CH 109

After messing around, a large patch of sweat stained the rumpled bedsheets. Once Yan Suizhi recovered, he couldn’t resist reaching out to touch it.

He went mute. He never knew that it was actually possible for him to produce so much sweat. 

While these bedsheets were a bit ugly, they were remarkably absorbent.

Yan Suizhi didn’t want to own up to it. So, he casually wiped his hand along Gu Yan’s back muscles, lazily spreading his palm open for Gu Yan to see, “Hey, look. You sweated so much that the bed can’t be slept on anymore.”

Gu Yan, “…”

This was the classic definition of telling a blind lie with one’s eyes wide open. Anyone could tell whose fault this was simply by pulling the sheets out and checking the damp patches. 

But Lawyer Gu was unusually acquiescent at this time, so he silently accepted any nonsensical blame that Yan Suizhi tossed at him.

“Mn, it’s my fault.” Gu Yan softly agreed, his husky voice tinged with a trace of lust that had yet to disperse.

Yan Suizhi’s ears itched listening to it, and the flush that had just receded slowly spread from his neck to the base of his ears.

He buried his face in his pillow.

If this were before, Yan Suizhi’s mysophobia would have acted up, making him unable to stand even a single second of this. But, right now, he was a bit too lazy to move.

Nevertheless, laziness did have its limits.

Half an hour later, Gu Yan put on his pants and got out of bed. He slipped on his shirt and bent over, pressing his hands to the fringe of the bed, asking, “Shall we go down?”

However, Yan Suizhi had other plans. 

He said, “Just change them to another set.”

Gu Yan, “You don’t feel like moving?”

But Yan Suizhi was already propping himself into a sitting position. “No, I’m helping—”

Midway getting up, his movements stilled, his expression turning numb for a split second. “—helping you treat your heart condition.” 

“What heart condition?” Gu Yan asked, unable to make sense of his words. He reached out, wanting to support Yan Suizhi’s waist, but was deftly blocked by the other.

“Don’t make trouble. I’m up already.”

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Yan Suizhi buttoned his shirt with one hand and patted Gu Yan, saying, “In all honesty, I feel that black at least looks a little better than the other colours. The moment that you can cover me with a black quilt and shove white flowers into my hands without any nagging sense of discomfort, you’ll probably stop having those dreams.”

Gu Yan, “…” 

What sort of jinxed thoughts were some people dwelling on every day?

“Will your teacher lie to you?” Yan Suizhi began to play the bushy-tailed wolf again, arching his brows and asking, “Shall we?”

Helpless, Gu Yan accommodated him. “Okay.”

The two men went downstairs together and fished out the black beddings from the wardrobe in the guest bedroom. 

Gu Yan carried the bedding, his deep disgust for the colour plain to see.

As they turned off the lights to go upstairs, Yan Suizhi thought of something, and asked, “Why did you lend me your loft, and not a guest room?”

Gu Yan said matter-of-factly, “You’re not a guest.”

Besides, the space of the loft wasn’t lacking in any measure to the guest rooms. Despite calling it a loft, its square footage wasn’t small at all. 

Yan Suizhi was faintly amused. “You’re saying it as though you’ve received any guests.”

Unable to refute, Gu Yan stayed mum.

In actuality, it was no more than a small, selfish desire of his. The loft was directly above the master bedroom. Occasionally, he could hear a little movement from the other, making this house feel a little fuller.

They changed the sheets. 

Yan Suizhi took a quick shower in the bathroom again. Gu Yan sat on the side of the bed, waiting for him, offhandedly scrolling through a case file on his smart device.

He used to think that he was someone with fairly good restraint, able to enter the mood for work at any moment.

Or, in other words, he hardly ever broke away from his work.

It was only now that he discovered that the urge to slack off was inherent in everyone; it was just that, before, he had yet to unlock this latent potential. 

He went through two pages, then got up and headed downstairs.

It was at times like this that he was thankful that the first-aid kit had been overhauled. If his memory wasn’t failing him, there were anti-inflammatory powder packets as well as generic, catch-all medicine.

Gu Yan studied these medicines box by box, reading the instructions stated on each very carefully, not even neglecting their taste.

This was probably the most careful he was with reading medicine labels in his life. 

Within those, he picked a type of anti-inflammatory medicine, filled two glasses with warm water, then tipped it into one of them.

When it came to this, Gu Yan knew Yan Suizhi all too well. If the latter was directly asked to eat anti-inflammatory medicine, he’d definitely cling to his pride and say, unconcerned, “Medicine, what for? It isn’t that bad.”

So, he picked one that was practically tasteless, such that Yan Suizhi should be unable to tell.

Once he was done, he headed back upstairs. By then, Yan Suizhi was already done with his shower and readying for bed. 

Gu Yan, seemingly nonchalant, passed him a glass of water. “You worked up so much sweat and also took a shower. Drink some water before you sleep.”

Yan Suizhi took it, but just after one sip, asked doubtfully, “Why does this water taste funny?”

Gu Yan drank from the water in his own glass without batting an eyelid, saying inwardly, Why was this guy’s tongue so sharp; the label wrote that it was colourless and tasteless, yet he could still tell the difference.

“What taste?” 

“I can’t put a finger to it. It’s a bit sweet?”

“Sweet? Let me try it,” Gu Yan sat down on the other side, placed his glass on the nightstand, and lifted Yan Suizhi’s chin in one smooth motion, kissing him intimately.

The stark contrast of the black quilt wrapped around Yan Suizhi’s figure made his complexion appear exceptionally white. Yet, this paleness wasn’t lifeless in any way, but gilded in a gentle glow from the light of the floor lamp.

Intriguingly, people wouldn’t associate this with death, but instead… 

Yan Suizhi was originally a little sleepy, but he felt Gu Yan’s kisses fall behind him, fluttering down from his nape to his shoulders.

He indulged in the sensation for a while, his eyelids blinking open and hanging low, like a cat that had melted into a puddle from being rubbed and stroked all over.

He flipped over, pressing his forehead into the pillow, his tensed butterfly bones drawing a beautiful arc—only then did he complain in a muffled voice, “Are you not intending to sleep anymore?”

But this complaint wasn’t in the least bit genuine. 

It wasn’t long before fine beads of sweat seeped from his back, and the black quilt loosely winded around his waist revealed another expanse of fair skin.

He bit down hard on his knuckles, his eyebrows creasing for a long time. Then, his damp eyelashes suddenly quivered, and his eyes swiftly misted over.

The next moment, he gasped sharply, and he turned his head over, sloppily responding to Gu Yan’s deep kiss.

So, sometimes leaving work early didn’t mean getting to turn in early. 

One might even end up sleeping later than usual.

The fresh duvet was made damp and messed up again, for both of their disorderly breathing pulsed with hot air.

Mysophobia? Showering? All of that was discarded into outer space at times like this.

When it ended, Yan Suizhi was too tired to even lift a finger. 

Amidst a drowsy haze, he heard Gu Yan tell him “goodnight.”

Yan Suizhi’s throat was hoarse; he hummed and, in response, touched the corners of Gu Yan’s lips with his eyes closed.

Thereafter, his breathing gradually pulled long and even.

Just as Gu Yan thought that he had fallen asleep, his fingers slid down from the corners of Gu Yan’s lips, fumbling for and holding Gu Yan’s hand. Then, without even opening his eyes, he said languidly, “Sweet dreams…” 

The rainstorm pelted down gaily through the night to daybreak.

On this night, the distinguished Lawyer Gu grasped two fallacious truths of life:

Sharing a bed can cure nightmares.

Black beddings aren’t a sore to the eyes.