Chapter 15: Xi Xingling
After the warning, Xi Xingling kept his little noises much quieter. At least he stopped disturbing anyone’s sleep.
Li Dong drifted in and out and felt someone creep into bed and press up against his back, warm and drowsy. Soon a tiny snore began, like he had adopted a cat.
He thought he would be too annoyed to sleep, but he knocked out fast.
“Second Young Master…” Xi Xingling mumbled in his arms, wriggled into a comfier spot, and slept on.
When Li Dong woke again, it was the dead of night. He was ravenous, the kind of hunger that wakes you up. The problem was, he could not cook to save his life.
“Hey…” He scratched Xi Xingling’s chin with a finger and kept his voice low. “Up you get.”
The light sleeper blinked awake. He peered blearily at Li Dong. “Second Young Master, am I dreaming?” Otherwise how could he be waking up in bed with him? It was too much to hope for.
“No dreams left. Get up and make food.” Li Dong patted his cheek to clear the fog. “If you are still sleepy after you eat, go right back down.”
That woke him completely. He immediately wilted. “Are you going home tonight?”
His face said clearly: if you say yes, I am going to cry.
“Can you not?” Li Dong threw back the covers. “I skipped a night already. I have to go home.” In the afternoon Wang Yun had called to invite him to dinner, but he had refused because he did not know how long he would be stuck dealing with Xi Xingling.
“You are a grown man. Why not move out on your own?” Xi Xingling asked. He himself was twenty-two, barely out of college, and already living alone just fine. Second Young Master had money; it was not as if he could not afford a place.
“My big brother likes the family under one roof.” Li Dong stopped. It was the first time he had mentioned Han Tianlin without a reason.
Xi Xingling also paused. Hearing that name still jolted his heart, but now it thudded with fear, not delight.
“I… I’ll cook.” He hurried off.
“Go.” Li Dong did not add anything else. As for whether Xi Xingling still nursed feelings for Han Tianlin, he was honestly numb to it.
Three years cannot be compared to three months, much less three weeks, and they had known each other only a handful of days. Xi Xingling clinging to him right now was just loneliness dressed up as devotion. Li Dong knew that.
“Second Young Master, asparagus or broccoli?” Five minutes later, Xi Xingling poked his head in and asked, small as a mouse.
“Either. I’m not picky.” Li Dong shrugged into his jacket and went to the living room to brew himself some tea.
Xi Xingling whipped up stir-fried pork with asparagus and a steamed egg. He was racing the clock, so two dishes in thirty minutes, timed to finish with the rice.
He had grown up trained to be independent, so his cooking was decent. Li Dong found it perfectly edible, which was all he asked from any future partner’s kitchen skills.
They ate in near silence. The usually chattery leading man surprised Li Dong by being quiet as a lamb. Not a word. When he calmed down like this, he actually had that gentle, bookish air of a designer. When he livened up… well, GV lead.
“I’m full.” Li Dong set down his chopsticks and washed it down with a cup of tea. Time to go.
“I’ll walk you out.” Xi Xingling jumped up and followed him to the door.
“No need. It’s freezing. Clean up and get some sleep.” Li Dong blocked him with an arm.
“Second Young Master.” Xi Xingling hugged his arm and looked up. “Can we keep the agreement we made?”
Li Dong raised an eyebrow. “Which agreement?”
“No more bringing up the Young Master. Let me forget him, little by little.”
Li Dong stood there, and in that instant felt like he was meeting a different person. It was the first time Xi Xingling had discussed something like a normal adult.
“Please?” he pressed, tilting his face up. When no answer came right away, he bit his lip.
“Your mouth is already split and you are still biting.” Li Dong pried his teeth apart with a thumb and forefinger. “Did you do that or did someone else?”
He had not asked how far they got that night; Xi Xingling probably had not been fully conscious and might not even know himself.
“I did.” Xi Xingling said quietly. “They only tore off my clothes. They hadn’t… done anything yet when you came.”
“So you were conscious?” Li Dong was surprised.
“Not really. Just flashes. I know they didn’t do anything.” He swayed forward against Li Dong’s chest. “Second Young Master, I feel panicky and I don’t know why.”
He just could not settle. There was a little ache inside.
