Chapter 102: Lu Jun
Before making contact with his prey, Lu Jun had only assumed that Pei Ruozhen was a shrewd and cunning rich young master. Otherwise, why would Li Tingyi specifically hire him to deal with this person?
But after actually spending time with him, Lu Jun realized that Pei Ruozhen was nothing more than a pitiable rich boy with an enviable body and strength but not much brainpower.
When bullied, he only looked up at you with wide, helpless eyes and didn’t even know how to ask for help. Didn’t even know how!
“Oh.” Li Dong would never call for help. Not in this life. He could only watch as the protagonist shou rummaged through his wallet.
“Tch, quite a lot of cash.” Lu Jun took out every bill in front of him, stuffing them all into his own pocket. Then he pulled out a photo, raised an eyebrow, and asked, “This woman, your first love?”
This naive straight guy had said he’d once had a girlfriend but never slept with her.
To be honest, she looked f***ing ugly. Poor straight boy and his tragic taste.
“No,” Li Dong said pitifully. “That’s my mom.”
Pei Ruozhen’s mother had once been a beauty-pageant contestant, and she’d given birth to a remarkable son. They even looked a little alike.
“…She’s pretty,” Lu Jun muttered, tucking the photo back into the wallet.
Li Dong reached out hopefully to take it.
“Take what? Did I say you could?” Lu Jun barked, shoving the wallet inside his jacket. “Kiss.”
If he didn’t know better, he’d think he’d gone mad. He couldn’t even stop himself. Damn it.
“There’s a driver…” Li Dong murmured.
“Don’t waste my time.” Lu Jun leaned forward, grabbed the idiot’s chin, and kissed him himself.
The sweetness that stirred inside him grew stronger at the sight of Li Dong’s flustered expression.
F*ck. He was starting to think he had an incurable disease.
“Then please take care of my wallet, and the IDs and photos inside,” Li Dong said. “They’re important to me.”
“Yeah.” Lu Jun replied half-heartedly, though his inner thoughts went more like: Important, my ass. You’re barely gonna stay alive, what good are your damn documents?
“We don’t have to talk about sensitive things. I know you won’t tell me anyway,” the naive straight young master said, adapting easily to being kidnapped. One had to wonder if he even understood the situation. “So let’s talk about something less sensitive… like, where do you want to go for vacation after you finish this job?”
Li Dong added, “Would that be a secret? If it’s inconvenient, that’s fine too.” He sounded so considerate it was infuriating.
Lu Jun glared. “How the hell did you even survive this long?” The fact that someone like this had made it to adulthood was already a miracle. Coming to Eastern Europe alone for business? Did he have a death wish?
He was getting irritated.
Though he had no idea why.
“Uh, I grew up eating,” Li Dong said with a small laugh. “Didn’t you?”
He even winked, like he thought he was being funny.
Lu Jun wanted to smack that wink right off his face. Are you stupid?
“You don’t like talking?” Li Dong asked, half to himself.
Lu Jun, the conflicted kidnapper, snapped, “It’s not that I don’t like talking, I just don’t like talking to idiots.” He’s too sweet. It’s nauseating.
Li Dong blinked. “By ‘idiot,’ do you mean me?” He smiled again, polite as ever. “That’s kind of rude.” But good looks made any smile attractive; his white teeth shone under the light.
“Ha…” Polite? With him? “Are you actually dumb?” Lu Jun pinched his face, fingers sliding along his cheek. The skin felt just as smooth as he’d imagined. “How long have you been working out?”
It was an abrupt change of topic, but Li Dong followed easily. “Many years, since school.” His face was slightly pink from that uninvited hand on it.
“I see…” Lu Jun’s eyes gleamed with barely concealed hunger as he stared at that pale, fine face. “Not bad.” He was shocked to find this straight fool even more tempting than Li Tingyi. “A hundred times more, actually,” he coughed.
“There’s a driver,” Li Dong whispered, dodging.
“Tsk, tsk.” Too damn cute. F*ck.
And so, the kidnapper kept teasing his dumb prey all the way to the dock then cursed. “Sh*t.” He’d forgotten to buy tickets.
For ships, you needed to book ahead, or else wait days for the next one.
And the next one was leaving today.
“Stick close to me. Don’t even think about running.” Lu Jun stood at the windy harbor, thinking fast, before heading off to find someone who could sell tickets under the table. He threw the warning over his shoulder.
“Mm?” Li Dong pulled his gaze from the sky, looking a little dazed.
“Nothing…” Lu Jun sighed. “You hungry?” It was lunchtime.
“I’ve been hungry for a while,” Li Dong admitted right away. “But I didn’t want to bother you.” Because the other person seemed very troubled, his expression wasn’t good.
Why did that make him feel… guilty?
“You an idiot? I didn’t tape your mouth shut.” Lu Jun frowned. “I’ll get the tickets first, then food.”
