sharp canines glints in the low light, a tiny dagger digging into his plush lower lip.

"Fine, I'll sign it," Yao Shen says with a drawn out sigh.

Maybe this will be the first step into slowly winning Xin Hulei's trust.

---

After signing the contract, Xin Hulei does his flame sigil thingy, and returns Yao Shen back to his hotel room, unharmed and with his memories intact.

Other than wrapping one arm around his waist while the flames licked around them, Xin Hulei didn't try to get any closer to Yao Shen, not for a kiss not for a sneaky grope -- something Yao Shen is only relieved about -- and leaves after a curt goodbye.

Yao Shen is too afraid to look at the digital clock on the nightstand, so he crawls into bed with his eyes closed. The less he sees how little he has left to sleep the better.

Moments later, drowsiness overtakes him and he gives in without a fight.

A strong incense scent wakes him up. He tries to get up but his body feels laden, he looks around and sees he's sitting in an old-fashioned lacquered sofa, he's wearing thin green silk robes, open around him like a gift wrapping.

There's a man kneeling on the floor between his legs, his long hair obscuring half of his face as he presses a soft kiss on Yao Shen's calf and then keeps moving higher, spreading Yao Shen's legs open over his shoulder.

Yao Shen feels himself flush, and grow impossibly aroused.

What is this, why is he having such an odd dream?

"Sweet," the man says, raising his eyes to look at Yao Shen for the first time.

His gaze is unmistakable but for once it isn't cold, instead simmering with barely suppressed heat.