“You sick?” Li Dong teased, then nudged him back and turned to go. “Don’t overthink it. Sleep.”
“…” Xi Xingling stood in the doorway and watched him walk away. He suddenly realized how much he hated that sight.
It took him back to childhood summers at his grandparents’ in the country. At the end of each visit, that same pure unwillingness to part.
Back in his room, he texted right on cue: “Second Young Master, I did the dishes and showered. I am in bed trying to get sleepy, but you are all I can think about. What do I do?”
“Put on that butt mask,” Li Dong typed on the stairs, a laugh slipping out. Butt mask, honestly.
“Already on. Hmph. Tomorrow you will see my pale bouncy butt.”
“Who said I am seeing you tomorrow?”
He stared at his phone, ready to cry. Wasn’t this bullying? “Who in a relationship doesn’t meet every day?”
“Who said I was in a relationship with you?”
“I respect myself now.”
“That is a little cute.”
“Really? Yay~~”
Li Dong could not always read people, but Xi Xingling was easy: one guess, one hit.
“Stop clinging. Sleep. Work tomorrow.”
“But I am not sleepy. I napped for hours.” He was cheery. “Sleeping in your arms felt so good. Opening my eyes and seeing you there…”
Li Dong went offline for a bit as he was showering. When he returned, his screen was flooded with messages, an entire wall of Xi Xingling talking to himself. Terrifying.
“Do you realize how clingy you are?”
“Honestly? Yes.”
Li Dong did not reply. He smiled, tossed the phone aside, and fell asleep.
He could not remember the last time he had caught a cold. He never expected one now. In the morning he woke heavy-headed, sore all over, and knew he had it bad.
He had the housekeeper bring him cold medicine. It did not help much, and he could not sleep. Worse, his nose was stuffed, it ran, and his throat was so inflamed his voice barely came out.
Right then Xi Xingling called. The moment he heard him he yelped, “Second Young Master, what happened? Are you sick?”
It must have been that night at Golden Butterfly, sleeping half naked on the sofa for half the night.
“Yeah. Got a cold. Feels awful.” Li Dong’s voice was thick and dull. “You didn’t catch one?”
“No. Your voice sounds terrible. Is it bad? Did you take medicine? Does anyone at home look after you?” The moment he heard Han Yubai was sick, he panicked. He wanted to sprint over to pour tea and tuck the quilt. “Do you want me to come take care of you?”
Great chance to learn his address.
“I’m fine. It’s just a cold.” Li Dong’s nose made talking miserable. “Okay, I’m hanging up. My head is killing me…”
“What if you’re running a fever?” Xi Xingling said. “Tell me where you live. I’ll come over. Even if you won’t let me, you should go to the hospital for an IV. You can’t treat a fever lightly.”
“Alright, enough…” Li Dong had never gone to the hospital for a cold in his life. “Cough, cough…” Still, he had to admit this one felt rough. He might just pass out.
“Second Young Master? Second Young Master!” His anxious shout echoed through the restroom, and everyone heard.
He clutched the phone, heart in his throat, and looked up to find a coworker smiling ingratiatingly. “Xingling, were you just talking to Second Young Master?”
The guy had been at that group dinner. He was not a designer, just support staff.
“Mm…” Xi Xingling was worried about Li Dong and barely nodded before hurrying out.
Being brushed off put the man’s nose out of joint. He watched Xi Xingling’s back with a sour little snort. “Sells his a**, still so high and mighty.”
“What was that?” Xia Bairun pushed open a stall door and folded his arms. “Who was he calling? I heard ‘Second Young Master’ every other word.”
“You don’t know?” The other man gaped. “Aren’t you two glued at the hip? You seriously don’t know?”
“Who’s glued? He is the new favorite. I’m a nobody.” Xia Bairun leaned in. “Cut the nonsense. Spill. What gossip do you have?”
“It’s big.” The man lowered his voice, savoring it. “He was on the phone with Han Group’s Second Young Master. Yeah, that Second Young Master. Don’t make that face. The two of them are like a pair of pants, tighter than tight. You should have seen…”
By the time he finished, jealousy had crawled up Xia Bairun’s spine and set him on fire. He felt sick. Filthy, the lot of it. How could Xi Xingling do this?
No. Someone had to report him.
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