“Thank you,” Li Dong replied with the same gentle courtesy.
Despite his words, Lu Jun still stopped at a nearby stand to buy him a cup of hot cocoa and a meat skewer. “Here. Eat.”
“Thanks.” Li Dong ate quietly, watching as the protagonist shou anxiously searched for tickets.
The ship was about to depart.
“Excuse me…” Lu Jun’s English carried a local accent. According to the novel, he’d spent years wandering abroad as a child, surviving a darkness few others could imagine.
But if someone asked him, Was it hard growing up? he’d just sneer, “You’re f***ing hard. Your whole family’s hard.”
Before departure, Lu Jun slipped two fresh tickets into his pocket and dragged Li Dong toward the boarding gate. “Move it. We’ll eat once we’re on.”
“I’m fine,” Li Dong said, following at a brisk pace.
They pushed through the crowd toward the ship. “F*ck…” Lu Jun gritted his teeth, annoyed to see his “cargo” getting squeezed aside.
With the protagonist shou’s help, the gentlemanly Li Dong finally completed the difficult task of boarding, squeezed, pressed, and practically manhandled into place.
“Weakling,” the kidnapper muttered, pulling the “weakling” along by the hand as they walked forward with blank faces.
“I just didn’t want to push the ladies,” Li Dong said between breaths, straightening his hair and suit.
“Then you’d never get on board.” Lu Jun led him through the packed deck into the ship, looking for the dining area.
“This ship’s nice. I bet there’ll be entertainment tonight,” Li Dong remarked.
“That’s not for you,” Lu Jun said dryly. He hoped this fool understood what kind of situation he was in.
“Alright… I wasn’t really interested anyway.” Li Dong smiled and looked around at the scenery.
“Don’t look around.” Lu Jun grabbed his chin and turned his head back.
A group of colorful bikinis flashed past. Too bad Li Dong didn’t get a good look before the killer yanked him by the ear into the restaurant.
“I just saw… uh…” He stopped when he noticed Lu Jun’s cold, dangerous smirk.
Li Dong quickly shut his mouth and lowered his head to study the menu.
“This looks good. Want to try one?” he asked.
“Whatever.” If the idiot liked it, he’d try it.
“I’ll get the one next to it, so we can taste both.” Li Dong smiled and blinked at him.
The gesture was unexpectedly playful.
Lu Jun propped his chin on his hand, exasperated. How could someone sit next to him so naturally, as if they weren’t a hostage at all? Damn it.
He really ought to remind this man who he was dealing with like give him a solid punch, maybe a kick to the gut…
But seriously, why the hell would he do that for no reason?
Lu Jun.
You’re doomed.
You can’t even bring yourself to hit him anymore.
“I’ll skip a drink. I already had cocoa earlier. If you don’t mind sharing a cup of warm milk, could I have a third?” Li Dong asked gently.
“…” I… don’t want to have this warm, cozy conversation with you. Please stop.
Lu Jun’s face iced over. “Just eat your food and don’t talk. Got it?”
Li Dong, having been warned, went perfectly silent, lowering his eyes and pretending to study the tablecloth.
“Waiter, one glass of milk.” Screw one-third, he could have the whole damn glass. Hmph.
Li Dong ate quietly and neatly, never saying another word.
But the kidnapper beside him didn’t feel any calmer.
When they finished, Lu Jun paid and said stiffly, “Back to the room.”
“Okay.” Li Dong smiled pleasantly.
They walked side by side through the narrow passageway, searching for their cabin. The two tickets hadn’t come with connecting rooms, so they picked one to share.
“Inside,” Lu Jun said, yanking the annoyingly perfect gentleman into the room. Too damn composed, too damn irritating.
“Thanks,” Li Dong said.
“You realize acting like that gives people ideas?” Lu Jun said as he stepped in, closing the distance between them.
Li Dong’s chin ended up in his hand. “Wh… what?”
That docile, naive look, did he have any idea what it did to people?
“Makes me want to f*ck you every second,” Lu Jun said with venom. “Scared yet?”
Go on, panic, piss yourself, look pathetic. Then maybe you’ll stop tempting people.
“You…” Li Dong blinked, embarrassed. “We’re both men.”
“So what?” Lu Jun snapped. He couldn’t stand this stupidly straight man another second. He was going to show him what “gay” meant, because if he heard “we’re both men” one more time, he’d lose it.
Who the f*ck didn’t know they were both men?
When Li Dong saw the protagonist shou unlocking the cuffs, he brightened. “Thanks, Mr. Kidnapper. I was just about to shower.”
Lu Jun glared darkly. “Oh, yeah? Together.”
Author’s Note:
【Looks like the “feeding time” (aka smut scene) will be in Chapter ⑤.】
1 Comments
Thank you for the chapter! 😋
ReplyDelete